A/N: I OWN NO PART YU GI OH 5DS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS! THE ONLY THING I OWN ARE MY OCS!
Chapter 38: Time Hopping
Jayla stood as if she was a ghost. Transparent to the eyes but she could feel the heat of the surrounding fire and sweat dripped down her face. She watched her surroundings go up in flames by attacking dragons. And at the center of the attacks, a figure jumped across the rooftops dodging attack after attack. One barely missed him before he jumped through a building window.
He fell out of the smoke and landed on the ground. It was a boy seeming to be in an old Duel Academy uniform. "Those were some close calls," he said. He noticed Rainbow Dragon flying over and its mouth filled with power to attack. "Uh oh, and I have a feeling they're about to get closer."
It shot the attack at Jaden who placed Neos on his duel disk. Neos became real and blocked the attack with his arms crossed like Jaden's, much to Jayla's shock. He glared at the masked man standing on a roof behind the dragons.
"Jaden Yuki, the duelist who they say can speak with the spirits," the man said.
"I see my reputation precedes me," Jaden responded.
Jayla noticed aspirit show himself next to Jaden. "So he's the one behind all of this destruction," the spirit commented.
"I'd say so, Baron, and it's pretty impressive too. I mean, wow. Bringing all of these duel monsters to real life?" Jaden responded.
Another spirit that Jayla recognized as a rare card called Yubel then showed herself. "Don't get too excited. He is trying to destroy you with them after all," she said.
"Jaden, I've finished what I came here to do," the masked man said.
"Say what?" Jaden retorted.
"Say goodbye. Because I plan on finishing you off as well," the man said.
The man pulled out a card that lit up. A tower of light landed in front of Jayla and Jaden. "Uh oh, whatever's coming I doubt it's good," Jaden said.
It shocked Jayla as her Stardust Dragon took to the field. "Stardust Dragon?!" Era exclaimed.
"Farewell, Jaden!" the man exclaimed.
. . .
I bolted to a sit-up position. I felt cold sweat dripping down my face. 'What… was that?' I thought. 'Who was that guy? Why did he have Stardust Dragon? And why was he attacking that boy?'
"You doing okay?" came Yusei's voice.
Jayla turned to see him sitting on the window sill. She had forgotten she went to sleep on the couch that night after working up a bit late.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.
"More bad dreams?" he questioned.
"Yeah, they're usually the same about the Zero Reverse incident," Jayla began looking down.
"But this one was different," Yusei replied. "It was about a masked man attacking a boy by the name of Jaden Yuki."
"Okay, how did you know that?" she asked.
"Jack and Crow asked me to see what you were dreaming the passed two nights to let me try to help," Yusei explained.
"And you actually agreed to that? Aren't dreams like personal?" Jayla retorted.
"It's different for a god, Jayla. For us, if we're asleep, dreams from mortals that we're close to will invade our own," Yusei replied shocking her. "Even if I hadn't purposely done so, I would've still seen your dreams. Along with a mix of the twins, Akiza, Jack, and Crow."
"Do you like that ability?" Jayla asked getting up.
"Sometimes it's a good thing to have," Yusei replied. "Like now. But other times, you want to shut it down. Which is pretty much all the time except recently."
"I guess I understand then," Jayla responded. "I'm heading to the Overlook. Want to come?"
Yusei shrugged. "Why not?" he replied and they took off silently.
When they arrived at the Overlook and leaned on the railing, it was silent for a few minutes. After a bit, though, Jayla slowly asked, "Yusei, do you know anything about that Masked Man? Like who he was or how he got my Stardust Dragon?"
"I honestly don't," Yusei replied. "I've studied just about every thread in the Room of Threads, and I've never come across a thread that is attached to him. Not even a remote similarity in past or present."
"Then how can he exist?" Jayla asked.
"I don't know," he replied. "The only logical answer would be he is from the future from another timeline or from a future the gods haven't seen yet. Either way, though, it isn't good."
They heard duel runners pull up but didn't pay give them any attention at the moment.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Jayla responded, though she was also trying to reassure herself. "I know neither of us will let that happen."
"You still having bad dreams, Jayla?" Crow asked as he and Jack walked up behind us.
They turned to the two other men. "If only they were just dreams," she replied.
"But it was so long ago and New Domino's rebuilt itself since your father's research was compromised," Crow retorted.
"Right. You need to stop trying to change things that can't be changed. The past is past, and you need to let it go and embrace the future," Jack said.
"It's true. And you know, if I agree with Jack, I must really mean it," Crow agreed.
"I know what'll make you feel better," Jack said. He tossed Jayla her helmet.
"Come on, guys. Let's ride," Crow said.
"Alright," Jayla said with a grin. Yusei nodded with a small grin himself. He took to the air while the others got on their runners and drove off. As they drove, Yusei heard it. The scraping of metal on concrete. Yusei looked behind them followed by Jayla.
"I've never seen that duel runner before," Jack commented as the duel runner came into view behind them.
"Or the duelist that's driving it," Crow added.
The unknown rider flashed his lights signaling a challenge. "I don't believe it. He's challenging us to a duel," Jack said.
"If it's a duel he wants, it's a duel he'll get," Jayla said.
"Just don't use Stardust Dragon," Yusei reminded her.
"Why not, Yusei?" Crow asked.
"He wants Jayla's Stardust Dragon," he answered.
"How you know that is uncertain to me. But we'll see how good she is without that dragon," the man said with a laugh.
"I'm not going to let you take my dragon," Jayla told the masked man. "So don't bother trying."
"We'll see about that," the man said.
"Duel Mode engaged," said the voice as the duel began.
(A/N: Since the movie (or show bit or whatever you want to call it) doesn't show most of the duel, I'll skip to the end like it.)
An explosion knocked dust around as Jayla made an attack. She had Junk Synchron (Attack 1300/ Defense 500) in defense mode and Nitro Warrior (Attack 2800/ Defense 1800) in attack mode. She also had two face downs as well, and her life points stood at 1800.
The masked man had no monsters and two face downs himself. His life points stood at 2400.
"Why don't you bring out that Stardust Dragon? I know you want to," the masked man taunted.
"Because I'm not going to let you take it," Jayla retorted. "Now I think I'll finish this by attacking you with Nitro Warrior!" The man laughed.
"Why is he laughing?" Crow asked worried.
"I think we're about to find out," Yusei replied.
"I activate the trap Negate for Reward! This card negates your attack and allows me to pick a monster from your extra deck and summon it to the field," the man explained.
"What?!" Jayla exclaimed. The man laughed. "I activate Trap Jammer! This negates your trap and destroys it."
"Nope, in addition to its effect, it also negates the activation of all trap and spell cards," the masked man informed. "And I think I'll summon your Stardust Dragon!"
The man laughed as Stardust Dragon was forced to the field. It looked at Jayla and Yusei with begging eyes. The man brought out a blank card.
"What's the blank card for?" Jayla wondered.
It shot out a stream of four sided, card shaped light. Suddenly a sphere of torrential wind surrounded Stardust Dragon, creating a shield. The attack quickly hit the wind shield and pressed on against it. "What's this?!" the masked man exclaimed.
"Yusei!" Jayla called. "Yusei, be careful! You even told us that it will take a month or two before all that energy you lost is regained."
"I know, Jayla," he responded. And it was true. It was taking a lot of his power and energy to fight this force trying to nab Stardust, and he didn't want to use his Archaic Energy at the moment. Not with an enemy like this Masked Man watching.
But the shield began to bend and give in to the force of the card due to his low low energy.
"Jack, what's going on?" Crow asked his friend.
"I don't know," he replied.
Jayla's dragon began to beat its wings against the card pushing it back further. The man growled and his head shot forward. The card seemed to gain power and it became too much for Stardust Dragon and Yusei. The shield collapsed and Stardust Dragon was engulfed in a sphere made of thousands of cards.
"Stardust!" Jayla called.
The sphere glowed, swallowing her dragon before the sphere drained back into the blank card. Once it was completely in the card, it became a darker colored version of Stardust Dragon.
"What did…?! Stardust Dragon it's…!" Jack stuttered shocked.
"It's gone! It's stolen!" Crow exclaimed.
"But how?" Jayla asked.
"A great many things are possible," the man called to Jayla as he drove up beside her. "And now that I have the mighty Stardust Dragon, the demise of this era and time is one of those things."
"Who are you?" Yusei demanded angrily flying up. The man laughed. He drove off faster than possible before disappearing in a flash of light.
Jayla pulled to a stop and the others followed with Yusei landing on the ground. "Stardust…" she trailed off sadly looking at her now empty card.
"Okay, let's head back to the garage. We need to talk about what just happened," Jack said.
Yusei looked down sadly. 'I couldn't protect it. I'm sorry, Jayla, Stardust,' he thought. He then followed his Signer friends as they headed back to the garage.
. . .
Crow, Yusei, Jack, and Jayla stood in the garage. "Will someone tell me what just happened?" Jack asked.
"I would but I don't know myself," Crow responded.
"I still can't believe he took Stardust," Jayla commented.
"The way he did so doesn't add up, either," Yusei added.
"Hey, guys," came Akiza's voice. They looked up and saw her, Leo, and Luna entering.
"No offense, guys, but this really isn't the best time for a social call," Jack said.
"Who ever said this was social, Jack? We happen to be here on business," Leo retorted.
"Business? What's up?" Yusei asked.
"Leo and I were searching duel monsters history when we found this," Luna said handing Jayla a handle. He pressed a button and it showed an article of Yugi, his grandfather, and Maximillion Pegasus.
"Hey, I recognize that guy," Crow said.
"I should hope so. That's Maximillion Pegasus the chairman of Industrial Illusions," Jack responded. "He's the creator of duel monsters."
"And look who's next to him," Crow said.
"Yugi Muto, the King of Games himself. They say he's the best duelist to have ever picked up a deck," Jayla said.
"Doesn't look so tough to me. But how could you with that dated haircut? But I admit, he's a dueling legend. What I would give to see Yugi duel back in his day," Jack said. "I'm sure you were able to, Yusei, at least from the Divine Realm." The god merely shrugged.
"This is what you wanted to show us?" Jayla asked the twins.
Yusei was silent. He didn't like this feeling he was getting. Something bad was happening at the moment, and he wanted to know what.
"No scroll over to the next page," Akiza said.
Jayla did so and everyone gasped. "Wait, Stardust Dragon?!" she exclaimed.
"But that card didn't exist back then," Jack said.
"Exactly our point," Leo said.
Crow turned back to the article. "The article says that these dragons appeared one day and blasted all of Europe," Crow read.
"But I don't remember hearing about this. And this is a major historical event," I said.
"That's just it. This is new history. Somehow the past has changed," Akiza said.
"Wait," Jayla called. He tapped the screen. The masked duelist stood in the background tall and confident. "It's that duelist from before. The one who took Stardust Dragon." She turned to Yusei.
A crumbling sound was heard from outside taking their attention. They looked out the window. Black ash slowly fell from the sky like snow.
"What's going on outside?" Akiza asked.
They ran out, Yusei reaching outside first since he phased through the window. "Oh no," the god stated grimly.
"I don't like the looks of this, guys," Jack commented bluntly as we saw the building slowly crumble and vanish.
"Leo, what's happening?" Luna asked scared.
"Our city's vanishing," Leo answered.
"But why?" Akiza asked.
"Maybe I've seen one too many movies, but whenever something changes in the past, doesn't it also somehow change the future?" Jack guessed.
"Yeah, so?" Crow replied.
"If the past has changed that would mean that…" Jayla trailed off.
"The masked man was telling the truth. Our era, our period in time is meeting its end," Yusei finished. The others looked at him.
Everyone's mark then lit up bright. The Signers' marks transferred to Jayla imprinting the Mark of the Crimson Dragon on her back.
"It's the Mark of the Crimson Dragon," Akiza said looking at the mark.
"And Jayla's powers are surging through his duel runner too," Leo commented as they saw a glow around her runner. She felt a presence calling to her and saw the Crimson Dragon next to Jayla's runner. The others were quick to notice as well.
"Jayla, Futen, you must hurry!" he told them telepathically. They nodded.
Jayla got on her duel runner while Yusei took to the air.
"What're you doing?" Akiza asked.
"I'm not sure but we need to go somewhere," Jayla answered.
As they either drove or flew, the Crimson Dragon appeared before the two of them.
"I don't know where you're taking us but if it's somewhere that'll give us a chance to stop this, lead the way," Jayla told the fiery dragon. He roared and Yusei and Jayla entered a tunnel of light before disappearing.