# Motel
Yuto was sleeping calmly on his bed in his motel room. But then...
Darkness.
A boundless void stretched in every direction. There was no floor. No sky.
Yuto slowly opened his eyes, gasping as if breaking the surface of cold water.
A dense, ancient bamboo forest materialized around him out of the black fog. A freezing wind stirred the towering stalks until they creaked and moaned. Someone stood a few paces ahead. The figure had wild, jagged dark-purple hair.
"Who's there?" Yuto called. His voice was swallowed instantly by the fog.
The figure did not move, but the bamboo began to rustle violently. The air grew unbearably heavy, pressing against Yuto's chest like solid iron.
"...Who are you?!"
The dark-purple-haired boy didn't answer. Instead, he raised his Duel Disk. A crimson light erupted from the card slot, flooding the bamboo forest.
Yuto reached for his own wrist, frantically searching for his Duel Disk, but found only empty skin.
The dark-purple-haired boy slightly turned his head. Through the jagged strands of his hair, glowing golden eyes locked onto Yuto.
The crimson light swallowed the forest, shattering the illusion.
...
In the collapsing, dark lightning exploded across the expanse as the void cracked. Two dark spheres materialize, accelerating violently toward the exact same destination.
The two spheres collided.
There was no explosion.
One disappeared.
The other continued forward, shattering the threshold of Yuya's waking mind.
# The Stadium
In the center of the stadium, the transition hummed to a halt. Isao Kachidoki stood across the field, his arms crossed, a mocking smirk playing on his lips.
Facing him, Sakaki Yuya, covered in bruises, suddenly stopped moving.
His eyes completely lost focus, the pupils shrinking as the vibrant red and green strands of his hair caught the stadium lights.
Yuya's breathing became shallow. He stood perfectly still.
In the front row of the stands, Yuzu leaned over the railing, her fingers tightening on the metal. "...Yuya?"
No response.
Across the field, Kachidoki's smirk faltered slightly. "What's the matter, clown? Forgot how to perform?"
Slowly, Yuya raised his head. His expression was cold. There was no smile.
Yuya raised his Duel Disk. His voice dropped an octave, carrying a resonant, metallic weight that echoed through the stadium speakers.
"I Pendulum Summon."
The sky split. Two massive beams of light descended onto the field from the already set Pendulum cards, depositing two Level 4 monsters simultaneously into the dust.
Without wasting a single second, Yuya raised his hand toward the sky, his jaw tightening. "I overlay my two Level Four monsters."
A swirling vortex of dark energy spiraled upward from the stadium floor, swallowing the light.
"I Xyz Summon."
The wind went completely still. Total, suffocating silence fell over the thousands of spectators.
Then, the dragon opened its eyes.
Twin orbs of cold, piercing hatred flared to life within the darkness. It didn't roar. It simply looked down upon the stadium as though every living soul beneath it had already been judged. Massive, pitch-black wings unfurled, lined with glowing purple circuits. Jagged arcs of dark electricity crackled violently along its frame, tearing through the air and scorching the dirt beneath it.
Kachidoki's smirk vanished, replaced by a sudden, cold dread. "Xyz monster?!" He instinctively looked around, searching for Action Card, but before he could even see one let alone reach one, Dark Rebellion moved.
"Dark Rebellion, answer," Yuya commanded, his voice flat and absolute.
The dragon's wings flared, the wings blazing with blinding intensity. The resulting shockwave tore violently across the solid vision field, throwing Kachidoki entirely off his feet. He crashed violently against the reinforced arena floor as his monster shattered into particles.
The digital Life Point display plummeted to zero instantly.
...
The applause still echoed throughout Maiami Stadium, but Yuya barely heard it. Medical staff hurried onto the field toward Kachidoki while Nico Smiley's voice cut through the paralysis of the crowd, screaming into his microphone about the unbelievable turn of events.
"U-Unbelievable! With the sudden entrance of an Xyz monster, Defeating Kachidoki Isao, Sakaki Yuya won the first match of the second round!"
Yuzu reached Yuya first, sprinting onto the field and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Yuya!"
Yuya blinked, the cold intensity completely vanishing from his eyes as the color returned to his face. He staggered slightly, catching himself on his heel. He looked down at his hands, his chest heaving as his breath came in short, panicked gasps.
"...Y-Yuzu?" He whispered.
"Are you okay?" Yuzu pressed, her eyes searching his.
"I think so."
"...Think?" Yuzu frowned.
"I..." Yuya looked down at his Duel Disk, his trademark smile completely absent. "...I don't remember."
"What?"
"... N-No! Nothing."
His fingers drifted toward his Deck. Without thinking, he slid the top card free.
His eyes widened. It wasn't an unfamiliar card. It was worse. It felt... familiar.
The dragon stared back at him from the artwork. "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon."
"I've..." Yuya whispered, "...never seen this card before."
Yet, holding it somehow felt like coming home.
He dismissed all the thoughts he had no answer of. Only one thing mattered to him right now.
"Kachidoki! Are you okay?" He ran straight to the people who were taking Kachidoki to help him medically.
Kachidoki gave a very sharp, blood-thirsty glare. His expression filled completely with raw rage and bloodlust.
Yuya wanted to apologize first. More than anything, he wanted to say sorry and tell dueling is for fun and entertainment, not assault. But he couldn't.
Before he could reach him, the instructors from Ryozanpaku School had surrounded Kachidoki.
Their expression carried no concern.
Only disappointment.
A student who had lost held no value to them.
Yuya stopped in place. His apology died in his throat.
Near the entrance tunnel, the Youshow troupe could only watch in stunned confusion. Gongenzaka narrowed his eyes. "...At end, that wasn't Yuya's usual dueling. There was no heart in it. Only execution. And when did he get an Xyz monster?"
Yuzu didn't speak. She silently stared at Yuya, her stomach twisting with a deep, systemic dread.
# LDS Private Lounge
Up in the VIP observation lounge, Reiji Akaba slowly rose from his seat, adjusting his glasses as his gaze pierced the glass down toward the field, where the Xyz energy was still dissipating.
Nakajima stepped forward from the shadows, holding a tablet displaying wild, spiking energy wavelengths. "President... the Xyz readings from that summon... they match the signature of that duelist."
Reiji said after a pause, his tone clinical. "Sakaki Yuya's database profile shows no record of Xyz training or card acquisition. That dragon isn't registered."
"Could someone have gave him this card?"
"No. I can't think like that. And the energy signature differs completely from Sakaki Yuya's previous duels. The Xyz signature isn't surrounding him... it came somehow from somewhere else." Reiji adjusted his glasses. "Cross-reference his location data from the last forty-eight hours with any unregistered energy spikes. Find out who he crossed paths with."
Standing in the shadows near the back of the lounge, Ryo Akaba kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.
"Fool," Ryo muttered, folding his arms. "Now every sensor Leo Corporation owns knows where to start looking. ...He still acts like he's alone."
# Motel
Yuto's eyes snapped open.
He sucked in a sharp breath, his entire body jerking upright on the bed. He was gasping, his chest heaving as if he had just escaped drowning.
The room was dark except for the pale afternoon light slipping through the curtains. His heart refused to slow down, slamming against his ribs like a trapped bird.
The bamboo forest. The dark-purple-haired boy. The golden eyes. They were already fading, slipping away like a dream that vanished the moment waking reality arrived.
"...No..."
He pressed a hand against his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. Every time he tried to focus on the boy's face, the image blurred, turning to smoke. Only the raw, heavy emotions remained anchored in his chest.
Heavy. Lonely. Angry.
Yuto looked around the quiet, stagnant motel room. Nothing had changed. Everything was same as he saw before going to sleep.
"...What was that?"
His voice sounded strangely hollow in the empty room. He looked down and rubbed his bare wrist. For just an instant... he could have sworn something solid and heavy had been strapped there. A Duel Disk.
He could have sworn his ace monster. His partner. He could almost hear calling out himself to command it. Ordering to attack the enemy.
And the dragon answered.
The phantom sensation disappeared as quickly as it had come. Yuto frowned, staring at his hands.
He wasn't sure whether he was asking about the stranger in his mind, or himself.
# Motel
The sound of the broadcast faded behind Vance as he stepped outside, following the nameless boy who had just left the heavy atmosphere of the room, desperate for fresh air.
The afternoon streets were crowded with people arriving from the secondary arenas. The boy walked slowly, his boots clicking softly against the ground as he tried to ground himself in the outside world.
Across the wide thoroughfare, pushing through the oncoming flow of strangers, two figures clad in gray traveling cloaks moved with measured precision.
"Lost him?" Celina muttered.
"The signature vanished," Barrett replied, his eyes scanning the rooftops and surrounding area.
Celina frowned. "Vanished?"
"For a moment, it was everywhere." Barrett said quietly. "We have to search manually. Blend in."
The boy casually looked up. At that exact moment, Celina looked across the street.
Their eyes met through the gaps in the moving crowd. Only for a second. Celina didn't slow her pace; her sharp eyes merely scanned past him. She kept walking, her disciplined stride never wavering.
But the boy's heart slammed against his ribs.
"Just walk away," he told himself.
He turned.
His feet didn't listen.
He pushed through the crowd of strangers, ignoring the sharp pain in his side. He searched desperately through the crowd, his vision scanning the endless flow of people.
The street split into three separate shopping avenues. The gray cloaks had vanished.
He stopped at the center of the intersection, breathing heavily, his hands resting on his knees. Footsteps approached from behind as Vance reached him.
"...Why did you run?" Vance asked.
The boy kept staring down the empty avenue. "...I don't know."
"Did you recognize anyone?"
"...No."
"Then why did you run like you wanted to catch someone?"
The boy looked down at his own trembling hands.
"...Because..." the boy whispered, "...my body started moving before I made the decision."
Vance studied the boy's profile in silence, then placed a firm, grounding hand on his shoulder. "Let's go back."
The boy gave a slow, silent nod. But before he turned around to follow Vance back into the shadows of the motel district, he looked one last time toward the crowded avenue.
They walked away from one another, unaware that the distance between them was already beginning to disappear.