"Good work." Back at the battle-prep seats, Yusei said to Hikaru as usual.
As for Hikaru suddenly lingering on the arena for so long, he had no intention of asking about it at all.
Compared to that, what he cared about more was whether Hikaru removing his mask on the arena and exposing his identity would be bad for Hikaru.
Hikaru replied.
It actually didn't matter.
At bottom, his hiding his identity wasn't because he feared being watched or targeted.
Nothing like that.
The reason he'd worried was more about whether the Fusion Dimension's work could proceed smoothly.
Now that the Xyz Dimension had produced an unexpected situation, he naturally no longer needed to hide.
As for the "practice" matter Tierra had mentioned earlier, that actually didn't matter anymore either.
For one thing, this was already Hikaru's second match in the elimination round. Going forward, Hikaru would take the stage at most once more. Considering the sudden situations that might arise later, Team 5D's felt that at least each person should keep one solo participation opportunity in reserve.
So going forward, Jack and Crow would primarily compete.
And it was precisely for this reason that Hikaru would have ample time afterward to go to the DT Dimension with Tierra.
Tierra wasn't a human, and her own power had already recovered enough that she could duel however she wanted and practice however she wanted.
As for whether the hidden Sophia might secretly watch or anything, she didn't care in the least.
This matter was perfectly unremarkable.
She would secretly observe Sophia too. No big deal.
Compared to these, one thing that made Hikaru very happy was that, although Yaiba Todo hadn't quite figured it out, by the time he fought Masumi Kotsu, the three of them had already gained quite a few realizations. And Masumi Kotsu, as a Gem-Knight user, really did have a bit of the feel of a lady knight.
And the "Lady Brilliant Diamond" she used left quite an impression on Crystal too.
Of course, that wasn't the point. The point was that the "Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond" Hikaru's side had always lacked was finally born in this duel.
Little Lu, as one of the spirits who'd come to Hikaru's side relatively early, plus having the energy of a high-level spirit, had never been able to use this power before. It was only with the help of the Costume Witch that she'd gradually mastered her two different energies.
But before, she could at most reach "Lapis Lazuli" and "Obliquorite." The reason was that, being a healing-specialized spirit herself, she hadn't had much contact with high-level knights within the Gem-Knight Order, and had rarely even seen ones of Crystal's rank. Today, seeing Lady Brilliant Diamond, she suddenly recalled memories she'd been unable to bring to mind no matter what, and felt she could try to evolve again.
This was a good thing.
Although she herself had "Gem-Knight Nepyrim," an extremely powerful support form for Hikaru, the more high-Level forms the better, naturally.
Not to mention, with Lady Brilliant Diamond's own 3400 attack power producing another Master Diamond that could copy Graveyard effects, forget 4000 Life Points, even 8000 could be pierced clean through.
Regrettably, Hikaru hadn't swiped "Brilliant Rose" or "Crystal Rose." But considering that these two cards were more symbols of Zuzu Boyle and Masumi Kotsu's friendship, the materialization of the power of flowers, Hikaru didn't dwell on it too much.
Up to now, Hikaru's Gem-Knight cards were actually already quite complete.
By his recollection, he was still missing a "Gem-Knight Quartz," which in his impression was fairly important. Besides that, although his Gem-Knight cards were fairly complete, he had basically none of the "Gem" cards, like Gem-Turtle and Gem-Armadillo. Gem-Turtle aside, Gem-Armadillo was quite an important card.
And Hikaru speculated.
Since cards like "Gem-Knight Nepyrim" and "Gem-Knight Dispersion" were already out, there ought to be a new Fusion form no matter what. Maybe there was even some El Shaddoll Super Master Diamond or something.
He'd write and ask Boss A about it later.
If it could point out a direction, that would be a very good thing for Hikaru too.
Also, compared to these, Hikaru needed to hurry and adjust his deck.
Today's deck was a relatively specialized "EARTH, FIRE Attribute" mixed deck, made for the convenience of control between him and Tierra. Whether Hikaru or Tierra used it, it was usable. Even the Pendulum cards had Alchemic Fusion prepared, so he could blow up the scales at a critical moment to swap in and perform a Fusion.
Going forward, using Despia, Albaz, and Predaplant might be better and more convenient for dueling in this world. It would be better to take some time to swap things around a bit.
Although in fact there were still some issues in the details.
For instance, whether the suddenly-unmasked him was still "Light" or not, the officials would still discuss it with him and even penalize him. This was reasonable too. If you compete under a hidden name, you naturally have to bear the cost once your name is exposed.
Fortunately, with Jack's privilege in play, and he didn't mind using his privilege at all, this matter of Hikaru's just fizzled out.
After all, Hikaru had only taken a code name to enter the competition. He hadn't stolen, robbed, impersonated, or had one person fight four or five duels, so they wouldn't directly usher Hikaru out.
But likewise, Hikaru would face participation restrictions going forward.
In short, for the next three duels, Hikaru couldn't participate, including the team relay duels.
What could he do about it? Just accept it.
In any case, Team 5D's had already decided to swap in other members to get a feel for the arena next.
And at this moment, a new round of duels on the arena was about to begin.
Hikaru and the others gathered before the battle-prep seat's screen, both curious and anticipating.
This was also the most criticized point of this competition.
No matter who, no matter which team, they each had their own separate battle-prep seat, calculation room, and communication room, structured like a tree, distributed along different paths. This meant that each team and the other teams had no way to normally intersect. Aside from perhaps running into each other by chance during meals, at all other times, only the arena allowed them to meet.
For Yusei Fudo, who wanted "cooperation," this was an extremely headache-inducing point.
Likewise, for those with matters on their minds who wanted to find someone, this was quite an irritating thing too.
Because this way, they had no way to normally greet and visit one another, and could only go through the process one segment at a time, which was quite a hassle.
And at this moment, the members of the two teams finally took the stage.
The competition format they'd chosen was... a solo Turbo Duel match.
"Eh, I really wanted to be the first one on." At the battle-prep seats, Yugo looked at the data on the computer, both regretful and sighing.
"Sorry, Yugo. Here, only you and Rin can read this D-Wheel data..." Beside him, Lulu was quite polite.
Yugo let out another long sigh.
He and Rin shared the same D-Wheel. That meant that no matter the situation, as long as Rin took the stage, he definitely couldn't. Unless Rin managed to push the vehicle back in time to let him go on.
Someone might wonder: didn't the WRGP assign each contestant a D-Wheel?
But he and Rin were different.
Their D-Wheel was one he and Rin had built together in the Downtown through study, with Yusei's help. You could say it was a symbol of the two of them's bond and knowledge. That's right, although he was loud and brash and looked dumb, Yugo was a genuine genius, the kind who could build a D-Wheel by hand.
Originally, he'd very much wanted to take the stage for the first duel, but Rin elbowed him and, one step ahead, grabbed the handlebars.
He understood this move. When everyone races for the first move, they all shout "I go first!" He just hadn't expected Rin to suddenly rush it at a time like this.
Serena rested both hands behind her head to the side, gazing at the screen, in no hurry at all.
Although she was very fond of and enthusiastic about dueling, she was, after all, here to help Lulu find someone. And at this point, as natives of the Synchro Dimension, it was surely better for Rin or Yugo to take the stage in the first match.
She didn't know why, but although the vast majority of teams had already competed and taken the stage, only now had they been randomly matched with an opponent.
It was as if... someone had deliberately slowed down their debut, making them participate later.
She didn't figure it out, so she didn't dwell on it, and instead spent more time recalling the previous match.
Hikaru's duel.
Master's duel was so cool.
And besides... maybe their team would even have a chance to run into him.
If that happened, could she duel Master?
At this time, the Pendulum Dimension crowd, whose curiosity had been piqued by Hikaru's words, also returned to their special seats, watching the screen with curiosity.
Team Marvelous Lightning was a group of rather individualistic-looking girls, all with some lightning insignia on them. Several of the girls were doing their best to cheer for their contestant.
And their opponent, that contestant from Team Moonwind Bird, was...
"Eh?" Zuzu Boyle covered her mouth in disbelief.
"Zuzu?!" Masumi Kotsu and Yuya Sakaki stood up in surprise, drawing close to the screen, confirming again and again.
"An, an exactly identical person?!" Gong leaned back so hard he nearly failed to stay seated and fell off his chair.
No wonder that Hikaru had recommended they take a look.
"Cou, could it be that thing? That... that..." Hokuto Shijima waved both hands and said, "I saw it in a science-explainer video. That, that parallel-world isotope?"
A parallel-world isotope?
Zuzu was stunned for a moment, then a figure she'd seen a few days ago suddenly flashed through her mind, that person with the same eyes as Yuya.
"Lulu!!!!" And after Rin took the stage, Shun Obsidian, who was still pondering just how dangerous the "Fusion lackey" might be, saw the figure on the screen, was violently startled, and then let out a heart-rending scream, giving a huge fright to Bastion Misawa beside him, who had been scratching the back of his head because of Hikaru's appearance and seemed to be faintly recovering, recalling some memory.
What, what?
Before he could react, Shun Obsidian turned and ran for the exit.
He didn't care about the WRGP tournament's rules. He didn't care about the fairness of the duel.
As long as he could find his little sister, as long as he could find his little sister, nothing else mattered.
Bam!
But unexpectedly, before he'd even taken two steps out, he felt a sharp cramping pain in his stomach. When he came to, a voice had already rung out.
"She's not Lulu!!" Yuto shouted at him in turn.
Shun was stunned, looked back, and saw the girl's white racing suit, her different demeanor and movements, and the name displayed...
Rin?
She really wasn't Lulu...
He grimaced and drew a couple of sharp breaths, hesitated a moment, then said: "Yuto, could you not hit me next time?"
"Uh, cough cough, sorry. I was a bit worried you'd frighten another girl." Yuto hurriedly explained, then said hesitantly.
Immediately after, he instinctively knit his brow again.
One, two, counting Lulu, that made a full three exactly identical people?
Could there really be such a coincidence?
While they were tangled up in this, the duel had already begun.
The first move went to Rin.
The deck she used was a Synchro deck called "Windwitch." Seeing Windwitch take the stage and perform a tuning, the last bit of wishful thinking in Shun Obsidian's heart vanished completely.
There was no more fantasizing about it. This absolutely wasn't Lulu. The Lulu in his impression would absolutely never use this kind of large monster. Although Windwitches were all cute monsters, in the end Lulu would surely still keep to her original way, and wouldn't tune like Rin and then summon huge monsters.
What was surprising was that in style, Windwitch actually bore some slight resemblance to Lulu's deck.
Windwitch was a special deck that whittled down LP using monster effects.
In the first turn, Rin used a card's effect to directly whittle 1300 off her opponent's Life Points, then ended her turn.
Mm, it looked pretty normal.
And her opponent...
After drawing, the girl from Team Marvelous Lightning couldn't help laughing out loud, and even mocked herself: "We seem to be the same kind of person."
Rin frowned slightly.
The opponent looked very much like the kind of gloomy Gothic girl, but unexpectedly her personality was quite fiery. When she took the burn damage, she didn't at all say, like other duelists Rin had met, "How despicable!" or "You only want to deal damage, not to fight!"
And then she knew why.
The deck Team Marvelous Lightning used was... Watt!
If Windwitch's specialty was whittling down LP, then Watt's specialty was direct attacks!
"Truly a worthy match, well met in skill." Watching the development of this duel, Crow couldn't help muttering.
Although he'd only looked after Rin and Yugo for a few months, a few months was enough time for the two kids to call him "brother" from the heart. Naturally, someone who loved children as he did had long since taken the time to study their decks while caring for the two of them.
Although Yugo was very clever and knowledgeable, he was essentially still a child who hadn't grown up, so his dueling was full of whimsical ideas and relatively absurd tactics. What he liked was a deck that used "toys." Rin, meanwhile, was just like the deck she used. She usually looked gentle and quiet, but when she actually got going, she could fight even better than Yugo. The moment Yugo said anything even slightly irrational, foolish, or overly childish, she'd let him know just how formidable she was, like a witch.
The two had grown up together since childhood, supporting each other, and had studied together under Yusei too. You could say they were inseparable.
But because they were also children who'd grown up in the Satellite, they each had their own "protective coloring" too. Someone like Rin, who'd previously trusted only Yugo and a few brothers, had never thought to open her heart to others through dueling. The tactic she adopted was whittling down LP.
Unexpectedly, today she'd run into a similar duelist who also didn't want to interact with her opponent and only wanted to directly attack and slap faces.
He grew a bit worried.
Two withdrawn kids dueling each other, could this... could this work? Wouldn't they become even more withdrawn after finishing?
Compared to the duel's result, he was more worried about the two girls' growth.
Then he suddenly thought of something else.
Summing up his experience and thinking back to the past, Crow developed a suspicion.
Was the duel arrangement really random?
Why would Rin so aptly run into just the right opponent?
Not only that, the more he watched the duel, the stranger it seemed.
As the duel proceeded, Rin and the other party engaged in verbal exchange too.
The little girl who used Watt spoke of being bullied in a poor country, and how it was dueling that let her and her companions find a way to go on living. So, apart from her companions and her cards, they trusted no one.
From Rin's dueling, she'd seen the same thing too.
"But you actually hesitated—"
The girl was a bit puzzled: "Why? When all you have to do is keep whittling down the Life Points, why did you hesitate?"
Why indeed?
Ever since Hikaru appeared in their world, ever since Serena and Lulu burst into her life, ever since she gained two genuine "blood sisters" without any blood relation, she'd actually stopped holding to this way of thinking.
Perhaps her past experiences really had been painful, but that didn't mean there was no one in the world who could be trusted.
As long as you could tell them apart, it was fine.
Although, up to now, she additionally trusted only those two girls exactly like her, and Hikaru, who had once saved her and Yugo's lives. But that had indeed changed something she'd always believed.
"Since you're unwilling, then it means you don't want to be one of us anymore. In that case, I'll just..."
The lightning girl grew a bit angry and stomped hard on the accelerator twice.
"Wattuna's effect can be activated only when it inflicts battle damage to the opponent by a direct attack. I release this card and one or more face-up monsters in my hand or on my field other than Tuners, and Special Summon 1 Watt Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck whose Level equals the combined Levels of the released monsters.
I tune Wattwoodpecker in my hand and Wattuna!"
"A hand Synchro? And during the Battle Phase?"
"Whoa... she can tune just by attacking directly, how interesting..."
"This WRGP really is fun. Every day you get to see a brand-new kind of Synchro."
Before the words had even finished, on the field, a brand-new giant dragon with seven heads had already flown out.
Wattchimera. Level 7, LIGHT Attribute, Thunder-Type. ATK 1500.
On the Watt girl's field, a cobra had been flying earlier. Now the cobra coiled around her vehicle, and beside the vehicle, the seven-headed giant dragon roared.
Rin frowned.
Just now, she'd already been directly attacked by the 1000-ATK Wattkingcobra and the 800-ATK Wattuna. Now she had only 2200 points left.
"Wattchimera, direct attack!"
Seven bolts of orange-yellow lightning crashed down madly around Rin. Relying on astonishing riding skill, she swayed left and right and just barely made it out from under the lightning intact.
Rin, LP: 2200 → 700.
Now she had only 700 left!
Rin frowned.
"The way you're frowning, you definitely can't solve this in a short time, right?" Watching Rin's conflicted look, the Gothic girl gave a snicker and made her own guess. "Windwitch - Ice Bell dealt me 500 damage, Windwitch - Winter Bell dealt me another 800 damage. Even if Winter Bell activates its effect a second time next turn, I'll only take 2100 damage in total. And if you use Winter Bell to attack my cobra, I'll only take 1400 points of damage.
And besides..." She looked at her hand. "I Set one card and end my turn."
Rin controlled her vehicle, struggling to round a curve, then drew a card.
"Open Set card!"
The Gothic girl tossed her head back with a "ha": "Trap Card, Damage Translation. This turn, the effect damage I take becomes half its value. During this turn's End Phase, I Special Summon Ghost Tokens in Defense Position on my field equal to the number of times I took effect damage."
"This is bad." Watching this card, Yugo immediately shrieked, both hands cupping his cheeks. "It's over, Rin's deck can't deal that high a battle damage anymore! Her low-Level monsters have at most 1500 ATK! She can't win through battle damage, and effect damage isn't enough either!"
Rin looked at her hand, then said thoughtfully: "You don't trust other people, but... you're dueling. Don't you also want to gain my recognition, to find other companions?"
"...Uh, that's different?" The girl was a bit confused too, unable to put it into words.
Rin looked at her, then suddenly broke into a smile: "I think it doesn't matter. I'd be very willing to become your friend. And besides... you're very cute. You don't need to put on airs and add so many accessories. You look lovely even without them."
"Eh eh eh eh eh???" The Gothic girl shrieked a couple of times, her face flushing red in an instant.
And just as Rin said, she actually didn't look the least bit fierce, but to protect her little sisters, she had to look frightening enough.
"Du, duel, focus your attention on the duel for me!"
Although she was a duel-the-wall type of duelist, the Gothic girl still persisted.
"After the WRGP tournament ends, there should be a lot of advertisers looking for people to shoot commercials, right?" Rin mused. "Maybe Yugo could become a big star too."
?
The Gothic girl didn't quite understand her train of thought.
"Ah, right, what's your name? I'm Rin."
"Lily..." The girl was a bit embarrassed, because her name wasn't imposing at all.
"Is that so. Then I'm going to attack."
"Oh! Here it comes, but what can you do—"
"I'll use this."
Suddenly, Rin held up a card.
The moment she raised it, countless people let out cries of shock, making Shun Obsidian instinctively go wide-eyed again too, watching the duel in disbelief.
Spell Card, Polymerization!
"Fusion??" Lily cried out, losing her voice. "Why is there Fusion—"
"A friend gave it to me, of course." Rin looked at Polymerization.
Actually, ever since Serena and Lulu were stranded in the Synchro Dimension and hunted last time, Rin had begun studying Fusion. It was just that she'd never truly used it before then.
Now, though, it seemed like a good opportunity.
"Spell Card, Polymerization. I fuse Windwitch - Winter Bell on the field with Windwitch - Snow Bell in my hand!"
"Wondrous, gentle wind, bring the power of another dimension, become for me a glittering gem, become a symbol of friendship.
Fusion Summon!
Appear.
Level 8, Windwitch - Crystal Bell!"
An enormous transparent crystal fell from the sky, and then the crystal slowly departed, and a graceful figure swayed her body, giving off a crisp, clear sound.
"Fusion?" Zuzu Boyle pressed her palms together, watching the girl with the same appearance as herself, seemingly this world's "self," use Fusion, and murmured in a low voice.
"Fusion!" Yuya Sakaki was startled.
"Whoa!!! She did it!" In Team Moonwind Bird's battle-prep seats, Serena and Lulu first high-fived in celebration, then hugged each other excitedly, while Yugo cheered to the side.
A brand-new Windwitch!
Windwitch - Crystal Bell. Level 8, WIND Attribute, Spellcaster-Type. ATK 2800.
"Whoa, it's Crystal!" Tierra looked at this monster in surprise. "Serena finally produced a decent result."
Hikaru nodded too, in affirmation.
"2800 ATK..." Lily was a bit shocked.
That attack power was no longer a card an ordinary duelist could get their hands on. At the very least, her whole Watt family didn't have one that high.
But... "I still have 2700 Life Points. Although your ATK is high, even if you destroy my king cobra by battle, I'll only take 1800 damage, leaving 900 Life Points. What a pity. Even if I hadn't activated my Trap Card, it seems you still can't reduce my Life Points to zero."
"That's not necessarily so." Rin suddenly said into Lily's ear.
"Huh?" Lily was startled, like a cat with its fur standing on end, and steered off to the side. "Wh, what is it? At this point, you haven't even used Winter Bell's LP-whittling effect, and you still want to win?"
"Windwitch - Crystal Bell can target 1 monster in my or my opponent's Graveyard to activate. Until the End Phase, this card is treated as a card of the same name as that monster. It gains the same effect."
"Huh? Oh... that's nothing either. Even if it's Winter Bell's effect, choosing the Winter Bell in the Graveyard to activate its effect, dealing damage equal to Level x 200, that's only 1400 damage, which would be reduced to 700 by my Damage Translation. I'd still have 200 Life Points... close call, almost lost. Good thing I used Damage Translation."
"No, it's already over."
"?"
"Did you forget... your monster..."
My monster—
Ah!!
She jolted awake with a start.
Wattuna can attack directly!
A 2800 direct attack!
She only had 2700 Life Points!
She came to her senses, and cries of "Big sis!" "Big sis, be careful!" "Hurry, think of something—" were already ringing in her ears.
What could she do!
"How are you able to Fuse, and how do you..."
More than the loss, she wanted to know how the other party maintained this kind of mindset.
Rin smiled and gently smoothed the strands of hair by her ear so the hair under her helmet wouldn't be so uncomfortable: "If we only hurt each other, isn't that heartbreaking? If you want to cooperate, to fuse, then you have to make the other person believe you, or show them that you have the same things they do.
That's how the seniors taught us."
Lily blinked her bewildered eyes, but seemed to gradually understand a little.
"So then, Crystal Bell gains Wattuna's card name and effect and directly attacks the opponent!"
Within the swaying crystal witch's body, a yellow tuna flickered with electric light, and like holy light descending from the heavens, Crystal Bell began her attack.
Rin's figure was reflected in Lily's eyes. In her eyes, Rin under the shining light was no witch at all, but a saint!
"Boo hoo hoo—" On Team 5D's, Crow covered both his eyes with his forearm, unable to hold back his soft sobbing.
"Tch, idiot, so even you have moments of acting foolish." Jack finally found a chance to hit back at Crow.
"Mind your own business! The kid's finally grown up, boo hoo hoo—"
Weeping for joy.
Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up, he saw Yusei let out a long breath too, unable to resist rubbing the back of his own head, and the two shared a knowing laugh.
Although he hadn't seen Serena, Rin's final performance put him much more at ease.
Although Serena was blunt, she wasn't actually brainless. With a same-aged, same-faced, theoretically "same-fathered" blood-unrelated sister at her side, and one performing so stunningly, she surely couldn't cause reckless trouble, so it was quite worth looking forward to.
This way, he also didn't need to worry about developments here in the Synchro world. He'd go grind Gladiator Beasts once, and then...
His second challenge to the Branded Dimension!