Chapter 28 – Storms
–You have to accept the storms and the rainy days and the things in life that you sometimes don't want to face – Bai Ling
I think I'd need some time in the hospital after this one. And my Runner would be spending some time in the shop.
"I sent Ushio, Luca and Lua ahead of me," Yusei announced as he rode alongside me. "And Crow went to get Jack."
"Crow," I hummed the name. I'd have preferred to meet him in a non-life threatening situation.
"Yeah," Yusei affirmed, "I sent him to check up on Jack. Hopefully they won't take too long to get to the final reactor."
"Amusement parks are supposed to be fun," I mumbled as the final location came into sight. I wondered just how far along Aki's duel with Misty was. I glanced at the lizard hieroglyph and then at my arm. I sensed that Aki hadn't lost herself to her psychic powers. That was good news. But her emotions were all about the place. There was grief and anger and fear and…doubt – nothing good could come of that.
Both Yusei and I pulled up to two Public Security vehicles – one belonged to Mikage while the other belonged to Ushio. I sighed in relief – the twins had arrived safely. I couldn't wait to see them.
I got off of my D-wheel as quickly as I could and removed my helmet. Yusei did the same. We shared a glance before we both made a beeline towards the duelling area.
"We don't have long," Yusei declared tensely, "The sun's setting."
"Not helping," I panted as my pace increased. I really shouldn't have been going so fast. I couldn't wait 'til we were clear of the danger so that I could pass out…for a few days.
My eyes gave a cursory glance to the surroundings. It was weird having a place so usually filled with life so devoid of people.
The Arcadia Movement had caused the death of Misty's younger brother, Toby.
Divine had caused the death of Misty's younger brother. Which meant that Toby's death…was her fault as well.
At the time, she hadn't cared when the bright eyes boy had come to her. So many others had come to revere her – she was…she had been Arcadia's best. She had told him the same thing she had told all the others.
"Just listen to Divine." She had told him. "Just do as Divine says."
He had wanted to be like her. She had been who she was because of Divine, so it had been the logical course of action – sending him to Divine.
But…it seemed as if…no, not 'seem' – she had sent him to his death.
(Was that the case for any of those others – those boys and those girls – that she sent to the Arcadia Movement's leader?)
Just how many lives had she destroyed?
"Too many," she answered within herself. Her power ebbed beneath her skin as she slowly began to lose the tight reign she held on it. Aki clutched her head as her breathing became more frantic, panicked.
Truthfully she hadn't thought of that before – the number of persons' lives she'd ruined. She hadn't wanted to. After all, who would want to think of themselves as a murderer?
Who would want to think of themselves…as a monster?
Despair.
That was the feeling that I felt from Aki. Despair was never a good thing. Despair meant that there was no hope. And if Aki had no hope, then she'd already lost the duel…and her soul.
"Skylar! Up ahead!"
I looked to where Yusei heeded and both he and I came to an abrupt halt. We watched as a wall of purple embers danced and raged before us. I'd almost forgotten that we were outside of the Dark Signer's seal.
How were we expected to get over? I bit my bottom lip in contemplation.
"Maybe we could go back for our Runners and jump it?" My nose crinkled and I furrowed my brows. "Why did we leave our Runners? We could have easily ridden them inside."
My mind would have strayed further – I got distracted by simple nuances too often truly – if Yusei hadn't suddenly grabbed onto my arm. My eyes widened when he suddenly began moving forward, pulling me along with him.
I instinctively dug my heels in the ground beneath and tugged back. "What are you doing?" I asked trying to quell the panic in my voice. "We can't just walk through fire," I informed him. Thus far neither of us (none of the Signers in fact) had had any good or less than painful experiences with the eerie purple flames.
Yusei gazed at me resolutely, before he held up his arm. The Crimson Dragon's mark shone in all its glory. "I have a feeling that the Crimson Dragon will protect us. We can make it through."
I blinked owlishly. "A feeling," I repeated. To say that I sounded incredulous would be about as accurate a description as any.
But Yusei didn't rebut. He didn't roll his eyes or look affronted. Instead he held out his hand towards me. "Do you trust me?" he asked seriously, "I need you to trust me."
I groaned. Of course I'd end up in one of these 'Trust' moments.
"We don't have much time Skylar," Yusei pressed, "Aki needs us."
Naturally Yusei was able to feel the same thing that I was feeling. Aki's fighting spirit was nigh empty. She was becoming more and more lost. She was closing in on herself fast.
I sighed as I gripped Yusei's hand (I vaguely noted that this was at least the second time I found myself literally hand in hand with Yusei). He nodded before he turned and began moving forward once again.
My grip on Yusei's hand tightened the closer we got to the flames. Was the Crimson Dragon's power strong enough to allow us passage through the soul sucking embers?
It was to my extreme relief when as soon as that question flitted across my mind, a bright red dome suddenly encompassed Yusei and I.
I let out a sigh of relief when we safely passed through the line of intense blaze. When the dome faded, after we had moved a small distance away from our entry point, I glanced back curiously.
I had literally just walked through fire…Huh…This was certainly one for the books.
Yusei gave my arm a final tug, bringing me back to the matter at hand, before he let go of my hand and started advancing. I followed close behind him and we soon saw the beginnings of what looked like an activated field spell.
As we approached the dome, the Aki's form slowly became more and more visible. Only, she was crouched to the floor and looked every bit of panicked as my Signer mark conveyed. The fiery Aki seemed to be going through a major mental breakdown.
As Yusei and I finally came to a stop, just outside of the crystallized dome (I didn't think that it was wise for us to get too close to the dueling field), I observed Aki's body quaking violently.
"Crap."
There was no way she could win in such a condition.
"Aki!" I yelled. I watched as her head snapped towards me, towards us, her blood red hair whipped around her.
"Skylar, Yusei," she called out, her voiced sounded broken, desperate.
"You need to get up and duel Aki!" Yusei spoke to her.
"I-I can't," she sobbed. "I can't fight Misty!"
Aki looked away from us and grabbed her head.
"You can't give up Aki!" Yusei insisted.
"You don't understand!" Aki yelled at her, "She has good reason to b-blame me. I'm the reason her brother is dead! I killed him!"
"That's right!" Misty seethed, sneering at Aki. "You took my brother from me. I won't let you live." I could tell that Misty was gearing up for her next move. But Aki couldn't defend herself as she was.
I studied Aki's side of the field. She only had two monsters on her side – both were in defence mode, not that they seemed as if they'd be up to par with Misty's dragon in their attack mode.
"This is the end," Misty declared, "I activate the Permanent Magic, Advance Force, from my hand!"
My stomach dropped as a foreboding sense increased.
"This card's effect will allow Bad End Queen Dragon to serve as a monster that will count for two releases!"
"Aki, get up!" Yusei too knew what was coming.
"O God which resuscitated my life! Now, I offer my soul!" Misty's reptilian monster became enveloped in a violet light, before it rose above the field. "Descend forth, Earthbound God Ccarayhua!"
My heart began beating a mile a minute as the numerous warning bells in my head went off as they usually did whenever such dark creatures were summoned. The ball of light faded and an all too familiar heart shaped structure became visible. Soon, the shape burst and both Yusei and I had to shield our eyes.
When the light disappeared the ground beneath us began to shake violently and amidst the increasingly intense amethyst inferno, the green accentuated Earthbound Immortal – Misty's Immortal – emerged from beneath the ground.
A loud, guttural roar pierced the atmosphere as the lizard-like God appeared. It was sinister in every sense of the word. For Aki, she had fallen back onto her butt and she stared at the monster before her.
This was dangerous, even more so – Aki didn't seem as if she were ready to fight back as yet.
"All I need to do is attack you directly!" Misty voiced with wicked delight.
"This can't happen like this!"
It truly looked as if Aki was going to lose. I racked my brain as it grasped at every bit of helpful memory it could pick up quick enough. I had to stop Misty's onslaught. I had to distract her.
It was when Misty looked as if she were about to command her Earthbound God to attack, that something in my mind clicked.
"Misty wait!" I blurted out. A part of me hissed at me to stop, before I put myself in even more danger but I continued nonetheless.
"Aki is innocent!" I declared. At that statement, the very air around us seemed to chill by at least 50°C. I felt all eyes on me – Misty's especially were boring into me with a hateful kind of intensity.
I clenched my teeth. Here goes nothing.
"Divine is the one who's responsible for your brother's death!" I hollered. "He killed your brother and pinned it on Aki!"
It was unexpectedly quiet when I was finished. But then the ground shook.
"How dare you lie and try to save this witch?!" Misty growled.
"Skylar," Yusei warned from beside me. I understood what he was warning against. It wasn't that he didn't believe me – once again I didn't know why is was that Yusei seemed to believed what I said so much (and it was interesting what he could convey with just simply saying my name) – he recognized how volatile the situation was. He was advising me to tread lightly.
I only wished I knew how to do that.
"I'm not lying!" I replied vehemently, "I'm not an ordinary Signer – I'm a Disciple of the Crimson Star." I held up my right arm for good measuring, showing the different pattern that glowed there. "I've always been able to see possible futures so I know a lot of things that the others don't, and what happened to your brother is one of those things."
I was making it up as I went along. I felt as if I were making myself out to be a hyped-up Oracle. But thank Kami that Misty seemed to be paying attention.
I continued my spiel.
"In one of those futures I saw Divine confess to killing your brother!"
I fished in the recesses of my mind to find something that would convince her. My eyes widened as they recalled something more.
"His name was Toby right? He died about a year ago when Divine was experimenting on him. He couldn't take the experimentation. He was too weak."
"D-Divine?!" Misty asked, shocked. "I-it was him? How, how is that possible?!" Misty all but screamed at me.
I opened my mouth to reply, when Yusei gripped at my shoulder. "That's enough Skylar," he muttered.
I shook my head and tried to be as discreet as I could. Though Misty looked lost (she was most likely trying to come to terms with what I had revealed – she was deciding if she would truly believe me) she could return her attention to me at any moment.
"See if you can get closer to Aki," I spoke without turning my head. "She needs to snap out of whatever trance she's in. She can still win."
Yusei's hold lingered for a while before my shoulder was finally released. I sensed more than saw him move away from me. I sighed. If anyone could get Aki to open her eyes – it'd be Yusei.
I swallowed thickly. I had to buy him more time. "Your brother's death was covered up. Divine killed him and then willingly allowed Aki to take the blame. She was as much of a puppet as your brother was!"
A deathly stillness settled before Misty exploded.
"My brother was no puppet!"
What happened next happened so fast that I barely had time to get out my next breath. The Earthbound God's tongue rapidly stretched from out of its mouth to wrap around me. It was as if I were a rag-doll. I didn't even have time to tense because after a matter of seconds, I was being held in the air by the tongue of a monster.
"Skylar!" I knew that those voices weren't just Yusei's and Aki. The twins were no doubt watching from somewhere safe. Too bad that they may just witness their Babysitter get eaten.
"What do you think you're doing Misty!?" came Yusei's outraged exclamation. "All she did was tell the truth!"
"Take it back!" Misty demanded, completely ignoring Yusei.
I was now directly above her. The Immortal's tongue had stretched across an impressive distance…at least it would have been more impressive if I wasn't fearing for my life at this point.
"You don't have to worry about revenge," I said through clenched teeth as I struggled against my bond. My struggles proved futile as the appendage tightened around me. But I needed to do what I could to stall for time. The longer I remained uneaten the better.
"That day in the Arcadia building. I saw him die," I blurted out.
More like I left him to die. Seeing as he hadn't been here to interfere in Aki's duel, he probably had died. Any guilt I felt was second place at the moment though. I could end up with broken bones at the blink of an eye.
"How am I expected to avenge my brother?!" Misty bellowed. I didn't have an answer for her. I really didn't know what else I could say.
Yusei hadn't wanted to leave Skylar. He hadn't wanted to leave her to stand and talk to Misty. Yusei learnt that Skylar had the tendency of ending up in trouble, even though she went out of her way to avoid such.
But she had been right. This duel needed to end and end now, and Aki was the only one who could do that. If only she snapped out of whatever dark and detrimental depression she had fallen into.
He hadn't known of the story between the two of them – Aki and Misty. Yusei hadn't understood the unadulterated loathing that Misty held for Aki. But after hearing Skylar admit what she had – it had put things into perspective.
It had been Divine who had caused the death of Misty's brother. The man saw people with psychic abilities as mere tools. Aki and Toby (and so many other nameless persons) had only been puppets in an insane man's bid to accomplish his selfish plans.
It grated on his nerves – the idea of people being used and thrown away so easily. Much more value was ascribed to human life than that.
Ultimately, Aki had been walking around with a guilt that was not her own. She was a victim. As was Toby, as was Misty.
Yusei ran to Aki, stopping then crouching in front of her. Her brown irises were wide and full-blown as if she was stuck within some kind of daze. He reached for her shoulders and gave them a firm squeeze.
"Aki! Snap out of it!" he spoke to her, his voice conveying the urgency of the moment. "I'm not sure how long Skylar can keep Misty busy. We need you to wake up."
"Yusei…" she mumbled.
"None of what Misty said was true," he felt the need to reaffirm those words. "It's not your fault her brother died. You're innocent."
Aki's eyes slowly regained their light as the red-headed duelist became more and more aware of her surroundings. She groaned as she clenched her eyes shut for a brief moment.
"Yusei," she spoke as a hand went to grasp at the side of her head.
Skylar's voice echoed across the field once more. "Your brother's death was covered up. Divine killed him and then willingly allowed Aki to take the blame. She was as much of a puppet as your brother was!"
Aki's body gave a startled shudder and she probably would have fallen backwards if Yusei didn't have a firm hold on her shoulders.
"I-is that r-really true?" Aki stuttered out. Yusei gave no verbal replay, just a solemn nod of his head before he shifted his focus towards the two other females that were present. Misty had gone unnervingly quiet. Yusei tensed.
And for good reason, for it was then that Misty exploded.
"My brother was no puppet!"
It was at that outraged declaration, that Misty's Earthbound God launched its tongue at Skylar, wrapping it around her and picking her up.
"Skylar!"
Yusei released his hold on Aki's shoulder as he stood abruptly. "What do you think you're doing Misty!?" he exclaimed. "All she did was tell the truth!"
In all honesty, he understood why she was so angry, but that didn't give her permission to hurt his friends.
His fists clenched at his sides when Misty gave no indication of hearing him. He watched as Skylar dangled above the monster Lizard's jowl. He hadn't thought the situation could have gotten even more dangerous.
Yusei's mind raced as he tried to think of a way to get Misty to release Skylar and safely.
"How am I expected to avenge my brother?!" Misty screamed. The Dark Signers had all been born out their own needs for vengeance. What Misty could be feeling now that she found out that her vengeance had been misplaced.
Now she knew that Aki had nothing to do with Toby's death. But the man responsible for it seemed to have already been taken out of this world. Yusei watched as Skylar struggled against the giant lizard's tongue.
"Misty, let Skylar go!" Yusei's gaze snapped towards Aki, who had been the one to speak out, before he returned his gaze to the dangling Skylar. It seemed as Aki was finally beginning to get her head in the game. "She's got nothing to do with this."
"Fine you want her?" Misty sneered. But it was plain to both Yusei and Aki that it was no longer Misty who stood before them. Yusei had seen it before, he'd felt it before – that sinister feel that came with a Wicked God taking over its host completely.
"Take her," Misty hissed and with that Skylar was thrown in their general direction.
"Dark Verdure go!" Aki ordered her plant-like monster to advance. It's two large leaves stretched forth and caught Skylar before she could collide with anyone.
Yusei glanced at Aki briefly before his eyes flitted to the descending monster. Aki…had become so different from the girl he had first duelled against in the Fortune Cup. That Aki had been a doll – a puppet. But this Aki – he watched the fire that danced in her eyes – this Aki was radiant.
"Yusei, you need to get Skylar away from here."
"Right," he acquiesced with a firm nod. There was no questioning the resolve in her voice. Approaching Skylar, Yusei helped her up from the monster's grip.
"Are you alright?" he asked as his eyes swept over her form.
She gave a nod as she clutched her back. "I am so over this whole hostage-kidnap thing," she groaned.
Yusei's lips quirked upwards despite their situation.
Only Skylar.
I stumbled over my feet as I followed Yusei. No doubt he was seeking cover from the remainder of duel. Being fresh out of a duel with a Dark Signer, I really didn't want to stay anywhere near either of the dueling females and get involved even more than I already had.
"Yusei! Nii-san!" Lua's voice hollered. I turned my gaze upwards to see Lua, Luca (Thank Kami they looked largely okay from what I could see) Ushio and Mikage waving at us from the behind the railing of a stone platform just outside of the glass dome that covered the duel field.
I gave a huge sigh of relief as Yusei and I made our way to the staircase that led up to the platform. I had barely made it to the top, when two blue-green headed bungles quickly attached themselves to my midriff.
I smiled happily as my arms closed around them in turn. It felt like forever since I had last saw them. These last few hours had felt more like days than anything else.
"You guys are actually a safe enough distance away," I quipped by way of greeting.
Lua raised his head to stare at me unimpressed. "Really Nii-san?"
I gave a hapless shrug as Luca giggled.
"This is all heartfelt and all but in case you haven't noticed," Ushio interrupted as he gestured towards the duel field, "Destructive duel underway."
The twins and I parted but I didn't turn my attention to the duel. Instead, I turned my gaze towards the sky.
The sun had almost disappeared beyond the horizon.
Feed.
It needed to feed.
And he had waited long enough.
His coming would no longer be forestalled.
The Crimson Dragon and all who stood against him would burn.
I watched tense as the violent winds whipped up by the effect of Aki's Black Rose Dragon. All cards on the field would be destroyed but thanks to the effect of Aki's spell Shining Rebirth, if things went well then Black Rose Dragon would be the only card on the field. It was a useful effect if one knew how to use it, and as the Dragon card was Aki's key monster – of course she had many winning combos with it at the helm already planned out.
"Black Rose Gale," Aki declared her attack, "Destroy Earthbound God Ccarayhya!"
Of course the dark spirit that had overshadowed Misty wouldn't go down without a fight.
"I activate the trap card, Death Gazer!"
"Not good. If Aki-san gets hit with that card, she'll lose 300 points for every card destroyed," Ushio informed the rest of us. I wasn't really surprised. He was Public Security and he'd have more knowledge of cards and their effects than most persons.
"Maybe he could have been a play-by-play announcer for duel matches?"
I dispelled the idle thought just in time to see Aki counter with a trap of her own.
"Trap card, open! Reflect Nature!"
"Alright!" Lua cheered. And for good reason. What that trap card did was send all the damage that she would have received back to Misty.
I sighed in relief as I watched Misty get hit with 2100 points of damage. That meant that her life points would be at zero and the duel – the final Dark Signer duel would finally be over.
As Lua, Luca, Yusei, Ushio and Mikage made their way down to Aki – the lizard-like Earthbound Immortal had dissolved, disappeared with a wanton screech…the duel field and Misty had disappeared as well – I followed behind them at a more sedate pace.
"Aki won. But…"
I raised my head. The dense and sombre clouds was enough of an indication of what was to come, even if no one aside from me had realized it yet. The sun had set, but the Tower had yet to be closed.
Aki had won. But it was too little too late.
The ground beneath us shook violently.
A golden beam of light suddenly originated from where Neo Domino City was and another geoglyph – that of a condor – became as a beacon in the shadowy sky.
"What going on here?!" Mikage exclaimed as she looked amongst us frantically. Of course she hadn't expected for anything to happen in the City.
"That is the Condor geoglyph," I announced through grit teeth. "And we are in a world of trouble."
"Is this because we didn't make it before the sun went down?" Luca turned to me.
I opened my mouth to reply, but the sound of someone hollering Yusei's name interrupted me, as did the sound of D-wheel engines. We all shifted our gaze to the source of the noise and I saw the Runners of both Jack Atlas and one Crow Hogan. Both D-wheelers came to an abrupt stop a few feet ahead of our group. And so the gang was all here.
"What is that?" Jack demanded.
Crow's eyes flitted over our group before they rested on Aki. "Seems like you won the duel, but why does everything look like this?" Crow asked.
Suddenly, a searing pain pulsed through my head.
'Feed.'
I gave a staggered cry as I clutched my head and fell to my knees. I felt more than saw the mark on my arm begin to flare up.
"Skylar/Nii-san!" I heard numerous voices cry. The voices sounded alarmed and alarmingly distant.
'I am come.'
Suddenly the earth began to shake, that or whoever had crouched down to clutch my arms was trying to shake me out of this pain induced trance.
My vision blurred and I saw without seeing – something intense and sinister and it was overwhelming and suffocating and it promised nothing but darkness and DesolationMiseryAnguish.
The doors of the underworld were open – and its King was making its way to the world of the living. But this world wouldn't remain of the living if the King was allowed to roam. Destruction would surely come.
Death would surely come.
Even as the earthquake abated, violent tremors ran through my body.
Suddenly my head was captured within a steady grip – at least I think it was.
"Sky–…tell…what's wrong," Yusei's voice – that was his I was sure, but it sounded…warped. I felt smaller hands on my shoulders. I think Lua and Luca were trying to say something to me. But I couldn't quite make out what it was. I was losing touch with my surroundings and I was focusing more and more on the imminent presence of one, solitary being.
"The K-king o-of the Underworld."
A threatening shriek pierced the atmosphere.
The King of the Underworld.
.
.
.
.
"He is come."
Word Count: 4536
A/N: The next chapter is the last of the Dark Signer Arc. I initially hadn't meant to do as much of Aki's duel with Misty as I did. But I realized I had to seeing as Divine is currently...indisposed. Misty had to find out the truth somehow and Sky was her best bet. I apologize for any mistakes in/choppiness of the chapter. I really wanted to get rid of this chapter.
With the DS Arc coming to a close I'm really looking forward to writing about the Pre-WRPG and WRPG Arc - a lot of character development is going to go down. With that said I have a few questions:
How many of you guys would like to see YuseixSkylar? And are you thinking of any other pairings? Or should I keep it Gen? Let me know.
And another question: Anybody interested in seeing Skylar in Yu-gi-oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time? I plan on doing it either way (surprise), but I am curious about what y'all think.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed/viewed/favourited/followed!
Constructive criticism/comments/questions/suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
U.P.: Sign Out
