If he ever gets his hands on that pathetic excuse for a human being he'll kill him! What the hell is Sol Technologies thinking hiring someone like that?! Eh! This is what he gets for going up against a major corporation with a grudge. Takeru hadn't thought about what he signed up for when he agreed to help Flame. Maybe he would have seen the corrupt and self-regious bounty hunters coming if he had.
Takeru sighs and slumps against the back of the cafe. Some people can be utterly vile. Someone who searches for someone else's weaknesses to exploit them is the worst.
The backdoor of the truck clicks and out walks Yusaku in usually hard to read fashion. Awful as the experience with Blood Shepherd was. He would do it again. Takeru could only imagine what someone doing that Yusaku would do to him. They've finally started to enjoy some kind of understanding. Something like that would likely set them both at square one again.
"Are you alright?" Yusaku asks. He shuts the door quietly and stares at him with a tilted expression.
"Yeah. I needed a minute after that," Takeru replies before breaking into bitter laughter. Maybe he isn't as alright as he's trying to make everyone believe but the whole situation is absurd. His grandparents would have a fit if he tried explaining what's been happening.
Yusaku presses his lips together for a second before he snatches Takeru's arm, prying him away from the truck .
In shock Takeru lets himself be dragged towards the sea. Of course with his luck as of late, he stumbles over his feet falling flat on his face. As fast he snatched him, Yusaku kneels down and offers to assist him.
"I suppose I will ask again. Are you alright?"
Feeling embarrassed, Takeru accepts the offer but tries to laugh it off, "Tripping over my feet! I swear my luck today is the worst!"
Once he's back on his feet his eyes trail back over to the truck. "Anyway what's up? It's not like you to be so umm...forward?"
Yusaku stares at him and Takeru thinks he could have put that better but how was he supposed to phrase it with him acting kinda shady ? Yusaku's mouth twists around like he's hesitant about how he wants to reply to that. Finally, it settles on something he can't read. That's nothing new, months of working together and Takeru still can't tell if he's annoyed or wants a sandwich . It surprises him the number of times it turns out to be the sandwich.
"You don't like people either do you? Even before your latest match you would ramble off about people being awful," he replies.
This shouldn't surprise Takeru as much as it does. Yusaku's never been secretive about his dislike for just about everyone around him. Hell it's not even the first time he's been this blatant about it.
"I mean that last duel with Blood Shepherd doesn't help but most people aren't so bad. Plus that would make me a hypocrite wouldn't it?" He hasn't been the most model citizen the last decade or so. Looking back Takeru's never done anything as bad as most of the scummy individuals they've come in contact with since he came here but still .
"Besides my grandparents and my best friend Kiku are great people," he catches the tiniest hint of dispoint from Yusaku and rephrases that . "Of course you and Kusanagi have been great."
"I've been great? You tell me at least once a day to be nicer to people," Yusaku snorts, skeptical of his own actions.
"You know that's not what I mean. You're not a bad person Yusaku. Too harsh sometimes sure but I wouldn't compare you with someone like Blood Shepherd or even Go," Takeru says slinging an arm around him with a goofy grin . Kusanagi's right, it is fun to tease Yusaku a little bit. Especially if it's about how clueless he can be sometimes.
"You would be an idiot to compare me with someone like Go but it's good to know I've got the confidence of a small-town punk," he remarks, giving a short chortle .
"Thank you though, I appreciate not having to deal with that asshole again but you should not have had to go through that kind of underhanded tactic ."
"How do you know what happened?" Takeru's mouth runs faster than the rest of him sometimes but they were enclosed in that space weren't they ? It's not like they had time to search up any footage yet either.
"I overheard you screaming. Something terrible must have happened for you to do that," He replies frowning.
"Oh," Takeru takes his arm back and runs it through his hair. "Well, you see about that...I was playing it up for him. It wasn't that bad really !"
Yusaku keeps staring through him, so Takeru continues to babble, feeling ashamed knowing he worried them too . "Anyway, why don't we go back to the truck? It's not like Kusanagi doesn't know you're not a people person.
With no other reply then a continued blank stare he decides to start walking back towards the cafe. It looks like things are starting to pick up and they should hurry back. Takeru makes it a few steps before something, argh someone stops him.
"Not everyone," Yusaku snatches his hand and roots them both in place. For a brief moment he could have sworn that blank expression became somewhat pleading . "If you had the chance to start over again would you take it?"
To Takeru's surprise his mouth and mind come to the same answer at the same time, "No, I loathe what happened to us but I'm glad to have met everyone and experienced some of the other things I have . Though I could live without bounty hunters!"
"That's not...never mind," Yusaku replies, shaking his head. He releases Takeru and starts walking away like he never proposed such an unusual question . He stops and turns back to Takeru for a second like he wants to express something but turns his heels again and walks away .
That rare moment begins to feel like a daydream after a while. Yusaku goes right back to being mean and prickly but there's something off about him. It's the way he phrases things to be less cutting or the way he asks him to hang out when they're not doing illegal activities .
Maybe he's warming up to Takeru after all! It would be nice if that was the only major drama in his life but it's not, not even close considering the AI in his life.
"I told you he was an idiot," Flame sighs reading the mess of letters and numbers on the screen.
"Idiot is a forbidden word," Roboppi chirps automatically and the Ignis waves off the little bot .
"Talk about targeted advertisement." Takeru replies in awe of how ridiculous the situation is. A super intelligent artificial intelligence fell for a puzzle with his face as the prize. What is his life? He wouldn't fall for something as ridiculous like that!
The story goes that Ai and Roboppi were messing around online when they came across this website with an Ai-charm as the prize for a crossword puzzle . The other Ignis has not been seen since so Yusaku brought the little bot with him to figure out what happened. Honestly though it's nice to have someone there who's almost as clueless as he is even if they're a cleaning bot.
Takeru's seen Roboppi a few times since he started hanging out with Yusaku at his apartment. Usually he's buzzing around cleaning or charging when they're around.
"That's an Ignis algorithm," Flame continues but it still resembles alphabet soup to him so he waits for one of them to suggest their next step. He really is kind of useless as anything more than an extra set of muscles and even then it's not necessary.
While Takeru's bemoaning his lack of computer skills Kusanagi pulls up a doorway out of the address Flame gave them . Looks like he might be of some help after all!
"If that is from another Ignis we should go check it out!" Takeru states firmly and Yusaku scowls at him.
"Wait, [I will] go alone," He replies.
He's senseless if he thinks Takeru is going to let him go alone like that, "Let's go together."
"Wait, this could be a trap. If we both get caught, it's over," Yusaku explains.
"You're suspicious of Windy?He's [our] ally," Flame says.
" Really ? I didn't think the two of you were that close considering how he's been playing us." Yusaku says, raising his eyebrow at the fire Ignis. "That's not the point If we both get trapped then what?"
"Fine, but I'm sending Takeru in if you don't come back soon," Kusanagi concedes balling his fist together. "I wish I could do more on the offensive front."
"It's better this way," Yusaku replies before slipping off into the VR room, despite his protests.
Yeah, he's not waiting around to be told when he can go in. As soon as he hears the click for the door Yusaku went in, he makes a run for his room. Kusanagi audioably groans from the other side of the door but doesn't do anything to stop him from following .
Rushing head might not have been his best idea. He and Flame land in an uncanny field outside of what looks like a city. No sign of Ai or Playmaker in sight.
"Soulburner are you sure this is a good idea? We don't know where either Ai or Playmaker ended up," Flame says analyzing the landscape around them .
"Where are we?" Takeru brushes off the Ignis' concern. It shouldn't be so hard to find them if they work together.
Flame places his hands on his hip and shakes his head, "From the looks of it someone hastily tried to recreate Cyberse World and this is the result ."
"It's not the first time Windy's tried to trick us with shoddy workmanship," Takeru replies, taking off towards the city . Might as well start somewhere!
"Still a better job than what you can do," Flame remarks and he rolls his eyes.
"You're saying you'll do a better job once this mess is over?" Takeru asks.
They continue journeying through a very literal uncanny valley talking about how they would design the world instead . The Ignis has some outlandish ideas about architecture, but what does he know? Flame helped build the original and if this copy is anything to go by physics shouldn't be an issue neither.
"Caw!"
Okay maybe there's another program around and he's not crazy. At least not this time, hopefully .
"Caw!"
This time Takeru glances around hoping there's something there until like last time when and was left feeling crazier . Finally, he looks up and spots an annoyed looking bird hovering over him. It's not any bird it's on of their Salamangreats and it doesn't look very happy with them.
"Parro? What are you doing here?" Flame asks it and Parro flaps its wings in a huff and starts flying off in a divergent direction then they're going.
"She wants us to follow her.
"You speak bird now?" Takerus asks wondering if he overlooked something. Flame sighs in disappointment.
Takeru chases after the monster anyway, if she knows where they're supposed to be going then lead the way!
He regrets following the aggatied bird about half way up an absurdly winding staircase . The castle at the top was definitely designed by an Ignis. Anyone else wouldn't have put in so many stairs!
Takeru doesn't know what to expect once the castle door fling open but it definitely isn't this. He walks a good distance into a stretched out hallway, and it feels like he stepped into an alternate universe . He stops right next to the one person he's been itching to see locked up since coming to Den City. Something about Revolver being trapped the way he is now doesn't fit the orange jumpsuit image he had in mind .
Seeing Yusa-Playmaker on the other side of the room from Ai only makes the situation weirder. Why the hell would Ai be next to the leader of the Knights of Hanoi and not his partner? Why is Playmaker standing there like he belongs next to the other Ignis?
"What the hell is going on here?!" He demands staring right at Playmaker, but it's the yellow Ignis that moves. Yusaku stands there like a statue while the Ignis floats over his shoulder, smirking.
"Soulburner is it? Playmaker here has told me so much about you."
"Yeah! Well, I have no idea who you are!Or what's going on here?!" He replies and off to the side Revolver turns to him and utters a bitter laugh.
"You've been working with Playmaker this whole time and are still an idiot. That's the Light Ignis! Your companion over there decided that program is more important than humanity!" He spits the word companion with venom before fruitlessly slamming his fist against the data bubble he's trapped .
"Link Vrains hero is nothing more than an AI pawn!"
"That's enough from you," The light Ignis says snapping his fingers and whatever tirade Revolver has is silenced . Despite him continuing to rant inside the bubble.
"Now then Soulburner-" Playmaker finally moves and steps in front of the Ignis. "No, I will deal with him."
"Playmaker!" Ai calls from his spot on the floor. Despite being small his voice cares in a way that gets all of their attention. "You're really siding with the bogeyman?What happened to him being the monster under the bed?!"
"Ooh friend vs friend. This should be entertaining!" The green Ignis interrupts swaying around on nonexistent wind. "Here I was starting to think Playmaker was losing his edge. But no turns out he's still a bastard."
Yusaku side eyes the other Ignis before staring directly through Takeru. "Duel me. If you refuse you'll end up like that fool next to you."
"What?! I'd enjoy the chance to duel you but tell me what's going on first!" Takeru shouts back frustrated about this situation. Sure he wouldn't mind dueling Yusaku when it's a fun game they're playing for themselves. Something about this situation says they're in for more than a fun game.
"He's right Playmaker, We're on the same side whatever's going on we should discuss first," Flame says popping in the conversation, finally !
"Oi! Flame their plan isn't something we can talk them about like this. You know how stubborn all of them are especially Lightning...I knew I should have put up parental controls!" Ai complains, and the other Ignis sighs at the response.
"Fine I'll duel you and when I win you're gonna to tell me what the fuck is going here!" Takeru replies tired of the pointless back and forth going on between the Ignis. Right now this is between the two humans in the room. Okay three but he doesn't want to think about Revolver.
He takes a deep breath and prepares to duel. Then Parro caws comes out of nowhere again followed by a few other weird noises around him. Instead of checking to see what is making those noises
he freezes. Playmaker's expression shifts from it's usual stoic blank one to a bizarre mix of emotions Takeru's never seen like horror and heartbreak . Playmaker steps back like he's been wounded before casting his eyes to the ground.
It's a monstrous groan that snaps Takeru out of whatever trance seeing his friend crumble like that put him in . If he had turned around slower the oversized Knight behind him probably wouldn't have scared him as much as it did . Unfortunately, for him though he screams at the sight of the army of monsters behind him.
"It seems that Playmaker's Cyberse cards refuse to fight you," Flame remarks before twisting around to face their opionate . "That means you can't duel."
"See Playmaker, even your knight in shining armor doesn't agree with this! Please reconsider this," Ai pleads banging on his bubble.
"Enough! Looks like that gift of mine will have some use after all," Lightning says, reaching for Yusaku's duel disk. Yusaku pulls out his physical cards and hands them over like nothing. That previous heartbreak froze over like it never was. Then Lighting tosses his cards like they're nothing while he stands there watching them scatter like ashes .
The light Ignis settles onto Playmaker's shoulder with his arms crossed and the smuggest expression . Yusaku does something with his duel disk, and a new set of cards appear in the slot before he prepares to duel.
"Well this really is getting interesting," Windy remarks before waving them all goodbye. "But I have better things to do. Tootles!"
"Playmaker!" Takeru shouts ignoring the other Ignis. His priority at the moment is persuading his friend to snap out of whatever is going on with him. He growls out his frustration making Flame turn back to him concerned.
Takeru's so tired of not knowing what's going on. If he needs to beat the answers out of Yusaku in a duel then he will!
"Psh, Soulburner check you extra deck," Flame whispers before ducking back into the screen so he can look . That's not one of their cards...let's see if it comes in handy.
"I activate the field spell Armatos Colosseum," Playmaker doesn't wait for them to figure out what's going on . Instead, he slams down a bunch of cards Takeru's never seen him use in quick succession.
Unfortunately, Takeru can't help thinking how much cooler this would be if Legatus Legionis was Decode Talker . He'd like to duel his friend, not whoever the hell is standing in front of them. Regardless he goes through with his turn, Heatleo can get around Legatus easily enough .
Or that would be the case but this Playmaker so of course he's got something up that jumpsuit of his. Still it gives Takeru an opening to ask about what's going on.
"Hey Ai are we dueling for your honor or something because I'd like to know how to proceed if so?" He asks, and all the Ignis in the room stare at him in their own quirky way. The one he asked snorts.
"I wish!That would be so much better! But alas it's less about my honor and more about me joining them in their quest to rule over humanity."
"What!?" He and flame shout surprised. He could have mentioned that minor detail to them before they started dueling!
"Flame that invitation is extended to you as well. It is about time we joined together and made our move," Lightning answers clenching his tiny fists in some gesture of triumph or something . It's hard to find the Ignis intimidating when Takeru can fit them in the palm of his hand.
"I have no desire to subjugate humanity like that," the fire Ignis replies immediately. "Soulburner is hard enough to manage."
"You're telling me, I'm currently in timeout because of Playmaker...Hey-"
"Legatus Legionis attacks Heatleo," the attack shuts everyone up for a moment.
"If you had the chance to start over again would you take it?"
Yusaku asked him that a while ago, and he brushed it off as a weird quirk but maybe he wanted to ask Takeru about all this instead ?
He also tried to keep Takeru from walking in on this conversation too. Trying to understand what's going on is like grasping at straws! It would be helpful if Yusaku would say something about anything that is this damn duel.
Good thing Flame pointed out the perfect card he could use to get him talking. "Link Summon, Link 3 Powercode Talker!"
"Let's see if you can use it right," Playmaker says frowning at his former monster. The army of monsters behind Takeru faded away before the match started but something tells him they still want to help . That or Flame put Powercode in his deck to encourage him, either way.
"Oh come on, you know I'm Playmaker's biggest fan! I've seen this baby in action plenty of times!"
"Soulburner is now really the right time to start fan boying?" Flame asks, raising an eye at him.
"Hell yeah! I don't know anything about AI vs. humans, but I'm two for three as far as my heroes go. Dueling against Playmaker's real deck would have been better but I could say the same for Go too," Takeru replies . Yusaku's eyes narrow at him. Good he's got his attention and gotten rid of that ugly Legatus Legionis.
"If you are finished ," Playmaker spits, losing patience with them.
Again he doesn't even wait for Takeru to respond, he goes right through a string of monsters before stopping .
"Link Summon, Link 4 Armatos Legio Magnus Dux. Since it's linked to Armatos Legio Pilus Prior, Powercode Talker goes back to the extra deck. Next I play a link spell. The three arrows that judge everything! I activate Judgement Arrows!" Playmaker shouts and the bane of their existence for the last few months crashes onto the field.
"You know that card was used to destroy our world why, " Flame trails off while Ai picks up on the sentiment. "Those weirdos that took Kusanagi's brother have been using that against you too!"
"If you had the chance to start over again would you take it?"
"So what you decided it was better to just destroy the world and start over? What happens to Ai, Kusanagi, Flame and me?" Takeru asks running through what he could do for his turn.
"They did threaten to rewrite me because I happen to like people," Ai points outs. Again something he could have said earlier!
"The older Kusanagi sibling already made his intentions clear as did Ai. As for the two of you, it seems you will have the same fate," Lightning says waving him off.
"I wasn't asking you," Takeru snaps."Playmaker are you going to let someone else speak for you?"
"It is not like he's lying. Kusanagi's made his priorities clear and," for a brief second sadness washes over Playmaker but it's gone by the time he continues . "And Ai always has his own plans in mind. What I want is to rebuild Cyberse World and I can't do that if it keeps getting destroyed or hidden away."
"Playmaker..," Ai whispers barely loud enough for Takeru to pick up on. "I'm sorry."
"You want to hide away someplace safe from the rest of the world?" Takeru starts, clenching his fist. "I did that for years because I hated everyone but I had my childhood friend and grandparents to support me. That's where we're different, isn't it?"
He's not like that anymore Yusaku helped him move on. Suppose it's time he repays that favor.
"I'm guess you spent the last few years listening to Lightning rave about how awful humans are and haven't really experienced what it's like to be around people who aren't assholes ? I know Kusanagi and me aren't the best examples of good people but that hasn't stopped you from working with us this whole time ."
Playmaker sends him an impassive glare so Takeru puffs himself up and continues on with his turn.
"I summon Salamagreat Emerald Eagle! Say goodbye to Armatos Legio Magnus Dux and Judgement Arrows! Once Eagle's attack goes through, we're leaving and you're coming with us!"
"Hate to disappoint you, but that's not going through," before Playmaker can pull out a counter the castle quakes violently causing the ceiling to start falling in around them . Then there's a monstrous growl followed by more violent shaking. Lightning jerks his head over to the side and groans about Windy.
Before Flame can log them out Takeru sprints towards Yusaku hoping to catch him before the castle falls or he gets whisked away . His luck is the worst! Takeru reaches him in time for the floor to crack open between them. Right as he is about to grab Yusaku and haul them both out they're dropped into the data abyss beneath them.
Last thing he sees before Flame logs him out is the Playmaker reaching out for him in return.
Immediately when he comes into the real world he stumbles out to catch to see if Yusaku logged out too. Kusanagi has the same idea and helps him force the door open.
All they find is Ai sobbing over and shaking an unconscious Yusaku.
A/N: I'll be back for the authory stuff later right now I need a nap lmbo.