Chapter 7: Power

Jason grins at the two duelists as the flames begin to roar louder and louder. He moves his index finger and middle finger up near his temple and chuckles in a mocking solute.

"Well its been a blast, but I'm afraid we've gotta get going now. Catch ya later."

Akira clenches his fist and takes a step forward but Aki quickly reaches out and stops him. Jason smiles as he revs his Duel Runner and speeds off with his comrade. As the two vanish from sight, Akira swears under his breath.

"Akira…" Aki's voice calls out to him.

He knew why she stopped him. Although he wanted desperately to chase after Jason, he knew that the hospital was his top priority now. So he takes a deep breath and turns, running past Aki without even responding to her.

"Hey wait! What are you doing!?"

"Just stay right there!" Akira responds as quickly as Aki could finish, "I know exactly what I'm doing. So just stay right there."

With those words, Akira runs through the collapsed wall and disappears inside of the burning building.

Aki could only stand in confusion at the boys sudden actions. Slowly, anger started to overcome her due to the feeling of being underestimated. Ignoring the boy's words, Aki begins to step forward. Her advance is soon halted by the recurring image of that sunny day and the boy lying covered in bruises under her. It caused her heart to tremble; he made her heart tremble.

"I'm sure now that you don't remember…but you saved my life that day."

"And now it's my turn to protect you."

Aki's previous anger dissipates and she soon finds herself worrying for the strange boy.

"I guess there's something I can still do." Reaching into her pocket, Aki pulls out her cellphone and begins dialing a number.

***

Jason and Iori find themselves on the highway. They seem to have taken a route that no one else was traveling along so their getaway was pretty much assured.

"Hey Bring," Iori moves her blowing hair behind her ear and out of her face, "Don't you think that stunt was a little unnecessary? I don't see why you had to see the entire first floor on fire just to cause a distraction. What will you do if those people get hurt?"

The boy laughs.

"Don't you go worrying about a thing. Trust me, that guy has some serious tricks up his sleeve. Those people will be just fine."

Iori glares at her partner with extreme tension. Sensing this, Jason looks slightly over his shoulder and meets her stare.

"Is the power of the White Dragon that great? Can it really make that much of a difference?"

The blonde frowns causing Iori to rear back slightly out of shock. Jason returns his attention to the road and focuses solely on the rushing wind. His world gradually becomes one that only a turbo duelist would know; the world of speed.

"There's no doubt that the influence of the White Dragon is great. However…" Adrenaline begins to rush through the boy's body. His emotions become clearer to him and everything else simply seemed to slow to a crawl. "That boy… is no weakling himself."

Iori couldn't respond. She didn't know how to respond. Granted she'd known Bring for years, she still couldn't tell what he was thinking half of the time. He was an enigma. At times he was like a raging inferno and at other times he was like a frozen tundra. But that's why she liked him.

"Oh stop it. You'll make me jealous if you keep talking about him so highly." Iori finally says playfully.

Bring's expression didn't change though. Iori frowns as she looks at the boy's strong image. She leans a little to try and get a look at his face. He was calm. His eyes were filled with a newfound determination unknown to her.

"Bring…"

"It would be nice." The boy gives a somewhat uneasy smile, "It would be nice to duel him in this world of speed. I want to know what he thinks about what I'm doing."

Iori's mouth opens. Her mind told her to say something before there was ever anything to say. She averts her gaze away from Bring's image and simply wraps both of her arms around him. She was sad.

"Is that why you told him your name?"

A silence follows.

"Who knows…"

"FREEZE! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

The two glace back to find a squadron of security officers pursuing them. At the head was Officer Ushio who was closing in on the two duelists.

"You there! You're under arrest for endangering the people of this city! Surrender now and maybe we'll take it easy on you!"

"Hmph" Iori shoots an "I-told-you-so" glare.

Bring simply stares at the incoming officer and gives an uninterested grin. He looks at his deck and revs up his bike as he shoots Ushio the bird and begins to accelerate.

"I'm in a bit of a hurry. So sorry, but I've gotta make this quick."

Bring presses a few buttons on the control panel of his duel runner. The display shows the Speed World 2 spell card and gives a quick message engaging the auto-pilot. The system on Ushio's duel runner began to do the same. The system was somehow overrode and began to initiate Duel Mode.

"I see. You're no ordinary duelist. Fine! I accept your challenge! The rest of you back off. Leave this guy to me."

The rest of the patrol officers decelerated and left Ushio with the two mysterious duelists. Numerous black panels rose on each side of the highway lane while at the same time an announcement was made that a turbo duel was about to start. Everyday citizens quickly changed lanes as the duel lane was selected and formed. A long stretching highway rose from the ocean and connected with the existing highway to complete the process.

A doorway opens up allowing them a private road on which to do their duel.

"Duel!" The two say in unison.

Bring: LP-4000 SP-3

Ushio: LP-4000 SP-3

"I'll go first!" Ushio draws his first card and begins the duel, "And I'll start by summoning my Hellway Patrol (ATK 1600). I then place 2 face-downs and end my turn."

Bring: LP-4000 SP-4

Ushio: LP-4000 SP-4

"Hurry and wrap this up Bring. We're already behind schedule." Iori states in an annoyed manner.

"Don't worry", Bring draws his card, "My deck isn't as weak as that old man's. This'll be done in no time." The blonde duelist takes a card from his hand. "I summon my Fire Trooper (ATK 1000) in attack mode." The flame-headed monster appears on Bring's right and flies through the air. "Next I activate its special ability. By sending this monster to the graveyard when it's summoned, my opponent takes 1000 points of direct damage."

The monster's body disappears from its feet up and leaves only its flaming head. The head then launches through the air, past Ushio's monster, and crashes down on the street before the officer. The resulting shockwave caused Ushio to lose some balance.

Bring: LP-4000 SP-4

Ushio: LP-3000 SP-4

"Next, by removing my Fire Trooper from play, I can special summon another monster from my hand through its special effect. Come forth, Inferno (ATK 1100)!" A giant blaze erupts behind Bring giving form to his new fire monster. "Then I activate the Speed Spell-Summon Speeder which allows me to special summon my Little Chimera (DEF 550) from my hand." A glowing portal appears on Bring's left and a winged, wolf-like creature leaps through. "And thanks to this little guy's ability, all FIRE monsters gain 500 ATK. I place one face-down and that's all for now."

Bring: LP-4000 SP-5

Ushio: LP-3000 SP-5

"Next turn, you're done." Bring declares with a sinister smirk.

***

"Come on, this way! Hurry!"

Akira directs a group of hospital staff tending to wounded patients out of the burning building. They are able to make their way through the flames and escape through an emergency exit. Once the last person is safely through the door, Akira turns back and pulls his coat collar over is nose and mouth.

"Almost there…."

Akira struggles to make his way back through the flames and up to the upper levels. He'd cleared about three levels and an additional two where cleared thanks to the nurses and staff. If his memory served him served him right, there was only one more floor to go.

"Hey. You there Dragon?" Akira makes his way through the flames as his vision begins to blur.

"You've gotten yourself into quite a predicament, Akira"

"Tell me something I don't know." Akira kicks down the door to the staircase and uses it to run through the flames before it is consumed in flames as well. "Care to create a miracle for me buddy?"

"I'm sorry, but I am not able to fully project my power on your world as of yet. All I can do is amplify your power."

"Damn", Akira laughs to himself, "Of all the things you could've said."

Akira arrives on the top floor and looks around as he runs down the hall. All of the rooms were either empty or the people inside were unfortunately dead. Seeing such a horrible scene repeated over and over made Akira curse himself for not being able to save everyone. He pauses, ignoring the searing heat and lack of oxygen, to clench his fist and asks himself if saving anyone meant anything if he couldn't save everyone.

"Akira. Look ahead."

Hearing the dragon's voice, Akira looks ahead to the end of the hallway. There was one last room that he hadn't checked and it seemed that the door was closed to stop the flames; Tyson's room. His resolve revived, Akira runs over and through flames; shielding his face so that the smoke and embers would get in his way. He arrives at the door and grabs the handle. It was way beyond hot, but Akira figured it wasn't the time to worry about such things. He opens the door, rushes in, and slams the door behind him.

"Yo. You sure took long enough." A less than energetic voice calls out to Akira as he enters.

Akira looks around. The room wasn't on fire but the heat from the fire outside could still be more than felt. There was some charring near the door where fire must've gotten in but they were obviously put out with the now burnt blankets and pillows. The window was busted through presumably to allow for a better circulation of air. Underneath it was none other than Tyson, leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head.

"Tyson? What the hell are you doing just sitting here!?"

"Well let's see. I was weighing my sins and thinking about jumping out this window." Tyson looks up at the ceiling, "Thinking of all the good times I've had, things I'll never do, karma.."

He was hysterical. It made sense now.

Akira sighs and looks over his shoulder at the flames in the hallway. He then looks down at his burned hand and flexes it as he contemplates his next move.

"Hey Dragon, you said you can amplify my powers right?"

Tyson looks up at Akira wondering who he was talking to.

"At my current level I should be able to. However, I can only do so momentarily."

"That's all I need." Akira rolls up his sleeves and turns his back to a confused Tyson. He holds his arms out in front of him as his eyes turn blue to signify the white dragon's power flowing through him. "Tyson, what you're about to see is top secret okay. You can't tell anyone about what I'm about to do."

Tyson's jaw drops down in a dumb expression but he eventually musters up the sense to nod.

"Good." Akira's hair becomes spikier as a blue aura begins to surround him.

***

"Why the hell isn't the fire department here yet!?" A security officer questions out loud.

A crowd of people have gathered outside the hospital and watch in suspense as the flames continue to spread and intensify. Those who'd managed to escape the flames were being tended to by on-the-scene medics with the aid of security officers.

Amongst the crowd of spectators were Aki and Yusei who'd just arrived.

"I'm going in." Aki states in a determined voice. She steps forward, nearly breaking out into a sprint, only to be grabbed by her forearm and stopped by Yusei. She tries to fight him but gives up just as easily when she looks over her shoulder and sees him shaking his head.

"Oh my god!" Someone cries out in the crowd.

Everyone turns to face the building to find a window on the top floor giving off an unusually bright light. Second's later, the light grows at an incredible rate and consumes the entire hospital building. Blue light shines from every window, every room, and purges out all flames with its intense light.

"What's going on!?" Yusei says as he shields his eyes.

***

The light dies just as soon as it appeared. If Tyson weren't there to see it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't have even believed it himself. The door had been blown open and all the flames in the hallway were gone without a trace. Tyson stands up and approaches the person in the center of the room. Akira, the same person who'd just invoked some strange power, was now lying unconscious in the center of the room.

"You're seriously screwin with my life here man."

Tyson kneels down next to Akira and turns him on his back so he can breathe. Then Tyson noticed it, something that wasn't there before. A shining blue infinity mark on Akira's forehead faded away and was soon replaced by a glowing mark on Akira's right arm.

"Just what the heck are you man?"

***

The display on Ushio's duel runner displays a large red x. His vehicle had long since crashed into the side of the duel lane and was totaled beyond repair therefore. Ushio himself was laid out in the middle of the road unconscious.

Bring and his partner were stopped. They were currently looking up at the sky in the direction of the hospital. With a shrug, Bring revs up his duel runner and the two take off once again.

"It looks like I was right about that guy…"