Hikaru stayed in the workshop for two days, figuring the media frenzy should have died down by now. But the moment he stepped out of the Fusion Division, he found the island still crawling with reporters and people wanting to see him. Thankfully, with alchemy to assist him, he could dodge their tracking.
Luckily, the Funglow Corporation also knew Hikaru was pressed for time, so they had secretly parked a helicopter at the Academy ahead of time. On the aircraft, Rex Raptor pulled his cap over his face, folded his arms, and leaned back. Any reporter passing by who thought about asking a question immediately swallowed their words.
When the helicopter suddenly dipped, Rex snapped his eyes open and glanced to the side. Noticing that the seat cushion in the cabin had shifted, he spoke up. "He's on. Let's go."
"Huh?" The pilot was still a bit confused.
"Let's go! To Domino City."
"Right, uh, yes sir!"
The pilot began starting the helicopter. Some reporters nearby noticed that the Funglow Corporation's private aircraft was actually taking off and looked over curiously, snapping a few photos at light speed.
But when they realized the only person on board still appeared to be Rex Raptor, they didn't pay it much attention.
Maybe the Funglow Corporation had a change of plans, or perhaps Rex Raptor had other business and needed to leave first.
In any case, they didn't dwell on it.
Several minutes after the helicopter left Academy Island's airspace, Rex finally adjusted his cap and glanced to the side. Hikaru's figure slowly materialized.
The pilot, noticing someone had suddenly appeared in the back seat, nearly jumped out of his skin. Fortunately, his professional composure was decent enough; he only let the helicopter swerve for a moment before steadying it.
"Heh, invisibility? So that's your escape trick. Pretty impressive, but that kind of ability won't work on a real duelist." Rex told Hikaru. "Don't even think about pulling stunts like that in a duel."
"Ha, of course not, Rex."
Rex was only giving Hikaru a heads-up. He'd watched Hikaru duel several times and naturally wouldn't doubt him.
Some time later, the helicopter landed in Domino City. The pilot asked Hikaru for an autograph. Hikaru signed it, then thought for a moment and asked Rex to sign it too.
"Ha, my autograph isn't worth anything."
"But if you add yours, wouldn't that make it the only card with both our signatures as Funglow Corporation representatives?"
Rex let out a short laugh and signed his name on the card as well.
Hikaru then thanked the pilot once more before waving goodbye.
Helping the Funglow Corporation transport someone at personal risk naturally deserved gratitude.
After that, Hikaru followed Rex's lead as they made their way through Domino City.
Surprisingly, Domino City seemed remarkably deserted. There were barely any cars on the streets or roads, let alone pedestrians.
For the so-called "City of Duels," it had an air of quiet tranquility, as if all was peaceful and well.
Rex explained that this was because KaibaCorp had shifted its strategy. Dimensional adventures and dimensional dueling were the hottest trends right now, so Domino City, as the "City of Duels," was naturally the city most at the forefront of that wave.
The vast majority of duelists here were actually off adventuring in various dimensions.
Hikaru nodded in understanding.
Just like old man Solomon Muto.
In the original story, when Jaden and Syrus visited Domino City on a school trip, they could freely drop by Solomon Muto's card shop and peer through the glass at legendary cards.
But in this world, with all sorts of changes, Domino City wasn't so easy to just walk into anymore.
Someone like old man Solomon Muto, famous for his "getting kidnapped" constitution, naturally required extra security screening.
Especially since Yugi Muto himself was also traveling through different dimensions, bringing back all sorts of strange cards and leaving them in the card shop.
That made it even more critical to prevent anyone from just casually taking hostages.
Rex led Hikaru to a card shop and jerked his chin toward it, signaling Hikaru to go ahead. Hikaru nodded. Along the way, several men in black suits immediately approached.
Hikaru held up a card for them to see, and upon recognizing the certification and image on it, they nodded and stepped aside.
Hikaru knocked on the card shop's door. A wobbling old man with a starfish-shaped hairstyle opened it with his hands behind his back and immediately said, "So you're the kid Joey was telling me about?"
The moment that sentence ended, Hikaru suddenly heard an enormous crash.
"Aaahhh!" Rex Raptor's voice rang out from behind Hikaru.
Hikaru and old man Solomon both looked toward the road. The men in black stood aside with utterly baffled expressions, and from not far away, a green figure came charging at full speed.
Rex spun around and tried to flee, but before he'd taken more than a few steps, the figure closed the distance, swept his left foot out to trip Rex, slammed him to the ground, then locked his right arm around Rex's neck while bracing his left hand into a cross guard, and pinned one of Rex's legs with his right leg.
Rex was forced to the ground in an instant, howling.
Hikaru's pupils contracted slightly.
The figure wore a green jacket and looked quite solidly built.
"J-Joey!!!" Rex Raptor panicked completely for the first time in his life. "L-let go!"
"Ha, this is the first time I've ever seen you this rattled, senior." Tierra materialized beside them to watch the show.
"If I let you go, you'll just run away!" The amber-eyed man shouted at the top of his lungs. "Then disappear without a word for another decade! You've been hiding from me all these years, haven't you!?"
"Cough, cough!" Rex struggled desperately, slapping at him.
Seeing this, Hikaru rushed over. "If you keep this up, Rex is going to suffocate!"
At that, Joey froze for a moment and quickly let go. Rex slowly got to his feet, coughing for a long while. From nearby, old man Solomon stood bewildered. "Joey, what's going on here?"
"Ah, Master..." Joey greeted him. "Thanks to you, I finally caught him this time!"
The moment he said that, Rex, still coughing and catching his breath at Joey's side, suddenly feinted and bolted forward the instant Joey's attention slipped.
His physical conditioning was clearly not so poor that he'd actually be gasping for air.
But Joey's physical abilities also far exceeded a normal person's. The instant Rex left his line of sight, Joey broke into a dead sprint.
One fleeing, one chasing. Then, a voice spoke up.
"Duel."
Suddenly.
Both men's movements gradually came to a stop.
Rex slowly turned his head to look at Hikaru, blinking in confusion. "What did you just say?"
"Rex, I said duel. Aren't duelists supposed to settle things through dueling?"
Joey's eyes lit up the moment he heard that, and he thrust a big thumbs-up toward Hikaru.
"He's right, Rex. Let's duel, you and me!" Joey grinned, his teeth gleaming white as if they were literally shining.
A duel?
Me and... Joey?
Rex looked at Joey, and for a moment, he actually hesitated.
Over the past decade and more, it had been a very long time since he'd felt fear. Rex Raptor, a man who had survived by dueling, found himself afraid of a duel once again, just like ten years ago.
"Rex, you decided to keep moving forward so you could help me find more opportunities and meet more legendary duelists. If you hesitate now, wouldn't that be a waste?"
Hikaru called out from a distance. "Right now is probably the best chance you'll ever get. The chance to say goodbye to your past once and for all."
"You little punk..." Rex took a deep breath. "Why do you always have to be so smooth with words..."
But he had to admit it.
What Hikaru said always had its reasons and logic, and more than that... it carried his own convictions.
Joey laughed a couple of times. "So what do you say, Rex? Surely you're not going to let a kid younger than you show you up."
Rex knew he couldn't run anymore. If even Hikaru was saying this, there was no escaping. After all, if Hikaru joined the chase too, he'd never get away no matter how fast he ran.
He thought it over, then strapped on his Duel Disk. The old-model Duel Disk activated automatically, extending before him like a blade.
On the other side, Joey extended his left hand forward. A circular mechanism that had been fitted to his arm at some point unfolded on its own, flickering with a dark light before transforming into a sleek, black next-generation Duel Disk that automatically shuffled and cut his deck.
"Duel!" x2
Two voices rang out simultaneously, calm yet carrying a spark of fire.
Rex Raptor, LP: 4000.
Joey Wheeler, LP: 4000.