Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
Did you know that a bullet proof vest doesn't protect you against all bullets? And even if it works, it doesn't protect you completely?
I did. Not that it did me any good when I was getting shot.
My x-ray showed 2 fractured ribs and a hairline fracture on the sternum, but nothing's broken- thanks to my duel monsters, I didn't get a rib jabbed into my liver or anything. Oh, and we have x-rays now! And ultrasound. (Nobody seems to know how to use ultrasounds yet, but Felice assures me somebody's working on that.) No CT or MRIs, which are so much more expensive, but we're making progress!
"Let's get you to bed," Galen just came back from dispersing the crowd that had gathered at the commotion. I expect the rest of the Zephyrs are either trying to prevent panic in the Satellite or fixing up their deck...
"Get everybody into the conference room," Yes, we also have a conference room, I've named it Duel Simulator because the entire place is a metal sphere, just like Kaiba's duel simulator (that I could remember). Only we did it for the impact resistance, not the flair. "Onward my steed!" I laced my fingers through Chaos's hair to steady myself, pointing towards our destination (because I was still sitting on his shoulders because I refused to walk).
"Now?" He looked up at me skeptically.
"Are you sure you can handle all of this?" Galen added.
"What do you mean?" I enjoyed being able to look down at Galen's pink hair, I have missed being tall.
"You've been through a lot, even by Satellite standards." He said as gently as he could.
"I can. I have to." Concentration was a little difficult because of my headache, his voice really didn't help.
"We don't need you for this, go take a break." He urged.
Time just isn't a luxury I can afford right now, I didn't even bother shaking my head.
"I'll be fine," I grinned with some effort at the memory being brought to the surface again, "As soon as I catch Greiger and make a rug out of his skin, I'll be perfectly fine again."
Galen, being sixteen, probably thought I was kidding. Chaos was old enough to know I wasn't
The only flaw with economic sanctions, Goodwin mused wistfully, is that they take too long to take effect. He might not have that much time left.
Signers and Dark Signer are the envoys of powers for their respective gods and the passages through which these beasts send their magics into this world. For the Crimson Dragon to match the Ruler of the Dark World in strength in the mortal realm, all Signers and Dark Signers must have had their marks activated.
And he needs their powers to be in perfect balance before either side loses, if he hopes to harness both gods. The need to identify the fifth Signer is imminent.
Yuki claims to not be the last Signer, but her duel records against Dark Signers and Signers alike suggest otherwise. Moreover, if recent events are any indication, she can hardly be taken at her word.
Then again, she doesn't yet have a mark.
"Lazar," He pushed the intercom on his desk, "Where is the other suspect Signer?"
"That little girl Luna?" Lazar jumped, "Those satellites never took her out of the city, Director, she lives in the Tops."
Two carefully chosen phrases tactfully linked together to avoid answering his question. That means Lazar doesn't know and hasn't been tracking someone likely to have been the fifth Signer. Goodwin felt too tired to even point this out.
"Find her and bring her here." Goodwin ordered, "You have 24 hours."
"Yes sir, Director Goodwin," Lazar stuttered, shutting off the screen as Goodwin indicated the end of their exchange.
To prevent the Netherworld God from entering this world, the Signers must defeat all Dark Signers and seal the Old Reactor with all five Signer Dragons. That should take them at least 24 hours, right?
"You actually won?" Vincent asked as he saw Devack coming through the door unharmed, he couldn't hide the surprise in his tone even if he tried. And he didn't try. "Against Yuki?"
Devack didn't seem offended by the remark as he took a seat at Roman's right hand. Greiger followed suit.
"Our duel was interrupted," Devack said uncomfortably, he never did like any of these new Signers.
Ara and Vincent exchanged a look then looked at Greiger. Devack certainly wouldn't be speaking like this if the duel had been interrupted while in his favor, it looks like Greiger had learned something during his time in the Satellite after all.
"The unmarked Signer possess the Momentum and has it under control," Devack explained simply, "She threatens to unleash its full powers should we destroy the Signers by mortal means."
Roman secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a matter of time before the other Dark Signers realized the fragile nature of Signers off the field, even Kuriboh could shatter their mortal form in battle. At least these Signers have obtained the means of protecting themselves against such an attack.
"Then what does she propose?" Roman inquired as though nothing was out of control.
"She's bluffing," Ara said at the same time, and continued. "Activating the Momentum to destroy us or the Old Reactor involves blowing up the entire Satellite, killing all its citizens and themselves with the blast. She doesn't have the guts."
"Are you certain of her intentions?" Roman grunted.
"When is she going to press the button?" Ara shrugged, "Will she kill half a million people when the first Signer is killed? The second? Third? Fourth? As long as we stick to salami tactics, she'll never press the button."
"Salami?" Greiger repeated the unfamiliar word.
Vincent sighed a little, he hadn't had salami either until Yuki took over the Satellite, all the Magicians loved it. "She had done some good for this town."
"There is a way to guarantee victory even in a duel," Greiger dropped the subject, "I had destroyed Tono's deck."
Roman gasped. Ara and Vincent rolled their eyes simultaneously at his reaction.
"It was simple once I had her at gun point," Greiger boasted, he really does think it was a smart move. "I'm sure even a child can defeat her now."
Most Signers do not have super powers with which to protect themselves, Greiger's method may be crude but would all but guarantee them victory.
"No!" Roman rebuffed with an explosive force that surprised the room, he quickly thought of an excuse to cover up the outburst "I will not have you make a mockery of this Battle!"
"If you do that, Yuki might actually press the button," Vincent added coolly.
"Then it is decided," Roman concluded before anybody could object, "You shall each find your Signer as we discussed and defeat them for our Dark Lord."
"Yes, Roman." Devack was the first to agree, "I won't fail you again."
Roman swept his eyes across the room, none met his eyes. "When Misty returns, send her in." He instructed.
As the others filed out the room, Roman's eyes followed them. The lake of amorphous dark energy bubbled under his gaze, almost swallowing up the draw bridge that linked this room to the mortal realm. Evil was never known for its patience.
He ran a hand across his right arm, feeling the mark burn deeper into his flesh, sending pulses of pain that shook him to his core. Rex had been less than efficient recently. If his younger brother doesn't hurry up, all hope really would be lost.
Inside our Duel Simulator (I should just rename it The Simulator, shouldn't I?), our team had gathered for an emergency meeting given the new development. Except Akiza, she's outside with all the duel monsters she could summon to make sure nobody could spy on our conversations.
"Neo Domino is right on our heel, we have to get this done and get this done quick, seek them out, force them into war." Galen was saying
"I won't risk the Satellite, if Dark Signers summon anything at all and set it loose, this town is doomed." (Chaos)
"You are fortunate the Dark Signers agreed to settle this battle with duels at all, do not tempt them further." (Kalin)
"If what Devack said had half an ounce of truth, if we defeat the Earthbound Immortals, the Dark Signers would be freed. That's our only chance to get Vincent back! The faster we find him, the better our chances are." (Felice)
"What Devack said? What about what our research said?" (Nervin)
"The Earthbound Immortals can extend their powers into this dimension, though if Devack is telling the truth, we are at least safe for now." (Yusei)
"Never trust a Dark Signer, Yusei, take my word." (Kalin)
"I believe Vincent still has goodness inside him, he's still there somewhere, we can't just let him die." Felice took our the Ancient Fair Dragon Vincent gave her and slapped it on the table.
"How can we guarantee a win if we duel him and what would happen if we lose?" (Nervin)
"What about Neo Domino, how much time do we have before they take over the city in our chaos?" (Galen)
"Should we evacuate? We do have a way out now, why aren't we moving people somewhere safer?" (Crow)
"We have bigger concerns right now, if we lose these duels, the entire world is doomed! How is that not the only thing we're discussing right now?" (Cyril)
"It's too dangerous to risk everything on a duel!" (Kalin)
"We must! If it's the only way to protect this town, we'll fight against all odds and we will win. We have to." (Yusei)
X
I had asked the simple question of what we should do next, then this happened.
God, it's like herding cats.
The arguments droned on finally merging into a white noise, luring me into a comfortable slumber. I nodded, then nodded again, finally flopping face first onto the table, the cold metal (yay, metal!) surface slammed into my forehead, temporarily numbing the burning inside my skull and waking me up completely. I tried to bang my head against the table again, but my head was too heavy and I couldn't quite lift it high enough.
The room fell into a dead silence. Even with my head down, I could feel their eyes on me but nobody said a word. If they continue to tip-toe around me like this, I'm gonna punch somebody.
"First of all," I began, lifting my face off of the nice cool table reluctantly, "I didn't get shot just so we could 'fight against the odds'."
"What choice do we have?" Yusei asked.
"I prefer odds that are overwhelmingly in our favor," I met his eyes to acknowledged his concern, then continued. This is as safe a room as we have, and I have to say this stuff sometime. "And right now, I think that's where we are."
"In our favor you said?" Felice raised her eyebrows, "How do you figure?"
"In terms of this fight with the Ruler of the Netherworld at least," I elaborated a little. Sure there's still the rest of the world to deal with, but one thing at a time.
"I'm not a Signer," I began, pleased to find that nobody was too surprised, I continued before they could discuss that too,"But I had been contacted by the Crimson Dragon before, that's the clouds you saw over our place. And it had asked me to ensure the defeat of the Ruler of the Netherworld without the use of duels."
The chatter began again, I coughed emphatically, determined to at least get my first point through before they started talking.
"'Defeat' for these monsters means preventing it from taking over this world, which we can do, by simply defeating each of the Dark Signers. Shouldn't be too hard, they all conveniently have a reason to want to duel somebody in the Satellite." I grinned at the joke nobody understood. Roman Goodwin had handpicked Dark Signers who had personal vendettas against the Signers.
"That is correct," Kalin confirmed, "The Ruler of the Netherworld needs the bond it shares with its Dark Signers to cross over and stay in this world."
"I'll go send feelers out to locate them right now." Galen stood up, nodded at the room, "Shouldn't take too long I'll call if I hear anything."
"Alright, now that Galen's taking care of that," I scratched my nose, "Why don't I give you guys some time to absorb this information and I'll answer any questions you have before we move on to why I really gathered you here."
"Why you really..." Cyril repeated weakly.
"Right, about what's going to happen after we defeat the Dark Signers." I said brightly.
"Luna!" Leo dragged his sister through what seemed to be endless hallways, all looking exactly the same.
"I can't Leo!" Luna panted. She had already lost her pink jacket, and her pink t-shirt was ripped at the left shoulder, revealing a large cut underneath. "I really can't, go without me!"
"I won't do that!" Leo protested, still pulling on Luna's arm.
"Kuribon is telling me to go this way!" Luna stumbled behind him as she directed them a step closer to the outside.
Unlike Lazar, Sayer had kept track of the last suspected Signer. If her powers were not from that supposed 'Crimson Dragon', then she must be a psychic duelist! He had captured Luna and Leo immediately after Tanner sent them home after the Fortune Cup, perfectly illustrating why 2 ten-year-olds shouldn't be left alone to their devices.
Leo grabbed her as he saw a guard get closer, hiding the both of them in an empty room nearby.
"I'm sorry, Leo" Luna collapsed as soon as she got into the room, tears streaming down her cheeks, "This is all my fault, none of this would have happened if it weren't for me."
"Don't say that Luna, you can't blame yourself," Leo sat down beside his sister, offering his jacket to dry her eyes, "It's Sayer's fault, not yours!"
"And I'm not even strong like Akiza, otherwise I could at least get us out." Luna leaned against her brother's shoulder, "I wish I were stronger."
"Yeah," Leo sighed, sounding much older than his age, "Me too sis, me too."
A/N: I'm gonna cut it off here because I need some time to organize what Yuki says when she reveals her sinister scheme, though I feel like her path is pretty much inevitable at this point, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
A/N 2: I repeat, the Ruler of the Netherworld will not be defeated by card games. I've been going in circles a little bit between to duel or not to duel, seeing as my original plot clearly stated the world cannot be saved by card games, but card games makes life (mostly my life) so much easier.
In case you're not familiar with the original plot (10 yrs after it aired...), Yusei went through the Dark Signer arc hoping to defeat each Dark Signer and sealing those inactivation sites to seal the Old Reactor to prevent the Ruler of the Netherworld from crossing over. He failed because he was supposed to have done it before sundown, but he didn't make the deadline. XD
Also I know way too much about this anime. :P