Chapter 24: New Strength
Fusion Dimension – Throne Room
"How's Project ZERO coming along, Doktor?" Leo Akaba asked his right-hand man, his Throne Room otherwise empty,
"Perfectly, my lord. Stage 1 is now complete, and Stage 2 is awaiting final approval from you." The Doktor answered,
"Good. Well, the authorisation is granted. See it done." Leo nodded, his mind drifting to his goal,
"Yes, my lord. Although, there is something else you should know."
"What?"
"The Energy Analysis Team have been monitoring the Xyz Dimension ever since your son and his team were confirmed to be there, and there seems to have been a spike in the seven recognised Duel Energy types."
"Remind me again what those are."
"Well, you have the four relating to the dimensions, being Tribute for Standard and Fusion, Synchro and Xyz for their respective dimensions, along with Sakaki's Pendulum, that Link Energy, and lastly, Ritual Energy."
"Ritual?! My word. Is there ANOTHER?!" Leo exclaimed, shocking the Doktor,
"My lord, what do you mean by another if you don't mind me asking?" He inquired,
"Never you mind. Just make sure security on the Synchro girl is increased."
"Ah. Right. It slipped my mind before, but you've just reminded me." The Doktor said quietly,
"What. Is. It." Leo growled,
"Someone, likely from Yusho, broke into the Academy and broke that girl out. Both Apollo and Diana were found knocked out at the base of the tower and the door showed signs of being forced open." The Doktor meekly admitted, Leo slamming his fist on the arm of the Throne,
"Goddamn it! Get those two in here. They need to learn a last lesson about defying me, it seems. Furthermore, get Team Sigma ready to be deployed. I think it is time that Yusho Sakaki learn a lesson himself. A lesson in warfare." Leo stood up and swept out of the room, his purple cape fluttering as he muttered several obscenities about the situation.
Fusion Dimension – A Nondescript Alleyway
"We're almost there." The hooded person said, Rin not being sure whether her saviour was male or female, their voice sounding somewhat like an amalgamation of both the natural tone of a man and a woman, the accent also unplaceable, but certainly not from New Domino, yet it sounded familiar. Androgynous, the word was, if Rin remembered it correctly,
"But where's there?! You've not told me anything other than 'We need to leave, I know a place!'" Rin exclaimed, panting slightly with exhaustion, as she wasn't used to running as much as they had been, especially since she'd been locked up in a cramped tower for nearly a month beforehand,
"You never know when they're listening. They have microphones and cameras everywhere. To attempt to catch people like us, y'know. Luckily, our route avoids most of the known ones, but it doesn't help to be careful. Just make sure to keep up." They responded, Rin nodding her confirmation that she heard, and they continued on, taking turn after turn, before the approached a dead-end.
"W-What? Did you just lead me to a dead-end to trap me?!" Rin panted, wishing she had her Duel Disk on her. Sure it malfunctioned often and she then needed to use Yugo's, but it worked when she needed it to, and despite having her deck, she knew it was useless without a Disk, especially in a place where monsters could physically interact with you,
"Nah, there's something to see, but only a magician, or one of his closest allies could show you what." They remarked, walking towards the wall, placing their hand on the fifth brick from the neighbouring wall on the left, at about their waist level, or 7 or so bricks high. Suddenly, a portion of the wall slid back, revealing a staircase that led down to some basement of sorts, her saviour gestured for her to follow him, and she did, albeit warily. She was surprised, however, when she emerged from the staircase into a bright room that looked to be a duel school of some sort, a large banner proclaiming 'Remember to smile, and you won't need to worry about the result'. Bit idealistic, she thought to herself, but she saw people who were genuinely happy all around her, having only seen the almost cult-like glare of Duel Academy soldiers for so long now. Her saviour then flicked down their hood, revealing cyan hair and eyes, and when they spoke next, there was no mistaking them as male,
"Ah, feels good to have that hood off! Anyways, I better get you to Teach, and he'll catch you up to speed," The accent was now stronger since his voice had lost the feminine half of its tone, "Anyways, the name's Jesse, no need to introduce yourself, I already know you're called Rin and you're not exactly from around here." Rin just realised where she recognised the accent as from the Middle Kingdom of the American Empire, and she just nodded in response,
"Anyways, what is this place?" She asked,
"Only Yusho Duel School. A place for happiness and joy to be shown through Duel Monsters, and the only competitor that Duel Academy has in the vicinity of Domino City!" Jesse enthusiastically exclaimed,
"Wait, Domino City? I come from a New Domino City, which we're told was built on Domino's ruins!"
"Well, yeah, in the Synchro Dimension that might be the case, but not over here. I even heard that my homeland is slightly different over where you're from."
"If I'm placing your accent correctly, you mean the Americas, right?"
"Yeah, lived there for most of my life before moving here. Y'see, my mum's Japanese, and my dad's American, but they met over there, however, family troubles happened, so we moved here." Jesse nodded, his voice slightly solemn at the last proclamation,
"Ah, I see. Well, where I come from the continents that were once North and South America have united to one, under an empire. I think it occurred not long after they won their independence." Rin replied,
"Oh? Really? Well, it is in an alternate world, so I'm not exactly surprised," Jesse then saw someone out of the corner of his eye, and called out to them, "Yo, Alexis!" The girl turned around, and Rin couldn't help but feel slightly envious about how, ahem, well-developed the girl was, her outfit certainly highlighting it,
"So you're back, Jesse. And you must be Rin! I'm Alexis Rhodes, one of Yusho's best students, skill wise, and it's a pleasure to meet you!" Alexis cheerfully said, coming over to them,
"Ah, yes. It's nice to meet you, too." Rin replied,
"So, do you know where Yusho is?" Jesse asked,
"Yeah. He's in his office. His leg was acting up again, so I had to go run for some medicine." Alexis looked somewhat dejected, but Rin decided not to push for an answer,
"Thanks," Jesse said, before starting to walk away, "Oh, right. I saw him," Alexis stiffened slightly, "Still under the Professor's yoke, unfortunately."
"A shame." Alexis nodded, before walking off herself. Jesse motioned for Rin to follow him, and she did, being led into an office where a relatively tall man, wearing a red suit and a top hat sat, a computer screen open in front of him.
"You must be Rin," he said, looking up, "You know, now that I can see you up close, you do look rather like someone I know." Rin seized up slightly at that, but the tone he spoke in, she could tell was genuine, and that he actually meant her no harm.
Xyz Dimension – Lancer Forward Camp
Declan had been pacing ever since the video feed had cut out. It had been a week, and the five boys showed no sign of waking up soon, which was concerning, and Lulu and Izumi and him could only do so much before merely waiting got old. Fortunately, he had been able to get a message out to the Lancers that were still in the Synchro Dimension, and he'd confirmed that they were going to be on their way to help finish up the Resistance's fight against Duel Academy. He had been sipping on a cup of tea when Lulu rushed into the room.
"They're awake!" She hurriedly exclaimed, and Declan nodded, standing up,
"Any abnormalities in their conditions?" He inquired,
"No, but they seem a bit disoriented. Almost as if they'd been dreaming right until they woke up."
"Hmm. Very well. Let's go get them up to speed. I assume Izumi is with them?" The second girl was a massive mystery to Declan, as she had next to no records, and in addition, she had a rather close relationship with Ren, who Declan could only surmise as someone with an intense grudge against Yuya and the other wielders of the four Dimensional Dragons,
"Yes. She was particularly excited when they started to stir." Lulu nodded, and the two entered the space where they had set the boys up, and when they entered, they saw Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri in various stages of shaking themselves awake, while Ren was struggling against the bonds that kept him tied up. Izumi stood over with the first four, giving them a rationed meal, which, judging by the looks on their faces they were enjoying. Declan smiled slightly seeing them enjoy themselves as such, as he and Lulu had also been treated to Izumi's surprisingly good cooking, considering that all the ingredients were rationed, and from cans.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I thought it necessary to ask you four about what happened as soon as possible." He stated,
"Oh. Yeah." Yuya said, the smile on his face falling slightly,
"Well, I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason, we all fell asleep and I think us five had the same dream." Yuri remarked,
"Although I wouldn't exactly call it a dream. It felt like something more than that." Yuto nodded,
"Perhaps memories of a different life?" Declan asked,
"Yeah! Something like that," Yugo shouted, causing the girls to slightly cringe, "You don't think those were Zarc's memories, do you?" Realisation crept upon the faces of the boys, and they all looked dejected at that, with the exception of Ren, who seemed to laugh behind the rope that was binding him,
"Well, if they were, then it was a great research opportunity into another potential foe."
"I'm just glad you all are okay!" Izumi said, checking over Ren,
"So, where are we?" Yuya asked,
"About two hour's drive from the Resistance Headquarters. You've been out a week, in which I've contacted the Lancers to get them to come here to plan our next steps. They should be here any day now. In the meantime, I recommend making sure your strategies are up to date, as we will likely be assaulting the forward base that Duel Academy has set up in this dimension," Declan calmly informed them, "I would say 'rest up' but I think you all have had enough of that." A small smile was on his face, and it took everyone a second to realise that Declan had been joking, upon which, they all started laughing.
"I will say," Lulu started, "Izumi, I don't think we know what your deck even is. I mean, I'd think it would be wise for you to practice against one of us so that we know what you can do."
"Oh? That sounds like fun!" The girl in question cheerfully said, "So, who wants to face me?" Surprisingly, it was Yugo's hand that shot up first,
"I'll do it! My deck recently changed massively, so I would like to." He enthusiastically said,
"Very well," Declan said, adjusting his glasses, "Head to the central area, and make sure Solid Vision projection is turned off. We don't want to reveal our location to our enemy, after all." And with that, they headed to a large, open space, where there was ample room for dueling. In fact, looking at the surroundings, it likely had been for such a sport before the invasion.
"Let's duel!" The two declared, engaging their duel disks, the others on the sidelines, observing closely.
Next Chapter Preview: Izumi vs Yugo! Just what does the newest addition to Declan's team have in store for the Turbo Duelist? Find out next time!
HEY ALL! I'm back! I can't tell you all how much the past few weeks sucked. Exams, exams and then more exams. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! No duel this time as I couldn't find the time to properly write one, but next week is Izumi vs Yugo, which I don't know about you, but I'm very excited to be able to bring it to life. Also, we got to finally catch up with Rin! Since Lulu escaped, I thought it would be unnecessary not to free Rin at some point, and furthermore, I wonder who that 'him' is that Jesse and Alexis were talking about, hmmmm. I would like to express my gratitude to Aquatic Dragon once more for providing the original concept behind Izumi and her deck and working with me to create such a character. Now, onto reviews!
Meliodas-sama - TBH, I'm not sure at the moment, but I do know that Uni and Corn are more likely to be in his deck than Phantom Dragon, at this point in time.
Aquatic Dragon – I'm very glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and that moment as well. Regarding Ren's deck, I was thinking of making it one that exists IRL, being DARK themed. My current forerunner is Orcust, but I'd like to hear your opinion.
I would also like to thank all of you for reading over these past six months, and I cannot overstate how much this continued support has helped me be able to get what I hope are quality chapters out each week.
Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next week! – NightWingBOI
