Outcasts

Chapter Six: Awakening Duel

The two duellists examined their opening hands, neither betraying any sort of joy or despair over the contents. The fat Security officer gave his cards a rifle, shooting Aki a smirk.

"Well brat, as you're the challenged party, you get the first turn. Let's see what kind of cards your boss hands out to kids."

"We keep telling you, we don't know anything about any gangs!" Aki snapped, her voice edging on the kind of whine that Martha would tell her kids to do away with if they wanted to be taken seriously in a conversation.

"It's okay Aki!" Yusei called. "Going first is generally a good thing!"

The thin man hanging over him and his friends gave him a sharp look, but made no move to silence him. Probably thought that Aki needed all the help she could get. The worst part was, he might not even be incorrect. No-one at the orphanage knew exactly what kind of cards Aki had. Jack insisted that she must have somewhat of a decent deck by dint of owning such a good duel disk, and refused to be dissuaded one bit. But as Aki had refused to play with anyone, Yusei simply didn't know one way or the other. Under the eye of Security, he found himself wishing that he'd had a touch of Jack's selfishness himself, if only enough to offer Stardust Dragon up as insurance that he wouldn't tear her cards while looking.

Nevertheless, Aki seemed to take heart in his support, calming herself with a breath and drawing the first card of the game. Slipping two cards free from her hand, she set them into play.

"I summon Dark Verger in defence mode, and set one card facedown!"

A stubby plant pushed up from the earth, a weedy stem with twin leaves spreading out, each one sporting a bulbus eye. Behind it, the outline of a mystery card, waiting to be played.

"1000 defence. Not great, but not awful." Yusei muttered, keeping one eye on the duel and one on the Security officer that he had to deal with. Crow was still held in a tight grip, a closed fist ready to strike Jack again.

"Probably not going to last long against a Security deck though." Crow added, squirming against the heavy hand on his collarbone. Above them, the thin officer seemed amused for the first time since the whole awful ordeal had begun.

"Lookie here George! We got some would-be colour commentators here!"

The larger officer guffawed at that, making a big showy display of his opening draw.

"Then let's give them something to talk about! Because the little lady was kind enough to put a monster on her side of the field, I can special summon this fella from my hand! Front-Rank Soldier!"

A stern-faced man in dark military fatigues appeared, fixing his laser rifle upon Dark Verger.

"Unfortunately, my boy here only has 750 for his attack, so he's unable to yank out that weed of yours. Let's hand back over to the boys in the studio for the next part!"

He swept his hand towards the boys, who cringed under the gesture. Except for Jack, standing with arms crossed and feet firmly planted.

"You've still got your normal summon, so you'll probably be summoning a second monster and making use of this free one, probably for a tribute summon, as they don't hand out Synchro monsters to flatfooted beat cops like you two."

The last part of his comment earned him another cuff about the head, but the big man carried on as if the insult hadn't been uttered.

"Thank you very much, brat. And here it comes! I tribute Front-Rank Soldier to summon this monster! Bulwark Goliath!"

The stern-faced man shouldered his rifle as he faded away, the myriad lights that made him up swelling in size and number as a larger form came into being. A tall, heavy-set tribal warrior with stone skin, twice the size of the man that had summoned him. His left arm was completely merged with a tower shield of sheer stone, more a weaponised cliff face than a traditional shield. With an attack of 2100 and a defence of 2800, the gulf in power was quickly felt. Dark Verger had no face, but it looked distinctly nervous all of a sudden.

"Well, at least it's only a normal monster?" Crow offered as they stared up at the new monster. The fat officer waved a finger at him.

"Bulwark Goliath might not have any effects, but this card certainly does. Spiked Shield!"

The equip card went into effect, Bulwark Goliath's left arm bursting open in a spray of jagged shards, revealing row after row of carved spikes all the way down the flat of the tower shield.

"Spiked Shield allows my monster to use his defence value as his attack when it's involved in a battle, and when it attacks another monster, I get to inflict piercing damage!"

Aki bit her lip, fixed herself in place.

"And, without further ado, Bulwark Goliath, smash that weed into pulp! Avalanche Shield!"

A great shadow reached out across the park, completely engulfing Aki and her monster both. With the ear-cracking terror of being caught in a landslide, the massive spiked shield came crashing down, girl and plant lost as stone chips blasted out in every direction. As the shield rose up and Bulwark Goliath took a step back, Dark Verger was nowhere to be seen, and Aki's Life Points down to 2200.

"I think that's good enough for now. All yours, sweetheart."

Aki didn't respond for a second. Then, she centred herself, running a hand through her hair. There was a look in her eyes that set Yusei's stomach on edge, a hardness to her stance that hadn't been there even when she'd been ambushed by Jack or had been putting herself down.

"Okay. I draw."

She didn't even look at the card she'd drawn, immediately snatching another one free from her hand and summoning a monster.

"Conjoining Vines, come out!"

The ground cracked open once more, and from the dark space beneath the duelling field did many frayed vines start to pour out, streaming upwards until they formed a ball, constantly in motion as they spun and swirled.

"I activate an effect! When a plant-type tuner monster is normal summoned to the field, I can special summon Dark Verger from the graveyard!"

The sphere of vines broke open, pouring back down into the earth and drawing up the smaller plant of Dark Verger. They shifted and spun about the other monster, a faint blue light beginning to build.

"No way." Crow whispered, reverent. Aki's hand snapped out towards her monsters, open-palmed.

"Hunter of splendid thorns hidden in the sacred forest, with your whip of punishment in hand, come forth now! Synchro Summon! Appear now, Splendid Rose!"

"I told you she was a pro!" Jack howled as the two monsters dissolved into light, coming together as a new figure that burst gracefully out onto the scene. A tall, willowy woman in a suit of various shades of green, rose petals blossoming from about her ankles and four long vines extending out from behind, each one coated in thorns. It was completely overshadowed by Bulwark Goliath, but still it strode forward with a steely gaze, unperturbed by the colossus before it.

The Security officers didn't seem so jovial all of a sudden, the thin one getting a hold on Jack's shoulder now, keeping Yusei firmly fixed within his sights.

"Well, I say that confirms it. A Synchro monster, and so easily summoned. These kids gotta be getting support from somewhere."

"We'll have a lot to talk about once we've hauled them in. Don't worry, I'll make this quick. Her monster's got more attack then mine, but it don't matter so long as I've got Spiked Shield in play."

"For now." Aki said, holding up a new card. "I play Mystical Space Typhoon, targeting your Spiked Shield."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope. I got it from a Lord of the Storm deck. My last birthday present, and not from a gang."

The howling winds of the spell card were matched only in volume by the screaming from Jack and Crow, pumping their fists and praising Aki with everything they had as the typhoon descended upon Bulwark Goliath. The monster attempted to hide behind its shield, only for the cragged precipice to be worn clean and smooth by the raging storm. As the winds thinned out, not a single hewn spike remained.

"Splendid Rose attacks! Aerial Twist!"

Splendid Rose kicked off the ground, a headlong charge at the larger monster. The duelling field was once again overshadowed by the great slab of the stone shield, but as it came crashing down, vines reached out and curled about the edge, Splendid Rose swinging around the attack and throwing herself forwards with the momentum. Bulwark Goliath was rocked by a double-barrelled kick to the face, the giant stumbling back and crumbling into dirt as it was destroyed. The fat Security officer was bombarded with pebbles from the debris, but stood his ground as Aki's monster dropped down in front of him. Maybe it was Yusei's imagination, but his uniform looked damaged and chipped now.

"I activate Splendid Rose's effect! Because she attacked, I can banish a plant monster from my graveyard, and have her attack again!"

Splendid Rose wasted no time, the four vines about lashing out and carving down on the officer in a cross formation. There was a cry, and this time Yusei knew that he wasn't imagining things as the uniform tore open along the same lines, deep cuts sunk into the man's torso. The officer staggered back, wheezing and clutching at his chest.

"What… what just happened?"

"I told you that you shouldn't do this." Aki said, her voice hollow and far away, her eyes looking out at nothing. "We weren't doing anything to you. We told you we didn't have anything to do with your gangs. And now you get what you deserve. But hey, you get one more turn before that happens. All yours, sir."

The last word was a mockery of the pandering that Yusei had treated the officers to, thick with venom. A new wind was picking up now, rushing towards Aki, setting her hair rippling, ever in motion like raging wildfire. The fog, undisturbed and ever-present until now, began to shift, forced into motion against the will of the weather, pulsing and warbling unnaturally. Yusei couldn't put a word to it, but it felt all at once as if the world had become entirely focused on the girl. He couldn't look away himself, dimly aware even though he was of the second officer's shouting. Some of it at Jack and Crow, some of it to his partner, some of it to Aki, but all of it furious.

The fat officer steadied himself, still holding an arm to his chest as if he'd fall to pieces if he didn't. A new card was drawn, and from some determined, hateful core of himself, he found the strength to smile a wide, angry smile.

"Alright, let's try this then. I discard three monsters from my hand to summon this! Montage Dragon!"

He couldn't throw the last of his cards away quickly enough, slamming them into the graveyard and slapping the fresh monster onto his duel disk with desperate roughness. It seemed that his monster was on the same wavelength, the fog pulsing with a heavy thud as thick hands reached into reality, grasping at nothing and pulling the rest of the beast forward in a lumbering, clumsy lurch. A trio of masked heads rose up, examining the battlefield as tattered wings spread out, imposing its size upon the world. When the counter besides it finally finished spinning up, it revealed that the monster had come before them with an attack of 4500.

"Just from the hand? How?" Crow complained.

"Take a good look you little punk. That's the power of Security. Montage Dragon gains attack equal to the levels of the other monsters discarded to summon it… times three hundred."

"So the levels of the other monsters must have come to fifteen." Yusei muttered, if only so that his friends might quieten down. He briefly wondered if they realised that they were acting exactly the same way the Security officers had been in the previous turn, but decided that it wasn't worth lecturing them over. He still couldn't turn his eyes away from Aki, caught in her own personal storm.

"Lay down the law, Montage Dragon! Power Collage!"

Three sets of slavering jaws cracked open, each one wearing a wicked grin as coloured balls of light began to swell. Swirling luminescence spun about the park, the fog taking on a new, frantically supernatural tone as it was lit up with rapidly changing purple, green and yellow. Then the heads bucked forward, the trio of lights exploding into hellishly bright beams, let loose so fast that all in attendance had to shield their eyes away from Splendid Rose's fate. A new wave of smoke rose up to mingle with the fog, and of Aki and her monster there was no sign.

But only for a second. As Montage Dragon reared back, the smoke was broken by a mess of thorned vines, whipping through the haze and scattering it. They rushed forward, and those on the side-lines could now see their origin; a sheer wall of plant life, unscathed by the tremendous attack.

"You've activated my trap card. Wall of Thorns. When a plant-type monster is targeted for an attack, your monsters are destroyed instead."

The wall came apart completely, pouring out across the duelling field and wrapping around Montage Dragon. The great beast struggled and bit fitfully against the bonds that forced themselves upon it, each head frantic to break free. But within moments it was completely lost under a thicket of vines, dissolving away with a deep crunching noise. Thorns sprayed out in every direction, the Security officer's crossed arms doing just as little to protect him as chunks of plants lodged into his exposed flesh. He staggered back in a daze, almost absent-minded as he grabbed one and pulled it free. To his horror and Yusei's, the thorn came away bloody.

"What… what are you? Monster!"

"You said it." Aki answered without batting an eyelash. "And as you have no more monsters to attack with, and no more cards to play, I think it's my turn."

The wind began to swell once more. It whirled around the park. Circling, over and over, a beast waiting out wounded prey. And as it spun, growing faster and faster, the park was suddenly cut open by a blaze of sunlight as the fog ripped open, high above in a perfect circle. They stood in the eye of the storm. Aki, with her wildfire hair and empty eyes. Her opponent, reduced to babbled shouting, looking for all the world a man lost in the midst of a nightmare. And Splendid Rose between them, rushing forward in a final attack, its own thorny vines swinging in to finish the job that Wall of Thorns started.

The day had been one of ominous feelings, and as the monster closed the gap, Yusei couldn't help but be taken by another one. He raised his voice to stop her, but all he got out was a name before something fast and heavy clubbed him in the side of the head, the world swimming as his legs fell out from under him and he hit the cold stone of the park's walkway.

Fuzzy noise erupted all about. Two high-pitched voices and a deeper one, the latter in pain. Then a willowy figure passed overhead, and that one went quiet. There was silence for a moment, and Yusei was glad for it, trying to stop the world from swerving and pitching whenever he moved his head. But his legs refused to listen to him, and when he tried to sit up a wave of nausea blindsided him, bidding him to stay put.

Shoes scrabbled on the hard stone, and he was being pulled up. His headache didn't care for that one bit, a rush of pain nearly overwhelming him as whoever had hands on him dragged him away.

When the white noise finally faded and the world back to being good and steady, he found himself not in the park but back on the fog-clogged streets. Crow was at his side, somehow managing to mix white-faced terror and the deep red of exhaustion simultaneously.

"Crow? Where are we?"

"Yusei! Oh thank God, you're alive! I thought you were dead too."

"Too?"

Talking was hard. His mouth wasn't quite moving as it should, and there was a bitter taste upon his tongue.

"New Girl iced those Security guys! The fat one went down after her last attack and stopped moving, so the other jerk went for his radio and started screaming for back-up. Kept saying, 'officer down, officer down!'. But he let me go, so Jack and I took the chance to punch him in the nuts, but he tanked it and was about to hit me again, and after he knocked you out, I thought he was gonna do the same to me, but then Aki's monster just… danced through us and slammed him in the chest, sent him flying through a bench! And then he wasn't moving either, and Jack suddenly hit the deck holding his arm, and Aki…"

He shuddered.

"That girl is nuts. I thought she was just kinda odd, calling herself a monster and whatever, but she went all in on it. Started talking about how she was the latest in a line of monsters, and if she scared me that was good and just… all kinds of crazy things. I grabbed you guys and got outta there."

Now that Yusei could see clearer, the form of Jack, previously just a silhouette, came into clearer view. A deep red glow had engulfed his entire arm, visible even under the hoodie. Like Crow, he was pained and sweaty.

"Can you stand? If I have to drag you guys down another street, I'm gonna collapse, and then we're all out of it."

It was easier now, to find his footing, to feel somewhat normal even though the world anything but right now. He ran his tongue over his teeth, spat out the bitter liquid. Martha wasn't around to tell him how disgusting the habit was right now.

"Ugh. Yeah, I think you threw up at some point."

"Which way did we come from?"

"Why? Oh God, don't tell me you left something behind."

"We did. Aki."

"Oh come on, are you crazy as well? You heard her, she's a monster! She didn't even want to come back in the first place!"

"She's not a monster. She's afraid and hurt, like the rest of us. You saw her. She didn't even want to duel in the first place. It was only when that guy started throwing his weight around and acting like he was going to crush her that she started giving him the same treatment."

"Dude, she killed two people with a Duel Monsters card! How does that even work?"

"I don't know. And we don't know if they're dead."

"They looked pretty dead to me!"

"Yeah, but you were getting us out of there."

"And because I got us out of there, we should keep staying out of there! Besides, Security's gonna be all over that park soon!"

"And what are we supposed to tell Martha when she comes back and someone's missing and we look like this?"

"We'll tell her she ran away."

"She'll know we're lying. And what is it that Martha always says?

Crow grumbled, kicked the ground emptily.

"We're older. We're supposed to look out for the younger kids. Not that she needs it."

"We're going back."

They both jumped at Jack's voice, as he pushed off of Crow and found his own feet, albeit far less steady than Yusei. Crow threw his hands up.

"Great. Everyone's gone mad today."

"She stuck up for us. A girl had to fight our battle for us, and she won to boot. Against Security at that. What the hell does it make us if we ditch her now, just because we got spooked?"

Jack held up his arm, still blazing through the cloth.

"And she wants to come home with us, no matter what she says. Call it a feeling."

Crow looked back down the long, foggy street. He balled his fists up, but whatever emotion had come to him left just as quickly.

"You're right. You're right! We don't leave ours behind. Even if they are nuts and just put us firmly on Security's hit list."

"It's okay Crow. You were looking out for us. I didn't even know my own name back there for a second, I would have been useless if it was just me."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let's go."

"Hopefully she's still there."

"She is, but not for long."

"Seriously, what is with you and these feelings today? I'm cutting your arm off when we get in. Hers too, I'm done with all these weird marks and lights."

"Hmph, come and take it if you can."

Despite his complaining, Crow took the lead as they raced back.

She didn't know what to do next. She thought she'd have an idea, now that she was a villain. Villains usually had plans. Robbing banks, taking over the world. All she had was a total numbness, other than the twisting pain in her chest. The thin one had been asking for support when she'd sent Splendid Rose after him. Maybe she should simply remain here, keep duelling them as they came until she had a better idea of what to do.

There was a wheeze, the fat man looking up at her briefly. There was a flash of fear in his eyes, and then he went limp again, no movements other than the slight heave of his unconscious breathing. She walked away from him, settling down on the edge of the former fountain and shuffling her cards back into her deck. All but Splendid Rose, still hanging by her side, the loyal knight. She wanted it to stay out, if only so that there would be someone here with her.

She wanted to go back to Martha's. The disk of sunlight had vanished, submerging her back in miserable cold and dampness. She'd hurt more people, and wanted nothing more than to go back, find her room and bury herself under the covers, pretending that she'd never been stupid enough to run off in the first place. But that wasn't happening. She'd seen the look on Crow's face. He'd been just as afraid as the Security men, even though he'd been the one she'd been fighting for. Even when she tried to use her powers to help, everyone knew how awful she was. By now the boys would probably be halfway back to Martha, ready to tell her not to let the monster back in.

She hoped Yusei was alright. The thin man had hit him awfully hard for no reason.

She was giving the cards another mechanical shuffle when she heard the patter of multiple people running towards her. She pushed off the stone, brought her duel disk up.

To her surprise, it wasn't Security that stumbled out of the fog before her, but the three boys, all looking worse for wear. Jack took a step forward, but stopped, reconsidered, and pushed Yusei out in his place. There was a vicious bruise darkening on the side of his head and he looked a little loose on his feet, but he took the wordless command in his stride.

"Hey. Again."

"I… what are you doing here?"

"Same thing as before. We're taking you home."

She looked to Crow, who winced, holding the back of his head and looking away.

"I… might have overreacted. But you were being really weird, you know? And… you know?"

He pointed at the fat Security officer.

"You did kinda just kill two people."

"What? I did?"

She ran back over to the fat officer, kneeling down beside him.

"But he was moving just now!"

"What?"

Crow dropped next to her, pressing his hand to the side of the man's neck.

"Holy crap, he's not dead!"

"Why'd you think he was?"

"Because you were being weird and scary and talking about how you were a monster!"

"That's cos I am a monster!"

She stormed to her feet, glaring at all of them. Splendid Rose swooped in behind her, vines coiling around protectively.

"You all saw it! I make cards become real, and then they hurt people! I hurt my papa and burnt down the house, I blew up that boat at the docks, and now I've done this, and now I can't go back to Martha's either!"

Her heart cracked, and it came out in a flood of messy tears, loud wailing filling the park as she cried, unable to see through the thick veil of tears. Faintly, she was aware of the ruffle of leaves as Splendid Rose ducked down deeper to shield her.

"Why can't you go back to Martha's?"

She sniffed, choked on a sob at the odd sentence.

"Cos you guys hate me now, and you're gonna tell her that I hurt these officers. And she's not gonna want me living with her anymore."

"We don't hate you."

Yusei took a step forward, hand extended.

"I don't know what's going on here. Today was really weird even before these guys turned up. I don't understand this power of yours, or the marks you and Jack have, but what I do know is that you stood up for us. And I can't hate someone who tries to protect people."

"No-one's going to be crying over a couple hurt Security goons anyway, other than their mates." Jack chipped in.

"And… if you were a monster, I don't think you'd be so worried about us going to snitch on you to Martha."

"Which we're not doing, by-the-by. She's way more likely to give us hell for this than you."

"Aren't you afraid that you'll be next?"

"You've been living with us for… what, a week? This is the first time I've ever seen that duel disk active. If you wanted to hurt us, wouldn't you have done it by now?"

"But I can't control it!"

"You must be able to, at least a little. We had no idea about any of this until today. We hadn't even seen a glow until Jack grabbed your arm."

Yusei took a final step forward, reached up.

"And… I think a monster would just break in and steal a room for herself, rather than crying because she might not be invited in."

His hand came to a rest on Splendid Rose's arm. A flicker of indignation went across the monster's otherwise serene face, but it settled quickly, letting him feel the sleeve.

"Huh. Feels like real leaves. That's kind of nice."

"Hey, you're right."

Crow had snuck up behind, feeling the petals on Splendid Rose's ankles. There was a deck in his hand, too thick to be playable.

"Crow, what are you doing?"

"What? I don't want them dead, but I'm not saying no to new cards. They were trying to take Aki's. I'd have taken their disks too, but those things are locked on tight."

"Probably for the best. I heard that Security always knows where their disks are."

The boys almost took a tumble as the monster suddenly evaporated into motes of light, Aki standing before them, sniffling.

"You're… you're sure I can come back with you?"

"Of course we are." Jack snapped. "Now come on, we're wasted enough time."

"He's right. If you're still not sure, we can talk about it more when we get home. But we really need to go before anyone else turns up."

"You don't hate me?"

"We don't hate you." Crow confirmed. "And… I'm sorry for running away."

"It's okay. I was trying to make you run. I… I don't know what I was thinking. But… I really wanna go back now."

"Then let's go!"

Despite their injuries, the boys took off at a dead sprint, Aki scrambling to keep up as they legged it back out into the fog-soaked streets.

Martha looked down at the parade of children, putting on her sternest face despite her concerns. The four of them had staggered in just as she was about to go running off after them, and not one would talk about how they'd acquired so many bumps and bruises. The most she'd gotten out of them was a confession from Jack; that he'd bothered Aki about her arm marking and scared her out into the fog, and the boys had gone out to look for her. Aki herself constantly seemed to be wavering on the breaking point of speaking up. But every time she did, she'd look to one of the boys, stiffen her lip and lock her head up high as they were doing.

"Boys, you're all grounded for a week. No going outside unless it's to help with chores. And there's to be no duelling at all. I want to see all of your cards in my office in the next hour, understood?"

"Yes Martha." They answered as one, including Aki.

"Oh, Aki, sweetheart, you're fine. I don't blame you for running off."

"But I caused everyone trouble, and made you worry. It's okay. I'm not sure I want to play with them at the moment right now anyway."

She unlocked the duel disk and handed it up to her. The boys followed suit, fishing into their pockets and retrieving their decks, handing them off. Crow had clearly taken all his cards out with him; his deck a solid brick of paper.

"Very well. But are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

"No Martha."

"I see. Aki, you go wash up for lunch. The rest of you come with me and we'll look at those bruises."

"Yes Martha."

They broke up and fell in with utmost obedience, the boys not saying a single word as they made their way to her makeshift medical bay. She'd likely never find out what exactly had occurred between them, and if they were this willing to accept their punishment without blinking, it must have been something serious. But while that ugly bruise covering Yusei's temple made her heart skip a beat every time she looked at it, she decided to let it go. Forcing the question would only ensure that she never got an answer. Maybe one day, one of them would confess, and scare her halfway to death all over again.

And, if nothing else, Aki looked less guarded now.