Summary: Aoi has recently woken up from her operation with a mechanical arm in hand, however she doesn't get much time to celebrate as an old face comes back to interrogate her...
Meanwhile on the flip-side Heartland City tries to get up and running again, only for something else to get in its way of recovery...
"May I have a moment to talk to you?"
Episode 4 - Interrogations
...
"You...", trailed off Akira, pointed at the AI inside Jaden's mini steel cage. Windy was inside the cage. "How do you have an Ignis?"
"A what?"
"An AI with free will, very dangerous AI must I add", Akira explained as he grabbed the steel cage from the teen. There was no way he'd entrust a dangerous being to a random teen. "How did you even capture him?"
"Well, I just beat him in a duel", explained Jaden.
"You did?"
"He used Cyberse monsters as well", added the red-jacket duelist as Akira entered back into his office, pressing a certain button in his desk. "I assumed he was related to Aoi in some way at first, but-"
"Wait a moment", Akira interrupted, now turning to face Jaden. "You know Aoi? Aoi Zaizen?"
"Yeah."
"How do you she uses-", Akira began until he realized something. He gave another look at the brown-haired teen in front of him.
"...What's your name?"
"Jaden", answered the teen while pointing to himself. "Jaden Yuki."
Akira couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this the guy that helped Aoi? Well it had to be!
Akira could only stand there in surprise until a pair of SOL Technologies staff approached the CEO.
"You called for us sir?", asked one of the men.
"We received your emergency button signal", explained the other man, before turning to look at Jaden. "Ah I see, you want us to kick him out."
"Consider it done sir", said the other man before approaching the teen, only to be suddenly stopped by an invisible force.
"Huh? Something's grabbing my arm!", the man said, trying to wave off what was holding him to no avail.
I'm going to miss being visible to others, stated Yubel as she continued holding the staff's arm. However, I could get used to being untouchable again.
"No, let him be", Akira spoke up, Yubel now letting now of the confused man's arm. "He wasn't the reason why I called you here."
"Then what was it, sir?", asked the other staff, only to see Akira silently raise the steel cage in front of the man.
"Encapsulate the AI in the lab", ordered Akira, the man now holding the cage. "And do it fast, he might wake up soon."
"It's an Ignis!", exclaimed the staff, only for Akira to sush him.
"And don't be loud", added the CEO.
Both staff nodded before walking away hurriedly, unconscious AI in tow.
"I'm surprised he didn't wake up yet", stated Akira.
"Maybe my finishing blow left him that knocked out", Jaden wondered with crossed arms. "I did have a tendency to be too harsh on duels on my last year on Duel Academy."
"Duel Academy, huh?", asked Akira, now focused back on Jaden. "That could explain your skill level. My name is Akira Zaizen, Aoi's older brother."
The man outstretched his hand towards the teen, who took it almost instantly.
"Pleasure to meet you", smiled the teen, Akira now retracting his hand and motioning Jaden to follow him.
"I'm on my way to see my sister", explained the CEO. "Her operation for her right arm has finished."
"Oh yeah, I remember that something happened to her arm", Jaden noted as they began walking towards the exit. "But I also need to visit her", the teen added as he got out Aoi's Marincess Deck. "I need to return this to her."
"Wait, that's her Deck?", Akira pointed.
"Yeah", Jaden smiled before thinking of something, giving his Deck to the older brother, "Here, you return this to her."
"No, it would be better if you were the one to do that", Akira refused with a smile. "I've heard great things about you from her, as well."
"Oh really?"
"Ohhh yeah, almost took an hour for her to finish."
Both people laughed as they continued talking, minutes away from eventually getting to SOL's exit.
...
Yusei looked into the distance of Neo Domino City, glad to see that for the most part it didn't change, save for a few floating structures. He was on a slick, black limousine, across from both Jack and Crow.
"...Do you know where the twins are?", asked the Stardust duelist at his two companions.
"Beats me, they were probably inside their mansion by the time Declan began talking", answered Crow with a shrug, crossing his arms afterwards. "I'm surprised I was even in Paradise City in the first place, I guess I was one of those people who woke up in a different dimension."
"And Akiza is probably still in Germany with her own work...", Yusei added with a hand on his chin.
"But there's also the possibility she's somewhere else too", responded the Blackwing Duelist, Yusei nodding in agreement.
The Stardust duelist didn't fail in noticing Jack's silence, the Red Dragon user simply admiring the view out the window to his left.
"...You okay, Jack?", asked Yusei. Jack simply nodded silently, not even looking at the ex-Signer's direction. It was weird seeing his friend with a more composed tone than usual, and yet it fit him perfectly somehow.
It was as if he saw a more mature Jack in front of him.
"Man, are we lucky you were with us at the stadium, big guy", Crow stated as he playfully punched Jack's shoulder. "A quick call to your servants and we were in our way in a personalized limousine. I didn't even know you had a car, you never used one before!"
"...I always go on my Duel Runner", explained Jack as he kept looking out the window. Neo Domino's gray skies started raining silently, the raindrops pelting the windows gently in sound. "But since I didn't have mine's at the stadium, I had no choice but to call for a car. And since I never even had an actual car before, my servants had to scramble to go buy one first."
Both Yusei and Crow couldn't help but chuckle at his remark. The Stardust Dragon duelist could notice how his friends before him changed. He recalled the so-called Declan describing how people from different dimensions recollect memories in a dimensional recollection; Both Crow and Jack probably went through that. Crow seems to be taking it easily, he hasn't changed too much, despite the previous mention of taking care of some 'new jackals'. Jack, on the other hand, changed greatly. He seemed to take on a new demeanor, he probably had a drastically different life in the dimension alternate to Yusei's.
But even so, there was only one thing on his mind.
"Well, I'm glad that at least you two are fine, and that we're still a group above everything", Yusei admitted while looking down with closed eyes and a tiny smile. Both Crow and Jack were now looking at him, Yusei didn't usually reveal his feelings vocally. "It just goes to show the type of strength out bonds have."
"Yeah", was all Crow could say with a smile, it was nice seeing Yusei still be himself despite everything. Jack smirked before looking out the window again. The city was as beautiful as ever; Flawed, but beautiful.
Meanwhile, a certain masked duelist saw the three ex-Singers on the black limousine, the car drifting across the smooth road. The masked duelist stood atop a lone rooftop in an abandoned building, his white Duel Runner close by.
"...Fudo Yusei", stated the man as he slowly took off his black-and-white mask, revealing his indigo-blonde hair and eccentric eyebrows. The rain didn't seem to affect him at all. "To think I would ever see you again."
...
Z-ONE was quick to notice a small knock on the door, followed by a male voice, "Is this Aoi's room?". The cyborg opened the metallic door silently, seeing both Akira and Jaden waiting on the other side.
"Yes, I successfully finished with the operation", answered Z-ONE as he stepped aside, letting both men in. "She should be awake in a few moments."
"Wait, it's really you...", Jaden noticed the old-looking man was the once man-machine he saw in the afterlife. "You look different."
"Z-ONE; That is my name", the cyborg shook hands with the ex-Duel Academy student, before going back to closing the metal door. "And I surgically changed my appearance to a more flexible one."
"There's really something out there to describe everyone in the world, isn't there?...", Jaden looked at the old man one last time before going back to look at Aoi. She was breathing normally, a metallic arm visible in her right.
The girl herself slowly opened her eyes from her previous view of pure darkness, before taking notice of both Akira and Jaden. She also noticed Z-ONE in the back continuing to operate the machines.
"Big brother...", began the girl in a frail voice, before clearing her throat and speaking in a clearer tone. She then looked at the red-jacket duelist. "Jaden."
"...Nice to see you again, Aoi", beamed the ex-Duel Academy student.
"Yeah, same", smiled the brunette back before looking at her new right arm. It took her a moment before she successfully raised it, using her left arm to study her mechanical one in detail. It felt hard to the touch, yet it wasn't as heavy as she thought it would be.
"Did it hurt?", asked the CEO.
"No, not at all", responded the girl, taking note of the cyber-like patterns in her arm. "It was just like Z-ONE said before, it wasn't even as scary as I once thought."
"Glad to see that you're awake now", Z-ONE spoke up as he approached the girl, who was now sitting up to face everyone around her. "Hopefully the arm is suitable enough for you to carry out your usual duties."
"I'm sure it will", Aoi said as she held her arm. She then bowed, "Thanks, Z-ONE, for the operation."
The cyborg silently nodded with a petite smile, the room returning to its usual calm atmosphere. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal the scarf-glass duelist on the other side. A tall man in a suit was next to him.
"Hopefully I wasn't interrupting anything", explained the man as he stepped in, the suited man following behind. "But Claude here has told me the operation was a success."
He then took a glance of the people in from of him. Even the SOL Technologies' CEO was here. "Because now that the surgery is out of the way, we can finally begin the interrogation."
...
Everyone in Hearland City was quick to reorganize themselves, many settling back into their houses, either unchanged or broken.
"Good thing our neighborhood hasn't changed for the most part", noted Tori as she held her mother's hand. Yuma's house didn't share the same luck.
"It's all destroyed", noted Kari dejectedly as she studied the house's remains silently. She couldn't even complain that her chances to find a juicy scoop for her reporting job were now limited, she wasn't even sure if there was an economy left at all.
"What do we do now?", asked Yuma as he studied his once-room. His bed was split in two, and the many posters of Duel Monsters were torn down.
This was like a hard brick to the face, he was sure this would change his life greatly.
Meanwhile, Kite and his family were inside one of Heartland Tower's electrical laboratories, noticing the power was completely shut down.
"I can't believe the war ravaged the city to this extent", stated Dr. Faker as he tried turning up the generator using some commands. None of them began creating electricity. "Don't tell me the alternate Heartland ran without it!"
"After Duel Academia's invasion, we had no access to electricity for the most part", explained Kite with crossed arms. He seemed to grip the red scarf on his arm. "We were lucky to come across a well-lit room once in a while."
"Why would Duel Academy even do this, it just doesn't make any sense!", Dr. Faker declared frustratingly before giving up, "Its no use, the commands won't do the job; We'll have to generate power the other way!"
"Other way?", asked Kite.
"Yes, our city used to run on electricity based on the power of XYZ summoning, the energy coming from a black hole's dark matter or something", explained Dr. Faker as he began searching for something specific in the ground. "At least, that's what the scientists and historians told me. If one were to have a duel with a lot of XYZ summoning, we'd have enough power to light up the city for a few days. The duel itself has to be powerful, though; Emphasis on the powerful". Eventually, he found what he was looking for: A pair of red cables. He then found two nearby Duel Disks and connected them to the cables as he added, "This should do the trick, we just need two duelists with a lot of XYZ monsters."
Suddenly, there was uproar from outside the Tower, Allen running into the room with Sayaka, "Kite, the crowd outside is rowdy, they demand an explanation of what to do!"
"They've all gone mad!", added Sayaka worriedly, the sounds of shouting and banging the walls ever-so persistent.
"What's happening...?", asked Hart worriedly as he hid behind Dr. Faker.
"They demand orders, dad, they need you to tell them a few words", Kite turned to his father and explained seriously. "You better not screw this up."
"Feh, you severely underestimate your dad if you think I'll back down from this challenge", Dr. Faker stated as he passed Kite, Hart now behind the teen. "Dueling against you and your friends was even more scary, ha!"
The pale man then exited the room, leaving only Kite, his brother, and the pair of XYZ dimension citizens.
"...I don't think he'll successfully calm them down", Kite said after a few moments, now beginning to walk towards the exit as well. "I'll go help him. Hart, you stay here with Orbital. Orbital, take care of my brother."
Suddenly, a sand-colored robot appeared from the ceiling's air ducts, "You got it, Boss!", before suddenly tripping and crashing to the ground in a comical manner.
"Wait Kite you have your own robot!?", Allen turned to ask Kite, only to see that he was gone.
"He probably had one in the other dimension", explained Sayaka, before turning to see Orbital tending to Hart. "In any case, the robot's kinda... ditsy, isn't it?"
"You think we should help the robot with... Kite's younger brother?", asked Allen while studying Hart. In his dimension, he never properly met Kite's family, but he assumes this is what they would look like.
"Well if you want", agreed Sayaka before approaching both Orbital and Hart.
Meanwhile, both Dr. Faker and Kite were standing in an elevated platform, just far enough from the reaching hands of enraged people.
"What are we supposed to do now!?"
"Half of the city's destroyed!"
"How can we even trust you? I've never seen you before as a major!"
There where so many XYZ citizens shouting about for attention, Dr. Faker immediately covered his ears upon being outside. He had to find a way to get the people's attention.
Kite just stood there behind his father with arms crossed.
"Alright everyone, be quiet and listen well!", Dr. Faker ordered with an outstretched palm, the people still shouting. "Everyone!", he shouted again, still not getting any attention. "EVERYONE, BE QUIET!", he shouted, his face now red from the shout. This time the citizens quieted down.
"Okay, everyone, listen to me...", trailed off the pale man, taking a small moment to recuperate himself. Upon taking a breath, he began speaking up, "Look, I know this is a devastating moment for everyone, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Homes are destroyed, electricity is gone, and half of you don't even know me. But let me tell you this; I'll do my absolute best to repair everything. To me it doesn't matter if half of you are from another dimension, in the end you are still Heartland people, my people, so I will help you."
Unfortunately, people only kept shouting otherwise, many didn't listen. Kite kept silent to the entire exchange.
Fortunately, Dr. Faker had that covered, too, "Alright then, who here wants to step up and be the major in my place? You think this position is fun? Burdening everyone's problems in my shoulders, and taking responsibilities to mend it? If you think you can be the leader, then step up!"
"But you're not burdening anything!"
"You don't even have a plan, you fake!"
Dr. Faker kept silent once again, and let the people vent out their frustrations, until he spoke up once more, "Anyway, I have a plan on what to do; I'll need two XYZ users with a lot of XYZ monsters, who can provide enough electricity for the city to run for a few days. One duel is enough, the only condition is to summon as many XYZ monsters as possible, so who wants to volunteer?"
Everyone went silent again. Nobody was volunteering.
"I... I want to join."
A particular hand raised up from the crowd, Kite raising his eyebrows at the source.
"Yuma?", asked Kari besides him. "What are you doing!"
"Well, most of my XYZ monsters are gone", most of the Numbers suddenly disappeared, explained Yuma, taking out his Deck. "But I still enough power to high five the sky, and help get the electricity you need! I'm sure I can be of help, honest!"
"But Yuma-!", tried retorting Kari, only to be grabbed by the arm by Yuma's grandma.
"Let him voice his decision", spoke up the lady. "You know there's no stopping him when it comes to dueling, anyways."
The older sister had no choice but to let the boy be.
"Yuma, are you sure you want to do this?", asked Caswell besides the boy. "Who knows if it's dangerous!"
"Don't worry, it'll just be a duel, no strings attached", responded Dr. Faker. He then got out two red cables, he must have detached them from the other two Duel Disks earlier. "The only change will be installing these cables to the Duel Disks, these will connect to the power generators."
"Well, is that's the case...", trailed off Caswell, Yuma already having a decision by then.
The boy held on tightly to his Emperor's Key as he stated, "Very well, you can count me in!"
The pale man smiled at this, eerily, but not on purpose. Perfect, now we need just one more. "Now who wants to duel against the boy?", asked the major. "Remember, this will just be one normal duel."
People now began murmuring as nobody stepped in. Yuma only grew disheartened at this.
If only Astral was here, I wonder where he is...
"I would duel to help you, but I only have 1 XYZ monster", stated Tori at her friend. Cathy nodded in agreement as she too couldn't help.
"Fine, I'll do it", Shark stated, before being held back by a hand. He turned to see a grey-haired teen with glasses.
Dumon.
"Maybe It's better if we don't interfere for now", explained the boy as he let go of Shark's arm. "What if they realize our Barian powers came back, and begin turning against us again? Then what?"
"...Huh?", asked the blue-haired teen, only to see the rest of the Emperors were behind Dumon.
"You haven't noticed?", asked Rio at her brother, her eyes beginning to softly glow to prove so. The rest of the Barians' eyes began glowing as well.
"No...", stated Shark as his eyes also inadvertently glowed in unison. He then looked back at his hand, before speaking up to the other Emperors looking at him, "Well Yuma is still Yuma, and he wants to help, so why not us do the same?"
Unfortunately, by the time his decision was set, someone else came in. A giant shadow covered the crowd, many looking up to see what was causing it.
A giant was seen holding onto a large, yellow-magenta flower, floating down towards the platform both Faker and Kite were in. He seemed to be using the flower as some sort of gliding umbrella, Mary Poppins' style.
He then landed onto the platform, turning to see Yuma looking at him with widened eyes.
"Yuma...", trailed off the giant with a smirk. "I knew I'd find you here again."
"You...", Yuma trailed off, almost tripping backwards. His eyes dilated in horror and shock. "It's you...!"
...
"...Did I do something wrong?", asked Aoi worriedly at Declan, Jaden's eyes glowing as he readied his Duel Disk. They were all in one of Declan's lab, minutes after Aoi's successful operation.
The D/D/D duelist was quick to notice the wariness, so he spoke up, "No, you're not in trouble, so there's no need for a confrontation. I've just taken note that you people know a little of what happened before the dimensional scramble, and in fact, one of you here is the main cause. I just want to know the details."
The girl calmed down as Jaden put his Duel Disk away, Aoi taking a deep breath before beginning to explain, "I ended up in Jaden's dimension by accident after a blue portal swallowed me."
"Caused by Darkness who tried swallowing the world in Darkness again", Jaden intervened.
"And afterwards met Jaden who tried getting me back home", added the brunette. "We tried going back to Duel Academy to set up a portal back home, but our boat was stolen and we didn't have much money left, so we applied for a position in a horse race-"
"You tried winning a horse race?", asked Akira.
"I thought I had a chance, which I kinda did", added Aoi shyly. "But that Darkness guy and the other- wait, where is he?"
"Who?", asked Declan.
"Don Thousand", stated Aoi. "He can't be dead, I revived everyone on accident."
"I don't know, unfortunately", answered Declan. "I don't even know who he is, he could be anywhere."
...
"It's you...!", Yuma shouted. "Don Thousand!"
The 7 emperors' eyes dilated at the mention of the cause of their ruin. They all turned their heads to confirm that the giant was indeed there.
"Glad to see that you still remember me", stated Don Thousand, before speaking up, "Listen up, Yuma; I'm still confused as to how I'm here. One moment I die from losing my duel against you and Nasch, and in another moment that annoying blue-haired girl defeats me in a duel and stops me from using the Numeron Code."
Is he referring to the blue-haired girl we all saw in our dreams?, asked Yuma to himself.
So that girl isn't a simple hallucination!, Shark noted, now at the front part of the crowd. The rest of the Barians followed close by.
"But maybe you can provide me an answer as to what's happening, with the Duel we're about to have", pointed the black alien before generating a Duel Disk on his arm. The alien-like device took a hold of one of Dr. Faker's red cables, and connected it to itself. "I feel as if there's anyone who can provide an answer, or can provide at least a challenge, it's you. And don't think I'll let you refuse, either; My powers may have diluted greatly, but I can still be as dangerous to this Earth as ever."
"No, I won't let you endanger everyone again!", stated Yuma as he ran up towards the alien, a series of floating platforms forming in front of Yuma like a staircase. He ran up the plates until he was also in the elevated platform where the Tenjo family and Don Thousand were. "I'll make sure to clog up your flow with mine!"
"Oh? Then we shall see for ourselves!", stated the giant as his eyes glowed in dichromatic colors, Dr. Faker connecting Yuma's Duel Disk with the other red cable.
"Good luck, sonny!", Dr. Faker whispered to the kid before stepping back.
I may not have Astral with me right now, but that doesn't mean I'll chicken out! I don't plan to lose!, Yuma thought as he said, "Now get set to get decked, Don Thousand!"
"Very well!"
"DUEL!"
"DUEL!"
Yuma's LP: 4000
Don Thousand's LP: 4000
...
"Now I'm kinda worried as to what he could be doing", stated Aoi, referring to Don Thousand. "And what about Darkness?"
"No, I convinced him to help me against the AI group", Jaden explained as he laid back on his chair. "Your brother calls them Ignises."
"Ignises?", asked Declan. He recalled Ryoken telling him something related on the way to SOL. It looks like they wanted to hide this from common ears.
"AI with free will, we had a war against them", Akira said with this head down. "We terminated them all, but Revolver explained they were revived. I knew they would come back, just not this fast."
"I even defeated one of their members!", Jaden stated. "Well, he used to be a member. He used WIND attribute Cyberse monsters."
"He must have been Windy then...", noted Aoi. "Did he say anything else."
"Well...", Jaden scratched his head. "He spoke a lot about hating humans, he said you lost to a 'Bohman', and he mentioned something about 'Lighting', who I'm assuming once used to be his companion."
"Yeah, everything he said is accurate, except the whole hating humans thing", Aoi stated. She didn't like the mention of losing to Bohman, but nothing could be done about it. She just had to move on. "So they're planning to overthrow humanity again?"
"I think so, although Windy also wants punish Lightning for betraying him", Jaden added. "What's even their deal anyway? Can't they just move somewhere else and create a separate world there?"
"They want us to do the moving, Jaden", stated Aoi, only to be corrected by Akira. "They want us to move them here; They planned to use humanity as slaves."
"So before the dimensional scramble, there used to be a war against Intelligent AI", Declan stated as he stood up. "That, and also the planning of Darkness and Don Thousand to create more chaos."
"No, they wanted to use the Numeron Code to fix a problem Darkness caused with the blue portals", Aoi explained, recalling bits and pieces of the dark apparition's words. "I think he couldn't control them, as he stated all dimensions nearby were collapsing because of it."
"So they wanted to find a solution beforehand", mused the D/D/D duelist, the brunette nodding in agreement. Claude made sure to write everything down, just as Declan ordered him beforehand.
"They wanted to save their world so that they could do whatever they wanted with it afterwards", Jaden stated. "As I said earlier, Darkness wanted to drag humanity to his dark dimension, Don Thousand... I don't know what he had planned in mind, I just saw him as Darkness' assistant."
"So the lack of information makes him a threat: got it", Declan nodded as he kept intaking information. This was turning out to be interesting. "What Deck did Don Thousand use? We could find a possible location as to where they could be."
"He used XYZ monsters", Aoi explained. "And they all had numbers in their names. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1000."
"I see, then the most likely location is in Heartland City, XYZ dimension", noted Declan as he went to the metal door. "We will begin searching for him at once. You guys are free to leave once you're finished."
"I already put everything away, I don't need to be here anymore", stated Z-ONE as he bowed. "Thanks for letting me use the lab."
Declan nodded before leaving, Claude finishing with the notes and following close behind.
...
As they left the lab, Declan spoke to his assistant, "Do have Ms. Sakaki on the line?"
"Yes, she said that all four boys are waiting in your office", explained Claude. "She's there with them, too."
"And what about Mr. Boyle?", asked Declan.
"He's also in the office with the rest of the boys, as well as the four girls", Claude explained. "They're all waiting, just as you requested."
"I see; Well done, Claude", the D/D/D duelist said as he turned to begin walking to his office, his assistant following close behind.
According to Claude's intel, the 8 individuals also stated about Ray and Zarc being revived, Declan mused to himself as he kept walking, hands in his pockets. There's no telling if it's true, for now it's better if I remain silent.
Eventually, both individuals were in from of Declan's office's door. Declan input a passcode, allowing the door to open by itself a few moments afterwards. Still, the only thing I can do for now I see this for myself!
Declan then walked through, followed by his assistant, both seeing the 10 individuals before him.
Yuya Sakaki
Yuto
Yugo
Yuri
Yuzu Hiragi
Serena
Ruri Kurosaki
Rin
Yoko Sakaki
Skip Boyle
The 4 boys sat on the room's left couch, joined by Yuya's mother. The 4 girls sat on the right couch, joined by Yuzu's father.
"I see you all came as I requested", Declan stated, the door behind Claude now fully closed. "Good, now our interrogation can begin."