Yugioh Loops 10 (AKA Yu-gi-oh Arc-V! Loops.)

First, sorry for taking so long. To put it bluntly, uni snuck up on me and it's now over, so I've just been waiting for inspiration. In exchange, there is a deluxe version and, if possible, I will try for set 11 before the year is out.

This set is going to be a bit different. Four different looping snippets, we're not using the usual word limit, and we're not using numbers in the scheme.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the show!

PROLOGUE

-10-

Thoth sighed as he slowly rubbed his temple... that is, his head. Although he'd usually be the first to elaborate on the verbosity and where the term came from, at the moment he had no such urge for one reason and one reason alone.

"The card games troubling you, Thoth?"

The ibis-headed god sighed... and as much as he would rather not, his curiosity demanded he looked at the speaker. He knew who it was, but much like the Shinto God Izanagi, certain other gods had gotten into the habit of cosplay. "Ra. I see you have simply gone for looking like the dragon today," Thoth noted.

And there Ra was, dressed as the Winged Dragon of Ra, no less. "Izanagi decided to tone down his costume so I didn't see the reason to continue looking like Phoenix mode... not that I couldn't have," Ra insisted, his deeper voice making it almost comical. "But... you're avoiding my question, Thoth. What troubles you? I rarely see you this troubled with other situations, is all. So what troubles you with those who have quite excellent choice in art?"

Thoth rolled his eyes... but couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle at the last comment. In truth, while he looked over the loops of Duel Monsters, on occasion he'd find himself swamped with issues that cropped up... which was when he'd find offers of assistance from many other gods who showed fondness for the games. Ra was one, but Osiris, Geb (most likely identifying with Obelisk the Tormentor), Anubis, and Horus from his own Pantheon would offer to take over for a loop or two if they could spare the extra workload. Even the likes of Loki, Thor, and Odin of the Norse Pantheon had suddenly shown interest once he had gotten the branch of 5D's online, although out of them Thor usually only offered for fused loops given his own workload. It was almost comical as he knew that certain other gods showed a bit of an interest as well for if they were ever portrayed. "It is... some recovered data. Another branch of them. Containing other cards, more possible loopers... and refuses to show a proper, if temporary, ending point for it with the amount of data I have recovered already. The Baseline is expanding for it and we may have a case of... four anchors."

Ra blinked... and looked over at the monitor, the sixth in Thoth's work space with each of the five Yugioh Branches arranged with a monitor for each. "Have you asked for assistance in this?"

"Hephestus took a look at it and said that I may need to risk at least a three way anchor system. Of the three candidates for anchor, two of them seem to have dimensional counterparts... and the third has connections thus far that could result in issues in the future." Thoth explained. "The problem lies in the expansions. I need to find a stable ending point before I can initiate it."

"Perhaps he might reach it soon?" Ra commented as he pointed to the monitor, the video showing two dragons diving into a dark portal... and Thoth simply looked and hummed. "I'll leave you to it... but if you want some ideas... I know Anubis comes up with some theories on occasion. And if it is getting too much for you, come and see me or one of the others. We worry you might be pushing yourself too hard over the incident." And with that, the sun god in cosplay walked out.

Thoth sighed... but allowed himself a small smile. For all his strangeness with cosplay and the occasional snake attack on his person by Isis, Ra tried his best to be a father for his fellow Egyptian Gods. It was rumoured that he did so because he hated what Zeus had allowed himself to become. Or perhaps he did it because it allowed him to get away with setting himself on fire for the sake of competing with Izanagi. But either way, it was an inspiration.

Even so he looked at the code. He slowly looked through the information he had and hummed. "It's... unorthodox. Yuya needs to be the anchor and these branches are no stranger to soulbound loopers... but to keep all the dimensions stable..." He muttered slowly to himself. While nowhere near the genius of coding when it came to loops like Hephestus, as the Яeverse incident had proven, he had since taken it upon himself to develop his skills. Nothing, not a virus, not a vengeful spirit, would get the best of him again.

It wasn't even that the branch was all that damaged. It was perfectly fine. The problem was with stability. "Yugo... if you loop quickly I could stabilize the City... but Yuri is far too unhinged to use as a looper at this stage of the baseline. Sora still has room to develop and would not work well with Yuto," he noted. Then he looked at the screen. The scene had changed, showing now three duelists standing against Obelisk Force. "That's it!" he stated gleefully. Oh, it meant that until that person Awoke it wouldn't be stable to have a loop in Academia... but for the time being he could organize things differently. It would mean he'd have to risk stability in order to activate the looper early... but provided that he could handle another of them it shouldn't be too difficult.

"I guess it's like he says... the fun has only just begun." Thoth stated.

-10-

ACT 1 (The life and times of an Entertainment Looper.)

-10-

Yuya sighed as he stretched a bit. Today was the day of the Battle Royale. Again. How many times had it been so far that this happened? Twenty-five?

"No, we passed that some time ago."

Right... it couldn't be past 50 yet though, could it?

"... the fact we have to ask that question probably isn't a good sign."

Whatever amount... he had been repeating things. Time had repeated. From the day that Yuzu would break the projector and he'd be forced to fight Strong... and create Pendulum Summoning. And then just when they were going to go to the Synchro Dimension, or about that time... things would end. No matter what he did with regards to things, once that day was done, the repeat would reset.

"A strange place to stop, to say the least."

... right, that was the other thing. Since the first time the repeat had happened, he had felt a connection to Yuto. Yuto had actually been experiencing the repeats too, but it had been hard to tell due to the effects of Yuzu's bracelet. And when Yuto eventually ended up fusing with him–

"Which is annoyingly frequent."

-then they ended up finding it easier and easier to communicate with one another. At this point, thinking was like a second way of talking to the two. Sometimes Yuya even let his thought process run and Yuto would, out of boredom, comment on it. This boredom was mainly because they didn't really have all that much time to make big changes. Oh sure, a comment here, explaining the repeats to Reiji there, somehow convincing Sora to form his own faction on the other front... it was weird.

If Yuya was being honest... if Yuto hadn't been repeating, he'd probably have gone crazy.

"Talking to yourself notwithstanding."

Even so... the two hadn't given up. Yuya looked up and slowly adjusted his goggles. Time for another Battle Royale... and maybe this time he might be able to change things.

-10-

ACT 2 (Academia... of sorts.)

-10-

Yuya groaned as he shook his head and looked around, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He blinked as he realized that this repeat was... different. More different than usual. He couldn't entirely feel his connection to Yuto, which meant that the Xyz dimension counterpart was safe at the least... even if he could feel the presence of Dark Rebellion within him. So nothing weird on that front. His surroundings... he had apparently been resting on a tree just outside of a large white and yellow building. The smell of the sea was faint in the air, but still present... and off in the distance was a volcano. That took a moment or two to recover from. Still he let the memories of this repeat flow in. Same hair, same goggles... his coat was red and white instead of white and red, with a white undershirt to match, but the rest seemed to match up. Even as he contemplated, he noticed a shadow come over him that wasn't from the tree. Blinking, he looked up... and saw a blonde girl in a white and red uniform smiling at him. "Hi," Yuya simply said with a small smile. While he didn't judge a person by how they first appeared, the girl seemed nice enough with how she held herself. Hopefully she wouldn't ask anything before he got the full memories of this repeat.

"Hey, nice to meet you," the girl said. "You wouldn't happen to be feeling a bit Loopy, would you? Like you need something to Anchor yourself with after doing the same thing over and over?"

Yuya blinked. The way she phrased it would be looked over by most, but a good entertainer knows the devil is in the details, and he had caught on to the emphasis she had put into those two words... although he'd admit she hadn't attempted to hide it at all. "Loopy? Wait... same thing..." He noted... and it clicked. "You're repeating time, too?" he asked.

The girl raised an eyebrow, but then let her smile get a little bigger. "Yes. Yes, I am. My name's Alexis Rhodes. Welcome to Duel Academy," Alexis said with a happy grin, holding out her hand. Yuya nodded as he took her hand and pulled himself up.

"Wait, Duel Academy? Do you mean... Academia?" Yuya asked cautiously. If Academia was repeating too, that could be dangerous. "Oh, sorry, my name is Yuya Sakaki... this repeat."

Alexis for the most part nodded. "If you're new to the loops, then changes to your name are something you're going to need to get used to. Like Duel Academy is sometimes called Duel Academia... but never just Academia."

As Yuya nodded... he felt the memories hit him. It was both like what he had heard of Academia from Sora and Serena... and yet not. There was no sign of a Leo Akaba, no war, no soldiers... it seemed just like a Duel School, but without Xyz or Synchro monsters. He was in Slifer Red, the lowest of the dorms, and so far had his Performapals. He had three Pendulum monsters... and both Odd-Eyes and its Pendulum counterpart but hadn't used them yet due to advice from his mother. "Woah... sorry. Haven't gotten a hit of memories that different in a while," Yuya admitted.

"Understandable... you sound like you've never had a Fused Loop before," Alexis noted.

"Fused Loop?"

Alexis sighed and looked around. "Not here... it might be Sunday, but people still come by the Academy building." Slowly she walked past him and followed a path off to the side. "I know a clearing my friend sometimes uses for duels, we can get some privacy there."

Yuya tilted his head curiously... but simply followed the strange girl. A more cynical side of him (which, if he didn't know better, he would say was Yuto speaking up) warned him that it could be a trap, but given the memories this repeat had given him, he was more inclined to ignore it. Alexis seemed like a nice person after all.

-10-

After a few minutes with nothing but a rather excited-seeming Alexis and trees for company, the two emerged in a clearing. Yuya didn't see anything special about it, but he could see by the way Alexis looked around she knew the place well. "Sorry about that," Alexis said as she walked over to a part of the clearing and sat down... and then pulled a duel disk out of her backpack. One that looked positively ancient... but if it was someone else's repeats, and as a result a different world or time, different duel disks had to be expected. Slowly she took her deck out of it. "My last loop had this nutcase overhearing. Bad ending, I decided I was going to be in the slacker dorm this loop," she noted with a slight shiver. "Ok... firstly, as you've probably guessed, this isn't where time usually repeats for you. Do you know what these are at least?" she asked as she held up a card slowly.

"Duel Monster cards, of course," Yuya said. "Who doesn't know that?" For a brief moment he swore that Alexis's already wide grin got wider... but if it did she stopped it as soon as it had appeared. "Happy about something?"

Alexis chuckled. "That obvious? Yeah, the guys and I made bets as to who would be around to make this speech, with side bets concerning familiarity with Duel Monsters and such." With a shake of her head and a quick breath she smiled. "Right... so, I want to show you just what's happening. I want you to think of this as another universe—I know, a bit hard to believe, but stick with me on this one." Yuya decided that he'd stay quiet on his knowledge of other dimensions for the moment, if only because what Alexis was saying seemed... interesting. "Your universe is represented by this card," she stated as she set a card down on the clearing. "This universe is like this card," she added, setting a card right above the first. "Think of them like a pair of branches on a tree. The very end branches—" she noted... and then flipped them over. Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater seemed to be their names, according to Yuya's memories... apparently he knew a lot about the monsters. "—that are part of a bigger branch with a few similar universes," she continued as she placed down another card, which she soon flipped, revealing Cyber Prima. "Which is part of a big tree of all life." She put down another card and flipped. Cyber Angel Dakini. "Except the tree is also sorta a computer. And the tree is damaged. Badly."

Yuya blinked. "Isn't that a really bad thing for the tree of life to be damaged like that?"

"To say the least, yes," Alexis deadpanned. "It's why time is repeating, Looping as we tend to call it. And like I said... it's not just us. You're probably one of the newest universes to be active."

"And before, you mentioned an... Anchor?" Yuya said.

"Ah right. Think of it like this. Each universe needs at least one point of stability in it at all times. An Anchor is someone from that universe who's always looping... or 'Awake' if we use looper terms. Other loopers might start looping, but they won't be Awake as often as an Anchor is. You've probably experienced that," Alexis explained.

"Yeah. One of my best friends," Yuya admitted. "But what if you have more than one Anchor? Or more than one world? I've been repeat—I mean I've been Awake with this other person being Awake at the same time... and my world is connected to three others. Does that mean there are four anchors?"

Alexis shook her head. "Not unless Yggdrasil has taken a downgrade. This loop is connected to a whole bunch of other dimensions and we're just fine with Jaden, our Anchor. As for two people looping together... you'd be surprised just how many people are going to sympathize with you within the Duel Monster using group alone. You guys are Co-Anchors, that's all," she explained as she gathered her cards up and into her deck. "Now... because you're one of the Duel Monster loopers I should probably give you a heads up on a few things. Firstly, names. By now I'm wagering you've seen people's names changing?" As Yuya nodded she softly smiled. "Get used to it. A lot of us have it... especially in this loop. I'm Alexis Rhodes 50% of the time, and Tenjoin Asuka the other 50%. It's why you're Yuya Sakaki. This loop uses English terms... and you're speaking English."

"Makes sense." Yuya admitted. "But why is my name unchanged?"

"Because with the exception of Jaden, my usual anchor who you're replacing this time, anchors tend to have the same name in our group," she explained.

"Wait, replacing?"

Alexis slapped her head. "Argh, I knew I'd forget something! Right, because of how things work there are some loops where two universes meet. This is known as a fused loop, which usually has a looper showing up in another looper's universe, replacing one of the people they know, or the two universes combining for one loop. Fused Loops," Alexis explained. "Because of this, you could sometimes not be Awake and yet your friends are. It means there's a visiting Anchor or, in your case, they're replacing the usual anchor." With a sigh, slotting her deck back into the duel disk, she looked up. "So... any questions? Or should we try introducing ourselves now?"

Yuya smiled. "Well seeing as you've helped me out so far, I think it's only fair I introduce myself," he said... only to blink as Alexis stood up, sliding on her duel disk.

"Good. We can duel and introduce ourselves at the same time, can't we?" Alexis pointed out with a little smirk on her face. Yuya could only grin back in return as he pulled off his own backpack... and hummed as he pulled out the duel disk. "Oh, nice! Looks like you got a customized duel disk!" Indeed the duel disk did look different to the standard one... and in a way that only really made sense to Yuya. For the most part it seemed like a standard Duel Academy duel disk (at least compared to Alexis's own), but beyond the tell-tale marks of the Field Magic slot there was an extra one on the other side of the duel disk and one on the front of it... which if the memories were correct, was the Field Magic zone on this duel disk. "Alright, seeing as you're new we're going to only stick to the decks and duel disks we have on us. I'll teach you how to do this later, but I have copies of other duel disks and cards in... well, think of it as a loop pocket," she explained. Of course, as she smiled, it didn't mean much. The only reason she was in Slifer Red is because she had insisted on joining Duel Academy on her own merits instead of a scholarship, and had dueled Crowler to get his ire focused on her instead of Jaden. Or at least, it had been the plan. Her cards meant little in the way of that.

Yuya nodded. "Alright, but as a warning, I know I have some of the cards from my baseline with me. My parents apparently work at Industrial Illusions in this loop and... one or two tend to stick with me."

"That's fine with me. I like a challenge on occasion," Alexis noted. "Ready?"

"DUEL!" the two declared. It was so strange to Yuya, being in such a relaxed atmosphere and yet not doing an action duel. He still had to resist the urge to perform the familiar chant though.

(Yuya: 4000)

(Alexis: 4000)

"I'll go first," Alexis announced. Yuya blinked as Alexis drew an extra card. "Oh right, you probably use the new rules... Under the rules of this loop, the person who goes first draws a card on their first turn," Alexis explained as she looked over her selection. "For now I'll play one card face down and summon my Cyber Gymnast in defense mode!" As she shouted, a muscle-bound woman in blue and black rose from the ground in a shimmer of light, a white mask on her face as she took to one knee and crossed her arms over her chest (800/1800). "With that I end my turn."

Yuya nodded. "Alright, draw!" Yuya declared... and as he looked at his hand he couldn't help but smile a little. Yes, there was only one pendulum monster, but it seemed like that was because none of his Performapals had it anymore. He was fine with that; he had gotten used to it over the repeats. But already he had seen a possible move. "I play Performapal Whip Snake!" A surge of light lit up as the familiar top-hatted snake leapt onto the field and slithered in front of Yuya with a grin on its face (1700/900). "I activate Whip Snake's special ability! Once per turn I can switch one monster's attack and defence points," Yuya noted as Whip Snake brought up the heart-shaped end of its tail, swinging it almost like a pendulum as its gaze seemed to fire out, which caused Cyber Gymnast to stumble back in shock before tripping and landing on her back (800/1800 1800/800). "Whip Snake, attack!" With the attack declared, the snake coiled itself up... and then bounced out towards Cyber Gymnast like a spring, mouth open as it pushed through Cyber Gymnast, shattering the target. "And with that I'll set one card face down and both me and my happy friend here end my turn," Yuya finished as Performapal Whip Snake slithered back over to Yuya's side of the field.

Alexis couldn't help but grin. "Gotta say, for a kid out of your element, you know how to make an opening move."

"It's not all that different from back home," Yuya admitted. "Just less hunting for Action Cards and more focusing on what you have on you. I can still entertain like this too."

"Well, while the theatrics are fun, I think it's time I stopped being so easy on you. My turn!" Alexis declared as she drew her card. "First I'm going to activate a classic, Pot of Greed! This lets me draw two more cards from my deck." After drawing, Alexis couldn't help but smirk a bit. "And now I think it's time I showed you just what it's like to face someone who's usually the Queen of Duel Academy. I play Polymerization!"

"Now this is getting interesting!" Yuya admitted as the swirling portal appeared.

"Oh, it's definitely getting interesting. I'm going to fuse my Etoile Cyber and my Blade Skater together!" Alexis stated as the red haired Cyber dancer and the bald purple and lavender blade-armed skater appeared side by side. "Normally we don't do these but... The star ballerina! Fuse together with the ice skater armed for battle to form the ultimate in grace and strength!" As she chanted the two Cyber girls swirled together and into the portal. "I fusion summon my Cyber Blader!"

The entire surrounding seemed to change as a lake manifested on the duel field, Whip Snake recoiling with a start as it leapt back onto Yuya's face down card. It seemed serene even as the swirling portal for Polymerization swung above it slowly, changing angle as the water beneath it started to swirl, almost into a miniature tornado of water... before it suddenly stopped as the water dispersed into mist and dew, the dark haired ice skater twirling slightly as it did (2100/1800).

"Next I'll summon my Cyber Tutu!" Alexis added, the young pink haired ballerina twirling onto the field next to Cyber Blader with a smile (1000/800). "Cyber Blader attacks Performapal Whip Snake!" Alexis called out, even as the lake scene dispersed and Cyber Blader rushed towards Whip Snake. "Whirlwind Slash!" Whip Snake hurriedly brought up its tail again, swinging it three times before the twirling Cyber Blader's bladed shoe cut through him and he shattered (Yuya: 4000 3600). "With that I activate De-Fusion to separate my Cyber Blader back into Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater," Alexis noted as she swiftly played the card from her hand as Cyber Blader twirled faster and faster... until it split into two, both Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater twirling back onto the field, landing in the same pose (1200/1600) (1400/1500). "And I'm willing to guess that you can figure out what this means. If my three girls land direct attacks on you, regardless of their effects... it's game over. Girls, get him!" Alexis declared, Blade Skater rushing forward as both Cyber Tutu and Etoile Cyber leapt into the air.

Yuya, though, grinned. In fact he hadn't stopped grinning since Alexis had fusion summoned earlier that turn. "Usually it would be, you're right! But I can't just have this duel end without some partners to dance with your lovely ladies! I activate my Hippo Carnival!" Yuya announced gleefully, the spell card barely getting time to rise before three blasts of smoke issued onto the field... and then cleared, revealing three hippos dancing and chanting in what could only be described as tribal dancer outfits. "This card summons out three of these lovely ladies, Hippo Tokens! And while they're on the field, you can't attack anything but them," he added, the three leaping into a group pose in front of Yuya (0/0)X3.

Alexis just rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to introduce you to my brother. I don't think Yggdrasil could survive that much showmanship," she deadpanned. "But a good job anyway. My Cyber girls will instead attack your three tokens. Show these ladies just how to dance, girls." Cyber Tutu seemed to take that rather literally, landing in front of the Hippo Token and twirling. Curious, the Hippo Token leapt out of the formation and tried to mimic Cyber Tutu... only to eventually stumble out of the twirl, dazed as she fell back and shattered. Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater, by comparison, took more direct routes as they respectively kicked and sliced their Hippo Tokens. "With that I set a card face down and end my turn... and I have to say, I'm impressed," Alexis admitted.

"Right back at you," Yuya said. "You sure you've never been in my... uh, loop before? Because that looked like straight up Dueltainment... Entertainment Dueling? No, the first sounds right at the moment."

Alexis chuckled. "Another one of those things that changes from loop to loop, I guess. But yeah, not many people are prepared for a low level one turn kill... and especially not from me. Not unless they actually know what they're doing. So good job... but those Hippos alone can't save you."

"I know, but I think it's time I swing into action. Draw!" Yuya declared... before he grinned. "I play Pot of Greed! So I'm going to draw two more cards!" As he drew he looked them over... and his grin only got wider. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Behold the duelling style of Yusho Sakaki caried on by his son Yuya Sakaki! Dueltainment!" Yuya announced. "And watch as with my Scale 8 Timegazer Magician and my Scale 1 Stargazer Magician, I set the pendulum scales!" As he held the cards out in front, the duel disk opened the two side slots. Yuya swiftly set the magicians in each respective zone... and grinned as the duel disk lit up with the word 'Pendulum'. The two magicians rose into the air surrounded by light, a crystal pendant swinging between them as a number appeared under each, a 1 underneath the white and blue robed Stargazer and an 8 underneath the black and red Timegazer. "With these cards I can summon any card from my hand with a level between 2 and 7!"

Alexis didn't actually look worried... but excited. "I knew it! That's where those cards came from," she whispered... but Yuya didn't notice as he glanced up.

"Swing, pendulum of my soul. Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Come forth, my monsters!" Yuya chanted, four lights flowing down as the pendulum circled, a portal opening up to allow them through. "Level 4, Performapal Silver Claw!" The long-clawed wolf with a bow tie shook itself as it appeared in a burst of purple light (1800/700). "Level 5, Performapal Drumming Kong!" In a burst of green light the gorilla with a drumset for a chest ooked as he pounded said chest (1600/900). "And finally, appear now with your wondrous and beautiful dichromatic eyes. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" With a mighty roar the last orange light dissipated as the red and white dragon roared and nodded to Yuya... who had to stop himself half way into going to leap up onto it. This wasn't an Action Duel after all (2500/2000). "Finally I play Smile World, a Spell which means that all my monsters gain attack points equal to the amount of monsters on the field, times 100!" Yuya added as instead of the usual array of smiling faces, one giant, almost childishly drawn smile appeared behind him, with Drumming Kong's smile getting wider, the ferocious-looking Silver Claw managing a grin despite itself, and Odd-Eyes... using its eyes to smile in an odd way. Alexis wasn't judging, though, given what she had seen (1800/700 2400/700) (1600/900 2200/900), (2500/2000 3200/2000). "Performapal Silver Claw attacks Cyber Tutu! And when he attacks, he gains 300 attack points!"

"It would usually, but not this time! I play Instant Fusion!" Alexis declared. "And because of this I can fuse my Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater together again to form Cyber Blader! And when she hits the field, all of your monsters, spells, and traps will have their effects negated!"

"I activate my Stargazer Magician's pendulum effect! If a spell card is activated in the battle step, I can negate it and set that card face down, where it can't be activated this turn! Horoscope Divination!" Yuya noted as Stargazer Magician raised his staff and pointed it at Instant Fusion, forcing it back face down. The blade-clawed wolf growled as it leapt at Cyber Tutu. "And my wolf's effect still activates!" (2400/700 2700/700).

Alexis winced as her Cyber Tutu was cut through (Alexis: 4000 2300). "And I'm guessing Drumming Kong and Odd-Eyes are going to attack Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater?" she asked.

"Of course!" Yuya stated enthusiastically as Drumming Kong simply beat his chest, the drumming noise getting louder with each drumbeat. "And because of Drumming Kong's effect, he gets to give himself an extra 600 attack points!" Yuya noted (2200/900 2800/900) even as Blade Skater cried out and shattered with enough force to have Alexis wince slightly (Alexis: 2300 800). "And finally, Odd-Eyes! Strike Spiral Burst!" Yuya declared, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon charging up... and firing the spiraling red and black beam straight at Etoile Cyber... who didn't even move from the spot as she stood in front of Alexis, unflinching until the end. (Alexis: 800 0).

Alexis grinned as the holograms faded. "Well that's game then. Gotta say, you handled my Cyber girls pretty well. I might need to use some other cards next time," she admitted. Before Yuya could say anything, the two heard slow clapping and looked around. Slowly emerging from behind the trees stepped a black-haired and blue-suited teen. "Hey, Chazz."

"Alexis," Chazz said with a nod. He looked at Yuya and chuckled. "With hair like that it's not hard to see why you replaced Jaden. Name's Chazz Princeton."

Yuya simply grinned. "Yuya Sakaki, looper and, if I've gathered correctly... I'm the Anchor of my loop."

Chazz glanced at Alexis, who simply smirked... and sighed. "Yeah, yeah, Alexis, you won the bet, I get it. An Anchor who uses Pendulum cards, you could only be the next Anchor in our bunch of loops."

"'Our'?" Yuya asked.

"This isn't the only other loop where we play Duel Monsters," Alexis explained. "In fact there are three others, apart from yours and this one..."

Yuya blinked. "Um... wow... that's a lot of Duel Monsters."

"Trust me, kid, if you keep playing like I just saw you playing... you'll do just fine," Chazz admitted.

Even many loops later, Yuya would remember the kindness of the first two loopers that he met outside his own loop, even if he did start plotting pranks against them for not warning him about certain duelists by the end of the loop.

-10-

ACT 3 (What's in a name? By Crossoverpairinglover)

-10-

"Time itself is broken, Yuzu. Space, too. Everything, really. Whenever we get to a certain point, we start all over again."

The words of her best friend Yuya were often of the silly variety, but those words had been said quite seriously.

When she had found herself once again watching her friend duel Strong Ishijima, defeating him with Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, and confronted him later, she was quite willing to believe him.

Now, finding herself in a city known as Heartland, walking side by side with Shun Kurosaki (who actually looked happy, an emotion that Yuzu had no reason to believe he ever showed before) as his little sister Yuzu Kurosaki, there was no doubt left in her mind whatsoever.

"...You'll get your very own Xyz monster for your birthday." He finished his little speech she had 'woken up' halfway through. "Xyz monsters are very tricky to master, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. After all, you're brilliant."

Remembering her attempts to learn Fusion summoning, Yuzu wasn't sure she agreed with Shun here.

Speaking of Fusion, Yuzu couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

What little she knew of the Xyz dimension told her that the Fusion Dimension would soon attack.

Would he be with them?

Could she stop it before it even began...

BOOM!

ZAP!

Random screams of terror.

Apparently… not.

Yuzu would love to tell tales to potential versions of her juniors that she had single handily stopped the entire fusion army's attack with a ferocious card combination.

But she didn't. Heck, even Yugi or Yusei (who apparently could bend the laws of reality itself and could hyper evolve his cards beyond the limitations of regular cards, respectively), and arguably the two most-skilled duelists in all of space-time according to Yuya, would be hard pressed to pull that off.

That, and Yuzu had found out firsthand about the potential effect of using spell and trap cards with real world effects in a full out war.

Giant Trunade sucked. Yuzus were not meant to fly (unless there was a universe with Flying Duels somewhere she wasn't aware of).

Thankfully, she landed on something that was not metal, concrete, or water.

Not that thankfully...

"Thirty-seven!?"

She had lost three of her cards. Nothing vital, but without a full deck, she could not duel.

And Yuzu had a bad feeling that not dueling in this loop was not an option.

She took a deep breath while sitting lotus style in front of what remained of her deck, sans its fusion support, as she did not take her deck with her after the last loop. While Yuya had shown her how to make a Subspace Pocket, she did not have enough space in it yet for more than...

Her eyes widening, Yuzu realized she did in fact have three more cards.

Grinning like a madman, the Academia soldier laughed as the Xyz trash before him was sealed in a card, leaving nothing behind but his duel disk and his cards.

Idly picking it up, the soldier (a dark haired average joe) removed the cards and looked them over in amusement.

"Hieratics? Who would play a deck involving level 6 monsters you have to tribute to do anything good with?!"

To the soldier, the only good thing you were going to get out of a scum deck like this… was a fire.

Hearing the sound of footsteps nearby, the soldier turned sharply to spot a cute little girl with pink hair glaring at him in fury, apparently noting his trophy.

A hero?

Those were always fun to stomp the life out of.

"Before I attack with all my monsters, I activate Meteor Rain!"

Yuzu grimaced. During the course of this duel, she had found out a few things that had caught her off guard.

The ferocity and brutality of dueling for your life (the sort of things Shun had talked about during his duel with Sora), was something she certainly hadn't been taught by her father.

The horror of having an opponent who seriously wanted you to suffer. There was a difference, after all, between wanting to win, and wanting to beat your opponent black and blue and seal them in a card to do who knows what with.

Finally, she had been caught off guard by changes in her monsters effects. Canon could special summon herself, Sonata could increase attack and defense if she was special summoned, and Aria...

Well, Aria (1600, 1200) was the only reason she was going to survive this turn, considering she was special summoned by her Solo: First Movement (which also had a different effect when it came to selecting its summon target), and thus could not be destroyed.

Though this part was going to hurt.

Surrounded by a vortex protected by a sheen, otherwise known as Fusion Gate and the spell card Field Barrier, she found her Aria being struck at by three different fusion monsters.

"Rabid Horseman!" Her Melodious blocked an axe blow from an angry centaur.

"Crimson Sunbird!" A giant red bird slammed its wings right into Aria.

"Cybersaurus!" Aria was rained on with bullets from a cyborg dinosaur.

"Still alive, huh, girl? Well, next turn will fix that. I end my turn." Even though his hand was empty, her opponent could easily restock it with his Heart of the Underdog, which allowed him to draw more cards whenever he drew a normal monster.

Conveniently, they made up a large part of his deck.

Yuzu gritted her teeth as she drew for her turn, before grinning.

"What's so funny, girl? Finally got that Xyz monster?!"

Yuzu ignored his taunts before holding up a monster. "When I control a Melodious monster, I can special summon my Canon the Melodious Diva from my hand!" The blue haired fairy appeared on the field in a burst of light (1400, 2000).

"Yawn."

"I tribute both of my Melodious! Enchanting melody echoing in the heaven. Awaken the sleeping virtuoso. Come, Level 8 Mozarta the Melodious Maestra!"

Garbed in red and her wings like piano keys, Yuzu's pre-fusion ace monster descended from the song of the heavens (2600, 2000).

The soldier was not impressed. "You really think that card scares me. I have more than one fusion weapon in my deck, girl. I specialize in destroying cards like that. Cards that inspire hope. So go ahead, make your final stand. It's all the sweeter when I get to render it pointless."

"Pointless?! I think not. With the Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and the Scale 8 Timegazer Magician, I'm setting the Pendulum Scale!"

"Pendu-what?" the soldier questioned as two spellcasters appeared in the middle of blue columns of light, rising up on either side of the girl, with a pair of numbers (1 and 8).

"Now, I can special summon monsters between the levels of 2 and 7. Swing, pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Appear now! My monsters!"

She would figure out her own chant for this later.

Two bursts of light flew down from the giant blue hole that opened up.

"Come forth, Shopina the Melodious Maestra!" The blue-dressed fairy of similar size to Mozarta landed elegantly beside Yuzu (2300, 1700). "And Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The large red dragon roared rather inelegantly (2500, 2000).

The soldier felt a bit nervous now.

"Now, I activate the effects of Shopina and Mozarta! First, I return Sonata to my hand, then special summon her via Mozarta!" The green-skinned, blue-dressed fairy fluttered down to join the Fantasia Trio and Odd-Eyes (1200, 1000). "Because Sonata was special summoned, her effect increased the power of all Fairy-Types in play!" A musical aura surrounded all of her baseline monsters (3100, 2500), (2800, 2200), (1700, 1500).

"Impossible...you Xyz scum! You must have cheated!"

"You invaded this dimension with a summoning method we knew nothing of. I personally think that's more qualified to be called cheating than this." Yuzu pointed right at his monsters. "Odd-Eyes, Mozarta, Shopina, take out all of his Fusion monsters!"

The burst of light and fire was the last thing the soldier saw before he knew defeat.

-10-

"There exists a power that can alter the fate of battle. Losers become winners, winners lose for no good reason, and morality is shifted for reasons that defy all logic. This power is a dangerous enemy to Academia's goals."

"Yeah, yeah, but don't we have one of those people on our side?"

"We do, but he's under our control. These Xyz scum, however, might have two bearers of the power." The captain and elite soldier noted a video feed behind them of a purple-haired duelist with a black dragon.

"There is definitely at least one here. They call him Yuto."

"Is he the one I'm supposed to hunt?"

"Negative. Your target is the the theoretical second. This one has characteristics that make our superiors question her status as one with the power of Yu, but records suggest she managed to pull off a miracle."

The video feed behind them changed from Yuto to the Pendulum Summon.

"Your mission is to make sure the miracle is sealed away."

The short soldier grinned evilly, a lollipop sticking out of his mouth like a cigarette.

Meanwhile, back in the battlefield, where a soldier lay unconscious, he found himself stripped of not only his duel disk deck, but his trophies.

All of his trophies, be they duel disk, or fallen Xyz users' decks.

-10-

"I overlay my level 4 Canon the Melodious Diva and my Level 4 Serena the Melodious Diva!"

Two yellow lights shot forth from Yuzu's field into a spiraling purple vortex.

Her opponent, a Duel Soldier currently protected by only an Ancient Gear Golem (3000, 3000), didn't look too concerned. After all, what could a single Xyz monster do to him?

"Songs of the world, merge together into a warrior of rebellion! Xyz Summon! Be born, Rank 4! Starliege Paladynamo!" (2000, 1000)

The white-armored warrior monster did not seem to bother the Academia member that much.

"You done yet? I have some looting to do, and your pointless attempts to set up a defense are keeping me away from my loot. Do you know quickly you have to move to get any good loot around here?"

"I activate Starliege Paladynamo's monster effect!" Yuzu didn't pity his lack of looting time as both overlay units were absorbed by her monster's sword, which began to glow. "By removing both overlay units, my monster can decrease the attack power of one monster you control to zero and cancel any abilities it may have!"

From the sword shot out a bright light, which struck the Golem head on and caused it to hunch over in agony (0,0).

The Duel Soldier suddenly realized he only had 1600 life points left.

"Starliege Paladynamo, attack and end this once and for all!"

Looking around, hoping in vain there might be some randomly generated card that could save him at the last second, his Golem was sliced in half and all was over.

His hand spilled away from him, with one card in particular flying all the way to Yuzu's feet.

Picking the card up, Yuzu's eyebrow rose in surprise at the card that she had gained.

She had Polymerization once more.

The Fusion spell glowed, as more cards appeared behind it.

Yuzu's eyes went wide at the sight of all her fusion support cards now in hand.

Sitting on top of a hill, the Duel Sanctuary had taken great damage from the attacks of the Fusion Dimension forces.

Its outside was scorched and broken. The Dojo where the great learned to Xyz summon and improve their dueling skills was no more.

Yuzu noted the shattered statues that guarded it, the mighty Blade Armored Ninja and Tiras, Keeper of Genesis. Obviously someone with more time than sense had decided they needed to be broken some more.

However, upon entering the broken dojo, its insides were not what she was expecting.

One did not expect the insides of a burned-out building to be a large room made of stones with stairs and doors seemingly everywhere.

Yuzu blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating. However, then she noticed the statues that stood everywhere around her.

To one side there stood a statue of a magician with a large staff, partnered with a statue of a female magician and additional statues that resembled monsters that Yuzu was actually familiar with: monsters like Buster Blader, Curse of Dragon, the Magnet Warriors, Kuriboh, and Summoned Skull.

On the other side of the room were a trio of identical dragons staring them down. Just like the Magicians, behind them stood other monsters that she recognized: La Jinn, the X Y and Z monsters, and Vorse Raider.

Looking around, she noticed some other statues on the various upper and lower levels of the room, which Yuzu could not figure out how one would get to. She saw statues of Red Eyes and Gilford the Lightning, of Jinzo and Flame Swordsmen, of Harpie Ladies and many others that all made her head hurt.

However, she saw no Synchro, Xyz or Pendulum cards.

Continuing to walk through the room, hoping it might make more sense if she continued forward, the room began to morph once more.

From a great maze, it reforged itself into a large school building surrounded by tablets and shining with the brightness of a tropical sun.

The statues from before had vanished.

Looking around rapidly in unease, she noticed large posters stuck to the front of the school, advertisements much like the ones found all over Miami.

One poster depicted a series of monsters that resembled heroes.

A second poster featured Ojama Monsters, the Armed Level Dragons and th monsters.

A third poster featured Cyber Dragons.

A fourth had creatures embedded with jewels and a massive dragon.

Poster after poster, all with monster cards on them.

"This is freaky..." she muttered to herself.

And like before, no Synchro, Xyz, or Pendulum monsters.

Not sure if she was going to enjoy what happened next, she noted the door that would take her, theoretically, inside this school.

She opened the door.

VROOM!

And was nearly run over as she found herself on the edge of a massive track where people were racing on motor bikes.

Still not sure exactly what was going on, she looked upward and saw floating holographic advertisements for whatever it was that was going on here.

There were holographic images of a white dragon flying above a group of Synchro Monsters and low-level effect monsters, including a pink bird and a bolt-studded hedgehog.

A second one featured a red and black dragon, followed mostly by fiends and warriors.

A third had a serpentine dragon, pursued by winged humanoids that made her think of Kurosaki's Raid Raptors.

Synchro Monsters. Synchro Monsters everywhere.

VROOM!

And Motorcycles. Kinda like Yugo's.

She could even see a fusion monster or two dotted around in the holograms, but not Ritual monsters, Xyz monsters, or Pendulum monsters.

VROOM!

Dang, those things were loud.

Not particularly thinking about where she might go from here, she just tried to get away from the loud roar of the machines.

Instead, she found herself in a blue desert at night. A large, green and gold ship of some sort hung above her in the sky,

"Okay, this has gone far enough!" she complained loudly, as numbers began to dance around her.

The number 39 came to rest in front of her, and Yuzu found herself seeing the image of a mighty warrior, aided by magicians, golems and warriors of various forms.

It left, and the numbers 10, 20, and 30 rested before her, and Yuzu saw a great shining dragon, a beast of galaxies and light. Beneath it flew others bathed in that same light.

Those numbers departed as well, and the numbers 17, 32, and 101 greeted her, as Yuzu saw massive dragons and ships of the sea, aided by an aquarium or two of sea monsters.

Looking up as those visions faded, Yuzu saw what appeared to be over 100 of those glowing numbers formed a giant spiraling vortex above her, descending toward her like the tornadoes that Sawatari was fond of using.

Yuzu's screams were cancelled out by the roar of the number storm.

When Yuzu came to, she found herself looking up at a large statue of Yuya, as if he were a god to be worshiped.

Pushing herself off the ground and dusting off her skirt, Yuzu backed away from the statue as she saw it greater detail.

The statue of Yuya stood taller than Yu-Show, and was partnered with Odd-Eyes. At their feet was a pedestal, decorated on the front with a carving of what looked like herself with her Melodious monsters. The sides, from what she could see, had similar decorations (she could see a Gongenzaka side and a Reiji side. She had no idea what was on the back).

Looking to her right, she spotted a statue of Yuto with similar details. He was partnered with Dark Rebellion, and stood on a pedestal that featured carvings, the front showing a girl she assumed was Ruri, while a side featured Kurosaki and his Raid Raptors.

Two other statues were also present, each featuring a Yuya look-alike and a dragon atop a pedestal. One was a boy whose hair oddly resembled a banana, the other whose eyebrows were creepy and had Serena (or was it Selena?) at the front of his pedestal.

So, what was this, The Great Yuya Temple?

"They say those who have the power of Yu can alter the fate of a duel. Resonating with their cards, a Yu user can ensure he or she draws exactly what they need, when they need it, even if the card itself does not exist in their deck, or even at all. It's a power that has gone by many names: The Heart of the Cards, Shining Draw, Destiny Draw...it's rather unfair if you think about it."

The familiar voice that made that comment was unnervingly familiar to Yuzu, and with a shiver she turned to see that he was here as well.

"Yu is a mark of someone who champions the causes of friends, comrades, and even rivals. The power infects them as well from its original host, and grants them a limited version of the same power," the candy-loving Sora continued, all while making a face that made her rather uncomfortable (the sort he had during his fight with Kurosaki). "They say that the Yu bearers hold the fate of their times and their worlds in their hands. No matter the odds, the Yu's will prevent the end of what they protect, down to their last card, and rarely if ever fail. So long as Yu remains, victory is no longer the exclusive right of the superior over the inferior. Yu turns the tide of fate, and it cannot be allowed to do so this time. So, lesser Yu bearer." Sora activated his duel disk and gave her a challenging look. "While your name is not a true Yu, you are far too close to it to be allowed to continue to impact this war. Prepare to be sealed."

Sora.

The boy who had declared himself Yuya's apprentice, then barged into Yu-Show Duel School life.

He was lazy and prideful, didn't take anything seriously, and had an ego bigger than Sawatari's.

Either Sawatari, if she really thought about it.

Yet, he taught her Fusion Summoning. Better yet, he helped teach her how to stop Fusion Summoners.

Was it some sort of nefarious plan? Or did he merely have the ability to be a decent human when Xyz wasn't involved?

Regardless of that question, he was her opponent.

He had to be defeated.

"Duel!"

And so he shall.

"Ladies first!" Yuzu declared as she noted her hand. It was Stargazer, Timegazer, Shopina, Serena, and Soprano.

"With the scale 1 Stargazer Magician, and the Scale 8 Timegazer Magician, I set the Pendulum Scales!"

In two pillars of bright light, the Pendulum Magicians scaled into the sky, causing Sora only a moment's surprise.

It would seem he was forewarned about them.

"Pendulum Summon! Appear, my monsters!" she shouted as three bursts of light descended from the sky and formed before her.

"Shopina the Melodious Maestra!" (2300, 1700)

"Serena the Melodious Diva!" The red and purple maestra appeared in a dazzle of color (400, 1900).

"And Soprano the Melodious Songstress!" The green skinned, purple and white dressed diva landed in a burst of notes (1400, 1400).

"So, this is Pendulum Summoning," Sora mused to himself.

Yuzu, however, wasn't done yet.

"I overlay my level 4 Serena and my level 4 Soprano!"

Sora's eyes shot wide open as the two lower-leveled light monsters flew into the spiraling Xyz vortex.

"Songs of the sky, meld your energies into one! Spark the will of others to go forward! Arrive! Xyz summon! Rank 4, Fairy Cheer Girl!"

In a flutter of sparks the cheerleading fairy appeared beside the Maestra (1900, 1500).

"Xyz summon," Sora muttered darkly.

"I activate the effect of Fairy Cheer Girl! By removing an overlay unit, I can draw one card!"

The pom-poms of the cheerleader took in one Overlay unit as Yuzu's top deck glowed. With that, she drew Aria.

"Next, I activate Shopina's effect. Once per turn, I can return a Melodious monster from my graveyard to my hand!" As there was only one in her grave, she was able to return Soprano. "Turn end!"

"Well then, it's my turn, DRAW!" Sora drew from his deck before giving her a creepy smile. "I summon Fluffal Dog!"

Yuzu raised an eyebrow, not being familiar with that card.

The rather cute dog appeared on the field with a flutter of wings (1700, 1000).

"When I summon Fluffal Dog, I can move a Fluffal or Edge Imp Sabres from my deck to my hand," Sora noted as his deck pushed out a card. "I choose to add Edge Imp Sabres. Then, I activate Polymerization!"

Crud.

"Claws of the Demon! Canines of the Beast! Become one and reveal a new form! Fusion Summon! Be born, vicious predator that destroys all in its path, Frightfur Wolf!"

Frightfur Wolf?

The purple wolf, as mutilated and creepy as any of Sora's other toys, appeared on the field in with an uneasy aura with a demonic howl (2000, 1500).

"Next, I equip Fusion Weapon to Frightfur Wolf!"

The equip spell card caused the blades of Frightfur Wolf to glow and get larger, as its power swelled (3500, 3000).

"3500 attack points!?" Yuzu exclaimed in horror.

"That line would sound better if it had 9000 attack points," Sora idly commented as he took a lick of a lollipop in hand. "Oh, and one more thing I should mention: My Wolf, it can attack twice a turn, and that's just what it's going to do. Attack the overgrown opera singer and the Xyz trash, my Wolf!"

With a loud howl, the Wolf charged right at them, its blades looking hungry for blood.

Yuzu instinctively looked for an action card, before reminding herself there were no action cards in this dimension.

The attack first struck Fairy Cheer Girl with a bang. (4000- 2400).

Then it sliced Shopina in half (2400- 1200).

Yawning, Sora ended his turn. "Is that really all you've got?" he asked in a bored tone. "I'm starting to doubt that you are actually that dangerous."

Ignoring his taunt and drawing Elegy, Yuzu declared once more, "Pendulum Summon! Appear, my monsters!"

Three more lights descended once more onto the field.

"Aria the Melodious Diva!" (1600, 1200).

"Elegy the Melodious Diva!" The purple and green fairy made her debut showing in defense mode, like the rest (2000, 1200).

"Soprano the Melodious Songstress!" (1400, 1400).

"When I special summon Elegy, all my Melodious monsters gain 300 attack points!" Yuzu declared as all three of her defensive monsters glowed (1900, 1200) (2300, 1200) (1700, 1400).

"I end my turn."

Yawning, Sora drew again from his deck, and liked what he drew. "Sorry, girl, but you've lost. I activate Raigeki!"

A massive lightning bolt fell from the sky, striking all of Yuzu's fairies.

Sora looked triumphant, but lost that look once the lightning vanished, revealing all fairies intact.

"What!?"

"When I control Elegy, all special summoned Melodious monsters cannot be destroyed by card effects," Yuzu explained as Sora glared at the fairies.

"Clever, but not clever enough. I attack Soprano and Elegy with Frightfur Wolf!"

Howling, the demonic toy charged forward and lunged right at Soprano...only to be bounced off and fall on its back in front of Sora, dazed.

"How...!?"

"When I control a special summoned Aria, Melodious monsters cannot be destroyed by battle or targeted by card effects!"

Sora just stared at the defensive fairies in shock. "How the heck am I supposed to beat you if you pull something like that off!?"

Yuzu smirked at Sora's unease as she drew Cards from the Sky. "Turn end."

Sora scowled, and drew a card of his own. "Turn end."

Drawing, Yuzu drew Mozarta the Melodious Maestra. "I activate Cards from the Sky! By banishing a Fairy from my hand—" She banished Mozarta. "—I can draw two cards!" Drawing, she drew Miraculous Descent and Opera the Melodious Diva.

"I set a card, and end my turn!"

Scowling, Sora drew, and smirked.

"I summon Edge Imp Tomahawk!"

A living rack of axes rose up to the field (1800, 800).

"I activate Tomahawk's monster effect! By discarding an Edge Imp—" Sora discarded Edge Imp Saw. "—you take 800 damage!"

With a glowing light, an energy blast was sent right into Yuzu, pushing her back significantly (1200-400).

Sora set a card as well.

"Turn end."

Drawing Sonata, Yuzu grinned.

It was time to counter-attack.

"I activate Miraculous Descent! I can special summon one banished Fairy-Type monster! Enchanting melody echoing in the heavens, awaken the sleeping virtuoso. Come, Level 8! Mozarta, the Melodious Maestra!"

The red fairy leader of the Melodious descended to the field (2600, 2000), (2900, 2000).

"Next, I normal summon Opera the Melodious Diva (2300/1000), but she won't be staying for long!"
(Something's missing here, but I'm not sure if it's attack or defense, and whether or not the power-up should be marked.)
"What, are you going to Xyz Summon?! Because I'm afraid that isn't possible! I activate my trap card...!"

"Yeah, no." Yuzu interrupted his little rant as he activated some sort of anti-Xyz trap card.

"What!? What else could you possibly be trying to do!?" Sora demanded in shock.

"I can use Soprano to conduct a Fusion Summon," Yuzu told the boy plainly as he gaped at her in shock.

"Fusion...that...that's impossible!"

"Angel's song! Echoed voice of perfection! With guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion Summon! Now come here to the stage! Schuberta the Melodious Maestra!"

The red-garbed fairy fusion monster arrived on the field in a shower of song notes (2400, 2000) (2700, 2000).

"It's not possible...!"

"Oh, it is possible," Yuzu told the surprised soldier. "But don't worry, if you're expecting any Synchro Monsters next...I don't have any. Now, for Schuberta's effect!" Sora's graveyard glowed, as Fluffal Dog, Edge Imp Sabres, and Polymerization found themselves banished and absorbed into Schuberta's wand. (2700, 2000). (3300, 2000).

"No matter," Sora told her. "You still can't overpower my Wolf!"

"When I control a Melodious Monster, I can special summon Sonata the Melodious Diva!" From her hand the green fairy crouched on the field in defense mode (1200, 1000) (1500, 1000). "And when this special summoned monster is in play, all my Melodious Monsters get stronger, by 500 attack and defense points!"

"What!?"

Sora's surprise resonated as the entire Fairy army glowed (1900, 1200) (2400, 1700), (2300, 1200), (2800, 1700), (2900, 2000), (3400, 2500), (3300, 2000), (3800, 2500), (1500, 1000), (2000, 1500).

Changing Elegy to attack mode, Yuzu had game.

"Battle! Schuberta, attack Frightfur Wolf!"

With a song blast, the wolf was sent flying into a million pieces, raining down on Sora like hail (4000- 3700).

"Mozarta, destroy Edge Imp Tomahawk!"

Another song blast struck the Edge Imp, shattering it as the destroyed axes flew right at Sora. Sora barely avoided being severed by them (3700- 2100).

"Now, Elegy, let's end this! Direct attack!" A blast of song energy flew right towards Sora...as a clock-like demon rose up in the way of the attack and formed a barrier, blocking it (0,0).

"What!?"

"Battle Fader can be special summoned from the hand to end the battle phase if a direct attack is declared," Sora informed Yuzu as he drew for turn. "So, this is what a Yu can do. Multiple special summons, near perfect reversals of fortune...I guess I'm going to have to go all out on you. I activate Fusion Ultimatum!"

The spell card that Sora was holding wasn't something that Yuzu had ever heard of before. Yuya had mentioned that sometimes cards were exclusive to a loop; perhaps this was one of those cards.

"First, I must discard my entire hand and destroy all cards I control." Sora wiped his field and hand bare. "Then, I can special summon any Fusion monster I want from my extra deck, ignoring summoning restrictions." A card shot out of Sora's extra deck. "Bizarre toys possessed by demons! Destroy the ignorant peons who dare to oppose you! FUSION SUMMON! Come forth and appear! The chimeric fusion of all toys! Frightfur Mad Chimera!"

The horrific fusion of fusion horrors was now staring down Yuzu's fairies, just as horrifying as ever (2800, 2000).

"Finally, this card banishes all monsters you control, without targeting them, whose level is lower than my fusion monster!"

With a horrified scream, all of her Melodious monsters who weren't Mozarta vanished, taking with them all protections (2600, 2000).

"Now, battle!" With a missile from its mouth, the Chimera sent an attack flying right into Mozarta, destroying her and sending Yuzu flying into the air, tumbling to the ground (400-200).

With a mad grin, Sora went on about how Mozarta was now his and had it appear on his side (2600, 2000) (1300, 1000), but how his card prevented non-fusion monsters from attacking, and that Chimera was now more powerful (2800, 2000) (3100, 2000).

"Your move...if you can do anything," Sora taunted as Yuzu prepared to pull a destiny draw, before suddenly she felt a wave of pain cross through her.

Suddenly Yuzu found herself in a dark area that seemed to stretch on forever. When she looked around she saw she stood next to three other girls arranged in a square.

She had to stifle a surprised gasp... One of them was Serena! And there was a ringing noise... a loud ringing noise coming from... a pendant? And it looked so much like Yuya's and yet wasn't...

Another of the girls looked at her and Yuzu looked back... Was this Ruri? She couldn't make out the girl's face, but reached out to her as the girl reached back.

The last thing Yuzu consciously remembered was a number.

39.

Meanwhile back in the real-world Temple of Yu, Sora looked a little unnerved.

The girl had frozen up and her hair was changing as it became wild and somewhat creepy looking.

And the four statues in the temple were glowing and sending off rather unnerving energy.

Then the girl's eyes opened up, and they were glowing pink. Just as the eyes of the statues were glowing.

"Um...Yu girl? Earth to Yu girl?" Sora was starting to find this a bit creepy.

"My turn," The girl said in a tone of voice that was burning with rage, yet plainer than usual. "Draw!"

Sora noted the card she drew was covered in musical notes and glowing. That probably was not a good thing.

"I activate the spell card, Pendulum Solo," the girl stated in that same tone. "When the only cards I control are two Pendulum Monsters set to their scales, I can excavate from my deck until I draw two Melodious Monsters whose level can be pendulum summoned. When I do so, they will be immediately used to perform an Xyz Summon. Any other card will be sent to the graveyard."

The deck glowed. Sora scowled. Was this what the Professor meant about creating cards and rearranging fate?

"Draw!" she shouted in anger as she drew an Aria. "A level 4 monster. Well, that means that only level 4 monsters will be used. Very well, draw!"

"Spell Card: Rank-Up Magic: Supreme Force. As it is a magic card, it goes to the graveyard." Sora felt a bit of a relief that at least that card was gone.

Rank-Up cards were brutal.

"Spell Card: Polymerization. Once again, I send this card to the graveyard."

"Monster card: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. As it is not a Melodious Monster, I send this card to the graveyard."

For some reason, Sora felt that the lack of emotion the girl showed on that move was rather unsettling.

"Spell Card: Dimensional Cross. I send this card to the graveyard, where its effect activates," she noted. "By banishing it, I can return three monsters that were banished to my graveyard. I return Schuberta, Elegy, and Sonata."

Sora wasn't sure what good that would do.

"Monster Card: Canon the Melodious Diva. As a Level 4 monster, I can now perform an Xyz summon!"

On her field, the two Fairies had appeared, and now shot into the air into an Xyz vortex.

"From the ever-binding energy of Yu, may an ancient force be once again unleashed upon the foolish oppression!" the possessed girl stated in a tone that was starting to make Sora want to run away. Her grin reminded him of Yuri.

Shivers.

"Bring forth the Perish Song, become the light that shines upon all! Xyz Summon! Rank 4, Number 39: Melodious Arch-Muse Conductor!"

A note-covered cocoon descended from the vortex, the likes of which Sora had never heard of before.

"What...what sort of monster did you summon!" Sora demanded as the cocoon began to unfurl, revealing an armored Melodious fairy decorated in yellow and white, with red streaks covering it. A stylized 39 was present on both of its wings, and on its arms seemed to be replicas of the bracelet the girl had on her hand (2500, 2000).

The girl didn't answer, as one of the Xyz monster's overlay units entered one of its bracelets, causing a beam of light to shoot out of both of his monsters and into the Arch-Muse.

"By removing an overlay unit, this card can target your special summoned monsters, drain half their attack power, and add it to itself," the girl finally responded. (3100, 2000), (1550, 2000), (1300, 2000), (650, 2000), (2500, 2000), (4700, 2000).

"Now, battle." The Arch-Muse flapped glowing wings, releasing what could only be described as a musical hurricane at the Chimera. "Orchestration Hurricane!"

Sora waved his hand as Fusion Ultimatum reappeared. "By banishing this card from my graveyard, I can negate one attack on a Fusion Monster and negate the effects of all monsters in play that aren't Fusion Monsters!"

A barrier formed, blocking the storm from connecting, with energy waves coming off it that affected all other cards in play. Sora really hoped that would stop the girl and let him take his next turn as the attack changes were negated.

"From my graveyard, I activate Rank-Up-Magic: Supreme Force!"

As a similar ghost card appeared on her field, Sora felt immense dread.

"I can activate this card from the graveyard," the girl noted. The spell card depicted black, spiky armor as a sort of symbol of Supreme Power. "when a fusion monster is also in the graveyard. I can perform an Xyz Change of an Xyz monster I control!"

Furling back up into a cocoon with a single overlay unit, Melodious Arch-Muse Conductor began to glow brightly as it started to change shapes and colors.

"Across all space marked by Yu, the writer of the victory song is all! Transform from a ball of glorious light and bring forth victory in this fight! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Descend! Rank 5! Number 39: Melodious Composer Mnemosyne!"

The armor was now larger and embodied with ancient Greek letters. The color was now gold and silver, and its bands of color scarlet. The ultimate angel of songs had descended (3000, 2500).

"When this card is summoned, all special summoned monsters controlled by my opponent lose all their attack power." the possessed Yu girl informed the startled Sora as the Xyz monster pointed its arms at Chimera and seemed to extract a song out of it. It looked rather painful. Then it did the same with Mozarta.

(0,0) (0,0).

"Now, attack Chimera with Musical Retribution!"

Holding its arms up, a bolt of electrified notes flew down from the top of the temple and struck Chimera, shattering it and, with it, Sora.

Sora's last thought was 'What the hell is she!'

-10-

Yuto had been time traveling.

It was the only explanation for how he, after his defeat by the pawn of Fusion, had ended up back on that day he had met Yuzu and defeated the Monarch-using punk.

In other times, he traveled back to various other points: his duel against Sora and Yuya, when he met up again with Shun, and during Shun's duel with Sora.

Oddly enough, he had noticed that sometimes things changed. As if others were also time traveling and influencing things.

His observations seemed to suggest that the ones responsible for this were Yuya, and/or someone in LDS's high command, though that started later.

While the LDS person was not an option, he had decided to speak with Yuya the next chance he could to verify his thoughts, assuming that Yuzu's bracelet wasn't around to make things difficult. They could talk while fused, but that wasn't... consistent yet. Half a minute at most and that required a strong emotional focus.

However, then he had been sent all the way back to the Xyz dimension, just as the invasion began.

A chance to fix things wasn't something he'd pass up. So, he fought.

Academia would not win this time, and they didn't seem to be doing nearly as well this time around.

However, there was another problem.

"Let the number take hold."

The voice in his head was rather annoying.

For some reason, a glowing 17 had appeared on his arm like a tattoo, and it seemed to be trying to get him to play a card that he did not remember having.

He somehow doubted that playing this card, a so called 'Number 17: The Phantom Knights of Shatter Axe,' would make the voice go away.

He might end up like Shun...

"Number 32: Raid Raptors-Veiss Osprey, destroy the Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"

A black Raid Raptor, marked by a large 32 on one of its wings and looking somewhat sinister, flew right at his Rank 3 Xyz monster of choice (100, 1500) vs. (2000, 1000), with three overlay units flying around it versus his monster's two.

Shun, who had ordered this attack, had a 32 glowing on his neck and a purple aura surrounding him, and a maniacal look on his face that was normally reserved for when facing the worst of Academia. "Your number is mine! I activate the effect of Veiss Osprey, detaching an overlay unit to destroy the monster it targeted for an attack, and inflict its attack power as damage!"

As the overlay unit was absorbed, Yuto recalled that he had only 1700 life points left (to Shun's 2500).

"I activate Emergency Provisions!" Yuto declared as the spell card appeared before him. "I tribute all three of my face down cards to gain 3000 life points."

As he sent all three of his Shadow Veils to the grave, his life points shot up to 4700, before the Raid Raptor's sonic attack struck and shattered Break Sword, and with that 2000 of his life points.

Frowning, Yuto waved his hand over the destroyed form of his monster. "When Break Sword is removed from the field, its overlay units are reborn as level 4 monsters!"

From the darkness rose back his two monsters: the large gloved The Phantom Knights of Rugged Glove, and the swift The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots (200, 1200).

Shun ended his turn. The fact he hadn't been playing his usual back-row this duel suggested that this 'number' was messing with his regular strategies.

Yuto considered that a good thing, and so he drew, noting the spell card he had drawn and trying not to be bothered that much that it was unusual for his deck.

"I activate the quick-play spell card, Forbidden Chalice! I target your monster, negating its effect and increasing its attack power by 400!"

Possessed Shun raised a sharp eyebrow as a strange energy shimmered around his Raptor (500, 1500).

"I overlay my level 4 Rugged Glove and Silent Boots!"

Both dark monsters flew into the air and into the overlay network.

'This is the only way to snap you out of this, Shun,' Yuto mentally told himself. "Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Rank 4, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

And so, once again his mighty dragon had appeared to take back the duel for him (2500, 2000).

"When I use Rugged Glove as Xyz material, my monster gains 1000 attack points until the end of this turn," Yuto reminded Shun as his dragon roared (3500, 2000).

He didn't need to overkill, and so he pointed right at the Number Raptor. "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, destroy that number and end this duel, Rebellious Lightning Disobey!"

With lightning sparking all over its body, Dark Rebellion slammed right into the Raptor, destroying it and sending Shun crashing to the ground defeated. (2500-0), the odd card and its number flying off Shun's disk and vanishing from his face.

Other than the bruising and staining of Shun and his favorite jacket, he seemed to be in decent health for someone who had lost a duel.

Though considering the Number that had been controlling Shun just landed on his foot (LET THE NUMBER TAKE HOLD), perhaps the same might yet not be the case for himself.

Let the Number Take Hold

Let the Number Take Hold

LET THE NUMBER TAKE HOLD

It was getting rather hard to ignore. He really didn't like going into crazed states of aggression, and he'd prefer that this would stop sooner rather than later.

LET THE NUMBER TAKE HOL...

The voices suddenly stopped as the card at his foot shimmered, briefly pixilated, then was normal once more. Yuto had the oddest feeling a similar, if unseen, issue occurred with Number 17.

Shun than began to get back up, as Yuto felt a smile form on his face. Rather rare, truth be told.

"Shun, you're alright! Sorry about..."

"People told me that a fifth branch of this would be peaceful and relaxing." Yuto stopped talking when Shun spoke with a voice that was clearly not Shun, but more or less that of a batty professor in what was clearly a bad mood. "Hachimen has twelve, and he loves his job, they said. This new loop would be nothing but sunshine, pendulums, and hippos, I thought, and they agreed with me. But then, it had to get complicated." The person using Shun's body gave him a long look. "Why couldn't you have just been Yuya's son from the future, or a clone, or just Yuzu's brother? It would have been far less complicated for me!"

Yuto activated his duel disk threateningly towards the false Shun. "Who are you, and what are you doing possessing my friend!?"

Not-Shun waved his hand, and Yuto's duel disk vanished, leaving nothing behind but the two numbers and Dark Rebellion fluttering to the ground.

"I suppose you did catch me mid-rant. Perhaps I was simply going over your head. Very well, I probably should introduce myself." Not-Shun snapped his fingers, and a see-through Ibis head formed over Shun's. "I am Thoth, administrator to the currently five branches of reality that are known for their use of the Duel Monsters card game."

Yuto's eyebrows shot up. "Shun was right, there is a Ritual Dimension!"

Thoth shook his borrowed head. "Standard, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz are all one branch. If there is a Ritual, or Pendulum, or Union, or Spirit Dimension out there, I have about as good of an idea as you do. Perhaps there might exist a Sharp Claw Trap Dragon or Burning Emotion Ritual Dragon, but that is merely guess work at the current time. For one thing, we need to deal with the issues currently afoot."

"Like possessing my friend?!"

Thoth nodded. "I normally would not resort to possession or channeling. That is more or less a trademark of Poseidon's. However, as you might have noticed, this loop hasn't started up right."

Picking up his Dragon along with the two numbers, Yuto had a pretty good idea what the bird meant.

Thoth noted his cards with interest. "Oh, the Numbers. That's not it actually. Variant numbers are actually quite safe. They are, however, connected to the problem. For you see, this loop is suffering from an over-complication of a noticeable but unspoken rule of your universe and the linked timelines."

Yuto gave him a confused look.

"The ability of duelists with central importance to the telling of this world's story, the ones who generally have the spiky multi-colored hair and Yu in their name, to draw the exact card they need at the exact moment they need it, at times even making it out of thin air, has gone cancerous in this current iteration of time and space."

Yuto still was confused, though he was starting to sort of understand what Thoth meant.

Thoth sighed. "That. Tendency. Of. People. Like. You. And. Yuya. To. Draw. The. Card. You. Need. Generally. With Sparkles. And. Rainbows. It. Is. Broken."

Yuto felt annoyance at the tone that Thoth was speaking in now: the same type of tone an arrogant teacher might use to a troubled student. But it was probably the only way he would actually understand what this bird was babbling about.

Seeing that Yuto understood, Thoth continued. "You see, the universes trapped in temporal loops will occasionally have alternate versions of a world form. Sometimes a person might use a different deck. Other times one may find themselves a different gender. In this particular case, however, the concept of duelists, particularly those with Yu in their name, to manifest the way they can win has been heavily complicated and corrupted by this variant loop, and Yuzu's currently stuck in a state of hyper aggression and ominous wording, attacking Fusion Duelists left and right like a woman possessed, which she sort of is. I haven't found the official name for it yet, but some of my underlings called it Berserk Mode. Rather catchy, don't you think?"

Yuto felt a horrified feeling when he quickly grasped exactly what Thoth was talking about.

"Now, I can end this loop before this cancerous over-complication of an odd little universal quirk does anything too permanent, like causing ascension in a highly skilled duelist whom this variant sees as a strong channeler of 'Yu', to some extent or another, which is a rather unpleasant event you don't want to see, my eggplant haired anchor. However, to do so we need to snap Yuzu out of her Berserk Mode, or it might be permanent."

Yuto looked uneasy. "When you say permanent, do you mean she'll be at risk of doing it in a normal 'loop', or stuck in it 24/7?"

"Yes." Thoth didn't give him a straight answer. "I would suggest you administer the cure in the general, all purpose method."

"You want me to use a needle?"

"No, dueling." Thoth stated that as if was obvious. "I'll be in touch for tech support, but I'm afraid I cannot rig duels. You have to defeat her with your own power, without falling into Berserk Mode yourself. Good luck!" And with that, Shun slumped to the ground unconscious and now probably Thoth-free.

Yuto hid his unconscious body before going on his way to find Yuzu.

-10-

It did not take long to find Yuzu.

Yuto cringed from a distance as he noticed her eyes glowing in a horrific rage as dozens of Academia soldiers lay at her feet, though more from the fact Yuzu was looking like a homicidal agent of destruction than the Fusion users' agony.

Yuzu had Yuya's dragon on the field and the two Pendulum Magicians, while the last standing Academia member had a face down card and the dark puppet El Shadoll Winda (2200, 800).

"I attack with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Yuzu said in a voice underlain with dark and hateful tones. "Spiral Strike Burst!"

With a roar, Odd-Eyes let loose a burst of dark flames towards Winda.

"I activate my trap card, Magic Cylinder!" The Academia member tried to protect himself as a pair of matching cylinders appeared alongside his puppet. "This reflects your attack right back at your life points!"

"Timegazer Magician's Pendulum Effect activates," Yuzu countered. "When a Pendulum monster attacks, I can negate the activation of your trap card. Inverse Gears!"

The cylinders seemed to rewind out of existence as the flames struck and shattered the doll.

"When Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon battles with a monster whose level is at least 5, the damage you take in response is doubled," Yuzu darkly told her victim as his eyes panicked further. "Reaction Force!"

The flames struck the Academia soldier head on as he collapsed to the ground in defeat (500-0).

"Now, to darkness with all of you."

Yuto's eyes went wide as the Academia soldiers faded away.

Not into cards, but into seemingly the shadows themselves.

Yuzu, her eyes glowing a solid pink and her hair on crazed end, merely watched them fade away while idly returning her cards to her deck and deactivating her duel disk, before turning sharply to gaze at him.

Gray eyes met berserk pink, and Yuzu activated her disk once again.

Normally Yuto would try and calm her down: but if what Thoth said was true, that would not work. Only dueling would, and so Yuto entered the stance, only for Yuto to notice that he was missing something.

"My duel disk..." Yuto muttered, having forgotten that Thoth had made it disappear, before something shimmered into existence on his arm.

A duel disk yes, but instead of being his... it was the red duel disk Yuya used.

"This isn't my..."

"I activate Solo: First Movement!"

Yuzu apparently was not going to let him request his actual deck.

Yuto couldn't help but stare at his hand in some unease.

While Yuzu had special summoned Aria in defense mode (1600, 1200), and called it a turn, he had to make his. However, while he had a deck, it was not his deck.

For just as he was using Yuya's duel disk, he was also using Yuya's deck.

His hand was not filled with a multitude of spell and trap cards to support Phantom Knights, nor Phantom Knights themselves.

Instead, his hand was filled with cartoony animals, many marked with the scales of Pendulum Monsters.

A mechanic Yuto had little to no practice in. Sure he'd seen it, having sat and observed a few of Yuya's duels in past time loops (as Thoth called them), but he had not practiced with them.

But it was the only way to save Yuzu, and if he had to use something he barely understood, then so be it.

It wouldn't be that different from the early fights with Academia after all.

"Draw!" Yuto drew Hippo Carnival... An odder spell card he had never seen.

Still, it was one of the few defensive cards that Yuya carried in his deck (due to Action Cards making trap cards like Negate Attack somewhat redundant, foolishly in Yuto's humble opinion), and he would benefit from it.

"I set one card." He set the only spell card he had on him at the moment, noting the five monster cards he had drawn for his first move. "Now, with the scale 2 Performapal Drumming Kong, and the scale 6 Performapal Lizardraw, I set the Pendulum Scales!"

Possibly mucking up the opening chant, Yuto noted that a drum-formed ape and a card-decked lizard floated up alongside him, taking a stance with the numbers 2 and 6 glowing next to them. Berserk Yuzu didn't seem fazed.

Then again, when did anyone under that curse ever seem phased?

"With this, I can special summon cards with levels from 3 to 5," Yuto declared. "Now, to me my monsters!"

With three bursts of light, monsters appeared on the field.

"Behold, my level 3 Performapal Thunderhinos!" The stone rhinos landed on the ground with electrical sparks (200, 1800).

"And my level 5 Performapal Partnaga!" The yellow and red hand ended snake coiled up on the field (500, 2100).

"Turn end."

Yuto couldn't help but smirk as his turn ended.

Even if this was not his deck, there were ways he could play the deck like he personally preferred.

He liked a more defensive style to Yuya's more 'attack first' play style. Thankfully he had cards in his deck that could be used as Yuto preferred.

With a Rhino attack lock and a further attack block by Partnaga of any monster whose level was 5 or lower, Yuto felt pretty sure.

And if worse came to worse, he could be saved by scantily clad hippos.

"I draw." Yuzu's hand was once more at five cards. "I summon Opera the Melodious Diva."

As the second Melodious Monster appeared on the field (2300, 1000), Yuto felt as if his defenses could still hold.

"Now, as I control a Melodious Monster, I special summon Canon the Melodious Diva from my hand!" (1400, 2000).

As the third level 4 fairy type appeared, Yuto felt a bit nervous.

With just Opera and Aria, he could at least assume she wasn't going to Xyz summon while she still wanted to use Aria's effect.

But with three monsters now...

"I overlay my level 4 Opera the Melodious Diva and Canon the Melodious Diva!"

The two yellow lights shot into the vortex as a chant was initiated by Yuzu.

"Songs of the world, merge together into a warrior of rebellion! Xyz Summon! Be born, Rank 4! Starliege Paladynamo!" (2000, 1000).

The warrior of light's appearance was alarming, as Yuto recalled quite clearly from before the war that this card could...

"I activate Starliege Paladynamo's monster effect! By removing both overlay units, I can negate the effect of one monster you control. I target one of your Performapal Thunderhinos!"

The overlay units shooting into the monster's sword, the light struck into one of his rock beasts, causing it to lose color.

"Now, only one remains with that lock effect," Yuzu said in berserker tones. "Now, destroy the non-negated Thunderhino!"

Charging forward, Paladynamo sliced apart the still-powered rhino with an explosion as Yuto covered his eyes from the resulting debris.

With three cards in her hand, Yuzu set a card to end her turn with that as Yuto drew Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

"I tribute Performapal Partnaga and Thunderhino!" The two monsters vanished from the field. "to advance summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

The red dragon that was the symbol of the Standard Dimension (at least from Yuto's personal observations) roared onto the field, ready to strike (2500, 2000).

"Trap Card activate, Monopoly Crash!"

A trap card Yuto had never seen before, displaying the fusion summoning of a Ancient Gear Hound Fusion monster causing two others to self destruct, rose up.

'Curious.' A voice that was clearly Thoth's rang out in his mind. 'That card is rather odd looking from my perspective...it must have been created by Berserk Yuzu's abuse of the card creation trick.'

"When this card activates," Yuzu spoke, "if a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Ritual, or Pendulum Monster is summoned, all other cards of that type face up on the field are destroyed except the summoned monsters. That includes ones Pendulum Zones!"

Yuto's gorilla and lizard shattered.

Well, there went his plan on calling back Partnaga...but never mind that.

Pointing directly at her Xyz monster, Yuto called out, "Odd-Eyes, attack Starliege Paladynamo with Spiral Strike Burst!"

The flames flew out of Odd-Eyes's mouth and straight into the Xyz monster, shattering it as Yuzu didn't even seemed phased by the resulting damage (4000-3500).

"Turn end." Yuto ended his turn as Yuzu once more had three cards in hand.

"I activate the spell card Polymerization."

Yuto cringed as the spiraling vortex formed behind Yuzu.

"I fuse two Mozarta the Melodious Maestras together! Dual Genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion Summon! Now come here to the stage! Sing the song of victory, Bloom Diva the Melodious Muse!"

As the flower fairy descended to the field, Yuto knew this was not going to be easy (1000, 2000).

A monster that could not be destroyed by battle or card effects, who could destroy you with effect damage.

Did Yuya even have a card to stop such a monster?!

Aria changed to attack mode as he tried to figure that question out.

"Battle," Yuzu declared darkly as she pointed her near unstoppable, quite possibly really unstoppable, monster at Odd-Eyes. "Attack Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

As the fairy flew right at Odd-Eyes, Yuto countered with his face down card.

"I counter with Hippo Carnival!"

As three scantily dressed hippopotami appeared in front of Odd-Eyes, Yuto was slightly glad Shun was not here to see him play such a card.

However, they still forced Bloom Diva to waste a turn on them, and not Odd-Eyes, and while he was now down a green hippo, he still had three monsters left to defend himself.

Two anyway, after Aria destroyed his yellow hippo.

Yuzu ended her turn with a vacant hand facing down a Dragon and a Hippo.

Placing his hand on top of Yuya's deck, Yuto tried desperately to think of any card that could help him out.

Perhaps that trap card that he used against that Yosenju duelist, Nameless. No...

Yuto didn't notice his hand sparkle a bit like Obsidian as he began his turn.

"Draw!" Yuto drew...and saw a card that he had never seen before from him or Yuya.

'It would appear you just tapped into that 'create the card you need' thing that mutated into a strange metastory Yu element I mentioned earlier,' Thoth noted. "I might suggest not doing that too much... You might end up like Yuzu over there.'

Yuto noted the card however, and felt he should risk it. "I activate Pendulum Presentation!"

The spell card depicting the Pendulum Performapals Fire Muffleo, Silver Claw, and Partnaga bursting out of a box appeared on the field as the entire battlefield became dark.

"With this spell card, all other cards currently on the field have their effects negated until the end of the turn," Yuto stated. "Now, I draw from my deck until I draw a Performapal Pendulum Monster, then I set it in the Pendulum Zone, where its effect must be activated if able. Now, I draw!" He drew Performapal Trump Witch, before looking ill.

Really? Of all possible cards, it was that one?

As the scale four witch appeared in his Pendulum Zone, he felt a great revolting feeling in his stomach, but the rules were the rules.

"Now, battle! Odd-Eyes attacks Bloom Diva!"

While its effect would not help him this battle, Odd-Eyes could still benefit from the fact that Bloom Diva's effect was gone, and thus slammed into Diva head on, sending a massive shock wave into Yuzu (3500-2000).

"Now, I use the effect of Trump Witch…" He said this as if he was reluctantly playing a card that would cost him his soul. "To fusion summon Odd-Eyes and the Hippo Token."

As the fusion began, Yuto did not give it the proper speech as a form of protest. "I Fusion summon Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

The brown, hairy dragon roared onto the field ready for battle (3000, 2000), as Yuto pointed at Aria. "Now, attack and destroy Aria! Hell-Dive Burst!"

As fire was sent right at Aria, the fairy looked alarmed as the attack crashed into it with brutal force, still not phasing Yuzu (2000-600).

"Turn end," Yuto declared as Yuzu drew, and smirked at the one card she had.

"I activate Rank-Up Magic: Yu Force!"

'Oh, dear.' Thoth didn't need to elaborate as a spell card featuring Yuya's pendent glowing appeared.

"With this spell card, I can special summon an Xyz monster directly from my extra deck, and immediately rank it up to a higher level as long as the card shares the same type and attribute," Yuzu replied coldly as an armored fairy appeared on the field briefly, before being sucked into an overlay network.

"Across all space marked by Yu, the writer of the victory song is all! Transform from a ball of glorious light and bring forth victory in this fight! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Descend! Rank 5! Number 39: Melodious Composer Mnemosyne!"

Descending from the sky was a gold, silver, and scarlet armored Fairy-Type monster. (3000, 2500)

A Number.

Wonderful.

"When Melodious Composer Mnemosyne is summoned, I can negate the attack power and effects of all other special summoned monsters!" Yuzu declared as the armored fairy pointed its arms at Beast Eyes and made a pulling notion. What followed was a pained cry as a song was extracted from Beast Eyes, leaving it pale and weak (0,0).

"Now, battle. Destroy Beast Eyes! Musical Retribution!"

As electrified notes slammed down from the heavens onto Beast Eyes, Yuto felt a searing pain as he felt the full force of the damage (4000-1000).

Dropping to one knee in pain, Yuto watched Yuzu end her turn as he drew Performapal Call.

"I set one card and end my turn," Yuto declared as Yuzu drew from her deck.

"I attack directly with Mnemosyne, Musical Retribution!"

As lightning sparked from above, Yuto activated his trap card.

"Go, Performapal Call!" A barrier blocked the electrified sound track. "With this card, I can negate a direct attack and add two Performapal Monsters to my hand!" In his case, the two he would need to win.

'You know that card blocks extra deck summonings, right?' Thoth pointed out as Yuto took a closer look at the card.

"It doesn't say on this card..."

Thoth muttered something about glitched up card rulings.

Yuzu ended her turn, but not before she turned sharply to a higher level of the ruins. Following her gaze, Yuto felt a sense of dread, and fury, as he saw a trio of Obelisk Force members looking down at them.

"Well, look, it's a bunch of Xyz trash," one member noted.

"Quite, I do say they must be having a heated argument," the second commented.

"You know, I say we should intervene," the third finished for them as he activated his duel disk. "Now, for Fusion!"

"For Fusion..." the others stated, before a white motorcycle slammed into them in a burst of green light.

"No, not for Yugo!" a loud voice shouted from up there as Yuto stared, before shaking his head.

Maybe it was just some strange variant loop where the pawn was not evil? It was possible...

Yuto missed the part where Yugo yelled about hating Academia for putting him in some strange time loop while he drew his card, before smirking.

'Huh, I could have sworn that card had a different effect. Must be like the Melodious Monsters,' Thoth noted as Yuto held the winning combo up.

"Now, I normal summon Performapal Friendonkey!"

The bluish mule appeared on the field in a burst of confetti. (1600, 600)

"When I normal summon Friendonkey, I can special summon a Performapal Monster from my hand or graveyard. I special summon Performapal Stamp Turtle!"

A green turtle fell out of the pouch on Friendonkey's saddle and spun around a bit on its shell before getting back upright (100, 1800). "Once per turn, I can increase the levels of up to two monsters on the field by one when I control Stamp Turtle. I increase the level of Friendonkey by one!"

The Turtle held its stamp in the air as the donkey brayed powerfully (LEVEL 4).

"Now, I overlay my level 4 Friendonkey and Stamp Turtle!"

A brown and blue light shot into the air as Yuto reached into his pocket and held up the card he was going to win with.

If he had to use Yuya's cards, he at least wanted to win with his own.

"Formed from pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Descend now! Xyz Summon! Appear now! Rank 4, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

Yuto couldn't help but smirk as his ace monster appeared alongside him (2500, 2000).

Pointing at the number, Yuto noticed his dragon absorb an overlay unit. "I activate Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon's monster effect. By removing an overlay unit, I can drain your monster of half its attack power and add it to Dark Rebellion. Treason, Discharge!"

As the purple lightning surrounded Mnemosyne, Dark Rebellion roared with its new power (3000-1500, 2500), (2500-4000, 2000).

"Battle." Yuto did not need to go any further with the effect this turn. "Attack Number 39, Rebellious Lightning Disobey!"

With a familiar burst of lightning, Dark Rebellion slammed into Yuzu's number.

Yuzu finally let out a somewhat familiar scream as Berserk Mode lost its grip on her (600-0).

'Excellent! Now, to end this loop before one of you does something else stupid,' Thoth declared. 'But first...let's try and save some progress at least. Maybe I can even de-bug a few of them while I'm at it.'

Save?

It would be hard for Yuto to explain what happened after that 'save' question had come to him.

However, he once again found himself in Miami City.

The happy laughter of children and the bustle of a thriving metropolis rang out from the cafe table Yuto found himself sitting at, his mask off as he noted what Thoth had meant.

Two decks lay before him: one with Dark Rebellion on the bottom, the other with Odd-Eyes.

Interesting... Now, how did someone hold decks between loops?

-10-

Meanwhile

Yuzu woke up in her bed with a pounding headache, and a deck topped with an Xyz monster she had never seen before now on her side table.

Number 39?

-10-

Also Meanwhile

CRASH

"Hey!" a short and irritable little bald man complained as a white motorbike slammed into one of his campaign signs from out of nowhere. "How dare you crash into the property of the future Mayor, You Fool!"

The rider glared at him in annoyance. "My name is Yugo, YU! GO! Why can't anyone get my name right, no matter how many times time repeats!"

"The only thing that is repeating here, you hooligan, is the jail time you are going to suffer when I am elected!"

-10-

EPILOGUE

-10-

Kurosaki Shun was aware of a few things after he had activated "Crossover":

1. He was currently buck naked in a rather poorly cared-for trailer.

2. His memories were horribly jumbled, giving him incredible knowledge of how to combat "demons" while insisting that he had never even heard of Duel Monsters.

3. Someone was rather forcefully knocking on his, no, the door.

Kurosaki Shun was an impatient boy, especially since his home had been destroyed. But a desire for answers dictated that he should at least try to find out where he was. After putting on some comparatively clean pants, Shun went to answer the knocking.

"Oh. That explains a bit," said a female voice.

Outside of the trailer, two people, a young woman and a white-haired man who seemed to be in his twenties, were waiting. The white-haired man stepped forward.

"Hello, there. I hope you're feeling Awake."

"Your knocking woke me up, though how I got to this trailer is another question entirely," Shun responded.

The two visitors looked at each other before the woman spoke. "Are you feeling okay? Have you been feeling a sense of déjà vu as of late? Or do your memories not make much sense?"

Shun's eyes widened. "Do you two know why I'm here?"

The man said, "We'll be glad to explain, though you might want to get your sword first."

Shun was confused, both at the man's response and how he knew that Shun even had a sword, something he himself hadn't known until just then. "Why?"

"Because of that." The two visitors then pointed out past the harbor, where a strange bulge was forming as the sky darkened.

Arc-V rules:

Cut off point is just after activating Cross Over for Yuya and Co, the morning after escaping security for Yugo and Yuzu/Zuzu. However due to the amount of time it's taken to write this, the loops after this will be assuming that the new baseline ends after the end of the first round of the Friendship Cup.

Starting loopers are Yuya and Yuto (Soulbound co-anchors, similar set up to Astral and Yuya), with Yugo, Yuzu/Zuzu and Shun active as of these loops. Flagged for early awakening are Gongenzaka/Gong, Reiji/Declan, and Serena. As for Sora... baseline expansion required.

Incidentally, What's in a Name had some last minute alterations. Small ones, stats or info that wasn't there when it was first written, nothing that changes it over all.