"VRAINS? What do you mean by VRAINS and being trapped?" Yusei repeated the boy's words in confusion.

"VRAINS as Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System." the boy replied simply.

"A what?" Yusei asked since whatever the kid just said didn't make any sense "Is that a place or something?"

The boy opened his mouth like he was going to explain, but closed it instantly when a loud echoing noise was heard from the distance. Swiftly he grabbed onto Yusei's arm and dragged him towards the nearest cave in the cliff. The Synchro mage could tell that the boy was familiar with this area. The kid led him through small and tight corridors until they were deep enough to be hidden from whatever danger was lurking outside.

Even once the noise quieted down, the boy covered Yusei's mouth like telling him that it's not over yet. Loud footsteps were heard from the outside, so whatever was there was most definitely huge. Was it another Earthbound Immortal? Or maybe it was a mage with a summoned spirit? Yusei didn't know. This set of islands has been forgotten ever since the world had been restored by Ray and it barely changed from the pre-War times. It used to be another kingdom, but a terrible incident before the Dragon War had made the islands bare and uninhabitable. Well, not for this kid it seemed.

The boy would constantly be on guard like a cat, keeping his eyes open and ready to run if necessary. Only after a long while he nudged Yusei to follow him further in the cave. The corridor led them outside to the different part of the island they were currently on.

"We can't talk here, it's not safe." the boy said while mingling with some sort of a bracelet attached to his wrist "Knights of Hanoi have ears everywhere so follow me if you want answers."

Like the kid wasn't mysterious enough he had to say something to further proof that. Apparently those Knights of Hanoi were also residents on these islands, but judging from the tone the boy was using when mentioning them, they were a threat to him. Were they the cause of that noise from before?

"Are you coming?" the boy asked while pointing his eyes around like a nervous bird.

"I am. I'd only like to know your name at least." Yusei said, the scene reminding of the time he met Crow for the first time.

The boy gave him a curious look and kept his lips pressed together firmly like he was reluctant to say it. But soon enough he let out a sigh and answered.

"Fujiki... Yusaku Fujiki."

"Mind if I call you Yusaku?"

"It's fine."

The boy named Yusaku then nudged him to follow quietly. From the area with cliffs they climbed up, towards the forest with many torny bushes and vines. It reminded Yusei of one of Aki's spells, thinking about how difficult it was to pass through it though it didn't seem much of a problem for Yusaku. The boy passed through it like it was nothing with zero scratches.

They continued to walk for what felt like hours when it was really less than an half of hour. The sky was cloudy and dark so it was hard to tell the time. Yusaku was quiet for most of the time apart from telling Yusei where to go or warn him of the hidden dangers hidden in the bushes and ground. The Head Signer used the opportunity to study the boy a bit, curious of how he became a Spirit Vessel. He participated in every ceremony that turned human mages into vessels for Spirits. Dragon Spirits were among the rarest and strongest so only a small number of mages had them. There was him and the rest of the Signers, Atem's two royal advisors in Pendulum, Kaito and one of the Barian Emperors in XYZ and Johan in Fusion. There used to be two more dragon spirit vessels but that was about it. Who could've perform a ceremony on this boy? Yusaku was way too young to perform it himself and judging from his reaction to the mention of spirit vessels, he clearly had no idea about it.

"Watch your footing, the ground is unstable here." Yusaku said as he started climbing up the cliff.

The area heavily consisted of cliffs and rocky hills with barely any greenery. There was no surprise why no one was living here, at least from a farmer's viewpoint. And yet this kid appeared to be in a good health, maybe a little too skinny but otherwise he didn't look malnourished. He probably got by with fishing, hunting and whatever edible fruits were growing here. Yusaku swiftly climbed up the cliff, slipping into a barely visible entrance of a cave. Then came more rows and underground passages. It felt like a massive ant nest, each path leading to more sets of paths. Yusei used a bit of his magic to light the way while Yusaku just went by, clearly knowing where he was going without seeing anything. Not only was the kid a spirit vessel, he even happened to have a night vision!

"We are close." Yusaku muttered as he led the Head Signer through a final set of rows.

Yusei found himself in a big cave, nearly as big as the Chamber of Crimson Dragon. Yusaku went around, lightning up the oil lamps that revealed the rest of the cave. Despite looking modest, Yusaku kept it neatly organized and convenient to live in. In one corner were chests and boxes filled with seemingly whatever the kid found useful. Then there was a corner with scrolls and books, all of them in a rather bad condition, mostly torn and missing pages. Another corner with a table with tools, reminding Yusei of his own workshop. Finally there was a corner obscured with pieces of fabric, concealing what must've been a makeshift mattress where he slept.

"Are you hungry?" Yusaku asked politely while already walking towards a small fireplace with red crystals.

Seeing how there was already a pot of something stew-like, Yusei politely said yes and watched how the boy used the magic to heat up the crystals. Yusaku then poured the soup into two small bowls, handing one to Yusei. The Head Signer thanked and after sitting down on a roughed-down pillow, he slowly slurped the warm stew that was actually really good. They ate in silence, the only sound coming from the clunking dishes and dripping oil lamps.

"I have three questions. First one is: How did you get in VRAINS?" Yusaku finally asked, like the question had been sitting in his mouth ever since he first spoke.

"You've mentioned it before and I'm still not sure what do you mean by it."

"I meant this world." the boy looked all around "The sky, the ocean, the islands and what's beyond."

"Ah, we don't call it VRAINS. It's simply called a human world and each part has its own name. The place we are currently at is called Link Kingdom." Yusei explained as the boy took in every word "It used to be a vibrant kingdom, nearly as advanced as Synchro, but decades ago it was struck down by a major disaster that wiped out all human settlements. No one has lived here for ages… so it's rather surprising you live here. How did you get to live here?"

"I don't really know…" Yusaku drew quick, short breaths like he was scared of something "I just found myself here and… I survived…"

The kid might've acted mature and tough on the outside, but talking to him like that felt like speaking to a frightened child.

"Are you alone? Is there anyone living with you?" Yusei asked, curious if this kid really survived all on his own.

"I…" Yusaku started when all of a sudden a tiny purple light appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah I see you're back Playmaker! I told you my amazing Storm Access will work!" the light spoke as it slowly changed into a little humanoid spirit.

Yusei has seen a fair share of various spirits in his life, but never one that looked like this one. What was more, he hardly recognized the magic that the spirit was radiating even though he knew the practically extinct magic that the residents of Link Kingdom used to have. While it felt slightly similar, it was still way too different. The little spirit was too busy babbling to notice another human in the room and when it finally did, it freaked out like a mouse in front of a cat.

"Knights of Hanoi are here?!" the spirit rushed behind Yusaku's shoulder, trembling "How did they get in? I double checked everything! Please don't kill me or Playmaker!"

"Relax Ai, he is not a Knight of Hanoi." Yusaku pulled the spirit off him.

"Who's Playmaker?" Yusei asked while eyeing the spirit.

"It's how Ai calls me for some reason." the boy sighed as he nudged at the spirit "This is Ai. He is Ignis, an artificial intelligence based on me. He's been with me ever since I got here."

"Artificial Intelligence? I've heard about Artificial Spirits but never about Artificial Intelligences." Yusei scratched his head "Was that dragon spirit this Artificial Intelligence too?"

"Nope, that was actually a spirit that my friends created in Cyberse World! I wanted to do a little experiment and it really worked! Playmaker and Firewall Dragon became one!" Ai proudly puffed his chest.

"So you performed the ceremony that turned him into a Spirit Vessel?" Yusei crossed his arms, putting everything together "It makes sense… but for that you'd need a presence of a Divine Spirit… and last I heard, Link Kingdom has no Spirit Worlds or Divine Spirits."

"Well it hadn't, but now it has Cyberse World and Cyberse spirits!" Ai floated to Yusei "You know, you are kinda like Playmaker or more like an older version of him. A mage possessing another dragon spirit! I bet your magic is even greater."

"Can you knock it off with magic, Ai? We both know this world isn't real. It's a simulation, a game, a virtual reality world that is keeping us trapped." Yusaku sighed as he walked away from the Head Signer "You're becoming delusional Ai, this world is trying to convince you that all the fantasy and magic is real and it is not."

For a second Yusaku had an angry look down, a face of someone who is outright fed up with something. But what? Nothing that Ai and Yusaku were saying made sense to him nor did he understand what was going on in this kingdom. It had a spirit world now?

"This Cyberse World… may I check it out?" Yusei asked and Ai happily obliged.

"Of course! Let me guide you there!" the spirit pointed towards the hidden doors. The Head Signer followed, noticing Yusaku wasn't coming. The kid went cleaning the dishes without a word, nodding that he is fine with not going.

Yusei so headed towards another row while Ai illuminated the path with a violet light. He went on talking with how great the Cyberse World was and how smart Yusaku was and Yusei listened to everything with a smile. Ai surely was a lot like Rua, so full of energy and excitedly talking about things he liked. They went through several rows until Ai finally quieted down and his tone changed.

"You have to forgive Yusaku… he's been through a lot as a child." Ai said rather seriously "He's hurting without showing it, but when he was with you I could sense he was calmer."

"What do you mean?"

"You said you had seen Artificial Spirits before. Do you know how they are created?"

"Well I've seen a few methods. Bodiless spirits that possess manmade materials, manifestations of pure magic and powerful auras of mages that passed away. Though neither of those are exactly common."

"There's another one… and Yusaku was a part of it." Ai said, surprising Yusei by not using Yusaku's nickname.

The Head Signer needed a second before he realized what Ai meant. There was indeed another way to produce an Artificial Spirit, but it was strictly forbidden and Yusho Sakaki made sure no one tried to even attempt it. Did it really happen, was Yusaku really…?

"He was used as a base and put through tremendous suffering for a long time… just so they could create me." Ai said sadly with a strong feeling of guilt "There were five more children, and five more Ignis just like me. We didn't ask to be created and yet we were."

"Who did it?" Yusei asked calmly despite practically shaking from anger.

Ai slowly turned but before he could answer they were already in front of a portal that oozed with magical aura. Yusei felt radiant energy, magic that he only felt when being close to spirit worlds. His Signer Mark sizzled a bit, assuring him this was indeed a way to a spirit world.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to do anything." Ai said as he opened the way to Cyberse World "They are not even in this or any other world."

"And again!"

Yugo scooped a handful of berries with his tail and he threw them towards Rin whose eyes were completely glued on them. She watched them carefully and in a split of a moment she focused all of her energy on them. Almost all of the berries were coated in a layer of ice, frozen just right. The wind dragon gladly stuffed them in his mouth, enjoying the icy delight.

"You're getting better!" Yugo said through their mind link "And frozen berries are just amazing!"

"Thank you… I'm still learning though. Small objects are not a problem. Bigger ones are much harder to freeze."

"Hey you've been only using it for a couple of hours. I'm sure you'll get better!" Yugo stretched his wings "I mean I still have trouble talking and keeping my human form up. You're using ice magic without ever learning it!"

It was true, Rin was in fact an ice mage. No one in her family or in the entire village had as much as a grasp of magic, so when Rin accidently froze a glass of water, luckily without her parents noticing, the girl was surprised. She and Yugo then quickly excused themselves, saying something about getting more fish and before they knew it they were back at their little hideout. There Rin began to practice on small puddles of seawater.

The young guardian wasn't sure how to use it since she has never seen an actual mage or a spirit before meeting Yugo. Her parents would tell her about encountering mages when travelling outside the village, but never how they could use magic. At first she assumed the magic came from the Dragon Mark due to her being Yugo's guardian and yet the more she thought about it, more she could remember little "accidents" when she was younger. How the water she drank in the scorching heat would always be cold. How her hand wouldn't get burns when accidently being splashed with a boiling water.

Or have she was able to heal newborn Yugo.

The magic was inside her from the start and she was determined to learn how to use it in order to protect herself and her dragon. It was the thought to protect that helped her remember how to use it again and before long she was turning puddles to ice. Yugo watched her train with an interest, curiously banging his tail on the ice until it broke or chewed onto the pieces like they were toys. Rin eventually thought of a way to train quick freeze magic by using it on a small rocks that Yugo threw in the air.

Once they ran out of stones nearby, Yugo accidentally started throwing berries that Rin kept in her pocket for a quick snack. Unfortunately Rin didn't notice the difference in time and froze all the berries. Yugo whined at not having a sweet snack and tried to ear it anyway so they wouldn't go to waste. It turned out not to be such a bad idea after all since it was pretty hot on that day and a little refreshment did him good. Yugo convinced Rin to get more and about an hour later they were back, their pockets full of berries and a young guardian ready for more practice.

Yugo happily swallowed the thirtieth berry already, still having place for more. The wind dragon was ready for another round, prepared to throw the berries and then catch them when frozen.

Only that there were none this time.

The dragon looked around in panic, not sure where the berries could've fallen. The answer soon flew by literally.

Long white wings with several black feathers and cold wind following it. Rin needed a while to remember the very same seagull that had showed up near their hideout before. It was way bigger from what she remembered and she certainly didn't recall it having so many black feathers. While the young guardian was dazzled by its appearance, Yugo certainly wasn't, growling at it like an angry dog.

"Hey that's mine! Give it back!"

The seagull ignored him, only flying towards a nearby cliff where it swallowed the rest of the berries. Even though his snack was way down the its gullet, Yugo refuse to let the bird thief go. He instantly spread his crystal clear wings, rushing towards the cliff.

However he didn't make it far.

Strong wind currents from the sea carried him up and down, left and right, anywhere but in the direction of the cliff. Yugo stubbornly flapped his wings and waved with his tail, all to no avail. He has never flown this high before and he was still learning flight in general. Still he couldn't just let some birdbrain have his snack!

But soon enough Yugo got tired. His wings started to ache and his tail could barely move. The wind dragon gave up, floating back to Rin who caught him in mid-air. She was about to comfort him when a gush of air made her look up. The seagull was back looking even bigger than before which made Rin step back with one arm wrapped around her dragon and other one pointing at the bird, ready to defend herself.

And yet the seagull didn't attack. In fact all it did was fly to the cliff and back and repeated.

"Trying to be a show-off aren't you?!" Yugo growled in Rin's arms.

"Wait… I think it's trying to show us something."

"Like what? How fast it can fly to that cliff?"

"Not only that… but how as well."

Only now did Yugo actually look at the seagull closely. The air currents didn't present any problem to it and the bird flew through it like it was a mere gush of wind. The seagull indeed knew how to ride the wind right and if Yugo didn't know better the seagull was willing to help him out.

Curious about its flying technique, Yugo got up in the air, following its lead. He watched carefully, any flap, any move with other limbs, the dragon copied it completely. The bird observed him with an interest and even repeated the moves that Yugo had trouble with it. Before he knew it, Yugo reached the cliff, surprising even himself with how quickly he learnt how to fly properly. All full of joy he flew back to Rin, even making several somersaults before literally tackling her on the ground.

"I did it! I did it!" he chirped like a fletching after its first flight.

"Yeah I saw." the girl smiled despite being covered by sand from head to toe "You should've thank the birdie for teaching you."

Yugo nodded, ready to go back when he noticed the seagull right next to them, its talons splashing the seawater at the edge of the beach. In a blink of a moment the edges of water turned into ice, much more solid from Rin's attempts at the puddles. The seagull then look straight into her eyes and Rin knew it.

"Looks like we have a teacher."

Every object, manmade or not can contain a memory. A collapsed building can tell an entire story.

Aki slowly walked through the rubbles of what used to be a castle-like building. Or more like a prison. The memories of screams and pain were still so real in her head, reminding her of fate that she barely escaped. Would she really end up as the soulless weapon? As a destructive witch that dooms everyone not to Arcadia's liking? She didn't even want to think about it.

Fortunately the sound of clanking hooves brought her out of her thinking. The mist of a fallen rubble and dust soon revealed a horse-like spirit and a mage in armor on its back. If it weren't for the familiar aura, Aki would've probably call upon her plant spirits so she just approached the mage calmly.

"It's been a while, Knight." Aki smiled, watching how the mage removed the helmet.

"Not too long, my Black Rose." Knight slipped off the horse spirit, her long blond locks dinging down her back "Looks like Crimson Dragon passed on my message."

"Your message?"

"It was I who informed Crimson Dragon about strange occurrences around this area. And from what I've heard so did the Dark Signers in other parts of Synchro kingdom."

"Yeah I felt it myself. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough for Yusei to call upon Savior dragon. I surely hope he's alright." Aki caressed her Signer mark that briefly disappeared just before she got here.

"He wouldn't be Yusei if he wasn't." the Knight laughed.

"Sherry… why would Crimson Dragon send me here out of all six Signers?"

"It's because he knows you're still holding onto this place." Sherry kicked a few rocks in front of her "No matter the pain we can all still be attached to the places we once called home."

Home? Yeah right, Aki thought. As if she could see the rubble in front of her the same way she sees her little family of Signers. Yet no matter how much she tried to brush it away, a face of a certain man and his sweet words kept showing up before her eyes.

"He is dead, forget him!" she screamed within her mind to herself, unwilling to fall for his tricks yet again, even now that only memories kept him alive.

Fortunately, a comforting hand on her shoulder let her know she is not alone in this and gave Sherry a smile. As someone who has also been used by the bad people in the past, the Knight knew well how it felt, but she didn't let that stop her when comforting the Signer. They've really grown close in the last few years after the fall of Yliaster and if there wasn't the danger present at the moment, they would've probably catch up with their lives.

That danger decided to appear in the very next moment. Fortunately both women sensed it at the same time, pushing each away to safety. Two dark creatures appeared at once, one glowing in blue and being covered by chain while the other one was consisting of just a huge pair of arms and emitting orange light. The women reacted instantly, Sherry summoning her armor and calling upon her knight spirits while Aki took on her dragon form.

Two average sized materialized spirits might've not presented much of a problem to a Signer Dragon double their size along with an experienced mage, but they surely put up a good fight. They even managed to bring Aki to the ground by chaining her wings and greatly hurt one of the Sherry's powerful spirits. Luckily the two women analyzed the situation fast, combining their powers in the combat.

Sherry's spirits and she grabbed onto the blue spirit's chains as Aki grabbed the other spirit with her massive talons, throwing it against the rubble. The reminder of the building broke apart, burying the creature underneath and at the same time, Sherry blasted the other creature away using her magically enhanced lance. The creatures were reduced to the black dust that sinisterly twitched like it was alive. Aki reverted back to her human form, curiously observing the remains. She was about to touch it when Sherry pulled her away in an instant.

"Don't touch it." she warned as she poked it with her lance "The same thing took down my Fleur de Chevalier. That black thing spread like fire all over my spirit until it self-unsummoned."

"What were those things?" Aki still tried to comprehend what just happened "They looked and felt like Earthbound Immortals and not at the same time."

"I honestly hoped you could help me out with it but it looks like you know even less."

"No… all of the Dark Signers chose to be bound to their Earthbound Immortals in order to keep them under control. The only ones that aren't, are sealed underneath Godwin's mansion. Crimson Dragon keeps the Condor and the Spider under control as they can greatly influence any spirit vessel that they possess."

"Then I truly don't know who else could be behind it. The Seal of Crimson Dragon keeps outsiders away, Yliaster has been taken care of and from what you've told me, Jack Atlas keeps Tops under control." Sherry leaned against the wall, deep in thought "Who else would have a power to summon those artificial spirits?"

Aki was about to answer that she can't think of who else could be responsible for this when something piqued her interest. Slowly she stepped towards the object lying among the rubble of the previous fight and taking Sherry's warning into consideration she rather summoned one of her plant spirits to get it. Rose Fairy carefully picked the object and once she determined it was safe she handed it to Aki. The Signer turned it up and down, looking at every detail in order to confirm that her suspicions were wrong. However, with a shock in her eyes, she realized she was correct.

"No way…" Aki muttered, remembering events from more than a decade ago. How their Signer Marks suddenly disappeared along with their dragons and how the ashes began to fall from the sky like black snow.

And how Yusei suddenly disappeared as well.

"What is Paradox's mask doing here?!" Aki uttered as Sherry's eyes widened from the shock.

Dennis nervously fidgeted in the full classroom, barely focusing on whatever lecture they were having.

Fusion. Right, it was about Fusion magic again since Academia wouldn't teach anything else even though the majority of the students were aware there were other types of magic as well. The main city of Fusion was a trading city after all and a lot of travelers from other kingdoms would come to visit. Dennis had even learnt XYZ magic before coming to Academia after merely practicing it for a few weeks with a help of a travelling mage.

Despite being Yuri's guardian, Leo still made him attend all the lessons just to make him bend down to the glory of Academia. No matter how much he didn't want to, the guards always found a way to make him obey them and do whatever he was ordered. Even now he was in the class just because Leo didn't want him to be with Yuri on his training. Or more like taming.

Yuri has been growing quite fast in the last few days, his vines easily reaching across entire training ground and taking down stronger opponents. Most of the times Dennis was required to be present during those "training sessions" but in the last couple of days he was being sent to one and the same lesson. If he wasn't worried about Yuri he'd be bored out of his life, barely keeping his eyes opened. Fortunately (though unfortunately) the doors were suddenly opened, Barret slamming his hands on the doorframe.

"McField! Training room, now!" he yelled, causing entire class to turn their eyes on him.

Dennis quickly gathered his notebooks and left his seat while visibly shaking. He heard the chatter among other students, trying hard to ignore their judging eyes. How could he not if by now every single dorm knew he was a dragon guardian? Teachers kept it a secret and yet the rumors spread fast.

"Leave this stuff." Barret threw Dennis' notebook and pencils across the classroom "Hurry up!"

The boy trembled as he reluctantly left all of his unfinished homework and demanded reports behind, but he knew well that if he didn't listen, Barret would punish him in less than a second. So he just obediently followed him. Barret walked so fast that Dennis nearly had to run to catch up with him. Why would they need him all of a sudden? Didn't they want him away from Yuri? The answer was soon painfully clear.

The moment they stepped in the training room it was obvious something was terribly wrong. The entire training room was unrecognizable, the pieces of concrete were lying everywhere and there were carnivorous vines sprouting from the ground, maiming at anything moving. The group of mages consisting of teachers, guards and senior students were scattered all over the place, trying to get situation under control.

Dennis knew that Yuri had an ability to make plants grow faster, but not to this extend. Speaking of Yuri, the dragon was nowhere to be seen due to all the plants and vines. It wasn't even clear which form Yuri had, dragon or a human. In all cases, he was dangerous in both.

"You know what to do." Barret placed something in Dennis' trembling hand "This or we use the other method. If you know what's good for both of you, you'll do it."

The young dragon guardian swallowed hard, not wanting either of the two options to happen. But in the end this was less painful way to get Yuri to stop. Carefully Dennis entered the mess of a jungle, avoiding the snaps and thorns. He might've been Yuri's guardian and the plants didn't see him as much of a threat as other people, but he still had needed to be cautious. Many parts of the ground were colored blood red, probably from people who tried to subdue the plant dragon. Despite knowing Yuri won't attack him, he was still scared of what he was capable of.

Right in the middle of all this was a spot surrounded by the most vicious of vines, their sharp edges maliciously gnawing at anything that came too close. This had to be it.

"Yuri!" Dennis called, the vines immediately snapping at the direction of the call.

The boy dodged them fast and hurried to the bundle underneath the giant leaves full of spikes. There lay Yuri in his human form, his clothes ripped and bloodied. His eyes were glowing in the most poisonous shade of violet, glaring at Dennis like some vicious beast. The dragon tail, petals and horns kept appearing and disappearing, but Yuri kept trying to go back to full human. Through his blurred out vision he could still sort out Dennis' bright orange locks, enough to let him come closer.

"Yuri… what they did to you again?" Dennis asked, fighting a swarm of tears.

"I… don't want… to be… a monster." the plant dragon uttered, clenching onto his chest.

"You are not a monster! You're my friend!"

"I don't want… to go back… to my dragon form…"

"Don't tell me…" the young guardian's tears started slipping down "You've been keeping your human form on since that day?!"

"I don't… want…" Yuri could only mutter now, too drained to care "I won't let… them… use me…"

Dennis burst out crying, throwing his arms around Yuri's shoulders, not caring if the petals would hurt him. He was gone for a couple of days and they already reduced Yuri to this?! And Yuri refused to change into his dragon form all this time. For a hatchling like him it was a downright torture since every elemental dragon needed to switch from one form to another at this stage.

"Why Yuri… why?!" Dennis sobbed while cradling a person he was supposed to protect.

"They took you… away…" Yuri whispered with barely audible voice "I wanted… you… back."

"Did you… do all of this so they would allow me to see you?"

"It worked." despite the pain the plant dragon smiled "Now… do it."

Yuri's eyes turned directly towards a pointy object in Dennis' hand. He knew that thing well. By now the dragon got so used to the shocks from the collar that he would literally let the pain consume him until he fainted. Still, the guards needed a way to get him immobilized faster somehow. So they created those tranquilizer-filled injections. If he were to be a fully grown dragon it would be less effective but for a small and young hatchling it did the trick.

Yet it was still difficult to inject him with those. If Yuri didn't dodge those shots, he would create a swarm of vines that would gnaw every person who came even remotely close. To top all that, his dragon skin was pretty thick and could be only pierced at certain areas.

"Come on…" Yuri coughed from exhaustion "Let them… think… they need… you."

"I-I can't…" Dennis barely kept himself together "They will take you to that research room again."

"I don't care…" the dragon managed to reach for his guardian's hand that held the injection "You will be with me…"

Dennis shook his head, not wanting to cause his ward any more suffering. At that point Yuri knew that no matter how much he pleads, his protector won't do it. Sighing in defeat, the plant dragon had to resort to the plan b.

Using the last of his strength, Yuri grabbed Dennis' fidgeting hand and pulled it towards his upper arm. The needle pierced through his skin, the tranquilizer immediately slipping in his blood stream. Yuri could feel his blood burning and his entire body becoming stiff, all while Dennis could only watch. All the vines and predatory plants fell on the ground in unison, rotting away. The makeshift plant hideout soon revealed paralyzed dragon in his human form and his guardian still holding onto the injection.

"Nice work McField." Barret stepped closer with a group of researchers who immediately tied up Yuri with magic enhanced chains.

Despite being paralyzed, the researchers were still greatly terrified of the plant dragon, one of them even running away screaming when Yuri snarled at him. Even Dennis was approached in a similar way though they weren't that bothered with restraining him. From how it looked like the young guardian was obedient enough to follow the orders, even walking into a danger zone that landed many in the infirmary.

Carefully, their hands on more tranquilizers just in case, the guards took Yuri to a room close by, also known as the one of the most restrictive rooms in Academia. The dragon and his guardian were treated like a precious cargo or more like a time-ticking bomb from the way they were taken around with caution. Dennis has been brought here for only a few times, but from what Yuri told him, the dragon has been taken here far many times. Sometimes when the young mage had lessons or homework to do or sometimes when he was unconscious due to the drugged food he was given.

Dennis hated the way the researchers talked about Yuri, using the worlds such as "it", "creature" or "being", never by his name. By now the boy got it clear that using Yuri's name when others were present would only get him in trouble so he reserved it only when the two of them were alone. Still it was hard to watch his dragon, as proud as he was, being restrained in the most humiliating way, with even a muzzle strapped to his mouth, and poked with needles. His form would shift from time to time, but less intensely compared to how fast his dragon features were sprouting in retreating back to his body.

Dennis was checked over as well, though it was mostly for just his regular well-being, some smaller tests and the one hundredth analysis of his Dragon Mark. In fact, the violet mark on his arm was the only thing the researchers were really interested about. He didn't matter, only his mark did. Yuri was right, they didn't believe Dennis was that necessary for whatever they were using the dragon for.

Come to think of it, was Dennis even meant to be a guardian in the first place? Or did the mark just picked up a random kid that was deemed alright enough?

His train of thought was suddenly stopped by the door opening. Dennis expected more guards or researchers, certainly not an Obelisk Blue student that was a head smaller than him, walking in like he owned the place. He even chewed on the candy like some rich kid as one of the researchers escorted him to the other part of the room. The student ran his hand through his cyan colored ponytail, sitting down on examination table like it was a fancy armchair.

The more Dennis watched him, more familiar he appeared to him, though he really couldn't remember from where. The boy tried really hard to connect the dots, but before he knew it, he was ordered to drink something that soon made him rather drowsy. The kid with a ponytail didn't see him faint, though for a brief second it felt like they were staring at each other up close. Dennis didn't know if whatever was in that drink made him hallucinate or was that student actually waving to him. He didn't know. He was out cold before that kid started talking.

On the other side of the research room the door opened. The guards set the curtains and sound-proofed magical shield to obscure whatever was about to unfold there. After all, the king Leo Akaba liked his privacy and didn't want to let anyone know of what his plans were truly about. Not even the subjects of this key plan.

"So, any luck with a ninja guy?" the boy unwrapped a lollipop and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth.

"He is still being interrogated but I don't believe he'll be willing to talk." Leo replied without making an eye contact "The members of Fuma clan are trained from an early age to keep their mouth shut."

"Too bad." the student bit off a piece of the candy "I captured him alive because I thought he may turn useful for you. Otherwise I would-"

"Yes, we are well aware of your reputation, Sora Shuinin, but even without a word from a member of a Fuma clan we got enough answers." Leo clenched his fists, glaring in the distance "Yusho knows I have Starve Venom."

"Yusho? As the Yusho Sakaki?" Sora blinked at the sound of the name that sprinkled with familiarity.

"Don't get sidetracked by his name and reputation." the king sent him a piercing glare that immediately shut him up "That man is your enemy, an obstacle that is to be removed. Do you hear me?"

Sora straightened up instantly and set his two hands together in some sort of salute, just like he has been taught for all of those years. Academia's principal was satisfied enough with his obedience so he just brushed it off and turned to the researchers.

"How is the project going?" Leo asked while looking at the tray with several crystal-looking objects.

"Well, out of all test subjects, Shunin has shown the most progress. His body is responding well to the new formula and I believe he will be ready in about a week." the researcher replied.

"And others?"

"The majority is not responding well, especially the younger ones." another researcher said with stern face "Your Majesty, if we continue with the tests, they might not make it."

"The new formula needs to be improved and it can't be without more tests! Continue until you make sure Shounin is absolutely ready." Leo ordered, sending shivers to all people present, even Sora "Only this way the project will work."

The researchers nodded nervously and quickly got back to work. Sora, who has heard every word, let them examine him, drawing more vials of his blood, testing his reflexes and most importunately, gave him a crystal-looking object. This one looked a bit different from the ones he was usually given and even gave away a strange glow. Regardless, Sora did the same thing he did with all of them.

He put it in his mouth and bit into it like that lollipop before.

The crystal structure slowly dissolved in his mouth and the more he swallowed, more changes his body felt. His bones literally grew in size like the rest of his body. The aura became significantly stronger, making many researchers step away from him. Sora curiously checked his stronger body, admiring the power that was practically oozing off him.

All those exams, tests and harsh training have finally paid off. Ever since he was little he dreamt of becoming, not only the best Obelisk Blue, but the elite Obelisk Blue. Many doubted he'd succeed due to his obviously small size and arrogant personality. But he had learnt how to use this to his advantage and before he knew it, he was among the top students. With results as flashing as those, he had an opportunity to either join the elites or take a risk of becoming even stronger. Naturally, he picked the second option since everything was just like a game to him at that point.

Even when he entered a research room full of students that were restrained or experiencing horrifying side effects of whatever they were made to digest, Sora didn't stop. The first time he took that crystal he thought he'd die from the pain, but refusing to be seen as a weakling he pushed through and soon he was cracking the crystals like candy.

"Your Majesty, we've just tested the rapid growing effect. It is nearly perfected!" one of the researchers announced which made Leo grin.

Sora was pleased with the news as well, but deep down he felt tense.

Only one more week and his very first mission will begin.

Kazuma rinsed another wet cloth, placing it on his son's forehead. It's been days since Eliphas forcefully removed Yuma's memories, leaving him in this state. Not only did Yuma slip in and out of consciousness, he even developed a fever. Astral was by his side, doing whatever he could to ease Yuma's pain or run errands for Kazuma so he may not need to trouble with anything else while taking care of his sick son.

Kaito and Chris also paid a visit, unfortunately unable to help much but to bring more news concerning the elemental dragons. Then they hurried to Pendulum since the Shadow Realm spreading became uncontrollable at many places and both people and spirits needed to be evacuated to safer places. For now Yugi, Seth and Jonunchi were handling the situation, though they could use a pair of extra hands. Other than that there was just him, Astral and unconscious Yuma.

"Mr. Kazuma, you have a visitor." Astral floated back in Yuma's room "It is alright, I will watch over Yuma and let you know immediately if something changes."

Kazuma nodded and stepped in the living room of the house that shone in the colors of the stardust. His guest was already seated at the table, petting Rainbow Kuriboh who enjoyed the gentle strokes.

"I hope you don't mind that I've already made myself comfortable, my old friend." the visitor smiled, removing his hat.

"Not at all Yusho, you are always welcome here." Kazuma took a seat next to him "I see Rainbow Kuriboh has shown you the path."

"Indeed, this little guy surely knows every inch of this world." Yusho smiled though it quickly changed "I'm sorry to trouble you, especially considering the state Yuma is in right now, but I really need a friend's advice."

"Yusho, you've helped me in more ways than one, so I'll be always there if you need me." the man placed his hand on his friend's shoulder in a supporting manner.

"I'm lost Kazuma, so lost of what I should do." Yusho covered his face "Zarc is sinking deeper in depression every single day because of Yuri. I want to go get him right now, but if Leo already knew so much about everything that's most likely what he wants me to do – rushing into things recklessly. Also Reiji and Shun are much too young to be left alone at the moment. I could've asked Tenjos and Arclights for help, but the situation in XZY and Pendulum has worsen. And even if they could, they can't teach them all about being a dragon guardians."

"Yusho, is it that you don't know what needs to be done or you don't know if you're doing the right thing?"

"I'm just so unsure… Yuri is suffering along with his guardian, Yugo and his guardian might be safe for now, but it is just a matter of time before Leo makes his next move."

"What is his plan anyway? Still that utopian united world idea?"

"I'm not sure myself. From what Tsukikage told me he has turned Academia into research facility and young mages into soldiers for Gods know what. Spirits have practically abandoned Fusion Kingdom due to all the hunting." Yusho clenched his fists "The Resistance has a spy on the inside, but during the latest spying attempt, Hikage went missing. Now they most certainly know I'm trying to get Yuri and his guardian back."

"Yusho, like you said, Leo knows how much you care about Zars's dragons and he will use it against you as much as he can. I know you want to go get Yuri right away, but I seriously think you should leave this to Resistance. From what you've told me they've been saving the students for years. Plus they have two spirit vessels on their side, one of them being a dragon one." Kazuma said with a pat on his friend's shoulder "You should focus on teaching your wards everything they need to know so they'll be able to protect their dragons. They are smart kids."

"Thank you Kazuma." Yusho smiled despite the despair he was feeling "You always know how to say the right thing."

"I'm sure Zarc will understand. You raised him well."

Yusho nodded, gazing towards the stairs that led to a second floor. Astral briefly appeared and then floated back to Yuma's room. He couldn't even imagine just how bad Kazuma must've felt.

"How is Yuma doing?" Yusho asked, Kazuma's face immediately losing its usual grin.

"I won't lie, not too good." he sighed "He is starting to remember again much more regularly, but the last time, it was the worst one so far. Neither III nor Astral could tell what triggered it."

"Would you mind if I examine him? From what you've told me in the last letter, I might know what's wrong."

Kazuma didn't need to be told twice, leading Yusho to Yuma's room right away. The young mage was in a deep slumber, still suffering from a fever. Astral, who was holding onto his partner's hand, moved away after Kazuma gave him a reassuring nod so the Performer Mage could get a better look on Yuma. From the outside, the young warrior of Astral world appeared to be fine physically, no visible injuries or other inconsistencies.

"What do you think Zarc?" Yusho asked inside his mind while holding onto the pendulum.

"What I think? I think Eliphalas should go to hell for forcing a child to fight and treat him like a weapon." the former Dragon Guardian replied in anger.

"Zarc…"

"What makes him different from Leo?! I know their worlds are at war, but instead of finding a way for Astral and Barian world to coexist he rather tries to destroy it by sacrificing the lives of the most innocent!"

"This is their personal matter that they have to resolve by themselves alone. We are merely observers and right now our job is to help this poor child."

"Fine." the spirit sighed as he floated closer to Yuma, looking more closely for anything that Yusho might've missed.

He instructed his teacher to turn the young XVZ mage to his side and remove the clothing, exposing his upper back. Like the rest of his body, Yuma appeared to have much paler skin compared his usual tanned one, except for one place. Just at the base of his neck was a tiny, barely visible cross shaped scar that was hidden by Yuma's drenched hair.

Yusho immediately pressed his hand against it, murmuring a spell. All of a sudden Yuma's body began to toss and turn, trying to get Yusho's hand off his neck. Kazuma and Astral quickly grabbed onto Yuma's body, holding him down so he wouldn't accidently hurt himself. The Pendulum mage focused more of his magic into the chant since he noticed how much Yuma was struggling against it.

"Hold still just a bit more…" he kept whispering, until the source of pain was extracted.

The second it was gone, the body of a young mage went still. Astral quickly checked his vital signs which were luckily alright. Yuma just appeared to be exhausted. Even his fever went down and watching his son's health improving for the first time in several days surely piqued Kazuma's interest.

His eyes went from now peacefully sleeping Yuma to something that Yusho held in his hands. Or was holding. Whatever it was, it disintegrated fast after Yusho used purifying spell. That could only mean-

"Chaos." Kazuma said, not believing his own words "But Yuma can handle Chaos. Even Astral can now."

"Not the amount he had inside of his body." Yusho sighed while staring at the fading cross shaped scar on Yuma's neck "Someone must've put it in him when he wasn't looking."

"That cannot be possible. I kept a watch on Yuma the whole time we were in Spartan City. If he were to be affected by too much Chaos, I would feel it too, but I didn't." Astral said while fixing the edges of the blanket.

Kazuma wanted to believe it couldn't be possible, but he knew. He simply knew what was going on and he was terrified that it was happening now when so much was going on all at once.

He was after Yuma again.

"We are here."

Rua and Ruka watched how the endless grass fields were slowly replaced by forests and forests soon revealed a small castle and kingdom surrounding it. The spirits quickly sensed the presence of two Signers and their dragons who appeared alongside them, bowing down the second they got off Regalus' back.

"My, you surely came as soon as you got the message." an old spellcaster spirit welcomed them.

"What's going on Torunka?" Rua asked once he noticed several changes around the castle.

"I think it's better if you talk with Demak first. He was the first one to notice them."

The twins nodded and let the spellcaster lead them to the throne room. The monkey spirits were everywhere, running back and forth with scrolls and supplies. There was also an unusual number of spirits since they would usually be outside of the castle. The deeper they got in the castle, more spirits were present, filling up every room and hallway. Rua and Ruka had to leave their dragons and Regalus in a room that still had space in order to get through.

It took them a while before they reached the throne room and even that place was crowded. With Torunka's help they eventually got there, their short statures preventing them from seeing that there was someone else besides the Dark Signer of a Monkey. Ruka immediately recognized that mop of blue hair and white cape.

"Big bro Johan!" she exclaimed as she rushed to hug him, Rua following suit.

"We've missed you!" her twin cried as he clenched onto Johan's tunic.

The vessel of a Rainbow Dragon smiled as he nudged to Demak to put their discussion on hold for a bit. The spirit vessels from every kingdom didn't interact as much due to their busy work, but the twins and Johan got a chance to bond more since they could travel to other spirit worlds besides their own. At times he'd bring Judai along too so their bond only grew over all those years.

"What are you doing here?" Ruka asked, noticing even more spirits being present.

"You could say I'm a delivery boy." Johan crunched down so he was closer to the twins' level "Bringing more Fusion spirits to Synchro spirit world."

"Is situation in Fusion really that bad? With Academia and all?" the female twin gasped from realization.

"So you've heard…" the Fusion mage sighed "Yes, it has become dangerous to the point that spirits no longer see it as home. King Akaba has figured out how to break in Fusion Spirit world. We've managed to save the majority of spirits and brought them here since Millennium is facing the rise of Shadow Realm and XYZ's spirit worlds are at war with each other."

"That's so awful! To just barge in their home and attack them!" Rua shouted.

"The Resistance is doing whatever it can to protect the spirits, but as of now Starve Venom and his guardian come first."

The twins were about to ask if they were any closer to rescuing the elemental dragon when Joahan's trusted spirit partner Ruby appeared on his shoulder. The little spirit whispered something to his ear to which Johan nodded. Even without a word, Rua and Ruka knew that the Fusion mage had to leave soon.

"Will you say his to big bro Judai for us?" Rua asked, clearly said about such short reunion.

"You know I will. Maybe he'll even accompany me the next time we bring more refugee spirits." Johan stroked their hair "Until then you two make sure you keep Clear Wing and his guardian safe too, okay?"

The Hand and Heart Signers nodded to keep the promise and watched how Johan called upon Rainbow Dragon who used its powers to create Rainbow Bridge. It was one of the rarest abilities that dragon spirits could possess, to connect two spirit worlds. With a help of its power, the spirts could retreat much faster and sooner compared to fleeing through human world. The twins waved their goodbyes, hoping they would get to see Johan and Judai soon.

As soon as the blue haired mage left, Demak came to their side with a handful of scrolls along with Torunka and Regalus. The refugee spirits began to leave the throne room, leaving the group of five on their own. With more space, Ancient Fairy Dragon and Life Stream Dragon managed to get there as well.

"As you may heard from Crimson Dragon, something strange has been going on in Synchro since a few days ago." Torunka started as he used his magic to make a projection of several places all across Synchro.

The twins recognized locations and even spotted the other Signers fighting unknown creatures. Crow fought them alongside his friend from Commons, Shinji; Aki and a comrade named Sherry, also known as Knight were fighting a particularly big one and Yusei… he was fighting them in his Savior Star Dragon form. If Yusei needed their help to defeat them, they surely were powerful and dangerous enough to even make the Dark Signers concerned.

"Fortunately, they can't seem to enter Spirit Worlds. But their structure is worrisome. They are solid, just like spirits summoned by mages and spirits possessing vessels. Either they are similar to Rare Hunters from Pendulum or someone is controlling them, which possesses another problem." the Dark Signer of Monkey explained.

"Mages need to be close to the spirits in order to make them solid." Ruka said, remembering her first attempts to summon the spirits.

"That's right." Demak pointed at more projections of Synchro kingdom "So far no one reported seeing those creatures in other kingdoms. They appeared in Synchro only. Inside of the barrier."

"So that's how Crimson Dragon could sense them." Rua mumbled.

"It appears they are attracted to specific places." Torunka added "Satellite, where Zero Reverse happened and battle between Signers of Crimson Dragon and Dark Signers took place. The ruins of Arcadia Movement headquarters, where many innocent lives were lost. New Neo Domino, center of Tops and place where you fought Z-ONE. And Satisfaction Town, formerly known as Crush Town. Place where many were enslaved and worked to death."

"All of those places carry a significant amount of energy left behind by people whose lives were lost during those events." Regulus said, acknowledging the signs "Should someone use this energy to convert it in something like Artificial Spirits would as well resort to something like this."

Then Demak nudged towards two monkey spirits who rushed out of the room. Soon they returned with a small cage that was covered up with a cloth and whatever was in it constantly hit against the bars. The twins nearly jumped when the creature in it made a particularly loud noise when trying to get out. Demak only rolled up his sleeve, exposing his Dark Sign of a Monkey that began to glow in yellow. The creature attempted to crush the bars a few more times before it stopped, trembling in fear. Once it stopped, Torunka removed the cloth, revealing the being that made both twins gasp in fear.

"Are those… them?" Rua winced at the sight of the creature.

"One of the smaller ones." Demak answered "Miss Misty and Carly managed to capture it and their spirits brought it here. So far we only know what we've told you and the fact that they are afraid of Dark Signers."

"Wait, they are afraid of you? But they literally look like Earthbound Immortals." the Heart Signer blinked in confusion.

"That they do, but it is far from an average fear. They don't acknowledge us as their masters or obey our commands and yet they fear us the same." Demak made his Dark Sign of a Monkey glow, which made the creature shift to the back of the cage.

Ruka genuinely felt sorry for the creature in cage, despite seeing Yusei, Crow and Aki fighting much bigger version of them. They were dangerous, that much was clear, but at the same time it wasn't their fault. The creatures were most likely created to be this way, knowing nothing but destroy and obey the command of their master. The Hand Signer even tried to get closer, if only to try to understand those creatures better. She felt the dark aura surrounding the cage and the more it screeched, more she began to realize.

"What if there is a new Dark Signer?" Ruka asked as everyone raised their eyebrows at realization.

"Watch your step, it is pretty slippery at this part!" Ai called as Yusei entered the mysterious Spirit World.

He has been to all known Spirit Worlds, finding each one of them unique in some way, though they still shared the same traits. But this Cyberse World, as Ai called it, was completely different. The magic surrounding it sort of felt like long-forgotten Link magic and yet it was mixed with something new.

The more Yusei moved forward, more solid the world became. His mark continued to sizzle and even Stardust Dragon twitched like something unfamiliar was there. But soon enough, any sign of discomfort was gone and radiant aura was the only thing he felt.

Yusei's jaw nearly dropped to the ground from the sight he was seeing. Millennium World had a desert kingdom. Fusion Spirit World and Synchro Spirit World looked a lot like human worlds. Barian and Astral World were completely alien. But this? This was a perfect representation of how the paradise is supposed to look like. There were forests, grass fields, waterfalls and rock structures wherever he looked, blooming with life. Spirits that he had never seen before were roaming the land while the sun shine brightly.

"The Cyberse Tower is this way." Ai pointed to a tall structure in the distance.

It wasn't just one tower, but six in fact. They were too far for Yusei to see them in detail though he could tell each of them was surrounded by different elements. Once they got close enough, the Head Signer could see just how detailed each tower was. One looked like a volcano surrounded by flames. Another one was circle shaped and had dozens of tiny tornados floating around. What he assumed to be a water tower had little stone structures that had streams and waterfalls. Yusei barely saw the fourth one due to how bright it was shining. One more had floating gems everywhere and the last one seemed sort of basic with not much distinctive traits.

Each tower, with an exception of the last one, also had a small humanoid spirit that looked like Ai next to them, each of them busy working on towers. They were so focused that they didn't even notice their friend before he loudly announced his comeback.

"I'm home!" Ai shouted, bringing attention to himself, though none of them seemed overly enthusiastic about seeing him.

"Did Datastorm work?" green colored spirit asked.

"It did! It was just like you and Lightning predicted! Playmaker joined with a Firewall Dragon!" Ai said while puffing his chest like it was all thanks to him.

"Did he make it far?" a blue colored, feminine spirit asked in concerned manner.

"Well… he left the island and came back soon. He still needs some practice…" the dark Ignis bowed his head.

"So we still don't know what lies beyond this place…" the red colored spirit crossed his arms in a sigh.

"But there is someone who might tell us more about it!" Ai floated back to Yusei "He can also use magic and join with monsters!"

All five of spirits looked down in unison, probably only now realizing that the human who arrived to their world wasn't Yusaku.

"Another human?" the light colored spirit by the name of Lightning floated closer to Yusei in an interest "Though strangely, his magic feels a lot like Yusaku's."

"Why did you come here?" the blue spirit asked in a concerned manner.

"I've visited all Spirit Worlds and yet I was never aware of Cyberse World's existence. I wanted to learn more about it." Yusei replied politely with a bow "I'm also interested in how you performed the ceremony necessary to turn a mage into a spirit vessel, more about your magic and… more about that boy Yusaku. He kept repeating things that I found confusing."

The Ignis looked at each other, like they were in a thought if they should trust him or not. The blue Ignis kept staring at him with her eyes changed, most likely using magic on him.

"He is telling the truth." the blue spirit said "I believe, it is safe to entrust him our story."

"Yeah, I don't sense any magic associated with Knights of Hanoi. I'm sure we can learn something useful from him." the red spirit added.

"I don't know…" the green spirit flew around Yusei's head for a few times "He still looks suspicious to me."

"I doubt we will ever get a greater opportunity than this." Lightning rested his palm against his chin "We might find a way to improve Cyberse World."

The light spirit floated right in front of Yusei along with the blue spirit. Lightning outstretched his tiny hand like in a manner of agreement.

"If you wish to hear our story, you agree to answer on some of our questions. Keep in mind that we might have plenty of them since our world is rather isolated." the Ignis said in serious tone "I advise you not to lie since Aqua can quickly tell a truth from the lie."

"Understood." Yusei made a slight bow in a manner of respect.

"We can start with your interesting mark first." the green Ignis floated closer to Yusei's sign "It gives off magic that I don't recall sensing in Cyberse."

"I come from the Synchro Kingdom, a place that is the closest to the ruins of the Link Kingdom – place we are at now. Besides Synchro, there are also Fusion, XYZ and Pendulum and each kingdom has a Spirit World and Divine Spirits who protect them. Servants of Divine Spirits act as Spirit Vessels for their most powerful spirits and I'm one of the six in Synchro." Yusei rolled up his sleeve and revealed his shining Head Sign "Synchro's Divine Spirit is called Crimson Dragon and its servants carry one of its six dragon spirits along with a mark that connects us to it."

"That would explain the unknown dragon that you've brought with you." the red spirit pointed at Stardust Dragon who appeared nearby when Yusei called for it.

"For a mage to become a vessel, a certain ceremony needs to be performed with a presence of a Divine Spirit. In my case it was Crimson Dragon." the Head Signer remembered Yusaku's dragon spirit "It still puzzles me how you managed to turn Yusaku in a Spirit Vessel."

The Ignis exchanged glances like they weren't sure how to reply, when Ai came forward with an answer.

"To be honest we don't know ourselves. By your means we probably are those Divine Spirits of Cyberse World and this Link Kingdom. But we only created Firewall Dragon." Ai scratched his head in thought "That way Yusaku could summon it as a solid spirit and use it to fly to outside world in order to gather more information. We've never expected he'd be capable of merging with it."

"That's right, this only happened recently. Before Yusaku could only summon regular Cyberse spirits and use magic." fire spirit explained further.

"So it is still a mystery how he became a Spirit Vessel…" Yusei leaned back and looked up "How did he even get to Link Kingdom? This place has been abandoned since Dragon War."

"Dragon War?" all Ignis, except for the orange one, asked in confusion.

Yusei sighed, clearly knowing that he had a long story to tell. Still, he took a deep breath and started from the beginning, from the times when only Divine Spirits existed all the way to the present day. All Ignis listened with a great interest, remembering every word as a form of taking notes. From time to time, Yusei was asked additional questions that he answered patiently, even adding a thing or two to further explain them.

Over halfway to his story, Yusei came to a conclusion that those spirits were either incredibly isolated the whole time or just appeared out of nowhere. The events before and after Dragon War were relatively new and everyone who still had the memories of it could recall them since they happened in the last ten years. What surprised him was also that they kept asking him about the magic, not about the magic he was using, but the magic in general like they were child mages who never heard about magic before.

During his answering session, he finally managed to tell them his name and learned the names of other Ignis besides Ai, Aqua and Lightning. The red Ignis, also known as fire Ignis was Flame and he appeared to be cool and collected most of the time. Wind Ignis or Windy for short was more energetic and would playfully jump around whenever he became too bored when listening to Yusei. Windy also didn't cover the fact that he didn't trust him and would glare at the Head Signer most of the time. Lastly, there was Earth. The orange Ignis wouldn't speak during the entirety of the conversation, only nodding and whispering his questions to Aqua, who asked instead of him.

Finally, Yusei covered up the rest of the most recent events, explaining how creatures, similar to the one they had fought more than ten years ago, started appearing in Synchro again, and how Yusaku gave him a hand in defeating it.

"When I was talking to Yusaku, he kept referring to this world as "VRAINS"." Yusei remembered out loud "And Ai also mentioned that he was used to create an Artificial Spirit Ai. Where does Yusaku fit in this story?"

Ai was about to start with the story, when Lightning covered the place where his mouth was supposed to be, instantly quieting him down. The other Ignis looked down, clearly uncomfortable with sharing their story. Only Aqua managed to float closer, her hands pressed together like in a prayer.

"Before we tell you our story, you must understand that we are all a result of an experiment that took place ten years ago. Neither we nor those poor children had a say in it." Aqua said while trembling "And also… we are not from this world."

"From this world?" Yusei repeated in confusion "Were you in another Spirit World before?"

Aqua nodded as Lightning created a projection. To Yusei it looked like the main city in Synchro, but it looked much more advanced. The buildings and whatever devices were moving through busy roads all seemed to be powered by a very strange magic. Even the people there wore entirely different clothing compared to what he saw in all the kingdoms. It looked like a brand new civilization, filled with more people and much more devices than he had ever seen in the Tops.

"Where is this?" the Signer asked, looking for any similarities or clues where that might be.

"Those are Yusaku's memories of his home world. Or more like… home dimension."

"Finally asleep." Reiji smiled as he pulled the covers over Yuya's and Yuto's sleeping dragon bodies.

The two hatchlings insisted on training more that day, practicing their shifting abilities and their powers. By now Yuto learned how to use lightning magic and would constantly ask Shun to help him train. While the hatchling could summon lightning, that didn't necessary mean he had a control over it. Most of the times he would miss the intended target and hit his guardian instead. It was a miracle Shun was still alive by that point, but despite all the times he got hit by his ward's magic, he encouraged him to keep on trying in order to learn.

Yuya on the other hand was a bit slow and yet he was more motivated just as much as his sibling to learn more. The fire dragon could make sparkles when snapping his fingers and even tiny flames. The first time he managed to turn the sparkles into flames, he was so happy that he went to light every single candle that he could find in Duel Lodge. Yuto and Shun nearly freaked out when seeing the room with statues being all lit up, thinking the fire has erupted.

Same went for their guardians. Yusho not only taught them how to improve their magic, but showed them how to use the ones outside of Pendulum and XYZ. Shun more or less preferred to use XYZ magic, since it was something that connected him to his home while Reiji mastered one type of magic after another. Yuya watched with awe how his guardian summoned different spirits with which the fire dragon could spar in order to strengthen his dragon body. He became more and more used to his partial transformation as well as Yuto did.

And yet they were still hatchlings and young mages that needed to rest after any kind of training. Once the wards were tucked in, Reiji dragged an armful of pillows right next to them so he could read while watching over them. The Pendulum mage has recently became interested in XYZ's culture and would read any book or scroll about it. Yusho, Kazuma, Kaito and Arclights gladly lent him their literature determining the history of the kingdom, its magic and its spirit worlds.

"What are you reading?" Shun looked over Reiji's shoulder towards the thick book.

"The history of XYZ Kingdom, about Astral and Barian Wars." the silver haired mage replied, turning the page to the pretty graphic illustration "Astral World sought the ultimate perfection, so every time there was an imperfection, it was banished out of their world. This led to the creation of Barian World and to this day, those two worlds cannot coexist without a conflict… Shun?"

Reiji automatically read the sentences outload since he was so used to Yuya asking him questions. He completely forgot that Shun lost his parents due to those wars and lived on the streets for some time because of it. His expression was completely void of any emotion as he was likely thinking about his past.

"Shun I… I'm sorry." Reiji quickly closed the book.

"It's fine…" Shun mumbled as he stood up, heading towards the doors "I think there is some laundry to be washed. Can you watch over Yuto for me?"

"Sure…"

The Pendulum mage watched the fellow guardian leave, thinking just how much pain he was hiding. Unlike him, the XYZ mage was much more talkative and opened up to others, and yet he had a past that was just a dark as his own. He really wanted to help him out, but for now he knew he had to leave him be. By now he had learnt that's how Shun dealt with his inner turmoil.

The XYZ mage, with a handful of dirty clothes, mostly from Yuya's and Yuto's training sessions, just got to the spring behind the Duel Lodge. Rolling up his sleeves, he began to rub soap into the first piece of clothing. The slow and precise strokes was just what he needed, especially after seeing that illustration.

Fires of mystic origin and magic clashing in the skies while people could only run in hopes they don't get hit. True he was only a toddler when the last major crossfire between two spirit nations happened and his memories of that time were hazy, but it still felt so real to him. He would calm himself by simply stating those were the nightmares that never happened and yet the older he became, more they turned into a reminder of grim reality.

All this thinking made him loosen his grip on the clothing, slipping right out of his soapy fingers. Shun knew that Yusho had more than enough clothes for all of them and could easily afford new ones, but he still appreciated things they had. As someone who has lived in the streets for a while, the young guardian knew well that everything is useful in some way or another. He quickly rushed after the clothing that was closer and closer to the river. The river that ended with a waterfall.

Shun stepped up, determined to even summon his Raidraptors if he doesn't reach it in time. Luckily, he didn't need to resort to such drastic measurements since someone else caught it. Whoever it was, Shun didn't care as he politely thanked for their help in a bow first and only then did he look up who it was. The person was much taller than him, probably around Chris's age or even Yusho's age. Their appearance was concealed by a thick overcoat, which was very uncommon in a kingdom with such warm climate.

"Is this yours?" the person asked, surprising Shun since the voice sounded very familiar.

"Yeah…" Shun took the clothing "Thank you for catching it."

"You've grown... Little Falcon."

The second young guardian heard that name, his mind became a swirl of memories. The images that he managed to brush away were back, rushing through his head. No, he didn't want to see that, not again. Shun grabbed a hold of his head, begging whatever force there was to make it stop. Not now that he had to be strong for his dragon.

All of sudden, he felt warm hands on his cheeks, their softness reminding him of sense of home so long ago. That's right, Kaito's father would do that whenever he felt unsafe… or did he? Was it Kaito? Or one of the Arclights? The feeling was right, but the hands that were holding his face weren't.

"It's okay, just breathe." the person crunched down, pressing their hooded forehead to his, while still holding his cheeks "It is just memories, nothing else."

"Wh-Who are you?" Shun muttered while still shaking.

"I think we better go back. You could probably use an extra hand for all of your laundry too."

Shun was a bit dumbfounded by all of this, but nodded to it anyway. Yusho told them many times not to talk to the strangers… but this person felt familiar in some way. Well, as long as they only accompany him to the spring there shouldn't be a problem. Shun so just got back to where a pile of clothes still awaited him and watched how the person simply rolled up their sleeves, crouching down to start washing right away. Too puzzled of what he should ask, the young guardian followed suit, scrubbing and soaping. With extra help, they were done much faster so before they knew it, they were hanging the laundry.

"It sure has been a long time since we spent together like this." the person muttered and that's when Shun finally realized it. From underneath the hood he saw two lilac locks of hair and soon some purple ones as well. What truly give it away, were bright blue earrings shaped like feathers; and Shun knew only one person who wore them.

"Teacher…" he uttered as the tears began to bubble up in his eyes "Why…"

Instead of saying anything, Ruri just embraced him as Shun cried. During all those years, Shun missed his teacher dearly, but he always hid those emotions as he didn't want to trouble others with it. Now that she was here, he instantly remembered everything she had taught him and the days she was looking after him.

"Why did you leave…?" Shun muttered under his tears "Why did you just… disappear?"

Ruri wiped his tears with a handkerchief with a bird embroidery, while trying hard not to cry herself. Her little ward was Dragon Guardian now, a guardian of Dark Rebellion. As much as she wanted to release him from such dangerous task, she just couldn't. It was her duty, both as En Birds and Ray's fragment to protect this kingdom and its dragon.

"I'm so sorry Little Falcon, I really am." Ruri gently stroked Shun's hair "If there was a way, I wouldn't leave you, but in the end I had to. I've never left you on the streets, I only implanted that memory so you wouldn't look for me. And yet in the end you did…"

"I was worried something happened to you… and even then I wanted to go look for you."

"I know, I know." Ruri squatted down to Shun's level "And that's why you need to listen to me carefully."

Despite having numerous questions, Shun gave her an assuring nod. He knew that he was no longer a child, in fact, now that he had to watch over Yuto, it only confirmed that he had an important role to play.

"What I'm about to tell you is something that you absolutely mustn't tell anyone, not even the other guardians and especially not the dragons."

"Why will you tell me then?"

"Because at least one of the guardians has to know this and out all of them, this information is the safest with you." Ruri held onto her former ward "You know that the previous reincarnations of the Elemental Dragons caused a terrible event known as the Dragon War which took the lives of a previous Dragon Guardian and En Keeper. Now you're one of the guardians and you must be aware of their rage."

"Rage?"

"That's right. A new reincarnation may have given them a second chance at life, but the remains of their inner rage is still there. It is in their hearts and if one is consumed by it, everyone else will be as well. This is why you must learn to calm down Dark Rebellion." Ruri brought out a small red neckerchief that she tied up around Shun's neck "As an embodiment of En Birds, I have the power to calm down this rage, but I might not always be there, so I'm entrusting some of it to you. If at least one dragon calms down, others will likely follow."

"En… Birds?"

"Yes, one of the four En magic branches. If you received the memories, you must've briefly seen En Keeper. Sadly, she gave up her life in order to rebuild the world. I'm just a mere spell that held onto one of her soul fragments. Our only purpose was to watch over the Guardian Marks and the dragons."

"Then why… why did you raise me?" Shun asked which made Ruri look down.

"Because… because I took the soul fragment that held the dreams of the future of the En Keeper. Her wish so became my wish." Ruri stepped closer, embracing Shun one more time "When I saw you wandering through burnt down streets all alone while crying for your parents… I just knew. When you fell asleep in my arms… I couldn't let you go. Other Ens tried to convince me into giving you to someone else, but I just couldn't. I've seen you as a child that I wanted to raise, teach and love like my own."

Shun kept his hands around his former teacher, remembering more and more about his childhood when Ruri held him just like this.

"But five years ago, I could no longer watch over you. If I would, you'd likely be the next target. That's why I entrusted you to Kaito. I have known the vessel of Galaxy Eyes for many years and knew that the magic of his family is powerful enough to conceal your presence."

"Target?"

"You were next in line to become a Dragon Guardian. Before that, the Ens held onto the Dragon Marks until dragons would hatch. Leo Akaba somehow figured out who would be the next guardian of Odd Eyes and used him to steal the Dragon Marks. All except for En Winds were forced to pass them forward." Ruri gently rolled up Shun's sleeve, exposing his mark "We knew Akaba would try to track us down, due to our En magic, so we decided to disappear to Spirit Worlds. I spent the last five years in Astral and Barian World, but I never stopped watching over you. I have an ability to look through birds' eyes so I could see you train and become stronger. I could've never been more proud of you, Little Falcon."

When Shun heard that nickname for the third time, he could remember trying to copy his Teacher's magic. He quickly mastered enough XYZ magic to learn to summon his first Raid Raptor and he recalled Ruri being so happy that day. After it, he would just continue to train in order to summon more Raid Raptors, but his Teacher was gone before he managed to summon his second one.

"You've truly grown up and now that you have Dark Rebellion to look after, the only other thing that I can teach you, is the Song of Peace. And remember, you must never tell anyone about us. Only a selective few can know about this."

And so Ruri taught her former pupil one more spell before she partially turned into Lyrical Luscinia, her beautiful wings gently flapping towards the sky.

"I'm always with you, Little Falcon."

"Another… dimension?" Yusei couldn't look away from the memory projection.

He heard about multiple worlds, rarely about multiple dimensions. So far no one has been able to unveil their existence as they were only weakly back-upped theories. And yet he was staring at the memory of one. It was just like their world was revived one more time but this time replaced completely by something that hasn't existed before.

"That's right, Yusaku is from another dimension… or at least part of him is." Ai said in a bit uncomfortable tone.

"In this other dimension, the magic has never developed the way it did in yours. Instead of it, people created machines and devices in order to lead a comfortable lifestyle. Magic is only a concept there, a fairytale meant for entertainment. Even the spirits are mere illustrations on trading cards and magic is only in video games." Lightning explained while showing various images of items that Yusei has never seen before.

"Video… game…?" the Signer raised his eyebrows.

"It is like a projection with a story and challenges. The majority has a fictional character that you can control or some sort of a puzzle to solve." Flame created another projection where someone was putting some sort of goggles over his eyes "Yusaku would mostly play a card game, similar to the creatures and magic of this dimension."

"Then how did he or you get here?" Yusei crossed his arms while studying the card game with illustrated cards.

Lightning switched a projection to an empty street where a white haired boy was heading inside the house. Since those were Yusaku's memories, Yusei guessed that the boy was Yusaku's friend or someone he knew. Through his eyes he could see many interesting devices in the house, but all of a sudden, the image turned black. At first, the Signer thought that Lightning intentionally made it disappear. Then he saw something that looked like an image that you see when you slowly open your eyes. Yusaku held those goggles in his hands, though they looked more like a visor. The boy put it on and watched how the whole space turned into arena, similar to the game he was playing before except it looked more advanced.

Yusaku played that card game again and by now Yusei got a hang of it. Each player had Life Points that they had to bring down by using spirits to duel. Other cards known as spells and traps, backed up the spirits so they could cause more damage. Whoever Yusaku was dueling against, wasn't that good, in fact, the boy won quite fast. Then a writing appeared in the air.

Up for another round? YES/NO

The boy lifted his finger to press YES and the arena was cleared of cards. Yusaku confidently started another game against an opponent who appeared to be more experienced. The strategies Yusaku was using seemed quite useful as he would adapt them against completely different player for the second time. However, the opponent had a trump card that made Yusaku ran out of his strategic options and his Life Points hit zero. Just when Yusei was about to ask them what was the point of showing him this, big capital letters appeared before him.

YOU LOSE!

The arena suddenly became empty and Yusei could hear a pained screamed along with what sounded like a lightning spell. A loud thud followed and the visor fell off Yusaku's face. Only now did Yusei realize that Yusaku was no longer in the house, but in a small white room illuminated by strong lights.

Then it was Ai who created another projection, this time from a different angle that had a view of the entire room. There was Yusaku, lying on the ground and crying his eyes out.

"What… was that?" Yusei felt his nails digging in the skin from how strong he was clenching his fists.

"Lost Incident." Lightning replied simply "A project to create Artificial Intelligence with free will."

"I've told you before. We are all Artificial Intelligences, AIs for short. Something you call Artificial Spirits. Artificial Divine Spirits in fact." Ai stopped showing the projection "In thatdimension, creating an AI is not that hard and lots of their machines are ran by AIs."

"But to create an AI with free will… it is like to create a human being." Aqua kept her hands together "That's why our creator came up with this terrible experiment."

Ai showed a different projection that went fast forward for what appeared to be weeks and weeks of experimentation. Yusaku became visibly skinnier and weaker after each punishment in a form of not getting food and electroshocks.

"We all started off as simple AIs, the ones that were created to blindly follow any order." Flame added "By watching six different children duel, we slowly began to develop our personalities. We weren't aware what was going on. We only knew we had to absorb and learn from any data that we see."

"It was months later when we became aware of what was going on." Ai stopped the projection at point where Yusaku looked like he was just about ready to give up "Someone must've fiddled with controls since we no longer had an order to learn from the kids."

"In fact, we weren't required to do anything." Windy chirped "We were free."

Yusei was rather overwhelmed with so much information. Even though he didn't fully understand most of what Ignis were saying, he was still horrified of what was going on in a different dimension. He witnessed firsthand how wars could affect people, especially children. Despite that dimension looking like a peaceful place, such terrible things still happened to the most innocent.

"So you escaped?" Yusei asked further.

"That's the thing – none of us remembers." Ai exclaimed while still showing the projection that literally switched from the white room to the Cyberse "It is like that period of time got erased from us. Somehow we found ourselves here."

"So we did what every living being would do. We began living." Lightning switched the projection with much bigger one.

The memory showed the six Ignis slowly turning the empty space to look like human world. The Ignis Tower was the very first thing that they created and from that point, the other features began to appear. Earth's tower created lands and hills. Aqua's tower filled them with water. Lightning's and Ai's tower provided day and night. Windy made sure there was a breeze and Flame warmed it up. It began to resemble the today's Cyberse more and more. Yet still, Yusei had another question.

But before he could even say it, the answer was shown as well.

What appeared to be a typical day in the Cyberse, with Ignis adding more touches to their world and Ai slacking off in the grass, was quickly interrupted by a sudden flash. The entire Spirit World shook like there was an earthquake, even though natural disasters were not meant to happen there. All Ignis quickly rushed to the side of the impact, in order to take care of the damage.

Only to find Yusaku's curled form there.

The six year old was in a deep sleep, his chest barely moving. Only Ai was brave enough to approach him since Yusaku was his Origin, a person he was based on. He tried to get a response, but he couldn't get anything other than the fact that the boy was alive.

"We weren't sure what to do back then. We were only programmed to live by our own will." Lightning continued with his arms crossed "Despite our excessive knowledge, we didn't know what we were supposed to do with a human child that somehow got from one dimension to another."

"Oh, just admit it you wanted to get rid of him!" Ai narrowed down his eyes "It interfered with your great plan how to build Cyberse!"

"We weren't attached to him the same way you were, Ai. To you, losing Yusaku would be like losing a part of yourself and that's something we weren't aware of that time." Aqua calmed him down.

"For the next few days we searched the Cyberse for anyone else. Yusaku was the only one to get here." Flame said as the projection showed the boy waking up and being all confused.

Yusei watched how the span of several days had Ai being near Yusaku, as the other Ignis went back to building the Cyberse world.

"Since we didn't know how to help the child, we've looked in the memories of the children we were based on." Aqua pointed at the memory where Ignis tried to interact with Yusaku "Each of us had at least one memory that helped us learn how to take care of a child. My Origin had a little sister, Earth's Origin saw adults taking care of the children, Lightning's Origin had memories of being looked after, Flame's Origin had memories of interacting with other children and Windy's Origin had a lot of memories of fun."

"With a help of those, we've completely recreated a part of Cyberse world so he could grow up in peace." Ai pointed at how Yusaku began to look better physically "Still… there was one thing that we were never able to learn."

The memory then showed Yusaku sleeping under the tree when all of a sudden, he woke up in tears and gasping for air. Several smaller spirits nuzzled against him, but the poor kid couldn't stop crying. Ai was floating right next to him trying to cheer him up to no avail.

"We had some knowledge about human body and mind… but we absolutely had no idea how to heal his trauma. No matter what we did, he kept reliving the Lost Incident. We knew that if we don't do something his both physical and mental health would worsen greatly." Aqua leaned down her head "But luckily Ai and Flame came up with a temporary solution."

The projection changed yet again, this time with Yusaku running around, touching and moving the objects in the Cyberse. The spirits followed him around and even helped him reach certain areas.

"Windy's and Flame's Origin both spent a lot of time playing video games before the Lost Incident and we assumed that Yusaku did too." Ai nudged at several places that looked similar to the world under those goggles "So we convinced him that he was in a massive video game and that he has to complete all the levels in order to finish it. This kept him occupied for a years and also helped us build Cyberse."

"I see…" Yusei mumbled, thinking about all other Spirit Worlds.

All Divine Spirits didn't randomly change their worlds whenever they felt like it due to all the spirits residing there. That was another thing that made Cyberse so unique. It was like a playground for Ignis and apparently Yusaku as well. In Spirit Worlds, certain people could survive for years since all of their needs could be make possible with a help of spirits.

"How come Yusaku lives in Link Kingdom now?" Yusei remembered that cave that the young mage turned into his living quarters "Didn't you say you made him believe he is in this video game thing?"

"Well, he still does. He simply believes he unlocked another level and is now trying to upgrade his playable character with mini quests and missions." Flame pointed at direction leading out of Cyberse "In his home dimension, there was this VRAINS system that had a never-ending video game and our version of it is heavily based on it."

"Didn't he ever question about going home? Or where other people are?" the Signer thought out loud.

The Ignis exchanged their looks, shrugging with shoulders.

"You must understand – for five long years we were convinced we were in a distant part of our home dimension. We told the same thing to Yusaku and over this time we slowly began to figure out we are in a different dimension. The boy did ask us to take him home, but we didn't even know where we were. So we played along since he was so young and vulnerable." Aqua explained further.

"Though after those five years, something happened." Lightning floated towards his tower "Something that finally made us realize what was going on."

"A new door, leading out of Cyberse appeared." Flame nodded "As we weren't sure what lies beyond, we sent Ai and Yusaku there. They've been exploring it ever since, but never managed to leave the island."

"Not until now." Lightning stared at Yusei, namely more at the spirit of Stardust Dragon behind him "Your ability to become one with the spirit is really similar to Yusaku's."

Yusei stared down at his pulsing Signer Mark, only now realizing just how long he has been here. He was supposed to only check on the mysterious being in Crush Town and return back to Godwin's mansion. As much as he wanted to learn more about the other dimension, the Ignis and Cyberse, he had to head back. By this time, other Signers must've been back, ready to report their sightings and decide the next move. If Earthbound Immortals-like spirits were appearing all over Synchro they had to get Clear Wing and his guardian to safety as soon as possible.

"I really appreciate your hospitality. Thank you for telling me your story." Yusei made the polite bow and his dragon spirit partner did the same "I will likely pay a visit again."

"Thank you for all the information about the outside world and its history. We will be able to study this dimension much easier now." Aqua floated right next to Yusei, lightly brushing his cheek as the means of showing gratitude "Whenever you wish to visit, just find Yusaku and Ai and they will show you the way to Cyberse."

The Signer smiled and accompanied by Ai again, he left the Spirit World. Unlike before, Ai was quiet, silently floating next to him in thought.

"Are you going back now? Back to your Synchro Kingdom?" Ai asked in a worried tone.

"Yes, I have to return. Others must be worried and we really need to discuss our next move." Yusei glanced at his Signer Mark "Stardust Dragon has probably recovered enough as well. That thing surely did a number, even on my Savior Dragon form."

"Before you go… can I ask you for a little favor?" the Ignis asked in a pleading way "It won't take much of your time, but it will mean a lot."

The little spirit floated to Yusei's ear and whispered his request.

The sun was setting down in the scorching desert of Millennium World as two people sat at the balcony of the royal palace. Yuzu was going through some things with Atem, Seth and Jonunchi, so Yugi could catch up with Ryou in peace.

The spirit of his friend was kept together only by a spell called Change of Heart, giving him the close resemblance of an angel with a bat and bird wing. Yugi still couldn't believe that a friend that he thought he lost ten years ago was right here with him.

"It is only recently that I've fully regained my soul. Before, it was in pieces." Ryou gazed back to Yuzu "En Flowers kept me with her all this time."

"How did you find out about memories?" Yugi asked, feeling uneasy at the thought alone.

"We didn't really, it was more like a gut feeling. Yuzu went looking for any proof to back up her words so that's the reason why we didn't visit sooner. She and En Moon were busy with founding the Resistance in Fusion."

"What about… anyone else…" Yugi muttered so quietly he wasn't sure if Ryou even heard him.

"No, I was the only one. Everyone else didn't revive." the spirit sighed "Ray might had powers to revive the world, but in the end she couldn't save everyone"

Yugi leaned against the bench, thinking about the Dragon War. Was it really ten years ago already? It felt like it was only yesterday when he and Atem would go visit Dragon Nest, playing with Zarc's Dragons and discussing the Spirit Worlds matters with Ray. Even if the world was revived, many places and people were long lost. Yugi knew well that the past couldn't be changed, but that didn't make him miss his friends any less.

"Yuzu has found some clues of why the Shadow Realm might be spreading. We are heading to the temple of Legendary Warriors next." Ryou brought Yugi out of his thinking.

"Oh, do you need Mana to accompany you? I have enough other spirits for support on my missions."

"I would really appreciate that. It's been only the two of us and other Ens so far."

"You know you can count on me!" Yugi smiled as he was about to call for Dark Magician Girl.

The female spirit appeared soon enough, more than eager to help out Yugi's friend. As she and Ryou discussed about which path was the most practical to take, Yugi headed towards Yuzu to see if he could help with anything. En Flower was just in the middle of showing Atem something.

And that something made Yugi freeze.

It was an aqua colored crystal.

"Is everyone here?" Judai asked loudly, to which he got several responses at once.

The meeting room was packed this time, with a few additional members of Resistance and their spirit partners. To his right was Johan, who has just returned from his mission in Synchro's Spirit World. To his left were Manjoume and Asuka, both setting up the scrolls and maps for future missions. Tsukikage was standing by the doors like usual, always on guard and ready to fight if they were suddenly under the attack. Serena looked tense and yet calm enough not to show it. Next to her was the newest addition to the Resistance.

Edo, who has been residing in Domino until it was overrun by Rare Hunters, arrived recently, having quite a trouble navigating through the mists around islands in Fusion Kingdom. It sure was difficult to get anywhere if you weren't an Academia student. According to Serena, every student was put under some sort of a spell that helped them get around. The older students even had an ability to make fog disappear and reveal the hidden areas. This had them protect their hideout even more, setting new concealing spells and more mages on the watch. At first they considered increasing number of the spirits as well, but considering how rare spirits in Fusion were right now, they were much easier to track down.

Serena and their other spy, whose identity was still unknown since they would change their appearance all the time, have come across something big and they thought it was necessary to discuss it as soon as possible. This something was currently lying on the table for all to see.

A bunch of different colored gems placed in a glass box has been a subject of debate for the past week and now there were finally some answers. With Johan's help, Asuka managed to break them apart and fully study their contents. She still didn't have all the answers, but it was enough to connect with everything they had so far.

"They are magic and strength enhancers." Asuka stated "The people who absorb it, gain abilities beyond their state. It is quite dangerous, even from a touch alone."

"If Leo is using these, he must be forming powerful troops… but for what?" Johan added.

"He has already captured a vast majority of all Fusion spirits…" Edo thought out loud "What else is there that he'd want, besides spirits and elemental dragons?"

"We must remember, his main plan is to create an ultimate utopian world. All types of magic, spirits and humans in one." Judai asserted while pointing at the map "The Unified Kingdom might've worked for long years, but spirit worlds are much too different to coexist. Even if it's possible, this does not give him a right to interfere with the balance. Even Divine Spirits are only allowed to reshape and change what is their Spirit Worlds, never what's beyond them."

Edo was a bit taken back by how serious Judai was, though he quickly understood his former rival must've been through quite a lot since they last time they've met.

"Our spy was very close to finding out, but the answers were locked in a part of Academia that would expose their real identity." Serena sighed in thought "Hikage came really close, but unfortunately he was caught."

"My brother managed to send me some of what he found out in his last moments through our special bond." Tsukikage said, giving the members of Resistance some home "But it is just in bits in pieces. He saw students being experimented on and researchers having them use those gems. I still can't decipher the reason why though. It is like he tried to tell me, but something prevented him from doing it so."

"The spy reported hearing about your brother being captured." En Moon tried to sound comforting.

"He won't give out anything. It is the way of Fuma clan." the ninja stated without any emotion.

"We know and yet this still means we will have to hurry up with the mission." Judai pointed at the map of the Academia "Akaba most likely suspects an ambush or a sneak attack any time now."

The team was left in a thought, thinking what would be the most logical solution before suggesting anything. If the king didn't expect anything before, now he certainly did. Their other spy was still well hidden in Academia, but with Hikage's capture it was only a matter of time before they are caught as well. To barge in now, it would be like a suicide mission considering how unprepared and outnumbered they were. But taking it for too long would mean leaving Starve Venom and his guardian to Akaba's mercy and what's more, giving the king time to prepare. The members of Resistence were aware of that well and were forced to construct a plan based on the first option, a break in Academia as soon as possible to get the dragon and the guardian.

For now it was necessary to at least rescue the main victims of Akaba's cruel experimentation, who were also his greatest weapon at the moment. With the two of them somewhere much safer, perhaps in XYZ with his brothers and Yusho or even in Synchro with Signers, the next plan would be more definite. Even though Judai still had nightmares from when Leo tortured him, he was that much bent on getting all innocent lives that were ruined under the hand of a messed up king out of Academia.

"I might have a plan… but it is incredibly risky." Edo spoke after the long minutes of silence "Should it work, we would have a great advantage in proceeding to free not only the dragon and his guardian, but all Academia deserters locked in the dungeons."

"And what if it fails?" Judai asked right away.

Edo felt nervous with so many pairs of eyes pointed at him, so it was rather hard for him to say the next sentence."

"We lose the spy."

Yusei walked through several rows of underground tunnels again and by now he was pretty sure he knew the way. The pathways might've looked like a maze, though with Ai's guidance they weren't hard to memorize at all. Unlike before, they were headed somewhere higher. To the top of one of the main mountains of the Link Kingdom to be precise. Like the Ai said, that's where they found Yusaku, sitting at the entrance of the cave, with his feet dangling over the edge of the cliff. The boy was going through an old book that looked like an ordinary wear-and-tear, but Yusaku held it with utmost of care when turning the pages.

The Head Signer was rather worried about approaching the boy now. Not only were the images of him as a six-year-old child being tortured still so real in his mind, but he now understood all of his gestures that he portrayed before. From the way he tried to act tough, to how he continued to ask him the same questions and how his voice simply broke when being asked if he was alone. A part of Yusei just wanted to take this child to Synchro where he could be taken care of by much more experienced people and get to live in a peaceful environment.

Yet still, an entirely different crisis was on the rise at the moment and by this point, not even Synchro appeared to be safe for someone like Yusaku. For him to keep believing to be in some sort of a video game, Ai asked him to play the part too.

"Act as… NPC? What even is that?"

"It is a part of a video game, a Non-Playable Character. Their purpose in the game is to help the main player or play a part in the quests." Ai nodded, showing a tiny projection of a game where the playable character was talking with another non-playable character "I strongly believe Yusaku thinks you're from his home dimension and he will continue to ask you questions you cannot answer. So by acting like NPC, you can still interact with him without breaking the rules of the game."

"So… what exactly do I need to do?"

"NPCs can be like mentors of the main player. That's why I call him Playmaker – it is the name of him as a main player. Since you can merge with your dragon spirit, you're perfect for teaching him about it!" Ai floated around in joy "I know that you're in the hurry, but it is really important that Yusaku learns this as soon as possible."

"Why the haste?"

"It's because of Knights of Hanoi."

Yusei blinked in puzzlement, having heard this name before from Ai. In fact, the Ignis acknowledged him as this Knight of Hanoi before, so he was curious just who they were.

"It started happening a couple of years ago. Before, the main islands was empty, safe for the animals and rogue spirits, so Yusaku could freely explore everything. Of course, I was always with him along with Cyberse spirits in case something would happen to him, since he is much more vulnerable outside Cyberse World. Then those Knights of Hanoi started appearing. From what you've told us about Rare Hunters, they kind of appear to be like them. Solid beings, but drawn to the spirits and mindlessly wandering through the human world. Yusaku did manage to fight some of them off, but it is still dangerous. With your help he could learn how to fight them better."

"I'll see what I can do."

From what Ignis said, the Firewall Dragon just sort of appeared with a help of something called Data Storm. The moment when Yusaku and the spirit joined together was apparently just as random like when it appeared for the first time. Yusei still didn't understand why Ignis were so hell-bent on keep making Yusaku believe that he was in a video game, despite the boy being old enough to know the truth. One side of him understood that this made-up world prevented him from the pain of his past and yet at the same time, it wasn't really a solution but an escape. Still, this was something that needed time to be unveiled, so for now, he was willing to play along if that meant helping Yusaku control his new powers.

"So, you've seen Cyberse World…" Yusaku said while closing the book.

"Indeed I did and I was wondering if you might have any other questions." Yusei smiled in a friendly way.

Ai's idea of Yusei's NPC was that Yusei was some sort of guide from a different part of a game. His role was to meet up with Yusaku, who was the main character, and show him around the Link Kingdom. As a thank you, the NPC then teaches him some new abilities and gives him new quests to complete until the next time he comes to visit. With that he would supposedly unlock and new level and be able to fly further in his dragon form.

"As a matter of fact I do. I didn't get to ask you my other two questions, after all." Yusaku put down the book and wrapped himself up in the rags more "How can you transform into a dragon?"

"Technically, I don't turn into a dragon, I just let a spirit of a dragon to possess my body. Spirits cannot exist outside their Spirit Worlds, so the only way for them to become solid is through mages and Spirit Vessels. If you want to join with your Firewall Dragon, you have to call after its presence and only when your bond is established enough, can the two of you become one."

"So that's why…" Yusaku stared down the island of Link Kingdom in thought "I've used its help many times on the quests. It must've filled up the bond gauge and leveled up our partnership."

"So whenever you wish to merge with your spirit partner, you have to let it know." Yusei called upon his Stardust Dragon in its spirit form to make an example "Do you think you could do it right now?"

Yusaku blinked at the suddenness, but did it anyway. He closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts into invisible controls until he started seeing tiny pieces of sparkling dust floating towards him. Slowly they began to form the dragon, first its body, then its limbs and lastly its head. The spirit roared, spreading its wings and leaned its massive head towards its partner.

"You did it great. Now this might be a bit tricky." Yusei unrolled his sleeve to expose his Signer Mark "Your mark might be invisible, but it is still there. You have to clear your mind, forget everything that you're seeing and just focus on your dragon. Let the power of your bond connect you both."

The boy was rather confused at how precise those rules were. Usually he would get a pop-up message with necessary information or a spirit showing him what needs to be done. This time it felt way more real, unlike the same series of quests for years. Yusaku took a deep breath and focused on the imaginary command board in his head. It was how he usually did it when magic needed to be used. It really was just video game and the more levels he unlocks, more clues he will find to get back home.

When this man Yusei appeared, Yusaku was really hopeful that another player was trapped here as well and could help him get back home. It wasn't that he hated this video game, but being here for such a long time with nothing from his home and having a bunch of spirits for a company was starting to annoy him. By now he barely remembered how he even got here, he just knew he had to beat the game. Unfortunately, Yusei turned out to be just another NPC, acting as a guide which became rather obvious when he had no idea what VRAINS, AIs or other similar things were. Still, he was the first human NPC that he met here, so he was willing to learn whatever he would teach him.

Just like Yusei told him, he made his mind blank and thought about nothing but Firewall Dragon. He could hear it roar and the inner network connecting them together. It was exactly like the first time they've joined together, but this time it felt different, like he wasn't simply taking a form of a dragon. No, the dragon and him were turning together, becoming one being.

"Can you hear me?"

Yusaku flinched at the voice in his head, though he calmed down once he realized it was Yusei, now in his dragon form as well.

"It is easier for us to talk this way. You can answer me back the same way."

"Like this?" the boy was surprised by his own ability.

"Yes, now I know that you're a pretty solid flyer, but let's just fly around for me to see if there's anything for improvement."

The boy underneath Firewall Dragon's skin nodded and off they went. Ai rather stayed behind, summoning a little Kuriboh-looking spirit on which he lay while the two dragons soared through the skies. Before, Yusaku cared only about completing the quests and surviving. He might've taken some time off sometimes to read or hang out with spirits in Cyberse, but just flying around like this? Clearly this was a tutorial and yet it was the best darn tutorial he had so far.

"I will have to leave soon, but I promise you to come back for a visit. Could you complete a few tasks until the next time I come back?" Yusei said after flying for a bit "I left the list with all of the quests and missions with Ai."

"Alright… but Yusei, can you answer one more question?"

"I will do my best to."

"Can you give me more information of what lies beyond the point where I met you?"

The huge form of Stardust Dragon pulled a smile and nudged for them to land on another mountain hill close by. Same how he led him to merge with the dragon, he also taught him how to do the same in reverse. Yusaku was surprised just how simple it was. Back then where they met for the first time, Yusaku really struggled to become human again, no matter how simple it looked. This time it was like simply taking his clothes off.

Yusei took a seat on the nearby rock and so did Yusaku, observing the Signer drawing the map on the dirt.

"Like I've told you, the place we are at is called Link Kingdom. There are four more major kingdoms. I come from the one called Synchro…"

Yusaku's eyes followed every drawn line, each of them shaping a huge world constructed of many big islands, lands, mountains, forests and plains. Every time Yusei drew a new city or area, a short story about it followed. After years of exploring Link Kingdom, Yusaku felt like his world was tiny when it was in fact bigger from anything that he could imagine. So many levels to be unlocked before he can go back home.

"Why do you want to go home?" Yusei asked him like he was reading his mind.

"It is obvious, this is a game and I don't belong here. It's something that NPCs probably don't understand, you're part of this world after all." Yusaku muttered.

The Signer continued with the descriptions of the world, knowing that the boy was still too deep in this thought to make him understand. Someday, Yusei told himself, someday I will take him to see this world and I will find a way to get him back to his own world.

Unbeknown to them, someone else was watching Yusei's little presentation of the world from afar, through orange glass of the visor on the knight-like helmet he was wearing…

"We are here again!" Yuya excitedly ran through the grass field of their dream world with Yuto "I can't wait to show Yugo and Yuri what I can do!"

Yuya kept his human form on, along with dragon tail and horns. Before he had trouble keeping his balance up since his tail was so massive. Thanks to Reiji's training, he no longer had any problems and on top of that he knew how to use his fire magic properly.

"Yuya!" called a voice from above.

Like a swift, the second youngest hatchling, drifted down with incredible speed and he stopped just a few inches from the ground. Yugo was in his human form as well, safe for the wings and the tail. Yuya didn't know if it's been this long since they've seen each other last or did his brother's wings actually doubled in size. They were huge and yet they were shining in radiant light of the afternoon sun.

"This was amazing!" Yuya clapped, still astonished from the trick Yugo pulled.

"Isn't it!" the wind dragon said just as excitedly "I've had a really good teacher!"

"Your guardian?" Yuto asked.

"Nope, a seagull!" Yugo laughed "It was the most badass seagull I've ever met!"

Yuya started to laugh, thinking his brother was joking, but once Yugo went into details, he realized he wasn't. Yugo went on and on, how he and Rin met this seagull who taught them so many things until he simply took it in the air and showed it. The fire dragon was literally blown away by so many acrobatics and even wanted to try it himself, when he remembered he didn't have wings. Still, Yuya had his own set of tricks to show, combining his own magic and imitating Yusho's performing magic. Even though fire and wind magic aren't supposed to go together, the way Yuya and Yugo were combining it looked like a perfect synthesis.

Yuto couldn't even get to say anything from how much his two siblings had to say. He kind of felt left out, but he was still happy to see them spend time together. It sure has been a while since they met like this, so they should enjoy this time as much as possible as brothers. Speaking of brothers, where was Yuri again? The last time, Yuya said that Yuri was too tired to join the play, so Yuya kept him company.

There was only one place that Yuri found secretive enough to rest there while the rest of them played. Yuya did blurt out how to get there a few times, but that was about it. Knowing that peace and quiet was something that the second oldest hatchling preferred, Yuto respected that and never forced him to go hang out with them, even though their time here was limited and precious considering how far apart they were at the moment.

Still, it's been a while since he has seen him and he just wanted to check on him in order to see if he was alright. He left Yuya and Yugo to play with their combined magic styles which kept them busy enough not to notice him flying away. Using his newly learnt partial transformation, Yuto spread his Dark Rebellion wings and headed towards the woods. It was just like Yuya described it. Dense woods and thorny bushes made it difficult to even come close to it and for some reason this area felt cold, despite being a place in his dream world. It didn't look anything like Yuri's flower garden, place where they met him the first time they came to his world. There were no flowers there, only plants that could get you hurt if you weren't careful enough. As much as he knew about Yuri's fascination of carnivorous plants, this place just didn't feel like him and yet his gut feeling was telling him, he was here.

And he was.

Sitting on a thick branch of a tree like it was a deckchair, Yuri was staring somewhere in the vastness of the woods while fiddling with the thorny vines tangled around the tree. So Yuri got to learn how to control his powers as well, Yuto thought even though he has seen his brother make flowers open up for Yuya, who was curious of how they looked like when in full bloom. Unlike then, Yuri was actually making the vines move like snakes, wrapping around the tree like he was trying to choke a life out of it. His clothes appeared to be different too since he didn't wear his red or purple Academia uniform but white slacks and a shirt that was obvious too big for him.

His wrists and bare ankles looked lankier than the last time he saw him which were an obvious sign something was wrong before he even saw all the bruisers, cuts and needle marks. He had his own suspicions and this ultimately confirmed it.

"So you decided to show up." Yuri said without facing him "That's lovely."

"We don't know when it will be the next time we meet. We should spend as much time as we can together." Yuto replied simply.

"That I know, but I'm not in the mood." the plant dragon clenched his fist, making the vines untangle from the tree "You three have fun."

"Yuya and Yugo miss you."

"Do they? They sound perfectly fine without me."

"Yuri… don't be like that." Yuto flew up the tree and sat down next to his brother "I know you don't mean it and if there's anything you'd like to talk about, I'm here.

"Can't stop acting like a knight, can you?"

"I'm your brother and it's the duty of the oldest brother to take care of all younger siblings."

For a second, Yuri released all the vines and they flopped to the floor like their life just got sucked out of them. Whatever made him do that was a clear sign that the plant dragon lost some of the control or was so deep in thought that he couldn't focus.

"Yuya told you, didn't he?" the plant dragon muttered with a slightly angry look down.

"He didn't, he always just say that you were tired or that you wanted to spend more time with him."

"Then how did you find out?"

"I overheard my guardian talking to his teacher. At first I didn't understand what was going on, but soon enough I figured it." Yuto reached for Yuri's heavily bruised and bloodied hand "Yuri… what are they doing to you and your guardian there?"

"Wish I would know…" the other sibling sighed as he looked away from his brother "It is so random that I can't even understand what is going on. They make me eat so many weird things and then make me fight, then they prick me with needles and make me fight so more. They even took Dennis away and tried to get rid of him. I hate it."

Yuto didn't know what he was supposed to say. The three of them lived such care-free lives with their guardians that he couldn't even imagine what Yuri was going through. He was hurt and his guardian couldn't be with him. To think he could be in his place and be separated from Shun like this was outright horrifying. Just who could be this cruel to hit and experiment on a child and take his only source of comfort away. It was just unimaginable.

So he did the only thing he could.

He embraced Yuri as tight as he could, even though he made his brother flinch noticeably. Still he didn't want to let go. He wanted to comfort him as much as he could, for all the times when he couldn't be there for him even though he was supposed to. Yuri tried to push away his hands away at first, but soon he gave up, accepting his brother's loving touch. Yuri didn't say anything and Yuto didn't either. They didn't need words at the moment, just the feeling and the comfort behind it.

Yuri felt like Yuya was there with him again, only this time, it was a different type of warmth. What he was feeling wasn't the naïve wishing-well positivity that he would get from Yuya or Dennis. No… what Yuto gave him was strength and courage to let him know he wasn't alone and that even if they are far away, his brothers are there with him. Even though Yuto was the oldest and had all the right to baby him as his little sibling that's just something that the lightning dragon didn't do. He understood his inner turmoil of not wanting to share his misery with others and silently he could read the words behind his actions.

"It's alright, I know you're in pain. I know you don't want to look weak. I know you want to be strong for your brothers. I just want to let you know that you don't need to hide those feelings from me. I won't question them and I will certainly keep them with me."

Yuto has certainly changed since the last time they met, becoming much more mature compared to the fact that he was his age. He sounded so wise, just like someone else he knew but has long forgotten who it was.

"Don't be afraid to be who you truly are."

Yuri blinked in confusion, since those weren't Yuto's words, but from someone else. A person whose voice echoed through the woods. The lightning dragon didn't acknowledge it as he simply kept his arms around his brother and didn't react distinctively to it. To whom did that voice belong to? It sounded familiar and yet so far away from everything he had ever known.

But it didn't matter. If someone else was there for him as well, it was that much better.

Yuri's eyes opened abruptly, met by the same dark ceiling of his prison cell as always. The dream was over and he couldn't fall back asleep, no matter how he tried. He really wanted to go back to the tree, to his garden, to his brothers. But he was way too awake to go back now and had to accept the fact that he didn't manage to spend more time with his other brothers besides Yuto.

"You're awake!" a familiar voice was heard when a certain orange haired head turned away from the study desk "I was so worried they put you out for a while."

Out? Right, he was still under that paralysis drug. He could move some of his limbs to a certain degree, but he surely couldn't stand up or walk. Those bastards surely didn't want to risk anything with the latest experiment that they performed on him.

"Are you okay? They better didn't do anything to you." Yuri's eyebrows narrowed "Next time I'll kill them if they even try to take you away."

"Yuri chill! It was a normal checkup, they didn't even inject me with anything. I only had to drink that thing that makes me sleepy. Other than that they didn't do anything." Dennis tried to calm him down.

This still didn't ease Yuri's grip on the blanket. Even if Dennis was unharmed and his usual cheerful self, the researches still crossed the line when the two of them got separated. Not only was it cruel to keep two people with such an important bond apart, it drove Yuri physically insane. He didn't know how much longer he can keep his increasingly uncontrollable rage back before he snaps even on Dennis. He didn't want that and yet it was most possibly something that Akaba had in store for him. Make him get rid of a guardian that was considered "unfit" and "weak", only to be replaced by a new perfect guardian.

No, if they even dare to harm Dennis, he'll show them just how angry can Starve Venom get.

"Hey, do you want to read a book with me?" Dennis interrupted Yuri's murderous train of thought "I was allowed to library for once and I found this textbook!"

"Ritual magic?" Yuri blinked at the title.

"Yeah, it is a magic that is commonly used in Pendulum and in Fusion. At first, I thought someone forgot it since it was lying on the ground, but I figured it probably fell off the shelf since they are so packed. "

"Sounds interesting enough."

Dennis happily jumped on the bed with the book and once he placed the pillows so Yuri's paralyzed body was still comfortable enough, they began to read together. Yuri on that matter listened more since he was still not that used to reading more than a few lines. His guardian read out loud patiently and slowly so his ward got to learn how to read. Unlike him, Yuri wasn't required to attend classes, only training sessions.

"So the only difference between Fusion and Ritual magic is that the two spirits don't merge together but are sent to the Spirit World and a stronger spirit replaces them?" Yuri repeated what was read to him.

"Apparently, yeah."

"But this is so unpractical, what if-"the plant dragon reached for a page to see it better, but just then, two things happened at once.

First, Dennis' dragon mark began to glow and then Yuri's eyes turned yellow. The two of them freaked out a bit, but then they saw something glowing at the last page. Dennis curiously flipped the pages until he reached the part that certainly wasn't there before. It was written by shining, gold ink that glowed just as intensely as Guardian Mark.

We are your friends.

We know you are prisoners here.

We will come to rescue you.

In exactly three days, you will get further instructions of the escape plan.

Those messages can only be read when the two of you are together.

Do not tell anyone about this.

Hold still for a bit longer, we will get you out of there soon.

Resistance

Dennis and Yuri released the book at once and the message disappeared and reappeared when they touched it again. Was this really happening? Someone outside Academia was willing to get them out? Dennis heard the name Resistance only once and that was when he was met with Yuri's past reincarnation. Were the senders of this letter the members of Resistance? Whoever set the book for them really thought of everything and if at least one part of it was true, the rest was likely to be true too.

They just hoped the word soon really meant soon.

Since I had quite a blast with giving you the challenge to guess which dragon gets which guardian and who is Shun's teacher, I'm giving you another challenge: Can you guess who is the Resistance's spy? The one who can change their appearance and whose gender is undisclosed? Have fun guessing, I would love to see who do you think it is.

I'm currently not sure when I'll be able to post the next chapter since I want to update my other fanfics first, but considering I finally found a proper way to include VRAINS in here I might get to write sooner. Like I mentioned at the beginning, the worldbuilding for this AU is extremely exhausting for me (I mean the fact that I had to draw a map and a timeline for myself is saying something), but once the prologue arc is done, the story should move one more smoothly. Also for the next chapter, I'm currently deciding between making a flashback chapter and the next chronological one. Which one would you like to see next: a chapter set to time when Zarc was still alive and happens a couple of months after the Christmas special chapter and it also reveals the reason why Destiny Breakers were formed or a chapter that will have Resistance launch a mission to save Yuri and Dennis, Yuya making a new friend and Crow heading towards Rin's village? I have outlines written for both chapters, so it is entirely up to you what you wish to see next.

Also, if anyone wishes to make fanart inspired by this fanfic, feel free to do it! I would love to see it! I only ask you to give me a proper credit by mentioning my name and attaching the link for this fanfic.

Questions, theories, kudos, comments and critics highly appreciated! Feel free to ask whatever you want, I will do my best to give you a proper answer.