One. Two. Three.
Step.
One. Two. Three.
Twist.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Feet together.
Finn panted. She finally did it. Her routine for the upcoming Fortune Cup, and everyone would be seeing it, with elegance and all. The final pose should've set it all out for everyone along with the ripples formed with every step; with every step Elemental Echo on her neck shone like a bright an aquamarine in the darkness of her black hair. Why did she thought following Rex Godwin's order was a good idea? Why did she agree to be the sole dancer for the opening ceremony?
"I swear, that man. Called me even though I was out of the city for this hobbyist competition." As she picked up her bag to leave home after completing her routine, just to find her cousin (named Genesis) standing in front of the door. It was definitely raining; anyone could tell by the heavy bullet rains and people busying themselves with trying to get to their destination as possible.
"Wouldn't want you to get a cold before the big day, eh?" He mockingly smirked, going back to his car as Finn followed. Although he's a programmer who primarily work at home, he was no way a helpless social anxiety ball. If anything, working with the Security Sector may or may not boost his confidence. Of course, the Security Sector are the laws and order in which Finn, Genesis and everyone follow. But Rex Godwin. This suspicion of the individual can be point to the Elemental Echo which Finn and Genesis have meaning their suspicion would have been connected to each other. Of course, besides that, there was another person who could've telepathically receive that suspicion since the first thought came up from Genesis.
"Nah. The guy would be disappointed if I weren't there." They chuckled and drove back home. On the way, there were thunderstorms. Recently, rains and storms became more frequent than the usual, by that around 4-5 times over the course of a month. Strange. This resulted in Genesis having to rework his break, but depending on his work speed each day his break could've been longer like these days. Especially, when there were not much to do after he done his parts. Thankfully, schools were off so he didn't need to go outside very often yet. Not that he didn't want to in the first place, honestly.
Meanwhile, another Elemental Echo bearer was waiting for someone at a tall building that gave the sinister atmosphere just from seeing it from far away. Most people would avoid this place, but there are certainly those who can enter without a problem.
"Ugh." Theo wiped his face with his gloved hand, looking out of Divine's office window. His neck pulsated a faint white light while also noticing that his deck holder let out the same light, even though there was no one nor reason to duel at this time. "How am I supposed to get home now?" Suddenly, his phone rang and the annoying ring started. Theo twirled it around his wrist- as it attached to his loose citrine bracelet- and answered the phone. It was Divine himself, his cousin. "Yes, sir?"
"Oh, you didn't need to call me that, cous." Divine sounded surprised that his playful and sarcastic cousin called him 'sir' when he wasn't even at school. Although, admittedly, Theo was tensed every time he entered the Arcadian Movement's building even though he's one of them, or maybe it could've been because he thought he was talking to Divine on a business basis. Or Theo was just awfully bored from reading mini biography everywhere. "I asked Genesis to pick you up, I won't be back until later tonight." Sorry, Theo expected but got none of that.
"Yes, cous. I will see if I could do anything for dinner." Or he could make both himself and Divine eat instant noodles again but they agreed to eat that once a week. There was no way Theo would dare to think nothing was in the fridge because if the rainstorm continued, it would be detestable to go out for mere groceries. "Bye." Theo smiled slightly, expecting his cousin to say bye as well but he didn't but instead, Divine hung up without a word which made Theo frowned. Sometimes, he wondered why his cousin even agreed to take care of him while his parents were away. Genuinely, Theo thought Divine wouldn't neglect him because they were closer during younger years. 'Cous' was the only thing that made him feel close to Divine.
Theo went to the elevator and went down. It was all silent, a thunder sound could help but there was none. Even though it was only afternoon, it was dark thanked to the storm and Theo was terrified if anything would jump out from the shadow. As he reached the bottom floor, he found Aki looking out of the door.
"Aki?" Theo walked toward her; his voice was an attempt to speak properly but it ended up being between that and a whisper. He noticed her face; it was almost blank if not for the shines in her eyes. Finally, she turned around to face him but not with a greeting.
"Theo, as Divine's cousin, do you trust him?" She asked, staring into his eyes. That was a trigger. It was a trigger to break Theo's belief about his own beloved cousin he holds dear. Did she asked that because I have the Elemental Echo? Only him and the others would know about his own feelings. But at that situation, he had to shake his head.
"Of course not, Aki. If anything, he united us all, didn't he?" Theo smiled, giving her a pat on the back. Before Aki could say another word, a car stopped in front of the building and he noticed it was Finn and Genesis. Theo gave them a little 'just a moment' wave before he asked Aki, "Do you want Genesis to drive you home? He will be sending me home anyway." But then she turned displeased. Most likely because Finn was there and they went to the same school, and Aki was pretty... Infamous. She didn't know that Finn never actually minded Aki' presence, but she still minded the fact that Finn's friend probably told her a lot already.
"No, I am alright. I will stay for a little more." Aki went up with the elevator behind him. Theo was quite concerned if she would be alright herself, but decided to leave her be and thought he might later give her a text message to check up on her. Theo got in the car and saw the two cousins happy as always, which he was low-key envious.
"How much can a dandelion grow?" Finn started the secret riddle-code which people with Elemental Echo could only understand. Honestly, this made Theo perked up slightly.
"If you think that a dandelion can grow as big as a dragon, then tell me which dragon it is." Theo leaned on the window, carefully shifting his sitting position as his body was secured by the seatbelt.
"None. There is no dandelion dragon." Genesis made a turn to the right with his car, to the direction of Theo's, well Divine's, house. They laughed lightly and their deck holder gleamed at the same time along with their Elemental Echo on their neck. They were together. But where were their dragons?
"You will be performing at the opening ceremony, right?" Theo suddenly sounded serious, but his face was still a happy one even if it was a straight-face smile. He didn't need to ask, he knew.
"Yeah, I do. Solo, mind you." Finn signed, thinking back to when she had extreme stage fright but managed to overcome that when her parents and Genesis cheered her which made her keep going. "I will be fine, though!" She smiled, "As long as you two are there, I will be fine."
"What, you want us to throw roses at you like they did after ice skating? I thought all you do is flamenco." Theo sarcastically asked, smirking as well. It was annoying for Finn, but that's what she loves about her friend to the point she developed sarcasm and more. Plus, if that was the case, it wouldn't be her first and it's just basic social tradition.
"Oh, please do. Real roses, only." Finn smiled mockingly as well, knowing he wouldn't dare buy real, expensive roses just for his friend's performance. "But in all seriousness, Godwin knew about Dragon's Rite." Genesis and Theo immediately tensed up. Not only Divine knew about that, now they have acknowledged that Rex Godwin was also aware of it. From that, the two managed to solve the puzzle that Godwin wanted Finn to perform Dragon's Rite: Water Reflection's Prance for the opening ceremony so that she could feel all the Signers at the tournament and no one was missing. It all came together, Divine wanted Theo for his Elemental Echo while Godwin made acquaintance with Genesis and Finn for that reason.
"See it as an honour." Genesis bit his lip and his face was bitter. How come they didn't think about it until now? For Theo, it was a heavy cloud of doubt for him especially with all these suspicion for his cousin and stronger to go against Godwin. Of course, if Godwin knew about Signers, he must know about Elemental Echo as well since they were very close in terms of legend, past Elemental Echo havers were the Crimson Dragons' servants' apostles.
"Ah, hm..." Theo tried to think of something to talk about so they could talk about another subject. "I heard they brought a guy with criminal mark for the tournament." The trio agreed it was fishy just from that, telepathically. "What was his name again?" Theo looked out of the window, trying to find something to remind himself. Genesis waited, but he decided that Theo wouldn't be able to remember.
"Yusei Fudo." Genesis finally said it. "I heard about him during a group meeting for the Fortune Cup."
"Speaking of that, why did they need a programmer?" Finn questioned, until she realised he has the Elemental Echo. "Actually, don't answer that. Godwin really loves pestering you to a pointless and unrelated meeting, huh?" Or he could actually be there as the head programmer for those floating screens thing. Genesis yawned, finally stopping at Theo's house.
"Thanks a lot, Genesis." Theo unbuckled his seatbelt and took his bag out of the car with himself. Theo gave them a wave and a "Bye", then unlocked the door and went into his house, closing the door behind them. The car started again, going to Finn and Genesis' house. It was raining, also, the sky wouldn't be clear any time soon. However, Finn knew the humidity will go through the roof for tomorrow, or not. Out of nowhere, Genesis' phone rang and Finn jumped at the high-pitched noise of the dialling music.
"Can you pick it up for me?" Genesis was just looking straight as he needed to know where he was going, especially when it was raining nonstop. Finn nodded and picked up his phone to find that the name 'Jack Atlas'. She was confused, and scared. Why does her cousin have the King's phone number?
"Hello, Genesis is driving." She tried to relax, but the fact it was Jack Atlas made her even more anxious with her phone call experience, she never liked picking up phone calls as she preferred texting.
"That voice?" The speaker on the other side was indeed Jack Atlas, but he was indeed not expecting Finn to be answering the phone. "Aren't you the Tango Inviter?" Oh, that's right, Finn is known as the Tango Inviter in the Neo Domino City. Honestly, she thought he wouldn't care about that insignificant title but then again, she would be performing in the Fortune Cup since a lot of people seemed to love her, but her 'tango' refers to when she duels. It takes two to tango after all.
"Speak of your business, or do you wish to be my dance partner?" The Tango Inviter needed to be in character while being called upon that title, which Finn took it somewhat seriously yet comical in a way. Her voice sounded like how she would speak to closed people like Theo and Genesis but she knew she wasn't even close to Jack Atlas. If anything, they saw each other yet never speak with each other until now, on her cousin's phone.
"No." Oh, alright. He didn't buy it at all, but Finn liked to think he at least thought of chuckling. "Tell him I want to duel him." The King demanded. Finn pieced together that he might want to practice before the Fortune Cup, but Finn always sees Jack in an ambitious light and she was unsure why he needed to duel. However, it could've been that they are just close to each other during work and duelling is the way they spend time outside of work.
"Genesis, Jack Atlas asked for a duel." Finn looked out of the window and spoke up so that both Genesis and Jack could hear, "In the rain?" Even then, it would be too dangerous if they were to duel on D-Wheels in the rain.
"No, it's alright." Genesis turned slightly; his smile was almost visible for Finn. She then proceeded to put it on speaker, "I will be there, Jack. The stadium, it is." After Genesis said that, Jack let out a satisfied sigh then hung up. He was indeed looking forward to that duel. "Well, I am skipping my archery practice today." Genesis chuckled and stopped in their house's garage next to the one for his D-Wheel. "Wanna come with me? I am sure Jack won't mind you coming along to watch." Finn nodded.
"Yeah, I want to see you and Jack duel. Has long has it been since I saw you duel?" Finn exited the car and sat on the back of Genesis' D-Wheel (she also grabbed a helmet for obvious safety) and he sat at the front, started the engine and set off towards the stadium for the Fortune Cup, hopefully it's empty so no one would be watching them.
It has been a while since Finn looked at hr cousin's D-Wheel. It was with him for a long time yet he doesn't use it very often. Even then, his D-Wheel are always clean. Its colour a pale turquoise colour along with some black and white parts. He named it Ode of the Zephyr, since he used to only use it to leisurely drive around with it by himself, the car was something he only bought when he figured that more than one people around him needed a drive from times to time. Especially during a rain. The now rainless sky had the sun out and Finn could feel the soft wind as they were on the Ode to the Zephyr penetrating their helmets, it was such a pleasure to feel the cold yet not too cold wind. It certainly fitted Genesis having the Elemental Echo: Verdelite, the Last Volume of Sacrifice.
Finally, they've arrived at the stadium. Jack was there with his D-Wheel, it was quite a fancy one like Ode to the Zephyr, but fancier and more expensive-looking. These people really value their D-Wheels. From Jack's expression, he wasn't expecting Genesis to take Finn with him but there she was. Finn was genuinely excited, so she didn't realise she was smiling all the time yet it was good that way since she should smile, just so they didn't get the wrong impression.
"I-I will be watching!" Finn waved at Genesis and glanced at Jack before going up to the audience's area, looking at them from there. She briefly observed the route and noticed it's a cyclical one, even then Finn was worried for Genesis since she wasn't sure if he was able to stand a chance. But then, why would Jack have invited Genesis? Jack must be up-to-date with her cousin's duelling skill.
"You're ready, right?" Jack looked at Genesis not in a mocking way but he was expecting fun. Fun. It won't be a serious duel between a girl's cousin and the King. Genesis smiled and softened his eyes as he watched Jack getting onto his D-Wheel, then they followed each other to the starting line.
"Oh, you bet I am, King." Genesis smirked smugly. He had no fear of the King at all, in fact he was confident when his Elemental Echo shimmered at the back of his neck and his verdelite necklace did the same. Jack, with his helmet, smirked as well. They were about to have fun, alright.
"Duel!"
Wow, I didn't expect myself to spend so much on the first chapter. I will see how it does, maybe I will continue maybe I won't. It really depends on my creativity, and I am incredibly lazy. One chapter can take me like weeks or months if I get too lazy :0
Alas~ This chapter was just introducing Finn, Theo and Genesis. Along with their relationship with each other and some other characters in the 5D's, and I chose to start this somewhere a little before the Fortune Cup so hmmmm, gotta do some revisions before YGO written exam. It has been a while.
About the Elemental Echo, it was just something I made up thing I made while writing another YGO fanfic while being half asleep. But just know that they have connections to the Signers. And people thought Rune Eyes were random-
This is literally the first time I upload anything on here so I know I am going to trip up somehow. Plus, I am planning to do another YGO fanfic that is a crossover so I have to get used to this... orz But who knows-