A/N: I was looking at the preview for the next episode (47) and this scene just grew from my head. :D Why am I suddenly on a Yuugo roll anyway?

Written for the Diversity Writing challenge at the DMWA, C32 – write a fic that explores metaphysics.

Yuzu and Yuugo

The girl reached out to touch his face.

He just stared at her. It couldn't be…could it? She looked different somehow. Her hair. Her eyes. The way she looked at him.

'Yuuya?' she breathed, then shook herself as though dislodging water from her ears. 'No…Yuuto?' She sounded uncertain, afraid.

Annoyance prickled at him. It broke the spell. She was definitely someone else. 'I'm Yuugo,' he snapped. 'Why does everyone have to get my name wrong?'

'I-I'm sorry.' She stuttered. She didn't look like the sort to normally stutter. But she didn't rush at him like the others did.

Well…he'd done that, technically. By accident. But she hadn't started waving her duel disk with a battle cry at least.

'You look like Yuuya…' The girl's hands had dropped away, but she was still looking at his face. 'And Yuuto.'

He blinked at that. 'I don't know a Yuuya,' he said. 'But is Yuuto the Xyz user?' He yawned. All that travelling was tiring him out. 'I've been looking for him.'

Her face suddenly turned angry. And hurt. 'You've already beaten him! And he's gone!'

He started as she leaned closer, teary eyed and spitting fire. Then she drew away. 'Yuuya said you were both being controlled…' As though she was reminding herself the blame lay elsewhere.

'What are you talking about?' Yuugo demanded. 'I don't know a Yuuya. I already said that! And I've never finished a duel with the other guy. We're always interrupted!' His voice rose. Somewhere in his mind, he remembered blanks in his memories. Another face that had looked like him. That he'd ignored because Yuuto had been there. Because he'd wanted a duel so badly, wanted answers that could only come through duels.

Was she saying that chance was already gone. And who was she? 'Who are you?'

'I'm sorry.' She backed away. Apologised again. That annoyed him too but it couldn't be helped. She looked just as confused as him though she knew more – or she seemed to know more.

'I'm sorry.' He apologised too. It wasn't her fault. 'I've been warped all over the place lately so I've been pretty stressed. And you look like someone I…used to know.' But that had been a long time ago. He'd been a fool to think he'd see her now.

'Ruri?' She shook her head. 'You're from the synchro dimension, aren't you?'

He wondered what she meant by "dimension". 'Well, everyone does synchro sumon…'

She looked at her feet, then at him. 'I'm Yuzu.' She bowed in greeting.

That was unexpected, but necessary. He wondered if he was supposed to get off his rider and bow in return. He stuck out a hand instead; that was their greeting after all.

She stared at the hand, then shook it. 'You said you warped here?'

'Yeah.' He wiped his brow. 'Haven't got a clue where I am too. Everyone seems so…hostile.'

'We're in the middle of a battle royale.' She smiled sheepishly, before frowning. 'But things got a little…hectic with the Fusion Dimension.'

'Fusion Dimension?' he repeated. Now he was warping to different dimensions as well as places and times? 'By the way, is this the future or the past?'

Yuzu blinked. 'This is an action field,' she said, 'a hologram, but I don't know…'

Yuugo slapped his forehead. A hologram. Of course. Wait… 'What's an action field?'

'Umm…like a field magic card?'

She didn't know how much she knew. Well, he knew field spells. He nodded and she continued. 'Action fields are specialised field spells. We use them in action duels. They're holograms but pretty realistic, and there are action magic cards scattered about.'

'Like speed world?' he wondered. When it didn't look like she understood, he explained: 'it's a specialised field we use in riding duels. Duelling on these babies.' He petted his runner affectionally, then returned to the topic. 'Of course, that's only when the system's working.' It hadn't worked since he'd been warped out of home. 'Now, what's all this about dimensions?'

'I don't really know either – ' Yuzu began, before freezing. Yuugo turned around. Those guys in masks were back. And that other guy with the pompous clothing and creepy smile.

'They're from the fusion dimension,' he heard Yuzu whisper behind him, very fast as though she needed him to understand who they were. 'They turn everyone into cards. They destroyed the Xyz dimension. Kidnapped Ruri. Why Yuuto and Kurosaki were looking so desperately for her…'

The guy with the creepy smile stepped forward. Yuzu's voice faltered, fell silent. Yuugo remembered how he'd come upon them. How he'd pressed her until she'd been terrified, shaking like a leaf. She didn't look like she was always like that.

Or was he just replacing Yuzu with the girl who looked like her again?

The girl who'd disappeared without a trace.

The fusion dimension…kidnapped Ruri…

Ruri who looked like Yuzu. Who looked like her as well.

'Climb on,' he muttered. He felt her eyes stare at him before she obeyed.

'And where do you think you're going?'

'Home,' Yuugo snapped, but that was probably not the case. It was just an automatic response. A response he wished was true. He missed his home. But he'd given up chasing. Just like he'd given up chasing her. And now he had to give up on his lookalike Yuuto too. But Yuzu who looked like her and was being chased was in front of him. And he wasn't going to run away like that.

He gunned the action and shot towards an iceberg, hoping the leverage would be enough to jump over the heads of the army.

But the guy with the creepy smile just continued smiling. Vanishing. Reappearing in the sky, right in their path with a black hole behind him.

Close up, he could see they shared a face as well. 'This is Yuuya?' he asked incredulously. And he'd thought Yuuya was someone important to Yuzu, the way she'd reached for him.

'No!' She sounded a little more insulted and less terrified than before. 'That's Yuuri. From the fusion dimension.'

'That's right.' Yuuri's smile grew. 'And that girl is coming with me.'

Yuugo tried to angle the rider away, but it was impossible. He'd set the trajectory when he'd launched from the iceberg. There was no veering off course now. And their course was going to take them right in to that black hole.

Then something shone. On his arm. His deck. Behind him. He didn't have a clue what, but he heard Yuzu gasp so she must have had an idea.

Then they vanished, just before they touched Yuuri, and the hole.

They reappeared in a city with tall white buildings, and Yuugo stared for a moment before he recognised it. And he smiled. Another rider passed them, then swerved back and was shouting. The shouting spread.

He'd made it home after all.

Then he looked at his passenger. Her face was lost as she stared. This wasn't her home. She didn't know this place.

Of course it wasn't. Yuzu wasn't her.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered, turning away. 'Whenever this card glows, I warp.'

'My bracelet does things like that too.' She stared at it: at the jewel wrapped in a rose. Then she smiled. 'Those guys from the fusion dimension will have a hard time finding me here, hopefully. I just hope Yuuya and 'tou-san and everyone are okay too.' She clasped her hands, almost like a prayer, and then she loosened them and bowed again. 'I'll be in your care.'

'Err…right.' Because there wasn't anything else Yuugo could say, considering he hadn't a clue when he'd next warp, if he did at all now that he was back home, and if he'd be able to take her back if she did. 'Now, what did you mean by "destroyed the Xyz dimension". And since when are there different dimensions anyway?'

Yuugo had to wait for his answer again, because the police was suddenly whisking them both away, asking several questions a minute and trying to work out where he'd disappeared to and how they was suddenly back. And who Yuzu was. Yuugo talked over her. He figured it would be easier if the rest of the place pretended she was her.

Especially since he still didn't have much of a clue about what was going on.