The actual setup for the meeting had proposed a slight problem.
The bracelets.
They didn't want to accidentally send Yuto and Yugo back unintentionally.
But with a bit of testing they determined that it was only Yuzu's that seemed to do as it started to glow slightly when she got near a pair, and only if they were near Yuya.
So they had Reiji rent out an IHOP and had one of his trusted men keep the bracelet at a safe distance, once they figured out what that distance was.
With a few more acting as liaison waitstaff so the actual staff of the IHOP wouldn't even get to hear them, they had set up in the IHOP.
It was… quite a sight, a set of quadruplets and a set of triplets (well, quadruplets minus one), one of the quadruplets big brother, Kaito, Akabaka, and herself.
And they were currently enjoying the all you can eat pancakes before they could get into anything complicated.
Yugo and Rin looked like they were having a religious experience, while the Xyz kids all seemed relieved at eating this much good food.
It was no wonder very little talking happened for the first 20 minutes or so.
Reiji was the only one not truly engaged in his pancakes, merely watching everyone with an odd look on his face.
Well, that wasn't right.
Shun was enjoying himself but didn't let his guard down for a second, which made sense.
It was only when everyone was either finished or on their last plate (and going much slower with their pancakes) that any real conversation began.
"...Now that everyone has been fed, I believe it is now time to address the Flying Elephant in the room," Reiji Akaba said, breaking the happy vibe that had lasted until just now.
"Flying Elephant? Where?" Yugo asked. Well, mostly breaking it.
"It's a figure of speech you dummy," Rin said as she chopped him on the head.
"So do all four of you have a habit of hitting people on the head when annoyed?" Eddie asked.
Rin, Serena and Yuzu blushed while Ruri just looked confused.
"Can you give a report of what occurred in Fusion?" He addressed Eddie.
"Right, so, quick rundown." Eddie said, clapping her hands together and shifting into Serious Mode. "I left Standard Dimension at about 2000 hours and arrived in Fusion, directly into the lab of Doctor Buggenstein- yes, I know, let me continue- where Rin and Ruri were being held. The Doctor was preparing to use an artificially created and incarnated Duel Spirit called Parasite Queen and its offspring, Fusion Parasites, to take control of the minds of said two. I used my stealth abilities to disable the Doctor and immediately exfiltrated the two."
"The doctor wanted to do that?" Serena asked.
"He'd been doing it. The Parasites in question drain the user and their deck of Duel Energy, controlling them until they die from it." Eddie said.
Everyone looked horrified at that.
"Invasion is one thing, but for something like that to be made? My father has fallen further than I thought." Reiji stated.
"It's worse than it sounds." Eddie said. "He exclusively used it up to that point on rebels, rest in peace Medici, or on their own 'soldiers'." She looked at Serena. "They were planning on using it on you, next."
She put a hand to her face as Yuzu put a comforting hand around her.
"So what did you do?" Kaito asked. "I assume you disabled such a monstrosity."
"Well from what I heard she started a fire in the lab." Serena said with a slight rasp.
"During the interrogation, The Doctor attempted to use Parasite Queen, and in the ensuing struggle he was eaten by it." Eddie said.
"Urgh," The Yu-boys gagged while Shun and Reiji just narrowed their eyes at her.
"Subsequently, after downloading as much information from his systems onto my disk as possible, I started a chemical-electrical fire using said systems that should have hopefully wiped out the remaining parasites… though I was unable to destroy the Queen, which ended up working as a distraction in my favor."
"Yeah, I heard over the comms Obelisk Force had to put it down." Serena answered.
"After that, I systematically made my way upwards to Serena's room, acting on intel acquired from The Doctor, taking out Commanders Yuri and Axel Brodie on the way with my new Xyz deck, sorry Xyz-boys."
"You beat the Evil Quadruplet?" Shun asked.
"He's 14." Eddie said. "He's not evil. He's a sadistic little shit, but he's not evil."
"Well doesn't that sound familiar," Yuto said.
"Yeah it kinda does," Kaito added.
"You've dealt with an Evil Doppelganger before?" Yuzu asked.
"No, but the situation is familiar to us," Shun said. "Normally we would just throw Yuma at him."
"Is that a fifth one?" Yugo asked.
"No." The Xyz users said back.
"Older than us." Yuto added at the look of confusion Yugo sent towards them.
"Yeah but he still kidnapped Rin."
"And he wasn't nice about it." The girl added. "That dragon is a menace."
"Same," Ruri added, before her eyes went a little wide.
"I didn't say he wasn't currently the enemy." Eddie said. "But most of Academia are brainwashed and/or indoctrinated kids. They genuinely think they're doing the right thing, right?" Eddie asked towards Serena.
"Yeah…" Serena said. "Most think it is a righteous war and don't really know the truth."
"Quick side tangent, Ruri are you okay?" Eddie asked, which immediately caused Shun's attention to turn towards her.
"Yeah, but due to all that happened I forgot about it, but there was another person with Yuri when he took me. I think there was a spy in Heartland and that was how they knew where to get me." She answered.
"Did you recognize that person?"
"No they were wearing a cloak that hid their face, Yuri was too, but it blasted off during our duel, but I strictly remember him saying. "I told you I would find her.""
"Well whoever they are, they are going to suffer the consequences of that," Shun stated.
"Real quick, height relative to Yuri?" Eddie asked. "Taller, shorter, same?"
"Taller, but the voice, I know I heard it before, which is why I think he was a spy." Ruri said. "Do you know anything about that, Serena?"
"I know we sent people to scout out Xyz, and they were the ones who called for the invasion, but I don't know who… I wasn't privy to such information." She answered. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Yuya said. "That isn't your fault its the fault of Akabaka Se-"
"No." Eddie interrupted, "No, Akabaka is an endearing nickname for ours. Leo Akaba deserves no attachment. No cute or funny nicknames. No niceties. None of that."
"I don't know whether to be happy or slightly miffed." Reiji commented.
"Getting back on track." Eddie said. "After defeating Commanders Yuri and Brodie, I met up with Serena, who… presumably Shining Drew some Pendulums into existence? Please fill in the gaps here, I only saw the last move of that duel."
"You did?" Yuzu and Yuya asked in amazement.
"Yes, I was dueling my handler Barrett as I saw my chance to escape with all the chaos Eddie was causing, but then I was on the back foot and losing and then I suddenly heard a voice, and then… two cards in my hand changed." Serena answered.
"A voice?" Reiji asked. "Do you know who?"
"No idea, she just told me I had to live and be happy." Serena answered.
"I do believe it's either your combined form or your combined form's mother, as the voice referred to Yuzu as 'her child'."
"Wait what?" Everyone asked.
"Huh?" Yuzu looked absolutely flabbergasted.
"So that is what you did…" Kaito said. "You were communing with whatever remains of the original that doesn't exist in them."
"Uh what are you all talking about? Original form of Rin? And what is a Pendulum?"
"Oh honey." Eddie said. "Okay, quick version- during Yuzu's duel with Julia, whatever that voice was needed a little extra boost of Fusion Energy and I gave it."
"So you helped me with Shining Draw?" Yuzu asked.
"I'm pretty sure you were about to anyway, I just made it stronger." Eddie guessed.
"Probably would have drawn one of the Pendulums you obtained, and I wonder so if that voice is also responsible for assisting Sakaki with his or they-"
"No," Yuya said. "That… they came entirely from me."
"Would you like me to finish the debrief before we get into the philosophical side of things?" Eddie asked, feeling the thread being lost, hard.
"Finish please."
"Okay." Eddie took a deep breath. "I linked up with Serena, using Brodie's duel disk -which is a gun by the way- as a deterrent as we had abandoned stealth, successfully finding Commanders Johan Anderson and Adrian Gecko. Serena and I proceeded to tag duel and take them out, giving me what is rightfully mine, before we were surrounded on the helipad this took place on by Obelisk Forces, with Leo Akaba himself looking down from a balcony. Not even close to the actual action, the coward. In response, I sent Serena away, and that's as far as anyone here actually knows, right?"
"What do you mean it's a gun?" Rin asked.
Eddie picked up the backpack she'd brought with her, pulling out the duel disk just enough to show it. "It's a gun." She said before putting it back. "It shoots cards… that are on fire."
"How does that even work?" Yuya asked. "Cards are made of durable stuff but I think that is a little too much."
"Volcanic Shell is a common."
"But cards are cards, and they should all be treated with respect no matter the rarity," Yugo said, with Rin nodding her head.
"I agree, but I'm pretty sure it's something with the Spirits of his deck, because Volcanic Shells literally exist to be shot out of cannons." She backpedalled.
"She is not joking," Reiji said. "A Volcanic deck is about burn, and literally firing their monsters as ammo."
"Anyway, back on topic again here."
"So what did happen after you sent me away, and do you know the scare you gave me? I thought you were gonna get captured, or worse."
"Well, it was either that or I held you hostage, and that felt really scummy so I discarded that plan immediately."
"And I don't think that would have worked at that point in time, you numbskull, urgh you wanna make me hit you over the head with a big fan?"
"You can borrow mine." Yuzu added.
"So anyway," Eddie said, quickly trying to divert. "I used Johan's Rainbow Dark Dragon, which is a very territorial duel spirit, and his still active board, to attack Leo Akaba. He ran immediately and hid behind the Obelisks -coward- and I used the distraction to Dimension Move. However, the Helipad was crumbling and apparently momentum is conserved when Dimension Moving, so I landed, hard, and was knocked out on impact."
"She landed in our Autoshop," Yugo told them.
"Oh I almost forgot, how is dad?" Rin asked.
"Doing fine, very worried about you, but we both were."
"Their father, by the way, is the Synchro equivalent to Yugi Moto." Eddie added for the non-Synchro Residents, which everyone but Serena got.
"Who?"
"Greatest of a generation, usually." Eddie said. "XYZ is the only one where both one of our knuckleheads and one of those is in the same generation, it seems."
"A few years apart but yeah," Kaito said.
"Continuing, after figuring out the Duel Disks are keyed to a fingerprint database, with Commanders having an override. Somehow, these four have the exact same fingerprints despite not even normal twins having that. I genuinely don't know how that part works, you guys have different genetics and hair, you should at least be different there too but I'm not complaining."
"I mean, outside of that our bodies look identical, same height, same build, same face," Yuya said. "Which is a little freaky, but I am not complaining, I wouldn't mind brothers."
"Same." Yuto and Yugo replied.
"So let us unbrainwash our Fusion Brother," Yuya added.
"Agreed." Eddie said immediately. "If we have everyone on the same side, we don't need to worry about you guys combining. Also that kid needs family, oh my god he looked so lonely."
Reiji, Shun and Kaito again looked at her with surprise at how she came to Yuri's defense, but did not speak up about it.
"Anyway, from there, we Dimension Moved back to Standard, landing in the Sakaki property- which poses an interesting potential security risk, because either I got extremely lucky, it was already queued to that location for Standard, or somehow Academia, the Fudo Autoshop, and the Sakaki Household all exist in the same place relative to each other across the dimensions."
"I think it was luck," Reiji said. "From our testing if you do not have precise coordinates you land in a random location which…"
"Could that get you stuck in a wall?" Rin asked with a bit of a green face.
"Thankfully it does not allow for matter to occupy two places at once, but you can end up in the air, depending on your elevation."
"I can attest to that part." Eddie added. "Also, again, Momentum is Conserved. Aka, speedy thing go in speedy thing come out."
"Yeah from what Dad said, she landed face first and conked herself out," Yugo said.
"You don't have a concussion do you?" Yuzu asked.
"Magic~" Eddie said, waving her hands and making a bit of sparkles fly out.
Which was the extent of what she could do with her Duel Energy, at the moment. It wasn't even an actual Sparks level thing yet, just completely aesthetic sparkles.
The boys and girls looked at her with awe.
"We are going to start having her nickname be Witch Girl or something," Shun said.
"My name is literally Hawthorne, I was born to be a witch."
"Is that like a joke we are too Japanese to understand?" Yuya asked.
"Yes, and it is actually a joke, I'm not actually from a lineage of magic users or anything (to my knowledge) I'm just very autistic about Duel Monsters."
"Most here are," Reiji said. "Though you have made it abundantly clear that Duel Spirits are very much a thing and not just a folktale."
"I thought that was pretty obvious?" Yugo asked.
"Not everyone talks to their Spirits, hon." Eddie said with a shrug.
"And not every spirit wants to talk," Yuto said.
"There is definitely a level of bond that needs to be established before the spirit even wants to look your way," Kaito said.
"Of course, Ghost Rares are more likely by several orders of magnitude to be very… talkative, if not just abundantly present." Eddie said. "Like this guy." She said, pulling out Raviel.
Reiji suddenly went ramrod straight in his seat as he looked at the card, while Yugo, Yuyu, Yuzu and Kaito looked at her with looks of concern at the aura of 'fuck everything in that general direction' it was exuding.
"Oh right you actually took those," Serena stated.
"They're supposed to be mine so it only makes sense." Eddie said casually. "Though… Akabaka, have you had an experience with the Sacred Beasts?"
"It took a few years but I eventually cracked my fathers personal files, it was sadly not a lot, just notes, diary entries and even then nothing explicit about his plans but… he did write and describe three very powerful cards that he found in Fusion and that the process of taming would be difficult, I had no idea what he meant at that time, but now…"
"Oh yes, the Sacred Beasts are very volatile and make the Wicked Gods look like ants in comparison." Eddie said with a grin. "No one man can handle all their power at once."
"Ah but you are woman." Yuzu said with a smile.
"Preach it sistah." Eddie said. The other three girls cringed. "I'm American and from 25 years in the past, shut up."
"Huh?" Three girls plus one Yu asked.
"Different universes seem to run on different timetables. I'm from 2024 in my Universe but from my perspective, the important events of each dimension were sequential across a shorter time period… and mostly revolved around Seto Kaiba, one way or the other."
"So his ego does have its own gravitational field," Reiji mused.
"...How different is your world where something like Neo Domino City and their Heartland place can exist at the same time?" Yugo asked. "It was a bit of ruin, sorry for your loss, but it looked so much farther ahead than what we had."
"I can actually answer that," Kaito said. "Even in our Dimension Heartland is ahead of the norm due to the genius work of my Father, that boosted it ahead years of other cities."
"Also, very, very different." Eddie said. "The timeline I know, AR dueling was a fad that never really spread out of Heartland… also, New Domino City happened because of the Zero Reverse incident which I don't think happened in your timeline?"
"Oh no it did," Rin said. "It just happened 40 years ago in 2009."
"That's when it happened for- wait." Eddie said. "Reiji, Kaiba disappeared in…?"
"2009."
"Y'see that tracks because as far as I know he disappeared around then too, and everyone was certain it was because of Zero Reverse… since a good chunk of Domino City got wiped off the map." Eddie stated truthfully. "Which ties into the 'timeline's been sliced to bits' thing, but I still can't figure out why there's this like… multi-decade gap. Maybe that's how long it would be from the events happening I know play out to where the timeline was actually split? Because I should be old enough to be one of your parents, and so should all the students from Fusion."
"There is definitely a bit of shuffling… It actually reminds me of an old comic book I read when I was younger," Reiji said.
"Wow Mr. Ceo reads comic books?" Yuzu asked in surprise.
"I did, not much time anymore," Reiji responded, there was a hint of frustration in his voice. "It was an american Superhero one featuring the Flash, and that him going back in time resulted in a timeboom as it were."
"Of course! How couldn't I see it before!" Eddie said, suddenly putting the pieces together. "The very act of changing the timeline would in turn cause massive ripples that would affect things that on the surface shouldn't even be affected! That's why all the important players are around at the same time, the timeline's trying to correct itself so it's concentrating the strongest of its talents all in one era!"
"Or it compensated if the Dimensions were once a continuous timeline like a river, but suddenly four dams were created that resulted in four new rivers-." Kaito began.
"That are all trying to converge at the same point!" Eddie finished excitedly.
"No, I don't think so." Reiji said.
"More like grandfather paradox if someone born in say in what we could call the Xyz Era," Kaito said as he now began drawing on a napkin. "But the grandfather belongs to say the Fusion Era, and the father in Synchro, but suddenly they are now technically on three different timelines that are now kinda occurring at the same time, meaning now before they were after one another, they are now concurrent, so the universe compensated by setting up new family that makes sense for their current history of their only being one summoning method."
"I think I just went cross-eyed," Yuya said.
"Same." The other two Yu-boys agreed.
"That's probably a better theory than what I had." Eddie said with a nod, having mostly followed along but making sure to keep up her veneer of confidence. "This is why I'm not a scientist."
"Yeah but the how it works and why people got time shuffled is not really relevant for us is it?" Ruri asked.
"It kinda is since our running theory as to why is that you-" She pointed at the relevant Yu-boy's and Bracelet Girls (there we go! That would be a good nickname for them, Bracelet Girls). "Split the timeline for whatever reason, so if we can figure out the proper effects of that happening we might be able to figure out why you did it in the first place."
"I mean…" Yuya began. "It is pretty obvious its whoever we were before is the reason, with you know the whole desire to be one again, and ghost YuRuSeRI-"
"Don't call her that!" YuRuSeRi said.
"-not wanting us to, it kinda seems like whoever we were, were maybe not a very good person," Yuya said with a frown, and how his eyes shifted to Eddie and that she did not immediately deny that statement clearly proved it in his mind.
"And speaking of that feeling to become one, you are currently not experiencing what Hawthorne described happening to Yuto?" Reiji asked.
The three boys shook their heads.
"Not even me after all that stuff, where as before just mentioning it, triggered… whatever that was," Yuto said.
"Maybe it has something to do with our Bracelets," Ruri said as she lifted up her arm, showing the much more complicated looking dual-wing design on hers.
"Well, clearly the Bracelets are involved in keeping the dimensions separate." Eddie reminded them to let everyone make the conclusion themselves. "And the only thing we've seen them actively do without our input is keep the Yu-boy's apart."
"Something tells me we were never meant to actually meet each other," Yuto said.
"Yeah but I am happy we did," Yuya said.
"Totally." Yugo said. "Who cares about what past us did, we aren't him. We are us!"
"Well said." Shun said.
"So Academia still bad, gonna probably try and get my Rin back, so wanna duel?" Yugo asked her.
"Yes, please." Eddie said instantly. Great diversion from the harder topics and something she was eager for.
"Well if you want me to go full throttle I need to use my Duel Runner," Yugo said.
"We have room for such a thing." Reiji said.
"Slight problem with that, Yugo." Eddie said.
"Yugo she doesn't have a Duel Runner." Rin said.
"I know I was just gonna do circles around her." Yugo responded.
"Will you now?" Eddie asked, deliberately misinterpreting the words. "Them's fightin' words."
Yugo grinned.
"Though to make such a thing a little more balanced this will also be an Action Duel," Reiji said.
"... What's an Action Duel!?" Serena, Rin, Ruri, and Yugo asked.
—
"'Duelists locked in battle! Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! They storm through this field! Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of Dueling! ACTION DUEL!" Eddie heard Yuzu and Yuya chant from the stands of the same Duel Arena where Yuya and Sawatari had their duel.
"Let's kick it into Turbo, huh?"
"Like me Dad says, it's time to rev it up!" Yugo said as he revved up his bike wheels turning as the Action Field formed around them. "Fastest goes first!"
"Cheater~!" Eddie yelled as he blasted past her, not even trying to keep up as a rocky canyon formed around them that… kinda reminded her of the pod racing track.
Eddie LP: 8000/ Yugo LP: 8000
"Okay I go first, since I have no monsters, I can Special Summon, Speedroid Terrortop(1200/600), and since I did that I can add a Speedroid Monster to my hand. And since what I added was Speedroid Taketomborg(600/1200), I can Special Summon him since I control a Wind Monster."
Yugo began driving up and down the walls of the canyon, the bike having excellent traction as he drove around her, the monsters moving relative to Yugo, the top spinning and snaking while Taketomborg (the menace) was running alongside him.
"Oh no…" Eddie groaned softly at the mere mention of the monster.
"I activate the effect of Taketomborg, releasing him to Special Summon a Speedroid Tuner from my deck." Yugo declared as she picked up an Action Card, and realized the true threat of his maneuver- he wasn't going for any Action Cards, but his circling was severely limiting her maneuverability. "And now lets go gambling… in my favor as when Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice(100/100) is Special Summoned, I can roll him and target one of my Speedroid Monsters and this weighted dice-"
"Hey that's cheating!" Yuya shouted.
"All is fair in Turbo Dueling my brother!" Yugo responded as his monster's level modulated.
Giving him exactly 7 levels on the field.
"Oh boy, here it comes." Eddie said excitedly under her breath.
"I am going to be tuning my now Level 6 Speedroid Terrortop with my Level 1 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice!" The dice turned into a singular ring of green while the six spinning tops turned into six stars. "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(2500/2000)!"
And there was the final of the four.
It felt… clearer than the others.
Freer.
Less… anger, more determination.
"And since I Special Summoned, I can Special Summon Speedroid Rubberband Plane(1800/0) in attack position," Yugo said as the toy plane flew beside him. "I set a card and end my turn."
He did another loop around her and while his helmet made his eyes nonviewable, she could still see his grin.
"I draw," No change. Only one path forward. "I'll Normal Summon Darklord Ukoback(700/1000) who lets me send a Darklord card from my deck to the graveyard. I'll then throw down three face downs, and activate the Action Card - Sunshine Smile, targeting my Ukoback!" Eddie said, taking the opportunity to pick up the Action Card she'd been slowly approaching, revealing itself to be-! "Pft. I'll chain a second Sunshine Smile, same target."
"Urgh, was that supposed to do anything?" Yugo asked.
"I'll move into my battle phase to show you, as Ukoback gains 400 attack points during the battle phase only, each… which isn't enough to do anything, I was just trying to get a new action card." Eddie admitted freely as she ended her battle phase. "I'll end my turn. Your move~!"
"Okay…" Yugo responded as he drew. "I am going to activate the Quick-Play Spell Card - Speedroid Wheel!"
"In response, I'll activate my trap card! Darklord Rebellion lets me destroy one card on the field by discarding a Darklord!" Eddie said as she scooped up another Action Card with another close by. "I'll choose your Clear Wing! And then chain another Sunshine Smile-" she outright laughed. "-and another Sunshine Smile!"
"I love this Action Field!" Yuya shouted.
"And wow she has also drawn a lot of Action Cards, while Yugo has gone for zero," She heard Yuzu add.
"I don't need them, I make my own luck," Yugo responded even as he grimaced at the loss of Clear Wing. "I activate my Speedroid Wheel, by rolling a dice I get to Special Summon, Speedroid Monsters with Levels that match the result, though their effects are negated." A roulette wheel race track appeared in front of Eddie and she saw the little car drive around until it landed on three. "With that I will Special Summon from my Deck, the Tuner, Speedroid CarTurbo(800/1200!)! Then I will be tuning my Level 5 Speedroid Rubberband Plane with Level 3 Speedroid CarTurbo. Across the stars I summoned forth the mechanical drake of high speeds! Synchro Summon! Come forth, Level 8! Hi-Speedroid Kitedrake(3000/2800)! And on Summon I will activate his effect to destroy all other cards on the Field!"
"I'll discard Darklord Tezcatlipoca to avoid Ukoback being destroyed!" Eddie said, grimacing as yet again Magic Cylinder was destroyed before it could be used.
"Hmm, and seeing as this Field is so generous," Yugo drove up the wall and from one of the boulders Eddie saw him taking a card that was sticking out.
"What happened to making your own luck?" Eddie shouted to him.
"Thought these would be a little more random!" He responded. "For I activate Sunshine Smile!"
("Is this the only card this field generates?" Kaito asked.
"I think some fields were produced with a certain theme," Yuto replied.)
"Battle Phase!" Yugo said, both of their monster's attacks modulating- and much to Eddie's both relief and frustration, despite the wording they did not in fact last across turns. "High Speed Movement!"
And like that the mechanical drake shot at Ukoback like a rocket and crashed through him. Leaving her with nothing.
Eddie LP: 6100/ Yugo LP: 8000
"And like that I end my turn." Yugo said.
"Draw." Eddie said confidently. "I'll set one monster face down," She picked up a card and as soon as she registered the sunburst decided to stop trying for anything else. "and End my turn."
"I draw," Yugo declared. "And sorry Eddie, but this is my win. I Normal Summon, Speedroid Double Yoyo(1400/1400) and when it enters the field, I can Special Summon a Speedroid from my Graveyard, and that is Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice! And you know what that means I can get level modulate-"
"In response, I'll activate my Action Card!" Eddie interrupted dead-seriously. "Sunshine Smile! Targeting your Red-Eye!"
"Wha, but hahhahahaha!" Yugo laughed even as his Duel Runner wobbled a little. "I will tune my Level 5 Speedroid Double Yoyo with my Level 1 Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice! Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to rend all enemies! Synchro Summon! Appear now! Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama(2200/1600)!"
"If that's how your expecting to win I think you're math's a little off." Eddie pointed out. "That card in your hand better be Limiter Removal or else that's not gonna cut it even if my monster had 0 defense points."
"Well since you insist, I am going to Banish, Speedroid CarTurbo and one other to increase the attack of all my monsters by 800 points." Yugo said. "And that Action Card is mine!" Yugo said as he drove right past Eddie snatching the card she had been going for.
"You almost ran over my foot!" Eddie shouted at him. "Where did you learn to drive?!"
"Self-taught!" He shouted back as he activated Sunshine Smile. "Battle Phase! Hi-Speedroid Kendama, shall pierce the monster and you shall still take the damage."
"It has piercing!?" A good amount of the 'crowd' cried out in shock.
Ukoback was destroyed, the backblast ripping at her life points.
Eddie LP: 4100/ Yugo LP: 8000
"Any chance I could get a homie drop?" Eddie asked, already knowing the answer.
"Nope! Hi-Speedroid Kitedrake(4200/2800) attack directly!" Yugo declared.
Eddie proceeded to cover her head as she was summarily blasted off her feet and flying into the (thankfully crash-pad soft) rocky canyon wall.
And then the wall faded, and she fell on her ass.
"...Ow."
Eddie LP: 0/ Yugo LP: 8000
Winner: Yugo
"That was really fun Eddie," Yugo said as he came up beside her.
"Course you'd say that." Eddie said, purposefully sounding bitter before grinning at him. "I had you Smilin' the whole time, right?"
Yugo laughed again. "Yeah that was the most smiling duel I had in a long time, way different from most duels back home, Sector Security is no fun."
"No but they are a joke." Eddie said as she got up.
"True." He agreed. "...Wanna go again?"
"Best of 3?" Eddie asked eagerly.
"Best of 3."
—
In the next two duels Eddie and Yugo both learned certain things.
Eddie learned that Yugo like Yuya and Yuto did have an evolved version of his Dragon.
Yugo learned that an Action Field counted as a card he controlled as the boy had decided to use some cards he used for non-Turbo Duels but needed to control no cards to use it.
She had a good showing in the second duel, First Darklord letting her show off a bit (she especially basked in their audience's reactions)… but the tiebreaker…
"And now Synchro Tuner, Level 4 Hi-Speedroid Cork Shooter will be tuning my Level 7 Clear Wing Synchro Dragon… Clear Mind!" Yugo declared.
"Wait, what?!" Eddie asked, caught off guard. She had a Nergal(2700/2500) in defense position and Tezcatlipoca(2800/2100) in attack, and even though she only had 600 life points she'd been pretty confident thanks to her Action Card.
"Stars that gather in a world of speed, let us create a new future where we can be free!" Eddie saw the energy gathering around Yugo as he drove directly to-
Vrooom!
He vanished?
"He vanished!" Everyone else shouted.
Booom!
The sound came from behind her and she saw Yugo appear. "Accel Synchro, appear the ride that takes us to the future! Level 11! Hi-Speedroid Clear Wing Rider(3500/200)!"
"CONCEDE!" Eddie said, slamming the button as the giant rendition of his bike, being ridden by a ghostly spirit of Clear Wing, came forward, destroying every card she had on the field.
The duel cut out right before she would have been run over by it, even as she jumped aside.
"AHHHHH!" Yugo shouted having been too caught up and quickly hit the brakes and started Akira Sliding… for a bit before he lost control and he and his bike separated with the bike spinning and he let himself glide on the ground going to a roll before quickly hopping to his feet.
"Yugo!"
"I am okay!"
Crash!
"My bike!" Yugo shouted as he immediately started running for it as the field they had been using for the second and third duel faded.
"Uh, whoops sorry, panicked, I thought that was your actual runner for a second there." Eddie apologized.
"Yeah, no idea why it looks like that, but I think it's cool." Yugo replied as he sat the Duel Runner back up. The only damage was a scuffed paint job… and a slightly bent front wheel on closer inspection. "Well nothing too bad I can't fix with proper tools."
"I'll buy you a new wheel." Eddie said.
"...I was just gonna go to the junkyard and find a replacement."
"There aren't any Duel Runners to scrap here bud, you probably wouldn't find much." Eddie said. "Don't worry about it. That was my fault, I'll cover it."
"Thanks Eddie, you are great."
"Nah," Eddie denied. "What's great is how you use that deck, you are literally so synched up you Accel Synchro'd, that's… I haven't seen anyone do that properly since your Dad." On a Duel Runner.
"Learned it from the best."
"Yugo!" Rin shouted as she and the others came running. "Are you okay? Nothing broken or hurting? And you actually mastered it?"
"Yeah, got it down after you got taken, haven't fully applied it yet, I think I still have ways for Clear Wing to evolve even further."
"That's great!" Rin replied as she hugged him excitedly.
"So why did you concede?" Yuya asked.
"I was about to get run over, my American Instincts activated." Eddie said seriously. "You dive outta the way and do anything in your power to stop it."
"Right, America is filled with crazy people, example number 1," Yuzu stated.
"Oh yes, because Japan is full of the most sane people on earth who definitely don't regularly throw fists with Duel Monsters or Shining Draw entirely new summoning types, or I don't know, invent mobile hologram projectors."
"Who has thrown fists?" Yugo asked.
Yuya and Yuzu both had the decency to blush.
"I haven't punched any monsters," Yuzu denied as she crossed her arms. "...I kick them."
"Are we sure she is an alternate version of me?" Ruri asked.
"Hey, what is that supposed to mean!?"
Soul Subtitle: Interdimensional House of Planning!