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cannibalistic-cucumber · 3 months

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Okay so

For various reasons, Sonic Adventure (SA1) is among my dead favorite games. The two relevant to this rant are the characters and the gorgeous soundtrack (in fact, I might go on a tangent about individual songs at the end of this).

My favorite character in the game is E-102 “Gamma” (btw if you derail this post about Omega, you die), a robot built by Eggman, who runs on animal power, as Eggman’s robots usually do. However, Gamma contains a very special animal - it’s a surprise tool the will help us later. Five minutes into being born (and after training, ofc), he is forced to shoot his brother, E-101 “Beta”. Following this, he board’s Eggman’s ship (the Egg Carrier) and is tasked with catching the tailed frog. Upon collecting the frog, he is transported to the past, where he experiences childlike wonder at the chao. Back on the Egg Carrier, the rest of his siblings are cast out because of their failure to get the frog. After that, Gamma is sent to execute a prisoner. On the way, he makes a wrong turn and ends up in the machining room, where he experiences eldritch horror at the sight of his brother being disassembled and reassembled. In the prison, he finds Amy Rose, who has a blue bird flying around with her looking for its parents. She convinces him not to kill her a la Mindy Animaniacs, and protects Sonic out on the deck of the ship, further confusing Gamma. He leaves the crashing ship, now convinced to “rescue” his disowned brothers. After successfully disposing of them, he is ambushed on the Egg Carrier by Beta Mk II, who feigns death in order to shoot Gamma in the back, and they both die as a result. Lo and behold, Gamma and Beta contained the parents of the bird. Reunited, they fly off into the sunset.

TLDR: Gamma is Eggman robot who experiences eldritch horror and compassion and forsakes his master as a result. He “rescues” his siblings before dying himself, and the animal inside him reunites with its family.

Now, a little more background before we get to the main point. SEGA Sound Team popped off for this game. Each character has a theme song that plays during their respective recaps and end credits (each one has an entire storyline with slight variations on who does what (it’s all happening at once)). Side note: I’m like 70% sure SA1 is the origin of Knuckles jazz. It should also be noted that I have a youtube playlist of songs on queue for downloading, and when I run out of ideas I scroll through the recommended additions section.

E-102’s theme is in my top three favorite songs from SA1. You’ll never guess what it’s called! Theme of E-102γ. And that’s my first talking point. I was reading the comments on one of the music videos, and one of them made a connection that his theme doesn’t get a proper name because he’s just another cog in the machine. Even Big the Cat has a greater role in the main story than him. And yet, doomed by the narrative as he is, he gets his own story. As another comment pointed out, each story has its own (literary) theme: Sonic is Adventure, Tails is Independence, Knuckles is Recollection (I’m kinda iffy on that one), Amy is Protection, Big is Friendship, and Gamma? Gamma is heart and soul. Compassion. Morality, something that shouldn’t be possible, and definitely isn’t comprehensible for a robot, especially one of Eggman’s creation.

As a side tangent here, I’ve been putting rescued in quotes when it comes to Gamma and his brothers, but I realized something between the time I started writing this and now. The animals that drop from the E-series robots are birds. They’re all his brothers, inside and out. I had always assumed that Gamma had meant rescue only in the liberation sense. I never realized that he meant it both ways. I just… I’m need a moment.

As a side side tangent, I think this is one of the biggest differences between E-100 ZERO and the rest. To my knowledge, he didn’t have any animals, much less another bird, and that was what led him to the brutish oafishness that we see displayed by him.

Back to the main points, I think that all of this is reflected in the song. It starts out with all of the synth, vague vocals, electro, etc. that would be expected from the theme of a robot, and then you’ve got… PIANO. Oh my god the piano. Piano Man has its harmonica, and this song has its piano. In the midst of the circuits, the wires, the computers, there’s life, a heartbeat, a soul. And with the soul comes that twinge of sadness. Sure he freed the animals, but to do so, he had to kill his brothers with his own two (?)(does the gun count?) hands. Due to this and the cumulation of everything else, hearing the song (or the variation of it) during his final cutscene hits and hits hard.

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THE REPRISE OF THE MAIN THEME PIANO AS HE DIES IN OBSCURITY. THE OTHER BIRDS ARE LIKELY THE ONLY ONES THAT END UP KNOWING ABOUT HIS DEATH

It’s okay I’m okay I’m so normal about this

Now that the main rant is over, it’s time for me to hoot about the other songs

Be Cool, Be Wild, Be Groovy …for Ice Cap

I get that it’s a snowboarding section, but still. THEY BOTHERED TO USE GUITAR IN A SNOW LEVEL. NAME ONE OTHER INSTANCE OF THAT THAT ISN’T LITTLE BIG PLANET’S THE WILDERNESS’S SITAR.

Limestone Cave …for Ice Cap

Ambience plain and simple. Good for falling asleep to

Snowy Mountain …for Ice Cap

Another ambience piece, this time with another guitar (no this doesn’t count for the challenge I posed above). Love the mix of electric and acoustic

Welcome To Station Square

“The train headed for the Mystic Ruins will be departing soon.” Came for the guitar, stayed for the trumpet.

Red Barrage Area …for Hot Shelter

SAX (shout outs to the rest of Hot Shelter’s music btw)

Militant Missionary … Boss Egg Walker & Egg Viper

Hopelessness, despair, DRAMA. Things may not have gone to plan, but Eggman is surely still the one in control.

And finally, shoutouts to Bad Taste Aquarium, Pleasure Castle, and Dilapidated Way for going full throttle right out the gate.

@green-mountain-goose @greetings-inferiors @cue-jay @kimu-dem

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real-life-pine-tree · 7 years

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Arc-V Aftermath: Soulmates and Rivals (20/26)

When all is said and done, things have quickly recovered in the four dimensions. But when weird things start happening, the Yu-Salad Boys and the Bracelet Girls quickly realize they have some loose ends to fix. Co-written with @violetganache42.

WARNING: Dub names will be featured in the story.

As the first round continued, Nico proceeded to commentate on Team Obelisk's duels against Team Lancer, who had won the first set against Team Force. Block D's monitor had already revealed what the lineups were going to be: Yuri vs. Celina, Dennis vs. Sylvio, and Sora vs. Aura. Surely, focusing on another arena will keep everyone's minds off of some…unfortunate moments that occurred with Team Turbo.

"My goodness," Yuri said. "It seems I am going to duel Miss Celina." He let out a chuckle. "She will fall right into my Predaplant trap." His pupils became slitted once again as he finished the last sentence, which Dennis and Sora noticed since their friend was in between them.

"Whoa, calm down, dragon boy," Sora said. "You haven't even started the duel."

"Whatever do you mean?" Yuri asked.

"Your eyes are doing that weird dragon thing again," Dennis explained. "Sora and I both know that only happens when your heartbeat increases, which is usually when you're about to win a duel."

Well, Dennis was half right. The slitted pupils do occur whenever he has a faster heartbeat, but it is not just from winning a duel, which they were going to find out soon enough.

"My apologies," Yuri said. "We have won all of our duels in the previous round. If we defeat Team Lancer, we'll be able to move on to the next round." But his pupils didn't change back to normal."

After Dennis and Sora gave their considerations about victory, all six Duelists readied their Duel Disks as Block D was divided into three sections. However, Yuri and Celina were starting to love each other a little too much…and they honestly hate that feeling. How can a couple date each other and loathe the emotion of love? And to make things worse for them, the selected Action Field was Moonlit Ball, another costume-provided field that turned their normal clothes into formal attire.

While Celina bit her lip as she tried not to blush upon seeing Yuri in a dark blue tuxedo with coat tails, he was having a harder time. His girlfriend wore a purplish-pink, floor-length, strapless dress that split on her right to expose her right leg and had a pair of dark magenta high heels on her feet to match. What she was wearing went really well with her shoulder-length bob cut hairstyle, making it more difficult for the Predaplant user to cope with.

"Sh-Shall we begin?" Yuri asked, his arm shaking as he activated his Duel Disk.

"S...Sure," Celina agreed. She also activated her Duel Disk as she wished Yuri could go back to wearing his casual wear. That tuxedo looked so much better on him than his plant-themed t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

The two shouted out "Let's duel!" to begin their match, hoping this unbearable feeling wouldn't severely affect them.

Yuri looked at his opening hand. "My goodness," he said, smirking. "I drew the right cards. Now I shall set the Pendulum Scale with Performapal Ballad and Performapal Barracuda!"

"When did you start using Performapals?" Celina asked.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Yuri said, glad he was finally acting normal. "Yuya let me borrow those cards for the tournament since they are the only Performapals that are as lovely and elegant as my beloved Predaplants."

"Great," Celina replied, sounding sarcastic. "Can't wait to see those two monstrosities-"

Her sentence was cut short when she saw the two Performapals. Ballad was a man who wielded two fencing sword and had a giant rose on his head, thorny vines behind his ears and on his left leg, and wore a white cape attached to a light chartreuse, light and dark green armor underneath a grass green vest, white pants, and brown boots with green studded straps. Barracuda was similar to Ballad, but had a darker color tone with different shades of dark purple on most of his appearance and had the vine wrapped around his right leg. There was definitely something wrong with Yuri because he would never use those cards up until now. What is he trying to do with this Pendulum Summon?

"What's the matter, Miss Celina?" Yuri asked. "Are you surprised by my true self?"

It may or may not be that, but she was clearly surprised to see him use Plant-Type monsters that aren't Predaplants. She was still confused on what he meant by that question; she was sure she saw his true self on the night of their date. Is there more to him than meets the eye?

Yuri let out a deep chuckle. "I'll take your silence as a 'yes'," he said. "Now watch four of my beloved Predaplants appear on the field in all their beautiful glory!"

With Yuya's Scale 2 Ballad and Scale 5 Barracuda set on the Pendulum Zones, he sent out his four Predaplants onto the field for his Pendulum Summon. Those four Predaplants were Darlingtonia Cobra, Moray Nepenthes, Pterapenthes, and Spinodionaea.

Celina was relieved. "So you're gonna fuse them into your dragon?" she asked.

"Not quite," Yuri replied. "I summon the Tuner monster Copy Plant!"

Once Yuri said the word "Tuner", Celina instantly knew he wasn't going to Fusion Summon, but Synchro Summon instead. Despite being a Level 1 monster with 0 ATK and DEF, Copy Plant's effect allows it to target a Plant-Type monster on the field and change its Level to the target's current Level until the end of Yuri's turn. With three Synchro monsters to choose from, it would be hard to figure out which one he would choose, but he already had his plan figured out beforehand.

"I activate Copy Plant's special ability!" Yuri declared. "Become a copy of Predaplant Pterapenthes and become one with Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra to Synchro Summon into Queen of Thorns!"

Queen of Thorns was a Level 6 LIGHT Plant-Type Synchro monster with 2200 ATK and 1800 DEF. Her effect involves both Duelists to pay 1000 LP to normal or special summon non-Plant-Type monsters. What Celina was more focused on was the monster's appearance; she looked like she can harness the powers of the rose creatures that were part of her body.

"WHAT?" Celina asked.

"Hmm?" Yuri looked at her. "What ever is the matter?"

"That looks nothing like your Predaplants!" Celina pointed out. "What's wrong with you?"

Yuri was astonished at how Celina had the capability of catching on to his not-so-subtle differences, but she failed to realize what his true intentions were, which he will reveal in due time. For now, they should focus on this duel and the tournament.

"All shall be revealed eventually," Yuri explained as he set a card on his field. "But for now, keep in mind that you cannot summon any of your Lunalights unless you wish to give up your life points."

Celina was alarmed by what Queen of Thorns can do because Yuri can summon Plant-Type monsters without costing any of his Life Points. It was bad enough that she can't get rid of this feeling, but now she has to get herself out of this mess if she and her teammates want to move on to the second round. Once her opponent played a face-down to end his turn, she drew a card from her deck and looked at what she's got. She then checked her bearings to see if there was an Action Spell that can help her out.

Luckily Celina found a nearby Action Card, but before she could get it, she was slammed by a thorny vine. "What the...?" she mused.

"Don't think you can let an Action Card save you," Yuri said.

Celina glanced back at Yuri, who was holding the vine and explained it was actually a whip. This was a big—and possibly the main—reason as to why he has one: it makes getting Action Cards a lot easier to grab. This made her plan to negate Queen of Thorn's effect more challenging, but Celina was always a persistent girl and ran throughout Moonlit Ball to find another Action Card. Yuri pursued her, but didn't bother using his whip because he can only hold one Action Card at a time.

They dashed through the Action Field until Celina could find an Action Card. With his dragon-like eyes remaining on his face, Yuri anticipated her feeble attempts to avoid not losing her Life Points from his Synchro monster's effect. She paid no attention to him and sped up until she saw an Action Card hung up on a string of lights. She jumped onto one of the empty tables and leapt into the air to grab the card before landing on the ground to see what it was.

Celina smirked. "I activate the Action Spell Loving Spotlight to cancel your monster's effects for one turn-"

Before she could finish, a spotlight suddenly flashed down on Queen of Thorns to create a sparkly visual. She wasn't expecting the light to pop as it shortly blinded her; once she regained her vision, she stared back at Yuri and discovered his slitted pupils in the bright light. How long have they been like this? She obviously didn't see them like that during the surprise opening act, so it must have been recent, but why were they slitted?

"I see," Yuri said. "So as long as Queen of Thorns' special ability is negated, you can bring out your Lunalights during this turn." He used his free hand to clutch his chest. "Go ahead. Let me see your Cat Dancer try to take down my glorious queen."

Celina has never seen Yuri's eyes look like a serpent or a dragon until now. Since he now bears Starving Venom's eye colors, it made the dragon-like appearance stand out more, but she was more fixated on why they were severed like that and why he was clutching his heart. They rarely interacted during their time at Duel Academy, but she does know about his friendship with Sora and Dennis, so they could know if this was normal or not.

"Alright," Celina said. "I'll use Polymerization to fuse my Lunalight Black Sheep and Lunalight Crimson Fox into Lunalight Cat Dancer!"

With Celina's ace monster out on the field, it made Yuri stimulated to see Cat Dancer back for him to admire. If things couldn't get any better, she prepared to activate her Skill. "I activate my Skill: Natural Energy Burst!"

Although it was daytime, the sky got brighter from the lunar energy because it was still night somewhere else on Earth, meaning the moon never leaves the atmosphere. Celina's En Moons marking glowed cyan from her forehead as a matching symbol emerged on Cat Dancer's forehead as well, making her ATK raise by 500. The combined luminescence from the sky and her marking helped make her exhibit a prettier look, something Yuri was having slight trouble to not get himself distracted by her beauty.

"Lunalight Cat Dancer, dethorn that queen!" Celina announced.

Cat Dancer, now having 2900 ATK, unleashed her trademark attack on Queen of Thorns. Yuri was supposed to play his face-down card, but Celina's beauty diverted him from the duel as he was dealt with 700 damage, lowering his LP to 3300. The indigo-haired girl was proud of herself for vanquishing a monster with a admittedly useful effect. She set two cards face down and passed the turn onto her opponent, but he looked dazed and sidetracked for some odd reason. Her Battle Phase was already over, so why can't he stop thinking about her?

Yuri let out a loving sigh. "You are quite a lovely sight, Miss Celina," he said, calmly walking over to her. "How about we forget this duel and embrace the elegance of this Action Field?" He held out his hand.

Celina stood there as she admired the tuxedo Yuri was wearing, which was completed with a pair of white gloves that she never noticed beforehand. She couldn't prevent herself from not thinking about how handsome he looked as the two dropped their Duel Disks with music filling up the middle section. In between it, the Predaplant user's friends were struggling against Sylvio and Aura respectively in the other two sections. Despite switching archetypes, Dennis' Shaddolls failed to keep up with Sylvio's Abyss Actors whereas Sora wasn't expecting Aura's Prediction Princesses to be formidable against his Fluffals, Edge Imps, and Frightfurs. At the same time, they all heard the classical ballroom music through the dividers, wondering what was going on.

"Hey Yuri!" Sora exclaimed, riding on Frightfur Wolf as the Fusion monster ran all over the field to avoid Prediction Princess Tarotrei's attacks. "What's going on back there?!"

"Oh dear," Dennis remarked after using an Action Spell to protect El Shaddoll Wendigo from harm. "That doesn't sound good at all."

The audience members watching the duels in Block D were confused and concerned by this unexpected twist. Were Yuri and Celina…both surrendering their duel…because of their contagious love for each other? Whether it was or not, this was something that wasn't seem everyday, especially in a card game.

"Are you...asking me to dance?" Celina asked, feeling weird.

"Of course," Yuri answered. "You are quite stunning, Miss Celina."

"Stunning…" That was a word Yuri never used to describe his Predaplants. Celina was flattered by the compliment as a pink hue covered her cheeks. She asked herself if this was a sign that he genuinely loved her. Her response? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. With the two lost in the depths of their trance, they began waltzing lovingly all over Moonlit Ball, much to the bafflement and distress of some of the people and Nico.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me!" Melissa cried out. "First Yuya and Crow tried to turn the Friendship Cup into a circus, now this?! When are these Duelists gonna take tournaments seriously?!"

Nico had no idea what Melissa was talking about, so she explained to him—as well as those from the Pendulum, XYZ, and Fusion Dimensions—about what Yuya and Crow did during their match in the Friendship Cup Semifinals.

"It was mighty strange," Melissa explained. "Instead of duelin' properly, those folks thought it was a good idea to start off their duel by entertainin' the crowd with Tokens. Even I'm not sure why they decided to do that."

Fortunately, Nico knew exactly what she was talking about and mentioned that it was an example of an Entertainment Duel. He should know because he broadcasted Action Duels, which were significantly popular among Dueltainers like Yusho, Yuya, and Zuzu.

"So those Dueltainers really are that flashy?" Melissa asked.

"Precisely," Nico explained. "So what Celina and Yuri are doing is providing that kind of entertainment..." He quickly checked their bios. "...which is odd because they're not actually Dueltainers."

The two announcers pondered on what was causing Celina and Yuri's abrupt "entertainment". Although they claimed how ironic it was for two teens who grew up in Duel Academy could end up Dueltaining the people, they were wavering on how long it will last because this waltz might give both Teams Obelisk and Lancer a losing point.

"Wait a moment!" Nico realized. "What kind of an Action Field is Moonlit Ball?! I never heard about it until now!"

He browsed through a list of Action Fields that were created, applying filters to make sure they were in alphabetical order, would only find those starting with "M," and provided costume for the Duelists. No results showed up about Moonlit Ball, which made Nico contemplate on whether this card was fake, limited, or banned.

"Folks, it appears Moonlit Ball is not an official Action Field," Nico revealed. "The duel between Yuri and Celina does not count as an official tournament duel."

Discussions arose from several groups of people; at least they now know if Yuri and Celina were actually forfeiting the duel or not. It still doesn't change the fact that Dennis and Sora were on the brink of defeat and needed to find ways to win against Sylvio and Aura if they want to progress to the second round. While they glued their attentions to the two official tournament duels, Leo was more satisfied with the unforeseen outcome as he watched his former Obelisk Force soldier and former Duel Academy student dance to the rhythm of the waltz music.

"Well done Yuri," Leo said. "That Action Field I created was just the right push."

A few minutes later, the waltz ended and Yuri and Celina continues to embrace each other. "Not bad," Celina remarked, noticing Yuri's dragon eyes have changed back to normal. "You're a good dancer."

"Thank you," Yuri replied. "It was part of my etiquette lessons. However, I'm surprised on how graceful you are."

"I've been taking ballroom dance lessons," Celina said, leaning in towards her boyfriend. "Gotta keep up the pace."

"Well you certainly have improved," Yuri said, also leaning in as well so his and Celina's lips were barely touching. "You have proven to be quite a stunning lady, and I love that so much."

A gratified Celina was too adrift in her abstraction she let her face blush harder than it did earlier. She also leaned forward towards Yuri, with the latter following suit. Their mouths entwined with each other, and with their lips locked in place, they shared a kiss that was difficult to be avoided for two young teenagers with little-to-no non-dueling social skills. Unbeknownst to them, their surroundings changed back into a regular section and they were wearing their normal clothes again as Moonlit Ball and their provided costumes vanished away so that Nico could replace it with an official Action Field.

"Sorry folks, but Yuri and Celina will have to restart their duel on an official Action Field," Nico explained. "The one I have selected for them is Predaplanet War Arena."

With a click of a button, the section transformed into Predaplanet War Arena momentarily after Yuri and Celina parted their lips for air. They then picked up their Duel Disks and walked back to their positions to properly start their tournament duel. However, their faces were expressed differently than what was usually seen in their previous duels. Instead of their typical emotions of rage, they were more…respectful of one another…on a mutual level. With the few weeks spent apart from each other, their personalities matured quite significantly. Maybe some time alone was what they needed after all.

"I must say, Miss Celina, there's quite a spark in your eyes," Yuri remarked. "Such confidence..." He smiled. "I like it."

"You changed too," Celina replied. "You're not as annoying as you initially were weeks ago."

"Then how about we settle our feud once and for all?" Yuri asked as he activated his Duel Disk.

Celina smirked as she activated her Duel Disk. "Challenge accepted," she replied.

With that being said, the two officially initiated their duel as Yuri began his first turn. For the very first time, this was truly a pure Fusion fuel between him and Celina. Predaplants vs. Lunalights. Starving Venom vs. Cat Dancer. Their past duels pale in comparison to the what they were displaying in the tournament, but it was only a matter of time to determine who will move on to the second round.

Using the Action Field to his advantage, Yuri whipped at Action Cards to take them and utilize them with his Predaplants, but Celina wasn't fazed as she attempted to find Spells and Traps to help her out. In other words, their duel went smoothly and brought more joy and glee to the audience watching it than it did earlier. Eventually, they were near the end and have already summoned their strongest Fusion monsters.

"So here we are," Yuri said. "My lovely Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon against your Lunalight Leo Dancer. Shall we see who has the strongest Fusion?"

"We shall," Celina agreed. "But keep in mind that Leo Dancer is immune to your dragon's special abilities."

"True," Yuri said. "But I'll find some other way to win."

Celina replied that he wouldn't count on it as she declared an attack with Leo Dancer. She destroyed Greedy Venom and dealt 700 damage to Yuri's Life Points thanks to Natural Energy Burst; normally, according to one of her effects, all special summoned monsters the opponent controlled would be destroyed as well, but since Yuri's field was completely empty, he was vulnerable for a direct attack. Coincidentally, another effect enables her to attack a second time during each Battle Phase, which was what she did as took out the rest of his Life Points to make her owner the winner of this duel and to give Team Lancer a win for this round.

Celina was surprised. "Did I...actually defeat Yuri?" she asked, completely surprised. Then she smile wide. "Yes! Team Lancer's going straight to the top!"

Just as she was done exclaiming that statement, the dividers lowered down to reveal Sylvio and Aura were both defeated by Dennis and Sora. Block D was done with their duels and all three teams in the block must wait for the results to see who will move on. Celina, on the other hand, was speechless and confused on why her teammates lost.

"What happened?" Celina asked.

"I'm not sure," Aura admitted. "I thought I was winning, but then Sora merged his three Frightfurs into this three-headed snake creature and crushed my Prediction Princesses!"

"I have to agree with you," Sylvio replied. "I thought my Abyss Actors have become stronger. It seems those Shaddoll creatures are far more powerful than I initially thought."

Yuri saw how well his friends did, but he noticed a dismayed Celina. It was nice to know she finally beat him in Duel Monsters, yet she and her teammates may not be placed in the next round. Perhaps an affectionate moment may cheer her up.

Without warning, Yuri hugged Celina from behind and planted a kiss on her neck. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I believe it's what a lot of people call 'affection'," Yuri answered, feeling her soft hair on his cheek.

"Sounds disgusting," Celina said. She then heard a small whimper from Yuri, who was still holding onto her and trying to cheer her up. In retrospect, in the eyes of a girl with hardly any social skills, this display of affection was actually kind of cute.

The indigo-haired girl let out a sigh in defeat. "Do it again," she said as she tilted her head to the side.

Without any hesitation, Yuri resumed giving Celina pecks on her neck. It was obvious that they may need to take some time to get the hang of being in a relationship.

"Attention all Duelists," Declan said over the microphone. "All teams are reported to come back to the Center Duel Field. The final results have been calculated."

The four teams standing outside the four mini arenas headed back to their seats, with the other eight teams exiting said arenas and trailed down to do the same thing. Once everyone was seated, Declan and Aichi walked towards the stage to reveal who will be advancing to round two.

"Before we announce the winner, I have something important to say," Declan said.

"What?" Aichi asked. "Declan, if this is about Team Turbo-"

"It's not," Declan said. "My father, Leo Akaba, was not responsible for the rise of Zarc. It was me. I am the sole reason that this whole mess happened."

Everyone in the Center Duel Field and in the audience were muddled on what Declan was talking about. …Well, most of them. The Yu-Salad didn't see the teenage CEO of Leo Corporation on the stage; instead, they saw his past incarnation Seto Kaiba, apologizing for the Original Dimension's demise several years ago.

"It was my aggressive dueling style that started the trend of violent Action Duels," Kaiba said. "I was only demonstrating the new type of Solid Vision. I honestly had no idea that the demonstration would cause the world to separate into four dimensions. It was my fault that Zarc gave in to peer pressure. It was my fault that Leo nearly killed four innocent girls. And..." He took a deep breath. "I am very sorry for everything. So if you want to hate me, go ahead. I deserve it."

"No, you don't!"

The audience gasped in shock at the sudden outburst from Yuya, who was standing up from his seat as he remarked it out loud. "You might have been the reason for the dimensions separating, but you can't feel guilty for what happened during the Interdimensional War!" the tomato-haired teen continued.

"But if it wasn't for me, you would have had a completely different life," Kaiba pointed out.

Yuto stood up. "Don't say that," he said. "You might have been the unintentional reason for Zarc's rise to power, but your actions helped shape new futures for us."

"Yeah!" Yugo agreed, also standing up. "Thanks to you, we got second chances. We're practically new people now."

Yuri stood up as well. "So don't stand there and feel bad about yourself," he said. "We were able to redeem ourselves and become better people."

"You see?" Yuya asked. "While we came to accept that we were once one person, we now know that we've become more than that. We're now individuals and your actions allowed us to be together in spirit." He glanced at Yuto. "And some of us are closer because of fate."

Yuto smiled in response to what his cousin was referring to. "Counterparts by chance," he said, looking at Yuya. "Cousins by fate."

"Exactly," Yuya replied. He looked back at Kaiba. "And if it wasn't for you..." He took out three cards from his deck. "...I wouldn't have been great at other summoning techniques."

Those three cards were Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's special summoning counterparts: Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, and Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon. After Zarc and Ray split back into their reincarnations, Yuya got these cards to replace Dark Rebellion, Clear Wing, and Starving Venom to give himself an identity even though the four Dimension Dragons helped bond the Yu-Salad together. Thanks to Absolute Dragon, he also now has yet another dragon within his deck called Odd-Eyes Phantom Dragon.

"These cards represent my individuality," Yuya continued. "I no longer have the other three Dimension Dragons, but these Odd-Eyes variants are a way to show that I have changed as a person. If I never met my other selves, I wouldn't have been on the proper starting path to becoming a pro. As long as these three cards are by my side, I'll be able to use my power to keep the world entertained and smiling."

Kaiba was surprised to hear that. "I appreciate the words, but-"

"Okay Declan, I think you already confused enough people," Aichi politely interrupt.

"My apologies," Declan said. "The winning teams moving on to the next round are Team Smiles, Team Noble, Team Turbo, and Team Obelisk."

The Yu-Salad and their respective teammates celebrated the new of them winning the first round of the tournament, including Lulu. "I can't believe it!" she happily exclaimed. "We made it to the second round!"

"I know," Yuto happily agreed. "First the tournament, then medical school!"

"Medical school?" Shay repeated.

Yuto hasn't told the Obsidians yet, but he has finally figured out his future a couple days ago. After seeing Lulu and Shay suffer from the severe injuries they got during the Invasion, he wanted to make sure he'll help tend to people with any terrible lacerations. His plan was to attend medical school after he graduated from Heartland Duel School to get a medical degree and open up his own health clinic.

"Why are you bringing up medical school?" Lulu asked. "What's going on?"

Yuto realized he hasn't told her his plans for the future and had an "Oh, crap" look on his face, complete with a sweat drop creeping down from his forehead to his cheek. "Well... I..." he stammered.

"The next round will begin tomorrow," Declan said, making Yuto breathe a sigh of relief. "For now, I want the winning teams to rest up. Also, will Team Turbo stay behind for a few minutes? I wish to speak to them in private."

Yugo, Rin, Crow, and Shinji followed Declan backstage to discuss about what happened earlier. Meanwhile, the remaining eleven teams and the audience departure towards the doors while friends and families met up to congratulate on the other three winning teams and telling the other eight how proud they are for taking part in this tournament. Teams Smiles, Noble, and Obelisk were all excited about winning for different reasons: Yuya and Zuzu aim to become Dueltainers, Yuto wishes to start his own hospital, Lulu dreams of being a movie actress, Shay is preparing himself to run ObsidianCorp, and Yuri wants to teach Wicked Dueltainment to those interested in it, but he also mainly wants to continue seeking redemption for his actions during the Interdimensional War. Regardless of who will win, this will certainly mark the start of a bright future for the winning team.

#Arc V Aftermath #yugioh arc v #Yuya Sakaki #Zuzu Boyle #Yuzu Hiragi #FruitShipping #Yuto (arc v)#Lulu Obsidian #Ruri Kurosaki #FallenAngelShipping #Yugo (arc v)#Rin (arc v)#AppleShipping #Yuri (arc v)#Celina (arc v)#Serena (arc v)#PredatorShipping

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