"Doomsday?"
Yugen sighed.
Doomsday again, will this world ever be alright? Why can't everyone just live peacefully, play some cards and enjoy retirement?
"Alright, what's the issue this time?" Yugen asked, "Let me guess, Anotherworld has sent another powerful old monster?"
"What? No."
Dr. Gondo shook his head, then with a serious expression.
"It's the person you just brought back. We've been trying to probe this guy's background until just now, and we've come to believe he should be from a parallel reality very similar to ours but without any intersection... You understand what this means, right?"
Yugen nodded: "Got it. But what's this got to do with Doomsday?"
"The issue is, he seems unclear about why he's here." Dr. Gondo said solemnly, "We asked him, he originally just wanted to return to his past time line in his own reality.
But now it appears during his attempt at interdimensional travel, the time and space of two dimensions got tangled, and two realities that shouldn't intersect have collided. He was swept into that turbulence during the time travel by sheer accident, ending up in our world."
Yugen understood: "He came here purely by chance."
"Yes. Our team is quite curious as to why such an accident occurred, so we conducted further research. Then we discovered this terrifying fact..."
Dr. Gondo said, showing an expression of horror.
"The reason he was swept into this nonexistent turbulence might be that the worlds we inhabit... are gravitating towards each other."
This time, Yugen was a bit confused: "What do you mean?"
"Literally. Like two magnets with opposite poles, they're being attracted and are nearing each other." Dr. Gondo said, "It might not have been obvious before, but now that such an incident has occurred, it's likely the two worlds are already very close."
Keihei already started to guess, his face turning pale: "Wait, then if... the two worlds were to fully merge, what would happen?"
"That's what I just mentioned."
Dr. Gondo showed a solemn expression.
"Us, and the other world's... would likely be destroyed."
The three were speechless for a moment.
This was different from previous problems they encountered.
No world-ending Demon God, no specific enemy trying to dominate or destroy everything. This felt like a natural disaster.
Yugen began to ponder.
In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, most problems can be solved by card battles, he knew that. But the premise is, you at least have to find someone to duel.
What to do in this situation? Duel with the avatar of the other world?
The three were silent for a moment, the atmosphere becoming somewhat heavy.
Until another person quickly entered the room from outside: "Mr. Yugen, that Otherworldly Person wants to see you."
Yugen frowned slightly, didn't ask much, got up and followed the person to the detention room.
The Kaiba Group's high-tech cage held Paradox at the back, the latter had already removed all his original equipment and was dressed in prison clothes. He sat there with arms crossed, staring at Yugen indifferently.
"They said you wanted to see me."
Yugen walked to the outside of the cage.
"I just heard about the matter." Paradox said, "Indeed, it's a possible explanation. Two worlds that shouldn't intersect getting tangled, my arrival in this reality was entirely accidental."
He paused slightly, his tone softening.
"So history hasn't gone wrong. There's no trace of you, Fujiki Yugen, in the history of my world."
Yugen smiled: "So you mean, I can finally shake off the suspicion of being the one responsible for destroying the world?"
Paradox had no words.
It now appeared that his previous allegations were indeed baseless, there wasn't a figure named Yugen existing in the history of his own world. But their future was still destroyed, further proving it had nothing to do with Yugen.
But there were things Paradox didn't say. He felt that even if the problem of his world might not be related to Yugen, he still thought this person was toxic.
Fujiki Yugen's dueling was like spreading a plague of darkness, snatching away all the passion and hope of a Duelist in a brief match, plunging them into a desperate abyss wanting to quit dueling forever...
Paradox shook his head.
Forget it, it wasn't his dimension, none of his business. Best to say less.
"Misunderstanding resolved, now we're on the same side." Paradox said solemnly, "You need my help."
Yugen raised an eyebrow: "These are the very words from someone who was just trying to kill me."
"I just want to save my own world." Paradox shook his head, "If the two worlds collide, our reality and all time lines will vanish.
What I did was merely attempting to erase Duel Monsters from history, so that human civilization could continue. But if even reality ceases to exist, what is left to save?"
Yugen pondered for a while.
If it was just Paradox's word, he naturally wouldn't easily trust someone he just met. But he had seen the original work and knew the character design, he knew Paradox was telling the truth.
Paradox did indeed return to the past just to save humanity of the future, if his dimension was going to be destroyed, he truly would try everything to make amends.
"You want to collaborate?" Yugen asked.
Paradox said: "First you have to let me out."
"That needs consideration." Yugen said, "Tell me how you plan to proceed first."
Paradox seemed somewhat agitated. He stood up, walked to the edge of the cage, facing Yugen eye to eye.
"First go back to my dimension."
Paradox said.
"Before I accidentally arrived in your world, I had actually noticed my world's history having some changes, but not due to my actions.
Initially, I didn't pay it much mind, only thinking perhaps it's a butterfly effect from my historical travels. But thinking now, it might as well be the reason."
He pondered for a moment, then continued.
"I haven't heard of the example of two worlds colliding, but I have heard of a theory.
If historical processes undergo erroneous changes, it might cause a world to shift from its original position, thus possibly leading to collisions with other realities."
"You knew there was such a risk and still went to change history?" Yugen asked.
"Just theoretically risky." Paradox replied coldly, "And my future is already thoroughly destroyed, as long as there's a chance to save it, I naturally am willing to take that risk.
But just by returning to correct the erroneous history, it should allow my world to return to its original trajectory to avoid collision."
"But you originally wanted to change the history of your world, didn't you?" Yugen said, "Now you're going to change the altered history back?"
Paradox rolled his eyes at him: "I change history to make the future better, but if all time lines are annihilated, what future would there be?
Let history be restored first, avoid dimensional fracture, then I'll seek a method to save it again. But that's a matter of our dimension, which I imagine wouldn't concern you."
Yugen nodded: "Very reasonable."
"So we're in agreement?" Paradox asked, "You also need my help. With your current level of technology, interdimensional travel would be hard to accomplish."
"Haha, that's hard to say."
Yugen waved his hand, walking away.
"I still need to think it over."
Paradox watched his departing figure, coldly saying: "Then you better hurry. We might not have much time left."