Note: I will be trying something new for this duel. I hope this makes things easier for readers to understand what is happening with multiple versions of characters walking around. It might be a bit clunky but I ask you to bear with me.
Only one word can describe what the viewers are feeling right now.
Shock.
An earth-shattering duel that arose from a broken bond was solved by that very same bond.
Now the people of the myriad worlds will possibly never know if Jaden still exists somewhere after his soul fused with Yubel's.
Is this self-sacrifice or maybe atonement.
Too many questions that do not need answers but will plague their dreams anyway.
Meanwhile, present-day Jaden has to listen to a sermon by his friends and professors about his actions in the video.
"Why?" he wined. "I didn't even do anything." If only he remembered the reason for the duel on the screen was his inability to face Yubel, then he might change his tune. Then again, he is still only a naive freshman at Duel Academy right now.
Elsewhere, Yubel shed somber tears as it stood over Professor Viper's body.
Jaden chose to stay with it above all else, showing everyone his love for Yubel. Maybe, things can change for the better, it thought as it seeped into Professor Viper's skin.
As things were moving in the world of GX, the 5DS world was about to have a momentous event.
Tonight was the night Yusei Fudo left Satellite and arrived inside Neo Domino City. Waiting for him was his old friend, Jack Atlas.
According to the original history of events, the two would engage in a turbo duel that summoned the Crimson Dragon.
Right now though, their duel was stopped before it began by the appearance of a familiar-looking screen.
"Initializing start-up sequence. Loading. The next duel will begin. (5DS World): Aporia vs Leo, Luna, and Jack."
"A four-way duel?" (GX) Bastion Misawa exclaimed.
"What kind of duelist needs three opponents for it to be a fair fight?" (ARC-V) Crow wondered.
"Can never predict what kind of duel will be next," (VRAINS) Spectre sneered.
On the screen, a massive tower could be seen hanging in the air over a prosperous city. Inside, a large wheel could be seen driving down a hallway with two children at the side.
"Hmm?" (ARC-V) Jack was puzzled. Why did it look like he was there?
"Is that you, Jack?" (5DS) Yusei asked his former friend beside him.
"Impossible," (5DS) Jack denied. There was no way he would go around with two kids. Except, that does look like his duel runner...
The duel runner then came to a stop as its driver and the two kids accompanying him walked onto a circular platform with walls of pulsating light running down them.
"Hey." "It's us!" (5DS) Leo and Luna cried out at the sight of their other-selves.
"Not just us!" (5DS) Leo shouted. "It's also the King, Jack Atlas!"
On the screen, the three duelists were surprised to find the walls were flowing with momentum. Before they could investigate, however, a door opened in front of them and a large man walked out.
His face was unfamiliar to many but the select few who knew him such as the trio on the screen or his associates watching knew he was a strong foe to duel against.
The trio was here to stop the so-called "Yusei Gear" but with Aporia around, they won't be able to until they get past him.
With a swish, a panel on the wall opened and three circular devices flew out. Each device attached itself to one of the trio, while a metallic chain grabbed onto their legs. Helpless to remove the devices, each of them felt a sharp pain as the circular devices on their chests stabbed into their ribcages.
Parents all over the myriad worlds shouted verbal abuses as they watched the children on the screen being tortured like this.
(ARC-V) Reigi Akaba tightened his fists, hoping to keep himself calm.
(VRAINS) Shoichi Kusanagi however was unable to keep calm as memories of his brother's torment flooded his psyche.
With the devices strapped to their bodies, the three were forced to duel Aporia in hopes of escaping their predicament.
The trio's duel disks flashed open and Jack solemnly warned Leo that he is dueling now as a part of Team 5DS but Leo just felt giddy at the prospect.
The present-day (5DS) Jack Atlas watched the exchange with a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The kid won't drag him down, will he?
This kind of worry wasn't present in the (ARC-V) Jack Atlas as he knew anyone he was willing to fight alongside could be trusted. What was Team 5DS though?
At Leo's side, his twin Luna however was feeling worried about this kind of duel, prompting Leo to act as the responsible older brother willing to protect his sister.
Present-day (5DS) Leo applauded his good behavior but his family all gave a worrying sigh as they hoped he could hold himself together before he did something stupid.
With things settled, a special-tag match began with all duelists having 4000 LP and do not share turns. In return, Aporia is afforded the first move.
"He's got a strategy," (VRAINS) Yusaku said to Shoichi.
"There's a reason why he wants to go first," (GX) Bastion analyzed.
"The three will wish they didn't give him the first move," (DM) Dartz sneered.
[4000 LP] [4000 LP] [4000 LP] [4000 LP]
As it was still the days when the first player drew for their turn, Aporia begins his turn with a draw.
"I'll start things off by activating the field spell card Fortissimo the Mobile Fortress," Aporia said.
The walls of the platform changed into fortified weapons and Aporia merged into the rising command tower using his mechanical parts, surprising the other worlds' scientists.
"Now we are one with the duel," Aporia explained. "Your life will be converted into numbers and be the same as your LP. When your LP hit 0, your life will also be 0."
Wait, isn't that a duel to the death?! There are children here!
Viewers were outraged at the mistreatment of children and this was especially the case for worlds that were currently undergoing a momentary period of peace. They loathed dueling that would put a child's life in danger.
Jack Atlas on the screen was appalled at Aporia's methods but Aporia's mindset seemed almost as if it was a machine's. He will duel to the death with anyone who would disturb Z-ONE's plan, even sacrificing his human emotions to do so.
Viewers were surprised to hear that Z-ONE and Aporia had the ability to travel through time and they had apparently sent past versions of Aporia to pave the road.
"Darn it," (5DS) Lester complained. "It's giving away our plan."
"Will Z-ONE have to change time again?" (5DS) Primo asked.
"Ever since this screen appeared," (5DS) Jose explained. "Time has been locked and could not be shifted. We still have no idea what kind of entity is behind this."
Bang!
For a better future, Aporia will kill all who stand before him. Thanks to Fortissimo the Moving Fortress's effect, Aporia special summons Meklord Army of Weisel and normal summons Meklord Army of Skiel. He then sets three cards and ends his turn.
Leo takes his turn and summons Morphtronic Staplen in defense mode, triggering Aporia's continuous trap card Level Cannon. Thanks to Level Cannon, whenever a player summons a monster they take damage equal to 200 times that monster's level.
Leo tries to dodge the cannons fired at him but the chain pulls him down and he gets hit by the blast's shockwaves. When the smoke clears, it can be seen that the cannons did real damage to the surrounding environment.
Leo: [3200 LP]
"That's enough! Let Leo and Luna go, I'm enough for you!" Jack shouted out to the emotionless Aporia.
Leo got up saying he was fine but internally he was worried about if his sister was the one to take the hit next. He set three cards and ended his turn.
On Luna's turn, she considered whether summoning a monster would be worth the damage is taken but Leo reassured her he had her covered with his set cards. Luna set two cards of her own and summoned Armored White Bear to her field in defense mode.
Aporia's Level Cannon activated to inflict 800 damage to Luna but Leo responded with the trap card Damage Eraser. Damage Eraser negates LP damage and instead uses it to increase their LP. Too bad Aporia was ready with the counter Damage Boost, allowing him to negate an effect that would stop him from inflicting damage and doubling the damage.
Luna!
The little girl takes the impact of several missiles, dropping to the floor.
Luna: [2400 LP]
Luna tried to end her turn before she can take any more damage but since she controls no machine-type monsters she is forced to take 100 points of damage. An amount that was meaningless in a normal duel but is now life-threatening to a child.
"Stop it!" (ARC-V) Yuya cried. Duels weren't supposed to be like this.
"I can't watch," (DM) Tea said, turning away from the screen.
"There was no need for that," (ZEXAL) Kite muttered angrily.
On the screen, Leo started to blame himself for letting Luna get hurt like that. Jack however encouraged Leo to keep fighting as he started his turn.
If Jack wanted to protect the twins, all he can do is end the duel as fast as possible.
In order to avoid Level Cannon's damage, Jack used the spell Trap Pause to negate the effects of continuous trap cards until the end phase and draw a card for each of them. He draws a card and then discards a card to special summon Power Giant.
Since Power Giant was special summoned by discarding the level 1 Synchro Solder, its level is reduced to 5. Jack then summoned the level 3 tuner Dark Resonator.
Wait, level, tuner?!
In the myriad of worlds right now, the concept of synchro summoning was virtually nonexistent. Other than the 5DS world, synchro summoning is only known to the people of Synchro and Standard in the ARC-V world. The only others who could possibly know are the hackers of VRAINS who are trying to break down the SOL Technology's firewall to get their hands on new summoning mechanics.
For the majority of the myriad worlds, they were about to see their first synchro summon.
Level {5} Power Giant {+} Level {3} Dark Resonator Tuning {=}!
Synchro Summon! Level 8 Red Dragon Archfiend!
Red Dragon Archfiend: [3000 ATK]
"Red Dragon Archfiend?!" (ARC-V) Jack cried out in wonder. Not Scarlight?
"I'll do what I can do," Leo said after seeing Jack in progress. He activates the continuous trap Power-Up Adapter, equipping it to his Morphtronic Staplen. In exchange for it not attaching, it will increase the ATK of Red Dragon Archfiend on its own.
Red Dragon Archfiend: [4400 ATK]
"Power Gravity," Aporia responded. "When one of your monsters would change its ATK, those are added to my monster and yours are reduced to 0."
What?
Meklord Army of Weisal: [3200 ATK]
Red Dragon Archfiend: [0 ATK]
Again! Leo's goodwill has come to bite his teammates in the butt again.
Jack sets his card and ends his turn. Fortissimo's effect then triggers, dealing him damage.
As he ends his turn, Leo drops to the floor crying that he is doing more harm than good. Not willing to let Leo become a sobbing mess on the floor, Jack yells for him to try and concentrate on the duel with Luna offering some moral support.
On Aporia's turn, since he has no other cards in his hand he used the spell card Aura Draw to draw two additional cards. He then summoned the Meklord Army of Granel.
Due to Level Cannon, Aporia takes 800 points of damage but he remains virtually unscathed as he feels no pain.
Aporia: [3200 LP]
Using Granel's effect, he halves the DEF of White Armored Bear dropping it to the ground.
White Armored Bear: [700 DEF]
Weisel then cuts Red Dragon Archfiend in two, sending a shockwave of billowing smoke to Jack's field. The damage turns the circular device from blue to red as Jack falls to the ground from the strain his heart is under.
Jack: [700 LP]
"Jack!" Jack Atlas's fans in 5DS world and ARC-V world cry out at the sight of their idol in pain.
Skiel then destroys White Armored Bear, dealing piercing damage thanks to Skiel's effect. Not wanting to let up on the poor girl, Aporia sends Granel on a direct attack dropping Luna to the ground, lying on her face.
Luna: [200 LP]
Did he really need to do that? Jack was just as defenseless and Leo still had a monster that he could've destroyed.
Despite what he said, Aporia still wants to make his opponents feel the same despair he did.
Aporia then activates the continuous spell card Lock-On Laser to inflict 200 points of damage to anyone trying to set a spell or trap card.
The point of his actions is said loud and clear to Leo who is weeping at the sight of his teammates on the ground.
The more you try and do something, the farther into the pit you go.
That was how his disastrous future came to be.