Yugioh 5D's: The Sector Security Files.
Episode One: The New Class.
It was a day that had been long in the making. The place was Duel Academy and the graduating class was very excited. Some of them would be going on to pro dueling, others to Duel Grad School to become future instructors at that very school. Others still would be going on to what they thought would be ordinary jobs with Sector Security in Neo Domino City. One such group was known in particular for their excellent grades, good dueling posture, and respect for the laws that governed the world since Pegasus had reinvented Duel Monsters. Five very special students who had made their marks already as well rounded students. Sounds dull, huh? Well, normally you would be right…
"So Oracle, are you going to trade me the card or not?" Jenner asked from the bleachers. He was becoming a little cross, even though he had been the one to initiate the trade, and not to forget that he had been eyeing the card all week.
"Oh, I hate these last minute trades." Oracle replied. "I simply can't decide if I want this trap card bad enough to give you my Treeborn Frog." She ran her fingers through her long black hair like they were a brush. Something everyone was accustomed to see her doing when making up her mind. "Well," she hesitated," Okay. I think he'll do better with your deck than he will mine. Besides, I really could use this trap card." She agreed at last. Jenner was always getting good cards from Oracle which she never really could use well. On the flip side of the coin, she was always getting cards from him that he didn't want but she always managed to work them into her dueling deck quite well.
The sun was shining down upon the white bleachers making it terribly hot on all these students in their black robes. Long done away with were the old blue, yellow, and red uniforms from long past times of Duel Academy's glory days. It was a school like any other now. Most students simply wore blue or scarlet blazers depending upon gender. It was all too normal a day. After a cheer, some photos, and the customary handing out of diplomas, everyone went their separate ways for the summer. They would go on to become great legends of the pro dueling world. All accept these five. Oracle, Jenner, Tom, Helena, and… wait… where had their ring leader gone?
"Travis! Hey, Travis, where did you go this time?" Oracle asked looking around. "He always strays away from me when I need him!" She was more than just angry with him this time. They had played at being boyfriend and girlfriend all year long. Today was the day that they were supposed to end the ruse and decide if they really were going to be. Also, Oracle wanted to show him off to her parents who were in attendance. "Travis Longstreet, you jerk, is this your way of telling me?" Her hopes dropped sharply as the realized that he was nowhere to be found.
Far from the photographers, the noise of celebration, and the laughter of students, young Travis Longstreet was sitting by a cherry tree. The summer time had come and he knew that at long last he would have to return home until his appointment to Sector Security's traffic division was due. He dreaded it but he would have to return home like a man, and face the town that scorned him. He had wanted to become a Duel Patrolman. It had been his dream ever since early childhood to duel in dangerous street duels on Duel Runners and to face down the wicked Shadow Duelists he read about in his Sector Security Magazines. He had long since realized that these kinds of duels were far from the everyday thing. However, he had resolved himself to being a traffic cop, for now anyway. He would slowly distinguish himself as an upright Officer of the Law. Then climb the ranks as he brought in street thug after street thug leading up to his big break. That would be the case which would make him a household name.
He sighed, got up, and brushed himself off. "It's time." He said, turned to go, and walked on.
That summer, no one ever heard from him. Oracle and the others went about their lives as ever, until the day finally came in August, when he failed to show at the bus station. He hadn't called, written, or e-mailed any of them and now he was a no show. They were all more than worried. However, they couldn't just sit around and wait for him. They would have to continue on, and if were just late, he could catch up with them. As the bus pulled away from the station, Jenner wondered, what had become of his old school rival? In their own style, the two of them, Jenner Craig, and Travis Longstreet had been the best of friends. They had also had a long standing rivalry at the school for the slot as the top duelist.
The very idea of his close friend not turning up all summer and then not making it to the bus station didn't sit well with him. Nevertheless, the bus pulled up in the front parking area of the Sector Security building in Neo Domino City. The center of the Pro-Dueling world, and they would have to police the streets. Fresh from the Academy's ranks, to the ranks of the city's finest. They were in for a rather shocking reintroduction.
"Alright, you four, move it along into the briefing room. The Traffic Center's Divisional Captain will be in shortly to formally assign you to your Lieutenant. Oh, yeah, here he is if you want to get to know the stuff shirt, Lt. Longstreet." In walked Travis. They were all surprised and even a little shocked.
"What are you doing here already?" They all asked at once.
"Pipe down, I registered early, I've been working the streets all summer. I kind of have a reputation around here now." He replied.
"Travis, you're our Divisional Lieutenant?" Oracle didn't know what to think. She knew he was a rising star but never this quick of one. "How did…" She was cut off by the Divisional Captain as he entered the room.
"Alright fresh meat, listen good, this is Lt. Longstreet. He's been working Traffic for less than three months and he's risen through the ranks quickly. I hope you all follow his example. He's just been assigned his own squad. That would be you four. He's a good man and I know you won't let him down. Lt. Longstreet, please proceed with the brief." The Captain said then walked out. Travis took in a deep breath and closed the door.
"I know that you're all a little startled by the fact that I've become so well known around here already, but I'm telling you now to get over it. "Jenner, you're going to be acting as my field Sgt. I hope you live it down, but that means you'll be riding night patrols with a partner at first, and Oracle, you'll be riding day patrols single. Tom, you're on the squad radio, Helena, you're on Meter Maid services this week until I know you've gotten over your fear of duel runners. I remember mine made you a little scared back at the Academy. So just ticket them for now." He got no complaints from them.
"Who's going to be my partner, Sir?" Jenner asked, annoyed at the prospect of having to tag duel, something that he wasn't very good at back in school.
"I will until more new officers are assigned to our squad. I just accepted this Promotion this morning. I had to go through everything I'll be putting you guys through today. We'll ride the routes together at first, get to know them, and then tomorrow, I'll give you, your own assignments. It's nothing like we ever thought guys. It's hard, and more dangerous than we ever dreamed." He said then escorted them all down to their squad motor pool. That would be where they really did come to understand just how thin Sector Security really was stretched.
"These are our Runners?" Jenner asked. His looked two decades old. Oracle's looked like it was a salvage job, and Helena's kart looked like a wreck.
"They are the best available to us for the moment." Travis sighed. "Mine was no better when I first got it, Scruffy here, made into a vehicle I am proud of though." He pointed to an old man, long past his prime at dueling, and more than little shaky.
"Hello, I'm Randle Scruff. Folks round the grease pit call me Scruffy, cause I sound like one of my worked over mufflers." He joked. "Glad to know you. I was assigned to Lt. Longstreet this morning from the Department Motor Pool. I think they may be getting close to retiring me soon, cause I've never had rougher than these from the looks of them. Except, of course, for the one first assigned to Lt. Longstreet. He's bashed it up a few times in his short time with us. I hope he's a little more careful now. He'll show you the ropes, just stick with him, you'll all do fine."
"They talk about you here like you're a ten year vet. Travis?" Jenner stated.
"If you survive as long as I have on the streets, they'll say the same of you." Travis replied. "Let's go, this city needs us." They all hopped onto their runners and Helena climbed into her kart with Tom and they took to the streets of a Neo Domino City that was under siege. "You see, after all the Signers finally left the dueling world for good, it's been up to Sector Security to face down the scum bag Shadow Duelists whom have popped up in the wake of it all." Travis explained over the radio to his squad. "I came in early because I really didn't have anywhere else to go after graduation."
"I thought you went home after school let out." Oracle said.
"I did, but I wasn't greeted with a very warm welcome. " Travis further explained. "My Dad gave what would amount to my inheritance and then…" He stopped, almost like he wasn't sure if wanted to finish his sentence. "I pretty much came straight to Neo Domino. I've been living here ever since, mostly on what my dad gave me and what the department gives as hazard pay."
"Hazard pay?" Jenner asked. "How hazardous is this job now anyway?"
"Not very, not at first, but once you start working the street patrols on your own though…" He wasn't exactly hiding anything from them, but they could tell that their friend had already seen a lot of things that he wished he hadn't. "Once, about two weeks ago, someone from Homicide was taken out by a Shadow Duelist named Kendo. He was investigating the theft of a duel runner. The legal owner had been killed in the attempt. Kendo is an enforcer for a gang called Shadow Trinity. Three Lords rule over the gang and their enforcers work the streets. They'll steal anything Duel Monsters related and then sell it overseas for quick cash. Anything that they don't keep for themselves that is. Mostly they just steal, kill, and harass other street duelists. They don't have any actual powers that I've seen. Just smoke and mirrors. A lot of work goes into setting up one of these so-called shadow duels. That's why it's important to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary." He told them.
"What's out of the ordinary around here?" Tom asked.
"I'm going to show you." Travis answered. He drove them around the main streets and back roads that they would be patrolling in the coming weeks. He also introduced them to all the different shop owners, regular street duelists, and people who they'd be dealing with on a regular basis. Everything seemed pretty peaceful that day. Travis hoped, it would stay that way for a while.
"So what happens when we engage someone in a duel?" Jenner finally broke down and asked.
"If you're on your duel runner then it's actually a lot easier than a street duel." Travis began. "Turbo Duels aren't as deadly as those fixed position duels where you stand in one spot and continue to duel where your opponent has chosen. A turbo duel keeps moving and they can't really pull off a lot their distractions. But if you're in a dark alley, crowded street area, or shopping district then it's not so much a matter of keeping yourself safe, as it is to keep the civilians safe. I have to this day never lost a civilian due to street dueling related injuries. Neither have I actually lost a duel I was in, street, or even Turbo. As it stands, I'm the only undefeated Officer on the force."
"You're joking?" Oracle asked.
"I don't joke about much anymore. I certainly do not joke about my score." Travis stated. "You'll come to find out that scores are very well recorded in the city's central mainframe, and it determines how high you go in the ranks. That's how I've advanced so high in such a short time. I've not lost a single duel yet, and my win loss ratio had determined every one of my promotions. It's not something I'm proud of. I would actually like to find someone out there who could take me down to zero at least once."
"Well, if these shadow duelists are as bad as all that…" Jenner began to say, but Travis turned to him at that moment, and stared into his eyes like he was sizing up his worth by the life in his soul.
"You don't know what it's like yet, but you'll learn. You'll learn it's not all fun and games anymore soon enough." The turned his eyes back to the road. "Pray you never meet one of the Trinity. They're said to actually be real Shadow Duelists. One officer last year made it close. He went in undercover. He's resting in a peaceful place now. He may never wake up because they took his soul." Travis told him.
"You aren't really saying that…" Helena began to ask. She was scared now.
"All I know is that he's in a coma and may never wake up." Travis told his old schoolyard friend. "I wake up at night, sometimes shivering in my sheet, and pray that someone stops them before I find them." Oracle had never seen Travis so serious before. He was like a stranger to her now. He used to be so happy. So full of humor, laughing just as a child would, and he never had a nightmare before in his life. He had been so blessed to have gotten into Duel Academy and to have had such good grades. He felt he was as well. Now though, he seemed darker, more depressed about things. He wasn't the same person anymore. He wasn't exactly a more mature Travis Longstreet, just a less carefree one. She hoped that now that they were all back together again, they would be able to bring his happy side back, and that none of them would end up as he had.
If only they knew. If only he could tell them. Travis looked down at his black street gloves and his black duel disk and took his deck out to shuffle through the cards. He wondered how much time was left, if he would keep winning duels, if he would live out the year, or if… NO! He wasn't going to let it get to him again. He was going to keep dueling and hoping. He was going to keep his faith in his deck and not in the mark on his right hand. That mark of darkness which looked to the entire world like a regular air brush tattoo. It was much more though. It was a doorway into the void. In some ways, he was no better than a shadow duelist. He felt ashamed sometimes. Yet, he knew that this was the only way, and he would continue to duel in the name of Justice. He would continue to put his terrible curse to good use until at last it would be over. Until the day he finally would duel his last duel and was laid to rest forever.
If only he could tell his friends the truth. If only had hadn't made that terrible deal. What choice did he have at the time though? What would any of them have done? What would anyone in that position do? His very soul for the life of a loved one who's time had not yet come. Could it have been helped if he'd been there, he wondered, and wondered. Many was the night he wished he'd not gone to Duel Academy and stayed at home. Maybe his little brother wouldn't have had to work so hard. Maybe his mother wouldn't have gotten sick. Maybe he wouldn't have had to make that terrible deal so that his family would not have to suffer such a great loss. Those were a lot of maybe's and a lot of lamenting for someone who was not yet even 19 years old.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the streets, in the depths of the ancient city quarter lurked a dark force. The Trinity had gathered for a conference with their minions.
"It seems there is a new threat to us." Alden said to the rest of them, he was the wisest of the three. They were all draped in darkness, cloaked in mist, and veiled in shadow. "His name is Travis Longstreet, and the Darkness says he is powerful. We are to test him and make him suffer until it is time for him to be dealt with."
"Just make him suffer? That doesn't make much sense. Why don't we just crush him now?" Asked a voice from the mists, which would have made any man sink to his knees, and covet the body of the woman it belonged to.
"Now, Lokia, this is more than one of your seductions, we must make this Sector Security Officer suffer more than any other who has crossed our path in the past. The Darkness wishes that we not take his soul for ourselves. The Darkness will do that all in good time." Alden told her. "What say you Cain?'
"You know I never have anything to say unless I am spoken to my Lord." He replied.
"Good, then the Trinity is agreed." Lobo, the chief enforcer of the group turned to go. "I will begin this test, if it pleases my Lords. I will test this Travis Longstreet, and if he is a threat to us then we will know it."
"So be it then, Lobo." Alden replied and then the three sank back into the mists in a way that disturbed even their servants.
"I don't like this." Dane said to Lobo. "What if this one is as the Darkness foretold? What if he is the Chaos Lord that the Trinity has been looking for?"
"The Trinity knows what's they're doing." Lobo stated. "I have complete faith in them. So should you, Dane." He left then and mounted his large duel runner. Before the night was out, he would have this Officer's number, and his number would be up.