Yuya Sakaki

"I will use my power not to hurt someone or destroy the world, but to protect everybody's smiles."

Yuya Sakaki is the 4th main protagonist of Tag Force Chronicle. He is an alternate universe version of the Yuya Sakaki that appeared in the [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_ARC-V Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V] anime. He is a born-entertainer who attends the You Show Duel School to advance his Dueling expertise and become a "Dueltainer", a specific type of professional Duelist similar to his father. He is the pioneer of Pendulum Summoning. After winning the Friendship Cup, Yuya became the new Duel King of New Domino City. He is one of the Lancers. He is also the Teammate (Friends) of Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, Yuma, Yusaku, and Clarice.

Yuya has dimensional counterparts: Yuri (Fusion Dimension), Yugo (Synchro Dimension), and Yuto (Xyz Dimension). He is also one of Z-ARC's reincarnations, and later comes to assume Z-ARC's identity after merging with all of his counterparts.

Appearance
Yuya is a young teenage boy with crimson eyes, and dual-colored green and crimson hair of average length sticking out in downwards pointing spikes all around his head in a similar manner to Jaden Yuki, with the exception of one short upwards pointing spike of green hair. He wears his good-luck charm pendant on a simple string around his neck, and a buckled choker, and a pair of golden goggles with orange lenses on his forehead, with a blue star obscuring the right lens. Yuya wears a simple orange t-shirt with a thick, silver-buckled brown belt over it, green pants with what appear to be "Deck pockets" on each leg, and magenta shoes, as well as crimson wristbands. He also wears his gold and red lined white school jacket over his shoulders like a cape, in a similar manner to Yami Yugi. After leaving the Xyz Dimension, he wears the Rollerboots that Allen Kozuki gave him. While Awakened, Yuya's eyes begin to glow a luminous red, while his hair becomes frizzled and sticks up on end. When the darkness inside Yuya takes over Awakened Yuya, he continuously emits a dark aura from his body. Yuya is rendered in 3D when he is riding "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", any of its evolved forms, or his Duel Runner. His hair and attire's color scheme is based on the Summoning method that he specializes in, in this case Pendulum Summoning; half green and half orange/red.

During Turbo Duels, Yuya wears a Turbo Dueling suit that bears resemblance in form to Yusei Fudo's. He wears a predominantly red jumpsuit with a secondary white trim and orange markings, and with padded knees. The chest of his jumpsuit is grey. Yuya wears a jacket with the same color scheme as his jumpsuit that flares out above the hips, and black-backed white gloves. His helmet is visorless; Yuya's own goggles serve as a substitute.

Later, after absorbing Yuri and being consumed by Z-ARC, Yuya transforms into a monstrous form resembling a mixture between an human, a dragon, and a demon. His body turns grey and becomes bulkier with number of spikes protruding from his shoulders, arms, and ankles while his eyes turn bright yellow. His face become veiny and his ears are replaced by wing-like appendages. In this form, he no longer wears a shirt or Rollerboots and has a large pair of black demonic wings on his back.

Personality
A fun-loving and energetic boy, Yuya is very theatrical and loves to entertain people, traits he seems to inherited from his father (adoptive actually), Yusho Sakaki. He idolized and loved his father very much and wishes to become an entertainer like him one day. After his father disappeared during an important match, Yuya was left heartbroken and traumatized by the event because his beloved father was labeled as a "coward". As Yoko Sakaki had stated, Yuya acts like a fool merely to beat people for insulting him about his father disappearing. Yuya even joked about his father when Gong brought up the fact that he should act more serious about his Duels like his father.

However, after his Duel with the Sledgehammer, during which he reportedly "reinvented" himself, Yuya displays a more serious demeanor, saving his theatrical persona for his finishing combos. Due to Yuya's initial buffoonery, his friends and other people are often baffled by Yuya's behavior and believes he doesn't take things seriously. Because his father was so famous, his friends and other people seems to have high expectations of Yuya to live up to his father's reputation while simultaneously quick to bring up Yusho's "cowardice" or scold him for his clownish actions. During his Duel with the Sledgehammer, Yuya proved to be quite clever and skilled in Action Duels, having learned everything from his father.

Similar to Yugi Muto, Yuya has a good deal of less self-confidence than the protagonists in the previous series. As such, when he finds himself cornered (for example when "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" was destroyed in his Duel against Sora Perse), or something happens that breaks his confidence (like when Declan and Sylvio used Pendulum Summoning), he tends to pull his goggles down so nobody can see his eyes. At times like these, he ends up recalling lessons from his father, or relies on support from his friends or his mother to regain his confidence and continue the Duel.

Yuya has a habit of putting his goggles over his eyes when he is either upset or embarrassed, something he did since he was young. When Yuya Duels, he announces "Ladies and gentlemen!" when he is about to perform a finishing move. In the dub, his catch phrase is "Swing into action".

Initially, Yuya was more emotionally vulnerable regarding Pendulum Summoning, believing it to be a power granted only to him. When both Declan and Sylvio Pendulum Summoned, he was speechless, but coaching from Skip and the lessons he learned during his Qualification Duels have turned him into a Duelist that enjoys the challenge set before him, and he smiled as he was cornered by Sylvio when he Pendulum Summoned in their rematch. Regardless, Yuya can easily fall into depression due to matters such as witnessing his friends being sent to the forced labor of New Domino City, to conflict as simple as Crow Hogan telling him that he no longer wants to be his friend. Yuya's depression is very prominent in the Synchro Dimension.

Yuya believes that Dueling is for the purpose of making people happy, and he is disgusted when it is used for war. As a spectator, he will protest against any duel conducted with violence, hatred and/or anger. However, confrontations with his dimensional counterparts and learning about the four dimensions as well as the crisis between them start making him doubt his ability to entertain people with Dueling. His Duel against Iggy further hurt his optimism after Awakening and winning brutally using Yuto's card. Yuya also believes that no card in a Deck is worthless. He was given two cards that were deemed worthless by their previous owners, "Block Spider" and "Tuning Magician". Despite the uselessness of the cards, Yuya has managed to come up with creative ways to make use of them and win, as demonstrated in his Duels against Sylvio and Shinji.

As Yuya becomes more involved in the dimensional war, in addition to repeated incidents that Awaken him, Yuya progressively finds it more difficult to entertain with Dueling, and stops using his usual phrases like "Ladies and gentlemen!". He becomes more hostile and impatient, such as when Declan revealed that the Battle Royal was a test to recruit Lancers which led to many of his friends becoming sealed in cards. Even before this, Yuya tends to be impatient and demanding in his attempts to uncover information about the conflict between the dimensions or sensitive topics. After the Duel against his mother, Yuya regained his belief that he could make people smile through Dueling, along with the wish to end the conflict between the Four Dimensions, and he demonstrated this against Sector Security. Despite this, his efforts to entertain with Dueling in the Synchro Dimension are frequently thwarted, and these in addition to other problems such as Declan's treatment of Riley and Jack's comments about his Dueling have greatly increased his frustration. This can cause him to become more aggressive and Duel violently similar to when he Awakened, as shown during his Duel against Officer 227. Jean-Michel Roget believes this is Yuya's true nature.

The first time he Awakened, Yuya was collected and cold, speaking no more than necessary. However, when witnessing Yuto's memories of Duel Academy's attack on the Xyz Dimension and seeing the Knights of the Duel Disks being turned into cards by the Obelisk Force in front of him, Yuto's hatred towards the Fusion Dimension bleeds into Yuya, making him even more aggressive and ruthless. This is worsened when the darkness inside him consumed him, making him desire to harm his enemies. Subsequent bouts of Awakenings are either triggered by reminders of the invasion of the Xyz Dimension or when Yuya is placed under extreme stress.

Abilities
As an Action Duelist, Yuya is very acrobatic and fit, having participated in physical training regimes at You Show Duel School.

Like his dimensional counterparts, Yuya is able to Awaken, an involuntary ability that activates when he is sufficiently angered, catalyzed by either the influence of the Four Dimension Dragons or his Dimensional counterparts. This causes him to enter a state of rage that drives him to win the Duel no matter what it takes, and heightens his concentration to the point that he blocks out all sounds except for his opponent's voice. When in this state his own voice becomes deeper and noticeably more menacing. He loses this ability after Riley removed Z-ARC's soul from him.

After absorbing Yuto's soul and merging with him, Yuto's memories begin to spill over, allowing him to see fragments of his counterpart's past. When triggered, the shock and trauma that comes with them can cause him to awaken and become influenced by Yuto's own hatred, which makes him vulnerable to the control of an unknown darkness that slowly tries to consume both of their souls. After becoming aware of this, Yuya eventually gained a degree of control over his anger and thus Awakening, becoming capable of snapping out of it by force of will. While under the control of the Darkness, Yuya is able to unleash powerful shockwaves via "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon" that is beyond normal for someone hailing from the Standard Dimension.

Yuya has the ability to synchronize with his dimensional counterparts, though the exact circumstances are unknown. Unlike the apparent synchronization that Yuto and Yugo previously displayed, he has complete sync with his counterpart(s), capable of seeing and experiencing everything that they experience. In this state, Yuya and his counterpart(s) act as if they were one person, speaking, moving, and responding in the exact same manner. When the Duel ends, both of them were unable to understand what had happened in that brief period of time, though both retain the memory of the Duel occurring. Yuya is capable of retaining his own thoughts while in sync though he gradually loses the ability to distinguish between himself and Yugo, as seen when he worried that his victory would send Sylvio to the underground facility when it would have been Yugo's victory that would do the deed. After Yugo's Duel with Celina, Yuya has become aware of this ability. During his Duel with Crow, he synchronizes with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri after Roget uses the chip he planted in Yuya's helmet at maximum, which also caused all four of them to awaken.

After absorbing Yuto into his body, Yuya can be possessed by him while not Awakened, causing Yuya to feel a rush of pain, followed by his eyes briefly glowing purple before fading to the same color as Yuto's. Eventually Yuya and Yuto became able to fully switch control of the body.

Yuya is also immune to The Doktor's Parasite Monsters. When they attempt to attach to his brain they are quickly destroyed, apparently by the Darkness that possesses him when Awakened.

Being Z-ARC's reincarnation, Yuya seems to have also inherited his ability to communicate with his monsters, especially his ace monster "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon", to a certain degree, though not as strong as Z-ARC. This is demonstrated whenever Yuya saw a glimpse of his monsters before summoning them, which mostly resulted with Yuya summoning and gaining new special summoned monsters. After Z-ARC's defeat, he is still fused with his counterparts and as such is considered "whole". With this Yuya has gained the full use of Z-ARC's ability to communicate with Duel Monsters and understand them as seen when he summoned the Four Dimension Dragons.

Etymology
Like the protagonists of the other series, Yugi Muto, Yami Yugi, Jaden Yuki, Yusei Fudo, and Yuma Tsukumo, his name contains the character「遊」(Yu). He is the first protagonist whose surname only contains one character.

Yuya was also the name of a Pharaoh, which could possibly allude to the fictional events in Ancient Egypt that heavily influenced the plot of the second series anime.

His given name contains the characters for "game" and "arrow". His surname「」(sakaki) refers to the Cleyera japonica, an evergreen tree that has relevance in Shinto ceremonies, where it acts as a conduit for kami. It is also part of the Shinto creation myth, during the section in which Amaterasu retreats into a cave after Susano'o torments her, where it is strung with jewelry and mirrors as part of a successful plot to draw Amaterasu from the cave and restore light to the world.

History
In his childhood, Yuya sat by himself crying when his father, Yusho Sakaki came in to cheer him up. He gave him advice on laughing whenever he felt down and used Yuya's pendant to explain that if Yuya was happy, the happiness would swing back at him. At another unknown point in his childhood, he lost his Pendant in a park, and cried when he was unable to find it. His father learned of the incident and reaffirmed the statement that Yuya should look up and laugh whenever he felt like crying. Yuya did so, locating his Pendant hanging from a tree branch. At one point, Yuya said that he wanted to be a Duelist just like his father when he grew up, and his father said Yuya's got it a bit wrong. He said instead of being like him, Yuya should always be himself.

He also looked at Gong's purely Monster Card composed Deck at another point, discussing Gong's philosophy of not using Action Cards. Gong explained that Action Cards were too risky if one were to rely on them, though Yuya claimed that that was the exciting part about them.

At a later point, Yuya and his mother (adoptive actually), Yoko Sakaki, watched the final Duel between Yusho and the Sledgehammer. When Yusho did not show up, Yuya ran to the bottom of the stands, saying that his father would appear, and challenged the Sledgehammer to a Duel until his father arrived. Yoko pulled Yuya from the stands as he continued to protest. He was bullied for these remarks, even being challenged to a Duel directly by Grizzlepike, one of the disciples of the Strong Dojo who wanted to represent the Sledgehammer, but he was protected by Gong and comforted by Zuzu.

Meeting Yuto
Yuya and Zuzu watched Sora's Duel with Shay worriedly, since they knew Shay to have been the serial attacker on LID. He recognized Shay's monsters from when he encountered him, including "Raidraptor - Rise Falcon," and warned Sora to be careful, proven correct when "Rise Falcon," decimated Sora's field and again created real shockwaves. He watched in horror as the Duel continued and Sora revealed that his people had attacked Shay's homeland to hunt them for fun. As the Duel reached its climax, with Shay claiming victory, Yuya, horrified by the battlefield the Duel had descended into, begged them to stop, as this wasn't Dueling. Sora was injured by a falling building and hospitalized, Yuya desperately trying to reach him.

He remained with Zuzu and Gong at the hospital to keep an eye on Sora, where the three of them compared the facts, and Yuya learned about Yuto, a Duelist who resembled him and the real culprit behind the attack on Sylvio. Yuya mused that the conflict between Sora's people and Shay's seemed to be larger than an inter-school rivalry, but before they could talk further, they overheard the guards looking for Sora, who had escaped. After calling Skip, Yuya headed off to Central Park, finding Sora Dueling Yuto. When Yuto Summoned "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon", Yuya realized that it could wipe Sora out if it used both of its Overlay Units, but Yuto only used one and attacked, showing mercy. Yuya ran over to Sora, trying to get him to rest, but Sora refused. Angered by Yuto hurting his friend, Yuya joined the Duel. He Pendulum Summoned "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" on his first turn, but to his surprise, he experienced a burning sensation in his chest as it faced off against "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon." He attacked with the intent to destroy both monsters and revive "Odd-Eyes" next turn, but Yuto blocked the attack, playing around the effect of "Timegazer Magician." Sora angrily told Yuya to get lost, claiming that Yuto was his prey. Yuya demanded answers, and learned that Shay and Yuto were from the Xyz Dimension, and that Sora had been sent from Duel Academy. Before Sora could continue, he was forcibly returned to the Fusion Dimension.

Yuto and Yuya called off the Duel, and Yuto explained about the four Dimensions to Yuya. Yuya was skeptical, but told Yuto that Dueling shouldn't be used for fighting as it was by the other Dimensions. They were interrupted by the arrival of a Duelist on a Duel Runner, who crashed into a streetpost, and revealed that he too resembled Yuya and Yuto. Introduced as a Pawn of Fusion, the Duelist stated that his name was Yugo, and he quickly challenged Yuto to a Duel. Yuya watched the Duel in shock as the Duelists ran around agily, and experienced the same burning sensation when Yugo, a Synchro user, called out "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon." The sensation intensified when Yuto retaliated with "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon," causing the two Duelists to become possessed and violent. Yuya managed to calm Yuto down, getting him to call off his attack, but was unsuccessful in calming Yugo, who proceeded to claim victory. Yuto saved Yuya from the shockwave, and Yuya ran to his defeated doppelganger, begging him to stay with him. Smiling, Yuto handed Yuya his glowing "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon," asking Yuya to use his power to bring Duels with smiles to the world, and both he and Yugo vanished in a glow of blue light. Yuya sat there in shock, collapsing as Zuzu arrived.

Relationships
=== Yusho Sakaki Yusho is Yuya's father. Yuya loves and admires his father immensely and dreams to become a professional Dueltainer like him. It is also through Yusho's Dueling Yuya developed his belief that Dueling is for fun and makes people happy. Despite his father's sudden disappearance, Yuya continues to respect and admire his father, believing there's a reason for his disappearance and dislikes when someone makes fun of his father.

Yusho is ultimately the reason, however, for Z-ARC's revival. In addition to raising Z-ARC's Standard Dimension reincarnation as a Duelist, his carding at the hands of Yuri is ultimately what allows for Z-ARC to be revived.

=== Yoko Sakaki Yoko is Yuya's mother. Although Yuya's not as close with her as with his father, Yuya still has a good relationship with his mother, like a normal mother and son. Yoko understood how her son was feeling when Yusho disappeared and is supportive of Yuya's dream to become a professional Dueltainer like his father. She would help and take care of Yuya in any way she can when he’s in trouble, as shown when Yuya was unconscious for two days after his meeting with Yuto and Yugo. However, Yuya is sometimes flustered whenever his mother's fondness for cute boys get the better of her.

=== Zuzu Boyle Zuzu is Yuya's closest childhood friend. To Yuya, Zuzu is an irreplaceable figure in his life and he cherishes her greatly. As she is someone who has always been with him. Zuzu is supportive of Yuya and would help him whenever he is in trouble by defending him when someone may try to insult him. Zuzu also acts as a "straight man" in a comedic act with Yuya, usually beating him with her paper fan whenever he angered her. Behind this however, she harbors romantic feelings for Yuya. These feelings are made apparent when Zuzu blushed when Sora mistook her as his girlfriend, when she accidentally hugged Yuya which caused her to push him away in panic, and jealous whenever Aura makes advances towards him or calling him "darling". Earlier in the series, Yuya had only thought of her as his close friend, evidenced in that he protested at the prospect of dating a crude strong girl like Zuzu when Sora mistook her as his girlfriend. However, even at this point his feelings for Zuzu were no less caring as he cries when he realizes Zuzu was gone after Duel Academy attacked Paradise City (unaware that she teleported to another dimension with Yugo previously).

As the series has progressed, it has been strongly implied that Yuya likely returns Zuzu's feelings and looks at her as more than just a sister or a friend. Even as Celina was about to be teleported away back to the Fusion Dimension, Yuya did not move away from Zuzu's side, and not long after he made the heartbreaking decision to abandon his Dueltainer/smile philosophy so long as he could successfully protect Zuzu and make her smile. This was especially symbolic as he discarded "Smile World"; the symbol of his ideal, to free Zuzu from Sergey's cards. His failure to protect her in this instance caused him to passionately fight to rescue her from Jean-Michel Roget and upon doing so, he hugged her warmly after reuniting with her in the Synchro Dimension. He became emotionally shattered and heartbroken after he heard and then saw Zuzu under the control of the Doktor, which caused him to Awaken for the first time on his own accord and he was overjoyed when Zuzu regained her mind after she was freed from the Parasite Monster's control. Whilst Zuzu was kidnapped and being fused with her counterparts in the Revival Zero project, Yuya tried to fight his anger for her, so as to not Awaken. However after seeing the process begin to intensify, and hearing her pleas for help, he gave into his anger in an attempt to save her. Furthermore, his incredibly strong feelings for her are reinforced after having remembered Zuzu in the "Pendulum Dimension" and the fact she wasn't there, which made his happy demeanor shift immediately to one of inner turmoil and absolute despair, along with tumultuous guilt at the fact he had not remembered her sooner.

Yuya is also supportive of Zuzu and is grateful for all her help over the years. When she is depressed, Yuya always gives his encouragement to steer her spirit. Yuya's bond with Zuzu is shown to be very deep, as shown during the aftermath of Battle Royal, Zuzu is the one whose well-being Yuya cares the most for as he stated how Zuzu is the one who is always by his side from the very beginning and it was also thanks to her he was able to grow his Pendulum Summoning. If one of them is depressed, the other is usually the one to cheer them up. This bond culminated in Zuzu's speech to Z-ARC that she believed that Yuya was not a demon despite being the reincarnation of the destroyer of the Original Dimension, allowing for Yuya to break free of Z-ARC's control and allow Ray/Riley to defeat him. It is therefore likely to assume that the two do have a mutual affection and love for one another.

=== Yuto Yuto is Yuya's Xyz Dimension counterpart. From the brief moment of their first meeting, though Yuya was initially wary and skeptical of him, Yuto developed a strong trust towards his counterpart as both see Dueling as a means to make people smile and give them happiness. Their differing personalities and stark experiences also make them each other's foils.

Their shared hopes and desires is what motivated Yuto to entrust Yuya with his Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon just before being absorbed into Yuya, giving the confused youth parting words that give Yuya strength at times when he began to lose his confidence. Following their fusion, due to Z-ARC's influence starting to consume them and compel them to act violently, Yuya would find himself possessed by Yuto's anger and sadness and was initially until he understood Yuto's pain and wish to peace. This allowed Yuya to slowly warmed up to Yuto's presence within him and come to understand him better.

Shortly after arriving at Heartland City, Yuya advised by him to keep their merged state a secret, Yuto began actively interacting with Yuya within his subconscious as the two resolve to fight Duel Academy together. Their similar goals toward making people smile in Duels and desire to not harm anyone as well end the war peacefully and protect their friends, families, and allies have contributed to Yuya's strong and brotherly relationship with Yuto. Following Z-ARC's defeat, Yuto reaffirmed his support to Yuya during his duel against Jack as he appears in spirit beside Yuya when he Xyz Summoned Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon.

Deck
Yuya uses a "Performapal"/"Magician"/"Odd-Eyes" Deck. The bulk of his Deck consists of "Peformapal" monsters. The "Performapals" represent his passion for entertaining others with their cartoon-like appearance and carnival attire, while his ace monster "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" represents the courage he inherited from Yusho Sakaki. They have low attack, but varied and useful battle-related effects such as allowing multiple attacks or manipulating monsters' ATK points. For the majority of the first arc, Yuya's Deck focuses on Pendulum Summoning. He prefers to set the Pendulum Scale with his "Magicians" to Summon monsters of various Levels during these early episodes, but in later arcs starts to make use of narrower Scales. As the series continues, he gains access to Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters and modifies his Deck to accommodate them. His main strategy is to use the effect of "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" to deal lots of damage to his opponent.

In early arcs, Yuya's Deck contains few Spell Cards as he prefers to rely on Action Cards. He uses his high mobility monsters to traverse the Action Field in order to search for them. In later arcs, he includes more Spell Cards in his Deck.

Pre-Arc League Championship
Yuya's Deck focuses on Pendulum Summoning for the majority of this arc. After using Zuzu's "Polymerization" in one of his Duels, Yuya starts using cards like "Performapal Trump Witch" to Pendulum-Fusion Summon Fusion Monsters like "Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" and "Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon".

Trivia

 * Yuya is the first main protagonist since:
 * Yugi whose ace monster's Attribute is DARK.
 * Jaden to use the Spell Card "Polymerization".
 * Yuya has the following distinctions from the other main protagonists:
 * He is the only one to not defeat the female lead of his series.
 * He is the only one who never directly fought the final antagonist of his series (in this case, Z-ARC). This is because he was possessed by Z-ARC during the time in which he was active.
 * He is the only one to have an ace monster with the naming convention "X-Eyes Y Dragon", which is usually reserved for the primary rival.
 * He is the only one to not have a "Gardna" monster in his Deck (Yugi had "Big Shield Gardna", Jaden had "Necro Gardna", Yusei had "Ghost Gardna", "Zero Gardna", "Junk Gardna", "Life Gardna", "Devoted Gardna" and "Fake Gardna", "Yuma had "Gagaga Gardna", and Yusaku had "Lockout Gardna", Secure Gardna" and "Protocol Gardna"). However, this only applies in the anime, as his manga counterpart uses three copies of "Performapal Card Gardna".
 * Yuya is the only reincarnation of Z-ARC to have a surname.
 * Similar to Yugi Muto, his surname is also pronounced differently in the English dub. His last name is pronounced as "Sacocky" rather than "Sakaki".
 * With the exception of Rin, Yuya has Dueled against each of Ray Akaba's reincarnations at least once.
 * This is parallel to Celina, who Dueled against three out of four of Z-ARC's reincarnations.