Sora bit his lip as he peered around the corner. There were so many Security guards around here...they hadn't been here the last time he was in this area! The place was swarming with them—if he didn't get through their blockade soon...
His heart clenched and jaw tightened.
Don't worry...I'm coming, Yuzu...
He ducked back behind the wall, pressing his back against it to feel the cold of the bricks through his shirt. He closed his eyes briefly and sucked in a steadying breath. This felt weird. Normally before going into a fight, he didn't feel scared at all. What was it about this that made him so nervous? Was it the numbers? No, he wasn't worried about that. He could take a million of these guys easy.
He swallowed as an image of Yuzu danced across the back of his eyes. Her gentle smile. The way that she got that determined look in her eye when she got her mind set to something and wasn't about to back down.
It was Yuzu. He was scared because there was someone in the field that he didn't want to get hurt, and he was afraid of messing up.
A light shudder passed through him. Maybe things had been easier when he didn't have anyone to care about...
But then he thought of Yuzu again, her arms wrapped around him in a hug after he had won his last qualifying duel for the Maiami Championship, the way that her voice squeaked a bit as she squealed with congratulations. The way that, for the first time, Sora had felt completely safe in those arms.
He steeled his resolve. Okay. Time to go.
He went for the fire escape on the side of a building, springing up and latching onto it, swinging himself up. He climbed that up to the building—luckily, Security hadn't taken to sweeping the roof tops yet. He could make this work.
He darted across the space between buildings, landing as silently as he could. Didn't want them to look up. He glanced down into the alley before jumping across to the next building. The abandoned warehouse he had hidden Yuzu in wasn't far. He hoped she hadn't woken up yet...she would probably be confused and disoriented from having been moved. He wanted to be there when she woke up so that he could explain things.
And that was when he heard the cry.
He skidded to a stop before jumping over the next building, almost toppling over the edge before he caught himself. His eyes flashed down into the corridor and—
His blood ran cold. Oh no.
Yuzu stood pinned against a wall, surrounded on the other three sides by Security officers with Duel Disks glowing. She hugged a trio of kids to her as though she could protect them, eyes wide, almost watering with frightened tears as the Security officers advanced.
"You need come with us," one of them said. "Nice and easy. We don't have to do this the hard way."
"Go to hell you Tops trash!" one of the kids shouted, trying to break free of Yuzu's grip with his fists out. Yuzu gripped him even tighter, pulling him against her even as her eyes flicked around desperately for an opening.
Sora's teeth showed as he found a snarl growing in the back of his throat. He bolted from the rooftop, grabbing window sills on the way down. As soon as his feet hit the ground safely he was ripping cards from the top of his deck.
"I activate Polymerization! I fuse the Fluffal Bear and Edge Imp Scissors in my hand to Fusion Summon Frightfur Bear!"
His monster appeared in a swirl of color, screeching as it stumbled forward with scissors snapping.
The Security officers were one hundred percent not prepared for Sora's interference. It took him all of two minutes to take all three of them out—geez. These guys were terrible. If they didn't all use the exact same deck, they might actually be a challenge.
With the three officers left unconscious on the ground, Sora let his arm drop to his side. He briefly considered carding them but decided that there was no time. He just ran back towards Yuzu and grabbed her arm.
"Come on, Yuzu! We have to go!"
Yuzu stared at him, wide-eyed for a moment. Then her eyes flickered down to the kids, the unconscious Security officers, and then she let Sora start to pull her down the alley, herding the kids along with her other hand. Sora chafed at the pace—the kids were babbling and poking at him and trying to get him to tell them what was going on. He would have just as soon left them behind but he already knew Yuzu would argue with him and didn't have the time to do that with her. Best to find cover, and then he could convince her to ditch the zoo.
He pulled the group into a small building. This one, too, was abandoned, and the door was mostly rotted away so it wouldn't close all the way. It was a horrible position, entirely indefensible, but Yuzu was limping and Sora thought at the back of his head that she was probably injured from that crash and if that was the case he needed to get her sitting down somewhere so he could take stock of the damage.
He cleared a space in the wreckage of the broken down building, and then propped up a few boards in front of the door so that they wouldn't be seen from passersby. He noted the other potential exists, including the rickety stairs that would lead to the roof, and then turned around to check on Yuzu.
She was on her knees, comforting the smallest of the boys.
"Sh, sh, it's okay. They're not going to chase us. It's okay."
Sora hesitated, then.
It felt like it had been years since he had last saw her, and not just a handful of days. He felt somehow...nervous. As though Yuzu might look up at him and see all of the things that he had been doing and then maybe...maybe look upset. Or disappointed with him. He didn't...he didn't know if he could handle that.
And then Yuzu looked up at him. Met his eyes straight with her own, and he felt that strange warm sensation flooding through him again. Safe.
And she smiled. He felt a flutter rush through him, relaxing his shoulders and causing him to let out a sigh.
"Thank you," she said. "I don't know what we would have done if you didn't show up...none of us had Duel Disks..."
Sora shrugged, grinning as he put his hands behind his head.
"It was nothing. That's what friends do, right, Yuzu?"
And that was when he saw it. The flicker in her eyes, the way that her smile faded slightly, her brows drew together and her lips parted.
"Yu...zu?" she said. "Is that..."
Her hand raised up to her lips, pressing against them for a moment, her eyes far away.
"Yuzu?" Sora said, his arms dropping to his sides "Yuzu, what...are you okay?"
Yuzu came back to herself, looking at him, brow furrowed with thought. Sora froze, then, and knew exactly what had happened just as her mouth opened and she spoke the confirmation.
"I...I'm sorry," she said. "But...but who is Yuzu?"
It felt like the floor was opening up underneath him and swallowing him.