Edited 31\5\2021


For as long as he could remember, Yuri had been groomed to obey any and all orders from Professor Akaba. Like the rest of Academia's students, he was to get his orders and fulfill his mission no matter what the cost, and of course, Yuri delivered without question. However, the Predaplant user found that there was always room for having some fun.

Yuri was always the strongest, the smartest, the best, the most ferocious out of his fellow students. No one was equal to him, which made others fear him, despise him even, and be wary of what he could do to them. He was always ruthless when he dueled even as a child, and it made others avoid him like the plague.

These feelings of isolation and hate festered inside him like an infection. Until that fateful day that Professor Leo Akaba approached him and offered the purple-haired boy a position of power, giving him a purpose and use to help him suppress the feelings of rejection and loneliness, replacing them with anger and an intent to hurt, the more he caused pain, the more he showed everyone around him his true powers, and satisfaction filled him. He was stronger, better than them all. After all, in this place the strong survived while the weak was left to perish.

Yuri was given one of the top positions in Academia, towering over most students, he relished hearing Starving Venom roar in his ear approvingly as he destroyed indiscriminately.

The boy stood before the Professor after he was summoned once more, he was given an image of four girls with identical faces, with eyes and hair that vary in color. His task was to gather these girls no matter the cost. They already had one of them; the Academia "Princess" Serena as most of the Obelisk Force and teachers had taken to calling her.

She seemed na?ve to Yuri. She always sought attention from the Professor and wanted to go into the frontlines of the Heartland invasion, but she was never allowed to go, with the Professor constantly giving her the tired excuse that she was "not ready". Given that she was one of four parts to this so-called "Key" Yuri figured it meant that the girl was an asset that the Professor couldn't afford to lose, regardless of how strong she really was.

But Serena wasn't the focus at that moment. The Professor's eyes were on the girl with pink hair and blue eyes.

"I currently do not have any spies in Standard," Professor Akaba explained. "However I did meet her with her father once alongside another man I had considered a friend. Her name is Yuzu Hiragi."

"Interesting," Yuri said, narrowing his eyes at the projection. He saw nothing special in this girl, what sort of key would she and the other three even make? 'Ugh who cares?' Yuri thought with a smirk. I get to be in a game of cat and mouse, so why not? Professor's orders and all.

"Does she specialize in any summoning technique?" Yuri asked. He was quite confident that he wouldn't have any problem facing these girls.

"When I left that dimension, most summoning methods were hardly known; I expect she only knows tribute summoning. I want you to take her as discreetly as possible, or unneeded trouble and suspicion will arise. After that, we will set our eyes on the one in the Xyz Dimension. Because of the recent invasion, all of the survivors would be rather weak and exhausted from the fight. She herself would be open for you to sweep in and take her," The professor said, clenching his hand into a fist in front of him and narrowing his eyes.

"But that would take away all the fun," Yuri said with a mock pout.

Akaba raised his eyebrow but ignored Yuri's so-called 'playfulness'; this was just a part of Yuri that he had to deal with, like it or not he was still the best and strongest student Leo had. "The last girl was found in Synchro, apparently she's the kind that causes a lot of trouble so she was easily spotted, however getting to her might be harder than Roget originally thought due to… a change in management."

Yuri chuckled and raised his eyebrow. "Oh? What happened? Did he lose his position or something?"

"No, he's still in a high position and is working hard to keep it, the actual details are unimportant, simply, be careful not to get spotted."

"Of course," Yuri replied with his usual amused smirk as he bowed to the Professor with a hand over his heart.

Akaba narrowed his eyes. "And remember Yuri, I do not want these girls harmed. Not a single scratch on any of them, is that understood?"

"Your wish is my command, Professor," The smirk never left Yuri's lips.

"Good, now leave, you are dismissed."

"Yes, Professor," Yuri remarked before turning around and leaving, preparing his duel desk for the trip to the Standard Dimension.

Professor Leo Akaba's eyes trailed back to the projection of the four girls, his heart heavy as he thought of just one girl with that face, with beautiful eyes, a caring heart, and a headstrong personality.

Ray... He thought. The time that you will return to this world is drawing closer. You will return, here by my side, and the demon that caused all of this suffering will be slain at my feet. And he will never ever take you away from me again.

Please wait until then, my beloved daughter. Please wait.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Come on, Yuya," A pink-haired girl groaned at a red and green boy goofing around. "Can you please take dueling seriously right now?!"

Said red and green-haired boy was riding on the back of an adorable-looking pink hippo wearing a vest and top hat as if he was a cowboy at a rodeo. Yuya laughed as his Hip Hippo galloped happily across the field, Plain Plains, as Yuzu and their friend Noboru Gogenzaka watched.

"Oh come on, Yuzu. Just lighten up!" Yuya Sakaki said with a big show-stopping grin on his face, a trait he inherited from his father, Yusho Sakaki. "What's the point of dueling if not to have fun and make others smile?"

Yuzu Hiragi, his childhood friend, sighed as she stood on the circular stone platform in the center of the field. She usually didn't have a problem with Yuya's playfulness, however, Yuzu had been on edge for a while, as if someone was following her around, ready to attack her any second, and Yuya's usual playfulness was rubbing her the wrong way. "I don't know! Winning?! You know sometimes that's important too, and considering the number of people you lost to-!"

"Yeah, yeah I know, but come on, Joey and Mana aren't exactly easy to beat. How many times have you lost to Mana by now?" Yuya said dismissively.

"That doesn't mean giving up and stop trying when there are people stronger than you Yuya! You need to get stronger! Can you at least take this duel against me seriously?" Yuzu sighed as she had her strongest monster, Mozarta the Melodious Maestra, patiently waiting for the duel to continue.

"Not until I make that frown of yours upside-down!" Yuya said with a big goofy grin. "After all, you can gather more flies with honey than vinegar!"

"Okay, that's it!" Yuzu shouted before turning to Gongenzaka. "Turn the field off, I'm going for a walk!"

Gongenzaka groaned; this wouldn't have been the first time he had been asked to disable the Action Field because of their arguments. "Fine, fine."

Yuzu sighed as the Action Field dispersed and she began to walk off, frustrated, irritated, annoyed, and downright pissed off at having her best friend not taking his duels seriously.

"Yuzu! Yuzu, don't go!" Yuya exclaimed. "I'm sorry!"

"I don't care! I just need to go for a walk!" She yelled at him before grabbing her bag and getting out of the school.

Yuya sighed before turning to Gongenzaka and started to say something before stopping, with a shiver falling down his spine, not for the first time in the past four days.

"Is something wrong?" Gongenzaka asked.

Yuya shook his head looking up at the rooftops. "I'm not sure... something just...feels off somehow."

"Should we go after Yuzu?"

"No, let her cool off first," Yuya answered, looking at the time on his Duel Disk. "She'll probably go get something to eat and then walk home."

"Speaking of which, I am feeling hungry. Perhaps we should call it a day?"

"Yeah, why not? Oh, I know this good ramen place that opened up recently…"

"That sounds perfect," Gogenzaka said with a nod.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It had been four days… four days for Yuri to be hiding and stalking the girl named Yuzu Hiragi as the Professor had called her. From her going to school, to heading to this You Show "Duel School", to her returning home and having a calming dinner with her father. He watched her and watched the people of this dimension. How they interacted, how they dueled, how winners treated losers.

It was quite different from the Fusion Dimension. With most people living relatively luxuriously. It sickened Yuri to some extent, especially seeing all these duelists duels for fun, instead of showing their power and destroying their opponent. Even the powerful duelists that Yuri had gotten a glimpse of were never as vicious or as determined to win as much as the Academia Students.

What did give Yuri pause most of all was the boy with his face, Yuya Sakaki, a goofball at the best of times, with a far too cheery attitude that was amusing at the start but began to get annoying quite quickly if you asked Yuri. "Dueling to make people smile"? Heh. The only one smiling is the victor, the loser is to be left behind, they're nothing but stepping stones.

The kid gave him a headache, and Yuri desperately wanted to teach him a lesson, maybe sic Starving Venom at him and teach him the meaning of fear, but sadly, he had to obey that Professor and be inconspicuous, at least he can have his fun with scaring the girl off.

After days of waiting for the bubblegum hair princess to finally be alone, Yuri was gonna take full advantage of that. It was sunset, so little people were around, the girl only knew Tribute Summoning, this should be easy...and simultaneously boring. Yuri rolled his eyes and followed Yuzu, he couldn't place physical scars on her, but making her scream would be just as enjoyable, Yuri thought as his smirk widened.

After all, he did promise the Professor not to leave a scratch on her.

...

Yuzu took a bite out of the strawberries, whipped cream, and drizzled with chocolate syrup crepes. She usually would have one of these whenever she was feeling frustrated with Yuya. She decided to take the long way to let go of her frustrations and head through one of the parks, which was mostly empty, the deeper she walked the emptier the place became, and goosebumps rose on her arms. "Ugh, what's wrong with me?" Yuzu asked herself with a sigh. "I've never been this jumpy and short-fused about Yuya's dueling before. I mean, yes, it could get pretty annoying but it would usually take more than that to make me snap at him."

"Now to be fair, I was quite annoyed by his antics with just one day of knowing him, I can't possibly know how much patience you must have to have years of that," A strange yet familiar voice came, making Yuzu freeze and turn around with a glare.

But the minute Yuzu locked eyes with that stranger, she gasped, dropping her crepe in surprise. Before her stood a boy the same age as her and with the same face as Yuya, only his hair had a different style and color, purple and pink instead of red and green, with pink malicious eyes that screamed danger instead of red eyes that were filled with humor and happiness.

"W-what the hell?" Yuzu gasped. "Who are you? What do you want? And why...why do you look so much like Yuya?"

"Call me, 'Yuri', princess," Yuri said with a bow, the smirk still in place. "And I'm here to take you into another magical land. Will you join me?" he asked, extending his hand, with a sweet smile that was filled with venom.

"No way!" Yuzu said, unable to not see Yuri except for how he looks like a sadistic and twisted version of Yuya. She wished that Yuya was there, stating that this was a joke and he'd apologize for scaring her...but...no, Yuya wasn't there. She has to defend herself.

"Shame," Yuri sighed before his lips twisted back into his usual smirk. "Well, we're just going to have to do this the fun way." Yuri pulled out his Duel Disk, a design that Yuzu had never seen before, and slipped a deck of cards inside.

"Duel me, Yuzu Hiragi," Yuri cackled. "And let us enter the garden of death!"

Yuzu activated her Duel Disk. "Fine then! It's time for the show to begin!"

(Yuzu: 8000)…(Yuri: 8000)

"Ladies first," Yuri said, smiling at what he had drawn. Oh yes, he'll win this in less than five turns.

"You're going to regret this," Yuzu said, drawing her card. "Because I just drew the Spell Card Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen which allows me to Special Summon a Fairy-type monster from my hand when I have no monsters on the field!"

She played a Continuous Spell Card that showed a marble temple with two large columns on each side covered in vines and red flowers, the ceiling opening up to reveal the sky, and long red curtains draped over the walls. There was a stone throne on top of three steps and two statues of warriors wielding spears flanked the sides of the throne.

"And now I'm going to summon my strongest monster. Ready?"

Yuri narrowed his eyes as yellow music notes rose from the ground, rising like a tornado as Yuzu began to recite a chant for this monster.

"Enchanting melody echoing in the heavens. Awaken the sleeping virtuoso. Come forth! Level 8! Mozarta the Melodious Maestra!"

Rising from the ground was a tall fairy with silver skin, vivid white hair, and a small red hat on her head. She wore a beautiful red gown with pink ruffles on the side, sleeves, and hem of the skirt. She had golden trim on the bodice and skirt, and the dress also had short sleeves and red cuffs. She waved a thin conductor's baton in her right hand. Her feet were covered in pretty gold boots and, befitting the Fairy-type she was, she had beautiful glass wings with gold edges. (2600 ATK)

"Mozarta's effect!" said Yuzu. "Once per turn I'm allowed to Special Summon a LIGHT Fairy-type monster from my hand. So I Special Summon Solo the Melodious Diva to support Mozarta!"

Mozarta waved her hand as a new Melodious monster with a red and yellow dress, and a blue underskirt, red heels, and white leg warmers with golden linings, and white gloves. (1600 ATK)

"And why stop there?" Yuzu continued. "Since I have a 'Melodious' monster on the field, I'll Special Summon Sonata the Melodious Diva from my hand to join in!"

Next was a cyan-haired fairy in an equally cyan dress decorated with blue music notes and a cyan cravat over her neck. A blue G clef covered her right arm and she had a blue eight note on her left leg. She frowned as she ran a hand through her long green hair while she fluttered in the air due to her sole harp wing that was green in the membrane and the border a dark blue. Like Aria, she also wore a mask, colored blue, and covering her right eye. (1200 ATK)

"And Sonata's effect kicks in! Now all Fairy-type monsters I control gain 500 attack and defense points as long as Sonata is on the field!"

Sonata clasped her hand in prayer and sung as three spotlights shone over her and the other Melodious monsters. (Mozarta: 2600/2000 -) 3100/2500, Solo: 1600/1200 -) 2100/1700, Sonata: 1200/1000 -) 1700/1500)

"Next I give Mozarta the equip Spell Card Cestus of Dagla, which gives her an extra 500 ATK points!" The golden Cestus was given to the fairy making her glow and let out a happy melody (3100-) 3600 ATK)

"I end this with one card face-down," said Yuzu, slipping one more card into her Duel Disk. "And I end my turn there."

"If that's the best that you can do, then I'm afraid this will be over before I really had my fun," said Yuri with a bored sigh, drawing his card. "And I'll start by playing this lovely Spell Card called Predaplast!" There was a malicious glint in Yuri's eyes, making Yuzu shiver, knowing that whatever this boy was about to do was not good for her.

"This allows me to reveal as many Predaplant cards in my hand and target as many monsters then place PredaCounters on them," Yuri explained, revealing three monsters in his hand. "Now with every Predator Counter, your monsters' level becomes one."

Yuzu frowned, not sure how that would hinder her or help Yuri as she had never faced these monsters before, but for now, these counters were not harming her or her monsters. Still, Yuri's smirk unsettled her to say the least, can she get Yuya's happy smile back now, please? She did not like looking into this...broken twisted funhouse mirror of her best friend.

"Next I activate Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra's effect," Yuri declared. "I can tribute one monster with a Predacounter from either side of the field and Special Summon this card, so I think I'll tribute your Mozarta." He gave an unsettling sweet smile as vines wrapped around Yuzu's fairy and crushed her into several orbs of light, and from the ground sprouted a three-headed snake-like monster with a mouth filled with teeth on its chest (800 ATK)

"N-no… Mozarta…" Yuzu whimpered, her eyes widening with fear. Her most powerful monster… gone in an instant.

"Next I summon Predaplant Clamydusenduw," Yuri said, summoning a monster to the field. It looked like part plant, part lizard, with red dots on its neck (600 ATK)

"W-what is that thing?" Yuzu asked, eyes wide.

Yuri chuckled, loving the fear he's putting in the girl. "Oh, you'll see soon enough, don't worry," Yuri purred. "Now I activate the Spell Card, Polarization!" A dark blue and orange vortex opened behind Yuri as he raised his hands up and brought them together.

"Flowers growing in the garden of hell, let your petals fall and from your roots let a new monster grow! Fusion Summon Level 7! Predaplant Chimerafflesia."

The boy chanted and a new monster appeared, it looked like a sentient giant flower with red and white it looked like it had arms made of flytrap flower ready to bite her and eat her alive (2500 ATK)

"Oh and I'm not done yet~," Yuri said. "I activate Predaplant Clamydusenduw effect, I can use any monster with a Predator Counter on it for a fusion material and it is treated as a Dark attribute!"

Yuzu panicked, everything in her was telling her to run away, but her legs wouldn't cooperate, they shook and stayed frozen in place as something malevolent formed and threatened to arrive.

"Two beautiful flowers with an insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion Summon! Appear! Poisonous dragon with hungry fangs. Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!" Yuri chanted clasping his hands together once more, strong wind came from the portal, making Yuzu struggle to keep her balance.

Emerging from the portal was a dragon with green scales and large purple wings. Covering its massive body were red glowing orbs like flower buds. It had dark purple talons, two white horns on each side of its face, and the end of its tail had an ivory hook ready to lure in prey so they could be swallowed whole. (2800 ATK)

Yuzu's jaw dropped as she looked in horror at the newly summoned dragon that looked ready to eat her, her heart started beating quickly. She was paralyzed in fear as a dragon was about to snatch her into his gruesome claws.

Starving Venom looked at the frozen prey in front of him, and narrowed his eyes, he knew that face, he recognized her, the Supreme Siren Queen, she stood before him, alone and vulnerable with part of his master's soul a threatening and a malicious presence to her. She didn't seem to recognize him, looking even weaker than her original self. His eyes narrowed and he roared a call, but it seemed to make her even more terrified, as she let out a small whimper.

His new master gave him a strange look though, he seemed to sense that something was off and tensed. Yuri had no idea how truly important that girl was, and his true master would never forgive him if he seriously injured any part of his beloved queen, not to mention she herself would be livid, and no one survived the rage of the Supreme Siren Queen, in fact, it had always been quite a spectacle to watch, but Starving Venom would rather not have that wrath directed at him or his little master. But he could see that currently, he could do little else than obey Yuri and try not to harm the little girl. Yuri petted Starving Venom smirking, getting the dragon's attention, he seemed to revel in the girl's fear, and usually, Starving Venom would be there with him, but this, this was a special case, and the boy should not be this amused at the situation. Despite that, his little master's touch served to lessen his worries, and simply to focus on winning.

"Now Predaplant Chimerafflesia has two effects," Yuri explained. "The first is that I can target any monster whose level is 7 or lower and banish them, and the other is during the battle phase, when my monster battles, it can decrease a monster's attack by 1000 and gain 1000 ATK itself. But since simple math tells me not banishing your monster will make you lose more life points, I don't need to banish it."

"Heh?!" Yuzu let out a cry of fear.

Yuri laughed in delight at the panic in the girl's eyes and grinned sharply. He extended his hand pointing at the cyan-colored fairy. "Go! Chimerafflesia attack!" two of the monster's vines wrapped around Sonata, reducing her ATK points down (1700 ATK-)700 ATK) and increasing its own (2500 ATK-)3500 ATK) The plant monster's mouth like vines struck, destroying Sonata easily, the little fairy had no way to defend herself at all.

(Yuzu: 5200)…(Yuri: 8000)

Yuzu could feel her heart hammer in her chest, as she began to breathe hard, unsure what she could do, her hands were shaking from fear, looking at the ferocious dragon coming towards her monster ready to destroy her. Her eyes widened and she raised her hands up to protect her face, she had never felt that kind of terror in her life, that type of helplessness before, she quivered where she stood.

"Next my Starving Venom! Attack the Pink Princess directly!" Yuri commanded. Starving Venom roared and swiped his tail, aiming to graze the little girl at best.

"I activate Call from the Grave!" the familiar trap card of a graveyard with a smoke hand coming out was activated. "I can Special Summon any monster from the graveyard in Attack Mode so I choose Mozarta! Come back!"

A light came from the trap card and the Melodious Monster returned from the grave. (2600 ATK)

"Oh, that's just adorable!" Yuri said with a laugh. "Starving Venom! Destroy that Fairy!" The dragon roared again and flew into Mozarta. The Fairy monster opened her lips to scream.

Yuzu felt something snap inside of her, a presence awakened. The pink gem on her bracelet glowed, and then, time seemed to slow down into a crawl and freeze. Yuzu gasped, feeling a warm presence wrap around her like a protective blanket, and in the blink of an eye, she found herself standing in a black void. It seemed endless and terrifying in its vastness. She looked around still in shock and saw three other spots of light moving closer.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?" She heard a girl's voice that she didn't recognize. Yuzu looked around before the shadows dissipated to reveal to Yuzu's utter shock a girl with the same face as hers, only looking pissed off as all hell, glaring at Yuzu with amber eyes, her hair looked shorter than Yuzu's with green hair and lighter green bangs. She looked ready to attack Yuzu.

"W-who are you?" Yuzu asked.

"I could ask you the same damn question, and why do you look like me?" the girl asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"I…" Yuzu started to say but wasn't sure how to even respond, everything about today had been a shock after the other and this...void and another girl who looked almost identical to her were just adding more. "I...I don't know!" Yuzu yelled before falling down on her knees.

"Uh…" The girl looked taken back at Yuzu's outburst, taking a step back, and blinking at the crying girl.

"Hey, are you okay?" A softer voice asked before another girl appeared beside Yuzu and kneeled beside her, placing her hands on Yuzu's shoulders. The girl also had the same face as Yuzu with lilac-colored locks, her hair tied back. The girl didn't hesitate to smile reassuringly at Yuzu before taking her hands and squeezing them.

Yuzu sniffed and smiled at the girl beside her, yes this was all weird and creepy but at least the newer girl seemed sweet and nice and not ready to attack her.

"I...I think I'll be fine," Yuzu said with a shaky voice.

The girl smiled sweetly and nodded. "I'm Ruri Kurosaki from Heartland."

"Yu-Yuzu Hiragi," Yuzu introduced herself. Both girls looked at the third one who seemed to have relaxed a bit.

"I'm Rin," she said with a sigh.

"Just Rin?" Ruri asked as she stood up and extended a hand to Yuzu to help her up too.

"Just Rin," the girl said, crossing her arms. "Now-"

"Hey!" Another angry yell came and the three girls looked at the newest girl, again, like the three of them she had the same face, her hair, however, was purple with cyan-colored locks, her hair tied into a ponytail with a yellow ribbon. "Where are we, and how did we get here? Actually, who are any of you? And why do you look like me?" She asked, eyeing the three of them with untrusting eyes.

"Well to answer all of that. We don't know, we have no clue and before you ask I'm Rin, the girl with feathers in her hair is Ruri and pink hair is Yuzu, and again, we don't know" Rin said, counting on her fingers.

The three girls stared at her. "What?" Rin asked with a shrug. "Might as well get it over with," she looked back at the fourth girl. "And you are..?"

"Serena," Serena answered, before crossing her arms.

"Hold on," Ruri said, looking at Serena and noticing the girl's red coat. "Y...you're from Academia!"

"Yeah, what of it?" Serena asked, raising her eyebrow.

Ruri's eyes widened before she bawled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth, eyes wet with tears. "What of it...WHAT OF IT?! I'll show you 'What of it' right now with a -" She looked down at her bare arm and gasped. "My Duel Disk! It's gone!" She yelled in a panic, which prompted the three girls to look at their arms as well.

"What's going on here?" Yuzu asked, panicking even more.

Rin snarled. "Okay whoever the fuck is doing this, you better show yourself or else!"

"You'll do what? Snarl at the void?" Yuzu asked.

"Well, at least I'll be doing something!" Rin yelled.

Ruri started moving around with her hands in front of her trying to look for something solid to no avail.

"Okay I know I wanted to leave the damn island and go to the front lines but this is not what I wanted!" Serena yelled to the void.

Ruri's body seemed to shake with anger before she turned to Serena with tears filling her eyes. "What? Come to our dimension to just destroy it! All of you really are heartless!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Serena asked, glaring at Ruri.

"Don't play dumb! You Academia goons came into our home and destroyed everything, you carded everyone, families lost, our land in ruin, and we live in fear because of the war you started!"

"What?! Listen here you…" Serena advanced towards Ruri as if ready to fight the girl hand to hand.

"What's happening?" Yuzu asked, turning to Rin.

Rin shrugged, seeming just as perplexed as Yuzu was.

"We should stop this," Yuzu said.

"I don't know; it could be fun seeing a brawl," Rin said with a small amused smirk.

Yuzu scowled and with a growl, she moved in to stand between the two girls. Rin sighed and rolled her eyes before she went to help Yuzu.

"That's quite enough!" A voice sounded as the shadows parted ways again to reveal a new commer. The four girls froze as they looked at her, she looked like an older version of all of them, with pink and auburn hair. She seemed to radiate power and anger, the four girls could say nothing only stare in wonder and amazement, they could almost hear their hearts pounding in their chests, the woman seemed familiar as if they knew all of their lives, something inside of them compelled them to listen to her every word, she was important, she was their Lady.

"Good," she said with a nod. "Now, let me introduce myself to you. My name is… was Ray Akaba."

"Akaba?" Serena and Yuzu asked. "As in the Professor/Reiji uh…" both Yuzu and Serena asked before exchanging looks.

Ray nodded. "Yes, I'm the bastard's daughter or was. That man is no father of mine," she said with narrow eyes.

"Hold on," Rin said. "I don't understand, what the fuck is going on? Who is this professor? What is this war? What is Academia? And if you're the one who brought us here, why?"

"I will answer all of that soon, Rin," the woman replied. "Right now I need you four to do something very important."

"Which is?" Serena asked, raising her eyebrow.

" I am asking you four if you can help to resurrect me and my beloved," she replied.

The four girls looked at Ray in shock.

"I...what?" Yuzu asked. How were four girls supposed to bring the dead back to life?!

Ray sighed. "Long ago, my...lover, Zarc and I became two of the most powerful beings in existence. But some people did not like that, feared our might and our strength. My father, Leo Akaba was one of them. Defeating us wasn't easy, but four duelists from different times had arrived to face us. Thanks to the magic of the cards my father created, Zarc and I were split into four, our lives ending. Zarc is not awake yet, but I am, and you girls are my vassals. Through you, I can resurrect us both."

"We…" Yuzu said unsure.

Ray's aura rose, veiling her and the four other girls in them, making the younger girls relax slightly and continue to listen. "It's alright, you don't have to be scared of this. You won't do this alone. I will awaken the powers slumbering deep inside of you. The power to end your war, Ruri, to return Heartland to the beautiful place it once was," She placed her hand on Ruri's shoulder, as all the girls saw a flash of a beautiful city getting reduced to rubbles in a flash, all of them gaining the sense of sadness anger and mourning, they wanted it to stop.

"Rin, you and Yugo will have the life of luxury you desire, I will grant power to all of you so that nothing can stand in your way to achieve your true desires."

Rin looked down thinking the words over.

"Serena, you'll never have to prove yourself to anyone again, you'll have the freedom to do what you want, to go wherever you like without the Professor getting in your way, you'll have the respect you desire."

Serena's eyes widened.

"And there is something for you as well, Yuzu. I know some people look down on you, I know you want to prove yourself, to reach out and learn more. I can help you, give you everything you want, help you and Yuya."

The four girls were lost in thought at the offers, it should worry them yet somehow, they wanted to trust Ray's words, to help her achieve her desire, and resurrect her and Zarc. To...to become one.

"Reach out to me girls," Ray said. "Accept what I offer you, and become who you were always meant to be."

The girls looked at Ray, a promise of help, to get everything they wanted. End the war, be free, be powerful, achieve their dreams, it all seemed far too sweet, and they all wanted to take the offer and not look back.

"One more thing I do offer you," Ray added, and the girls' heads snapped to her. " Protection," she said.

"Protection?" Ruri asked, Ray nodded.

"Thanks to Serena and Yuzu's memories, I have inferred that my so-called 'father' had sent Yuri to collect you girls, after all, he went after Yuzu, it is only a matter of time before going after Rin and Ruri."

"Wait...why?" Serena asked. "What would the Professor want?"

Ray sighed. "That man had always had this perfect version of me in his head, I wasn't all he thought I was though. He sent an army of children to destroy an entire dimension, from Serena's memories, it is to power a machine that would make a Utopia or whatever," Ray explained with frustration. "He will do anything to get what he wants, and you girls are simply tools for him to get me back, he'll take you, imprison you away, and do anything to keep you by his side until your usefulness ends."

"The fuck!" Rin cried in courage. Ruri looked vaguely like she was about to be sick, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes, Serena looked shocked and Yuzu looked in fear covering her mouth as if to not scream. "No, no, no, no, we can't let that happen!"

Ray nodded. " If I am going to return, I'm returning on my own terms, not his. I know that control freak; he'll make sure Zarc won't return either, meaning Yuri, Yuya, Yugo, and Yuto will be terminated one way or the other."

"What?!" Yuzu screamed.

Ray nodded. " Your boys are the four pieces of Zarc, Leo Akaba will do everything he could in order to not let him be revived, destroying these boys will be something he wouldn't hesitate to do."

"No! No!" Rin yelled. "I won't let that happen!" She growled.

"I can't lose Yuto..." Ruri whispered, horrified. She shook her head in denial.

Yuzu hugged herself agreeing with both her counterparts.

"Do we have a deal then?" Ray asked.

"Yes, we do," Rin replied immediately. "I'll take it."

"Are you serious?" Serena asked her. The green-haired girl didn't even consider any other options.

"Power? A way to protect me and Yugo, and a faster way to become one of the Tops? All coming from another version of me. Yes, I'll take my chances with her rather than being kidnapped by a psycho professor and getting my best friend killed, thank you very much."

"But he's not…" Serena tried to deny,

"I'm in too," Yuzu said. The four other girls looked at Yuzu. "If what you're saying is true, the war, the professor-"

"It is," Ruri confirmed.

"Then Yuya and I are not remotely ready! All we got is tribute summoning, and I was fighting...you called him Yuri? And he got this terrifying Dragon!"

"Starving Venom…" Serena nodded. "He's ferocious…"

"I'll do everything I can to get stronger, but I think I'm out of time, I'll take the deal," she said looking determinedly at Ray.

Ruri nodded as she came forward. "I will too," she said. "Heartland is facing an army of heartless monsters led by the professor, if you will take him down, and if it means getting Heartland back to what it used to be then I'm in. This is the only hope we have left."

"And you, Serena?"

Serena looked away unsure, and Ray stepped towards her, placing a hand under Serena's chin and gently tipping her head to look at Ray.

"My father will never recognize your power Serena, you are nothing but a sacrifice, a lamb to the slaughter in his eyes. Join me, join us, and gain the recognition you desire from others, no longer be alone or a princess trapped in a tower."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "Fine!" She said with a nod. "I'll take the deal, but...Can you promise me that we won't just...disappear?"

Ray smiled. "Yes, I can, I will make sure that the eight of you are not erased."

"Then I accept," Serena said, looking away.

A dark aura surrounded the four girls just like Ray, it became bigger, the girls' eyes widened as each glowed. Ray smirked.

"Your tasks are to get Zarc awakened in your boys, however, you see fit, you know them best. Do not try to fight your instincts, the one thing we should want most of all, the one mission that must be fulfilled is to awaken Zarc! My desires are your desires, to gain what we all want."

"Yes Lady Ray," The three girls answered in harmony.

Ray smirked as more of her powers were divided between the four of them, sharing with them a few of her memories and emotions.

"Now as for Yuri," Ray smirked wickedly. "Leave it all to me."

"Yoohooo~," Yuri called, getting pretty annoyed as Yuzu had been frozen for a few minutes " What? Frozen in fear at how my monster will tear the wings of your fairies?"

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 8000)

Yuzu's deck glowed, making Yuri frown looking at it then at Yuzu again."...Oh, no, not at all," Yuzu said in a strange voice making Yuri's smirk drop and narrow his eyes. "...Yuri was it?" she asked with a voice sugary sweet, the girl that was before him was not the same one that stood there a few seconds ago; this one was not prey in any sense of the word, and his eyes widened at the realization. Everything about the girl seemed to change, her stance, her demeanor, her confident smile, the color of her eyes. It was like Yuzu was replaced with an entirely different person in her body and Yuri didn't understand what that was about.

Yuri tensed. "What's going on?" No longer did Yuzu seem like a cutesy little princess surrounded by sweet fairies; the look in her eyes made Yuri shiver to his core. "Who is she?"

Ray smirked as she watched Yuri struggle to figure out what to do. She had this in the bag. She looked at Starving Venom and smiled nostalgically at the ferocious dragon, she smirked at Starving Venom, raising her eyebrow at him.

The Fusion Dragon crooned and Yuri's eyes snapped to him, that was the weirdest reaction that Starving Venom had ever given anyone, usually, his dragon would hiss and roar and scratch, spread his wings, and whip his tail around to destroy and break anything in his way. Yuri glared at the pink-haired girl and placed his hand on his hip, trying to get a better look at the girl before he smirked and chuckled.

"You seem confident now, you were trembling in your boots just a moment ago? What changed?" Yuri asked, raising his eyebrow with a small mocking smirk. "You're not gonna just run away are you, or are you expecting back up?"

Ray looked back at Yuri and smiled softly, the boy had different hair, different colored eyes, but she could see her Zarc in him, a side of her Zarc, and like it or not, she was gonna get him back, no matter the cost. But first... she had a dragon to tame.

"Yuzu" shook her head. "None of that," she said, making Yuri raise an eyebrow in confusion before shrugging with a smile as if he didn't care about the sudden change.

"Fine then," Yuri said, his smirk widened. "If you're this confident, better make it actually fun, okay princess?"

"Yuzu" grinned at the challenge and motioned with her finger for Yuri to come at her. The girl didn't look worried in the slightest. It made Yuri a little excited. He was not gonna lie, he was not expecting much from the girl, but he was curious.

"Yuzu" laughed. "You think you're a challenge?"

Yuri's eye twitched. "Last I checked, you're the one whose three monsters got destroyed so easily."

'Yuzu' tilted her head but didn't answer. It unsettled Yuri, he wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

"I end my turn," Yuri said.

'Yuzu' smiled. "My turn," she said and drew her card before flipping it in her hand to show it to Yuri. "I activate the Spell Card Card of Sanctity, now both of us will have to draw until we get six cards in our hands." The Spell Card activated, it was a picture of the sky raining gold coins and several men were gathering them grinning happily.

Yuri raised his eyebrow. "That's quite the gamble isn't it?" he said. "After all, you might have gotten a new hand, but so did I ."

"Oh I know, trust me," 'Yuzu' said with a confident smile "You'll need these cards."

Yuri frowned before Starving Venom wrapped his tail around him protectively making Yuri blink and raise his eyebrow at his dragon, Starving Venom like Yuri had always reveled in destruction, chasing the pray and putting fear in their hearts, seeing them tremble and cry always made them both excited, the way Starving Venom was acting now was strange, and a part of him, he felt something familiar stir, 'what was this feeling?'

'Yuzu's' expression changed, a wicked smirk reached her lips, her purple eyes got hard and focused, her body showed far too much confidence as if she was the one with all the control

Both Yuri and 'Yuzu' drew cards until there were 6 cards in their hands. Starving Venom wrapped his tail around Yuri protectively, making Yuri look at his dragon with a raised eyebrow. Yuri was confused at Starving Venom's reaction, it was frustrating him not to know what was happening.

"First I activate Siren Screech!" 'Yuzu' declared activating a spell card. It had two strange female creatures with grey skin, and several scales scattered on their bodies, fangs long and monstrous, with arms that extended to become leathery wings. One had black hair and pink streaks, the other blond with platinum ones, opening their mouths and seemed to be yelling.

Yuri's eyes narrowed in confusion at the strange spell cards and the terrifying creatures, when had this girl gotten these strange cards? He had been watching her for days and none of her duels had ever shown that she used anything other than those annoying Melodious Monsters of hers. But if he was being honest… he was curious to see what these monsters can do, they certainly seemed far more interesting than the defense-based Fairies, it actually could be interesting.

"Now I can take into my hand a 'Siren' Spell or Trap Card and a level 4 or lower Siren from my deck to my hand," She explained. "But I can only Summon Siren Monsters until the end of the turn. So I take Siren Serenade and The Lulling Siren Dame Esther to my hand." She showed the two cards to Yuri after receiving them.

Yuri tilted his head, he was very curious to know what kind of monsters these things were and how they worked.

"Now I summon Lulling Siren Dame Diantha into the field!" 'Yuzu' declared summoning her monster.

From the light a beautiful woman with sea-green hair that reaches her back, and blue eyes with three silver scales running down her face, her lower lips colored blue, with a light green ribbon tattoo running down her right shoulder. She wore a backless top, with a slitted long skirt showing her legs. (1300 ATK, LV 4)

Yuri blinked, the beautiful monster looked nothing like the creatures on the previous Spell Card and it confused him slightly.

"Next I activate Diantha's effect, I can send one card from my hand to the graveyard and Special Summon a Siren Monster from the graveyard to the field." 'Yuzu' discarded a card, and Diantha smirked, she raised her hands into the air and closed her eyes as she let out a musical note. A light came and from it another Siren monster arrived, finishing the note of the first.

"I special Summon Lulling Siren Dame Hella," 'Yuzu' said. And the monster looked at Yuri with half-lidded eyes and a smirk. She had long black hair that reached her back, a dark green tube top, a short mini skirt with a black ribbon tattoo running down her stomach. A few fray scales running down the lower part of her leg. (1000 ATK, LV 3, Tuner)

Yuri blinked looking at the two monsters. 'What are these things capable of?' Yuri wondered.

"Are you ready?" 'Yuzu' questioned, giving him a sharp grin. " First let's start with Hella, she is a Tuner monster, do you know what that means Yuri?"

"A Tuner Monster?" Yuri questioned. "You're going to Synchro Summon?" 'She's capable of that?' he couldn't help but think.

"That's correct!" The girl said, extending her arm up. "Go my Sirens!" Hella rose into the sky and turned into three green circles as Diantha followed her up and turned into four starts before a great beam of light shined from them

(*3 + *4 = *7)

"Soar agents of entropy and by your shrieks give birth to your Lady of Chaos! Synchro Summon Level 7! Descend Lulling Siren Countess Eris!"

A new Siren monster descended onto the field, and Starving Venom couldn't help the small warning growl, but the Siren Monster only laughed in amusement. She was a woman with white hair and cyan colored locks held in a high ponytail, with some locks framing her face, with a golden caller around her neck and golden apple dangling from it, wearing a strapless light blue dress, slit from both sides, with black tattoo circling above her knee, two golden cuffs around her arms, and three silver scales on her shoulder, her lips the color of her cyan locks, her eyes blue as the sea, lined with golden mascara.

"Well, I guess you're more competent than I thought you are," Yuri said, resting his chin on his hand as if he was bored. "How nice, but your Siren has to have quite the effect if she wants to go past my monsters."

"Oh that's cute, you think I'm done," 'Yuzu' mocked in return, making Yuri straighten up and raise an eyebrow at the pink-haired girl.

"I activate Hella's effect!" 'Yuzu' said, and Yuri tilted his head.

"Once per turn, if Lulling Siren Dame Hella is in the graveyard I can banish her and another Siren Monster either from my field or graveyard and Fusion Summon a Siren Monster."

"F-Fusion?!" Yuri yelled in shock.

"That's right," the girl said with a proud grin. "So I banish Hella and Diantha from my graveyard and Fusion Summon!'

True to her word a fusion Portal appeared behind her as the girl raised her hands up and brought them together mirroring Yuri's previous movements.

"Two hypnotic monsters singing a melody of obedience, become one and give birth to a lethal song of disruption! Fusion Summon Level 7! Come to the field Lulling Siren Countess Circe."

The monster had long purple straight hair with black locks, and light green eyes, pale turquoise color on her upper lip, and a black one on the lower one. She wore a white tube top and a short skirt along with a sash falling down from the back of her skirt, with three scales down her waist, with blue tattoo lines descending down her legs.

Cerci flipped her hair, smirking at Yuri before raising her hand and biting the long nail of her index finger. She looked excited as if anticipating something fun was about to happen.

"Next, Since I have a Siren Monster on the field I can Special Summon Lulling Siren Dame Rowena!" ( ATK 1500, LV3)

"Next I activate Lulling Siren Dame Hellena's effect, I can send it from my hand to the graveyard and choose one of two effects, I can send a Siren monster to the Graveyard, or I can Special Summon a Siren Monster from my deck or hand to the field."

"I special Summon Lulling Siren Dame Adriana!"

The monster had long white hair held up in a high ponytail that reached down the small of her back with a golden choker tied to a pink fabric, covering her breasts leaving her chest revealed a bit, a golden ring around her waist keeping the fabric together, with a short light pink skirt.

"Once per turn I can target one monster on either side of the field and make Adriana's Level the same."

Adriana,(Tuner, LV 1-LV 3)

Yuri narrowed his eyes. This girl has done Synchro and Fusion, either she was about to get another Synchro monster on the field… or with two monsters with the same level on the field, she could Xyz Summon. Yuri had never yet met anyone who could do all three, this should be interesting.

"I open the overlay Network!" 'Yuzu' declared and a swirling vortex of a dark galaxy littered with shimmering stars appeared. The two Sirens smirked before jumping into the air and turning into beams of lights swirling around each other before going into the vortex and a great light shining from the vortex.

"Lady of protection, let your voice be heard through the sky and bring together you sisters to sing a choir of lulling sweetness! Xyz Summon Rank 3 Lulling Siren Countess Freya!"

The woman had long white hair with light blue streaks, she wore a dark navy blue tube top, held together by two robes of fabric tied around her neck that fall down her back, a navy long skirt with a slit on its right side, several scales going down her leg, and a light blue marks that spin around her arm, with two shining orbs circling around her. (1500 ATK)

"1500 ATK? That's kind of a weak monster, isn't it? Well, I suppose it is a Rank 3, I don't think they're that useful."

"... You haven't dueled many Xyz monsters have you?" she said with an amused smirk.

Yuri raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Yuri questioned. "I think that it stands to reason to assume the lover the Rank is the weaker and more useless a monster is, isn't it?"

'Yuzu' tilted her head. "We shall see," she replied.

Thrill and excitement filled Yuri, he went from dueling a girl who has no idea how to use the Extra Deck to someone who used all three of the Summoning Methods easily, he was quite intrigued, were these Sirens really any powerful?

Yuri laughed and clapped his hands. "Oh that's quite a show," he said. "But really, what can these Sirens do?"

'Yuzu' laughed, her smile sharpened. "Oh I'll show you," she replied, her lavender eyes seemed to glow. "Battle Phase," the girl said, and Yuri sensed Starving Venom tense. Before Yuri's eyes, the Sirens transformed, their ivory skin turning grey, the scales on their bodies spreading more, their clothes seemed to melt away. Their nails sharpened into claws, and their teeth grew into Sharp fangs, almost exactly like the monsters on the first spell cards. These things had… two forms.

"It's not as important now, however, I think it might be good to know that my Sirens' Attributes become Wind during the battle phase, and this… is their Battle Forms."

"But… why?" Yuri questioned.

"You'll understand soon enough," 'Yuzu' replied. "Now Eris go! Attack Starving Venom!"

"Attack Starving Ve- but why?" Yuri questioned in confusion, she couldn't be this stupid could she?. "Starving Venom is Stronger than your Monster."

"That's true, but here's where Eris' effect activates," 'Yuzu' replied. "Once per turn during that Battle Phase, if Eris battles a monster, that monster goes back to the hand."

"What?!" Yuri yelled.

"Your monster goes bye-bye and I don't have to deal with his annoying floating effect!" She laughed just as Eris flew closer and opened her mouth letting out a deafening screech, her eyes glowing. A white aura surrounded Starving Venom before he vanished in bright light and went back to Yuri's Extra Deck.

Yuri froze, before slowly turning from looking at his Duel Disk to the girl he was fighting with a dawning realization. "You… You know-"

"That if Starving Venom was destroyed in battle, all of my Special Summoned Monsters get destroyed? I did," she replied, tilting her head mockingly.

"How?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes. "Starving Venom is one of a kind. I've never dueled you before, you couldn't possibly know his effect."

"You'll find out soon enough," she replied smugly. "Now I believe My Siren has another attack in her, ready Eris?" The Siren nodded, eying Yuri's Plant Monster. "Go!"

Yuri regained his composure quickly "Oh this is priceless," Yuri said with a malicious grin. "I guess you didn't pay attention to my Monster's effect."

"Of course I did," 'Yuzu' replied with a giggle, making Yuri pause.

"What?" he questioned, one of his eyes twitching in annoyance.

"I activate Cerci's Quick Effect!" She declared. The other Siren on the field smirked and let out a screech just like her sister. "Once per turn, I can target one monster my opponent controls and if it had a different attribute to one of my monsters on the field, that monster's effect is negated, and their ATK is halved until the end of the turn, and since your monsters are a Dark Attribute and mine are Wind."

Yuri's eyes widened as the screech reached Predaplant Chimerafflesia, making the monster let out a groan of its own as its ATK points were halved and effects got negated. (2500-)1250 ATK)

"...You are clever," Yuri whispered, realizing the girl had been paying attention to his words, this… stranger who even knew Starving Venom's effect despite never having met him before. Just… who was she?

She smirked. "Thank you," she replied, giving Yuri a cute curtsy. "Go Eris, attack!" she ordered her monster.

"I activate Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra's effect!" Yuri said. "Quick Effect; once per turn I can banish one Predaplant monster from my graveyard and target one monster on the field, it loses 500 ATK points." He grabbed a card from the graveyard and showed it to the girl. "I banish Predaplant Clamydusenduw, and your Eris loses 500 ATK points!"

A transparent Hydra appeared, before spewing a green spit from its mouth that latched onto Eris' hand. Making her hiss (2600 ATK-) 2100 ATK)

The Siren still attacked Chimerafflesia.

"I activate Predaplast's effect!" Yuri declared. "If one of my Predaplants would be destroyed in battle I can banish the card from my graveyard instead!" The Siren's nails scratched Yuri's monster, making it let out a painful scratch, but it was not destroyed, however, the Siren hit Yuri's arm with her tail.

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 7150)

'Yuzu' placed her hand on her lip, smiling confidently. A strange look of pride passed through her eyes, it confused Yuri greatly.

"Cerci, your turn," 'Yuzu' said undeterred. The Siren chuckled before expanding her own wings and flew like a knife towards Yuri's monster and finally destroyed it.

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 6400)

"Now you Freya! Attack directly!" 'Yuzu' ordered, and the last Siren. The monster leaped and flew in the air before grabbing Yuri's neck and hissing in his face with an amused smirk, scratching him just a bit for him to feel it.

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 4900)

The two Sirens returned to their beautiful Forms and stood on each side of the purple-eyed girl.

"I place two cards face down, and I end my turn," 'Yuzu' said, placing the two cards in the Duel Disk slot. Eris still looked disgusted at the green thing clinging to her arm, she kept trying to remove it, even hissing at it to no avail. Even Cerci eyed the thing with contempt.

"Since you destroyed Chimerafflesia, I get to add one "Polymerization" or one "Fusion" card to my hand," Yuri explained, taking a card to his hand and showing Predaprime Fusion on it.

"I draw!" Yuri said, taking a card and looking at it. He should remove the two monsters, and his new hand could easily do that. Yuri didn't know what the two face-down cards were, he was not familiar at all with the deck, he had never even heard of it before, it would be thrilling if he wasn't on a mission, but he had to finish it. Maybe later he could ask the professor about it, if not, there were two other girls as well, hopefully, they'll be as entertaining as this one.

Yuri looked at his cards and grinned, his sharp teeth showing. "I activate the Spell Card Predapractice!" Yuri said, placing the card in the Duel Disk slot and before he could even explain what it does, 'Yuzu' interrupted.

"I activate the Trap Card Seduction Serenade!" She said, activating the card that showed two monstrous Sirens flying in the air flying over a ship smirking while a siren with white hair, blue streaks, and light blue clothes was sitting on the tip of the ship and all three seemed to be singing.

"If a Spell or a Trap or a monster effect was activated, I can banish one Siren Monster from my Graveyard or field and I can negate the effect and destroy the card," 'Yuzu' explained. "I banish Hellena from my graveyard and negate your spell!" she had a razor-sharp smile, and for the first time in his life, Yuri felt like the prey. It excited and angered him greatly. The girl was confident, clearly powerful, and not just a powerful duelist either, Yuri could sense it somehow, something deep within her. Most of all it unsettled Yuri that she looked at him as if she knew him fully.

It was fine though, he still had a full hand, negating one card would not hinder him at all. "I summon Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio to the field," he said summoning a plant monster sprouted out, partly looking like a scorpion with its tail in the air with red marking on the head and a stinger. (1200 ATK)

"If this monster was Normal or Special Summoned I can send one monster from my hand to the graveyard and Special Summon a monster to the field," Yuri explained. "I think I'll Summon Predaplant Flytrap." A small harmless looking shrub grew out of the ground before it opened its mouth showing several teeth like a thorn (400 ATK)

"And when this monster is summoned I can target one monster you control and give it a Predator Counter," He explained. "And I'll choose-"

"Uh-uh-uh," 'Yuzu' said. "Freya's effect is in place," she said and the Xyz monsters flipped her hair with a proud smile on her face. "As long as Freya has an Overlay unit, my Siren monsters can't be destroyed in battle or targeted by card effects

Yuri's eyes widened.

"Still think lower Ranked monsters are useless?" she taunted, reminding him of his earlier remark.

Yuri huffed. " Protection effect is hardly that powerful," he replied. "No matter, my counters might not work but I'm hardly done." Yuri placed a card in one of the Spell and Trap slots. "I activate the Continuous Spell Card Predaponics." The spell card was a dark field with several Predaplant Flytraps growing from the ground. "I can Special Summon a monster from my hand or graveyard but their effects are negated." The boy activated the card and Special Summoned a monster "I Special Summon Predaplant Moray Nepenthes." The Predaplant had two flytrap-like heads with red markings on top of them. (1600 ATK)

"Three monsters on the field," 'Yuzu' murmured to herself.

"Tell me something," he said. "Does one of your monsters have a Dark Attribute?"

"Yes, Cerci is," 'Yuzu' replied and said Siren let out a purr, batting her eyelashes at Yuri.

Yuri grinned. "That's gonna make this much easier then," he said. 'I activate the Spell Card Predaprime Fusion!" He activated the Spell Card showing a shadowy monster and two other Predaplants on either side of him. "I can Fusion Summon a monster using materials from both sides of the field as long as I use two dark monsters of mine," Yuri explained. "Now-"

"I chain your card to my Quick Spell Siren Song!" 'Yuzu' interrupted again with a giddy smile. The Spell Card had a Siren with curly maroon hair and shimmering gold strapless bikini top, and a short skirt with black seashells embroidered on it sprawled on a rock in the middle of the ocean, along with two other Sirens sitting beside her with a big ship at the distant, and she seemed to be singing.

"Once per turn, I can change the attribute of all the monsters you have on the field to whichever one I choose until the end of this turn!" 'Yuzu' explained. Yuri went rigid with the information, peacing in his mind the way this strange Siren archetype works, and to his dismay, it could actually disrupt his play.

"No…" he breathed in shock.

"I think I'll turn your monsters into… Light Attribute!" she said giddily. What seemed like heavenly light spread through all of his Predaplants, even making them wilt a little bit. 'Yuzu' grinned, tilting her head slightly.

Looking at his hand, Yuri thought that he had a chance to bring out another copy of Chimerafflesia, after all, it only needed a Predaplant monster and a dark monster, and there is a dark monster in his hand. This was his last chance.

"I activate the Spell Card polymerization!" Yuri declared. "I use Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra and Flytrap to Fusion Summon Predaplant Chimerafflesia again!"

Yuri brought his hands together repeating his chant once more and Fusion Summoning the monster into the field. (2500 ATK)

"Fine, I'm still not going down without a fight!" Yuri declared. "I use Predaplant Drosophyllum Hydra's effect, and banish one of my Predaplant to reduce the ATK of one of your monsters!" Once more, Yuri took a monster from his graveyard and banished it, and a translucent Hydra appeared behind him. "I think I'll take the 500 ATK from your Freya," he said and the Hydra spat the green goo on the Xyz Siren and like her sister, it clung to her shoulder, making her hiss.

Yuri narrowed his eyes, what could he possibly do? One Siren negates his effect and the other made him unable to even target them, she had negated most of his strategies easily, and left him to an almost empty field. 'This couldn't be happening.' he thought. 'Who the hell was she?!"

"I place one card face down and end my turn," Yuri said.

'Yuzu' smirked. "That was quite the fun duel, I applaud you Yuri, but really, you had no chance against me at all."

Yuri chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "What makes you say that, princess?"

'Yuzu' Smirked. "Alright, I'll show you," she replied. "I draw!" she drew the card and didn't even look at it. "I activate Freya's effect!" The Xyz Siren caught one of the orbs circling her before popping it, leaving sparkling dust behind, before she blew it into the sky. "Once per turn I can remove one overlay unit from Freya and Special Summon a Monster from my deck, but they can't attack, and they're destroyed at the end of my turn."

A blond Siren flew down, wearing a white tube top with ruffles and blue linings, scales that descended down her arms, and light yellow markings that ran down her stomach.

"I Special Summon, Lulling Siren Dame Esther!" (1600 ATK)

"And what can she do?" Yuri questioned. 'Yuzu' Smirked.

"Once per turn I can target one monster with the same attribute as one of my monsters on the field, and take control of it for the rest of the turn," she replied. Yuri's eyes widened. "Its effect is negated and it can't attack you directly, but it will still serve its purpose."

Esther parted her lips and began to sing, Yuri's monster was surrounded by a dark aura surrounding Yuri's monster, and the next thing Yuri knew his Predaplant Chimerafflesia was being patted by Eisther.

"Next I activate Cerci's effect!" She said, "Since you have a monster with a different attribute to one of my Sirens I can target it and get its effect negated, just to make it a little more painful. I think I'll target Moray Nepenthes!"

Predaplant Moray Nepenthes (1600-800 ATK)

"Predaplant Chimerafflesia attack Predaplant Flytrap!"

"I activate Hydra's effect! And banish one of my Predaplants to reduce 500 points from one of your monsters, I'll reduce Cerci's!" Yuri said through gritted teeth, knowing he was more than likely simply finished

Cersei like her sisters hissed as the green goo, stuck to her leg reducing her ATK (2000 ATK-)1500)

'Yuzu' smirked, and Yuri's eyes widened, knowing he can't do anything else. "No…" he whispered. "This can't… can't be happening."

Predaplant Chimerafflesia's vine arms hit Flytrap, destroying it easily.

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 2800)

"Eris," 'Yuzu' simply said and the Siren monster flew towards Predaplant Moray Nepenthes, it went back to Yuri's hand, and the replay factor kicked in, the Siren placed her claws on Yuri's chin and squeezed any harder and Yuri would actually bleed.

(Yuzu/Ray: 5000 )...(Yuri: 700)

"Freya, you may have the last bow," 'Yuzu' said and the Xyz monster grinned and flew at Yuri, jumping on him and pushing him to the ground. Yuri's eyes widened as the Siren raised her arm and struck, impeding her claws in Yuri's shoulder enough to hurt but not break the skin.

Yuri gasped, breathing in as the hologram disappeared and he… he had lost. He had lost. He had lost!

"Very good duel, Yuri," he heard the girl, who was decidedly not Yuzu say.

Yuri's head snapped to Yuzu, teeth-gritting and about to growl at her before he froze as she walked calmly towards him with a smirk on her face, a dark aura surrounding her, making Yuri wary and unsure of what to do. The Professor never warned him about something like this, or that the girls can do that… Can all of them do that? Can Serena? If so, then why didn't she use it before? But he knew something was off, whoever this girl was, she was not the same girl he started the duel with. And he wasn't sure how that happened. What were these monsters she used? Where did they come from? He'd just...lost… for the first time in his life he lost! He wasn't sure if he wanted to scream or laugh.

'Yuzu' came closer and Yuri found himself unable to move. The pink-haired girl placed her palm under his chin, making Yuri's eyes widen and flinch back, he felt his face heat up and a blush coloring them as he looked at her.

"Do forgive me for being rough on you," she whispered. "But you would have harmed my girls, and I just couldn't have that at all."

"I wasn't going to harm them," Yuri said. "Just deliver them to the esteemed professor you see."

The girl narrowed her eyes, and what little playfulness that was there was replaced with utter venom and hatred, her glare pinned Yuri to his spot and the darkness surrounding her seemed to lash out. "That is a fate quite worse than death in my eyes."

"W...what are you?" Yuri whispered the dark aura still surrounding her, making him shiver.

'Yuzu's' placed her hand on Yuri's cheek and began to caress it. This gesture should have annoyed Yuri, he should have broken her hand just for touching him, and yet, her darkness seeped into him, running like fire through his veins, making a home for themselves inside of him. He couldn't help but crave her touch, crave that darkness. His eyes widened at the realization.

Yuri shivered again, part of him wanted to get away from this girl, run or fight, he didn't care he just wanted to leave. The other part, however, wanted to stay, wanted to be around her more. It terrified him that he craved this simple touch from her; it made his heartbeat quickly in his chest. This was...affection, kindness...love. It made him more afraid, and fear was never something that came to Yuri easily, but it also excited him, what was happening to him?

"Didn't that feel good, Yuri?" She asked.

"You're not Yuzu Hiragi. Who are you?" Yuri questioned steadily.

She smiled at him gently and shook her head. "Clever boy," she purred, making Yuri shiver at the small praise. "No, I certainly am not her. Well, not only her, " her voice had an eerie echo to it. "My name is Ray, and it is so good to meet you."

"What do you want?" Yuri asked, not sure how to react to her at all. He never ever faced this type of scenario before, her actions, her powers, her personality, it made something inside him yearn.

"I want much," she answered with a smirk. "I want revenge, control, to rule once more, but most of all I wish for me and my beloved to return whole once more."

"Whole?" Yuri asked, narrowing his eyes.

Her grin widened. "From what I gathered, my beloved and I have been split into four parts; each part is in each of the new dimensions that were created. I wish to gather us all to be one again."

Yuri paused as he recalled the Professor showing him the four girls: Serena, Yuzu, and the other two from Synchro and Xyz. All of them together, needed for a sole purpose...

Is… is that what the Professor is trying to do? Gather these girls for something… for her?

"And where do I fit in?" Yuri paused, remembering Yuzu had said her and her 'beloved' had been split into four, with Yuya having the same face as him did that mean…

"Am I… him then?" Yuri asked, skeptically narrowing his eyes.

She giggled and it was quite strange to Yuri. It wasn't sarcastic, and it wasn't cruel, yet Yuri felt his heart hammering in his chest and his face heating again. He had never felt like that before.

"That is correct," the girl whispered," You are part of him." She placed a soft kiss on Yuri's cheek, making him flinch back. Yuri hated how much weakness he was showing, he was never like this! One lost duel just reduced him to… to this? Yuri glared at the girl with hatred, but he found he couldn't keep the anger up the more he looked at her. "You are," she answered sincerely. "The one that holds the sadistic side of my beloved, wanting to unleash bloodshed upon the masses and laughing at how the prey is unable to do anything except watch, wide-eyed in terror as he devours them whole."

There was no venom in her words, no disgust or fear, just pride, and amusement. Yuri's breath hitched. "And what if I don't want to become 'whole' as you put it? Maybe I don't want to become someone else. Are you supposed to be my prize or something?"

The girl giggled again, before her dark aura extended to Yuri, making his eyes widen and gasp once more. His face turned a darker shade of red. "If you join me, and help me become whole then I shall give you what you desire. Power. You will have more power than you can ever imagine," she whispered huskily, as she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. "I remember and adore you, every part of the true you," she purred. "A king with one equal. Me by your side. And I helped him rule over the world of these corrupt human filth, who wanted nothing more than to see the arena covered in blood. They wanted violence so we gave it. Violence on them, so they knew what it meant to be inflicted with such pain. Harming the duelists and harming and using the Duel Spirits, the pain we kept listening to in every duel, oh it killed us, so we acted."

She grinned at Yuri "You want that don't you?" she whispered. "The power, the destruction, the thrill of the hunt. It's all in those pretty eyes, Yuri."

"P...pretty?" Yuri stammered. No one ever called him pretty. And he had never cared before, what was this girl doing to him?

Her smile widened again. "Very pretty, such fierce dragon eyes you have."

Yuri's eyes widened, his pupils briefly shifting into reptilian slits.

"That's it," she said, placing a kiss on Yuri's cheek, making a shiver run down Yuri's back. "Be mine, be whole, I know you want to have fun, so help me, bring my beloved back to life. The Supreme Dragon King Zarc."

Yuri's eyes widened more, his eyes glowing a pink glow, as he felt a fog surrounding his mind, making him feel lighter, filling him with a desire, a need, something beyond Yuri's reach was guiding him, powerful and it felt so good to listen. He heard Starving Venom roar in approval and scratch loudly, feeling the strange power inside him increase. Ray giggled. "Yes, Starving Venom, we shall return soon," she said happily.

"...You can... hear him too?" Yuri asked softly. And Ray nodded.

"I hear him, loud and clear. He wants to be with his siblings once more, to reunite as one, be with his Master. Odd-Eyes, Dark Rebellion, Clear Wing. They will be one once more."

Yuri closed his still glowing eyes, briefly seeing a red dragon with dichromatic eyes, a dark dragon that flew among thunder-filled clouds, and a silver dragon with clear wings. Yes, he wanted them, wanted them more than whatever the Professor gave him. To be whole, together, Reunite as one. "Reunite as one…"

"So what do you say?" She whispered. "Be ours, and you'll feel whole once more, you'll gain powers beyond your imagination. Are you ours now, Yuri? Are you mine?"

"Yours?" And in distant memory, he saw another girl with the same face, but different hair and eyes from the four that the professor had shown him. Older, confident, maroon hair streaked with red like blood and shadows. And a part of him reached out for her, wanting her.

Ray smirked looking at the unfocused golden eyes that had replaced Yuri's for a moment.

"Yes," he finally whispered with a soft smile on his face. He bowed his head as he added, "I'll be yours …Lady Ray."

Ray smiled, before leaning in and sealing this contract with a kiss on his lips, making Yuri's eyes glow once more. Power, pure power washed over his body mixing with the dark powers beneath his skin, and he felt a desire, a need to make Lady Ray happy.

Ray broke the kiss and Yuri pouted, wanting more, he felt light yet grounded in place as darkness rose inside. Ray caressed his cheek lovingly and Yuri leaned to it without a second thought. "Go on now, back to your dimension. Be by Serena's side, and she'll be by yours."

"Serena…" Yuri whispered, recalling the girl in the red jacket and yellow ribbon to tie her hair up.

"Prepare her for the day that she will come to this dimension. She will, she is quite angry, I can feel it. She knows that truth now that I am awake, and she will want more than ever to leave and rebel against the so-called man who she has put her whole focus on trying to please."

Yuri smirked, his grin was manic and it made Ray smile. Yuri bowed, his hand placed over his heart. "As you wish, my Lady," he replied. "If I may ask, what is your title?"

"I am The Supreme Siren Queen, Raya," she replied, placing a hand over her chest proudly.

Yuri shivered in anticipation and nodded. He activated his Duel Disk and was surrounded by blue light before he transformed into glittering sparkles, returning him to his home. Ray chuckled, knowing that with Yuri now on her side, things will go a lot smoother.

She did need to leave soon, everyone in Miami City knew about most of Reiji Akaba's "Duel Energy" records, it was even something the company and the 'LDS' students were proud of, using it to show off how strong their summoning was. She quickly left the place, making sure to return the control back to Yuzu, and making sure no stranger was following her.

"Yuzu! Yuzu!"

Ray heard the name being called by that familiar voice and saw Yuya along with Gongenzaka round a corner. She smiled. Yes, she could see Zarc's kindness and desire to entertain people just by looking into Yuya's pretty crimson eyes. She couldn't wait to bring up that side of Zarc within this boy, make him smile at the fun he will bring to the wicked and nasty humans who might try to usurp their reign.

"Yuzu! Are you okay?" asked Yuya.

Ray returned the control fully to Yuzu, and the pink-haired girl raised her eyebrow at Yuya and Gongenzaka. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know it just… I felt something strange… I couldn't understand what, but I just knew it was about you and I had to know if you were okay," Yuya tried to explain, not sure what the feeling he got was about.

Yuzu's eyes softened, even more, he was quite adorable and sweet, and she knew she shouldn't be as frustrated with him as she has been, at least she knew why she was on edge so much for the past few days, and she knew she had a lot to think about, especially when it came to what she just learned.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow okay?" Yuzu asked with a soft smile.

"O-okay but…"

"Hm?" Yuzu asked.

Yuya looked down. "Never mind," he said, shaking his head.

"Okay," Yuzu nodded. The three of them parted ways and said goodbye to each other. Yuzu let out a breath as she entered the house.

"I'm home!" Yuzu called, smelling her father's homemade cooking. Her father usually cooked to save money for the bills and to keep You Show Duel School running. Tonight he was making his signature croquettes: pumpkin, curry, and cream crab.

"Welcome home Yuzu!" Shuzo said from the kitchen. "Can you help me set the table?"

"Sure thing," she said and began to set the table and get ready for dinner.

...

Yuzu finished cleaning the dishes and took a bath an hour after dinner. Then, after hanging the towel, she slipped into some light pink pajamas, turned off the lights, and laid on the bed.

Her eyes faded, the only sound in that room was the soft ticktock ticktock of her alarm clock. She didn't know how long it would be until she blinked and found herself standing in a spacious room. The walls were painted blue, decorated with crystal flowers made of ice, an open golden cage with a few birds in it singing their songs in one corner of the room, as the moon outside glowed. Flowers were growing in this room…

The three girls from before, Rin, Ruri, and Serena each sat at the table, Ruri and Serena seemed to be having an argument while Rin seemed to be looking in rapid attention as she rested her chin on her hand.

The argument seemed to stop as she came closer, a dark aura surrounded all of them once more.

Finally, Ray walked in.

"Shall we begin?" She asked with a smirk.