Without Yumi, Izar has to find someone else to help him during the war.
The EEDF's facilities were vast and sprawling underneath Chiba. Without a proper guide or enough experience finding your way through the near-identical hallways, it would be next to impossible to uncover all of their dirty little secrets. That's how it was for Yumi the day before.
While she and Kazuhiko were ferried off to Gunma for recruitment, Yuu was stuck behind in her cell. Neither of them knew she was there, still believing Yamada's lie about having to transfer her from another facility. There was no other facility, obviously, and there was no need to transport her; he just didn't want to lose an asset, even one that failed at its purpose.
Day and night had no meaning for her in a place without sunlight, so she had no idea what time it was when she woke up. Like every morning, she spent the time between food delivery laying on her side and facing the wall attached to the hard slab they pretended was a bed.
They didn't provide her a blanket, so she tried to huddle up as much as possible. It did little to stave off the cold. This place was built on the cheap, so insulation or heating weren't exactly their main concern. Maybe if they'd provided more than a white tank top and black shorts for her to wear in between outings, this wouldn't be such an issue, but this all seemed to be an intentional part of her punishment.
Before her escape attempt, they'd at least let her out to exercise in the gymnasium. Keeping her conditioned for what was coming was seen as important. Now that she was deemed a failure, though, the most activity she could get was pacing back and forth in this tiny rectangle of a room.
Since she had no real way of keeping track of time, she was forced to assume that the food came around an hour after she regained consciousness. It was a relief in the sense that it gave her something to do for a time, even if the food itself wasn't any good. Flavorless gray and brown gelatin packed with the nutrients she needed to function, plus some water. A far cry from what she got to eat when she was with Yumi.
How long had it been since they took her back here? It felt like an eternity. She'd cried for a time when they threw her back in here, but those feelings passed eventually. Her anticipation of rescue as Yumi promised eventually passed, too. As much as she wanted to believe in her, she was just so tired. Just like overworking a muscle, hoping without end would eventually exhaust even the most optimistic of person.
At this point, she only hoped for something to end all of this. She didn't care how anymore. Even being dead would be better than living year after year in this silent, concrete hell.
Second after agonizing second ticked by, her mind going blank as it normally did around this point. When she did that, it was easier to deal with so much nothing. For whatever reason, she just couldn't force herself back to sleep after she got up, so this was the closest thing to being fully unconscious that she could do.
Settling in for another day, Yuu didn't notice the man standing behind her. The door had never opened, but somehow he'd found his way inside. He didn't give off any sense of presence, either, almost like he was a ghost.
It wasn't until he began stroking her hair did Yuu finally react. Snapping out of her dissociative episode, she flipped over and struck at his arm with her prosthetic. He didn't budge, though.
"You're awake," he said sweetly, a thin smile across his lips. "Let's have a chat."
Yuu pulled her knees up to her chest, scrunching herself up against the back wall. She'd never seen someone like this before, and she definitely didn't know anyone who could ignore her strike like that. This man didn't seem like one of her handlers. At the very least, they usually wore shirts when they came to get her.
"You look frightened," he said, bending down to her eye level. "That makes sense." He chuckled, then reached forward.
Yuu was unable to shrink back any further, closing her eyes in anticipation of being hurt. That's usually what happened when someone reached towards her like that.
But the pain never came, just a hand on her head. He was petting her, actually. Just like Yumi.
"They've treated you poorly, creature," the man said. With a grin, he added, "Beaten, but not broken, right?" She didn't know how to respond to that, but she was just grateful to be treated kindly at all.
After a short while, he finally said, "You want to leave this place, don't you?"
Of course she did. She wanted it more than anything. She'd lived her entire life walled in here, never even knowing what she was missing out on until last summer. Ever since, she'd been yearning to experience freedom again.
"Judging by your expression, you do," he said. "Determination." He finally pulled his hand away and stood back up. "I can get you out, you know."
Yuu stood up instantly, eyes widening. "Yes," she squeaked out, nodding quickly.
"Well, before we do anything sudden, why don't we introduce ourselves?" He smiled again, placing the tips of his fingers together and giving a shallow bow. "You can call me Izar. Do you have a name, creature?"
She was quiet for a moment, then answered with, "Yuu."
"I see," he said with a nod. "I thought that was you. Well, Yuu, I think we can be friends." He circled his finger around. "Just turn around and I can fix your problems."
Though she didn't really understand what was happening, Yuu complied. If this would get her her freedom, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
"Now, Yuu," Izar said, placing a cold finger against the back of her neck, "I'm going to make you my emissary. Basically, all you need to do is play a few card games for me when the time comes. If you do, I'll help you leave this place. How does that sound?"
"Yes," she repeated, faster this time.
"Are you sure?" he asked, drawing out the final sound. "If you accept, you can't take it back. If you really want to-"
"Yes!" she shouted. She'd do much more if it meant escaping. If all she had to do was duel, this would be easy.
Izar's smile widened. "I like the sound of that." His eyes flashed, a yellow ball of energy traveling from his hand, down his finger, and onto Yuu's neck. Then the pain started.
Falling to her knees, Yuu grit her teeth and took sharp breaths as the yellow orb burned her skin. "That hurts, doesn't it?" Izar asked with a chuckle. "Don't worry, though. It's only for a moment."
Moment or not, it was agonizing. She was no stranger to pain, but being essentially branded was still an uncomfortable experience to say the least. To make matters worse, it almost seemed like, the more she struggled to keep herself from crying out, the slower the energy moved.
Eventually, she couldn't take it. As she let out a yelp, the design finished itself seconds later. She couldn't see it, but the finished design matched the emblem on Izar's monsters.
"There we are," he said, patting her head again. "That's a sign that you're on my team. That, and…" He raised his hand, the air swirling in Yuu's room as black lightning began to spark inside his palm.
The wind blew harder, streaks of dark energy appearing inside it. They formed on Izar's hand, materializing a card. This process repeated over and over again, a full deck stacking itself before the air finally settled.
"Take these," he said, holding them out to Yuu. "They're stronger than what you've been working with so far."
Doing as she was told, Yuu took the cards from Izar, her arm transforming into its duel mode. She placed the deck into its empty slot, drawing a card once in place. "Try it," Izar said, grin spreading across his face.
An explosion shook the facility. Within seconds, a dozen black-clad soldiers marched down the hallway past the infirmary to find out what could be attacking them all the way down here.
They came across a cloud of smoke, drawing their weapons on whatever it might be obscuring. "Identify yourself!" one of them barked. Several of them clicked back the hammers on their guns just to further prepare.
A moment later and they were all thrown to the ground. Some sort of blast of air had torn through their ranks, breaking bones as it tossed them into the floor and walls. It also blew away the smoke, revealing that it was Yuu who had done this.
More accurately, it was the monster she'd Summoned to her duel disk. Like Izar's own cards, this one was made real. That meant it could interact with the world around it, busting down doors and knocking away anyone who might get in its way.
It was a strange, gleaming creature, body made of a shining deep blue metal in the shape of an angular cross. At the top, its face appeared tranquil despite the destruction it caused. It hovered in front of its controller, moving to her whims without the need for verbal commands.
Many of the soldiers had been knocked out by the initial blast, a few even more unlucky. Those still conscious writhed on the ground, heads spinning as they tried to comprehend what was happening. The man with the clearest head grabbed his radio, grunting into it.
"It's the child," he sputtered, a crimson spray of blood coating part of his helmet's visor. "She's…" Suddenly, another of them aimed his weapon at her, pulling the trigger. "No, don't!" the first soldier shouted.
On the other end, several gunshots were heard, then a scream. Then the device went silent. All attempts to contact that team proved futile, the others stationed in the underground having to assume they were out of the fight.
More mobilized, though the results were similar. Compared to a real Duel Monster with all its fantastical abilities, what good were normal guns? They were little more than meat for the grinder as Yuu made her long walk to the exit.
After two more waves of soldiers were crushed, the facility's staff decided to try a different approach. Just as Yuu made it to the elevator she'd taken to the surface last time, a new challenger stepped out of the shadows. In her hand was a silver bell.
"That's enough," her trainer said, eyes cold. "It's time to go back to your room." She rang the bell, the corners of her red lips curling upwards as she saw the girl flinch. "That's right. You do what I say."
Despite several seconds passing, Yuu still stood in front of the elevator. "I told you to go back to your room," she repeated, ringing the bell again. Like before, it caused her to flinch, but she still remained in place.
"Don't try to defy me," she said, voice low and dripping with venom. "You belong to me. I made you. You don't get to disobey." She shook the bell wildly in the air, each ring causing Yuu to shake.
Suddenly, the mark on the back of Yuu's neck began to glow. She whirled around, eyes wide with hate. "Stop it!" she screamed, her monster firing another blast of air directly at the woman's chest.
The attack sent her flying down the hallway, its force crushing her rib cage even before she hit the wall. Slumping to the ground, she tried and failed to take shaky breaths. She was letting out some kind of gurgling wail, now fully terrified of the girl approaching her.
Yuu seethed as she walked up to her former master, sharp breaths shooting in and out of her teeth. Her fists shook, all of the rage she'd suppressed up until just now finally flowing through her. The dam had broken, and this horrible woman happened to be right at the bottom when it did.
"Yuu…" she blubbered, starting to cry as she choked up blood. "Stop…" She struggled to raise her hand, desperate to do anything to keep the girl away from her. "You...you can't…"
Whatever she was trying to say would forever go unheard. One more blast from the monster was enough to finish her. Once the bane of Yuu's existence, now just a smear on the concrete.
She stood there shaking for several seconds, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. After so long, she'd finally done it. That woman couldn't hurt her anymore. No one could hurt her anymore. She was finally free.
With that revelation working its way into her brain, she let out a shriek. Pain and rage and fear and sorrow all mixed together inside her. Now more set than ever on escaping, she turned back to the elevator and ordered her monster to blast the doors open. Taking hold of it, they launched upwards inside the shaft, smashing through the interior and eventually breaking into the faux office lobby that led to the outside world.
The people there were in shock at what they were seeing, no one entirely sure how to react to a little girl and some kind of creature breaking into their building from the elevator they weren't allowed to use. Soon enough, though, they would know that the correct response would have been to run.
Yuu had lost all patience or sympathy for the people here. They were here, which meant they worked for the people below, which meant they were also responsible for everything that happened to her. They couldn't be forgiven.
Hate bubbling up from inside her, she drew four more cards off the top of her deck and placed them onto the field, four more monsters appearing in front of her. They didn't wait for an order, all of her assembled servants rushing out to massacre the people stationed here.
It was over in less than a minute, the deafening screams eventually giving way to silence. Revenge taken (for now), Yuu regained her stoic composure, walking calmly towards the glass doors that led to the streets of Chiba. Her monsters smashed them open for her, allowing her to stroll through without interruption.
As soon as she got outside, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air. Looking up, she let her eyes adjust to the natural light. Despite the slight chill in the air, she was still able to savor the warmth of the sun against her skin.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Izar said, walking up behind her. "Wish I could have joined you, but I think you wanted that even more than I did."
"Where do I go?" Yuu asked him. Ironic as it was, she had no idea what to do now that freedom was actually in her grasp.
"Don't worry about that," he said, giving her another pat on the head. "I have a place for us. Let's go see it." Saying that, the two of them began to disintegrate into black particles. They seemed to blow away in the breeze, no trace of either of them left after a few seconds.
"And my forehead was just gushing blood all over the place," Kazuhiko said, using his hand to pantomime the injury he was describing. "So, yeah, took about 20 stitches, but I got better after a little while."
The entire van fell silent once he finished, Sakuya pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. Evidently, Kazuhiko telling everyone about the time he fell off the jungle gym as a kid wasn't the best way to bond with the two other Togami students who came to join the fight. One was a redheaded girl named Chika, the other a green-haired boy named Hotaro.
Naturally, Sakuya had also joined them. Yumi told her of what was happening, but she never actually expected her to come with them. Once she knew, though, Sakuya would never let her fight a war on her own. As a result, they were sat right beside each other on the trip back, both totally unaware just how out of their depth they were in this fight between gods.
It had been several hours since they first left for Gunma, the drive back taking another few. By the time they arrived in Chiba, it was already dusk. As a result, it meant all of the teenagers were completely unaware of what transpired at their new home while they were away.
Yamada knew, though, and he was furious. The entire ride back, he'd been snapping pencils and ripping paper in the SUV he rode in separate from the recruits. Still, he wasn't so blinded by anger that he let it rob him of his senses. Naturally, the first thing they'd do would be to clean up the mess. If any of this got out, it could complicate things.
The official story became that a gas leak at an office building had killed the thirty-eight people in the lobby. It was a bit hard to believe given the lack of evidence for any kind of combustion at the scene, but government credentials get you pretty far with local police. No one asked too many questions before the bodies were bagged and the site cleaned.
As for those in the underground, they were simply disappeared. Most of them lacked families, so it wasn't like they'd be missed. Those that survived their encounter with the rampaging Yuu were treated at the infirmary, all of them expected to make full recoveries in record time thanks to Alramech's wonder blood.
Damage to the facility itself was repaired quickly enough, as well. All in all, it would be like nothing ever happened.
Everything's falling into place. Now Izar has an emissary, and this pick probably wasn't as random as when he chose Yumi. He might even have some kind of plan this time.
Yuu's new cards get to stay vague and in shadows until the big reveal soon, so murder is all you get right now. In hindsight, probably the strongest introduction for a new archetype.
I wonder if Yumi's ever going to learn that Yuu was here the whole time and that she was lied to. I bet that wouldn't go well. Probably not as bad as when she finds out Izar managed to do what she never could.
That's all we've got for now. Thanks for reading. Share if you're enjoying. Always remember to properly treat injuries.