Sometime in the Future - Somewhere - Heartland City - Xyz Dimension

It had seemed like the whole world had dropped a nuclear bomb on them.

"Ruri!" A gruff, male voice shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice carried a myriad of emotions. One could clearly tell that the owner of the voice was tired, but from the sound of his voice also came a mix of rage, concern, and worry. "Ruri, where are you?! Damn it, don't do this to me, Ruri! Where the hell are you?!"

In just one moment, everything had changed. And the lives of everyone they knew were destroyed forever.

The once beautiful, majestic city of Heartland, once teeming with lights, people, fun, and innovation was now a desolate wasteland. The once clear blue skies of the city were now covered by murky gray clouds of pollution, most likely from all of the fire that had been setting their home aflame for a while now.

Heartland, the self-proclaimed City of Hope, had been practically leveled to the ground. Fallen buildings, ravaged cars, shattered pavements, lights, windows, everything that made a city a city had been completely eradicated. In such a state, Heartland couldn't really even be called a city anymore. A city one filled with hope had now been snuffed out of all that hope in just a single moment.

Realistically, it actually hadn't been that long since it all started. But for the citizens, Heartland had now felt like an eternal chamber of despair.

No longer did the beautiful city stand. In its place was now something that had gone against everything Heartland City stood for. In place of beauty was destruction. Where there should have been kindness there was hatred. Smiles and laughter had been all but snuffed out by cries and wails of fear and grief.

And the hope...that had died to...and despair was bred on its corpse.

Frantically, a black and purple-haired boy in ragged clothes ran alongside his comrades in the desolate city. The ones of those who had survived that could still put up a fight.

The Resistance...is what they called themselves now.

No longer were they peaceful people, but soldiers scarred by the flames of war. Most either perished or crumbled from the tragedies that befell them. Others stood and fought...

Looking through the broken fields of what used to be there home, a 14-year-old boy grit his teeth, almost threatening to shatter with how hard he was grinding them together. Like the man who yelled, he was also experiencing a torrent of emotions not dissimilar to the latter.

Damn it! Where are you...

Without his permission, bleak thoughts were set ablaze in his head. The possible outcomes sped through his mind at breakneck pace...and none of them were good.

"Not you too..." The boy whispered quietly as his eyes darted from place to place, hoping to spot even a single speck of his friend's existence. "We've lost so much already; we can't lose you too!"

It hadn't always been like this...

Months Ago - Duel Stadium - Heartland City - Xyz Dimension

"Ahhh!" A girl screamed, falling to the ground on her bottom. Her Life Points plummeted to 0 as the victor of the match was declared.

"Alright!" Her opponent exclaimed, raising a hand in the air with joy and excitement radiating off her features.

The winning Duelist wore a yellow and white, knee-length dress that comes with white shoes. She also had pink eyes, and beautiful long, dark purple hair that extended past her lower back. After celebrating her win, she walked over to her opponent, helping her up and exchanging a few words of encouragement as well.

Meanwhile, in the stands filled to the brim with people, there were two boys watching her closely.

"That girl is amazing!" Ohnaka Yuto, a gray-eyed boy at 14 years old said with awe, his jaw hanging open. His hair that swept up and to the right side of his head, black in the back and light purple in the front. He donned a black shirt under a casual black and cream-colored jacket as well as a pair of dark pants.

"That's my sister." The other boy, a 16-year-old, known as Kurosaki Shun responded with a proud smile. He had blueish-black hair that fell to his chin, sporting light green bangs shaped like a wing that hung down the front of his face slightly. He wore a dark grey shirt under a lighter shirt as well as wearing casual sneakers and dark jeans, much like Yuto. His yellow eyes beamed with calmness and pride as he watched the girl Duel. He had complete faith in her the whole time.

"I see!" Yuto exclaimed as he closed his eyes and returned the smile.

Until...

"Wait, what?!" Yuto widened his eyes, the realization hitting him as he looked at the girl and back at Shun multiple times. Shun had once hinted of getting him to meet his sister. However, she was away from home when he met Shun, so he never got to see her. Even so...

That girl was related to Shun?

Yuto's gaze stopped on his best friend, staring at him in utter disbelief.

"E-Ehh?!"

Later

"Nice job!" Shun told his sister with a grin.

He and Yuto had made their way down to the girl after she had left the arena, talking to her in the waiting area.

"Thank you, brother!" She responded, her mouth sliding into a grin of her own that would make anyone question her relation to Shun.

Meanwhile, Yuto was looking at her in amazement. He was at a loss of words. Completely stunned. He felt his heart pumping hard in his chest just at the mere sight of her smiling. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what it was about this girl, but something just made him unable to speak. Fortunately, Shun did the talking for him.

"I want you to meet my best friend. The one I keep telling you about. His name is Yuto."

Without missing a beat, the girl turned to him, "Nice to meet you. My name Kurosaki Ruri." The girl now known as Ruri introduced herself politely with a smile present on her face.

Yuto, however, was at such a loss of words that he didn't even really hear the greeting apart from her name. He simply gazed on in awe at the girl.

She's so pretty! Yuto thought, still staring with a minor blush on his face, taking note of all the features on her clear face. His lips formed an awkward, nervous smile. Ruri smiled back, a very faint blush also appearing on her face. Oh God, am I looking at an angel?

"Oi! Yuto!" A voice yelled, but said boy was too engrossed in the past to notice.

"She's so pretty..." The boy mumbled, his eyes appearing starstruck at whatever he was thinking of.

"Yuto! Stop staring, dumbass! We need to hurry!" Alas, Yuto was not paying attention whatsoever. "Oh, for God's sake!" The owner of the voice walked up to Yuto and shouted into his ear. "YUTO!"

"AHH!" Yuto jumped out of fright, back in present time, almost hitting his friend by accident. "What the hell was that for?!" A tic mark appeared on Yuto's head, wincing from the loud ringing in his ear. Any louder and his eardrums could have ruptured! He glared at his tentacle-haired friend.

"You were daydreaming again! Hurry up Yuto, we're going to fall behind!" The man exclaimed out of exasperation. It was clear that he had been trying to get Yuto's attention for a while now. This person's name was Kamishiro Ryoga, but some people just called him Shark. He had dark blue eyes, pale skin and dark purple hair, he also had a light blue "crown" in front of his forehead. He wore wearing a white shirt with green-lined sleeves, tie and a collar.

"You go on ahead Shark; I'm just grabbing some last-minute things." Yuto responded as he took some Cards out of his locker. As he reached in and grabbed his Deck, he stopped to look at one Card in particular.

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon...

His ace Monster. For as long as he could remember, he always had him. Even before Yuto started Dueling the Card was always with him. He asked his parents multiple times, but they said they could never remember when he got it. It was as if the Xyz user and the Monster were bound together by some sort of invisible bond that kept them tethered forever.

Yuto chuckled to himself. "I wouldn't have been able to come this far without you… Dark Rebellion." The dark dragon always won or helped win Yuto most of his Duels. And because he won most of his Duels, it really helped him with making friends. Without Dark Rebellion, Yuto might not have won as many of his Duels, which in turn, meant that Yuto wouldn't have had as many friends. He would not be as happy as he was today without the Card.

The Monster was a blessing...

Suddenly, Yuto heard a loud roar coming from somewhere, as if the dragon was responding to him.

"What was that?" Yuto wondered. He then looked at his watch and a realization hit him hard. "Oh crap! I'm going to be late for the Duel at the arena!"

Yuto panicked, nervously placing Dark Rebellion inside his Deck as he slammed his locker shut and began sprinting.

Duel Arena - Heartland

"I made it!" Yuto sighed, a drop of sweat rolling down his face as he went into the Spade branch section. There, he saw two of his best friends, Ryoga and Shun.

"You're nearly late." Shun told him with a smirk.

"But not actually late, so I'm fine." Yuto chuckled. His eyes scanned the area around them, searching for a single person in particular. His eyes scrunched up as he found no sign of them. He turned back to Shun, "Where's Ruri?"

"You mean your girl-" Shark started but was interrupted by Yuto punching him hard in the shoulder, causing the boy to wince, yet unable to hold back a grin.

"Hmm?" Shun hummed, his eyes narrowing at his friends.

Yuto got close to Ryoga and whispered to him. "I thought I told you not to mention about Ruri and I being you know, a 'thing' in front of Shun. If he finds out I'm dating his sister, he's going to snap my neck..."

"Is something wrong?" Shun asked with a curious and almost innocent tone, leaning in towards his friends.

With that, what little composure Yuto had left was thrown out the window. "Nonononono! Everything is fine. Absolutely nothing is wrong!"

"Yuto!" Shun raised his voice, giving him a skeptical look that practically spelled "I'm on to your bullshit".

"Wh-What?" Yuto stuttered with a hint of fear in his voice.

"What are you keeping from me?" Shun interrogated his best friend, giving him a death stare. Yuto started to sweat bullets.

Ryoga, if I survive this encounter...I am so going to kill you! Yuto thought darkly, sending a glare towards the purple-haired boy, hearing him laughing at the top of his lungs as if his suffering at the hands of Shun was the funniest thing he's ever seen.

Luckily for Yuto, he was saved by a voice that rang throughout the entire school.

"The Spade versus Clover branch match will now begin!"

At the Clover Branch

"Oh, it looks like I have to go back." Ruri informed two girls, all of them looking up at the sound of the voice on the intercom. One of these girls was Sasayama Sayaka. She had blue eyes and short light-purple and lilac hair that was restrained by light green and orange hair clips. She also wore a light blue dress with a teal turtleneck under a tan dress held up with brown shoulder straps and a blue belt. Finally, to top the look off, she wore glasses.

The other girl was named Kamishiro Rio, the younger sister of Ryoga. However, she hated it when people call her Shark's little sister. She has dark pink eyes and dark blue hair with light blue bangs. She wears the school's most common outfit for females (the outfit she wore in Zexal when she appeared in episode 79).

"See you later, Ruri." Both Sayaka and Rio said at the same time.

Spade Branch - Duel Arena - Heartland

Alright! Shun is going to have his match now! I'm free! Yuto thought in excitement.

However, that feeling was soon replaced by fear thanks to the announcer. "Originally, the match was supposed to be Kurosaki Shun versus Tenjo Kaito. However, there has been a change of plans. While it is still Spade vs Clover, it won't be a one-on-one Duel. In fact, we haven't done one of these in a while. The match will now be a three-on-three Duel…"

Please don't be me, please don't be me... Yuto thought to himself with fear.

"From the Spade, we have Kurosaki Shun, and his sister Kurosaki Ruri along with Ohnaka Yuto!" The voice announced.

Damn it! Yuto cursed internally as he took a quick glance at Shun and then looked at the doorway to see Ruri walking in. The girl gave a small wave to him, and it seemed like all of his worries had evaporated. He smiled back, returning the wave.

"Looks like I'm in the sidelines. Good luck, you three." Ryoga told them as he went to go get a good spot to watch.

"Now, from the Clover, we have Tenjo Kaito, Sasayaka Sayaka, and Kozuki Allen!"

Clover Branch - Duel Arena - Heartland

"Aww, I'm on the sidelines for the third time in a row." Rio pouted.

"Can't win em all, Rio!" Allen grinned, excited to be able to go Duel, especially in a three vs three. It's been a while since he's thrown down against Yuto and Shun, and it was even more rare fighting them in a single Duel. This was going to be fun.

"Let's go, Allen." Kaito commanded as he and Sayaka were at the doorway to the arena, getting ready to go for their match.

"Wait up, guys!" Allen yelled, stumbling across the ground as he ran towards them and went out the door to the arena.

Resounding cheers could be heard thundering from the audience.

"Now, will said people please come to the arena!"

Spade Branch - Duel Arena - Heartland

"Alright, are you two ready?" Shun asked Ruri and Yuto.

"I'm ready, but Yuto looks like he wants doesn't want to be here!" Ruri stated with a giggle, looking affectionately at her boyfriend.

With Shun here, you wouldn't blame me. In fact, I am sort of surprised you're not scared! I mean, it's your brother! Actually, that's probably why you aren't scared. He won't kill you if he finds out about us! Yuto thought to himself. He shook his head multiple times, ready to get down to business.

"Well, let's go."

Dueling Field - Duel Arena - Heartland

As the two teams walked out, there was immediately a barrage of cheers. At the sight of their respective opponents, all six Duelists gave a mixture of a smile or a grin. As they met in the middle, they each had their own words for the person standing across from them.

"Well, well, well, it's been a while since we did something like this." Allen spoke with a smile.

"Yeah, you're right!" Yuto replied, giving his dear friend a soft expression in return.

"Let's hope you're not rusty Shun." Kaito said, crossing his arms as he stared down his branch rival.

"In your dreams, Kaito. Do you want to be beat again?" Shun retorted with a grin.

"That's not how our last Duel ended last time I checked."

"Good luck!" Ruri and Sayaka both wished each other, rolling their eyes at the interactions between their other friends.

"Now for the rules. Each player will have their own Hands, Fields, Decks, and Graveyards. Each player has 4000 Life Points at the start. Once all of the Life Points on one team is depleted, the team with the remaining Life Points will win! Oh yeah, one last thing. No player can look at any other player's Hand on their team other than their own. For example, Shun can't see Yuto's Hand and vice versa. Now, without further ado. Let's begin the Duel!" the announcer yelled as Yuto, Shun, Ruri, Kaito, Allen, and Sayaka prepared their Duel Disks.

A familiar chill ran down Yuto's spine. Rather than panic, he welcomed the feeling. It was something he was familiar with before he began a Duel.

Anticipation.

He loved being able to take on strong opponents like his friends. Dueling, and having fun with everyone. It was the one thing that he enjoyed most about Dueling.

And nothing would ever take that away from him. Nothing.

Yuto felt his chest expand, a deep breath of air entering his lungs. Let's do this...

"DUEL!"

No Duel in this chapter, sorry about that. But since it is a 3 on 3, it would be too much work in one day.

When the invasion starts, I may or may not start doing chapter previews.

But as stated in the summary, there will be more legacy characters. As you can see from the inclusion of Rio and Shark Kamishiro. I will most likely have Ryo Marufuji appear (Zane Truesdale if you watch the dub) because he has existed in the canon show of Arc V. He just never made a physical appearance.

Speaking of physical appearances, if you are wondering why i stopped doing the physical appearances after Sayaka, it's because that's going to take too long. I may do some from time to time but it is probably only going to be stuff like hair and eye color.

Anyways, feel free to leave suggestions for improvements as this is my first time writing a fanfic.

See ya guys next time. Take care, Goodbye!