Chapter 6: Portman
Yusei and the others arrived in the main entrance. "Let's go!" Yusei said.
"Only if you promise to eat on the way," Radley smiled, handing him the plate.
Yusei blinked in surprise. "Thanks."
Kalin chuckled at Yusei and headed out of the medical center. He jumped on his motorcycle. Yusei got in the van to eat. The others going in the van went too.
"Do you feel well enough to ride?" Radley asked Kalin in concern.
"Yes I do, Radley. But if you really insist that I take the van, I have no objections."
"I think it would be better," Radley said. "I was going to ride in the van too. Partially to make sure Scotch stays put," he chuckled.
Kalin thought for a moment and then realized the situation. "You're right. I'll ride the van as well. May make us less noticeable by our enemies too."
Kalin got off his bike and jumped into the van.
Radley followed him in. "Good point," he said in approval.
Everyone else got settled and they started out.
"I wonder if Jack is out there right now," said Carly in a worried tone.
"Probably," Yusei admitted sympathetically.
"How about Antinomy?" asked Kalin.
"I'm here, but I'm riding out ahead," Antinomy said as he passed the window.
Kalin was surprised to see the mysterious man just appear like that.
"Oh! Hey, there! Have you seen Jack?" asked Carly.
"I saw him when he left," Antinomy said.
"He must be very mad at Portman," sighed Kalin. "I hope nothing bad happened to him."
"I hope not too," Antinomy frowned. Portman would enjoy getting hold of him.
"We have to hurry then!" cried Carly. "There is something we have to do for him!"
"We'll look all around," Antinomy promised. "He shouldn't be hard to find."
"Do something for him?" asked Sect.
"You don't know? It's his birthday!" exclaimed Carly.
Radley winced. "Not a great way to spend his birthday, chasing a mad scientist."
"Yeah, that's why we have to make sure he's ok!" said Carly.
They went up and down all the streets. However, they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Hmm, I don't see anything unusual so far," stated Kalin.
Eventually Jack's Duel Runner was spotted going down a street.
When they saw the white Runner, Carly gasped.
"That's Jack's Runner, Pheonix Whirlwind! Hurry after him!"
The van sped up and Jack looked over. "Took you long enough!"
"Jack, are you ok?" gasped Carly.
"Please don't dash off by yourself next time," sighed Kalin. "You had us all worried.
"I'm fine!" Jack insisted. "I wanted to get an early start."
"And that looks like the van!" Scotch pointed. "I think it's following Jack!"
"Don't let your guards down, guys!" said Kalin.
The motorcyclists surrounded the van and forced it to pull over. The door opened and a woman stepped out.
"Bravo, all of you!" she smirked.
"You must be Dr. Portman!" snarled Kalin.
"Correct, Mr. Kessler!" she smirked. "All of you delivered a truly fascinating performance last night!"
Radley snarled. "Scotch died! And Kalin almost did!"
"Why are you so interested on brainwashing people?" asked Kalin.
"I want to see if their bonds are strong enough to withstand it," Portman said.
"What do you hope to achieve by doing so?" asked Kalin.
"To learn all the secrets of the mind, of course," Portman said.
"That's dirty!" frowned Carly.
"Trust me, you don't want to know what goes through some people's minds," Kalin stated solemnly.
"Oh, I certainly do," Portman said. "And your mind is of special interest to me. You died and came back to life. I've been experimenting with reviving the dead myself, and here you are, alive and well, without any assistance from me!"
"What?! How do you know that?" asked Kalin in a shocked voice.
"Reviving the dead?" gulped Carly.
"I've extensively researched all of my victims!" Portman said proudly.
"You're sick!" Radley snarled.
"You won't get away with this, Portman," yelled Jack. "Cause we're here to finally end your reign of terror!"
"What are you hoping to accomplish by bringing back the dead?" asked Kalin.
"Oh really," she smirked. "Big words from the former King!"
She looked to Kalin. "What could be a bigger scientific breakthrough than that?"
"Jack Atlas get that title back after I pummel you!" retorted Jack.
Kalin gritted his teeth, but he wasn't sure what to say.
Radley scowled. Portman probably had a point.
"Go ahead and try." She folded her arms and the three thugs came out and surrounded her.
"It's them! Her men!" cried Sect.
"Get out of my way!" yelled Jack.
The thugs just glared at him.
Meanwhile, Akiza, Leo, and Luna were wondering where the others went. Akiza dialed Yusei's phone number.
Yusei answered, growing more and more furious as the conversation with Portman went on. "Hello?"
"Yusei? Where are you? We checked on the KaibaCorp Medical Center and you guys weren't there!" Akiza's voice was ripe with worry.
"We went out to find Portman ... and we just did," Yusei growled.
"You found Portman?! Where?" exclaimed Akiza.
"On a street." Yusei gave the address.
"We're coming Yusei," said Akiza.
"Guess we have no choice but to fight them," said Kalin.
"Call Sector Security," Yusei instructed.
"Alright will do," said Akiza.
"Or duel them?" Scotch said.
"But we'd be dueling on my terms," Portman smirked. "I don't think you'd want that again."
"Where did you get the loco Fire cards, by the way?" Radley asked.
"They were cards meant to go into production, but hadn't yet," Portman said. "I stole them from Pegasus."
"Impossible!" gasped Kalin.
"You stole them from the creator of Duel Monsters?! That's low!" yelled Jack
"I am very resourceful," Portman smiled. "Now, what kind of battle do you want?"
Neither Carly nor Kalin were sure how to answer.
"Bring it on!" Jack called.
The thugs charged. Everyone did their best fighting them, but when three more appeared, they were hopelessly outmatched.
"Where do these guys come from?!" asked Kalin.
"Out of the van!" Scotch said.
"The van?!" shouted Carly. "Then we have to stop them from getting out!"
Carly had brought a baseball bat with her for this occasion, but she wasn't a very experienced fighter.
"Officer Trudge! Looks like they have located Dr. Portman!" said Crow.
"How many more could there be?!" Jack retorted.
"Where?!" Trudge called.
"They're down this street!" replied Crow as he scanned his radar.
Meanwhile, Akiza, Leo, and Luna were driving to the scene via tracking data from their call. One thug grabbed Virgil and threw him across the street with a scream. Crow was trying to get there with the police.
"Virgil!" cried Kalin.
Virgil didn't get up.
"Virgil!" Radley tried to run over to him, but another thug blocked his way. Furious, Radley threw a punch and tried to judo flip him.
Kalin could feel the anger rising inside him as he tried to help fight off the thugs.
Yusei also tried to fight them.
Jimmy tried to get to Virgil too, and he was also picked up by a thug.
"Let him go!" Scotch jumped the guy from behind, unable to bear standing by any longer.
The thug threw Jimmy to the ground and grabbed for Scotch.
Radley flipped the one thug over his shoulder. Now he wasn't sure who needed help first.
Biff ran to Scotch.
"This is hopeless!" cried Carly.
Kalin did his best to help Radley by kicking the thug on the ground.
Just then, Akiza, Leo, and Luna arrived at the scene and were horrified.
"We've gotta help!" Leo cried.
Jimmy got up and limped to his cousin. "Virgil?! Virgil, wake up!"
"Right!" said Luna, as she got her deck ready.
"Black rose bloom!" Akiza summoned Black Rose Dragon, who appeared in front of the Bunch.
Leo brought out his monster. "Make mine real too!"
Yusei punched a thug. He was growing all the angrier.
Jimmy fell over Virgil, sobbing.
Radley finally got over to them, horrified and angry.
Akiza nodded and brough out Life Stream Dragon. Luna also gave her Ancient Fairy Dragon. The trio ordered their dragons to protect the Bunch.
Kalin looked at the three dragons and smirked. Perhaps they could defeat Portman's thugs now. He used his own powers to summon Infernity Doom Dragon.
"What's with all the dragons?!" one thug yelled.
"I think they're real!" a second one gasped.
Radley hugged Jimmy close and looked down at Virgil. He was breathing, thankfully. But Radley had about had enough. He summoned his dragon and lifted Virgil into his arms. "How dare you!" he snarled at Portman and the thugs.
"Cause we're Team 5D's!" yelled Jack. He and Carly allowed Kalin to channel his psychic powers to materialize Red Dragon Archfiend and Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. Kalin then turned to Yusei and Antinomy.
"Guys, let me use my powers to make your monsters real. That way, we can all defeat these men together."
Akiza rushed over to the Bunch. She looked over at Virgil and then at Radley.
"Radley, let me check up on him. You go ahead and fight Portman's guards."
Yusei and Antinomy nodded. "Go ahead."
Radley was relieved for Akiza's help and expertise. "Okay." He gently passed Virgil back to Jimmy, squeezed Jimmy's shoulder, and got up to join Kalin.
The thugs were now pulling out decks of their own and bringing out their monsters.
Kalin used his powers to materialize Stardust Dragon and TG Power Gladiator.
Akiza examined the wounds on Virgil's body. She placed her hand on his chest and began to use her healing powers.
When Jack saw that the thugs were also duelists, he laughed. "So, you want to duel? Fine by me! The King never turns down a challenge!"
Jimmy watched worriedly.
Virgil finally stirred. "Ow... What happened?"
Jimmy hugged him gently in relief. "Oh Virgil!"
Radley also sighed in relief.
"Don't worry, you're fine now," smiled Akiza.
"Naturally, I prepared them for every possible scenario," Portman sneered.
The duels began and the thugs quickly had powerful monsters on the field too.
"Man, this lady is tough!" complained Leo.
When the thugs brought out their ace monsters, Luna panicked. "This is not good..."
"That crumb humiliated me," Virgil muttered, returning Jimmy's hug. "I wanna dish it back to him."
"Ours can beat theirs! ... Right?!" Carly nervously exclaimed.
"Of course we can!" replied Jack. "We fought crazier opponents before! This Portman is a mere human!"
"We're fighting her thugs, though," Carly said.
And the thugs knew how to duel. Soon they had everyone boxed into disconcerting situations.
"Our opponents, they're too strong..." groaned Kalin as he fell to his knees.
"There has to be a way out of this!" Yusei exclaimed.
"We can't give up!" Radley said, looking to Kalin in concern. "Why do we have these dragons if they can't help us?!"
"We've always been able to make a comeback! We have to believe in miracles!" exclaimed Luna.
"That's right!" Yusei said.
Kalin's eyes felt icy and dead. There was nothing that could be done to stop Dr. Portman. She was much too experienced for them to handle and she knew their every move.
"Kalin, please don't give up again!" Radley cried. "We can't let her win!"
"He's falling into despair!" Portman said in delight. "Take him out and bring his body to me. I'm going to study him very carefully."
The thugs all moved to attack Kalin at once.
"No." Radley sounded cold, furious. "You're not going to take him. I've had enough." The wind picked up, swirling around him and blowing his hair about. His pendant glowed and a vortex started to open, threatening to swallow their monsters.
"Fascinating!" Portman exclaimed. "What's this?"
"Kalin! No, you fool! You can't let her win!" yelled Jack.
"Remember how tough you were when we lived in Satellite?!" cried Crow
Kalin, in his despair, could not hear anyone. His mind was falling into a pitch, black void. Perhaps this time, he would finally die for real.
"Kalin!" Yusei screamed. But he froze, staring at Radley. What was going on?
"I'm tired of being nice while my loved ones are hurt or even killed," Radley snarled, stepping forward. "You are not taking Kalin from me!"
The monsters were pulled into the vortex. Still thinking it part of the game, the thugs laughed and tried to approach Kalin anyway.
Two things happened at once. The vortex opened more, now threatening to swallow some of them. Others sidestepped it, trying to get to Kalin anyway. But a bright light appeared in their way.
"What the heck?!" yelled the thugs as they shielded their eyes.
"Stop."