4th Entry: The Divide of Neo Domino

The Daimon Area had a stark image contrast from the rest of Neo Domino City. The buildings were old and decaying, metal was rusting over and many rodents and feral animals hid in alleyways. Some people leaned against the walls and were sleeping by toppled garbage cans. Rasima could hear whispers and the yowling of alley cats as she rode in, the smell of discarded and rotting items circling in the air. She felt a sudden urge to hold her breath, but pushed herself to endure the unpleasant aromas as her D-Wheel zipped by the Duel Arena, around which the whole district was centered.

The docks were not that far away. The smell of fish replaced the smell of garbage, making it easier to breathe. However, she started coughing violently and was forced to stop. She felt her airway and constricting and reached for an inhaler she put in the pocket of her shorts.

Rasima held it to her mouth and pushed the trigger, breathing in the medicine. She felt her throat begin to ease up and she could breathe, though it was somewhat labored and slowly recovered.

"Damn asthma…" She cursed.

She rested for a few minutes until her breathing was closer to normal.

"Something there must have triggered my symptoms; I need to be more careful, dang it."

She rode a little further in until she saw a few people working at the docks. She dismounted, but kept her D-Wheel close to her. There was no telling what to expect in this part of town, from what she had heard and read in the past couple of days.

The group of people was led by a burly man with a large brown beard in a pair of overalls and a dusty brown shirt. He tipped his work hat up as Rasima guided her D-Wheel in his direction.

"Sorry, miss. Not looking for new workers. And besides, you'd be too small to carry the loads these boys are hauling."

"I'm not looking for work, sir, I'm here to see someone. If you know him?"

The man took a second look at her, realizing from her appearance she was probably not from the area.

"Why? Who are you looking for? I run a legitimate business here, see!"

"Aoi…Onishi Aoi. He got hurt the other day and I wanted to check on his injuries. I'm his doctor you see." She told him, which was only partially true. She did indeed want to see him and check on his wounds, but she was not yet a licensed doctor, she was not anyone's doctor.

"Hmmm…" He looked her over with an edge of suspicion.

"You don't look like any doctor I've ever seen."

"Oh! Doctor Rasima! It's good to see you!" She heard Aoi's voice from behind a crate. He was carrying a large barrel in his hands and wore the same uniform as the burly man.

"You know this chick, Onishi? Is she really your doctor?"

"Oh! Yeah! I started to go see her not to long ago." Aoi replied nonchalantly. Rasima was surprised how easily he could lie without even flinching.

"Hmmm… must be the free clinic type…none of us folks down here can afford anything else. Especially not YOU, Onishi."

He still wasn't entirely convinced of the story, but he sighed and gestured that he could go.

"You've got ten minutes, but I want to see you back here as soon as possible, got it?" He growled at Aoi. He nodded respectfully before leading Rasima to a more open area away from the other workers where they could sit and talk.

Rasima leaned against her D-Wheel as Aoi sat down on a wooden crate behind a warehouse.

"I honestly didn't think you would come see me. Thank you." He told her. Rasima pulled out one of the things she had brought with her from her vest pocket, which was a pack of large sterilized bandages.

"I meant what I said; I wanted to see how you were doing."

Aoi looked at the pack of bandages.

"So, are you really a doctor?" He smiled sneakily.

"Well, not yet. I'm still a pre-med student." She confessed. Aoi laughed.

"I guess that's close enough. I tried covering up the bruise myself, but it's hard to get even basic things around here."

Rasima put bandages over where the officer had hit him, which were his left cheek and on his upper chest. It stung at first from the disinfectant and he winced in pain.

"So, what were you doing at Kaibaland yesterday?"

"Actually, I was supposed to meet someone there. We weren't going to be staying for very long, but the guard caught me standing around."

"A friend?"

"Not exactly." He replied dryly, pulling his shirt back into his overalls.

"Oh, sorry, I don't mean to pry." Rasima responded, putting away the package.

"It's ok. Say, can I ask you something?" He inquired. Rasima turned her gaze to him.

"Sure." She nodded affirmatively.

"Why are you so interested in me? You're not from the Satellite or the Daimon area, hell, you look like you're not even from the country, no offense."

"None taken. I don't like it when people abuse their authority like how that guard did; you look like he did a number on you. And you told me where you were so I thought I'd come see you."

"Well, sadly, that's what your average member of Sector Security is like. They treat people like me worse than dirt and kiss ass for the people in the Tops. Especially the director of Public Security Maintenance Bureau."

"You mean they're all corrupt? They can just walk up to people with brands on their face and harass them?"

Aoi touched his mark when she said this.

"Well, nobody seems to act like they care what they do to us. And between you and me, I think the director hires people like that on purpose."

"What?"

"He looks for people who are willing to do whatever is necessary to keep 'undesirables' out of the city- the people of the Satellite, and people like me, criminals and underdogs, away from the rest of the general public."

"You ever saw this guy?"

"When I was in the Facility, he showed up a couple of times and gave speeches in front of everyone in the prison. His name is Rex Goodwin, and he seems to me to be nothing more than a pompous, classist bureaucratic fat-cat."

"If he does hire people like that guard on purpose, he does sound like a nasty piece of work," Rasima said, "And everybody in the city thinks its ok?"

"Well, anyone who speaks out is usually shut down by Goodwin somehow."

He thought for a moment.

"It feels kind of strange, talking to you about all of this. Nobody has ever cared. Not anyone who wasn't in the same situation, anyway."

Rasima smiled.

"Well, I think anyone deserves respect and compassion. This world is already pretty sucky as it is, we don't need to make it worse by treating each other badly."

"Haha, very true." Aoi mused. He looked at his beat up watch to see he had only a couple of minutes before he should return to work.

"Ah, nut, I better go. Well, it was good to see you again."

Rasima let him go.

"Can I visit you tomorrow?"

Aoi blinked.

"Sure, but wait until I get off my shift at 7 P.M. We'll have more time to talk and we don't have to make up excuses to my boss. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"You got it." Rasima assured him. He made his way back to his work.

"Hey!" He called back, "Maybe we should duel sometime."

Rasima thought he was probably referring to her D-Wheel.

"Ok! But just do you know I totally suck at it!"

Aoi just laughed and told her he would see her tomorrow. Rasima found herself laughing too. She was really glad he was ok. And it made her happy that perhaps she had made a new acquaintance in the city, perhaps one that could tell her about the scars that were hidden behind the shining exterior.

It was still pretty early in the morning, so there was an entire day ahead of her practically. She started up her D-Wheel and rode back into the main part of the city. This time, she held her breath as long as she could as to try and avoid another possible onset of her asthma.

She went down the highway, not sure where to go next, but he she had the entire day to herself, and all the time she needed to figure it out.

…..

Back in the Satellite, Rudger sat in his own room alone, meditating on the events he predicted were to occur in the coming months. He was pondering Demak's question about increasing their numbers, perhaps to bolster their effectiveness against their enemies. The silence and the darkness gave him clarity in which he could think more deeply on the matter.

"In order for a Dark Signer to be born, the Earthbound Gods must seek a soul from the dead of dying with a desire for vengeance or a strong will to live. The best candidates are those with whom we share a common enemy…the Signers, the chosen of the Crimson Dragon."

He thought carefully about how those who became Dark Signers were chosen.

"But, sometimes an indirect connection or even just a strong resilience may be enough if the Earthbound Gods see such a person as useful. A strong desire to cling to life and fulfill what is yet to be done."

A spider darted across his fingers.

"Perhaps for now we can simply put our ear to the ground, and if the Earthbound Gods decide to choose another to join the shadows, we shall welcome them into the fold, another soldier for the army of Darkness."

Outside, the youngest of these 'Dark Signers', Kiryu, was pacing the halls, wandering in an almost aimless manner, lost in his own world and feelings of vengeance. He came upon an exit that led to the outside, where the sky was starting to cloud over.

Just as he went outside, he started to feel a small moan within his gut.

"Damn it." He muttered.

Dark Signers were practically Immortal. They could endure gunshots, stabs, and possessed a great amount of strength, dexterousness, and agility. But, there were drawbacks. They still felt mortal agonies, such as hunger, pain, and exhaustion. He had improved in his physical health since his rebirth, being giving the gifts of the Earthbound Gods, but in the dark, they still had needs of the mortal bodies that they had reclaimed in their rise from death.

He pulled his hood further over his face, and sought out his D-Wheel. It appeared just outside the crater that led down into the abyss that was the home of the Dark Signers.

It was of a sleek design, with a midnight blue frame and orange, archaic symbols painted onto it, and a large metal wing jutting out from one side. He slid onto his D-Wheel and fired up the engine, smirking to himself before riding off into the depths of the Satellite, beginning his periodic scavenge to sustain himself to satisfy the cravings that his body demanded of him.

For just a moment, his mind put aside its near-obsession with the wrongs that had been dealt him in life. He did not feel anger or rage in his mind. Just a focused desire to have his hunger sated so he could return to the larger dissatisfaction that hung over him, the thing that haunted his thoughts and dreams.

In the meantime, Rudger himself was beginning to feel the pain of hunger. However, unlike his younger companion, he had learned to ignore his body's desires for very long periods of time. His focus was on the awakening and downfall of what stood in the way of the world being enveloped in the Darkness of the Underworld, the place where the king of the Earthbound Gods resided. He knew this king awaited the triumph of his followers, and his release.

"Soon," He whispered, "Soon you shall return, and all of this world shall be yours."

…..

Author's note:

The exact abilities and state of being a Dark Signer are heavily debated, especially since the canon, Yu-gi-oh! 5D's, is unclear about this. This is simply the one interpretation, so that certain future events in the story will makes sense and be consistent.