SPOILER WARNING! This story contains spoilers for events that occur in late season 1 and season 2 of the English 4Kids Dub of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's, as well as events exclusive to the original Japanese Sub. (Kids all across America who loved watching Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's on Saturday mornings were all robed of a thrilling conclusion to the best Yu-Gi-Oh series ever.) Please, go ahead and watch the TRUE ending of this Anime on Crunchyroll or Anime Planet (Anime Planet is free). However, I will be using their English names in this story because those are the names I grew up with.
But, if you don't care about spoilers, don't worry. There's nothing too major here, so even if you haven't seen either of the endings, you'll still understand and get a lot out of this story.
The Epic Poem of the Six Dragons
A pair of twins were racing through the streets of New Domino City. Not on foot, of course, but on a pair of custom made "Duel Boards", built so the kids, being too young to drive, could still take part in actual Turbo Duels. But they weren't dueling at the moment. Right now, Leo and Luna were simply racing towards the home of the one who had built these vehicles for them.
Leo skidded to a halt in front of the garage, and then jumped off and cheered enthusiastically, "AWW, YEAH! I WIN! AGAIN!" Leo laughed as he waved his arms around, his shirt sleeve rolling down to reveal the Mark of the Dragon's Heart on his arm.
Luna came to a stop in a less flash manner and stepped off of her board, removing her safety gear as she said, "Yeah, sure, you won. But you should really try to remember that there's more to dueling than just speed."
Leo just stood confidently and said, "Really? What, are you forgetting about all those times I've beaten you?"
Luna but her hands on her hips, a gentle breeze brushing against the Mark of the Dragon's Claw on her arm as she replied with a knowing smile, "I don't have to be as good with numbers as Yusei to know that we're at about 50/50."
Leo pouted, which caused Luna to laugh, and he said, "I'd have won more if I could just summon out Life Stream Dragon more often."
Luna became thoughtful at this, and she said, "Well, yeah. . . I mean, it is kinda weird how I always have more trouble pulling the cards I need to summon Ancient Fairy Dragon whenever we duel. I don't think I can even remember a time where Ancient Fairy and Life Stream were out on the field at the same time."
Leo waved it off and said, "Aww, whatever. Let's just go see what Yusei and the guys wanted to show us. They said it was really cool, so come on!"
Leo ran into the garage, with Luna close behind. Yusei, Crow, and Jack were all gathered near the computer. Akiza had already arrived and was seated nearby.\
"About time you tow got here," Jack remarked, slightly impatient but not to the point of rudeness. Rather, he looked rather intrigued about something, "Now we can finally get this show on the road."
Akiza nodded and said, "Well, the suspense is certainly killing me."
Leo looked quite excited, and he said, "Tell me! I wanna know!"
Now that all the Signers were present, Yusei got up and rested his hand on the computer desk as he explained, "Right, so some time after Jack, Greiger, and I took care of that whole Crimson Devil business in Peru, a whole bunch of new artifacts started cropping up. Some of them around 5,000 years old. And among them were a set of stone tablets that Greiger found. He had them translated, and it turned out that they tell all about our dragons and the battles they fought for the Crimson Dragon."
Crow seemed to perk up at this, and he said, "Huh. So, these tablets tell their story? Sounds cool, I'm willing to check it out."
"Me too!" Luna said eagerly.
Leo turned to his sister and asked, "What? Didn't Ancient Fairy Dragon give you all the details already?"
Luna shook her head and shrugged, "Well no, but it's not like I ever asked, or even felt like I needed to know everything."
Akiza smiled and shook her head, "You two. . " She then looked over to Yusei and said, "Well, now I'm curious. Can we check it out now?"
"If we're all ready," Yusei replied as he glanced around the room.
"Like I said before, let's get this show on the road," Jack quipped as everyone else nodded.
"Okay," Yusei said as he opened up the email Grieger had sent them on the computer, "Grieger said the story was written in the form of an epic poem-."
"A poem?" Leo said in surprise and disappointment, "Borrrrrrrr-ing!"
"Leo!" Luna said in annoyance, "Come on, this sounds really interesting."
Crow smirked and gave Leo a quick pat on the back, "Yeah, let's give it chance. I mean, if it's got my Black-Winged in it, it's gotta be good."
"Hmmm," Leo said, not fully convinced.
Yusei turned around and said with a look of long suffering, "Guys, are we gonna do this or not?"
Akiza had gotten up and was standing next to Yusei as she said, "Of course we are, now let's see it."
The group finally gathered around the computer screen as Yusei opened up the file Grieger had sent, and a new window popped up, displaying The Epic of the Six Dragons.
(Prologue)
Long ago! A demon rose!
And Red Nova was his name
Posed a threat, To all souls
Our worlds would never be the same
Long ago! A Spirit appeared!
The Crimson Dragon was its name
5 dragons, Bore its flame
Our worlds would never be the same
(Act I)
First was Stardust, from the sky
Red Archfiend, flames burning high
Black Rose, wind in the woods
Ancient Fairy, pure and good
The fifth bore feathered, wings of black
His pain, he could cast back
With this might, he protected his clan
The Blackwings were safe, from attack
Five humans! One with a Blazing Soul!
Fought with the five, to save both worlds
Red Nova fell down, and was locked away
The Crimson Dragon's champions had saved the day
"I can't stay! The Blackwing tribe needs me!
When the world is safe, I may return, we shall see."
The five had become four, they needed one more
They searched and they searched, till they could no more
(Act II)
The four dragons drifted apart
The Fairy did not lose heart
Although she did not roam far
From the Ancient Forest she'd guard
One day it all became clear
A dragon bearing a spear
Within he held the Earth's might
For Gaia's power is life
"I must strengthen, My Soul and spear,
Lest I simply disappear."
"Dragon of Life, don't be shy,
I admire the way you heal and fight."
"We could be the truest of friends, you and I.
We could be as close as siblings, embodiments of Light and Life."
A promise was made between them, one that would last for all time.
Then the Earthbound Immortals would enact their heinous crime.
(Act III)
The servants of the Underworld King
Sought to destroy all things
Bring forth the darkest blight
A world devoid of life
Life Stream had made the four his friends
Swore he would fight to the end
The battle took the darkest of turns
And Life Stream's heart did rend.
"Ancient Fairy! You are now the King's!
Trapped in Uru's web, you can do nothing!"
"What did you Dragons do?! I blame the three of you!
You sent my sister to her doom!"
The Protector of Life, his heart was filled with strife
He cursed the Crimson Dragon's name in spite
He left his friends, swore it was the end
His Beautiful Howl, was never heard again
(Epilogue)
The five dragons went back to four
The four then became three
The Fairy, turned to stone
Life Stream fled in his grief
Now the Immortals lie in wait
True darkness they'll create
Their King shall rise again
To bring both worlds to an end
The Signers will one day return
If not both worlds will burn
Guardians of Wings and Life
Oh Fate, will they return?
After reading through the poem, the Signers all took a moment to mull over what it had conveyed to them. Jack was the first to voice an opinion on it.
"Huh. Some epic poem. It barely mentioned Red Dragon Archfiend, and then it just went on and on and on about Black-Winged, Ancient Fairy, and Life Stream," he groused.
Luna turned to Jack and asked in confusion, "Well, what's wrong with that?"
Crow glared ta Jack and asked in a slightly more confrontational tone, "Yeah! What is wrong with that?"
Jack looked to Akiza and Yusei and said, "C'mon, you two. Back me up on this. Rose and Stardust got the short end of the stick too."
Akiza gave Jack a look and said, "Or, we could just let it go."
Yusei nodded and said dryly, "Yeah, let's just do that."
"I liked it!" Leo said eagerly.
". . .Sure," Jack remarked in a rather flat tone.
"Really?" Luna asked in surprise.
Leo nodded and said with a smile, "I think it's cool! Ancient Fairy Dragon and Life Stream Dragon were real close. Just like us!"
Luna didn't share her brother's cheerfulness as she replied, "Yeah. . . but that just makes it even more sad. They got separated for 5,000 years. It must have been awful."
Leo saw how down Luna was getting, and he stammered out quickly, "Uh. . .uh. . .uh, but they got a happy ending right! You freed Ancient Fairy Dragon from the monkey guy, and I helped. And then I brought Life Stream Dragon back by Synchro Summoning him to fight Aporia. See, it all turned out okay!"
Luna managed a small smile and said, "Yeah. I guess so." Luna then became thoughtful as she asked, "But I wonder. . . how exactly did Life Stream get turned into a machine in the first place? None of the other dragons changed form after 10,000, so where did Power Tool Dragon come from?"
Leo shrugged and said, "I dunno. Doesn't matter. All's well that ends well, right?"
Luna smiled again at the sight of Leo's grin. and she said, "Yeah, I guess so."
Leo then turned to Yusei and said, "Hey, Yusei! Can you send us a copy of the poem?"
Yusei turned back to the computer screen and said, "Sure thing. I'll just-."
Yusei paused when he closed the file, and he looked at the screen in confusion, 'Wait. . .there's another file here."
"What, did Greiger send us something us," Crow asked.
"No, guys, this file wasn't here before," Yusei said seriously, "It just. . .appeared."
"How?" Jack remarked as the entire group crowded around the computer again.
"Don't open it. It could be a virus," Akiza warned.
Yusei shook his head and said, "No, it couldn't be. It's a true plain text file, you can't put a viruses in them. I'm gonna see what's written in it."
Yusei opened the file, and the document was revealed to be many lines composed entirely of numbers.
Crow raised an eyebrow and said, "Looks like some kind of glitch."
"No, wait," Yusei said, suddenly becoming rather intrigued with what was on the screen, "The way the lines are structured and grouped together in fours. It's just like the epic poem."
Leo tilted his head at an attempt to make sense of what he was seeing, and he remarked, "But it's just a bunch of numbers."
"Or it could be a secret code," Luna suggested.
Jack's patience was running thin, and he said, "Well, that's utter bollocks. Why would Greiger send us one poem in plain English and another poem in spy talk."
"But Greiger didn't send it," Akiza pointed out, "It just appeared. Someone else must have sent it."
Crow looked around in bewilderment and said, "But who? And why? And how? Grr, so many questions!"
Yusei looked determinedly at the numerous lines of numbers and said, "Well, we can start by cracking this code. We've got a little more time on our hands than usual. Might as well put it to good use."
Crow held up his hands and said, "Woah, woah, woah, Yusei. Don't you know that kind of stuff is over my head. And it's way over Jack's head."
Jack knew that if he said anything, Crow would demand that he crack the code himself if he was so smart, so he held his tongue this time.
Akiza smiled shyly and said, "I can help you, Yusei."
Yusei turned to Akiza to say something along the lines of "I got it", but he found himself unable, or perhaps unwilling to say no, so he just shrugged and said, "Alright, if you want. I could use the help keeping track of what does and doesn't work. Maybe you'll end up catching something I miss, like a pattern or something that doesn't belong."
. . . . .
Finally. . . .
I was so tired of being a machine. . .
. . . Fairy?
Are you there?
It's me. . . . your best friend. . .
Life Stream Dragon. . .
To Be Continued In. . . .
The Epic Poem of Life Stream Dragon