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Hikaru rode through tunnel after tunnel, the echo of his D-Wheel reverberating in the dim light. Finally, he emerged into a hidden underground chamber, the secret base Yusei had once left behind.
Hiss
The D-Wheel slowed to a stop.
Hikaru shifted his weight, trying to perform that classic "foot brake" pose like Yusei used to…but before he could manage it, Tierra grabbed his shoulder and effortlessly pulled him back down to the ground.
He turned to look at his D-Wheel, and froze for a moment.
The machine had completely transformed.
Pale gray bone-like armor stretched along its entire frame, and the once-sleek shell now looked like something born from the underworld itself.
Hikaru walked closer and rested a hand against the skull-like front.
"Thanks. Really. Without you, I might've lost that duel."
He felt a faint vibration in response, a pulse, almost like a heartbeat.
He smiled.
"I still don't really know what you are, though.
Are you… a spirit? Or a ghost?"
Then again, in this world, ghosts and spirits were more or less the same thing.
It wasn't that strange, really, he remembered that in the original series, even Jaden once dueled against a vengeful doll spirit.
"Hey, in your current form… do you get hurt? Do you need to eat or rest?"
The D-Wheel gave a few mechanical chirps in response. He had no idea what that meant, but it sounded almost amused.
Meanwhile, Tierra had materialized beside him, her fingers flexing as if testing her own strength.
Her golden eyes gleamed like stars as she grinned.
"Ohhh, leave it to me, Hikaru.
Undead plus machine, what a beautiful combination! That's exactly the kind of soldier I love to build!"
"Don't you dare start tinkering with it," Hikaru warned immediately.
At that, the D-Wheel actually rolled backward slightly, as if frightened.
Tierra smirked.
"Relax. It's not helpless.
If I did go too far, it'd come running to you for protection, wouldn't it?"
She wasn't wrong.
Despite being an outcast in her divine realm, Tierra was known for her mechanical creations, every automaton she built obeyed her perfectly, with near-zero malfunction.
Hikaru crouched down and opened his deck case, checking through his cards while half-listening to her chatter.
The structure of Riding Duels here wasn't so different from Master Duels, but when you were actually riding, feeling the wind tear past your helmet, you could truly understand what Yusei once meant by "freedom and the wind."
The opponent this time hadn't been the most dangerous,
but it was still intense.
What really intrigued him was that this "Pursuit Duel" lacked Speed World.
He wondered, when he eventually faced duelists using Earthbound cards, would they employ Speed World or something new entirely?
Tierra suddenly leaned over, eyes catching a glimmer of light in Hikaru's hand.
"Ooh, a new card?"
Hikaru flipped it around, brow arching.
The printing was fresh, still faintly glossy, almost unfinished.
"Goyo Emperor, huh…" he murmured.
Goyo Emperor — Level 10 / EARTH / Warrior / Fusion / ATK ???
Fusion Materials: 2 EARTH Synchro Monsters
That's right. As it turned out, the true leader of the Goyo archetype wasn't a Synchro, but a Fusion Monster.
Its design followed the Goyo tradition perfectly, bearing the "Bull-Headed Enforcer" motif, and carrying an upgraded "Minotaur Command" effect:
When it destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can Special Summon that monster to your side of the field. And if any of your controlled opponent's monsters destroy another monster by battle, you can Special Summon that monster too.
Essentially, the Emperor of Enforcers.
And that wasn't all.
If your opponent Special Summons a monster, you can tribute an EARTH Synchro Monster you control to seize control of those monsters immediately.
Hikaru's eyes glinted as he read the text.
He didn't have any suitable EARTH Synchros yet, but the Gaia series could fill that gap in the future.
It wasn't out of reach at all.
But… the card had one serious drawback.
Whenever this face-up card left the field, control of all monsters on your side that originally belonged to your opponent would immediately return to their owner.
"Tch. Fusion conditions that strict, and the payoff isn't even that impressive," Tierra muttered, shaking her head after reading through the effect text.
By now, even she had developed a decent understanding of Duel Monsters cards, and from her point of view, this one wasn't particularly powerful.
In Hikaru's hands, it would be even less effective.
The biggest problem was obvious: where was he supposed to find two EARTH Synchro Monsters to use as Fusion Materials?
That Trudge guy could cheat it out by spamming three Goyo Defenders at once, but Hikaru? Not so lucky.
And to make matters worse, the card wasn't even complete.
Despite all the duels he'd fought lately, its "completion gauge" barely looked halfway done.
Back when Hikaru dueled his classmates, new cards had often formed fully by the end of each match, the duel energy had been so intense it practically forged them instantly.
"Those duels were from the championship," Hikaru said calmly."Naturally, the energy level was higher than a routine chase with a police captain."
He hadn't expected to create a fully realized card overnight anyway.
Still, seeing Goyo Emperor appear filled him with quiet satisfaction.
It was his first Fusion Monster entirely composed of Synchro materials, a milestone and a symbol of how far he'd come in understanding this dimension's summoning systems.
He slid the card into his deck box carefully. Meanwhile, Tierra had already finished tinkering with his D-Wheel.
Hikaru glanced over just in time to see the skeletal bike circle the room twice on its own, engine purring like a living beast.
Its frame gave a faint, almost joyful howl as it idled back into place.
Beyond mechanical optimization, Tierra had also revamped its appearance.
Before, its design had leaned heavily toward the occult, a fantasy-style skeletal motorcycle that looked like it belonged to a death knight, not a duelist.
Anyone seeing it on the street would've thought Hikaru was cosplaying a necromancer.
Now, though, after Tierra's modifications, it had a cleaner, more technological aesthetic.
The skeletal frame had been re-engineered into cybernetic bone plating, perfectly symmetrical and reinforced.
The perpetual-motion core was now housed inside a protective vacuum-tube array, Tierra's personal favorite design choice. Both sides of the chassis had been reshaped into sleek, metallic wings, giving the impression that the D-Wheel itself could take flight at any moment.
The color palette remained a dominant gray-white, but now subtle violet streaks ran along the sides.
From a distance, Hikaru gazed at the D-Wheel. For a brief moment, he almost thought he was seeing an illusion.
It didn't look like a machine anymore.
It looked like a demon.
No, that color scheme… wasn't this practically the same as Infernity Doom Dragon's, no, the "Infernity Doom Archfiend" line's palette?
"Heh, using reference material really does speed up the design process," he murmured with a crooked smile.
Hikaru swung a leg over the seat and started the engine again.In the dim light of the underground tunnel, the newly fused D-Wheel roared to life.
The ancient spirit that had become one with his Duel Runner, responded instantly to his every thought.
Its acceleration, braking, and balance all felt completely synchronized with his will, as if he were no longer riding a vehicle at all, but rather commanding a living creature.
With this, the biggest weakness in Hikaru's Riding Duels was finally gone.
At least in this world, he no longer had to worry about being stopped by Security mid-duel or losing precious time in a chase.
He let out a quiet breath, satisfied. And just as he was about to park the D-Wheel again, a voice crackled from the onboard communicator.
"Yo, Hikaru. How's life over there treating you?"
That voice, Hikaru blinked.
"Chazz…?"
...
Stones Plzz
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