[Yumi, LP 3000]
[Aporia, LP 4000]
[Paradox, LP 4000]
[Z-one, LP 4000]
Seeing that he couldn't really do anything against Yumi, Z-one started to feel like they had bitten off more than they could chew.
Still, they had already gone this far.
They had cut off the connection between Hoshino and Chaldea, opened the gates between the Spirit World and the human world, and even gone back in time personally to deal with the problem.
Their goal was simple enough.
Prevent the apocalyptic future caused by Duel Monsters.
To put it simply, their future was destroyed because Duel Monsters appeared in the human world at a time when there was no one capable of properly controlling the spirits.
Yumi understood that much.
What he didn't understand was their actual plan.
They wanted to prevent Duel Monsters from destroying the future, so they created time travel, went back into the past, and tried to stop Duel Monsters before they could become a threat.
And their solution to that problem was using Duel Monsters to do so.
That was the part that left Yumi, along with quite a few Yu-Gi-Oh! fans, scratching their heads.
Why not just go back to the time when Pegasus created Duel Monsters and deal with him?
Or, if that wasn't possible, why not travel back to an earlier period and study how previous generations dealt with Duel Monster Spirits entering the human world?
They could have tried to recreate whatever methods those people used.
Seriously, 5D's takes place in the same timeline as GX and DM. And both of those eras had protagonists who could interact with and even control Duel Monster Spirits.
The fact that these guys from the future never seemed to consider something that obvious was enough to make Yumi, and more than a few fans, wonder if their brains were even working.
"My turn. Draw!" Z-one finally drew, his gaze settling on the card in his hand. "Since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Time Maiden from my hand."
Z-one raised one of his massive cards before throwing it forward. The card stopped several meters away from him and began to glow brightly.
A strange mechanical creature emerged from the light. Its body was shaped like a giant spinner, with two floating arms hovering on either side.
[Time Maiden, 0 ATK]
"I now Tribute Time Maiden to add a Timelord from my Deck to my hand."
Z-one waved his massive hand forward.
Time Maiden disappeared from the field as his Deck shuffled itself. A gigantic card was ejected from the Deck, which Z-one caught between his enormous mechanical fingers.
"I'll add Sephylon, the Ultimate Timelord, to my hand."
His gaze shifted toward Yumi and the monsters surrounding him.
For a moment, Z-one remained silent. Then he reached for another card.
"Since I control no monsters, I can Normal Summon Metaion, the Timelord!"
He threw the card onto the field.
It glowed brightly before a gigantic mechanical monster emerged from within it. Its purple mechanical body was shaped almost like a machine built around a massive screen, with the face of a man displayed across its chest and a pair of red mechanical arms attached to either side.
[Metaion, the Timelord, 0 ATK]
"I set two cards face-down."
Two massive cards appeared behind Metaion.
"Turn end."
...
Inside the bunker built beneath Duel Academy, the atmosphere was completely different from the chaos happening outside.
Everyone in the school had been gathered around the screens, watching the duel through the live broadcast from the surveillance cameras placed around the island.
The moment Yumi's Chaos survived Metaion's effect and remained standing on the field, the room erupted.
"Amazing!"
"He has such powerful cards!"
"Did you see that?! He summoned all of those HEROes in one turn!"
"The three of them haven't been able to do anything!"
The students, duelists, and staff members cheered loudly as they watched the three duelists from the future struggle against Yumi.
Even some of the teachers looked surprised. The duel had started with the three mysterious men appearing with an overwhelming presence, yet somehow, Yumi had completely turned the situation around.
Jaden was practically glued to the screen. His eyes were shining as he watched the different HERO monsters appear one after another.
"Those HEROes are awesome!"
He leaned closer to the screen.
"That Contrast HERO Chaos is especially cool! And that Masked HERO Blast! I've never seen either of them before!"
"Of course you haven't," someone beside him said. "I've never even heard of Contrast HERO or Masked HERO before."
"Yeah, but I still wanna see them in person!" Jaden's excitement only grew. "Imagine getting to duel against all of those HEROes!"
A nearby student laughed.
"You'd probably spend the entire duel staring at them."
A few students laughed.
"Amazing, as expected of Hoshino-sensei's disciple!"
"He's completely overwhelming them!"
"Those guys are getting destroyed!"
"Don't say that yet," another student suddenly said.
The others looked at him.
"What?"
"I mean... the duel isn't over."
The student pointed toward the screen.
"Those three haven't surrendered yet."
That made a few people quiet down.
Still, most of the students quickly brushed it off.
Yumi still had such a powerful lineup standing on his field, while the three duelists from the future had barely managed to maintain any presence.
"Come on, there's no way they can turn this around."
"Yeah. He's got this."
The cheering resumed.
But one person in the bunker remained completely silent. Hoshino stood near the back of the room, her arms folded tightly across her chest.
She didn't join the cheering. She couldn't.
There was a bad feeling sitting in the pit of her stomach.
Yumi had gained a massive advantage, but that didn't mean the duel was over.
She had seen enough duels to know how quickly things could change. One card could turn an entire field around. One effect could destroy an entire strategy. And the three men Yumi was fighting weren't ordinary duelists.
Whatever their reasons for being here, they clearly hadn't come all this way without having something planned. She turned her attention back toward the screen.
Still, she knew that this duel was far from over; Yumi was facing three decks at once, three completely different Decks.
Hoshino tightened her arms slightly. She wasn't going to assume her student had already won just because the numbers were in his favor.
If things suddenly turned bad, she wanted to be ready. That was why she remained on guard, watching the screen without saying another word.
...
"My turn. Draw!" Yumi drew a card, his eyes immediately shifting toward it.
"I banish the two copies of Take Over 5 from my Deck and the one in my Graveyard to draw three more cards."
The ghostly afterimages of the three Spell Cards appeared behind him. They hovered for a moment before breaking apart into golden particles.
Yumi drew three cards, quickly looking through them before picking one out. He placed another card onto his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card, Fusion Recovery! This allows me to add one Polymerization and one monster used for a Fusion Summon from my Graveyard back to my hand."
Two cards rose from his Graveyard as he picked them up.
"I'll add Polymerization and Elemental HERO Airman to my hand."
Yumi added Polymerization to his hand before placing Airman onto his Duel Disk.
"Then I'll Normal Summon Elemental HERO Airman!"
A burst of wind swept across the field as the familiar blue-and-white armored HERO appeared once again, his large turbine wings spinning behind him.
[Elemental HERO Airman, 1800 ATK]
"Airman's effect! I can destroy Spell and Trap Cards on the field up to the number of other HERO monsters I control!"
The moment Yumi declared his effect, the three men from the future widened their eyes.
The turbines behind Airman began spinning faster, kicking up a powerful gust of wind as his gaze swept across the three fields.
"Not so fast!" Aporia suddenly shouted.
"You triggered my Trap!" The face-down card on his field flipped open. "Torrential Tribute!"
A violent surge of water erupted from the trap.
"When a monster is Summoned, destroy all monsters on the field!"
Yumi immediately raised his hand.
"I activate Chaos's effect! I negate your Trap's effect!"
Chaos thrust his hand forward.
A beam of black-and-white energy shot across the field and slammed into Torrential Tribute. The Trap flickered before losing its color, its effect completely negated. The previous surge of water faded before they could ever reach Yumi and his monsters.
Yumi continued, not even slowing down.
"And since I control five different HERO monsters, Airman's effect lets me destroy all five of your Spell and Trap Cards."
He looked across the three fields with a grin.
Airman's turbines roared. The winds around him suddenly intensified as the effect selected every Spell and Trap Card currently on the three fields.
Paradox immediately reacted.
"I activate my Trap Card, Malefic Selector!"
The face-down card he had set flipped face-up.
"I banish Malefic Guardian Eatos and Malefic Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier from my Graveyard. Then I can add two Malefic cards from my Deck to my hand!"
The two Malefic monsters disappeared from Paradox's Graveyard. His Deck shuffled before two cards shot out. Paradox caught both of them.
"I'll add Malefic Heroic Spirit Jeanne d'Arc and Malefic Elemental HERO Neos to my hand."
And then Airman's effect finally resolved. A powerful gust of wind swept across the field. Every Spell and Trap Card targeted by Airman was destroyed.
Yumi's smile widened.
"Battle!"
Absolute Zero stepped forward.
"Absolute Zero, attack that face-down monster!"
The white-armored HERO leaped forward, frost spreading across the ground beneath his feet as he charged toward Aporia's face-down monster.
But before he could reach it.
"I move Metaion to take the attack!"
Z-one suddenly commanded.
The massive machine moved across the field and positioned itself directly between Absolute Zero and Aporia's face-down monster.
Yumi's eyes widened.
"HEH!?"
For a moment, he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
This was supposed to be a four-way Duel. Every player had their own field, their own Life Points, and their own monsters. Z-one couldn't just order his monster to block an attack aimed at another player.
At least, not normally. This wasn't one of those anime tag-team Duels where teammates could casually order their monsters to protect each other.
Yet Z-one had just done exactly that.
Yumi couldn't help but feel a little speechless. It reminded him of some NPC Duelists from ARC-V. They were supposedly fighting each other, yet the moment Yuya happened to be standing nearby, they would suddenly start ordering their monsters to attack him instead while still pretending that they were dueling each other.
Apparently, these guys had decided that the rules were more of a suggestion.
Absolute Zero's attack slammed directly into Metaion. A powerful shockwave spread across the sky.
No damage was dealt.
"Metaion cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects," Z-one explained calmly. "Furthermore, while it is in Attack Position, any battle damage I would take from battles involving this card becomes zero."
Metaion's screen-like face glowed.
"And at the end of the Damage Step involving this card, I can return as many monsters you control to the hand as possible. You then take 300 damage for each monster returned."
Metaion's effect activated. A strange force spread across the field, pulling the monsters caught within it away.
Aporia's face-down monster was returned to his hand.
Yumi's HEROes were also caught in the effect.
Absolute Zero disappeared first, followed by Sunrise, Blast, and Airman.
One after another, Airman was returned to his hand while the Fusion Monsters were pulled back into the Extra Deck.
With the sole exception of Chaos.
As the black and white warrior stood calmly before Yumi, arms crossed defensively.
[Aporia, LP 4000 -> 3700]
[Yumi, LP 3000 -> 1800]
The three men from the future stared in surprise.
"Wait..."
Aporia's eyes widened.
"Why wasn't Chaos affected?"
Yumi gave them a smug grin.
"Sky Striker HERO - Yumi's continuous effect." He pointed toward the card version of himself standing behind Chaos. "As long as I have three or more Spells in my Graveyard, the monster equipped with Yumi is unaffected by my opponent's card effects."
And because Sunrise had left the field, its continuous ATK boost disappeared as well.
[Contrast HERO Chaos, 5200 -> 4000 ATK]
Yumi looked toward the three remaining opponents.
"Then Chaos, direct attack!"
The black-and-white warrior immediately charged toward Aporia.
"Metaion!"
Z-one shouted once again.
The massive machine moved into position. Metaion once again intercepted the attack, placing itself between Chaos and Aporia.
Chaos's attack struck the massive machine, but once again, no damage was dealt.
Yumi clicked his tongue and looked down at the cards in his hand.
"I set one card."
Yumi placed a card onto his Duel Disk. A face-down card materialized behind Chaos.
"Turn end."
...
"No way... that's such a broken card effect..."
The lively atmosphere inside the bunker instantly died down after the result of the last turn. Everyone had been cheering only moments ago. Now, the entire room was staring at the screen in disbelief.
Yumi's field had been almost completely wiped out. All of his other HEROes had been returned as well, leaving only Chaos standing beside him. And all of that happened because of a single effect from Metaion.
"What just happened?" one of the students asked.
"Metaion bounced all of their monsters back to their hands."
"That's ridiculous!"
Another student pointed toward the screen.
"How is Yumi supposed to attack if that guy can just keep doing that?"
The others went quiet. They watched as Z-one's massive Timelord remained on the field, standing between Yumi and the other two duelists.
One student slowly raised his hand.
"Wait... is that even allowed?"
"What do you mean?"
"He moved his monster in front of his friends during Yumi's attack. Isn't this supposed to be a four-way Duel?"
"Yeah."
They all looked toward the screen again.
It was obvious what Z-one was doing. But every time Yumi tried to attack, Z-one could simply order his Timelord to move in front of the attack.
"That's dirty."
"Really dirty."
"I don't think I've ever seen someone do that in a normal Duel."
"It's not a normal Duel," another student pointed out. "There are four people fighting each other."
It's more of a three-on-one."
"That doesn't make it any better!"
The more they talked about it, the worse the situation sounded. One student suddenly groaned.
"That's actually really bad."
"What?"
"Think about it. If Hoshino-sensei's disciple lost, then what are we supposed to do?"
"You're... right... We're..."
The student murmured with a dejected, worried expression on his face.
"Doom..."
...
"My turn. Draw."
Aporia drew his card, his gaze briefly shifting toward it. Then, without hesitation, he suddenly drove his D-Wheel forward. The massive futuristic vehicle accelerated straight toward Yumi.
Yumi's eyes widened slightly as he realized what Aporia was doing.
"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered as the D-Wheel rapidly closed the distance.
Just before the D-Wheel could hit him, Yumi's entire body dissolved into shadow. The massive vehicle passed straight through the spot where he had been standing.
Aporia narrowed his eyes. He quickly pulled the D-Wheel into a long drift, tires screeching against the ground as he swung the vehicle around. His gaze darted across the area, searching for Yumi.
Then the entire D-Wheel suddenly shook.
"What?"
Aporia barely had time to react before the front of his vehicle was lifted off the ground.
A massive warrior with a white, stone-like body had appeared underneath the D-Wheel, gripping the machine with both hands and lifting it completely off the ground.
Elemental HERO The Earth lift the entire vehicle up, casting a long shadow underneath it. Using that same shadow, Yumi rose out of it with Raye's help, her arms wrapped around his chest as she helped pull him out of the shadow.
The Earth let out a low grunt before swinging the massive D-Wheel downward.
Aporia immediately realized what was about to happen. He abandoned the D-Wheel, ejecting himself from the vehicle just before The Earth slammed it downward with tremendous force.
But instead of crashing into the ground, the D-Wheel fell directly into Yumi's outstretched shadow. The vehicle sank into it like it had fallen into quicksand. Within seconds, the entire D-Wheel disappeared beneath the surface.
Aporia landed a short distance away and stared at the spot where his D-Wheel had vanished.
"W-What did you just do!?"
Paradox and Z-one were just as confused. Neither of them had expected Yumi to simply steal Aporia's D-Wheel by making it disappear into his shadow.
Yumi, meanwhile, looked completely unbothered.
"Thanks for the donation. I appreciate it."
He even gave Aporia a small smirk.
It was almost polite... almost.
Of course, if Aporia hadn't just tried to run him over a moment ago, everyone watching would probably have realized that he had basically just been robbed in broad daylight.
"Okita."
Yumi's voice suddenly changed.
The Heroic Spirit appeared behind him. Okita Souji immediately moved forward, scooping Yumi into her arms and carrying him princess-style as she dashed toward Aporia.
Aporia's eyes widened.
"What are you-?"
"Quick-Play Spell, Mischief of the Time Goddess!"
One of Yumi's face-down cards flipped open.
"Skipped directly to my next Battle Phase!"
The effect took hold before Aporia could properly react.
Then Yumi's shadow spread across the ground. Chaos rose from the darkness, appearing directly in front of Aporia.
"Chaos!" Yumi shouted.
The black-and-white warrior pulled his fist back.
"Direct attack!"
Chaos launched his fist straight into Aporia's stomach.
"Chaos Xtreme!"
The punch landed with tremendous force.
Aporia's face twisted in pain as the impact drove the air from his lungs. He coughed violently as his body was launched backward, flying off the edge of the Duel Academy building.
"Aaaagh!"
Aporia disappeared from sight.
[Aporia, LP 4000 -> 0]
Yumi landed safely with Okita still carrying him, as Chaos shifted his gaze toward the remaining two duelists above.
Everything unfolded so suddenly that no one was even able to react to it.
Yumi merely smirked, his gaze drifting upward toward the two men still suspended in the air. Their expression unreadable as they failed to fully process the chaos that had just happened.
"What's the matter? Surprised?" He teased, his voice carrying a playful edge. "You really shouldn't be."
"Yumi, if your grand plan was to deliver a cool monologue, at least have the decency to take your hand off my chest," Okita remarked, her voice laced with a distinct, mounting annoyance.
She held him in a firm princess-style carry, a position that left him in a compromising predicament. Because of the way she gripped him, his ribs were pressed firmly against her chest, and his own hand, wrapped around her torso in an attempt to maintain some balance, was buried deep against her other breast.
"Oh, don't be like that; they are quite pleasant," Yumi replied, his shamelessness unabashed and his tone dripping with mischief. The sheer audacity of her comment caused Okita's eyelid to twitch in irritation.
As she grew to know this new Master of hers, the impulse to strike him down with her blade grew stronger with every passing moment. Yet, after witnessing the sheer scale of his recent feat and the bewildering array of abilities he possessed, a sobering realization settled over her: even if she truly desired to kill him, she simply lacked the strength to do so.
Finally, she let him go, as Yumi stepped back onto solid ground once more. While her body faded back into him, Yumi looked up at Paradox and Z-one with his usual cocky smirk.
Since Z-one was playing dirty by sending his Timelord out to block attacks that weren't meant for it, a quick and simple method to bypass this was to simply attack faster than it could block.
---
AN: Yo, sorry for the late update, just got out of the hospital again, and I've been rewriting this chapter multiple times