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(3rd Person PoV)

Back in the real world, Rua's legs were shaking and he was breathing heavily.

"Rua," Yusei murmured, worriedly.

"I wonder how long he'll last," Etho said.

"He'll be ok...I hope," Ushio sighed.

Rua turned to Power Tool Dragon and asked, "are you alright?" And his dragon nodded.

Rua smiled at this before turning to Dimark who was laughing.

"You held out, it seems. I set two cards down and end my turn," Dimark said.

"Alright! The real fight begins now because it's my turn!" Rua declared and drew a card.

I need to get a card to beat Zeman the Ape King! He thought.

"I activate Power Tool Dragon's effect. I add a random equip spell to my hand from my deck," Rua said.

A random card came out from his deck and Rua took a deep breath.

Please! Let this card be the one, he thought and drew it. He looked at it and a wide grin spread across his face.

"Yes! I equip Megamorph! Now Power Tool Dragon's attack points will be doubled!" Rua cheered.

...

...

"Huh? Why haven't the attack points gone up?" Rua asked, worriedly.

"You ignorant fool. That card only works when your life points are lower than mine but as you can see, we both have the same amount of life points," Dimark explained.

"Oh no! This was supposed to be my game breaking combo! I'm out of options now!" Rua wailed with some tears coming out of his eyes.

"Heh, looks like fate isn't too kind to those who are not a Signer," Dimark said.

"Rua!" Yusei called out and the boy turned to look at him.

"Don't forget, that the cards you poured your faith and wishes into are all in that deck of yours. If you believe in your cards, they will answer back, just believe! The cards you took care of won't betray you!" Yusei shouted.

"Yusei...," Rua then looked at the cards that were currently in his hand.

His eyes widen.

I see now. Power Tool Dragon's effect allows it to negate attacks and effects that would destroy it as long as it has an equip card equipped to it and sent to the graveyard, he thought.

"I switch Power Tool Dragon to defense mode and end my turn," he declared.

His dragon curled up and turned blue, signifying that it went to defense mode.

"What a fool. Playing defense in a Shadow Duel is not a useful tactic," Dimark scoffed.

Rua took a deep breath to calm himself. "I just have to trust in my cards and wait for his chance, just like Yusei said," he said to himself.

(In the Spirit World)

"So you were the one who called me here?" Ruka asked Regulus who nodded.

"Yes I did. Ancient Fairy Dragon told me all about you. I used all the power I had available while fighting to bring you here to the spirit world," the lion explained.

He then bowed his head. "Forgive me, while I was under that curse, I thought you were an enemy and almost fought you."

"Honestly I thought you were going to gobble us up!" Torunka huffed and crossed his arms.

"That's enough, lad," Joel sighed and Ruka nodded.

"When we fell down the waterfall, Regulus protected us so that's more than enough for me to forgive him," Ruka said before adding on a thank you.

She then put on a determined face on.

"Next up is saving Ancient Fairy Dragon," she said.

"Indeed," Regulus got up. "She is sealed inside a crag by Zeman's curse. If we infiltrate his castle and defeat Zeman, the Minus Curse will be lifted and those turned to Minus might return to normal," he explained.

"And we'll be able to save Ancient Fairy Dragon with that?" Ruka asked.

"It seems like it," Joel made a thinking face at this.

"Get on my back," Regulus said and the three of them nodded.

Ruka got on first, then Torunka and then Joel.

"Hang on tight," Regulus told them and ran off.

(Meanwhile)

In a dark castle, where monkeys were kneeling before a large ape who was partially covered in shadows.

"O Sky of the spirit world, now is the time for you to flow through the earth! I am the great ruler Zeman! All in this world shall be Minusized and become mine!" He shouted.

As he said this, a white and blue beam of light shot through the middle of the room. The tablets on the wall also became white and blue as the spirits in them shrieked with fear before eventually becoming quiet as they got completely minusized.

Outside of the castle, the beam of light shot upwards and caused the sky around it to spin.

As this was happening, Regulus and the others stopped at the edge of the woods and looked up at the beam of light.

"What's wrong?" Ruka asked.

"Look," Regulus pointed with his head.

"Huh? The sun looks strange," Ruka noted.

"Hey, is it just me or is it getting darker and darker?" Joel asked. He could have also sworn that Regulus glanced at him as if he was double taking that Joel was here.

"S-something is forming inside of the sun!" Torunka cried as a large shadow appeared on the sun.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be one of the staffs, those Cursed Needles. The clock part began to turn.

The three of them got off of Regulus and looked around.

"The trees!" Ruka cried out as the grand forest behind them began to shrink into shrubs before eventually disappearing into the soil.

"Was that mountain always bare?" Joel asked as the mountain behind them grew in size with the plants on it disappearing.

"This world...oh no. It's returning to its more primordial roots," Regulus explained as a stream of water stopped running and disappeared.

"Say what?" Joel asked.

"This is terrible! Now the spirits won't have a home to go to!" Ruka cried.

Torunka then let out a cry and Joel, Ruka and Regulus turned to look at him.

"Lad, what's wrong?" Joel asked.

"Why are your clothes so baggy too?" Ruka asked.

"It's not that. I think I aged down more that my body is becoming smaller," Torunka explained.

"Smaller?" Joel repeated.

"Yes and at this rate, Ruka and I will turn into babies and disappear and you Joel will return to being a teenager before eventually a child!" Torunka cried and Ruka and Joel checked their clothes to see that they were also baggy.

"We don't have much time then," Joel said.

"You're right, we have to defeat Zeman while we still can. Let's go," Regulus said with Ruka nodding.

The three of them got back on his back and Regulus took off.

Rua, give me the strength to fight Zeman, Ruka silently prayed.

(Back in the real world)

"It is my turn now," Dimark then drew a card.

"I will have Zeman attack your toy dragon. Cursed Flare!" He shouted.

"Bring it on! Not only is Power Tool Dragon in defense mode but also it has Megamorph as its shield!" Rua declared before adding on, "and I won't take any damage."

"Useless. I activate the continuous trap, Roaring Earth. When a beast type monster attacks a monster in defense mode, it'll be able to inflict piercing damage. Continue your attack," Dimark said.

As the flames of the attack shot through, Rua quickly shouted, "I send Megamorph to the graveyard to activate Power Tool Dragon's effect to negate its destruction!"

The flames still went through as Power Tool Dragon shielded Rua from the worst of it.

2500 —> 2000 LPS

"How's that! Power Tool Dragon is still in this!" Rua shouted before he saw some chunks falling out from Power Tool Dragon.

He gasped as the dragon roared out in pain.

"Why is he hurt?" Rua asked, concerned.

"When you receive the effect of Roaring Earth, one monster on your field loses attack and defense points by 300," Dimark explained.

Power Tool Dragon lowered itself down and it trembled a bit.

2300 —> 2000 ATK

2500 —> 2200 DF

"I set a card down and end my turn. How pathetic. You remain on the field and yet you and your toy dragon are making an unsightly fool of yourselves," Dimark mocked.

Rua looked at Power Tool Dragon who was battered and beaten up.

"Thank you, you took so much punishment in order to protect me. We will win this duel," he told him.

He then turned to Dimark.

"No matter how lame we look, I will protect Ruka!" He declared.

(In the Spirit World; yeah we're still going back and forth between the two worlds)

Ruka, Regulus, Joel and Torunka were outside of the castle and hiding. There were still a bunch of monkeys guarding the place.

"So that's where Zeman is," Ruka noted.

"Seems tight," Torunka said while looking at the monkeys.

"It'll be impossible to sneak past them like this without a plan. If only we had an ender pearl or something," Joel muttered before flinching when Regulus turned to him with a confused look on the lion's face.

"I do not know what this ender pearl is but I do agree that we need a plan or else we will get caught," Regulus said.

"What should we do?" Ruka asked.

"There's only one way to infiltrate the castle," Regulus replied.

Later in the castle, a monkey ran up to Zeman and kneeled before him while telling him some interesting news.

"What? Regulus has finally been captured?" Zeman asked.

"Yes," the monkey replied.

"Excellent work, that's all we need in order to completely minusize Ancient Fairy Dragon," Zeman said.

"But it was not us who captured him," the monkey stated.

"Then who was it?" Zeman asked.

"A wandering spellcaster," the monkey replied.

"A spellcaster?" Zeman asked.

The doors opened and, while in disguise, Ruka, Torunka and Joel walked in.

Ruka wore a sack robe, a scarf to cover her face except her eyes and had a head wrap to hide her pigtails.

Torunka wore his robes backwards in a drape and tipped his hat down.

Joel wore a similar sack robe to Ruka but instead of beige, it was cream and he wore a larger scarf to cover his face except his eyes and wore a hood over his head with only his green hair streak sticking out.

Behind them, the monkeys were pushing a cage that held Regulus whom was seemingly sleeping.

Once they got in the middle, Torunka, Ruka and Joel kneeled down and Ruka spoke up, "Great Monkey King Zeman, it is an honor to meet you." Her voice was a faux deep so they wouldn't recognize her voice.

"A-an honor," Torunka stuttered and Joel said nothing but merely nodded.

"Raise your head," Zeman demanded and Ruka did so. She stared at the ape and thought, so that's Zeman.

She then heard a coo and glanced around to see the tablets that held the spirits.

Kuribon. Sunny Pixie. Sunlight Unicorn. I'm going to save you so hang in there, she thought.

"So you're the wandering spellcaster that captured Regulus?" Zeman asked.

"Yes," Ruka replied.

"And I'm one of the apprentices," Torunka added on.

Ruka glanced at Joel and said, "forgive my other apprentice for not speaking. His voice is a deadly weapon so I'm training him to speak only when necessary. It's for the sake of everyone here."

Zeman stared at them with his beady eyes before speaking up, "so how were you able to capture Regulus when all of my units couldn't?"

Ruka took out a staff that was really a Cursed Needle but wrapped up to cover the top.

"The power to control the spirits, come to my hand!" She chanted and pointed the staff at the cage. "Awaken!"

Regulus woke up, got up and growls. He slashed at the cage which scared the monkeys.

"Silence!" Ruka shouted and Regulus calmed down before lying down again, asleep.

"I see. You can control the spirits that easily," Zeman noted.

"Yes, yes. My master's spells can control any violent spirits," Torunka stated with Joel nodding.

"I don't believe you! Are you really using a spell?" Zeman asked.

"If I don't believe me, then I'll use Regulus to attack your soldiers," Ruka said and pointed to the monkeys who began to shake in fear.

"No no, that is alright. Getting Regulus to me was good enough. Now, hurry up and minusize him!" Zeman yelled at his soldiers who surrounded the cage with their Cursed Needles at the ready.

"Wait," Ruka said.

"What is it?" Zeman asked.

"If you insist on carrying on to minusize Regulus, then the spell I spent all this time casting will be lifted and Regulus will go berserk again," Ruka explained.

"Then what do you propose that we do? There's no point in keeping him in a cage and have him do tricks," Zeman scoffed.

"If I may, I don't believe that you don't know how to minusize Regulus," Ruka said.

"What?" Zeman seemed appalled by the idea.

"As you know, Regulus is the servant of Ancient Fairy Dragon," Ruka explained.

"Of course I know. I even sealed Ancient Fairy Dragon in the mountain but it's no good as I can't seem to minusize her completely," Zeman stated.

"In that case, I'll get straight to the point. If you unsealed Ancient Fairy Dragon while I simultaneously cast a curse on Regulus, you can minusize them both and they will be yours," Ruka explained.

"What? Unseal Ancient Fairy Dragon?" Zeman asked, surprised.

"Yes, there is no other way," Ruka stated.

Cunning, Joel thought as Ruka held an unwavering stare at Zeman who stared at her back. Torunka shuffled uncomfortably as he looked between the stares, wondering if Zeman would take the bait.

"Very well, I shall trust in what you say," Zeman finally said.

"We did it," Torunka said.

"Shh, be quiet," Ruka whispered.

"Come forth to me, Ancient Fairy Dragon!" Zeman shouted and pointed his staff at the pit in the middle of the room. A yellow light appeared and when it cleared out, a mountain appeared in the reflection of the pit.

It held the body of Ancient Fairy Dragon where she was sealed up.

Ruka, Joel and Torunka scooted closer to get a better look.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon," Ruka said as she stared at the mountain. Could this be it?

A/N: next chapter will hopefully be the last that we see of the spirit world, in this arc at least and we will see how the duel between Dimark and Rua ends.

Probably the next duels wouldn't be this long.

Cya in the next one -Flare

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