V Stain

Satellite felt dead.

It was as if the world only consisted of him and Crow, two figures riding side by side, the scenery around them a blur of greys and browns. The two D-Wheels accompanied by nothing but the whirring sound of their engines and the dust storms they stirred up – such was the extent of their universe. The mechanical vibrations of their vehicles shook all the way into their bones. It was a world of dust, of indistinct buzzing, and numbness.

It felt as if he was becoming less and less alive.

"C… Crow?"

Yusei heard his own voice crack when he opened his mouth to make some conversation. He swallowed and started again.

"Yeah?"

Crow did not seem as affected as Yusei was. His gaze was fixed onward, his arms rigid and still. He only cast a quick look at the King.

"Is this part of Satellite always so lifeless?"

"Here?" Crow gave a glance around him. "Yeah, pretty much. No one lives here anymore after the collapse of Old Momentum."

"I see…" Yusei mumbled a reply. Even though Crow promised that they were heading towards the seaside cliffs as fast as possible, Yusei could not see any signs of the ocean. The buildings were abandoned and crumbling, but they were still tall enough to obscure the view.

"Don't worry. We'll be there soon." Noticing Yusei's uncertainty, Crow reassured him.

"I'm just not used to how lifeless this looks." Yusei replied. He was not questioning Crow's navigation skills. "I know Satellite doesn't have that many residents, but to have an entire area like this, abandoned… These buildings look like they are ready to fall down at any moment."

"You are not wrong. That's why Martha told us to be careful. The entire section around the cliffs is like this." Crow answered. "Let's slow down then. We're through the old houses, and the roads ahead are even more difficult."

Just as Crow said this, Yusei saw the end of the grey, crumbling blocks of buildings. A hint of blue sky peeked out together with a faint whiff of the salty sea air, pointing out the direction of the shore. Crow slowed down significantly and turned away. Yusei followed him and saw that the road narrowed and started to hug the cliffs, looking truly precarious with nothing between the road and a certainly fatal fall.

"That's the road we're taking?"

"Yep." Crow slowed down even further. "I don't even know if this road is still in good condition. Let's be really careful."

Yusei slowed down significantly as well. Crow was right. Parts of the road were showing visible signs of heavy wear and tear, and the edges of some sections were cracking. Small bits of rock were lying along the road, posing a real problem to D-Wheels. Crow and Yusei navigated very carefully now. Yusei also kept an eye out for the cliffs on the other side of the road. Some small boulders were tumbling down the cliffs, signifying the area was not safe at all.

"Shit!"

However, when they rounded a corner, Crow swore audibly and abruptly stopped.

"What's wrong, Crow?"

"There… there is no more road."

Yusei peeked out. The road had literally crumbled away further along the seashore, leaving a vast gap in the ground. It was far too wide for their vehicles to jump across. The broken stretch of road meandered beyond the crumbled gap, but there was no visible alternative, no other road traversing the perilous coastline. Just as Yusei struggled to think of some other possible ways for them to get to Old Momentum, he heard Crow calling out his name in a hushed tone.

"Yusei! Psst! This way."

Crow was busy hiding himself and his vehicle behind a pile of rocks and was hurriedly beckoning Yusei to do the same.

"Quickly, Yusei! There are people coming!"

Puzzled, but nevertheless obedient, Yusei drove his D-Wheel behind the rocks and dismounted, then peeked out over the rubble with curiosity. Crow was tense beside him, his mouth a tight line on an anxious face. When Yusei fixed a questioning look on Crow, the latter motioned with his head to direct Yusei's eyes beyond the broken gap.

Yusei followed his gaze. There were people on the other end of the broken road now, and they were riding D-Wheels. Before Yusei could wonder how they managed to get across, or what business those people had in this desolate area, he saw a small flash as a Duel Disk was activated, followed by the shape of a large flying bird.

"What –"

And before Yusei could finish his shocked whisper, the giant bird grasped a D-Wheel in its claws and took briefly to the sky, In a few flaps of its giant wings, the creature had reached the other side of the gap in the road and set the vehicle on the ground.

Yusei turned to Crow sharply, but the other put a finger to his lips and signalled for silence. The people they watched crossed the broken gap on the road one after the other using their Duel Monster. They then dismissed the monster and drove past Yusei and Crow in a blur of happy laughter and cheers, oblivious to the two young men cowering behind some rubble.

"Those must be some of the gangs who received Black Duel Disks from Kiryu." Crow muttered quietly after the group had passed out of sight. "And that was also why no one bothered to fix up this road. Those who need to get across it had a means to do so, while those who have no business with them wouldn't be able to visit at all."

"But we need to get across…" Yusei replied in a low, thoughtful voice.

Crow gave Yusei a brief look, his brows furrowed, his lips drawn to a thin line. Then he nodded and walked up to his D-Wheel, and took out the Black Duel Disk.

"I hear what you're saying, King. Let me use it then. Let me summon something to get us across."

"No." To Crow's surprise, Yusei made a sound of refusal. He paused and looked incredulously at Yusei, who walked up to him and took the Black Duel disk out of Crow's hands.

"Let me do it, Crow."

"You?" Crow raised his brows, a note of incredulity in his voice. "But you know this is something that gives you the power of Psychic Duelists. If the City ever hears about this, your career would be over. You really don't need to get your hands dirty for something minor-"

"Then why would you do it?" Yusei turned to Crow. The blue-eyed young man was dead serious. "I want to do this. I feel part of this is my responsibility, and I want to use that Black Duel Disk by choice – before I am forced to use it to defend myself."

Crow took a step back and allowed Yusei to walk away with the Black Duel Disk, but the look he gave Yusei still retained its full share of concern.

"I've been thinking about what Jack said." As Yusei walked to his D-Wheel to take out his deck, he spoke softly, but confidently. "It may have sounded mean, but it was good advice. I've been running away from everything for so long. I thought if I just become the best Duelist I can be, if I keep striving for the top, then naturally everything else would fall into place."

Yusei was not looking at Crow as he strapped the Black Duel Disk on his arm and kept speaking. "But obviously, I was wrong. It took me a long while to realise that my life ended up like this because I was the one who allowed it to go on. I lost Aki because I didn't take care of her. I am here in Satellite because I blindly believed in my own abilities. And these Duel Disks, running on Yusei Particles, that phenomenon I was named after but know almost nothing about – I'm afraid that I have taken Momentum and my father's life for granted for too long, and the past is finally catching up."

"So... You're sorry?" Crow looked carefully after Yusei. "Do you want to make things up to everyone?"

"Perhaps, but I know regrets also change nothing." Yusei put his arm through the Duel Disk and let it clasp around his forearm with a hiss, and watched intently as the machine booted up and connected to the net. "I need to know what is happening with my city. I need information. Most importantly, I need to understand her – and feel exactly who she is, and who she has become."

With that, Yusei took out a card from his deck and placed it on the Black Duel Disk, calling the monster into being. However, he did not command the monster immediately. Crow saw him reach out a hesitant hand to touch the monster, the hologram he was so familiar with through endless games now rendered into cold and unforgiving metal. Yusei's hand stayed on the monster, and his blue eyes fluttered close as if he was offering a prayer, or indulging in the feeling of reaching out to a miracle for the first time.

-/-/-/-/-/-

The black gaping mouths of the cliff side caverns were finally upon them as Crow and Yusei crossed the chasm on the road with the help of Yusei's monster. The mountains soon opened up as the road rounded the headland, and the two men found themselves traversing piles of rocks and vast empty spaces carved into the cliffs. Yusei peeked with apprehension into every crevice cut into the rock face, but most of them were empty and barren, their deep blackness serving only to taunt visitors with the suggestion of danger. Crow shook his head as Yusei looked into yet another cave.

"These are not it. The Old Momentum cave was at least reinforced to improve its safety. These are just natural formations no one paid any attention to for decades."

"We're looking for the very place where my father discovered the Yusei Particles, and yet I have no idea what it looks like or even where it is." Yusei cracked a dry laugh in a vain attempt to make the situation sound funnier.

"Hardly your fault." Crow muttered a reply. "But you will know it when you see it. It shouldn't be far now."

"What do you mean, I will know it when I see it?" Yusei gave a sideway glance at Crow, puzzled at the orange-haired man's confidence.

"Just look along the cliffs. We should be near now." Crow lifted his head. "See?"

Yusei was uncertain what he was expected to see, but as he followed Crow's instructions and let his eyes move along the coastline, he inadvertently straightened up in his seat.

Crow was right. It was unmistakable. Among the myriad of openings along the cliff face, there was one that was deliberately enlarged and secured with concrete and mortar. But unlike a scientific, pristine laboratory, the vast entrance was decorated with some kind of undulating, occult, ominous fresco. The shapes chiselled into the rocks surrounding the door were less scientific symbols and more alien glyphs. As they got closer and closer, Yusei could make out the shape of some vehicles parked on the narrow road outside of the entrance, and even though he had never seen the outlandish design on some of them, his years in the dueling circle made him instantly recognise them to be D-Wheels. The aerodynamic and sleek exterior, the soft curve of the cover for the engine, and the unmistakable upward tilt of the dashboard for the Duel Disks were all too familiar. However, he didn't remember any of the thugs they encountered having had any of these fancy D-Wheels. These must be some important vehicles, unique even.

"These are…"

"These are Kiryu and Izayoi's vehicles." Crow answered his unfinished question.

Yusei's heart skipped a bit as he vaguely registered some resemblance between Crow's D-Wheel and the black Duel Wheel parked there. That was perhaps Kiryu's D-Wheel, not only because he thought such a black vehicle would suit the man's sensibilities, but also because the other vehicle… truly felt like Aki.

It was a scarlet construction, sleek as the waves of the ocean itself. Two wing-like extensions stretched out from the driver's seat, yet instead of feathered wings, these brought to mind tormented claws, appendages that were reptilian in nature. It was beautiful, yet wild, and wholly whispered of barely restrained passion and danger. It was a poisonous flower in early bloom, full of power and potential, and at time same time undirected and completely raw.

"That red one must be Aki's then."

Crow gave him a look, followed by a sigh. "That's hers, yeah. They had it custom made for her."

"Who are 'they', anyways?" As they neared the looming entrance of the cave, Yusei finally asked a question he had been tiptoeing around. "You've mentioned that there are people behind Kiryu. Who would they be?"

Driving his D-Wheel up to the massive entrance of the cave and parking his vehicle there, Crow remained silent. Yusei saw that the interior of the cave had definitely been reinforced with more concrete and steel, and lights could be seen coming from the inside. Some sort of an echo could be heard over the general hum of the ocean waves, like the working of a massive machine that no doubt slept within.

"A man who claim to be from the original Momentum project." Crow finally answered. "I have never seen anyone working behind Kiryu and Izayoi, but I know they are being led by someone. I didn't come face to face with anyone, but everything about Kiryu and Izayoi changed after the event in Rosewood."

"The original prototype project?" Yusei stopped his vehicle next to Crow. "That would make him one of my father's old co-workers. That makes very little sense. I knew everyone who worked with my father in the early days. They are all back in Tops and none of them should have an interest in damaging the City, or in Rosewood…" He lowered his head then, realising the implications. "Unless… this person never came back to the City."

"Yes. Rosewood is a place for the dead." Crow took a deep breath, and visibly braced himself to enter the cave. "Those who were considered dead were the most treasured residents there. I don't know who is running the show, but I knew he was a ghost. And it goes to show how messed up Momentum is, that ghosts from fifteen years ago are still lingering around this project."

"The Momentum Project was such a great gamble that the City threw everything into it. But ultimately, we won." Yusei stood next to Crow, looking at the cave with him, and making sure he had his Duel Disk with him. He had given the Black Duel Disk back to Crow, and couldn't help but notice that Crow brought that instead of a normal Disk. The act of using the Black Duel Disk felt no different to any usual plays he did on the arena, making the 'burden' of Psychic Duelists almost redundant. He certainly could see the appeal and understood some of the frustration felt by those who are Psychic Duelist. There was no massive pump of adrenaline, no electric jolt up the spine, just the simple act of putting card on the Duel Disk like what he did every day during tournaments. How could Momentum be manipulated into making these Black Disks? What was in the root of this incredible project?

"I am now starting to believe that there could have been a huge conspiracy, reaching from the top of the Momentum tower all the way to the roots of the City's politics. I am meant to be the face of Momentum, of the Yusei Particle, the representative of Neo Domino City's hope, and all that. But what am I really representing? What am I actually named after? I don't know any of that. I want to discover that here as well."

"And Izayoi?" Crow gave him a look.

Yusei ran his gloved finger over his deck. "She obviously knows something I don't, and I will try to see what that might be. It has got to be regarding Momentum, the very power that everyone seems to be obsessed with."

"You seemed to have changed quickly over just the course of one day, King." Crow remarked with a dry chuckle.

"It hasn't exactly been an ordinary day." Yusei returned with an equally awkward sigh. "Are we ready to go in?"

"Yeah. Ready when you are."

They walked side by side into the gaping mouth of the cavern, and Yusei would be lying if he claimed he was not afraid. In fact, he was terrified, his heart hammering away in his chest faster than it had ever been. Here he was, in an unfamiliar ruin, walking together with someone he only got to know a few days before, venturing into the depths of some abandoned cave that people told him might collapse at any time. To say he was unready would also be an understatement. He looked sideways at Crow and the other young man was no better than him, with visible beads of sweat slowly making their way down Crow's brow.

The air became colder and colder as they moved into the barely lit, rock-hewn passageway, the intermittent orange lights scattered around providing just enough illumination to see the way. The roof was impossibly tall, stretching far beyond their heads towards infinity and a shapeless darkness, with the soft echoes of their footsteps dancing in the unimaginable spaces above them. Occasionally the sound of some small pieces of rock tumbling down could be heard, and Yusei tried hard not to imagine the fall from such a height, and how at the end of such a fall there would be nothing but a small shower of dust left to hit the floor.

After a few minutes of walking, they could see a different kind light. It was not the same as the orange light his eyes had gotten used to. That light was at least warm – it may not be reassuring or welcoming, but it had its own character. What he was now seeing were shafts of clinical white light that reminded him of his father's impeccable lab, always white as snow, always beyond tarnish. It was a colour he had always associated with absolute logic, with reason, with sterility. He gritted his teeth and walked faster, and Crow kept up with him as they got closer and closer to that white light, which almost filled the entire space as they neared the end of the passageway.

Accelerating almost into a run, the two of them burst into a wide hall fully illuminated by brilliant white pillars of light, and Yusei stopped when he set foot inside and stood there with his eyes open, seeing this monstrous cavern inside the mountain for the first time. His gaze swept upward with the ascending light of the white columns, and he would have taken far longer to look down again, had Crow not given out a strangled cry.

"These… these are people!"

The dim silhouettes of human bodies cast faint ominous shadows onto the cavern walls, chunky shapes of limbs and heads hovering in the air like vengeful ghosts of a bygone era. Yusei span around nervously, seeking the source of this new horror, and realising that all along the walls of this cave…

… were people.

What a horrible, unbelievable, otherworldly scene. It was never something he associated with the glory of Neo Domino City, that citadel built upon technological advancement and societal liberty.

There were tall, transparent pods set up close to the edges of the vast cavern, and there was a person – definitely a person – inside each one of those pods. Wires innumerable sprouted out of the feet of each of the pods, wriggling away with reptilian convolution towards the back of the cavern, where they uniformly fed into the massive contraption dominating the landscape in this darkened corner of the world.

Yusei's gaze followed the path of the wires and felt his breath catching in his chest. That shape, that machine, was only too familiar with him, that glowing rainbow cylinder of never-ending light. His mind instantly recognised it was Momentum, even though he was always taught that there was only one such machine ever made and it sits on top of Neo Domino City, a font of godlike power for the happy residents in the greatest city in the world. This machine – this underground, forgotten, ignored machine – looked identical to the one Yusei grew up with. The sibling in Neo Domino City rested in an equally spacious room, but its surroundings were bright with glorious light, and full of people attending to its every whim and need. This twin, resting in the rocks underneath abandoned and chaotic Satellite, shared very little with the other Momentum in terms of the atmosphere of their abode.

Bu there was one uncanny resemblance between where they were located, a resemblance that Yusei felt to his bones. This vast inner opening of the cave was cold, icy cold, just like the room Yusei's father works in back at the City. Perhaps Momentum needs to operate in such frigid temperatures; perhaps they can only work in these temperatures, devoid of all warmth and life. All the inanimate people in the pods did nothing to make the cave feel any better. Yusei felt a tangible shiver run down his back, and he couldn't stop his arm from shaking, both from the cold and the horror.

"Who are these people…?"

Compared to Yusei, Crow was evidently more concerned about the humans involved. Ignoring everything else, he ran up to a pod that was emitting a strange purple glow, peeked into it, and gave out a strangled cry.

"It's Carly!" Crow lifted his head and all but yelled with a shrill voice, looking at Yusei with wide-open eyes. "Yusei! The person in this thing is Carly!"

The dark purple light within the pod flared up then, an unnatural violet blaze that briefly enveloped the entire pod. Crow fell back instinctively, his arms crossed over his face in a gesture to protect himself. He stumbled and fell unceremoniously backwards, landing on his behind with a yelp, gasping in shock as he slowly lowered his arms, his gaze not leaving the luminescent purple structure.

At the same time, a sharp pain bit into Yusei's left arm so hard that he involuntarily twitched. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he put his other hand over where it hurt, only to feel the skin was unnaturally hot even through the Duel Disk's wrist band.

"What's Carly doing here? What's going on? Who are all these people?" Crow was muttering to himself, not comprehending any of the occurrences he just saw. But Yusei had more pressing matters. Letting out a low growl, he tore off his Duel Disk and rolled back his sleeve to stare at his arm. Alarmingly, there was a bright red pattern giving out visible light, shining through his skin with an intense light.

That was not natural at all.

"Crow… Crow! There's something going on with my arm!"

Crow tore his eyes away from the purple pod and look at Yusei's red arm with incomprehension. Yusei could hear his blood pounding in his ears, his brain struggling to make sense of what was happening. All his attention, his entire being, all the nerves in his body were focused on thinking of ways to remove this strange light buried within his body. He briefly contemplated scratching at it, and was only able to stop himself from doing so by listening to that small sliver of reason still left in him.

"What on Earth is going on…" As Yusei stared with terror at his own arm, transfixed, Crow stumbled into him and he almost fell. Crow's voice was shaking and he pointed a finger, almost accusatorily, at Yusei's arm. "This thing... This crazy crap on your arm... It looks like all the other freaking marks! Like the ones on Izayoi, Ruka, and even the one on Jack!"

Yusei tried to calm down as he looked closer at his arm. It wasn't identical to what he remembered the others' marks looked like, but he understood what Crow meant. It had the same kind of design and pattern, the same alien and strangled geometry. It sent a horrible chill down his spine as he thought this could be the same kind of mark that Aki and Rua bore, that this might somehow be related to the power of Psychic Duelists. He had never seen this symbol on himself before, had absolutely no memories of even seeing this sign anywhere in his life, and he had no idea what to do. Was this how Aki and Rua felt when they discovered their powers for the first time? Was this what Jack felt when he realised his birthmark was inexplicably linked to something that no one seemed to understand?

"But... But I'm not a Psychic Duelist..." As if answering Crow, Yusei stuttered out, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or Crow.

"Everyone who got involved with the Psychic Duelists ended up having this mark on them, though!" Crow sounded like he was on the verge of panic. "This is it. We've all touched the Black Duel disks. We've all had a go at being Psychic Duelists, and now we can't get out of it. Maybe that's what Kiryu meant with making a whole army of Psychic Duelists. Maybe that's what happens to you once you've used it...!"

"Crow! Calm down!" Yusei reached out for Crow. He instinctively knew that explanation didn't make sense. There have been so many people who have used the Black Duel Disks. If they all ended up incorporating this power, then they wouldn't be still using and relying the Black Duel Disks. Yet he also couldn't explain what was going on – to be completely honest, yes, he had always regarded Aki's mark as a sign of an alien power, and indeed subconsciously feared Rua's explanations of Duel Monsters. In a way, such a mark had signalled out their owners as someone different, who was feared by all to some degree.

So how did he get this? Had he been carrying this inside him all along? Did he have the potential to be a Psychic Duelist all this time? Him, the world champion, the pride of Neo Domino?

"What irony! The King himself, revealed to be a Psychic Duelist all along!"

"Kiryu!" Yusei didn't recognise that jeering voice, but Crow did. The orange-haired man turned to glare at Kiryu. His back was lowered into a predatory stance, and his voice was guttural and furious. "What the hell did you do? Did you know about this mess all along?!"

"Know? Nah. I just couldn't help but find it so damn funny!" Kiryu positively giggled, the sound jarring in Yusei's ear. "Don't you think it's funny too, Mr. Goodwin?"

Yusei felt as if his blood had turned into ice upon hearing that name. He squinted in the bright light of the cave, and saw a dark figure standing on the maintenance walkway halfway up the Momentum column. There was another figure standing behind on the walkway, but they were so high up that Yusei couldn't make out any more details. He held his breath and didn't know what to think when the newcomer finally spoke.

"It is indeed ironic, Fudo-kun, but this is the price we paid for harnessing Momentum's power. It is only fitting that you are chosen to bear such a mark too."

The voice was definitely not Rex Goodwin's. It was deeper, coarser, and with more of an edge of roughness than the calm authority of Rex Goodwin. But the speaker definitely knew the Fudo family, maybe even intimately. Yusei steeled himself and answered.

"Who are you?!"

There was a significant pause before the reply, the timeless whirring of the Momentum machine being the only thing that disturbed the tense silence.

"Such a pity that you have all forgotten me." When the newcomer finally answered, the words seemed wistful, there was no change in the gritty tone of the voice. "You, your family, the City, even Rex. You have all forgotten about me. Now you come crawling to me for answers, and yet you refused to listen to my warnings before. You all deserve it, to some degree."

"I have no idea who you are." Even without seeing the man's face, Yusei could feel the man was examining him. The King of Neo Domino City and the Duel Monster champion straightened his back, and put into his voice all the pride and power he had mastered in his life. "I want the truth. What happened here in the beginning? What is going on with Psychic Duelists?"

"I think you should rephrase your questions, Fudo-kun." The man replied evenly as he started to walk down towards ground level. Yusei squinted, but there was a hood over the man's head, and he couldn't see many features. "You should be asking what is the true history of the City you have lived in? What is the root of the power that you've fought to represent? What is the truth behind the establishment that has been an integral part of your entire life? Isn't it sad, Fudo-kun, to question the purpose of your entire existence and to find that the answer is worse than nothing – that the truth may be the entire opposite of what you believed?"

"So, you want to see me broken. You want to see me questioning everything I believed in and lived for. You want to see me shattered. Is that how much you hate me, even though I don't even know you?" Yusei replied with narrowed eyes. "If you hate the entire City and what I represent so much, at least show me who you are!"

The intruder only replied with a roaring laughing, completely ignoring Yusei's question. He was only a few metres above the ground now, but the hood stayed on his head.

"He is the one Kiryu and Aki work for, Yusei!" Crow interjected with evident concern amidst the figure's insane laughter. "I never saw his face, but Kiryu always said that such a man exists. They also say he was one of the only people to have walked out of Rosewood alive after Izayoi went through with it!"

"Uncle Goodwin! I also want answers!"

The laughter stopped abruptly, as if this man was also not expecting this turn of events. It was a female voice that everyone here only knew too well.

Yusei's entire body tensed when he heard Aki's echoing voice. She was undoubtedly the person who remained high on the walkway, and Yusei was unable to see her face and expression.

"Why does Yusei have a mark like me? He's never had such a thing. This is not how you explained Psychic Duelists to me – what exactly is going on with Domino and Momentum? What else are you hiding from us?"

The man being addressed as Uncle Goodwin – a term that Yusei had used countless times to address the ruler of Neo Domino City – only laughed again. This time, the laugh was certainly hollow and mocking, as if he completely dismissed the validity of the question. He didn't say anything else, his laughter reverberating throughout the empty space in a chilling way.

"And I want answers too!"

Yusei and Crow turned to the source of the new voice as the last actor on this too-bright and too-cruel stage, Jack Atlus, ran onto the room. He was panting, the birthmark on his arm glowing in a sanguineous, scarlet hue, as if it was not a scar but an open wound. Putting one of his hands against the wall for support, Jack growled.

"I heard you, and I know who the bloody hell you are. What the heck is going on, Rudger Goodwin? And what have you done with Carly?!"