"I don't see why one of them couldn't carry you."

"Sylvio, I'm sorry about this, but I really app-"

"Oh, you're sorry? 'Sorry' isn't going to pay for spinal realignment surgery, Sakaki!"

"Come on! I was going to say I appreciate the help, but your attitude is starting to convince me otherwise."

"What's that? 'Just drop me off here, Sylvio, I can handle the fall?' I think that's what you said."

"You know, Ruby," Ren murmured, peering down at the bickering duelists, "I probably could have carried Yuya fairly easily. It would have been no trouble at all." His eyes narrowed as he looked at Ruby. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you deliberately made Sylvio carry him because you thought it would be funny."

Ruby shrugged, smirking as she looked out the open hatch. "Why would you ever think that? And if you did think that, would you really disagree?"

"…" Ren crossed his arms, a small smile worming its way onto his face. "…not especially. After everything we went through today, I think we're due for a little fun."

"Well, you've come to the right ship for that!" Ruby wheeled around at the voice, reaching for Crescent Rose as she turned. A pair of hands came up in apparent surrender, the left clad in a black glove. "Hold on there! I'm a friendly!" Ren's smile vanished as he turned to the newcomer, a red-headed young man in a mishmash of clothes. Along with the glove (singular, Ren noticed), the man wore a blue shirt with a purple tie, an orange vest that seemed hacked off on the right side, grey pants, and reddish-brown shoes. Like Yuya and Sylvio, he too had a duel disk strapped to his arm.

Ren had seen some strange outfits in his time at Beacon, but this was on another level.

This was just painful.

"And you are…?" Ruby asked, shuffling slightly to the side as he approached. Ren eyed the man, but made no movements. The man walked in between the two, crossing his left arm over his right as he extended his hands towards the Hunters.

"Dennis Macfield, at your service! It's a pleasure to meet you two."

Ren, after a moment, accepted the hand with a firm grip, shaking it briefly before letting go. "Lie Ren."

Ruby tentatively shook the man's hand, letting go after a quick shake. "It's, uh…nice to meet you too! I think Yuya mentioned you when he told us his story, but I didn't expect you to be so…"

"…'Cheerful in the face of everything we've faced'?" Dennis finished for her. Ruby scratched her head, a sheepish grin crossing her face.

"Sorta. Yeah. How'd you guess?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he replied with a wag of the finger. "And, well, when everyone else is such doom and gloom someone has to be cheery-especially when Yuya's away!" Dennis grinned right back, raising his arms dramatically into the air. "After all, when he's not around, I have to do twice the entertaining around here!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your increased workload, Dennis," a voice called out from below the trio. The three looked back down to see Sylvio and Yuya a few rungs from the top. "But if you could 'entertain' the idea of getting Sakaki off of my back," Sylvio continued, "We could take that work off your hands a lot quicker!"

Dennis chuckled and knelt down on one knee. "But Sylvio, you two look like you're just starting to bond!"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I'm really losing it, Dennis," Sylvio answered in a monotone. "Hilarious."

Dennis frowned. "You don't have to be rude about it." He looked to Yuya, extending a hand. Yuya reached out instinctively with his right, but Dennis shook his head. Yuya quickly rescinded his right hand and replaced it with his left. Dennis grabbed ahold of it, pulling Yuya further up as the boy climbed over Sylvio's shoulders (eliciting an "Ow!" from the latter) and onto the ship. As soon as Sylvio made it aboard, Dennis began to roll up the ladder.

"Well, thank goodness that's all over and done with." Sylvio rubbed his back as he surveyed his surroundings. "I'm glad that siren's not blaring anymore."

"Siren?" Yuya and Ruby asked in unison.

"Yeah. It wouldn't shut up for the longest time after we took the ship."

Yuya raised an eyebrow. "…what do you mean by 'took,' Sylvio?

Declan Akaba was not in the best of moods.

This whole situation was, at best, a mess.

At worst, it was a complete, utter, and total trainwreck.

It shouldn't have been either of those things. He had set the coordinates just right. The Synchro Dimension was a button press away. But something felt off as he began to shift through dimensions. It felt like something was pulling him, redirecting him. He could just barely see it shift out of view-a world of chrome and ivory towers, the roar of engines and the shrieking of tires racing down the road.

In an instant, it all vanished, replaced with dark walls and dim lights. Everything went silent.

For a brief instant, Declan felt utter fear. These walls had a familiar look to them.

It couldn't be. Had his father interfered with the process?

Was he back at Duel Academy?

The gun he felt pointed to his head indicated otherwise.

"Drop your weapon!"

His weapon? They must mean the duel disk. He sighed. It wasn't worth it to argue. Declan kneeled down (with the gun trained on him the entire time) and unhooked his duel disk from his arm, letting it gently fall to the floor.

"Hands in the air. Now!"

Declan rose up, his arms outstretched towards the ceiling.

"I don't know how you got in here, or why you're here," the voice continued, "But whatever you're up to, it stops here." As the voice spoke, a quick flash of blue flickered out of Declan's peripheral vision. "You're going to follow my instructions-to the letter-and you're going to answer any and all questions I have while I take you over to my superiors. Am I clear?" the voice asked. Declan looked down. The flickering lights gave way to two shadows on the ground, one being Declan's own, and the other being his new friend-a tall, lanky figure by the looks of it.

"Indeed you are," Declan replied, "but may I ask a question in return?

There was no reply for a moment. Then, a sigh. "You get one question."

Declan watched passively as a third shadow-similarly tall, but stretching out wider, with jutting spikes at the end-overtook the second.

"What you're going to do about that headache?"

"…what headache?"

THUD!

The merged shadow split back into three, with the lanky shadow falling to the side. Declan turned around. A young man with navy hair, a blue overcoat-tattered and torn-, black pants, and beaten-up brown shoes stood before him. "Thank you, Shay," Declan said, crossing his arms. "I think we can safely assume we aren't in the Synchro Dimension, nor the Xyz, I'd presume?"

Shay Obsidian nodded. "I'd recognize Heartland immediately. Plus," he added, tapping on his duel disk, "the disk isn't showing this dimension as a recognized location." He looked up to Declan, his eyes narrowing. "You told me there were only three other dimensions besides mine."

"I told you there were three other we knew of," Declan responded. "I never said there couldn't be more."

Shay scoffed, but didn't comment further on that topic. Instead, he lifted his duel disk up to right under his mouth. "The coast is clear. You can come in."

The door opened and two more young men entered the room, Sylvio Sawatari and Dennis Macfield. They both looked worse for wear, with their scuffed clothing and bruised faces. "It's about time," Sylvio complained. "I was sweating bullets thinking another one of those jackbooted thugs was going to find and pummel us!"

Dennis laughed, patting the other boy on the back. "Come on, Sylvio, where's your sense of adventure?"

"Back in Standard," Sylvio replied, earning a hearty laugh from his cohort. Sylvio rolled his eyes before focusing them on Declan. "What happened, Declan? We had the right coordinates, didn't we?"

Declan nodded. "Yes, we did-and I made sure of that before any of us left." Shay raised an eyebrow at this, but offered no objection to the statement. "Someone tampered with the systems from the outside," Declan continued, "and deliberately sent us here. Otherwise, they would've scattered us throughout all the dimensions."

"The Academy, possibly?" Dennis asked, crossing his arms. "As a means of keeping us out of not just Synchro, but possibly the other dimensions?"

Declan nodded. "That's the most likely answer. But before we make theories, we have to make plans. To make plans, we need the whole of the Lancers. Where are the others?" An uncomfortable silence filled the room, giving Declan all the answers he needed. "We're finding them." Sylvio opened his mouth to comment, but quickly decided otherwise. Coming from Declan, this wasn't a statement, or a suggestion.

It was an order.

"How do we get out of here, though?" Dennis asked. "As far as we could tell, this is some kind of military base-or at least, something very militarized. It's going to be rather difficult to slip past them."

Declan put a hand to his chin. "Maybe we don't have to."

"Huh?" Sylvio scratched his head. "What's the alternative option?"

Declan looked at Sylvio with…a smile? "Tell me, Sylvio," Declan began.

"How fast can you run?"

Declan snapped out of his thoughts as stomping footsteps echoed from behind him. "Declan, what did you do?!" Declan turned, his features stoic and expressionless as Yuya (followed by what appeared to be everyone else on the ship, who were obviously trying to hold him back) barged into the control room. "What's going on?!" Declan offered no reply. Yuya began to walk closer. "Declan, please, I need to know- "He paused as he felt a hand clasp onto his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Ren glancing down, shaking his head.

"Yuya, now's not the time. We need to move out. We don't have much time before someone notices the airship." Ren looked towards Declan, sharing a steely gaze with the young magnate. "But you will explain everything once we're done here."

"Or else you'll get the hammer!" Nora added, stepping ahead of Ren and Yuya with Magnhild at the ready. Her voice was filled with gleeful malice.

"Uh…I think we'll be fine without the hammer, Nora," Yuya said. "He's one of my friends, so you don't need to worry about it."

"Aw, fine…but if you act like a jerk," she said, pointing her weapon towards Declan, "then bam! Hammer time!" Yuya could almost see a flicker of a smirk on Ren's face.

"Duly noted," Declan said with a nod, immediately turning back to the ship's controls. Yuya sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"I guess we've both got some explaining to do. Can you at least tell me where everyone else is? Gong? Shay? Serena?" His face paled for a moment. "What about Reira?"

Declan's fingers rapidly darted across a screen on the control panel. "We can talk when we're in safer airspace. We've already spent enough time here, more than absolutely necessary. We have to go."

"But- "

"Alrighty, then!" Dennis piped up from directly behind Yuya. Nearly everyone around him took a step (or in some cases, a jump) back in surprise. Yuya could have sworn he was in the back of the group, so how'd he-

Oh. Right. Magician.

Dennis clasped his hands together, a grin on his face. "To your seats, ladies and gentlemen-it's showtime!"

It was at that moment that the entire ship went dark, the craft shaking as a dull droning noise burst through the air. Yuya stumbled, falling down to the floor-and onto his bruised arm. The boy let out a cry of pain. His vision blurred from the impact and tears welling in his eyes, but he could still feel the shaking as he heard a few surprised yelps (and a loud "clang," followed by an "ow!"). Eventually, the shaking stopped.

A few seconds passed in stunned silence, before red lights crackled to life throughout the ship.

"It was just a figure of speech," Dennis groaned. Yuya's vision began to focus once more, and he saw nearly everyone (Declan and Ren excluded) lying down on the floor. He saw their weapons scattered across the room, with the exception of Jaune's shield, which laid flat on his face. Yuya couldn't help but feel pity for the poor guy. He seemed to have about as much luck as Sylvio.

Which was to say, barely any at all.

As soon as she was up, Ruby ran past the group and up to Declan, who was glancing down at the control panel. It flashed red and blue warning lights. "What just happened?"

"Something knocked out our power," Declan replied. "The emergency generators just kicked in."

A crackling noise-feedback of some kind-rang through a series of speakers in the room. "-oarded. I repeat, by order of the Kingdom of Atlas, you are under arrest. Stand down now and prepare to be boarded. This is not a request. You have thirty seconds to comply."

Jaune nearly hurled the shield off of his face as he leapt to his feet. "You stole this ship from Atlas? Are you mad?!"

"Hm. So that's who they were," Declan mused, tapping a few keys on the control panel. A screen popped up on the window showing nothing but static. He pressed a button on the side of the panel. The screen flickered, turning off for a brief moment. When the visual returned, the screen had an image of a man in a silver uniform with a robotic-looking helmet on it. "Attention, soldiers of Atlas," Declan began. "We have opened communications for negotiations. If you wish us to surrender, we must know who we are surrendering to."

The man stepped back, seemingly not expecting to get a response from the ship. He ducked away from the screen, and startled mutters bled into the audio coming out of the screen. Eventually, a new figure made its way into frame. She wore a white uniform, accentuated with a black vest and an even whiter jacket. Black gloves, silver thigh-high boots, and a red gemstone around her neck completed the ensemble. Her snow-white hair was tied up in a bun (though it was long enough for bangs to cross over one side of her face), and she wore a smirk on her face. Before she could even open her mouth, however, Declan spoke. "I take it you are the commanding officer of this armada?"

The woman's smirk vanished. "For the time being, yes. I am- "

"Winter?" The woman stopped mid-sentence, her gaze drifting to Declan's side. Her eyes widened slighty as she saw Ruby, who immediately looked down. "I-I mean, Miss Winter-I mean, Miss Schnee-I mean...ma'am." She stuttered nervously.

"Ruby Rose…this is certainly a surprise." Winter leaned into the screen, looking down at the young huntress. "Exactly what are you doing on a stolen Atlesian vessel?"

Ruby gulped. "Well…it's kind of a long story," she stammered out. "We'd love to tell you our side of it, especially since we just got here, and we kind of just fought a giant bird with Torchwick-well, Torchwick was on the giant bird, he wasn't with us, and then there were dragons and hippos and- "

"Stop."

"-there was this huge turbine and a weird little gnome thing- "

"Stop."

"-and then Nora hit that girl Torchwick always hangs out with in the face- "

"Enough!" Ruby's mouth slammed shut like a mousetrap. "I don't know what on Remnant you're talking about, but I did recognize the word 'Torchwick'. You saw him?"

Ruby nodded. "Y-yes, ma'am. And fought him."

Winter turned to her crew. "Change in plans. We will not be boarding that vessel."

"W-what?!" A soldier ran up to Winter, stopping a few feet away with a panicked salute. "I-I mean, Miss Schnee, they stole a damned ship! We can't let that go unpunished!"

"I never said we weren't going to make them face the consequences of their actions," Winter replied, glaring towards the soldier. "However, it seems that they have information we might need, so we will instead take them aboard ourselves. If you question my authority again, you will face consequences of your own." She narrowed her eyes. "Is. That. Clear."

The soldier mumbled out a "yes, ma'am" before shuffling back to his post. Winter turned back towards the screen. "We will be sending out a small party to bring you aboard, so I would advise you open your hatch."

Nearly everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you, Winter!" Ruby smiled towards the screen. Thank you soooo- "

"Oh, I almost forgot." Winter smiled back at Ruby-a sight that sent shivers down Ruby's spine. "As you have all been placed under arrest, you will be spending your stay on my ship in the brig. I hope you don't mind."

"-oooooooh, no."