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Chapter Text

"There's a really cool D-Wheel in front of the Academy!"

"Where? Where?"

Aki looked up from her notebook to see her classmates crowding the windows of the classroom. It was probably some rising star Duelist who wanted to show off their vehicle to get some unpaid interns or more fans from the stream of students heading home for the day. Aki had training after school with Yusei. She didn't have time to be gawking at other duelists when she still needed to perfect her driving skills.

Though, doing research on any and all possible opponents in the WRGP would help a lot with figuring out how to build a good strategy and team coordination. Aki pushed past her classmates to stare out the window. The D-Wheel was sleek white with red accents, it was unmistakably Sherry Leblanc's D-Wheel. Wait, what was Sherry doing at her school?

Aki answered her own question when she left the building in a hurry and Sherry was standing at the school gate with her helmet tucked under her arm, a strange smile on her face appearing as soon as she noticed the student. The blonde had been waiting for her. "Good afternoon, Aki," Sherry greeted. "Sorry for showing up at your school all of a sudden. I heard you got your license and you're officially able to have Riding Duels."

The student shifted nervously. "Yeah, I'm a Duelist for real now. I'm not that great yet but Yusei is training me," Aki confirmed. "Did you want to duel?"

"Why of course. I want to get to know the duelist who saved my life." Sherry held her helmet in her gloved hands. "Is your D-Wheel nearby?"

"There's no escaping this! Chevalier de Fleur attacks your Black Rose Dragon!" The Signer dragon shattered into a million shining fragments. Aki's hands tightened on her handlebars and she let out a shaky breath. The wind chilled her to the bone. Her Life Points were hanging at 100 and the only monster on her field was Botanical Lion. Sherry had 2300 Life Points and Chevalier de Fleur was guarding her alongside a face down card. "I end my turn. Show me how you can turn this around, Aki!"

With Sherry's encouraging words, Aki put her hand on top of her deck and drew. "I draw!" Aki declared, checking the card she'd drawn. A Monster card, one of her most powerful ones. "I activate Rose Lover's effect in my Graveyard! I banish it to Special Summon a Plant monster from my hand! Come forth, Tytannial, Princess of Camellias!" The princess emerged from a shower of red petals. "Battle! Tytannial, attack Chevalier de Fleur!"

"You forgot about my Trap Card! Floral Shield! Your attack is negated and I get to draw a card," Sherry declared, a white flower appearing in front of Chevalier de Fleur. Tytannial slashed through the flower with her fists, scattering the petals across the road. "What?!"

"A Plant monster summoned through Rose Lover's effect isn't affected by Trap Cards for the rest of the turn!" Aki pushed the gas pedal, accelerating forward. "Tytannial, destroy Chevalier de Fleur!" With a swift uppercut, the knight was destroyed, shattering into fragments of light. "Botanical Lion, attack her directly!" Steam ejected from Sherry's D-Wheel and she braked to a stop. Aki slowed down her vehicle to stop right by Sherry.

"... mazing..." Sherry muttered, waving the steam from her face.

"What'd you say?" Aki asked, lifting the cover of her helmet. "I couldn't hear you."

"You're an amazing Duelist," Sherry said. "I apologize for not fighting you with my full strength. I was, for lack of better words, testing your abilities."

The redhead pouted. "You weren't taking me seriously? I feel a little insulted."

"Well, if I duel you at my best, you'll figure out a way to counter me at the WRGP," the Frenchwoman reasoned. Aki's lips pressed together and her eyes cast downwards. "You're not competing in it?"

"I..." Aki trailed off. "Crow, Jack, and Yusei are the ones who'll be dueling for the team. I'm not experienced enough to take part."

Sherry stared at her, as if looking for something. "Your skills are wasted with those boys," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's unbelievable you're not even considered as a side option for the team. If you'd like..." Sherry offered her hand to Aki. "You can always join my team instead."

The redhead burst into laughter, giggling into her helmet. "Sherry, you're quite bold," Aki said between laughs. Her face straightened into a serious expression. "But... I know your real target is Yusei. Don't think you can recruit him just by getting friendly with me."

"I know better than to poach someone through their teammate." Sherry revved her D-Wheel. "I want to see you blossom further than the path that your friends can offer you. Think about it." With that, the Frenchwoman drove off, leaving Aki on the side of the dueling highway.

Aki checked the time on her D-Wheel and cursed. She was late for training with Yusei.

On Sundays, the Signers (and Rua) would meet at one of the numerous public tracks to practice the baton pass motion, scope out the competition, and laze about between practice duels. Carly was there to get the latest scoop from them. She was a cheerful girl that Aki didn't mind being stuck with, especially since Jack and Yusei were both too focused on their strategy building to pay attention to them.

"It's too bad," Carly moped, snapping pictures of Jack arguing with Crow about something or another.

"What's too bad?" Aki echoed. She was so bored out of her mind she was beginning to regret not bringing along her physics homework. At least then she'd have something to do.

"That you're not one of the duelists, Aki." The redhead flinched at the words. "You'd make a great addition to the team! Besides, it's not like it's required that only Jack, Crow, and Yusei duel." Aki followed the moving black, white, and red blurs on the track with her eyes. "I wrote an article about you back when you were still the Black Rose Witch, ya know. It got at least thirty thousand hits so any proper research done on you would have landed them on my article."

Aki exhaled sharply through her nose. "Are you insinuating that my past would give me an advantage over my opponents?" she asked.

"Absolutely!" Carly exclaimed, looking up from her camera. "You were really scary back then, even I was shaking in my shoes when I first saw you at the Fortune Cup. And you could've played it up even further by claiming your clothes were dyed with the blood of your enemies!"

The redhead chuckled. "If only the past version of myself had you as a PR agent," Aki joked. Silence blanketed the two.

"Recently," Carly started, digging into her bag for something, "I discovered that my Fortune Fairies had cards stuck onto them. Take a look at these." She pulled out a deck box and handed a full deck to Aki. The psychic looked over the cards, raising an eyebrow. Fortune Ladies instead of Fortune Fairies. Aki recalled in the back of her mind that Jack had dueled against Carly half a year ago and these were the cards Carly had used at the time. Cards that Carly had used as a Dark Signer.

"They look really cool. I can see that they'd be fantastic for Synchro Summoning because of their level manipulation," Aki complemented through her teeth. Yusei had mentioned a while ago that Kiryu had retained his memories and his new Infernity cards. Perhaps it was destiny that Carly would eventually come face to face with her past again. Aki didn't want to bring anything up that Carly wasn't ready for yet. "Do you plan on getting into Riding Duels too?"

"Hmmm..." The bespectacled woman crossed her arms in thought. "Well, Jack is a Duelist and he plans on being the King again someday. And, and, I have a five hundred step plan on becoming the perfect woman for him! Of course the first step has to be that I have to become a Duelist that he recognizes!" A pause. "So yeah, I'm gonna become the best at Riding Duels! I'm aiming for the top!"

"I'll be rooting for you, Carly." The two continued chatting the afternoon away.

"Are you sure I should go with you to this interview of yours?" Aki questioned. She'd just left school for the day and Carly was dragging her along the busy streets towards a café. "It's kind of you know... an interview. Isn't that sort of thing supposed to be between two people?"

Carly continued pulling Aki by the hand. "Well yes and no. A lot of interview shows like the Today Array have an audience and lots of camera and stage people!" Aki rolled her eyes. "Besides, you're the most powerful person I know. You can just summon Rose Tentacles or something and help me in case something bad happens."

"Hey! My psychic abilities aren't meant for violence anymore!" Aki protested.

"Self-defense, it's just self-defense. And we don't even know if you'll be using them," Carly reasoned, pushing through the door of the café. It was completely quiet inside save for the quiet bubbling of coffee. The cashier greeted them and Aki searched the room for anybody else. "Oh there she is! Heyyyyy!" Carly let go of Aki's hand and ran towards an occupied table. There sat Sherry sipping on something from a white cup. Her green eyes caught sight of Aki and she gave the redhead a warm smile.

"Carly Nagisa, it is a pleasure to meet you and to be interviewed by you," Sherry greeted, setting down her cup. "And Aki. I didn't realize you were friends with this reporter."

"Oh," Carly said in realization. "Do you two know each other?" Aki grabbed a chair from nearby and set it at the table to take a seat. "Oooooh I should interview the both of you at once! Double interview!"

"We know each other as rivals," Aki clarified. "Sherry's the reason why I became more curious about the world of Riding Duels."

"Juicy details here," Carly noted, writing this all down on her notepad. "And you, Ms. Leblanc, why do you duel? What drives you?"

Sherry thought on the question for a moment before answering, "I duel because I wish to find the truth. Dueling is the best way to get to know someone, to feel their emotions, and to see into their soul. In seeing other's truths, perhaps I will find my own some day. And please call me Sherry. Ms. Leblanc was my mother's name."

"That's so beautiful, Sherry," the reporter complimented, wiping a tear from her eye. "So, what's your ace card? Can I see it?"

"Very direct. I suppose I will relent. After all, it's not much of a secret," Sherry admitted. She pulled a card from the deck box at her waist. "Chevalier de Fleur is my ace monster. It's the crux of many of my strategies, though I won't be revealing any of those."

The interview continued for another hour before Carly finally closed her notepad. "Thank you for this wonderful interview, Sherry," she said. "Oh but I have one final question! Could you duel me?"

"Uwaaa! No, Fortune Lady Water!" Carly exclaimed as her monster was destroyed by Centaur Mina. Her Life Points hit zero. "Aw man, I lost." Carly removed her cards from Aki's Duel Disk and returned the device to the redhead. "That was fun though, Sherry. We should duel again some time."

Sherry didn't respond, completely lost in her thoughts. Aki stored her Duel Disk in her school bag. "Sherry?" she called out. The blonde put her cards back into her deck box and deactivated her Duel Disk as well.

"Carly, would you like to join my team at the WRGP?" Sherry asked directly.

"That's a funny joke!" Carly laughed but when Sherry remained still, she immediately quieted. "Wait, you're serious? You really want me to join your team? But, but, I lost! I'm just a reporter!"

"I see great potential in you as a Duelist, Carly. You already told me you have a license to use a D-Wheel." Sherry gestured at her own parked right behind herself. "It's just a matter of practicing and getting you a D-Wheel before the tournament."

Carly thought about it. "I'll join," she said in the most serious voice Aki had ever heard.

"Wait, you can't be serious, Carly," Aki interjected. "You're really going to join Sherry's team just like that?"

"Aki, I want Jack to see me as not only as a friend but as a Duelist! I can't woo him if I don't face him head on!" Carly reasoned. "That kind of guy responds best to direct confrontation. And I'm gonna confront him and I'm gonna duel him at the WRGP!"

Aki made a face. "... I did promise to root for you so I'll have to do it even if you're on a rival team."

"That's what friends are for!" Aki rolled her eyes as Carly cackled.

"Since that's settled, I'll see what I can do about finding a suitable vehicle for you," Sherry said, writing something down on a piece of paper. "Carly, let's arrange a day to get you a proper riding suit. Here's my contact information. Let me know when you're available." Sherry walked to her D-Wheel and put her helmet on. "I must get going. It was lovely seeing the two of you, especially you, Aki. Do let me know if you change your mind." She sped off down the road, her long blonde hair trailing behind her.

When Carly and Aki were alone once more, Carly slowly turned her head to Aki. "Did Sherry try to recruit you too?"

"Yep."

"You should say yes!"

"What would that even give me?" Aki snapped. "I love my friends! I can't betray them like that, even if Yusei is ignoring me because some weird amnesiac guy named Bruno or whatever showed up at his place!" She breathed in deeply, steeling her nerves. "I know that the team doesn't need me to function during the WRGP but I can't leave them for a chance at glory."

Carly placed a comforting hand on Aki's shoulder. "It's okay, Aki. You don't need to cross that line. Just root for me, okay?"

Aki gave Carly a small smile. "I'll always root for you, Carly."

Bruno was proving to be a greater sponge for Yusei's attention than previously anticipated. On Wednesdays when Aki usually got tutoring from Yusei for homework, she was pushed out of the workshop by the wave of disinterest that Yusei gave her. He had more important things to worry about. She wasn't one of them.

Crow noticed her despondent expression. "Yusei ignoring you too?" he asked bluntly. "Don't take it too seriously. He gets like this from time to time when he's really focused on something. Though this is the first time it's been a somebody."

Aki sighed and adjusted her school bag. "I'll just go somewhere else to get my tutoring from now on." She looked around. "Where's Jack?"

"He's on a job hunt again. Hope he actually starts making some income and not spending all our money on coffee again," Crow grumbled.

Aki turned her head towards Café La Geen. "Hey, isn't that him sitting right there?" she pointed out.

"Why that idiot-!" Crow stomped angrily towards Jack sipping his incredibly expensive coffee and Aki left before she could be caught in the area of effect of the two men's argument. She made her way to the railway station and felt her phone buzz in her pocket. A short text from Carly asking for her to meet at a Riding Suit store.

A short ride on the train later, Aki was standing in front of the store where she'd also bought her own suit about a month ago. She entered and was greeted by the cashier. Carly was in the far corner, burying into a rack of different suits with Sherry watching in amusement. The reporter popped her head out from under a great pile of leather and cactus leather.

"Oh hey, you're here, Aki!" she squealed. "I need help with picking out one of these!" Carly raised up at least thirty different outfits with both of her arms. "Which one do you think would look best on me?" Aki pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That's way too many to pick from!" Aki reasoned in a stern voice. "You need to start eliminating the ones you like the least."

"You have a point," Sherry agreed. "I was letting Carly's heart decide but perhaps some direction is in need here."

The three spent the next twenty minutes slowly taking away outfits until finally a single suit remained. It's main color was turquoise with thick orange accents running down the sides. The collar was high but flexible and comfortable. Carly did a little jig in excitement as she ran to the dressing room to try on her suit.

"She's well on her way to becoming a proper Duelist," Sherry commented. "Did you just leave school?"

"Huh? Yeah. I was supposed to get tutoring from Yusei this afternoon but he was busy," Aki responded. "He always tutors me on Wednesday. It was a schedule for us but now, he has better things to do I guess."

"Homework? What's the subject?" the blonde asked, her interest piqued.

"Physics. I'm not very good at pure mathematics and I can't remember a lot of the equations very well," the student explained. "Yusei's always been good at math so I ask him for help from time to time."

"I could tutor you instead if you'd like. I may not look it but I built my D-Wheel from scratch." Sherry flexed her arm in an exaggerated manner and Aki laughed. "I was also given a proper education from Mizoguchi. I'm sure I can tutor you."

"Tutor me after Carly is done shopping." The two women shook on it just as Carly burst out of the changing room with her suit on.

Carly struck a dramatic pose, giggling maniacally. "How do I look, ladies?" she asked, spinning around for Sherry and Aki to see the full look of the suit.

"Perfect. It fits you wonderfully," Sherry complimented. Aki watched from a distance as the other women talked excitedly about the D-Wheel that Carly had rented recently. She remembered when she'd been that excited, talking to Yusei about her Duel Runner and trading Speed Spells with Jack and Crow. She missed it. They were all too busy for her now. Even Rua and Ruka were busy with their own studies.

Aki thought about it. "Perhaps I should go my own way after all," she thought. She reached into her bag, grabbing her deck box. She pulled out Black Rose Dragon and stared at the card, her eyes tracing the silver and black border. A symbol of her position as a Signer if the mark on her arm wasn't proof enough.

The collective struggle against the Earthbound Immortals brought them together. But with their leader distracted, Aki could feel the distance growing between her and the others. She felt selfish to think it but Yusei really was her only connecting point with the others Rua and Ruka were in the same Academy as her but their relationship had grown outside of the team dynamic.

Aki put the card away. Her Signer mark pulse gently under her sleeve as she followed after Sherry and Carly.

Every other day, Aki would join Sherry and Carly at the public track to watch them practice. From time to time, Aki would give Carly advice on her dueling and suggest different combos. With how easy it was to adjust Carly's strategies, it was a counting game to make sure she didn't overshoot her monster's levels for Synchro Summoning.

The D-Wheel that Carly had rented out (with Sherry's money) was a sleek dark blue color with orange accents running across the sides. It wasn't as slim as Aki's Bloody Kiss and had a sturdier body for better balance since Carly was used to the weight of her car when driving. For the time being, Carly affectionately nicknamed her vehicle "Lady Luck."

"Y'know, like my Fortune Ladies! And sort of an homage to Jack's Wheel of Fortune!" Carly had explained earlier, though Aki didn't really need an explanation to figure out the meaning behind the name.

Aki felt jealous that Carly had a reason to enter, to duel so fiercely. She felt stuck, balancing her waning friendship with the 5Ds team and her growing friendship with Sherry and Carly. She breathed in deeply and picked up her belongings. "Hey, I'm getting going now," she told Sherry. "I have to be home soon or my parents will worry."

"See you soon, Aki. We'll be here tomorrow as well." Sherry waved her good-bye and focused back on Carly's crooked turns. "No drifting! You're not ready for that yet!" Aki left the track and went straight for the garage where Yusei, Crow, and Jack were staying. Oh and Bruno. He wasn't so bad, just a bit odd. He always took time to greet her when she entered the workspace.

A short train ride later, Aki was walking the five minute distance from the station to Popo Time. The clock announced the new hour with its wooden puppets. The garage door was open and the redhead saw only Yusei and Bruno inside talking excitedly. "... your Scrap monsters are amazing. I didn't realize you were such a great Duelist, Bruno," Aki heard Yusei say, his voice filled with excitement. "What do you think about being a benchwarmer for us?"

A spike of ice found its way into her rib cage and she felt her mind reel. She turned around, sprinting for the train station. Her eyes burned from tears, her lungs froze from the cold night air, and her heart hurt. Aki collapsed on a bench at the station and sobbed into her hands, unable to board the first nor second train to arrive at the station.

Soon, Aki's tears dried and her sobs became sniffles. She boarded the third train to pull into the station. She arrived home late and wordlessly entered her room, unable to answer her parent's barrage of questions as to why her eyes were red and why she was home so late.

"I should've known," Aki thought, burying her face into her plush pillow. "I wasn't even an option for a benchwarmer. I... who am I to Yusei and the others now? Am I still part of the team?" Her exhausted eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep. Under her uniform sleeve, the right claw of the Crimson Dragon glowed a brilliant red, its talons tinted in dark amethyst.

Chapter Text

"Are you lost?"

Aki opened her eyes. She was surrounded on all sides by tall stone walls that reached far above her head. She didn't recognize the voice that had called out to her. How did she get here? She wasn't in her uniform anymore. Instead, she was wearing a heavy dark cloak with a white pattern all over it. The design felt familiar but it wasn't ringing any bells. "Your name is Aki Izayoi, one of the Crimson Dragon's Signers." That voice again. "You're here because your resolve has weakened. You're no longer worthy of your Mark of the Crimson Dragon. You'd be much better off with this on your arm."

Her right arm burned, a bright purple symbol searing onto her skin. "That symbol is the labyrinth, one of the Nazca Lines," the disembodied voice explained. "I am the Lord of Blood and I have been starved for over 5,000 years, trapped here by your pesky Black Rose Dragon." Aki felt something cold brush her shoulder. "And I would love to use your body as the vessel for my next reign upon the world, to blacken the skies with eternal darkness, and to feast on the blood of the innocent until the end of existence."

"And if I refuse to be your vessel?" Aki responded, unable to hide the fear in her voice.

The sound of a cloak billowing in the wind came from behind her. "Then I'll have to take it by force. Minions, get her!" The stone wall in front of her disappeared and a pack of white and black wolves surrounded her.

"Black Rose Dragon!" Aki called out, putting her hand on her collarbone and drawing the Synchro Monster from her very soul. There was no response and the familiar sense of protection didn't wrap around her. "What?!" The card she'd drawn crumbled into dust in her hand. "Black Rose Dragon, I need you!"

"Did you forget? You're not a Signer anymore, Aki," the Lord of Blood mocked, his low laughter echoing. "Now, let your soul be released from your body!" Aki felt her body grow weak and she collapsed to her knees, her vision blurring. Her mind was blank, swirling, and fuzzy all at once. She needed help. She needed someone to help her.

"You were a fool to think that you could ever survive on your own path," the Lord of Blood spurned. "You're all alone because of your own decisions! It's your fault you're here all alone. Not even Yusei can save you now."

At the sound of Yusei's name, Aki felt her blood boil. Her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood. "Don't you dare say his name," Aki whispered, standing up slowly. "He saved me from the darkness, from Divine."

"Yet where is he now in your time of need?" the Lord of Blood asked. "Where is your light? Your unmoving star?"

"I don't need him to protect me anymore!" Aki screamed, a blast of energy knocking away the wolves that surrounded her, their bodies hitting the stone walls that surrounded them. "I decide my path from now on. No matter how many mistakes I make, I'll keep getting up and I'll keep going. You don't scare me, Lord of Blood. If anything, you're a coward! Show yourself instead of hiding!"

"If you truly wish to face off against me, find me in my castle, vessel," the Lord demanded. In the darkness beyond the circular walls, silhouetted by a massive red moon, a great castle stood. Its pointed spires reached into the sky, decrepit banners of war decorating the exterior. The castle stood upon a floating mass of land that was at least half a kilometer away and the only connection between Aki and the castle was a wide, sturdy wooden bridge. Aki left the stone walls and found a strange chestnut horse resting by the bridge. It was prepped for riding and attached to its saddle was a whip.

She approached the horse, reaching her hand out to its snout. It cautiously sniffed her hand and whinnied, stomping its hooves into the packed earth. "Looks like you'll be helping me," Aki said, petting the horse's face. It snorted in affirmative. With great care, Aki managed to get onto the saddle and the horse didn't move. "How... wait I don't know how to ride a horse."

The horse snorted and turned to look at her, its eyes darting to the whip on its side. "Is this it?" Aki detached the whip and held it in her right hand. It was quite long, at least three and a half meters in length, and was made of tightly woven straps of leather while its handle was adorned with sharp thorns. When Aki recognized the whip for what it was, had traced it with her eyes, it glowed a deep amethyst color and her Dark Signer mark absorbed it. All that remained was the phantom feeling of having once held the whip.

"I should name you," Aki said to the horse, patting its side gently. "You'll be... Twilight." Twilight seemed to roll its eyes before starting a gentle trot across the bridge. "Faster. I want to get across quickly!" Just as Twilight started a long gallop, flying demons began to circle the bridge, their serpentine bodies coiling through the air as they flashed their sharp fangs and the red moonlight reflected off of their cyclops eyes.

Aki yelped in surprise when one of the demons swiped at her. Her right arm swung up in instinct and the sound of a loud crack came from above. The whip had appeared, clutched tightly in her hand as it snapped the demon's left wing in two before her eyes. It screamed, bouncing off of the bridge and into the darkness below. With another snap of her arm, the whip's end cracked another demon away from her path. The labyrinth mark on her arm glowed and Aki felt power surge through her body.

It was another minute before Aki reached the end of the bridge and the swarm of demons left her alone. She wasn't out of breath despite swinging such a heavy whip around. The castle was even more imposing up close, far taller than any buildings in Neo Domino City. Upon the porcelain steps sat a strange woman in a black and red gothic dress holding a black parasol.

"Are you here to challenge the Lord of Blood?" the woman asked, twirling the parasol between her gloved fingers. "You're the first one I've seen in 5,000 years." Aki raised her whip. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you like the others. I'm tired of him and I'd like to be free of this prison. Why don't you take me along?"

"Take you... along?" Aki echoed. "Sorry but there's only one seat on this horse."

"No, silly," the woman laughed. "Like this." She walked over to Aki and reached out her hand. Aki touched the woman's hand and she glowed, transforming into a Duel Monsters card in Aki's hand. "I'll help you in your upcoming duel against the Lord of Blood. You have my promise!" Aki squinted at the card's name. Bloody Rose Witch. She pressed the card into her collarbone and it disappeared into her soul.

"Thank you," she whispered before patting Twilight's side to urge her towards the castle doors. The massive wood doors were wrought with rusted iron and an enormous padlock keeping it closed probably wasn't going to budge anytime soon. Aki guided Twilight around the side of the castle and found a door in the thorny garden. The brambles moved to let her pass, as if terrified of her.

At the very center of the garden was one of the white and black wolves that had tried to attack her earlier. It whined when it noticed her and backed away cautiously. Aki understood its fear. She was wearing the mark of its master. "Shhh, I'm not here to hurt you," Aki whispered, carefully dismounting Twilight's saddle to approach the wolf. "Come here. I can help you." The wolf approached her and she pet its dense fur. "You want out of here too, don't you?"

As if on cue, the wolf glowed and became a Monster card as well. Aki pressed the card to her collarbone and hopped back onto the saddle. She had a plan now: she was going to recruit as many of the Lord of Blood's soldiers as possible. Aki stormed through the underground area of the castle, speaking with the neutral or friendly troops of the castle but subjugating the more loyal ones with her whip.

The underground cavern narrowed into an indoor greenhouse where Aki was assaulted by exploding flowers and strange spiders. There was no one willing to speak to her in this area but her body coursed with power with each monster she slew. Through the tall windows of the first floor, the massive red moon reminded her of the strangeness of her experience. Up the stairs and into the library, Aki found herself building rapport with more of the Lord of Blood's minions.

Aki wasn't keeping count but by now, she had to have recruited at least twenty. She ascended the stairs with Twilight and into the observatory where a massive telescope sat in the center. A sorcerer was lounging against the telescope and scoffed as soon as he caught sight of Aki. "You think you can convince me to join you too?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Well, half the castle wants to join me already. Aren't you doubtful of the Lord of Blood's chances of winning against a Signer?" Aki reasoned.

"As if. You're without your Signer dragon, Black Rose Dragon," the sorcerer responded. "She's the only one who can seal him away again. I'm not joining you." At that, the sorcerer disappeared and Aki continued her path through the castle. Headless suits of armor swung at her and flying books assaulted her from every corner of the library.

Aki continued to press onwards, urging Twilight to keep her pace through the castle. It bothered her that as each monster she destroyed with the whip, the Earthbound Immortal mark on her arm would flow with power. She knew she couldn't avoid fighting many of the denizens of the castle but the growing evil in her arm deeply disturbed her.

Entering a powder room to take a short break, Aki closed the door behind Twilight and sank into the plush sofa near the window. No matter where she was in the castle, Aki could always see the giant red moon through the window. It was as if it was watching her. The vanity mirror caught her attention and she stepped forward to get a better look at herself.

Dark lines ran down her cheeks and forehead and her irises were black as night, her pupils dilated from the darkness of the castle. Her reddened lips twisted in a deep scowl. The white lines on her robe had been dyed crimson and seemed to flow like water under her gaze. Aki stumbled back from her reflection in terror. "Is that really what I look like?" she thought, her hands clasping her face. "I look just like a Dark Signer. I have the mark of one. Am I... am I going to be like this forever?"

"Even if you end up changing, you'll always be my friend, Aki," a cheerful voice from her heart called out.

"Carly?" Aki whispered, her hand clutching at her robe for stability.

"I was a Dark Signer once too, y'know," Carly noted. "And I turned out alright." Aki snorted at the lackadaisical attitude Carly was giving off. "You're not alone, even in the darkness. You've got me."

The voice faded and Aki gripped the fabric of her robe tighter.

It felt like an eternity had passed before Aki finally reached the throne room. She pushed the gilded doors open and a thick red carpet lead to a single tall velvet chair where a tall man in gilded purple armor sat, his red eyes glowing in the darkness. In his armored hand sat a goblet of red liquid which he swirled lazily with his wrist. An enormously tall window rested behind his throne, the red light of the moon coating everything in scarlet. "You didn't even knock," he noted, the doors closing behind Aki and Twilight. "I presume you're here to... duel me?"

"I'm winning back my mark as a Signer one way or another," Aki declared, pointing her finger at the Lord. "I challenge you to a duel!" She dismounted Twilight and speed walked towards the throne, unafraid despite the sheer pressure the Lord of Blood gave off.

"Oh? You're approaching me instead of running away?" the Lord of Blood asked, rising from his seat to stand at full height.

"I can't beat you to a pulp without getting closer," Aki responded. The whip materialized in her hand and she cracked the tip against the stone floor. "Now duel me!"

The Lord of Blood tossed aside his goblet, the glass shattering on the stone floor of the throne room. "If you insist!" he bellowed. An enormous horse appeared at his side and he mounted the horse before both he and the horse smashed through the massive window behind his throne.

"Hey, come back here!" Aki yelled. "Twilight!" The horse ran up to Aki and she hopped onto the saddle, holding onto the reins for dear life as the horse reached galloping pace within seconds and the two jumped through the broken window. Aki braced for impact but a strange red path formed beneath them, trailing through the sky from the window towards the red moon. Up ahead, the Lord of Blood was racing towards the moon and Aki spotted in the very center of the moon a rose bud waiting to bloom.

"Sealing away the Black Rose Dragon would take a lot more than just stealing it from your soul," the Lord explained as Aki caught up to him, just three horse lengths behind. "I still need to take your vessel to fully seal her away. Isn't that an awful thought? Your own Signer sealing you away for all eternity?" He bellowed with laughter. "Now, Aki, let us duel! Where are your cards and your Duel Disk? Even I have one!" A large gilded purple Duel Disk embossed with red gems appeared on his wrist.

Aki closed her eyes in concentration. This entire scenario was a dream. She'd understood that by now. She could create a Duel Disk with her mind. She could do it. The bloodied whip she'd been using to slay the monsters of the castle wrapped around her left arm, its thorns dulling against her skin as it slowly transformed into a deep red Duel Disk with a white gem on the top and black accents across the Deck holder.

Aki opened her eyes. "I have one, Lord of Blood," Aki declared, activating her Duel Disk. A fine mist of crimson ejected from the Duel Disk, disappearing behind her with the night wind.

"Do you even have cards?" the Earthbound Immortal spat.

The redhead pressed her hand to her collarbone, a stack of cards emerging from her soul. She lifted up her new deck to show the Lord of Blood. "I found some right here."

The Lord of Blood reared his head back with laughter. "My servants?! You're even more troublesome than I thought! We'll be dueling with Speed World 2 rules like you prefer! And I get to go first!" The Immortal drew six cards from his deck and Aki hurriedly slotted her cards into her Duel Disk and drew five cards. "I set three cards face-down and summon Pyramid Turtle in Attack Position. I end my turn."

"I draw," Aki declared, a trail of red droplets streaming from her cards as she drew. "I..." She felt her head swirl and her legs weaken. "What's going on?" she muttered.

"Do you feel it?" the Lord of Blood asked, flashing a wicked smile at her. "The call of the undead within your soul? You've absorbed so many of my minions at this point that you've become undead yourself! There's a price to pay for everything. Can you handle this Shadow Duel?"

"I can keep going!" Aki insisted, her Earthbound Immortal mark glowing brighter. "I normal summon Twilight Rose Knight in Defense Position. When I normal summon this Monster, I can special summon a level 4 or lower Plant-type Monster from my hand. I summon Botanical Girl in Defense Position." The two monsters appeared at her side, their visages dark blue and their poses stiff and defensive.

"You're planning on Synchro Summoning? You'll be dead before you know it, vessel!" the Lord of Blood bellowed.

"I tune Level 3 Botanical Girl with Level 3 Twilight Rose Knight. Synchro Summon!" Shining stars and green synchronization rings aligned above her. "Come forth, Splendid Rose!" The green clad Monster appeared from a whirlwind of flowers. "Botanical Girl's effect activates. When it's sent to the Graveyard, I can add one Plant-type monster with 1000 or less Defense Points from my Deck to my hand." Aki's Duel Disk shuffled through her Deck and a thin selection of cards pushed out for her to grab. "I select Rose Girl." The rest of the cards were shuffled back into her Deck.

"Splendid Rose attacks Pyramid Turtle! Aerial Twist!" Splendid Rose leaped into the air and kicked through Pyramid Turtle with ease.

"Pyramid Turtle's effect activates! I get to special summon a Zombie-type Monster from my Deck with 2000 or less Defense points! I summon Vampire Dragon in Attack Position!" The Lord of Blood slapped a card onto his Duel Disk and from a swarm of bats appeared a cycloptic serpent with wings.

"I set two cards and end my turn," Aki said.

"Not a bad first turn, vessel," the Lord of Blood complimented. "You managed to power through the pain. You've lasted longer than I expected. But now begins your demise! I draw! I activate my Continuous Trap card, Earthbound Sacrifice. During the Standby Phase, the turn player can send 3 cards from the top of their Deck to the Graveyard to inflict 500 points of damage to their opponent! It's my Standby Phase so I'll be doing just that!"

A scythe appeared at Aki's side and the blade disappeared into her gut. This was real pain. This was exactly like her duel with Misty. "I have to be careful," she thought, gritting her teeth from the impact.

"I now activate my Trap card, Vampire's Desire. I send Vampire Grace from my Deck to the Graveyard to change Vampire Dragon's Level to 6." A green glow surrounded the serpentine monster. "Next, I activate my Continuous Trap card, Vampire's Domain. In addition to my Normal Summon, I can pay 500 Life Points to Normal Summon a Vampire monster. I pay the 500 Life Point cost to summon Vampire Lady and I summon Glow-Up Bloom alongside it!"

"A Tuner monster?!" Aki thought. A level 1 Tuner and a level 4 and a level 6 monster. There was no way the Lord of Blood was going to summon something so powerful immediately. Or... was he?

"I tune Level 6 Vampire Dragon with Level 1 Glow-Up Bloom!" Aki watched in horror as the rose on the moon began to unfurl its dark red petals. "Chilling flames engulf the entire world. Pitch-dark flower, set into bloom! Synchro Summon!" The rose blossomed and Black Rose Dragon emerged from the center of the petals, flying down towards the Lord of Blood.

"No... Black Rose Dragon..." Aki managed to whisper. She wanted to scream, to call for her dragon to return.

"Battle! Black Rose Dragon, destroy Splendid Rose!" the Earthbound Immortal commanded. "Black Rose Flare!" Great purple chains wrapped around Black Rose Dragon's neck and forced her to breathe flames onto Aki's monster, shattering the Synchro Monster into hundreds of glowing shards. "Does it hurt to be attacked so viciously by the dragon that was supposed to protect you?"

"Now, Vampire Lady, attack the vessel directly! Drain her of her precious life!" The vampire shot out her hands at Aki and she could feel her very essence draining from her body. This hurt. The painful duels were something she thought she'd left behind long ago. "When Vampire Lady inflicts damage, I declare a card type and you must send one of that type from your Deck to the Graveyard. I pick Monster!"

Aki's Duel Disk rapidly shuffled through her cards and about 2/3rds of her cards pushed out from the top. She quickly chose Glow-Up Bulb and put her cards back into her Duel Disk once more.

"And that's not all. When a Vampire monster inflicts damage, I gain that same amount as Life Points!" A strange wine glass appeared in the Lord of Blood's armored hand and he drank from it.

"That's such bullshit," Aki thought.

"I end my turn and activate Earthbound Sacrifice's effect to place 1 Sacrifice Counter onto it since I have 7 cards in my Graveyard currently," the Lord of Blood announced. "Do continue to struggle. It makes this Duel all the more amusing."

Aki surveyed the field, careful not to bite her tongue as Twilight galloped against the Lord of Blood's steed. Her opponent had her Black Rose Dragon and Vampire Lady. His Trap cards, Earthbound Sacrifice and Vampire's Domain, gave him total advantage currently. She didn't have any Synchro Monsters in her Extra Deck that could overcome Black Rose Dragon. "And Tytannial, Princess of Camellias didn't appear when I was in the castle," Aki thought. "And I have 3 cards in my hand: Rose Lover, Rose Girl, and Spore."

"Having cold feet, vessel?" the Earthbound Immortal asked.

"I believe in myself!" Aki yelled. "I draw!" A thin stream of red followed her card as it arced through the air. A Speed Spell! But first... "I activate Earthbound Sacrifice's effect. I send the top three cards of my Deck to the Graveyard to inflict 500 points of damage to you!"

The Lord of Blood's booming laughter erupted as his Life Points dropped. "You're not too far off from being a real Dark Signer now, vessel!"

"Then, I activate the Speed Spell, Angel Baton! I draw two cards and discard one. I send Rose Lover to the Graveyard!" Aki looked at her cards and something in her mind connected. She did have a Synchro Monster that could defeat Black Rose Dragon and all the necessary materials were in her hand, field, and Graveyard.

"I activate my Trap card, Wicked Rebirth! I pay a cost of 500 Life Points to summon Splendid Rose from my Graveyard! Revive, Splendid Rose!" The red road behind Aki exploded as the Synchro Monster burst out from below, landing triumphantly by Aki's side. "Next, I summon Spore in Defense Position."

"A Synchro Summon?" the Earthbound Immortal wondered aloud. "Is there really anything in you that can defeat Black Rose Dragon?"

"Yes there is! I tune Level 6 Splendid Rose with Level 1 Spore! Decorate the world in blossoms. Bring life to your fallen army! Synchro Summon! Periallis, Empress of Blossoms!" In a shower of bright pink petals emerged a green haired empress wearing an extraordinarily complex dress. "Because a Plant-type monster was sent to the Graveyard, I get to special summon Rose Girl from my hand in Defense Position!" A shy fairy darted behind the empress, hiding in her great swaths of green hair.

"I activate Periallis' effect. Once per turn, I can special summon a Level 5 or higher Plant-type monster from my Graveyard in Defense Position! I choose Splendid Rose!" Yet another hole appeared behind them as the Synchro Monster rose from the dead once more.

"You're starting to grasp my playstyle," the Lord of Blood laughed. "You're a lot more like me than I thought."

"I'll never be like you!" Aki retorted. "I activate my Trap card, Plant Food Chain. I equip this Trap card to Periallis and her Attack Points go up by 500. Her total Attack Points are now 2900, far above Black Rose Dragon's. Battle! Periallis, attack Black Rose Dragon! Vines of the Empress!" Aki watched with sadness as her Signer Dragon shattered into shining fragments. "I'll see you later, Black Rose Dragon," she whispered as the holographic fragments brushed past her face. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

"It's my turn!" The Lord of Blood predictably activated Earthbound Sacrifice's effect once more, inflicting 500 points of damage while sending the top three cards of his Deck to the Graveyard. Another cold stab through Aki's chest. "You're not the only one who can activate Speed Spells. I activate the Speed Spell, Dash Pilfer. I take control of one Defense Position monster on your field. I select Splendid Rose!" A large gloved hand grabbed Splendid Rose and tossed him to the side of the Lord of Blood.

"Periallis' Attack Points went down by 500," Aki muttered.

"Next, I summon Vampire Ghost from my hand in Attack Position and it's effect activates. I send Vampire Lady to the Graveyard to add Vampire Scarlet Scourge to my hand. Then, I send Vampire Retainer from my Deck to the Graveyard." Vampire Lady gasped as she was sent away to the realm of the dead, only a shrill screech echoing to let them know she was once there.

"He's sending more cards to the Graveyard already. He'll have an Earthbound Immortal in no time," Aki thought.

"I pay the cost of Vampire's Domain to summon another Vampire monster this turn. I tribute Splendid Rose to summon Vampire Scarlet Scourge!" Splendid Rose disappeared into a deep red vortex, a cloaked vampire appearing in its place. "I pay 1000 more Life Points to activate Vampire Scarlet Scourge's effect. I get to special summon a Vampire monster from my Graveyard. I choose Vampire Grace!" The Scarlet Scourge lifted up his cloak, the tall Grace ducking out from underneath. "I activate her effect. I select Monsters once again! Send a Monster from your Deck to your Graveyard!"

"Dammit," Aki cursed as she looked through her Monster cards. She discarded Revival Rose. "He can destroy all my monsters and he'll gain back the Life Point loss in no time."

"Battle! Vampire Scarlet Scourge, destroy Rose Girl!" The vampire grabbed the smaller monster in his hand, crushing her into shining fragments of light. "You're quite lucky that Vampire Grace can't attack due to Scarlet Scourge's effect. Monsters special summoned by its effect can't attack during the turn they're special summoned."

The Dark Signer let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding. If Periallis was defeated, she really would have no other monsters. Not to mention... she was going to run out of cards in her Deck if the Lord of Blood kept summoning more Monsters that would force her to send her cards to the Graveyard. Nothing was going her way right now.

"I end my Battle Phase and Rose Girl is summoned to my side by Vampire Scarlet Scourge's effect!" A glowing light lifted up from Aki's Duel Disk and floated onto Scarlet Scourge's shoulder, morphing into Rose Girl.

"I set one card and end my turn. I have 14 cards in my Graveyard so I get to add 2 more Sacrifice Counters to Earthbound Sacrifice. Just one more and I can summon out my Earthbound Immortal, vessel! You'll get to see your future Dark God in no time!"

Aki glared at the laughing Vampire monsters in front of her. She would simply have to get rid of Scarlet Scourge if she wanted to get even the smallest of an edge over her opponent. "I draw!" Aki's lips flattened when she looked at her hand. Evil Thorn and Hedge Guard. On her previous turn, she'd set Synchro Material but it was unlikely to be useful. She didn't have any more Synchro Monsters in her Extra Deck.

"I activate the Earthbound Sacrifice card! I send the top 3 cards of my Deck to the Graveyard to inflict 500 points of damage to you!" In response to the great scythe swinging into his stomach, the Lord of Blood laughed again. Aki frowned. Something really felt off. She knew she was playing right into his plans but she still wasn't sure what it was. She just needed to inflict as much damage as she could, as consistently as possible.

Aki considered using Evil Thorn's effect but it would leave her with two 300 ATK monsters out in the open. She would just have to play it safe. "I activate Periallis' effect to Special Summon Splendid Rose from my Graveyard once more. Periallis' Attack Points go up by 400 points, giving her 100 more than your Scarlet Scourge!"

"Battle! Destroy Vampire Scarlet Scourge, Periallis! Vines of the Empress!" The empress leapt behind the vampire and entangled him in a mess of vines, shattering him in mere seconds. "I end my turn."

"There's nothing I can do except try and stall with effect damage," Aki thought. "The Lord of Blood is right though. I've been playing exactly like him: summoning Monsters from my Graveyard, depleting my Deck to..." Her focus wavered for just a moment and she collapsed onto Twilight, breathing heavily for stability. "Dammit, I didn't realize just how many cards were gone already... how many are left?"

Aki glared up at the Lord of Blood who continued to gallop ahead of her. "I can feel your fear, vessel," the Earthbound Immortal said, his back facing her. "Despite everything you've done, nothing will prepare you for what you are about to face." His gloved hand hovered over his Deck. "You've done me a great service, offering up so many of your cards for sacrifice for my Earthbound Immortal."

"I draw!" The Lord of Blood cackled as he placed his new card into his hand. "I activate Earthbound Sacrifice. You already know how this will go!" Aki flinched at the sight of the scythe and held on for dear life to Twilight. "Next, I tribute Rose Girl and Vampire Ghost to summon Vampire Voivode." From the two tributed Monsters, a tall slender man with a waterfall of blonde curls appeared, pointing a trident directly at Aki. "Voivode, summon your minions!" Blue flames sprouted from the tip of his trident and Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis and Spore appeared at his side, their visages blue.

"You..." Aki began, forcing herself to sit up properly on the saddle. "You keep taking my Monsters!"

"They make excellent fodder, don't you know? It's fun to play with the lives of others." The Lord of Blood raised his hand in the air. "What better is there than seeing the shock and horror when someone realizes they've been double crossed, betrayed, thrown to the wolves?" He turned around to face her, Aki flinching from his stone cold expression, the strange way his dark red eyes glowed under his helmet. "Nothing."

"I activate my Trap Card, Sacrificial Synchronization!" Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis and Spore were snatched up by giant thorny vines. "By tributing one Monster and a Tuner, I can Synchro Summon a Synchro Monster from my Graveyard, so long as the difference in levels between the two monsters are equal to the Synchro Monster's level! Now, vessel, what's 8 minus 1?"

"... seven," Aki answered in a low tone.

"I summon from the grave, Black Rose Dragon!" The road underneath the Lord of Blood's horse cracked and shattered right in front of Aki's eyes, a thick mass of vines and petals assaulting her vision. There it flew once more, the Black Rose Dragon. Aki felt her grip on Twilight's reins weaken.

"Battle!" Aki couldn't hear or do anything as Periallis and Splendid Rose were destroyed in front of her eyes by Vampire Voivode and Black Rose Dragon. There was a high pitched noise in her ears, her mind. Her hands unconsciously moved her cards to the Graveyard.

"It's my End Phase now. I have a total of 19 cards in my Graveyard. I add one last Sacrifice Counter to Earthbound Sacrifice." The Lord of Blood paused. "And I activate its final effect. I remove all four Sacrifice Counters and pray to the great Earthbound God that wanders the labyrinth of night!" Against the bright crimson of the moon, a great earthen heart began to beat for the first time in millennia. Trails of red souls left both Duelists' Duel Disks, powering the dark heart in the sky.

"Rise from the forest under which you have been buried! Smash the walls that give humanity a false sense of safety and drown them in the darkness that creates insanity! I summon the Earthbound Immortal Pikiru!" The Lord of Blood and his horse disappeared into a dark red mist, his armor falling onto the road and clattering against the glowing red. Twilight purposefully stomped on the helmet, flattening it with his hooves. The moon shattered, an enormous snake covered in glowing dark red markings slithering across the night sky.

"I only have 800 Attack Points at first but... I gain 200 for every single card in both player's Graveyards!" the snake bellowed. "I have 19 cards and you have 18! That totals to 37 cards in the Graveyards!" That wicked laughter echoed through the night. "That means I have 8200 Attack Points! When I have more than 8000 Attack, I'm unable to be destroyed by battle or card effect! My turn ends!"

Aki slowly surveyed the field. An 8200 Attack Earthbound Immortal monster that wasn't affected by Spell or Trap cards and was immune to battle destruction and... and Black Rose Dragon. She still had Synchro Material as a face-down card on the field and both Evil Thorn and Hedge Guard in her hand. She should've used Hedge Guard during the last turn to protect Periallis but she'd lost her focus for a moment. Hell, Aki was losing her focus right now.

Her Deck seemed to drift from her, unwilling to let her draw from it, to beg for a non-existent chance of victory. It was hopeless. No matter what card she drew, no matter what she did, Aki couldn't defeat the Earthbound Immortal in front of her.

"Even if I summon a monster in Defense Position and use Hedge Guard to keep it from being destroyed by battle, it'll be nothing but delaying my fate," Aki reasoned. "I don't have anything. There's nothing I can use to defeat him!"

"Yes. You have something you can use," a strong familiar voice spoke in her head. Was that...?

"Sherry?" Aki whispered.

"A Riding Duel is a conversation, a dialogue between two Duelists. You can feel the pain, joy, pleasure, and sadness of your opponent and they can feel yours as well," Sherry spoke, that smirk ever-present in her voice. "Even the most complicated of lies crumble to dust in the world of speed. Is the monster in front of you truly undefeatable? Is Black Rose Dragon the very limits of your soul?"

"Awaken your sense as a Riding Duelist! Regain your pride! You are more than you think you are!" Sherry declared, her voice echoing in Aki's mind.

The Dark Signer closed her eyes, letting the sound of Twilight's hooves escape her hearing. She listened closely for the hush of the wind at her ears. There it was, a presence. It wasn't coming from the Black Rose Dragon in front of her. Something was still lodged deep inside of her.

"I draw," Aki said, her hand pulling the top card of her Deck. She looked closely at the card, her expression unreadable.

"Did you perhaps find something useful? I doubt it. I am indestructible. I am the god of night and darkness, a deity rivaling even the God of the Underworld," Pikiru claimed. "When I take over your body, I will use your psychic abilities to wreak havoc in the general populace before I turn the world into minions and cattle! It's a shame that you stopped destroying others, whether it was their bodies or their pride, with your dueling abilities. You would've been even easier to win over if you had kept to such habits."

"Destroying, hm?" Aki responded, grinning wildly as the card in her hand glowed dark red. "I'll show you what true destruction looks like. I summon Evil Thorn in Attack Position and activate its effect! I tribute it to inflict 300 points of damage to you and to summon two additional Evil Thorns from my Deck to the Field!" The spiny plant exploded, sending out thin needles at the enormous snake in the sky. He laughed at the pinprick pain, coiling in the sky.

"Next, I banish Rose Lover from my Graveyard to special summon Bloody Rose Witch from my hand!" A red haired young girl appeared on the field, holding onto her jeweled wand with confidence. "Then... I activate my Trap Card, Synchro Material! This turn, I can use a Monster on your side of the Field as a material for Synchro Summoning this turn! I choose Black Rose Dragon!"

The Earthbound Immortal laughed menacingly, his voice booming above her. "What can you even summon that can defeat me, vessel? What can you bring forth from what little remains of your soul that will give you even a sliver of chance against me?!" he asked, demanded even. "You have nothing! I've already taken everything from you, your soul and pride is Black Rose Dragon! I see nothing else within you!"

"You're wrong!" Aki screamed, her Dark Signer mark glowing brighter and searing pain traveling up her arm and all across her body. "I realized that there is something I haven't accepted about myself, something I forced to keep away because I was terrified of the way I used to be! I am no longer scared of the destructive capabilities I have! I will not be controlled by my fear!"

The full Crimson Dragon's form appeared on her back and a single glowing card appeared in her hand. "I tune both Level 1 Evil Thorns and Level 7 Black Rose Dragon with Level 1 Bloody Rose Witch!" Black Rose Dragon and both Evil Thorns became glowing stars within a dark red synchronization ring.

"Reawaken the witch and guide her to an unknown realm with courage in your heart! Eviscerate all who stand against you, dyeing the world red with blood! Synchro Summon!" Aki slapped the glowing card onto her Duel Disk and her Dark Signer mark shattered, the right claw of the Crimson Dragon taking its rightful place. "Bloody Rose Dragon!" A deafening roar shook the road and Aki held on tighter to Twilight.

She looked up and there it floated above her, a great dragon of magenta and light pinks with just the slightest tinge of crimson on the edges of its sharp petals. "That's what I'm capable of," Aki thought, glistening dew raining down from above her, cooling her skin. "You've always been inside of me. I just never knew." Sherry and Carly flashed before Aki's eyes and she bit back a sob. In the darkness of this horrible dream, only those two had reached her from the outside. Nobody on the team had appeared before her in her time of need in this hellscape. "Sherry, Carly... thank you for believing in me. I'll end this Duel for myself and the both of you."

"So, you've summoned a Synchro Monster. It's still not powerful enough to destroy me!" Pikiru mocked. "It will linger only for me to destroy it on the next turn and finally capture your soul!"

"Is that so? We'll see about that," Aki responded. "Bloody Rose Dragon's effect activates. If Black Rose Dragon or a Rose Dragon monster was used to summon it, all other cards on the Field are destroyed." Vampire Voivode shattered but Earthbound Immortal Pikiru remained in the sky, unfazed.

"Bahaha! What a fool! You cannot destroy me with such a weak effect! I am immune to such middling effects so long as I have the power of the Graveyard at my side!"

"Bloody Rose Dragon's second effect activates!" Aki interrupted. "If a Bloody Monster was used to summon it, all cards in both Duelist's Graveyards are banished face-down!"

"You! How dare you?! I won't be bested by you like this! I refuse! I'm..." The thick red lines that ran across the snake's body faded back to a pale white. "No! I'm the Lord of Blood! I cannot- I cannot lose like this! Please have mercy on me!" Aki stared down Pikiru, her eyes narrowing.

"Battle! Bloody Rose Dragon, attack Earthbound Immortal Pikiru! Send him back to the Underworld and lock him up for good! Blood Rose Flare!" The Signer Dragon reared back its head, a mass of dark red energy gathering in its fanged mouth, and a thick laser of energy evaporated the Earthbound Immortal where he was.

The air of battle faded and Twilight slowed to a stop on the glowing red road, pawing nervously at the strange material. Aki dismounted and sat down, dangling her legs over the edge as she admired the shattered moon in the sky. Even though it was broken, the moon still looked quite beautiful.

Chapter Text

The morning routine was simple. Aki brushed her teeth and washed her face while the digital radio buzzed out the news for the day and the weather prediction for the evening. She recalled her dream as she put some bread into the toaster. Her eyes drifted down to her arm. The mark was still there but the talons seemed sharper. Maybe it wasn't all a dream. She'd have to contact the others, ask if their marks disappeared for just a moment last night.

Aki felt her body tense when her phone suddenly rang. A call from Yusei at such an early hour in the morning. "Hello, Yusei?" Aki answered, looking into her fridge for some jam. "What's going on?" She set the phone to speaker mode and put it on the countertop.

"Aki, last night, my Crimson Dragon mark disappeared for two minutes," Yusei immediately said, not bothering with pleasantries. That was something Aki used to like about him. Now, it just felt like there was a great distance between them. "Did yours disappear last night around 1 AM as well?" She didn't have to ask them all individually after all.

Aki grabbed the jar of orange marmalade and shut the fridge door. "I was asleep pretty early last night," she responded nonchalantly. She reached into a cabinet for a plate and into a drawer for a butter knife. "Maybe someone really needed the Crimson Dragon's help with a duel. It couldn't have been me though. I was at home."

Yusei was silent for a moment on the other end. "You're probably right. Everyone else's marks disappeared so perhaps there's another Signer out there now. A sixth!" His voice held a tinge of excitement. "Isn't that amazing? I thought there'd only be five of us ever!"

The toaster dinged quietly, perfectly toasted bread slices popping up. Aki quickly dropped the bread onto her plate. "If we found that sixth Signer, would we have to change the team name to 6D's instead?" she joked, spreading a thin layer of orange marmalade carefully onto each slice. There was only silence. "Um, anyway, could you call me back later or send me a message about this? I'm about to eat."

"Ah, right. Of course. Goodbye, Aki." Yusei abruptly hung up before Aki got a chance to respond and she stared at the "Call End" screen on her phone. Perhaps the distance between them was greater than she'd thought.

She bit into her crunchy toast and resolved herself to tell Yusei about her real feelings later that evening. "I'm going to leave," Aki thought. "I'll join Sherry and Carly's team."

"Are you really going to tell him?" Aki continued to polish her helmet with a cloth. "Hey, Aki?" Her head snapped up to attention and the helmet nearly dropped to the ground. She was at the public track after school with Carly and Sherry again. Sherry was doing a test run for a new engine part so Carly was relaxing with Aki. The orange sky dotted with fast moving pink clouds, faster than Aki's eyes wanted to follow them.

"Tell him?" Aki echoed, still staring at the clouds.

"You said you were gonna tell Yusei how you really feel and leave Jack's team!" Carly answered.

"Jack's team? He's not the leader," the redhead laughed.

"If I treat both Yusei and Crow as equal to Jack, I'll be able to face them in top shape!" Carly winked at Aki, as if divulging some deep secret. Silence settled upon them once more. "Will you really be okay leaving them? They're your best friends."

The psychic's eyes narrowed. "They're my friends but they're hindering my growth as a Duelist." Aki rubbed her arm where her Signer Mark lay dormant. "And I have had little opportunities to actually be part of the team lately. I..." She trailed off as Sherry braked to a stop in front of the two. "Bruno has taken the place of benchwarmer for the team."

Carly's shocked expression made Sherry remove her helmet to shoot Aki a confused look. "Did you say something, Aki?" Sherry asked.

"Bruno took the place of benchwarmer for Yusei's team," Aki repeated. Sherry's brows furrowed. "I only learned about this last night."

"That might be an issue later on. Bruno is a wildcard and we have no idea how he duels." The blonde leaned against her D-Wheel in thought. Aki felt like Sherry was not saying something. "You should tell Yusei as soon as you can before it becomes any more painful for you to leave. But before we wrap up training today, why don't we come up with a team name, ladies?"

"It's gotta be catchy, easy to remember," Carly said aloud, flipping through the pages of her notepad. "How about... Team Jack Fan Club?"

"Absolutely not," Aki replied, trying desperately not to laugh. "Couldn't you come up with something a little less... Jack?"

"How about Team Emotion then?" the bespectacled reporter suggested once more. "Last night, while I was asleep, I had a dream that Aki was really sad and needed a friend. Her emotions were ignited by me being there!" Aki felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

"I do like the name," Sherry mumbled into her gloved hand. She turned to look at the redhead. "Aki, what do you think?"

"I think..." She trailed off.

"Join us, Aki!" Yusei's voice called out to her in her mind. "You can join us and we'll help you through anything. Don't you want me to guide you to become a better Riding Duelist?"

Aki swatted the voice away. "I don't need your guidance anymore," she thought.

"... Team Emotion sounds good," Aki finished, suddenly putting on her helmet. "I'll be taking my leave now. I have to hurry over before Jack and Crow drag Yusei on another evening trip around the city." Sherry squinted against the setting sun's glare reflecting off of Aki's helmet. It was utterly blinding and all the blonde could make out under the visor was Aki's warm smile. It was only later that evening Sherry realized Aki had been crying.

The first person to approach Aki when she parked Bloody Kiss outside of the garage was Crow. He was dressed in his riding suit but he looked worn out. "Hey, Aki! Looking for Yusei?" he asked.

"Yes. I need to see him immediately." Aki took off her helmet and exhaled deeply. "Actually, I need to see everyone right now if possible."

It took a few minutes to drag Jack out of the bathroom but all members, including Bruno, were gathered in the garage. It was strange, being looked at by all of them for the first time in so long. Aki breathed in, steeling her nerves. "I've decided to leave our team," Aki recited from memory. "I'm joining Sherry's team instead."

Crow was the first to break the silence. "Why?" he asked with a glare. She felt her body stiffen at the question but forced herself to relax.

"I would like to walk a path separate from all of you. I wanted to be part of this team but I'm no longer interested in participating in the WRGP with all of you. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure this out for myself but..." Aki gave Yusei a wry smile. "It's not like I was even a benchwarmer or potential swap-in." For the first time in Aki's life, Yusei wore a surprised expression in front of her.

Jack didn't say anything, continuing to sip the cup of coffee in his hand. Yusei was silent and Aki could hear the gears in his brain spinning, smoking in effort to find something to say. Bruno looked confused more than anything. Rua's eyes were the size of dinner plates and Ruka didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

"Aki, duel me!" Crow demanded, his face red and his body trembling with barely kept together rage. "I demand a Riding Duel right now!" Aki gave him a pitied look.

"I'm afraid not, Crow. It was only out of respect for all of you that I told you all about my decision rather than leaving you high and dry on the day of the tournament." Aki exhaled and put on her helmet, pushing the visor down. "Besides, it's not like I would've had a chance to duel with all of you at the WRGP. You should talk to Yusei if you want to know more about who your potential benchwarmer will be." All eyes suddenly focused on Yusei, the mechanic looking down at his boots with a mixed expression.

"I'm leaving now. Have a good evening." Aki strode to her D-Wheel and heard light footsteps behind her. Ruka had followed her out. "Ruka, I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"Aki, are you happier with Sherry and Carly?" the young girl asked directly.

"Something like that. They give me their time and attention and they actually want me on their team." Aki started up the engine. "They both make me want to grow and make my own path."

"I don't feel upset you're leaving us. We're all connected by our Signer marks." Ruka got a bit closer and put her hand over Aki's. "You look a lot happier, Aki. I just wish the others could see that too. Have a good night!" Aki took Ruka's mature words to heart, watching the youngest Signer run back towards the garage.

The empty highway always made Aki nervous. A vehicle could come out of nowhere at any time. She had to be vigilant. Bright headlights flashed behind Aki and she checked her rearview camera to see who it was. She clicked her tongue. Crow had tailed her and he was catching up quickly.

"Aki, duel me! I demand it!" Crow screamed over the intercoms between their D-Wheels. "I can't let you betray us like this!"

"You think this is a betrayal, Crow?" Aki asked quietly. "I just want to be happy." Her voice rose with each word. "Can't you let me have this? Can't you let me follow the path I want?" Crow fell silent. "Leave me alone, Crow."

Aki accelerated, leaving her former teammate in the dust.

"I just don't want you to leave like Jack did," he muttered, turning his vehicle around.

The following week, Aki poured herself entirely into training for the WRGP. Over and over again, Team Emotion ran through practice duels and discussed card strategies. Even though Carly was still a beginner to some aspects of dueling, she was adapting surprisingly well. 32 teams were competing in the WRGP in 8 blocks with 4 teams per block. Team Emotion was in Block A with no particularly outstanding teams in the running against them except for Team Armor.

As their resident snoop and researcher, Carly warned them that Team Armor would be the ones to watch out for in their block. "Undefeated in over 50 tag duels and specializing in highly defensive playstyles, Team Armor is a favored contender for the semi-finals. Their team members, Jonathan, Jonah, and Joker, are triplets who have been dueling together since primary school and their playstyle is inspired by their time on a rugby team in high school," Carly read aloud from the holopad. She visibly deflated. "They sound super strong. How could we possibly beat them?"

"Piercing damage and effect damage could probably reach them with ease," Sherry suggested. "Their strategy is one of attrition and manipulation. They usually set Trap Cards that force opponents into attacking their high Defense monsters or create situations where the opponent can do nothing but end their turn."

The table in Carly's apartment was covered in each woman's cards, arranged to create a map of strategies and anchor points. All three of them were aware that their strategies could fall apart at any moment in a Riding Duel and so anchor points became their main topic for the afternoon. When switching between team members in the event of a loss during the relay duels, Graveyards, hands, and Decks were swapped but all cards that were on the field prior to switching remained.

"Fortune Lady Every is the best option as an anchor point monster," Sherry decided. "She has a banish effect and can be easily brought back from the Graveyard by banishing a Spellcaster monster from the Graveyard." She gestured at the cards on the table. "And we all have Spellcaster monsters in our Decks. Carly, you're a great starter and you can set up the field with ease using your Fortune Lady's effects."

Carly blushed in embarrassment. "Oh you're really laying on the praise today, Sherry!" she gushed, Sherry chuckling in response. "I've been practicing and really applying myself thanks to you two." She fixed her glasses while looking down at their cards. "But... don't you think we should also get some monster protection cards too then? Since Every will be the basis for our strategies, we'll want to make sure she can't be locked down right?"

"I have just the cards for that." Aki reached into her bag to pull out a small stack of cards. "These are Trap Cards I got that specialize in negating Battle Phases or ending them entirely. Take a look at them." Sherry scanned each card before releasing them to Carly's grabby hands. "I'm not sure where I belong in the strategy of our team dynamic against Team Armor though."

"Isn't it obvious, Aki?" Carly said with a huge grin. "You're the anchor!"

"Wait... me?!"

Just as the last bell rang for the day, Aki's phone buzzed to life and she quickly ducked under her desk to answer. "Hello?"

"Aki, today I won't be able to meet with you and Carly," Sherry said with some urgency in her voice. "I'm sorry. I have some prior business at the Security Building today."

"That's fine. Today's a good day to take a break anyway." Aki hung up after they said their good-byes and she left the school building. Today was a special half day since the Academy's buildings were undergoing maintenance. Her parents had given her some lunch money for the day too. She walked along the sidewalk, dreaming about the different restaurants she could visit.

Maybe that cafe with the specialty omelets, the gyudon shop that always had a sale during the afternoon, the curry store had a special sandwich on sale today... Aki snapped out of her trance and wiped some drool from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve. She had to pick a place and stick with it. She leaned against a brick wall, thinking, drooling, shaking her head, rinse and repeat.

Udon. The word exploded in her brain. Today, it had to be udon. Nothing else would do.

A short walk later, Aki was sitting at a run down udon restaurant that had old fashioned wooden placards on the wall for their menu. In the upper corner of the room, a TV was giving the day's weather report rundown. "A kitsune udon please," Aki ordered as she sat down at a table in the back area. The weather report shifted to a breaking news report.

The reporter silently flapped his lips with a smoking building behind him. The elderly owner picked up the dusty remote and turned up the volume. "... bombing at the main Security Building, allegedly caused by terrorists," the reporter stated shakily into his microphone. He tugged on his collar nervously. "All residents have been asked by Security to stay in their homes and to avoid the Security Building until further notice. We will now be showing CCTV images of the terrorists in the building."

Two blurry images appeared on screen side by side of two people in Security uniforms. Aki's phone slipped from her hand and clattered onto the table. No matter how pixelated and blurry it looked, Aki could recognize that blonde hair anywhere. Sherry and her butler were inside of the building. With hurried steps, Aki grabbed her phone and bag and rushed out of the restaurant, nearly knocking over a woman.

She dialed Carly's number and shoved the phone to her ear as she hailed a cab. Five rings, six rings, finally Carly picked up. Sheets shuffled in the background. "Hullo?" Carly mumbled, yawning loudly into the microphone.

"Carly, I think Sherry's in danger right now. Have you seen the news?" Aki directed the taxi driver to Carly's address. "The Security Building was bombed and Sherry and her butler have been branded as terrorists."

"WHAT?!" Carly exclaimed, fully awake and scrambling for her laptop. "Oh shit, oh shit. I'm not sure how we can even get inside. I'll meet you at my front door. We gotta be prepared for anything!" They hung up and Aki put the phone back into her pocket. Something wasn't right about this situation. Why in the world was Sherry a terrorist? What was she doing in the Security Building?

The taxi halted in front of Carly's apartment complex and the reporter waved at her. Aki gave her lunch money to the cab driver with a curt, "Keep the change."

"Aki! Let's hurry. We're awfully lucky I live close by to the Security headquarters," Carly thanked, leading them towards the billowing plume of smoke visible from all parts of the city. The streets were lined with officers and yellow tape. "Dang it, how are we gonna get past all of them?" Aki reached into her bag and pulled out her Deck and Duel Disk. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Aki fanned out her cards and pulled out two. "I activate the Spell Card, Opti-Camouflage Armor," she whispered, setting the two cards into her Duel Disk. Carly yelped in surprised as her skin and clothes warped and faded until she was completely see through. The only parts left visible were the two copies of the Equip Spell that Aki had just activated alongside her Deck. "C'mon. Let's go." They snuck past the officers and Aki clicked her tongue at the metal panic doors blocking their way. Just a short distance over Ushio was panicking about how to get back inside.

"Hey, why don't we just... teleport past the door or something?" Carly suggested.

"I have a better idea," Aki responded, an invisible grin spreading across her invisible face. "But first we need a distraction. Carly, give me your Deck." The heavy stack of cards was clumsily put onto Aki's hand. It was difficult to see someone's invisible hands, after all. "I summon the Fortune Fairies Hikari, Swee, Hu, and En! Distract Security for me!" The colorful fairies giggled playfully, darting in unpredictable patterns around the officers, immune to their stun guns and anti-crowd weaponry.

"Suppress the fairies!" Ushio declared, panicking even more than he was before. "Suppress them!" Fortune Fairy En blew a raspberry at him and flew off. "Grrr... whoever gets that stupid red one gets a 20% bonus on their next paycheck!"

One last Monster graced Aki's Duel Disk. "I summon Rose Tentacles!" The enormous plant monster erupted from the ground and grabbed both Carly and Aki, its thick tendrils immediately slapping onto the smooth sides of the buildings. Despite how slow moving this monster usually was, it legged up the building and through the smoking window.

"Erk!" Carly coughed through the smoke. "Well... we made it!" Aki coughed while removing the Rose Tentacles card from her Duel Disk. "Now what?"

"We keep going. Do you have any idea where Sherry might be in this building?"

Carly pointed at a door down the hall. "There! That's a CCTV room. We should be able to find Sherry through there." Three rows of flickering screens and two well used seats sat in the room, an overflowing trash can to the left of the desk that held the screens. All but one screen was still functioning, a hastily taped piece of paper labeling it as "Card Scanning Level." It was dark but both Aki and Carly recognized Bruno and Sherry approaching a large machine. Words were exchanged between the two and suddenly, the screen went white with light.

"What hap-" Aki's sentence was cut short by the white light emerging from the floor, swallowing everything in its pure emptiness. "Carly, run!" The two women ran out of the room, Carly stumbling from the sudden adrenaline rush. There was nowhere to run. The light had already reached both sides of the hallway and Aki froze up as her body sank in, light flooding her senses.

White. Aki hated this color. It was so easily stained and it reminded her of those walls she saw so often as a child, doctors measuring brainwaves and nurses whispering in the corner as an IV drip cooled her veins. Divine... how long had it been since she last thought of him? At least eight months now. He'd understood that same sense of helplessness of being surrounded by white walls. The walls of her sleep chamber were a darker color, a suitable color for her frumpy emo self back then.

The bright and dark reds and purple she dressed herself in threatened the white around her, dying them pink as she walked by them.

But this white space she was in, this vast area would have taken ages for her to dye. Carly was at her side, looking around. "Where are we?" she asked, her voice wavering from fear.

"I don't know. Something must have happened in the building." Aki turned around and in the distance floated a strange object spinning slowly in place. "Hey, Carly?" Carly turned to face the same direction as Aki. "What is tha-"

A sharp, piercing gaze struck both women and time froze as the white around them cracked and shattered. Before they were plunged into darkness, Aki heard voices in the distance. Was that... Yusei?

Aki woke up groggy in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed. The small window to her left was dark, save for the bright moonlight, but the occasional sound of a vehicle passing by and the sight of the Kaiba Corp building confirmed she was still in Neo Domino City. The room was dark but Aki heard someone else in the room.

"You're finally awake." Sherry stepped into the moon rays, an exhausted look on her face. "You... you saw the same thing I did, didn't you?"

"That strange object in the white space? Yeah. I... I saw that too," Aki answered. "Where are we right now? where's Carly?"

"Carly is in another room. She's still asleep." Sherry turned her head towards the window.

"What were you doing in the Security building?" Aki's question was met with silence and Sherry's face wrinkled in concentration.

"Have you heard of Yliaster?"

Chapter Text

Yliaster.

Divine had mentioned them by name once in a while when he didn't know Aki was listening. They were mysterious evil organization that the Arcadia Movement was seeking out to destroy. When she questioned him about it in the past, he said in that gentle mocking tone, "Dear Aki, you don't need to remember any of these little details. You're far too important to be spending your time stuck in this adult drudgery." And so, she attempted to forget the meetings she would sit in on, not as a participant but as a tool, a weapon, a show of power for Divine towards his co-conspirators.

Yliaster.

The chill of the wind carried this word from Sherry's mouth to Aki's ear. A shadowy organization that controlled everything, that could change the world by manipulating events through small triggers. An organization that had no qualms about creating orphans to further their goals. Sherry's somber story of her past reminded Aki of the countless orphans she met through the Arcadia Movement. Orphans supposedly created by lackluster parents who didn't understand their children's gifts of psychic ability.

"Stardust Dragon!"

Sherry showed no fear, no shock, not even apprehension when she could finally get a better look at the psychic duelist, only the faint whirr of Ener-D between the two. For the first time, Aki felt a form of kinship. There was something to the way Sherry dueled. It wasn't just her ability to read Yusei's emotions and strategies. Perhaps, if Sherry hadn't been scooped up in the arms of Mizoguchi on that fateful night, Divine might have become her new guardian. Aki felt sick at the thought of such a possibility.

Yliaster.

"Have you heard of Yliaster?"

"You mentioned them when we first met, Sherry," Aki answered. "You told me about how they..." She trailed off, unsure if she wanted to even say it. "Killed your parents."

Sherry nodded. "That story... I can't believe I forgot I told it to you. I didn't tell you that Yliaster had been searching for me because my parents had created this card." A strange Spell Card was handed over to Aki. "It's called Z-ONE. It was hidden in a stuffed bear that my father gifted to me shortly before he was killed. I snuck into the Security headquarters because they have a machine in the basement for scanning and registering new Duel Monster cards. When I scanned this card, the machine did not detect any irregularities but that light..."

"That light swallowed me up and I saw that thing," Sherry finished, shuddering. "What in the hell was that thing? It felt like I was being looked at from all directions at once, like my mind was floating in the ocean."

"Carly and I saw the same thing." Aki stood up and looked around the hotel room for a pen and some paper to draw on. A worn writing pad and a pen later, Aki carefully sketched an image of the object she'd seen in the white space. It reminded her of a magatama in shape but sharper. Perhaps more like a chambered nautilus.

Aki wasn't a great artist but her sketch seemed suitable enough for Sherry. "I was also in that space with Bruno and Yusei. For some reason, they'd been at the Security building as well. I have no idea why. I didn't think it was reasonable to ask them. What were they doing there?"

The two women thought about it and the silence was broken by Aki's growling stomach. Sherry laughed while her friend blushed in embarrassment.

"I should get you and Carly something to eat. Follow me. There's a nice barbecue place nearby."

The sun beat down on Carly as she slumped over her D-Wheel in exhaustion. Sherry had spent the entire day putting the team through situational duels and testing the flexibility of their Decks. "Tough coach" was putting it lightly. "Sherryyyyy... you ever considered going into the military?" Carly asked, stretching her arms. "You'd make a great army sergeant."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sherry replied, taking off her helmet to inspect something on her D-Wheel's screen. "Team, our time at the practice track will be over soon. Aki." The redhead, who was nodding off on a bench nearby, perked up at the sound of her name. "You're up. Test me with this specific deck. I compiled a copy of Team Armor's Jonathan's deck. Jonathan is their leader and I want to see if his cards are any match for mine in a real Riding Duel. These aren't tournament legal cards, just copies that should be compatible for practice."

"Got it!" Aki took the cards from Sherry's hand and quickly looked through them. With each card that passed between her thumbs, her brow wrinkled. "Are these... really the cards that are used by Team Armor's leader?"

"You've noticed, right?" Sherry was wearing a wry smile. "There's not a single Spell or Trap card in that deck. It's entirely supported by Monster effects. The strategy I want to build against it would be best with-"

The deep rumble of an engine interrupted their conversation and Sherry glared in the direction of the noise. A bright red convertible slowed to a halt by the three women, its massive front supported by three wheels and its back supported by two. The rich leather seats left an unpleasant smell in Carly's nose. The driver, a man with short bright yellow hair and reflective single lens sunglasses, flashed the three a smile. Sherry looked closer into the interior of the car and, lo and behold, there was a Duel Disk built into the car dashboard and the shining lines of Momentum running through the haptics of the car itself.

"Hello, ladies. The name's Jonathan, I'm the leader of Team Armor," he introduced himself, adjusting his open button up. Carly wanted to hurl from the overpowering smell of his cologne. "You're that all women team I heard about. Team Emotion, right? You're all thinking of competing seriously in the Grand Prix? It's not a fashion show, y'know." A stick of spearmint gum was tossed into his mouth, held delicately between his too perfect teeth. "Maybe you all should stick to something less fast paced."

Sherry didn't respond, sizing him up, forcing her body to relax, anything to make sure Jonathan didn't have anything to comment on. Aki crossed her arms and glared at him, also choosing not to respond. Carly, however, had not been cued on this.

"Yeah we are!" Carly exclaimed, sitting up straight on her D-Wheel. "We're gonna compete and win! We won't lose to anyone at all! Especially not to you and your old fashioned sexism!" She puffed out her chest with pride.

Jonathan laughed, holding his head with one hand as the other held onto his steering wheel. "You're an awfully funny woman if you think I'm being sexist. I'm just telling the truth as it is. Women don't belong in the world of Riding Duels." He turned his head to look at Sherry. "You're Sherry Leblanc, the black horse of the Grand Prix. Wanna take a ride with me? I know a nice French place nearby and an even nicer beach just down south."

Carly and Aki felt the temperature drop several degrees when Sherry's eyes met Jonathan's under his sunglasses. "I'm not interested in men who need training wheels to drive," the Frenchwoman responded in a neutral tone. "Move along. We have twenty more minutes on this track and you're in our way."

"Yeesh," Jonathan exclaimed, smiling the entire time. "You've got a real ice queen here. I'll leave you ladies alone then. See ya!" He revved the convertible and sped out of the track.

"Sherry." Carly's voice broke the silence. "Let me duel Aki when she uses Jonathan's deck." There was a fire in her eyes that neither Sherry nor Aki had ever seen before. "I'm going to pummel him to dust! We can't let a guy like that win the WRGP! We're not letting Team Armor get past their first round! They're going straight to the loser's bracket!"

She turned towards her teammates with a wild grin. "That guy won't know what's hit him! Aki, c'mon! Let's make use of these last twenty minutes!" She revved her D-Wheel and took off, Aki making chase.

Alone at last, watching her teammates duel each other on the track, Sherry breathed in deeply and unclenched her fists, her body releasing stress in slow even amounts. She massaged her brow with her fingertips, inhaling and exhaling slowly, focusing on her teammates instead. "I'll train on the sandbag for an extra half hour tonight," the blonde thought. "I was close to smashing his head into his steering wheel..."

With permission from the Academy, Aki received a week off from school to participate in the WRGP. She had been sitting nervously in the teacher's office, hoping her request would be accepted. She became even more nervous when the teacher dialed the number for the Chancellor's office. The Chancellor personally came down from his office to congratulate her on her participation in the WRGP and signed her permission form.

"You're the prodigy of this academy," he boasted, fixing his ever crooked yellow tie. "When you get to the stadium and you see the crowds before you, stand proud. You represent the future of riding duels!" He let out a laugh.

"Thank you for your words of encouragement, Chancellor," Aki said, shaking his hand while unable to hide her joy. "I will win!"

"You'd better. Even if you don't, I'll be rooting for you the entire way!"

Aki left the Academy grounds in high spirits. She had to tell her parents about the news. Her steps ended at a the corner of the city block where she waited patiently for the light to turn. Aki felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around. The other people waiting to cross seemed relaxed. Something felt off.

"Does no one else feel that?" Aki wondered.

The light turned green and Aki lifted her foot to step forward.

"Stop. Don't even think about it," a sassy voice demanded. Aki stepped back, the others around her crossing the street and glancing behind them to get a look at the strange school girl who hadn't moved. "Look to your right, down the road. Do you see them?" Aki turned her head to the right. The front of a gold D-Wheel peeked out from behind a delivery truck. Suddenly, the sound of a horse neighing echoed through the street and everyone turned their heads towards the source. The golden D-Wheel turned around the corner, accelerating towards Aki.

"Step back! Now!" the voice yelled. Aki stumbled backwards, a great cloud of dust billowing up from the D-Wheel speeding by. But through the dust, Aki's eyes locked with the duelist's eyes under their helmet for just a moment and Aki couldn't shake off the feeling of eyes on her. After a short moment, the redhead crossed the street and continued her way through the city.

"Hey, buddy, aren't you going to say 'thanks' to me?" the voice asked in a grumpy tone. Aki jumped from the voice and looked around her for the source. Nearby citizens eyed her nervously. "Not there. I'm here. Take out your cards!" Aki quickly entered a card shop and took out her deck box from her bag. She thumbed through her cards until she landed on Bloody Rose Witch.

Bloody Rose Witch winked at her and Aki blinked, wondering if she'd imagined it. "Remember my promise from your dream?" the Witch asked, her voice hovering above Aki's head. "I promised I'd help you defeat the Lord of Blood. But now that you summoned me from the Spirit World, I guess I'm stuck with you for a while." A fluffy white hem brushed against Aki's forehead and amethyst eyes locked against hers. "It's good to meet you, Aki."

The redhead heard the bell above the door ring, a small group of students entering, their dreams in their hearts and their pocket money in their hands. Aki reached into her jacket for her phone and put it to her ear. "It's good to meet you as well, Bloody Rose Witch," Aki greeted with a smile. "Let's continue our conversation outside."

"The human world sure has changed a lot," Bloody Rose Witch commented, floating towards a windowed shop displaying antique television sets for sale. "I haven't been here in a long time."

"You mentioned that I summoned you. How exactly did I do that?" Aki asked, keeping her phone held to her ear.

"You have the right claw of the Crimson Dragon," the Witch responded in a matter-of-factly tone. "Just like Ruka, you too can reach into the Spirit World and summon us. This is merely an extension of your psychic abilities. Didn't you ever wonder how exactly your powers worked?"

Aki thought about it. She had been born with the ability to bring Duel Monster cards to life, to bring them to a realm outside of the solid vision holograms. Divine had given her the longest explanation for the phenomena, claiming it was something to do with her brain waves manipulating the matter around her to a form she desired. Then later, it had been explained away as a gift from the Crimson Dragon.

"Each part of the Crimson Dragon gifts its Signer an ability. You are the right claw of the Crimson Dragon that holds onto the Spirit World," the Witch explained. She stopped in front of a massive WRGP poster. "You're participating, right?"

Aki removed the phone from her ear, eyes tracing the outline of the Phoenix Gearfried printed in bold colors. "Yes. I am. And I'll win."

The first day of the WRGP preliminaries began with great fanfare and Aki had to silence her phone from all the congratulations and encouraging messages she was getting from her classmates and relatives. The garage was tense and Sherry had her gaze set on something far into the distance, shutting out all noise from the arena above and around them. Carly was sitting on her D-Wheel, trembling from both anxiety and excitement. She'd swapped out of her glasses for contacts.

"It's time." Sherry's voice broke the tension. "Team Emotion, let's make our way to the pit." The garage door lifted slowly and the three women walked out with their D-Wheels into the blinding lights of the stadium. Aki's heart was racing, drumming a rhythm in her ribs that she could barely make out over the noise of the crowd around her.

"And here we have Team Emotion, lead by Sherry Leblanc!" the Master of Ceremonies screamed into his microphone. Aki squinted her eyes at him. His pompadour was a dark purple and his outfit was blue instead of pink. "And we shall now begin with the first duel of the preliminaries! Team Emotion versus Team Armor! A true battle of the sexes!"

Sherry's eye twitched in annoyance. "Our first match starts in twenty minutes! Teams! To your pit lanes!" The cheering reached a peak and Sherry led them to the pit lane where Mizoguchi sat under the covered pit stop. He sat up, brushing off his dress pants, and he bowed towards Sherry.

"Madame," he greeted. Mizoguchi turned to the other two members of Team Emotion. "Ladies, I will be watching over the duel here. And I nearly forgot. Per your request, Madame, I have created the team baton patch." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an embroidered jacket patch with "Team Emotion" sewn in flowery cursive. The letters were sewn in dark blue, crimson, and lilac. Sherry slapped the patch onto her left arm, a confident smile on her face.

"We'll win, won't we, Carly, Aki?" Sherry asked, putting on her helmet. She put out her gloved fist and the other two fist bumped her. "Let's destroy Team Armor."

Chapter Text

Divine's last memory before his death was of Ccarayhua swallowing him, darkness swirling and destroying him from the inside out, his soul becoming fuel for the underworld god. But he wasn't merely consumed, burnt for fuel. No, he dropped right down into the Underworld, where dark stones piled towards the empty skies of this desolate land and his surroundings burned endlessly. His loafers chafed against the sea of violet flames but parted with a brush of his hand. He was dead. And judging by how empty it was, he was alone here.

Alone. No. No. He couldn't be alone. He had so much to accomplish still. So many things to do. He still had to take back Aki. Divine collapsed to his knees and screamed in agony, clawing at his scarred visage, yelling obscenities. Soon, his throat grew hoarse and he stopped to fall flat on his back, his eyes staring blankly at the smoky ceiling above. All his life's work, the Arcadia Movement, working for Yliaster. It was over.

"Are you okay?" a young voice asked. Divine's green eyes darted in the direction of the voice. There stood a young boy with dark purple hair, cropped short at the top and sides. He was dressed in the Duel Academy uniform. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old. Divine looked away. What did it matter? He was dead and so was this kid.

"Leave me alone," Divine grumbled, pulling his knees into his chest and turning on his side. "I'm dead. I have nothing left."

There was the sound of gravel shifting and the child sat right in front of Divine. "My name is Sly," the student introduced. "I'm with a group of other people. We're trying to stick together. If you get lost here, you might lose yourself. That's what Bolger told me to say." Sly stuck out his small hand towards Divine.

The cult leader sighed wearily and stood up, dusting off his clothes. "I'm Divine. Take me to the others," he demanded. The two crossed through the field of flames, Sly checking their surroundings from time to time. Divine hadn't noticed it before but there were remnants of skeletons scattered across the ground. He couldn't quite tell what animal they were but he decided against taking a closer look.

Divine squinted at the distance, catching a small group of people, about fifteen or so, sitting next to a large pile of stones. The flames were weaker there, as if unable to burn what still clung to some semblance of living. "This is our group," Sly said, dragging Divine closer to them. "Everyone, I found a new person! His name is Divine!"

The cult leader felt irked that he had been put on the spot like this. He bowed politely. "My name is Divine. It's a pleasure to meet you all," he greeted, trying to not give off the sense he was a former cult leader. "I was eaten by the Earthbound Immortal Ccarayhua." Murmuring and mutterings of sympathy floated through the crowd. Divine eyed the people there, not recognizing anyone so far.

"It's good we found you before the flames did," a bespectacled man said cheerfully. "People who get too far from one another burn so we've chosen to stick together! Survival is important, even in death, right?" Sly elbowed the man in the ribs. "My name is Bolger. It's good to meet you, Divine. I'm the leader of sorts for our group."

The name was recognizable to Divine. Bolger was an up and coming D-Wheel designer and one of the many competitors in engine design and programming. He was a self-made man but rumors had been circulating for years that Bolger was originally a resident of Satellite. Rumors that Divine knew were true if the falsified citizenship documents he'd personally crafted for Security had been used for this very same Bolger.

"A pleasure," Divine responded with a controlled, sweet smile. "I couldn't help but wonder if anyone here knows if there's a way out."

Bolger's expression hardened. "It's difficult to accept but most of us have come to the conclusion that we're dead. Our very souls are sitting in Hell, after all." He sighed and sat down. "Our only choice is to try and remain together. We can't truly survive but I'd like to ensure that we avoid anything that's avoidable."

Divine contemplated this group. Weary, weak souls, tottering between despair and hope, with danger ever present and the threat of being burnt to nothing front and center of their minds. "They'd make for good Arcadia members," Divine thought. "They lack a plan or goal besides survival. Lack of concrete examples of a final stage leads to abandonment and deserters. And that would be bad."

He sat down next to Bolger. "Are we headed towards any particular destination?" he asked.

Bolger pointed at a great mountain in the distance. "We're making a trek towards that mountain to get to higher ground, search for more survivors. Surely more than just us ended up here." There was hope in Bolger's voice but his dull eyes betrayed him. Divine held back a wicked grin, choosing instead to nod politely.

"Yes, surely," Divine echoed. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me more about yourself, Bolger? If I recall correctly, you are the CEO of Bolger and Company?"

Bolger's expression grew wistful. "Yes. That I am." A pause. "Was. I was the CEO. My second in command will be taking over after my passing." He sighed and took off his glasses. "I hope everything is okay in Neo Domino City. There's no telling what kind of destruction those giant shadowy creatures are wreaking upon it."

Divine put his hand on Bolger's shoulder in sympathy. "I know exactly how you feel."

The group's trek through the burning wasteland was not silent, speaking to one another to fill the echoing silence of the Underworld. Divine didn't mind. It was to his benefit to listen to his future subjects. He needed to figure out how to unify the group under his leadership. He had to be reliable, save them from something perhaps. But the land was desolate, not a single creature in sight. And even though the bones of animals were scattered everywhere, there was no sign of rot or recent movement. Everything was still.

They reached the base of the mountain and Divine wondered how long they'd been walking for. His feet didn't hurt and he felt strangely energetic for a dead man. He tapped Bolger on the shoulder. "Bolger, why don't I lead the group? You look like you could use a break," Divine suggested.

"You're pretty considerate," Bolger complimented. "Sure, go on ahead. Just make sure you don't leave us behind, yeah?" He clapped his hands together and the crowd looked at him. "Everyone, please follow Divine up this mountain! He said he'd take the lead!"

The path upwards was clear of flames, strange piles of dark stones set up at the edges, as if built by someone. Sly caught up to Divine and tugged on his sleeve. "Hey, Divine! Tell me about yourself!" he asked. "I want to know where you got that scar from!"

Divine felt the right part of his face twitch in pain at the very idea of remembering where and when he got this scar. It was after he'd knocked that stupid reporter out of the window and she came back as a Dark Signer. The twenty billion yen Arcadia Movement building was torn to pieces by the combined might of Ascilla Piscu and Ccarayhua. And he had fallen, buried under the rubble but saved by a last minute Spell Card activation.

"Oh this?" Divine asked innocently, pointing at his face. Sly nodded. "I received it as punishment. I was… sinful and so my face was burnt off partially." Sly's smile disappeared and his gaze cast downwards. "Do not feel bad, Sly. It is something I bear proudly. I've repented and I'm a better man now."

"My parents always told me not to talk to criminals though," Sly stated, though hesitant to end the conversation there. "You don't have a marker on your face. Were you ever arrested for your crime?"

Divine shook his head. "No. This punishment was handed down to me by a greater force. A godlike force that gifted me knowledge." With each step he took up the incline, a grayscale memory surfaced.

"You're the devil itself. You… you hurt your own mother. Get out! Get out of this house, now! Don't make me grab my gun!"

"[*******] don't do it! [******] is your son! Please!"

"I've had it up to here with this curse! Get out of my house! Now, you monster!"

"He's only 12 years old! He can't survive on his own!"

"He's summoning Duel Monsters creatures into reality! He hurt you with one! We're leaving him with professionals tomorrow morning! We can't handle him! He won't even control himself!"

Divine shoved the memory below the surface of his consciousness. He didn't need to remember those useless people. "Sly, I will not try to convince you I'm a truly good person," Divine admitted. "I've done many bad things in the past and all I wish to do now is make up for my mistakes, heal the world. I want to help and-" He stopped mid sentence and peered over the edge of the steep path. The group had gone in a spiral pattern up the mountain somehow. Patterns like this didn't form in nature, not unless something built it to be like this.

Behind him, Bolger stepped away from the group to approach Divine. "Hey, I can take the lead now!" he called out, running to catch up to Divine. "Take a break." The cult leader shrugged and let Bolger pass him. Perhaps it was best not to be the first to reach the top.

The ground beneath them shook and several members of the group screamed out in fright, the top of the mountain blowing off and raining pebbles on them. Bolger fell down from the vibration and Divine crouched to avoid falling over, pulling his coat over Sly to protect him from the pebbles and debris. An enormous pitch black snake's head came out from the mountain, rich crimson marks running across its scales. It bared its fangs at the group, more screaming and yelling coming from them.

Divine made eye contact with the snake and it shot out at him, a massive serpentine body lifting it out of the volcano. He shoved Sly to the side and wished, for the very first time, that he still had his psychic abilities and his Deck. Fangs dripping with acrid venom failed to reach him, shattering against a thick red bubble that formed around him. The snake immediately withdrew, a thick forked tongue flicking the air in front of it.

Pain spread through Divine's skull and he clutched it in agony, whispering voices, the hiss of snakes, screaming filling his mind. Then silence. And an ancient voice he understood perfectly. "You're not a Signer yet you have gained the protection of one. What is your name, human?" the voice asked. The snake's head approached him once more and Divine did everything in his power not to slide his body backwards. He had to be brave. This was the moment he'd been waiting for.

"Divine. My name is Divine," he stammered for the first time in over a decade. "Who are you? What are you?"

The snake reared up, its massive form eclipsing Divine and the mountain they were on. The group that had ran away were watching from the base as Divine communed with this ancient creature. "I am Pikiru, the Earthbound Immortal," the snake introduced itself. "I am one of the more unfortunate Immortals who didn't make it to the surface world. I am chained here until the end of times." It shook its body and massive chains of tangled ivy appeared all over it. Divine noticed that the chains were anchored to an unknown point up in the dark sky. "The Signer Dragon, Black Rose Dragon, is the one who chained me here for my sin of taking blood. But perhaps... if her powers were to be weakened, I could rise up once more."

Divine's eyes widened. Black Rose Dragon? That was Aki's ace monster. The card he'd given her as a part of Yliaster's plans, as a part of a master clandestine plan that supposedly aligned with the stars and time itself. "I know the Signer who battles with Black Rose Dragon as her Signer Dragon," Divine immediately said. Pikiru's interest was piqued and his head moved closer to Divine once more. "She is the one who wishes me well even now."

"You? You with your heart of darkness, soaked with sin, evil to the very core have the well wishes of a Signer of the Crimson Dragon?" Pikiru asked in a mocking tone. He chuckled. "You're right. I must ask, why does she wish you well?"

Divine looked around to make sure everyone had really left and answered in a low voice, "Her abilities as a Signer frightened those around her. She is a psychic duelist, capable of bringing to life the spirits of Duel Monsters and the magic contained in this ancient game of spirits. She is not alone in her abilities but she is alone in the level of power she has. She ran away from home, abandoned by her family, forgotten by them. And who swept her up? I did. I gave her the warm family she desired, someone who had the same trauma and experiences as her."

Pikiru tilted his head, his eyes narrowing in understanding. "And what was your plan with her?" he asked.

"I was going to use her to control the world under a banner of psychic duelists, lead an army to subjugate the masses to respect the power of a psychic duelist," Divine said, unable to stop himself from laughing. "She was completely under my spell from the first time we met. She even let me brainwash her to help seal her true abilities! She's so weak to the right words and so easily manipulated it's almost sad."

Pikiru's laughter joined Divine's. "You are a truly evil man," he stated, resting his head upon the ground. "You may not know this but you were merely sacrificed. Your soul and the other humans with you haven't been truly burned away. You still have a tether to the upper world where humans dwell and the Signers will, regrettably, win the war on the Underworld once more. Your escape is guaranteed in the near future." Divine couldn't hold back the surprised look on his face. He could escape this place?

The Earthbound Immortal laughed again. "I wish to give you my blessing. I want you to become my eyes in this world, I want to see what you see. I want to see you defeat this Signer and turn her into a slave of evil." His tongue flicked out again. "Show me your palm." Divine put out his left palm towards the Earthbound Immortal and the snake bared its fangs, a single drop of venom landing on the open hand.

It burned, seared into his skin, hurt more than any pain Aki had ever inflicted on him by accident. Nothing hurt this bad. His eyes watered from the pain but he kept his hand open. Receiving the blessing of a dark immortal god was something he'd never expected but he wasn't one to reject such a wondrous gift. The pain subsided and on his hand was a symbol for an eye, thick purple lines digging into his skin. "Your name amuses me even more than the relationship you share with the Black Rose Dragon Signer," Pikiru admitted. "For what is divinity if not all that is holy? Yet not an ounce of goodness remains within your soul. Even you know that."

Divine smiled wryly. "The name is not one my parents gifted me at birth. It was a name I gave myself."

Pikiru's amused laughter echoed in his mind. "Do not disappoint me, Divine. Your soul was already destined for the Underworld. With this mark, you have power but... you will become the flames that burn around you, fuel for deities like myself biding their time for escape, if you fail. And do not test my patience either. If the bonds of my prison weaken before you've completed your plan, I will act of my own accordance."

"Failure is not ever part of my plan," Divine said confidently. "I will bring the world to its knees. I'll begin the witch hunt for the Signers with the new Knights of Arcadia!" The eye on his hand glowed, resonating with power.

Divine was assaulted with questions, concerned exclamations, and prodding words when he made his way back down the mountain. "Please, one at a time!" he yelled out. Bolger cut through the crowd.

"What happened to you up there? How did you survive? Did you speak to that enormous serpent?" he asked in rapid fire.

Divine considered what to say, putting on false expression of confusion. "I was given a gift by that snake," Divine said truthfully. He showed his left palm, the glowing mark of an eye still seared into the skin. "The snake promised us that we would all return to the real world soon. We're not stuck here forever."

"Huh? How's that possible?" a voice exclaimed from the crowd. A well dressed man with short gray hair scowled at Divine. "You sure you didn't just get cursed and hallucinate or something?" Murmurs floated among the people. "Besides, what reason do we have to believe you? We got absorbed for some weird god's rebirth! How the hell can we even come back to life?"

Divine gave him a determined look. "I know we'll be rescued from this dark abyss. This symbol ensures we will arrive safely in the real world soon." The man scoffed.

"I believe Divine," a voice called out from the crowd. Sly wore a determined look and he blushed when he realized how many people were staring at him. "He... he shielded me and saved me from the scary snake. I don't think he's lying."

Bolger piped up, "He also survived that attack from the snake. Remember that red barrier that appeared around him? Clearly, he's been blessed!"

"A trick of the light!" the man insisted. "I don't believe for a damn second that we're getting out of here! We're stuck here forever! We have to stop hoping we'll get out! How the hell are we getting out?!"

Divine approached him and gently placed his marked hand on the man's shoulder. "Please, we will make it out of here," he insisted. "This is not the end of our journey." The man looked up at him, now unsure about his previous angry remarks. "When we return to the real world, let's all meet at Muto Plaza, the one with the tall clock in the center of the fountain. It will be on the fifteenth of the next month and we will assemble just as noon arrives."

He gave them his sweetest saccharine smile. "Please. I want to truly understand and connect with all of you. It'll be tough to find a therapist who understands us, after all," Divine insisted, more nods of agreement from the crowd. Just as he finished his last word, everyone's bodies began to glow a gentle white. Was this their escape?

Divine's vision faded and the darkness became the night sky of Neo Domino City. He sat up with a start and put his hands on his chest, stomach, legs. He touched the ground. Cold cement. Up above, a shining sparkling light shot through the sky, glowing crimson streaks following after it. Divine took off his glove and there, scarred into his hand, was an eye. And in the darkness, Divine swore the pupil moved to look at him.

Chapter Text

Just as Sherry expected, her first opponent was Jonah, the oldest of the triplets. In a last minute decision, Jonathan decided to go second in the relay, thus pushing Carly's own position in the relay to second as well. "Expecting Jonah to do your work for you?" Sherry thought, examining her opponent through the purple tint of her helmet's visor. "You're playing it a lot smarter than I thought you would, I'll give you that. But I'll make sure to keep my promise to Carly and lay the groundwork for her victory. She trusted me with her trump card."

Jonah's D-Wheel was a dark black muscle car with two short exhaust vents on the hood and Ener-D lines running through the wheel's rims and underside. The front was heavy and blocky and Sherry had the feeling she'd take the first corner based solely on vehicle design. Jonah didn't look like much either, dark eyebags hanging under his disinterested gaze, and his dark unkempt hair covered in dust. He was tall, about 195 centimeters, and he was lanky to the point that Sherry wondered if he would snap in half if a strong wind blew. His black leather jacket sleeve had the bold logo patch of Team Armor and his metal zippers swung with each gangly step he took.

In the Team Armor pit, Jonathan was talking to Joker, the youngest of the brothers. Carly squinted at Joker. He had long pink hair that reached his shoulders and parted in the middle. He was of a much smaller build compared to his siblings. Even his gray hoodie looked big on him. Joker caught Carly looking at him and waved with a smile at her. She nervously waved back.

The two Duelists stopped their D-Wheels right before the start line, the crowd silent with anticipation. Jonah was absently tapping his fingers on the windowsill of his door, drumming up a rhythm Sherry didn't recognize from any songs she knew.

"Duelists, activate Speed World 2!" the MC yelled. Sherry tapped a button on her D-Wheel and the Field Spell activated, rings of energy emanating from both Duelist's D-Wheels. "Count down start!" Sherry glanced over at the pit lane and Aki and Carly were both cheering for her. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she smiled back and turned to face the track ahead of her.

Her smile turned into a stone cold frown and she revved her D-Wheel's engine as the lights above counted down. A horn blared and Sherry shot past the start line like a bullet, Jonah following close behind. "AND SO IT BEGINS!" MC yelled. "The one to take the first corner will be-!"

"Me," Jonah mumbled, his back exhaust pipes spitting out blue flames. He quickly caught up with Sherry and he passed her, taking the first turn of the duel.

"What a turn of events! Who would've thought Jonah of Team Armor could take the lead so quickly?!" Sherry clicked her tongue in frustration.

"My turn. I draw," Jonah mumbled, drawing a card from his deck slotted into the door of his D-Wheel. "I summon Upstart Golden Ninja in Defense Position." A potbellied ninja emerged with a battlecry. "I send a Trap Card from my hand to the Graveyard to activate Upstart Golden Ninja's effect. I Special Summon a Ninja monster from my Deck face-down." Sherry warily eyed the Set monster. "I set two cards and end my turn."

"The infamous defensive strategy begins for Team Armor! How will Sherry counter?!" the MC exclaimed, dragging his fingers through his pompadour.

"My turn. I draw!" Sherry declared. She checked her hand before picking up Fleur Synchron. "I summon Fleur Synchron in Defense Position." The mechanical flower bulb popped to her left, grinning wildly. "Then, I activate White Steed of the Floral Knights' effect. If I control a Level 2 or lower Monster on the field, I can Special Summon it from my hand in Defense Position." From a shower of metal sparks and petals emerged the majestic white horse, its neigh echoing through the arena.

"Whoa, I've never seen that monster before!" Carly exclaimed. "Sherry's been holding back on us, huh, Aki?"

"Eight levels. She's going to Synchro Summon, isn't she?" Aki replied with a question.

"I tune Level 6 White Steed of the Floral Knights with Level 2 Fleur Synchron," Sherry declared. The white horse became glowing stars and Fleur Synchron dissipated into two bright green rings. "Body born from speed, the time for revolution has come! Bring victory into my hands! Synchro Summon! Shine, Chevalier de Fleur!"

Sherry's ace monster appeared above her from a flurry of flowers, aiming its sword at Upstart Golden Ninja. "What speed! Sherry has already summoned her ace monster on her first turn!" MC yelled.

"Because Fleur Synchron was used as Synchro Material this turn, I get to Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Monster from my hand. I Special Summon Necro Fleur in Defense Position!" Aki tilted her head in confusion. Yet another card that she'd never seen Sherry use before in a duel. "Battle! Chevalier de Fleur, liberate Upstart Golden Ninja from its master!"

The knight ran towards the ninja, sword in hand ready to strike, when she froze in place, gilded armor covered in a thick sheet of ice. "Continuous Trap Card, activate! Armor Ninjutsu of Freezing!" Jonah declared, his left hand jerking his steering wheel as his feet stomped on the gear pedals to accelerate past the turn with a drift. "Your Monster's attack is negated and the battle phase is over! While this card remains face-up, all of your Monsters can't change their battle positions."

"How unfortunate!" MC bemoaned. "Sherry's offense has been stopped entirely! What other tricky Trap Cards does Jonah of Team Armor have in store?!"

"Hmph." Sherry set two cards face-down. "I set two cards and I end my turn."

"That's strange," Carly thought aloud. "Chevalier de Fleur has a once per turn negate for a Spell or Trap card. Why didn't she activate it?"

Aki stared ahead at the track. "I don't understand either. But maybe... Sherry is testing Jonah's abilities." She leaned on her left leg. "She does enjoy toying with her opponents if she doesn't think they're that strong."

Carly nodded confidently in agreement then turned back to her teammate with a shocked expression. "Wait, really?!"

"I draw," Jonah announced, checking his cards. "I activate the Speed Spell, Angel Baton." Just as the angelic woman appeared with a glowing card in her hand, Chevalier de Fleur's sword cut through her, shattering the Speed Spell into holographic fragments.

"I negate Angel Baton using Chevalier de Fleur's effect!" Sherry declared. "I won't let him have any hand advantage over me," she thought, clenching her D-Wheel's handles.

"How boring," Jonah droned, picking up another card from his hand. "You did exactly what I wanted. I activate my Trap Card, Ninjutsu Art of Super Transformation! I send one monster from both player's Fields to the Graveyard and Special Summon a Dinosaur, Sea Serpent, or Insect Monster from my Deck whose level is equal to or less than the combined levels of the sacrificed Monsters. I choose my Upstart Golden Ninja and Chevalier de Fleur." Upstart Golden Ninja performed a series of complex hand motions in front of a scroll and shining ropes bound Chevalier de Fleur. Smoke clouds dusted up between the two Monsters.

From within the smoke, golden eyes pierced through and Sherry grit her teeth in preparation for what was being summoned. Glowing serpentine shapes swayed through the darkness and the smoke was cleared in a single sweep of a tail. "I Special Summon Yellow Dragon Ninja," Jonah announced. "And I activate its effect. I send Armor Ninjutsu of Freezing from my Field and Strike Ninja from my Hand to the Graveyard to destroy both of your Set Cards. Golden Sweep!"

The ninja reared up his golden dragon and the enormous glowing creature swung its tail at Sherry. "I activate my Trap Card, High Half! I can target a Monster with 2000 or more Attack Points and cut its Attack Points in half!" she declared over the sound of her set Trap Cards shattering.

"How dull," Jonah mocked. "You think cutting Yellow Dragon Ninja's Attack Points will help you? I flip face-up Yellow Ninja, his subordinate!" A yellow garbed ninja appeared at his master's side. "Though they'll say that ninja travel alone, they do like to bring friends. When Yellow Ninja is flipped face-up, I get to Special Summon a Ninja Monster from my hand. I summon Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo in Attack Position!" Yet another ninja appeared, this one clad in gray clothes and staying separate from the Yellow Ninjas. "Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo lets me add a Ninja Monster from my Deck to my hand when it's summoned."

The top card of Jonah's Deck shot out towards the passenger side of his D-Wheel and he smoothly caught the card mid-flight.

"How troubling!" MC yelled into his microphone. "Sherry's got nothing to stop Jonah! All she has is a Necro Fleur with 0 Defense Points! What can she do here?!"

Carly put her hands together, wringing them in worry. "Sherry, you can do it," she whispered. "Just use White Steed of the Floral Knight's effect and you can make it through this with more Life Points! That card can negate a single attack!"

"Battle. Yellow Dragon Ninja attacks your Necro Fleur." With a sweep of his arm, the Ninja's dragon spirit bit through the rotting flower, shattering it into glowing fragments.

The reporter slammed her hands against the steel table in front of her. "What is she doing?!" she exclaimed. "Sherry keeps missing the activations of cards that could save her from trouble!"

Aki gripped her upper arms tightly, her jaw tight. "We have to have faith in her. She won't lose after this." Both Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo and Yellow Ninja struck Sherry, her Speed Counters dropping to 0 and her Life Points dropping to 300. "We have to believe in her. Duels are as much entertainment as they are fights. She has something up her sleeve."

Jonah smirked for the first time as he adjusted his rearview mirror to get a better look at Sherry lagging behind. "I left you with 300 Life Points because it'd be lame to finish you off this quickly. If you can't excite me, you're not worth dueling," he spat in his monotone voice. "I end my turn. Hurry up so I can get to the next member of your team."

"There won't be a next member of my team for you to duel," Sherry responded with confidence. "I draw! I summon Horse of the Floral Knights in Attack Position!" The armored horse appeared at Sherry's side, galloping to keep pace.

"There it is! It's a set up card for something! Surely, Sherry has a combo up her sleeve that will bring her back from the brink of defeat!" MC yelled at the top of his lungs.

"You and me both," Aki thought.

"Horse of the Floral Knights lets me add a Noble Knight Monster from my Deck to my hand. I choose Noble Knight's Shield Bearer." A single card stuck out from Sherry's Deck and she added it to her hand. Her combo was ready. "I use Horse of the Floral Knights' effect. I can Fusion Summon using this Monster and other cards I control or are in my hand. I use Horse of the Floral Knights and Noble Knight's Shield Bearer as Fusion Material!"

Both monsters became glowing swirls and formed into a decorated centaur woman with a sword in each hand. "I Fusion Summon Noble Knight's Centaurion! And due to her effect, I get to Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Monster from my hand or Graveyard! I choose Fleur Synchron!" The adorable metal bulb sprang out of the track, grinning confidently at the ninjas in front of it.

"Jonah," Sherry said in a low tone, sending a shiver of fear up the man's spine. "You said you wanted to be excited, yes? I can show you what excites me. Complete and total victory."

"What a confident remark!" MC remarked, his face pale from how frightening Sherry's words had been. "But can Sherry back that up?! She only has Noble Knight's Centaurion and Fleur Synchron! Does she have a Synchro Monster waiting for us?!"

"I tune Level 6 Noble Knight's Centaurion with Level 2 Fleur Synchron! The sound of trumpets grace your steps across the arc en ciel! Your sword will destroy the shields of evil! Synchro Summon!" A blinding light flooded the stadium and golden feathers rained down from the sky as a church bell rang out. "Rise to the call of revolution, Holy Noble Knight Jehanne!" A warrior with short blonde hair and blinding silver armor appeared, a sword in each hand, and a banner attached to the back of her armor. Massive golden wings spread from her back, showering the arena in warm light.

"2800 Attack Points..." Aki muttered. "She can't win with just this Monster... right?"

For the first time in years, Jonah felt fear when he caught Sherry's murderous gaze in his rearview mirror. "Due to Fleur Synchron's effect, I get to Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Monster from my hand. I summon Necro Synchron from my hand in Attack Position!" A grayish pink bulb appeared next to Holy Noble Knight Jehanne, dead eyes staring forward. "Noble Knight's Centaurion's effect activates! When it's sent to the Graveyard for a Synchro Summon of a Noble Knight Monster, I get to destroy one card on the Field! I choose Yellow Ninja!"

A glowing sword pierced the ninja's chest and he shattered.

"Holy Noble Knight Jehanne's effect activates. When it's Synchro Summoned, all Spell and Trap Cards on the Field are destroyed!" Rays of light erupted from Jonah's Field and he yelled in surprise.

With the destruction of Ninjutsu Art of Super Transformation, Yellow Dragon Ninja faded and disappeared from the Field. "Battle! Holy Noble Knight Jehanne, attack Grandmaster Ninja Hanzo!" The blonde knight charged at the ninja and bisected him with one swing of her left sword, her blue eyes landing on Jonah. "Holy Noble Knight Jehanne can make a second attack during each Battle Phase! Attack once more!" The knight's holographic sword cut through Jonah and he yelled out as his Life Points dropped to 200.

"Necro Synchron, end it!" Sherry commanded. The Monster slammed headfirst into Jonah, destroying his last few Life Points. He screamed in anguish, his ghoulish cries unnerving much of the audience. Sherry passed him by, not even bothering to look back. It was her total victory. "Don't be upset because you lost. You had no chance against me in the first place," the blonde taunted with a smirk.

Jonah's D-Wheel screeched to a stop at Team Armor's pit stop and Jonathan yanked his brother out by the scruff of his neck. "I was counting on you to finish her! You still had your Normal Summon! Why didn't you finish her off with Strike Ninja like you're supposed to?!" he screamed, Sherry's D-Wheel whizzing past them. Jonah didn't answer, his eyes cast downwards. Further back in the pit stop, Joker sat in a metal folding chair with a smoothie, calmly observed his older brothers through his pink tinted glasses. "You got cocky and you cost us an easy victory! Sherry Leblanc is the most dangerous one in Team Emotion!"

When Jonah didn't respond once more, Jonathan tsked in annoyance and shoved his brother aside to stomp towards his D-Wheel, the team logo patch in hand. "I'll finish what he started," he muttered angrily towards Joker. The young man didn't respond, watching Sherry finish another lap on the track.

Jonathan slapped the team patch onto his sleeve before jumping into his red convertible and throttling the engine, catching up with Sherry in the middle of her third lap, all five wheels screaming against the road. Despite his best efforts, Sherry refused to let him pass her and he was now stuck following her.

"At last, Team Armor has put their second duelist onto the track! Sherry Leblanc of Team Emotion has already completed two laps in the time it took to change between Jonah and Jonathan so she gains two Speed Counters!" MC explained, pointing a finger at Sherry's displayed stats on the holographic screens above the stadium.

"Don't get cocky..." Jonathan grumbled. "I draw!" He grinned at his starting hand, the pleasant hum of his convertible's engine reaching even Sherry's ears. "Sherry, your Life Points are over this turn," he boasted, picking up three cards from his hand.

"I doubt it," Sherry responded, not bothering to turn to face him. "But show me what you have."

"If my opponent controls 2 or more Monsters and I have none, I can Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Scales from my hand! Set the balance for me, Scales!" A green armored robot appeared in Defense Position above Jonathan's D-Wheel. "I then Special Summon two Superheavy Samurai Trumpeters in Defense Position!" Two red armored robots appeared to the left and right of Scales, crouching to appear smaller than they already were. "If I have no Spell or Trap Cards, I can Special Summon Trumpeter at no cost."

"This is it. This is one of Jonathan's kill combos," Aki said, Carly fidgeting in her seat nervously.

"Just three monsters. No, there's more," Sherry thought, readying herself. "I have no out here. I have two Speed Counters, Holy Noble Knight Jehanne, and Necro Synchron on the Field." She grit her teeth. "White Steed of the Noble Knights can save me from one attack at the cost of another card on my field. My only choice is summoning that."

"I then Special Summon Superheavy Samurai Transporter in Defense Position," Jonathan declared, a red armored tall robot appearing above him. "I tune Level 5 Superheavy Samurai Transporter with Level 2 Superheavy Samurai Trumpeter." He glared directly at Sherry as the summoning light blinded the stadium. "Level 7 Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja! In Defense Position!" A robotic ninja that looked more like a polite aardvark than a robot landed from the sky onto the roof of Jonathan's D-Wheel. "I'm not going to leave you with any Life Points! I activate Ninja's effect! I can halve its Defense Points to be able to attack you directly with it!"

"That's right, folks! Jonathan's Superheavy Samurai Monsters can attack while in Defense Position!" the MC explained to the crowd of confused onlookers. "And Sherry's got no Traps to stop Jonathan's incoming onslaught of heavy metal robot samurai!"

"I'm not finished with my Main Phase either!" Jonathan yelled, slicking back his hair as he plucked the last two cards out of his hand. "I Normal Summon Superheavy Samurai Magnet and change it to Defense Position to activate its effect: I get to Special Summon the final Superheavy Samurai Monster in my hand! I summon Superheavy Samurai Wagon in Attack Position!"

"Dammit, there really is no end to this army of Samurai. Jonathan is truly the master of speedy summoning," Sherry thought. Despite the dreadful future ahead of her, she couldn't help smiling.

"Wagon let's me add a Samurai Soul card from my Deck to my hand! I choose Superheavy Samurai Soulclaw and I immediately equip it to Stealth Ninja!" A red claw appeared on Ninja's left arm and it glowed with an aura of power.

"Jonathan has enough killing power on his Field right now to potentially sweep the rest of Team Emotion! What a stunning display of summoning!" MC commentated.

"Battle! Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja, attack Sherry's Life Points directly!" Jonathan commanded.

Time slowed to a halt as Carly watched the Monster slam its metal baton on Sherry and a great glow of light appeared on contact, obscuring her. The light dissipated and a tall knight in tattered black clothing was blocking the Ninja's attack with a rusted shield covered in cloth strips. Dark wings stretched out from her back, burnt feathers drifting down from the sky. With a mighty shove, the knight pushed the Ninja away, pointing a ruined lance at the Monster. Aki let go of a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Sherry's Life Points remained at 300. Sherry herself, however, was nowhere to be found on the track.

Out of a burst of light, Sherry accelerated past Jonathan's D-Wheel despite being directly in front of him for most of the Duel, her body wreathed in black and purple electricity. The blond man's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell was that just now?!" he exclaimed.

"What... what just happened?!" the MC asked, leaning forward in his seat. "What is that Monster and where did it come from?! How did Sherry complete an entire lap and get behind Jonathan?!"

"Holy Noble Knight Jehanne's second effect," Sherry explained. "During either player's turn, I can Synchro Summon using that Monster and a DARK Attribute Tuner on my Field. This is Desecrated Noble Knight Jehanne. Once per turn, it can negate an attack by either player. Jehanne also becomes a target for all of your Monsters when you declare an attack and you must target it. With 3200 Attack Points, you can't get over it with any of your Monsters and I'm safe."

Jonathan slammed his palm onto his steering wheel in rage. "Dammit! I end my turn!"

"What a turn of events! Sherry Leblanc just barely managed to hold on! And... what exactly is this Monster of hers?! I've never seen one quite like it!" the MC exclaimed. "How exciting!"

"I draw!" Sherry looked at the card she drew and exhaled. Aki caught a glimpse of her smile on the stadium screens. "I set one card face-down and I end my turn."

"Wait... what's Sherry doing?!" Carly exclaimed, rising out of her seat. "She could've attacked! Why didn't she?!"

"The effect of Holy Noble Knight Jehanne," Aki answered, checking the text on the card. "According to its effect, when it's used for a Synchro Summon with its second effect, the Synchro Monster can't attack for two of your turns. Meaning Sherry's next turn will really be her last."

"It's my turn," Jonathan declared. He glared at the card he drew. "I activate Superheavy Samurai Soulclaw's effect! I can Special Summon it to a Monster Zone from the Spell and Trap Zone! Appear, Claw!" Ninja detached the armament from itself and set it down at its side. "Then I tune Level 4 Wagon, Level 4 Scales, and Level 2 Claw with Level 2 Trumpeter!"

"What?! A four monster Synchro Summon?!" MC exclaimed, yanking at his blue pompadour with shock and excitement. "Just what is he going to summon?! What new surprises wait for us, folks?!"

"Hurdling forward without a care in the world, leaving nothing but dust in your path! The only way is forward! Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King!" A massive train burst out from the synchronization circle above the track, shooting holographic steam ahead of itself. Jonathan clenched his jaw in frustration. "I end my turn. I swear, Sherry Leblanc, your career ends on your next turn!"

"Hmmm... I doubt it," Sherry replied with confidence.

"She's an idiot," Jonathan thought. "She doesn't realize it but Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King has the ability to destroy two cards on the field if I discard two cards." He huffed, looking at Sherry in his rearview mirror. "I know what I can do to win. I have only one card in my hand. I just need to wait until my next turn so I can destroy that stupid lady knight."

Joker gently set his smoothie cup on the metal table, leaning on his elbow. He lifted the cup again, twirling it to check it didn't have any liquid left in it. His fingers crushed the fragile paper cup and his face twisted with rage, the cup flung towards the wall. Jonah flinched in surprise. "You idiot!" he hissed through gritted teeth. "You could've ended it with Steam Train King's second effect immediately! The banishment effect inflicts damage! Idiot!"

Unfortunately for Joker, his older brother was too focused on trying to win in a certain way. An attack with Steam Train King was the only way Jonathan would accept total victory over Sherry. What a stubborn idiot he was.

"I draw!" Sherry immediately set the card she drew. "I set a card and I switch Desecrated Noble Knight Jehanne to Defense Position. I end my turn." She tapped her left shoulder twice, a signal that Aki noticed from the overhead screens.

"Once again, Sherry Leblanc is playing defensively! She might just take the crown of defense from Team Armor!" the MC bellowed.

"Carly," Aki said to grab her teammate's attention. "Get ready. Sherry's ready to pass the baton to you."

Jonathan glared at Sherry. "How is she so calm? She's got 300 Life Points and has no way to beat over my Steam Train King," Jonathan thought, drawing a card. "I draw!" He grinned. Finally, he could activate his ace monster's effects. "I activate Steam Train King's effect! I send two cards from my hand to the Graveyard to destroy two cards on your field of my choice!"

He pointed directly at Desecrated Noble Knight Jehanne and one of her two Set cards. "Destroy them!" Steam Train King turned to face Sherry, steam rising from its smokestack. The giant wheels underneath it picked up speed, a set of tracks appearing from Jehanne to her Set card. Flames ignited from the tracks and Sherry stared unflinching as her cards were destroyed. "You're open for attacks now! Battle-!"

Before Jonathan could finish his sentence, the sound of a ticking clock echoed through the arena. Carly's eyes widened as she put on her helmet. "She's here!" Carly exclaimed with joy. "Sherry is gonna summon her!"

"Who?" Aki asked.

"Unfortunately, Jonathan, you destroyed my Set card." Sherry pressed a button on her D-Wheel and a Trap Card revealed itself. "Waking the Dragon's effect activates from the Graveyard. If this card is destroyed or banished by an opponent's effect, I can Special Summon one monster from either my Deck or Extra Deck."

A single card stuck out from her Duel Disk's Extra Deck slot and she grabbed it between her fingers. "Aviary! Common jery, veery, Every! Summary! Cursory, perfunctory, Every! Every revelry with Every is certainly a party! Fortune Lady Every!" Sherry chanted, a faint blush on her face from how embarrassing it was to be chanting an idol's call-and-response. A shadowy draconic beast appeared from the sky and opened its massive maw, a single glowing figure floating down from its sharp canines.

"Eeeek!" Carly shrieked in excitement. "IT'S FORTUNE LADY EVERY!"

"I really didn't think she'd go through with the chant," Aki mumbled, noticing just how embarrassed Sherry looked. It was so rare their team leader blushed. "Cute."

"A surprise Special Summon!" the MC screamed in shock, gripping the sides of his head. "But! Sherry's summoned Every in Attack Position!"

Jonathan slammed his foot on the accelerator. "I don't give a shit about that stupid monster!" he yelled. "I'm going to attack Fortune Lady Every with Steam Train King! Flame Ticket Express!" The train slammed directly into the Fortune Lady and she shattered, obliterating Sherry's Life Points. "I end my turn! Some Monster that was. It was nothing compared to my Superheavy Samurai monsters!"

"Is that so?" Sherry questioned. "Fortune Lady Every's effect activates! During my opponent's End Phase, if she is in the Graveyard, I can banish a Spellcaster monster from the Graveyard to Special Summon her! I banish Sorciere de Fleur! Come back, Every!" An elevator door appeared next to Sherry and it dinged quietly as Fortune Lady Every stepped out, winking at Jonathan.

As per the relay rules, Sherry immediately stopped in front of her team's pit stop and handed the cards on her field to Carly along with the baton patch. "I've set the stage for you, Carly." Their eyes met and Carly felt her nervousness jitters fade when she saw Sherry's gentle determination. "Outshine him!"

Carly slapped the baton patch onto her sleeve. "I'll defeat him!" she yelled triumphantly. She placed the two cards onto her Duel Disk and accelerated down the track, her long dark hair trailing behind her. The hum of Ener-D filled her heart with joy. Lady Luck was running at top condition today!

"A speedy relay from Team Emotion! Their second duelist is Carly Nagisa! Due to how quickly they changed duelists, Team Armor did not receive any extra Speed Counters!" the MC explained. "Carly versus Jonathan start!"

Carly looked up at the floating figure of Fortune Lady Every and smiled. "I draw!" she declared. "Hey, Jonathan! I predicted our fortunes with my Deck earlier today! Your loss is written in the stars!"

"As if! Fortune telling is fake!" Jonathan retorted.

"We'll see about that. During my Standby Phase, Fortune Lady Every's Level increases by 1 and her ATK/DEF also increase by 400!" A small gem appeared next to Every's golden staff and her Attack Points went up to 3200. "And when this happens, I can banish one face-up Monster on your Field! Every! Pull Superheavy Samurai Steam Train King into the world of endless time!"

Every snapped her fingers and a massive tear in space-time appeared under Steam Train King. The monster fell in and Every used the sharp end of her staff as a needle, threading the tear close, and wiping her forehead with her sleeve from exertion.

Jonathan watched in shock. "My... my ace monster!" he yelled.

Carly checked her hand. "My one turn kill is ready!" she declared. "First, I Normal Summon Fortunate Lady Lighty!" A yellow garbed woman appeared next to Every and the two monsters began to play rock-paper-scissors. "I then activate the Speed Spell, Rapid Mallet! When I have four or more Speed Counters, I can shuffle a number of cards from my hand back into the Deck and draw that same number of cards! I return my entire hand!"

Cardly watched closely as the cards shuffled automatically and four cards stuck out from the top. "I draw!" She checked her cards. "Aha! My fortune was right! I drew Fortune Fairy Hikari!" Carly revealed the card with a massive grin. "Her effect activates! If I draw her, I Special Summon her immediately and activate her effect! I banish one Spellcaster monster to Special Summon a Level 1 Spellcaster monster from my Deck! I banish Fortune Lady Lighty!" The pixie pointed her staff at Lighty who bowed and exited through the elevator door that was still present on the Field.

"I now Special Summon Fortune Lady Past!" A dark robed woman with an oak staff appeared on the field, her hooded cloak trimmed in orange. Aki's eyes widened. Fortune Lady Past was dressed in a dark robe that reminded her of the one Misty wore as a Dark Signer. Why did a card look like, or maybe mimic was the right word, a Dark Signer? "And Fortune Lady Lighty's effect activates! When she's banished, I get to Special Summon a Fortune Lady Monster from my Deck! I choose Fortune Lady Watery!" A woman cloaked in blue appeared at Past's side.

"My fortune's only starting! Watery's effect activates! When she's Special Summoned while I control another Fortune Lady Monster, I get to draw two cards!" Carly drew two cards from her Deck and added them to her hand.

Sherry sat down next to Aki, observing the duel from the screen in front of them. "A level 1 Tuner and Level 1 and 4 Monsters," Sherry muttered. "Carly is probably getting ready to Synchro Summon." She pointed at the Attack Points of the Monsters on Carly's Field. "It adds up to 4200 if she decides to attack but she likely wants to bring out a card that she can carry into the next turn."

"She'll probably summon that one," Aki guessed. "It's the cornerstone for her strategy besides Every. The perfect companion to her Fortune Ladies and Fairies."

"I tune Level 1 Fortune Fairy Hikari and Level 4 Fortune Lady Watery with Level 1 Fortune Lady Past!" Fortune Lady Past turned her gaze to look at Carly and for a moment, time stopped. Carly's eyes traveled up and she met the cold gaze of her Monster, those strange eyes piercing right through the duelist. Her heart jumped up to her throat. What was this feeling? Time resumed and the cold wind around her centered her focus. "Seer of time, keeper of secrets, lend me your strength! I summon you, Time Wyrm!" Five glowing stars passed through a single green synchronization ring and from the bright light of the Synchro Summon, a thunderous roar erupted.

A lithe serpentine wyrm whose scales gave off an opalescent gleam appeared above Carly, large glowing eyes decorating its body. "What in the world?! Wyrm-type Monsters are such a rare sight!" MC commented, pointing at the Monster in question. "Carly has removed all limiters! With a total of 5100 Attack Points from both Fortune Lady Every and Time Wyrm, Jonathan of Team Armor isn't going to make it past this point!"

Jonathan cursed under his breath. He'd completely, utterly lost to a total newbie. "I set two cards! Battle!" Carly declared. "Fortune Lady Every and Time Wyrm! Send this man back to the Sengoku Era where he and his cards belong! Rewound Strike!" Every and Time Wyrm faced each other and a great ball of energy formed in the wyrm's toothless maw, pulsing and shrinking until it became the size of a baseball. Every changed her grip on her staff and squatted slightly to resemble a baseball batter for just a moment before swinging, slamming the energy ball right into Jonathan's D-Wheel, holographic smoke and explosions erupting from his vehicle.

"Time Wyrm's effect activates! During the End Phase, I have to banish this Monster or banish my entire hand! See you later, Wyrmy!" The slithering monster disappeared into the elevator door next to her D-Wheel.

The results screen reflected off of Joker's sunglasses and he stood up so suddenly from his chair, it fell backwards. His older brothers were so useless. He vaulted into the driver's seat of his D-Wheel waiting at the side of the stadium road and turned on the engine, Speed World 2 activating as he put on his seat belt. The headlights blinked on and the shimmer of Ener-D washed over his pink corvette. He adjusted his rearview mirror with a heavy exhale.

Jonathan screeched to a stop next to his brother. Just as he was about to take off the team's baton patch, Joker reached over and ripped it off himself, glaring at his brother.

"As usual, I have to clean up after you," Joker spat. He slapped the baton patch onto his hoodie sleeve and slammed his boot into the accelerator, leaving Jonathan behind in a cloud of dust.

"The ace of Team Armor is heeeeeeeeeere!" the MC announced, a bright light trained on Joker's pink D-Wheel. "The Pink Devil!"

The corvette caught up easily with Carly, only lagging behind due to the sheer difference in Speed Counters. "I draw!" Joker declared. He looked up at the crowd and winked, a cheer going out.

Aki looked around nervously. "I didn't realize Team Armor had so many fans in Japan..."

"I set five cards face-down and end my turn!" Five cards materialized around his pink car and faded away.

"F-five?!" Carly exclaimed. "What do I do?!"

Joker adjusted his lenses. He didn't need to think of a plan. His deck already had the cards necessary to defeat Carly. He tilted his head to the side and smirked confidently.

"Joker's infamous Trap Card strategy begins! He's the final boss, the strongest duelist, the true ace of Team Armor!" the MC boasted. "I never thought I'd host him in my stadium!"

"My turn! I draw!" Carly heard the elevator door ding. "During the start of my Standby Phase, Time Wyrm special summons itself if it's banished! And it brings a banished Fortune monster with it! I choose Fortune Lady Lighty!" The doors of the elevator began to creak open.

"Keep those doors closed!" Joker yelled. "I activate the Counter Trap, Solemn Strike! I pay 1500 Life Points to negate Time Wyrm's summon!" An ancient man in robes forced the elevator doors shut, much to the annoyance of the massive wyrm behind it.

"Hey! Let my monsters out of banishment!" Carly protested. "I activate my own Counter Trap, Bending Destiny! If I only control Fortune Lady monsters, I can negate a Spell or Trap card and then banish it!"

"That's not enough. I chain another Counter Trap, Solemn Judgement! I pay half of my Life Points to negate the activation of your Counter Trap!" Joker grinned smugly at Carly as the elevator doors stayed shut. "Your Time Wyrm stays banished!"

"In no time, Joker has already shut the doorway for Carly's winning strategy! Without Time Wyrm, her deck has been severely weakened!" the MC played back. "However, Joker's Life Points have floated down to a mere 1250 points! Is this sacrifice worth it?!"

"Ugh..." Carly looked down at her hand and breathed in and out slowly. "It's still the Standby Phase though! Fortune Lady Every's effect activates! Her Level goes up from 8 to 9 and her Attack Points go up to 3600!" Another glowing gem appeared on Every's staff.

"I activate two Trap Cards!" Joker announced. "I activate Anti-Spell Fragrance, which prevents either player from using Spell Cards immediately. All Speed Spells must be set before activation now!"

Carly's gloved hand hovering over the singular Speed Spell in her hand flinched. "I... I needed this card! The only Monster I have in my hand is Solitaire Magician and I wanted to try and draw something else!" she thought. "How did he...?"

Sherry's eyes narrowed at the screen in front of her. "What a coincidental luck of the draw that he had just the card to slow down Carly," she stated. "Anti-Spell Fragrance is an extremely rare card too. Very few copies of it exist and we didn't uncover this card while looking through Team Armor's prior deck lists."

"Well, judging from how unique their D-Wheels are, I'm guessing they had enough money to spend on just one copy," Aki reasoned. Despite her logical answer, the psychic couldn't help but feel like something was off.

"My second Trap Card is Solemn Wishes! Every time I draw a card, I gain 500 Life Points!" The face-down card sat up permanently alongside Anti-Spell Fragrance.

"I summon Solitaire Magician in Attack Position!" A smaller version of Fortune Lady Every appeared at Carly's side. "Battle Phase!"

"Joker only has one... just one face-down card on his field." Aki noticed the growing smirk on Joker's face from the overhead projections. "Carly! Don't do it!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "It's a trap!"

But Carly didn't hear it over the noise of the crowd, the thrum of her own heart. This was so exhilarating. "Fortune Lady Every, attack Joker directly!" Every aimed her staff at Joker and a blast of magical energy shot at the pink corvette. However, the shot bounced back and both Fortune Lady Every and Solitaire Magician shattered into glowing fragments.

"Trap Card, Mirror Force! All of your Attack Position Monsters are destroyed!" Joker announced. "Did you really think you could touch my Life Points?"

"Grr..." Carly grumbled. "I set one card face-down and end my turn!"

Sherry's brow furrowed. "Mirror Force? That's an even more expensive card than Anti-Spell Fragrance. It's out-of-print and only die hard collectors have those." She thought further. Counterfeits? No. Duel Disk technology was too advanced for even the finest of counterfeits. And he couldn't have hid a card in his sleeves. The Duel Disks would pick it up as cheating. "Two extremely rare cards in a row. Do you believe it's a coincidence, Aki?"

The redhead stared at the screen. "No. It's possible he bought those cards. But the likelihood he drew them organically..." She did the math in her head. "0.06%. 1 in 1560."

"How lucky," Sherry muttered. There was a faint electric hum in the back of her head. Something was definitely going on with Joker. She just needed to figure out what it was. "Carly's in trouble if this keeps up. The next turn, if she can just keep both Time Wyrm and Fortune Lady Every on the field, she might have a chance. That or she can use the set card I left for her."

"I get the feeling she can't yet," Aki replied. "The time isn't right."

Carly looked down nervously at her Field, her eyes trailing to the mystery set card. "Then... there's the card Sherry left for me. But I can't use it yet... Just a little longer. Because for me, dueling is like a dating sim! You gotta hold on till the end to use your best items! You don't ever waste them for creating a flag event!"

Joker tilted his head, as if thinking.

"It's my turn!" the pink haired man declared, drawing a card. "I gain 500 Life Points due to Solemn Wish's effect, bringing my Life Points up to 1750. I set two cards face down and end my turn!"

"During my opponent's End Phase, I can Special Summon Fortune Lady Every from the Graveyard by banishing a Magician-type Monster! I banish Fortune Lady Past! Come back, Every!" The elevator doors dinged and out stepped the idol of a Fortune Lady.

The two D-Wheel sped across the track at blazing speed now, with Carly's Speed Counters cranked up to 12 and Joker's at 6. Carly breathed in nervously and drew from the top of her deck. "My turn! Time Wyrm's effect activates! I Special Summon it and it brings a banished Fortune Monster with it! Time Wyrm and Fortune Lady Lighty, come back from the break room!" The elevator door slammed open and Fortune Lady Light sauntered out as the massive Time Wyrm snaked out.

"And because Every is on my Field, I can boost her Level by 1 again!" Every's staff gained a glowing gem next to it. "Lighty follows her lead, obviously!" The blonde witch glowed with power, a yellow aura surrounding her. "Time Wyrm's main effect activates! If a Fortune Monster's Level increases, I get to draw a card!"

"Wait, the banishment and special summoning effects weren't Time Wyrm's main effects?!" Jonathan exclaimed, staring at the screen in shock.

"Don't worry. Joker's got it from here," Jonah reassured. "He's our leader and our ace for a reason."

Carly drew two cards and grinned. "I just brought even worse luck to you! I drew Fortune Fairy Chee, my favorite Level 6!"

Aki chuckled. "That's the only Level 6 Monster you regularly play..."

"When I draw her, I get to Special Summon her and both players draw a card!" The orange dressed fairy appeared in Defense Position, wiping her large glasses on her dress. Joker's Life Points jumped up to 2250.

Joker slapped a large button on the side of his steering wheel, a Trap Card flipping face-up quickly. "I activate the Trap Card, Revenge Rally! I target Time Wyrm and Equip it with this Trap Card. It gives the Equipped Monster an additional 500 ATK/DEF!"

"Huh?" Carly looked at him flabbergasted. "Why would you power up my own monster?!"

"Can't I give a gift to such a beautiful woman?" Joker flirted with a wink. "I've been giving you a difficult time so I figured I'd make it easier on you!" The crowd screamed and shrieked.

"Ugh get me out of here," Carly mumbled. She shook her head to clear her mind. "I Normal Summon Fortune Lady Firey in Attack Position!" The fifth and final Monster arrived on the Field, her cute red skirt billowing in the wind.

"Trap Card, activate!" Joker yelled.

"Again?!" Carly screamed, cutting him off.

"Torrential Tribute!" Joker screamed back, raising his fist out of his open window. "When a Monster is Summoned, I get to destroy all Monsters on the Field!" A massive wave of water crashed over Carly's Field, her Monsters shattering into glowing shards. "Did you really think it was a good idea to try and power through with sheer numbers? You can't stop me! I'm the Ace!" he gloated. "There's no one who can beat me!"

Revenge Rally disappeared as well, leaving behind a glowing imprint of itself next to Joker's corvette. "Revenge Rally's second effect activates! If the Monster it was Equipped to is destroyed during the same turn I activated this Trap Card, I get to draw 2 cards and then discard 1 of them!" Two cards shot out from his Deck holder into his open hand and he put one into the Graveyard slot of his Duel Disk. His Life Points bumped up to 3250.

"So that's why..." Carly muttered. "Well fine then! I activate Speed World 2's effect! I pay 7 Speed Counters to draw one card!" Lady Luck's speed dropped sharply, Carly lagging behind Joker. "C'mon... I gotta draw something good!" Her gloved hand snatched up the top card of her Deck and she looked at it dumbfounded. She couldn't stop the wide smile on her face. "I've got it!"

Joker's eyes narrowed. His plan couldn't work if Carly was slower than him. "During the next turn, I have to reduce my own Speed Counters with Speed World 2's effect. Otherwise, my strategy..."

Jonathan's fists tightened in his lap as he watched the duel from the stop pit. "Bro, you can do this..." he muttered.

"My strategy is ready! Three cards set on the Field and these five in my hand!" Carly grinned, her olive green eyes shimmering in excitement. "Unfortunately for you, Joker, I just drew Fortune Fairy Hu! And just like her other friends, Hu Special Summons herself if I draw her! Welcome to the party, Hu!" A green fairy appeared at Carly's side, blowing raspberries at Joker. "And her effect activates! I get to add a banished Spellcaster Monster to my hand so long as it's level is equal or less than Hu's!"

A single card popped out of the top part of her Duel Disk. "I select Fortune Lady Past!" As Carly's fingers made contact with the card, the world around her slowed to a halt, her heartbeat echoing in her ears. Then time resumed and she carefully added it to her card holding slot. "Then I activate Call of-"

"Don't do that."

"What?" Carly stopped her hand. "Where did that voice come from?"

There were only the sounds of screaming from the crowd and the whistle of wind in her ears. She pursed her lips. "Well, I always listen to my instincts. Now shouldn't be any different," she muttered. "I end my turn!"

Joker clicked his tongue in annoyance. "She was about to activate Call of the Haunted but stopped. I wonder why. Not that it matters. On my turn, I'll reduce my Speed Counters. Then I'll finally be able to see her cards again." He lifted his tinted pink sunglasses with a finger, carefully setting them back onto the bridge of his nose. "It's not cheating if the judges don't see it, after all." The light of the stadium passed over his glasses, showing for just a fraction of a second Lady Luck's duel screen.

"I draw!" Joker pressed a thin button under his finger on his steering wheel and a card shifted up in the Deck to the top. He drew it with a disinterested look. "My Life Points go up an additional 500, reaching 3750! And now that my Speed Counters have reached 7, I activate Speed World 2's effect!"

"I activate the Continuous Trap Card, Bad Reaction to Simochi!" Carly interrupted. "I then chain the Speed Spell - Traffic Stop to it! Both players have their Speed Counters reduced to 1 and draw cards equal to the amount of Speed Counters they lost!" Now both vehicles were side by side and Joker cursed quietly.

Bad Reaction to Simochi was the exact card that he couldn't see earlier. He looked over at Carly's D-Wheel and even though he could see every single card on her Field, he knew he couldn't win. Not unless...

"The chain is resolving!" the MC yelled into the microphone as Joker drew six cards and Carly drew five. "And due to Bad Reaction to Simochi, Joker loses 3000 Life Points instead of gaining them! He's dropped all the way to 750 Life Points! What an amazing turnaround!"

"I..." Joker struggled to say anything. "I can't lose. We've worked so hard. We've blown so much money on our cards, on our vehicles. We can't lose we can't lose we can't-"

"Finish him. No mercy."

Spurred on by the voice in her head, Carly activated her final face-down card. "I activate the Trap Card, The Gift of Greed! Joker, you get to draw two cards-"

"Brake. NOW!"

Joker spun his steering wheel rapidly, the side of his corvette nearly smashing into Carly's D-Wheel as she panic braked and her vehicle just fell behind him. The pink D-Wheel suddenly spun out and crashed against the side of the race course. "Joker!"

Carly stopped her vehicle and wrenched open the door of the crumpled corvette, pulling out her opponent from the smoking wreck. "Joker, hey, are you okay?!" she exclaimed, slapping his bruised face. He was out like a light, his normally soft features crumpled into a deep frown.

Aki and Sherry stared in shock at the "No Results" screen floating overhead as paramedics swarmed Joker. What a miserable way to end the first duel of the WRGP.

Chapter Text

Carly brushed her fingertips against a pink flower at the grocery store. A small bouquet of pink carnations, cheap. On sale, even. She had time to spare today. The next two days of duels for the WRGP were delayed due to extensive damage to the inner race track at the arena. She picked up the bouquet and gently placed it on top of her precarious pile of cup ramen and frozen vegetables in her grocery basket.

"1,248 yen please."

The bespectacled reporter shoved her groceries into her car's trunk and sped off towards her small apartment. "Don't melt, don't melt, don't melt, don't melt," she chanted under her breath, her hands gripping the steering wheel. She wedged her small yellow car into her parking space and dashed upstairs with the groceries. The frozen peas survived. The carrots, maybe not.

She put the bags of vegetables into the freezer and then carefully arranged the fridge with her cup ramen. "Great, it looks full! I have the beef on the top, chicken in the middle, shrimp in the bottom, and the cheese ones in the door," she said to herself, grinning. Then she sighed. "The unemployment check's not for another week..."

Carly shook her head, breaking the train of depressing thoughts. "I'm gonna visit Joker at the hospital. I bet that guy's lonelier than I am right now!" She exhaled with renewed energy and headed downstairs. Bouquet in the passenger seat, Carly drove to the Central Domino Hospital where Joker was currently resting. For a moment, Carly considered contacting Aki or Sherry to see if they had time to see Joker.

"Hmmm... Aki has an online make-up exam today and Sherry is probably buried in research," Carly thought. She'd heard the gist of what happened to Sherry's parents, she'd seen that rage in her leader's eyes. A kind of rage that she could sympathize with. She made a left turn. "I'm surprised that rage doesn't show up in her dueling style at all. It's really... subdued. It's almost like she'd holding herself back most of the time." Carly stopped at a red light.

"Maybe I'm holding myself back too."

A quiet chuckle came from behind her and Carly broke out into a cold sweat, turning around to look for the source. The light turned green and the cars behind her honked aggressively. "Alright, alright, I'm going!" she exclaimed, putting weight onto the gas pedal. "Geez, these city drivers..."

She parked near the hospital and stepped out with the bouquet in hand. Carly felt a twinge of anxiety run through her spine. It felt like she was entering a dungeon in a video game completely unprepared. "No party members, no healing items, unknown enemy level." Carly sighed and walked into the waiting area, beelining for the welcome desk.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the nurse asked.

"Hi, I'm here to see Joker Arun," Carly said nervously.

The nurse looked down at his computer. "Are you family?"

"No."

"Friend?"

"I... don't think we're quite that close."

The nurse sighed. "One moment, ma'am." He typed something into a nearby phone and put it to his ear. "Hello, is this Mr. Arun? This is the front desk speaking. There is a..." He glanced up at Carly.

"C-carly Nagisa!"

"... a Carly Nagisa looking to visit you." There was a slight pause. "Alright, I'll let her know." The nurse hung up the phone. "Mr. Arun has allowed you to visit him. His room is..." The nurse glanced around for any stragglers who could be listening. Then he wrote a number down onto a piece of paper and slid it towards Carly.

"Room 245."

Carly bowed and took the elevator to the second floor, narrowly avoiding a nurse wheeling a sleeping patient through the hallway. "Room 240, 241, 242... ah there's 245!" She knocked on the door gently.

"Come in." Carly nervously opened the door. Where there should've been dozens of bouquets and gift baskets sat empty, sterilized space. Suddenly, the little bundle of pink flowers she'd brought felt like they could fill the room. Joker was sitting upright in the hospital bed, his face scraped and his left arm entirely wrapped in a cast. Jonah and Jonathan were nowhere to be found. Joker looked older, frail. Tiny.

The open window next to him framed his face in gentle light.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone flat. "Shouldn't you be celebrating with your team?"

Carly fidgeted. "I visited because I was worried about you. You tried to crash into me during our duel." Joker averted his gaze, choosing to look out the window. "Why did you do that?"

He didn't say anything for a minute, his entire body frozen with hesitation. Then, carefully choosing his words, Joker spoke. "I was paid to do one of two things: win the WRGP or make sure Team Emotion didn't get past the first round. It was a lot of money. Enough for both me and my brothers to retire." He turned to face her. "I used that money to cheat. I could see your cards the entire time, except for the one Sherry had given you. Unreadable somehow." He smiled wryly. "If I had seen it, I wouldn't have had to try and hurt you. It's all Sherry's fault this happened."

"Are you for real? You lost because you never intended to duel me honestly in the first place!" she exclaimed, shaking the bouquet with rage. "You cheated and lost and you blame my teammate for this?!" Joker scowled and looked away again, forcing silence upon them.

"You're not wrong," he mumbled. He cleared his throat and spoke a bit louder. "My sponsor will axe me from the Riding Duel scene after this. My future as a duelist is ruined." Because of Sherry.

"Well, you sit on that and think about what you've done then. I'm going home." Carly left the bouquet on the nightstand and stormed out.

Joker turned to look at the flowers. "They're wilted..." he remarked quietly.

"Yes, they are, aren't they?" Thick miasma poured in from the back corner of the room, darkening the area. Joker's eyes blew wide open and his body screamed at him to run. A shadowy figure approached his bedside, Joker's legs pushing himself out and onto the floor where he crashed against a chair.

"Are you really trying to run now, Joker?" The young man screamed in fear as the dark figure towered above him, a single reptilian eye visible through the dark smoke surrounding him.

"You made a deal with me. You said you would either win or prevent Team Emotion from achieving victory."

"Wait, wait, please-!" Joker screamed. "Please, you saw what happened! I tried! I was only a couple feet from her on the track! I-I-I should've-"

The figure clicked his tongue. "You know better than to make excuses to me, Joker. I am your sponsor." The eye swiveled in its socket to look down at him. "And you remember what happens when you cannot pay back your debt."

"Nononono!" Joker screamed as his body lifted into the air from unseen forces. "Please! My brothers need me! They're relying on me! You can't-!" His body fell slack and glowed dark red before disappearing entirely into the miasma.

"A thorough disappointment, Team Armor. I will have to take matters into my own hands." The miasma slowly faded away from the room. A breeze from the open window gently swept pink petals into the sky.

Carly angrily got into her car, stomping her sneakers into her car floor and was about to slam the door closed before taking a deep breath and gently closing it. She sighed. "I try to do one nice thing for the guy and that's how he acts..." she grumbled. She shoved her key into the ignition and started up her car, driving out of the parking lot. Carly checked the time at a stop light. "It's three in the afternoon. Maybe Aki's available to talk?"

A golden D-Wheel slowly crept up to her window and the helmeted driver glanced at her, Carly unaware as she sent a quick text to Aki before turning her eyes back to the red light in front of her. "Hey, wanna meet up later?" she typed out before gently putting her phone in the passenger seat. She leaned against the wheel, drumming her fingers against the worn down surface. "What's taking this light so long?" she asked aloud.

The brunette turned her head to the right and noticed a golden D-Wheel to her right. "Flashy..." she muttered. Carly turned her head to the left and finally noticed the other golden D-Wheel. "Another golden one? Is this some kind of new model I didn't hear about?" The bright red eye emblazoned on the rider's sleeve caught her attention and Carly snatched up her camera from her glove box. She turned off the flash and took a quick picture of the rider, making sure to keep the focus of the picture the symbol.

"I haven't seen that eye in a long time," a voice spoke out beside her. Carly jumped in her seat, nearly dropping the camera. She turned her head very slowly. There, in the passenger seat, sat her. This Carly waved at her. "It's been a while."

"Who are you? What are you doing in my car?! Why do you look like me?!" Carly yelled, her voice rising with each question. This Carly chuckled. "Why are you laughing?!"

"Because you already know who I am." A dark mark appeared under her left eye. "You were me for a while in the past."

Carly looked towards the everlasting red light and cursed. "Am I going insane? Am I going crazy?" she muttered, her hands tightening on her wheel.

The radio suddenly buzzed to life. "Attention all Neo Domino citizens!" Ushio's voice crackled out. "If you are currently on the road, park on the side of the road immediately and turn off your engines! Riding Duelists, please do not engage with any of the golden Riding Duelists on the road! I repeat, do not-!"

Radio static.

The light turned green and the golden D-Wheels to her left and right sped off, swerving between cars. "Golden... wait wait wait- I need to warn Aki and Sherry!" Carly quickly turned a corner and parallel parked at a 30 degree angle from the sidewalk, earning a curse from a driver who swerved around her miserable parking job. She grabbed her phone from the passenger seat, the other Carly watching over her shoulder. "C'mon, pick up, pick up!"

"The number you've dialed is not in service."

Carly checked the signal on her phone. "Out of service?! I'm in the middle of the city!" she exclaimed.

"You're in a bad spot," the other Carly said in a matter-of-fact tone. "What will you do?"

Carly started up the car once more.

"I'm getting back on the road!" Carly declared, veering onto the street and heading straight for her apartment. "Hey, you!" The other Carly pointed at herself. "Draw a card from my deck! Just pick one!" She reached into the glove compartment where Carly kept her deck. A card slipped out from the top, landing on the passenger seat. "What's the card?"

"It's Fortune Fairy En." The reporter grimaced.

"Lucky color red, lucky number 2..." Carly listed off the fortune on the card without turning to look at it. "'Remember that combinations are stronger.'" She ran a red light as a swarm of golden D-Wheels passed her by. "You." She pointed directly at her doppelganger. "You're going to help me. What can you do for me?!"

Carly swerved through traffic, nearly crashing into the plum tree in front of her apartment building. She yanked the keys out of the car and ran up the building's concrete steps, her doppelganger following close behind. "I can provide backseat commentary," the other Carly said smugly, watching Carly dig through her closet for her riding suit. "Despite how dangerous it is, you'll still go out there on the off chance you might find your friends?" The reporter nodded as she zipped up the high collar and grabbed her helmet. The doppelganger grinned wildly. "You've grown well in my time away. I look forward to the wonderful future ahead of... us."

Lady Luck thrummed to life as Carly put her Duel Disk into its slot, shining lines of Ener-D wrapping around the bulky vehicle. "Let's go, other me!" Carly exclaimed.

"Chevalier de Fleur, attack Rose Girl!" Sherry declared. "With this, I-"

Her words caught on her throat, her heart beat pounding in her ears, the world pausing for just a moment. Something was happening. The holographic monsters halted their duel, frozen in time, waiting for the command to finish. Aki looked at her teammate with confusion.

"Sherry?" she called out. The blonde blinked and for a moment, she saw Aki just a few meters away from her. Then a golden blur passed by them. And another. And another. Until the two found themselves swarmed by duelists on identical golden D-Wheels. "What the-?!"

Their D-Wheel screens changed to that of an ominous dark red sigil of an eye.

"Battle Royale Mode Activate," the artificial voice stated, the Field Spell changing from purple to crimson. "Auto-pilot standby."

"My turn! Draw!" one of the dozen duelists declared. "I summon Psychic Commander and set two cards! I end my turn!" Aki attempted to weave through the crowd of duelists but found herself blocked off, the shiny helmets they wore reflecting the growing panic on her face.

"Aki, take the next exit! I'll meet back up with you as soon as I deal with these assholes!" Sherry yelled over the cacophony of card summons.

"What about you?!" Aki exclaimed in fear, her hands trembling.

"I can take care of myself." She turned her head to look at Aki, still hesitating to leave. "Go! What are you waiting for?!"

Aki narrowly swerved into the upcoming exit, dragging several of the golden Duelists with her. Her fingers trembled as she dialed Carly's number on her D-Wheel's side screen, the call immediately dropping.

"Making phone calls during duels is extremely dangerous and against Neo Domino City's road laws!" the artificial voice of the D-Wheel's system warned. "You must conclude the duel in order to make a call."

"Dammit!" Aki muttered. Three duelists surrounded her, weaving back and forth between one another, becoming nearly indistinguishable from each other. She still had Rose Girl on the field along with two set Traps: Lineage of Destruction and Sakuretsu Armor. Her hand was completely empty and Black Rose Dragon was in her Graveyard alongside a majority of her Synchro Monsters. "My Life Points are still the same as when I was dueling Sherry. I'm stuck at 800 while these duelists still have 4000. I'm even restarting with just 1 Speed Counter."

"My Trap Cards will be able to pull me through this!"

"I accept your duel! You three can go first!" Aki called out.

"How courteous of the Black Rose Witch," one of them snarked, drawing a card.

Aki's jaw clenched from hearing her old moniker.

"I summon Hushed Psychic Cleric in Defense Position! With its effect, I send Master Gig to the Graveyard and banish it!" A white robed psychic monster appeared on the field in a crouched position. "I set one card and end my turn!"

"I draw! I summon Hushed Psychic Cleric in Defense Position! With its effect, I send Master Gig to the Graveyard and also banish it!" the second one announced. "I set one card and end my turn!"

"I draw! I summon Hushed Psychic Cleric in Defense Position!" The third one sent a card from their hand to the Graveyard. "With its effect, I send Master Gig to the Graveyard and banish it! I set one card and end my turn!"

"They all had the exact same cards, the exact same play. Are they cheating?!" Aki thought. The redhead looked down at her Speed Counters. "I'll have 2 Speed Counters when I begin my turn. I just pray whatever card I draw is a good one."

She put her index and middle finger over her deck. "Please, please let me draw exactly what I need...!" she prayed. "I draw!"

Bloody Rose Witch was her card! "I summon Bloody Rose Witch in Attack Position!" Her faithful companion appeared on the Field, twirling its wand as it hovered by Aki's side. "I Tribute her to activate her effect! I add Witch of the Black Rose to my hand and place a Level 3 or lower Plant monster from my Deck on the very top!" Two cards pushed out from the top of her Deck. "After that, I get to Normal Summon Witch of the Black Rose!"

As the red dressed witch faded away, a familiar purple dressed witch took her place. "Witch of the Black Rose's effect activates! When I Normal Summon this monster, I get to draw one card! If it's a monster, I get to add it to my hand!" Aki felt her heart beating faster as she drew. "I drew Rose Fairy! Because I added it to my hand due to the effect of a monster, I get to Special Summon it! Come forth, Rose Fairy!"

A pink fairy appeared next to Witch of the Black Rose. "I activate Bloody Rose Witch's second effect from the Graveyard! I banish her to return Black Rose Dragon from the Graveyard back to my Extra Deck!" Aki breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "With this, the preparations are complete! I tune Level 3 Botannical Girl with Level 4 Witch of the Black Rose!"

Three synchronization rings appeared above Aki, four glowing stars weaving into them. "Decorate the world in blossoms. Bring life to your fallen army! Synchro Summon!" A beam of light burst forth from above her, petals falling from the sky. "Periallis, Empress of Blossoms!" The green dressed monster appeared next to Aki.

"So you chose not to summon Black Rose Dragon, huh?" one of the golden duelists asked. "Bring it out, Witch!"

Aki could feel her hands trembling. She squeezed her handlebars tightly and pressed on. "Periallis' effect activates! I can Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Plant-type Monster from my hand or Graveyard! I Special Summon Splendid Rose!" Twirling into the battlefield arrived the green trickster, showering the Psychic Monsters with green and red petals.

"With these two, I can defeat two of the Hushed Psychic Clerics. From there, I can use Sakuretsu Armor if they decide to attack me with another monster," Aki thought. "Without access to my level 8 or higher monsters, I can't activate Lineage of Destruction either."

"I activate my Trap Card, Absolute End!" one of the duelists declared. "All attacks are turned into direct attacks until the end of the turn!"

"What? Why would they...?" Aki looked at the Field incredulously. "Battle Phase! Splendid Rose, attack one of them directly!"

"I activate my Trap Card!" one of the other duelists yelled out. "Flashbang!" Splendid Rose successfully attacked them, taking over half of their Life Points. "After a direct attack, the Battle Phase ends!"

"Dammit!" Aki grit her teeth in frustration. "I... I end my turn."

"It's my turn!" The golden duelists seemed to blend into one another as they once again weaved between each other. "I draw and activate my Trap Card, Attention! I select one of your Level 5 or lower Monsters and every other Monster on the Field with a different level is destroyed!"

All three of the Hushed Psychic Clerics and Periallis shattered. "Now all three of our Hushed Psychic Clerics' effects activate!" the three duelists announced in unison. "If this card is sent to the Graveyard, we can Special Summon a Monster banished by its effect!" Three Master Gigs appeared at their sides. "Master Gig! Battle Phase!"

The massive Psychic Monster towered over Splendid Rose, releasing an awful high pitched noise that slowly created cracks along the Plant Monster's body. "I activate my Trap Card, Sakuretsu Armor!" Demonic blue armor covered her Monster as it slammed its fist into Master Gig's side, the Psychic Monster destroyed by the Trap's effect. "I won't let you touch my Life Points!"

Sinister laughter erupted from the three duelists. "Do you think it's only my turn to attack?" one of them asked.

"It's a Battle Royale!" another finished. "Master Gig, attack her Splendid Rose!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A high pitched scream erupted from behind as Fortune Lady Every suddenly appeared out of thin air, unzipping reality under Master Gig and banishing it. Carly pulled up beside Aki, appearing haggard. "Hey Aki!" she greeted cheerfully as the sounds of battle surrounded them.

"Carly?!"

"Now's not the time to be surprised!" the reporter yelled. "Let's just get past this!"

Defeat was the only word on Sherry's D-Wheel screen as her Life Points disappeared from the Battle Royale assault. She braked and stopped her vehicle, five golden Duelists now surrounding her. "You've won. Take your victory and leave me alone," Sherry snarled.

One of them clicked their tongue in disappointment. "So this was all it took to defeat you, Sherry?" one of them asked. "I expected better from you as leader of Team Emotion."

Her emerald eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

The one who spoke up chuckled. "You're not familiar with me. No surprise. Today was our debut after all." They took off their helmet, long auburn hair falling past their shoulders. A scarred visage, a terrible smirk, musty gray eyes. "I am Divine, leader of Team Arcadia. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

A handshake was offered.

Sherry spat on the ground. "I don't accept handshakes from cowards."

Divine returned his hand to his side. "I spent all this time hunting you down because I believe you have information I want and I have information you want."

"This could have been an e-mail," Sherry grumbled. "What are you offering?"

"Information about Yliaster, of course."

The blonde's jaw tensed. "And in return?"

"I want to know about Aki Izayoi." Sherry thought about it. She considered it seconds longer than she should've. "Hesitating? Very unlike you."

"Whatever information you could give me is not worth betraying Aki," the blonde responded.

Divine mockingly applauded Sherry. "Camaraderie like that is rare nowadays." A horrendous glimmer appeared in his eyes. "Take her." The other four duelists approached with stun batons, Sherry backing away from them. "Don't fight it, dear. The struggle is more painful than the blissful sleep."

Sherry raised her fists, slowly backing away. Two approached her, swinging in unison, from both her left and right. She grabbed both of their arms and threw them against the walls of the highway, their unconscious bodies slumping to the ground. Divine whistled. "You're a lot stronger than my spies said you'd be. That's fine." He picked up a card from his Deck and set it on his Duel Disk, summoning a massive winged Psychic Monster with glowing yellow claws. "Thought Ruler Archfiend, get her."

Sherry narrowly dodged the sharp claws, watching in horror as it left gashes in the road. "You're a Psychic duelist," she hissed.

"That's right. Exactly like Aki," Divine replied with a smile. "Please understand I'm only doing this so I can stop her. She must have the evil within her expelled. The evil of an Earthbound Immortal."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sherry asked genuinely.

"Ancient dark gods that sleep under the earth, hence the term 'Earthbound.' Their chosen Signers are recognizable by a symbol of faith on their arm." Sherry couldn't recall ever seeing Aki's arms, the redhead always wearing long sleeves or having something else covering them. "Team 5Ds are some such Signers. Haven't you noticed they all have their arms covered up?"

This information tucked into the corner of Sherry's mind, now irking her endlessly. "Fashion choice, obviously," Sherry responded.

"Holy Leader Divine," one of the followers interrupted. "The Black Rose Witch and the Earthbound are approaching our location. Spear Battalion failed to defeat them."

Thought Ruler Archfiend disappeared as Divine removed it from his Duel Disk and put it back into his Deck. "Our time is up, Sherry. I must get going unfortunately. Still, I thank you for listening." He put his helmet back on and his subordinates, now carrying the other two unconscious cultists on their backs, boarded their D-Wheels and immediately left the area, the only evidence of their existence remaining as a terrible itch in Sherry's mind.

Just as soon as Divine and his cultists faded from the horizon, Aki and Carly pulled in. "Sherry, you're alright!" Aki exclaimed, hugging her leader tightly. "I thought you'd crashed or something. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Sherry looked at her teammates, noticing scrapes and dust on their clothes. "I... I'm fine, actually," she said, pulling away from Aki. "You two look a lot worse than I do."

"They were all Psychic Duelists." Aki winced as she rolled her shoulder to release some tension.

"It's like the Arcadia Movement rose from the dead..." Aki thought.

Carly turned back nervously, sirens growing closer to them. "We should take this conversation somewhere else."

"Somewhere else" was the hotel room Sherry was staying in. Sherry sat across from Aki and Carly, a coffee table between them.

Mizoguchi set down three cups of tea in front of Team Emotion before bowing slightly and leaving the hotel room. Aki noted that this hotel room was different from the one Sherry had been staying in previously. Sherry breathed in deeply, sighing.

"Their leader spoke to me," she began. "His name is Divine."

Carly's grip on her upper arm tightened. Why was this name making her so scared? Maybe she'd researched him in the past, maybe she had tried to get an interview and failed. Who wouldn't want to talk to an up and coming cult leader at the time?

"They called themselves Arcadia and they called you a 'Signer', Aki." She turned to face the redhead who was staring at the carpeted floor in disbelief. "He... also accused you of having a connection to something called an 'Earthbound Immortal' and that their goal is to..." Sherry paused briefly. "He didn't speak his goal aloud but from the way he was talking about you and Team 5Ds, I can only assume he wants to either control or destroy you all. He also referred to the two of you as 'Black Rose Witch' and 'Earthbound.'"

Aki opened her mouth to say something and nothing came out. How could she explain any of this? How could anyone begin to explain the gravity of knowing Divine of the Arcadia Movement was alive after everything that had happened? Aki only knew the vague details about Carly's involvement with the Arcadia Movement, mostly from Jack's own fractured recollection of how Carly became a Dark Signer in the first place.

Sherry noticed Aki's silence and stopped to take a sip of her tea. "He wanted information about you, Aki. In return, he offered me information about Yliaster." She looked down at the stem floating in her cup. "I said no."

She faced them with a serious expression. "Aki, Carly, is there anything you two can say to help me understand this? I want to be able to protect my friends."

"I'm a Signer," Aki finally said, breaking the silence. She pulled up the sleeve of her motorcycle suit, revealing the Crimson Dragon's claw. "This is the mark that represents my connection to an ancient deity called the 'Crimson Dragon.' Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Ruka all have marks as well. Our fated task was to come together to fight back the Earthbound Immortals and seal them back within the earth."

Sherry nodded, listening intently. Carly couldn't help but recollect the numerous blog posts and social media confusion about hundreds of thousands of Satellite and Neo Domino citizens suddenly appearing out of thin air in the midst of rubble. The local media spun a story about it being caused by an earthquake, a tsunami, a strange bug in the testing of the Ener-D systems under the city.

"Divine was... the leader of the Arcadia Movement. He tricked me into joining his cult and becoming a part of his plan to take over the world with the power of other Psychic Duelists. He... he was eaten by an Earthbound Immortal. He shouldn't have survived." Aki shuddered, remembering the sound of Divine screaming for help. "I don't know how he's returned either."

Carly looked down at her white knuckled fists. Something felt so familiar about Aki's words. Talks about Earthbound Immortals, Signers, marks on arms. Something was bugging her. She remembered doing research on Aki. She remembered entering the Arcadia Movement's headquarters. She remembered-

"During my three years at the Arcadia Movement, Divine brainwashed me." The redhead's fingers trembled. "He had a phrase he could say that would make me lose all control of my psychic abilities. He was also the one who developed my limiter." She tapped the metal hairclip holding back her bangs. "I remember helping Security sort out the mess with the Movement after Divine disappeared. I gave them all the information I could, helped them access the logs that Divine kept secret from even me."

"I saw..." Aki looked at Carly. "Carly, do you remember being in the Arcadia Movement's building? I saw you on a recovered CCTV reel and you and Divine were dueling in his office and..."

"You fell twenty stories onto the ground and became me." The doppelganger Carly appeared next to Sherry. White noise filled Carly's brain, swallowing up Aki's words. Dark memories rose from the depths of her mind. The duel with Divine, the pain of a true Psychic Duel, the cold fingers of death taking hold of her soul. The burning desire for vengeance. "You tried so hard to forget but I won't let you. I have revenge to seek and it will live on within you."

"So Bommer is the only person you know of who has a more intimate understanding of the relationship between Signers and the Earthbound Immortals." Sherry made a mental note. "And he's in Peru right now? Is there any way to contact him digitally?"

Aki shrugged. "He wasn't exactly handing out his social media handles when the battle ended. He immediately flew home to see his siblings."

Cold fingers gripped Carly's shoulders. "Seek out the former Dark Signer of Ccarayhua. Ttahuatin-Suyu calls to us, it calls to all Dark Signers."

"Perhaps a visit is necessary," Sherry suggested. "Flying to Peru now of all times will be a bit difficult. The recent incident with Team Arcadia swarming the city has left it on major alert. No one's leaving or entering the city without extreme scrutiny."

"I think I know a guy," Aki said with a small smile.

Chapter Text

Contingency plans existed in every aspect of Divine's life. He had a replacement for any member of his new cult, the Knights of Arcadia. He had off shore bank accounts that he could access in a moment's notice. He had insurance plans on every single building he'd purchased with the collective money of his cult.

Damaging the city's communication network was mere child's play compared to the truly devious plan he was concocting deep below Neo Domino City.

In the past, when he'd finished exhausting a Psychic Duelist of their potential and found their powers undeserving of his training, he preserved them. An expensive project of his, an ungodly expensive project. Creating soldiers of war required working bodies, not working minds, after all. Burying a body also meant a potential connection to him.

Divine could hear Pikiru's laughter of delight at the sight of the massive laboratory in the underground space, dozens of rows of clear preservation tanks with Psychic Duelists suspended in thick liquid, their bodies hooked up to a multitude of tubes and machines that kept them artificially alive. Outside of the tanks, the bodies wouldn't last very long.

After all, every single one of these Psychic Duelists were dead.

Divine had no qualms with using the bodies of the dead to further his research on the phenomena of Psychic Duelists. "We're scum, why not provide some use when we finally die?" he reasoned. The laboratory was run full time by his most trusted staff, all who had pledged allegiance to Divine and his beliefs.

"Why have you brought us here again?" Pikiru asked, slithering under his skin, a dark pulse running through his veins. "I've already seen this place before. It reeks of your evil. A delicious evil."

"Pikiru, I believe you will be interested in my proposal." Divine snapped his fingers and a lab assistant appeared beside him, her eyes glazed over. "Prepare the body of #16," he instructed. The assistant disappeared between two tanks. "I would like you to experience the human world for yourself. I'm sure you're bored with being in my body. Wouldn't it be nice to have one of your own?"

"An interesting proposal, yes. But we Earthbound Immortals are just that, bound to the earth itself. It is only by marking ourselves onto humans that we can use them as a proper gateway to the human world."

Another assistant appeared beside Divine. "Sir, the body is ready," he said in a dull tone. "The team is currently stabilizing the body."

"Lead me there." Divine followed the nameless man into a small room that nearly blinded him when he walked in, its walls and ceilings stark white compared to the pleasant mint green clothing the medical team was wearing. At the very center of their practiced hands laid a body, its skin and hair still wet from the liquid it'd been suspended in, excess liquid dripping off of the surgery table it laid upon. An EKG machine was the only indication the body had any semblance of life within it.

Divine felt a horrible smile growing on his face as he watched his cult members slowly remove excess life support and medical machinery from the body, revealing an oh so familiar face. "This body's name is Toby Lola. He was a young Psychic Duelist I recruited about two years ago as a way to try and leverage financial support from his older sister." The other cult members left the room, leaving Divine and Pikiru alone. "He was... unsatisfactory. He learned of my true goals and tried to escape. So naturally, I had him preserved here. Until now."

Pikiru's laughter hummed in his spine, his veins, his nerves. Dark smoke erupted from his palm, filling the room, filling Toby's lungs. The young boy's eyes flew open, reddened from years of artificial sleep, his heart beating in unison with Pikiru's ancient one. Garbled words, ancient tongues, speech that was beyond Divine's understanding spilled out from Toby's mouth until he fell back dramatically on the surgery table.

Divine cautiously approached the still body. The eyes were rolled back, dark veins blooming dramatically on the skin, and the limbs were completely slack.

"Another failure?" Divine thought as he looked closer at Toby's body. "Shouldn't have. We've perfected this process at this point, though it was with mind swapping rather than putting a mind directly into another's body."

A scrawny hand grabbed his gloved one. The eyes rolled forward, reptilians irises staring into his soul. "You are truly my best servant," Pikiru complimented with the widest grin his human vessel would allow him.

The cult leader chuckled as he helped the god stand up from the surgery table. "I only live to serve. Why don't we go pay a visit to the ruler of this city?" Pikiru's grin continued stretching out Toby's face. "We have a new vassal to kneel for you."

A two week lockdown on the city's airports and sea ports meant that Divine would have ample opportunities to find and crush the Signers. After all, no one could leave. "Like rats in a cage..." He chuckled to himself as he unlocked the small black sedan. Pikiru was breathing harshly behind him, now dressed in a simple white t-shirt, jeans, and black sneakers. "You're not looking so well."

"I require sustenance..." the god muttered. His pallid complexion and trembling legs betrayed his exhaustion. "A soul would do well to satiate me for a couple days."

"Mmm... is that so?" Divine opened the door for Pikiru to get into the vehicle. "I suppose I could sacrifice one of my followers. I just wonder who." He started up the vehicle as soon as Pikiru slouched against the back seat and closed the passenger door.

"Anyone who is not important to your cause," Pikiru suggested.

"Ah but I think all of them are quite important to my cause," Divine said, leaving their parked spot to enter the main road. "I believe the one I must pick is one who is not a leader. Or perhaps... someone who won't be missed." He turned on the radio, settling on some easy listening muzak, humming to the tune.

The rest of the way was silent, Pikiru spending much of it getting used to his new body and all of its sensations. He had never personally stepped foot in the human realm. This Neo Domino City that Divine considered home (for the moment) was so different from Ttahuatin-Suyu. Sharp strange structures, vehicles that moved with the press of a foot, and the scientific progress of the current age...

"And so many more souls to feast upon..." Pikiru thought, the skin stretching smile appearing once more. Divine looked at his god with the rearview mirror.

"Humans don't normally smile like that," Divine warned as they turned into the parking lot of Security's main headquarters. "We're here. Your new vassal is at the top floor of this building." Pikiru craned his neck to look up at the massive building. "Though I must warn you, Ushio is not the most impressive of men. You might even consider him to be below you after you meet him."

"The power structures of man continue their cycle of the weak leading the weaker. Nothing has changed in the past five thousand years." Pikiru stepped out of the car and Divine helped him walk into the building. It was a madhouse, perfect for what Divine was planning. He approached the front desk.

"I need to see Officer Tetsuo Ushio, if you don't mind," Divine said politely. The front desk officer looked up from his paperwork and his eyes widened in shock.

"S-sir D-Divine!" the officer stammered in a hushed voice. "I'm honored by your presence but I'm not sure if I could fulfil such a request. I'm just a low ranking officer. To pull away the Captain at such a time..."

"I'm sure you could pull some strings, Koji," Divine insisted with a smile. He remembered his follower's names. He remembered their weaknesses, their desires, their strengths, their needs. And this man, Koji, above all, desired acknowledgement and for others to believe in him. Divine took Koji's left hand in his, gently squeezing the man's palm. "I believe in you, Koji. Why else would I have chosen a man such as you for such an important job in our organization?"

Koji nodded firmly, his heart full of the false words Divine had poured into him. "I will have Ushio call you up as soon as I can. You might have to wait a while though."

"In that case, I will visit a nearby café with Toby until then." Koji looked over curiously at Pikiru. "I see you haven't met our newest member yet. This is Toby. He's under my tutelage at the moment but I wager I'm learning more from him than he is from me." Pikiru gave the smallest of smiles. "Let's go, Toby."

Once they left the building, Pikiru scowled at Divine. "How dare you refer to me by a name not of my own? I would have eaten you right then and there."

"Now, now, Pikiru, you know better than to bite the head off of a hydra like me," Divine chuckled, leading them down the street. "My own followers must never know of your true identity. They follow me after all, the one who speaks your truths, rather than you yourself. It would also be far easier for you to interact with them if they simply consider you to be another follower rather than the deity who I owe a great gratitude to."

They passed by a small chapel and Divine gestured at the building. "This is a place where some people go to commune with their god. A singular one, specifically. Not one that you knew in your time." He paused. "There is usually a priest in there to lead the communion. Without him, the followers of the god are lost, without a direction to go in. And when they lack direction, they forget the principles of their faith. And with the fading of memory comes the fading of a god's teachings."

The chapel passed them by and soon, the two were seated in the corner of a small café. Pikiru stared at the menu as Divine listed off their order to the waiter. A glass of water appeared before him. He chugged the entire glass, shakily holding onto the cup as water sloshed out from between his mouth and the rim of the cup. "Small sips," Divine chided, blowing on his hot coffee.

Their food arrived: a stack of hotcakes with syrup and butter for Divine and a steak rice bowl for Pikiru. "This will have to do for now. Hopefully, you can acclimate to the diet of a human." Pikiru picked up the slices of meat on top of the rice and shoved them into his mouth. "I'd recommend using this tool instead of your hands." Divine picked up the fork next to the bowl.

"Humans have such strange structures for the most asinine of things. Of all things to have rules for, why eating?" Pikiru held the fork in his hand, irked by the tool's shape.

"For the same reason why we still have religious teachings. It gives structure to our lives, gives us control over our most base nature: consumption." Divine spread the butter and syrup over the topmost hotcake and cut into it carefully. "Humans are creatures of chaos yet our lives are structured. We have timekeeping devices that we check almost obnoxiously, we have rules for how one must go about their lives in society, and we even have rules for who is allowed to have children."

He put the cut up hotcake into his mouth and chewed, washing it down with some coffee. "We eat like this because it is what makes us invisible. The jungle exists here, the sharp fangs and claws replaced with the scathing words of your fellow man. To be invisible in the jungle is to be safe from such judgement. It is for our own safety that we act the way society dictates." He looked down at the dark liquid in his cup. "We are still the same scared animals, the darkness of the jungle keeping us from liberating ourselves."

"A philosophical viewpoint that has only reinforced that mankind will never change." Despite this, Pikiru used the fork to finish his meal to the best of his abilities.

After another hour of waiting, Divine and Pikiru were called up to the top floor of the Security headquarters. The meal seemed to have given Pikiru some color to his cheeks and he was no longer struggling to walk. He seemed annoyed after the lengthy elevator trip though. "Pressure in your eardrums bothering you?" Divine asked. "If you put the flat of your palm against your ear and use the suction of the palm, you can sometimes relieve that pressure."

"Sometimes?" Pikiru echoed, doing just as Divine had described. "A pity the human body is so complex yet so fragile."

"Consider it a blueprint for our own societal structures," the cult leader said with a chuckle. They were now waiting in front of Ushio's office, waiting to be called in. The wood paneling was... old fashioned and the few plants around them were clearly in need of some TLC. At least the ceiling-to-floor windows gave a great view of the city.

The door opened, Ushio appearing in his usual white button up and slacks. "Come on in. I heard from Officer Koji that you two had some very important information about the most recent attack on our city." He sat at his desk, two empty chairs in front of it just for his visitors. The room was quite small, with barely enough space for any of the furniture in it, most of the space occupied by his desk and massive cabinets. "Have a seat."

"I'm afraid we won't be here for that long, right, Toby?" Divine looked at the god beside him.

"No. This will not take long at all." Dark smoke filled the office, an ominous purple glow floating off of Pikiru. Ushio coughed as he inhaled the smoke, unable to breathe. Soon, he stopped resisting and his eyes glazed over. "Tetsuo Ushio, you are my vassal."

"I... I am... your vassal..." Ushio muttered, the mark of the labyrinth burning onto his forearm. "What is... your command...?"

"Erase all data on the Knights of Arcadia and stop the investigation on the attack we committed," Pikiru commanded. Divine sighed pleasantly as Ushio nodded. The captain went to his desk and began to type rapidly at his computer.

"Hm... we also will require your assistance with finding the Signers." Divine loomed over Ushio's shoulder. "Think you can do that for us?"

"... Signers... in Peru..."

"... come again?"

Chapter Text

Team Emotion sped through the backstreets of Neo Domino City, avoiding Security vehicles as best as they could while making their way to Aki's home in Tops. A strange feeling welled up in the back of Aki's heart at the thought of showing her friends where she lived. She hadn't ever brought anyone from Team 5Ds here. Aki parked in front of the luxury apartment condominium building, Sherry and Carly following suit.

Carly let out a low whistle as she craned her neck to look at the top of the massive building. "Wow, Aki... you live pretty lavishly," Carly commented. "You have this whole place to yourself or...?"

"As if," Aki replied. "My parents aren't that rich. My housing is provided by my dad's job."

"Must be lucky to be the governor's daughter." Carly and Sherry followed Aki through the sliding glass doors into a spacious entrance area. Four elevators and two sets of stairways waited for them.

Aki pressed a key fob against a scanner next to the elevator and it silently slid open. The elevator ride up to the twentieth floor was uneventful, mostly spent waiting as muffled muzak played above them. Sherry was grateful their stay in the elevator was short. The muzak was getting on her nerves. Aki stepped out of the elevator into the hallway and was immediately tackle hugged by her sobbing father.

"Agh!" Aki yelped when her mother hugged her even tighter, both of her parents wailing with worry. "Mom, Dad... um... I'm home..."

"Awwww..." Carly felt herself get misty eyed at the sight of such a warm family reunion. "Isn't this just sweet?"

Sherry smiled slightly. "Yes, it is."

"Sweetie, you're home! We were so worried about you!" Hideo sobbed. He and Setsuko both reluctantly let go of their daughter, both wiping away their tears with their wrists. "And you two, Sherry and Carly, we've heard so much about you from our daughter. Is there possibly anything we can do for you two to repay getting our daughter back to us safely?"

Sherry and Carly looked at each other, Carly being the first to smile nervously and wring her hands, as if rubbing her cactus leather gloves together would emit charismatic energy. "Well... there is something you could do for us..."

"I'll do anything except let my daughter out of the country," Hideo said firmly, blowing his nose into a tissue. Team Emotion and Aki's parents were now seated on two sofas, a small coffee table between them. A small mountain of tissues were slowly building up in the trash can near Hideo. "Do you realize how dangerous it is outside right now? Those mysterious Duelists took out the communication network of the city. And they were attacking Duelists on the road who had showed even the slightest support for Team 5Ds."

"I didn't realize Divine was going after supporters of Team 5Ds as well," Sherry thought, filing away that detail for later. "I knew he would be targeting Signers specifically but even supporters..."

"It's because of how dangerous it is out there that I have to leave the city for the time being," Aki insisted. "I'll be safer if I'm not trapped in the same area as those Duelists!"

"You don't know that, Aki." Hideo held his head in his hands, his fingers gripping onto his thinning hairline. "And why Peru of all places? You couldn't have picked a country closer to us like Hong Kong or Russia or, or, or even Thailand?"

"A man named Bommer is in Peru and he has information I need to know immediately," Aki said. "It's about... it's about the Earthbound Immortals, the Signers, and... Divine."

The cult leader's name fell out from Aki's lips, landing with the weight of the world, silence echoing after it. Setsuko's hands white knuckled as she clutched her hands in her lap.

"Father, Divine is the leader behind the events of today. He has a new cult called the Knights of Arcadia and they're looking for me and the rest of the Signers. If we can at least get me and my team out of the city, whatever they're planning won't be possible."

"I can't help the other Signers but I'm sure they can survive with their own collective efforts. Priority must be given to my own teammates right now," Aki reasoned as guilt welled up in her throat. "I doubt my father could sneak out more than three people on an aircraft. I'm already asking a lot as is."

Hideo leaned back on the couch and sighed.

"We'll protect you-"

"You should go," Setsuko interrupted, her voice wavering. Hideo turned his head towards his wife, his eyes larger than dinner plates. "If Divine is searching for you, now is the time to make your escape before he figures out where you are."

"W-what- honey, we're supposed to be convincing her otherwise right now! Who knows what could happen to our daughter?"

"That's a risk I'm happily willing to take," Setsuko argued. She looked Sherry and Carly, her firm resolve felt by both team members. "You two have dealt with Divine and his lackeys, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am," Carly affirmed.

"Yes, I dueled him personally today," Sherry said.

"Her teammates being able to take a beating from a Psychic Duelist isn't enough to let Aki just go to Peru unsupervised! And I-" Hideo's mind ran at a thousand kilometers a second, trying desperately to come up with a counter argument to his wife's logic.

If Aki escaped now, Divine would never find her in this two week downtime and it would also give Hideo time to build a case against Divine and his cult to bring them to justice. It would also mean Aki was guaranteed to not be found for the next two weeks.

If Aki stayed, Hideo would have to focus all his efforts into turning his home into a fortress. Sure, he could investigate the Knights of Arcadia while also keeping a close eye on his daughter but... Aki could be taken from him at any moment unless he kept her locked here. And Hideo knew from past experience that locking Aki away was not the solution.

And he would never do it again.

"I'll arrange a Security transport for you tomorrow morning," Hideo finally said. He looked at his daughter with a sad smile. "You've got two weeks in Peru, kiddo. Pack your bags."

Sherry woke up with the sheets in her fists and her skin covered in cold sweat from a nightmare.

5 AM.

She took a quick shower, repeatedly curling up her fingers into fists. Her head hurt a bit but it wasn't anything she couldn't deal with.

Mizoguchi had already left breakfast for her on the table. He was outside of her room, sitting on one of the rundown plastic chairs available for hotel visitors, reading the newspaper.

"My lady, I wish you a safe journey," he said quietly, the sun casting a light orange glow upon his face.

"I'll miss you, Mizoguchi." Sherry hugged her guardian tightly, hesitantly letting go of him. "Please stay as safe as you can while I'm gone but... if you could, please continue investigating the Moment Express Development Organization. When I return in two weeks, I'd like to pick back up on our investigation into that."

"Of course, my lady."

"You've always been a busy one..." Mizoguchi thought as he watched Sherry drive off into the horizon, disappearing into the rising sun's light.

At 9 AM sharp, Team Emotion boarded a Security aircraft meant for transporting cargo, taking off within fifteen minutes towards Nazca, Peru. Sherry was dead asleep in her seat, Carly wouldn't stop fidgeting with her seat belt, and Aki was poring over a traveling guide of Peru. Except for Sherry, neither Carly nor Aki had ever been out of the country.

Carly was wearing khaki shorts, an oversized Hawaiian shirt, and pink flip flops, Sherry was wearing a gray hoodie, dark pants, and thick soled traveling boots, and Aki was wearing a red hoodie and jeans with her motorcycle boots. Clearly, they all had very different concepts of how much walking they were going to do.

Aki was nervous, so very nervous. Her only plan was betting on Bommer being available to talk to them. Otherwise, Team Emotion would be stuck in Peru for two entire weeks. The wide blue ocean underneath them did nothing to calm her nerves either.

"Aki, I'm so excited!" Carly squealed. "I've never been out of the country before!"

"I haven't either. I didn't think my first time traveling would be for..." Aki searched for the words to describe their situation. "... stopping a cult from doing... something having to do with the Signers. I'm glad I have you two with me. Otherwise, I think I'd go insane."

"That's what friends are for," the reporter said with a warm smile. "Though I feel a bit weird having friends who are much younger than me."

"I'm only seventeen, I'm not that young," Aki pouted.

"I'm still five years older than you. I'm a whole adult," Carly declared with a laugh. "But sometimes I still don't quite feel like one." Carly turned towards the sleeping Sherry and nudged her awake. "Hey, Sherry, you ever feel like you're not really an adult?"

Sherry blinked wearily at Carly. "I just turned nineteen a couple months ago. Give me a few more years to think about that question."

The three Duelists were dropped off at a small airstrip in Ica. The weather was horrendously hot. Despite this, all three of them boarded their D-Wheels and sped off towards Nazca.

"Aaagh, it's so hoooot!" Carly complained, the desert sun beating down on her.

"We don't have much of a choice but to keep moving," Aki said in response, her own face dotted in sweat under the helmet. "Better we find Bommer now than later."

"Auuuugh..."

One hour of excruciating travel later, the three of them stopped at a gas station to rest. Carly ripped off her helmet, groaning as she leaned against her D-Wheel in the shade of a tree. "It's so hoooooot," she complained.

"I'll get us some water and food," Sherry offered. "My Spanish is a bit rusty though."

"Eh, you can speak Spanish?!" Carly asked in shock.

"I picked it up while Mizoguchi and I were living in Mexico a decade ago," Sherry explained. "I'll be back soon." She disappeared into the gas station store, leaving Carly and Aki to guard the D-Wheels.

"Our leader is so dependable." Carly waved off a mosquito from her arm. "How is she even real?"

Aki looked at her teammate in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"She can speak more than two languages, she can duel better than anyone I know, and she's like... investigating some secret organization all on her own. She's like a protagonist right out of an American comic."

"Now that you mention it..." Aki recalled Sherry's strange driving during their duel with Team Armor. "How did she... appear behind Jonathan during the WRGP?"

Carly perked up. "Eh? What do you mean by that?"

Aki tapped a few buttons on her D-Wheel, a recording of part of Sherry's duel against Jonathan flickering to life on the screen. Just as his Superheavy Samurai Stealth Ninja attacked Sherry, she disappeared in a flash of light, gone from the race track. And just as Desecrated Noble Knight Jehanne appeared, Sherry reappeared behind Jonathan, wreathed in black and purple flashes of lightning.

"That."

The recording stopped shortly afterwards.

"How did she do that?" Aki asked aloud.

The reporter leaned against her D-Wheel in thought. "Maybe it was just part of a hologram she personally programmed or something," Carly reasoned. "Some people like to make their own holographic effects for their Dueling. Maybe in reality, Sherry slowed down and then re-accelerated, using the bright flash to use like... some kind of hologram to temporarily cloak her?"

Carly shrugged. Aki mentally agreed with this reasoning. It made sense. A lot of sense, actually. It was just that...

"The strange teleportation reminds me of when Yusei was dueling Antinomy and Antinomy performed an Accel Synchro Summon. He reappeared right behind Yusei in a flash of light... I'll have to ask Sherry later to confirm."

As if on cue, something very cold bumped Aki's cheek and she yelped from the sudden temperature shock. There stood Sherry holding large bottles of chilled water and a brown bag with grease stains on it. "Here, drink up. Don't want to get dehydrated out here."

A bag of empanadas and four water bottles later, they resumed their journey on the road, the sun beginning to set as they finished the final leg of their journey to Nazca.

The final sixty kilometers ended with the three of them parked in front of a hotel, utterly exhausted from their day of travel.

"Hello, three single rooms please," Sherry said as she reached the front desk, both Aki and Carly right behind her.

"Traveling?" the receptionist asked with a smile, rapidly typing away at his computer, searching for available rooms.

"Ah, yes, we are. We just arrived from Ica."

"Long distance to travel. We'll just need payment and a signature from one of you three as well as the name these rooms will be booked under." A clipboard with a pen was passed to Sherry. She quickly signed it and put the rooms under her name while Aki dug through her suitcase for the credit card her dad had given her. One card swipe later, all three of them were in their respective hotel rooms and promptly collapsed onto bed.

"Wake up."

Carly's eyes shot open. Where was she? It was dark. The air was thick and difficult to breathe. She sat up. Darkness engulfed her.

"You've made it to Ttahuatin-Suyu." The doppelganger appeared in front of her, wearing her khaki shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and pink flip flops. Carly had to admit, she looked awfully intimidating even in that goofy outfit. "Your next order of business is to find the former Dark Signer, Bommer. All Dark Signers, present and past, can find one another. A sixth sense we all have for eventually ending up in the same place at the same time."

"What if I don't want to see the others?" Carly blurted out, earning a poker face stare from her doppelganger. "What if I don't want to be reminded of what I did?"

"Then you'd be a coward to not face your destiny," the copy declared. "You need me more than ever."

"Are you... an Earthbound Immortal?" Carly asked cautiously. Her doppelganger laughed.

"No. I'm... a part of you that you've repressed."

A terrible answer. Carly had repressed many things in her life: her desire to buy gems for gacha, her urge to give up in the face of poverty, and the memories of her middle school emo phase...

The list went on.

"What do the former Dark Signers have to do with this?"

"Consider it a responsibility. Pikiru has awoken and with his recovery arrives the Eternal Darkness, heralded by the Knights of Arcadia. If the other Earthbound Immortals aren't kept sealed, Pikiru will only gain strength from the combined might of his comrades. So in essence..." An orange glowing sigil of a hummingbird appeared behind the doppelganger. "You will be dueling against an Earthbound Immortal."

"Huh?"

The doppelganger's expression did not change.

"HUH?!"

In the morning, the three women met up in the lobby of the hotel. "Morning, everyone," Sherry greeted with a yawn. "How did we all sleep?"

"Better than I thought I would," Aki answered. "How about you, Carly?"

The reporter looked haggard as she approached the coffee machine in the lobby. "Horribly..." she replied, watching the dark espresso fill a paper cup. "My doppelganger that keeps appearing in front of me told me that we'll be meeting the other former Dark Signers soon or something."

In went three creams and sugars. "Oh and to stop some guy called 'Pikiru' or whatever, we all have to duel our former Earthbound Immortals or something..." She stirred it silently as her teammates looked on with concern.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Did you specifically say the name Pikiru?" Aki asked quietly.

"Yeah, what about it?" the reporter asked, slurping her coffee.

Aki sat all three of them down in the lobby and explained in detail her dream battle against Pikiru, his connection to Black Rose Dragon, and how she'd defeated him.

"How is he still interfering with my life?!" Aki complained, her head in her hands. "He's like a snake, shedding its skin and reappearing where you least expect him. How did... how did Divine get in contact with an ancient god? Is that how he's alive right now?"

Sherry placed a comforting hand on Aki's shoulder. "Aki, why don't we try to find Bommer so we can have these questions answered?" she suggested.

After breakfast, the three women walked around, both to sightsee and to ask around if anyone knew of Bommer and where he was. Everyone they asked shook their heads or refused to answer. The desert sun was taking a toll on all three of them so they ducked into a café to take a break.

The door to the café opened with the sound of a bell chime. The interior was nice and cool thanks to the thick walls that made up the café walls and roof. There in the back of the room sat four familiar faces chatting over coffee: Misty Lola, Kiryu Kyousuke, Demak, and Bommer. In unison, all four of them looked up at Team Emotion entering the establishment.

"As if on cue..." Carly thought.

"They're here," the doppelganger whispered.

"So the dreams were true," Bommer said aloud. He stood up to greet the three. "It's good to see you made it here safely, Aki, Carly." He turned to Sherry. "I'm afraid I don't know your name. You are...?"

"Sherry Leblanc." The two shook hands.

"Have a seat. Demak owns the place so we can sit and chat for as long as we like." Demak clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Bommer sat down and cleared his throat. "I already explained it earlier to the others but I'll repeat myself because you three just got here." He looked directly at Sherry then at Aki. "Does Sherry here know about... us?"

"You're all former Dark Signers, right?" Sherry guessed.

The muscular man smiled. "I see I don't have to explain everything then." He leaned forward, his forearms resting on the table. "I had a dream last month of Earthbound Immortal Pikiru doing battle against Black Rose Dragon and losing. However, as the flames of battle faded, the corpse of Pikriu moved. A baby serpent slithered out from the mouth and escaped."

Aki's jaw tightened.

"Ever since, I have been plagued with dreams of this snake slithering its way across the other Nazca geoglyphs, carving out a pathway for the Earthbound Immortals to escape. It's why all of us were led here, either by coincidence or by your own calling. We have all gathered here today so that we can defeat our former masters and properly reseal them."

"Is that like... super necessary?" Carly asked nervously.

"Yes, unfortunately," Bommer answered gravely. "Pikiru is the god of blood, darkness, and the everlasting cycle between them. Even his geoglyph is of the labyrinth. We must stop him before it's too late."

"Bommer, I believe that Pikiru is currently connected to Divine, a cult leader, in some way," Aki spoke up. "He's currently leading a group called the Knights of Arcadia and they all wear a giant eye sigil as their mark."

Misty dropped the cup of coffee she'd held to her lips, the nearly empty cup clattering onto the table. "Aki... Divine is alive?" The words were nearly a whisper.

"Yes. He's alive."

Misty reached forward and grabbed Aki by the shoulders, her face a twisted grimace. "I remember him disappearing into Ccarayhua's maws. How... how is he still breathing?" Her thin arms shook from the gravity of the news. "Is there no justice in this world?"

"My father will help bring him to justice if I don't end up doing it myself," Aki promised, taking Misty's hands off of her. "I swear I'll stop him if it's the last thing I do."

The model exhaled shakily and stood up. "I have to go. Bommer, you know how to find me." He nodded and just like that, she was gone.

"The eye sigil you speak of is likely a symbol of Pikiru's protection. As he gathers more followers to his twisted ideas, Pikiru will slowly gather more power and eventually bring an Eternal Night to the world."

"I'm totally not built for saving the world," Carly thought, her mind full of dread.

"We have a ceremony of confrontation occurring in a week. I'll be preparing everything we need to ensure we can close the barrier between the Underworld and the human world."

Kiryu nodded, leaving the table as soon as Bommer finished his sentence.

"Where are you going?" the Peruvian asked.

Kiryu didn't stop as he answered, "To train, what else?" He left, his long dark coattails trailing after him into the desert sunlight.

Training meant to prepare one for a duel against a god. Truly a set of pre-requisites that Sherry never thought she'd have to even conceive of a training drill for. What was it even like to duel against a god, an entity that desired the destruction of all?

A human was predictable, controlled by the tug of war between their emotions and their morals. A god held concepts higher than what a human could comprehend.

"So, Carly." Carly's head turned creakily towards a smiling Bommer. "Why don't you and I do some training?"

"This was supposed to be a vacation!" Carly complained loudly.

While Carly was training with Bommer, Aki spent much of her day in Sherry's room, strategizing for their upcoming duel in the WRGP. The next round of duels would start just a day after they were scheduled to returned and their opponent was Team Utopia, a team that hailed from Antarctica of all places.

"It would be wise if Carly is the starter and I'm the anchor," Sherry began. "Team Utopia usually sends their team in this order: Quinton, Terry, and Isaac." She put three face down cards on the table to represent the opposing team. "Quinton uses a Machina Deck that heavily relies on the Graveyard. As such, Carly's banishment effects using Fortune Lady Every would be a good counter to his strategy."

"Terry, from what I can see, uses a Fusion Deck that performs... contact fusion?" Aki swiped through a web page on her phone, looking through Terry's publicly known cards. "Her strategy relies on quickly summoning and fusing together the components of VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon... I'll do my best."

"As for the last one, Isaac." Sherry tapped the final face-down card. "He uses an Ancient Gear Deck. The only real trouble is how terrifying his dueling style is. He aims for high power duels that end with his opponent's spirit breaking." The blonde smirked. "Of course, he has never dueled me before."

"You are scary in a duel." Aki flipped over one of the face-down cards. Necro Synchron. "By the way, how did you- during the WRGP- how..." She looked Sherry dead in the eye. "How did you... disappear during the WRGP? Specifically when you were summoning Desecrated Noble Knight Jehanne?"

The blonde seemed amused. "It's obvious, Aki. All I did was-" Her sentence was cut short by sharp pain running through her skull, her blood aflame in her veins, searing into her skin. Sherry cried out in pain, holding her head.

"Sherry? Are you alright?" Aki put her hands on Sherry's shoulders.

"No... something's not... right..." Sherry gasped. "Suitcase... bottle... just... two..." Aki ran towards Sherry's suitcase and opened it, rummaging through the pockets for a bottle. A small white pill bottle dropped out. Aki unscrewed the cap and, in her haste, accidentally poured out the entire bottle of white, non-descript capsules into her open hand. She put two into Sherry's shuddering hand and the blonde swallowed the pills.

"Get... bed... please..." Aki carefully helped Sherry stand up and led her to the bed, somehow managing to get her friend under the sheets. Her skin felt cold to the touch, almost freezing Aki's fingertips.

"Sherry, what's going on? Should I call a doctor or get you to a hospital?" Aki offered.

"No. No hospitals..." Sherry wheezed. "Can't let Yliaster find me. I'll be fine. I just need... to rest..." The medication's effect worked its magic on Sherry, putting her to sleep instantly.

Aki sat on the floor by Sherry's bed, feeling utterly helpless.

Ruined buildings, rubble, sharp shrapnel surrounded her. No longer was she in the manor.

Sherry looked up at the cloudy sky, watching as strange machines flew by.

"Machine Emperors..." she muttered. "Just like the ones reported to be stealing Synchro Monsters."

"Are you ready to get going now?" Japanese speech that she translated into French in her head. A blurry figure stood next to her. Nothing was recognizable to Sherry. They were like a blind spot at the center of her vision, incapable of being caught by her eyes.

Sherry looked away from the aerial army marching towards unknown destinations before nodding. "Yeah. Let's go."

They walked through the ruined landscape of Neo Domino City, ducking in and out of safe areas, searching for something. Was this dream a warning of the future? Did it have to do with Yliaster? Who was this stranger? Why did Sherry trust them? What were they searching for?

"Is something wrong?"

Something about this person felt incredibly familiar.

It was on the tip of her tongue, at the edges of her mind, at the precipice of reality.

No matter how hard she focused, she couldn't remember.

"Who are you?"

"That's a silly question, Sherry. I'm [REDACTED]. We met three years ago before [REDACTED] started his war on humanity. You and I were dueling when our arena at the WRGP became ground zero." Names became static noise as the figure spoke.

"What do you mean the 'arena became ground zero?' What did we do?"

"We made this happen." They gestured towards the fallen buildings around them. "Well, [REDACTED] laid out the groundwork for it. We unintentionally completed his circuit because we believed our kindness, our love, and our desire for camaraderie would be strong enough to win over the hearts of the world. We were wrong. And the world paid for it."

Love... Sherry did not think she was capable of that emotion anymore, not after so many years running from the light and chasing after shadows. Though... the type of love this person referred to was, to her knowledge of Japanese, "love between friends." Even then, she couldn't think of anyone in her life she'd consider loving as a friend.

"What is a circuit?"

"It's... I'm not actually sure myself. I only know it has to do with using Ener-D based vehicles or devices while feeling strong emotions."

It sounded so unbelievable. A cataclysm created by two people dueling, putting their heart and soul into a battle? It wasn't possible. Why would someone even want this?

Sherry ran through a potential list of culprits. Divine? No, his plans involved utilizing people. His world would not have this level of wanton destruction, deserted of humans, the skies reigned by strange robots.

Yliaster? Also unlikely. If their clandestine plans were to control humanity, wiping them out was extremely unlikely to further any such plans. Unless they were culling the population. Also unlikely.

She remembered the white space with the strange metal entity in it, slowly floating in place, its ancient gaze piercing right through her. That thing? What was that thing? Why did it frighten her? Why did thinking about it send fear through her veins?

"What... what the hell are we looking for?"

"Your teddy bear, Sherry. It holds the key to saving the future."

Up in the sky, above the furthest orbit of any man made satellite, just past the moon, a singular stone tablet appeared. Its structure wreathed in black and purple lightning, a complex wormhole equation perfectly set it moving at the same speed as the moon's orbit around Earth.

Down on Earth, Placido looked up at the night sky from the rooftop of the Security headquarters building, the waning gibbous looking back down at him. "He's sending another one..." he thought. It was child's play to notice their God sending a tablet. The recipient, however, was still a mystery. "Jose, Lucciano, and I all have our tablets. And that annoying Yusei Fudo too. Who else could this tablet possibly be sent to?"

He and the other Lords of Yliaster had a new issue on hand. An issue that their God had never whispered to them about. "The Knights of Arcadia. Who are these... interlopers?" His fists trembled at his side. "What are they attempting to accomplish with their eye sigils and their dark rituals? I must have this investigated immediately. They did not exist in prior timelines we visited."

"Or..." Placido looked down at the blinking lights of traffic. "I could use them to my own purposes. They are looking for the Signers according to their radio communications." He grinned maniacally. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."