【22 - It All Falls Apart! A Plea for Help?!】
Chunks of earth were gouged as they drag-lined, trees and debris thrown overhead. Heidi couldn't tell if it was panic or a head injury, but it was all punctuated by moments of blackness. She remembered hovering above the ground, the impact so violent that for a time her legs and bottom were weightless. She'd hugged that pillar, her only safety, and managed to not let go. When the chaos ended darkness was lit up by sparks of broken technology. Timothy had been thrown around under that panel, but he got to his feet afterwards. Heidi remained like a stunned animal, not moving or letting go even after everything was still.
Timothy went to unbolt the hatch that led to the hydrogen fuel cell. After examining it he climbed back out and went to her, there were cuts and bruises along his body. He crouched down to shake her.
"Hey. Whatever that missile was fried everything. The battery's completely ruined, so is the ship. We have to go before they find us."
Heidi nodded, peeling her hands free and letting him pull her up. She went to get her rucksack and he got his backpack. The ship was on a lean, they had to heave to open the ramp enough and crawl out onto dirt. There was smoke and fires going. Timothy was enough of a gentleman to hold her hand as they passed uneven ground, help push her up the ditch they'd made. Heidi knelt on the forest grass and strained to pull him up after her. Then based on the direction they crashed they knew which way was the sea, so they headed the approximate direction to the nearest city.
The woodland was thick with shrubs and mossy trunks. The smell of ozone was soon replaced by one of nature. Heidi started feeling around her body for injuries as they walked. Sore shoulder, an ache in her hip, cuts and bruises. Nothing too serious. The animals had all quietened after the boom of their landing, but as time passed the little sounds of life started up once more. Fireflies swam in a flurry under the canopy.
Timothy was wearing the plain clothes he'd had on when he rescued her from that facility. Heidi was wearing a burgundy zipper-jacket over a dark skirt, stockings and white-red sneakers. Now their clothes were stained with soot but with the cash Engyo had left Timothy they probably had the funds to get something new. They'd been walking for some time and it was now getting later in the afternoon, Heidi climbed over a fallen log before breaking the silence.
"So… we don't have a spaceship anymore."
"No," Timothy bleakly agreed. "That presents a big problem for our plan."
"I know I complained about it, but… it's going to be a lot harder to get around, avoid agents, find the chosens… without that ship."
"Yes, exceedingly."
"We probably don't have enough money to-"
"How about we focus on surviving right now and then think about what we're going to do?" he interrupted and she bit back her tongue.
Soon they reached a chain-link fence that cut through the forestry. It was rusted and old, beyond it was a junkyard. A few more trees here and there, but mostly a wasteland expanse of junkpiles. Beyond that were distant buildings. Ah, civilisation. Timothy went to a broken part of the fencing and they climbed through. They stepped along dusty ground for what seemed to be a kilometre, the shadows of the junk piles growing as the sun dipped ahead of them. Racoons of some kind were scuttling amidst empty cans, one was sitting like a person atop the rusted skeleton of a truck, watching them go as its tail flicked. The dirt picked up in the breeze, hovering at knee-height and giving Heidi a strange taste in the back of her mouth.
"Timothy…" they were close enough to see overpasses and more details of the buildings, on the horizon sat a factory and a powerplant. No smoke billowing out from within. Heidi continued "Doesn't this city seem a bit… shitty to you?"
"We're at the slums."
"The slums?" Heidi asked in amazement "Wow the old coal-power province… I used to see pictures of it in school. It was where all those charities used to send money overseas. The literal poorest place in all Aurellia… at least clothing shops should be cheap right?"
"Hmm." Timothy sounded suspicious but they pressed on to their inevitability.
Heidi was entertained by the improbability of it all. Of all places to crash-land it had to be the literal worst city in the world. It was still a landmark of sorts, infamous. It would've made the top seven shitty wonders of the world if anyone cared to make such a list. As they got closer plant-life seemed to shrivel and die. Many plots of land were empty dirt. Buildings sagged and didn't look at all safe. The fencing had fallen flat in several places so they walked over it and joined passers-by on the cracked sidewalk. People hunched into their ragged and stitched-up clothing. Bonfire bins sat at intervals and there were piles of rubbish. The two teens started walking in deeper with a mix of nervousness and wonder. Nobody found it all that strange that they were stained with ash.
It was now evening and they passed busted storefronts and buildings. They'd not seen any public transportation – no buses or taxis.
"So strange…" Heidi commented as they walked.
It wasn't quite an apocalyptic wasteland, but it wasn't your regular neglected downtown either. Every second building they passed was empty with bordered-up windows. There were still shops with sparse products on display but everything was filthy. Men and women lay by the streets, wrapped up in itchy-looking blankets. Heidi saw a brick wall with a curious graffiti tag: two axes in a circle crossed in an X-shape. Some cars drove by, perhaps one every odd minute or so, but they were covered in rust and dents. Heidi had seen one shiny black car go by with tinted windows, she'd stared as it passed. It was getting darker.
"I haven't seen anything that looks like a hotel." Timothy murmured.
"And you don't want to ask any of these fellows for directions, do you?"
"No," he admitted.
"I don't blame you."
They kept their voices low. Ahead a rangy man stood at an intersection, stopping people and asking them if they wanted to buy blue spark-rocks, whatever the hell that was. They moved to give him a wide berth and that's when Heidi saw a pair of men throwing a woman against a wall. They took something and ran off. The woman slumped and reached for them, calling for help.
"Hey!" Heidi's sense of heroism ignited. She ran into the narrow side-street to the shaking older woman, careful not to slip on the empty beer bottles. She crouched down and helped the poor lady stand "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
There was a grunt from behind and Heidi turned to see Timothy pressed against the wall, the men had come back. When Heidi faced the woman she saw a knife pointed at her stomach, the crone gave a yellowed smile that was missing several teeth.
"You actually fell for that? I knew you two weren't from around these parts, we've been following you for the past twenty minutes."
Heidi backed up to the wall as the lady and her knife followed. She looked as people walked by not twenty feet from them but no one so much as turned their head.
"Hey!"
"They're not going to help you." The woman continued smiling and she was right. There wasn't even so much as a glance their way. What kind of place is this?
Timothy had an elbow right under his jaw, spit working out the corner of his mouth. Unable to move so much as an inch.
"Don't hurt him!" Heidi yelled.
"Drop your bag." The woman instructed.
That knife and her eyes - one cloudy - didn't waver. Heidi did as she was told and a deft kick swept the rucksack to the other man. He rifled through her things looking for a wallet, then the other man helped him unhook Timothy's bag and they searched that as well. Timothy was struggling to breathe under the weight of the guy pinning him.
Heidi had been trained in how to fight someone with a knife. She knew the correct manoeuvre to knock the knife-hand away, trip the person over your leg, roll over them and hyper-extend their arm until the ligaments tore. She'd practiced the skill many times. However this woman had her standing right up against the wall. Heidi didn't have the room to take a stance and that knife was inches from her. If she got stabbed the hospitals here might not be clean enough to keep her dying from an infection days later. If Heidi was able to disarm this older woman, she still had the two big men to deal with and Timothy looked like he was about to pass out.
"Give me your jacket." The woman ordered.
"No!" Heidi fired back.
The guy found their money. He dragged his thumb across a stack of notes and looked up with wide eyes. His cohorts were similarly shocked.
"Holy shit…"
"You got lucky, darling." The woman told her. "This city is full of people a lot worse than we are."
Timothy was released, he hit the ground and gasped. The men fled deeper into the alley and the woman backed up before running after them. Heidi could only glare as they left. Timothy's breathing was starting to return to normal and it dawned on Heidi just how unlucky they'd been in a matter of hours. Spaceship destroyed and now all their money was gone. She couldn't go to the police. Calls to her family would be monitored. She knew no one it'd be safe to contact in this continent. In her rucksack was a pair of trousers, the pocket held a few coins. Eighty cents, it was all her money in the world.
When night fell they crowded around a bonfire for warmth. The stragglers who manned it stared at them but said nothing and let them be. Their decks were now their most prized possessions so they needed to keep them in their pockets at all times. If this city did have a hotel it was probably deeper inside. Without pay phones, information centres or friendly characters they were going to have to bunker down with everyone else. And we have no money, she remembered. Heidi and Timothy leaned against each other with their bags between them. They slept outside, and it was the first time Heidi had ever done so without a tent and sleeping bag. She passed out from exhaustion, had light moments of consciousness when all she was aware of was her closed eyes, her head on Timothy's shoulder and his face against her neck. When she opened her bleary eyes it was dawn.
Heidi blinked and raised her head. The sky was a weak pink and orange, the buildings were silhouettes. She could smell faeces coming from the dirty man who lay closest to them. She scrunched her nose and looked at the bonfire. A small flame was going, a scruffy homeless man standing behind it and warming his hands. He was burning rubbish, friendly brown eyes fixed on her.
"Hiya." He chirped. He looked particularly filthy.
Heidi stretched her arms and winced. Timothy roused but didn't wake.
The man's happiness didn't recede from a lack of greeting, he continued "Rough first night here?"
"Is it that obvious we're not from around here?" Heidi asked.
"I'd say so. Your clothes got dirt, but you aint got no stitching or frays."
Heidi looked around. At the nearest corner was a smearing of dirt… or more faeces. Where did people even go to the toilet? Inside the abandoned buildings?
"Is there a place to wash up around here?" she asked the man.
"There's the river."
"Well at least that's something…" her eyes narrowed in disbelief "This place… it's horrible. I can't believe how awful it is here. And people live here, children live here? There should be better support, why isn't anybody doing anything about this? Why don't people know about this?" Heidi's rising voice caused a woman to wake, she turned her head over and wasn't quite ready to get up.
"Boy you really aren't from around here, are ya?"
"I came from Duextra."
The man whistled, his bushy eyebrows disappearing under his shaggy fringe "Wow… the other continent. What's it like?"
"Green. Fresher air. I saw pictures of this place in school but they made it sound like everyone was just really poor." She adjusted her sitting. Timothy was definitely awake now but not ready to open his eyes, he turned into her neck.
"There is a lot you don't know about this place. A lot." The man knelt to pick from his pile of garbage, he tossed newspaper and a disposable cup into the fire.
"Well you seem friendly enough. Please tell me."
"Okie-dokie…" he gazed into the fire, his voice took on a dreamy story-telling quality "Twenty years ago this was once one of the most vibrant cities in all of Augus. It was centred around three energy businesses that employed almost everyone. The powerplant, coal mines and the factory. You should have seen it in its glory days…" he spoke wistfully "Now it's as good as a graveyard. Not that the people died but society and civility sure did."
Heidi had seen those empty structures from a distance, they were massive. She was surprised at how eloquent he became with his story-telling voice, then her brow furrowed "wait… you can't be saying this place is lawless?"
"Not entirely, and not officially. But it did get overrun by crime. When research showed the dangers non-renewable energy would have on the climate and habitats, everything was shut down to make room for cleaner energy. You see the higher-ups of Augus care about themselves and humanity, but they didn't care to intervene when thirty square kilometres of metropolis decayed into this."
"But that- how could they do that? There would've been protests, human rights activists?" As Heidi spoke Timothy finally straightened up, blinking at the man as he told his story. Various others were awake now too and solemn as they heard their city's history repeated to them.
"They did try to help, at first. Some pay-offs and employment strategies, but there were too many of us and they weren't willing to spend all the funding that would've been necessary to bring this place back from the brink. A few charities have headquarters here, one for orphaned children and free meals and a women's hostel, but they can only help so many and then they have to shut their doors." He reached into his mouth and started wiggling a loose brown tooth "You know we have our own blood disease here?" He looked at her.
"What?"
"A disease transmitted through blood and sex. Everywhere else people get treatment and medication to stop the spread, but here it's rampart."
Heidi thought about something she heard the other day "What are blue spark-rocks?"
"Diodrethemine." He spoke in a sing-song. "Spark rocks, blue dust, brain rocket-fuel. Addictive drug that takes you to a whole other planet and causes gradual brain-rot. Also rampart here."
"And the police aren't trying to stop it?" Timothy spoke up.
"Too much crime here to bother. The police will come whenever there's a shoot-out but even they've started to not bother. Instead they stick to the next city over, a port city by the water. They're not too friendly to people who try to cross over. We used to be pitied, but now we're too much bother and hated instead. I'm sure everyone outside would wish we just went away permanently." He rubbed his hands. Someone else crawled closer to the fire.
"Shoot-outs…" Heidi crossed her legs. "That means-"
"Gangs. Oh, yep. The triads run this place. We've got the Sword gang, Axe gang and Knife gang. It's a never-ending turf war for territory and blood feuds."
Heidi and Timothy were quiet with their thoughts, just like everybody else. After talking some more about the city's glory days the words eventually faded. The kindly hobo merely added more rubbish to his fire and started humming to himself. When they stood to leave she asked for directions to the river and they started walking. Both teens were stooped and sad, when Heidi saw an old man with a missing leg she stopped and reached into her rucksack. His prosthetic was all hinges like a metal skeleton and he'd taken it off, straining to oil its joints. Heidi tossed him the last of their coins, he gave her a wrinkly smile. They continued off and now without anything.
"Heidi… we could've used that money." Timothy stated.
"I know… but he needed it more."
"Heidi, there are millions of people here. That was one guy. We need everything we can get to get out of here."
"I know, I know. You're right." She grabbed her head in frustration. "I'm tired and wasn't thinking. It's just so hard for me. I want to help people but there's nothing I can do about all this…"
"It's not your responsibility…" he tried soothing her then asked "what are we going to do about food?"
Heidi's stomach was aching. They'd finished the last of their dry cracker rations yesterday.
"I don't know…"
"We might have to steal food…" he stated.
"Steal?"
"If we don't have energy we'll never have the strength to leave this place…" he reasoned.
Heidi hated everything about their situation. Soon they crossed a wooden bridge over the river, walked around and started to wash themselves underneath it. Heidi leaned back into the cold water and stared up at the planks. Her feet tangled weeds and pushed rocks into the muddy bottom. Timothy sat on the bank and faced away while Heidi washed her clothes and wrung them out, dressing in her trousers and a white shirt. She was glad that woman didn't take her burgundy zipper-jacket.
Then they were off again, damp but drying as they walked in the afternoon light. Discussing their predicament as they went into a busier part of the city. When another sleek car went by Heidi thought to herself: mobsters?
"Maybe we should fray the edges of our clothes." Timothy reasoned "We won't draw as much attention to ourselves."
"Maybe you should stop wearing deodorant." She watched him pull a face "No one else here does."
He didn't respond to her logic and they kept walking in silence for a while before Timothy stiffened.
"Heidi… I think we're being followed again- don't" he kept his voice low "turn around."
They walked silently and stiffly until Timothy whipped into an alley. Heidi was confused but followed him. Soon a blonde teen peered around the bend and Timothy yanked him off the sidewalk, threw him into the wall with a crazed look on his face.
"Timothy!" Heidi called in surprise. The passers-by glanced but did nothing.
"Hey, hey, cool it!" the guy tried raising his hands.
"I bet he was gonna take our bags and make a run for it. Right?" Timothy seethed. Heidi stepped up to give his shoulder a shake and was ignored.
"Listen, Timothy was it? I'm not here to mug you. I overheard you guys talking… I need your help."
"Bullshit." Hearing Timothy swear used to be jarring for Heidi, but his language had become a lot more colourful over the past weeks. He went in close with a sneer and the guy leaned passively against the wall with his hands up, a slight smile on his face.
"Look you're either gonna hit me or kiss me, but make up your mind."
Timothy's eyes narrowed but he finally released the guy and stepped away. The blonde straightened his jacket, appeared none too fussed.
"Why are you following us?" Heidi asked.
"Why don't you duel me and find out?" he pulled out a deck. Heidi and Timothy stared at each other in surprise. "I'm Simon, by the way."
"Kettou da." Timothy was still angry, his frustration coming to the surface once more.
Simon smirked "yoshi."
They moved apart to give themselves enough space. Heidi stood just outside the footpath while stragglers continued on by. White and purple kaijudo flames blazed to life before the combatants stepped up to their tables. They shuffled and called their shields, both played water mana before Timothy was the first to summon.
"Emeral!" His trusty cyber lord clutched its gold computer-helmet. Timothy swapped a shield for one in his hand.
"Alright, darkness mana and I summon Propeller Mutant!" A sludge aeroplane on 1000 started flying in place.
"Interesting." Timothy's mana untapped and he drew "That card, along with darkness-water. You play hand discard and control?"
Simon raised an eyebrow "Nice guess."
"I summon Hypersquid Walter!" As the blue squid-head with massive hands appeared Timothy smirked, still looking mean. "Emeral ike!" As glass shattered Simon's jacket flapped against the air pressure.
He lowered his arm and started his turn "I also summon an Emeral." Simon swapped cards then "Propeller Mutant suicides with your Emeral, you randomly discard! Ike!" Those propellers hummed as his creature looped then flew straight into its target. An explosion and both cards flew to their graveyards.
Timothy scowled as one of his good mecha thunders started glowing in his hand. He dropped Laveil, Seeker of Catastrophe while Simon looked smug.
"I summon La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian!" the steel ship rose on jet exhausts and gleamed. "Hypersquid Walter breaks a shield and I draw, ike." Wet patting could be heard as his cyber lord crossed the distance, slapping another shield clear. Simon frowned as Timothy replaced the card he lost.
"I evolve Emeral into Hydrooze, the Mutant Emporer!" Simon's rainbow creature emerged from light that swallowed his cyber lord. It was a war machine, missiles and technology held together by sludge. It had 5000 power.
"That card increases all his other cyber lords and hedrians!" Heidi remembered.
"And none of them can be blocked." Simon's smirk was back "Ike attack Hypersquid Walter!" He twisted his card and indigo light rippled out, Timothy's water creature was gunned into goop. The card landed in his graveyard.
Timothy had no cards left in his hand. He drew Belix, the Explorer. It seemed like Simon's whole deck was filled with hedrians and cyber lords, meaning blockers didn't matter. What he needed was his powerful mecha thunders. The brunette-boy used the card as mana and passed the turn.
"Alright I cast Hide and Seek." Another rainbow card flashed. "La Ura Giga is sent to your hand then you randomly discard, but seeing as its your only card…" Simon wiggled his eyebrows while Timothy put it straight into his graveyard without speaking. "Hydrooze break a shield!"
Another panel splintered under gunfire and Timothy added the card to his hand.
Simon teased "Are you waiting for your shields to give you more cards in your hand? I'm not going to let you have any."
Timothy frowned and drew. Truthfully he was used to having more cards in his hand than his opponent, it was how he always played. He wasn't used to holding so little.
He added mana then summoned "La Guile, Seeker of Skyfire!" His gold 7500 mecha thunder arose, crackling with energy.
Simon's smile wavered then he drew "I summon Windmill Mutant!" Another hedrian rose forth, leaking purple slime. "When he attacks you discard. And you can't block so long as I have Hydrooze. Turn end!"
Timothy drew, he decided to cast the spell instead of using it for mana "Energy Stream! I draw two. Next I summon Emeral." Again Timothy replaced a shield with the only card in his hand, his opponent looked suspicious at what could possibly be another planted trigger. "La Guile, double-break!"
Lightning ripped through the space and glass hit either walls of the alley, bouncing and flinging dangerously. Simon had shrank into his collar, he reached for the re-assembled trigger and turned it over "Ghost Touch. Your hand is gone again." A black sleeve swept out, a skeletal hand pointed and Timothy dropped the card into his graveyard.
"His strategy is a good counter to yours!" Heidi called "But you're still the best duellist from the Dawn of the Phoenix!"
"Enough, Heidi." He spoke back "I need to focus."
She clamped her mouth shut. She was never one for standing on the sidelines anyway.
"I summon Corile!" Simon announced as a fish-being fluttered delicately into play "Your Seeker of Skyfire is sent to your deck-top." From his table Timothy winced and removed his creature. "Hydrooze break a shield! Windmill Mutant break a shield!" Another two cards without triggers went to his hand and one flashed purple, telling Timothy to discard it. While watching Heidi felt a little smug.
He started his turn and drew "I summon Illusionary Merfolk! With Emeral in play I draw three cards. I also summon a Marine Flower!" Two more water creatures emerged, his fluttering 4000 gel fish and the clawed tentacles of his 1000 blocker. "Turn end."
"You're going down." Simon promised.
"I still have more shields than you." Timothy stated.
"I cast Cranium Clamp! You discard two cards!" A metal claw outstretched and clamped onto Timothy's table.
"But I get to choose which…" Timothy murmured and left his spell in his hand, discarding the rest.
"I summon another Propeller Mutant!" Simon continued "Hydrooze break a shield!"
"Shield trigger. Spiral Gate sends Windmill Mutant back to your hand." A whirlpool flushed the hedrian and it left play.
"Tch. I figured. You put that shield there with Emeral. Just like…" Simon eyed the last shield and Timothy raised an eyebrow patiently. The blonde growled "Corile break his last shield!"
"I use another Spiral Gate to send Hydrooze to your hand as well." Another splash as water whipped up, two cards flew from the table and Simon caught them.
"My turn, I cast Diamond Cutter." Timothy revealed his spell. "My creatures can all attack you now. Illusionary Merfolk break his last shield!"
"Shield trigger!" Simon's smile fell "…Locomotiver" The hedrian train chugged onto the field and blew steam. Timothy had to discard his only card but he did so happily. "Marine Flower, ike todomeda!"
Blue tentacles whipped at Simon and his blue eyes widened. He was struck, grunted and flew, sliding along the ground before lying spread-eagled. He groaned. Timothy packed his cards quickly, running with Heidi to check on the downed teen.
"Sorry!" he said quickly while leaning over "That creature was on 2000, but I thought it'd be fine since Marine Flower doesn't usually attack."
Simon groaned again and coughed, opening a single eye "like it rough, do you?"
"Yeah I'm going to have to ask you to stop hitting on my boyfriend." Heidi said, also leaning over him.
"Would you prefer I hit on you? I do swing both ways." Then he coughed pitifully "I think I sprained my wrist pretty bad…"
"Why'd you have to attack him just to make a point?" Heidi smacked Timothy's arm. "That was reckless."
"Reckless!?" he fired back incredulously "You are calling me reckless?"
"You're out of control! If he'd needed medical attention then what, huh? We don't even know if there's a hospital in this shitty city!"
"Of course there's a hospital!" Timothy yelled and the squabbling continued while Simon slowly sat himself up with much wincing. Tested his joints to make sure everything was fine.
"Right…" Simon finally interrupted them "cause you two look like such a happy couple."
They stopped then, embarrassed.
"Simon, I'm Heidi Hirazumi." The small girl introduced herself and his smile widened.
"I thought so… I overheard you saying you were the chosen fire duellist…" he spoke with some wonder.
"We might be able to help you, but we need help too." Heidi's eyes flickered to Timothy who was facing away. "We need food."
"I can get you something to eat."
"Great!" Heidi grinned warmly as she helped him to his feet.
"But I'm going to need your help as well, as I said." He straightened his jacket, dusted himself off "It's about my friend. She's the chosen darkness duellist and she's been kidnapped."
Heidi and Timothy were speechless.
『AN: Thanks for another timely review Acuma ~ I have made some changes for this arc, if you guys haven't noticed. For starters I am skipping the tedious early turns where nothing happens but the setting of mana. I am being more succinct! Secondly I have made several duel plans ahead of time instead of writing them before each chapter. I was gonna make all the duel plans for this arc but I stopped at like twelve. Eh, I wanted to start it already. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, you may have noticed that instead of destroyed cards flying randomly off tables they now land neatly in the graveyard zone ... I mean this is the darkness arc, how are people gonna bring back creatures, count cards and graveyard-evolution when they have to stop and 'excuse me' walk around to find their cards all over the floor willy-nilly?!』
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