After finding my way to a nice western-style cafe and ordering a large brunch of lox and bagels, I spent much of my time going over my e-mails and taking notes while Serena occasionally provided helpful comments. After some deliberation, I had split the Lancer candidates into four lists. The first, the rejected list, was exactly what it sounded like. This list contained only a single name—Dennis Macfield. Of course, I couldn't just reject him based on my meta-knowledge that he was an Academia spy, thus I noted down his unimpressive dueling record and lack of competence during the Battle Royale. I wanted to put Reira on this list as well—a child had no place in a warzone, and Reira needed therapy, not more trauma—but her name wasn't in any e-mail I'd received.

The second list contained people who I thought would do well in Synchro. At the top of this list was Yugo, as having him would make navigating the city much easier. Serena's name was also on there, along with Shun. I didn't want to send too many people to Synchro, as a small group would be harder for Roget to find. I also wanted to bring as few Yu-boys as possible to Synchro, based on Yuya's note that the Herald of the Supreme King had gone there. The Herald's plot was obvious—make Yuya go to Synchro to get Yuzu and allow events to proceed as in canon. I had other plans.

Thus, the third list, which contained the names of everyone I'd be sending to retake Heartland. Academia's army was probably a little low on numbers right now and still recovering from their loss, which meant that now was the perfect time to get them out of Fusion. On this list was Yuya, Yuto, Sawatari, and Gongenzaka, as well as others. I hoped that Yuya's entertainment dueling would allow him to rally the Xyz refugees, and Yuto would help with making contact with said refugees.

Finally, the fourth list contained the names of everyone who I would be keeping in Standard for the time being. I termed this list the 'reserve force', and they were a key part of my plan to defeat Academia. Once we had them stretched thin between dealing with Heartland and hunting for Yuzu in Synchro, the reserve force would strike directly at Fusion. In addition, they would keep Standard safe from an invasion by Academia and coordinate the defense efforts here.

I knew that I was not a military genius, and my closest experience to war was playing Civ VI until the wee hours of the morning and reading the news when I felt like depressing myself. Yet this plan was much more solid than whatever Reiji had come up with in the show, and that had worked out fine. Okay, 'fine' was a stretch, but it had worked well enough.

With my notes made and a plan formed, I paid the bill and exited the cafe. My next stop was the Leo Corporation tower, thus I parted ways with Serena shortly after leaving the cafe.

"And remember, if you need lunch, here's some money to eat out," I said, digging through my wallet for a few bills. Since Reiji was giving me a cut of the profits from the structure decks, and the decks had exploded in popularity after the Swiss rounds, I had an obscene amount of money to throw around, enough that I wouldn't have to worry about being broke for years.

"Thanks," Serena said, taking the money. "Just promise me one thing—you'll talk to someone, either me or Yuto, about what happened during the battle royale. I can't allow the leader of the Lancers to be weak."

"Acting leader," I corrected before walking off.

"Hey, you didn't promise—" Serena called behind me, but I was swiftly walking out of earshot. I really just didn't want to think about what had happened then. Every time I did, I would freeze for up to a full minute, reliving those memories like I was right there again. It needed to stop, and I wasn't going to touch it.

I made my way through the streets of Maiami City quickly, keeping my eyes averted from the casual street duels and glued to the ground in front of me. There was something about them that caused the memories to come back. Later, I'd deal with it later.

Or so I kept telling myself.

I occupied myself with happier thoughts on my walk, thinking of my past back on Earth. I missed the simplicity of life as a graduate student at Yale. It was much less stressful; I didn't have to constantly worry about the continued safety of myself and others. I didn't have to plan a way to win an interdimensional war. Games of Yu-Gi-Oh were of low stakes, usually with only personal pride and sometimes a prize pack or two on the line. I found myself missing my friends, as annoying as they could be sometimes, it was nice to be able to talk to people who were my mental age.

I then realized that I hadn't gotten a chance to talk about my research with anyone for weeks. Hell, all I'd really done since I'd gotten here was play card games, talk to people about card games, or think about how to beat people at card games.

I really needed to get another hobby. Perhaps I should buy myself a cello and pick that up again; it wasn't as though I was short on money.

The Leo Corporation tower loomed before me as my internal self-pity session concluded. I stepped through the sleek sliding glass doors and walked over to the reception desk.

"I'm Joshua Cohen," I explained. "I was told to come here as soon as I could."

"You certainly took your time," the receptionist deadpanned. "Himika Akaba will see you on the 14th floor, office 1475."

"That's different from last time," I noted.

"We're still cleaning the blood out of the CEO's office. I suggest you go up there now, she's been pretty impatient all morning."

I walked towards the elevator as I took in this new information. Blood? Had someone attempted to physically attack Reiji? I knew that the Herald of the Supreme King had some sort of teleportation ability, but to think he would resort to physical violence… he really wasn't playing by the rules anymore. If that was the case, things would be getting a lot more dicey. I would need redundancies in my plans.

I paused in front of office 1475 before knocking on the door.

"Come in," Himika said, and I opened the door, then walked in and took a seat on one of the comfortable chairs across from the room's sole desk. This room was a fair bit smaller than Reiji's office, but much more furnished, making her office seem much cozier, in contrast to the stark businesslike minimalism of her son's office. Himika herself was sitting up straight in her chair, giving off an air that she would tolerate no nonsense today.

"There are several points to address in this meeting, Mr. Cohen," Himika. "Firstly, have you received the e-mails concerning your position in the Lancers?"

I nodded. "I have already sorted the Lancers candidates and have prepared an outline of initial operations."

"Good, this will take less time than I thought," Himika said, grinning slightly. "As you are the acting leader of the Lancers, you have complete authority over the group until my son recovers."

"Speaking of which, how is he doing?" I asked innocently.

"He is currently hospitalized, with fractures all over his right arm, several cracked ribs, and a broken leg," Himika stated coldly. Okay, perhaps bringing up that subject was a bad idea. "Do you need further details?"

"No ma'am," I answered meekly. "I hope he recovers quickly."

"Onto the next subject. You will be giving a speech later today at the dueling stadium about the formation of the Lancers Selection. How much experience do you have with public speaking?"

I thought back to the various seminar talks and class presentations I'd given over the years. "A fair amount, I'd say."

"Then this will be easier. Your speech should cover the general purpose of the Lancers and the nature of Academia, with a sanitized explanation of the events of the Battle Royale. Unfortunately, we were unable to censor the broadcast, which means that the general public knows the full extent of what happened."

That was a lot. "Let's start with Academia. Suppose we claim that they're a group of duelist terrorists that hijacked the tournament and the Lancers are a counter-terrorism force?" In other words, the 9/11 ploy. I suppose that in this world, hijacking a card game tournament is worse than flying planes into towers.

Himika thought for a moment before answering. "Yes, that could work. However, we need to put the public's minds at ease, not whip them into a fury."

"We already have the tools for that," I countered. "Since they've seen my actions during the Battle Royale, I can spin it so Academia seems weak. In other words, Academia is simultaneously a dangerous threat but can be defeated by the existing Lancers."

"I see you have prepared for this," Himika noted. "That will work. I will leave the exact writing to you."

I was only now realizing that she'd probably been expecting some dumb 15-year-old who was unusually good at Yu-Gi-Oh, not a cynical grad student. "Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?"

"I merely wish to inform you, Mr. Cohen, that Leo Corporation has several certified and internationally-recognized psychologists at its disposal. You may find their services useful."

"What brought this on?" I asked. I had my suspicions, but I wanted them confirmed.

"Your friend Serena notified us that you may be having some… difficulty… processing the events of yesterday," Himika answered.

"I appreciate her concern and your offer," I answered slowly. "However, I do not believe that I am in need of such services at the moment." There was no way in hell I was taking psychological advice from the people who decided that the best place for a traumatized child was another bloody warzone.

"I see. Then I wish you much luck in your endeavors," Himika said as I moved to leave. Her frown told me that my poker face probably wasn't as good as I thought it was.

"Thank you," I said as I exited the office and made my way back to the elevator.

—| |—

Yuya was furious. Not irritated, not angry, but furious. It was a feeling he'd only felt a few times before in his life, most recently one day ago when his childhood friend Yuzu had been beaten, groped, and taken away before his eyes, all while he'd been powerless to stop it.

Sure, he'd fought. He'd dueled that damn cloaked man, and from what he could remember through that haze of red that hung over the memory, Yuya had won the duel. But it hadn't mattered, it hadn't fucking mattered. Yuzu had been lost all the same, taken away to the Synchro dimension.

His father had always told him to smile when he felt like crying and to laugh when he felt angry. Yet Yuya could find nothing to laugh about. It felt like this whole damn thing was a cruel cosmic joke, and he was the punchline. Not just the thing with Ruberum, but all of it. He'd finally created Pendulum, something special—only someone else could use it, and they could use it better than him. Then, only a few weeks later, everyone could use it. Just when Yuya thought he'd created a lasting impact on Action Dueling, Joshua had declared his intent to revolutionize the field of dueling itself, and people were comparing him to Yusho.

Joshua Cohen… no matter how strong Yuya thought he'd gotten, Joshua was always one step beyond him. All his problems had started after Joshua had arrived in Maiami city, and now, he was expected to obey Joshua's commands like a good little soldier? He'd already thrown away his father's entertainment dueling for this new 'combo dueling', he'd already rebuilt his deck, and now this?

"Fuck that!" Yuya yelled, hurling his deck at the wall in a fit of childish rage. The cards spread across the floor near where it had hit, and one of them caught his eye.

Kurikara Divincarnate. A level one monster that he couldn't remember putting in his deck. Its effect was strange, being a variation on the Kaiju monsters that he'd seen a few people use in the Swiss rounds to remove problematic monsters. But this monster was different; its summoning condition required that the tributed monsters had already activated their effects this turn. In exchange, it could tribute any number of monsters. Such a card would be extremely effective in a small set of very specific situations, and almost useless outside of them. It was as though the card had been created to win one specific duel…

Created. Yuya had indeed created Pendulum, even Joshua and Reiji admitted that. Then later, he'd found that cards appeared for him when he needed them the most, like the ritual monster Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph Dragon and even the initial Pendulums. During the final round of Swiss, he'd gone second against another Performapal player and hadn't drawn any of his handtraps. It seemed as though he would lose the duel, but somehow he'd drawn Dark Ruler No More, a spell that single-handedly nullified his opponent's entire setup.

If the cards he drew responded to his will, then in theory, he should be able to draw a card to deal with any situation he was faced with. Joshua called it "drawing the out", and had usually mocked it, usually reminding Yuya that dealing with boards by baiting negates and concealing information was more important than drawing the out.

Then again, Joshua couldn't create cards in the middle of a duel like he could, so of course Joshua would say something like that.

With a sigh, Yuya collected his deck and placed it in his duel disk. It was worth a shot.

Closing his eyes, Yuya imagined one card that had tripped him up a lot in his practice duels—Anti-Spell Fragrance. He imagined the continuous trap set on the field, waiting to lock him out of Pendulum. He needed something to deal with that.

"Draw!"

Yuya frowned at the card he'd just drawn. It was Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, a useful card, but not one that would do anything about continuous traps. He closed his eyes and concentrated again, focusing on the feeling he'd felt when dueling Strong Ishijima, the need to win, the need to conquer.

"Draw!"

This time, Yuya felt something pulling at him as he drew the card, but it dissipated. Opening his eyes, he saw that he'd drawn Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph Dragon. That was better, as Pendulumgraph Dragon could negate trap cards, but it still wasn't "the out". He needed something stronger.

Images of Joshua laughing about "terrible highlander durdle piles" flew to his mind unbidden, along with the condescending lessons he'd been forced through to prepare for the duels with LDS. It felt like that event was so long ago, and yet it was still fresh in his mind. That was the first time he hadn't just won, but completely crushed his opponent. If he was honest with himself, Yuya would have to admit that it had felt good to see Hokuto powerless like that.

"Draw!"

This time, as he drew, Yuya felt the pulling sensation once more, and this time, he latched onto it, forcing whatever it was to heed his commands. It resisted, but with effort, he pulled the card from the duel disk. It came loose with a burst of golden light, and when Yuya was able to properly look at it, he smiled.

The card was Cosmic Cyclone, the perfect way to deal with a draw phase Anti-Spell Fragrance. Success.

Once more, Yuya closed his eyes and imagined a different board—Joshua's typical Swordsoul board, consisting of Chixiao and Quixing Longyan with two cards set. He'd lost to that exact setup many times, and it had hurt every time.

"Draw!"

A burst of golden light came from the duel disk as he drew the card, and when he saw it, Yuya grinned. Evenly Matched was the exact card he'd needed so many times.

The possibilities for this ability were endless. His biggest weakness, going second, was completely mitigated by this. This 'golden draw' meant that he was invincible.

Finally, he would be able to surpass Joshua and show him the value of his father's entertainment dueling.

—| |—

I headed home quickly after my meeting with Himika, and one shower and change into formal clothes later, I was feeling refreshed. If I were to be objective, things were actually going great right now. Sure, there were a few small worrying things like the Herald of the Supreme King, but overall, I was mostly in control of things. Kurosaki's report mentioned that he had defeated and carded Sora, and while I missed the kid, it was just one more variable I wouldn't need to worry about. Everything was lining up nicely.

My duel disk buzzed as I finished up with my tie, and a brief glance showed that Yuto had sent me a short message—Meet me outside your apartment building. I'll be there soon. We're going to duel, it read. This sort of message was pretty typical of him. In the brief time I'd spent with him, I'd found Yuto to be quite blunt and terse, which was refreshing. Too often people said many words without actually saying anything meaningful in the name of 'politeness', and figuring out what they actually meant was tiring.

I grabbed my three deck boxes and attached them to my belt before heading out of my apartment and outside. I sat down on a nearby bench, mentally thanking whoever built Maiami City for making it so pedestrian-friendly.

Not more than ten seconds had passed before I saw a shadow blur across the rooftops, then jump down the walls between two buildings and land next to me. Yuto's various displays of acrobatics never ceased to impress me. I'd gotten a fair bit more athletic while learning Action Dueling, but I was nowhere near capable of pulling these ninja-level stunts.

"You wanted to duel?" I asked as a form of greeting.

Yuto nodded. "I want to see you use all your strength this time. Use the deck you used during the Battle Royale?"

"You mean Tearlaments?" I said, reaching for the deck. As my fingers touched it, the memories rushed back unbidden. For a moment, I was still back there, hearing the screams of anguish.

I shook myself. I couldn't keep freezing like that. "I don't think that would make for a very interesting duel," I said.

"Use it anyway," Yuto insisted. "I want to see how it plays."

I sighed. I wasn't getting out of this one was I? "Okay," I said slowly, removing the deck from the box and slotting it into my duel disk. Why was I so hesitant? It was just cardboard, after all.

"Duel!" Yuto called as we drew our opening five. I opened Havnis, Kelbek, Magnamhut, Reinoheart, and Herald of the Orange Light—practically an FTK.

"I'll take the first move," Yuto said. "I summon The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales and activate its effect, discarding The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves to send one Phantom Knights card from my deck to the graveyard!"

The obvious response here was Orange Light. Pitching both it and Kelbek would allow me to start milling and set up disruption before it even got to my turn. Activating Havnis would also work. Yet for some reason, I hesitated, my hands hovering over the cards.

"I send The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak from my deck to the graveyard," Yuto proclaimed. "Next, I'll banish Ancient Cloak to add one The Phantom Knights card from my deck to my hand!"

Orange light this, you fool! I screamed at myself internally, but my hands refused to move.

"You appear conflicted," Yuto said as he took Silent Boots from his deck. "Where is the conviction you showed earlier?"

"I'm a little short on sleep," I said.

"It's more than that," Yuto insisted as he specialed Boots. "Your strength is still there, but you hesitate, almost as if you're afraid of it."

I really hated how perceptive my friends could be sometimes. "I suppose there's no way around this, is there? Fine. I carded a hundred people and it hurts. Every goddamn time I close my eyes I can hear their screams. I… I've become a monster."

Well, the floodgates were open. I'd put my emotions in the open to be judged and mocked. There was no way I could be taken seriously as the commander of the Lancers after this, not after putting all this emotional burden on the people I was supposed to be leading.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Yuto said. "It hurt me as well, the first time I carded someone. But you can't fear it, Joshua. If you fear yourself, you'll be paralyzed, just as you are now, a sword without a wielder. The fact that you worry if you're a monster means that you aren't—your morals are still there. Now pick up your sword and fight, Joshua!"

Yuto stacked Boots and Torn Scales on top of each other on his duel disk. The two spectral warriors disappeared into a vortex of yellow light as another monster emerged. "Warrior who traveled through the fires of hell! Bury your demons and lay waste to your enemies! Xyz Summon! Rank 3! Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss! Now, I activate Dante's effect, detaching Torn Scales and sending the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard to increase its attack to 2500!"

"Chain Havnis," I said, revealing the card in my hand. "I'll mill three as well."

I smiled at the mills. Two copies of Merrli and a Scream was pretty good. "I suppose this is my lucky day. I activate the effects of Tearlaments Merrli and Tearlaments Scream in my graveyard to fusion summon by shuffling back materials from the graveyard and add one Tear name from deck to hand, respectively. I'll search Sulliek and tuck back Merrli and Havnis to make Kitkalos."

The leader of the Tearlaments (I think, don't quiz me on the lore) appeared on the field and now it was effectively my turn. "Activate Kitkalos sending Reinoheart to grave. Reinoheart effect pitching Sulliek. Reinoheart effect on field sending Havnis, Sulliek effect to search. Havnis effect in grave, fusing itself with Kitkalos to make Rulkallos, and Sulliek adds Schieren."

I looked in Yuto's graveyard to plan my next move before deciding to pass back priority.

"I activate the effect of Ragged Gloves to send Silent Boots from my deck to my graveyard," Yuto said. As expected. "Since another Phantom Knights card was banished, Torn Scales its effect to special summon itself from my graveyard."

"Chain Magnamhut targeting Torn Scales," I said. The dark dragon bound in chains roared as it banished the spectral image of Torn Scales, its chains rattling eerily. "Magnamhut's effect when summoned—during the end phase of this turn, I can search any dragon."

"I activate the effect of The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots—" Yuto began, before I interrupted.

"Chain Orange Light, pitching itself and Kelbek." I declined the Kelbek trigger as Yuto's deck was also graveyard-based and I was in a pretty commanding position—milling here wouldn't help with my control over the gamestate.

"I set one card and then activate it! Since I have no trap cards in my graveyard, I can activate The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine the turn it was set!"

"No response to Shade Brigandine," I said, guessing Yuto had another level four extender he'd need to special. My read proved true when he activated the effect of Stained Greaves, which prompted the Rulkallos activation.

On my command, Rulkallos impaled the spectral knight upon her sword, boosted by the ghostly form of Schieren in my hand. Since Rulkallos destroyed Stained Greaves, its effect mandated that I send another Tear name from my hand or field to the graveyard, thus I pitched the Schieren.

"Schieren effect in grave," I declared. "I'll fuse Schieren with Merrli and Reinoheart to make Kaleido-heart. Kaleido-heart effect targeting Shade Brigandine to spin it." Shade Brigandine was HOPT, which meant that by spinning it away I'd kept him off of level four monsters for the turn, thus locked out of Dark Rebellion. Phantom Knights was incapable of making a rank-3 off of a single card, and he'd already expended most of the names' grave effects, hence I didn't have to worry about a Break Sword coming down.

This was fun. Planning around lines, making reads, having this sort of intimate understanding of what my cards did… it was almost like being back at home, playing at locals with my friends. I half expected to get hit with a Dimensional Barrier or Soul Drain or something.

"Battle phase!" Yuto declared, before his duel disk beeped, alerting him that he had attempted to make an illegal action. "Wait, why won't it let me attack?"

"We're still on turn one," I explained.

"I kind of forgot it was still my turn for a bit," Yuto admitted. "Anyway, I end my turn."

"Draw for turn, standby, main. Normal Reinoheart, Reinoheart effect sending Merrli. Merrli chain link one, Kaleido-Heart target Dante as chain link two. I'll fuse Merrli with Reinoheart to make Kitkalos. Kitkalos effect to search Merrli."

I already had lethal on board and a negate for any stupid shit like Battle Fader (although I highly doubted Yuto played those sorts of cards anymore after what I'd taught him), so there was no need to keep comboing.

"Enter combat," I proclaimed. "Kaleido-heart and Rulkallos attack for lethal."

As the holograms dissipated, I stepped forward to shake Yuto's hand. "Good game," I said.

"Good game," he agreed. "I didn't realize just how strong your Tearlaments deck was."

"It's considered the best deck ever printed for a reason," I said. "Thanks for the duel, it was fun, and I really did need that."

Yuto smiled. "I could see you slipping, and I couldn't bear to see you slip further."

He paused and turned away from me, not letting me see his face. "Back before… before Heartland was invaded, I had a dream. It was a silly dream, or it seems silly now, I guess—anyway, I dreamed of becoming a professional duelist so I could make people smile."

I could imagine the tears forming in his eyes. "It's a noble goal."

"Shun shared my dream—it was how we became friends, after all, bringing smiles to each other through dueling. After Academia invaded, I clung to that dream, while I saw my friends—Shun, Kaito, and the others—I saw them all slip away from that, falling into brutality. So when Serena told me what was going on with you, I couldn't allow it to happen again."

I rubbed my eyes. Dammit, this was making me emotional. "Serena asked you to do this, huh? I'm honestly not surprised."

"She cares, you know," Yuto said. "We all care. You've taught us all a lot, and it's only fair that we get to teach you sometimes."

I chuckled. "I suppose it is."

—| |—

Ruberum—no, that was his name no longer. He called himself Alexander now. It was a good name, the name of a famous conqueror. Alexander strode through the halls of the Tops mansion, collecting his thoughts and calming his nerves. What he was about to do had to go absolutely perfectly for his plan to have any chance at succeeding.

Several minutes of nervous pacing and rhythmic breathing later, Ruberum finally arrived at one of the mansion's many guestrooms. He swallowed quickly and briefly debated knocking before deciding in favor of doing so. Raising his fist, he tapped the heavy wooden door three times in quick succession.

Ruberum heard a "come in" from the other side of the door after only a few seconds, and with a shaking hand, he opened the door and walked into a scene similar to ones that had appeared in a number of his fantasies.

Ruri and Rin were engaged in animated conversation with each other at one of the room's desks, while Yuzu stood off to the side, nodding along to what the other two girls were saying while fiddling with her deck. As Ruberum stepped into the room, the three girls turned to face him.

"Hi," Ruberum said awkwardly, before cursing himself. Is 'Hi' the best you can come up with? "My name's Alexander. You're probably wondering where you are and who I am."

A round of nods bid him to continue.

"Okay, the short story is… well, I somehow found myself in another world with an institution known as Academia," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"That's the same guys who kidnapped me," Rin supplied.

Ruberum nodded before continuing his story. "So I went and explored the place, being careful to stay out of sight, and then, somehow, I found a prison in one of the towers—it was a pretty weird prison, since it only held one person. You." He pointed directly at Rin with his last statement.

"It was pretty odd that I was kept alone," Rin agreed.

"Isn't that a bit too convenient, though?" Yuzu asked, looking up from her cards. "You just happened to find her?"

"Coincidences happen," Ruri argued. "We're just lucky he was there."

Score! Ruberum thought. Okay, Ruri and Rin are on my side, but Yuzu is still suspicious. Two out of three isn't bad. "Anyway, I busted you out while everyone was sleeping," he continued. "I then remembered that there were two other similar towers and went to check them out, in case there were other people there. That's how I found you two."

"Then how'd we get here?" Yuzu demanded, standing up to face him.

"The weirdest thing happened after I brought you three together. Your bracelets started glowing, and then we ended up here."

Ruri and Rin glanced down at their wrists, confirming that their identical bracelets were there, while Yuzu glanced down at her bare wrist.

"It is odd that we have identical bracelets," Rin agreed. "And the fact that we all look identical as well… I'm willing to believe Alexander."

"I'll also believe him," Ruri said. "Even if he left some things out, he did save us from Academia. What about you, Yuzu?"

The pink-haired girl shook her head. "Something doesn't add up here," she said. "There's another reason why we look identical, and I'll explain it when Alexander leaves."

She knows about Zarc, Ruberum realized. Joshua must have told her. Perhaps the Herald of the Supreme King persona was a worse idea than I realized.

"Anyway," Ruberum said, desperately trying to steer the conversation away. "I think we're back home in the City now."

"You live in the Tops?" Rin asked. "It has to be, given the size of this place."

Ruberum nodded. "I was one of the few fortunate enough to be born into luxury."

"I assume you're a duelist, Alexander," Yuzu said. "Then how about facing me in a duel?"

"I'd be happy to," Ruberum responded. "Uh, not here though. Perhaps in the dueling hall?"

He caught Rin mouthing 'dueling hall' to Ruri as he led the three girls out of the room. Indeed, the mansion he currently inhabited was so opulent that it had several rooms dedicated specifically to dueling, despite the previous inhabitant being absolutely terrible at the sport. That damn nobility-themed highlander pile was one of the worst decks Ruberum had ever laid eyes on. Still, the nobility theme had given him something to work off of when creating the deck he'd use for this phase of the plan.

Ruberum took his position on one side of the arena while Yuzu stood on the other. Ruri and Rin sat in the stands that were far too large for just two people and had probably never held more than twenty.

"Ladies first," Ruberum said, bowing slightly. Need to accentuate that 'awkward gentleman' image.

"Such a gentleman," Yuzu deadpanned. "I activate One for One, pitching Veiler to summon Rikka Petal from deck. Petal effect, add Mudan. Mudan effect, special itself by tributing Petal. Mudan effect on field, activate Konkon."

Yuzu rattled off her combo as Ruberum watched in fear. He hadn't realized she knew the deck that well. Had he not locked her down with Colossus, he probably would've had a difficult duel ahead of him back during the Battle Royale. Joshua had taught her well.

Still, while Rikka was amazing against monster-based decks, decks that acted on a different axis would decimate Rikka boards easily. Indeed, as Yuzu ended on the archetypal rank-8, Princess in grave, Konkon on field, one card in hand, and one unknown backrow, Ruberum was feeling pretty good about his chances.

"Draw!" Ruberum declared. "I activate the effect of Eldlich the Golden Lord in my hand! By discarding it and one spell or trap card, I can target one card on the field and send it to the graveyard. I target your Xyz monster!"

"Resolves," Yuzu said, glancing down at her backrow.

"I set one card and activate the effect of Eldlich the Golden Lord in my graveyard! By sending one spell or trap card from my field to the graveyard, I can add it back to my hand, then special summon a zombie from my hand and give it an additional 1000 attack and defense points! So here's Eldlich on the field!"

The golden lord reclined on his throne, briefly glancing up at Ruberum to see who had dared summon him before settling back down into his nap.

"Battle phase! Eldlich attacks you directly!"

Eldlich rose from his throne, groaning as he did so, before calmly walking over to Yuzu and flicking her lightly in the forehead. His attack complete, he walked back to his chair and resumed his nap. Ruberum couldn't help but find the entire scene comical.

[Yuzu: 4000 - 500]

"In my second main phase, I'll banish Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine from my graveyard to set Conquistador of the Golden Land to my field. I set three cards and go to my end phase, where the effect of Huaquero of the Golden Land triggers, allowing me to banish it to set Eldlixier of Scarlet Sanguine to my field!"

"During your end phase, the effect of my Rikka Petal in the graveyard activates to special summon itself!" Yuzu declared as the flower blossomed once more on her field.

I probably should've held my Called By for that, Ruberum thought, glancing at the card he'd set. No matter. I can still win this easily.

"Draw!" Yuzu yelled, frowning at what she'd drawn. "Standby phase."

This was the pivotal moment of the duel, Ruberum realized. He needed to have the correct read on that backrow, otherwise things would get a lot more difficult. Given the fact it hadn't been used so far, he had a good feeling it was Rikka Sheet. That meant that if he were to go after Konkon with Conquistador, she could just activate Sheet in response to steal the Eldlich and blank the Conq. Thus he had to chase out the Sheet by clearing her field before she regained turn priority, which meant…

"I activate my trap card Ice Dragon's Prison targeting the Rikka Princess in your graveyard! This trap card allows me to special summon that monster, then banish one monster from each of our fields that have the same type!"

"Reverse card open, Rikka Sheet!" Yuzu proclaimed, raising her hand to the sky as the trap card flipped up. "I tribute Rikka Petal to take control of one monster you control and turn it into a plant!"

As expected, Ruberum thought. "Chain Conquistador of the Golden Land! It special summons itself as a monster, then if I control Eldlich the Golden Lord at the point of resolution, I can destroy one card on the field! Finally, I'll activate Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine as chain link four! It allows me to special summon any zombie monster from my deck, but if I don't control Eldlich, I have to summon Eldlich."

"Chain Ash," Yuzu said. "Since you activated a card that special summons from the deck, I can discard Ash to negate it."

"Chain link six Called By!" Ruberum declared. "I target one monster in your graveyard, banish it, and negate its effects until the end of the next turn!"

"Chain resolves," Yuzu said, glancing at the one remaining card in her hand.

When the chain resolved, Ruberum was left with a defense position Conquistador and Necroworld Banshee, as well as one set card, while Yuzu was left with an empty field and one card in hand.

"That was all in the Standby Phase?" Rin remarked.

"It did feel like a whole turn," Ruri agreed.

"Main phase one! I normal summon Rikka Petal and activate its effect to add Mudan the Rikka Fairy from my deck to my hand!" Yuzu yelled victoriously. Indeed, if Ruberum let this go through, she would be able to access Konkon and recur resources with Glamour. However, one quirk of the Rikka monsters was that they all had to tribute plant monsters to special themselves. Therefore…

"Necroworld Banshee effect," Ruberum stated. "By banishing this from my field, I can activate Zombie World from my deck."

While Ruberum's monsters were unaffected by the change in setting, Yuzu's Rikka Petal immediately wilted, half-decomposing under the miasma of the new field.

"Why can't I special summon Mudan here?" Yuzu asked. "Rikka petal is—oh, Zombie World makes all monsters on the field into zombies. I end my turn."

"Draw!" Ruberum declared. "I'll change Conquistador of the Golden land to attack mode. Batlle Phase! Conquisador attacks Rikka Petal!"

The undead knight charged forth, spearing the decomposing petal upon his lance and proceeding forward, stopping with his blade only inches from Yuzu's neck.

[Yuzu: 500 - 0]

[Alexander: WIN]

"Good game," Ruberum said, walking over to shake Yuzu's hand.

"Good game," Yuzu agreed, meeting his handshake. "Trap decks are a pretty bad matchup for me if I'm not running my backrow hate."

"You still dueled really well," Ruri said. "That was amazing! The whole back-and-forth with traps on the third turn was intense."

As the conversation continued, Ruberum smiled to himself. He'd gained Ruri and Rin's trust, and in time, Yuzu would come around too. Hopefully that duel had alleviated her suspicions, as he hadn't used any deck that the Herald of the Supreme King had.

—| |—

I strode out onto the platform overlooking the stadium that had previously housed the duels of the Arc-League Championship Maiami. Within the arena stood the accepted Lancers candidates. Sawatari soaked in the crowd's attention, while Yuya looked conflicted. Shun stood stoically at the back of the group, ignoring everything around him. They seemed to be doing okay, for the most part.

"My name is Joshua Cohen, though if you're here, you've probably heard of me already," I began. "I regret to inform you that yesterday, the Battle Royale portion of the ALC Maiami was attacked by a terrorist group known as Academia."

Cries of panic flew throughout the stands, and I raised my hands to bring an end to the noise. "However, these terrorists were defeated without minimal casualties. You see, Leo Corporation has been fighting to defend the general populace from Academia for quite some time."

I gauged the crowd's reaction before moving forward. They seemed hopeful, eager to hear what I had to say next.

"This is why we are now instituting the Lancers Defence System—LDS. This group, composed of handpicked elite duelists by Reiji Akaba, will both serve to defend Maiami City from the threat Academia poses and launch a counter-terrorism offensive against Academia."

The crowd cheered, as expected. Give them an enemy, paint it as dangerous but defeatable, and tell them you're going to kill it—these were the steps to rally people and cement your own power. It had been used by many nations across history. I had despised the tactic when it had been used back at home, but I couldn't deny its utility. Still, using it made my skin crawl.

"The Lancers Selection is led by Reiji Akaba, with myself acting as the leader while he recovers. If you wish to be part of the Lancers' noble mission, enroll in LDS. Thank you all for listening."

I walked from the platform and back into the waiting room to hearty applause. Mission accomplished.

—| |—

The room I'd selected to meet with the Lancers was, funnily enough, the same room where I'd taught Yuto and Shun how to duel properly. I'd chosen this room for a few reasons—first, it was spacious, with plenty of room to house the thirty-odd people that composed the Lancers. Second, it had a projector. Yes, I'd made a simple slideshow about the plan. It got the idea across better than gesticulating.

The other Lancers filed in at a decent pace, with Serena and Yugo arriving early, then Shun shortly after, then Sawatari and a few of his friends, and so on. The last to arrive was Yuya, who walked in quickly, his finger pointed directly at me in an accusing manner.

"How dare you…" he began. "How dare you let Yuzu get taken and then pretend it's all okay! How dare you expect us all to follow you like we're your soldiers! I've had enough of you coming in here and telling us how we should do things! It was all fine until you showed up… damn you!"

Yuya swung a fist at me, only for it to be blocked by a solid hologram wall. That was the third reason I'd chosen this room—the Solid Vision system could be tweaked for purposes such as this one, and Yuya's reaction was entirely expected.

"Calm down," I asked. "I understand you're upset, but—"

"You 'understand'? You don't understand shit!" Yuya yelled.

A moment of silence hung across the room. None of us had really heard Yuya swear like that before.

I sighed. Dealing with Yuya's temper tantrums was not going to be fun. Why couldn't Yuya be 18 or so? "Fine. I get you're not happy with how things are. Let's make a deal: we'll duel, if I win, you stay a member of the Lancers, with all that entails, if you win, I'll let you go and you won't have to deal with any of this. Deal?"

"Deal," Yuya said, far too quickly for my comfort. Had he changed around his deck recently?

The rest of the Lancers took to the stands of the duel arena, clearing the space for Yuya and me to duel. I tapped at the remote control panel to initiate a standard non-action duel. Yuya and I drew our opening five and paused, looking at each other expectantly.

"You can go first," Yuya said. That was surprising, unless he'd switched decks entirely to a blind second strategy, he would want to be on the play.

"Fine with me," I said. My hand was more than enough, and one quick combo later, I had a board consisting of Redoer, Dragostapelia, Sulliek, and two shufflers in grave.

"Draw!" Yuya yelled, his eyes closed and face screwed up in concentration. With a flash of golden light, he grabbed the top card of his deck. When he finally looked at the card, he started laughing.

"Standby phase, Redoer effect to attach the top card of your deck," I said. It was Wavering Eyes, which was definitely a card I didn't want Yuya to have.

"Enter battle phase," Yuya said, and my heart sank. He must've topdecked Evenly Matched. from the way he was acting.

"End battle phase," Yuya declared, and I knew what was coming next.

"Since I control no cards, I can activate the trap card Evenly Matched from my hand! This card forces you to—"

"I know how Evenly works," I interrupted. "Activate Redoer in response, detaching Schieren and Wavering Eyes."

Redoer laughed as he tapped his watch, causing him to disappear in a flash of light, leaving only Dragostapellia and my set Sulliek to face the blast of Yuya's Evenly Matched.

I drew a copy of Bystial Saronir, which wasn't exactly great against pends, but at least my mills would be better, and banished Dragostapelia face-down with the resolution of Evenly Matched.

"Activate Schieren on a new chain," I said. "Fuse Schieren with Merrli in grave to make Kitkalos. Kitkalos effect, add Havnis to hand."

"I set Performapal Monkeyboard in the Pendulum Scale and activate its effect!" Yuya said. "I add Performapal Skullcrobat Joker from my deck to my hand, which I'll normal summon. Performapal Skullcrobat Joker's effect—"

"Chain Sulliek targeting Joker," I said. "Joker's effect is negated and I get to send Kitkalos to the graveyard."

"That isn't even a downside!" Yugo commented from the sidelines. "It just means he gets to send the top five cards of his deck to the graveyard!"

"Indeed," I said, as I milled my five. My mills were pretty good, having hit a Kelbek among a few Tearlaments cards, and I quickly took control of the duel after that. Rulkallos blocked Yuya's Draco Face-Off, and a well-timed Havnis activation let me use Kaleido-Heart to dramatically decrease the power of Yuya's end board. When my turn came, I had a board of Rullkalos, Redoer, Sulliek, and Kaleido-Heart with a Reinoheart in hand against Yuya's sole copy of Ignister Prominence and set scales.

"Draw for turn," I said. "You played well, Yuya, but you over-relied on that topdecked Evenly. No matter how well you topdeck, there isn't always a silver bullet card that wins you the game."

"I… but how? You had no negates! That Evenly Matched was supposed to be devastating! Why did my draw fail?"

"You misread the board and the threats it posed," I said. "It's to be expected—you've never played against Tearlaments before. I had no intention of ever losing this duel."

"Dammit!" Yuya yelled. "Damn you! I thought you were a decent guy at first, you know? But then… you took Yuzu away from me! She was my closest friend, and you seduced her away! She spent all her evenings with you!"

I flinched at Yuya's unexpected outburst. "I… what? What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's saying you stole his girlfriend from him," Shun deadpanned.

I dearly hoped that there wouldn't be any sort of salacious rumors about me flying around after this, but that was wishful thinking.

"She's not my—" Yuya protested, before I silenced him.

"One," I said as I normaled Reinoheart. "I have no idea how you got that idea. I am Yuzu's mentor in dueling, nothing more."

"Two," I continued, as I binned Merrli off of Reinoheart. "I taught you just as much as I taught her, if not more."

"Three." Merrli and Kaleido-heart triggered, with Kaleido-Heart as chain link one. "I don't know exactly what connection the two of you share, but it's obvious that she is interested in you and you alone, given the way she speaks of you. Thus, I can confidently say to you—I have zero romantic intentions towards your friend. If that is what this outburst is about, I would much rather make peace and move on."

Yuya paused, considering my words. After a few moments of consideration, he finally spoke. "I don't know," he said. "Everything's so different. I blamed you for all this, but it isn't really true, is it? It all started when I Pendulum Summoned against Strong Ishijima." Yuya struggled to keep a smile on his face as tears started to form in his eyes.

"You know, it's okay to cry when you need to," I said. "It's better than keeping it all inside, at least."

"My father always told me to 'smile when you want to cry', and he always seemed happy," Yuya said.

"Fuck that," I spat angrily. To tell a kid to bottle up their emotions like that is practically child abuse. "Happy fathers don't leave their families unexpectedly. Yusho Sakaki may not have been a coward, but he was not a good father."

"I…" Yuya began, but I knew he couldn't really argue with me. Yusho's disappearance and terrible parenting had caused Yuya no end of grief, and deep down, he knew it. "I don't know what to believe anymore. But still, I need to rescue Yuzu!"

"Ordinarily, I'd tell you to take your time and think it through, work through all these confusing thoughts," I said. Wait, why 'ordinarily'? There was no reason not to. If Yuya can't handle himself, then he shouldn't be on the front lines. "Actually, do that. Find a therapist in Standard. You're not the first boy in the world to have a missing father. I'll move you to the Standard Reserve force."

"You will?" Yuya said, eyes brightening.

"You can't," Shun argued. "We need everyone we can to take down Academia."

"Actually, as acting commander of the Lancers, I can," I pointed out. "Regardless, Yuya would still be fighting Academia."

"He'll be stuck here in Standard!" Shun roared.

"Shun, enough," Yuto said, but the Raidraptor duelist ignored his friend's protests.

"You're wasting a powerful duelist! Keeping him in Standard, when he could be liberating Heartland or slaughtering Academia!" Shun ranted.

I nodded. "Yes. In Standard, where Academia could invade at any moment. Or did you think they'd leave us alone after that one attempt? Tell me, Kurosaki, what will you do if we defeat Academia as you desire while Standard burns to the ground? Do you wish to create another Heartland?"

Shun stiffened. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. I'd probably regret this later, but things needed to move forward now.

Having cleared Yuya's board, I attacked for game, swinging in with Kaleio-heart and Rulkallos. As the win message appeared on the holographic display, I deactivated the room's dueling features.

"Have we reached an agreement?" I asked, and was met by a round of nods, some more reluctant than others. "Good. I have sent out your assignments by e-mail before this meeting, but in case anyone didn't get them, they're up on the board." I tapped the projector and watched as it flickered to life, displaying the four groups of names I'd made earlier today.

"Any questions?" I asked, but the room was silent. Good.

"Then for those of us who will leave Standard, we leave today."

~Part 1 Fin~

Author's Notes: With this chapter, the Standard arc is concluded! I tried to wrap things up as well as I could and set up the characters for their arcs in Part 2.

Part 2 will have the Xyz and Synchro arcs running simultaneously. This is to rectify a major problem in the anime, where Synchro was a bloated, padded mess and Xyz was rushed.

Finally, pairings have been decided: Yuya/Yuzu, Yuto/Ruri, and Yugo/Rin are the ONLY pairings that will feature in this fic. Any other interactions are meant to be read as platonic.