Author's Note: this is not a Carl Focus Chapter and maybe a short chapter.

Third Person's POV

Weiss Shock out of nowhere three Force Strix are currently in the field.

'Shay seems to have a lot of fun with his feathered friends, I can't wait to pluck them from the sky' Sora thought. 

"If you're hoping to make up for losing to me, you're only going to end up disappointed" Shay explained.

"Please, beating you will be like taking candy from a baby" Sora said as he takes out a lollipop and licks it.

"If you believe that, you're a bigger sucker that the one in your hand, Sora" Weiss said driving pass Sora who growls.

"Says you is not even your turn and you only drove around all day" Sora stated.

"He's not wrong, Sora specially since I have two Raidraptor Singing Laniuses join my team" Shay explained as he summon two smaller Raidraptors to the field.

Raidraptor Singing Lanius: Def/1800

"My preparations are complete, due to the new raid raptors on my team Force Strix's attack points increase" Shay Explained.

Raidraptor Force Strix: Atk/1100 → 2100

"From this point I'm- no... we're coming at you full force" Shay said as he sends his three Force Strix to attack Sora.

Weiss looks from the distance and sees that the Obelisk Force heading to their direction.

"Careful Shay!" Weiss warned.

Shay looks at Weiss "don't worry about me! you deal with those soldiers" he said.

Weiss seemed hesitant for leaving Shay alone "Allright I'll leave the rest to you!" he said before leaving the duel 'Shay... good luck' he thought as he sees the Obelisk attacking him with their ancient gears "You want to play like that, then bring it!" Weiss said as he draws a card "since I don't have any monsters on the field, I get to summon this Icicle beast, Come on out Beartic!" he yelled

Beartic: Level/5 Atk/2200

"Now I activate Beartic special ability when its special summoned I can summon a level four or lower-level monster from my hand, and I choose the tuner Monster Vanillite!" Weiss Explained.

Vanillite: Level/2 Atk/100

"Now tunning My level two Vanillite and Level five Beartic!" 

Light enveloped Vanillite body before transforming into two rings. Beartic runs through the rings. its body began to hollow out as it passed through the rings revealing the five shining white stars inside. They all aligned in the center which caused the same energy to arc between them like before. A white pilar of light struck forward.

"I Synchro summon! Freeze in the Sky Level 7 Articuno!" Weiss stated as a big ice blue bird appeared in the field.

Articuno: Atk/2800

"Next I activate the field spell, Snow warning time for you boys to feel a little shiver in your spine" Weiss explained as the ground gets covered in Ice and a hail begins to fall "now the effect of Snow warning kicks in all monsters on the field that aren't Ice related monsters loses two hundred points every end of the turn and each "Ice" monster gets three hundred points" Weiss explained.

Articuno: Atk/2800 → 3100

"Next I place two cards face down, Now Articuno Attack! Ice beam!" Weiss yelled as Articuno fires a beam of Ice blue light at of the Ancient Gear Hunting howls and gets destroyed before Articuno flies after Weiss following him.

Obelisk 1: 4000 - 1900

"With that I end my turn" Weiss said as Articuno caws at the Obelisk force.

"Damn it, he's good!" one obelisk force soldier said

"Let's take them out! go Ultimate Hunting Hound! When Ancient Gear Ultimate hunting hound attacks, you can't activate any facedown cards" another Obelisk stated as the fusion monsters starts to get closer to the monster as Weiss smirked.

"you really have me in the ropes, I'll give you that, but you triggered two things one is the fact that Articuno has higher attack points that your hound of metal" Weiss reminded the obelisk who scoffs.

"Sure, but have you not noticed my three Banners of Courage?" he questioned.

Ancient Gear Ultimate Hunting Hound: Atk/2800 → 3400

"Say goodbye to birdie, Synchro trash" The Obelisk yelled making Weiss frown.

"Then the second thing you triggered is the special ability of a Monster I have in my hand this monster can be summoned when there's a monster with higher attack points than Articuno attacking and nullifies its attack come on out Mr. Rime!" Weiss said.

Mr. Rime: Atk/2000 → 2300

Mr. skate around the field and traps all the ancient gears that were attacking Weiss which were three in total Weiss then stops his runner and looks at them while Mr. Rime stand in front of Weiss and starts to dance and Articuno flaps its wings flying above him.

"There is one more important detail that you need to know for three turns your pile of metal won't attack and they can't switch their positions" Weiss then explained which the obelisk forced seemed to dislike this information.

"I have no choice but to end my turn" the obelisk who attack said as all the ancient gears loses two hundred attack points.

"I'll be skipping my turn since I can't do anything" the other obelisk said as he drew a card

"Same with me" the third Obelisk said doing the same the second obelisk soldier did.

3 Ancient Gear Ultimate Hunting Hound: Atk/3400 → 2000

"We're so done for" the fourth Obelisk who had less life points than the others said.

"Great now is my turn! I draw!" Weiss said as he draws a card "First I activate the spell, snow dance when I have more than one Ice monster on the field, I can get to summon a level four or lower-level monster from my deck and bring a tuner monster back from the graveyard, so welcome back, Vanillite" the white hair male explained.

Vanillite: Level/2 Atk/100 → 400

"And from my deck I'm choosing Alolan Vulpix!" Weiss added.

Alolan Vulpix: level/3 Atk/1700 → 2000

"Next I activate Vulpix's special ability for each monster on the field the monster with the highest attack points gets two hundred attack points for each monster on my side of the field and that monster" Weiss said before pointing up at Articuno "is Articuno!" he added.

Articuno: Atk/3100 → 3700

"Now I'm tuning Vanillite with Alolan Vulpix!" Weiss said. 

Light enveloped Vanillite body before transforming into two rings. Alolan Vulpix runs through the rings. its body began to hollow out as it passed through the rings revealing the three shining white stars inside. They all aligned in the center which caused the same energy to arc between them like before. A white pilar of light struck forward.

"I Synchro summon! Alolan Ninetales!" Weiss shouted.

Alolan Ninetales: Level/5 Atk/2200 → 2400

"To add salt to the wound I summon Glaceon!" Weiss said as a new monster appeared in the field.

Glaceon: Level/4 Atk/1900 → 2100

"now I can attack, Glaceon attack the first ancient gear Aurora Beam!" Weiss said as Glaceon fires a aurora colored beam out of its mouth hitting one of the soldiers' monsters.

Obelisk 2: 4000 - 3900

"Mr. Rime join the fun, Closing Ice Combat!" Weiss then said as the Mentioned monster charges at another ultimate haunting hound as his fist light up in ice blue light and gives the frozen monster multiple punches as the fusion monster gets destroyed.

Obelisk 3: 4000 - 3400

"Ninetales your turn Sub-zero slammer!" Weiss said as Ninetales howls as a Ice pillar raises it from the ground and exhale a ice blast out of Ninetales' mouth "In addition you take damage equal to the double of your monster's attack points" Weiss explained.

Obelisk 4: 4000 - 0

"Articuno, activate your special ability and attack them all directly, Ice Beam!" Weiss then said as Articuno attacks "For each Ice type monster in the graveyard all of my monsters get six hundred points since there are three of them... they all get eighteen hundred points" he explained.

Articuno: Atk/3700 → 5500

Glaceon: Atk/2100 → 3900

Mr. Rime: Atk/2300 → 4100

Alolan Ninetales: Atk/2400 → 4200

The obelisks were sent flying after taking Articuno's Ice beam.

Obelisk 3: 1900 - 0

Obelisk 2: 3900 - 0

Obelisk 3: 3400 - 0

"you are Iced" Weiss said before looking back at the temple and drive off as his monster follow him since he's still part of the duel with Sora "Come on Shay, I'm putting all my trust and believe in you while I'm on my way" he muttered.

-meanwhile-

Sora and Shay were still having their duel with now one Raidraptor Force Strix two Fuzzy Laniuses and two Vanishing Laniuses in Shay's side on the field while Sora has his Fluffal mouse and Edge imp Sabers on his.  

Sora: 300
Shay: 2100

"Quite a duel we had up until this point, Shay" Sora confesses "but I'm going to make sure this duel ends here, and now!" Sora said before he draws a card and sees the Polymerization spell card which smirked "I activate Fluffal Mouse special ability, since my mouse is currently in attack mode, I'm allowed to summon two more Fluffal Mouses straight from my deck" Sora explained.

Fluffal Mouse: Atk/100

"Now get ready, 'cause here comes the good part" Sora then said "I fuse Edge Imp Sabers and my three Fluffal Mouses, Edges sharpness, and mayhem of mice the four of them come together and make the price, I fusion summon! Frightfur Tiger" Sora chanted.

Frightfur Tiger: Atk/1900

"Now Frightfur Tiger's special ability activates! so, four of your feather flock are cut!" Sora stated.

Shay seemed freaked out "Oh no!" he muttered

Saber Tiger's scissors grow but before it could cute the two Fuzzy and Vanishings, they were protected by a aurora out of nowhere.

"Huh!?/What!?" both duelists seemed surprised before hearing a phoenix cry, they look up and see Articuno flying towards them.

Shay then hears a vroom from behind him he looks back and sees Weiss driving towards him he doesn't know why but a smile begins to form in Shay's face "Weiss!" he called as Weiss drove pass him.

"Forgot about me, Sora!?" the white hair male questioned making the shorter boy frown of annoyance "hope you like my two trap cards Aurora Vail and Snow Cloak; Aurora Vail protects all monsters from our side of the field from being destroy and Snow Cloak all non-ice monsters from our side of the field will become unaffected by no card effect" Weiss explained.

"So, this Hail...was you doing?" Shay asked which Weiss nodded.

"Curses, I was so close to defeat Shay" Sora muttered to himself "I end my turn!"

"Shay...allow me to finish this duel" Weiss tells Shay which Shay seemed surprised but nodded. 

"S-Sure, go ahead" he said 'Why did I stuttered!?' he embarrassedly asked himself.

Weiss looks at a whining Sora "No fair, I was in the middle of the perfect Victory over Shay" he whined making Weiss scoff.

"Shut up will you, do you think taking innocent people's lives, not just duelist, people who had never lay their hands on a card in their life, and you fusion dimension people take it like wildfire! you should be ashamed of yourself; sure, I don't know nothing about what I'm talking about, but I know enough about the obvious of who are in the wrong here" Weiss said "even if I'm not a Xyzian, I refuse to let a innocent life fall into that fate, I draw!" he said as he drew a card.

Shay and Celina who just arrived were listening to Weiss words and somehow, they felt moved/shame by them.

"I summon, Aurorus in attack mode!" Weiss

Aurorus: Level/4 Atk/1800 → 2100

"I activate Aurorus' special ability when this monster is summoned while there are other monsters on the field it can give one of us three hundred life points for each monster on the field including Frightfur Tiger" Weiss Explained "and I'm telling Aurorus to give them to Shay" Weiss then explained which the mentioned duelist looks at the white hair male with shock.

Shay: 2100 - 5100

'Risking your life to protect someone you barely know regardless of coming from different dimension' Celina thought.

"Aurorus attack Frightfur Tiger, with Ice shard!" Weiss yelled as the brontosaurus-like monster creates a giant ball of solid Ice and launches it at Frightfur Tiger and destroys it as Sora gets sendoff flying. 

"AAAH!" Sora screamed.

Sora: 300 - 0

Sora gets caught by Weiss who was still riding his duel runner which surprises him as they both landed Sora then quickly jumps off Weiss' runner.

"W-Why you saved me" he asked still feeling salty that he lost, especially to a Synchro user like Weiss.

"Even if your people were in the wrong...no one deserves to die or being card, think about the innocent Xyzians your people card, parents, children, newborns" the white hair male explained as his monsters and Shay's disappeared from sight Celina and Shay ran up to them as Weiss take off his helmet "besides it'll not be fun if you won't be able to duel again" he added which Sora looked at Weiss with shock, "you know...you've kinda remind me of my little brother, a handful at first, and bit short tempered, but I can tell that you still have a kindness hidden inside you" he said with 

Sora scoffs "As if you know, You don't even know me!" he yelled at Weiss.

"You're right, I don't know you...but I would like to get to know you...the real you" Weiss then said before putting on his helmet and looks at Shay "Come on, we don't have time to stick around" Weiss said before he noticed Shay getting in the runner weirdly "You're, okay?" Weiss asked.

"Y-Yeah" he said before he held onto his own rib which now concerns Weiss.

"Shay what happened" the white hair male asked.

"Oh, during one of the turns when you drove away, he fell down the stairs" Sora said without a care of the world.

Weiss looks at Shay sadly "Shay" he said with sadness that he couldn't help him.

Shay noticed the sadness in Weiss face making his heart skip a beat "I-I'll be okay...not now, but I'll take this pain long enough to find medical help" Shay assures the other male.

Celina sits behind Shay "I'll help out" she said.

"Gay" Sora muttered which Weiss glares darkly at Sora that his red eyes glows "Take it back take it back!"

Weiss sighed "just hang on, okay? I don't want to hurt you more on the road" he tells Shay.

Shay nods as with one arm he wraps it around Weiss which surprisingly for a guy of the same age as Shay his waist is small which made Shay look away hiding his blush Celina noticed this and giggles silently before Weiss and with that, they left a speechless Sora.

-little time skip-

Weiss' driving around the lava zone, and they see two people wearing some sort of ninja costume waving at them Weiss seems hesitant and so does Celina.

"F-Follow them... they can take us somewhere safe" Shay tells Weiss.

"How can you be sure" Celina asked.

"Those two are competitors of the tournament they're on our side" Shay explained they noticed one of the ninjas jumping pass them and Celina looked back and noticed that Sora was behind them.

Weiss sees this and widen his eyes "how did he caught up so fast!?" he asked with disbelief.

"Over here!" the blue ninja boy yelled waving at them and make some follow me gestures and dashes off which Weiss followed his lead.

"Hey girl that I didn't catch the name yet, please help me make sure Shay doesn't fall" Weiss said.

Celina nodded "sure...and is Celina" she said.

"I'll remember that nice to meet you though" Weiss said "hang on you two because we're going fast" Weiss said as he feels Shay's arm hugging him close making him stun for mid-second but snap back to reality and starts increasing the speed 'till, they arrived to what seems like a building.

"you'll be safe now" the ninja boy said.

"What gives? why are you helping us?" Celina asked while she jumps off Weiss' Duel runner.

"Because my brother and I made a promise for our ninja clan, and we always honor our promises" the Ninja explained.

Weiss gets off his runner and helps Shay getting off the runner as he blushes a bit when he feels Weiss arms around him.

Before they could walk in, they heard a voice "Celina" they said as they all look back and they see the obelisk force.

"We've been looking for you for some time" one of them said.

"But now the time is up, you're coming with us" another obelisk added before a green energy shell hit the ground between them making them all cover their view.

"And you think that she's coming with you just because you told her...you have one thing coming" a familiar voice is heard by everyone present.

"After all you're stepping into the wrong place to be, so you two are not welcome because...Prepare for trouble!" Another voice is heard which Celina's eyes widen with shock recognizing that other voice.

The first voice sighed "and make it double" he said embarrassedly.

the smoke begins to clear up "To protect the Standard Dimension from devastation" the first voice says.

"To unite all people within our nation" the second voice said.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" the first voice said.

then they hear steps as the Obelisk sees some shadows coming at them "To extend our reach to the stars above!" the second voice said.

"Ace!" Ace said revealing himself.

"And David" David said as he reveals himself with a embarrassed blush.

"The Lancers blast off at the speed of light so surrender now or prepare to fight!" Ace said

"I-Is the motto necessary?" David asked the Cyan hair male obviously embarrassed.

Ace looks at David "so what I always wanted to say it with someone by my side" Ace said before giggling.

"Ace? you're betraying us!?" The Obelisk Force questioned with shock.

Ace shook his head "No, I'm not betraying you" he response making everyone minus David look at Ace confusedly "I'm betraying...Him" Ace then said as he activated his new duel disk that David gave to him.

David nods and looks back at the Obelisk Force "If you want Celina? you have to go through us, first" he said before activating his duel disk.

The ninja boy stood forward "First man David, allow me to help you" he said.

David looks at the ninja boy with a grateful smile "We appreciate the bravery Moon Shadow, but we got this" he said which made him and the other three duelist look at him with shock.

Ace winks at him "Yeah, no one know these guys better than we do" Ace added "now get out of here while we take care of the rest" he then said which Moon Shadow then nodded.

"I understand" he said before turning back to the others and guide them.

"Come on Shay" Weiss said as he clings on Shay's arm and help him walk.

Celina looks back at Ace and David "Ace, David! you two better not lose this duel" she said before leaving.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way" the obelisk said before he and his colleagues activate their duel disk.

"And we're going to send you away in one sweep" Ace said.

"Let's duel!" the five duelists stated as they now started their duel

Obelisk Force: 4000
David & Ace: 4000

"David, will you?" Ace offers David to take the first move which takes a deep breath.

"Alright, since there's no monster on the field, I can summon this monster, go get them Grovyle!" David said.

Grovyle: Level/6 Atk/2100

"Next I activate the spell Toten call! this spell allows me to summon a monster from the same level or lower-level monster than the monster that's already in the field, and I'm calling out the other monster I summon Togemon!" David explained as a cactus like monster appears in the field.

Togemon: Level/6 Atk/2000

"I overlay my level six Grovyle and Togemon to build the overlay network" David explained.

Both monsters become green and orange-colored spheres and flew into the sky before entering what looked like a purple and yellow blackhole that appeared on the ground and from it came a pillar of yellow light.

"I Xyz Summon, Rank Six, Sceptile!" David explained.

Sceptile: Rank/6 Atk/2700

"And now with three face downs I end my turn" David finished.

as one of the Obelisk draws a card "Good thing that you're not summoning Your beast" he taunted David which he frowns.

"Sakura is not just a beast, I bowed to only summon her when things get really difficult" He stated.

"Sakura?" Moon Shadow, Shay, and Weiss questioned confusingly.

Celina and Ace on the other hand they know what they're talking about which they are also aware of how strong the blonde male's strongest monster he owns is.

"Whatever even if you're not going to summon it, we will make you, come fort Ancient Gear hunting hound!"

Ancient Gear Hunting Hound: 1000

"Now since you have a monster out, my monster can dish out six hundred points of damage, thanks to its ability!" the same Obelisk explained as his monster fires a flamethrower at David.

"Not so fast buddy, I activated the trap leaf guard when I'm about to take damage due to a card effect that amount of damage will be sent back to you but double, so six hundred times two..." David said as the flames flew to another direction.

"Well, I have a bigger plan for you, I'm sure that you're familiar with the spell card Polymerization" the Obelisk stated showing him the card making David gasped feeling triggered.

Ace noticed this 'Dive...' he thought with concern.

"And with this I'll fuse three Ancient gear hunting hounds" the three hunting hounds turns into light and morph into one sphere of light "Watch as the fury of the path takes the shape of a single raging beast, I fusion summon triple ancient gear hunting hound!" the Obelisk yelled as a three head robot-dog like monster appeared in the field.

Triple Ancient Gear Hunting Hound: Atk/1800

"you're lucky I can't attack due to the attack points difference I place two cards face down and end my turn" The obelisk said

"It's my turn now!" Ace happily said as he draws a card he looks at his cards and nods "first off I activate Marshadow's special ability from my hand, for every face down you have on the field will be sent to our side of the field as our own once it happens, I can get to summon it!" Ace explained as then Marshadow appears in the field and snatched the facedown cards "and you can't do anything about it" he added.

Marshadow: Atk/1900

"Next I summon Absol in attack mode!" Ace explained as his trusty Level Four Monster appeared in the field.

Absol: Level/4 Atk/2300

"Now I'll be using the spell Dark Fusion this spell allows me to fuse both Absol and Marshadow"

Absol becomes a yellow light and Marshadow becomes a purple light as they merged into one light sphere.

"I Fusion summon! Mega Absol!"

Mega Absol: Level/8 Atk/3000

"I end my turn" Ace said.

The other two Obelisk did the exact same thing the first Obelisk did by fusion summoning Triple Ancient Gear Hunting Hound.

David draws a card and his eyes widen with shock seeing the card "n-no way..." David muttered, Ace hears this as the blonde takes a deep breath and joint the card with the others "Now I'm activating the spell Blooming, this spell allows me to tribute two cards from our side of the field and I'm choosing the Facedown cards Ace snatched from you guys with Marshadow's special ability" David explained as the cards that Ace stole turns into bits of yellow dust.

"Next, I activate the trap, Facedown Counter! you'll not going to like this trap because this card will negate all of your facedown cards for three of my turns" David added which the Obelisk growled in annoyance "that's not all, I activate the spell, rank up Magic Sceptilite! since I have Sceptile on the field it allows me to rank up Sceptile to become a better version of itself" he explained.

Sceptile turn into a sphere of yellow light and flies up to the sky entering what looked like a purple and yellow blackhole that appeared on the sky and from it came a pillar of red light.

"Raging roars of the grass-dragon monster because this mighty beast isn't scared of showing its wrath on those who deserve it, Xyz Evolution! Take the Stage, Mega Sceptile!" David stated as a new monster appeared falling from the sky and landed in front of David glaring at the Obelisk.

Mega Sceptile: Rank/7 Atk/3000

"Now with no traps or spells to help you you're cornered, because Now I'm activating Mega Sceptile's special ability, by using all its overlay units it can attack all monsters at once so Sceptile take out their Ancient gears with Dragon Claw!" David explained as his Xyz monster's overlay Units vanishes from sight and Sceptile's claws light up in blue Color and charges at the Ancient Gears as they get slashed in half by the Xyz monster.

Obelisk Force: 4000 - 2800

'It's a good Idea of dueling with David instead of Moon Shadow, Celina, and Shay so that way, Reed and anyone else get involve in this match or else they get card' Ace thought.

"I end my turn" David said as the Obelisk draw a card and pass their turn making Ace taking the next turn.

meanwhile Celina looks at her two friends with admiration 'Ace...David...regardless of the years passing by, I can tell that you two improved...I can't help but feeling proud of you guys' she thought.

Sylvio arrived to see the duel with Declan's permission "wow... they seemed to be having duel, right under the bag" he muttered "and why Carl has Cyan hair" he asked looking at Ace.

"that's not Carl, he's someone from the fusion Dimension who's now on our side name Ace" Shay explained.

"David and Ace know what they're doing... they have this under the bag" Celina added confidently staring at her friends.

"My turn, I draw!" Ace said "I activate Mega Absol's Special ability after it was summon I can bring back the monster who I used to Fusion summon" he explained as Absol and Marshadow reappeared in the field from a dark purple portal.

"Next I summon Zorua!"

Zorua: Level/3 Atk/1200

"What would Yuri think when he realizes that his own lover is fighting on the enemy's side" one of the obelisks asked making Ace stop what he's doing and looks at them with a smile.

"Pardon?" he asked.

Celina's eyes widen "oh no they're not doing what I think they're trying to do to him" she said to herself.

"Gong wants to know what's going on?" Gong then asked appearing out of nowhere.

Ace smirked "you know, I'd let people talk shit about me my whole entire life...but putting my pudding to this equation is the biggest mistake you ever made" he said as his smile fades and looks at them with a dark glare which shocks the Obelisk force, David, and Celina "you want to play like that, then let's play boy, I activate Zorua's special ability when its normal summon I can fuse it with another monster, I'll be fusing Zorua with Marshadow and Absol! With three intimidating beasts I create a frighten darkness, I fusion Summon! Awake their living nightmares, Darkrai!" Ace said as a new monster appeared between Mega Sceptile and Mega Absol.

Darkrai: Atk/2600

"Now I activate Darkrai's special ability for each Dark Attribute monster I'm allow to draw a card since Darkrai and Mega Absol are Dark attribute monsters I get to draw two cards and if one of these cards happens to be a monster, I get to choose either summon it or send it to the graveyard and give Darkrai six hundred point" Ace explained as he drew two cards and sees a monster card "I'm sorry my friend, you won't be in use right now, so I'm sending you to the graveyard" he said to the Card while sending it to the graveyard.

Darkrai: Atk/2600 → 3200

"Let's finish this, David!" Ace called the blonde.

"I'm right behind you" David replied.

"Monsters attack!" Ace and David yelled as their monster attacked the guards beating them at once as the Obelisk force were sent flying to who knows where.

Obelisk Force: 2800 - 0

"You may be fusion users but you're no match for us" Ace said as both his monsters and David's Mega Sceptile vanishes from sight.

Celina smiled "Ace and David did it!" she cheered as she runs up to her friend as she gasped seeing Ace collapsing only for David to catch the Cyan hair male.

"Man, you wore yourself out" David said

Celina runs up to them "is he going to be alright?" Celina asked looking at Ace with worry.

"I think having the thrill of a duel like that exhausted him" David said.

Celina sighed "Can't blame him he hasn't duel as often as the rest of us" she said which David nod in agreement before he looks at the other duelist.

"Follow me" David said as he walks ahead of the rest who then follows him.