GT: Here ya go, folks! Chapter 2 on Day 14 of Mega May 2024! Fair warning, while I will be using Japanese names for the ARC-V cast…the ones from earlier YuGiOh shows that appear will be using their English Dub names since I prefer them more than the Japanese Dub ones at times.
A scowl and a glare were what greeted Chaud this time, their owner sporting a swept black and navy hairstyle, "Name, Age, Occupation."
"Kurosaki Shun, 19, Duelist," the man replied, his yellow-green eyes focused on his fellow dual-haired male.
"You were the first to make contact with Lan Hikari and Maylu Sakurai when they arrived in the XYZ Dimension, correct?"
"Nope. That was Ruri," Shun corrected, "She called for me and Yuto and they were both unconscious. We thought they were Academia after a Fusion Card fell out of the Duel Disk on Lan until we saw the Carded they had and how Maylu, even asleep, refused to let the two she had out of her grip."
Chaud nodded, "And when they awoke?"
"Ruri was there when it happened…"
-TWO YEARS AGO-
The first thing to come was the coldness, an oddity since it was the middle of summer. He'd have to ask Roll if they got the AC working in Yai's mansion finally a-and…wait… Lan mumbled as he started to open his eyes, seeing only blurs with a big one before him. At first, he couldn't hear a thing before fuzzy sounds reached him until a voice pierced it all.
"...careful," an oddly familiar voice reached his ears as a familiar blurred face appeared in his vision.
"R-Roll…?"
"...ho's Roll?"
"Huh?"
"Who's Roll?"
Lan blinked a few times before the blurs finally settled. Instead of Roll looking at him, it was an entirely different person. While she had a similar face to Roll, everything else was different. For one, she was a human their age. She had pink eyes, long dark purple hair which extended past her lower back even when tied up in a bow-shaped style and had shorter, lilac side tails. She secured her hair with a wing-shaped barrette and donned large, feather earrings. She was wearing rather practical clothing; a cream vest with an under dress that split into three, worn out pants, brown boots, two brown belts, and a red sash on her right hip. Yet the oddest thing was a small bracelet on her wrist, shaped to resemble bird wings with a black gem in it.
"Oh…s-sorry…" Lan apologized before his eyes widened, "Ah!"
"Easy," the girl spoke, softly holding his shoulders before he could jump out of the hammock he was in, "We're in hiding, so be careful. And…Roll, was it? If that's the name of the girl with red hair, she's right there." She moved to the side, letting him see Maylu sleeping in another hammock, "We found you both passed out on the streets."
Lan sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness…" he frowned, "I don't know if you'll believe me, but we're not from here."
"Oh, we could figure that out since your Decks are Fusion related while our Dimension uses XYZ," she replied.
Lan scowled, "I don't have one. I hate Fusion monsters." She raised a brow, "...Fusion users invaded my home and Carded everyone." He looked over at Maylu in concern, "Maylu-that's her name. Roll's someone else that we know-and I are all that's left of our once peaceful world."
"...I can relate," she spoke, a somber look on her face, "Look out between the boards of this place."
Lan blinked a few times as he was finally allowed to get out of the hammock. Now that he got a good look, they were in an attic bedroom of sorts, long abandoned. He walked over to the large window covered in planks of wood. He looked…and grimaced. What had what appeared to have been a beautiful city was now nothing more than a pile of rubble and abandoned structures and homes. The skies filled with clouds and seemed to be stuck in a perpetual twilight. Lan narrowed his eyes, recognizing the way things looked.
"Those Ancient Gears…" Lan growled.
"Mmmnnn…"
"!?" Lan spun around to see Maylu beginning to stir, "Maylu…" he walked over to her and held her hand, noticing the cards in her other hand.
"Mmm…L-Lan…?" Maylu mumbled, slowly opening her eyes and seeing his relieved expression, "Lan…"
"Hey…" Lan softly greeted, helping her sit up in the hammock and letting the girl look her over, "Um…This is…"
"Ruri. Ruri Kurosaki," she introduced herself, "I found you outside near the river."
"..." Maylu looked around before looking at the two cards in her hand, "...It wasn't a nightmare…"
"No," Lan replied, cupping her cheek with a hand, "We…We're all that's left."
"..." Maylu sniffled before Ruri offered a necklace, "?"
"It's a necklace that can store a picture or a Duel Monsters card," Ruri explained, "I found it in an abandoned store and it can store two cards in it."
"...Lan…" Maylu offered it and Megaman's card.
Lan nodded and took off his necklace. Ruri sat nearby, watching as Lan removed his mother's card from the single and gave it to Maylu. As he put Megaman and his mother's cards into the double one, Maylu carefully placed Roll's into it. She looked at the image of it before holding it close and then put it on. Lan tucked his into his shirt and looked to Ruri.
"Thank you," Lan thanked, Maylu nodding in agreement.
"It's alright. I thought it'd be safer for them," Ruri explained before standing up, "Come on. We'll head downstairs and I can introduce you to my brother Shun, my friend Kaito, and my own boyfriend."
"Hm?" both pondered.
"Aren't you lovers as well?" Ruri asked, causing the two to blush.
"Wh-What?! N-No! We're just best friends!" Maylu stammered.
"Y-Yeah," Lan nodded, "Been like that since we were kids!"
Ruri giggled at their reaction, 'So precious…Even with the trauma of war, they can still do this…' a soft knock came from the door, "Come in."
A 17-year-old Shun entered, wearing a blue trenchcoat that was tattered at the ends; the coat was belted shut, and was adorned with belted cuffs. He also sported gray pants and brown shoes. Yet what drew Lan's attention was that, like Ruri, he had a red piece of fabric on him with his being a scarf.
"I see they're awake now," he noted, his eyes looking over them like a falcon towards a threat.
"Yes. This is my brother, Shun," Ruri introduced, "And I'm Ruri."
"Oh! Um…Maylu Sakurai," Maylu introduced herself.
"Lan Hikari," Lan added, 'Feels like how Chaud used to look at me until the Alpha.'
"Why do you have Academia tech?" Shun demanded.
"Shun Icarus Kurosaki! Maylu just woke up not even a minute ago!" Ruri scolded, making him wince, "I am so sorry for my older brother. He is like this to everyone, even before Academia invaded our home."
"It's fine," Lan assured, "I'll do my best to answer. We were attacked in our home Dimension by these Fusion users. Hell, we didn't even know about Duel Monsters until they attacked!"
"Wait, really?" Ruri asked in surprise.
"Yeah. We didn't have the game. Or we did and it didn't catch on," Lan replied as he held up his PeT, "We used these and an AI called NetNavis or 'Network Navigators' to do things with the Internet since everything was connected to it." He showed his locket and pointed at Megaman, "This was my NetNavi, Megaman. He was in a device that let him be on Earth and was trying to protect us when this psycho guy named Yuri Carded him and then Maylu's NetNavi Roll."
"Is the other your…?" Ruri began before Lan nodded, "Oh god…" she gave him a hug, "We understand the pain. We saw our own parents Carded before our own eyes when Academia invaded."
"Academia?" Maylu repeated.
"That's the name for the invaders who use Fusion," Shun supplied.
"We never bothered learning the name of them. We were more focused on staying alive and studying what few Duel Disks that we got from them," Lan admitted as he looked at his Duel Disk and pulled out the Deck and Extra Deck and offered them to Ruri and Shun, "I don't even want these cards because they were used to hurt everyone back home."
A wind came between the boards and a Double Ancient Gear Hunting Hound came off the top and landed faceup on Maylu's lap. Lan was blown over by the ear piercing shriek she let loose as she frantically struggled to get away from it, ending up falling out of the hammock and crawled away from the card. All of them saw her face, the sheer look of horror on it as her chest heaved in rapid, heavy breaths while sweat poured from her. Lan swiftly held her close, letting her muffled sobs escape into his shirt as it grew wet from her tears, as Shun grabbed the dropped cards and put them into a deck holster on his hip.
"...Shit," Shun summed it up best before the door slammed open.
"RURI!" A voice called out in a panic.
At the door was a boy Lan's age with black and purple hair. He wore a punk-style outfit with a dull green formal shirt and dark blue tie as well as a black cape-like garment with ripped sleeves and edges plus dark blue pants and black boot-like shoes. Save his cape, the outfit resembled a formal outfit or even a school uniform from private schools. He also wore a choker and matching black wristbands with silver studs. On his head was a pair of military-style goggles. He sported a belt with two Deck holsters on each side. He also had the red scarf like Ruri and Shun tied around his upper right arm that was partially hidden by his sleeve. He ran over to the girl with a worried look.
"I'm fine, Yuto," Ruri assured before looking over at Maylu, "Maylu had a…severe reaction to seeing a Fusion card when Lan was handing them to Shun."
"The last one we saw was a monster…a massive purple dragon with a starving look in its eyes," Lan explained, running a hand through Maylu's hair to help calm her down, "It impaled Roll through her back before its master Carded her." He smirked, "I tackled him and gave him a punch to the face before grabbing Roll and Megaman's cards."
Shun snapped his fingers and pointed at Lan with a nod of respect before Ruri slapped his shoulder with an annoyed look to not encourage Lan. She walked over and sat down by the two and gently rubbed Maylu's back, humming a soft, gentle tune. Eventually, Lan was able to separate from her, letting Ruri distract her from her panic attack with small talk, and he walked out of the room with Shun and Yuto. They made their way downstairs and Lan took note of the pictures of a boy younger than them with an older girl-possibly his sister?-and an elderly short woman.
"He was in the middle school portion of Heartland Academy," Yuto spoke up, "He saw Shun and me as role models and future rivals. Convinced him that we'd only do one duel each a week and that he had to change things each time." He smiled softly, "He was really getting better, especially when he finally got these neat new XYZ cards called Numbers. I think his favorite was Hope or Utopia or something like that…"
"He vanished a day before the invasion and we think he had been Carded," Shun added as they entered the kitchen and opened the fridge to pull out cans of soda for each of them, "We use this as a hideaway for the Resistance."
"We've barely made progress, but we were able to steal a Duel Disk and copied the Carding tech into our own," Yuto said.
Lan nodded, "I like it. And if they show back up, we know that they have a way to reverse the process."
Shun nodded, "So…what will you do now?"
"...What can I do to help in trade for a safe place for Maylu?" Lan asked.
Yuto smirked, "Not you? Just her? Heh. You're a good boyfriend."
"W-We're not dating!" Lan squeaked, blushing hard.
"You sound just like my sister and Yuto," Shun rolled his eyes, causing Yuto to start spluttering, before he tapped on his Duel Disk.
"...Passcode?"
"Split the Fusion."
A screen popped up, showing a boy their age with blond hair pulled back and curved upwards like a backwards horn while the front of his hair was dark green and spiked. From what Lan could see, he was wearing a white suit of sorts underneath a black jacket with red interior and lime green trim.
"Kaito, we have someone who wants to join. He was able to steal three Carded from the invaders along with two of their Duel Disks," Shun informed, "He asks for protection for his friend."
"Who are they?"
"My sister currently has the other one with her. She isn't good for battling Fusion users. Even looking at one of their cards caused her to freak out and lose all sense of anything but getting away from it," Shun replied before moving over to Lan, "This is the one who wants to join."
"I am Kaito Tenjo, current leader of the Resistance," Kaito informed, "Who are you?"
"Lan Hikari. My best friend, Maylu Sakurai, and I are the last survivors of our world. Everyone else had been Carded," Lan replied, "I want to join to defeat these invaders so no one else has to suffer like us. All I ask is a place where Maylu can be safe."
Kaito nodded, "An initiation then. Yuto, Shun, have Ruri and Maylu stay where you're at. We'll head there and spend the night before going to Delta Base in the morning. I will meet you two and Lan at these coordinates. Where are you?"
"The Tsukumo residence," Shun replied.
"I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes then. Does Lan have a deck?"
"No. He gave us the Decks in the two Duel Disks, however," Yuto replied.
"Tsukumo had a collection of them. Check the basement and make him a Deck as best as you guys can," Kaito advised, "We will meet at the location in thirty minutes so you can get time to make a Deck."
"Understood," Shun responded, not bothering to point out how Kaito kept revising the time before they would meet, before the call ended, "Let's move and get you a temporary Deck."
Lan nodded. Minutes later, the basement lights came on and they walked downstairs and paused. A good quarter of the basement was nothing but storage for Duel Monster cards. Another was photography and newspaper-related items and the rest was typical basement items. The trio made their way over to the containers and began to look through them.
"Huh? Why would you want your opponent to gain Life Points?" Lan pondered as he looked at one card's effect.
"Sometimes they have cards that need a lower Life Point score to use their effects," Shun replied.
"Ah," Lan nodded before pulling another out, "Bad Reaction to Simochi? Hmm…I think I can work with this." He looked at another, "Ground Collapse? …Okay, I think I have something."
The two natives shared looks as Lan began to work on his Deck.
Kaito leaned against a pillar inside of the remains of what had once been a business near a school of sorts, one of the few places left undamaged and was even reinforced. Its original emblem was stripped, replaced with a gold emblem that looked to be made of a 'L' combined with an 'S' with that looked to be either an 'I' or 'D' sandwiched between them in the gap made in the L and S with three feathers emerging from the other end of the 'S.' Several chirps made him glance over his shoulder and give a small growl. A moment passed before Shun, Yuto, and Lan emerged from some bushes.
"What's the goal?" Shun questioned.
"Intel. Anything we can get on their plans and reasons," Kaito replied, "If we can, we'll also steal any rations they have along with any Cards to bolster our force's Decks with."
"Any way in that we can sneak through?" Lan asked.
"..." Yuto glanced away.
"Yuto," Kaito scowled.
"Okay, okay, I know of one way," Yuto admitted, "I just didn't want to tell it while Shun's here because Yuma liked to use it to sneak out of school if things got too boring."
Kaito snorted, "Of course he had a way to ditch school…" he focused on Lan, "You'll be with me on this operation."
"Understood," Lan replied before frowning, "What about if we get caught?"
"We'll be Carded if we do unless we can Duel," Kaito replied, "The Carding System doesn't work on Duelists unless they're defeated in a Duel. We managed to swipe that and their advanced hard-light system that makes their Monsters real from them early on."
"So that's how their monsters were able to destroy so much," Lan scowled before thinking for a moment and grinned, "Hey…what if we pulled something that will distract them all?"
"A distraction?" Yuto questioned.
"Who has the fastest Monsters in their Deck?" Lan asked.
"Shun," Kaito and Yuto replied.
"Then have I got a plan for a distraction," Lan grinned, a devious look in his eyes, "And to start…How familiar are any of you with the ol' science volcano…in the plumbing?"
"...Oh, I am going to love working with you, Lan," Yuto grinned.
"Any sign of the commander?" an Academia soldier asked another that was approaching.
"We saw him over to the northeast. Smacked us down hard," he replied with a grimace, "He's chasing after ghosts."
"Yikes," the first winced, "What the hell happened to him when we started the hunt?"
"No clue," the second shrugged before handing the first a plate of food, "Got some dinner from the kitchen."
"Great! I'm starving!" the first beamed as the two started eating, "Y'know…I don't get it."
"Get what?"
"Why are we here?"
"Hm? Ain't we here to Card everyone so we can make a utopia?"
"No, I…" the first began before their stomachs went off, "Ugh…"
"Gh…B-Bathroom!" the second panicked.
"GAH!" the first screamed as they book it for the bathroom nearby…
*BOOM!*
"Oh Ra! The toilets are blowing!"
"At least I don't need to use the bathroom anymore…"
Kaito blinked a few times from a vent, watching as Academia panicked and ran about, trying to deal with exploding toilets going off alongside their need to find a bathroom. He slowly looked over at Lan, who was smirking and struggling to not laugh and expose their hiding spot in the ventilation system.
"...You are devious," Kaito stated.
"Hey, I wasn't expecting the laxatives in the food. That was all Yuto or Shun," Lan defended himself.
"...Likely it was Yuto," Kaito sighed as he proceeded to crawl through the vents, "Come on. The security office should be down this way."
"...Why do you know your way through these vents?" Lan asked.
"An Academia soldier I Dueled yesterday was part of the team who remodeled the school," Kaito replied, "Their Duel Disk contained the blueprints and I took the time to study them."
"Huh…Neat," Lan nodded, eventually coming upon a grate that showed a large room filled with screens showing security feeds and several computers all running…along with a faint stench in the air.
"We're here," Kaito noted as he opened it and the two got out, "How good are you with computers?"
"Best in my school," Lan replied as he walked over to one and sat down.
"We'll need to get by the firewalls and…" Kaito began.
"Done."
"Wait, what?" Kaito looked to see Lan was already in, "How did…when did you…huh?"
"The Network I'm used to is a lot more advanced in its security systems," Lan explained, "I also have two friends, one in the military, that taught me how to do this last year."
"Really…?" Kaito pondered before shaking off his shock and pulled out a USB and plugged it into the system.
"Got an EMail?" Lan asked.
"Yeah."
"Tell me it. I'm putting in some Viruses that won't be easy to remove that'll copy everything we don't get tonight and send to you," Lan explained.
"From your friends?"
"No, learned it from school on old methods that Viruses worked before IRIS and COLONEL came online," Lan replied.
"I…I see…" Kaito whispered, not really seeing it, before seeing something, "Hold on! Go back a few folders."
Lan nodded as he did so…before gasping. On the screen were eight different profiles…with three being Yuri, Yuto, and Ruri. What was unsettling…was that each and every of the other five either had Ruri's face or Yuto and Yuri's. One boy with wild black, red, and green hair and a bright, cheerful expression. Another boy had short blue hair with windswept blond hair mixed into it. One girl had teal hair, another with long purple hair in a ponytail, and one with pink and magenta hair. Underneath Yuri was 'IN ACADEMIA,' while Yuto and Yuri had 'FOUND IN XYZ DIMENSION. MEMBERS OF RESISTANCE. AGENT ORANGE DEPLOYED TO FIND RESISTANCE BASE' and the ponytail girl had 'CONFINED TO FUSION DIMENSION.' The last four had 'UNKNOWN' under them. But all had one more thing: names.
"Yuya Sakaki…Yugo…Rin…Serena…and Yuzu Hiiragi," Lan read, not seeing Kaito's eyes widening on hearing 'Sakaki,' "...Wait…Why do Yuya, Ruri, and Yuzu have last names while the rest don't?"
"Focus," Kaito hissed, making Lan flinch as the blond memorized it all, "This…They want all eight of these people for something. Can you find out more?"
"Checking," Lan replied, typing quickly and frowned, "Damn. Seems it's just a basic orders thing that's updated every few hours. Guess we'd have to access the computers in the Fusion Dimension to get all the details. All I'm getting is 'Revival Zero' as the name of some sorta project that needs all eight. Apparently, it coincides with another project called the Arc-Area Project."
"And that is…?"
"I'm checking, I'm checking," Lan replied, typing faster before blinking a few times as a pit formed in his gut while he felt faint from what he was reading, "No way…"
Kaito narrowed his eyes, "This and Project Revival Zero. They're the highest priority."
"Understood," Lan replied, inputting the command before going on.
"Now what?"
"I want to see if they have anything on my world and answers," Lan replied, "We don't have Duel Monsters. We didn't do anything to them. So why us?"
Kaito nodded, "I'll keep watch on the security feeds and…" he frowned as he saw something on the feeds, narrowing his eyes after a moment and called Shun, "Heads up. One of their top Duelists has just arrived."
"Shit…" Yuto's curse hissed offscreen.
"Who?"
"One of the ones who led the assault," Kaito growled, looking at a teenager with spiky black hair, pale skin, a slim figure, blue jeans, a black shirt, and a long flowing blue and white jacket, "Manjoume."
"What the hell is going on here?!" Manjoume snapped, glaring at the scrambling people.
"S-Someone spiked the food here," one of the few who weren't getting brown pants or trying to stop the exploring toilets, "And someone filled the basins with vinegar and the bowls with baking soda along with backing up the entire system."
"And you're not doing the same because…?"
"I brought a boxed lunch my mom sent me," he sheepishly admitted.
"Right. Go get those plumbing systems shut down and someone else force these guys' Duel Disks to send them back home or to the Forgotten Dimension," Manjoume ordered before a trio of figures appeared on his shoulders and on top of his head.
"What a real crap show goin' on here, eh?" a faint, plump, tiny purple monster in a red and polka dot pair of speedos and a large nose huffed.
"Whew~! I can smell it and we're just Duel Spirits!" a similar monster with a large tongue and one eye with green skin exclaimed.
"C'mon, Boss! Do we have to stay~?" a third one with big lips, yellow skin. and two eyes on eyestalks whined.
"JUST GET TO WORK!" Manjoume snapped, swinging his arms up and smacking all three, making them vanish before pointing at two who arrived with him, "Come with me! We're checking the security feeds for who did this!"
"Okay, virus uploaded and…that…is in the USB," Lan informed, giving the USB to Kaito.
"We need to get out," Kaito stated.
"Can't take the vents," Lan noted, seeing that some of the new arrivals were going into them.
"Tch…We're going to have to fight for it then," Kaito growled before the door slammed open and Manjoume entered with his two men.
"Why am I not surprised you XYZ lamewads are the cause?" Manjoume scowled, "You two, deal with the blondie over there. I'll handle the brunette."
"Here we go…" Lan gulped.
"I'll join in after deal with these two. Just survive for a few turns," Kaito ordered as they all readied their Duel Disks.
"DUEL!"
Lan: 4000
Manjoume: 4000
"I set a monster and three cards facedown before playing Ground Collapse!" Lan declared as two holes appeared before Manjoume, "You lose two Monster Zones! Turn end!"
"It's my draw!" Manjoume declared as he drew…before his Ojamas appeared before him, "What?!"
"Sorry~! But Ojama Trio takes your remaining spaces with Ojama Tokens!" Lan pulled an eyelid down and blew a raspberry.
"Ghh…" Manjoume scowled before looking at the card in his hand and sneered, "I activate Thunder Crash!" lightning slammed down on the three Tokens before striking Lan, "I destroy these Tokens to make you take 300 for each!"
"Gh…I-In turn…" Lan grunted, "You lose 300 for each, too!"
"I have it in my Deck, I'm aware," Manjoume huffed as three loud farts went off in unison in Manjoume's face from the charred Ojamas just before they exploded.
Manjoume: 3100
Lan: 3100
"Now I play Graceful Charity to draw three cards and discard two. After that, I use Level Modulation! This lets you draw two cards, but I get to special summon a LV monster from my Graveyard! Now come out, Armed Dragon LV5!"
Armed Dragon LV5: 2400ATK
"Now smash that set monster!" Manjoume ordered.
His dragon roared as it charged at the facedown and slammed a fist on it…only to pull up a pink marshmallow-like blob. It let out a confused noise before the blob popped off and landed down on the ground. It floated up and a childish face appeared on it.
"You revealed Marshmallon," Lan explained, "They can't be destroyed by Battle and when you reveal them, you lose 1000 Life Points."
"What?!" Manjoume gawked before the pink blob extended out and immediately chomped down hard on his Duel Disk, revealing razor sharp fangs in its mouth, "GAH!"
Manjoume: 2100
"Now I reveal Reaction to Bad Simoochi," Lan went on, revealing a facedown and a shapely woman with a sickly skin tone with bandages, a tattered red dress, and a worn out orange tiny coat appeared, "She turns any Life Point increase you receive into damage instead."
"I don't even have Life Point recovery cards," Manjoume scoffed before Lan flipped up his last facedown, causing a white and pink envelope with a heart wax seal to appear in Lan's hands, "What's that?"
"It's called Gift Card," Lan explained, "And it gives you 3000 Life Points."
"Hm? Wait…" Manjoume began before he gasped, "No!"
"That's right! Take this, Gift Card of Death!" Lan declared.
The sickly woman took the white envelope and stumbled over to Manjoume, walking past the Armed Dragon LV5. It tried to grab her, but a stumble made her avoid the claw and reach Manjoume, who instinctively grabbed her before she could collapse. Slowly, she offered the now pitch black and purple card…before it exploded.
Manjoume: 2100 - 0 LOSE
Lan: 3100 WIN
"G…guh…" Manjoume groaned, stumbling back as his monster vanished.
"Im-Impossible!" One of the Academia soldiers gasped, stepping back in shock while their own Life Points had hit 0.
"Manjoume Thunder…faltered?" The other gulped before both cried out as Kaito Carded them.
"Good work," Kaito noted before aiming his Duel Disk and Carded Manjoume, "So a Burn Deck mixed with stall?"
"It's just a temporary thing. Doesn't fully feel right just yet," Lan replied with a shrug as he held up the USB stick, "We gotta get this out. Yuto and Ruri are in danger."
Kaito nodded, picking up the cards, before they ran off.
"Okay, so…I have two Level 4 monsters on the field…I then do this and play one from here?" Maylu pondered as she put the two on top of one another before putting the top card from her Extra Deck on top.
"No, Maylu," Ruri replied, shaking her head, "You have to match the Levels to a monster's Rank. The one you took from the top is a Rank 5."
"O-Oh!" Maylu gasped, "Sorry."
"Hey, it's alright. You're learning quite fast," Ruri assured as she tapped the Extra Deck, "Take a look at the cards and find what matches. Look at the requirements, too."
Maylu nodded and looked at the cards. After a minute, she plucked one from it and changed the Rank 5 for it. Ruri looked at the card. It was Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer. After a moment, Ruri nodded and gave her a congratulatory smile.
"You got everything right, Maylu," Ruri informed, "Both the amount of monsters needed to Overlay and for making sure it didn't need specific cards like an archetype, Attribute, or anything."
Maylu sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness…" she smiled at Ruri, "Thank you for this, Ruri."
"It's no problem," Ruri assured before they heard the door open and saw the boys enter, "Oh! Welcome back, ev…" she paused when her brother quickly hugged her, "Sh-Shun…?"
"We…have some worrisome news," Kaito informed, glancing over at Yuto as he was biting the fingernail on his thumb with a pensive, frustrated expression.
GT: Oh wrenches have been thrown into the gears. And before anyone gets worked up about Chazz/Manjoume and 'Wasted' things, this is my story. You want to do things different? You write it. I have a detailed script and am using that for this. The loads and loads of characters issue in ARC-V is going to be dwindled down significantly by me, especially with legacy characters. And, yes, Duels may be fast because I am literally trying to do one chapter/artwork every single day with a busy schedule. I did this to myself and I own up to it. Hopefully, things will improve after Mega May 2024 ends.