Arc 6: Mobilization.
"Akaba Reiji!"
The silver-haired man barely lifts his head as the familiar squawk of his most unpredictable comrade echoes into the room. Opposite of his mood, Shun barges in with an almost psychotic snarl.
"Kurosaki Shun. What has made you so worked up this time?"
"Don't give me that! You know damn well what my business is!"
"Then elaborate for me," he dares. Ruri's brother shows no sign of letting up, and he flicks his arm to the side, as if to wipe the calculating look on Reiji's face.
"Let me find Ruri!"
He only gets an even deeper, harsher glare. "Oh, and the fact that she contacted you is enough reason to rampage even more on the streets and invoke more fear into the citizens? I do not want to fight a two-way war."
"How do you expect me to sit still when I finally hear from Ruri?! It's the only reason why I'm fighting this war!"
"Okay, then tell me. How do you plan to find her? Has she told you of her location or of our enemies' goals?"
He takes a step back. True, Ruri said nothing of where she is and what they plan to do with her. "She mentioned...that her counterparts are targeted. She also knows of what happens on the streets, how there's hatred everywhere. But I don't understand why she's telling me to leave her alone. Ruri...she looked so afraid!"
Reiji's glasses flash dangerously. "Shun, was anyone watching her as she talked to you?"
"I-I don't know...I was too focused on seeing her alive…"
"Is that so? Interesting…"
He gestures for his D-pad, and Shun reluctantly hands it over to him. The Resistance's leader starts typing into his multiple monitors, and a video clip containing Ruri's face is updated onto his screen.
"Let me analyze this and get back to you. I promise you my answer tomorrow." Reiji turns away from him, leaving no room for debate.
With a resigned groan, Shun leaves the room.
…
Ruri's breath comes out in panicked bursts as she shuts her D-pad off. She can feel Yuri's glare at her neck, as if he's attempting to choke her.
"Good girl. Though, I could go without you telling them that your counterparts are in danger. I am taking care of you after all."
"They already know about Academia kidnapping the girls that look like me. I have to help them however I can."
"You think that'll work? Telling them things they already know?"
She stays silent for a while. "I heard...how my brother is rampaging on the streets, trying to search for me. His bonds with the Resistance, in turn, became strained, and now, he's like a wounded bird who is trying to take on the world." Shaking her head, Ruri clutches herself, attempting to find comfort in the darkness.
"Birds...don't work like that. I know."
Yuri gives a bored expression, but after seeing her forlorn face, something in his heart pricks his blood, and an unfamiliar feeling invades his body.
"You...what are you doing to me?"
"What?" she bewilderedly asks.
Forming a fist over his heart, Yuri glares at the girl. "What...have you done to me? Ever since...ever since your bracelet glowed, I've been having these weird feelings." He stumbles out of the room, slamming the door to the confused pink-eyed girl.
"What is going on…? This girl...is making me want to disobey the Professor. These bracelets...what are they?"
…
A week later, when Akaba Reiji made the announcement that Kurosaki Shun will be taking on a secret mission, there was a surge of outrage. Member after member vocally shoot their complaints at the indifferent leader; the most obvious and common of these is how the hell he was approved to take on such a task after striking fear into the heart of the innocent citizens. Their complaints are ignored by their leader, who only gives them the warning that should anyone interfere, he will hand them a swift and harsh punishment.
Of course, during this protest, Yugo is shouting his own dissatisfaction.
"This bastard...what the hell is going on?! I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing!"
"You idiot! Shut up and listen to him! The more we cooperate, the sooner we can go home!"
"Stop being such a nag! I know you want to do stuff too!"
"I am doing things! I work my butt off trying to patch everyone up!"
Yuto continues staring at Reiji, a concerned frown on his face. "Is this Reiji's way of moving things forward? He must have obtained very valuable information." Yuzu glances briefly at her savior, more worried about him than anything else.
"Yuto, Yugo," Akaba Reiji suddenly calls out, giving a colder glare to the more flamboyant boy. "Please see me in my office."
The two boys exchange stupefied looks, but nonetheless follow him with tentative steps.
…
"What?! But I thought-!" Yugo cries out.
Reiji raises his hand to stop him, and then turns his gaze to Yuto. "Will you do it? We must lure Yuri out and capture him. The risks are high, I admit. And destruction is inevitable. Plus we risk putting the girls in danger, but I trust in both of your skills to protect them."
Yuto immediately nods. "We don't have much time. With two girls in their custody and the location of the other two known, Academia will launch an attack on us soon. And, he is the only one who knows what they want with Ruri."
Yugo reluctantly loosens his tense body. "If it means we can go home faster, then I'm up for anything! I will protect Rin with my life."
"Very well. Head to this sector during your patrol. I wish you two the best of luck. Oh, before you go, give Hiragi Yuzu this." He hands them a simple pink D-pad, and the boys stares incredulously.
"W-we're...letting Yuzu fight?" Yuto warily asks.
"Everyone needs a way to defend themselves. I'm sure that Yuzu would want to fight for herself just as much as the rest of us."
"All right! Now the entire gang can beat Academia up! Oh, I have to thank you for giving back Rin's bike!"
"It's merely a strategic play, Yugo. Should I judge that the enemy is too difficult for Rin and Yuzu to fight, I will lock them here again."
"Understood," the both of them acknowledges.
After they leave, Reiji takes off his glasses and sighs in exhaustion. "With this, Academia have to mobilize. They know the risk that comes of letting these two rampage, and the bait would make it even more urgent." Putting back on his red-framed glasses, he flashes back to the video of Kurosaki Ruri's call to her brother.
...
"S-Shun? It's me, Ruri. I'm alive and well, but I'm afraid that I can't come back to you yet."
The girl starts to tear up, wearing a relieved smile.
"Yes, it's me, brother. I hope you're okay!" She then stops, probably listening to Shun's response.
"Yes, they haven't done anything to me. I'm just being kept in this room." Another pause, and the girl hastily shakes her head. "No, no! I'm being fed and all that!"
"I know. I'll do my best to get out. By the way, brother...I heard about what you have been doing. You have to stop scaring the poor people. The Resistance is made to fight Academia, not our city. And even if you're fighting them with everything you have, you're still causing destruction."
A pause, and her frown grows deeper.
"I don't want to be the reason you're causing harm to everyone!"
The call stays silent. Ruri looks over her shoulder tentatively, as if paranoid that her outburst has attracted someone. "Just please be careful. I know the hatred you hold in your heart, but I still don't want to hear my brother being called a maniac."
"Speaking of which, you must not let Rin or any of my counterparts get into Academia's grasp! I don't know what they're doing, but it can't be good!"
He sighs, slightly disappointed. Looks like the information he wants regarding the girls and his father's interest with them will be left unanswered for a while...
"Why I'm calling you now? Oh...umm...I can't tell you."
Reiji raises his eyebrow. Ruri starts to act nervously, the fear starting to visibly escalate in her eyes.
"Where I am…? I-I don't know...the window in this room is too small to see anything useful."
"My D-pad…? I-I just recently got it back." He can feel that the girl is hiding something. She places a hand over the camera, but he could make out a few words.
"...I know...I told you that I won't...I'm almost done…"
The camera focuses on the bracelet girl again, and Ruri gives a sweet smile. "I'm afraid my time is up. I was lucky enough to be able to connect to you. Stay safe, brother. I'm waiting for you to rescue me."
The call ends then, but Reiji presses a button, causing the video to rewind. He stops at the moment she covers the camera, zooming into the glint of purple that he sees in the background.
When he clarifies the picture, even he cannot stop the shock on his face.
"That card...it can't be!"
…
Rubbing his temple, Reiji groans at his predicament. "I hope that this is the right answer. We must know what my father wants with these girls…"
Meanwhile, with the counterparts…
"What?! He wants to use us as bait?!"
Rin barely is able to control the urge to release her violent tendencies. She knees Yugo with all of her indignation, and Yugo collapses to the floor clutching his stomach.
"Urrgh! R-Rin….!"
She does not give him a passing glance of concern. "How dare he?! He really only sees us as tools! And after he promises me protection from Academia!"
Yuto blesses his counterpart with his sympathy. Yuzu bends down and attempts to comfort Yugo, slowly bringing him back to his feet.
"Is Rin…?"
"At times...Yugo's a tough guy though."
As if to prove him, Yugo jumps to his feet, causing the girl helping him to fall to the floor. "Don't just smack your knee into me like that! I get that you're angry, but why me?!"
"Who else am I going to release my anger on? Yuto will pin me faster than I can lift my leg! And do you expect me to hurt another girl?!"
"You're impossible!"
"No, you are!"
Clearing his throat, Yuto starts walking to the exit. "We should go now before those two destroy a section of our base...again." Yuzu walks hesitantly with him, watching as their counterparts continue to argue and throw jabs at each other.
"Oh, actually Yuzu…" Yuto reaches into his coat and hands her the D-pad. "Use this to protect yourself." She takes the device hesitantly, placing it over her left arm. Her savior waits for her to register herself. When she finishes, it activates, releasing a holographic bar with a yellow border.
"Ready to go?" he asks.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she responds back.
…
Kurosaki Shun races across the city in breakneck speed, jumping from building to building with relative ease. Behind him, a crowd of Academia's soldiers hurtle behind, desperate to catch the angry raptor that has caused them so much trouble. An explosion propels him forward, and he turns to find several of those soldiers riding mechanical three-headed dogs.
"Attack, Ancient Gear Triple Bite Hound Dog!"
He grits his teeth. While he did agree to this plan, handling 100 soldiers at once is still tedious. He jumps onto the building to his left and watches the attack demolish a rather dilapidated house a fair distance from him.
Shun activates his D-pad and brings out a card from his pocket. He really does need to wipe them out now, regardless of Reiji's orders. After all, why would an outsider care for the safety of another city? This entire plan is proof of this, he thinks.
"Let's go, Rise Falcon."
Meanwhile, Yuto, Yugo, Rin, and Yuzu speed through the streets on their motorcycles. Yuzu still grips Rin abnormally tight, while Yuto keeps a firm grip on the handrail of Yugo's seat expansion. Following the beeping red circle on their map, their vehicles continue their track through the city.
"Hey, there's not that many Academia people around…" Yugo notes, keeping an eye out for any surprise attacks.
"Is it a trap…?" Rin suggests, which causes Yuto to tense.
"It doesn't matter. We have to follow orders," declares Yugo's counterpart. Yuzu looks around her, and she swears that a glint of orange flash in their direction.
"R-Rin, something's coming our way!"
"What? Where?" She glances in the same direction as Yuzu, and indeed, she sees a high-energy beam fly in their direction.
"Rin!" Yugo shouts, already pulling out his dragon to summon.
The beam hits the building between them, and the rubble forces Rin to execute evasive maneuvers to avoid the falling debris. One giant chunk of debris sails over Yuzu's head, and she screams as she ducks.
"Yuzu, are you alright?!" Rin calls out, already having successfully shifted her bike out of the danger zone.
"Y-yes, I'm fine."
Yuto looks back at them and heaves a sigh of relief. Sometimes, he forgets that Rin is an expert at riding bikes, considering that he has only seen her on it twice since meeting her. Yuzu seems visibly panicked, and somewhere in his heart, he wants nothing more than to protect her.
Why did he agree to this plan?
"Yuto, we're going to investigate that. You hear me, Rin?! Follow us!" his counterpart shouts over the wind.
"I'm right behind you!" she calls back. A sudden beep on their monitors catches their attention. They both press their screens, and Akaba Reiji's face glares back at them.
"You are to follow my instructions and go to the sector that I have assigned you. Kurosaki will handle that."
"You purposely let him rampage?!" Rin snaps back at him, her tone demanding.
"He is a distraction. Don't let his efforts go to waste."
Yuzu stares at her counterpart, placing her hand softly on her shoulder. "Let's do what he says, Rin," she softly urges. Rin only gives one last glare at Reiji and hangs up the call.
"Yugo, you heard him. Ignore that," she orders, her voice clipped.
"I know that! This way!"
…
The Professor is unamused.
As he stares at the monitor that depicts the two girls he has yet to captured, he muses over his son's actions.
"Reiji...just what are you planning?"
"Professor."
The sharp, deep voice of Serena cuts through his thoughts, and he swipes the screen to the left to face the girl. Another voice, one more taunting and slippery, echoes into the hall. Akaba Leo grimaces at the sound, suddenly aware who it is.
"Serena. Yuri." He holds the "yu" part a little too long, as if he has trouble spitting out the last syllable. "I'm sure you're aware of the situation and what your job is."
The blue-haired girl remains impassive, but Yuri only shrugs his shoulders and looks away with a smug smile.
"I'm sure you're smart enough to know that this is a clear trap. I mean, it takes almost all of Reiji's power to contain that falcon, and now he's free to attack our men. Quite a shift in plans right?"
The professor's face is as tight as Serena's. His next sentence comes out with a hidden bite.
"Must I remind you that you allowed our prisoner to contact them?"
"Ahh, indeed I did," Yuri offhandedly comments, crossing his arms as his smile grows. "But I tweaked her duel disk so that its location is untrackable. I also supervised her call so that she doesn't leak our plans, not like she knows anyway."
Serena smirks then, knowing that her counterparts are not to be trifled with. Rin and Yuzu already proved that to her, after all.
"Hmm, Serena?" the professor questions when he sees her expression change.
"Nothing, Professor. I will go retrieve them both, as requested. I would like to avoid Yuto and Yugo, so I'm counting on you, Yuri."
With a curt glare, Serena walks out of the room. Yuri looks back at the professor, dropping his smile.
"Why are you sending her to capture Yuzu and Rin? I can do that too."
"You definitely can, but you failed to capture Rin the first time. I'm simply trying a different approach."
"You know, I never understood what you plan to do with these girls. There's a lot of things that needs explaining, like why I share the same face with those fools, or why these bracelets have a link with these dragons."
"I want the power hidden in them for my goal. That is all."
"And what makes you think you can control it?"
"I have a plan. Do not question me any further."
Yuri lets out a sneer. He knows that Ruri is listening in on them; his dragon is pulsing through him, beating the same heartbeat. Before the professor can figure out, Yuri turns away and heads out the room.
…
Ruri's bracelet starts to dim down its purple glow. The paranoia that suffocates her threatens to send her down spiraling into darkness. She limps over to her bed and lays downs on it.
"My counterparts are in danger again. Just what are they thinking, going around like that? Yuto and Yugo too. Why are they so reckless?"
"Ruri, I'm afraid I must fight my copies again."
She sits up instantly at Yuri's voice. He stalks over to her and rubs her pale cheek, sending an undesired shiver down her spine.
"D-Don't hurt them...Rin, Yugo, Yuzu, Yuto. Please," she pleads in a quiet voice.
"The Professor's orders are absolute," the soldier chants back.
"But you don't even know what he wants! You heard him yourself. How can you listen to him?!"
Yuri, upon hearing this, pushes the girl down and climbs on top of her, glaring with the fury of a crazed beast. Ruri lets out an involuntary shriek, her eyes reflecting back unhinged fear. Tears streak down her cheeks, but Yuri ignores them.
"Listen, girl. You're causing a lot of trouble for me. I suggest you be careful about what you say from now on."
He attempts to pump even more terror into the girl, but he sees something else in her pink orbs. Her stare unnerves him, and he slightly staggers back.
"You poor thing. I think you are forced to do this against your will."
It was the look of pity, the one thing he hates the most.
…
"So we finally made it. What now?" Yugo asks, pulling the helmet off of his head. His hair remains just as pointy and unkempt as always, and Yuzu wonders just what is his secret. Yuto's head perks up suddenly and he pulls out a card from his deck box, slamming it down onto his D-pad.
"Phantom Knights Break Sword!"
A headless horseman appears before Yuto. Its ghastly wisp flickers as it brings its flat-tipped sword up to protect its master. A flicker of purple vines catches Yuzu's attention, and she gasps when a thin dragon adorned with glowing red and yellow orbs ambush the knight.
"Not using your dragon? I'm disappointed in you, counterpart."
"It's you!" shouts Yugo as he activates his own D-pad. Yuto's glare scans for its target, finding him on top of the building in front of them. Yuri simply stands there with his arms crossed, smirking down at his opponent. Yuto and Yugo suddenly feels their hearts convulsing. While Yuto only grasps his chest and breathes heavily, Yugo collapses on top of his motorcycle, squeezing his eyes shut at the pain. Their dragons roar in their heads, and their cards begin to glow, eager to join the fight. Yuzu's bracelet suddenly glows then, and the terrified girl, instead of thinking to teleport the boys away, wishes that she was never here.
"Y-Yuzu!" Rin calls, grabbing the girl's arm as she slowly disintegrates into a wave of pink particles. The green-haired counterpart gasps as she also starts to disappear. A second later, the only signs of them was a small speckle of pink dust.
"R-Rin!" Yugo wheezes out, attempting to sit up properly on his bike. Yuto never takes his eyes off of Yuri, but his growing aggravation intensifies his glare.
"What a shame. They ran away. And after all this effort of launching a sneak attack on you. Your reflexes are bothersome."
Academia's prized soldier continues to stare at his counterparts as his dragon retreats to his side. It lets out another roar and snaps its claws open, revealing a set of slimy teeth ready to chomp on its prey.
"Do you like my dragon? Someone very special gifted this to me," he mocks, opening his arms out. The realization hits the two of them fairly quickly, and Yuto dreads the answer to his next words.
"N-No, it can't be…"
"Oh, yes it is. Your beloved Ruri connected with me. You don't know how honored I felt when it happened. Cowering in fear, trying to hide her surprise as we were engulfed in a beautiful yellow light…"
"Don't screw with me!" Yuto shouts. His eyes slowly turns into that blankless shade of purple. He withdraws Break Sword and pulls out his glowing dragon. The sky darkens and the faint crackle of lightning flashes between them.
"RURI IS MINE!"
"This is bad. Yuto's going to go berserk again!" Yugo grimaces, staring at the dragon in his hand. Does he even have the strength to stop them both? He was lucky last time for sure, but now...
"DARK REBELLION XYZ DRAGON!"
A strong gust of wind pushes against Yugo and his motorcycle. A curtain of lightning is dropped as Yuto's sinister dragon descents. Yuri's smile only grows more twisted, but even he can't stop the sweat flowing down his cheek. Yugo, on the other hand, is unable to move from the pain he's feeling inside. Mustering all of his strength, he grabs his own dragon and slams it down on his motorcycle's D-pad, beginning the chant that would summon the awe-inspiring beast.
"CLEAR WING SYNCHRO DRAGON!"
Oh yes, Yuri thinks, the fun is only just beginning.
…
When Yuzu regains her bearing, she finds herself in a part of town she has never been before. The buildings are even more deserted; trash eagerly catches a ride with the few breezes that flies by. Rin grits her teeth at their situation and realizes that her bike did not accompany them. She is at least fortunate enough to learn the habit of always keeping her D-pad on her wrist.
"Yuzu, Rin. Come with me."
The two girls snap their heads up at the sound. They center in a lone girl staring down at them. Her face is the same as theirs, but her eyes are cold, unreadable.
"Serena!" Rin growls out, activating her D-pad. Yuzu continues to hold her gaze with the traitor, frowning when she attempts to read her facial expression.
"So that's the traitor? Serena...another person with my face."
"Yuzu, help me out here," commands Rin as she holds a card in her hand. Yuzu meekly agrees and allows the yellow bar of her D-pad to spawn. Serena also turns on her device, but a blue bordered sword acts as her summoning gate. Rin spits out her next words with the coldness of a blizzard.
"Prepare yourself, traitor. I refuse to lose here!"