Notes: A gothic mansion, complete with creepy yard inspired by Mutant Graveyard of Doom! Aurgh, I miss that game so much... Cemetery is based on the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and yes, that is a real legend about it. Lol.

Day 5: Gothic

Neo Domino City was big, and it was even bigger to those who had never really enjoyed it before. Kalin found everything intriguing, fascinating, and Radley loved to explore, so one night after visiting Yusei, they and the Bunch decided to ride around a while before heading back home to Satisfaction Town.

On mutual agreement, the Bunch would ride through the inner city for a while before catching up with their friends. The old area untouched by Zero Reverse was the most interesting to Kalin. The buildings looked like ones he knew from the Satellite, but mostly well-preserved. It was a different time, a different place. He slowed his motorcycle to study the mansions more closely.

Radley did as well, both for that and to keep pace with Kalin. "They're really something, aren't they?" he said, his voice hushed. "Look at the ones on the hills! The yards just keep sloping up . . . and up . . ."

"And some of the houses look like they're leaning," Kalin grunted. "Do they feel like it inside?"

Radley laughed. "If they do, you'd think no one would want to live in them!"

"People are strange." Kalin rode on, past the next block or two, and slowed again. They had just passed homes that were clearly still lived in and loved, and now on this block, the houses were looking less well-kempt. Yards were overgrown or shingles were standing at strange angles on the roofs. Kalin paused again, grunting to himself.

Radley frowned a bit at the sight. "These places are really showing their age," he remarked. "Or the laziness of their keepers."

"They're starting to look like homes in the Satellite," Kalin said. "Not all the places there were falling completely into the dump. Some places there actually looked more normal."

"That's . . . good to know," Radley said slowly. "Although shingles not laying flat is not a normal condition for any roof."

"It's better than no shingles at all," Kalin grunted, and Radley couldn't disagree.

They turned down a few more streets. It was still the old and rich area of the City, and still among the hills. They weren't really expecting to come across the oldest city cemetery, nor to see an old and abandoned house next to it.

"Oh brother, is this for real?" Radley snorted. "Would Scotch ever love this!"

Kalin rode through the rusted, half-hanging gate and up the front walkway, stopping near the porch. He got off, examining the sight, and took out his phone to snap a picture. "We'll show it to him when they catch up."

Radley pulled up next to him with a smile. "Of course, you realize that he'll want to examine everything."

Kalin very pointedly snapped a picture of the hole in the porch. "We'll let him know that's a bad idea."

Radley chuckled. "That would put off most people. But Scotch? Probably not."

They walked around the old yard, taking pictures of the plant life and of the cemetery through the fence. In the backyard, a cracked yellow brick pathway curled around a dry and dirty birdbath and through the overgrown and browning grass. The fence had come down, marrying the yard with part of the cemetery. Tombstones dating as far back as the Old West days stood lonely and leaning against the night.

Radley took more pictures. "Okay, now I'm feeling bad Scotch isn't here," he said. "We'll have to let him see this, at least. It's not dangerous."

"Biff would cry," Kalin intoned.

"Yeah, he should probably stay back," Radley said with a sympathetic smile.

The other motorcycles were pulling up right then. Scotch's cry of delight was immediately overheard. "Oh, are you kidding me?! This place is epic!"

"It looks like it's gonna fall down any minute!" Biff scolded. "Why are Radley's and Kalin's motorcycles here?!"

"I'm sure they're not inside," Billy grunted. "Let's walk around the yard."

Radley and Kalin met them at the backyard entrance. "Hi, guys," Radley greeted. "Scotch, you're really gonna love the back. Biff, you probably won't."

Biff groaned. Scotch practically bounded around Radley and Kalin to see what surprises were in store. "It looks like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film!" Scotch said with glee. "And the fence fell down! It goes right into the really old part of the cemetery! Oh, this is so cool!"

Radley had to laugh. "You don't think I'm being disrespectful to the dead to allow this, do you?" he wondered.

Kalin shrugged. "Unless they've got no sense of humor, they shouldn't mind. Scotch isn't going to hurt anything."

"Except wake the dead," Radley giggled. Scotch had of course rushed over to the cemetery side to look at all the old graves.

Kalin paused to watch him. ". . . It really does look like an interesting cemetery," he mused. "I've never seen one with so many hills."

Radley nodded. "I've heard the Domino cemetery is fascinating, with hills and huge monuments and even a cobblestone pathway and wall."

"And don't forget the weird legends," Billy remarked. "There's one about . . ." He glanced at Biff, who looked petrified. "Nevermind."

"I think I know what one you mean," Radley said. He led Kalin a short distance away. "There's a story about a mausoleum where you can chant the guy's name three times and he'll show up in the glass. He's not even buried there anymore; they had to move him to a secret location because of all the punk vandals showing up."

Kalin gave him a blank look. "You don't really believe the story, do you?"

Radley shrugged. "I never would have in the past. After all we've been through these days, who knows."

"I'm sure I'd have better things to do than show up any time some fool called me three times," Kalin said flatly.

Radley had to laugh. "Honestly, I would too. Unless I was so sick of being paged that I decided to troll them."

Kalin smirked. "You'd do that."

"Yes, I would," Radley chuckled. "I'll bet they just saw their own reflections, really, and they got so scared their imaginations ran wild."

"That makes sense to me," Kalin intoned. "It would be late at night. How could they tell whose reflection showed up?"

In any case, Scotch was wandering through the old part of the cemetery, going up to every mausoleum with hopefulness. Radley shook his head. "Oh gosh."

"Should we really let him do that?" Kalin wondered.

"I don't care if he looks," Radley said. "Now, if he actually decides to try the ritual, I'll have a few things to say about that. The other likely possibility with it is that something does get summoned, but probably the wrong spirit. We have enough problems without that."

Kalin nodded. "Yeah." He glanced around. "Actually, is there a curfew for being in here? We also don't need possibly getting arrested for trespassing."

"Considering that they don't care about fixing the fence, I doubt they care that much if anyone wanders in here at night," Radley said. "They have to know that's an open invitation." He looked at his phone. "That said, we should probably get going before too long."

"I agree. Biff is probably getting restless." Kalin looked to where Biff was uneasily standing by and waiting for them in the backyard, along with a few others of the Bunch. Not all of them were keen on exploring a cemetery. But Scotch wasn't the only one who wanted to, either.

"Yeah, this really isn't a good time to be going all through the place," Radley said. "We might all end up getting lost when it's dark."

Scotch was disappointed to have to come back over when Radley called to him, but he did as requested. The others exploring did as well. But Radley sighed, studying their displeasure in resignation.

"As a compromise, we can walk around that mansion's backyard a little more on our way out," he said.

"Really?! Yeah!" Scotch exclaimed.

Radley chuckled as they headed back through the cemetery and over to the house. It still stood ominous and uninviting against the night sky, unwelcoming to visitors even though they were drawn to it anyway. Scotch was hurrying to anything that seemed interesting, like the weeds and dead grass choking the old birdbath. He pawed through them, apparently searching for anything that might have been dropped and lost through the years.

"Scotch acts like we're on a treasure hunt," Kalin remarked.

"To him, it is," Radley said in amusement. "It is a fascinating yard, I have to admit. Sad too, though. How did it get like this? What happened to the people who lived here? Why did they leave?"

"We'll probably never know," Kalin grunted.

"Probably not, but I'll keep wondering anyway," Radley said.

"Maybe it was Zero Reverse," Kalin said. "The tremors were felt through this part of the City even though it didn't destroy buildings here."

"Yeah. Maybe they felt too sad to stay after what happened to the City," Radley frowned.

They walked around the rest of the yard and back up to the front from the other side. Scotch snapped many pictures, talking enthusiastically about the experience.

"Can we go inside?" he asked hopefully.

Radley chuckled. "Sorry, Scotch. I am not willing to chance what might happen in there." He pointed to the hole in the porch.

Scotch winced. "Okay. Not tonight. But maybe we can come back in the daytime and look in the windows, at least?!"

That brought a full laugh. "Yeah, I guess we can do that much," Radley said.

Soon they were on their motorcycles and preparing to start off back for home. Kalin had to smile fondly at Radley. He was always a good leader and a kind big brother to the Bunch. Kalin felt he himself still struggled with the same. But watching Radley definitely helped, and of course Radley insisted Kalin was better at it than he believed.

They were a nice family, all together like this.

Radley smiled at him as he adjusted the strap on his helmet. "So, what did you think of our little outing?" he asked.

"It was alright," Kalin said. "I'd like to see more of the City. Not necessarily this house."

"I'm pretty sure we'll be coming back to this house," Radley chuckled. "But yeah, I'd like to see some other sights too. We might as well, now that we're actually free so we can."

Kalin stared off into the distance. "I never thought I'd get away from the Satellite. That was part of my motivation in getting rid of the Duel Gangs; if we were stuck there, we needed to make it a nice home to live in. And now I can go wherever I want. It's still hard to wrap my mind around it . . . especially when I still don't feel I deserve it."

Radley reached and laid his hand on Kalin's on the handlebars. "You deserve it," he said. "And I will be happy to ride with you wherever you want to go."

Kalin smiled. "I know."

That was true freedom right there.