"Buzz buzz——"
In a dilapidated sewer, the sound of the engine echoed continuously, accompanied by a sizzling sound. The engine slowly stopped rotating, and a man with an unusual hairstyle resembling a crab squatted down, constantly adjusting the vehicle.
"Hmm... This part is too loose... Here..."
While he was tweaking, two people, a boy and a girl, rushed in excitedly from outside. The boy was tall and had a strange banana-shaped fringe, while the girl had an odd "fan" hairstyle with three sections. Their styles were quite similar.
"Yusei!" The boy spoke up first, "It's so cool, there are police and D-wheels everywhere outside, everyone is getting ready for today's event!"
The girl kicked his shin with a loud thump and scolded, "Shut up, Yugo! Can't you see Yusei is tuning the D-wheel!?"
After slightly repairing the vehicle, Yusei wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, smiling at the two, "It's fine; I just finished tuning."
This is the "Satellite Area," selected by "City's" officer Goodwin as the place for communication with "otherworldly people."
It's said that they are people who suddenly broke into this world. They have their own world and their own duel cards, among other things.
But because Sector Security's Officer Goodwin was worried that the otherworld might harbor ill intentions, he had refused communication until recently, when he suddenly changed his mind and agreed to the exchange.
And, the location chosen for the "Friendship Duel" is this "Satellite Area," the poorest and most rundown area of "City."
The two young children, the boy called Yugo and the girl called Rin, both orphans from the Satellite Area, stood before the older man adjusting the vehicle, who appeared to be somewhat developer-like and was someone they knew as their elder, "Fudou Yusei."
"It's said that if you win a duel against a person from the otherworld, there's a chance to enter the Upper Area... You could even directly participate in the Fortune Cup with Jack present!" Yugo shouted excitedly, "Rin, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
The "Jack" he's talking about refers to Jack Atlas, the "KING" of this world. Although Jack also came from a civilian background like them, he managed to enter the Upper Area through his own efforts and even became the "KING" among duelists. This made Yugo and Rin admire him greatly, seeing him as their idol.
Fudou Yusei listened to their passionate discussion, his smile slightly dimmed but didn't interrupt their excitement, only nodding lightly.
In the past two months, they participated together in this selection—though called a selection, it was more like a "battle royale." Among countless duelists in the Satellite Area, only they managed to break through and have a chance to be "City's" appointed duelists to battle against people from the Other Dimension...
At first glance, it seems like an "honorable status," but in reality, it's just cannon fodder.
The people from the Upper Area just want to use these lower-level guys to test the opponent's strength.
However...
Fudou Yusei gently closed the vehicle.
Winning would grant the chance to enter the Fortune Cup and fight Jack again...
Just this thought alone, even if he harbors doubts about the cause and content of this duel, he wouldn't refuse.
He has many things he wants to discuss with Jack.
He and Jack are "old friends," a fact he's never shared with the two kids. To him, being a "friend of the King" doesn't bring him any glory, and he's not interested in those things either.
He just wants to know one thing—why did Jack take his card? Why did he betray him?
Just as he was thinking about this, a loud sound of police sirens suddenly echoed outside, accompanied by frantic knocking on the door.
"Hey, contestants, hurry up and come out! They're almost here! If you're late, you'll be in big trouble!"
"These cops are so annoying..." Yugo couldn't help but mutter.
"Let's go." Fudou Yusei didn't say much, directly urging the two kids.
"Okay~~" Rin, acting like a good kid, shouted politely and elbowed Yugo's shoulder urging him to respond quickly.
"I know! Let's go, Yusei!!" He cheered, following the elder brother-like Yusei as they left their base.
On the road, there were many security officers patrolling. Although called "police," they actually maintained not the safety of the citizens but that of the "Upper Area." Besides, many helicopters were patrolling the skies above the Satellite Area back and forth.
For the residents of the Satellite Area, such a "big occasion" is something they haven't seen in decades.
Yusei and the others didn't say much, instead, they followed the path designed by the security police to head towards their destination.
Once reaching the destination, they could already see the "otherworldly people" promoted by the security bureau.
From appearance alone, there didn't seem to be anything unusual; most of them looked like ordinary humans. Although their hairstyles were strange, theirs were also strange, making it "normal."
Meanwhile, the otherworldly people were communicating with local security officers, seemingly discussing accommodation and similar topics—they were to stay in this area for half a month. According to Sector Security's requirements, they couldn't leave the bureau's designated boundaries. However, within these boundaries, they could do whatever they wanted.
They could even treat it as a temporary base; neither demolition nor construction was off limits.
Those people were setting up some equipment, besides some inexplicably magical gate-like things, they were preparing lights, sound systems, cameras, seemingly readying something for broadcast.
On their side, helicopters in the sky were also tirelessly transporting and positioning, preparing shooting and similar arrangements.
A person Yusei was familiar with jumped out from inside, shouting excitedly while jumping, "Ladies and gentlemen—I am the MC!"
He was a middle-aged man with a slicked-back hairstyle and well-groomed handlebar mustache. At this moment, he was jumping down from the helicopter, excitedly explaining, "Unexpectedly, incredibly unexpectedly, I actually have the chance to participate in this first contact and exchange event with the otherworldly people as a commentator!!"
"So—let's not waste time!"
He landed on the ground with a thud, startling not only the local audience but also many from Tenjo Hikari's side, all exclaiming expert.
After landing on the ground, he raised his leg high and stomped on a broken, old trash can, completely ignoring the dirt and mess, striking a pose, and shouted loudly, "Friends from the Otherworld, and everyone in the City, please watch the rules of today's duel—"
As he shouted, several planes in the sky already carried an LCD screen to the sky above here. The pitch-black screen suddenly lit up, displaying a man with slicked-back hair, wearing white gloves, looking elegant and amiable. He smiled and welcomed the Otherworldly People present and then started his self-introduction: "Greetings to everyone from the Otherworld, I am Rex Goodwin, the director of Sector Security of this City. Due to work reasons, I cannot be present personally, so please understand."
"Still afraid of being held hostage until now? Hmph, truly a spineless fellow." Tenjo Hikari heard someone in the team whisper.
Tenjo Hikari glanced at him, uninterested, and continued to watch the big screen.
"Regarding everyone's itinerary and specific arrangements, we've already had discussions with the people at the Kaiba Company before, so I'll spare you the details. First, let's explain the specific contents of this Friendship Cup."
He began to explain the rules.
He mainly explained the daily duel schedule and rules. The Friendship Cup is not intended to decide a "strongest," but hopes for mutual exchange between two worlds, so in principle, everyone will only participate in one duel.
Of course, after all duels are over, they will send out their "King" representing the City to duel with one of the visiting duelists. To showcase their King's duel.
Apart from this, including tag duels, all duelists will duel randomly based on random numbers.
After speaking, he invited Kaiba Seto to operate the machine—no one knew why, but Kaiba Seto seemed quite willing to do such a thing as the lottery machine, happily walking toward the police, who were watching nervously, and earnestly began rolling the numbers.
"Number——1!" Tenjo Hikari raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
Since he was the first duelist to decide to enter, he was number 1.
Unexpectedly, the first one was him.
"And then——" The policemen saw the randomly generated second number, "Number 7!"
"Wow!!" In the control area of the Sector Security where the duelists were "managed," someone let out an excited cheer, Tenjo Hikari followed the voice over and noticed the people over there, first stunned, then shocked.
And in "a certain dimension," a certain man sitting in a base, calmly observing the situation, suddenly stood up as the camera followed Tenjo Hikari's gaze.
"Eh, that girl, she looks so much like Serena." Asuka usually spent the most time with Serena, so she was the first to notice [Rin] when Tenjo Hikari looked over.
"Eh? If you hadn't said it, I would have thought they were twins… So this is the Parallel World? Even identical people exist!" Judai exclaimed.
"Moreover…" Manjome, looking at the scene, couldn't help but touch his chin, frowning, "Judging by their appearances, their ages should be similar too… Such a thing can happen? Perhaps this is the parallel world equivalent? Speaking of which, it's strange that in our world, duelists of this age are prohibited from participating."
He observed the surrounding dilapidated environment, looked at those wearing messy clothes, and had some rough guesses.
But Tenjo Hikari understood the situation even better.
Unexpectedly, the first time visiting the S Dimension, not only did he encounter Serena's counterpart, he met Yugo and Brother Xie as well!
Fudou Yusei is the protagonist of "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's!"
What day is today?
He glanced at Judai and Muto Yugi, who seemed to be writing and drawing on a drawing board, unable to help but marvel in his heart.
The original protagonists of "Yu-Gi-Oh" are almost gathering in four generations!
Tenjo Hikari shook his head.
With the first duel in S Dimension, he was again the one to "start the stage," and he properly stood on their stage, waiting for his opponent to come up.
The Banana-headed guy wanted to jump up directly, but was held down by two cops, even though he hadn't fully grown, the Banana-head still struggled forcefully to break free from the cops and wanted to quickly jump onto the stage, perform a cool pose, but Rin couldn't bear it any longer, knee-kicked him in the belly, then emotionlessly pointed to the duel stage, he scratched his head sheepishly and made his way onto the stage, laughing.
On the other side, Fudou Yusei was still encouraging him: "Cheer up, Yugo. Since you're Otherworldly People, you don't know each other, so don't worry about being targeted beforehand."
"Rest assured, leave it to me, watch me open strong!" Yugo patted his chest continuously, although he just got knee-kicked by Rin, he acted completely unscathed.
"Other Dimension Duelists, versus, City Satellite Area Duelists!" MC stood at the center of the stage, raised the microphone, and shouted excitedly, "Friendship Cup, Day One, Match One!!!
Other Dimension Duelist No.1, [Absolute Fusion Master]—Tenjo Hikari!
Versus——
This, er, Yugo!!!"
He shouted with all his might.
"Oh, darn, I haven't thought of a flashy title!" Yugo slapped his forehead.
"What—He's called Polymerization?!" Over on Judai's side, they were shocked upon hearing his name.
Why even the name Polymerization existed!
"It's not Polymerization, it's Yugo!"
"Duel!" Tenjo Hikari shouted directly.
"Eh eh, me too—" He fumblingly pressed on his Duel Disk, displaying the bright white Duel Disk.
Yugo LP: 4000.
Tenjo Hikari LP: 4000.