Stardust Shimmer
Two: Fairy Meteor Crush
"Psychic Duellist," Superman pounded a fist into the steel table. It dented from his punch, and from that of several more. "What does that mean?"
The terror insurgent grinned in reply, never saying a word.
"We can negotiate a lesser sentence if you tell us why," Superman continued.
"I work alone," the man who insisted on calling himself Beast answered, grinning madly. "There was no one else."
"That's a lie and you know it," Batman stepped out of the shadows.
The man who called himself Beast tried to look unimpressed, but the fear in his eyes was apparent. "W- What about that?"
From the utility belt, Batman extracted the slim deck. "You started out with giant rats and more. When Superman arrived, he took out the monster called King of the Beasts. The Ancient Crimson Ape was the one that attacked the hospital, and Superman and Wildcat were attacked by Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest and Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest."
The lame attempt at a poker face slipped. "So?"
"Under the judicial system, we can't prove that you did it with psychic powers because you don't register on the psi-test under normal conditions," Batman stated,his voice quieter, more solemn. "You do this under the illusion that nobody but you and your cards will know. I know. They told me."
Silence permeated the dim room before he relaxed. "They call you the dark knight," he whispered. "Dark knight... how poetic."
Superman shot a confused look at the Caped Crusader.
"So, you tell us why did you attack the hospital, and I give you the cards each time," Batman laid down the deck. "There are forty cards in this deck, and these are all the cards we found on you. For each question you answer, I give you back one card."
"All this for a card?" Superman muttered, confused.
"Yes, yes," he nodded.
"Firstly, what's your name?" A Moja was quickly offered.
"Lawrence, Barry Lawrence, yes, it's a horrible name," the answer came out rushed. Batman twitched. To Superman of the X-ray eyes Barry would be embracing nothing but thin air but to him, the wiggly black thing called the Moja was a thing of repulsive cuteness.
"Next question, why attack the hospital?"
"Don't know, I was told to make a scene, grab the kid and run." Barry smiled almost beatifically as Batman laid down the Yellow Baboon.
"The kid?" Batman twitched as Green Baboon joined Yellow Baboon.
"Little girl, black hair, thought it would be an easy job, never expected Fudo to be there," Barry's face twisted. "It was cool to duel the acknowledged world champion, but, beaten in less than two turns. That sucks."
Batman now wore a near-permanent scowl. "Why the kid?"
"Momentum," Barry answered. "No idea why, though."
"Wouldn't the man behind it be a better choice?" Batman asked as King of the Beasts joined the pile. Momentum, it's all coming back to Momentum...
"Fudo locks the thing tighter than his own D-Wheel. We needed the girl to get him to open the way, because everyone in the Duel community knows that he's stubborn like that." Barry frowned. "They weren't going to hurt her, that I know."
"So, what do Psychic Duellists want with Momentum?" Batman patiently asked.
Barry twitched, and he furtively glanced at Superman for a moment. "Explanation's long. Five cards."
"Fine," Batman considered after a long silence had stretched, laying out Closed Forest, Beast Soul Swap, Howl of the Wild, Solemn Warning, and Berserking. "Talk."
Barry took a deep breath. "Momentum is the source that runs D-Wheels, D- boards, hell, maybe even half of London. All the cities of the world are linked to the source of perpetual energy in Neo Domino City, Momentum. Also, and we recently found out, exposure to this Momentum energy can cause an even greater increase in the average Psychic Duellist's power. Last week, I was barely able to flick a paper clip with a hologram, but... you saw today. Those people that hired me... they told me to find any way necessary to get Fudo."
"So, everything leads back to Yusei Fudo," Batman finalised. "Why?"
"He's the guy behind it," Barry pointed out after Batman set down a card. "Doctor Yusei Fudo, former winner of the Fortune Cup, winner and champion of a lot more tournaments, and the chief scientist behind Momentum. The guys I work with, they say that..." here he swallowed, looking behind him once more before whispering. "They used to work for a bigger organisation, one stronger than the Arcadia Movement-"
"What's that? The Movement." Batman interjected, holding up Behemoth the King of All Animals.
"The Movement's formerly an organisation of Psychic Duellists. It got shut down after some horrible press and deaths of its members, and it wasn't pretty either." Barry explained. "Either way, the guys, they work for a larger organisation, a legend... well, I say worked."
"Which organisation?" Batman pressed.
"They call it..." Barry choked. "I can't. I can't. I can't remember! I can't remember!"
"Fine!" Batman interrupted quickly. "Focus, another question. Back to Fudo. You wanted to coerce him to give you access to Momentum. So you tried to kidnap the girl. Then?"
"We set up a Backfire trap near the solar panels, we didn't expect the Mini Momentum to go berserk!" Barry panicked slightly, his breath slowly evening. "There was the accident, the alarms went off, the girl was crying and everything levitated and my Beasts went insane for a moment before Crow effing Hogan got his ass in gear! Then I tracked my way to the hospital and from there it's history."
Here, the detective laid down a Hyena. "Here, I'm thinking. You're obviously more than intelligent enough to know that this is Metropolis. Where Superman is. Psychic Duellist or not, you could have done it more... discreetly. Why not?"
"Fudo had another Psychic Duellist with him!" Barry burst out. "That white dragon, that pain behind it, that was a White Night Dragon! I was mad with pain, okay?"
"Another Psychic Duellist?" Batman slowly comprehended. "With Yusei Fudo and the girl, you say?"
"Oh god," Barry's face drained of all colour. "Oh god, Fudo's friendly with her. I'm damned either way, aren't I?"
"Her?" Batman slowly stated.
"The Black Rose Witch," he whispered, like how a child would talk about monsters, like how Batman had seen some former victims of Yuugi Mutou act, with fear of shadows and darkness and monsters. "The Psychic Duellist that makes us all so feared, and Fudo's her crush. If she recovers her powers, she's going to come after me, I'm so dead, either way, the remains of them, and the Black Rose Witch on the other, I'm dead!"
"Calm down," Batman instructed, adding more cards to the pile. "Aki Izayoi is not proved conclusively to be the Black Rose Witch, and she certainly can't break into Stryker's Prison when sources tell me she's in Germany."
"You never know with us," Barry whispered back.
"Answer me truthfully, and the Justice League will promise you full protection, I will find a way." Batman laid down another card, his tone composed yet encouraging. "Half a deck left, Barry. Twenty more questions to safety."
"They're all here, they believe you," Barry whispered in answer. "I... thank you. Thank you."
"The organisation named Yliaster," Batman tossed down a single brown file. "This is all our knowledge of them."
Very carefully, the Flash pulled out a single sheet of paper contained within the file to read. "'The legendary movement named the First Chaos in the Matter of All Things, better known as Yliaster, is not conclusively proved to be existent.' That's it?"
"We know that they exist, thanks to Barry Lawrence," Superman gravely imparted. "Barry Lawrence died of an aneurysm minutes after giving the name, no foul play suspected, seeing as he had a history of heart problems in the family, but it's too convenient."
"We know that it existed," Batman counted off. "We know that it later shattered. We know that somehow, Yusei Fudo was involved. Ergo, everything leads back to Yusei Fudo. What we don't know, is how it leads to Momentum, and why are the remains of Yliaster acting up now. Question gave me his whole file of theories when I brought up the name, and I gave up deciphering fact from fiction."
"So, we're up against an organisation of legendary baddies?" Flash grinned.
"According to the scant information gleaned, the remains of the organisation," Batman corrected. "Yliaster itself was scattered almost a decade ago, with unclear involvement by Yusei Fudo. Aside from his past criminal record of petty crime, I can find nothing on his involvement with Yliaster except for theories."
"Does this have something to do with Duel Monsters?" Superman pointed out. "The last fiasco with Kaiba Corporation also involved a tournament going on at the same time."
"Again with the 'living cards'," Batman grumbled, but tapped in a few keystrokes into the mainframe. "Known Yliaster members... Barry never gave us a list."
"They work in cells, each unaware of the other," Shayera pointed out. "So, there must be a central cell that holds them all together, overseen by one man."
"Barry said that the one man is considered a god by the rest of the organisation," Batman grumbled. "That one man apparently fell to Yusei Fudo, that's why Barry tried to use other methods rather than face Fudo directly."
"Why?" Superman answered. "To all intents and purposes, he's just a normal man, right?"
"It would take meeting the man himself to find out," Batman grimaced. "How nice, that Doctor Fudo is in town and Superman has accepted an invitation to the Green Energy Exhibition tomorrow at three."
Superman directed an incredulous stare at the stone-faced Batman. "...You forged my signature again?"
"Focus on the light, there, that's good, you're doing fine..."
The light flickered, and then both girls cringed as the bulb burst altogether in a shower of glass.
"I'm so sorry, O Jii-chan!"
Yusei swept away what little shards he could from his shirt. "Well, at least it's a second longer than usual. You're improving, Seika."
"Good job, Seika-han," Setsuka gave an indulgent stare to the violet-eyed girl before directing a meaningful look at the scientist. "Professor, is Ryuusei coming?"
"Ryuusei Nii is coming?" Seika widened her eyes at the professor.
"Yes," Yusei answered, a slight smile coming to his face. "He is. Aki is bringing him over for the holidays."
"So, we can go to the amusement park?" Seika bounced over happily.
"Yes we can..." Yusei trailed off at the sour look Setsuka directed to him. "Setsuka? You're coming along as well."
The look turned more mollified as Setsuka directed her glare towards the glass shards, which began to mist over. "Seika-han, it's eight. Go brush your teeth."
"Setsu-chan!" Seika whined but went anyway.
"Professor, the accident today," Setsuka began quietly once the door had closed. "The accident today, that was Seika, wasn't it?"
"...yes." Yusei finally answered, hiding his stunned feelings. "How did you know?"
"Deduction," Seika answered. "Seika's deck holds all six Attributes, so there's no way it could be an affinity. It's also mixed so that no one Type is dominant, so no personality associations. Like recognises like, so if Seika was a Psychic Duellist I can tell. She cannot see spirits, hence it cannot be an out-of-control spirit. Also, Mini Momentum acting up at the same time as when Seika's emotions began to mix, that cannot be coincidental."
"...yes." Yusei nodded, defeated. "And your conclusion?"
"I didn't know until I got Nakamura San to pull up your treatise on Momentum, after the accident with Professor Kannazuki," Setsuka flatly answered. "Somewhere within the driest technical words, you wrote that Momentum is deeply connected to the hearts and minds of people. Written in the context of prospects, many would believe that the mainframe Fortune was that. But, it's not, is it? From the man who pioneered Accel Synchro, Delta Accel Synchro... it takes a mind who believes in Duel Spirits and Duel Monsters to realise that in some people, a clear state of mind would cause Momentum to spin faster and create more power."
"Clear Mind," Yusei confirmed. "The ability to control Duel energy with the heart, a state in which a person frees themselves from all the negativity in their minds and hearts. A clear mind, the feeling achieved through speed, and a card capable of Accel Synchro Summon..."
Setsuka frowned. "That's not right."
"It is," Yusei answered. "Somehow, the accident of seeing Professor Kannazuki fall into the Momentum reactor caused something in her young mind, and the Momentum reactor almost overloaded as she cried. Then... she summoned Stardust Dragon. I was the first to find her on the railings by the reactor, being comforted by my own dragon, and I knew. I took her to Martha's place, where your parents found her next, and began the adoption process... that is, until they..." he hesitated. "Passed on."
"They died, you can say it," Setsuka gazed into an empty space as the sound of scrubbing reached their ears. "Mother's Ice Queen was her last gift to me, after Blue Ice White Night Dragon and Snowdust Dragon. Father gave me Ice Master and Blizzard Princess. His Guardian Eatos was still here."
Her eyes turned softer. "Did you know that Father could see the spirits? Mother was a Psychic Duellist, one of the first generation, and they met while they were working with Kaiba Corporation while it was still under Seto Kaiba."
"Ah, no," Yusei shook his head. "Word says that Yuuki Judai got his ability to see spirits by willpower alone and exposure to Hane Kuriboh. I've never heard of the power being hereditary."
"Whichever it is, I am not alone," Setsuka murmured. "Eatos is still here, I can still see her, Isolde and my own servants, and Nakamura San remains with me. Seika, she has no family, no one left. Yet, Nakamura San has enough difficulties adopting me to care for her as well."
"Intelligence and maturity runs in the family as well," Yusei observed, somehow feeling that this girl was more precocious than himself in her current age than when he was young. "I'm thinking of adopting Seika. What do you think, Setsuka? Aki and Ryuusei are quite receptive to the idea."
"That would be the most ideal thing," Setsuka considered. "Remember that Seika is not a responsibility or an obligation, but a joy."
They fell silent as Seika entered the room, smiling and already changed into a nightie. "Good night, O Jii-chan!"
"Good night, Seika-han," Setsuka answered. "Good night, Professor."
That was his cue to exit the room.
"Yusei?" Doctor Izayoi Aki, though technically Fudo Aki, asked as she walked up to him. Behind her followed a boy of thirteen years old, having inherited the Fudo crab hairstyle and eyes, but his mother's red bangs.
"Papa," the boy greeted. "You look like a crab."
Too late, Yusei realised that his hair was too messy. "If I'm a crab, that makes you a lobster, my son."
"Lobsters are more expensive," the boy dead-panned.
"Yes, they're very tasty that they're eaten. Maybe I should boil you in place of lobster when we get back."
"Mama, Papa's getting cannibalistic," Ryuusei turned to his mother. "Shouldn't you feed him?"
Both parents twitched, exchanging looks as to the bluntness of their son before the whole family broke out in laughter.
"That's the last time I ask Jack to babysit," Aki shook her head.
"Really? I think Crow's more at fault," Yusei snickered. "Ryuusei, remember Seika?"
Blue cat-like eyes widened fractionally. "Yes, Papa?"
"She may be staying with us permanently, I just have to finalise everything before I ask her," Yusei inwardly smirked at the shining look in the eyes of Fudo Ryuusei.
Within the hotel room both girls shared, a pair of violet eyes stared at the ceiling as a tiny mouth yawned. "Setsu-chan?"
"Yes, Seika-han?"
"Will we have fun tomorrow? Will we see the man flying in the sky that O Jii-chan mentioned?"
"Maybe, Seika-han. Maybe."
Please review! Stay tuned for the next turn: Makiu, the Magical Mist. Duel, Acceleration!