Episode 18: Prelude to Madness
?, ?, 3rd P.O.V
"Battle! I declare a direct attack with Mech Beast Pterodapple! Skydiving Spiral!" A pink monster swooped down from above.
A girl screamed as she was sent flying back, a blast from impact truly made real. As the simulation ended, the defeated duelist lied on the ground. Unresponsive. Lights slowly lighting back up, revealing their location. On one end, the defeated component was inside a box of glass. Correction - a cell of glass. To the other, out free from any same confinements, was the winning female duelist. An observation Sabrine took in as she looked at the monitor nearby.
Unknown: 1200
Vs
Julia: 2300 - 0
Winner: Unknown
"...Pathetic. She's still resisting." The victor turned around as she deactivated her Duel Disk. "Send her back into the chambers. And make sure you don't grant her comforts until I say so."
Some people dressed in all white nodded and gave hand signals. Machinery grasped the cell before pulling it away. Sabrine bit her lip seeing the darkness engulf the cell. The prison sector wasn't her area of concern. Neither was with the rest of this building. Then again this wasn't the stop expected in her routine today. However, Kaiser did send her here to meet with Director Yang. In order to get the resources and equipment needed for the planned test for Standard. Which is why she was here. To get shit done. As usual for Kaiser.
"Ah, you must be Sabrine. I have heard so much about you." Her hand was clasped by two. "You must know about me as well. I am Director Ami Yang; Head of Yugioh Research and Resource Conversation."
Orange orbs took a good look at this Director Ami Yang and how different it was from her expectant. Besides gender, gingerbread tendrils danced on the breeze with highlights of marmalade mixed with some pink made her stand out from the rest. The same strawberry pink matched her eyes and pink blouse underneath a cloud lab coat. A fit orange skirt went into the white stockings and black shoes. Sabrine needed to stop just staring.
Sabrine nodded with a faint grin. "Ah yes! I've heard about the YCRC. Though, I honestly thought you were a male from what I've heard."
"Oh don't worry about that. I often get mistaken for a guy by name alone." Ami chuckled before going over to one of the many personal computers recording data. "It isn't a problem. Has Kaiser sent you to collect a portion of things?"
"Yes. And I sure hope you're enjoying the new… uh." Sabrine faltered on what to call the three recently brought in.
"My newest trio of exploitable subjects? Yes! Now, aren't they quite an interesting trio from… Leo Duel School? I think that's the name." Tapping her chin, fingernails paint pink and orange - an alternating pattern. "Either way, I'm getting valuable research and value from them! I think at least Julia Krystal will be ready for service. Kaiser will enjoy what I've done with her. Yet I need to iron out some minor bugs before I proceed toward the other two. And then, to the remaining shells of imaginary folk!"
"Minor bugs?" Something sounded off as they left the main observation room.
"In my attempts of the… procedures that we follow for both resource harvesting and conversion, I have recently encountered a problem. One that wasn't caused by you, oh no, but by an error in calculations. For you see, in the regular process of examining memories, we found something. Altered memories." Ami spoke aloud holding a clipboard. "We found out that LDS had not only altered her own memories but those of her other two companions. So I did what I thought was right and decided to revert the memories. Led us to some very problematic results. By doing this, the mind of Julia soon suffered trauma from the reintroduced memories."
"How so? I thought you were prepared for that sort of incident." Sabrine looked at the paper on the clipboard but pulled back.
"We were… but then came something I never expected. Two versions of Julia somehow began to exist in one body." Ami stopped them both into an elevator, going up.
"...Say what now?" Ami tapped her foot at Sabrine's confusion.
"Like I said. The prototype now has two… personas inside of it. One is Julia Krystal, the main subject we prepared for. The second persona is the one you knew of - Masumi Kotsu. A body holding two wasn't at all what we planned for. That is our main issue." Ami scowled while reviewing the file. "I would have had the process perfected if my last exploitable subject wasn't gone! So currently, I'm back to square one with a brand new subject. Just great!"
The ding of the elevator opened up to a pristine hallway. Then, the two quickly walked out and into a room nearby. Lights illuminating, the room revealed walls full of devices laid out. Same with the table in center stage. Sabrine passed the card to Ami. To which was placed into a slot on the wall.
"Onto why you are actually here. Never mind my rambling. I am sure you'll keep this between us, won't you?" Ami smiled while walking over to a wall; threat clearly noticeable by the way her Duel Disk was glowing.
"Why would I? I like my position." Sabrine then noticed the orb recently pulled off the wall. "What is that?"
"This, right here, is a PDO - Pocket Dimension Orb. Pretty much does as it says. Creates a secluded space for you and your target to duel in. Just throw this onto the ground with your target already in range. It has a delay before it encompasses the area in range. Make sure there is somebody in range. Otherwise, it just explodes as an EMP." Ami tossed it over. "A little switch is on there for a quick on-and-off to whether or not you desire using any of Dimension Zero's influence in your favor."
"You finally introduced that feature? Wow, guess it wasn't so hard." Sabrine threw it back to Ami.
"Took some trial and error from the odd to make anew. But things have been easier with these orbs on the dueling end." Ami smiled before placing it back on the wall. "Now next up is a false card that we made to reflect any Academia or Resistance 'carding effects.' An old problem we used to have, but since they will be after Serena and believe you are from Standard, I suggested taking these."
"Right. Wouldn't want to trapped inside a Duel Monster card." Sabrine laughed nervously.
"For the Pendulum issue, while I do believe much of Dimension Zero's influence will be enough to drive off their power, I have designed for both of you special cards. These three are for Kaiser - see to it that he gets them. And these three are for your Nebula cards." Ami grabbed the six cards and handed them over to Sabrine.
"Nebula Scout Cygnus, Nebula Scout Crux, and Nebula Knight Constellation." Sabrine read the names allowed of her three cards, before noticing something about the cards. "Wait! Are these-?!"
"Indeed. We may not have that many resources into producing ones like these just yet, but that will change once we've got Yuya and/or Declan Akaba. Then, we can mass produce them to finally achieve our goals." Ami winked as she walked over to another tool. "Lastly, I designed this one specifically for when the Berserk mode occurs. Since he'd be a pain in the ass to battle, using this against Yuya should render his power useless and ensnare him for easy transport. No dragon interference can free him or anyone caught in this trap. I've only made two: one for you and the other for Kaiser. Don't mess up this opportunity."
Sabrine nodded as she was lent a briefcase. Inside, the tools for the mission were given in exchange for that card. Ami was happily smiling, clipboard grasped tightly in hand.
"Thank you for your assistance, Director Yang." Sabrine bowed before the other. "I will see to it that this mission will be a success."
"Of course you will. You have a lot on your shoulders for all of us humans to be proud of." Ami brightened with happiness. "See to it that this success will be one step closer toward our final goal. Make us proud!"
Watching Sabrine leave, Ami returned her attention toward her clipboard with notes scattered about the paper. Grabbing her pen, she wrote a quick note down. "Now, where was I?"
Lowell's Apartment, Miami City, 1st P.O.V
"Wait! What do you mean Yuya's gone!?" I exclaimed over the phone, pacing back and forth in my room.
"I'm saying exactly what I've been saying for the past ten minutes. Noboru, Niles and I went to check on Yuya's condition, but he wasn't in his room. Not even in the hospital!" Yuzu had major concern rooted in her voice. "You haven't seen him, have you?"
"N-No I haven't! I would have told you if he was at my place." I rubbed my eye as I was fumbling for the remote. "Damn it! Where come he have gone? Isn't the Battle Royale beginning tomorrow?!"
"Yeah! That's what's getting us all worried. Have Yuto or Yugo contacted you?" I shook my head before giving her the answer. "Oh~ Where could he be?"
"Yuya couldn't have gone that far… he barely could even move after that duel." I grimaced at just the memory.
The monster he Pendulum Summoned wasn't normal. No. Not at all. When my eyes opened, I saw a dragon unlike any other. It appeared like Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. At first. Until those eyes glowing green eyes. Scale outlines of the same shade glowing as a dark aura surrounded the dragon. Yuya seemed to be completely different. No longer the duelist I've come to know, but glowing red eyes. Not like a sudden Pharaoh moment. More like… a Supreme King - Nightshroud moment. I barely could react before Yuya won after that monster was able to negate his opponent's monster and win the duel. Right afterward, I watched his suddenly faint.
It was me who rushed down to get to him. The paramedics did rush Yuya off before I could reach him. This wasn't right; this wasn't supposed to happen, right? Seeing that just broke me inside. I was confused. I was worried. Was it something I did? Despite what rational I held onto, thoughts still persisted that I was at fault. Yuya's condition was my fault. Was that sudden change supposed to happen? Would Yuya have summoned Yuto's dragon if I hadn't stepped in? Could he have avoided this? Should I even be here!?
I couldn't function or bear to see their faces. That moment before the next match I left. My body wanted to move. Walk and move to shake the tension off. The thoughts continuing to latch on and grow bigger and bigger. Even resorted to punching my own pillows to get something out. I screamed. I cried. I collapsed onto my bed. A pure wreck was I, Lowell Ember, for the rest of that day. Colors became dull and I decided to be a lazy sloth and hang out in my apartment. A break I was enjoying until this started. Not to mention how much people were blowing up my phone with texts and calls.
Not after I heard since Yuya' injuries were severe that Isao Kachidoki was to take his place. I failed. Badly.
Where were Yuto and Yugo? I sure hope with this they weren't suddenly going berserk. The worst time for that shit to go down. Literally.
"...Look Yuzu. How about I go and try to see if I can locate wherever Yuto and Yugo are. See if they know where Yuya's whereabouts are currently. Just keep looking with the others and I'll call you back once I have a lead of sorts." I offered to kick my lazy ass out off the couch.
"Please; I don't know what is even happening anymore, but we need to find Yuya." I nodded as I just simply allowed her to continue. "What's even stranger is that my bracelet has started to glow again."
"Glow again? Your bracelet sensing any of the boys around you?" Now, this was new; Yuzu's bracelet only reacted when two or more of the boys were present - or at least how she justified it until it didn't react when they were at my place.
Could something be triggering the bracelet to react? Could that same thing nullify the bracelet's effect as well? There are just too many questions that I need to find answers to. When is that ever going to happen?
"No. None of them are, but it's starting to grow brighter and dimmer every so often. As if it is trying to warn me about something…" She trailed off. "Just like when Yuya summoned that monster…"
"Well, whatever is triggering your bracelet, I think it means something. Good or bad: hell if I know. Just be careful." I warned her as I left my residence. "Call you once I find something, okay?"
Connection end, I placed it back into my pocket as I made sure my Duel Disk was secured. If Yuya went berserk, I wanted to be ready to duel him. Wouldn't want to be caught unprepared. Experience has taught me that much. My departure began. First going off to Central Park for any random clue. No luck. Next place on the list was the docks. Wouldn't hurt to check that out. How that place still lacked security was beyond me. But, it allowed me to venture around without worrying about the police arresting me. Not exactly wanted to be behind bars at the moment.
I had gotten through at least half of the docks without any signs. Great! Now, where did Yuya go? He had to be here somewhere! That kid's not loaded with a magical teleportation device. It was getting to my nerves. At this point, the sun was setting and no sign of the tomato-head was in sight. Nobody had contacted me back; they were as clueless as I. By this time, I was ready to give up. Just say, screw Yuya I'm going home.
But I couldn't bring myself to do so. This was my fault. If I didn't have the bright idea to save Yuto then none of this would be happening! Yuto would be dead, yeah that would happen for sure. Yuya would still be here, alive and well and not just vanishing like a fucking ghost! Ugh! Why does it have to be because of me? Just one good deed and now things are all fucked up! All because of my big-!
A bright flash forcefully pulled out from my thoughts. Standing in front was some kid. Wait, what that Yuya!? Damn it! I can't tell by how bright the light is! Not to mention seeing four familiar orbs and a serpentine form slithering closer to me. My feet traveled backward as the noises to one side grew even more.
"I'd advise you continue to back up. Unless you want to be roadkill itself." Alastor spoke in his spirit form.
"Al… Alastor?!" I was in complete shock, seeing this massive monster manifest.
I did heed his warning and backed up. Just in time before something sped by and crashed right into a warehouse. Noise echoing around us as I slowly turned my attention back to Alastor after that incident.
"You should probably check up on those fellows. We can chat later." With that being said, Alastor vanished as I saw his dark spirit mist or whatever swirl and go into my deck.
Well, guess Alastor's joining the party now. But maybe I can follow his advice and discuss his sudden appearance later. Activating my Duel Disk, I braced myself for whatever would pop out. Step by step, I waited for the dust to settle. Then would strike. One that would surely hinder a foe and startle a friend. Wasn't going to outright cause massive harm. I planned to stun them in case they struck me. Just as I managed to find the object, who I saw there was a guy I never expected to see so soon.
"Shit! Yugo!?" I exclaimed, seeing that I nearly had a heart attack. "You nearly ran my ass over! The fuck?!"
"Ow… Sorry, Devnet…" Yugo then opened his eyes, embarrassment quickly spreading across his face. "Ah! Lowell! Sorry about that."
"Yeah, considering how you nearly just killed me… a sorry is putting it lightly." He got his D-Wheel back up from the ground. "You nearly just ended my very life with your reckless driving."
"Well, I can't tell where I'm going when my dragon is off sending me off to when I'm driving!" He retorted back at me.
"Maybe next time when you're driving you should-! Wait for a second what!?" I was completely taken off track by one new fact. "Since when can your dragon use fucking teleport?!"
"Since whatever lookalike bastard kidnapped Rin! My dragon's been able to traverse dimensions but I can't control it." Huh, never thought I could see a more dickish dragon. "Plus it doesn't like to warn me before it sends me somewhere off."
"Right… Anyway!" I shook my head; No! I can't get sidetracked by a teleport dimensional dragon. "I need to ask you a very important question right now. Have you seen Yuya?"
He cocked his head and pointed at his head. "Yuya? You mean my counterpart with the goggles right?"
"Yes him! Have you seen him?" Come on, please tell me you've got something Yugo.
"No. I haven't seen him at all." Damn it! "Did something happen while I was away?"
I kicked the ground and hissed. "Yuya just finished a match and he was badly injured. He was sent to the hospital but just now Yuzu called to inform me he's suddenly vanished. So we're trying to locate him."
"That doesn't good." I rubbed my temples with one hand.
"Yeah?! No shit Yugo! And this may be my fucking fault!" I screamed throwing my arms into the air. "What a great way to go save the life of one meant to die Lowell! Maybe I should have let Yuto die! Yeah! Maybe then I wouldn't be in this shithole? Great thinking Lowell! Yeah, just casual go over and murder a guy you barely know and things will be solved! That should work, right guys!?"
"...Am I missing something?" Stone cold frozen, I slowly looked over to see the awkward confused face of Yuto just looking at us.
"...Fuck!" I cursed and turned away. Then, I decided to put up a quick mask for the time being. "Hey, Yuto. Nice of you to drop by."
"Um, h-hello." He approached our location. "Is Lowell alright?"
"Don't mind me Yuto. I'm just currently losing my grip on sanity." I waved him off as I decided to lean against a wall. "A lot of shit has gone down and it's taking what little rational strength to not go crazy."
"...She's not fine; Yuya's gone missing." Yugo quickly spoke up as I tried my best to take deep breaths. "And nobody has been able to find him."
"I see. Something happened to Yuya at the Miami Championships, didn't it?" I nodded at Yuto's question; throat tightens up but slowly getting back to normal.
"Yuya summoned a new Pendulum monster after getting his ass kicked by some kid," I explained finding some strength to actually not fall completely into my irrational thoughts. "Named something like 'Supreme Servant Dragon Odd-Eyes.' Never seen a monster like that before. That Pendulum Monster came out, wiped out his opponent while Yuya looked completely possessed. Gave me the chills just watching. Then he passed out with injuries that were being treated until he decided to vanish."
"'Supreme Servant Dragon Odd-Eyes...' That's an ominous name." Yugo was blunt in his statement.
"How long has Yuya been missing?" Yuto asked as folded my arms.
"Ever since… this afternoon. I'm not entirely sure. Yuzu didn't say." Shaking my head, I could tell the stress was getting to me. "And I can only hope this wasn't provoked by other matters. I don't even know who would go after Yuya anyway!"
"Something must be going on then." Looking down, a faint glow caught my eye.
"...Yuto, mind me asking why your Deck is glowing?" I pointed to the faint purple light.
"That's new." Yuto pulled out the card, clearly puzzled by the light. "You experience this before Yugo?"
"Usually that only happens when Clear Wing is trying to teleport me. Not sure if that applies to you." Yugo pulled out his card - not reacting in the slightest.
"Neither of you are feeling like you're going berserk, right?" I just needed to make sure that we weren't going to suddenly burst out into another duel.
Both shook their heads. I sighed in relief. "Good. That would just make this day even worse. Though I do wonder why your dragon would be glowing…"
"Perhaps, it has to do with Yuya's disappearance. Either way, the power of Dark Rebellion is quite faint." I felt Alastor return, manifesting in view by peering over Yuto's shoulder.
"Do you think it has anything to do with Yuya's disappearance?" Yugo looked as we all bore witness to the card's glow vanishing.
"That certainly is intriguing." I nearly bit my lower lip.
"How about we just head back to my place?" They both looked up to me. "Maybe if you can catch me up on what you two have been doing, we can figure out what's going on?"
?, ?, 1st(?) P.O.V
"Hey! Were you listening to me #&R6?" My name was muffled out, but I saw the way she looked at me; those purple irises full of bright light.
"Um, ...what were you saying?" I couldn't exactly lie to her and she just softly huffed.
I had completely forgotten about our current situation. Just a day out together as friends. It had been quite some time since we spent some time away from the others. How she made so many friends was beyond my comprehension. So here we were. Hanging out in some arcade as she was playing one of the many games. These weren't my thing. Still, I supported her efforts to gather enough tickets for the weird-looking plush hanging on a wall.
Game of choice? One where it acted like skip-rope. C$%xG2r didn't excess in the slightest. Wasn't a detour for changing to something more her speed. Even when she stopped to throw her jacket and wear a black tank top and shorts.
"I wanted to make sure you were hanging a good time." She leaned against the entrance to the machine, off the sensors to track herself on the game. "You really didn't have to cancel things to hang out with me."
Making her feel guilty wouldn't do; not when it was supposed to be a day with just being friends. "Don't worry about that; I needed some time off anyway."
She gave me the long stare and look. One that was pretty common with folded arms. Taking in information and processing a response.
"...Sure. Let's go with that #H.e." She didn't buy it, but grabbed her water bottle and pop that open. "Just wait until your managers kicked your ass by skipping work today!"
"I am not skipping work." I retorted as we both just started laughing.
"This is our day off anyway! Though, if you're up for it, I'd like to test out my improved Deck." She tapped her waist; a deck holster safely secured. "I got some new cards I've been dying to test out - Highness."
… Um….WHAT!? My face immediately infected by red as she burst out into laughter.
I had completely forgotten she tended to give people nicknames after a while. Just made it easier on her end. Something about mixing up people's names or whatever. But… when did I get Highness!?
"Chill out! I'm just messing with you; geez, this is almost as priceless as with Gear-Dust!" She had a brief reprieve before laughter filled her lungs. "I've got to tell L5= about this!"
A brief flash of white blinded me before I finally snapped out of the trance. Rubbing my eyes, I caught sight of her phone as continued her laughter.
"Now this is going onto the group chat!" Finger typing away, I had to stop her.
"No! Don't you dare post that picture!" Lunging at her, she jumped onto of the way and onto the machine.
A token was fed to the machine and it started up. "Just try and beat my record; I'll delete the photo if you do! Oops, I accidentally hit the send button."
"CY$^#II&A!"
And this is more of a filler chapter I added since once we enter the final act of the Standard Arc - the Battle Royale - then we are going to head off and deal with Synchro. Not much to do in Standard afterward, but the Battle Royale won't be just everything our heroes must deal with! We got ourselves the first little peak on just Dimension Zero works and the planned invasion into Standard to deal with. Yuya has suddenly vanished, bringing back Yugo and Yuto in the picture as Lowell struggles to understand what is going on. Not to mention we already know Academia is going to coming back to fetch Serena.
There's a lot to prepare for and I can already tell that this Battle Royale section is going to be a long one. Originally there was meant to be a duel here, but I decided to scrap it to give me a break. Last chapter's duel was quite a brain teaser to figure out how it would go down. Plus most of the Battle Royale will consist of duels anyway. Now here comes a question I'm eager to hear answered - who does everyone believe will be dueling? I can already tell at least four major duels will be taking place. Predictions are welcomed by anyone willing to put themselves out there.
As a quick note, while I did use some fan-made cards in this part I won't disclose their effects. Not until they have been off in a duel - an official one that isn't cut or happened off screen. That goes with "Supreme Servant Dragon Odd-Eyes" (it isn't any card Zarc used in the original series; this one is completely original but I'm thinking of changing the name once it official debuts.)
We're going to move right into the reviews! Three have arrived and I'll gladly get started:
Darkblade2814 - Mind Crush? Nice suggestion, but I'll say we're not going to see anything like that happening anything soon. The Yu-Boys have their roles and nobody really have a Mind Crush ability to purge darkness as of yet. In the future? Possibly.
Anon Guest - Thank you for a Deck suggestion, but I'm currently not taking any of those at this moment. I will consider that in the future, however.
Diabolic Tracer - This chapter was meant to be a break and more of filler before I dived into the heavy stuff. Stuff that occurred here was meant to just crack some laughs. That was intended. Plus, it would be Tanith's only real time to shine before things go down. Kind of funny how you enjoyed more of the Lunalights than Serfernus.
Tanith and Serena's relationship is… complicated to say the least. I'd say more here but then we get to spoiler territory I'm planning to delve into. So, it makes things simple and not too much into spoilers - Tanith acts differently around Serena for a reason.
So, I'll see everyone next time! When the Pendulum Sways again!