SHONEN ALLIANCE

CHAPTER 49

A Terrible Tale

FATE OF THE ALLIANCE

Clare sat quietly in the basement lab. Both Yugi and Moka had fallen asleep, but she couldn't seem to do the same. Something didn't feel right about the way Trunks was acting, but she didn't know what. Finally, she decided she needed to know and went to find Trunks. She found him in another wing of the lab, working on some kind of machine.

"What is this?" she asked curiously approaching Trunks from behind.

"It's called a Duel Runner. My company, Capsule Corp, is one of the leading producers of them in the world," Trunks replied, "I'm guessing you didn't come here because you wanted to chat about what my company makes. What's on your mind, Clare."

"I want to know, what happened after we disappeared. You said its been 30 years since we vanished. What happened in that time?" Clare asked.

"I thought you might ask that," Trunks said sighing, "sit down Clare. It's a long story." He walked away from the Duel Runner he was working on and motioned to two chairs across the room. Clare followed him and sat down in one of the chairs. Trunks sat in the other.

"I don't even know where to begin, but I guess right after you vanished is as good a place as any," Trunks declared, "You three disappeared after Yugi deflected an attack that Dordan had fired at Teresa. Well, we were all so confused after it happened, that we were to slow to realize that Dordan was still around. He killed Teresa before any of us could stop him."

"What did you say?" Clare asked dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry Clare… right after you vanished, Dordan killed Princess Teresa," Trunks declared looking away from Clare. Clare was dumbfounded for several seconds so Trunks continued. "You can't blame yourself. There was nothing you could do for her. Unfortunately, it only got worse from there. The six remaining Princesses were devastated by the loss of their oldest living sister, as were a lot of our friends by you three's disappearance. Renee was the worst. You knew how she was. Always so willful and hotheaded. She let all her feelings of remorse drive her to the point of madness. Then… she assaulted the Dark One himself. The battle didn't last long…" Trunks said trailing off. After a few moments he continued. "Ichigo tried to stop her. He did everything he could to save her life, but… in the end… the Dark One got him too!" Clare gripped her chair's armrest tightly and stared at the ground. Teresa… Renee… Ichigo… they were all….

"I wish that were the end of it, but it wasn't. Without their knights to protect them, it was only a matter of time before Valeria and Rinoa went down too. They got Isabella next. Naruto went down trying to protect her. It was terrible. Those of us who survived watched our friends be picked off one by one," Trunks declared, his voice showing both rage and sadness.

"Naruto too?" Clare stuttered in utter disbelief.

"Yeah. Of the seven knights, only Goku and Luffy survived. They took Flora and Silphia and managed to escape into space. Last I heard, they're still out there, trying to gather new warriors in order to try to take back our world, but honestly, it doesn't look promising."

"Take back our world?" Clare asked, "Trunks… what do you…?"

"He's won, Clare. The Dark One's beaten us. He's taken down all but a few of us. Those of us who are left have either gone underground like I have, disappeared, or given up entirely!" Trunks said angrily, "not long after you disappeared, the boundaries between our dimensions completely dissolved merging all of our worlds as one. It was beginning to happen before you left. You remember how your Claymore friends arrived and told you that an entire city from your world had been transported to the Princesses?" Clare nodded her head, "well, now all of the worlds are merged as one. The Princesses, mine, yours, Yugi's Moka's, all of them, we all exist in a single realm now. A single realm… controlled by the Dark One."

"You said that he'd hunted down most of our friends…" Clare said suddenly sounding very worried, "what about…"

"Your comrades?" Trunks finished her sentence, "Miria was knocked unconscious during the final battle and Kakashi was able to get her to safety. Cynthia and Yuma escaped too, though not by much. They stop by here once in awhile, but by and large, I have no idea what they've been doing. Helen, Deneve, and Tabitha all died in the final fight." It took a moment for Clare to absorb what Trunks had just said. Helen, Deneve, and Tabitha… were dead!

"What… what about Raki?" Trunks asked.

"Some things," Trunks said as the memory of Raki's demise came back to him, "are better left unsaid."

"Trunks… I have to know! What happened to Raki!" Clare pleaded.

"Alright… I guess it can't hurt," Trunks declared, "after the three of you disappeared we were all devastated, but none more then Raki and Tsukune. With you and Moka gone, those two swore that they'd become strong and honor your memory by fighting in your place. Roronoa Zoro took Raki under his wing and taught him advanced swordsmanship while Kakashi agreed to teach Tsukune the ways of a Shinobi. In time, the two really did become strong enough to rival yourself and Moka, but as time went by… Moka's apparent death became more then Tsukune could handle. He remembered how Dordan had brought Teresa of the Faint Smile back to life, and in desperation… he turned to the Dark One in hopes of finding a way to bring Moka back. The Dark One told him that if Tsukune killed Rinoa that he would bring back Moka. I don't know why, but for whatever reason… Tsukune agreed. Raki was the only one who noticed the change in Tsukune and went to confront him about it. A fight broke out and Tsukune killed Raki and Rinoa. Devastated by what he had created, Kakashi had no choice but to kill Tsukune before he could do any more harm. That enraged Kurumu who tried to take revenge on Kakashi. Kakashi refused to fight her, but Miria was a different story. In the end, she had no choice but to kill Kurumu as well. Mizore left the alliance after that. She and Yukari are the only ones from Moka's dimension who survived. Last I heard, she's living with her mother somewhere in the north, though she stops by occasionally to visit Yukari."

"No… then… Raki was killed as well," Clare stuttered as tears began to appear in her eyes.

"He was no match for Tsukune. Kakashi told me while they were training that Tsukune almost seemed to have a natural gift for chakra control. So much so in fact that it took only 3 weeks for Tsukune to master his Fire Style Chakra. I'm afraid the only comfort I can give you is that his death was quick. Kakashi never really forgave himself for what happened to Raki and Rinoa and left the team, though he returned later where he saved Miria's life. The two of them are still together. They're hiding out at the ruins of the Hidden Leaf Village, waiting for Goku and Luffy to return."

"This is terrible…" Clare said looking at the ground, "and what happened to you?"

"After my father was killed, my mother begged me to leave the team and come home. In the end, I did. I wasn't there for the final battle. My mother began trying to drink her pain away until she was mercifully taken about ten years ago. I took over Capsule Corp for awhile, but in the end, I sold the company to Seto Kaiba and became an employee of Kaiba Corporation. When Kaiba died about a year ago, his daughter, Serena Kaiba, made me President over the Capsule Corporation branch of Kaiba Corporation which is where I've been ever since, producing old Capsule Corp tech while producing next generation gaming technology for Kaiba Corp, thus this Duel Runner I'm working on."

"Is there nothing we can do to try to set this right?" a voice asked from behind Trunks. Trunks and Clare both looked up to see Yugi and Moka standing behind them. Moka wasn't making eye contact with any of them. Clare knew that she had heard about Tsukune.

"I've thought about it a hundred times and the only solution I can come up with is that if we stopped your disappearance and Teresa's death, we could at least give ourselves a fighting chance," Trunks replied, "but my Time Machine is proficient enough. I can never return to a time period or location close enough for me to stop Dordan's attack. The Time Gate is far more efficient in that regard, but I can't keep it open long enough to use it. That's why I need to know what happened that caused you guys to be able to come here through it. Unfortunately, thanks to being hit directly by Dordan's attack, Yugi arrived here with amnesia and wasn't able to help at the time."

"I don't know if I can offer much help either. All I remember is that after I got hit, all I could see was yellow. The next thing I remember, I was in the middle of my duel with Yusei," Yugi declared.

"Red, Yellow, and Blue," Trunks said to no one in particular, "that has to be the key… but what does it have to do with it. I just don't understand."

"I have one more question," Clare said suddenly, "it was Dordan that caused all of this. What ended up happening to him?"

After a few seconds hesitation, Trunks spoke. "I guess I could tell you now, but I think it would be better if you heard this story straight from the source, so I'll have to ask you to wait until morning."

"'Straight from the source'? What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Tomorrow, I'll be having Yusei and Jack Atlas test an experimental Duel Monsters card. Dordan will be there to help Team 5D's prepare to duel with the new card."

"Hold on, did you say Dordan is coming here?" Yugi asked.

"He'll be here first thing in the morning. He can tell you the story then," Trunks replied.

"I don't understand…" Moka began.

"Don't worry, you will," Trunks reassured them, "but for now, it's late. We should all try to get some sleep." The other's nodded in agreement as Trunks left and they returned to their makeshift bedroom.

What do you think that was about? Yugi mentally asked Yami.

I honestly don't know Yugi, but I have a feeling we'll find out very soon.