Yusei: 2000
The Ally Salvos bore down on Yusei. The swarm of Ghosts was just too much. For the time being, he was doing his best to outrun them. But that wouldn't last long. Yusei needed help. Or a miracle. Anything.
This is bad. If these attacks continue, I'll lose. But what else can I do?
/
"At this rate, Yusei will…" Bruno trailed off. He followed Yusei's path from a different duel lane, riding his small yellow duel runner. "But he can't lose! He's the hope for the future!"
The future…
Something primal stirred in the recesses of Bruno's memory. Remember your mission.
The creature from that day at the Security Bureau burst into Bruno's thoughts. Those eyes. Something awakened inside Bruno. Numbers. His code rushed back into his memories.
"That's right. Yusei must be saved no matter what," Bruno said, new determination in his voice. "That is my mission."
He jumped off the track, heading for the edge of the city. The cliffs by the sea. Where Mina and Trudge had found him.
Again, Bruno jumped off the road. He ditched his makeshift, yellow duel runner. He fell, spread eagled, to the beach below. To soften the landing, Bruno flipped twice in midair and landed on the sand in a crouch.
"Come! Delta Eagle!" He commanded. More binary codes swept past his eyes.
A column of yellow light erupted out of the ocean. Torrential waves moved out of the way for the duel runner Bruno was summoning. The slick, dark blue duel runner with an enormous back wheel belonging to Vizor met Bruno on the beach.
/
Outrunning them hadn't worked. The Ghost swarm was right on Yusei's tail.
Sweat dripped down his back. They've caught up to me, huh?
"It's over, Yusei Fudo!" One of the Ghost bots grinned wickedly. "My turn!"
/
Bruno zoomed through space, using Accel Synchro to get where he needed to go faster. At the controls of Delta Eagle, he felt stronger, powerful. He could definitely carry out his mission.
More code zoomed past his eyes. With the power of Accel Synchro, Bruno changed into his Vizor disguise. He could help his friend, help the future keep its hope, and no one would ever know it was him.
"Hang on, Yusei!"
/
"Die, Yusei Fudo!"
"Die!"
"Die!"
"Die!"
The last Ally Salvo was closing in.
"Yusei!"
Vizor had arrived!
"Vizor?"
Vizor smirked, raising his hand to his cards with practiced ease. "I equip Buster Shotman to my Tech Genus Blade Gunner! The monster that equips Buster Shotman gets its attack points decreased by five hundred! However, when it destroys a monster, every monster that is the same type on the opponents' field will be destroyed! Buster shot!"
Every Ally Salvo was destroyed, thanks to Vizor and his monsters. Yusei soared through a cleared track. The threat pushed back. For now.
"Vizor? Thanks," Yusei breathed a sigh of relief. He still didn't know if they could trust Vizor, but he wouldn't look this gift horse in the mouth.
"Yusei, accelerate!" Vizor urged. "As long as you don't break your speed limit, you can't shake them off. Follow me into the slip stream!" He pulled ahead, gaining even more speed.
Yusei followed behind Vizor. His increasing speed like a furious butterfly zooming through time and space. Wings guiding him into a new world of speed.
/
"Yusei isn't dying," Placido growled. "Which means he and his team will keep interfering. In that case…"
Placido's right eye covering glowed a sickly red color. He grit his teeth and jumped off the arena roof. Red light matching the sickly color of his eye covering engulfed his cloak and hood, replacing them with a silver helmet and white riding suit.
A matching duel runner raced to meet Placido's decent. He mounted the bike fluidly, landing just as gently on one of many duel tracks.
"I will be your opponent!" Placido declared, racing towards Yusei.
/
Vizor took Yusei through winding duel tracks at breakneck speed. Despite the sharpness of the curves, Vizor didn't slow down in the slightest.
"Such speed," Yusei murmured to himself.
But someone else was speeding just as recklessly behind them.
"Someone caught up to us?"
"Yusei Fudo!" Placido had found them! "You're too much of an eyesore for a mere bug. I will crush you with my Mechlord Emperor!"
"Mechlord Emperor? Are you the one controlling the Ghost army?!" This guy seemed familiar. He knew the cards Ghost had tried to defeat Yusei with the first time they'd faced off.
"And what if I am?"
"Why would you do something like this? Are you trying to destroy the city?" Yusei clenched his teeth. If this was their mysterious opponent that had hidden in the shadows for so long, this was going to be one of his toughest duels yet.
Placido curled his lips in disgust. "A mere human cannot comprehend our way of thinking! You should just run around in fear like the bugs you are!"
"Bugs?"
"But Yusei, I've decided to take care of you personally," Placido pointed dramatically. Where his Ghost bot had failed, he would not. The Emperors were Mako's agents of destiny. Destiny did not fail. "Be grateful I've lowered myself to your level!"
"This is bad. I only have a small amount of lifepoints remaining," Yusei said. "If I duel him now…"
But Vizor was already taking care of it. He pulled back, slamming his duel runner into the side of Placido's. Placido was forced to fall back to regain his balance.
"Yusei, in order to get out of this crisis, you have to surpass your limits and find the way to Accel Synchro!" Vizor urged. Yusei had to prevail here. He had to.
"Accel Synchro?" Yusei bit his lip. He'd tried. Barely. But he just couldn't get any faster.
"Sharpen your heart," Vizor instructed sagely. "The Momentum inside the duel runners is not just an energy source. The Planetary particles used for the Momentum is living energy similar to a human's heart."
"What?" Yusei's mouth dropped open, eyes wide. "Like a person's heart?"
"That's right. Both Doctor Fudo and Roman Goodwin realized this. People's hearts are something that can change very easily. And that fact has been used for good and evil since ancient times. The hearts that remained good and resilient despite everything they were put through, sided with the Crimson Dragon. And the hearts who could not bear the pain of their lives sided with the Earthbound Immortals. However, there is a state where a person's heart can control the Momentum."
Vizor's eye met Yusei's. "That is called Clear Mind. Yusei, in order to win, you have to acquire it now!"
"Clear Mind…" Yusei turned away. He'd failed so many times. He couldn't even muster the strength or courage to duel in their most recent WRGP match. "But can I do something like that?"
"You can. The way to find Accel Synchro is already inside you. Feel the wind, Yusei."
Yusei stared back into the furious butterfly of speed. "The wind…" The state of the wind seemed to change around him. Almost like light.
After fighting Ghost, I always kept riding… But…Even so, I couldn't find Accel Synchro… Why is that?
The wind and light were blocked by a white monster. Mechlord Emperor. The synchro stealing beast. It bore down on Yusei, like a hunter ready to strike its prey.
That's right. In my heart, I'm afraid of the Mechlord Emperor. A state to overcome that fear…
Yusei steeled himself, closing his eyes. He accelerated, trusting his feelings and instincts. "The wind. I have to feel the wind."
The light encircled Yusei, like a curtain being pulled gently along. It swirled in pinks and purples. The light within his growing power gentle blues and greens, bursting through the Mechlord Emperor.
"It's disappearing…even myself…"
The light had turned gold, enveloping Yusei. He vanished into thin air. Blues, greens, purples, pinks, streaked through the air, wrapping seamlessly into the golden wind and light. The tunnel of lights pulled Yusei along, until he stopped before a giant, glowing dragon.
The dragon wasn't fully corporeal. But Yusei could see the beast spread its wings. As if it were ready to take flight. It just needed to know when to arrive.
"What is this?"
/
Placido pressed a button on his duel runner. His bike sped forward with the help of four booster rockets.
"I said we're dueling, Yusei!"
/
The gold glow of the dragon burst away in a shower of golden dust. A new dragon, resembling what could have been Stardust Dragon's elder, emerged. Wings and arms spread wide.
"I can see it! Something I can only see in the world of speed! This is Clear Mind!"
A stone tablet soared through space. It fell to Earth in a fiery blaze.
/
Still engulfed in light, Yusei completely vanished from sight.
"What?" Even Placido had seen his soon to be opponent disappear.
"Yusei," Vizor allowed himself a small smile. He saw the stone tablet falling above them. "You found it!"
"Impossible!" Placido roared. "Where did he go?!"
"Towards a new possibility," Vizor smirked back at Placido. "I'll be your opponent for now."
"You're from back then," Placido's eye narrowed. He'd finally recognized him. "That night, we met, I made you crash once you lost control over a stupid kitten in the road." He smirked to himself. "Back then, you said you were here to stop me, but if that's true, we have a lot more in common than you think."
"You may tell yourself that, but I have no intention of confirming or denying your claims. Especially because I'm about to make you disappear."
Placido allowed himself a little chuckle. "A good answer. Guess I'll just have to use force!"
"Duel!"
/
Yusei and his duel runner came bursting out into what appeared to be a rocky desert. Nothing and no one was around. Just rock, and open, blue sky.
And a new stone tablet, waiting innocently at the center of its crater.
/
"Impossible!" Joel gasped. Just when he thought the day couldn't get any worse. "That tablet isn't one of ours!"
"How did he get one?!" Luciano demanded.
"Amazing. Can Yusei hear the voice of God as well?"
Luciano shook his head wildly. "No way! Does that mean he's the same as us?! That's absurd!"
/
Yusei approached the tablet slowly. He still wasn't sure what to make of this new power. Yet, somehow, he knew, that this tablet was his.
"Is this…Is this what brought me through the light?"
At his touch, more golden, rainbow-like light burst out. Thousands of cards, spell, trap, and monster turned in a swirling vortex of darkness and light.
Bringing Yusei face to face with the up-side-down creature. The creature Lise had said was like him. A Yusei built wrong.
"You!" Yusei was immediately on guard. "Who are you?!"
The creature was white, gold, and silver. It had a mask that completely obscured its face. Lise was right though. It did feel strangely familiar, like himself. It was eerie. What or who was this thing?
"Yusei…You have obtained a new possibility," the creature spoke.
"Huh?" Yusei looked down.
A card that hadn't been there before was in his hand. "What is this?
"That is the state of Clear Mind. The card that makes Accel Synchro possible."
"It is?"
"You have the right to accept that," the creature continued. Its voice was even, leisurely. The two of them could have been talking about the weather for all the creature cared. Even more eerie. "All possibilities are equal."
"Do you know me?" Yusei asked. The similarities were just too much to be coincidence. Yusei swore a part of the creature's mask, despite being up-side-down, looked like his criminal marking.
The creature ignored Yusei's question. "You proceed down the path you think is right. If you do that… Then one day…"
The creature's figure and voice faded. It grew farther and farther away.
"Wait!" Yusei made to run after it.
But his next step landed him on the dusty rocks where his stone tablet had been. The tablet that was now blank.
Not knowing what else to do, Yusei went back to the lip of the crater. His duel runner waited for him below.
Out in the distance Yusei spotted what looked like a city. Almost like the Satellite. Before it had been connected to the city by the bridge. Somehow even worse though. Smoke curled into the air from numerous buildings. It turned the clouds and sky an inky, choking black. Something had happened over there. Something bad. Something that had to be stopped.
The path I believe is right is the one that saves this city!
Yusei slid the new card into his deck.
/
Vizor: 3100
Placido: 4000
Tech Genus Power Gladiator and Tech Genus Wonder Magician faced off against Placido's Mechlord Emperor Wisel. Vizor was ready. Every ingredient he needed for Accel Synchro was gathered.
(Tech Genus Power Gladiator: Atk: 2300 Def: 1000)
"Two Synchro monsters," Placido said. "I see! That's it! The true power of Accel Synchro!"
Vizor smirked back at his opponent. "I-"
Before Vizor could make his move, five Ghost bots jumped onto the duel track! They surrounded Vizor, harassing him. Their robotic laughter mocked him as they rammed repeatedly into the sides of his duel runner.
Placido drove past Vizor struggling. Protected by his small army of Ghost bots, he snickered back at Vizor.
"You coward! Interfering with my Accel Synchro?!"
"Battle Royale Mode is still in effect, ya know," Placido taunted.
"My turn," a Ghost bot said. He summoned out another Ally Salvo.
Tech Genus Wonder Magician destroyed the monster easily enough. But everyone who had faced the Ghosts and their tactics knew the monster was quite the threat in numbers.
"When Ally Salvo is destroyed in battle by a light attribute monster, it can destroy two cards on the field."
"What?"
Tech Genus Power Gladiator and Vizor's facedown card were destroyed.
Placido grinned wickedly. "What's wrong? Don't you have any more moves left?"
Vizor grit his teeth. He and Placido both knew he didn't.
"Now go to Hell!" Placido laughed triumphantly. He didn't care if he had to cheat to do it. He'd achieve his goals by any means necessary.
The sound of a third duel runner's engine joined the fight.
"What is that?" Placido paused.
"Yusei!" Vizor cried. He wasn't smiling. Instead he seemed more worried than relieved.
Placido smirked. "So, you've come back, Yusei Fudo."
Vizor rammed a Ghost bot out of the way. "Go, Yusei! I'll take care of the bots. It's up to you!"
Yusei nodded. He was still unsure of his new ability, but he was ready. He was going to face this challenge, this threat, head on! He accelerated, gunning past the Ghost bots and pulling even with Placido.
"I'm your opponent!"
"Perfect timing," Placido's smirk grew. "I can kill two birds with one stone. Let's go!"
"Stop, Placido," Joel's face came from Placido's duel runner screen. "Yusei Fudo has obtained a new power. You must stop!"
Placido rolled his eyes. "What're you talking about?"
"It was a surprise!" Luciano added. He was unusually serious for a change. "He also had a meeting with God."
"What?"
"Return now, Placido," Joel commanded. "He isn't an opponent you can defeat without a scratch."
Placido's knuckles turned white he gripped his controls so hard. "Are you saying I can't beat him?!"
"Placido!"
Placido slammed his hand down on the screen. The call ended.
"No matter what power he obtains, it has nothing to do with me," Placido growled, his hand curling into a fist.
Yusei searched Placido's face. He wanted to duel more than anything. The question was, why? What did Placido need to prove by dueling him?
"I will show you my real power!" Placido declared.
His eye covering glowed the sickly red color again. Placido stood up, standing more than riding the duel runner. He pulled out the sword still sheathed to his side, and slammed it into the hole right in front of his duel disk. Placido exclaimed loudly as a green numeric glow enveloped his duel runner.
Yusei had never seen that before. "What's he trying to do?"
Both Placido and the duel runner changed before Yusei's eyes. Placido's body mounted and morphed into the duel runner. Wires connected Placido's back to the runner, not just his lower body. The sword handle and hilt bent over, and expanded into a duel disk made of light. Placido had become a duel runner centaur.
"What the fuck?" Yusei didn't swear often, but someone becoming one with their duel disk like that seemed like something a swear warranted.
"So this is his true form?" Vizor watched in just as much shock.
"Yusei Fudo," Placido spat the boy's name like he still believed him to be an insect primed for squishing. "This time I will not let you run! We will duel!"
(Aw yes! Got another one out before the new year AND the new decade! I definitely plan on putting out more chapters because while this part is crucial to the plot, it…isn't the most interesting… I'll just say that. Still, it helps that this chapter was relatively short since it focuses on Yusei mastering Clear Mind and Accel Synchro. Here's to more chapters and more consistency in the new year! That's my resolution. To be organized enough that I can do things for school, because graduating is important, and for me! Here's hoping I can do it! Thank you so much for everyone who is still here after all these years! I'll see everybody in 2020!)