I don't own Yu-Gi-oh 5Ds. I am just an insignificant author who likes making stuff up.
Warning: Much improvising. I haven't actually watched every single episode of 5Ds, so there will probably be a lot of differences. However, I do know enough to build the basic plotline.
This? This is not my story.
This is the only way I can preserve these memories. This is also the only way to remind myself that, yes, it had happened, and the consequences will continue to haunt us for the remainder of our lives.
I should introduce myself. My name is Rhianna _. I'm not very well known to the world, but that's hardly surprising, I suppose, since there isn't a lot of famous people in comparison to the entire population. I hope that by letting you read this, you'll be able to know the true story behind the Zero Reverse Incident. It was a moment that changed many lives, including mine.
It all began years ago; perhaps a little while before I was born. I am sure that many of you will know about the Zero Reverse, as it was the incident that split New Domino into two; one half is now called Satellite, and its inhabitants can only salvage what they can to make sure they can eat. My best friend was originally from Satellite. She was a tough and merciless person, presumably from what she had gone through in such a harsh environment. It was these qualities that allowed her to survive.
But I believe that back in her Duel Gang days, she was an energetic individual that would do all she could to keep her comrades safe, as that was how she was, when I met her. She was unpredictable at times, and she would certainly be grinning like a psychopath if she were here now. I wonder if we would be able to see her again anytime soon.
It wasn't very long after the victory of Yusei Fudo over the (former) Duel King, Jack Atlas, when the trouble started. Of course, there were many who did not like it, claiming he had cheated. That was to be expected, of course, but what shocked me was how well he took it. In fact, he seemed to not care at all what the crowd thought of him.
I suppose I shall give a little bit of my best friend's history, as I am fairly sure she would've wanted me to. She was part of a Duel Gang called 'Team Colours' that composed only of girls, and were disbanded rather quickly. They managed to capture a rather large section of Satellite through what everyone would've called 'Dumb luck', and she only stayed in the group because they could only rely on each other to survive.
It started a little after their final victory...
A group of girls wandered back from their latest victory over another rival Duel Team, The Morphtronic Magicians. Turf duels like this became frequent lately, though only a few know why. A tall, young woman with black hair slapped a map on a nearby pillar and marked a small 'x' on a small corner with a marker pen.
"Right, so that's the harbour area secured, ladies."
"Alright!"
"Yeah!"
"Ayumi," said a girl with short, spiky hair. "What's the plan now?"
"We could go and beat up those punks from Team Aqua," said another, punching her right fist into her left palm. "Then we can start to dominate the entire south-western area."
"But there's no need for that though. We just need enough ground to keep us safe from The Enforcers," replied the spiky-haired one, sounding half-annoyed.
"Then we can beat them up first! They've already dominated Old Man Komoma's turf up in the east…" said the other girl, making some violent gestures and pointing forcefully at the map. "We can capture them! See this old scrap here…"
"No!" The woman's voice was stern. "I agree with Mizuki. All we need is to keep our ground and our skills sharp. There is no need for us to expand our territory; it's safe."
The 'for now' was unsaid, but ever team member could hear it. The more rebellious member of Team Colour snorted. "Just because we're not as good at duelling as they are, doesn't mean we're total weaklings…"
"And not everybody is as good at kicking butt as you, Haru-kun."
"Don't call me that. I'm not even born in spring!"
"Makes it even more fun," smiled Mizuki serenely, earning a few giggles from the audience. "But then again, Fuyu isn't really a great name…"
"Matches the hair!" Piped Hana, fiddling with the dirty pink felt padding on her duel disk. "Saehara Fuyu! I can see it already. Don't ya think so, Hio-san?"
"…not really…"
"Hey!" Saehara stomped towards Hana and pulled her into a head-lock. "Just because my hair's white!"
"Just like the Enforcers' leader!" Squeaked Hana.
"Maybe we should kidnap the guy and replace him with Sae…" mused Hio. "We might have a slight chance of winning then."
"What if they take me back with them and then I'll end up sleeping with a bunch of adolescent guys? Yeah, like, that'll work."
"Escape in the middle of the night," said Momoko.
"You can't wake Sae up even with a tap-dancing elephant. Remember the time when we had to drag Haru all the way to the old Underground Station at two in the morning when Securities were after us?" Mizuki replied.
"Ah, yes. Good old times."
"What do you mean, 'Good old times'? Momoko-san almost got caught! Remember?"
The white-haired girl pouted. "You're no fun."
"It's getting late," said Momoko, checking her watch. "We should be getting back soon, Hana. Your grandpa's going get worried if you don't come home soon."
"Oh, you're right!"
"Bye, Hana!"
"Take care!"
"Remember to give back my Solemn Wishes tomorrow!"
"And don't go flirting again!"
Hana laughed. "I won't!"
According to the other members of Team Colour, that was when everything went downhill.
Mizuki climbed up the tallest place she knew; the rusted satellite dish in the abandoned construction site. She took a good look around; the sunset was giving everything a warm tint, even the sea was tainted with blotches of orange and red. She had the best friends in the world, she thought, and she was grateful, even though a few of them can be a bunch of bums.
"Oi, this is my special place."
Mizuki turned around. "Haru!"
"Ugh…again, stop calling me that. I told you, you can call me Sae," said Sae. "Everyone does, except you."
"Yeah, but still…"
Mizuki took a good look at her most trusted ally in Team Colour. Battered trainers, ripped jeans, torn team jacket and hair that was undoubtedly unbrushed for at least a couple of weeks. Sae was notorious for being a non-hair brusher (and takes great pride in it, too), as well as the best duellist in the team; not like it said anything, since they really won that territory through a lot of blackmail. But it did make Mizuki a bit more self-aware, and silently reminded herself to work on duelling a bit more in the future. Sae sat down, and pulled Mizuki down with her.
"I wonder what will happen to us tomorrow."
Mizuki blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You'd probably tell me to stop being so pessimistic, but…" Sae sighed and ran her hand through her hair; a sign that usually meant Sae was actually thinking about something. "…I keep on thinking that tomorrow something bad is going to happen. It's really stupid….but I just keep hoping that everyday stays the same…" Sae murmured. "…you know?"
Not really, but Mizuki knew better than to say something back. Sae was the kind of person that would either brood over thing too much or charge head-first into something; most commonly the latter. It's been like that for a while, ever since she lost her Swiss army knife. It was from her deceased father, and from then she hadn't been the same.
Sae was a loner. After their weekly meeting Sae seems to drops off the face of the earth, like she never existed at all; only Mizuki knew where she had gone, here at the huge satellite dish and doing all sorts of acrobatic tricks that defied gravity. And she wished that somehow, Sae would be her partner, even for just a day. She knew too little about her. Mizuki leaned back and let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding.
Then she turned her head towards Sae was. Sae had vanished again, presumably to go back to wherever she stayed. Then she climbed down herself. When she took the final step down, she noticed a piece of new paper, with a challenge on it.
The Team Colour member reading this;
We will come to claim our territory on Wednesday. Be Ready.
The Enforcers.
The turf battle took place on the following Wednesday. Team Colour, knowing that the opposition were formidable opponents, trained as hard as they could under the watchful eye of Hana's grandfather, who knew a few tricks in duelling.
"Well…this is it."
Team Colour stood in the central storage room; their main base. Mizuki was fidgeting with her fingernails, Hana was pulling at their jumper, Sae was rubbing at the tip of her nose, Hio was twirling a lock of dirty blonde hair, and Momoko stood calmly, though her facial expression betrayed her.
"It doesn't matter whether we win or lose, guys," she said, "As long as we remain friends in the end. We'll be Team Colour forever!"
"We could've come up with a less retarded name," Sae shot back, "Seriously, Team Colour."
"Glad to know I'm a retard," muttered Hio to Hana, who giggled.
"Well, I'm going," said Sae, turning and drawing an abnormally large number of weapons from a nearby cupboard and vaulted off a huge metal box. "See you."
The other members nodded and took off in their own directions, with Mizuki being the last to go. She wasn't in any hurry at all. She knew that they would lose, and they would not enjoy it. She sighed stiffly and tried to calm herself, even just a little.
"So you're from Team Colour?"
Mizuki spun around and came face-to-face with a boy with black highlighted hair that stood up in random directions. He was tall, and had blue eyes. The youth whipped out his left arm, revealing a duel disk.
Oh god no…already…? Well…here goes something, I guess…thought Mizuki.
"What's your name?" She asked. Her opponent observed her briefly before telling her his.
"Yusei."
Oh…travelling star, huh? Pretty cool.
Mizuki-Yusei
4000-4000
"I'll start us off!" She drew her first hand. Mostly monsters. Good. "I summon Gene-warped Werewolf in Attack mode (ATK 2000)! End turn!"
Mizuki-Yusei
4000-4000
"I draw. I set a monster, and place two cards face down. End turn."
Seriously, what's with this guy? He's probably shy, serious, stupid or monosyllabic. He's only spoken eight syllables outside of the duel.
Mizuki-Yusei
4000-4000
"I draw! And I summon my second Gene-warped Werewolf (ATK 2000)! And now I attack your facedown!"
Maybe I can K-O him in the next round…
"Activate Trap!" Yusei cried, and one of the face-downs flipped up to reveal a familiar purple-bordered card.
Oh, bugger.
"Mirror Force! When my opponent attacks, I can destroy all of her monsters that are in face-up attack position!"
In response to the card's activation, the two monsters shattered, leaving Mizuki's field open. Yusei smiled slightly. "You're too rushed in your duelling. Slow down a little."
"Oh…thanks." She was becoming seriously depressed. Her opponent just destroyed two of the most powerful monsters in her deck and was tutoring her at the same time. What would Sae have done?
"I would've placed that card face down," Said Sae, coming out of nowhere and taking Mizuki's Duel disk. "Mind if I take over?"
"Not really."
"Good."
Sae took Mizuki's hand and took a brief glance. They weren't bad, but they needed to be completely re-adjusted to suit her style of play. "The name's Sae," she called, and slapped a card on to the disk. "I place a card face-sown, and activate a spell, Re-load! This lets me put all the cards in my hand into the deck, shuffle, and draw the same number of cards that was in my hand!" After that was done, she placed two cards face-down. "End turn!"
Sae-Yusei
4000-4000
"Draw!"
Yusei paused a bit and analysed his opponent carefully. This one knew what she was doing, and was using a different style. But the fact that she was using a different deck may give him a slight advantage. "I summon Speed Warrior in Attack mode (ATK 900)! And I activate its effect! I can double its attack points the turn it's normal summoned (Speed Warrior: ATK 1800)! And now, I attack directly!"
"In your dreams! Activate trap, Negate Attack! I can negate the attack and end the battle phase!"
Nothing else to do but "I place a card face down and end my turn."
Sae-Yusei
4000-4000
"Draw! First, I summon Chiron the mage, in attack mode (ATK 1800)! Then I'll activate its effect! By discarding one magic card from my hand I can destroy one spell or trap!" Sae put Mizuki's Lightning Vortex in the Graveyard and thrust a finger at the face-down on the right hand side. "I choose that one!"
Scrap-Iron Scarecrow lifted up in a brief second before disappearing. Sae gave a triumphant smirk and played the next card. "I play equip spell, Black Pendant! It raises my monster's attack by 500 points (Chiron the Mage: ATK 2300)! And now! I attack your Speed Warrior!"
"Activate trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow! I can negate the attack of one of your monsters…"
"Chain! Activate trap, Dark Bribe! I negate the activation of a spell or trap, and I can destroy it! Say goodbye to your Scarecrow!"
Yusei's Scrap-Iron Scarecrow shattered, and his Speed Warrior completely disintegrated in Chiron's attack, dealing him 1400 point's worth of damage. His face-down monster was flipped up to reveal Shield Wing, which needs to be attacked two times before the third finishes it off. But now both his Scrap-Iron Scarecrows were gone. He won't be able to negate attacks that easily anymore.
And Sae was just simply annoyed. Shield Wing was probably one of the most infuriating monsters to play against (Not nearly as annoying as Marshmellon, admittedly). Mizuki, who was standing in the background, had no clue what was going on, but Sae seemed to have the upper hand. Sae was unbeatable!
Sae-Yusei
4000-2600
"I draw! I summon Junk Synchron, in attack mode! Its effect allows me to summon a level two or lower monster from my graveyard, negating its effect. I choose Speed Warrior!" Yusei slid his hand over to his extra deck. Sae stared. No, he couldn't have…
"Clustering stars will call upon a new force!" He cried, "Become the path its light shines upon! I Synchro Summon; Junk Warrior (ATK 2300)!"
"Crap…!" Sae cursed. I should've kept my Lightning Vortex…but it's fine. As long as Chiron remains on the field, he can't hurt me other than destroying his Junk Warrior along with it…
"I place a card face-down. End turn."
Sae-Yusei
4000-2600
Sae drew a card. Her eyelid twitched slightly at the result; and laughed madly.
"I forgot completely about this card! Damn, Mizuki, your constant card-stealing from me has actually come to good use!"
Mizuki glared. "Don't diss."
"Fine fine…I won't… I summon Enraged Battle Ox (ATK 1700) and I'll attack your Shield Wing with both my monsters, since its effect allows piercing damage (your monster's ATK is higher than opponent's DEF, and deals the difference as battle damage) if there is another beast-warrior, beast, or winged beast type monster on my side of the field! It looks like I win! Chiron! Enraged Battle Ox! Attack Shield Wing!"
Both monsters obeyed the command and charged at Shield Wing. Yusei closed his eyes. The face-down was Graceful Revival. He won't need it any more. He would lose this one. He groaned slightly when the damage got to him; it was over.
Sae-Yusei
4000-0
"Looks like you won." Said Yusei, holding out his hand for them to shake. They accepted it – Sae very reluctantly- and parted. Sae sighed happily and gave back Mizuki her Duel Disk.
"I haven't had as much fun as that in a while."
"It shows me I certainly have room for improvement," replied Mizuki, "You won the duel in about five turns after you showed up..."
"Yeah, but he was tough. If it was any other card-give it about a 35:1 chance- I would've lost. I saw the card he had face-down while you were shaking hands with him."
Graceful Revival would've summoned one of those low-leveled monsters back from the grave and he would've gained an extra hunk of ATK points,Sae thought, and he would've destroyed my monsters easily. If we subtracted a 500 life points from his life points due to Black Pendant's effect, that would still leave him enough turns to finish it. Damn…
"…by the way, did you run into any other Enforcers?" Asked Mizuki.
"Huh? Oh yeah..." Sae answered, "One blonde whose ego is bigger than Hio's hair after the hairdryer incident. Bloody git."
"…that's nice…did you win?"
Sae kicked down some iron doors that lead to the outside. "Barely, by about 100 life-points. I'm just glad I had Final Countdown on my first draw." And Solemn Wishes too.
"So that means…we've beat the Enforcers!" Mizuki squeaked, "That's great!"
"Correction, we've lost."
"Eh?"
"Momoko and Hio were duelling against the leader and Hana another one of them, dude with spiky orange hair. They lost." Sae grumbled. "We've gotta split now."
The Enforcers claimed the Harbour as part of their turf, while Team Colour gradually became adjusted to their new environment. Sae, apparently, became infatuated with skating right after their defeat, and nobody knew where she went after that. Mizuki and the others started living in an old warehouse, though they constantly visited Hana and her grandfather.
"…It's been one year, hasn't it?"
Mizuki and Hio were standing on the pier, looking out. They were gazing on the old satellite dish that Sae used to be at, and wondering how everyone was doing. Hio started flicking random small pieces of gravel. "Think they can make it to the reunion?"
"Hope so," Said Mizuki, but she was certain Sae wouldn't show up.
She was right.
Sae was ushered into a small van along with some others, most of them shady-looking individuals that were staring unsubtly at the only female person in the confinement space. She gagged.
They'll make great roomies, she thought sarcastically as an old man wearing dirty shades of yellow started looking her up and down.
"…you don't have any curves, do you?"
Ignore him, Sae, just ignore him…probably just some perverted old geezer that I would probably never see again…
"What's your name?"
"S…Haruhi," Said Sae, annoyed. When in doubt…blatantly lie. That's what you get for not asking me to tell you the full truth.
"Why are you in here?"
"To rip off your head and feed it to Man Eater Bug."
"Ooh, that's a scary thought…" the old man shivered, then went back to his cheery self. "What's your favourite card?"
"...Not telling."
"Hey. Look!" Cackled a beefy man with multiple criminal marks, "Yanagi's hitting on a little girl!"
"Aww…" laughed the others, "We'd like a go too!"
"Try it, Shitheads," was the reply.
"Woo, a feisty one!"
The entire trip composed of conversations like those, plus a couple of fights and a few attempts of hitting on Sae (though they all ended miserably). Sae found that the old guy called Yanagi was actually pretty knowledgeable, despite the lack of common sense. After a few hours, they stopped.
"Alright, you bastards, hurry it up."
She looked up. An intimidating, flawless steel structure, lined with massive search-lights that glared menacingly at them. The atmosphere was heavy with despair, hatred, sorrow, self-pity and hopelessness, and each step became more and more painful as it became evident that they won't be free; caged like a bird, with no escape other than death. A guard came over and scanned the jagged gold line that stretched down her cheek from her left eye.
"Saehara Haru, age 17, Illegal Duelling and other Unlawful Leisure Methods. Well, little missy, you won't be getting out any time soon, I can assure you," he said, and shoved her into the gate. "Hirou, take the lass to a cell."
"Preferably an empty one," Sae added. "Or at least with somebody the same gender that isn't a serial killer."
"Don't get cocky, girl. You take whatever room you get."
They marched to a cell that was, thankfully, empty. Sae flopped down on a bunk and winced. The mattress was as hard as bricks. She stood up and went to the bathroom to wash her face. But the real reason was to look at herself again in the mirror, not because she had to resign to the fact that she would be sleeping on a bed about the same softness of a huge stone slab.
The same face; a pair of sharp blue eyes, large mouth, large but angled ears and the mop of white mess on the top of her head, but the criminal mark would need some getting used to. She traced it with her left hand, and winced again when a sharp fingernail scratched her skin. Down, right, down, left, down and down diagonally right it went, until it reached the bottom of her face. How long would it be when she would be allowed out?
She took off her roughed trainers as well as her socks. In her sock were her favourite cards; Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Raging Flame Sprite. She looked around, made sure that nobody was looking and stuffed them gently into her underclothes. As soon as she did that, she let out a sigh of relief.
They were safe, for now.
Each day started the same. Each inmate would wake up at about six for a head-count, then a breakfast that had the same texture of fresh cement, and then they are lead back to their cells till lunchtime, when they would be able to communicate with other inmates, only to be confined again afterwards.
The Chief of the Facility was a terrifying man, who was not afraid to use violence in his favour, and had no mercy to either his prisoners or his associates. Many of the prisoners commented harshly on him, and I do not blame them for doing so.
"Oi, guard!"
A guard marched indignantly over to Sae's cell, a bit angry that he would be getting less of a lunch break.
"I was told I would be released eight months ago! Why the hell am I not being released?"
"Chief Armstrong hasn't been informed of your release," replied the guard, turning his back and leaving, with Sae drooping helplessly on the cell bars.
Eight months. Eight months, and still no sign of her leaving any time soon. She kicked the iron door irritably and twitched at the multiple bruises on her foot that resulted from many similar 'pastimes'. Why, she screamed mentally, why the hell does the door have to be so bloody hard? I spend far too much time doing this, she thought, eying the several insignificant dents in the three-inch steel. But it's not like I have any other things to do...
"Lunch break! If you want to get your share of grub, you'd better go quick!" A guard banged on each cell door with a large metal pole. "Hurry it up!"
Ah well, might as well make the most of it.
She walked past Yanagi who was busy acting out the legend of the Crimson Dragon solo to an audience of one person, and tried to sneak past him to avoid another fantasy story; however, he saw her, dragged her down on to a seat and announced that he would be the narrator to this 'epic tale'. Sae leaned her head back and only took in a few words of each sentence.
"…and thus, the Crimson Dragon…"
"…Signers…embodiment…"
"…Underworld…darkness, and the Dark Signers…"
"…Heroes… saved the world..."
"..Very enlightening," said Sae, who really had no clue what he went on about.
"Yes…" chimes Yanagi, and hopped over to the other person who bothered to listen and patted him on the shoulder. "But I've finally met a signer!"
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, yes! See, that boy-"he pointed down a level "-with the blue jacket!"
"There's plenty of guys here with blue jackets, Yanagi…" Sae tapped her fingers against the wall impatiently. "I may have all the time in the world to waste, but it's not fun, I swear."
"You won't be disappointed, I know," said Yanagi, grinning. "Hey there, Yusei! Up here...Hey, don't ignore me!" he leapt down the table and chased after the guy. "Wait up!"
And so, the wonderful Yanagi-sensei goes off to chase some weirdo who really is a prick with a stick up his ass and an almighty ego-indulged self. Sae thought. Yanagi came back dragging a flustered man that looked like he would've preferred to be anywhere but there.
"This is Yusei, the Signer!" Yanagi chimed, and pulled him towards Sae. "And this is…er…what is your name again?"
Sae's head gained an extra pulsing vein, and she resisted the temptation to punch him hard in the face. "Sae, like I told you about fifty times last week!"
At the name Sae, the youth looked up. He blinked.
"…do I know you…?"
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