CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: THAT SINKING FEELING
"Ouch!"
"Hand me the fusion laser!"
"Be careful with that! If we're off by a millimeter, we could burn the princess!"
"That's comforting!" Lynn yelled. A corner of the observatory had been cordoned off so that technicians could work on installing Lynn's new auto mail. The rest of the group was busy listening to Lynn's screams.
"Come on Lynn! It can't be that bad!" Alexis called.
"It can be a lot worse," Saria replied, turning to the Obelisk queen, "First my technicians have to remove the old hardware and then attach the new auto mail. Then they have to synch the computer system in it to the microchip that was implanted in my daughter's brain when she was given the original prototype."
"Really? There's a microchip in Lynn's brain?" Jaden asked, "That's so cool."
"It's the only way for the new arm to function. Electronic sensors in the chip transmit commands to Lynn's arm, allowing it to move. It does all this in the blink of an eye but the setup process requires that the arm and chip be synced to near perfection," The queen continued, "In order for the transmission to work, Lynn's nerves have to be hooked up to the machine parts."
"Hence the immense pain she's going through," Bastion frowned.
"Yeowch!"
"I told you to be careful with that!"
"Speaking of pain, I wonder how Zane's holding up?" Alexis asked.
"He's in the hospital wing with Atticus and Syrus. They're filling him in on what's happened," Saria replied, "I just hope Zane's not taking things too hard…"
---
"…And then you ended up here," Syrus summarized.
"I did all that?" Zane gasped, fingering the bandages around his torso.
"I'm afraid so," Atticus replied, "But just so you know, the Dark Lord card you had was the thing pushing you to do those things. Now that you don't have it anymore, it no longer has any control over you." Zane winced as he grabbed his deck from his bedside table. Staring at the Cyber End Dragon card on the bottom, his sad frown lengthened.
"I turned on my monsters, I hurt my friends, and nearly killed the person I cared about the most… How can I face her guys?" Zane groaned. Atticus played a hand on his shoulder.
"How about start by saying sorry?" Atticus offered, "Isn't that what you do first when you want to apologize?"
"I know that but will that really do any good?"
"Oh come on! Now you're starting to sound like me!" Syrus pointed out, "Quit worrying and do something already! The more you worry, the harder it is to act!" Hearing this, Zane smiled.
"Yeah, you're right," Zane agreed. Climbing out of bed, he tried to walk to the door only to fall. Syrus and Atticus quickly caught him.
"I didn't mean right away! Heal first! You'll need your strength to make things up to Lynn!"
---
"Lord Mithodo, I have bad news. Lynn Hero has claimed Draco," A Society scout reported. The evil head of the Society frowned.
"An unexpected turn of events…" Mithodo frowned.
"Lynn has enlisted the help of Dr. Eisenstein to create a portal device that will allow her to come back to Transcendtha," The scout continued, "If all goes well for them, she will be able to come here to find you and then…"
"I've heard enough," Mithodo shouted, slamming his fist against the throne, "We must prevent Miss Hero from entering our world."
"But how?"
"Easy. I've already made arrangements to take care of it." Calling up a screen, Mithodo contacted Sartorius.
"Is the dimensional transverser ready for a field test?" Mithodo asked.
"Yes sir," Sartorius replied, bowing, "It is ready to strike out against the evil ones."
"Excellent. We shall make an example of these fools. Sartorius, we shall lure Aster Phoenix into a trap. Once we unleash the power of the dimensional transverser onto the Earth, everyone there will see that there is no resisting the Society of Light!"
---
"What? Really? Who is this?" Aster demanded into his cell phone. The Pro Leaguer was sitting out on his cabin cruiser with Kai while they waited for Lynn's new auto mail to be installed.
"What's going on?" Kai whispered but Aster signaled him to be quiet.
"Are you sure about this? I have no reason to trust you. Why should I take your advice? You have a good point there. Fine," Aster sighed, hanging up his phone.
"Who was that on the phone?"
"Sartorius. He said The D has the card I'm looking for."
"You mean the ultimate Destiny Hero?"
"The one and only but I'm not sure I trust Sartorius."
"That's probably a good thing. Sartorius was the one who started this whole Society of Light mess."
"Still, this might be my only chance to find it."
"You do know this could be a trap right?"
"Gotta take the risk. It's not my style to sit back and observe. I'm going to take action."
"Alright, but I'm going with you." Aster nodded as took the helm. Kai untied the boat from the dock and the two set sail.
"So where does The D live?" Kai asked.
"He lives on a cruise ship that sails the world. When he's not defending his title, he's a relief worker. His ship brings relief supplies to disaster zones. It's these kind acts that make him very popular around the world," Aster explained.
"And his kindness and generosity make it so that you couldn't accuse him of holding the card," Kai noticed.
"The D took me in when my father disappeared. How could I suspect him?" Aster reflected, "He took me in when no one else would."
"Plenty of people would have loved to take you in. We would've if it weren't for the fact that my family is royalty. The life of a monarch is one of constant danger."
"I know that."
"It's kind of funny, talking about danger. Over the last few months, I've been put into deadly duels, been brainwashed and tried to put my own flesh and blood out of commission. Now we're going to a place that might be a trap set by the Society of Light."
"We could lose our lives."
"Or we could be brainwashed…" The two then burst into laughter.
"Yeah right! There's no one way anyone can stop us when we work together." Pulling up to the massive ship, the two ran up the gangplank.
"So did Sartorius say where we would meet The D?" Kai asked, pulling himself aboard.
"No but if I had to guess, I would say the ballroom," Aster replied.
---
"Lord Mithodo! Aster's on the ship but Kai is with him!" A grunt reported.
"Never mind the prince! Fire the transverser NOW!" Mithodo commanded, programming in the coordinates.
---
In the red sky above, a white vortex opened. Energy pulsed out of it and then shot back into it.
"What's going on?" Kai wondered, staring up at the hole.
"I don't know but I don't want to be around when it does what it's going to do!" Aster replied, heading for the nearest door. Kai quickly followed and the two burst inside the ship. Shutting the door, the two were able to get inside as a beam of white light erupted from the vortex. Striking the water, an explosion caused the seawater to erupt into the air. The geyser plowed into The D's ship and it began to rock dangerously.
"What was that?"
"I think something hit us!" The two duelists were sent flying as everything went topsy-turvy. Colliding into the back wall, the two hit their heads and fell unconscious.
---
"How you holding up Lynn?" Hassleberry asked, the technicians stepping aside. The princess was lying on a cot, the new auto mail arm ever present. Steel silver in color, it shimmered in the lights of the observatory.
"I'm exhausted. Every nerve of my body's been irritated," Lynn winced," At least it's over now."
"The installation process involved fusing the metal with Lynn's human skin – A process that's very painful," Saria recalled, "Her skin is bonded to the auto mail on a molecular level. The metal skin in the upper arm has the same properties as human skin but is ten times more durable. The rest is constructed like a machine and has several unique functions. We plan to test them as soon as your strength returns." Lynn nodded as she began to snore peacefully.
"Hey Your Majesty, did your tech boys remember to make the arm waterproof?" Jaden asked. Saria nodded.
"That wasn't the easy part. We had to synthesize the metal parts individually and make sure they could withstand water. Not to mention we had to make sure the outer casing could float. But yes, the arm is waterproofed…" But before the queen could finish her sentence, the room rocked violently.
"Hit the deck soldiers! It's an earthquake!" Hassleberry screamed, diving to the floor. Everybody else quickly followed as the ground rumbled for nearly a full minute. It then ceased and everyone slowly stood up.
"What was that?" Alexis wondered as Jaden helped her to her feet.
"It appears we were caught in an earthquake," Bastion explained, coming out from behind the computer desk, "there must have been some activity along the ocean floor."
"Probably," Lucia agreed, "But with the way things are right now, I doubt it was an act of nature."
"I don't believe this!" Eisenstein exclaimed, gazing at a computer screen, "That earthquake produced a ton of Light energy!"
"What do you mean Doc? Did the Society of Light have anything to do with this earthquake?" Hassleberry asked.
"It seems like it. A pulse of pure Light energy just shot out of the sky and hit the ocean close to the island. The shockwave from the impact was what caused the quake," Eisenstein explained.
"But the energy came out of nowhere right? How is that possible?" Saria wondered.
"It came from a dimensional transverser," Bastion replied, walking up to the group with several papers in hand, "The Society of Light has built a weapon that can strike any place in our world with Light energy."
"Wow Bastion. Are you sure?" Jaden asked. The boy genius nodded.
"The plans that Kai took from Sartorius are the schematics for this device," Bastion explained, "I just finished analyzing them and found that it draws energy from the white hole in space we were recently studying."
"Is there anything that can be done to stop this device?" Saria asked.
"I've been studying the plans and I found that the transverser is powered by a unique crystal forged from Light energy. If a crystal of reverse energy is put in instead, it'll reverse the energy. Then we can fire it into the white hole…"
"And destroy it from the inside out! Exactly what I was thinking!" Lucia grinned.
"But can such a crystal be found in this world?" Saria wondered.
"We don't have to find another crystal. We can just reverse the polarity of the energy," Bastion replied, "If I could get to the device, I should be able to take care of everything."
---
"Ugh… My head," Aster groaned. Sitting up, the pro leaguer found himself in near complete darkness. The only sources of light came from white lines lined along the ceiling of the ship.
"What happened? The last thing I remember was that vortex in the sky…" Aster recalled when he noticed Kai's unconscious form, "Oh man! Kai! Kai! Are you OK? Wake up!" The Slifer winced as he slowly came back to life.
"Some ride…" Kai moaned, opening his eyes, "Where are we Aster?"
"Still on The D's ship." Glancing out a nearby porthole, Aster was greeted with the sight of fish in water.
"And judging by the look of things, we're sinking."
"Sinking?!" Kai exclaimed, now fully aware, "The last thing I remember was an explosion and we were sent flying."
"We were hit by something from that vortex," Aster realized, "And it caused the ship to capsize!"
"Well I know we're underwater but how do you know we capsized?"
"Take a look around you." Curious, Kai looked up to see that the ceiling was lined with carpet and furniture that was bolted to the walls. Pieces of broken pottery and pictures lined the bare floor.
"I see what you mean but how come there's no water coming in?"
"I'm not sure of that myself but I do know that D retrofitted this ship with anti-sinking technology. Even though we've capsized, there's no water coming in because the emergency system kicked in and sealed all the outer doors and portholes. In short, we're safe for the moment."
"Even though we're under the water and probably sinking to our doom, that's actually kind of comforting."
"Cut the joking Kai. We're not sunk yet. If we can reach the bridge, we can try and radio for help."
"With the whole ship upside-down, this could take a while."
"Better get started."
---
"I don't know why I bother watching these fools," Mithodo reflected, gazing at several screens depicting Lynn and her friends, "But I do know this: Time's up for the Earth! Serena, open a communications channel to the people of Earth! It's time for them to face the Light!"
"At once!"
---
A flash of light erupted across the planet Earth as computer and television screens changed to depict Mithodo's face. This included the floor of the astral observatory.
"What in san hill is going on?" Hassleberry wondered, looking down at the screen.
"People of Earth, you are now looking at the new ruler of your world! I, Mithodo, have come to liberate you of all that you possess so that you may be reborn!" Mithodo announced, "But before I can do this, I must make a demand of my own. The nations of this world are to surrender all power to me. If my demand is not met within twenty-four hours, I will unleash the wrath of the Light upon you!" With that, Mithodo began to list out how to contact him. Eisenstein cut power to the floor screen.
"That tears it. We're out of time. As soon as Lynn wakes up, we head out for Transcendtha," Saria announced.
CHAPTER PREVIEW:
Alexis: We've got twenty-four hours before doomsday!
Lynn: Into Transcendtha we go! We'll use our newest weapon to get there!
Jaden: But we have a problem! Somebody's in our way!
Alexis: Serena! She's got a wall of Duel Monsters surrounding the castle!
Lynn: Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh GX Legacy of Lynn: Shutting Out The Light!
Jaden: Time to get our games on!
Lynn: We'll take the Society of Light down for good!
Jaden: And hopefully find Aster and Kai in the process!