"I can't believe I'm back here again..." Ruri says as she looks at the tower in front of her. Aera, Shun, Jean, and Lisa are behind her.

"So this is where you've been staying when you're kidnapped by Academia?" Jean asks as she stares at the tower.

Just then, a female woman is standing in front of them. She says, "So you have come back to this place."

Ruri recognizes the woman, as she says, "You..."

"My name is Diana, the guardian of the Western Tower." The woman says. "Since you're back, the Professor must be happy to see you back."

"If you're going to take my daughter, think again." Aera says.

"Mom is right. Ruri is not going with Academia." Shun adds.

Ruri says, "No, Mom, Brother. I have to do this. I am not the same weak girl as before. I'll beat you this time."

Ruri activates her Duel Disk and the Field Magic Crossover activates. Diana says, "Oh? You're going to duel me? You'll never beat me."

After she activates her Duel Disk, both of them yell, "Duel!" (Ruri:4000)(Diana:4000)

"I'll go first. From my hand, I activate the Magic Card: Fusion! From my hand, I fuse Guardian Baou and Moon Soldier Lady from my hand! When the shining moonlight hits the Flamberge, the two warriors become one! Fusion Summon! Descend! Moon Protector!" (ATK:2100/DEF:2400 LV:7)

After the Fusion Monster appears, she says, "Now Moon Protector's effect activates! I Special Summon a Protector's Shield Token. (ATK:0/DEF:0 LV:1) As long as I control this Token, you can't attack Moon Protector. I set one card and end my turn."

Ruri says, "My turn!" After Ruri draws the cards, she says, "With Scale 0 Lyrical Luscinia Ruby Lark and Scale 2 Lyrical Luscinia Amethyst Sparrow, I set the Pendulum Scale!"

After two Monsters are on the Pendulum Zone, she says, "With this, I can Summon Monsters from Level 1. Pendulum Summon! Come forth! 2 Lyrical Luscinia – Cobalt Sparrow (ATK:0/DEF:100 LV:1) Lyrical Luscinia - Sapphire Swallow! (ATK:100/DEF:0 LV:1)

After the two Monsters are on the field, Ruri says, "I Overlay my three Level 1 Lyrical Luscinia! Birds with beautiful wings! Gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight! Xyz Summon! Dance in the sky! Xyz Summon! Rank 1! Lyrical Luscinia – Recite Starling! (ATK:0/DEF:0 RNK:1 OVU:3)

After the Monster appears, Ruri says, "Recite Starling gains 300 ATK and DEF for each Overlay Unit it has!" (ATK:0-900)

Shun says, "Right now Ruri can only destroy the token on the field..."

"How about we have a little fun right now? I use Continuous Trap: Admiration of the Keepers! It negates Recite Starling's effect and Special Summon 2 Protector Shield Tokens to my field!"

"That means the ATK that Ruri managed to gain was negated..." Lisa curses. (ATK:900-0)

"Your Monster can attack all the Protector Shield Tokens, however, if you don't attack, your monster will be destroyed. Now, what will you do? Are you going to attack my Protector Shield Tokens? Or will you not attack and lose your Monster?"

"She's doing it on purpose!" Shun says with anger. "She knows that even if she attacks 0 ATK means that her monster will also get destroyed no matter what."

Ruri says, "Don't worry about that, Shun." Just then, they notice Ruri's eyes, they are showing determination. "Because I am also a Lancer."

She jumps on the platforms and grabs an Action Card. "Action Magic: Extreme Sword! I increase Recite Starling's ATK by 1000! (ATK:0-1000) Battle! I attack your token with Recite Starling!"

Ruri chooses to attack, but after the token is destroyed, Diana smirks, "At this moment, Moon Protector's effect activates! The ATK of the monster that destroys a Protector's Shield Token is lowered by 800! I also gain 800 LP!"

"What?" The others are surprised. (ATK:1000-200)(Diana:4000-4800)

Diana smirks, "As you keep destroying my tokens, your monster's ATK is lowered and my LP increased. Are you going to keep attacking?"

Ruri says, "I will continue to fight! I activate the Pendulum Effect of Amethyst Sparrow! When my monster successfully declares an attack, I can choose one monster from my deck and add it to Recite Starling's Overlay Units, and it also gains 1000 ATK!" (ATK:200-1200)

"What?" Diana is shocked.

"I attack the second token!" Ruri says, and the attack destroys the monster. (ATK:1200-400)(Diana:4800-5600)

"And Amethyst Sparrow's Pendulum effect activates again!" Ruri says. (ATK:400-1400) "The third attack!" (ATK:1400-600)(Diana:5600-6400)

"Now she has 6400 LP!" Jean says.

"Ruri is in trouble..." Lisa says.

"And the effect of Amethyst Sparrow activates!" (ATK:600-1600)

"Even though I gained LP, your ace monster is still here. However, its ATK is 1600. Is there even a point in having it?" Diana says.

Ruri says, "Now Moon Protector has lost all of Tokens." This causes her to be surprsied.

"I use Magic Card: Assembly Nightingale's Feathers! I target Recite Starling, its name becomes Assembly Nightingale until the end of the turn!"

"Assemble Nightingale?" Aera is confused.

"I use Ruby Lark's Pendulum Effect! I can use this card and one monster on the field to perform a Fusion Summon!" Ruri says.

"Fusion Summon?" This causes everyone to gasp in shock.

Ruri says, "I am not going to hesitate anymore. I'll Fuse Recite Starling which is treated as Assembly Nightingale and Ruby Lark! Twitter of the songbird that resounds in the dark night. Become one with the inner voice and cry more intensely! Fusion Summon! Fly down! Noble isolated night bird! Lyrical Luscinia - Independent Nightingale!" (ATK:1000/DEF:0 LV:1)

After the Fusion Monster appears, Shun says, "Ruri...did a Fusion Summon..."

"Since Admiration of the Keepers lost its target, it is destroyed." Diana gasps.

Ruri says, "This is the Monster that I gained after being brainwashed by the Parasites, and it is also the same Monster that I fought my sister with. With this card, I am forced to fight against my sister. When Ruby Lark is used as a Fusion Material, that Fusion Monster gains 1000 ATK! (ATK:1000-2000) When Independent Nightingale is Fusion Summoned, it gains Levels equal to the number of Overlay Units the Fusion Material Assembly Nightingale had! It also gains 500 ATK for every level it has."

"There are 6 Overlay Units! That's why she uses Amethyst Sparrow's effect!" Aera gasps. (ATK:2000-5500)

"5500 ATK!" Shun gasps.

"Battle! I attack Moon Protector with Independent Nightingale!" Ruri yells as the attack destroys Moon Protector and causing a lot of damage to Diana. (Diana:6400-3000)

"And I'm not finished yet." Ruri says, "Independent Nightingale's effect activates! Once per turn, it can deal damage to the opponent equal to its Level multiplied by 500!

"Don't do this! Stop!" Diana feels fear as she lands on the ground in shock.

"Now taste the pain that you inflicted on Heartland!" After the effect damage hits, she lets out a scream before falling to the ground and fainted. (Diana:3000-0)

"Should we card her?" Shun asks after staring at the fainted woman.

"Leave her be." Aera says. "She won't wake up and we are not here for a long stay."

"If you say so..." Jean says. "But that is an amazing Fusion Monster."

"You think so? I thought you hated Fusion Monsters." Ruri says.

"Maybe in the past, but after learning everything from Yuya and the others, I thought that maybe Fusion wasn't that evil, but the user is." Jean shrugs.

Then they get into the West Tower and nothing is in there, before they leave, Jean asks, "You said that when Rumi tried to save you, and you were controlled by that Parasite, how did she manage to defeat both you and Rin?"

Ruri says, "Well..."

(Flashback)

Rumi was backed into the corner after Ruri gave her damage using Independent Nightingale, Rumi drew a card and says, "Ruri, did you remember? At the clover branch tournament when you dueled against Sayaka."

She remembered how Sayaka was trying to give Ruri the Little Fairy, because she is her number one friend, Rumi walked towards Ruri and says, "Don't accept it, Ruri."

"Sister Rumi?" Just then, Rumi just slapped the card to the ground and said, "If you're a Duelist you shouldn't take cards from others so readily."

And back to the duel, she says, "At that time, I couldn't understand Sayaka's behavior. No, not just then. I was degenerating after losing you."

"Cool story, sister Rumi. But hurry up!" Ruri says.

"After the war, after meeting Yusho sensei, I realized it. I understood her behavior!" Rumi said. "I Summon Little Fairy!"

"Little Fairy?" Ruri gasped.

"Sayaka gave it to me before I came here to rescue you!" Rumi yelled. "And I'll use it to save you and Rin!"

After summoning Light Patience Utopia Dragon, she says, "Listen up, Ruri! It's not just me. Sayaka, Katrina, Shun, Yuto, and all of our comrades are waiting for your return!"

"I don't care about that! Stop saying selfish things!" Ruri yelled.

"Looks like there is only one way to regain the original Ruri..." Rumi closed her eyes.

"Original Ruri? Don't bother with such illusions!" Ruri yelled.

With Rin defeated, Rumi turned to Ruri and said, "Now it's your turn, Ruri! I target Independent Nightingale and use detach the last Overlay Unit from Light Utopia Xyz Dragon!"

But just as Ruri tried to activate a Trap Card, the real Ruri grabbed her arm and said, "I won't let you!"

After taking the damage, Ruri muttered weakly, "Sister Rumi..."

"Ruri, is that really you?" Rumi asked.

"Sister Rumi! Attack me!" Ruri said.

Rumi noded as she delivered the final attack on Ruri, but just after she made sure both Ruri and Rin were okay, Rumi also passed out just like the other two.

(Flashback Ends)

"Wait, you mean Sayaka gave Rumi Little Fairy?" Lisa asks. "I thought she only used her own cards..."

"After meeting Yusho sensei, she changed, and Yuni also gave her monsters and cards that she didn't have before...she learned how to trust comrades..." Ruri says with a soft smile.

"I know, I noticed that back in the Duel with Crow at that time..." Aera says. "Since we have nothing to do here, let's go."

The others nod as they leave.

And here is a new chapter, I decided to have Ruri dueled Diana instead of Kaito, since I haven't shown her Pendulum Monsters back in the previous Arc. Ruri is also using the former Parasite Fusion Monster, but I decided to make it a mood change for her. The next three chapters will be the Synchro ones and how they encountered one of the nastiest enemy in this arc in the ARC-V anime.

New OC Cards:

Lyrical Luscinia Ruby Lark:

Wind Attribute LV:1 PS:0 WingedBeast/Pendulum/Effect ATK:0/DEF:0

Pendulum Effect: You can use this card and one Monster on the field to perform a Fusion Summon. The Fusion Monster gains 1000 ATK until the end of the turn when it's summoned.

Monster Effect: You can use this card and another Monster on the field to perform a Fusion Summon. The Fusion Monster gains 1000 ATK until the end of the turn when it's summoned.

Lyrical Luscinia - Amethyst Sparrow:

Wind Attribute LV:1 PS:2 WingedBeast/Pendulum/Effect ATK:100/DEF:100

Pendulum Effect: When an Xyz Monster you control successfully declares an attack, you can choose one Monster from your deck, add that target to your Monster as Overlay Units, and it gains 1000 ATK.

Monster Effect: When this card is used as an Overlay Unit for Lyrical Luscinia Monsters, that monster gain 1000 ATK.

Assembly Nightingale's Feather:

Quick-Play Magic

Effect: You can treat one Xyz Monster on the field as Assembly Nightingale until the end of the turn.