Manjoume found Asuka first, and she reacted much like how he expected.

Well, shoving him against a wall might have been a little further than he'd expected.

"What made you Barrett freaks think we'd ever want you here?!" she snarled.

"Seems to me like you can use all the help you can get - I mean, it's not like those Pendulum Lancers handled things well on their own turf…" Manjoume made Asuka so mad, she actually grabbed him by the collar.

"Take it easy!" he scolded. "Some of us actually still have some respect for the uniform we wear."

Asuka growled, but she already knew her hands were tied.

Yuya, Yuzu and Crow's encounter with Barrett Academy was more dramatic. While preparing to drive back to Crow's place they heard an explosion from around a corner and saw a blue-jacketed figure tumble out of an alley.

"Xyz…" he grunted, "Got careless…"

They ran into the alley where they spied a fallen Academia-model duel disk and ahead of them, another Barrett Academy student fell back and slumped against the wall.

"Yuma!" Yuzu shouted when they saw who was standing over the student. He turned to look at them.

"I guess it's fitting for you to be here," he said.

"Yuma, I know something's changed about you," Yuzu pressed on. "I've heard how much your friends meant to you - whatever happened, you can't really have turned your back on everything you used to believe in!"

"That right?" Yuma scowled. "Maybe I should prove how much I'm really capable of…" He turned back to the student, who looked up in shock as he entered a control into his duel disk. Time seemed to slow down as the others realized what it looked like he was about to do.

The student gasped as a blue glow surrounded him and seemed to wipe him from existence.

"What… was that?" Yuya stammered.

"That didn't look like a carding-!" Yuzu said.

"Of course it wasn't a carding!" Yuma snapped. "I haven't changed that much. I just stored him."

"You… you what?"

"Stored him. Imprisoned in a pocket dimension. He's perfectly safe."

"Even so… Academia didn't think they were doing any permanent harm either-" Yuya had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What, you're comparing me to them? Or maybe you were thinking of your buddies Shun and Kaito? This isn't about revenge."

Yuya and Yuzu pushed down a spike of anger from Yuto and Ruri.

"Now I know you aren't acting like yourself!" Yuzu cut in. "I know enough that the old Yuma Tsukumo-"

"Oh really? You really know all about the 'old' Yuma Tsukumo, huh?" He gritted his teeth.

"Besides… it's not like I had much left to lose anyway…" he muttered.

"But-"

"Enough talk!" he cut her off. He leapt up to a fire escape and onto a roof.

"Wait!" Yuya called, jumping after him. There was no time to wait for the others as Yuya chased Yuma across the rooftops.

Yuzu and Crow climbed up after Yuya, but he was already jumping from building to building and following Yuma out of sight. Yuzu and Crow dropped into the alley they thought they'd gone into, but they'd lost them both.

"Ah, gee, Yuma probably wanted to draw him away from us," Yuzu groaned.

"I guess the best thing to do is head back to the D-Wheels," Crow told her.

As they crossed the street and headed between the next set of buildings, an NDPD officer watching from a distance spoke subtly into a collar mic.

As Yuzu moved into the alley, a pair of gloved hands grabbed Crow around the mouth and dragged him into the shadows.

"Crow?" Yuzu spun around, unable to believe they'd gotten separated too. "Crow?" She started back in the direction she'd gone, and looked down every other alley she passed. Not only was there no sign of him, when she tried to find the D-Wheels they weren't on the street she thought either.

The sun was now dipping behind the buildings as she accepted she was lost. She defeated the urge to panic, though, as she remembered she had Rin's knowledge to draw on. If they couldn't find their way back to Crow's house, they'd head to the orphanage where she and Yugo had lived.

This might be a bit painful for you, Rin, she thought to her in her head.

"There's not much that can be done about it," Rin replied.

Yuzu thought she was starting to recognize where she was when she was approached by three NDPD officers.

"You're Yuzu Hiiragi, aren't you? What are you doing out in the street all alone?"

"I'm just on my way back to where I'm staying!" Yuzu told them while trying to move along.

"It can be a bit dangerous out here at night," another officer said. "Allow us to help you."

"I'm fine, really…" Yuzu replied, getting an uneasy feeling from the atmosphere. She became aware that the officers had positioned themselves to box her towards a dead end. She began to back away from them, becoming very nervous.

"Please, we insist," the third officer said, with a tone showing he'd dropped all pretense of being helpful. Yuzu saw one of them badly concealing a canister in his hand, and a memory flashed in her mind, of Serena getting jumped and paralyzed with nerve spray. She froze up. Enough so that she didn't notice the sound of the engine approaching until the D-Wheel's headlights snapped on into the alley.

"Get out of here, this is police business," one of the officers said. The rider gave no reply.

"Yuya?" was Yuzu's instinctive response when she made out the red D-Wheel and helmet, but she quickly realized that it was an older, more heavily built man getting off.

"You really want to try something with us, you little street punk?" one of the cops grinned, drawing a nightstick. "What if we don't want to bother with a duel?" In an instant the man shot forward and the officer found a fist in his stomach as the nightstick was twisted out of his hand. The second officer caught a kick in his neck and was down as well. The third got his arm bent until he dropped the nerve canister, then was faceplanted into the wall, where he slid down to the ground. Yuzu flinched as the man took a step towards her.

"Yuzu Hiiragi? I think you'd better come with me."

"What? But, I don't even know who I can trust. First the cops come after me and now… I mean, how am I supposed to know if this is even a rescue or a kidnapping?"

The man raised his vizor so that she could see his bemused expression in full. He cocked his thumb back at the unconscious officers.

"You'd rather take your chances with them?"

"No…"

"Then I'm rescuing you. Come on!" He bade her to get on the D-Wheel, and she settled somewhat awkwardly behind him against the curving backrest. He peeled it around and shot through a far-too-narrow-looking alley, through the streets and up an old ramp that didn't reach the highway, but Yuzu realized he actually thought it was good enough.

He gunned the engine and flew through the air, popped a wheelie off the barrier and bounced onto the road, where he began weaving seamlessly between the traffic.

"I'm Yusei, by the way!" he called over his shoulder. "Yusei Fudo!"

AN: And now, we have our second reincarnated protagonist making his proper appearance after he was hinted at earlier. On that note, our other returning mc demonstrates a new ability for the Dimension Duelists. This is about the time to introduce the new plot point, and I wanted to drive home how off the way Yuma's acting is.

nightshroud96: I'm glad that implication came through. Incidentally, aside from the rockets, I came across that fire ring action card and was instantly reminded of a scene in the anime...

Next time: More about Yusei is learned as he unsheathes his dueling skills.