Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
"After we defeat the Dark Signers?" Felice repeated, "Then things get back to normal and we'll just keep going. Things are looking up, isn't it?"
Given what she knows, that's actually not an entirely unfair proposition. That's exactly what happened in the anime. After the world is saved, absolutely nothing changes. Nothing is done to prevent the world from getting into another near-apocalyptic situation. That happens pretty much every single time in the YGO franchise.
Actually, that might be one of the most realistic aspects of the show...
"There's only three problems with that," I replied. "First, we just threatened Goodwin with the Momentum, it's just a matter of time before other powers-that-be find out. Naturally, every villain with half a brain and every global government with at least one brain cell would be after this technology. Second, I have it on semi-reliable information that Goodwin won't be the Director for much longer, the new Directors are unlikely to shield us from the pressures of these groups like he did."
Make no mistake, Rex Goodwin is definitely protecting us right now. If he weren't, Kaiba Corp assassins probably would have killed me already. I mean, I essentially have the machine of infinite energy. He's doing it for himself, but I don't want the effort to go unrecognized.
"Most importantly, I don't want to." I paused, smiling more sincerely now, "I don't want to struggle for another ten, twenty years to become another Neo Domino. I don't want to kiss up to bureaucrats and corporations. I don't want to save the world, then still have to worry about our taxation status. I don't want to get back to normal. We've done a lot for the Satellite, sure, but Normal for the Satellite still sucks."
"Yuki, do you have in mind?" Yusei asked, "What more can we do?"
"You mean what more are we already doing." I corrected. "I think I mentioned that while in Domino, I bought a piece of land to the north of here, roughly a hundred by two hundred kilometers. All energy drained from the Momentum will be used to cleanse that area and make it inhabitable again.
Then we're going to move."
I flashed a smile, letting the information sink in.
"Move?" Chaos repeated, visibly alarmed. "Why? Why would we abandon the Satellite just as it is showing so much more potential?"
"We're not abandoning it," I was well-prepared for the question, "We just need more space, and population than the Satellite can handle right now. So we'll be expanding."
"The Satellite is almost a hundred kilometers squared and it has half a million people…" Nervin pointed out hesitantly.
"What more could we need?" Cyril finished the question for him.
"We need enough land for agriculture," I pointed out, "And enough population to build an armed forces to protect the Momentum. And enough influence to protect ourselves from the inevitable backlash of the federal government."
And probably a lot of other problems I have yet to discover. The challenge with heading a gang like this is, once you start, it's very difficult to stop. You've made too many enemies.
"We're like a four-year-old with a briefcase full of cash and a grenade," I simplified the situation as much as I could. Or better yet, imagine if the only power in the world with control of nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors is Timbuuktu. I may not know much about international politics, but things won't end well for Timbuuktu. " Everybody would want a piece until we can protect ourselves, so we have to muscle up fast."
"Why not just give the hand the Momentum over?" Chaos asked in all seriousness, "Then we'll be building a good relationship with the government and we'll be safe. I mean, it's just technology."
Just Technology. I think that physically hurt me.
"A couple of reasons," I grimaced, deciding to dumb things down even further, "If we give it to any one group, they would naturally want to get rid of us so we can't give it to anybody else. And nobody will help us because everybody else automatically becomes our enemy. If we give it to everybody, well, everybody becomes our enemy."
"Then what are we going to do?" Chaos asked, "We could leak the information anonymously, then we won't be the target because it would be public knowledge."
"It might be difficult to disguise the source of that information," I said sarcastically, "seeing as we are the only people who possess it."
"I could publish it," Yusei offered gallantly after some thought, "Then nobody would suspect you. It was my father's work that got us into this mess, I should be the one to get us out."
"Please don't publish the technology behind a weapon that can easily destroy the world." I said flatly as I stared at Yusei trying to decide if he was serious. "If anybody were to have the Momentum, I'd much rather that be us and us alone."
For my own good if not for the good of the world.
Actually, almost entirely for my own good. If I weren't me, I wouldn't want me to have a weapon like that.
"Then what exactly are you going to do to keep us all from being killed?" Felice asked, "Both this agriculture and Momentum plan only seems to draw more attention to us."
"We'll start by consolidating the forces from within the Satellite. We'll need enough people to establish a settlement in due time, and an established selection process to weed out the riff-raff. But first, we'll have to get them under control."
We can have the Momentum, as long as we can protect it.
"I already got Blizzard to 'convince' these Stars of the Satellite to grace us with their presence, now they should be waiting for us in Duelist Kingdom."
Yes, we also have a conference room called Duelist Kingdom. I wanted to name each room after an arc in the YGO series, but then realized I've forgotten some of the arcs, and we've got way too many rooms for that.
"Now, if you guys will come with me briefly for a meeting with the public. I need you for muscle power."
"Now?" Cyril questioned.
"The Satellite needs to be ready to transition into the next stage as soon as we defeat the Dark Signers. At this rate, it might be tomorrow," I said naively.
I had thought the Momentum threat would buy me enough time with Rex Goodwin, and Roman wouldn't move as fast as he did. That way, I would have had more time to get Satellite under control. Now I must speed up things in the Satellite.
"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to coerce these 'up-standing citizens' of the Satellite into our lair- I mean our place, for a meeting," I coughed, "What did you think this was, a party?"
Our 'Duelist Kingdom' was decorated in strings of lights, random streamers, confetti, life-sized duel monster balloons, two long tables filled with food and (thank goodness because I'll really need it) a champagne tower, presumably filled with our self-made crap alcohol that hopefully won't make anybody blind. If nothing else, I thought Blizzard had better taste.
"Sorry, I must have misunderstood," Blizzard looked away uncomfortably, but didn't defend himself.
"It was my idea, I thought you could use a bit of cheering up," Akiza offered gently.
Sometimes I don't get her. Though I have been optimistic, my mood seems moot given our possible imminent or delayed destruction.
"Why not," She smiled, "As long as we get them here, what difference does it really make what this room looks like? You can play a couple of games too, show them what you got, it could be fun."
"I already did show off," I responded to her smile with a teasing grin of my own, "I'm showing you guys off, and I think these satellites are impressed."
Truth is, I really didn't feel like another card game.
Other than that, she has a point. Plus, if thing don't go in our favor, this might be the last bit of fun we have.
"Sure, enjoy yourselves. Stay sober, but otherwise, as long as we don't need you, go nuts," I stepped onto the stage at one end of the room. My eyes swept across the floor at the hundred or so satellites who were 'convinced' to come to our meeting room.
These people, mostly leaders within the Satellite (aka local gang leaders) set themselves aside with cleaner, less ragged clothes, and multiple deck holders on their belts. Due to limited resources, most gangs in the Satellite are fairly small and armed with duel disks instead of actual weapons, so it wasn't difficult for our security to round them up. They tried to stand their ground in the far corner of the room, guarding themselves against any members of our staff,, while stuffing as much food into their mouths as possible.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad you could make it, and soon, I'm sure you'll be glad for having come here today. As you may be aware," I continued, ignoring the heated glared from my audience "The Satellite apparently hasn't been doing very well in my absence."
Not that my absence had anything to do with it.
Our little group had ran perfectly while I was gone. Everybody has sort of fallen into place, presumably because I wasn't around to get in the way. Felice remains in charge of sales and basically anything that involves contacting the outside world. Chaos is in charge of internal affairs, which I guess is everything inside the Satellite. Galen had taken over our security forces after Vincent's 'demise', and grew it to three hundred people. Crow is still the head of our 'educations department', aka primary school. Kalin is still designing roads and a transportation system for the Satellite, his most recent proposal to build a subway using the existing tunnels is met with severe backlash, considering the project would cut through many people's homes. Yusei is still our technology guru and is unknowingly working on the most powerful weapon in the world.
The point is, there were no explosions and nobody died. I think that counts as a win.
But if anything, the other areas are getting worse. The economy has expanded exponentially in the past couple of weeks, but our control of the area simply couldn't keep up. As a result, the situation in the Satellite has become very volatile.
Duel gangs are very defensive towards us in case we go into their territory. They're also more violent as they fight over the new money pouring in. Previously deserted areas becoming very profitable, and the center of the city is shifting quickly towards the shores. As a result, there's a rapid increase in turf wars. Several of which turned physical, though none resulted in any deaths yet.
We don't have the resources to handle the sheer volume of conflicts as it is. Sector usually only aggravate the situation whether they mean to or not. Plus, they don't have enough people either, they're really not designed for something like this.
"I understand that there's been an increase in conflicts while I've been gone, fighting over claims to the Satellite. Well, I have good news. All of that can stop now that I'm back, because none of you have anything to fight over. It's all my territory now." I looked at the crowd in front of me, daring any of them to meet me in the eyes, none did. "Since Satellite is federal property, I bought the entire thing from Goodwin. So yes, the ground you're standing on, the hole you're crawling back into to go to sleep tonight, that's all mine."
I had taken all the money from our coffers betting on the Fortune Cup games so Chaos had to issue currency to make ends meet. Most of the winnings were spent on buying the Satellite and a large piece of land to the north.
"Even more good news," I let my voice drown out the anxious chatter in the room, "Seeing as this is now my property, I consider your miserable lives marginally my responsibility. You have been hand-picked from the Satellite, for the role you have played in the past, your influence in your respective communities and a slightly less atrocious criminal record. So lucky for you, you losers might not be left behind as Satellite steps into a new era."
I saw horrified looks from the Zephyrs below the stage. We didn't rehearse any of this, so even they didn't know what I was about to say. Heck, I didn't know what I was about to say, all of this is entirely ad libbed. Though I do admit the 'being shot' thing might have affected me more than I'd like to admit.
"We'll be publishing our complete set of laws for the Satellite in due time," Eventually. Probably. Maybe. I mean, writing laws is presumably very complex. I say presumably because really, the idea just sort of slipped out. I have no idea how we're going to write laws, or what laws should include. "In the meantime, meet the face of the Justice in Satellite."
I motioned for Galen to come up onto the stage. He stared at me with his large, hazelnut eyes, eyelashes trembling with uncertainty and excitement. Finally, he broke into a smile, revealing large dimples on both sides of his cheeks. His pink hair bounced against the curves of his face as he hopped up the stage beside me.
Our Justice is sixteen and looks unbearably adorable.
I may not have planned this out as well as I would have liked.
"Uh, hi," Galen steadied himself, quickly getting his bearings. "Most of you have met me before and probably will again, and you know what I do. So all I want to say is, I'm here to play the bad guy. This is a time for change, we don't want anybody messing anything for us. We all know Neo Domino has it good over the river. So compared to our jails, Neo Domino prisons are gonna look like a vacation."
I gulped. Well, I never saw this side of Galen before.
"Why don't the rest of you guys come up too," I offered to the rest of my team, "Introduce yourselves."
Seeing Galen at my right, Yusei stood at my left hand. Crow and Akiza naturally followed him. Felice stood beside Galen, and Chaos to her right still. Kalin hesitated, and Chaos pulled him to the far right of the group.
This ensemble was enough to turn the anger in the crowd into fearful resentment. For the time, I can probably count on their reluctant cooperation.
I watched the rest of my team try to socialize with the satellites they somehow no long belonged to while I sat off the side with a large bag of butter popcorn and our new coke. The closest thing I could compare it to is vanilla coke zero, hands-down the worst coke. Given their relatively recent access to unlimited water, the Satellite public generally considers flavored water a luxury and had basically no standards, so our disgusting coke had been doing surprisingly well. I took another sip of my soda, then tossed a popcorn into my mouth.
The popcorn on the other hand, is my private stash. Well, Teddy's private stash. He offered to share it with me given my recent injuries, and I shamelessly took snacks from a fourteen-year-old. So the quality is actually decent, even by my standards. I stuffed another handful of popcorn into my mouth to distract myself from the scene in front of me.
Our impromptu gathering has been… unique. On one side are the larger crowd of Satellite gang leaders, dressed in their good jeans and least-torn t-shirts, cowering in a huddle trying to find strength in numbers. On the other side were the Zephyrs, dressed in business casual, cautiously and awkwardly trying to approach the satellites like the chaperone 'cool' parents trying to fit in at a teenager birthday party. Akiza's monsters still guarded the exits in case anybody tried to escape, and that didn't help things.
So overall, less like the decisive community gathering I had hoped for, and more middle-school dance party.
Speaking of. Kalin walked up slowly with a shy smile and a faint blush. He was dressed in a dark blue tuxedo that complemented his eyes and hair. Huh, did he go change or something?
He leaned forward, keeping his back straight and reached a hand out towards me, all the while looking at me expectantly.
I stared back blankly.
His smile became a little more forced and he bent down a bit further. I could hear the hushed whispers in the room.
Staring at the outstretched hand in front of me, I finally saw the right thing to do. I poured some popcorn into his outstretched palm.
Kalin left with a handful of popcorn and a dumbfounded expression.
Noticing the awkward interaction between us and the uncomfortable atmosphere left over, Blizzard leaned into Galen's ear and whispered something.
Nodding, Galen hopped over in front of me, reaching his hand out and bending forward exactly as Kalin had done. "Popcorn," He demanded like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I laughed and complied. Just like that, the tension dissolved into nothing, as though Kalin had come to me asking for popcorn all along.
"Are you actually this dense?" Galen sat down beside me, munching on the popcorn he just got.
"I don't want to give him hope when I know nothing will come out of it." I replied honestly.
"But I thought," Galen paused, "At least, a lot of people thought you two were gonna end up together."
"Urgh," I shuddered at the thought, "Really? That's messed up, buddy. Seriously!"
"What are you talking about?" Galen looked at me, baffled.
"While there's nothing wrong with a thirteen year-old wanting to date a twenty year-old, would you really date a twenty year-old who would date a thirteen year-old?" I questioned. The age of consent in Japan is 13, so things are messed up. Like really, really messed up if you've been watching their animes. But I grew up in what I like to consider 'the normal world', and I have standards formed by my upbringing.
Galen was obviously confused by my tangled logic, but he found the keyword. "So what are you going to do, date somebody your age?"
"My age?" I repeated, disgusted "You mean now? Like a thirteen year-old? What's wrong with you? I won't date a kid in grade 7!"
I won't become that twenty-something that dates a minor, Ra knows I'm already going to hell for child labor.
"I think my cut off is like 20," I said without thinking.
"But you just said-," Galen stammered something incoherent, then pointed out reasonably, "Then you might have a problem."
"I'll figure something out, I always do." If I can find a solution to defeating the gods that rule this world, my own love life should be a breeze, so not exactly a priority at this point.
A/N: I'm rather fond of this chapter though it took a while to get out. Sadly, I'm not familiar with international politics or macro economics, so it's always a struggle to get the basics right.
I've eventually decided that it would be easier to fix everything when this arc finishes rather than add chapters into earlier plot lines, so this is what you have. A bit was added to chapter 44 regarding Yuki's views on the Crimson Dragon. I liked it, but not reading it won't change anything.
A/N 2: Unveiling of Yuki's grand plan at the 200k mark feels appropriate. Yes, this has been the plan, by which I mean my plan, all along. XD
A/N 3:There's actually a fairly major deviation from previous assumptions, I have changed previous chapters and so I'm just going to pretend that it doesn't exist. XD, don't worry about it :P
My schedule will literally be worse than Satellite schedule for the next little bit (and as you know, I like to use 'literally' in a literal sense), so knowing me, updates might come faster than they have been…