Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
Carry Only What You Fear
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This is being written with some of the prompts from Whumptober 2022. It takes place post-series and Kalin and Radley are very close. Radley is portrayed as a good person, the way I honestly see him. It was Amber2002161's idea to write Kalin as a Psychic Duelist and her idea for me to try it too, although I've taken the idea in a much different direction than she has in her verse.
Chapter One
1. A Little Out of the Ordinary
Adverse Effects | Unconventional Restraints | "This Wasn't Supposed to Happen"
2. Nowhere to Run
Cornered | Caged | Confrontation
Kalin grimaced as he slowly began to regain consciousness laying on a carpeted floor. What had even happened? The last thing he remembered was being on patrol with Radley. Suddenly they had grown dizzy by the effect of some sort of gas that had surrounded them. They had been forced to stop their motorcycles and get off, and then . . .
His headache and wooziness were swiftly forgotten as the rest of the situation processed. "Radley?!" he cried.
It was dark all around him, but after feeling around in the blackness he soon found the other's body laying next to him. "Radley . . ." Trembling, he lifted the limp form into his arms. To his relief, he could feel his friend's chest rising and falling. Radley was still alive. But where on Earth were they?! And why were they there?!
Radley stirred, groaning and moving closer to Kalin. "Kalin . . . are you okay?" he mumbled. His hair brushed against Kalin's hand. Their helmets had been removed. . . .
"I'm fine," Kalin said. "How are you?"
". . . I could be better," Radley sighed.
Kalin started to get up, holding Radley in his arms. "I'm going to get us out of here."
"You're going to have an interesting time of that, Kalin Kessler."
They both started at the unfamiliar voice. The lights abruptly went on, revealing that they were both in some sort of glass room. It was completely unfurnished, almost like a cage, and an unfamiliar man in a trenchcoat and fedora hat was looking at them from the other side of the glass.
Kalin's eyes flashed. "Who are you?! Why are we being restrained in here like animals?!"
Radley shakily got out of Kalin's arms and to his feet. Somehow he knew he didn't want to show any weakness to this person, not if he could help it. Something was very wrong.
"Please, don't think of it as being treated like animals," the man smoothly replied. "Actually, it's just for your own protection, to hold in your psychic powers until it's time to release them."
Kalin's expression only darkened. "I have no intention of using those powers. How do you even know about them?"
"It's not hard, if you know where to look . . . and who to ask," was the answer. "Some people are all too willing to talk."
Radley folded his arms. "People such as Dr. Portman?" The contempt was dripping from his voice.
"She was very helpful, as was a convicted woman named Barbara. Their stories both told loud and clear that Kalin is a very powerful, yet untrained, Psychic Duelist."
Something in those words hinted at something to Kalin. "You're saying you're interested in training me? No deal. I don't associate with anyone who abducts my friend and me and throws us in a cage. I don't care what your reason was."
"You're welcome to refuse, but the only way you're going to be able to get out of here is if you use your powers." The stranger's calm, matter-of-fact voice only angered them both all the more.
"And if I do, you have to know I'm just going to bowl you down and get out of here with Radley," Kalin growled.
Their captor was unaffected. "Really? You don't want any of my knowledge? I could teach you how to bring out your psychic powers at will instead of only when something upsets you enough."
"You really think I'd trust you after this?!" Kalin scoffed.
"You'd be surprised what kind of trust can be extended if there's only one option." The man started to turn away. "I'll leave you for a few minutes to talk about it."
As he turned, Radley caught sight of something under the fedora and went completely stiff. The stranger, catching sight of the motion, just smirked and touched the brim of his hat as he departed the room.
Kalin waited until they were alone to speak. "Come on!" he said. "We have to get out of here. I can't risk hurting you if I manage to activate my powers. Give me your pendant and I'll try to open a portal."
Radley reached behind himself to unclasp his portal-opening pendant, but his hands were shaking. "Kalin, I don't think it's going to be that easy," he said.
"I know it's draining to use this," Kalin said. "That's why I'll do it. You're still shaky from the gas."
"It's not just that," Radley replied. "Kalin, did you see his face at all?!"
"No," Kalin grunted. "I don't care who he is; I don't want anything to do with him or anything he could teach me! This is not the way to get a willing pupil for anything!"
Radley lowered his hands, his pendant still around his neck. "I saw when he turned away," he said. "I think we've been kidnapped by the former leader of the Arcadia Movement, Sayer!"
Now Kalin stiffened. "Isn't he dead?! I thought Misty's Earthbound Immortal ate him."
Radley sighed. "I heard that he was restored along with all the other victims and was sent to the Facility. He must have escaped."
Kalin snarled. "Then that's all the more reason we have to get out now! He's a madman, ordering people killed if they don't live up to his high standards of psychic ability and manipulating them endlessly if they do! I won't let him use his tactics on me."
"Kalin . . . you already are," Radley pointed out. "I can see a dark ring of psychic power about to explode from you!"
Kalin's eyes widened in alarm. "Get down!" he yelled as a purple ring of energy shot out from his body.
Radley hit the floor just as the ring expanded and hit all the walls of their glass prison. It exploded outward, the shards flying in all directions.
Kalin stood, staring, breathing heavily as he briefly took in the mess. "Are you alright?!" he demanded.
Radley slowly looked up. "Yeah," he said. "I'm sorry. . . . It's my fault you got that upset." He started to push himself up.
Kalin took his hands and drew him up. "I needed to know what you discovered," he said.
The sound of slow clapping turned both their stomachs.
"Bravo, bravo, Kalin!" Sayer stepped back over to them from wherever he had been watching. "You see? I knew you could break out of your prison if you got angry enough. I deliberately let Radley see me so he could tell you about me."
"Then you heard what I told Radley I was going to do to you," Kalin snapped.
"You can try, but it won't work," Sayer insisted. "Your powers are strong, but they're raw, untrained. I know how to use mine, and I can counter anything you throw at me. All you'll do by attacking me is to prove why you need my help."
"I know what you did to Akiza," Kalin spat. "I won't let you use me like that!"
"Oh no, I know I'd never be able to do that," Sayer said. "Akiza was too trusting. You don't trust me at all."
"And I don't understand why you took both of us," Radley spoke up. "I'd rather be here with Kalin, it's true, but I highly doubt that was your reason. You never think of anyone but yourself."
"It's very simple, Radley: I took you both because you're a key to unlocking Kalin's powers," Sayer replied. "You being threatened or hurt is more than enough to set him off."
Now Radley was furious. "I'm not going to be a tool for you to hurt Kalin!" he cried indignantly.
Sayer gave him a sickening, cruel smile. "You won't have a choice," he declared.
3. Hair's Breadth from Death
Gun to Temple | "Say Goodbye."
Alt. 8. Made to Watch
Kalin really didn't know what to expect from Sayer. He definitely wasn't expecting to most suddenly be flung across the room and pinned to the wall by the sheer force of Sayer's psychic abilities. His arms and legs were spread out, completely useless, as though Sayer had affixed manacles over each and pulled them taut. No matter how Kalin pulled, he could not break free.
"Kalin!?" Radley cried. He ran over to try to help, but his efforts to try to pry Kalin's limbs off the wall were just as fruitless. He spun around, glaring daggers at Sayer. "What did you do?!"
"This is only a small sample of what I can do," Sayer sneered. "Kalin could do it too, and also get down, if his powers were strong enough."
Kalin snarled. "Alright, you've proved your point. Now what?"
"Now . . ." Sayer reached into his coat and pulled out a strangely-shaped gun. He turned, pointing it at Radley's head. "Do you know what this is?" He pulled the trigger and an ominous crackle of electricity lit up the night.
Radley rocked back, barely avoiding the attack. "A taser?!" he cried.
Sayer continued to fire the weapon, deliberately missing him by mere centimeters. Every time the electricity sizzled past him and into the wall, leaving a grim mark, Radley's composure unraveled a little more.
Kalin's blood ran cold. There was nothing else Sayer could have threatened Radley with that would have been as effective. Radley still feared electricity above almost all else. Kalin pulled harder, desperate to free himself. This had to stop. It had to stop . . . !
"Yes, a taser," Sayer sneered. He advanced on Radley, swiftly backing him into the nearest corner while continuing to point the gun directly at him. He fired just to the side of Radley's head once, then twice. "You were tortured with electricity in the mines, I believe. If I turn this up high enough . . ."
Radley hit the walls and pressed himself against them, his eyes wild and filled with fear, his heart thumping so loudly Kalin was sure he could hear it.
". . . I could kill you just like that." Sayer moved directly in front of Radley, positioning the taser against his heart.
Radley grabbed it, hands violently shaking, but he could do nothing to dislodge it. Sayer and his psychic powers were too strong. He had pressed it against Radley just as he had pressed Kalin into the wall.
Kalin looked over, his heart twisting in horror and outrage at the cruelty. "Leave him alone!" he roared.
"There's nothing you can do," Sayer said. "There's nothing anyone can do. He'll die again, but this time it will be right in front of your eyes because you weren't strong enough to save him."
Radley was still struggling against the taser. Still unable to force it away due to Sayer's psychic strength holding it in place, he lost control of his legs. A sob choked from his lips as he collapsed to his knees in terrified tears. Aside from the deaths of his loved ones and being alone, electricity was his deepest fear. He had cracked; he was broken.
Sayer just sneered as he began to pull the trigger. "Goodbye, Radley."
"NO!"
Kalin's powers burst from his body, shattering Sayer's hold on him and also pushing Sayer forcefully away from Radley. The taser fired into the wall. Immediately Kalin ran to his treasured friend, kneeling next to him and pulling him into a protective embrace. Radley clutched him, still sobbing.
Sayer looked up, dazed but pleased. "You see, Kalin?" he said. "You see what you're capable of doing when you have enough motivation to do it? Now you just need to start applying that feeling into your everyday life and you'll have it down."
Kalin refused to face him. "If you don't want to die in the next five seconds, you'll leave us alone now," he rumbled low. "I won't hold back."
Sayer stumbled to his feet, sneering again. "I wouldn't expect you to. But killing me will never be easy." He went out a door hidden in the shadows and locked it, leaving Kalin alone with his weeping, quaking friend.
