Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
"This is stupid!" Trudge complained, kicking an empty can towards the ocean, only to have it hit the protective fencing around the shoreline and bounce back towards him, as though taunting him. "This is so stupid." He repeated, kicking the can over the fence. Immediately, alarms sounded, detecting an unauthorized item having crossed Neo Domino borders.
"It'll all be over soon," Dean consoled, typing in his own password to turn off the alarm. "This is just for the tournament."
"We sealed the Satellite so tight not even trash could get through," Trudge grumbled, "literally, we even stopped sending trash to the Sateliite. Why do we still have to patrol Neo Domino to make sure nothing gets out?"
"Hey, at least we're not patrolling Satellite," Dean shrugged dismissively, "I hear things are really getting tense over there. You heard of Sayer?"
"Who?" Trudge leaned over curiously.
"He also goes by Divine, leader of the Arcadia organization, you know, the one who they say could summon real monsters? Anyways, apparently he went frqzy and is loose in the Satellite right now, and people there are fearing for their lives. Even legal shipments in and out of the city have been stalled."
"Whatever," Trudge reluctantly admitted patrolling Neo Domino was better than patrolling the Satellite, "I'd still rather be hunting down that Satellite punk though. I wish we could were somewhere that showed the duel, so I could watch him get crushed like he deserved."
Dean sighed, Trudge had been obsessed over the 'Satellite punk' Yusei Fudo who is currently competing in the Fortune Cup tournament. Seeing the giant billboard up ahead for Yusei Fudo's duel runner, he turned his colleague in a different direction.
"Here," He offered his headphones. Given Trudge has been ranting about Satellite this whole time, Dean decided to not bring up the fact and the mp3 were made in Satellite too (the only reason a lowly flatfoot like him could afford the cutting-edge technology), "This should make you feel better. I just bought the Misty Lola's newest album, give it a try."
"Thanks man," Trudge accepted, he was never into this new technology crazy but after all, it is Misty Lola. He missed the billboard just like Dean had hoped.
"I'm sorry Director, the Black Rose still wouldn't come up," Lazar apologized profusely, but there isn't very much he could do against magical monsters.
"Why not?" Goodwin demanded, a little annoyed.
"She said," Lazar stuttered, "She said she doesn't like you, sir."
Rex Goodwin looked down at the arena. The Black Rose had already been confirmed as a Signer, along with Yusei and Jack, all of whom have shown their marks at least once in recorded duels. So who's the last Signer?
"Don't worry about Izinski, just keep an eye on her for the time being." Goodwin commanded and dismissed Lazar as he stepped towqrs the wind overlooking the duel arena.
"I'll go check on her," Yusei stood up from his seat, nodding at me briefly and entirely ignoring Jack.
"I'll go with you!" Leo bounced up, "My duel's coming up! Don't forget to root for me!" He said to the rest of the room, then grabbed Yusei's hand and dragged him out the door.
Looking at the space Leo just vacated, I leaned over towards the armrest so I was reclined against the side of the sofa, with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. All I'm missing is Netflix and the newest season of Sherlock. I almost purred in pleasure, relaxing and watching TV. If only I could change the channel to something interesting…
"You're not at all concerned about the upcoming duels I see," Rex Goodwin commented, standing behind me.
"I have faith in Yusei," I tried to shrug, then realized it's very difficult while in my position, so gave up, "He'll do fine."
"And what about Luna, the other suspected Signer?" Goodwin persisted.
"If she's a Signer, there's nothing to be concerned about. If she's not a Signer, why should I be concerned?" I answered, "Do you have some chips too?"
"Go Leo!" Luna cheered from the stands at seeing her brother on the stadium, then covered her own mouth, "I mean, go Luna!"
Their friend and classmate, Dexter, laughed mercilessly. "I gotta take pictures, this is gonna be so much fun!"
"I got us some snacks," Blister squeezed in between Luna and te escaped convict Tanner, sitting together because they were both Yusei's friends. It's a wonder the girl isn't kidnapped yet.
"Cool, you got those chocolate covered marshmallows I like!" Dexter reached over and was given a bag. Blister opened the rest of the high-sugar, high-caffeine snacks, distributing them freely without an obvious focus on Luna.
"I thought you were gonna die in that hole of yours," Tanner commented, grabbing a pretzel, the only thing not covered in chocolate, "What brings you to the games?"
"My most recent employer is very convincing," Blister explained lightly, remembering back to the number on the check and Chaos' gun against his skull.
Tanner sent a look Blister's way, seeing that he wasn't going to say any more, stopped his line of questioning.
"This thing's awesome, Chase!" Wade commented, handing the tablet back to his new colleague reluctantly, "I can't believe we could actually watch the tournament on this thing!"
"Yeah, as long as there's internet in the building," Crow grinned, "Keep it, I got loads." He's pretending to be a rich brat who was forced by his parents to get a job, so far, he was loving it.
"Cool," Wade carefully held onto the tablet. "I'll keep this in the breakroom, so we can all catch a glance at the game once in a while."
"Don't worry about it, I brought my big screen to the break room, just gotta hook it up." Crow replied.
"Awesome!" Wade's eyes shone, "I really want to see that Yusei kid duel, he's got be good if he made it here from the Satellite!"
"You know, you're not so bad, we should have a duel sometime." Crow said sincerely.
"Cool, we could do it after work!" Wade offered.
"I can't, I'll be sick tomorrow." Crow deflected.
"What?" Wade asked.
"I'll be sick tomorrow afternoon, hopefully at 3, definitely no later than 4pm." Crow replied with a large smile.
"You mean you'll be lining up to go into the tournament as soon as you're getting off. Then 4pm should be plenty of time, that's when the last duel is supposed to start." Wade remarked drily.
"Well, there's the traffic, and the line. Plus, I heard they're giving out autographs before the duel begins!" Crow laughed.
"Fine, I won't rat you out. Wait, it looks like there's gonna be another duel!" Wade said excitedly, sharing the tablet as the two walked around the building, patrolling aimlessly.
What an incredible come from behind victory, Yusei lapped Hunter Pace, twice in one duel. If he keeps this up, we'll have another 'Master of Faster' on our hands. The MC's voice could be heard both on the television and from the loudspeakers on the arena.
"That was a pathetic duel", Jack glared holes into the screen. "The Yusei I know could have beaten him five turns ago."
This is gonna be great for my ad campaign, I grinned, smiling into my giant bowl of chips, I had requested that Yusei put more emphasis on his duel runner for this game. The pre-orders are already underway, I wonder if we can still jack up the price on Yusei's duel runner replicas.
I was happily counting how much money I could make off of Yusei's duel runner and wondering if I could convince him to sell the real thing to me when Goodwin blocked my view to the screen.
"What is it?" I looked up.
"Well, I'm afraid we have one last duel for you today." Goodwin explained, "Since your duel was cut short, and we discovered there had been a case of impersonation in one of the duelists, Luna, I thought it might be appropriate if we staged on final duel between the two of you."
"You want me to duel a ten-year-old." I deadpanned. Jack shot me a look that clearly said 'now-you-know-how-I-feel', I smiled back apologetically.
"She is one of those I suspect as a Signer, I'm sure you are as anxious as I am to reveal the identity of all five Signers, are you not?"
"Sure, why not. Let's go beat up a kid." I rolled my eyes, getting up and making my way out the door.
Akiza had dueled too many times in Domino City, rumors of the magical glow on her arm had started years ago. Yusei and Jack had both had their marks at least partially activated, so as far as Rex Goodwin is concerned, the choice is between me and Luna.
When a Signer is about to lose, their passion about the game would bring out the Mark of the Crimson Dragon on their arms, so no matter who wins or loses, a duel between Luna and I should indicate who the Signer is.
I wondered about bringing the game to a draw, but that might seem too conspicuous.
"You are eager?" Rex Goodwin noted.
"Can't wait to get this over with." I picked and chose carefully amongst my cards as I made my way to the arena. I need a deck that wouldn't give Luna a chance to activate her Signer mark, a one turn, or preferably, one move kill.
"Hi Yuki," Luna smiled up at me. "It's nice to meet you. I'm not very good at this yet, so let's just have fun, okay?"
"Whatever you say…" I managed to smile, wondering if I looked creepy. I was never good with kids, never even liked them. That sounds horrible, doesn't it? But I'll admit it, never liked those miniature humans who run around everywhere not knowing what they're doing or why they're doing it. I'll accept their necessity, but I don't have to like it. "Why don't you start us off, Luna?"
"Sure," Luna answered happily, "I summon Kuribon (lv1, 300/200), in attack mode, and I'll end my turn."
She summoned Kuribon, in attack mode, and was ending her turn. I looked up the tower in search for Goodwin, I wonder if he looked as exasperated as I felt right now.
"Um, then I guess I'll summon Six Samurai Enshi (lv4, 1700/1000) and set two more cards facedown to end my turn." I replied hesitantly. I don't need Luna to get excited for the duel, I need her to remain calm so her mark doesn't show up.
"Kuribon said she thanks you for not attacking her." Luna explained. "You should be careful Yuki. Yusei had helped me build my deck, and now that Kuribon is on the field she will help me play, so I'll be really good."
"Of course Kuribon will help you play," I sighed. That talking to your imaginary friends things is cute now, ten years later, she'll be evaluated for schizophrenia.
"Now I summon Shining Angel (lv4, 1400/800) to the field, in attack mode! Shining Angel, attack Yuki's monster!" Luna commanded, I don't know what her magical fluffy friend said to her but she's looking more confident than I expected, and she looks like she actually had a plan.
"Shining Angel helps me when he leaves the field. He lets me bring out another monster from my deck, Fairy Archer (lv3, 1400/600), I need you now. Now when she's on the field, I activate Inferno Reckless Summon. Both of us pick one monster on our field and bring out all of them from our deck. I have two more Fairy Archers to help me, and Kuribon tells me you only have one Six Samurai Enshi."
"You really don't have to tell other people what Kuribon says," I said weakly. Though in fairness, that's a very powerful special ability.
"I activate my Fairy Archer's special ability, as long as she doesn't attack, I can deal you 400 points of damage for every light monster on my field. That's 1600 damage." Luna cheered.
It's a good thing only one Fairy Archer can use its ability per turn, else this duel's over before it even started! The MC explained.
"And I'll protect my monsters with Messenger of Peace, so that no monster with more than 1500 attack can attack. And I'll keep her in a safe place by activating a field spell, Ancient Forest."
X
Holograms projected illusions of a forest around me, but what I saw was distinctly more real. I could see shadows of trees in the distance, I could hear the birds sing, I could smell the pine and birch and- What? I shook my head. Confused to find myself transported into another world for the second [f*ing] time today. Is this just a basic life skill everybody has now?
"Greetings young ones," Ancient Fairy Dragon spoke, her voice echoing as though she was omnipotent and omnipresent in this world, which she might as well be for all I know.
Luna had repeatedly described the Ancient Fairy Dragon as beautiful, breathtaking, and exquisite. She has a very different idea of beauty than me.
As an Insect type, the Ancient Fairy Dragon had the head of a locust, the wings of a moth (or butterfly, whatever. It's detached from the insect, how can you possibly tell?), the misshaped body of a lizard (let's say dragon) but none of the limbs, with human arms and hands protruding out of what is roughly the thorax of her body. If anything, she looks like a locust that decided to rip body parts from other creatures and just stick them onto herself to see what would happen.
All of these haphazard body parts were in a seemingly random combination of primary colors.
It looks like a disfigured children's drawing that terrifies any reasonable adult. Of course, she's not even of the same species, so my perceptions of beauty is hardly relevant.
Still, it doesn't help that the monster is probably capable of vanquishing me with a thought.
"Are you Ancient Fairy Dragon?" Luna asked tentatively, reaching out to touch the dragon around her wings.
"I am." The beast replied, "And I welcome you, my children, to my world."
I looked at the monster guardedly. I had always had my reservations about the Crimson Dragon, and by proxy, its surrogates. The fact that Ancient Fairy Dragon looked like it could eat humans for dessert certainly doesn't help.
"Why are we here?" I asked, cautious not to anger the beast.
"Our time for war draws near, I had hoped I would meet my Destined Signer prior to the Final Battle." Ancient Fairy Dragon explained, its voice had an ethereal quality that Luna didn't seem to mind, but gave me goosebumps all over.
"Who, me?" Luna wondered out loud, "But I don't know anything about, about a war. What can I do?"
I waited patiently while the Ancient Fairy Dragon explained every facet of the upcoming fight between the 'Light' and the 'Darkness', all the while studying Luna. I had wanted to defeat Luna in one turn, so her mark doesn't have a chance to activate, but this might be better. Every second Luna stays here, she's drained further. I could just wait till she collapses.
Luna is beginning to look weak, Ancient Fairy Dragon looks like it noticed too, so before it releases us, I spoke.
"How can I know that I can trust you?"
"I have fought with the Crimson Dragon five thousand years ago," Ancient Fairy Dragon began.
I tried to look interested while waiting for Luna to be worn out. It doesn't matter what Ancient Fairy Dragon said, or what it looked like (though I admit, if it were cute and cuddly, I might have been convinced to change my mind). There's no way to confirm anything it had said or claimed to have done, and I was too old to be convinced by mere words. After all, I've been to kindergarten, and the first thing they teach you is don't believe everything a stranger tells you. Just because the Ruler of the Netherworld was evil didn't mean its enemies were Good, nor did I know what the Crimson Dragon's definition of 'Good' was.
The truth is, there had been a suspicion I never dared to say out loud in this world. Not even to myself, for fear of being overheard by the possibly-but-hopefully-not-omnipresent/omniscient supernatural creatures.
Ever since I spoke to the Crimson Dragon, ever since I heard of its mission for me, the idea came to me, and it had haunted me ever since.
When I woke up in the Satellite, I vaguely remembered the crash, feeling dizzy and disoriented, then waking up in the sewers. That seems like the logical sequence of things so I assumed that it was.
But the more I think about it, the less sure I am whether an initial dizziness didn't cause the crash. If the Crimson Dragon had needed to take a particular mortal out of the real world and into this one, what better way to do so than murder? It would cut all ties for the aforementioned mortal and ensure a certain gratitude for saving their live.
There's no way I can think of to verify this information, I can't even hint at it because we do need the Crimson Dragon to prevent this world from being destroyed. The Crimson Dragon is portrayed as being good throughout the series, but I really don't want to push it when the monster could clearly destroy the world.
X
"Sorry guys, I'm really tired. I don't think I could do this anymore." Luna said weakly, she shook slightly, obviously struggling just to stay awake.
"Let's get on with the duel then." I replied, purposefully ignoring Luna's request that she wants to return to the real world. "I'll try to finish this as quickly as I can."
"I activate my trap, Six Samurai-Dual Wield and return two of your Fairy Archers to your hand. Next, I summon Legendary Six Samurai Kageki (lv3, tuner, 200/2000), when he's summoned, I can bring out Kagemusha of the Six Samurai (lv2, 400/1800) on to the field also, in attack mode. I special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai (lv5, 2100/800) to the field.
Luna opened her mouth as though to protest, so I quickly continued.
"I tune my level 2 Kagemusha of the Six Samurai with my level 3 Legendary Six Samurai Kageki to synchro summon Accel Synchron (lv5, tuner, 500/2100). Now my Six Samurai Enshi banishes the two monsters in my graveyard to return your last Fairy Archer to your hand. I tune my level 5 Accel Synchron with my level 5 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai to synchro summon Ally of Justice, Decisive Armor (lv10, 3300/3300)."
What an astonishing turn of events. It does look like this duel has been turned around in just one turn!
I heard the MC say loudly. My vision wavered and returned to normal, the spirit realm dissipating. Luna was half conscious and could barely keep her eyes open. I had suspected synchro summoning in the spirit realm would be the last straw for her, looks like I was right.
"Hey, Luna, are you okay?" I asked.
Luna made a tiny mewing sound that her microphone barely picked up. She obviously struggled to not fall into unconsciousness, which would claim her soon anyways.
"I'll finish this quick then," I paused, waiting for her to tire out, "I activate the effects of my Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, I discard all cards in my hand to the graveyard to send all the light-attribute monsters in your hand to the graveyard," Luna's eyes were completely closed now, and she leaned forward, falling into unconsciousness. I spoke quickly before she actually collapsed. "Your life points gets hit with the total of their attack points."
That's, faster than I thought. The MC stuttered.
Luna fell, laying on the ground unconscious. In part thanks to the force of the blast (I'm still not sure how it could be emitted from a hologram).
"Luna!" Leo towards the field and was blocked off for being an audience member. Yusei walked up instead, picking up Luna in his arms.
"Was this really necessary?" He admonished, though lightly.
"More than you can imagine," I replied. If my suspicions are correct, I need Goodwin to believe that I'm a Signer, so I could survive after this tournament.
"Fire!" Smoke had filled the entire Momentum Research Facilities within minutes.
Sector agent Wade heard the alarm and ran with Chase upstairs, scanning each floor in search for the source of the flames as scientists in white lab coats filed out of the building.
"Code downgraded, I repeat, code downgraded." The PA system announced thirty minutes later.
"What happened?" Wade asked the control room through their intercom.
"We found a bunch of plastic on fire at the bottom of the garbage chutes, that's where the smoke's coming from. We think it's a prank, but check everywhere just to be sure, okay?"
"Yes sir!" Wade replied.
"Hey, do you have this?" Crow asked, pointing sheepishly toward his watch.
"Right, you want to line up for tomorrow as soon as today's tournament's over." Wade looked at the clock, it was 4:15 already. They got off at 4. "Yeah, go ahead, I'll take care of it."
"Thanks buddy," Crow raced off, running towards the breakroom towards the 'microwave' he had brought for public use. He didn't have much time. At 4:23, Sector Security would be subject to a failed hacking attempt, courtesy of Nervin (and Yusei, who wrote the virus ahead of time), but it would be enough to temporarily disable the security feeds for a little over 10 minutes, during which he would have to get to the Momentum. Upper levels, holding sensitive information, has much less monitoring, digital or otherwise. So he has to get to the top floors before the surveillance system is restored.
"That was a great duel, Yuki." Mina complimented, leading me through a maze of hallways out of the stadium. I rolled my eyes behind her, if that was a good duel, then I'm Yusei Fudo.
Seing Greiger coming from the other way, Mina stepped to the right, passing him. I followed, only to have him block my way. I stepped to my left again, so did he.
"What do you want, Greiger?"
"You shall be my opponent tomorrow, I wanted to greet you properly." He taunted, grabbing me by the shoulders and pulling me off the ground until we were eye-level, then shoving me into the wall. "Before I rip you from limb to limb."
"Goodwin put you up to this?" I asked, wincing from the pain. "Didn't exactly put much work into this, did he? I mean he put in two years of planning when it comes to Yusei and Jack, and he'd been monitoring Luna since she was three, and this is all I get? A pre-game intimidation ritual?"
"How about this then?" Greiger paused, "Who do you think informed Sayer of your association with Izinski? Who do you think convinced him it was a good idea to go into the Satellite and try to destroy your entire gang?"
"Goodwin?" I asked, not quite interested, kicking my legs slightly wondering if he'd let me down, "Not you, I know that. I mean, you may have done it on his orders, but let's be honest, mind games aren't your thing."
"Let's try a different strategy then, since you think mind games aren't my thing." Greiger sneered. He let go of his right hand on my shoulder. And with his left hand still holding me up on the wall, his right hand slowly closed over my throat.
"No, what are you doing? Stop!" Mina grabbed and clawed at the much larger man, calling for Security which took much longer to arrive than normal. "What's wrong with you?"
Greiger let the young woman drop from his hands, watching her hack for breath on the ground as a genuine, if slightly surprising, sense of pleasure welled up inside him. He seems to have under-estimated his own jealousy, seeing her hometown being rebuilt while his was lost because he was too busy looking for a way out to defend it. While she was willing to do whatever it takes, and have it turn out in her favor, his sacrifices only led to the destruction of everything he ever loved. And her surperior-than-thou attitude certainly didn't help the matter.
"I'll see you on the field." He mocked, "Then I'll show you what real pain is."
"Yuki, what are you going to do for tomorrow?" Mina asked as she and two sector security agents escorted me back to my room.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Your duel tomorrow with Greiger will be a turbo duel, but you don't even have a duel runner yet!"
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
A/N: I don't like writing a Luna duel. As far as I can remember, she only dueled twice in the entire anime, and only once out of her own freewill, against Z-One or something. Writing Luna was also weird because my brain is still in espionage/economic trade-offs/politics mode, then I have to write a 10-year-old.
I'm assuming Signers don't have their marks activated until they're passionate about their duel, etc, else Luna would have had her mark activated every time she lost to Leo.
Like I said, duels wouldn't be a big part of this tournament. Also I don't like having to follow the anime script, it's so restrictive.
So far, I have laid out all major plots for the rest of the story, though some foreshadowing may be more obvious than others :P