Dan was frustrated.
For the entire night, all he could do was toss and turn on his back over a hundred times, before getting up and pacing around his cramped room, staring at the card he had been gifted with out of nowhere, and wondering why the hell he had chosen to accept some godforsaken prophecy from some windbag dragon.
"Yeah, sure, great idea, idiot! Just listen to any random mythical creature you find on the street! Next I'll be saving Jupiter from evil space bunnies because a purple unicorn told me to!" Dan quietly ranted as he threw the card back onto his bedside table and jumped back into bed again. But every time he fell asleep, all he saw was enormous, black shadows with colored accents, that reshaped themselves over and over, first into monkeys, then orcas, then spiders, then horned devils.
So by the time Dan got out of bed at 5:30 in the morning, he was an absolute wreck, with about a thousand bags hanging from his eyes. Even his bags had bags. And he swore he had sweat in his...unmentionables. Wait, was that even sweat!?
Not choosing to dwell on it any longer, Dan brushed his teeth and washed his face to relieve himself of drowsiness, before descending to the kitchen below. His mom was gone, presumably off at one of her jobs, so Dan sighed and got out a jar of grape jelly, peanut butter, and wheat toast, making himself a sandwich like he did every morning nowadays.
As he sat at the kitchen table munching his breakfast, downing a glass of cold milk simultaneously, he could feel the silence, tinged with a palpable sense of eeriness and mild dread. Even the air seemed to still. Whatever it was, it just wasn't right.
And yet he continued his daily routine, washing his dishes, cleaning up after their feisty cat, and checking to make sure Jaden had his supply of medicine still available. It was tedious work, but necessary if they wanted to keep living in some semblance of comfort.
On his way to school that day, Dan tried to clear his head of thoughts and enjoy the day, but his efforts were in vain. He could feel the niggling thoughts of death and foresight clouding his judgement, and at one point he simply gave up and tried to deal with the negative feelings for the rest of the day. Not that it was necessarily challenging, considering everyone left him alone. Apparently, news about his incredible victory traveled fast. They weren't rushing to give him pats on the back or exclamations of "good job!", but at least they weren't calling him Dumpster Diver Dan anymore.
He scanned his eyes over the drab vista until he caught glimpse of Laura sitting by herself in the corner of the yard. Clearly everyone was still a little spooked by her powers, considering the 50 yard berth they gave her.
Taking his chances, Dan sat next to her, giving a tentative "hello" as he got to work on his history project. It took a minute or so, but Laura finally worked up the nerve to respond with a halfhearted "hey."
"So...how you holdin' up?" Dan whispered.
"Not great. That whole...that duel with those guys was crazy. You were sucking, and then you disappeared, and then you came back, and then you turned the whole game around. Duelists don't just do that. Only people like Yusei, or your grandpa. So what's going on?" "Well...that's kinda tricky to explain. I'm not even sure I get half of it. But from what I can tell...it was part of some sort of...prophecy. Something about the 'end of the world' and 'legendary monsters'..."
"You mean like...the Sacred Beasts?"
"No. More powerful. They control the entire planet when gathered together, and can either destroy it, or save it. Personally, I'd prefer the latter."
Laura chuckled. "Yeah, living does sound like a nice option. But how are you going to do this? You can't exactly get a plane and fly to some mysterious card in the middle of nowhere."
"That's the thing. The voice told me that there would be others who would help out. The 'rebirth of the Signers'. So there must be 5 others besides me, and..."
"Don't say it. I'm one of them, aren't I?"
After a brief pause, Dan slowly nodded. "And your Black Rose must be your Signer Dragon." "Figures...Mom always was super protective of this stupid card. Now I know why. It still has a purpose." "Mmhmm." "Okay, so we got two Signers, and one dragon. We gotta find yours first before we do anything else, right?" "Actually..."
"What the hell? How did you get Stardust Dragon!? That's Yusei's-"
"I know, I know, but he gave it to me. Said I had the heart of a true duelist and that this card would 'guide my way'. Guess he must know the future or some shit."
Suddenly, the bell rang, and all the students began streaming through the doors to get to their classes.
"Welp, guess that's the cue to leave. Listen, maybe we should...talk about our battle strategy. Wanna meet me at Pizzarriba after school?" Dan offered.
"You mean...like a date?" Laura responded, blushing a little.
"What, no! Just...you know, normal battle plan stuff. As friends, right?"
"Oh...yeah. As friends. Of course, we should just stay friends. You know, cuz trying to be more is just...it's not the right time, I guess, we're not ready."
"Y-yeah, exactly..."
At that point they just stared in awkward silence, kicking up dust and struggling to find something else to say. "So...guess I'll be...going to class now." Dan said.
"Yeah..." Laura sighed, as she picked up her knapsack and hurriedly rushed inside, Dan following close behind before they turned down different hallways, silently waving goodbye to each other.
Throughout the entire dueling exercise on the Genex archetype, Dan could hardly focus. As he summoned his Windmill Genex to destroy Quick Draw Synchron, all his mind could concentrate on was his meeting with Laura after school. Sure, he said it wasn't a date, but...was that really true? Could he remain professional all throughout the day? Could he separate his totally platonic feelings for Laura from the mission?
"Yeah. Yeah, I can do this. Just gotta keep a cool head. Play it ice cold..." Dan muttered to himself as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked a few miles down the road into the nicer part of the Satellite, bursting with shops, restaurants, and gaudy merch stands. Weaving his way through the bustling and anxious crowd, Dan finally saw his target: Pizzarriba, the most successful Spanish/Italian restaurant in the city. Normally, it was impossible to get in without some prior reservation, but thankfully it was mostly deserted today, as Dan quietly ducked inside.
Only one table was occupied, patiently saved by Laura as she tapped her fingers on the table in a rhythmic pattern. Dan couldn't be sure, but he swore that she was playing Every Rose has its Thorn.
Clearing his throat, Dan shyly sat opposite of her and gave another quick "hello", which she was much more eager to acknowledge this time.
"Alright, we should probably eat first, and then discuss the plan. Sound cool?" Dan offered.
"Definitely." "You have anything in mind?" "Uh...no, that's okay, you order for me." "Are you sure?" "Yes! God..." "Okay..."
"Are you ready to ordeur, monsieur?" "Ah, yes. I'll have the Meatball Pot-a-Feu, and the lady will have the Shrimp Scampi."
"Ah, bon choix, monsieur! I'll have it out-a shortly." The pompous waiter bowed as he entered the kitchen, leaving the two alone.
"Alright, so, from what I remember about what the dragon in my vision told me, it said something about Groudon being in the deepest cave and Kyogre being below the deepest ocean trench...got any ideas?" Dan posited.
"Well...deepest trench has gotta be the Mariana Trench. That bad boy is over 11,000 meters deep. Most submarines would blow up from aquatic pressure before reaching the bottom."
"Sounds...painful. How about the cave?"
"Krubera. Located in Abkhazia. Not a lot of people have returned, and most that do end up as skeletons."
"Well...if we go underground there's a higher chance we could make it. So maybe we should head there first, and then try to find a way to get underwater. Maybe if we have Groudon's power and mix it with Ray's, it can help clear the water away or something. Best option we got."
It was around this time when the food was finally delivered, a pepperoni pizza for Dan and shrimp scampi for Laura.
"Excuse me, but I think I ordered the Meatball Pot." "Ah, mon mistake, monsieur, mais we do not have the meatball pot as of right now. Perhaps you can...make do, as they say?" "Yes, yes, it's fine. Thank you." "My apologies."
As they ate, they continued to talk. "So, do you have any ideas on who the other Signers could be?" Laura asked.
"Well, Rayquaza told me that when I got close to them, this mark would glow." Dan answered, showing her his mark of the Dragon Head.
Suddenly, Laura's arm glowed too, and she pulled back her shirt to see another mark, the Dragon's Foot.
From within the kitchen, the waiter noticed the red glow and gasped, muffling it just in time as he slipped under the counter before they saw him.
"Okay, so what do we do then? Walk around and flash our tattoos at everyone until one of them lights up? You know how crazy we'll look?" Laura ranted.
"Well...I don't know, there must be something we can do...wait, Yusei!"
"What about him?"
"He's a head researcher for the Ener-D network! And he's a former Signer! Maybe he can make some kind of Signer finding radar and help us!"
"You really think that'll work?"
"It's worth a shot, right?"
"Well...we don't have anything else to lose. And we should probably gather a couple Signers before we get going."
"Great!"
"But, Dan...what about our parents?"
"Rayquaza told me it'll be...taken care of. We can say goodbye and everything before we go."
"Right...I just hope they won't be too worried."
"If this all works, we'll be world saving heroes! They'll be too proud to be angry at us for leaving, right?"
"Yeah, I guess that's true."
The two finished eating and split the bill using their chores money, before stepping out of the booth simultaneously, coming face to face, their noses just an inch apart.
"Oh...uh, sorry!" Dan apologized.
"It's okay, really..." Laura reassured, as the atmosphere slowed to a crawl. Their lips were almost touching as they leaned in-
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid the store is closed. You will have to leave." The waiter ordered.
"Sorry, sorry!" Laura cowered, as she and Dan exited the shop and turned to run home together, the waiter watching from the door. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he pulled out a phone and began speaking into it.
"Yeah, there were a couple kids in here. Definitely Signers, they had the marks and everything." "'Good. Very good...'"
"Should I take them out now?" "'No...they may be useful. Did you catch where they were going?'" "Yeah. Going to meet Yusei Fudo tomorrow. Something about making some sort of Signer radar in order to track down the new bunch of brats bestowed with those cursed symbols." "'Excellent...we can be rid of three foolish Signers in one fell swoop. Once they are disposed of, there will be nothing stopping our alliance from bringing this world to its knees!'" "Indeed...Master."