Every fiber of my being was aching as we looked at the limp body of Placido. However, our musings were interrupted when his body started to float up, while a voice drifted down, "You may have defeated Placido, but he was the weakest of our group. But fear not, he will not do something like this again."
I looked up and saw two other people at the top of the gem. One of them caught Placido's sword, and started laughing, "I can't believe how much of a failure he was! Not only did his army fail, but this just wasted the engine program he stole!"
"So, he was the one behind my program being stolen, like you were behind the attack on Luna and Leo?"
Nodding, he snatched up Placido's deck, "And I never gave you permission to take my cards! I might as well take your whole deck while I am reclaiming my own monsters!"
Three runners pulled up, and Jack rushed to my side as the other two stood on the other side of me, "You okay? This is a lot of duels in one day."
"Fine, Crow?"
He rubbed his arm, "Sore."
Mr Slow Talker started again, "Now all of the major players are in one place."
Aki crossed her arms, "Are you going to monologue, or are we going to find out who's been attacking us for over a year?"
"We are the three Emperors of Illiaster. I am the leader, Jose-"
The short one turned to glared at him, "Leader? Since whe-"
It was almost comical how fast the taller one snapped his head towards the shorter one to send a glare his way. Flinching, the smaller one turned towards us with his proverbial tail between his legs, "I'm Lester, the second in command. And you've already met Placido."
Jack hollered up, "Why are you doing this?"
"Because the human race continues to ruin its future. So we are here from the very beginning to stop that from happening."
Great. They probably worked with or influenced Paradox.
Lester's laugh broke through my thoughts, "I can't imagine what life is like for you know that you've given up your only chance to live happily."
Jack started yelling obscenities to Lester, while Aki leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Do you think they can travel through time too?"
Only one way to find out for sure.
Shrugging, I looked up at them, "So what you're telling us is that you go back in time to prevent things from happening?"
Jose gave a barely noticeable nod, "Yes, by controlling those with the most power on Earth. The rest of you just follow them like sheep. All we merely need to do is get rid of any who give them trouble."
A roar of an engine interrupted him as a voice cried out, "You scum will die for what you did to my parents!"
Sherri's hair flew behind her as she drove up the side of the monument, and Jose spun around to catch the entire thing with a single hand.
My blood chilled as he threw it backwards, barely giving her a chance to leap off and land beyond what I could see on the top. A cry of pain drifted down, and a second runner flew up the other side. Her butler disappeared over the edge as the small one darted back to where he landed, and his runner flew off and exploded while sounds of metal scraping screeched down to us.
Coughs drifted down as Jose spoke calmly, "It's things like this that causes the human race to fail so often. The first thing that you respond with is violence, rather than calmly looking at the situation and thinking about your decisions. But the one event that threw the world off balance the most was the discovery of planetary particles, which led to the creation of the Momentum Reactor. So we had Roman Goodwin destroy it for us. But to our shock, it didn't die because Rex Goodwin took the knowledge with him, and Fudo Hakase planned for something like this, and left most of his research notes with the only child to escape the explosion."
Jack pulled me behind him as Jose continued speaking, "Since our original plan didn't work, our only solution is to destroy Neu Domino City along with the last people with the knowledge of the cursed object, the Fudos."
Sherri yelled, causing Jose to turn around and walk out of sight, and metal hit flesh as Sherri continued to scream at him.
A couple blinks later, she flew off the edge of the monument, and her butler leapt off after her, "Miss Sherri!"
He pulled her against him and a parachute flew out of his coat as they fell. I turned toward Jose and glared up, "Is that why it's suddenly so hard for the two of us to leave town? Because you want to ensure our presence before you blow us all sky high?"
"If you want more answers, we will be joining the WRGP when it starts back up again."
Jack pushed me towards Crow, and stepped forward, "Why would you be part of the tournament?"
"That would be giving more answers, and I've wasted enough time trying to explain to you pitiful humans."
The air around us started to heat up, and I looked up, "Crow, another meteor is coming."
I grabbed my brothers' hands and started running, and Aki cried out, "What's he doing?"
We turned around, and saw a large tablet floating in the air next to Jose's palm. After the glow faded, the tablet shattered, and Jose held up a deck of cards, "It seems that my turn has finally arrived, thanks to our generous benefactor. Meklord Emperor Groundel, come say hello."
Jack, who had still not let go of my hand from when we had run, gripped it tighter as he swore under his breath while a massive creature appeared just in front of us.
A clatter came from the top of the monument, and I turned around just in time to see Skinny Boy swipe his sword and summon a strange purple circle that hovered in front of them. Jose glanced at us, "Farewell, Signers."
The remains of Placido floated through the circle, disappearing inside.
Well, we're colossally screwed if they can create portals.
We all watched in shocked silence as the other two went through, and it closed behind them. The monster faded as well, and I sat on the ground, letting go of Jack, "This has been one heck of a day."
Aki glanced over at Vizor, "You don't seem really shocked about any of this, and you said from the beginning that you knew that Yusei could learn to Accel Synchro. Are you also from the future?"
"I knew for a fact that Fudo Yusei would one day learn how to Accel Synchro. The day was just unknown to me."
Wrapping my arms around my legs, I tried to ignore the pain aching in my body, "Well, what do we do now?"
My heart thudded as I woke up in a panic, fear completely overwhelming me. As my heart continued to pound, I stumbled out of bed and made my way to a nearby room.
Inside, Jack was thrashing around violently, tangled up in his blanket so tightly his foot was turning purple.
Closing the door behind me, I hissed while crouching, "Jack, wake up!"
He jerked, and slowly blinked his eyes as I tried to free him from his cotton prison, "How bad was this vision?"
"I barely remember anything, just that there was fire cracking the ground open. If I can't remember it," he let out a yawn as he sat up, "Then it means that it was a symbolic dream."
Finally getting the blanket off him, I grunted, "In other words, practically useless for anything other than scaring you."
A snort escaped him, and he poked my side, "No, it just means that someone with a better brain for puzzles would have to figure it out for me. But, as I said, most of the dream is gone. All I can remember is hearing Wheel of Fortune's engine, feeling the ground shake, and the sight of fire chasing after me."
"That's useful. But I'm sure that we can figure it out in the morning. Can you go back to sleep?"
He let a sigh escape his mouth, and leaned back against his pillows, "I'll try, but don't be surprised if you have to come back and wake me up again."
Flopping down in my chair, I reached for the bowl of fruit as Dad spoke about something. Crow and Bruno seemed interested, but Jack put his face on the table and fell asleep in record time.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by pressure on my shoulder, "Yusei, was it another night of visions?"
"Yeah. The first one happened about midnight, and they didn't stop until we just gave up and played a video game for the rest of the night. A symbolic one that just kept repeating over and over."
A chuckle drifted from the doorway, "Like the four straight months of me dreaming about a giant using me as a puppet?"
Blinking exhaustion out of my eyes, I smiled at our guest, "Hey Kiryu. And yeah. He can't remember much except for a fire chasing him on his runner."
Dad tossed a blanket over Jack, "The past few months have gotten hard on Jack. I think that stress is one trigger that amplifies powers."
"Is that what you've been looking into recently, Dad?"
He nodded as Kiryu sat down next to me, "Think about it. Aki's powers emerged when she had familial problems, and now she's going through the stress of school, a dueling tournament, and a rough relationship. Yours have followed you through life, as you've jumped from one stressor to another. Kiryu's were most active when he was the leader of a duel gang. Now Jack's are getting stronger while he's dealing with getting jobs, handling a relationship, and being under attack. It only makes sense."
Crow handed Kiryu a bowl, "What about Luna?"
"Family related stress, mostly. It showed up when she was a child prodigy, which often receives a lot of pressure from parents. Since her powers showed up, her parents are rarely around, leaving her as the responsible one in her house. All of that combined rarely gives her a break."
I took the bowl from Kiryu, and handed him the half-empty bowl of fruit, "So, why are you here? You don't normally drop by for breakfast."
"Got an email from Geiger that he asked me to show to you. It involves Jack, but he wanted you to know since you're the head honcho of the Signers."
What on Earth could Geiger want? And do I want to know considering that the first time he nearly tried to kill me was was actually still sane?
"Sure, just let me eat first."
Yusei,
I know you have very few reasons to trust me, but my people have guarded the Nazca lines for centuries, and know all of the legends. There is one about a Crimson Devil, and how when it merges with the Dragon of Might it will be nigh undefeatable. I had a prophetic dream for the past couple nights about Jack and his dragon, and think that his dragon might be the one spoken of in our legends.
The Crimson Devil was closely associated with the Earthbound Immortals, and is contained in a tomb not far from the lines. Whenever you have a spare moment, please come with Jack so we can see if this is true.
Geiger.
Leaning back in my chair, I glanced over at the pile of blankets, "Jack! Are you up for a quick trip? Geiger has something he wants to show to the two of us specifically."
A groan came from the couch, and an amazing case of bedhead emerged from a cocoon of blankets, "Sure. Considering how if I sleep for more than ten minutes I have the dream, I have no objections to staying awake for a long time. But how are you getting out of town? You know what those metal freaks said."
"You are sorely mistaken if you think that I haven't been keeping up on finding new ways to get around without the coppers knowing. The only way they'll find out is if something happens, or if they track my chip. But it's only going to work once."
Dad tugged on my hair, "Don't worry, Yusei. I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of dying without a fight. Go, and see what Geiger needs."
Jack glared at the white lines tracing the earth, his dark circles making him look downright evil, "I never wanted to see these stupid lines again. Especially that one."
My eyes caught the curves of the hummingbird, and refocused on the path, "Remind me to never go on a drive with you when you're tired. It's like babysitting a five year old."
"That stupid bird almost stole my girlfriend."
Relief spread through my body as we pulled up outside of a small hut, and Geiger walked out, "Thank you for coming."
"Part of the reason is the fact that Jack has been having visions about Archfiend lately, and it's stopped him from sleeping. Forewarning, he's a pretty big grump right now."
Jack climbed off his runner, and rubbed his eyes, "I have gotten about four hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Let's just say that I have a right to be upset."
Geiger walked up to us, "Part of the vision I saw was that Jack would eventually be destroyed by his own power if he did not find a new way to duel."
"That might explain why Archfiend was chasing me."
A slap echoed across the ground as I buried my face in one hand, "And you neglected to tell me why…?"
"Just remembered?"
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