AJ: Again, I apologize for anyone who's been expecting more from this fanfic. This is gonna be slow for a few chapters, as the hero is out of action for a while.
Bil: Well, get him back online, damn it!
AJ: He'll be back…and with a little surprise.
Bil: I can't wait.
AJ: Good to hear.
Chapter 20: Ultimate Destiny"Dogma, attack his Jinzo! End this façade!" Edo ordered. Dogma charged up a purple ball of energy, which the monster directed at its opponent. The purple stream of energy fired, and this creature dissolved. The Society student trembled for a moment, before being knocked down to his back by the explosion, unconscious.
The holograms disappeared, as Edo took his cards, replaced them into his deck, and stuffed the deck back into his deck holder inside his jacket. He took out his phone and flipped it open. He pressed a couple of buttons, and waited a few moments. "Misawa? Yeah, I got another one. We're over in the forest by the docks. Ok, see you in a few." Edo walked over and took the one medal hanging on the boy's jacket. "Tch…only one again. I've dueled a good fifty students and all I have to show for it is 35 medals," the pro groaned.
He decided to just lean back against a tree and waited to be picked up. He looked up to the stars and the moon, amazed at how beautiful they looked at night. 'You never get this view in the city around the duel arenas. Too many lights,' he thought, mildly amused. He thought traveled over to the recent events at the school. It had been almost two weeks since the duel between Asuka and Judai. Judai still had shown no signs of awakening, but no one here understood why. Not even that doctor they had, the leader of the Girls' Dorm, Ayukawa.
While Judai had been resting, the rest of them hadn't exactly been lazy. Momoe, Misawa, Junko, Sho, and Kenzan, had all been finding and defeating Society duelists that had no Genex medals on them. Meanwhile, Asuka, Fubuki, and himself had been fighting the Genex and professional Society duelists, releasing them from the fortuneteller's influence. They had been making great progress, as almost all of the Society duelists had been defeated. They found a few scattered here and there, but they were mostly Ra students who seemed to had lost their way back to the Ra dorms.
Edo chuckled to himself. "Looks like the big fool had a bigger impression on me than I thought," he muttered to himself. He had never been this worried about someone since he learned about Saiou when he was told bout the Society of Light.
Speaking of the diviner, neither he nor Manjoume had been seen recently. It was obvious, however, that wherever they were, the two had called back their subordinates to gain most of the medals. Edo wondered whether Saiou was planning to participate personally, and, if that was he case, whether himself or Judai would have enough firepower to defeat the man.
Edo didn't fear his manager's dueling abilities, but the ability to see the future could pose a serious problem. Sure, Judai and himself had been told they were the 'chosen' duelists, but Edo would rather take things into his own hands instead of relying on a prophecy, as he usually did. He wished he knew where that card he had been searching for was.
'I'm definitely going to need that card if I'm going to take on Saiou's deck,' Edo mused. 'And even then, it may be a stretch. Saiou not only can see the future, but the future always seems to go his way…' His train of thoughts was broken by blaring sirens. Edo walked over to the fallen duelist and lifted his arm over and around his neck. "C'mon, you. Time to get back to the real world," Edo said to him, and they walked out of the forest.
Misawa looked around, searching for Edo and his new catch. He had donned his old yellow blazer after turning back to normal. "Where is he?" the scholar said aloud. It was about midnight, and had only been up because it was his turn to help watch over Judai's unconscious state. He would've told Edo to forget it, but Asuka, Kenzan, and Sho were still up there, though it was his turn. They didn't mind him stepping out, so he took the ambulance they had, and drove over to where Edo's position, and now he wasn't there.
"Wonderful," Misawa sulked. He wanted to get some sleep, as the last two weeks had been tiresome. If the unconscious person had been anyone else but the normally cheerful Judai, he would have been jealous. However, seeing Judai's emotionless face while he was lying there unnerved the Ra student, as well as anyone else who saw the Osiris youth.
What even racked the scholar's brain even more was the tattoo they had found on the back of the boy's neck. It was hidden by the wild, brown, hair the boy had, and if it weren't for Ayukawa's inspection of the duelist, they would have never known it was there. The tattoo was a fancily written "RD-DDL-001".
Misawa remembered hearing about the initials "DDL" somewhere before, but he couldn't place his finger on it. For some reason, the letters sent chills up his spine. If the student had the time, he would look into it. "But right now, I'm out in the middle of the night, looking for Mister Professional," Misawa muttered annoyed.
Emerging into the headlights were Edo and an unconscious duelist over his shoulder. "About time," Misawa murmured.
"Quit moaning and give me a hand over here!" Edo shouted at the scholar.
"Yes, sir," Misawa said sarcastically. The Ra duelist walked to the back of the ambulance and pulled out a stretcher. He rolled the stretcher over to Edo, before helping him lay the duelist onto it. They rolled the stretcher to the back of the ambulance, and loaded the unknown duelist onto the ambulance, and strapped him down. They then both climbed into the front and began the fifteen-minute drive back to the school.
"Get any medals?" Misawa asked, trying to start a conversation. Edo held up his one new medal. "Ouch."
"Indeed. Safe bet that Saiou and Manjoume have any medals the Society gained over the course of this tournament," Edo yawned.
"I expected as much." The two sat in silence for a while longer, before pulling into the garage. There, they were met by Samejima, Chronos, and Napoleon.
"Welcome back, Misawa, Edo," Samejima greeted. "Thank you for your continued help to get our school back to normal."
"We have done our best," Misawa nodded. Edo just curtly bowed his head. The two teachers under Samejima's command immediately took the student in the back out and up to the infirmary.
Misawa and Edo began following the two, when Samejima said, "Edo, I need to speak with you in my office."
Edo yawned loudly. "Can't it wait till tomorrow?" the pro asked slightly annoyed.
"I'm sorry, but it's rather important," Samejima told him. Edo didn't seem interested, but followed the principal in another direction. Misawa was interested in what they needed to talk about, but first had to go take his shift to watch Judai. The student ran and caught up to the teachers heading to the infirmary, and entered the elevator.
Edo followed behind Samejima as quick as possible. They entered into a private fancy looking elevator and Samejima typed in a few buttons, a code Edo presumed. The elevator rose swiftly, soon reaching the top. The door slid open revealing the principal's office. Standing behind the desk was a man with white hair and a red suit whom Edo recognized immediately.
"Pegasus J. Crawford?" Edo gaped.
"Hello, Edo-boy," the creator of Duel Monsters greeted. "How goes the tournament?"
"Could be better," the pro answered rather sheepishly.
"Oh? Not winning as many medals as you would like?"
"Mostly," the pro stated. He looked at Samejima. "OK, I know that you wouldn't take me up here just to meet my dad's former employer. What exactly is going on here?"
"Edo, do you know why I created this tournament?" Samejima inquired.
"Well, I do know that you wanted Judai and Sho to duel the new Hell Kaiser in order to turn him back to normal," Edo answered.
"That is one of the things we wanted to do, but only one of them," Pegasus cut in. "You see, I had known your father was creating the Destiny Heroes before he died, including the 'Ultimate D' card before he was murdered. I also know that somehow, that card was injected with an evil force called the 'Surge of Light'. We have been searching for that card, using this tournament in an attempt at drawing out that evil power's craving for bending people to do its bidding. We need to seal that card away, before the evil force that has been injected into it can place the world in danger."
Edo stood stunned. "If you knew…why didn't…"
"Why didn't we tell you before? We didn't want you to put yourself in danger, going out into duel after duel in an attempt to discover the card. We decided to tell you once we found the card."
"Wait, does that mean you've found it? Who has it? Is it Saiou?" Edo began hurriedly questioning.
"No, the card isn't on this island. However, we do have a lead, and even maybe even the person who does have it, Edo," Samejima told the boy.
"Who? Who is it?" Edo shouted, becoming extremely angry.
"Edo, do you know who was headlining the latest PDL Pay-Per-View event?" Pegasus asked.
"Yeah. DD, my foster father, and some no name called the Doctor Collector. Do you mean to say that Doctor Collector guy has it?"
"No. I'm sorry to say this Edo-boy. But the man who may have it…is DD," Pegasus announced sadly.
Edo stood there in silence. "No…no way…I don't believe you guys," Edo stammered. It was the first time he ever remembered being shocked since his father's sudden death.
"I'm sorry, Edo," Samejima told him, "but we have undeniable proof right here." Samejima grabbed a remote and clicked on the television. A news station appeared on the screen with a fancy looking anchorwoman.
"Tragedy struck today, in Hong Kong, at the Professional Duelist League's newest Pay-Per-View, during the main event between DD and Dr. Collector. As you can see by this screen, during the duel, as DD activates a card, the room fills with smoke, and explosions occur. Both DD and Dr. Collector have disappeared without a trace," The news reporter said.
Samejima paused the video. "So how does that tell you anything?" Edo demanded. "You can't see anything."
"Actually, it does," Samejima told him. He rewound the video a few seconds, and paused it again. He then zoomed in onto DD. "Pegasus noticed this right away. Can you see it, the white light surrounding him? I'm sure you know what that is, right?"
Edo knew. It was the same white light that surrounded Misawa back when the student had activated the Light of Ruin magic card. But what did that mean?
"Edo, I know it's hard to believe, but we need to confront him. Even if only to find out how he was infected. Remember, we have no proof other than this, so it may only be a lead," Pegasus tried to explain.
"No, I'm sure he does have it. It would explain how he has been the champion for so long," Edo quietly stated. "I have to see him." The boy turned and began walking towards the door.
"But we have no idea where he is!" Samejima called to him.
"I have a good idea. Call it a hunch, but my hunches are hardly ever wrong." And with that he walked out.
"So, do you think he has a chance?" Samejima asked.
"Indeed so," Pegasus answered. "But right now, we have bigger problems. Word is a new satellite was launched into space from an unknown source a few days ago. Does this Saiou have any extremely rich connections?"
"He does have the Manjoume Group's money, seeing as he controls the youngest of them..." Samejima answered. "But I don't know if they have enough money by themselves to pay for a satellite."
"Something seems odd about this whole deal," Pegasus said. "Do you think this Saiou may have another person behind him?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," Samejima answered.
"And what about Judai-boy, how is he doing?" Pegasus answered.
"There hasn't been any changes in his status," Samejima said sadly.
"I see. We need him to defeat this 'Surge of Light'. Edo-boy is a great duelist, but he cannot do this alone, even if he gets the Ultimate D card."
Misawa sat in his chair and yawned. He had sent Asuka and Kenzan back to their dorms, as they could barely keep their eyes open. Sho had fallen asleep, so Asuka helped carry the young duelist back to the Osiris Dorms, where they had decided to stay until they had freed everyone from the Society's influence.
Soon Ayukawa came in from the door behind him. "Misawa-kun, you don't need to stay up here. It's my job to watch over him, not yours," she told him.
"I'm alright, don't worry about me!" he immediately dismissed the teacher's worries.
"You need your rest, Misawa-kun. I'll watch him the rest of the night, go ahead and lay down over on one of those beds over there. You'll need to keep your strength up."
Misawa yawned loudly and deeply. "Well, since you put it that way…Wake me up if you need any help with anything," he told her. The student slumped over to a bed, and collapsed into it, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Asuka laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She heard the soft breathing of her brother and her two best friends, as well as her newest friend, Areka. They were all tired, too tired to stay awake. Asuka, however, was too worried to sleep. Judai hadn't given any clue or any hint that he was ok, or that he was going to wake up from his coma ever again.
'No, he's just got to wake up. He's a fighter; he wouldn't go through all the trouble to free me just so I would suffer. He will win…he has to win…' she thought. She turned over to her side and stared at the wall, memories running through her mind. Her thoughts traveled to the last time she had been extremely worried about him after a duel, after the boy's first duel with Edo.
She couldn't bear to lose the boy, not again. The last time had hurt her deeply. The boy didn't understand what was wrong with him. He showed a side of himself he had never shown before. He showed fatigue, loneliness, and sadness. The night he had run way, Asuka found herself extremely depressed, just as she was when she learned of her brother's disappearance. She walked over to Judai's favorite cliff where he'd relax. She had sat down, and sobbed silently to herself of his disappearance, hoping that it wasn't the last time they would see each other.
Now, she was back to normal, but he was still lying in his unconscious state. She turned to her back, and remembered how Judai helped free Fubuki from Kagemaru's influence. She smiled, remembering how Judai gave everything he had in order to unknowingly defeat her brother, which, in turn, released him from his 'Darkness' form.
The soft breathing of the sleeping students once again reached her ears. She felt herself being lulled into a deep sleep. She yawned once, and slipped into the alternate realm known as 'Dreamland'.
The next day, Asuka, Sho, and Kenzan ran through the hallways. They had been called by Ayukawa to meet her at the infirmary entrance. They dashed passed several students, accidentally running into one. Sho called an apology over his shoulder as they sped up their pace.
"I hope there's good news about Aniki," Sho muttered.
"Don't worry. Aniki'll pull through. He has never failed before, right?" Kenzan told them.
Asuka wasn't so sure about the news. Ayukawa sounded rather shaken as she called them over the PA System. They closed in on the infirmary, where Misawa, Fubuki, Areka, Momoe, and Junko were all waiting for them.
"Where's Edo?" Sho asked.
"Principal Samejima said he had urgent matters to take care of. What a businessman," Misawa stated, rather harshly.
The door opened, and Ayukawa stepped into the hallway. She looked fatigued and extremely disturbed. She raised her head to the students, and her already distraught face became even more worried.
"Hello, everyone," she greeted.
"Ayukawa-sensei how is Aniki?" Sho and Kenzan asked simultaneously.
"Well…he is alright. He has finally awakened from his coma…"
"REALLY?!" the two boys shouted. They burst passed the teacher into the room.
"WAIT! HE IS NOT NORMAL!" Ayukawa shouted. Suddenly, the two boys let out a high-pitched shriek, causing everyone to rush in after the two.
AJ: So, what is wrong with Judai?
Bil: Did you turn him into a monster?
AJ: NO!
Bil: …No need to snap…
AJ: -sighs- Whatever. Come and see the next chapter, Chapter 21: Faded.