A month later, the much-anticipated WRGP world championship officially commenced its first phase.
First is the preliminary phase. In this stage, each participating team plays duels to score points, and teams with enough points advance. Even if some teams face strong "Great Demon King"-level teams in preliminaries, or perform poorly due to uncontrollable situations, they won't be directly eliminated due to a single defeat.
The preliminary system ensures that strong teams aren't unfairly eliminated early due to luck, allowing all top teams participating in WRGP to have a chance to advance.
Yusei Fudo also competed with his friends, and as in the original history, named their team "5DS."
Interestingly, the name "5DS" is originally an abbreviation for "5Dragons," meaning five dragons, symbolizing the five Dragon Sealers bound together by the Dragon Seal.
However, the current situation is that the Five Dragons team only has four dragons; the fifth one has gone solo...
Yes, that's right, even Yugen didn't expect this outcome. He didn't anticipate that despite being a villain to the main characters, the Red Dragon surprisingly brought him onboard, making him one of the Dragon Sealers.
Within a month, he officially joined the Public Security Maintenance Bureau as "Fujiki Yugen." The operations of the Taiyi Organization provided him with the credentials and background for the job, following formal procedures to legitimately become an officer again within the Public Security Maintenance Bureau.
As for "Officer Godwin," the official statement is he retired and resigned, with his whereabouts unknown.
When WRGP registration began, Yusei's side also invited Yugen to participate. Yusei still regarded Yugen as their companion. Despite always wearing a mask and not often interacting with them in daily life, he had this feeling.
Especially after everyone was linked by the Dragon Seal, Yusei was more certain of this feeling.
Unfortunately, Yugen still declined his invitation.
This is understandable, and also ZONE's intention. As an "King"-level Duelist determined by ZONE and an outsider from the Other Dimension, if Yugen joined the 5DS team, the team's journey would face significantly fewer challenges.
If when facing the Machine Emperor trio in the finals, Yugen defeats all ZONE's carefully prepared bosses alone, it would be ludicrous that Yusei and the others wouldn't even appear.
Even if Yugen were the last to appear, knowing someone has their back wouldn't let Yusei and others face their limits, which would be detrimental to their growth and ZONE's plan, hence Yugen couldn't possibly join them.
Therefore, although the world line changed, Yusei's 5DS team lineup remained unchanged. Their preliminary match opponents were still the same famous team players "Unicorn Team" in the animation. Eventually, 5DS won their first victory with no alarm.
Yusei smoothly secured the first game. Meanwhile, on the third day of the competition, Yugen's debut in WRGP approached.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The most passionate fans of New Tongshiyi! "The pompadour announcer stepped on the edge of the podium, his red suit fluttering in the air, yelling into the microphone with a thunderous roar, "Welcome to the WRGP preliminaries—New Tongshiyi Cup live!"
The audience erupted in a tsunami-like cheer, colorful support sticks twinkling like stars in the dark venue. The big screen showed the logos of today's participating teams—the left showing the "Superpower Team" badge sparking electricity, and the right bearing the "Dueling Should be Happy" team logo smiling.
Of course, compared to the overly serious name on the opposite side, the "Dueling Should be Happy" team name and that somewhat abstract smiling logo here are more eye-catching...
"First to enter is—hailing from North America, the Superpower Team!" The announcer struck an exaggerated pose, "This team swept opponents in last year's North American Riding Duel 3V3 team match, winning the championship trophy! Let's welcome—"
Along with the engines' roar, three silver streamlined D-Wheels drove out side-by-side from the entrance channel, drawing perfect curves on the track. The lead D-Wheel driver removed the helmet, revealing gold hair and sharp blue eyes.
"Captain Jack Black!"
The second rider was a woman with a high ponytail, who stylishly threw her helmet towards the audience, causing a scream.
"Next is Lina, the tactical mind of the Superpower Team, scheduled to be the first rode on stage!"
The last was a burly bald man; his D-Wheel was thicker than the other two, with a cross shield pattern painted on the front armor.
"Finally, Victor, the last line of defense for the Superpower Team, the team's most reliable player ensuring victory!"
The three stopped in the player zone, uniformly raising their right hands, with the Superpower Team badge on their gloves glittering under the lights. The audience already had fans hoisting English supporting banners, with thunderous applause.
"And their opponents are—" The pompadour announcer suddenly showed a strange expression, checked the information at hand, then lifted his head to confirm, "Uh... 'Dueling Should Be Happy' team..."
He paused, and the audience followed suit, sensing something odd.
"According to the organizers' list..." The announcer's voice became hesitant, "This team... uh... only has one participating player..."
A dead silence enveloped the entire place.
"And the player is—" Suddenly the announcer raised his voice by eight tones, "the special mission officer of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, Mr. Fujiki Yugen?!"
The audience was stunned.
Did the announcer just... say something extraordinary?
One person? Participating in a team match?
And he's the Public Security Maintenance Bureau officer?
What does this mean? Is the privileged class so idle, coming to experience life?
The audience instantly exploded into chaos. The big screen timely switched to the player's passage, where a tall figure was leisurely pushing out a D-Wheel.
Fujiki Yugen, wearing a black windbreaker, had his characteristic relaxed smile and tapped the Public Security Maintenance Bureau specially prepared black "Phantom" D-Wheel's body, waving towards the audience.
"Uh... Officer Yugen... no, it's Player Yugen, does indeed seem rather special."
The pompadour announcer scratched his head.
"This... entering a 3V3 team match alone, this is indeed..."
Yugen had mounted his D-Wheel, slowly driving onto the track. The big screen gave him a close-up; he winked at the camera, made a "shh" gesture, then pointed at his team suit's "Dueling Should be Happy" words, clearly mouthing "Number is not important, happiness is important."
Superpower Team's members looked at each other. Jack Black frowned.
"Is this guy underestimating us?" Lina asked in a deep voice.
Victor crossed his arms, "Maybe just an elite playing around, we'll handle him accordingly."
This speculation wasn't baseless since there were no records of him competing publicly, likely just playing.
The audience murmured louder, yet some shouted, "Officer, good luck."
Finally, the main referee walked to the field's center, raising the right hand: "Upon verification, the rules indeed allow single-player teams to compete, but he must defeat all three opposing players. If 'Dueling Should Be Happy' team's only player Fujiki Yugen forfeits or is unable to continue at any point, this team will lose the entire match."
This announcement stirred greater commotion. The announcer grabbed his pompadour until his voice hoarsened: "Ladies and gentlemen! This means Officer Fujiki will independently face three professional players from the Superpower Team! This is unprecedented in the history of Riding Team Duels!"
The Superpower Team's trio had already donned helmets again. Captain Black communicated internally, "Regardless of his plan, we shall uphold our duel."
Seemingly unfazed by the surrounding noise, Yugen was tuning his D-Wheel, simultaneously humming a tune.
"Players ready!" The referee raised the command flag, "First duel, 'Superpower Team' Lina Storm vs 'Dueling Should Be Happy' team Fujiki Yugen! Riding Duel—"
D-Wheel engines roared through the arena, four machines rushed from the starting line like arrows.
"Accelerate!!!"
Two D-Wheels charged out, heading towards the first turn.
[Yugen, LP4000]
[Lina, LP4000]
Lina unhesitatingly sped off, seizing the first turn.
"Sorry Officer, but I won't hold back because you're alone!"
The blonde D-Wheel rider smiled looking back at the trailing Yugen.
Yugen smiled lightly, unconcerned.
"I'll go first, draw card!"
Securing the first move through racing, Lina drew a card, then shouted.
"I normal summon 'Celestial Eye'!"