Starting Notes:

Welcome back! :D This chapter, our main characters finally go to the Xyz Dimension. Still building up to the action, though, so this is a bit slower of a chapter...

... just joking. Didn't want to give you three slow build-up chapters in a row. Let's go right in. :D


Chapter 85: Welcome to Heartland!

The teleportation program was as disorienting as ever—like diving down into water and breaking up through the surface again.

When Yuno opened his eyes again, he was right by the ocean. He picked himself right up—kicking some dust in the air as he did so. He was in an area that resembled… a port, perhaps? The ocean was rolling black and grey by the edge of the concrete—heavily polluted. Debris was floating everywhere, held together by… something. It wrapped around the coast like barbed wire.

He turned from the ocean to look behind him.

And so, for the first time, he saw the city of Heartland.

Immediately, he lifted his scarf to his nose, like a mask—even though there were no sources of smoke that he could see, the entire place stank of all sorts of different things. Air pollution, all sorts of things that had already been burned a long time ago but continued to linger in the air. The sky was grey with it. The air felt heavy, almost solemn—the entire place was just… dreary.

Yuno climbed on top of a crate, carefully adjusting, before he got to the top of the pile. From there, he held onto the rafters, before grimacing—his hands were stained black from soot. Had this entire place been on fire right before this? Still, he got to the top, his clothing already stained with soot, and glanced towards the city from there.

There were a few skyscrapers still standing in the city, but they could hardly be called unscathed. Most of them had holes blown straight through them, or looked absolutely hazardous, with cracks in the glass and concrete, as though they might fall over at any minute. There were also craters and strange lines that went straight through streets.

The entire place…

Yuno felt a chill go down his spine.

They'd seen something like this in the Synchro Dimension, but they'd stopped it before it went too far.

This…

This was too far.

It was a city of silent graves, which had been fighting desperately for the last six to seven months.

Den City might have been like this…

Somehow, Yuno could bring himself to understand why their homeland had allied with Academia, if it was to avoid this. He would never say that aloud, obviously, but…

How horrible. He pressed a hand to his chest—weighed down by the sight of just how much they had to fix, of just how much had been ruined—

"Be careful."

And then, it was like sunshine had come straight through the clouds. Yuno immediately slid down the pole, turning to Miharu with a grin. "Hey! Fancy seeing you here!" He couldn't help it—he was just so happy to see her. He would have thrown his arms around her, but well… dirty hands.

And it spoke volumes of how happy Miharu was when she responded directly to the joke with one of her own. "Long time no see," she said. Her lips were slightly upturned. "What did you see up there?"

"Uh, I saw a very tall tower in the distance that looked a bit too impractical to be anything but a government building, so I'm guessing that's Heartland Tower!" Yuno quickly did some internal estimations of the distance between them and the landmarks—he'd identified a few strange-looking buildings while he was looking, but obviously, he wasn't familiar enough with this city to identify those buildings on sight as 'Spade Branch' or 'Clover Branch' or anything like that.

Pandor popped out of his duel disk. "I have bad news, mother," she said politely. "Academia seems to have set up a jamming signal throughout the entire city for wireless networks."

"We expected that much," Miharu said, but Yuno understood the problem instinctively. If Pandor was telling them this, it meant that she had not found a solution to it—and Pandor had at least most of Miharu's own coding abilities. "Good attempt." Roboppi didn't pop out—they were most likely just having fun inside the duel disk. "Well, the plan was to keep ourselves out of danger and out of sight until the Resistance was informed about our presence. So, we should keep our distance from the tall tower and make our way to one of the buildings you saw—we can try and figure out which ones are the Resistance's bases on our own."

"I was thinking the same thing!" Yuno grinned. "Maybe we should scout around to see if we find any of our friends before we go?"

"Yes," Miharu said. To Yuno's surprise and delight, she reached out and took his hand, despite how dirty it was. Her cheeks were slightly pink as she turned her head away from him. "The warehouses are pretty clustered—we wouldn't want to get lost. If we had to call out for each other, we would be more easily found."

"... uh huh," Yuno said with a wink, letting the obvious excuse slide. "Got it. Wouldn't want to lose you."

In reality, there were very few people among the Lancers that Yuno thought would actively get themselves in trouble. Kurosaki, obviously, and maybe Sawatari and Sora, or…

They both saw Clear Wing rising above the warehouses in the distance, and they exchanged looks.

Or maybe it was just the obvious answer.

"I guess we should go and check on him," Yuno said. "Are you good to run for a bit?"

"I may not be as active as you, but I can handle a bit of running," Miharu said. "Lead the way."

"Okay!"

It was nice to be with her again, even though they were in a different world—

It wasn't like either of them would come to harm, as long as they were together!


"Careful, Yuzu!"

Yuzu tripped over a trench, nearly falling to the ground. Yuya caught her arm just in time, helping her to stay on her feet—the two of them had ended up in a rather unstable area, though nothing seemed to be actively falling on them right now.

"We ended up together," Yuzu said, relieved. She didn't want to be separated from him when they travelled dimensions again. "Did you see anyone else?"

"No," Yuya said. "I saw you and ran over immediately."

Yuzu nodded—she'd have done the same. (She did blush a little though. Even if he didn't mean it that way, a part of her did hope that he did.) "Well, I guess we should keep a low profile until we find someone?"

"Sounds good," Yuya said. "Last time, we did get arrested…"

Right. The Lancers had mostly gotten arrested the last time that they travelled dimensions. That did not inspire confidence in their stealth abilities.

"At least there's no police here," Yuya joked weakly. He glanced around them, and Yuzu thought that he might be thinking the same thing as her.

There's just not much left here.

That was just… painfully sad.

"Yeah," Yuzu said. "I guess so. Hopefully we don't run into Academia before we run into the Resistance…"

However, they had only been walking together for about one and a half minutes, before they heard the loud sound of a cannon firing. Both of them shot wide-eyed looks at each other, before heading towards the direction that the cannon sound had come from.

(They probably should have gone in the opposite direction, if they really wanted to stay out of trouble. However, they had been getting in trouble together for their entire lives. And things didn't seem so dangerous when they were together.)


Yugo was barely done with teleporting into the city when someone came around the corner and stared at him.

Yugo waited.

The person stared.

"Uh," Yugo said, raising a hand, "hi?"

Rolling her eyes, the young woman there took a step forward, still looking at him. She was a slightly older girl with blue hair—mainly dark blue, though she had some long light blue bangs at the front, parted around her face. Her eyes were dark pink—slightly narrowed, wary of them. She was wearing a white jacket with a white hood, though she wasn't wearing the hood over her face, a pink shirt and cerulean-coloured skirt. She was wearing two earrings with dangling crystal blue club symbols on them.

"You're an idiot,"she said coldly.

"H-huh?"

"I said that you're an idiot," the girl repeated. She took another step forward—she was giving off a menacing aura, and Yugo took a step back. "Blue and yellow hair, same face as Yuto—did you think that you could walk around in this city without being seen at all, after kidnapping Ruri?"

… ah.

"Um," Yugo said, "it's a misunderstanding, you know! Yuto and I already properly sorted things out—"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not!"

"We all know you're just a Pawn of Fusion." The girl activated her duel disk. "If I defeat you, I'm going to make you spit up answers about where Ruri is!"

"I don't want to fight you!"

"You don't get a choice." With an imperial look in her eyes, the young woman raised a hand in the air, gesturing to him. "I'll get my answers from you even if you run. Don't shame yourself and fight properly."

… she really wasn't going to listen to him, huh?

Then Yugo would just have to duel her and prove that he wasn't a threat!

… uh.

"What's your name?" He asked. "I mean, if we're dueling, I should at least know your name, right?"

"... fine," the girl relented. "Rio Kamishiro."

"Yugo Kirijo." For a brief moment, there was something tentatively peaceful between them, just from that exchange of names.

Then, like a thread pulled taut, it snapped.

"Alright. Names exchanged." Rio glared at him. "That's the last mercy I'm giving you. You're our enemy—so I'll crush you by any means necessary!"


"Look at his scarf! He's a member of the Resistance!"

Reiji adjusted his scarf, slightly annoyed. He probably should have considered that red fabric was associated with the Resistance, but to be fair, he had been wearing this scarf for longer than the war had been going on. Of all the places to be teleported to, of course he would get teleported into a group of Academia soldiers.

Better him than the rest of the Lancers though.

"Let's take him out! White hair, tall—he must be Chris Arclight! The others said that they saw him near here earlier!"

… wasn't that the teacher that Nue and Shun had mentioned? This was a case of mistaken identity then.

Still…

"If you're going to fight me, I would rather correct you first," Reiji said. He pushed up his glasses. "The one who will be destroying you is not a member of the Resistance, because I am not Chris Arclight, and I am not from this world." His scarf floated in the breeze behind him. "I am Reiji Akaba, the leader of the Lancers, and I suppose that if I have to start my time in the Xyz Dimension taking care of fodder, it'll be a good warm-up."

His announcement caused a stir amongst the soldiers.

"Lancers?"

"Akaba?"

"Oh shit, he's… they're actually here?"

One of them, however, stepped forward—out of arrogance, perhaps? "He's still just one person, even if he's the Professor's son! Let's take him down!"

Reiji raised his duel disk, as did the six people there—

A wave of water hit the ground, splashing the soldiers even as they all let out shouts. A single lithe figure slipped out of the shadows and emerged next to Reiji, who simply glanced over at her. (He had not spotted her, but it made sense that she had been observing before stepping in.)

"You and I against them may be overkill," he said.

Kaname shrugged, fingers dancing over her keyboard. "No such thing. At your disposal, leader." She raised her duel disk as well, and well, things were far less eventful from there, considering who they were dealing with.


Heartland was an unrecognisable wreckage. It was strange. Ruri had already seen Heartland destroyed, and she'd seen Neo Domino City being attacked too—what was the difference between two destroyed cities? They were both just rubble and smoke anyway—but there was something different. The very atmosphere felt foreign to her.

Was this… really home?

It had to be.

She glanced around, searching for any of her comrades—but it seemed that she was alone.

Where was this?...

And then, she realised something.

Blue glass was all over the ground. She looked up again, and then she spotted thin metal structures, spokes of metal…

"Oh my god," she murmured. "This is… Clover Branch, isn't it?"

The more that she looked, the more she could see the resemblance. But this place… hadn't this place been one of the two Resistance bases that they'd had? If it was destroyed, what had happened to the Resistance?

I should have been here. I should have been helping them. Instead, I was a damsel in distress—instead, I was just captured. I didn't protect a single person.

She had to find them. For the Lancers' sake, for her friends' sake and for her own peace of mind.

"Allen, Sayaka, Rio," she murmured, thinking about her closer friends from Clover Branch. "Are you all okay? Where are you now?"


The thing was, Standard hadn't been a real warzone. Not really. And while Synchro had been terrifying, Sora had mostly been in a group the whole time—fighting at the stadium amongst a group of people who had the same goals as him.

But when he ended up in Xyz, he was alone.

He was in a destroyed city, all alone.

He leaned against the wall, his hands trembling as he tried to regain control of himself.

He was—he was fine. He wasn't back there—he wasn't back there—

Their house was on fire. There was the sound of explosions everywhere. The scent of rotting food and trash was everywhere—he'd hidden behind the dumpster when the men had showed up. They were still talking. They were going to find him and set him on fire and kill him and—

"Shiun'in! Oi, Shiun'in!"

He'd never asked Shino what she'd done.

Sora blinked. Sawatari was in front of him—when had Sora ended up on the ground? Sawatari looked like he was freaking out too.

"What do I do? Uh, Shiun'in! Do I get you water? Food? Do you need CPR?"

"Shut up for a bit," Sora muttered. "Not like you know how to do CPR anyway." The world stopped spinning. "Next time you have to deal with someone having flashbacks, don't be loud."

Sawatari visibly winced. "W-well—"

… he was just trying to help. And Sora was trying to be nicer. "A for effort," he said. "I… appreciate it."

Sawatari stared at him. "... man, did that hurt you to say?"

Sora shook his head. He stood up. "I'm good," he said. "If we bump into any of the Resistance, you might have to take the lead—if I use Fusion, they'll get the wrong idea, yeah?" He smiled, though he didn't really feel calm or cheerful. "Let's go." He started to walk.

"Uh," Sawatari said as he caught up. "Do you want to talk about it, or…"

Sora rolled his eyes. "We're not that close." A brief moment passed. "... so it's easier." He shrugged. "When my hometown was attacked, I was hiding alone for a bit before Shino found me."

He tried to play it down, but he didn't know if it was convincing.

"I just got reminded of that when I got here."

"... ah," Sawatari said, slightly slack-jawed.

Sora couldn't help it. He rolled his eyes again. "Don't look at me like that. I'm still me."

"I mean, yeah, but I…" Sawatari shook his head after a moment. The awkwardness of the whole thing felt like it could swallow Sora alive. "Just… I don't think about you like that."

"Like what?"

"Like someone who's… fuck." Sawatari struggled with his words for a moment. "Someone who needs help. I don't think about you like that. You're always so confident, you know?"

Oh.

Sora felt vaguely flattered. It was the closest that Sawatari had ever come to calling him strong. Was this really Sawatari?

"So it's a bit weird," Sawatari concluded. "Won't tell anyone though. Your secret's safe with the great Shingo Sawatari."

… and there he was again. "Whatever," Sora said, grinning. "If you say so."


The Duel Lodge had been razed to the ground. Shun strode through the area, glancing around him—the statues, stone sculptures and walls had all fallen and crumbled under attacks. The entire place was marked with slashes and cracks—signs of battle.

From up here he could also see the state of the rest of Heartland. For a moment, he stared at Spade and Clover Branch in the distance.

… the Duel Lodge was their backup location for a base. If it had been destroyed, there was no need to question the state of Clover and Spade. But why? What exactly had happened here when they were gone?

… he should have been here. He should have been here…

Shun gritted his teeth. If they'd come up with another failsafe, he didn't know it. He had to figure out where the rest had gone, no matter what. He walked around the Duel Lodge more. There were some stones piled up near the back, in the zen garden—perhaps that was the worst part. There was some dust on top of the stones.

How long had the Duel Lodge been abandoned like this?

How long had it been since the Resistance had been forced out of their original base?

Please be fine. Please.

Then, he heard someone quietly speak from nearby. "... hello."

"Reira," Shun said, spotting the girl nearby. Shoot. She wasn't with her older brother? Still, she seemed a lot less anxious than she normally did, so maybe she was doing better. "Are you okay?"

"... yes."

"Good. Stay with me then." He'd just have to find the Resistance first. Come to think of it, it was probably best for Reira to be with him—after all, he was most likely to find the Resistance first compared to the rest, and then, she would definitely be in a safer place. "I'll find your brother."

"... it's okay."

Shun turned to look at her.

"Nii-san… has things to do," Reira said, staring at the bear in her hands. "I understand. I'll just stay safe and fight… so no one has to worry that I can't take care of myself. So… please work with me, instead of protecting me."

"... sure," Shun said with a shrug. "We're comrades, aren't we?"

She might be younger than most of us, but she's braver than most people I've met.


"Hey, Tsukikage." Nue nodded to the ninja, even as she surveyed the terrain around them. She easily identified where they were, despite how long it had been since she'd last been here. "I know how to get to Spade Branch from here. If I show you where it is, do you think that you can guide the rest to it?"

Tsukikage nodded. Getting a higher vantage point by walking up the side of one of the collapsed buildings, Nue pointed out landmarks, and Tsukikage repeated the directions that she'd said.

If it was any of her other comrades, then she wouldn't have trusted them to go off on their own—after all, most of the Lancers weren't exactly the stealthiest people. But Tsukikage was literally a ninja, and she was… pretty sure that out of the rest of the Lancers, he was the one that could escape any pursuers the most easily.

"I'll go towards Spade right now and look for someone," Nue said. "You can search the vicinity and see if you can direct anyone there?"

"Of course, Nue-dono."

Nue smirked. "If nothing else, you're one of the most reliable people we have, Tsukikage. Thanks."

"It's my duty and privilege to serve, Nue-dono." Tsukikage sounded completely sincere. Nue couldn't help but feel slightly touched, though she didn't show it on her face. "And I hope that I can carry on helping everyone to defeat our enemy."

"... not to serve," Nue said. "To work with us. I'll see you soon, Tsukikage."

"See you soon, Nue-dono. Please… do not put yourself in danger."

The concern made Nue's expression soften slightly. "I can only promise to do my best," she said.


"Why did I have to get stuck with you?" Chiaki muttered. Nearby, Serena, who had been looking over the rubble, turned back towards her, frowning.

"If you really don't trust me that much, then isn't it better for you to be stuck with me, so that you can keep an eye on me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you. I just don't like you—sue me." Chiaki peered through the wreckage as well. "Let's see if we can find any Academia members and beat them up—if the Resistance sees us fighting Academia, they'll probably be willing to lend us their ear."

Serena nodded. "Good idea," she said. "Let's go find someone to duel then—" She seemed distracted. Before Chiaki could call her out for it though, someone spoke up from behind them.

"Absolutely not. Stick to the plan."

"... Myojin," Chiaki said, turning around. The Lancers' second-in-command looked rather unruffled by the dirt and mess around them—instead, she was shooting both of them an unimpressed look.

"We said that we would get to safety first," Mion pointed out. "Don't be so eager to prove yourself that you end up putting us all at risk."

"... fine," Chiaki said. "Let's go."

Mion nodded approvingly. "I've checked briefly around here before catching up with the two of you. There is no one else around. Let's take a look north and see if we find any of the others—or potentially traces that will take us to the Resistance."

The three of them headed forward, taking cover in buildings when they could, to try and avoid being seen.

"So, Serena," Chiaki said after a moment. "What bothers you so much about this place?"

"... you wouldn't understand," Serena said. "You… didn't have those thoughts."

"I know I don't understand," Chiaki snapped. "That's why I'm asking—I'm genuinely trying to help!" Why did she even bother?

Serena blinked, and then she looked around them at the devastated landscape again.

"I can't believe that I wanted to be a part of this," she said. "I can't believe that I once admired them. I steeled myself to see it, but… the destruction, the remnants, the silence, the stench, the heavy air."

… so Serena was feeling guilty for all of this?

"Save your guilt, and act," Chiaki said bluntly. "These people have no want or need for your sympathy. Better that we fix things."

"Why not give them both?" Mion said, glancing back at them. "You can be sympathetic and act at the same time. I'd argue that it's the best way to go about things."

"... I thought you were down to earth, but you're painfully optimistic," Chiaki snarked at her.

"Oh." Mion stuffed her hands in her pockets. "I guess you could say I'm both. It's warranted, I think. You're pessimistic enough for the lot of us."

Nearby, Serena let out a stilted sound—it might have been a laugh. Chiaki glared at her, but she relented after a moment. "Fine. I guess I don't know that much about what makes things better, anyway." She'd never been particularly charitable—at first, it was because she couldn't afford to consider other people when her own situation wasn't the best. Then, she just… didn't want to bother herself with things that she couldn't fix.

"I think it's a good thing that you try," Serena said. "To make things better… if you don't try, nothing gets done."

"... on that," Chiaki said, "I think that for once, you and I agree completely."


To be honest, when Hitoda had ended up teleporting to a spot right next to Heartland Tower, she had been pretty sure that she was screwed. Especially because the entire place was swarmed with Academia soldiers, as expected—they were really disrespectful to the place that they had invaded, huh?

Then, when she had noticed that Gongenzaka was also nearby, she had realised that they were even more screwed. The big guy was cool and all, but he was not exactly known for stealth. Back when they had ended up in Synchro together with Nue, Hitoda was pretty sure that the only thing that had kept them from being arrested was her smile and Nue's common sense.

… it would be so much easier to just leave without him. In fact, that was exactly what she would have done, long before this—just left on her own, because that was far easier for her own survival. (She had very much downplayed her change in attitude when she'd talked to Yuno. After all, admitting how big of a change he and that other person had triggered in her would have been way too embarrassing.)

… god. That other person.

Every time she thought that she was done thinking about him, her mind went back to him—it was far too illogical, though that was coming from someone who genuinely didn't feel emotions the way that other people did. It was weird—they'd had a very logical difference of opinions that had caused that whole… thing in the first place, and she was objectively the one that people would say was 'in the wrong'… but she still kept thinking anyway. It was as though she was forgetting about him for long enough that she forgot why she needed to get away from him in the first place.

… enough. She was in a warzone right now. Priorities.

She carefully made her way over to Gongenzaka, tapping his shoulder. He nearly shouted, before she quickly shushed him, smiling as usual.

"We don't want to be found," she murmured. "We need to get out of here."

Gongenzaka nodded. "You are a far more tactical mind than myself, Makishima-dono."

Way to pass the responsibility… though Hitoda knew that he didn't mean things that way.

"Hitoda will do," she said. When he looked like he was about to protest, she raised a hand. "I taught you how to Link Summon and all—we're basically friends already!" She flashed a smile at him. "Hitoda-san, maybe, if you really want to be formal." She glanced over one of the nearby crates at the tower. "... huh. It's strange. They seem…"

They seemed panicked. From here, she could see people entering and exiting the tower, talking to each other—the few faces that she saw were either tense or nervous.

Something had happened. That much was obvious. Something had happened, and Academia was in a bit of a frenzy over it.

Perfect.

"Looks like their people are heading off in that direction," Hitoda said, gesturing to groups that were leaving the tower. "If they're distracted, we can go the other way and they probably won't go after us. Let's go, big guy."

However, as she turned to go, Gongenzaka reached out and grabbed her arm. "Hitoda-san," he said. "This man, Gongenzaka… thinks that we should follow them."

Hitoda blinked. Tugging her arm away from him, she spoke up. "Why?"

"Because, to have so many of them going to the same place…" Gongenzaka frowned. "I cannot help but feel like it has something to do with our comrades. Perhaps they have been found. And it does not sit right with me for us to simply… leave behind someone who may be fleeing Academia, even if they are not a Lancer."

So much honour. Honour, honour, honour, what was it worth?

"So I used you. Because there's a truth that I have to find—and you're close enough to that incident to know it."

The most honourable people were sometimes the most frustrating.

"You know, I'm hard-pressed to think that you ever cared about me at all, Revolver."

"And what if we get caught for no reason?" Hitoda asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean…" She held her hands behind her back, hiding her clenched fists. "I just want us all to be safe. And… it's great of you to want to help people! Honourable." She winked at him, keeping that charm in her tone. "But we're all comrades. We can handle ourselves. Let's trust that no one among us is an idiot who gets themselves into situations that they can't handle, alright? We all agreed that first and foremost, we preserve ourselves. I'm sure that if it was them, they'd prefer it too."

He stared at her. She seemed to have persuaded him somewhat, though she needed another push…

"It's easier to run in a smaller group too," she said. "And harder to hide in a bigger group. Yeah? Let's not sabotage our friends' efforts by burdening them with us."

"… I guess that makes sense," Gongenzaka said, buying her words. "Very well. Let us go to a safer position."

Hitoda grinned. If there was one thing she could count on, it was her ability to convince others. "Good! Let's get going."


Rin had not expected to end up in a church when she ended up in another world. Still, the dilapidated building that she ended up in was unmistakably one, from the white walls (that had since been stained grey) and the stained glass windows (though those had shattered.)

Come to think of it, Rin had never been in a church before. Her Field Spell, in fact, was the only church that she'd ever seen in her life. So, to see such a large building…

She walked into it, just because she was curious. (Also, it provided cover for her.) As she wandered the corridors, however, she came across Yuto, who was standing in front of a corkboard, staring at…

Photographs.

The ground was covered in ash, and many photographs had fallen or been torn from their pins, and were now spread out on the floor around them, slowly disintegrating. Still, on the board, Rin saw a photo that had Yuto in it. There, Yuto was smiling, two people who were likely his parents behind him. There were five other people in the photograph as well—one was a tall middle-aged man. His arms were around two young men's shoulders—one of whom was a tall man with white and purple hair, who was smiling calmly. Meanwhile, the other one looked like he was doing his best to appear disgruntled—he was the punkish type, with spiky red and golden blond hair. Despite that, a small smile had snuck onto his face. In the middle of them was a boy with pink and red hair, smiling brightly and raising two peace signs in the air. Finally, hovering to the left of the picture, her face half-hidden under a dark sunhat, was a girl with long red hair. She seemed like she was considering leaving the frame.

(Who was pretentious enough to wear a sunhat indoors?)

"Family friends of yours?" Rin asked.

Yuto nearly leapt in surprise—clearly, he hadn't noticed her there. "Oh," he said. "… yeah. It was just… surprising to see. Of all the photos to survive… they used to put up photos here, of a lot of different families, etc. Our family hung out with the Arclights quite often—used to go out for lunch with them on Sundays."

"Your sister isn't here though," Rin said.

"Ah, she never liked religious places," Yuto said with a shrug. "Our parents didn't force her to go. She'd join us for lunch afterwards."

… interesting…

Yuto's gaze lingered on the photo for a while longer, before he turned away. "Alright," he said. "Let's go."

Rin rolled her eyes. She stepped forward, pulling the photo from the corkboard, being careful not to tear it. She pushed it into Yuto's hands, even as he shot her a wide-eyed stare. "You clearly want it," she said. "Just take it. It's not like anyone else is going to be coming all the way here to pick it up, right?"

Yuto's fingers slowly pressed against the photo. "... yeah," he said. "Thanks."

"You said they're the Arclights, right? So, are they childhood friends or something?"

"They were Nue's childhood friends," Yuto corrected. "I was adopted later, and at that point, I think there was something going on? I'm not clear on the details. But once our families started hanging out again, I did get to start talking to them, so I'd say we're close." He kept the photograph in the inner pocket of his jacket. "... we haven't really talked much, have we?"

"No," Rin agreed. "I don't mind you though." Obviously, there was the fact that he shared the same face as Yugo, but in general, Yuto just seemed a lot more down to earth than any of the others.

"Uh… yeah, good." The two of them left the church, beginning to walk together. Rin trusted that Yuto probably knew where he was going, so she let him take the lead.

Plus, Yuto was a different person from Yugo. He probably wouldn't get them in trouble.

… hopefully Yugo wasn't in trouble right now…


"... oh dear. Do you need help getting down from there?"

Yuji tried to nod, only to realise that he would be smacking his head against the metal tiles to do so. Arms gripped around his stomach, pulling him down from the roof that he'd been clinging to beforehand. (Trust teleportation to put him at the worst place possible.) The person put him down, and Yuji grimaced—he didn't like touching others, but even he could tell that the person's intentions had entirely been to help him.

He turned slowly to look at them. As it turned out, the one that had helped him was a young woman with purple hair—she currently had a polite, neutral smile on her face. She was casually running her fingers through her soft curls. On her arms, elaborate dark tattoos could be seen of flowers that Yuji didn't recognise—they were far more eye-catching than anything else. There were tattoos snaking around her lower legs as well, dark shadows that accentuated her tanned skin.

Tattoos. Yuji remembered talking to Chiaki about those—Chiaki had suggested that the moment that they were old enough to get them done without parental permission, they should get matching tattoos. Yuji had not disagreed, but he hadn't really thought too much about it too.

The thought of Chiaki with lines like those around her collarbone, right underneath her bright hair…

… hmm.

Considering things like that were only going to distract him. He wasn't going to think about it now. Or ever. He did not want to think about things like that.

Oh. And she had a black collar pin of a heart on the collar of her blouse.

… ah.

Yuji had no clue what to say. If only someone else was here with him right now…

The girl did not move, but she did turn her head to look at him more directly. "Your demeanour isn't anything like the typical Academia soldier," she said. "Though it could be misleading… but you're certainly not a member of the Resistance either. With such a striking face, I would remember you."

Yuji opened his mouth—and shut it.

What should he even say? He didn't feel like a part of the Lancers, for all that they had accepted him so readily into the fold. But he wasn't a member of Academia—or was he? What was he supposed to say? What was he?

Explaining things were so difficult.

"Well, you do have blue hair. But Yuto wasn't colour-blind enough to mistake yellow for white, right? So you're not the one that kidnapped Ruri."

But Yuto was apparently blind enough to mistake Yugo for Yuri, so…

Yuji nodded, for lack of words to say.

The girl nodded. "You're clearly not from Academia, but you're not from the Resistance either," she said. She was speaking in full keigo, the respectful speech that would be appropriate for speaking to someone in a superior position to herself—despite the fact that Yuji was clearly younger than her. "What dimension?"

Yuji blinked.

"Your clothes are too clean for someone from here, if you've been walking around without being with the Resistance," the girl continued. "Especially because they're white—or an adjacent colour. So?"

"… Ritual," Yuji said, because at least that was a simple question to answer.

"Ritual… are you a refugee, then?" The girl's expression softened. "We heard about what happened to your world too. Did you come here to find safety?"

Yuji shook his head. He imagined Chiaki's voice in his head. You can always try to clarify them after you say them, but if you say nothing at all, there's nothing to understand. You get that, right? Then, his guardian's voice. Shuichi had always been patient with him, taking reports about his reticence in class and tendency to slack off without complaining, and greeting him with a smile when he got home anyway. Take your time, he would say. Better to get it right.

"I…" He shook his head.

If he couldn't form words properly himself, he just had to use the words of others.

"We're here to form an alliance with the Resistance," he said. "The Lancers, a group formed in Standard to fight against Academia. We are working with Shun Kurosaki, Nue Kamisoka, Yuto Kamisoka and Ruri Kurosaki."

"… you know, when you say it so mechanically, it sounds like you're lying," the young woman said. Yuji didn't know how to respond to it, so he just looked at her, standing still. Her smile didn't leave her face as she walked over to him. "Well, you remind me of my little brother. Words are hard, huh?"

"… mm."

"Sorry that you have to deal with that, then." The woman held out a hand towards him. Yuji raised his hand, but he didn't take it—the woman, however, took the initiative and took his hand, shaking it. "Hisako Fuyumori."

"Yuji Fujita," Yuji said. He pulled his hand away from hers. "... Resistance?"

"Yes," Hisako said, smile warming slightly. "I am."

"... show me?" Chiaki was probably making her way there now too. As were Kyorin and Yuno.

Hisako furrowed her brow—a small shift in her expression, at last. "My apologies," she said. "I'm afraid that I can't do that."

… of course it wouldn't be so easy.

"Even if I want to trust you, it's hard to trust people, when the lives of the entire Resistance rely on us never letting our guard down."

"… I don't need to be trusted," Yuji said. "Whether I'm on your side or not, you can ask the others. I'll keep walking around." He could look for Chiaki then, which was way more important than any of this. It'd be more useful to search on his own then to try and convince someone with words, when he'd never spoken clearly in his life.

"That's the smart move, but I can't leave you out here alone either," she said. She drew a hand through her hair. "If Academia comes for you while you're alone, I'll never be able to accept it." She said it as though it was completely natural to talk about guilt like that. "And my brother would want me to help you, I think."

Then your brother and I are nothing alike. Yuji, obviously, didn't express the thought aloud. This girl spoke like someone out of a fantasy novel. The tattoos were something that Yuji generally associated with rebellion and roughness—not with a girl who seemed to be made of sweetness and smiles.

"Anyway, in this case, I can solve this with a duel," she continued.

… that logic did not make any sense. How…

"Dueling doesn't solve everything," Yuji said quietly. It was the closest that he would get to shouting in disbelief.

"I know it doesn't." When Hisako smiled, there was something a little cold that flickered in her gaze—and then, she was all gentle, calm sweetness again. Had he imagined it? "But in this scenario, in the long term… well, dueling you here accomplishes a few different goals for me. I could explain, but I don't want to. Is that fine with you?"

… would Yuji ever be able to tell someone else that they should explain things without being a hypocrite?

"Fine," Yuji said, raising his duel disk.

"Alright then, Yuji Fujita." Hisako stepped away from him, to the other side of the blackened earth. "Let me see what kind of person you really are. And I'll be your introduction to this world too—if you'll let me."


If there was any kind of deity that was watching over them, then Kyorin… would really like to lodge a polite complaint. Travelling to a different dimension and ending up alone would be stressful for anyone, but…

Kyorin had already dealt with that more than the rest of the Lancers. And yet here she was, alone again…

She breathed out quickly into her palms, before determinedly holding up a fist. It was a silly action, but it helped her to get a grip on herself just a bit.

Alright. She just had to find everyone else!

Of course, despite her determination, she immediately ran into a roadblock when she crossed the corner and smelled smoke—not the usual soot, but rather something that had burned recently. She spun around. "Hello?" She spoke up—her voice was a squeak from how nervous she was. She tried her best to sound comforting. "Is… is someone there?"

It took some searching, but Kyorin finally found the problem. Lying in the back of the nearby building was a grey-haired boy with a thick gash on his forearm. He'd clearly been thrown back by some kind of force—around him, the ground was blackened slightly, and the green cloak that he was wearing was slightly singed. Who was this? What had happened to him?

Kyorin carefully knelt down, brushing her skirts aside, looking at the boy. She winced at the sight of his wound. Reiji Akaba had come back from Standard with small basic first aid kits for all of them to carry, and she did know a bit of first aid, so she began to sanitise and treat his wound.

Was this a member of the Resistance that Academia had attacked? How horrible…

She had to look for her comrades, but she didn't want to leave anyone behind. That would be too cruel. And this area was relatively sheltered…

Yeah! It would be fine!

She still remembered the words that she had said to Yuji back when they had dueled in Standard. She still believed them.

"If we needed to know everything about a person to care about their plight, then no one would ever be able to care about someone else."

She just wasn't the kind of person who could abandon a stranger.

So she just had to do what she could.

After all, they were here to protect people.


In the Resistance's building, a grey-haired girl lounged back on the table that she was sitting on, listening to the report that a very tired scout was giving.

"Disturbances?" Mariko said, tilting her head. "Figures that it would be when Tsubaki and Hisako are out… well, it looks like our guests have arrived. About time, really…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Go tell Kaede that he's in charge for now." She grabbed her cardigan from the nearby chair—it was far too hot down here to wear it, even for aesthetic reasons. "I have a feeling that I'm going to need to do some damage control!~ Nothing new though."

With that, she slipped towards the exit.

Let's hope that things don't get too bloody.


Welcome to the city of the future—Heartland! A world of limitless possibility awaits you here. Our city is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and it has been used to boost the efficiency and quality of production in many of our sectors. We have experts in every sector here—and our universities and specialty schools are second to none. As we always say:

In Heartland, all dreams become reality!

- Heartland Tourism Board, last updated 28 June X777


The duel was short, unsatisfying and barely worth mentioning. Afterwards, Reiji and Kaname simply continued to walk through the streets, without much sense of danger.

Kaname didn't know what she was expecting, but it was not for Reiji Akaba of all people to actually talk to her.

"I have a question for you."

Kaname shrugged, which was pretty much an indication for him to keep on talking. She watched him hesitate—and think through his words…

Five minutes passed.

… this was probably the most that she'd related to Reiji Akaba in her life. Still, if it was something to do with the Lancers, he'd probably have spoken already. So, in that case… it was probably a genuine question. What Kaname didn't know was if the question he was asking was about her, or about someone else.

(If he was going to ask her about her fathers immediately after they teleported to another world, Kaname was going to abandon him here and apologise to Mion later.)

"You are… in a relatively stable relationship, I believe," he finally said. Kaname nodded, slightly confused. "Despite likely having some hangups about interpersonal relationships due to the way that you were raised, and your later strained relationship with your parental figures."

Kaname tensed up, ready to leave.

"Was there something that your partner did which helped you to move on from your experience?" Reiji asked. He didn't quite meet her eyes, instead choosing to gaze into the distance as though he was looking for enemies. Kaname, on the other hand, had to quickly reboot her brain.

Was he asking what she thought he was asking?

Oh, that was…

That was actually sweet, and just associating that word with him made her feel like she was in a fever dream, kind of? It was a really sweet thing to ask.

Kaname reached for her duel disk, typing quickly. "I don't think my experience is the same as Myojin-san's."

"Is it not? I assumed that she got through to you because you were similar."

Similar, yes, but not the same. There was a distinction there that was important to make. Still, Kaname took a moment to think, and then she quickly communicated her intentions. "I had Martha. So I understood what it felt like to be loved early on—"

I just felt guilty over it. As though I was wrong, as though I was deceiving someone by being loved.

"—but Myojin-san never had anyone. No one took care of her. No one cared about her." Kaname felt bad typing out the words, but it was what she'd learned about the other girl—in fact, Reiji already seemed to know those things too. "So I could accept Makoto more easily… than she'll be able to accept you."

Reiji didn't respond. He carried on looking away from her.

"I think the effort is worth it though." Kaname didn't just want to leave it there. "I think I liked Makoto because with him, I felt like I had a place where I could exist without…"

Feeling fragile.

"Being punished for it."

"You're being surprisingly straightforward. I didn't expect… this much from you."

Well, Kaname liked Mion Myojin. She thought that Mion deserved to be happy. Maybe it was foolish, but… at the same time, she wanted to help too. Otherwise, this emotionally-restrained man might mess up… and well, they both deserved better.

She just shrugged.

And then, she spotted something in the edge of her vision—a flash of white.

She immediately turned around, slipping away with a quick tap on Reiji's shoulder, before she headed straight towards where she'd seen the shadow—crossing the corner, she came face to face with a white-haired man—

Who was… smiling? There was something tentative to it, but yes, that was a smile. A red ribbon was tied around his wrist as he raised his hands in the air—a placating motion.

"You have sharp eyes," he said. "Sorry to startle you."

Kaname stared at him briefly, before she drew back. He… didn't seem like a threat. With that, her role in the conversation was done. The man, however, didn't seem to understand.

"I saw you using sign language earlier—I understand some of it, if you need to say anything?"

… did he think she was intimidated by him? That was just… wrong.

Reiji caught up a moment later. The pale-haired man looked between the two of them. "Can I ask what your purpose here is?" He said.

"To find the Resistance," Reiji said—short and concise, as expected. "Of which I assume you are a member, with that ragged red piece of cloth."

"You would be right." The man folded his arms. "To find the Resistance, huh? Then may I ask for your reasons?"

"I am the leader of the Lancers," Reiji said. He briefly explained the circumstances of the Lancers and how they were formed. The man listened attentively, before he finally nodded.

"I see," he said. "That's believable enough, and I've at least heard that name. However… the Resistance has grown rather wary of those that they perceive as outsiders recently. Even if I vouch for you, it may not be enough." He smiled, slightly self-deprecating. "My students listen to me less and less nowadays. If only Shun and Yuto were still here…"

"The two of them are members of our group. They travelled to Standard, and they are the reason that we learned about your plight and came here in the first place."

"Shun did that?" The man smiled—there was genuine relief and affection there. "That's a relief." He put a hand over his chest. "I am glad then, that you were willing to help him—stories of other worlds must have seemed ludicrous at first. My name is Chris Arclight—I was an instructor at Heartland Duel School's Spade Branch, and now, I'm one of the older members of the Resistance, I suppose. What about you two? Uh, I learned some basic letter-based sign language for my job, miss, so you can use that."

He was trying so hard to communicate with her. Kaname almost felt bad that her first instinct had been to assume that he was a stalker from Academia who was trying to assassinate them. She made a wishy-washy motion with her hands, but then typed out the characters on her duel disk to save time. "Kaname Mizuchi. I come from the Synchro Dimension."

"I see," Chris said. He turned to Reiji. "And you?"

Kaname's gaze grew sharper.

This man… for all that Kaname didn't think that he was an enemy, he wasn't exactly treating them with respect either.

When she'd thought earlier that she almost felt bad, she'd meant that she didn't really feel bad at all. Because this man knew more than he let on. That 'casual' mention of Shun Kurosaki and Yuto Kamisoka, but not Ruri Kurosaki, despite the fact that all three of them were (according to what she'd heard) students at this Spade Branch place was telling… he had already known that the Lancers were associated with Shun and Yuto, and wanted to see their reaction to his words to confirm what they were saying, without directly asking.

He was trying to pretend to know less, so that he could more naturally fish for information from them.

And…

Briefly, Kaname glanced at Reiji

… unfortunately for Chris Arclight, no matter what his intentions were, he was with the two Lancers who were without question the most tight-lipped about information. (Kurosaki did not count in this case—she had a feeling that no matter whether they were loyal to the Lancers or not, the Resistance came first for him.)

"Reiji Akaba," Reiji said. "From Standard."

"... Akaba?" Chris repeated.

… right.


… Reiji really should have asked Shun if every member of the Resistance knew his father's name. After all, considering that Shun, Nue and Yuto's plans had bordered on kidnapping and assassination when they'd first come to Standard, Xyz was likely not that receptive to people that bore his last name. Hopefully Reira and Serena wouldn't share their last name with anyone they met until he cleared this up for them.

He was used to being distrusted, anyway.

"Yes, Akaba," Reiji confirmed. "Though I suspect that no one wants to defeat my father more than me."

"... I will admit to some scepticism about that," Chris said. "To me, filial piety is extremely important. For a son to turn against his father is unthinkable." For a moment, something akin to sorrow emerged in his expression, though he quickly regained his composure.

"... there always comes a time when a person has to make choices of their own," Reiji said, his voice stone cold. "I do not support genocide. And I certainly won't allow personal connections to turn me into someone as terrible as him."

"... my apologies." Chris shook his head. "... I am personally thankful, of course, that a duelist of your skill is not supporting Academia. I did not mean to imply otherwise. It's simply… unfortunate that you've been put in a position where you must make that choice in the first place." He looked at Reiji. "Before I take you back to the Resistance, may I test your character? If Shun follows you as a leader, I wish to know why myself. And while the leader of the Resistance is usually open to my counsel, she would put more weight in it if I had already put you to the test."

"... you may," Reiji said, although he was well aware that this was a way for Chris to subtly feel out his personality and playstyle as well. Despite this, at least the other man would be revealing his own as well, and Reiji doubted that he would be forced to use his full strength immediately anyway. An information exchange—that was all this was.

This would be a good chance to take the Resistance's measure.

(And this Chris Arclight had been mentioned by their earlier opponents. Reiji didn't know how this guy had been tracked down by Academia—after all, he was clearly stealthy enough to avoid being spotted by the two of them for a bit. He might as well observe properly.)

[DUEL!]

Reiji Akaba: 4000LP

Chris Arclight: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Chris] [H:5]

"I'll start, then," Chris said. His blue eyes glanced down at his hand, before he picked up a card. "Since I control no cards, I can Normal Summon Machina Metalcruncher from my hand, but its original attack points become 1800!" A large orange metal robot appeared on his field.

[Machina Metalcruncher (9*/2800/0/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

[Machina Metalcruncher: 2800 1800ATK]

"Then, with its effect, when Normal or Special Summoned, I can reveal three EARTH Machine monsters from my deck, and you randomly choose one of them to add to my hand. The rest are shuffled back into the deck. I will reveal three copies of Machina Megaform."

So it didn't matter which card Reiji picked, then. "Left," he said, just to get it over with more quickly. Chris picked up the card.

"I'll then activate the effect of Deep-Space Cruiser IX. By sending another Machine monster from my hand to the graveyard, I will Special Summon it." An enormous, white, blade-like machine appeared, blue light shining from within its metal.

[Deep-Space Cruiser IX (9*/900/900/LIGHT/Machine/Effect)]

"I'll overlay the Level 9 Deep-Space Cruiser IX and the Level 9 Machina Metalcruncher! My burdensome fate, let the gigantic world capable of swallowing an entire galaxy descend right here and now. Xyz Summon! Rank 9! Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere!"

Above them, an enormous monster appeared—it seemed to black out the sky. It was… a space station? With its solar panels spread out, it cast a shadow over all of them. The centre of it was gold and silver—with an eerie red light shining from within. Reiji caught a glimpse of the back of its panels for a brief moment as they opened and closed—a cityscape could be seen on the back of it.

[Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere (R9/2800/3000/LIGHT/Machine/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

… well. That was certainly something to see.


At the same time, in four separate parts of Heartland, Yuto, Shun, Ruri and Nue all raised their heads to look at Dyson Sphere at the same time.

"That's Chris-san's monster," Yuto said. "I wouldn't think that he would be the one to pick a fight, but he's never been an easy opponent anyway…"

Ruri blinked. "... it's been so long since I saw Dyson Sphere in person," she murmured. She couldn't help but smile—it felt a little like she was back in school again.

Compared to Ruri and Yuto's more subdued but happy reactions, however, Shun and Nue had pretty much the same first thought.

"Really, Chris, again?"

"This dumbass is going to get half of the Occupation Force called down on him," Nue muttered, shaking her head. "I can't believe that I thought he was the sane one when we were kids…"

"He can handle it, but I really wish that he would stop doing that." Shun stared at Dyson Sphere in the sky. "Why on earth did their dad even make the monster that big?"


Reiji stared at the monster, his earlier question having been answered.

Well. That explains how he got tracked down so easily.

Chris held up another card. "I'll then activate the Field Spell, Deep-Space Canopy Cosmopolis!" Around them, stars glittered and spun around in circular orbits. "Once per turn, since I control a Rank 9 or higher Machine Xyz Monster, I can discard a Machine monster to draw two cards." He cycled out the cards in his hand. "I'll set a card facedown and end my turn."

[Turn 2: Reiji] [H:6]

"Draw," he said, picking up the top card of his deck. "I'll activate the Continuous Spell, Dark Contract with the Entities."

… hmm.

"I am about to do something," he said, "that will test your patience towards me. You have my apologies."

This was a good way to test Chris's attitude though.

"Huh?"

"I will activate the effect of D/D Swirl Slime in my hand. I can perform a Fusion Summon of a "D/D/D" Fusion Monster using monsters in my hand and on my field as material!"

Chris's eyes widened—for a moment, he glared at Reiji.

"My dueling uses all the summoning methods," Reiji said simply. "To me, Fusion is just a part of my arsenal—perhaps a necessary one. I will not abandon it and weaken myself for the sake of your sensibilities."

"... I cannot accept it," Chris said. "Fighting alongside Fusion Monsters…" He reached up, slowly pinching his nose. "The very thought frustrates me."

"Fusion Summoning is a tool that has been abused by Academia—but Fusion Summoning itself is not evil," Reiji said. "Nothing is evil without intention. You wanted my strength—and my strength is in the diversity of my monsters. I will fuse D/D Swirl Slime and D/D Lamia! Grotesque God, drink the blood washed away by time, and now become one and give birth to a new king! Fusion Summon! Be born! D/D/D Flame King Genghis!" His first Fusion Monster appeared—a red king that stood on the field now, flames floating around it.

[D/D/D Flame King Genghis (6*/2000/1500/FIRE/Fiend/Fusion/Effect)]

"It doesn't matter to me if you cannot accept me as an ally, just because of Fusion Summoning," Reiji concluded. "We are your allies, regardless of whether you want us to be—we will still act in your interest, even if you shun us for the way in which we duel." He gestured forward. "Since I Special Summoned a "D/D/D" Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck to my field, I can gain 1000 life points."

Reiji: 4000 + 1000 = 5000LP

"Continuous Spell, Dark Contract with the Gate. I will add a "D/D" monster from my deck to my hand. And then, with D/D Lamia's effect, I'll send a "D/D" monster from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon it from my graveyard, but it is banished when it leaves the field." A snake-like girl with red scales forming her hands and 'hair'. Her body was made of black and white scales.

[D/D Lamia (1*/100/1900/DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"Genghis's effect," Reiji continued. "Since a "D/D" monster was Special Summoned to my field, once per turn, I can Special Summon a "D/D" monster from my graveyard. Return—D/D Swirl Slime." The small green slime with beady red eyes appeared on the field as well.

[D/D Swirl Slime (2*/200/200/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"Next, I'll Normal Summon D/D Nighthowl." The demon that consisted of a face with a large, gaping, fanged mouth appeared.

[D/D Nighthowl (3*/300/600/DARK/Fiend/Tuner/Effect)]

"Nighthowl's effect. I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower "D/D" monster from my graveyard, but its attack and defense points become 0, and I cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except Fiend monsters."

"I assume that all your "D/D" monsters are Fiend monsters too?" Chris said.

"You can assume that much, yes. Return from the graveyard—D/D Gryphon!" A brown, bipedal bird-like beast appeared on his field with a loud cry.

[D/D Gryphon (4*/S1/1200/1200/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]

[D/D Gryphon: 1200 0ATK/DEF]

He now had five cards on the field—Genghis, of course, and then Nighthowl, Gryphon, Lamia and Swirl Slime.

"Since Gryphon was Special Summoned from the graveyard, I can add a different "D/D" monster from my deck to my hand," Reiji explained. He picked up the card from his deck. "I'll tune the Level 3 D/D Nighthowl to the Level 4 D/D Gryphon! Gain the swiftness of a gale and become the cries of a newborn king! Be born! Synchro Summon! Level 7! D/D/D Gust King Alexander!" The kingly figure in white armour appeared, summoning up a sharp gale that swept his green cape into the air.

[D/D/D Gust King Alexander (7*/2500/2000/WIND/Fiend/Synchro/Effect)]

"With the effect of my Dark Contract with the Entities, my Synchro Monster, Alexander cannot be targeted by card effects this turn," Reiji explained. "Now, open, circuit of the dimensional demons! Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two "D/D" monsters! I will set D/D Swirl Slime and D/D Lamia in the Link Markers! Subjugating those unworthy, rise forth now, king of the nothingness! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! D/D/D Abyss King Gilgamesh!" In his Extra Monster Zone, the tall, blue-skinned man in black and gold armour appeared, holding out a glowing sword in one hand and a long spear in the other. Several other weapons could be seen resting on its back.

[D/D/D Abyss King Gilgamesh (L2/1800/DARK/Fiend/Link/Effect/↙, ↘)]

"Fusion to Synchro to Link," Chris said. There was something… stiff to his voice. "Of all the summoning methods to use in order…"

"Do you hold something against Link Summoning as well?" Reiji said.

"... many of the Resistance's greatest enemies have been armed with Link Monsters," Chris said. "We do not have a good opinion of those monsters, either."

"... I see." Reiji raised a hand in the air. "Then—allow me to show you a summoning method that you cannot possibly have preconceived notions about. Gilgamesh's effect. For the rest of this turn, I cannot Special Summon monsters, except "D/D" monsters. However, I can place two "D/D" monsters from my deck in the Pendulum Zones! I will set the Scale 1 D/D Savant Copernicus and the Scale 10 D/D Savant Newton in the Pendulum Scales!"

The two Pendulum Monsters shot up in pillars of blue light around him. Chris gasped—he stared at them, clearly confused.

"Then, I take 1000 damage," Reiji concluded.

Reiji: 5000 - 1000 = 4000LP

"What exactly is a Pendulum Scale?" Chris said, repeating the words with a strange inflection.

"You haven't heard of it because it's not Academia's weapon," Reiji said. "It's ours. A member of the Lancers in Standard invented this new summoning method."

"A completely new summoning method… that's impressive, if that's true." Chris folded his arms. "How does it work then?"

"That will be explained when we get to it," Reiji replied. "First, I will activate the effect of D/D/D Gust King Alexander. When a "D/D" monster is Normal or Special Summoned to my field while I control him, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower "D/D" monster from my graveyard. Return—D/D Nighthowl." The monster reappeared in Defense Position. "Now, my Pendulum Scale consists of the Scale 1 D/D Savant Copernicus and the Scale 10 D/D Savant Newton. As such, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to Level 9."

"So, monsters with Levels in between those Pendulum Scales? And those Pendulum Scales don't seem to correspond to Levels too… interesting."

"You can do your investigations in your own time, I suppose. Swing, pendulum! Pendulum Summon! Come from my hand—D/D Lilith. And from face-up in my Extra Deck, D/D Gryphon!"

The humanoid bird with brown feathers from earlier appeared again. Next to it was a pink demon surrounded by mist, with a blue, scaly body and a pink, tattered wing.

[D/D Lilith (4*/100/2100/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"When D/D Lilith is Normal or Special Summoned, I can add a "D/D" monster from my graveyard to my hand." He picked up a card. "And when D/D Gryphon is Pendulum Summoned, I can discard a "D/D" or "Dark Contract" card to draw a card."

He cycled out the card in his hand. He had six monsters again.

"I'll overlay the Level 4 D/D Gryphon and the Level 4 D/D Lilith!" He declared. " In order to subjugate all that resides in this world, now, descend onto the peak of the world! Xyz Summon! Be born! Rank 4! D/D/D Wave King Caesar!" The king with a full set of purple armour appeared—the fourth monster that he had Special Summoned from the Extra Deck this turn.

[D/D/D Wave King Caesar (R4/2400/1200/WATER/Fiend/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Since I Special Summoned a "D/D/D" Xyz Monster from the Extra Deck, I can use another effect of my Dark Contract with the Entities," Reiji said. "I'll banish a card from the field or the graveyard. I'll choose your Dyson Sphere!"

"Quickplay Spell, Forbidden Lance," Chris countered, flipping over his set card. "Until the End Phase, Dyson Sphere loses 800 attack points, but it is unaffected by the effects of other Spells and Traps until the End Phase!"

The large canopy star lost some of its light—but it remained on the field, now rendered immune to Reiji's effect.

[Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere: 2800 - 800 = 2000ATK]

Still, now that it was weaker…

"I will activate the Continuous Spell, Dark Contract with the Swamp King. I'll use its effect and fuse D/D Nighthowl on the field with D/D Lilith in the graveyard." He sent the first card to the graveyard and banished the second. "Proud genius, be absorbed into the arcane swirl that takes in all forms! Be reborn into a new king! Fusion Summon! Come forth, ruler who carries the glory of God! D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc!" His other most common Fusion Monster appeared, vampiric appearance rather striking—his red and blue wings wrapped around him.

[D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc (7*/2800/2000/DARK/Fiend/Fusion/Effect)]

"So, five monsters Special Summoned from the Extra Deck," Chris said. "I am rather impressed, all things considered…"

"But you don't sound afraid," Reiji said. "Allow me to see why. Battle Phase. D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc attacks Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere! Oracle Charge!" The vampiric fiend dashed forward.

"Once per Battle Step, if Dyson Sphere is attacked while it has Overlay Units, I can negate that attack," Chris said. A bright light reflected off the large space satellite's wings, hitting d'Arc and forcing him back.

"... once per Battle Step," Reiji said. "And it doesn't use Overlay Units as cost. Does that mean that you can keep on negating my attacks?"

"Correct," Chris said, before he blinked. "Ah, I was talking to you like one of my students for a moment there. It's been a while since I've met someone who doesn't know what Dyson Sphere's effect is. If I'm honest, it's always rather hilarious to see someone react to it for the first time."

… despite this person's gentle demeanour, he definitely had a bit of a sadistic streak.

"I'll end my turn," Reiji said simply. He wasn't too worried for now.

Five monsters on his field in a single turn…

Well. That was just the first move. He already knew what he was going to do next to try and win against Dyson Sphere. He was just curious to see what Chris would do next.

[Turn 3: Chris] [H:3]

"Draw," Chris said. "Spell Card, Machina Redeployment. I'll discard a "Machina" card to add two "Machina" cards with different names from my deck to my hand. And I'll Normal Summon Machina Gearframe!" A thin robot with a grey frame and orange metal around it appeared.

[Machina Gearframe (4*/1800/0/EARTH/Machine/Union/Effect)]

"Machina Gearframe's effect. I will add a "Machina" monster from my deck to my hand." He picked up the card. "I'll discard a "Machina" monster from my hand to Special Summon Machina Irradiator from my hand!" A large green metal creature that resembled a turtle appeared, a large silver-white cannon coming out of its back, glowing with blue light.

[Machina Irradiator (8*/1700/2400/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"I'll activate Irradiator's effect. I'll target and destroy itself to Special Summon Machina Megaform from my graveyard!" A blue and white robot with a long cannon in its chest appeared.

[Machina Megaform (8*/2600/1500/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"I'll activate Megaform's effect. I'll tribute it and Special Summon a "Machina" monster from my deck. Come—Machina Air Raider!" A blue, flying robot appeared, with round wings that had motors and fan blades spinning within them.

[Machina Air Raider (8*/1500/2600/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

So he'd done all of that to cycle the monsters out from the deck?

"I'll then activate the Spell Card, Hologram Projection. I will target Machina Air Raider and summon Hologram Projection as a copy of it!" A flickering, translucent version of Air Raider appeared next to it on the field.

[Hologram Projection (8*/1500/2600/EARTH/Machine)]

"I'll overlay the Level 8 Machina Air Raider and the Level 8 Hologram Projection, treated as Machina Air Raider! Let the gigantic machine that slinks through the deepest trenches of the ocean ascend to the surface, and blow away all burdens with its steam! Xyz Summon! Rank 8! Aegaion the Sea Castrum!" A large blue robot that seemed to be made entirely out of building-like structures appeared—golden lines and metal running around the edges of it. Red light shone off it in patterns. It slowly raised long structures in the air—like cannons.

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum (R8/?/3000/WATER/Machine/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Aegaion's effect," Chris continued. "Once per turn, I can take a random facedown monster from your Extra Deck and banish it face-up. And then, Aegaion's attack points become equal to the banished monster's." He gestured forward—a card shot out of Reiji's Extra Deck. His Gust High King Alexander… unfortunate.

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: ? 3000ATK]

Interesting. An Extra Deck destruction effect like Chiaki Katsuya's monsters, then?

"I'll have Dyson Sphere attack your D/D/D Wave King Caesar!"

"I'll detach one of Caesar's Overlay Units," Reiji replied. "At the end of this turn's Battle Phase, I can Special Summon as many monsters as possible from the graveyard that were destroyed this turn, but I'll take 1000 damage for each of them that I control during the next Standby Phase." Water surrounded his monsters as Caesar took on a defensive stance.

[D/D/D Wave King Caesar: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

Caesar was destroyed by the attack. Reiji shielded himself.

Reiji: 4000 - 400 = 3600LP

"When Caesar is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can add a "Dark Contract" card from my deck to my hand." Reiji picked up another card.

"So you won't lose any of your monsters permanently this turn," Chris said. "In that case… Aegaion attacks your D/D/D Abyss King Gilgamesh!"

Aiming for battle damage, huh? That made sense. Reiji watched as his Link Monster was destroyed by a bright red blast, steam tracing the air in its wake.

Reiji: 3600 - 1200 = 2400LP

"When Gilgamesh is destroyed, I can Special Summon a "D/D" monster from my graveyard or Extra Deck in Defense Position!" In front of him, a dark blue, swirling portal appeared. "Come from the Extra Deck! D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried!" The white-haired warrior in dark armour appeared, holding onto a long sword, a strange dark aura intensifying around it.

[D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried (8*/2800/2200/DARK/Fiend/Synchro/Effect)]

"I see. You truly are rather interesting, Reiji Akaba."

Why did he seem… amused?

"I'll end my turn. I suppose that means that by extension, I've ended my Battle Phase."

Caesar and Gilgamesh took their places on his field—now that he was being Special Summoned from the graveyard, Gilgamesh could go into a Main Monster Zone now, while Siegfried was occupying the newly open Extra Monster Zone.

[Turn 4: Reiji] [H:3]

"Draw," Reiji said. "During the Standby Phase, I take 2000 damage from Caesar's effect. My Dark Contract with the Swamp King inflicts 1000 damage to me during my Standby Phases, my Dark Contract with the Gate inflicts 1000 damage to me, and my Dark Contract with the Entities inflicts 2000 damage to me."

"Judging from your complete lack of concern, I'm guessing that it doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all." Reiji gestured forward. "While I control D/D/D Oracle King d'Arc, all that damage becomes an effect that increases my life points instead!" His life points shot up by a staggering amount—four times, for each effect.

Reiji: 2400 + 1000 x 2 + 1000 + 1000 + 2000 = 8400LP

"I will activate the effect of Dark Contract with the Gate. I'll add a "D/D" monster from my deck to my hand."

And well, he still had his six kings.

He could bring out that monster…

No. That monster was his ace in the hole against Dyson Sphere's overpowered effect, if nothing else worked. He could try another method first, since he could at least attack Aegaion.

"I'll activate the effect of my Dark Contract with the Swamp King," Reiji said. "I will fuse my D/D/D Abyss King Gilgamesh with my D/D/D Wave King Caesar!" The two monsters shot up. "Chaotic king who watches over this world's fate. Drink the blood washed away by time, and become a dragon slaying hero! Fusion Summon! Be born! Level 8! D/D/D Dragonbane King Beowulf!" A new king, bestial in appearance, appeared on the field. His entire body was covered in thick blue-silver fur, and his face was that of a wolf. A tail swept through the air behind him. His stocky limbs ended in thick claws. He was wearing gold armour.

[D/D/D Dragonbane King Beowulf (8*/3000/2500/DARK/Fiend/Fusion/Effect)]

"Caesar will let me add another "Dark Contract" card from my deck to my hand," Reiji said, picking up the card. "And I Fusion Summoned again, so my Dark Contract with the Entities grants me 1000 more life points."

Reiji: 8400 + 1000 = 9400LP

"Now, swing, pendulum! Pendulum Summon!" He only put down one card this time—from his hand. "Come—D/D/D Supreme King Kaiser!" A tall warrior dressed in black and gold appeared, red fabric wrapped around his shoulders.

[D/D/D Supreme King Kaiser (7*/2800/2100/DARK/Fiend/Effect)]

"When D/D/D Supreme King Kaiser is Pendulum Summoned, I can negate the effects of all face-up cards my opponent controls until the End Phase!" Reiji declared. "As such—Dyson Sphere loses its immunity to attacks!" A dark aura surrounded Chris's field.

"I'll chain the effects of Aegaion," Chris said. "First, I will detach an Overlay Unit and target one of your banished Fusion, Synchro or Xyz Monsters—naturally, your banished Gust High King Alexander. By returning it to the Extra Deck, I can destroy a Synchro Monster you control! I'll choose D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried! And then, by chaining Aegaion's other effect, I will banish another card from your Extra Deck!"

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

The banishing effect resolved first—it was his D/D/D Stone King Darius. Right after that, Siegfried was destroyed.

"When D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to the graveyard, I can gain 1000 life points for each "Dark Contract" card I control," Reiji said. All three of his Continuous Spells glowed briefly.

Reiji: 9400 + 1000 x 3 = 12400LP

Reiji couldn't use Genghis or Alexander's effects though, because his only open Monster Zone was the Extra Monster Zone.

"Impressive," Chris praised. Even though his cards' effects were negated, he didn't seem bothered.

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: 30000ATK]

"Battle Phase!" Reiji declared. "D/D/D Dragonbane King Beowulf attacks Dyson Sphere!"

"I think you already understand that it's not going to be that easy," Chris said. He lifted up a card from his graveyard. "Once per duel, I can banish Electromagnetic Turtle from the graveyard. I'll end the Battle Phase."

… an exceedingly simple solution. It was a good thing that Reiji hadn't used Supreme King Kaiser's other effect then.

"I'll set two cards," he said. "Over to you." He still had five kings on the field—Genghis, Alexander, d'Arc, Beowulf and Kaiser. It would be hard to get rid of all of them at once…

[Turn 5: Chris] [H:1]

"Draw," Chris said. "Aegaion's effect. I will banish another random card from your Extra Deck!"

The card revealed itself. Aegaion's attack points shot up.

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: 0 3500ATK]

"D/D/D Super Doom King Purple Armageddon?" Chris read out the card's name with some confusion. "And… it's both a Fusion and Pendulum Monster? How does that work?"

"There are too many rulings for me to explain in the time we have," Reiji said in a completely flat tone.

"... well, fair enough. I will use Aegaion's other effect. I'll detach one of his Overlay Units and shuffle your Super Doom King Purple Armageddon back into the Extra Deck to destroy a Fusion Monster you control!" Steam shot up, tearing through d'Arc and destroying it.

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: OU:1 - 1 = OU:0]

"I'll activate the Spell Card, Limiter Removal," Chris continued. "All Machine monsters I control have their attack points doubled until the End Phase, but they are destroyed at the end of this turn." Both Aegaion and Dyson Sphere glowed brightly.

[Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere: 2800 x 2 = 5600ATK]

[Aegaion the Sea Castrum: 3500 x 2 = 7000ATK]

"Aegaion the Sea Castrum attacks D/D/D Flame King Genghis!" The dark blue and black robot stood up, a red light shining from within it. It fired off blasts of light at Genghis.

"Continuous Trap, Dark Contract with the Witch." While Reiji would survive the turn, taking so much damage still wasn't a good idea. "By sending another "Dark Contract" card from my hand to the graveyard, I can destroy a card on the field! I will destroy Aegaion the Sea Castrum!" The large machine was swept up by toxic-looking winds that tore it apart from the inside.

"I see," Chris said. "Dyson Sphere attacks Genghis!"

So he'd identified that as long as Reiji had Genghis, he could keep bringing back the rest?

Well, it wasn't that big of a loss. Reiji let that attack pass.

Reiji: 12400 - 3600 = 8800LP

"When Genghis is destroyed by battle or one of your card effects, I can add a "Dark Contract" card from my graveyard to my hand." Reiji picked up the card that he'd just discarded.

"Still, I assume that your current Dark Contract is going to inflict another 1000 damage to you, and you no longer have d'Arc. That's 5000 damage in a single blow. Will you be fine?"

"Whether or not I'm fine is up to me to decide," Reiji said. "Are you done with your turn, Chris Arclight?"

Chris eyed him, and then he nodded. "I suppose I am," he said. Aegaion was destroyed, but strangely, Dyson Sphere wasn't. Chris seemed to anticipate his question, speaking up. "Dyson Sphere can't be destroyed by card effects while it has Overlay Units, since I control my Field Spell."

Couldn't be destroyed by card effects, and couldn't be targeted by attacks? Impressive. And an effect that protected a Rank 9 or higher monster as well…

[Turn 6: Reiji] [H:2]

"Draw," Reiji said. "During the Standby Phase, my four Dark Contracts will inflict 5000 damage to me." All four cards glowed—and Reiji took the damage without any form of complaint.

Reiji: 8800 - 2000 - 1000 - 1000 - 1000 = 3800LP

"I half-expected you to come up with another way of dodging that damage."

"I could have," Reiji said. "But it would have been unnecessary. I'll activate the effect of Dark Contract with the Gate. I'll add a "D/D" monster from my deck to my hand. And now, I'll activate the Trap Card, D/D/D Human Resources. I will shuffle D/D/D Flame King Genghis, D/D/D Cursed King Siegfried and D/D/D Wave King Caesar from my graveyard into the Extra Deck to draw two cards!" He picked up the two cards from the deck.

He now had two open Main Monster Zones, from the destruction of d'Arc and Genghis. It had been intentional to leave them open.

"Swing, pendulum! Pendulum Summon! Come! D/D Savant Thomas! D/D/D Doom King Armageddon!" The two monsters appeared on the field—both of them strangely shaped, surrounded by shadows. The first was pale white on the top, shaped like a sarcophagus. The other was dark purple, seeming to pulsate slowly.

[D/D Savant Thomas (8*/S6/1800/2600/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]

[D/D/D Doom King Armageddon (8*/S4/3000/1000/DARK/Fiend/Pendulum/Effect)]

"Two Level 8 monsters," Chris said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you…"

"Yes," Reiji said. "Allow me to introduce you to one of the shining jewels of this deck! I will overlay the Level 8 D/D Savant Thomas and the Level 8 D/D/D Doom King Armageddon! When two suns rise, the horizon of a new world shall open up! Xyz Summon! Appear and come forth, Rank 8! D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga!"

The king in red armour appeared on the field, sitting on his white throne of stone. His foot hit the ground, sending a sharp shockwave through the field—the sound of metal clashing against concrete was sharp even to his ears.

[D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga (R8/3500/3000/DARK/Fiend/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

This was the card that he'd waited to bring out, after all—until he could be roughly sure of Dyson Sphere's capabilities. It was a good thing—if he hadn't saved it until now, then Electromagnetic Turtle would still have warded it off.

And besides…

This was a more fitting ending. To use his Xyz Monster as the key card to win against a member of the Resistance, rather than their enemy's summoning method…

"After Kali Yuga is Xyz Summoned, for the rest of this turn, other cards and their effects on the field cannot be activated, and all other cards on the field have their effects negated!" Reiji declared. "Double Blazing Solar Devastation!" Flames shot up, consuming the entire field in an instant—destroying nothing, but making it red-hot, inhospitable.

"All cards on the field, huh?"

"You might have thought that you were safe with a monster that protects itself from everything. But it's always more important to step forward! Battle Phase! D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga attacks Number 9: Canopy Star - Dyson Sphere! Bolts of Banishment!"

Lightning bolts shot up from Kali Yuga's hand—striking at the satellite. First, each of its different panels slowly crumbled and collapsed—and then, with a final bolt to the middle, the entire monster exploded like a fireball in the sky.

Chris: 4000 - 700 = 3300LP

"And…" Reiji raised his head. "I will not attack you directly with Beowulf. I understand that it'll bring back bad memories for you. But I won't hold back either. Kaiser! Alexander!"

"... we shouldn't hold back from winning, if we can help it," Chris acknowledged. "But…" He looked over at the Fusion Monster, the only one that wasn't attacking. "Thank you."

The two attacks landed, and Chris's life points finally fell.

Chris: 3300 - 2800 - 2500 = 0LP

Winner: Reiji Akaba!

"... well, a deal is a deal," Chris said. "For what it's worth… I do trust you a bit." He chuckled. "I'm surprised, to be honest. You're a lot more considerate than I gave you credit for, considering how standoffish you initially seemed."

"... considerate?"

"You won't hold back your strength for the sake of others' feelings," Chris said. "But you will choose the method that harms the least people for the best outcome. I think that's the best we can hope for, in an ally."

"... I see." Reiji pushed his glasses up. "Are you finally ready to stop pretending that you don't know anything about the Lancers then?"

Chris's eyes widened. He glanced between them—not just at him, but at Kaname, who also looked completely unsurprised by the statement. After a moment, he chuckled, shaking his head. "You would think that I would have learned to stop underestimating those younger than me by now," he said. "You knew all along, huh?"

A man who had become a CEO at sixteen and a girl who had become the strongest enforcer of a tyrannical regime looked back at him.

"If you want an alliance, it's best not to underestimate others at the negotiating table," Reiji said.

Chris nodded. "I've never been the best at hiding my intentions," he finally said. "Very well. Shall we go?"

Together, they set off. On the way there, Chris asked about the theme of Reiji's deck, and Reiji, seeing no harm in it, told him about the myths behind each monster that had shown up in the duel.

"All this talk about kings, that calculating playstyle…" Chris chuckled, shaking his head. "You'd get along well with Melia. Or at least, you'd have gotten along well with her before the invasion… you're pretty similar in some ways."

Reiji frowned. "I don't think that they mentioned a 'Melia' to us. Who's that?"

"... ah. No, I don't suppose that they would have used that name," Chris pressed a hand to his mouth, before sighing. "My sister. Tsubaki."

Melia. As in… ah. As in camellia, tsubaki.

"That's the elusive Tsubaki Nagare then?" Reiji said, arching an eyebrow. "Kamisoka-san's mentioned her, but she's been sparse on details, other than the fact that she's one of the strongest members of your Resistance. If you could tell us about her, that would be appreciated."

"Well, I would likely be one of the best people to ask about her, considering that I've known her the longest out of everyone still here," Chris said. When he laughed, it was a mix of affection and… sorrow.

Reiji glanced at him.

"She's similar to you, I think. And you're right that she's one of the strongest members of the Resistance—arguably the strongest member that has still remained with us until now. But she's always preferred privacy, so I probably shouldn't talk too much about her." Chris shook his head. "She's also the proper leader of the Resistance, at this point in time, so she's the one that you'll be talking to when you get there."

The proper leader of the Resistance? Interesting phrase to use there… and 'at this point in time' was rather interesting as well.

"Regardless, Tsubaki doesn't trust easily, and everyone tends to follow her lead… to be honest, I'm probably not the hardest person to convince in the Resistance. You might have trouble with the rest—there are more stubborn people."

"Oh? Like who?"

"... I guess you might meet them soon." Chris rubbed at the side of his head. "We'll see. The others tend to trust me to be more… level-headed, so if I do vouch for you, it should work. To be honest, we're kind of a mess. After what happened months ago…" He sighed. "You can't really make things worse."

… huh.

Reiji was not exactly oblivious. And he understood the implications of that statement—of Chris Arclight's general tension when it came to the topic of the Resistance.

… it looked like they had more problems to deal with here, than simply Academia.

Still, Dyson Sphere had been enormous, right? Academia should have seen it from miles away. The fact that they weren't here now either meant that they were extremely incompetent, or that something had happened that was more important than tracking down an important member of the Resistance.

… hopefully his Lancers hadn't involved themselves in that. They could hardly afford to get in trouble right now.

"So, who are the less level-headed members?" Reiji asked, just to make conversation.

Chris chuckled. "Well—"


As Yuya and Yuzu approached, they spotted it—an enormous cannon, firing off another shot. There was a duel going on, but it seemed to conclude as they approached—the cannon shot bypassed the monsters on the field, those familiar dogs, defeating the Academia students. On the other side from the Academia students were two teenagers, the same age as them. One of them was a boy with spiky red hair, though there were some yellow bangs at the front of his face. He had thick eyebrows over his teal green eyes, and he was wearing a dark blue and purple poncho with light green clubs embroidered into it. The other was a girl with light purple hair. She was wearing thin-framed glasses. Her eyes were blue. Two green hairclips with orange club-shaped designs on them could be seen on the sides of her face, keeping her fringe back. Both of them were wearing red pieces of cloth around their wrists.

The purple-haired girl watched as the red-haired boy stalked forward, raising his duel disk. There was a conflicted look on her face, but she didn't speak up—

Yuzu only realised what the boy was about to do a moment before it happened. Yuya, luckily, caught onto it quicker.

"Wait—stop! Don't do it!"

Both teenagers turned to look at them—and then, the Academia students teleported away.

"... Yuto? Ruri?" The red-haired boy's eyes widened. "You're finally back?"

"Ruri!" The purple-haired girl rushed forward. "Oh, I'm so relieved…"

"Um—" Yuzu took a step back. "I'm not Ruri…"

"Oh. Right. Your hair and eyes… but you look so similar to her though." The girl turned to look at Yuya. "In that case, you're not Yuto either?"

"No. I'm Yuya Sakaki, this is Yuzu Hiiragi. We're from Standard—"

"Sakaki?"

The sheer venom in the red-haired boy's voice startled Yuzu.

"Did you say that your name was Yuya Sakaki?" The boy said. "As in, are you related to Yusho Sakaki?"

Both Yuya and Yuzu reacted with shock. So people in the Xyz Dimension knew about his father? Why hadn't Shun, Nue, Yuto or Ruri mentioned it then?

"He's my father," Yuya said. "Did you meet him? Is he here? Can I meet him?"

"As if!" The red-haired boy snapped—and he raised his duel disk sharply through the air. Yuya barely dodged it, eyes widening in shock. "They said that the one who kidnapped Ruri had the same face as Yuto—it must be you, right? Because you're related to the traitor!"

"Traitor?" Yuya shook his head. "I don't understand. What did my father do?"

"Oh, nothing," the boy said sarcastically. "A man shows up out of nowhere with no identification, nothing that proves that he exists. Dr. Tenjo finds him and takes pity on him. He has no identification, so he can't be employed officially, but Dr. Tenjo gets him a job as an unregistered tutor at Clover Branch. We all keep a secret, trust him and learn from him—and for some reason, he doesn't know anything about Xyz Summoning, but he's really strong anyway! And then, that traitorous man disappears on the day that the invasion happened! Not just during the invasion, but before—he didn't show up to work on that day! He clearly knew that something was going to happen, and ran away beforehand!"

His father… ran away again?

"So he was probably a spy from Fusion," the boy snarled out. "And if you're his son, that makes you one of those, right? So you both have to be from Academia!"

"We're not!" Yuya tried to protest. "We came here alongside your comrades—Ruri's already escaped from Academia!"

"And why the hell should we believe you? We already made that mistake with your father before!" The boy gestured forward with his duel disk again. Behind him, the girl seemed hesitant—but there was also something wary and betrayed to her gaze. Finally, she raised her duel disk too. "If you're really a Sakaki like him, you're not welcome here! Get out of Heartland now, or we'll make you! I'll avenge all the comrades I lost!"

Yuzu and Yuya exchanged a look. It seemed that there was no way for them to reason with these two.

So they'd have to win first, and then not do anything, so that they could show their goodwill. Either that, or buy time until Shun, Nue, Yuto and Ruri told the Resistance about them.

Yuzu patted Yuya's shoulder comfortingly.

They'd figure out what had happened to Yusho Sakaki. After all…

Yuzu would never believe that Yuya's father was capable of doing such a cruel thing.

"Are you ready to fight, Allen? Do you need a moment?"

"N-no. I'm fine, Sayaka." The boy—Allen—jabbed a finger at them. "Let's win against these guys."

Yuya and Yuzu both sighed, but there was no point in trying to argue any further. They'd win first and go from there.

[DUEL!]

Yuya Sakaki: 4000LP

Yuzu Hiiragi: 4000LP

Allen Kozuki: 4000LP

Sayaka Sasayama: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Allen] [H:5]

"I'll start!" The red-haired boy, Allen, declared, his eyes still narrowed in anger. "Spell Card, Tokusano Shinkyojin! I can send monsters from my hand or field to the graveyard whose total Levels equal 10, and then I can draw two cards!" He swiftly discarded a monster and drew twice, much to Yuya's surprise. A single monster… so that was a Level 10 monster, then? "I'll then Normal Summon Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede from my hand!" A long silver train appeared, with a tall knight on horseback with a sword in its hands in front of it. The horse was pulling the train along.

[Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede (4*/1800/1000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"When Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede is Normal or Special Summoned, I can target an EARTH Machine monster in the graveyard and Special Summon it in Defense Position, but its effects are negated! Come back! Super Express Bullet Train!" A large blue train appeared on the field, with long spikes jutting out of its engines. Fire blasted out from its engines as it zoomed around Allen and Sayaka, before landing back on the field.

[Super Express Bullet Train (10*/3000/0/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Then, I'll use my Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede's effect! I'll target it and Super Express Bullet Train! One of them copies the Level of the other—I'll choose to have my Railroad Stampede copy my Bullet Train's Level!"

[Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede: 4* 10*]

"Two Level 10 monsters?" Yuzu exclaimed.

"Are you scared now, Fusion scum?" Allen said, still glaring. "I'll overlay the Level 10 Super Express Bullet Train and the Level 10 Flying Pegasus Railroad Stampede! From beyond the railway, arriving here and now, alongside the tremors of the earth. Xyz Summon! Rank 10! Appear—Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max!" An enormous green cannon appeared on the field next to him, turret pointed up at the sky—it cast a long shadow across the field.

A Rank 10 monster… how powerful was that card going to be?

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max (R10/3000/3000/EARTH/Machine/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"I'll detach an Overlay Unit from Gustav Max! I'll inflict 2000 damage to you!"

2000 damage in one blow? The cannon turned to aim straight towards Yuya.

"Take this, Sakaki!" Allen spat out his last name like it was a curse word. "Shoot, Gustav Max!"

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

The cannon glowed.

"Yuya!" Yuzu called out in concern.

"I'll discard Performapal Rain Goat!" Yuya called out. "I'll make the effect damage 0!" In front of him, the blue goat made of waterproof fabric appeared, before it unwound, turning into a large shield that protected him from the blast.

"Tsk!" Allen let out a growl. "Fine. I'll set a card and end my turn."

[Turn 2: Yuya] [H:4]

"Draw," Yuya said. "I don't know what's going on with my father, but I'm going to find out… no matter what! I'll Normal Summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!" The spellcaster dressed in purple and black appeared on his field.

[Performapal Skullcrobat Joker (4*/S8/1800/100/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)]

"Performapals," Allen said, narrowing his eyes. "You are Yusho Sakaki's son after all!"

To see someone treat his cards with such disgust…

Yuzu reached out, touching Yuya's shoulder. Yuya turned to her, before he smiled.

He had to keep his spirits up. These Performapals… they were always intended to make others happy, never to anger them. Even if his father might have done wrong, even if he might have hurt these people…

Yuya would just have to make up for it by giving them a different impression of these cards, of dueling.

"Skullcrobat Joker's effect! I can add a "Performapal" monster, "Odd-Eyes" monster or "Magician" Pendulum Monster from my deck to my hand!" He picked up the card. "I'll set the Scale 1 Performapal Monkeyboard in the Pendulum Scale! And with Monkeyboard's effect, I will add the Scale 8 Performapal Classikuriboh to my hand and set it in the Pendulum Scale!"

He gestured forward.

"With my current Pendulum Scale, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to Level 7! Swing, pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Appear now, my monsters! First, my reliable partner—wondrous and dichromatic eyes, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The red dragon appeared on the field with a loud roar. "Then, Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer!" The dark monster wearing a green and red scarf appeared, with a dark hat on its head, dotted with stars. "And finally, my Performapal Radish Horse!" The red horse with radish leaves as its mane and tail appeared. Odd-Eyes Seer and Radish Horse were in Defense Position, while Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was in Attack Position.

[Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon (7*/S4/2500/2000/DARK/Dragon/Pendulum/Effect)]

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer (6*/S1/100/1800/DARK/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)]

[Performapal Radish Horse (4*/S3/500/2000/EARTH/Plant/Pendulum/Effect)]

"Summoning three monsters at once?" Sayaka gasped. "What's a Pendulum Summon?"

"It's the method that I created—it was born in Standard, where I lived with my father," Yuya said determinedly. "My Pendulum Summoning was never born for invasion, and it's not a method that you should be afraid of! Odd-Eyes Seer's effect. Since it was Pendulum Summoned and it's currently in Defense Position, I can place a "Performapal" or "Odd-Eyes" Pendulum monster from my deck face-up in my Extra Deck!"

He picked up the card, sliding it into his Extra Deck.

"I'll activate Radish Horse's effect. I'll lower your monster's attack points by Radish Horse's attack points, and increase Odd-Eyes's attack points by the same amount!" The small horse pranced around, and both Odd-Eyes and Gustav Max were surrounded by a green glow.

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max: 3000 - 500 = 2500ATK]

[Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: 2500 + 500 = 3000ATK]

"Battle!" Yuya declared. It would be best to test the waters for now… Xyz Summoning Blade Phantom would waste its effect. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max! Spiral Strike Burst!"

Odd-Eyes ran forward, breathing out a blast of flames that destroyed the large cannon in a fiery explosion. Yuya sighed in relief.

Allen: 4000 - 500 = 3500LP

"Skullcrobat Joker attacks directly!" The short jester-like monster dashed forward, hitting Allen's leg as well.

Allen: 3500 - 1800 = 1700LP

That felt like it had been too easy, but…

"I'll end my turn," he said.

[Turn 3: Sayaka] [H:5]

The girl, Sayaka, had seemed more reluctant to fight them. Right now, she was ducking her head behind her cards. However, when she looked up, she seemed determined.

"I won't let anyone else get hurt," she said. "Allen's right. If you're really related to Yusho-sensei, then we don't know if we can trust you yet…"

"We only want to help," Yuzu said. For a moment, Yuya saw conflict in Sayaka's eyes, as she turned to look at Yuzu—was that guilt?

"... I still have to win," Sayaka said. "I have to prove that I'm stronger now…" She raised a card in the air. "I'm sorry, but I really can't hold back, no matter what… I can't run away!" She put the card down. "Field Spell, Holy Nights Sky!" She placed down the card—orange and gold stars spun around them. "With the effect of my Field Spell, I can, um, perform an additional Normal Summon of a "Holy Nights" monster, or a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster! I'll use this effect to Normal Summon Holy Nights Rayel!" A warrior wearing silver armour appeared, orange stars floating around her. White, feathery wings spread out behind her.

[Holy Nights Rayel (4*/1800/700/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"When Rayel is Normal Summoned, I can add a "Holy Nights" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand!" She picked up a card from her deck. "I'll add and activate the Spell Card, Holy Nights Bellfire! I can add a "Holy Nights" monster or a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster from my deck to my hand!"

So did she focus on Rank 4 and Rank 7 Xyz Summons then?

"Then, I'll Normal Summon Holy Nights Orbitael!" A shorter angel appeared, her armour pale white with some bright gold accents on it. White fabric drifted through the air around her. She held up a shield as her white wings beat through the air behind her.

[Holy Nights Orbitael (4*/400/2100/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"Two Level 4 monsters," Yuzu said, eyes widening.

"I'll overlay the Level 4 Holy Nights Rayel and the Level 4 Holy Nights Orbitael! Stars shine in the sky and frost! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Starring Knight!" A warrior with long white hair appeared, dressed from head to toe in golden armour, holding up a long sword in their hands. Red light glowed from their armour and weapons.

[Starring Knight (R4/1900/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Starring Knight's effect. By detaching an Overlay Unit from it, I can Special Summon a LIGHT monster from my hand! Come! The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night!" A large white dragon appeared, having the same feathery wings as the rest of the Holy Nights monsters. Yellow stars spun around it as it let out a roar.

[The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night (7*/2500/2300/LIGHT/Dragon/Effect)]

[Starring Knight: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

"When The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night is Normal or Special Summoned from the hand, I can target a card on the field and destroy it! I'll target and destroy your Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Yuya's eyes widened, before his dragon was destroyed by a blast of light.

"Battle Phase!" Sayaka gestured forward. "Starring Knight attacks Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer!" The golden knight dashed forward, cutting straight through the short spellcaster—though since it was in Defense Position, Yuya took no damage. "The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night attacks Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!" The white dragon charged forward, breathing down orange flames on Yuya's field. Yuya shielded himself as he took the damage.

Yuya: 4000 - 700 = 3300LP

"I'll, um, go to my Main Phase 2!" Sayaka gestured forward. "I'll activate the effect of Holy Nights Ciel in my hand! By returning my dragon to my hand, I'll Special Summon Ciel from my hand!" An angel dressed in sleek, skin-tight blue armour appeared, silver glittering around their shoulders and torso. At the same time, the dragon dissolved into starlight.

[Holy Nights Ciel (4*/1700/800/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"Then, I can activate two effects, since a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster returned to my hand! First, my Field Spell, Holy Nights Sky lets me draw a card! Second, my Holy Nights Orbitael Special Summons herself from the graveyard!" The short, diminutive knight from earlier reappeared. "I'll overlay the Level 4 Holy Nights Orbitael and the Level 4 Holy Nights Ciel! An angel's smile for the heroes who keep fighting! Xyz Summon! Appear now! Rank 4! Fairy Cheer Girl!" A blue-haired girl holding onto yellow pompoms appeared, butterfly wings behind her—they consisted of sections that were two different shades of blue, one brighter than the other. She was wearing a blue tunic and a green skirt.

[Fairy Cheer Girl (R4/1900/1500/LIGHT/Fairy/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Fairy Cheer Girl's effect! By detaching an Overlay Unit, I'll draw a card!" Sayaka picked up yet another card from her deck.

[Fairy Cheer Girl: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

"I'll set one card and end my turn!"

"Two Xyz Summons in one turn, and she cleared through three of my monsters," Yuya muttered to himself.

Yuzu took a step forward. "It's fine, Yuya," she said. "We're going to win this."

"Yuzu…"

"You know," Yuzu said, speaking both to him and their opponents at the same time, "when we were kids, there was an orange tree about two minutes from our houses. It was on the way to You Show. I remember that one day, dad was busy, so Uncle Yusho took care of us for the day. We walked out, we got to the park, and as he went to get us some ice cream, I saw the oranges on the tree."

Yuya remembered what she was talking about. "We both tried to climb the tree," he recalled. "You really wanted to eat them, and we both thought that eating fruit that had already fallen on the ground was gross. So we climbed, and…"

"I got stuck," Yuzu said. Some of that embarrassment from that childhood memory could be seen in her face. "I was too high up, and too scared to get down. But Uncle Yusho came back at that moment, and he rescued me from the tree—and then, he lifted up both of us, one at a time, so that we could pluck the oranges from the tree. He could've easily plucked it from the tree and given it to us himself. But he chose to lift us up and let us pick the fruit ourselves. That's the kind of person that Yusho Sakaki is. He always wants to help people be better."

She turned back to Allen and Sayaka.

"So, I don't know what happened. But I can't just sit aside and let you insult Yuya and his father too—because as far as I'm concerned, we grew up together! We're family! So I'll definitely defend Yuya, no matter what! And because no matter how much you feel that you're entitled to an explanation from Uncle Yusho, Yuya deserves that explanation more!"

[Turn 4: Yuzu] [H:5]

"I'll set the Scale 1 Mimosa the Melodious Illusion Maiden and the Scale 9 Fairall the Melodious Illusion Maiden in the Pendulum Scales!" Yuzu declared. Two pillars of light shot up around her—Yuya stared as the two colourful musicians rose up in the pillars of light. Right, Yuzu's Pendulum Monsters. There was a warm feeling in his heart as he watched them—yes, he'd seen them when Yuzu had stepped in to help Miharu out during her duel against Sergey, but it wasn't the same as seeing them in a duel that he was also participating in.

Yuzu would have been the first person that he would have wanted to give Pendulum Monsters to, after himself.

"With my current Pendulum Scale, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 2 to Level 8!" Yuzu declared. "Swing, pendulum! Cast your light across the aether! Pendulum Summon! Come! First, Laureate Francois the Melodious Maestra! And second—Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel!" The first monster was a woman with light purple skin and light green hair, playing a translucent, glowing keyboard. The second was Yuzu's new ace—that angel with light pink skin, flowers forming her hair, wings, even draped over her body. Both of them looked rather elegant.

[Laureate Francois the Melodious Maestra (7*/2300/1700/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

[Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel (7*/S4/2500/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect)]

"Two Level 7 monsters at once…" Allen narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to Xyz Summon?"

"... I'm going to be honest with you," Yuzu said—her eyes were alight with determination. "The summoning method that I learned first—the one that I still use the most often—is Fusion."

Both Allen and Sayaka flinched.

"So a lot of the first strength that I gained was through Fusion Summoning," Yuzu continued. "But I'm going to prove my sincerity here—I won't Fusion Summon during this duel at all. But I haven't learned Xyz Summoning yet—I hope I will, but I haven't learned it yet. Still, I can work with other things! I'll activate the Pendulum Effect of Mimosa! Once per turn, since I control a LIGHT monster, I can destroy a Spell or Trap on the field!"

Sayaka frowned. "So… what are you targeting?"

"This card doesn't target," Yuzu replied. "I only decide which card I'm destroying when it resolves."

Sayaka, who had clearly been considering activating her set card to dodge the effect, stared at Yuzu, before making a decision. She nervously flipped over her set card. "Continuous Trap, Holy Nights Advent! Once per turn, I can use one of its effects! I'll use its second effect—I can Special Summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster from my hand!" The white dragon from earlier reappeared on the field.

Before she could use its effect though, Yuzu's effect resolved first.

"With Mimosa's effect, I will destroy…" Yuzu gestured forward. "Your Continuous Trap!" The card burst into petals and music notes.

"With my dragon's effect, I can target and destroy a card on the field!" Sayaka called out. She glanced between Yuya and Yuzu's fields, before pointing to Fairall. Yuzu's Pendulum Monster was destroyed.

Still, Yuzu wasn't deterred by it. "Battle Phase!" She called out. "My Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel attacks your Starring Knight! Angelic Magicorolla!"

The attack hit, and the Xyz Monster was destroyed by the bright flowers.

Sayaka: 4000 - 600 = 3400LP

"Then, since Reflowering Angel destroyed a monster by battle, I can inflict 500 damage to you for each Special Summoned monster you control!"

"What?" Sayaka gasped.

Yuzu nodded. "You control your dragon and your Fairy Cheer Girl! So you take 1000 damage! Flowerspring Refrain!" Reflowering Angel summoned up a blast of light and flowers, tossing it towards Sayaka, who winced and stepped back.

Sayaka: 3400 - 500 x 2 = 2400LP

"Then, I can draw one card." Yuzu picked up the card from her deck. "Laureate Francois will attack your Fairy Cheer Girl!" Her other monster pulled her fingers along the keyboard, a sharp series of notes that unleashed a sonic assault on the field—destroying the other Xyz Monster. Sayaka fell down from the shockwave.

Sayaka: 2400 - 400 = 2000LP

"I'll end my turn," Yuzu said. "Are you alright?..."

"Sayaka!" Allen ran over to help his friend up. He pulled Sayaka to his feet, and then he turned around. "I'm going to make you guys pay!"

[Turn 5: Allen] [H:4]

"Draw," Allen said. "I'll activate the Quickplay Spell, Urgent Schedule!" He flipped over his set card. "Since you all control more monsters than me, I can Special Summon two monsters from my deck in Defense Position, with their effects negated! However, they both have to be EARTH Machine monsters, and one has to be Level 4 or lower, while the other has to be Level 5 or higher. So come from the deck! Ruffian Railcar! Heavy Freight Train Derricrane!"

Two large vehicles appeared on the field—the first was a smaller red train with only one carriage, while the other was far larger—a long, golden train attached to a crane that wobbled dangerously behind it.

[Ruffian Railcar (4*/1800/1000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

[Heavy Freight Train Derricrane (10*/2800/2000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"I also can't perform attacks this turn, except with Machine monsters! But that doesn't matter to me! I'll Normal Summon Express Train Trolley Olley!" A dark red train with dark carriages behind it appeared, filled with coal and dark packages.

[Express Train Trolley Olley (4*/1800/1000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"I'll overlay the Level 4 Express Train Trolley Olley and the Level 4 Ruffian Railcar! Impregnable iron fortress, make the earth tremble violently and charge down the railway crawling with the enemy soldiers! Xyz Summon! Appear, Rank 4! Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf!" A large blue train with a golden wolf's face on the front of it appeared on the field.

[Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf (R4/2200/2200/EARTH/Machine/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Since Trolley Olley was used as material for the Xyz Summon, Ironwolf gains 800 attack points!" Allen shouted.

[Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf: 2200 + 800 = 3000ATK]

"And then, by detaching an Overlay Unit, Ironwolf can attack directly this turn, but other monsters I control cannot attack!" The train glowed.

Attack… directly?

[Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

"Attack him directly, Ironwolf!" Allen said, gesturing to Yuya.

"Classikuriboh's Pendulum Effect!" Yuya called out. The brown fuzzball in a dark blue cloak floated out of the Pendulum Scale, holding onto a staff that was topped with a red music note. "When my opponent declares a direct attack, Classikuriboh destroys itself! And when it does so, the Battle Phase ends!"

Allen looked annoyed. "I'll set another card and end my turn," he said tersely. "Since Ruffian Railcar was sent to the graveyard, I can add a Level 10 EARTH Machine monster from my deck to my hand."

[Turn 6: Yuya] [H:1]

"Draw!" Yuya said. "I'll activate Performapal Monkeyboard's Pendulum Effect! I'll add a Level 4 or lower "Performapal" monster from my deck to my hand!"

"I'll activate the Continuous Trap, Barrage Blast!" Allen declared. "I'll detach an Overlay Unit from Ironwolf to destroy a card you control! I'll destroy Monkeyboard!"

So, the other card in Yuya's Pendulum Scale was destroyed, leaving his field with just Radish Horse.

[Heavy Armored Train Ironwolf: OU:1 - 1 = OU:0]

"So there's nothing you can do! You need two monsters to set those Pendulum Scales, and you don't have any way to summon monsters from your hand!"

"... Pendulum Summoning is an Extra Deck mechanic," Yuya said. "And Pendulum Monsters go back to the Extra Deck when they're destroyed." He held up a card. "I'll Normal Summon Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet!" A man with curly, pale purple hair appeared, wearing a vest that was only a shade darker than his hair. A dark coat was draped over his shoulders.

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet (1*/S8/100/200/LIGHT/Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect)]

"I'll use the effect of Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet! When he's Normal or Special Summoned, I can send a "Performapal" or "Odd-Eyes' monster from my deck to the graveyard, and Valet copies that monster's Level! I'll send Performapal Thunderhino to the graveyard!" The man took a low bow, still smiling serenely the entire time.

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet: 1* 3*]

"But it doesn't matter, because I'm going to activate the Field Spell, Sky Iris! And with its effect, I'll target and destroy Odd-Eyes Valet to add an "Odd-Eyes" card from my deck to my hand!" Yuya gestured forward as Valet dissolved into light. "And when Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet is destroyed while in a Monster Zone, I can move it to the Pendulum Zone!" The spellcaster reappeared in a pillar of light to his right. "And in the other Pendulum Zone, I will set the Scale 3 Performapal Odd-Eyes Light Phoenix!" A bright orange phoenix with wings of bright yellow feathers appeared in another pillar of light—the twin pillars illuminated his field again. "With my current Pendulum Scale, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from Level 4 to 7!"

"But you have no cards in your hand!"

"When I Pendulum Summon, I can also Pendulum Summon monsters that are face-up in the Extra Deck back to my field!" Yuya declared. "Return from the Extra Deck!"

"Wait, so your monsters can just keep reviving endlessly?"

"The pendulum swings back and forth! Return to my field, my monsters! First, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Second, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker! Third, Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer! Fourth, Performapal Partnaga! And fifth, Performapal Monkeyboard!" A yellow and red snake appeared on the field with a loud hiss—it was the newcomer to the field, compared to the other four that had returned. Of course, Monkeyboard reappeared on the field too, properly in the Monster Zones this time.

[Performapal Partnaga (5*/S3/500/2100/EARTH/Reptile/Pendulum/Effect)]

[Performapal Monkeyboard (6*/1000/2400/EARTH/Beast/Pendulum/Effect)]

"When Performapal Partnaga is Normal or Special Summoned, I can target a monster I control and give it 300 attack points for each "Performapal" monster I currently control! I'll choose Odd-Eyes!" The snake slinked closer to the bright red dragon. "I control Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer, Partnaga, Radish Horse and Skullcrobat Joker! So Odd-Eyes gains 1200 attack points!"

[Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: 2500 + 300 x 4 = 3700ATK]

"I'll use Odd-Eyes Seer's effect! I'll place another "Performapal" or "Odd-Eyes" Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck face-up!" Yuya placed the card down. "And now, I'll activate Radish Horse's effect! I'll target—" He turned, gesturing to Sayaka's monster. "Your dragon and my Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Odd-Eyes gains attack points equal to Radish Horse's attack points, and your dragon loses the same number of attack points!"

Radish Horse pressed a hoof on the ground, staring forward determinedly.

[Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: 3700 + 500 = 4200ATK]

[The Dragon Twinkling In The Holy Night: 2500 - 500 = 2000ATK]

"Then, I'll overlay the Level 4 Performapal Radish Horse and the Level 4 Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!" He declared. "Phantom that races across time and space, put up a show with your daring blades! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom!" The dark warrior appeared on his field, smoke and mist floating around him and blurring his appearance. Blue flames surrounded his hands as he held up two dark swords.

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom (R4/2300/2000/DARK/Warrior/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"That monster…" Sayaka gasped suddenly. "That looks like it could belong in Yuto's deck… and they share the same face…"

"I'm not Yuto Kamisoka!" Yuya didn't know why he rejected that so strongly—but the words burst forth from his chest. "I'm myself, Yuya Sakaki, with my own experiences and my own hopes!" He gestured forward. "When Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom is Xyz Summoned, I can target a monster on the field with less attack points than it, and destroy it! I'll target and destroy your dragon, Sasayama-san! Phantom Slash!"

"My dragon cannot be destroyed by a DARK monster in battle, or by card effects!" Sayaka countered, though she still seemed flustered.

Alright then. He'd already selected a target, so he couldn't change it now. Blade Phantom's effect resolved without destroying the monster.

"I'll activate Blade Phantom's effect," Yuya continued. "I can detach an Overlay Unit from it. Then, I can reveal three "Performapal" or "Odd-Eyes" Pendulum Monsters from my deck with different Pendulum Scales, and you randomly choose one for me to add to my hand! I'll reveal the Scale 1 Performapal Barokuriboh, the Scale 2 Performapal Parrotrio and the Scale 6 Performapal Lizardraw!" The three cards shuffled around in front of him. Allen jabbed his finger at the leftmost card, and Yuya picked it up.

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

"Open, circuit of the world of smiles! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two monsters with different Levels, including a Pendulum Monster! I will set Performapal Odd-Eyes Seer and Performapal Partnaga in the Link Markers! Silver silks that dance through the moonlit waters! Now, rise up, colourful performer, and aid in setting up the stage! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie!"

To Yuya's surprise, as the aquatic monster appeared on the field, Allen and Sayaka seemed even more tense than before.

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie (L2/1700/WATER/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↙, ↘)]

Allen took a step forward. "You use Link Summoning and you want us to trust you? Get real!"

"Link Summoning?" Yuya repeated. "You… what do you mean? Why is Link Summoning your enemy too?" He'd purposely avoided searching out a way to perform a Fusion Summon, too…

"You don't know? Link Summoning is Academia's secondary tool!" Allen spat out. "And Academia gives Link Monsters to anyone that works with them now too—it's the tool of traitors and cowards that choose to continue destroying our Heartland!"

"But Link Summoning isn't inherently evil!" Yuya said. "No summoning method is evil, or cowardly, or traitorous—not in the way you describe!"

He thought about Yuno's smile as the other boy patiently taught him how to Link Summon, about the joy on his face when he dueled. He thought about Miharu's determination and her focused, logical strategies. He thought about Hitoda cheerfully wreaking havoc on the field, poking holes in even the firmest of formations.

If the Resistance was so strongly against Link Summoning, and those three ended up using their main form of summoning against Academia without knowing it, would they be accused of conspiring with their enemies? That just wasn't fair.

"Silver Selkie was born out of my friendship and bond with a close friend of mine!" Yuya continued. "She's not what you fear she is at all! Since Silver Selkie was Link Summoned, I can take an "Odd-Eyes" or "Performapal" monster from my deck and place it face-up in my Extra Deck, and then, I can Special Summon a Pendulum Monster from face-up in my Extra Deck with a different Pendulum Scale from that monster! Marine Excavation! Come! Performapal Partnaga!"

Partnaga's effect stopped all Level 5 or lower monsters from attacking, but that was fine, because out of the four other monsters that Yuya controlled, not a single one was slowed down by the effect. Monkeyboard was in Defense Position. Meanwhile, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon was Level 7, Silver Selkie was a Link Monster, and Blade Phantom was an Xyz Monster.

"Partnaga's effect!" He declared. "It's not just once per turn. I'll target Silver Selkie and give it 300 attack points for every "Performapal" monster I control! I still control four of them now—Partnaga, Monkeyboard, Blade Phantom and Silver Selkie herself! So Silver Selkie gains 1200 attack points too!"

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie: 1700 + 300 x 4 = 2900ATK]

"Battle Phase!" He declared. "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night!" It would deal double damage too, but frankly, that was just overkill.

"You aren't going to defeat Sayaka in front of me!" Allen retorted. "When my opponent's monster declares an attack, I can Special Summon Construction Train Signal Red from my hand and redirect the attack to it!" In front of him, a large vermillion train engine appeared. The monster was in Defense Position.

[Construction Train Signal Red (3*/1000/1300/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

A siren went off, piercing the air. Odd-Eyes turned its head, its attack forcibly redirected.

"And my monster can't be destroyed by battle, so you've wasted your strongest monster's attack!" Allen exclaimed.

… hmm.

"Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie attacks The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night!"

That was the only way to defeat that monster in battle—to destroy it with a non-DARK monster. He'd hoped to defeat Sayaka in one shot before, but… now, he just had to get her monster off the field. A silver wave shot through the air, hitting the dragon and burying it.

Sayaka: 2000 - 900 = 1100LP

"And Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom attacks you directly!" If he took her out now, the turn order would skip to Yuzu. It would be far easier for her if that was the case.

"Leave her alone!" Allen slammed down another card from his hand. "Snow Plow Hustle Rustle's effect! Since you're declaring a direct attack, I can Special Summon it from my hand!" A red train with a large, golden plough at the front of it appeared.

[Snow Plow Hustle Rustle (10*/2500/3000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

"Then, I must destroy all cards in my Spell and Trap Zones, and inflict 200 damage to you for each!" Barrage Blast exploded, shrapnel flying all around Yuya.

Yuya: 3300 - 200 = 3100LP

"I'll end my turn," Yuya said with a grimace.

[Turn 7: Sayaka] [H:3]

"Draw," Sayaka said. "I'll Normal Summon Holy Nights Flamel!" A knight in white and red armour appeared, holding up a long and large bow with green jewels embedded in it. Twin white wings fluttered in the air.

[Holy Nights Flamel (4*/1500/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"I'll then activate my Starring Knight's effect! Once per turn, I can target a Level 4 LIGHT Fairy monster I control. Then, I can Special Summon Starring Knight from the graveyard, and attach that monster to it as material! I'll target Flamel!" The knight dissolved into yellow stars, before the Xyz Monster from earlier reappeared on the field.

[Starring Knight: OU:0 + 1 = OU:1]

"I'll activate Starring Knight's effect! I'll detach an Overlay Unit from him to Special Summon Holy Nights Astel from my hand!" A short white angel appeared, holding onto a staff topped with several pale white spokes around a ring. White fabric floated around them in streaks.

[Holy Nights Astel (4*/500/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"Then, by banishing Holy Nights Flamel from the graveyard, I can add my dragon back to my hand!" Sayaka picked up the dragon from earlier again. "I'll activate Holy Nights Flamel's effect. By tributing a LIGHT monster, like my Starring Knight, I can Special Summon The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night from my hand again!"

The angelic dragon from earlier reappeared on the field.

"With my dragon's effect, I can target a card on the field and destroy it. I'll destroy Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

His dragon burst into stars yet again.

"And then, I'll Normal Summon another copy of Rayel with my Field Spell's effect!" The first knight appeared again, her copper and silver-coloured armour glimmering under starlight. "I'll add another "Holy Nights" Spell or Trap from my deck to my hand!" She picked up the card again. "I'll activate another copy of Holy Nights Bellfire! I'll add Ciel to my hand, and then, by returning my dragon to my hand, I can Special Summon Ciel from my hand!"

Three angels on the field now, as the dragon vanished.

"My Field Spell lets me draw one more card! Orbitael comes back from the graveyard!" Sayaka gestured forward. "I'll overlay the Level 4 Holy Nights Ciel, Holy Nights Orbitael and Holy Nights Rayel! White knight that illuminates the galaxy, come forth now! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Holy Nights Illuminator!" A tall knight on horseback appeared. He was dressed in white and gold armour. The steed that he was sitting on had sleek, dark hide, but most of its body was covered with shining silver armour as well. Stars floated around it.

[Holy Nights Illuminator (R4/2400/2400/LIGHT/Warrior/Xyz/Effect) (OU:3)]

Now, Sayaka controlled both that new Xyz Monster and her Holy Nights Astel…

"I'll activate the effect of Illuminator!" Sayaka declared. "By detaching one of his Overlay Units, I can excavate the top two cards of my deck! Then, I can add one to my hand and send the other to the graveyard!" She picked up the two cards. So, it was another card that let her draw?

[Holy Nights Illuminator: OU:3 - 1 = OU:2]

Sayaka finally chose the card that she was adding to her hand, before she played it immediately. "Equip Spell, Shine Palace! Illuminator gains 700 attack points!"

[Holy Nights Illuminator: 2400 + 700 = 3100ATK]

"Battle Phase! Holy Nights Illuminator attacks Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel!"

"Reflowering Angel can't be destroyed by battle or card effects!" Yuzu countered—but she still took damage from the attack.

Yuzu: 4000 - 600 = 3400LP

"In that case, I'll activate Astel's effect!" Sayaka declared. "I'll tribute Astel and Special Summon a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster from my hand! Come again! The Dragon Twinkling in the Holy Night!" The white dragon reappeared. "I'll target and destroy your Laureate Francois!" Yuzu's other monster was destroyed. "My dragon attacks your Reflowering Angel! And when it battles, I can banish the opposing monster until the End Phase, and my dragon gets to do a second attack!"

Reflowering Angel vanished from the field.

"Attack directly!"

The dragon breathed down white flames and stars on Yuzu, who winced.

Yuzu: 3400 - 2500 = 900LP

"I'll end my turn!"

[Turn 8: Yuzu] [H:3]

"Draw!" Yuzu declared. She glanced at the cards in her hand. "I'll activate Mimosa's Pendulum Effect! I'll destroy your Field Spell!" The Field Spell was destroyed by a series of music notes. "I already said that I wouldn't Fusion Summon. But I'm not going to cut away my entire arsenal! Since I control a "Melodious" monster, which Reflowering Angel is always treated as, I can Special Summon Sonata the Melodious Diva from my hand!" An angel dressed in a blue gown appeared, drawing her fingers through her green hair.

[Sonata the Melodious Diva (3*/1200/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"I'll Normal Summon Aria the Melodious Diva!" She declared. The purple-haired girl dressed in maroon and orange appeared on the field.

[Aria the Melodious Diva (4*/1600/1200/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

"And now, open, circuit of rising harmonies! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two Fairy monsters! I'll set Sonata the Melodious Diva and Aria the Melodious Diva in the Link Markers! Beautiful genius with the perfect voice! With your hands that channel the power of music, bring every melody together in wondrous harmony! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Bloom Harmonist the Melodious Floral Virtuoso!" Yuzu's first Link Monster appeared on the field, smiling peacefully as her pink hair drifted in the breeze.

[Bloom Harmonist the Melodious Floral Virtuoso (L2/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Link/Effect/↙, ↘)]

"You Link Summoned too…"

"Like we keep saying, there's no malice that we hold towards you," Yuzu said. "I'll activate the effect of Bloom Harmonist the Melodious Floral Virtuoso! When she's Link Summoned, by discarding one card, I can Special Summon two "Melodious" monsters with different Levels from my deck to zones that Bloom Harmonist points to, but they are summoned in Defense Position! However, I can't Special Summon monsters on the turn that this effect is activated, other than "Melodious" monsters! Come! Soprano the Melodious Songstress! Consonance the Melodious Diva!" The colourful singer with dark hair appeared, right next to the colourful pink and orange-themed angel.

[Soprano the Melodious Songstress (4*/1400/1400/LIGHT/Fairy/Effect)]

[Consonance the Melodious Diva (5*/1900/1300/LIGHT/Fairy/Tuner/Effect)]

"Soprano's effect! I'll add a "Melodious" monster from my graveyard to my hand!" Yuzu picked up the card. "I'll tune the Level 5 Consonance the Melodious Diva to the Level 4 Soprano the Melodious Songstress! Energetic harmony! Angel's song! Let the rising rhythm signal your arrival to this stage now, noble voice! Synchro Summon! Level 9! Evolution of music! Gospodin Tchaikovsky the Melodious Overture Saint!" The monochrome angel appeared, spinning around batons in their hands.

[Gospodin Tchaikovsky the Melodious Overture Saint (9*/3000/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Synchro/Effect)]

"So you know four summoning methods?" Sayaka gasped.

"We've travelled so much to get here, and we're going to keep going. And I'll learn more and more! Tchaikovsky's effect! I'll target two cards on the field and a "Melodious" monster I control—and then, I can destroy all three! I'll target Reflowering Angel, along with your dragon and your Illuminator!"

And Reflowering Angel couldn't be destroyed by battle or card effects. So the only cards destroyed were Sayaka's two monsters—leaving her field open.

"I gain 400 life points for each destroyed card!" Yuzu continued.

Yuzu: 900 + 400 x 2 = 1700LP

"Battle Phase!" Yuzu declared. "Tchaikovsky attacks you directly!" Her stronger monster flew forward, striking down Sayaka—finishing off the rest of her life points, even as Allen let out an outraged yell.

Sayaka: 1100 - 3000 = 0LP

Yuzu turned to Allen. "I'm sorry, but you already have two Level 10 monsters. If we let you Xyz Summon again… it'll be bad for us. Reflowering Angel attacks your Heavy Freight Train Derricrane!" The large train collapsed under her monster's music notes and petals. "And Reflowering Angel's effect! You control three Special Summoned monsters, so I'll inflict 500 damage to you for each!" The effect damage hit, even though there had been no battle damage—Allen's life points fell.

Allen: 1700 - 500 x 3 = 200LP

"I'll end my turn," Yuzu said.

Yuya watched, feeling a smile tug at his lips.

Yuzu had already almost taken them both out by herself.

Still, Allen was still there, and still a threat…

[Turn 9: Allen] [H:3]

"Draw!" Allen gestured forward. "I'll take one of you down now! I'll Normal Summon Night Express Knight from my hand, but its original attack points become 0!" A tall white knight whose abdomen was connected to a long, glowing white train appeared.

[Night Express Knight (10*/3000/3000/EARTH/Machine/Effect)]

[Night Express Knight: 3000 0ATK]

"I'll overlay the Level 10 Night Express Knight and the Level 10 Snow Plow Hustle Rustle! Xyz Summon! Gustav Max!" Another copy of the green cannon from earlier appeared. "I'll detach an Overlay Unit from Gustav Max and inflict 2000 damage to you!"

The cannon turned towards Yuzu, firing—Yuzu was tossed back by the impact, falling backwards onto the ground.

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

Yuzu: 1700 - 2000 = 0LP

"Yuzu!" Yuya ran over, reaching out a hand to her. He helped her back up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… sorry."

"It's fine. You've already put in so much work. I'll finish it off."

"You won't! Continuous Spell, Clockwork Night! All monsters on the field become Machine monsters! And then, my Machine monsters gain 500 attack and defense points, while yours lose the same amount!" The entire field glistened with a strange sheen.

[Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: 3700 - 500 = 3200ATK; 2000 - 500 = 1500DEF]

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom: 2300 - 500 = 1800ATK; 2000 - 500 = 1500DEF]

[Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie: 2900 - 500 = 2400ATK]

[Performapal Monkeyboard: 1000 - 500 = 500ATK; 2400 - 500 = 1900DEF]

[Performapal Partnaga: 500 - 500 = 0ATK; 2100 - 500 = 1600DEF]

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max: 3000 + 500 = 3500ATK/DEF]

"Gustav Max attacks Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Allen gestured forward. So he was trying to get rid of the permanent boost that Partnaga had given Odd-Eyes?

"... no," Yuya said. "I'm the one that wins this round! I'll activate the Pendulum Effect of Performapal Odd-Eyes Valet! Once per turn, when an opponent's monster declares an attack, I can lower that monster's attack points by 300 for each face-up Pendulum Monster in my Extra Deck!"

Allen's eyes widened.

"I have five of them," Yuya said. "So your monster loses 1500 attack points!"

[Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max: 3500 - 300 x 5 = 2000ATK]

"So—you lose! Counter, Odd-Eyes! Spiral Strike Burst!"

The flames consumed the cannon—and Allen was tossed back, defeated by his own attack.

Allen: 200 - 1200 = 0LP

Winner: Yuya Sakaki & Yuzu Hiiragi!

Yuya breathed out in relief.

"So," he said, "can we talk now?"

Allen stood up—still looking furious. "Never," he said. "You're Yusho Sakaki's son! I'll never, ever forgive you—even if you don't card us here, I can't trust you! You're—"

"Allen! Sayaka!"

Both of their opponents turned their heads. Yuzu and Yuya spotted the figure that had arrived a moment later.

"Ruri," Yuzu said, sounding relieved.

"Ruri?" Sayaka said, trembling slightly.

Ruri Kurosaki looked between all of them. "What are you doing, fighting out in the open like this?" She said. "Why were you fighting in the first place?"

"This guy is Yusho Sakaki's son!" Allen exclaimed, gesturing to Yuya.

"I don't know who that is," Ruri said—so she hadn't actually met Yusho before? "These two are Yuya Sakaki and Yuzu Hiiragi. They're members of a group from Standard, the Lancers—we brought them back here to help us fight against Academia. Surely they told you that?"

"How were we supposed to believe that?" Allen exclaimed.

"... and are we in the Resistance so paranoid now that we can't even accept the goodwill of others?"

"You know nothing about what the Resistance is now! You weren't here!"

"Allen!" Sayaka shouted—her meek voice was so much louder that it stunned the red-haired boy into silence. "That's enough. Ruri… Ruri didn't choose to be kidnapped. Don't act like that towards her."

"... sorry, Ruri." Allen looked properly chastised. "Still, are you… sure about them?"

"Academia is after Yuzu as well," Ruri said. "And Yuya… is telling the truth. He didn't know what happened to his father either." She looked determined. "They came all the way here from their homes to help us. Don't turn away help that we need!"

"As if we need—" Allen shut up as Sayaka looked at him. "... fine. We shifted bases though, so we'll have to bring you guys there."

"Yeah, I saw Clover Branch…" Ruri shook her head. "What happened?"

"... it's a long story," Sayaka said. She was clearly putting some physical distance between her and Ruri—she seemed close to tears. Was she… upset to see Ruri? No, that couldn't possibly be the case. They were friends, right? Yuya was probably misunderstanding something. "Let's go. But Ruri, if you're back here… so are the other three, right? Your brother… and also the other two, right?"

"Yes." Ruri smiled. "We're all back."

"... alright. Good." Sayaka seemed to cheer up. "Let's go then!"


"So they destroyed your old bases?"

Chris nodded. "Yes," he said.

Reiji considered that. The number of losses that they'd likely endured because of that fight…

What about those that had come to Standard? They would go back, right? What would they find?


… somehow, it didn't surprise her one bit.

Nue stared at the destroyed ruins of Spade Branch.

The next thought that entered her mind was something cold and horrible. She dismissed it quickly, but then it came back—slightly softer.

so they know how it feels now, to lose that last location of safety that you ever had.

I'm so sorry.

None of us deserved any of this…

How are you doing now?


Well, shit.

Yugo was not even remotely prepared to take this duel, but he was going to need to, huh? But with these many overprotective friends (and Yuto and Shun, obviously), how did Ruri ever get anything done?

But he'd gone neck to neck with Jack Atlas! How could anyone else compare after that?

[DUEL!]

Yugo Kirijo: 4000LP

Rio Kamishiro: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Yugo] [H:5]

Oh, he got the first turn! Yugo quickly drew his hand as his opponent did the same.

… great!

"I'll Special Summon Speedroid Terrortop from my hand, since I control no monsters!" The spinning red tops appeared on the field.

[Speedroid Terrortop (3*/1200/600/WIND/Machine/Effect)]

"Terrortop's effect. I can add a "Speedroid" monster from my deck to my hand!" Yugo revealed Taketomborg, before placing it down. "While I control a WIND monster, I can Special Summon Speedroid Taketomborg from my hand!" The spinning blue and gold warrior appeared as well.

[Speedroid Taketomborg (3*/600/1200/WIND/Machine/Effect)]

"Taketomborg's effect! I will tribute it and Special Summon a "Speedroid" Tuner from my deck! Come! Speedroid Fuki-Modoshi Piper!" The small blue and gold toy vanished, replaced with the white clay doll. The doll leaned forward, tipping its hat.

[Speedroid Fuki-Modoshi Piper (4*/1000/1000/WIND/Machine/Tuner/Effect)]

"Fuki-Modoshi Piper's effect! I can excavate cards from the top of my deck, up to the number of other WIND monsters I control! Then, I can add one of the cards to my hand!" He excavated only one card—and then immediately picked it up, placing it in his hand. Simple enough! "I'll tune the Level 4 Fuki-Modoshi Piper to the Level 3 Terrortop! Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" The beautiful white and blue dragon appeared, wings of light glowing brightly.

[Clear Wing Synchro Dragon (7*/2500/2000/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"I'll set a card and end my turn there!" It wasn't like anyone was going to beat Clear Wing that easily!

"... that's your move?" Rio glanced at Clear Wing. "... huh. That monster's pretty similar to Dark Rebellion."

Yugo frowned. "But Clear Wing's cooler!" And no one was going to defeat his Clear Wing.

"... you want to talk about 'cool'?" Rio raised her hand, drawing the next card of her deck. "Don't make me laugh. I'll show you my world of ice—and you'll crumble within it. If that's all you have, then this duel is already over!"

[Turn 2: Rio] [H:6]

"Draw!" She picked up another card from her deck. "Come—Aurora Wing!" A bird made of ice appeared, tail floating through the air and casting a bright spectrum of colours on the ground. Its wings shimmered like green veils.

[Aurora Wing (4*/1200/1600/WATER/Winged Beast/Effect)]

"Then, since I control only WATER monsters, I can Special Summon Abyss Shark from my hand!" A large blue fish appeared on her field, dressed in gold armour.

[Abyss Shark (5*/1200/700/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

"Then, I can add a Level 3, Level 4 or Level 5 Fish monster from my deck to my hand, but I can't Special Summon monsters this turn, except WATER monsters!" Rio plucked up the card. "I'll add Crystal Shark to my hand, and then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Graceful Charity. I'll draw three cards and discard two. Then, I'll Special Summon Crystal Shark from my graveyard by targeting Abyss Shark and halving its attack points!" A white shark with blue shadows around its body appeared—a purple glow around it made it look menacing. Its fins sliced through the air, sharpened to the tip.

[Crystal Shark (5*/1100/800/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

[Abyss Shark: 1200 / 2 = 600ATK]

"Shark?" Yugo exclaimed. "So your deck is both Fish and Winged Beasts?"

"... originally, I only played Winged Beasts," Rio said. "Ice Birds, we called them… my brother, however, left his original deck here when he went for an exchange program last year, so that he could get used to a completely different environment. You could say that I'm borrowing them… though these ones were made for me after the invasion started." She revealed another card in her hand. "And now, I can unify both of our playstyles—and both of our strengths will become a wave to push Academia back! When I control both Fish and Winged Beast monsters, I can Special Summon Spiritual Water Bird - Sirène Orca from my hand!"

A woman who appeared to be a mix of a mermaid and a harpy appeared—she had a blue fish's tail in the place of her legs, naturally, the scales going all the way up to her torso. Meanwhile, green feathers surrounded her head and extended from her shoulders in the shape of wings.

[Spiritual Water Bird - Sirène Orca (5*/2200/1000/WATER/Winged Beast/Effect)]

"When Spiritual Water Bird - Sirène Orca is Special Summoned by its own effect, I can change the Levels of all monsters I control to a Level from 3 to 5, but I can't activate monster effects this turn, except the effects of WATER monsters!" Rio gestured forward. "I'll choose Level 5!"

"But that's a Level 5 or higher monster!" Yugo gestured forward. "When a Level 5 or higher monster activates its effect while I control Clear Wing, I can target your monster, negate its effects and destroy it! Dichroic Mirror!"

"Quickplay Spell, Forbidden Chalice!" Rio revealed the card. "Your monster gains 400 attack points, but its effects are negated!" Clear Wing let out a loud roar, but it slumped lower to the ground.

[Clear Wing Synchro Dragon: 2500 + 400 = 2900ATK]

"So your dragon's effect is negated, and my monster's effect resolves."

Aurora Wing's Level changed to match the others, even as Yugo's eyes widened.

[Aurora Wing: 4* 5*]

"No way! You mean… you have four Level 5 monsters! Are you going to…"

"Rank 5s are my specialty," Rio said. "I'm not going to hold back even an inch—you're going to give Ruri back to us."

… oh god. Come on.

"I'll overlay the Level 5 Abyss Shark and the Level 5 Crystal Shark!" The two fish shot up, turning into blue streaks before they went back into the ground with a surge of energy. "Priestess of the spirit world with a heart of ice, show that clear and bright soul! Xyz Summon! Rank 5! Number 94: Crystal Zero, the Princess of Polar Ice!" A woman dressed in dark blue appeared, her body formed from ice—really, in the same way as most of Rin's monsters, which was interesting. Purple ice crystals floated around her, shimmering. There was something mysterious and elegant about her.

[Number 94: Crystal Zero, the Princess of Polar Ice (R5/2200/1600/WATER/Beast-Warrior/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

Come to think of it, this girl was a little like Rin, huh?

Wait, Number…

Huh. Did that have to do with those ruins that Yuto was talking about?

"I'll then overlay the Level 5 Spiritual Water Bird - Sirène Orca and the Level 5 Aurora Wing!" The same animation as before played, with her two birds also becoming blue streaks that flowed into the ground. "Break through your shell of ice with your regal frame! Winter bitterfrost tears through all rebellious opposition! Xyz Summon! Rank 5! Reort Harpyia, the Sub-Zero Bird Princess!" The monster that appeared was a woman, who had dark skin under icy blue crystal armour and wings. Golden spikes jutted out from her body, mostly around her wings.

[Reort Harpyia, the Sub-Zero Bird Princess (R5/2500/2100/WATER/Winged Beast/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"Reort Harpyia's effect! I'll detach one of her Overlay Units." One of the floating Overlay Units vanished. "I can target your monster and change its attack points to 0! Absolute Freeze!" Clear Wing let out a cry, its attack points falling quickly.

[Clear Wing Synchro Dragon: 29000ATK]

"Battle Phase! Reort Harpyia attacks Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Yugo flipped up his set card. "Trap Card, Speedroid Dupligate! I'll banish Taketomborg from my graveyard and target a card you control. Then, I can return that card to the hand! I'll return your Reort Harpyia to the hand!"

Using Dupligate earlier wouldn't really have done anything, since it didn't negate the effects of the card that it was returning to the hand. So using it now was better. The bird woman vanished from the field, leaving just Crystal Zero on the field.

"Then just Crystal Zero," Rio said. "... if you don't have a way to counter this, then you're done."

Huh? Well, he had Menko, but that responded to direct attacks… still, Crystal Zero didn't have enough attack points to defeat him in one turn. He was fine.

"Let me help you understand," Rio said, her expression hard. "On the turn that I use Abyss Shark's effect, the first battle damage that a "Number" Xyz Monster inflicts to my opponent is doubled."

… what.

A One Turn Kill? Yugo gasped loudly. He'd been expecting—well, he'd been expecting some kind of back and forth, not such a quick shot!

"Reort Harpyia, Crystal Zero," Rio said, shaking her head. "Anyone from Heartland would have known to be wary the moment that I used my usual combo. It's easy to counter if you don't underestimate me. But you're an outsider, so you don't know me—you don't know any of our usual combos. Finish him off, Crystal Zero! Attack!"

Crystal Zero raised her hand. Ice flew out at Yugo, who was still struggling to figure out what he could do—

There was nothing. He hadn't expected to—he had been too careless! (After dueling against Jack, he'd become so confident in himself that he hadn't thought that he would—)

"You're making a mistake," a voice spoke up—swift and serious.

The attack hit. Nothing happened.

"... who are you?" Rio asked, narrowing her eyes. Then, her eyes widened. "Ruri?"

"A friend," Miharu said. She had already drawn a starting hand. "Both of him and Ruri."

[INTRUSION PENALTY: 2000LP]

Miharu: 4000 - 2000 = 2000LP

"Miharu…"

"Calm down," Miharu said. "It's fine to make a mistake, as long as you can recover from it."

"Yeah!" Yuno cheerfully waved a hand—aww, man, they had ended up together? Yugo had been hoping to be sent here with Rin too, but it looked like these two had been more lucky. "No worries, Yugo. It takes a while to get used to it after relaxing, huh?"

"You guys…" Yugo grinned. "Thanks!" He paused. "Uh, but what exactly did you do?"

"Sunseed Glow's effect," Miharu said. "I intruded and drew it in my opening hand. When two monsters battle, I can send it from my hand to the graveyard to stop monsters from being destroyed by that battle, and neither player takes damage."

So she'd intruded without knowing if she could stop the attack? That was…

Miharu turned to Rio. "You must be the Rio Kamishiro that Ruri mentioned. We don't have a reason to fight."

"... why do you have the same face as Ruri?" Rio said, taking a step back. "And why do you look like Yuto?"

"... I don't know," Miharu said. "But we're not the only ones. You've won this duel."

Yugo's eyes widened. "Huh? I—"

"She would have won if I didn't step in," Miharu said. Yugo deflated. She was right—he should have been way more careful. He had been too overconfident, too used to dealing with opponents that never seemed to learn and would keep summoning their dogs.

"It's easy to counter if you don't underestimate me."

Miharu stepped forward—acting as the mediator in the situation. "Kamishiro-san. I only intruded in this duel because I didn't want you to card my friend without hearing him out. If we terminate this duel in a draw, will you listen to us?"

"... I don't get it," Rio said, looking between the three of them. "Who exactly…" She seemed prepared to carry on dueling anyway. "Who are you?"

"There's six of us who share the same face," Yuno explained. "One from each world! I'm Yuno Sugisaki. This is Miharu Kogami!" He shot Miharu that same, slightly lovestruck smile, before he turned back to Rio. "And yeah. The one who kidnapped Ruri was my Fusion counterpart, Yuri."

"But Yuto said that the kidnapper had blue and yellow hair—"

"Yuto is colour-blind," Yugo muttered.

"So are you," Miharu said with a sigh. She walked forward. "Kamishiro-san. If I tell you about something that only you and your friends would know, something that Ruri told me herself, will you believe that we've met her?"

Rio watched them, but the frosty look in her eyes had faded once Miharu had shown up—maybe precisely because of her resemblance to Ruri. "I'll humour you," she said.

"Alright," Miharu said. "After Ruri escaped Academia, she joined us, the Lancers. That's when the two of us talked properly for the first time. She told me that you were her first real friend when she was a kid."

Rio's jaw dropped.

"You specifically, and not your brother Ryoga Kamishiro," Miharu continued. "She said that it was when she found a bird with an injured foot outside the playground. No one else there was listening to her, but then, you came over and helped her get the teacher's attention. You took care of the bird in your house for a while, and then it became your pet from then on."

Rio's gaze was a little faraway. When it focused on them again—

She lowered her duel disk.

Yugo's jaw dropped too, though for an entirely different reason. "Did you just resolve that without dueling?"

Rio approached Miharu. "... Ruri really escaped?" She asked, her voice tentative—just ignoring Yugo.

"She did," Miharu said. "And she's back in Heartland too—looking for you all."

"... then that's…" Rio pressed her hands close to her chest. "... oh. You're not lying to me."

"I'm not."

"She's back. Thank goodness." Rio breathed out slowly. "... I'm sorry. I've just been so angry this entire time—over my friend, over my brother…"

"I understand," Miharu said, despite the fact that Yugo had never actually seen her angry. "It's alright."

Yugo threw his hands up. "So, we didn't need to duel at all?"

"Well, she would never have believed it coming from you," Miharu said bluntly.

(Nearby, Yuno leaned on a wall and laughed.)

Rio looked back at Yugo. Her expression tightened briefly—but compared to earlier, it was warm as a volcano. "... sorry about that," she said. "I…"

"I mean, I don't know what you're apologising for," Yugo said. "I mean, I totally get being so worried about your friend that you'd get into fights with other people! I mean, when Rin was kidnapped, I went on a frenzy! Thought that Yuto was a kidnapper and everything, turns out that it was just that pale idiot—"

And then, everything felt okay.


As Yugo talked and Rio actually listened, Yuno carefully peeled himself off the wall. Miharu glanced at him.

"You really do bring common sense everywhere you go," he said.

Miharu shrugged. "... she's just someone missing her friend," she said. "I understand how that feels."

"... thank goodness I ended up with you," Yuno said with a laugh. "You and Yugo, maybe… I have a feeling that the rest are in a lot more trouble."

"... I hope not," Miharu said. She glanced out at the city.

… but what was the likelihood that everyone was going to just be alright?

(And, they would soon come to realise that out of everyone, they might have been the luckiest ones for once.)


OC Cards:

Deep-Space Canopy Cosmopolis

(Spell/Field)

If you control a Rank 9 or higher Machine Xyz Monster: You can discard 1 Machine monster; draw 2 cards. While you control this face-up card, Rank 9 or higher Xyz Monsters cannot be destroyed by card effects while they have Xyz Material. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can Special Summon 2 Machine monsters with different Levels from your GY, but they cannot attack this turn. You can only activate each effect of "Deep-Space Canopy Cosmopolis" once per turn.

Mimosa the Melodious Illusion Maiden

(4*/S1/1200/1000/LIGHT/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect)

Pendulum Effect: Once per turn, if you control a LIGHT monster: You can destroy 1 Spell/Trap on the field.

If this card is Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Melodious" monster from your Deck to your hand. You can Tribute this card; all "Melodious" monsters you control gain 500 ATK. You can only activate each effect of "Mimosa the Melodious Illusion Maiden" once per turn.

Fairall the Melodious Illusion Maiden

(4*/S9/1500/800/LIGHT/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect)

Pendulum Effect: Once per turn, if you control a Fairy monster: You can negate the effects of 1 face-up card on the field.

Once per turn, if this card was Normal or Special Summoned this turn: You can Special Summon 1 "Melodious" monster from your hand. If your opponent activates a monster effect: You can send this card from the hand or field to the GY; negate that effect. You can only activate this effect of "Fairall the Melodious Illusion Maiden" once per turn.

Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel

(7*/S4/2500/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Pendulum/Effect)

Pendulum Effect: Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can Tribute 1 Pendulum Monster you control; negate the effect of all Pendulum Monsters your opponent controls until the End Phase.

(This card is always treated as a "Melodious" monster.) If you have 2 cards in your Pendulum Zones, you can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, it cannot be targeted by card effects until the End Phase. (This is treated as a Pendulum Summon.) You cannot Pendulum Summon other monsters on the turn that you activate this effect. This card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. Once per turn, if this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: You can inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of Special Summoned monsters they control x 500, and if you do, draw 1 card. You can only control 1 "Natural Energy Spirit - Reflowering Angel".

Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom

(R4/2300/2000/DARK/Warrior/Xyz/Effect)

2 Level 4 monsters

If this card is Xyz Summoned: You can target 1 monster on the field with less ATK than this card's ATK; destroy it. You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; reveal 3 "Performapal" or "Odd-Eyes" Pendulum Monsters with different Pendulum Scale(s) from your Deck, and if you do, your opponent randomly picks 1 for you to add to your hand, and you return the remaining cards to the bottom of the deck in any order. You can only activate each effect of "Performapal Odd-Eyes Blade Phantom" once per turn.

Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie

(L2/1700/WATER/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↙, ↘)

2 monsters with different Levels, including a Pendulum Monster

If this card is Link Summoned: You can place 1 "Odd-Eyes" or "Performapal" Pendulum Monster from your Deck in your Extra Deck face-up, and if you do, you can Special Summon 1 Pendulum Monster face-up in your Extra Deck with a different Pendulum Scale from the monster placed in the Extra Deck by this effect. Once per turn, if this card and/or an "Odd-Eyes" monster(s) this card points to would be destroyed by battle or card effect: You can send 1 card from your hand to the GY instead. You can only control 1 "Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie". You can only Link Summon "Performapal Odd-Eyes Silver Selkie" once per turn.

Holy Nights Illuminator

(R4/2400/2400/LIGHT/Warrior/Xyz/Effect)

3 Level 4 monsters

This card cannot be destroyed by battle while you control another LIGHT monster. You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; excavate the top 2 cards of your Deck, and if you do, add 1 of the revealed cards to your hand, then send the other card to the GY. If this card destroys a monster by battle: Target 1 LIGHT monster in your GY; Special Summon it in Defense Position. You can only activate each effect of "Holy Nights Illuminator" once per turn.

Trivia: This card is blatantly a retrain of Illumiknight, just as a cameo. But can you blame me? That card's… real bad, haha. It might show up, it might not.

Consonance the Melodious Diva

(5*/1900/1300/LIGHT/Fairy/Tuner/Effect)

When your opponent's monster declares an attack: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, negate that attack, then you can target 1 monster in your GY. During the End Phase, if the monster targeted by the above effect is still in the GY: You can Special Summon it to the field, and if you do, it is treated as a "Melodious" monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in the GY; this card's name and Level/Attribute/Type become the same as the targeted monster's until the End Phase.

Gospodin Tchaikovsky the Melodious Overture Saint

(9*/3000/2000/LIGHT/Fairy/Synchro/Effect)

1 LIGHT Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters

If this card is Synchro Summoned using at least 2 "Melodious" monsters as Synchro Material: You can target 1 "Melodious" monster you control and 2 cards on the field; destroy the targeted cards, and if you do, gain LP equal to the number of destroyed cards x 400. If this card battles a Special Summoned monster: You can target 1 "Melodious" monster you control other than this card; Tribute it, and if you do, negate the effects of that Special Summoned monster until the end of the Battle Phase. Your opponent cannot activate the effects of that monster they control in response to this effect. You can only activate each effect of "Gospodin Tchaikovsky the Melodious Overture Saint" once per turn.

Sunseed Glow

(1*/0/0/EARTH/Plant/Effect)

Once per turn, if a monster battles another monster: You can discard this card; neither player takes battle damage from that battle, and monsters cannot be destroyed by that battle. If this card is in your GY: You can shuffle this card from your hand or GY into the Deck; Special Summon 1 Plant Link Monster from your GY, but it cannot activate its effects this turn. You cannot Special Summon monsters on the turn you activate this effect, except Plant monsters. You can only activate this effect of "Sunseed Glow" once per turn.


Different Card Effects from TCG:

Hologram Projection - Anime-only card.


End Notes:

This chapter jumps between groups so much, just because they've all been split up. We'll be following the different groups as they get into different types of trouble :) But, for your reading convenience, the groups are:

- Yuno, Miharu, Yugo: At the docks, just finished talking to Rio.

- Reiji and Kaname: Wandering around the city. Pretty much untouchable right now, considering that it's Reiji and Kaname. Oh, and they're with Chris right now too, making for the most reasonable group that's ever appeared in 6ARC.

- Yuya, Yuzu and Ruri: Currently making their way to the Resistance.

- Shun and Reira: At the destroyed Duel Lodge together.

- Sawatari and Sora: Just generally wandering around together.

- Nue and Tsukikage: Just separated. Tsukikage is looking for the other Lancers and Nue is heading to Spade Branch.

- Chiaki, Serena and Mion: Tolerating each other.

- Kyorin: Helping a mysterious injured figure.

- Hitoda and Gongenzaka: Leaving the Heartland Tower area.

- Yuto and Rin: Leaving a church, talking about stuff.

- Yuji: With a surprisingly nice Resistance member?

My outline for this chapter just has 'simp POV' for Yuno and Miharu's part at the start, and I think that's all I need to say about it.

Yugo being misunderstood was always going to happen—it was what I imagined would have happened if Yugo had gone with the Lancers to Xyz. Meanwhile, the idea of Reiji being mistaken as a Resistance member just because of his scarf came to me when I was planning the Synchro Arc, just because I was reminded of the red fabric. And then, the idea of him getting mistaken for Chris was very funny to me as well, because they look nothing alike but if you describe just their physical traits… yeah.

The idea of Reiji's scarf defying gravity is still one of my favourite Arc-V manga jokes.

Noted emotion-repulsed unknowingly-demisexual Yuji Fujita thinking about his very platonic best friend getting a tattoo: "Why am I thinking that she's pretty, abort abort abort—"

Speech and language issues are a big deal to me as someone who can't even string together a full sentence when talking without writing it down first, so writing Yuji gives me both very strong embarrassment about my own issues and also makes me self-conscious that I'm not representing my own language issues well enough? Pfft. (My written language is fine, but I can't speak.) It's interesting for me, because while Yuji's speech issues come from me, other stuff such as his mental health issues are written through reflecting on the experiences that one of my friends has with the same conditions. And his personality is pretty much the opposite of mine, so… yup. A lot to reconcile when it comes to writing him, but he is a very different character from the usual that I've written in prior fics, at least. And I do like him, even though he's the character that stresses me out the most.

I was browsing my country's government websites to apply for something a while back, and I saw the tiny "last updated" text at the bottom, and it was dated pre-pandemic. A part of me found that interesting enough to use the same format in the small excerpt.

I hope that we can all forgive me for skipping the 2v6 that Reiji and Kaname did. Considering that it's Reiji Akaba and Kaname Mizuchi, I feel like the result was obvious enough.

That being said, this chapter is long. I don't know why I didn't think it would be—I originally outlined five duels here, but whittled it down to three by getting rid of the fluff, aka the Obelisk Force sweeps. Originally, we were going to get to see a Reiji-Kaname 2v6 and a Yuno-Miharu 2v6, but… eh, it added absolutely nothing, not even any new cards, so I had no reason to go through with it.

When I was planning the very specific details of this arc around five months ago, I was conflicted between Chris vs Reiji (pale-haired older brothers who are quite competent and do genuinely quite shitty things to other characters, kinda has cool leadership vibes) or Kaname vs Chris (also two pale-haired people, the Number 2 to a paternal figure in an arc with multiple antagonists (well, ZEXAL!Chris, at least), kinda distant from younger sibling(s) initially). In the end, I decided to give that duel to Reiji, purely because… well, 6ARC!Reiji is a far more involved leader than his canon counterpart, and if I'm bringing Reiji all the way to Heartland, I might as well let him interact with some of the other leaders on an equal level.

In an even earlier draft, Rin was the one facing Rio, and Yugo was just watching… but it occurred to me that Yugo was always the more logical opponent due to the misunderstanding, even though I love the matching deck themes. Also, Rio and Rin are a terrible pair to write a duel between just due to the names. Will they ever duel in the future? *shrugs* If the plot demands it. And yes, to clarify, Rio focuses more on Rank 5s/Rank 6s in this fic, just because that's how her decklist ended up working in this fic. She has exactly the cards you'd expect. And yes, sorry, Yugo fans. This was always going to happen—I can't let his ego get too big :) But it's not really a proper duel. Rio will get a proper duel soon in the story, as will Yugo—but this is a quick wake-up call for Yugo specifically, since he's one of the only Lancers (the others being Rin, Kaname and Chiaki) who hasn't really had to deal with a foreign wartorn environment yet, and well, he's the least serious of the group. Originally, I was even going to put that short part of Rio vs Yugo off-screen, but I decided to let you have it, just to show Rio using the Sharks and Winged Beasts together. It's definitely the weakest of the duels here, since it was never intended to be finished… but yes. Rio 100% won. When she said the duel was over, she meant it.

But yes, because 6ARC's characters are allowed to talk to each other, they actually get to know things about each other. And hey, I specifically highlighted Ruri and Miharu talking during Chapter 75 for a reason. So even without winning, the characters get to progress the plot forward.

Review responses!

To cardfan135, glad that you enjoy their dynamic! I'm definitely not confirming any theories, per se. :D And yeah, I genuinely forgot about the existence of QOTCs during my breaks :D

To , obviously can't confirm it, but I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. :)

To Ben23ten, I do love reading older texts and things like that :D And yeah, while the joke about half the guys in Xyz having a brief crush on Nue is objectively false in this version of her character, I just had to include it as a homage to that old fic concept. I'm glad you're enjoying the arc so far!

To T.V. 2000, that's definitely fair! Everyone in the fic calls him Vector as well, except very specific people. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things go and if you're correct about what you think! :D

To GamerGirl66, it's intentional that I haven't included an OP yet. Usually, I only do that after the 'intro' to the arc.

To Bryz0n, mm, I wanted to show a bit of 'normalcy' in Heartland before I tossed everyone right into this chapter, just for some contrast :D The Zane and Syrus comparison is pretty apt, honestly, except that Nue and Yuto actually have a semi-normal relationship and communication skills instead of "hey, you suck, you don't deserve to use the same card as me". :)

To CruelDiamond422, thanks for pointing that out! I fixed the duel up :D Please don't be afraid to point out duel mistakes. It might take some time for me to fix it, but it's not something I'll be offended by :)

To Unlucky-Fausto, welcome back! :) You've noticed some pretty interesting details about 83, though I can't comment on both of them. I will say that all the characters in 6ARC are uniquely flawed in their own ways, and those flaws definitely affect the choices that they make in the plot. That specific character that seems a bit too passive... :D We're going to get there.

To TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r, yup, Vector's here. Guess you'll have to wait and see!

To phantomdragons, you barely got this one in before I updated, haha. Nue and Vector have an... interesting friendship, and that's all I'll say on that for now.

QOTC: With the overload of information given in this chapter, what are some theories/guesses that you have for the rest of the introduction to the arc?

Alright, that's it. I was just discharged from the hospital, and I'm also still not feeling that well, so I'll be leaving things here for now. :) See you next time!