Prologue
Crack.
"Think you're tough? Think you can still take on Security?"
Smack.
"How tough are you now? How tough are you now, huh?"
Kick.
Some part of Kiryu's mind registered the blows. He could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh echo off the walls of his cell. The rest of his brain was numb and foggy with constant pain. There was so much of it that his mind had pretty much shut down because it couldn't handle it. Everything was dark, and Kiryu didn't know whether it was because his eyes were closed or if he'd gone blind from the beating.
"You think…" Kick "You can just…" Kick. "Kill a Security officer?! Do you, you little shit?!"
Kiryu vaguely realized the kicks were connecting with his body, but sensation was beginning to deaden. It was like he wasn't even in his own skin anymore. It was just dark, and even the shouts of the fat, dark-skinned warden were fading away. There was just darkness.
Just….
Darkness….
Takasu Armstrong tched with annoyance. "Trash… He's passed out already." He picked his nose and pulled out a pinch of the hairs inside, not even flinching at the momentary sting. "The little bitch." He blew the hairs all over the prisoner's unconscious body and turned to walk out of the cell. The kid had killed a Security office and yet couldn't stand up to a few punches and kicks? What the hell? Takasu hadn't even gotten warmed up. The guard outside averted his gaze and held out a towel, which Takasu grabbed without a word. He began wiping off all the blood from the beating on his knuckles, whistling casually as he headed toward the next prisoner to be punished.
A voice came out of the darkness that surrounded Kiryu. It was deep and rumbly, invoking images of mountains scraping together over eons.
You died, you know…
Did I?
Yes…
Oh.
Kiryu had been wondering what happened, yet the realization that he was dead didn't bother him as much as he thought it would. It was almost a relief to escape from the pain of his body, and the deeper pain of his friends' betrayal. Kiryu welcomed the darkness as a release from all his troubles and reached to embrace it.
Don't you want to live…?
Kiryu considered this for a moment. The Voice sounded a little perturbed. There was something vaguely terrifying about it as well, but, truth be told, he was tired. He couldn't muster up the energy to worry about it. Besides, he was dead. He was supposed to be beyond worries now, right?
Except…
An image of Yusei floated up before him. The image of that Security officer with a hand on Yusei's shoulder. Yusei looking towards Kiryu with such hatred.
Yeessss…. You want revenge on him. It's his fault you died, right…?
Kiryu had to think about this for a moment. It was hard to think, and it kept getting harder the longer he took. Did he really want revenge? Yusei was his best friend, loyal and steadfast.
But he betrayed you…
That was true. A dim rage built up in Kiryu. His so-called loyal and steadfast best friend had betrayed him, and the rest of his friends had just stood by and let him do it. The Enforcers had let their leader go without a fight because they had betrayed him. It was Yusei's fault for leading the Enforcers in mutiny against him. He would still be alive if it weren't for Yusei, dammit!
Don't you want revenge…?
The rage had become an inferno now, and Kiryu no longer reached for the oblivion of death. He responded to the Voice with great force.
Yes! I want to make those bastards pay for betraying me!
The Voice seemed pleased by this.
I can help you. All you have to do… Is embrace me… And free me… Then… We will destroy those who betrayed you…
Kiryu saw the source of the Voice then. It was a huge giant, bound by the earth and glowing with eerie purple light. It howled in rage, and Kiryu's rage responded to it.
Free me!
Kiryu knew what to do somehow. He could see that if he just willed it…
The earth fragmented, then shattered and the giant howled triumphantly. Kiryu howled back, delirious with the knowledge that he'd done that with nothing more than a thought! It gave him a rush to imagine that he controlled such power! The howl was cut off, though, as the giant suddenly seized him.
Foolish mortal, you are bound to me. I give you back your life, but you will do my will. We must defeat the servants of the Crimson Dragon and bring back the Lord of the Underworld! We must destroy the Signers!
The giant boomed with laughter, covering up the sound of Kiryu's screams. The hand began squeezing and squeezing, and the darkness was returning…
Suddenly, Kiryu was back in his own body.
It didn't hurt.
Kiryu frantically checked himself all over for the horrendous marks of his beating that he was sure were supposed to be there, except they weren't. His skin was unbroken and smooth, and the only thing marring him was the Mark burned into his face.
His clothes were different, too. Instead of the standard prisoner uniform, he was wearing… What was he wearing? They were black with blue designs, but he'd never owned anything like that in his life. Then Kiryu saw that he wasn't in the jail cell anymore. He was in Satellite, in the heart of the slums. How in the world had that happened?
Kiryu finally noticed he was on a Duel Runner. It looked like his clothes, kind of, since it was black with blue designs. He was impressed with how powerful it looked. This thing would outrun any Security officer without even breaking a sweat.
It could crush Yusei.
The thought surprised him at first. Yusei was his friend, wasn't he? Then the Mark gave a painful jolt, and he remembered his contract.
He had to destroy the Signers.
Yusei was a Signer.
Yusei was going to die.
After that, the rest of the Enforcers would pay.
Especially… her...
He revved the Duel Runner, his body instinctively knowing how to move and how control the vehicle. He knew where to go. It was where all the Dark Signers went. He was going to the source of Zero Reverse.
Author's Note (A/N): Heya, this would be the second fanfic I've published on . I'm really only doing it so that I can fulfill the beta reader requirements, but that's no excuse not to write well, is it? I hope you enjoyed the prologue, even if it is a little mundane. The first chapter will be up pretty quick.
I wanted to take this chance to share the writing process of this fic. SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED REVERSE OF ARCADIA! I recently unlocked all the card packs on my Yugioh! World Championship 2010: Reverse of Arcadia DS game (FINALLY!) and decided to play through the storyline again with existing data. I decided that I'll novelize the game as I play through, expanding the scenes and coming up with a back-story for that extra member of the Enforcers that you play as that wasn't included in the anime. It's not meant to follow the anime exactly and I will be taking artistic liberties with the story. If it bothers you, try to think of it as an alternate universe.
You may have noticed that I used the Japanese name for Kalin Kessler, but both versions' names for Mr. Armstrong. That's because I watched the anime in Japanese. It's way easier to take CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES seriously when all the angst and death and danger isn't censored by 4KIDS. When characters have their first and last name in Japanese, I use the Japanese version. When characters have just one name, I combine the English and Japanese versions to come up with first and last. For Takasu Armstrong, I just arbitrarily decided to make his first name 'Takasu' because the 'Mr.' in 'Mr. Armstrong' indicates that Armstrong is a last name, even though I'm pretty sure Takasu was his family name in the Japanese version.
Anyways, hope you'll stick around for the next chapter. Drop a comment to tell me what you liked or what you didn't like if you've got the time.