Author's Note: Bring is not a character based off of me. I wrote this chapter before I actually made the account. Please let me know what you think of the story so far.
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Chapter 4: Puzzling Dream, Awaken the Power Within
On the other side of town, Akira wakes up in his bed breaking out in a sweat. Upon touching his forehead he finds out that he's actually pretty cold but his sweat was still hot. The contradiction made little sense to him but he figured there were weirder things in life. He throws back the cover and makes his way to the balcony. He looks over Neo Domino City, breathes in deep, and lets the cool night air whip at his face.
"It was the same thing again."
For a few weeks now Akira had been having strange dreams. The dreams started out as visions of Aki walking down a dark path. Naturally he didn't think it was odd at first for him to be dreaming about someone as cute as Aki, but the dreams only got weirder from there. He would later find himself chasing Aki down the same dark road calling out her name. In each dream, no matter how fast he ran or how much he called her name, Aki never responds and is consumed by a veil of shadows. Those dreams went on for about a two weeks.
But the recent dreams placed him before a white dragon made of pure light. This dream completely replaced the dreams of Aki and were by far the most realistic.
-Do you desire power?-
Those were the words that rung in the back of his head every time he was faced with the divine beast.
"Aki…what does it all mean?" Akira asks a question to someone who's not there.
Suddenly, Akira's head snaps up as he gazes into the distance. He didn't know why but it was as if a switch went off in the back of his head. Something was telling him that he needed to go back into the city now.
-Do you desire power?-
Those words echo in his head once again as he grabs his jacket off the coat rack and runs out the front door.
***
Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Aki run through the dark streets of Neo Domino City. Aki and Yusei had decided to do a quick patrol of the city after they'd left the tournament preliminaries. Ultimately their patrol was unsuccessful. However, on their way over by Yusei's shop the group, the group heard a large explosion in the downtown area. What was odd to them was that the explosion made each of their marks react but only for a few seconds.
Police and Security cars were already speeding to the area which made it easy for the group to find.
"Does anyone have any idea as to what's going on here!?" Jack asks irritant.
"No idea. But what ever it is it can't be normal." Crow states the obvious.
As the group prepares to turn around another block, Aki stops suddenly and looks in the opposite direction. Yusei is the first to stop and Jack and Crow soon do the same. Two figures make their way out of the shadows and step out into the street; an injured Tyson carrying an unconscious Iori.
Aki and the group gasp causing Tyson to finally look up in a daze. He looks first at Yusei, Jack, and Crow before directing his attention to Aki who was closest to him.
"Hey, …you're that girl." he couldn't help but utter a weak laugh.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Tyson opens his mouth to answer but soon finds himself without energy again. He stumbles forward on his right leg and falls towards the ground. Aki instinctively springs forward to catch him but forgets to compensate for the unconscious girl. Before she hits the ground along with Tyson and Aki, Yusei and Crow run up behind her and give her support. Yusei takes Iori into his arms and Crow slings Tyson's arm over his shoulder.
"What was that all about? And what's up with these guys? They're all bruised up! You don't think they were involved in that explosion do you?" Crow stares at the girl in Yusei's arms to examine her injuries.
"I don't know", Yusei shakes his head, "For now, we should get these two over to the hospital. Once they wake up, then we can ask them if they know anything about all of this."
Crow and the others nod in agreement. As the others turn to head for the hospital, Yusei looks down at the girl in his arms. His eyes become fixated on the white stone tied securely to her wrist. For a second, Yusei could've shown his mark caused him a great deal of pain.
***
Akira runs towards the downtown area. Originally he was just running without direction because his body told him to. Now he was running recklessly towards the police sirens which had just recently settled in a single area.
Akira makes a sharp turn into an alley and hits his shoulder against the wall. He stumbles, catches himself, and overcomes obstacles after obstacle with a ragged breath. He was only a handful of blocks away from his destination and the closer he got, the more his mind burned. He realizes that at some point in time he must've convinced himself that he'd find the answers he needed there.
"You're running awfully fast."
Akira stops mid-step and plants his foot on the ground. How he managed to run like that baffled him because his leg felt like lead and his lungs were expanding so much they'd explode.
"You know in this situation someone like you seems awfully guilty."
Resisting the urge to collapse, Akira finally turns to the source of the voice. A boy, about his age was approaching him slowly. He screamed troublemaker; he wore a black jacket with a white fur collar and a smile that was more ominous than friendly. As if that wasn't enough, the scar across his nose seemed to mark him as more of a criminal than any satellite marking ever could.
"What's up with the glare? You aren't really dangerous are you?" the stranger widens his smile.
"Sorry, but I'm in a bit of a rush."
Akira turns to resume running but is soon pulled back. Akira looks over his shoulder and follows the outstretched hand to the stranger's glaring eyes.
"What's the rush? No time for small talk? That pretty cold ya know."
Akira swipes away the boy's hand and steps backwards. He was quickly losing his patience and pure hostility was filling the void.
"Look, I don't have anything of value on me right now! So if you don't mind pal I'd like to get going now! There's somewhere I have to be!"
The boy drops the duffel bag he'd been carrying up until now causing Akira to distance himself even more. The blonde boy takes a duel disk out of the bag and tosses it to Akira before taking the second one out for himself. Akira could only look with a tense expression.
"You won't find your answers there, Akira Moriyama."
Akira didn't say anything. To the boy's surprise he simply placed the duel disk on his arm and just stood there. The boy laughs lightly as he reaches into his coat pocket and steps forward. He pulls out a deck, Akira's deck, and holds it out with another smile. With unchanging emotion, Akira holds out his hand and takes his deck.
"Hm. My name's Bring." The mysterious blonde turns and walks to start the duel. "Lighten up by the way man. You act as if the world is about to end."
The way those words rolled off his tongue just made Akira twitch in anger.
Akira: 4000
Bring: 4000
"I'll start off then!" Akira declares as he draws his first card. "I'll start off by summoning my Rockstone Warrior (ATK 1800) in attack mode." A soldier of brown stone appears next to Akira. "I place one face-down and end my turn."
Bring nods with another sinister smile and draws his card. "I summon Glyph Box (DEF 1500) in defense mode. I'll also place one face-down card and end my turn as well."
A weird chest made of stone and covered in glowing glyphs appears next to Bring.
"Why don't you tell what your game is? Why are you doing this and why did you have my deck? What exactly do you seek to gain from this?" Akira tried hard to remain calm as he listened to the sirens in the background.
Bring mockingly assumed a thinking face, "Don't exactly know. I was actually hoping you'd just duel right and we'd both find that out."
"Spare me..."
"It's the truth. Your friend from the tournament prelims kinda didn't have it and KO'ed my partner. Soooo I had to get my hands dirty." Bring shrugs.
"Tyson…?"
"Come on! At least make another move! All this talk is boring me to tears!"
Akira takes a deep breath in response and begins is next turn with a dissatisfied expression. He draws a card and looks at the field. The fact that his opponent played a weaker monster was suspicious. Bring probably had a face-down trap that would activate when Akira attacked or his monster had an effect that would cause trouble. So he had one safe way to go about it.
"First I'll summon my Infinity Dark (ATK 1500) in ATK mode." The black warrior appears in a flash of light. "Then I'll play my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face down card."
A gale of wind swept across the field and directed itself at Bring's side of the field. Just as Bring raises his arms to shield his face, his face-down Mirror Force is sent flying into the air and explodes into thousands of pieces.
With the wind dying, Akira began his attack. "Now Rockstone Warrior, attack his Glyph Box!"
The soldier of stone raises its body and pointed its arms at the small box. Stones which formed the monster's arms quickly became projectiles which fired at Bring's Glyph Box, destroying it with little effort. The resulting shockwave crushed the ground beneath it and sent a strong gust blowing past Bring.
"Now, attack his life points directly Infinity Dark!"
The dark warrior leaps forward from Akira's front line and aims directly at Bring's life points.
"Slow down there." Three beams of light shoot out of Bring's deck and crash down on the field before him. Akira's monster halts its attack as there giant stones materialize on Bring's field. "You see, when my Glyph Box is destroyed as a result of battle, I'm allowed to summon my Glyph Ruby (DEF 0), my Glyph Topaz (DEF 0), and my Glyph Diamond (DEF 0) from my deck to my field."
Akira thought it odd that he would summon three monsters with zero attack and defense points. Something was up. "That still doesn't matter. With zero defense points those monsters of yours won't put up much of a defense. Infinity Dark, attack his Glyph Topaz!"
Akira's monster resumed its attack. With a powerful punch, Infinity Dark lands a direct hit on Bring's monster. A shockwave resonates off the face of Bring's stone and causes Bring to flinch slightly in pain.
Akira: 4000
Bring: 2500
"My Glyph Topaz can't be destroyed in battle thanks to my Glyph Ruby's special ability. In addition, because I took battle damage I'm allowed to special summon my Glyph Emerald (DEF 0) from my hand." Bring takes a card from his hand places it on his duel disk. A large emerald covered in glowing glyphs appears on Bring's field. "And thanks to my monster's special ability, you take direct damage equal to the amount I took this turn."
Bring's gem monster released a blinding green glow causing Akira to squint his eyes.
Akira: 2500
Bring: 2500
"You know you surprise me Akira. You're a lot more level-headed than I thought you were. You don't even seem that bothered by this situation. And your abilities as a duelist…"
Akira could feel his hand jump.
"The weird wind and your monsters actually crushing the ground around us." Bring looks down to where Akira's Rockstone Warrior destroyed the ground. "You're a psychic aren't you?"
Akira narrows his glare.
"Though I suspect you're different from the other psychics I've encountered. You seem to have complete control over your power and you're even able to minimize the amount of damage you do."
"I place one face-down and end my turn." Akira interrupts by placing one face-down card on his field.
Bring just shrugs and laughs as he begins his turn. "I sacrifice my Glyph Topaz to summon Dark Heretic Zor (ATK 0)." Bring's Topaz shatters into thousands of pieces revealing a man dressed in dark robes and symbols all over his skin. "Now Akira, the games will really begin."
A ring of green light suddenly imprisoned the two in a barrier. Akira jumped back as the light traced along the ground forming a type of seal.
"I think this will even the playing field a little. And as for my Zor, he gains 700 Attack and Defense for each Glyph monster on my field. That gives him 2100 attack and defense and I'll use all of them to crush your Infinity Dark."
All of the Glyph monsters formed a circle around Bring's Zor and began to spin at a high speed. The symbols on Zor's skin began to glow as he raised his hand and fired an energy beam which completely destroyed Akira's monster. The explosion creates a powerful gale of wind which swept up Akira's body as if it were a leaf. With a loud thud, Akira's body slams against the barrier and crashes down to the ground.
Akira: 1900
Bring: 2500
"Now, I may not be a psychic but I think I can brawl with the best of them." Bring pats himself on the back as he watches over Akira expectantly. "And now I wait."
***
A dark world that takes light and dyes is black with the deepest and darkest fears of man. In this dark world is a single road that winds and wanders into eternal darkness forever.
On this road is a single person, Akira, traveling the road in utter confusion.
"It this place again. Am I dreaming again? Or am I just unconscious?"
Akira stops walking forward as he sees a familiar person ahead of him. He could see the back of Aki, just like in his dreams, as the distance grew between them. Akira's expression becomes one of sorrow as he kills the instincts of his heart and turns in the opposite direction.
Just as he does so. Aki's presence disappears as a veil of shadows wraps around her and consumes her slowly. The whole time she screamed for someone, anyone, to help her. Her pleas for help finally reached Akira's back and became a black bloom with ensnared and froze Akira in place. Nevertheless, Akira didn't turn back even as one last plea escaped Aki's lips.
Akira grits his teeth and clenches his fist as he condemns himself "Sorry Aki, but I'll never get anywhere like this." With that, Akira begins walking forward once again?
-Why did you not try to save her?-
"Because I'd be beating a dead horse. I won't get anywhere if I keep going in that direction." Akira responds to the mysterious voice without pause. He'd heard it time and time again in his dreams so now he was simply used to it.
-Have you forsaken your dream of saving her?-
Akira stops walking and laughs to himself. Was his dream really to save Aki? Sure he wanted to meet her but he never thought that she needed to be saved, except in his dreams.
"No. I haven't forsaken my dream of saving her because I don't believe she needs to be saved. However, if she does need to be saved then I will save her."
-Then why do you not go forward? Why do you turn your back on your path?-
Akira thinks for a moment before he smiles to himself and begins walking again. "Humor me, but who's to say that the path I'm taking now isn't forward? If one were to walk forward one way but then turn around and keep walking in that direction could you not call that forward? I'm convinced now that I've actually been walking backwards this whole time."
-Why do you believe so?-
"Because no matter how hard I may try, what's behind me won't change. On the other hand, I have no idea of what is now in front of me."
The disembodied voice doesn't respond this time. Instead, what follows is silence with the echo of Akira's steps being thing heard for minutes on end.
Eventually Akira comes to a fork in the road. A single road on the right and a single road on the left.
-The road to your right is one of salvation. It shall lead you down a path which will bring suffering to others, but protect those closest to you.-
Akira simply placed his hands in his pockets and laughed to himself. "And the other?"
-The other road shall take you down a road of destruction. It shall protect those around you, but will bring suffering to those closest to you.-
"Then the answer is simple right?" Akira puts on a somewhat sad smile.
Silence falls again.
-Have you given up on that girl?-
"…No. But right now I can't do anything for her. I have to gain the strength to protect her. I can't afford to keep looking back anymore."
-Do you desire power?-
Akira smiles after hearing the same question which had plagued him for so long once again.
"I don't desire power. I simply wish to discover my own power. The power to protect everyone dear to me and the power to make all of their dreams come true."
A blinding light shines through the darkness and descends before Akira. In the center of the light is a great white dragon whose very essence felt like a grand dream.
-I have seen your intentions and witnessed the extent of your will. Remember Akira, a dream so powerful may someday become as real as reality itself.-
***
Bring looks over Akira with a bored expression. It had been about ten minutes sense the boy had taken the hit and went unconscious. Maybe if it had been Iori waiting wouldn't be so tedious, but it was practically Hell to Bring.
"I should've just stayed home and play video games all day. This is getting stupid."
"No one's stopping you ya know."
Akira picks his body off the ground and stood up on one knee.
"You finally up? Its about time. I hope you're still feeling good enough to get thrashed."
Akira laughs slightly at the comment as he picks himself up even more. Bring blinks suddenly realizing that something was different about his opponent. He showed no sighs previous fatigue and his hair seemed slightly spikier. But the most noticeable thing of all was how his previously green eyes were now glowing a brilliant blue.
"Oh?" Bring tilts his chin upwards in interest. "That's an interesting trick."
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Featured Cards:
Glyph Box
3 Stars/EARTH/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 1500
When this monster is destroyed as a result of battle and sent to the graveyard, you may special summon up to 3 Hieroglyph monsters from your deck.
Glyph Ruby
3 Stars/FIRE/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0
You take no battle damage from battles involving this card. While this card is face up on the field, all monsters on your side of the field except this one can't be destroyed in battle. Battle damage is still calculated.
Glyph Topaz
3 Stars/EARTH/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0
While this card is face-up on the field, only one monster can declare an attack during each player's turns.
Glyph Diamond
5 Stars/LIGHT/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/ DEF 0
While this monster is in face up defense position, your opponent cannot activate the effects of level 5 and below monsters.
Glyph Emerald
4 Stars/WIND/Rock/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0
You may special summon this card to the field when you take battle damage from one of your opponent's attacks. When this monster is summoned, you opponent takes direct damage equal to the amount of damage you took the turn this card was summoned to the field.
Dark Heretic Zor
5 Stars/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect/ATK 0/DEF 0
You can special summon this monster to the field when you have 3 or more Glyph monsters in your graveyard. While this monster is face up on your side of the field, only this monster may declare an attack during the battle phase. If this monster would be destroyed in battle, you may sacrifice a Glyph monster you control and destroy it instead. This monster gains 700 ATK and DEF for every Glyph monster on your side of the field.