Introduction: Welcome everyone to the third installment of the 5D's Alternative trilogy. One of the things that kept me from getting this trilogy off the ground for so long was that while I had a very clear idea for what to do for Stardust and Roses, and at least a vague idea for The False King, I had absolutely no clue what to do for this story. But when I finally just sat down and started work on Stardust and Roses, the idea for the third story just started to come to me. I guess it proves that sometimes the only way to get unstuck is to just sit down and start writing. Anyway, this is going to be a very major story filed with a lot of "guest stars". So get ready for an awesome ride.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and the character of Raven is the creation of sammycrusinix.

Prologue

Sherry LeBlanc awoke to find that she was in a strange white room full of white furniture. It was a room that was totally unfamiliar to her, and certainly not the room she had down in the Satellite prison known as the Pit. Sherry tried to recall just how she could've wound up in her current surroundings. It was a little hard because her mind felt as if it was in a fog. Then she remembered Divine preparing to perform some sort of procedure on her fellow elimination squad member, Aki Izayoi, in order to make her more compliant. Then she recalled the Infinity Triad bursting into the room and revealing that Divine had killed the little brother of her other fellow squad member, Misty Lola. Then at last, Sherry recalled Misty using her powers to summon some kind of lizard monster to eat Divine like an insect. After that, a member of the Infinity Triad had knocked her out.

The door to the room suddenly slid open. Walking in was Misty, wearing a white tight-fitting bodysuit with green markings on it, along with a white cape, elbow-high gloves, and knee-high boots.

"Oh, you're finally awake Sherry." Misty happily observed. "I was actually starting to worry."

"What the hell's going on Misty?" the blonde duelist asked. "What is this place?"

"This is the Arc Cradle." Misty explained. "Come with me. There's a lot you need to know about."

"And just where are we going?" Sherry asked as Misty pulled her from the bed.

"To see the one who runs this place." The dark-haired woman replied as she led Sherry out of the room.

Sherry followed Misty out of the room down a long dark-grey hallway with multicolored circuit pathways running along the walls. Sherry almost felt as if she was walking through a tomb. After a few moments, the two came to a door, which slid open to allow them to walk through. The room on the other side was stark white and seemed to stretch on forever in all directions except for the ceiling or the floor. The temperature of the room was extremely cold. Only seconds after entering the room, the door Misty and Sherry had entered slid shut behind them. The sound caused Sherry to glance back, and when she did she found that the door was no longer even there.

The two women walked a little further into the room until they came upon a strange floating machine. It was white in color and was shaped like an inverted coma. The device also had what appeared to be a head with a strange mask on it.

"Lord Z-one, Sherry is awake." Misty spoke to the machine.

The machine known as Z-one turned around to look at Sherry. "So she is." He observed indifferently with a deep voice. "Welcome, Sherry LeBlanc."

"Who or what the hell are you?" Sherry asked.

"I am Z-one, the last human." The machine replied.

"Last human? What's that supposed to mean?" Sherry inquired.

"You are now in what you would call the future." Z-one explained. "There is much that needs to be explained to you. But know now that you shall be serving me."

"Look pal, I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I'm not going to have any part of it!" Sherry declared. "Now get me the hell out of here fast or else you're going to regret it!"

"How dare you order me?" Z-one responded in a very cold and angry tone.

Suddenly Sherry began to glow with a faint pink aura and fell to her knees. She found that she couldn't breath. It wasn't like she was being strangled. It was as if something was crushing her chest. Like something was squeezing the life out of her.

"Lord Z-one, please stop!" Misty begged. "Sherry didn't mean what she said! Please!"

After a moment, the aura faded from Sherry's body and she felt like she could breath again. She was on all fours trying to catch her breath.

"To think that after all this time you can still enrage me." Z-one remarked. "You always had a talent for that."

"Why are you… talking like you… know me?" Sherry asked between breaths.

"In another time we did know each other quite well. But from your perspective, this is our first meeting." Z-one answered. "In any case, I strongly advice that you do as I say and not take that tone with me again. Misty might not be there to save you the next time."

Suddenly another door appeared in the room. Stepping through it was a young-looking man with long blonde hair decorated with large purple ornaments towards the front. There was a red mark on his face and he wore a sleeveless black and red leather outfit with a pair of elbow-high gloves with spikes lining the top.

"Am I interrupting something Lord Z-one?" the man asked.

"Not at all, Paradox." Z-one assured the blonde. "I was simply informing Ms. LeBlanc of her place here. Why Jose and the other two chose to send her here, I'll never know."

"I'm sure Aporia's incarnations wouldn't have sent her to you if they didn't think she could serve a purpose." Paradox pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose she might not be completely useless." Z-one replied. "Now, why have you come?"

"I merely wished to inform you that all my preparations are finally complete." Paradox reported. "My plan to eliminate the Signers can now begin."

"Good. Proceed immediately." Z-one ordered. "Keep in mind though Paradox, eliminating the Signers is not our primary objective at the moment. Even if your assassins fail, they will still succeed in finishing what Aporia started."

"I understand, Lord Z-one." Paradox replied with a bow. With that, the door Paradox came through appeared and he left.

"Just what is going on here?" Sherry asked, doing her best to keep her attitude in check.

"To put it simply, we are trying to change the future." Z-one explained. "Or rather, we are trying to save the world."

"And how do you plan to do this?" Sherry asked.

"By any means necessary." Z-one answered.

Author's Note: Originally I was planning to wait and put the prologue up until after I got the actual first chapter done. But I just couldn't wait to get this first scene between Sherry and Z-one put up. One of the initial problems I had with coming up with this story was figuring out how I was going to handle Z-one. In the end though, the answer was quite simple. So to those of you reading, forget what you know about Z-one (besides the fact that he's a cyborg from the future, of course). The first chapter should hopefully be up fairly soon, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.