A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF YU GI OH 5DS OR PRINCESS MONONOKE! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS! THE ONLY THING I OWN ARE MY OCS!

Act II: Prince of the Spirits

Chapter 11: Meeting Again

It was a year since Yliaster was defeated and Yusei left. The world was becoming better and brighter. And things were at total peace. But that didn't change how sad and out of place everything felt between Leo and the other Signers without Yusei around.

Akiza seemed to be hurt the most. She wanted to see him again. Tell him so much that she didn't get to tell him. And now, it seemed like she'll never see him again.

But the feeling they were all having was like that of something bad coming. And it involved Yusei. It worried them. Especially since all of them had the same feelings clinging onto them like a leech.

Now, they sat in the two eldest men's apartment, completely silent and everyone was sorting through their own thoughts. It was so silent, you could hear a pin drop in the room. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.

It wasn't a happy or even an okay day, that day. It was the year anniversary of Yusei's departure. Every anniversary, whether it be a week, a month, or a year, the thought of him hurt more and more.

They never realized how much they relied on Yusei to help them with anything until he left. When he left, it felt like his beacon of light that he brought that had shone for everyone had left with him. There wasn't even a remnant left.

Suddenly, the Signers were forced to look at their right arms as they began to burn. Their marks were glowing bright.

"What's going on?" Leo asked as the light got brighter and brighter.

"I don't know," Crow answered, straining a bit.

That's when the Crimson Dragon appeared and grabbed them before darting off.

. . .

When the others woke up, they found themselves in a forest. They walked around a bit before seeing something. It looked familiar to the two men.

"What was that?" Leo asked.

It appeared again, only in front of them. It was a small little spirit. Crow explained, "I think Yusei called these little spirits 'Kodamas'. He said they help those in the forest and bring good luck. They're also a sign that the forest is healthy. They appeared when Yusei first explained his spirit side to us the night before the duel against Team Ragnarok and Team New World."

"They're kind of cute," Luna commented. It waved at them and began to walk in a direction. "I think… It wants us to follow it." They slowly did. Once they got to a river, it disappeared. But they noticed dead cattle and crates flowing down the river. It seemed recent.

They then heard movement a bit farther up the stream, just behind a waterfall. They hurried up and noticed a familiar, giant wolf laying on the shore, a gunshot wound in her chest. But she was still breathing.

"Is that…?" Leo trailed off.

"Moro?" Akiza followed.

They turned as two smaller wolves and a familiar man on their back hurried up. Yusei had a fur cape on his back. His tank top was now a black skin tank top and he wore the same pants. His shoes were changed to that of cloth.

He ran up to his wolf mother who slowly stood up. He began to suck out some bad blood from the wound, spitting it into the river. It was probably to rid it of any bacteria and hurting items. Though the watchers had no doubt that the mother wolf had an iron bullet in her.

Each one of them knew what that meant. The twins and Akiza got an explanation of what happened when a human bullet infected a spirit. It worried them for Moro's sake.

Moro began growling, looking towards them. Yusei looked towards them as he finished, and he didn't seem happy. He seemed shocked and upset. He stared at him as he wiped the blood off his mouth. They were just shocked at how he was looking at them.

They got up so their old friend could see them easier. "Yusei, is that you?!" Crow called.

He didn't say anything.

"Yusei, come on!" Jack called. "Talk to us, already! We haven't seen you in a year!"

He gave a light, warning glare. He got on one of the smaller wolves as his mother walked away. As they hurried off, Yusei merely ordered, "Get out of here!" That shocked them. He then disappeared behind the brush. One of the smaller wolves dragging a cattle with it.

"Yusei!" Luna called worried.

"Did Yusei help kill all these animals and hurt the humans?" Akiza asked.

"They were probably from humans who were trying to hurt the forest," Leo tried to reason.

"If he's here, though," Crow began as they returned to the forest edge that they came from, "that means this is the Forest of Life."

Another Kodama appeared in front of them. It twisted its head a bit and let it go, making the bobble head like sound. Several others came up and began to come around them.

"Hey, could you be kind enough to help us find Yusei?" Akiza asked gently. It seemed nervous. "Please?"

It gave a shaking of the head, seeming more in agreement than refusal. It then began to walk off towards the rest of the forest. They followed slowly, more and more showing themselves happily. Some other ones even came by and played at their feet. They were trying not to step on those ones.

They looked at all the Kodama. There were thousands of them, and none looked the same as the other. They followed it through a tree and quickly found themselves in a vast opening. It was absolutely beautiful with large, moss covered tree in a few places, crystal clear water running through it, and an island in the center of it all.

"This place is beautiful," Luna commented.

"And I feel such strong, ancient energy here," Akiza answered. "An energy that I've never felt before."

They walked for a bit when Crow noticed wolf prints along with another pair of human printed on the ground. "Yusei and the wolves were here," he commented.

"This must be the deepest area of the Forest of Life," Jack stated. "Where the Forest Spirit sometimes comes. They must come here a lot."

"We should rest a bit here," Akiza suggested. They nodded. She went to the edge of the ground and kneeled when she noticed another set on tracks on a small patch of ground in the water. "Hey, guys! There are more tracks here." They hurried over and looked at it. Another print next to them was made in the soil underneath the water. "And they were made recently."

"I wonder if it was the Forest Spirit," Leo suggested.

They looked around carefully when they noticed an area where light would block all features except the shape. They noticed a herd of deer walking by. But then a creature that definitely wasn't a deer by the antlers and the shape of its face followed. It looked at them calmly. It then turned and walked away.

"Was that the Forest Spirit?" Luna wondered.

"Yusei said that during the day, the Forest Spirit looks like a deer, but with more antlers and a human face, right?" Jack recalled.

Crow nodded. "That creature had a lot of antlers and it didn't have a normal deer face. And it knew we were here when none of the other deer did."

"Then it had to be the Forest Spirit," Akiza proclaimed. She felt something tugging on her leg a bit. She looked to see a Kodama there. It seemed a bit worried. "Hey, little guy. Something wrong?" It waved for them to follow. They slowly did so.

They followed it and soon found themselves on the edge of the Forest of Life. In the distance, they could see a small town. But it had smoke stacks coming from it. Like from a factory.

"I wonder if that's where that Eboshi woman Yusei mentioned is," Crow commented.

"Even if it is, we can't exactly go there and start telling her to stop trying to take down the Forest," Akiza stated. "We'd probably get killed. But it does seem like they're making something there. But they have that giant wall around the town. We're not getting in there easily."

"Bullets, I'm guessing," Jack answered. They began to talk about ways of getting in or at least talking to Eboshi. See if there was a way to peacefully resolve the situation. The sun began to disappear and it was soon gone beneath the horizon.

After a bit, they went to approach the town when they noticed the two smaller wolves with Yusei on one of the wolve's back came out of the Forest. Yusei had a mask up on his head and there was a sword on his waist. They seemed like they were about to attack the town.

"Yusei!" Luna called as they ran to try to intercept. "Wait!"

He looked at them as the wolves came to a stop. None of them seemed happy to see the five. They stopped in front of them and the wolves growled in warning.

Yusei asked, "What do you think you're doing here? How did you find this place?"

"We didn't," Crow asked. "The Crimson Dragon brought us here."

Yusei looked at his mark and sighed, seeming in frustration. "You guys need to find a way back to New Domino. This isn't your fight."

"It is our fight, Yusei!" Jack argued. "You're our friend. You can't just push us out like this. Especially since it was the Crimson Dragon that brought us here. It wasn't like it was our choice."

"Are you really about to go attack that town?" Akiza asked.

"We need to try to take down Eboshi," the wolf Yusei was on stated angrily. It sounded male.

"She hurt our mother! We're not letting her get away with that!" the other wolf, who sounded female, answered.

"Isn't there another time to try to go at her?" Luna asked. "Is now really the time?"

"The Yusei I knew would never go after someone in revenge," Crow stated. "Let alone kill someone."

"Eboshi is a danger to more than just the Forest," Yusei replied sternly. "She sells her guns and weapons to everyone who should not have them. She sells them to those who wish for war. And she's been using them to kill my family."

"But you could die if you went at her!" Jack argued.

"I'm not afraid to die," Yusei fought. "I'd do anything to get Eboshi and the humans out of the Forest." That honestly shocked them a bit. Suddenly, a rock was thrown and hit the ground to the side. They looked to see giant apes throwing things at them. "The Ape Tribe…" The wolves growled at them. "Alright, what do you want?!"

The male wolf growled, "Apes… How dare you show such disrespect to the Wolf Clan!"

The seeming to be leader ape stated sternly, "This is our forest. The humans… give them to us. Give us the humans and go!"

"You go!" the male wolf argued. "Before my fangs find you!"

"We will not go," the lead ape denied. "We will eat the humans." The others tensed while Yusei seemed surprised.

Another ape said, "Yes. Let us eat the man creatures."

"Are you crazy?!" Yusei asked. "Just what happened to make the Ape Tribe change this way? Since when do apes eat the flesh of a human?"

"If we eat the humans, we will steal their strength and we will drive the other humans away," the lead ape answered.

Another ape followed, "Give us the man creatures!"

"Stop this!" Yusei ordered as he got off his wolf. "You know you can't possess the human's strength by eating them. All that'll do is make you into something else. Something even worse than human!"

The lead ape then retorted, "We plant trees, humans tear them up. The Forest does no come back. If we kill the humans, we will save the Forest."

"You can't give up! We'll find a way!" Yusei told them. "The Forest Spirit is with us! Go on planting your trees and someday we'll beat them!"

"The Forest Spirit will not fight. We will all die. Wolf Boy does not care. He spent years with the humans," the lead ape argued.

Yusei glared in anger. The female wolf immediately ordered angrily. "Enough! I'll bite your head off, you chattering ape!" The two wolves went to attack the apes which quickly dispersed.

"Stop, guys!" Yusei ordered. "Just leave them alone!" Eventually the two wolves came back, still seeming upset. "Don't worry about them. It's alright. You two go on ahead now. I'll deal with these humans." They reluctantly ran off towards their home. Yusei turned to them with a glare. "You don't belong here. You need to get out of here. Now."

"We're not just leaving without you. Even you know something bad is coming. You'll need our help," Jack argued.

"The only thing bad coming is the chance of Eboshi reaching the Realm of the Forest Spirit," Yusei argued. "If she does that, that's when bad things will happen. And the bad things will happen to her. You don't need to be around to help with that."

"We're staying here and helping you, Yusei. That's the end of it," Crow declared.

Yusei gave a light glare of warning at them. "You do not know or understand what you're getting yourselves into. I don't want you involved, so get out of here now."

"We're not leaving you, Yusei," Akiza stated sternly. "We understand that this will be dangerous. We understand that we may have to hurt some people to help. But we want to help you find a way to make humans and the spirits live in peace. And keep the Forest alive."

Yusei groaned. "Come with me." He began to walk through the Forest and they stayed close behind him. Kodama appeared around them, watching carefully as they walked. They reached the deepest part of the Forest. The others recognized it as where the Kodama first led them to. "This is the Realm of the Forest."

"It's so beautiful," Luna commented.

That's when all the Kodama began to send off their noises and it began to sound like thunder. They looked as the creature from before began to walk up. Yusei immediately kneeled in respect. It looked at his friends carefully before it looked at Yusei. The human spirit nodded. He slowly stood up. They watched as the Forest Spirit turned to the sky as the stars came out. His body began to turn into a starry like mass and his horns elongated and began to curve down his back as his neck grew tall. He eventually became larger and taller than a skyscraper and more humanoid than before.

"Is he…?" Luna whispered.

"He's becoming the Nightwalker," Yusei finished with the answer. The Forest Spirit then began to walk away. "Now, we need. The Forest Spirit has permitted you his blessing to be in the Forest. Mother will know of this as well. He and the Kodama have probably spread it around the entire Forest of Life by now. But for tonight, you're staying here." They nodded.

They sat down on the ground. The little Kodama hurried up, seeming happy as they ran around behind and around their bodies. A few Kodama jumped onto Yusei, some of which he had to catch before they fell. It was actually kind of cute to the humans.

"Yusei… You seem like you've changed a bit since we last saw you," Akiza stated.

"I wouldn't be surprised," he told them. "You change a lot, when you come back to the life you once knew, after being stuck in a place like New Domino for so long."

"'Stuck in a place like New Domino'?" Crow questioned. "Was New Domino City just some place to you?"

"Any human city is just some place to me, Crow. Yes, I did have some great times with you guys and had friends. But New Domino never was and never will be my home," Yusei answered. That surprised them a bit. "If you knew the Forest like I do and if you grew up here, you'd agree that this should always be my home." They noticed a couple Kodama on his shoulder hug his neck a little bit. It was kind of touching. "Thanks, guys."

"So what exactly did the Forest Spirit say to you?" Jack asked. "He didn't speak aloud like Moro or your wolf siblings."

"The Forest Spirit talks telepathically. And only to those he believes needs to be talked to at the time," Yusei answered. "He was simply telling me that he was okay with you guys being in the Forest. And if worse come to worse…" He sighed. "He's okay with you helping us stop Eboshi."

"And how exactly do you plan on stopping her?" Leo asked.

"Disabling her, killing her, pick your choice," Yusei answered, shocking them. "Any way to make it so she never could or would want to touch this forest again."

"You really have changed since coming back…" Crow commented. "The Yusei I knew wouldn't have ever wanted to hurt someone that much. Especially killing someone."

"Had to find some way to blend in with the humans and not get questions," Yusei answered. "Now, it's late. You need sleep after today. Lay down. I'll wake you up at sunrise." They nodded slowly, not wanting to argue and they knew they were all tired after today's events.

Each of them quickly fell asleep, Yusei wrapped in his cloak.