"Although you seem to have been very busy lately and we haven't had much time together, please don't forget about me, okay~"
On the day Youmi reverted back into the form of Fallen of Albaz, the long-absent Ten Thousand Dragon suddenly appeared, stating that the promised time had arrived, and announced that it would be taking Lady Lab and Arias back with it.
"Ah, I won't forget you."
Having already changed back into his school uniform, Youmi stood in the forest, looking at Lady Lab as he held the modified replica Deck in his hand—one that had been remodeled by Lady Lab herself.
"Well, you did cause me quite a bit of trouble these past few days, but it really was pretty fun~ After you go back over there, we'll still have chances to see each other again, right?"
As he said that, Youmi glanced at Ten Thousand Dragon.
The long-unseen Ten Thousand Dragon nodded and said, "As long as you return to your own world later, you'll be able to see them again. Hurry up and complete the task of capturing that traveler and bring your journey to an end."
"Hmph, you know everything and you still dare say that. I'll ask you about your own business later."
Rolling his eyes at Ten Thousand Dragon, Youmi stepped forward and hugged Lady Lab, then turned to Arias and instructed, "I'll leave her to you. Her head is empty, and there's nothing in there, so I'm guessing she keeps you pretty busy on a daily basis."
Arias didn't say anything, only nodding rapidly like pounding garlic before taking a sharp chop from Lady Lab.
"Don't make it sound like I'm some kind of low-IQ ice fairy or something… We're leaving, Arias~"
Arias gave Youmi a bow, then stepped into the portal.
At the moment the portal was about to close, Lady Lab stuck half her head back out. "If I find out you're being all lovey-dovey with other girls, my flames of jealousy will keep burning ever brighter, you know~"
"So what exactly is our relationship anyway…"
Youmi helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Then… shouldn't we talk now?"
Grabbing Ten Thousand Dragon, who was trying to slip away while he could, Youmi hauled it back. "I have to say, you're really something. If the person you wanted me to help find was Yuki, you could've just told me directly. Instead you made my kidneys hurt and nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Th-that's… mainly because I thought if I explained it to you back during DM, you probably wouldn't have wanted to come to GX. Anyway, there were all kinds of reasons…"
For some reason, Ten Thousand Dragon sounded particularly lacking in confidence.
The smile he'd been wearing to see Lady Lab off flipped like a turned page into a serious expression.
Pinching the tiny Ten Thousand Dragon by the neck, Youmi asked, "It's because Yuki was also a Duelist you selected for some reason, and then he lost control, right?"
"As his… brother? Or whatever. Anyway, as his former guardian, I can't help but be angry about it. You should be about ready to give me a proper explanation by now, shouldn't you?"
"On that front, I really can't explain things to you very clearly…"
Ten Thousand Dragon paused before continuing, "Because even I don't only pull people from a single timeline or worldline. So the 'Yuki' you saw might very well be the same person as your younger brother from a similar spacetime, but something happened over there that shaped him into that kind of personality."
Youmi raised an eyebrow, not believing it at all. "You don't even know about this? Who do you think you're fooling?"
"Because although that person carries a blessing from me, it wasn't given by the me standing in front of you now. It's even grown so faint that I suspect it might be an illusion. Even among travelers, it could've been chosen by another one of my incarnations—
"Just like the me in front of you."
Letting go of Ten Thousand Dragon and tossing it aside, Youmi sneered, "Then you're really useless…"
As one of Ten Thousand Dragon's countless incarnations, the small dragon wobbled in midair before settling down on top of Youmi's head. "Yes, yes, yes, I really feel like distance makes the heart grow fonder. Being too close to you makes it feel like you're getting more and more disrespectful toward me…"
"But even such a useless me knows something that should be helpful to you~"
"What is it? Let's hear it."
Ten Thousand Dragon looked around, then said, "A ferocious beast is coming toward you, and I'm very sure its target is you."
"Oh? How far away is it?"
"10."
"10 meters?"
"9."
"Geez!"
Youmi condensed an ice dagger in his hand and threw it at a tree. Seeing it lodge firmly into the trunk, he immediately jumped onto it and used it as a springboard to leap up into the treetops.
"Did I somehow provoke a bear or something? I'm not the type to play dead…"
Just as he was thinking that, he suddenly heard a tiger's roar.
"A tiger? There's no way there'd be a—"
Youmi turned toward the source of the sound at once, only to find a tiger with an obviously abnormal physique, outfitted with gear and armor, lunging at him with its blood-red maw wide open. He instantly pushed off with his toes and leapt toward another tree.
"Hey, there shouldn't be tigers around here. And that physique—" Thinking of a certain possibility, Youmi immediately put on the Duel Disk and signal receiver Kaiba had given him. "As expected, you're Amazoness Pet Liger King!"
Although he couldn't transform into Mirrorjade, even in his humanoid form, Youmi could still exert some of the corresponding power. For example, right now, an extremely thick ice spike appeared in his hand, which he directly shoved into Amazoness Pet Liger King's mouth.
Even if its fangs were useless, it still had its claws. Facing Amazoness Pet Liger King's textbook pounce—one so standard even Zamazenta from Sword & Shield would envy it—Youmi twisted his body to evade, then instead used a dragon's inherent monstrous strength to pin it down in reverse.
"Don't move. I've already been very polite by not melting you down as Fusion material."
"Though, to be fair, I've never tried it myself. And since you're called a pet, isn't it rude for your owner not to show up by now? Or is it that…"
Sitting astride Amazoness Pet Liger King, Youmi patted its head. Seeing the pained expression on its face from being frozen by the ice, Youmi lit a small flame in his hand to help it melt the ice.
"As expected of this school's standout. Your senses really are sharp."
From within the woods, a powerfully built woman walked out.
"So it really is you…"
Since it was an Amazon, and this was GX, there could be no one else.
"I am Tania, the last Amazon Queen, and as one of the Seven Stars, I have come to this island."
Youmi let out a breath and said, "Even so, you didn't need to use your pet to scare me, did you? You nearly scared my heart right out of my chest, you know? If we're going to Duel, then hurry up. I'm not in a rush, but I'm also not interested in wasting time here."
"Oh~"
Tania let out a surprisingly girlish, bashful sound, leaving Youmi completely confused. "My, I didn't expect Youmi-kun to be so direct. That's quite different from what my prior research suggested… What you just saw was simply my pet's way of showing affection. She must really like you."
"You call that affection?"
Youmi didn't know the entirety of GX's plot, only remembering that after this woman appeared, Bastion would more or less vanish from relevance. Thinking that he absolutely couldn't let this woman come into contact with Bastion, he decided to defeat her right here.
"In any case, since you're one of the 'Seven Stars,' let's Duel. What are we staking this time? Being sealed into a card again, or turned into a doll?"
As if Youmi had said something amusing, Tania laughed and waved her hand.
"I would never do something like a Shadow Game. In this era, for our tribe, Duels are a fierce clash of body and soul—a means of honing one another and evolving together. If there were a lifelong, binding price attached, wouldn't that be more loss than gain? So our Duel won't be a Shadow Game~"
Unexpectedly, her chivalrous attitude caught Youmi off guard.
"Then, besides the Seven Stars Gate Key, what's the stake for this Duel?"
Youmi had the distinct feeling that if he lost this Duel, he would lose something important and let down quite a few people.
"If I win, I want your Seven Stars Gate Key, and I want to marry you, take you back to the Amazon, and have lots of babies~"
Tania said this with the lovestruck expression of a maiden in bloom.
"That doesn't count as a lifelong price?!"
Youmi shouted.
Now he finally remembered this part of the plot. So that's how it was… she was an older unmarried woman, the type who'd probably have plenty in common with that teacher Himeko next door.
"Then what if I win?"
With the corner of his eye twitching nonstop, Youmi asked.
"Then we'll start dating with marriage as the end goal~"
"Why is the outcome basically the same?!"
...
Meanwhile, inside the Labrynth Labyrinth.
Having changed into a set of sportswear while acting the part of a shut-in, Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle was gazing with sparkling eyes at the completed figure of Super Starslayer TY-PHON - Sky Crisis she had just assembled, nodding in satisfaction.
"Next time, I have to let Youmi see my new trophy."
She muttered to herself.
"My lady, it's time for snacks. Today's dessert is—"
Arias the Labrynth Butler entered the room carrying a tray, only for his footing to suddenly give way. Thankfully, his movements were swift and precise, perfectly catching every falling item—without spilling even a drop of tea.
"Arias, what's wrong with you? You seem kind of off today."
"That's just your imagination!"
Looking at Lady Lab, who had inexplicably gained a green halo over her head, Arias decided to attribute everything to the exhaustion brought on by caring for his lady.
Y-yeah, probably?
...
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