The D-Wheels exploded past the starting line.
Immediately, Judai's stomach felt like it dropped out and fell behind on the track. His throat was tight and he couldn't breathe for the wind screaming past him and—oh shit, this was fast, but he couldn't slow down, couldn't slow down or he wouldn't just fall behind, he would make things look suspicious because Aki was a good D-Wheeler and he had to fake her level of talent—
He swore as he briefly lost control of the D-Wheel, feeling the front wheel spin out when he tried to angle himself out of the way of the other wheeler. Luckily, Hermann of Team Catastrophe was far too interested in getting the first turn to be paying attention to Judai. He outstripped Judai easily and rounded the first turn. Judai swore again. He accelerated—already he was a good ten lengths behind!
The roar of the crowd was only a dull murmur to the wind and blood pounding in his ears. Just—just focus on the cards, Judai, focus on the cards. Not on the hum of the wheels on the concrete or the fact that you could tumble face forward over the handlebars at any given second—right, no, stop thinking that right now. Geez, whatever happened to the good old days of dueling while standing firmly on the ground?
Judai shook his head for a moment, trying to clear it. Then he carefully removed one hand from the handlebars—his heart fluttering as he did so—and drew his first five cards. He slid them into place at his side and made a quick once over of his options. He bit his lip, trying to process the strategies while he also focused on driving which was not fun.
This was Aki's deck, for one thing, something that he was one hundred percent not prepared to use. He had had only a few moments to look over the deck before he was forced onto the track.
"Judai, are you doing all right? Judai!"
Judai snapped out of it, realizing that Yusei had probably been trying to talk to him for several moments.
"Sorry, yeah, I'm fine," he spoke into the headset. "Just—just getting my bearings."
"You can do this, Judai, you only have to take the first duelist and then you can switch out, okay? There's no rule against switching out."
"Right, right, I'm fine, I promise," said Judai. Dammit, now he had gone and worried Yusei—he could hear the faint tremor of uncertainty in the other boy's voice and knew that he was still worried about this plan in the first place. Geez, he had to get it together or he was going to keep making Yusei worry...
"My turn!" the Catastrophe duelist shouted. "I summon Hook the Hidden Knight in attack mode!"
Judai's stomach dropped again. Already?
The air glowed as the monster stepped out into life. A cape fluttered around it as it was drawn alongside the motorcycle, clad in dark armor, darkness swirling behind its face plate. It looked like an ordinary hologram to Judai—but with Yubel temporarily separated from him, her card left behind to care for Aki, Judai didn't have access to his sight at all. Could they have possibly been mistaken? It seemed too much to hope for.
"J-Judai-kun, that's it! That's the monster!" Carly's trembling voice squeaked into his ear. "It's—oh, god, it's so dark. I've never seen anything that dark."
Judai swore. Perfect. Just his luck. He resituated his hands on the wheels and tried to pull himself forward a little more.
"Any other shadows?" he asked.
"None that I can see...they're all concentrated right there with the monster."
Well, at least he knew where to look for the shadows, then.
"I'll set one card and end my turn!" the duelist, Hermann shouted. His set card appeared and then faded from sight, and the turn counter turned to Judai.
"My turn!" Judai shouted. "Draw!"
His speed counter went up to one at the corner of his screen as he glanced at the card he had drawn. Okay. Good. He dropped the card into place and then reached for his other one, trying not to think too hard about not tipping the bike over.
"I'll summon Phoenixian Seed in attack mode!" he shouted—and then he just about clapped a hand over his mouth because that was his voice coming out of his mouth, not Aki's. Had anyone noticed? Hermann seemed to glanced at him for a moment, frowning, but otherwise, it looked like no one was paying enough attention to the tone of his voice—damn, he was bad at emulating sounds, though. He had to try harder.
The giant seed with an eye in its center appeared before him, and Judai felt the monster's sluggish uncertainty at being called.
They're so used to being called by Aki that I'm disorienting them, he thought. Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help out—just please work with me for today, please?
The seed seemed to eye him for a moment.
Help me avenge Aki, will you?
That got its attention. He could feel the crackle of the monster's anger as it considered what had happened to its mistress. It blinked at him once, and he got the sense that it was agreeing. For a beat he thought he could hear it whispering at him: "use my power and kill him." He breathed out a sigh of relief, and then returned to his cards.
He licked his lips briefly and then attempted to wrap his shadow magic around his voice to make it sound at least a little bit more like Aki's.
"I activate Phoenixian Seed's effect! I can tribute it to summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis from my hand!"
The first order of business is to get rid of that shadow card, he thought.
He felt the Seed hum with delight in his brain as it split and grew into the form of Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis, blossoms bobbing in the harsh wind. Twenty two hundred attack points ought to do it.
"Amaryllis attacks Hook the Hidden Knight!"
The flower screeched as fire blossomed from the center of its flowers, blasting for the knight. Its attack was no match for the flower—maybe he could deal with this thing right away!
"Hook the Hidden Knight's effect activates!" said Hermann. "When it's targeted for an attack in attack mode, I can switch it and the attacking monster to defense mode—then deal eight hundred points of damage to you!"
Judai swore as Amaryllis' fire burned out and the flowers turned the dormant blue of defense mode. Hook the Hidden Knight retreated back to a kneeling position, arms crossed in front of it. Judai grit his teeth for the effect damage when—
"Judai-kun—JUDAI-KUN GO RIGHT GO RIGHT!"
Judai did not hesitate—Carly's voice was frantic. He wrenched his D-Wheel to the right. The motion caused the whole bike to dip and nearly spin and he just about cried out.
"Ooh, and it looks like Izayoi Aki has hit a snag in the track!" the announcer shouted over the roaring din of the crowd. "She seems about to spin out!"
With an angry cry, Judai wrenched himself back onto balanced wheels, continuing forward at breakneck speeds. It took him a moment to clear his head enough to hear Yusei, Lua, Luka, and Carly all talking into his ear at once.
"Oh my god, are you okay? Breathe Judai, talk to us!"
"Judai, Judai, Judai, the hook almost got your wheel, it almost got you, oh, god, Judai be careful, be careful, be careful!"
Yusei's voice cut above them.
"Are you okay? Do you need to come out?"
"Already?" Judai said. "Not a fricking chance. What happened?"
"It was in the shadow of your wheel—the monster's hook. It tried to hook itself into your wheel and lock it up."
Judai's eyes snapped up to the opposing monster. His gaze lingered on the nasty, curved hook on one hand that gleamed, deadly in the light.
"I can't switch out," he said into his headset. "Not when I haven't even done a bit of damage to him."
"Judai..."
"I'll be fine. In fact, now that I know what they're doing, and how they're doing it..."
Judai felt his jaw clench, his hands tighten on the handlebars, his entire body crackle with energy and rage.
This is what they did to Aki.
For a moment, she flashed across his mind, the way her head hit the concrete, the way she had rolled and come to a too-still stop.
They hurt her like this, and they want to do it again, to everyone on the team.
Hermann had the misfortune of glancing back over his shoulder to see his opponent's reaction to having failed in the battle. That smug smile slipped when his eyes met Judai's, apparently seeing something there that he didn't want to see, just the edge of uncertainty darkening his eyes.
Judai sped his motorcycle up to come level with the other duelist.
"That card," he snapped. "Where did you get it?"
"Huh?"
"Hook the Hidden Knight. Who gave you that card?"
"Why's it any of your business, missy? Ain't you supposed to be in the hospital anyway?"
"Where. Did. You. Get. That. Card."
This time, Judai's words came out with a harsh, inhuman hiss—even though he and Yubel were technically far apart, they could not be truly separated, and the part of him that was a demon rose to the surface for a moment, his teeth lengthening briefly into fangs and his scales longing to burst through his skin.
Hermann seemed to pale a moment, but he shook it off.
"Beat me and I'll tell you," he taunted, and then he pulled forward.
Judai's glare burned into the man's back.
Fine then, he thought. We'll do it your way. You'll regret it.
He could feel his golden aura starting to leak through his eyes—it was strong enough now with his anger that he had to struggle to keep the disguise of Aki pulled around him.
You want a war? You've got one now.
. . .
Aki was screaming.
Two nurses attempted to hold her down without hurting her, while another prepared a syringe of anesthetic. Her eyes were wide open but they saw nothing, she wasn't even fully conscious as her arms flailed up and down and her head attempted to jerk off of the pillow.
"She is going to hurt herself, aren't you ready with that yet?"
"We've already given her one dose, I don't want to overdose her!"
"It's not working, we need something stronger or she's going to hurt herself!"
"Good God, what's going on?"
Yubel, unseen, gripped at Aki's hands—but it was like Aki wasn't even half aware of her existence. Yubel couldn't find a single spark of her previous psychic abilities—what was going on? Where was Aki's power? What had—Aki, please—
Yubel drew her wings around Aki as though that would protect her somehow, even as the nurses flitted around and shouted at each other and argued about whether to give her another dose. Her jaw clenched, fangs bared.
"Aki," she hissed. "Aki, can you hear me? You have to calm down. You have to calm down."
Aki did not respond, her hand flailing up again and out of the grip of the nurse, slapping the woman in the face. To her credit, the nurse barely even flinched, slipping her hands around Aki's head and trying to help her hold it still with a gentle grip.
Aki's scream cut off for a moment as she ran out of air, and she laid there for a moment, gasping.
"The dragon," she whispered. "The dragon isn't finished yet."
Yubel felt for a moment as though an icicle had stabbed her heart. The nurses didn't seem to notice the whisper—perhaps because it didn't even sound like Aki's own voice. It was a harsh, grating sound that seemed to rip out of her throat like she was spitting up rocks.
"Aki," Yubel whispered again, desperation tightening her chest. "Aki. You have to stop. You have to wake up. It's just a dream."
And then, for a brief moment, Aki's eyes met Yubel's full on, as though she could see them.
Yubel gasped.
There was a song playing in her head.
. . .
This was bad.
Judai had control of his D-Wheel again, but for how long? How long until that damn monster went for him again?
Yusei could hardly think for the heartbeat pounding in his head. Judai. Judai. Judai.
"I'll set three cards and end my turn!" Judai shouted.
It was back to Hermann—back to that shadow creature that had thrown Crow from his D-Wheel, the one that had sent Aki into a coma, the one that seemed bent on ripping Judai apart.
"He's not ready for this, he's not ready for this," Yusei kept muttering. "He can't focus on the duel and the riding at the same time—oh, god, why did I agree to this?"
Crow gripped Yusei's elbow tightly in his good hand, a silent plea for him to stop, but his eyes did not leave the duel. Carly was still babbling into the headset and telling Judai where the shadows were probably going to come from next. Yusei had already taken the headset from Luka because she seemed like she was about to have a panic attack and he didn't need her to hyperventilate.
Just one duelist. Then I'm pulling him out of there. Just one duelist.
And then Luka screamed.
Yusei's eyes were unwillingly ripped from the duel.
"Lua! Lua, what's wrong? What's going on?"
Lua's small body sprawled across the pavement, his chair overturned. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open in a silent scream as he suddenly started to convulse.
Jack was the first one at his side, pulling the boy into his arms and propping him up.
"Lua! Lua, talk to me, what happened?" he shouted.
Carly was just about in tears, babbling into her headset, Judai's voice was calling into his ear asking what was going on, Crow had bolted for the med staff shouting that they had someone having a seizure and Luka was on her knees half screaming Lua's name over and over as tears rolled out of her eyes.
Lua's eyes didn't blink, wide open as his arms continued to spasm. His mouth was moving but no sound was coming out.
"Yusei! Yusei, what's going on?"
"I-It's Lua, he's having some kind of seizure—"
Judai swore.
"The shadows—it's the shadows, isn't it? I didn't think Fujiwara would—I need to!"
Carly choked on her own air.
"It's not the shadows," she breathed. "It's—oh, god, he's so bright—"
The girl fumbled for her glasses as though they were shades, trying to block her eyes with the other hand.
"His aura is—it's so red, it's so bright, it's getting so strong, what—I don't even know what's happening to him—"
"Yusei? Carly! Calm down!"
Yusei shook his head.
"We'll take care of it, Judai, please just—finish that one guy off! We'll take care of Lua!"
He was certain Judai was going to protest, but Hermann was taking his turn and a second knight—Dark the Hidden Knight, was appearing on the field, gleaming with black armor, and its effect was letting it attack Judai directly and he swore as his attention was drawn to defending himself.
Yusei only half registered Judai's defensive trap that reduced the damage to zero and let him draw another card, barely paid attention to the fact that Amaryllis was destroyed by Hook the Hidden Knight—Lua. He had to take care of Lua.
Yusei dropped his headset as he took a knee beside Jack. Jack's face was drawn, white, he looked like he himself was going to pass out in a minute.
"He's not responding, goddammit, Yusei, he's going to hurt himself—"
"Just calm down, help me get him into a safer position—Luka, please, sit down, it's going to be all right."
Luka didn't pay attention, still hovering, wringing her hands together, tears rolling down her face as she whispered "Lua, Lua, Lua."
Jack and Yusei helped angle Lua back down onto his back. Jack held Lua's head gently to prevent himself from hitting it against the pavement.
"Crow's coming with the medics, it's going to be okay, Luka, it's going to be okay," Yusei said.
"What's going on? Is that boy all right?"
Yusei's eyes jerked up at the new voice. How did someone else get down into the pit—
The woman looked young, somewhere in her late thirties, but she walked with a quick, assured step as she ran across and immediately dropped to her knees beside them.
"Who—" Yusei started.
"He's paralleling," she said. "And he's doing it very dangerously; he's connecting too heavily. I'm going to need some space—I have to help him detach from whoever he's synched his soul to."
"What are you—"
"Tenjoin Asuka, and I'm trying to help him, I'll explain later, keep your own eyes on the duel," the woman said.
She yanked her blond hair from her face and quickly tied it back with a hair tie. Then she pushed Yusei very firmly out of her way and placed her hands on Lua's forehead, biting her lip as her forehead furrowed.
"God, he's in deep," she muttered. "Who taught him to synch like this without teaching him how to detach?"
Her hands retreated into the breast pocket of her dress suit, digging around for a moment before dragging out a pair of small black buttons that she placed on either side of Lua's head.
"Hold him steady, this is probably going to jolt him a little and I don't want him to hit his head," Asuka ordered Jack. It was a credit to her authoritative presence and the dire situation that Jack didn't even retort, he just nodded and did as she said.
It was then that Yusei remembered where he had heard the name Tenjoin Asuka.
She knows Judai, he thought, mouth opening in shock. She knows Judai, and she's here—what—what is going on?
And then another cry rose up from the dueling lane and Yusei was shooting to his feet again, heart hammering because—
Judai.
. . .
Judai swore as Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis disappeared in a screeching explosion.
Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT—
He swerved at Carly's cry of warning—Hook's attack had caused another strike at his wheels and he felt the metal scratch against his bike for a brief moment before he jerked out of reach. His heart threatened to punch right out of his chest and he could hardly hear anything for the screaming in his head.
"When Phoenixian Cluster is destroyed by my opponent's monster, it deals eight hundred damage!" he shouted over the ringing in his own head.
Two can play at the burn game, he thought darkly.
Hermann half growled at his life points going down, but there was nothing he could do to stop it, so he ended his turn.
Judai glanced briefly at his hand—he had activated Defense Draw last turn and the new card, Witch of the Black Rose, looked like it could help him pull through this.
"My turn!"
He drew his next card—Echo, Spirit of the Forest—and slipped it into place, eyes flashing over the cards and then back to the road. Time to trust everything to his draw once again. He drew in a sharp breath.
"I normal summon tuner monster Witch of the Black Rose!"
The small witch in purple bounced onto the field, alien eyes gleaming at the pair of knights on the other side.
"When Witch of the Black Rose is summoned, I draw one card from my deck—if it's not a monster, I send it to the Graveyard and destroy this card!"
I need two monsters to destroy Hook the Hidden Knight, he thought. Come on, come on...
He sent his silent plea to Aki's deck as his fingers fell onto the card. Arms tensing, he yanked the card from the top of the deck and—
Yes!
"I drew Rose Fairy!" he said. "When this card is added to my hand by an effect, I can special summon it!"
The little fairy giggled as she zoomed into view, hovering lightly at Judai's side.
"Witch of Black Rose attacks Hook the Hidden Knight!"
The tiny witch zipped forward, eyes narrow and staff clutched tightly.
"Hook's effect activates! It puts both monsters into defense mode and deals eight hundred damage!"
Carly screamed in his ear but Judai was already ready for this. He swerved to the right at her command. His life points dropped to 2400 but that was okay—Hook had zero defense. It was more than enough for Rose Fairy's six hundred attack!
"Rose Fairy attacks Hook the Hidden Knight!"
Time to get rid of you, he thought.
Rose Fairy's laugh turned dark as she shot forward, thorns sprouting from her hands.
"I activate Dark the Hidden Knight's effect!" Hermann said.
What?
"When a defense position monster I control is targeted for an attack, I can tribute it to switch that monster to attack mode!"
No!
Dark vanished, Hook rose back to his feet, it was too late to call off Rose Fairy now—
"And Hook's effect resolves!"
Damn!
Judai had half hoped he would let Rose Fairy destroy itself for the extra damage but it seemed like the guy was determined to cause him to crash instead of fighting fairly!
Hook and Rose Fairy both retreated, and Judai yanked himself to the side again from the hook—
Wrong direction.
Carly was screaming in his ear as Judai's back wheel locked. He felt his hands threatening to lift from the handlebars, sparks flying from the road as he skidded without wheels—the back wheel swung around to front and he was going backwards, the whole thing was going to tip and he was going to crash into the side as he leaned dangerously to the edge of the lanes—
"JUDAI!"
Yusei's voice cut through Judai's head.
I can't make him worry, was the first automatic thought.
With a raged cry, Judai ripped himself back around to face front. That hook clung to his wheel, determined to cause him to flip and crash but like hell.
He grabbed for the shadow of his D-Wheel and turned it into a weapon. The hook jolted as the shadows flared up and strangled at it. For a moment, Judai thought it wasn't going to work and then—
His wheel was free and he shot forward, the sparks dying.
He couldn't think for the pounding in his ears. That had been—too close.
And that damn monster was still on the field! He had to do something to get rid of it or he was going to lose to the burn—or crash and die. He was only at 1600 life points, he could only take two more hits of this—and next turn, Hermann would have four speed counters, enough to use Speed World's effect to deal extra damage, reducing Judai's chances further.
But he was out of attacks, there was nothing more he could do this turn. He was swiftly running out of options and—
"Judai, pull out. Judai, please, please listen to me, please come in, Jack can go out—Judai, are you listening?"
Judai realized then that Yusei was talking to him. He swallowed through a dry throat.
"Y-Yusei," he muttered. "M'okay. Promise."
"You're not, you need to come in and tap out right now!"
"Can't let you guys down."
"You've done enough, please, Judai, please, just—I can't watch you get hurt. Please don't—don't make me watch you—"
There was a melody in Yusei's voice. Or was that—was Judai imagining that? But Yusei had stopped talking, too, and Judai could only hear the crackle of static.
"I—Judai do you—"
"I hear it," Judai mumbled. "I definitely hear it."
It was—it was quiet. Almost too far away but he could feel it. His eyes dropped to his field.
I have a tuner, he thought, staring at Witch of Black Rose. Level four Witch, level three fairy, that's—that seven levels.
Black Rose Dragon is level seven.
He had never Synchroed before. Could—could he do it? He remembered Black Rose's effect, he could use it to destroy Hook and start over—
He swallowed, trying to wet his lips again.
"I can't come in yet, Yusei. I have to do this."
"Judai—"
Judai shook his head and focused on the duel.
"I tune Rose Fairy with Witch of the Black Rose!" he shouted.
"Judai!"
Witch of the Black Rose was already rising up, a song humming from deep within her as she glowed and faded to a series of green gates. Rose Fairy zipped through, transforming into stars.
Tuning. He could feel it, feel the thrum of two separate souls synching together, two different melodies growing and swelling and becoming one with each other, and it was beautiful but terrifying and—
The music felt like it was ripping through him, his mouth was opening without his permission and the words were tumbling from his lips.
"Chilling flames engulf the world—pitch dark flower, bloom! Synchro Summon—Black Rose Dragon!"
It was a door. The song was a door and the words were the key. It was leading him somewhere, a pathway of melodies and rhythms that pointed towards—
The world went dark.
For a moment, Judai couldn't breathe. There was a darkness pressing in around him, sapping his breath and squeezing his lungs.
"Well—this is unexpected. You two seem to keep surprising me—at this point, I shouldn't be surprised at all."
Judai tried to gasp for breath but there was no air, there was nothing here for him to breathe. That voice—he knew that voice, it was the one from his fragmented dreams, that dark ancient presence that had tightened around him.
"But your melody isn't quite perfect, hmmm? I'm not even certain how you managed to get this far with an incomplete melody—you and the Talon do not synchronize quite well. You'd be better off sticking with the Head."
Judai was starting to black out, he could feel the lack of air starting to eat at his consciousness—
"But I suppose that's enough talk from me. Don't you have something to finish?"
The world came back and Judai gasped for desperately needed breath. The crowd's roar sounded so much louder all of a sudden and for a moment, his D-Wheel faltered.
"Judai!"
Judai snapped back to himself at Yusei's voice, and pulled the D-Wheel back into line. Still dizzy, he glanced at his field—there was the Black Rose Dragon.
He could see its petals rustle, taste the scent of its bloodlust as it turned one harsh eye towards its opponent. More than any of the other monsters, Judai could feel Aki in this creature, feel her strength and her potential for rage and her desire to protect steaming off of the great dragon like a cloud. It wanted to destroy the thing that had harmed its mistress.
Then let's destroy it, Judai thought.
"When Black Rose is Synchro Summoned, I can destroy all cards on the field! Black Rose Gale!"
Black Rose lifted its head and screeched. The petals came in a storm, swirling like a horrible tornado through the field.
Die, Judai thought at Hook the Hidden Knight.
"I activate the trap card Destruction Jammer!" said Hermann. "I negate a card that would destroy monsters and destroy that card!"
Oh, god, no, Judai thought, a chill running through him.
The petal storm vanished and Black Rose screamed—and shattered.
"Black Rose!"
He felt something rip through his heart and he almost threw up then. Dammit, dammit, dammit, he had miscalculated and—
He had to defend himself, that was all he had left.
"I activate Call of the Haunted to bring back Black Rose in defense mode!" he shouted. "Then I banish Phoenixian Seed in my Graveyard to special summon Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis in defense mode!"
Something of the hole that had been ripped in him from Black Rose's destruction filled in as the dragon returned. He breathed out—at the very least, he could increase his defenses.
"I end my turn!"
But he was close—too close—to losing. And that he realized as Hermann drew his next card and smirked. Ice clutched Judai's heart.
"I normal summon another Dark the Hidden Knight!"
Damn!
That horrid second knight appeared on the field, sharpening its blades.
"Then I switch Hook the Hidden Knight to attack mode!"
Judai's chest clenched as the monster returned to an offensive position—that hook seemed so much more shiny than ever, and it drew his eye like a one might stare at a car crash. He was this close to dying and he could feel it.
"Next, I'll activate the effect of Speed World 2!"
Judai swore. Reveal one Speed Spell and deal eight hundred damage—he would only have eight hundred life points left! One swing at Hook would end him!
The beam of light struck through him and he just about screamed.
His head slumped over his dash for a moment, panting for breath.
"I—I activate the effect of a monster from my hand!" he said. "When I take damage from an effect, I can special summon Echo, Spirit of the Forest!"
The new tree monster appeared with a soft sigh, hovering in front of Judai as though to protect him.
"Futile struggling," Hermann sneered. "I'll end my turn!"
Bastard...he wants me to swing at Hook and lose that way.
Judai swallowed—his throat was so dry.
"Judai, please—please, talk to me."
Judai coughed once.
"I'm okay, Yusei, I promise," he said. "I—I'm gonna beat him. I'm gonna do it."
Yusei hesitated.
"Okay. Okay, I won't ask you to come back in. But—but Judai. You have to be careful."
Judai reached for his next card.
"Don't worry," he said, drawing, and looking at his card. "This is the last turn."
In his fingers was Elemental Hero Neos.
And suddenly, like a light bulb going off in his head, he knew exactly what he was able to do.
. . .
Yusei watched Judai zip past the pit again, barely able to breathe. The melody continued to play, haphazard and so faint that he could be imagining it, at the back of his head. It was different than last time—it was like there was more than one track, and they weren't playing at the same speed.
Judai...Judai...
Lua had calmed down. He still wasn't responding to them but he was breathing easier and he seemed to be able to keep eye contact, he seemed aware of where he was. Bruno was holding Luka as she continued to cry, and Asuka continued to mutter and dial numbers on a small control pad.
"I tribute Echo and Amaryllis to summon Elemental Hero Neos!"
Yusei's breath caught. Judai's monster—not Aki's. Of course he had put his ace into the deck—at the very least for luck. But for him to use that monster here, in this place...what was he planning?
Judai's ace appeared in a rush of light.
"Contact Fusion! Black Rose and Neos, come together!"
Yusei breathed out a slow, awed breath. Even Asuka and Jack looked up from Lua for a moment to watch what was about to happen.
"Rose wings and flaming heart, step through the veil in a storm of petals! Come forth, Elemental Hero Rose Neos!"
A storm of rose petals washed over the scene, blinding Judai from view for a brief moment. When it cleared, Neos had changed.
The bright, petal coated wings of Black Rose dragon sprouted from its back. Long rose petal antennae spiral back from its head, and more petals draped its suddenly much slimmer frame like a beautiful armor. Yusei could barely breathe in the presence of this being.
Aki, he thought briefly, almost seeing her face superimposed on the being for a moment. Your will is coming through to us.
Judai threw his hand forward, and for a moment, his disguise as Aki slipped, and Yusei could see through to the boy underneath.
"Rose Neos activates its effect! Once per turn, I can banish any number of Plant type monsters from my Graveyard and destroy cards equal to the number of cards destroyed!"
Rose Neos lifted its head, and strange, haunting cry lilted from somewhere deep within it. Before it, two ghostly images of Rose Fairy and Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis appeared. They faded into giant roses, and the thorns stabbed downwards from the blossom, striking Hook the Hidden Knight and Dark the Hidden Knight both through the heart.
They let out a twin, bloodcurdling screech before vanishing.
"And for each card destroyed, Rose Neos gains five hundred attack points!"
"That puts it to..." Bruno started.
"Thirty five hundred," said Yusei. "Not enough to take him out—"
"This card is considered a Plant type, so I can equip it with Thorn of Malice, driving its attack points up another six hundred!"
Forty one hundred attack points. More than Hermann's four thousand life points.
His field is empty, Yusei thought.
"One turn kill," Crow breathed.
Judai's hand thrust forward.
"Go, Rose Neos! Wrath of Gale!"
Rose Neos let out its eerie cry—and then the thorns sprouted from its back and exploded forward, stabbing right through the bike and just about sending its rider flying. Hermann let out a half scream as his life points dropped to zero.
"He won," Yusei said. "Oh, thank god, he won."
"I knew he could do it," Asuka said, nodding to herself.
That was when Yusei saw Judai's D-Wheel wobble. Yusei yanked the headset to his mouth.
"Judai! Judai, are you okay?"
"I...yeah, feeling kinda dizzy though..."
"I'm pulling you out—don't even think about arguing!"
"If you say so, boss," Judai said, obviously trying to joke but his voice wavering with fatigue.
Yusei whipped around to Jack.
"Jack, you're up, let's go!"
Jack nodded, racing for his D-Wheel and leaving the now peacefully sleeping Lua to Asuka's care. Yusei pause only briefly to make sure the situation was under control here, making sure Bruno was taking care of Luka and Lua was all right—and then he couldn't hold himself back, he had to bolt for the pit line.
Judai came in slowly, carefully, wobbling on his D-Wheel. His disguise as Aki had completely faded by now, and only the helmet was preventing everyone from knowing who he really was.
"S-sorry to leave you with an empty field," he mumbled at Jack as he fumbled for the shoulder patch. "Rose Neos got shuffled back into the extra deck at the end phase."
"Hmph! As if I needed any help from you!" Jack said, snatching the offered patch. But then he paused, and a brief smile twitched the sides of his mouth. He sent Judai a nod. "But good work getting rid of one useless duelist."
And then he was roaring out into the arena to meet the next wheeler. Yusei slid his arm under Judai's shoulder, helping him off the bike. Judai practically fell against him. His face was pale and his knees bowed inward. Yusei propped him against the bike for a moment and helped him remove the helmet, and then pulled his arm over his shoulders again.
"Lua," he mumbled. "Is Lua all right?"
"He's okay. Don't worry. You need to rest."
"Gotta see what happened to him...I can rest later...damn that—that monster made me...really tired."
"Someone's already taking care of him, please, Judai, you just have to sit down..."
Yusei supported Judai towards one of the chairs and Judai's brow crinkled.
"Someone...?"
His eyes flitted across to see Lua—and immediately he froze.
Hazel eyes met brown, Judai's mouth dropped open.
Asuka put one hand to her mouth. Her eyes shone briefly with tears, but she blinked them away.
"Judai," she said. "Oh god, Judai."
"Asuka...?" he said. "What are you...?"
He swayed dangerously and Yusei caught him by the waist.
"Sit down," he said firmly, guiding him into a chair.
Judai took a second to close his eyes. He just breathed for a few seconds, while Asuka clearly tried not to talk, her hands knotting and unknotting into her skirt as she chewed on her lip.
"Okay," Judai said finally. "Lua—is Lua okay?"
"He's fine—his soul was reacting to someone else's soul distress, so I had to try and disconnect him," Asuka said.
Judai's eyes opened and he stared at her.
"You can—you can do that?"
"Well, I had to learn how," she said, eyes dropping down. "Since you were...gone. I developed these soul resonators; they jolt the frequency of a soul so that a matched frequency detaches."
She held out the small black buttons that she had been using earlier. Judai just stared at them and then his eyes raised to meet hers. Yusei glanced in between them for a moment, trying to read something in the gaze they exchanged. Who exactly...was this Asuka? He knew that she was someone Judai had known. A friend from his days at the Academy...and now, thirty years older than he was.
"We have a lot of catching up to do," Judai said finally.
"Don't we ever," she agreed.
"Should we start with what you're doing over here?"
"I'm Aki's teacher—I visited her and she said your name in her sleep, so I figured that following Team 5D's would be the best place to check for you."
"Fair enough. But what exactly are you doing here? I mean—I disappeared for you, I guess. What happened after that?"
She shook her head.
"Far too much—this is going to take a while."
She frowned, eyes dropping to the ground for a moment.
"But the most important part is probably the fact that we're here to fight Yliaster," she said. "It's what we've been doing for almost eighteen years."
"Yliaster?" said Judai.
Yusei's heart skipped a beat.
"You're fighting against them too?" he said.
Asuka glanced at him, eyes blinking with surprise.
"You know about Yliaster?"
"Who the hell is Yliaster?" said Judai. "Is anyone going to explain that? Wait—is Fujiwara working with these guys? Are they the ones trying to kill Team 5D's?"
"What? Why would Fujiwara be—Fujiwara was working with us against Yliaster! Why would he attack the team that has his kids on it?"
"You knew that Lua and Luka were his kids?" said Yusei.
"Well, I didn't know they were home alone, their mother was supposed to be with them—Fujiwara disappeared about four months back—"
"Fujiwara has just about killed half the team already, so if he was working with you guys, why is he flipping out again—" said Judai.
Smoke and fire exploded from the dueling lane. All heads snapped towards the rising column of smoke and sparks—
"Jack—" Yusei started.
But then the white blur of Wheel of Fortune exploded from the smoke, flying into the air. Jack's bike hit the ground and spun, but Jack wrenched his bike expertly into gear and skidded to a perfect stop. The other Catastrophe duelist was sprawled across Jack—what had they missed?
"Oooh, and Team Catastrophe's second wheeler has crashed—but a perfect save by Jack Atlas prevented the duelist from harm! Still, since the second wheeler can't get back to pass the baton, the win goes to Team 5D's!"
Jack hmped to himself as the duelist he had just saved scrambled to his feet and bolted for his comrades.
"A true duelist doesn't rely on such cheap tactics," came his voice through the headset.
Yusei let out a breath that came like a laugh.
"We won," he said.
"We won," Judai said again, his eyes bright with an almost hysterical relief. "We won, we won, we won."
Yusei could not stop himself—he practically threw his arms around Judai, laughing out loud. It was over. The second duel was over and no one had gotten hurt, everyone was okay—
Judai flung his arms around Yusei's waist and hugged him right back, both of them just sitting there laughing. Carly removed her headset and slumped against the control panel. Luka pressed her face into Bruno's chest and sobbed with relief, as the still dumbstruck Bruno patted her head automatically.
Lua stirred on the ground, blinking.
"When did I lay down?" he groaned. "Luka...? Were you crying? Did we win?"
"We did, we won," said Crow, grabbing him by the shoulder as the boy sat up. Crow's smile was so wide that it was a wonder his face didn't split open. "We won, by god, we won!"
Yusei realized then that he had been holding Judai for a really long time—probably longer than was necessary. He drew back, his hands lingered on Judai's shoulders.
"Are you okay?" he said.
"I feel fantastic," said Judai, his own hands still gripping Yusei's arms. "We did it."
He blinked, dizziness passing over his face again.
"But don't let me do a riding duel again. I think—I think it does something to me. Something weird."
"You are hereby banned from acceleration duels, then," Yusei said with an unbidden laugh.
Judai swallowed, closing his eyes against the next wave of dizziness.
"Okay then," he said. "I guess we have the time to talk about what's going on, then, right, Asuka?"
"Finally," she said, nodding with relief. "We can—"
"Asuka!"
All heads snapped upward at the shout, frantic and cracking with nerves.
"Manjoume?" Judai said with disbelief.
Yusei's eyes followed Judai's gaze to the tall, dark haired man that had run up to the railing overlooking the pit from the stands. His dark eyes were wide and he pointed up out of the stadium.
"Asuka, it's bad, there's hundreds of them, they're all over the city—"
"Jun, calm down, what's all over the city?"
"Those robot things—the ones we ran into a few weeks ago, the duel robots, except they're everywhere and they're attacking everyone!"
Yusei swore.
"It's the Ghosts," he said.
"You told me about those!" said Judai. "We have to stop them!"
"They're probably collecting Duel Energy, but for what?" Asuka said, eyes wide. "No, never mind we can figure that out later—"
She swallowed and then met Judai's eyes.
"I have to go fight, we can talk later."
"I'm coming too," said Judai, struggling to stand up.
"No way," said Yusei, pushing him back down.
"I can't sit here and watch you guys fight alone!"
"You're banned from acceleration duels, remember?" said Yusei.
Judai met Yusei's eyes with a blank fury.
"Then put me on the back of your motorcycle, I am not sitting this out—I'll heal quickly, I'll be fine in a few minutes, just don't you dare even think about leaving me behind!"
Yusei almost growled under his breath—but he knew better than to argue. They needed Judai's power.
"Okay, everyone, let's go," he said. "Crow, I know I can't convince you to stay, so watch out for your damn shoulder, got it?"
Crow was already getting on his bike and only gave Yusei a passing salute.
Yusei bolted for his own bike and Jack, who had arrived in the middle of the conversation, was already blasting towards the open roads. Judai slipped onto the bike behind Yusei and his arms tightened around Yusei's waist.
Yusei swallowed, feeling a little dizzy himself.
Was there going to be no end to this?
. . .
Izayoi Aki, who was supposed to be under three doses of sedative, shot straight up in bed. The motion caused Yubel to jump and hiss, wings flaring.
But Aki didn't look at her, didn't look at anything. She just started to climb out of bed, her legs shaking and dropping her to the floor.
"Aki, stop," Yubel said. "Aki!"
Aki's arms shook, but that didn't stop her from pushing herself to her feet, pulling herself steady against the bed.
"The dragon," she hissed. "I have—have to tell them about the dragon. The Heart wasn't able to tell them—I couldn't reach the Heart—I have to tell them about the dragon."
Her eyes were wide, so wide that they seemed more whites than iris. Yubel flared her wings again and attempted to grab hold of Aki, but her hand phased through. Damn! She was too far away from Judai to do anything—all she could do was stand here. At least her card was tucked into Aki's pocket so she could follow the girl but beyond that—
Aki stumbled for the door. Her hand fumbled with the knob for a moment as though she had forgotten how to turn it. Finally, though, the door gave way to her and she pulled it open with the obvious intent of stumbling through—
Except there was someone standing there already.
Pure black eyes considered the girl for a moment, unblinking as she stared back at him.
"I'm afraid," Fujiwara Yusuke said, "that I can't let you do that, Miss Izayoi."