I do not own Yugioh Arc-V, but this is a story of my own creation. Please do not use any materials of this including cards and action fields without permission.

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Nazo and Yuya walked across the barren landscape that was the XYZ dimension. Rubble and ruins were the main sight everywhere one looked, make it dreary and forgettable. Nazo coughed once again as wind kicked up dust into his face, "I think I understand why Kurosaki has that duster now."

Yuya cracked a smile, "ah, but that really doesn't help us, does it?"

Nazo sighed, they had been walking for hours and nothing had come of it. All they found was more ruins, more abandoned buildings and no allies. Fortunately, they had not run into any more Obelisk force soldiers either.

Nazo stopped as Yuya was subjected to another coughing fit from the dust kicked up by the wind, "Why don't we take a break? Let's go into one of these buildings and check our provisions."

Yuya gave a tired nod and they trudged into a nearby building before unloading their packs to look inside. Akaba Reiji had seen fit to provide them with multiple canned foods as well as plenty of bottles of water. A Swiss army knife was packed in as well. A small camp burner as well as a pot was stored inside to heat up or cook any of the canned foods. A small water filter was stashed away in one of the side pouches. On top of it all was a sleeping roll for rest.

Nazo held up a can of spam and sighed, "I know that we needed preservatives, but this is LDS… wasn't there anything else?"

Yuya shrugged, "We should be happy that he even thought about giving us provisions, maybe Kurosaki talked to him about this."

Nazo shrugged before uncapping a bottle of water and taking a swig, "I guess, but now that we have checked our provisions, we still have no idea which way we are heading."

Yuya sighed, "I couldn't tell you if I tr- GAH!" The pendulum duelist suddenly grabbed his head in apparent pain.

Nazo ran over, "Yuya, what's wrong? Answer me!"

Yuya let out a hiss of pain and shook his head violently before suddenly dropping his arms to his sides and panting with apparent exhaustion.

Nazo frowned, not too sure how he could help, "Yuya, are you ok now?'

"I…" Yuya started before trailing off, "I think that you better talk to him yourself."

Nazo could only scrunch his eyebrows in confusion as Yuya closed his eyes once more and breathed in slowly before exhaling. Nazo was not ready at all when the boy opened his eyes, revealing gray irises.

Nazo jumped back in alarm and was about to activate his duel disk when the boy held up his hands to show Nazo that he meant no harm.

The body of Yuya Sakaki gave a small smile, "Nice to meet you, Yuya has allowed me to take control for a while. I can guide you around here. The name is Yuto."

Nazo frowned and narrowed his eyes, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Yuto gave an uncomfortable laugh, "I guess it would be better to explain."

The two talked briefly on what had occurred on that fateful night. How the two had somehow fused together and that was the reason behind Yuya's ownership of Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon.

"So now, Yuya and I can talk to each other within our own mind," said Yuto, wrapping up his explanation.

Nazo pondered this for a bit before nodding, "I can see why Yuya didn't tell me this before, seems to be quite a troubling, if not confusing situation.

Yuto nodded, "yeah, Yuya and I are trying to get used to it ourselves… but this is certainly better than you two running around blind.

Nazo laughed, "You got us there, so where do we head first?"

Yuto smirked, "For now, let's go to the duel school I attended, I have some business there, and if we are lucky we might find someone there as well."

Nazo frowned, "Business?"

Yuto nodded, "I have a spare deck in my locker there… if we are going to get into fights, I want to be able to use a deck I know well."

Nazo raised an eyebrow, "You can't switch back to Yuya?"

Yuto nodded, "I can, but when I first came out I was quite disoriented. I do not know if that is because I have not possessed a body in a while or if it will happen every time we switch. I do not want Yuya to come out disoriented when we are about to fight."

Nazo tilted his head, "Well that certainly is problematic."

Yuto nodded, "Indeed, either way, we have some ground to cover, let's head out."

After scanning the outside for any sign of threats, the two travelled around the ruined world. Yuto pulled down the goggles to prevent dust getting in his eyes with Nazo using his uniform as a type of dust mask. They climbed over rubble and debris as Yuto pointing out land marks that was once impressive structures of long past.

Yuto sighed as he slid down a slope, "When the academia forces came, we were not prepared. Wave after wave of monsters attacking all of us, and all we could do in the beginning was run."

Nazo winced at the sorrow in his voice, "I don't know what to say."

Yuto shrugged, "there is not much to say. Eventually we started to fight back, but at that point it was just to survive… we couldn't retake our homeland… there really was nothing left to retake.

Nazo clenched his fists, "I can't even image what that would be like, to lose everything so quickly, in an instant."

Yuto nodded silently, "While some people tried to resist our opponent's oppressive rule… many people fell against them. We lost a lot of good comrades… even non-combatants were carded. Kurosaki even lost his sister, kidnapped."

Nazo raised an eyebrow, "Kidnapped? Not carded?"

Yuto nodded, "Yeah, someone saw it happen, but was powerless to stop it."

Nazo frowned, "That reminds me, during the Maiami Championship when a lot of people were being carded, someone that looked like Yuya tried to kidnap Yuzu.

Yuto looked at Nazo, "Now that you mention her, Yuzu happens to look like Ruri, so much so that I was sure I had found her in Standard before she told me I was wrong…"

Nazo's eyes widened, "There was also Serena, she looked just like Yuzu as well, I also confused them during the Miami Championship."

Yuto furrowed his eyebrows, "That is weird… suppose there are connections?

Nazo shrugged, "Well if there are 4 different dimensions, if goes to say that there could be 4 people that are the 'you' of that dimension."

Yuto frowned, "It is possible. Coincidences like these don't happen by chance. You said there was someone that looked like Yuya and you said you dueled him right? Did he ride a motorcycle?"

Nazo shook his head, "No, I think he was that pawn of fusion though… he did use fusion monsters.

Yuto narrowed his eyes, "Actually, the pawn of fusion rides a motorcycle and uses synchro monsters. He calls himself Yugo."

Nazo scoffed, "As if this isn't confusing enough, so let's get this straight. "There are four people that look like Yuya including himself, and there are 3 people that look like Yuzu including herself. Serena said she was from the fusion dimension and clearly Ruri is from here. Is there going to be one from the synchro dimension?"

Yuto shrugged, "Maybe, as you said there could be a copy of every person in every dimension. Though, just for the record, I have not seen anyone that looks like you."

Nazo shrugged, "Eh, the world is a big place, even if a copy of me exists somewhere the probability of you seeing him is low.

Yuto nodded, "True, but enough theoretical talk, we are almost at the school." With those words, the two moved on, leaving Nazo to silently ponder the question he wanted to ask out loud.

"If the two souls inside Yuya are himself and Yuto… what was the darkness inside him that Mieru had mentioned before?"

-§-

The two finally arrived at the destroyed building that used to be a vibrant school. The two boys walked through desolate halls now heavy with dust and debris. After jumping over a particularly large concrete slab, Yuto pointed out lockers at the end of the hallway.

"My deck is in there, hold on while I get it." Yuto swiftly moved over to the lockers and after playing with the lock a bit, opened it and obtained a deck of cards. He moved through them slowly looking at cards carefully, making sure that everything was in order. After he checked through all of them, he placed it in one of the extra deck carrying pockets on his pants.

Yuto looked up, "Alright, we are good here, let's leave."

As the two started to walk out of the school, Nazo spoke up, "So where now?"

Yuto motioned forward, "While we were still in this world, we had a resistance base in that direction, it is our best bet to be able to find Shun."

Nazo nodded, "Alright, well then let's… oh no…"

Yuto glanced around to see a heavy smirking red clad duelist with academia duel disk smirking up at them.

"Well, well, well, looks like there is still some trash to clean up eh?" said the duelist as he activated him duel disk.

Nazo scowled, "Well at least it is only one of them."

"One of what now?"

The two boys turned around to see a yellow clad duelist behind them, same academia duel disk on his left arm.

Nazo muttered, "You have got to be kidding me," as he, Yuto, and the Yellow soldier activated their duel disks.

Duel!

Yuto and Nazo: 8000

Nazo Cards: 5

Yuto Cards: 5

Academia Members: 8000

Red Cards: 5

Yellow Cards: 5

Nazo's eyes narrowed, "I'll go first, I play Dragon Ravine, I discard tuner monster, Dragunity Phalanx to add Dragunity Dux to my hand!"

Above Nazo the Dragon Ravine card appeared. Nazo slotted a card into his graveyard and his deck spat out a card which he grabbed.

"I summon out Dragunity Dux which uses its effect to equip itself with one level 3 or lower dragon type Dragunity monster from the grave, I choose Dragunity Phalanx. The eagle garbed man appeared on the field and a knife appeared next to him which he grabbed.

"I activate Phalanx's effect! Dragunity Phalanx can summon himself to the field when he is a equip card!"

The knife was thrown to the ground and the purple dragon appeared.

Nazo held out his hand, "I now synchro climb to level 8! Come forth Stardust Spark Dragon!"

The image of Dragunity Knight -Vajrayana was seen briefly before Stardust Spark took the field. Glancing down at his hand Nazo grabbed two of them.

"I set two cards and I end my turn!"

The red jacketed boy stepped forward, "My move! Draw! I use polymerization to fuse my Submarieroid, Steamroid, and Drillroid to create Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill!"

The three cards appeared before him before swirling together to form a massive drill-like machine.

"Battle! Jumbo Drill attacks Stardust Spark Dragon!"

The drill monster started to power up its drill and started charging towards the white dragon.

Nazo shook his head, "I activate the effect of Stardust Spark Dragon! Once per turn, during either players turn, I can target one face up card; once during this turn that card cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects. I chose Stardust Spark itself!"

The dragon roared and a barrier fell around to protect it. The drill smashed into the barrier, shattering it, but Stardust Spark was unharmed.

The academia soldier scowled, "You still take the damage!"

Nazo and Yuto held up their arms to protect them from the shockwave that came at them, shaving away 500 life points.

The boy set his last two cards and ended his turn.

Yuto smirked, "My move! Draw!"

He scanned his hand for a second before smirking, "I play The Phantom Knights of Rugged Gloves!"

Two large gauntlets formed with some armor and a helmet all surrounded by blue flames.

Yuto held out another card, "When I control a 'Phantom Knights' card, I can summon out The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots!" A ghostly blue man garbed in brown clothes appeared on the field.

Yuto held out his hand, "I am overlaying my Phantom Knights of Rugged Gloves with my Phantom Knights of Silent Boots!"

The two monsters turned into purple streaks and entered a portal at Yuto's feet.

"Soul of warriors fallen on the battlefield, revive now and become light to rend the darkness! XYZ summon! Appear before us! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"

A horse and rider appeared from the portal. The horse however was made strictly of armor while the rider wielded a rather large sword. Where the head should be only blue flames emanated from the spot.

Yuto smiled, "When Rugged Gloves is used as a XYZ material, the XYZ monster gains 1000 attack!" A harsh blue glow enveloped Break Sword, increasing the attack by 1000.

Yuto clenched his fist, "Now I activate the effect of Break Sword! I detach one overlay unit to destroy one card on my field and one card on your field! I chose Stardust Spark Dragon and Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill! Lightning Break!"

The armored horseman raised its sword and called down lightning on the two cards. Yuto pointed at Stardust Spark, "I activate the effect of Stardust Spark Dragon! I chose to protect itself!"

A barrier once again fell over Stardust Spark as the lightning neared. The electricity struck the barrier causing it to shatter, but it left the white dragon unscathed. The other bolt crashed down on the large drill causing it to explode.

Nazo gave a thumbs up to Yuto, "Nice play!"

Yuto smirked, "Battle! Break Sword attacks directly!"

The monster charged forward, blade raised, poised to strike.

The red solder tapped his duel disk, "Trap card open! Negate attack! Your attack is canceled and your battle phase ends!

Yuto shrugged, "Turn End."

The yellow solder smirked, "My turn! Draw! I play Antique Gear Hound Dog!"

A small mechanical dog appeared on the field and howled.

The soldier continued, "When you control a monster Hound Dog's effect allows me to inflict you with 600 point of damage."

The dog launched flames at the duo, inflicting 600 more point of damage.

The yellow soldier held out another card, "I use double summon, which allows me to summon out another Antique Gear Hound Dog! I inflict another 600 points!"

Yuto's and Nazo's Life point counter lowered to 6300 points.

"I now fuse my two Hound Dogs on the field, and the one in my hand to summon out Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog!"

The two dogs on the field swirled together with another that had appeared until a mechanical Cerberus like creature stood before them.

Nazo frowned, "An 1800 point monster that can battle three times during which we can't activate magic or trap cards… not too much of a threat."

The yellow soldier laughed, "Naïve! I use the other facedown! Call of the haunted! I summon back one Antique Gear Hound Dog, which inflicts you with 600 more points of damage!

Yuto and Nazo flinched as more life points were shaved away.

The yellow solder held out his hand, "I now fuse Antique Gear Hound Dog and Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog together to form Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog!"

A large mechanical three headed behemoth came to the field and roared.

The yellow soldier laughed, "When Ultimate Hound Dog comes to the field, it automatically halves the opponent's life points!" The dog breathed in and loosed a devastating flame that left the pair at 2850.

The soldier cackled again and held out one of his final two cards, I use De-fusion! I return my monster to the extra deck and bring back Antique Gear Hound Dog and Antique Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog! Hound dog once again uses its effect and inflicts 600 points!"

The two dogs appeared once more and the smaller one breathed out fire, reducing the life points to 2250.

"Now by using Antique Gear Hound Dog's effect once more, I can fuse the two back together, Come forth! Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog!"

The large behemoth appeared once again roaring loudly.

The yellow soldier shouted, "Since Ultimate Hound Dog was summoned, another half of your life points are taken away."

Nazo's scowl deepened as their life points were reduced to 1125.

The yellow clad boy grinned maliciously, "When Ultimate Hound Dog attacks, you cannot activate spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step! Battle Ultimate Hound Dog attack Stardust Spark Dragon!"

Yuto grimaced, "I activate Stardust Spark Dragon's effect and use it on itself!"

The barrier was erected and Stardust avoided destruction, though the duo still took 300 points of damage.

The yellow soldier laughed, "Fools! Ultimate Hound Dog can attack 3 times per battle phase! Attack Stardust Spark Dragon once more!"

The beast breathed in flames and loosed them on the white dragon causing it to shatter into yellow shards.

Yuto frowned, "Nazo… sorry."

Nazo shook his head, "Don't worry about it…we still have life points, let's turn this around."

The yellow soldier laughed, "I set one card. Turn end."

Nazo glared at him, "My turn! Draw!"

Yuto and Nazo: 525

Nazo Cards: 2

Yuto Cards: 3

Academia Members: 8000

Red Cards: 0

Yellow Cards: 0

Nazo glanced at his hand, "I once again activate the field spell Dragon Ravine and I discard a card to get Dragunity Dux to my hand!"

Nazo's deck spat out the appropriate card. "Reverse Card open! Reckless Greed, I draw two more cards! Now I once again play Dragunity Dux and equip it with Phalanx!"

The monster came forth before grabbing the knife that was offered to it.

"Phalanx effect! I summon it out to the field!"

The purple dragon in tan armor appeared with a roar. I use Dragunity Arma Mystletainn's effect to get rid of Phalanx to summon itself to the field then equip Phalanx to it who is again summoned out!"

The yellow dragon brandishing a sword appeared and soon after Phalanx reappeared on the field.

Nazo held out his hand, "I synchro together Dux and Phalanx and synchro climb to level 8! Come forth Scrap Dragon!"

A large purple junk infused dragon appeared, steam leaking from one of its exposed pipes.

"I use Scrap Dragon's effect! Once per turn, I can target one card from my side of the field and one card on your side of the field, and destroy both of them. I target your face down and my Dragon Ravine!"

The card Nazo designated shattered into yellow shards which gathered into Scrap Dragon's mouth.

"Scrap Annihilator!"

Scrap Dragon shot out a beam and destroyed the facedown card on the opposing side of the field.

Nazo motioned to Break Sword, "I now use the effect of Break Sword to target one card on each side of the field to destroy both of them. I choose Scrap Dragon as well as Antique Gear Ultimate Hound Dog! Lighting Break!"

Break Sword raised up its sword and lightning was called down once more. This time both bolts of electricity struck true and both exploded in a grand spectacle.

Nazo tapped his duel disk, "Since one of my synchro monsters were destroyed by a card effect, I can activate Shadow Impulse! This allows me to summon a Synchro monster from my extra deck that is the same level and type as the monster destroyed!"

Nazo held up his desired card, "Rend, Strike, Destroy! The dragon of immortality will reign on! Come forth and put an end to all who dare oppose you! Appear now, Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons!"

The twin headed purple dragon descended to the field with a terrifying roar. Nazo smiled, "Battle! I attack directly with Dragunity Arma Mystletainn!"

The dragon ran up and slashed the opposing duelists.

Nazo pointed at Break Sword, "Battle! Break Sword attacks directly! Phantom Slash!" The monster charged forward and slashed dropping the academia soldier's life points to 2900.

"Now Beelze, finish this! Chaos Dark Burning!"

The purple dragon breathed in before firing black fire on the opponents whipping out their life points.

As the two soldiers tried to stagger to their feet, Yuto and Nazo approached them.

"Give it up," said Yuto as he narrowed his eyes, "There is no way you can win in the state you are in."

Nazo glared out his own opponent, "We are taking your decks and duel disks, don't expect to be dueling anytime soon."

The red solder scowled, "Take this!"

The soldier threw a punch at Nazo who managed to dodge, but could not stop the other boy from running towards Yuto.

"Yuto look out!" called Nazo as he tried to give chase.

The soldier shoved Yuto out of the way and the two soldiers started to run. Yuto cursed and the two started to give chase. As the two soldiers rounded a corner, some yelling was heard before two screams and a bright light shone. Nazo's eyes widened as two cards fluttered from around the corner.

Nazo picked up his pace and turned to find a boy causally walking towards him.

He had light blue-grey eyes, pale skin and blonde hair that curled up in a point with a dark green spiked front and bangs. He wore black trench coat with a high collar over a grey shirt and white pants with black boots. Yuto rounded the corner and also stopped in shock.

"Kaito?"

The boy glared at Yuto, "yeah? What of it?"

Yuto smiled, "has the resistance moved anytime recently? We just got here and…"

Kaito narrowed his eyes, "I am not part of the resistance anymore, so don't waste my time, get in my way and I will card you."

Nazo and Yuto backed up slightly as the boy passed by them. Nazo swallowed before speaking, "Yuto… who was that?"

Yuto sighed, "Kaito Tenjo. He was a famous professional duelist in Heartland City before the invasion of Duel Academy. He was one of the most inspiring people around, everyone wanted to be him, if not fight him. After the invasion, he joined up with the resistance… but it seems now that he no longer with them. Kurosaki and I lost touch with everyone when we went to the Standard dimension."

Nazo frowned, "Well this sucks… but maybe he has seen some of our friends. We can ask."

Yuto gave a grimace, "He did just threaten to card us if we got in his way you know…"

Nazo sighed, "yeah… but we have no other leads…"

Nazo ran after the boy, "Hey! Wait!"

The boy whipped around a finger on his duel disk and a glare on his face.

Nazo waved his hands desperately, "Wait, wait! I just want to know if you have seen some people! Specifically today!"

Kaito scoffed, "The only people I have seen were scum from the academy and you two… everyone was carded, and if you want, I can offer the same service to you."

Nazo backed away slowly, "No… that's ok… but I'll have to pass on that offer… thanks anyway."

Nazo trudged back to Yuto before saying, "next time tell me to listen to your advice."

Yuto gave a small laugh, "sure thing, I will bring you to where the resistance base was before we went to the Standard Dimension, though it could have moved…"

Nazo winced, "Let's hope not… I hope Yuzu and Gongenzaka are ok… I am kind of worried for them."

Yuto nodded, "yeah, Yuya has also expressed his worry. I certainly hope we find them sooner than later, at least before the academy forces.

Nazo sighed, "Well… there is a chance that they transported with Kurosaki, so they should be safe with him, and he certainly knows the layout of this place."

Yuto nodded, "That is true, but I also worry that he may still be distracted… When Ruri was kidnapped he could not sit still."

Nazo shrugged, "I don't have any siblings, but I think I can understand the feelings."

Yuto clenched his fist, "I don't have any siblings either… but Ruri and I were close before the academy attacked… I think I can say that I felt just as much pain as Shun when we found out that Ruri had gone missing."

Nazo nodded, "don't worry we will find her… our job as lancers is not only to protect our dimension, but to take down the Academia's forces. When we take them down, we will get her back, guaranteed."

Yuto smiled, "yeah, your right… well then, that is enough moping around for now, come on, we have some distance to cover before it gets dark."

Nazo nodded and the two started to walk.

§

As always, if you enjoyed it, please leave a review. If you disliked it, tell me how I could do better. If card count or rulings were off, give a review or shoot me a PM.

Now for the BIG question, why did I not do anything for an entire year? If you read my only other updating fanfiction, you already know the answer, but for those who don't the answer is simple… if a bit depressing

Around winter break of 2015 my father's condition… worsened considerably. I literally was at his beck and call for my entire break. 3 months later he passed away from cancer. These last months I was… coping with it.

Now, this does not mean I am trying to get people to review if only to offer their condolences. This is explanation is just that, an explanation. Honestly I would prefer that reviews are on my story content rather than real life happenstances. I hope I am more active from now on, but only time will tell.

For those that may have forgotten, or people that are only starting now, I am going to repeat something that was mentioned in Chapter 2. The term "Synchro Climbing" is an actual term that Dragunity players use. This is the process in which the player uses Dragunity Dux to get Phalanx, synchro up to Vajrayana, get Phalanx again, then summon out some level 8 synchro monster. Instead of being absolutely repetitive and typing Phalanx fifteen to twenty times per duel, I use the term to "Synchro Climbing" to pick up the pace for the duels.

At this point as well, for those who care about technicities of the double duel system that I have in place. Simply put, the two players share one field, also that turn player stays 'active' for one turn after theirs, allowing them to choose to activate cards in response to opponent's summons and card effects. This is basically the same as all of Yugioh Tag Force games.

The important note is that when the 'active' cannot access the partner's side deck, so for this case, Yuto could not activate shadow impulse when Stardust Spark was destroyed because he did not have any level 8 dragon synchros in his extra deck.

Once again, sorry for the wait, and thank you for reading.