Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
"You could help out for a change you know," Galen grumbled, studying personnel files that were obviously too complex for him.
"I could, yes," I was lying sideways on an arm chair, with my head and feet dangling off each side, a surprisingly comfortable position, "I'm just choosing not to." I figured I deserved some time off in light of all the crap I will soon be dealing with.
"We do need more help," Chaos agreed, "not you of course, but we need to hire more people." I'm not sure if he's agreeing with me or insulting me.
"I don't think we can afford it," Blizzard whined, "I never knew we could have so much money and be so broke at the same time."
"I'd be happy to enter the pro leagues for the money," Kalin looked up hopefully from his pile, "I'm useless here anyways."
The room responded with a storm of things thrown his way.
"You're useless now," being the sensible one, Cyril explained, "But you will have learned all the ins and outs of city planning once you finish summarizing the architectural causes of limitations to Neo Domino's expansion in the past 17 years."
Kalin groaned and hit his head on the table, crushing five different editions of the Domino City map.
"I'll find us more people," I assured them, a little guilty at my own inactivity, "just give me a little time."
I wasn't not doing anything, I just wasn't good at any of this stuff, and I didn't want to become good at it.
There was the team Sun from the next arc but they don't seem to be good for anything; and team Unicorn though they probably want to stay pro; the Ragnork people all more or less have their own careers; the three stooges of Aporia might be worth a shot though, we desperately needed all the technology we can get.
"What's the point?" Blizzard answered pessimistically, "It's not like we can afford to hire them."
"So as soon as this Dark Signer business blows over, we'll open advancement opportunities to people already working for us," I assured him, "it would add very little to the current expenditure."
He didn't look convinced. The problem with that idea was, we've already recruited most people who are willing to be recruited and worth recruiting and promoted whoever we could. Since our meteoric rise, we've captured the heart of about a quarter of the Satellite, mostly of its younger population. The rest of Satellite has decided that we are the new, more successful Enforcers in the Satellite.
That is to say, we are the new violent gang that is despised by the majority of the Satellite and will soon be imprisoned. I imagine myself back in the other world, seeing my local YMCA kidnapping local leaders, buying the entire city and getting their hands on nuclear weapons...
I kinda understand where these people come from.
Nonetheless, a quarter of the Satellite is still more than a hundred thousand people. We have enough quantity, just not quality. Most positions related to management, planning, communications, research- basically anything except brainless manual labor, required reading, writing and basic arithmetic skills. Something I had uttered ignored, and just assumed all applicants would possess. The fact is, when you stop most education in an isolated area for 17 years, removed all jobs that required an education, when that area also had massive pollution of all kinds that selectively targets the older population... The point is, there isn't much of a literate workforce left.
Of course, trained workers from the outside would be crazy to come into the Satellite. Even casting aside our reputation as the backward, poverty-stricken hellhole, we still have to compete with our modern, industrialized neighbor, Neo Domino, for talent and an educated workforce. We're not winning.
Who knew running the Satellite would need so many people?
...I probably should have.
We're keeping things barely on track by intimidating gang leaders who ran the separate districts within the Satellite, therefore overcoming the lack of a sufficient police department or you know, any local presence, but even my crew know that's not a sustainable form of government.
To add further strain on a system already at the end of its ropes, I unilaterally dictated an ambitious plan of construction in an area north of the Satellite we had 'sanitized'. (It's not want it sounds like, I'm referring the pollution in the area that had been removed by Momentum, and not other much more ominous implications) Even though our Momentum is temporarily out of order, it'll take maybe a week or two to fix it, so my immigration plan continues. In case of social or political repercussions over our recent activities, we would still have some place to go. It's my back-up plan for after this Dark Signer arc.
This fiasco in the Satellite only reinforced my determinations.
I need a city filled only with those loyal to my cause, I mean our cause, a city that shares my ambitions and is eager to go in the directions I had decided. A place where my dreams for this world will finally become a reality, a place where many dreams will come true along with my own.
As such, we're going bankrupt. It took 9 figures to buy the land I wanted. Now it seems it would take much more than that to build this place up from the ground. Who knew construction, transportation, food, infrastructure, immigration, advertising and establishing an economic structure from scratch would be so expensive?
"We just got a fund transfer." Cyril said, looking up from his computer screen, sounding alarmed.
"I thought that's good news," Felice poked her head over and read off the screen, "A gift from the Shadows."
"Huh?" I looked at our bank account. That certainly more... digits than we had before. The comment section also included a time and place, signed RG. "Goodwin?"
"That's Roman's account," Kalin looked over my shoulders. "I can think of a couple of things Roman would want from you right now."
We drove to the site of Zero Reverse as Roman Goodwin requested. Yes, we can drive a car there now, even a convertible. Construction of the road to the old explosion site was completed last week. Satellite infrastructure was progressing at a breathtaking rate, but then again this is the world where a single person could build half a bridge, and three others could finish it. As per his request, we got here as soon as we could. It was already dusk. As even the debris of the once-prosperous Domino City is painted with a golden hue, one powerful underground organization awaited the leader of another, to decide on the looming destruction of the world or its revitalization. I personally thought this was needlessly melodramatic, but Roman Goodwin specified the time and place, I conceded. I did owe him that much.
I've always been conflicted about the older Goodwin, more than ever since I got into this world. As an even more complicated character than his brother. He was the trigger of the entire YGO 5Ds plotline and the battleground between the Crimson Dragon and the Netherworld Monster. He fell victim to the latter, thereby (apparently) dooming the entire world to Darkness, yet managed to cut off his own arm (!) to try and preserve hope for the upcoming war. He lead the Dark Signers, while guiding his younger brother to gather the forces of the Light. His entire life seems a futile attempt at fighting himself, trying and failing to correct his own mistakes.
It's fair to say that, even more than his brother, he is the mortal who held both Light and Darkness within his soul. Or you know, a normal human being. If he had been any other character in the show, the plot literally would not have happened.
Pertaining to me personally, which is what I really cared about, he saved a number of people I actually case about. Kalin certainly wouldn't be if it weren't for him, neither would Vincent and Ara. Losing the latter two due to my own stupidity might have destroyed me. Oh, and I guess Roman killed/saved Greiger. On the other hand, Roman Goodwin is trying to take over (destroy? the dub was a little vague) the world, even if it's because he thinks it's his Destiny.
A nagging voice in the back of my mind continues to suggest that if this had been my previous world, I would never climb high enough in the social to be in his orbit. He might even have been a folk hero that I admired (since nobody knew who caused Zero Reverse). A much louder voice in the foreground reminds me that he's crazy and only a anime character. Both voices are absolutely correct.
Now, it's me against him.
Kalin and Greiger came with me. Neither were my top choice (my top choice as Akiza, that's it). But the rest of the Zephyrs were fully occupied maintaining our fragile pretense of peace in the Satellite, though Akiza promised she'd keep an eye on us and the spells she placed on us would buy us enough time for her to get here.
I waited for the leader of the Dark Signers to appear on the horizon, as if on cue, suspenseful music filling my ear drums. I jumped. Wait, it was real music, and it was Kalin, who is getting kicked by Greiger right now like he so rightfully deserved. I glared at the blue-haired duelist, if he didn't stop these antics, I'm taking away his mp3 player.
"Relax," Kalin laughed as he darted away from Greiger, using me as a human shield, "if I know Roman and I do, he's just here to talk business. He's completely brainwashed by the idea of destiny, he won't risk being defeated by any who's not a Signer."
"Are you certain?" Greiger paused in his pursuit and questioned Kalin's judgement, as they are so often questionable, "he might very well desire revenge prior to the final battle."
"Nah," Kalin stopped also, panting, "He doesn't look for vengeance, he's the only Dark Signer not consumed by revenge."
"He's consumed by destiny instead," I concurred. As an anime character, Roman was almost reasonable. He accepted fate, and did what little he could to turn it into the right direction, if only to be crushed in the process.
We all sobered up at the appearance of Roman's motorcycle on the horizon. To be fair, since the Momentum is providing the energy, there is no issue with pollution or wasting non-renewable resources.
Roman's motorcycle came to a screeching halt fifty feet away, the leader of the Dark Signers stepped off, and let his prized duel runner fall to the ground with a crash. Now I didn't need Kalin's music to stir up the tension. Greiger and Kalin both took a step forward and pushed me back.
I looked through the gap between their waists, these guys had really good bodies, even Kalin, you really wouldn't think it, but he does. Anyways, back on topic.
I poked my head out to get a better look at Roman, he looks different somehow. He hasn't exactly changed as far as appearances go (I looked him up my phone just to make sure), but the sense of dominance that radiated even from a digital rendition of the man was not found in the original. He looked more like that trainer from your neighborhood gym, or a little league coach who broke his arm in college and never went pro, as opposed to a powerful vessel for dark powers who long ago accepted his fate to destroy the world.
"Is this the right guy?" I poked Kalin, there were several incidences in the Yugioh series when one character magically changed appearances to imitate another. The only problem being, there were very few villains left at this stage of the plot, and it's still a little early for Aporia.
"I think so," Kalin sounded hesitant also, "it certainly looks like him."
"Yuki-sama, Kalin, Greiger," the Roman look-alike said each name with some difficulty, "I'm glad to see you've conceded to my request."
Now even Greiger looked unsure.
"How did I die?" Greiger asked while studying his once-employer.
"I strangled you," came the immediate reply. Roman Goodwin was beginning to look a little uneasy- very suspicious.
"And how did I die?" Kalin continued the line of questioning.
"Of starvation in the Facilities."
"What's your immortal?" Kalin persisted.
"Uru, the spider. What is the meaning of these questions?"
"We're thinking you're not the real Roman Goodwin," I poked my head out from behind Kalin again. "But I'm sure you'll understand, these answers aren't really conclusive. With all this magical powers going around, somebody could have read your mind, or -"
"Here," Roman Goodwin whipped out his deck and showed us a monster card displaying a giant pink spider, "This is my Immortal."
Kalin and Greiger both nodded thoughtfully as though that was foolproof identification, while I remained unconvinced. I think it was in the original series that one of Dartz's minions imitated Pegasus and took his deck. Plus, it is just a trading card.
"You lived in Domino City and was a scientist, correct?" I asked.
"That's right," he nodded calmly, instead of summoning real monsters to destroy us, or immediately forcing us into a shadow duel. It's little things like this that leads me to suspect his identity.
"So show me your ID," I said casually.
"What?" The three men asked in unison.
"Show me your government issued ID, employee's card, anything of the kind." I smirked. It's highly unlikely that people here would steal 'trivial', practical items like a driver's license, when they're trying to steal somebody's identity. Face, body, deck, outfit, yes; government ID, what, are you crazy?
Kalin chuckled, even Greiger had a grin.
"Here, I think I kept most of my old stuff," Roman Goodwin looked amused as he surrendered his wallet.
It is consistent with the real Roman Goodwin's character to keep mementoes from his old life.
Kalin walked up to take the wallet, turning away when I tried to get it from him. He checked every crevice for possible traps, even went as far as sniffing it, finally showing me its contents from a distance.
The wallet contained several pieces of ID, all dated before Zero Reverse, plus one picture of Rex Goodwin. Who puts their brother's picture in their wallet? Honestly.
If this guy is pretending to be Roman Goodwin, he covered all his bases.
"So, Mr. Goodwin, why did you want to meet?" I asked. As a leader of an evil organization trying to take over the world, and not a salesperson at BestBuy (I wonder if BestBuy would go bankrupt sometime, then I'd have to pause before I remember what BestBuy was when reading this), he had been unnaturally accommodating.
The man opposite me managed a smile, making him look almost like a respectable member of society. Both Kalin and Greiger shuddered in disgust.
"I have a proposition," Roman Goodwin said confidently. Given his earlier patience, I didn't buy the act for a second.
"I'm listening," I smiled back, I like to think my smile was cuter.
"I've learned of your recent ventures in the Satellite. As an entrepreneur, I'm sure you are interested in what I have to offer."
I didn't speak, just looked at him with dead eyes. Greiger scoffed quietly at the idea, our current projects had far exceeded the scope of the Dark Signers' influence.
"You have nothing left," Kalin answered for the three of us.
"Branches all over the world, thousands of devoted members, million in precious metals, I wouldn't call it nothing. To take over the Dark Signers would save you years in your eventual rule."
"Just tell me what you want," I said exasperatedly, 'For the last time, I'm not trying to take over the world' is what I would have said a couple of weeks ago, by now, I've given up on explaining that to everybody I meet. I'm always met with the same insincere noises of agreement.
"You have saved both Kalin and Greiger from the darkness," Roman said, "by ending your duel in a draw."
I nodded mutely, waiting for him to continue.
"I'd like you to do the same for my brother Rex."
"LOL." I said. I sometimes have trouble refraining myself from expressing my immediate reactions. Save Rex Goodwin, lol indeed. Rex Goodwin may be the only true villain in the series, keeping in mind, he planned all the 'create a new world' nonsense without being under the influence of magical powers.
To be honest though, keeping Rex Goodwin alive isn't too much trouble, after this arc, all his magical powers would be lost, I could keep him in a cage or something and tell the world he was dead. The real conflict as far as I'm concerned, is between Kalin and Greiger, both naturally has opposing interests in this situation, having been saved and killed by Roman Goodwin respectively. Extending this conflict a little further, all those who knew the truth about Zero Reverse, which is almost everyone in my inner circle, would naturally want to strangle Roman slowly.
"You've defeated so many, surely Rex is no challenge. Of course, I would make it worth your while," Roman coaxed, "Kalin should know what kind of cards I have. The Infernity deck was only the tip of the iceberg."
"So let me get this straight, you want me to risk my life, duel your crazy evil younger brother, at a time when the world might end, for trading cards." I think I summarized the situation pretty well.
"The Dark Signers have much to offer, if you'd let me show you" Roman Goodwin continued to entice me with the promise of (presumably) trading cards.
"What about your destiny?" Kalin questioned doubtfully, "to follow the Ruler of the Netherworld until this world's demise."
"I assure you destruction was never my intent," Roman Goodwin looked away. "I'm afraid my brother had greatly upset the course of destiny. I've been treading the path dictated by fate for nearly twenty years, and now fate is no more. I am mortal after all, so I thought I would fight for my desires like mortals do. Whatever it takes to succeed, it's the mortal way, is it not? "
"I have a pretty good idea what you have," Kalin dismissed, "it's not worth it."
"Well, you heard the man," I said, "we'll just be on our way then." I was secretly relieved Kalin turned him down too. Not because of dueling Rex Goodwin of course, but to agree to Roman's terms as a group in the Satellite, or to reject them after he saved Kalin's. It wasn't a decision I was entirely comfortable with.
He did save Kalin's life. And Vincent, and Ara. On the other hand, acceding to his request would seriously upset my base, which only exists because of him.
I mean, on the one hand, he doomed half of City and its population of half a million into a living hell for almost two decades. On the other hand, he saved three people I cared about. So it's roughly a tie.
Greiger carefully steered me away from Roman Goodwin, pushing Kalin forward while shielding both of us as we made our retreat.
"What about me then?" Roman Goodwin said loudly.
I turned to look, just in time to see him fall onto his knees.
"I possess powers of the Dark Signers, you have no doubt personally witnessed the magics of my arachnid spawns. I can 'convince' a lot of people in high places of your quest before that time comes. Surely that would be of use to your cause" Roman Goodwin looked at me in the eyes, now made possible because we're almost at eye level. I say almost, he's still a couple of inches taller, but I've learned not to be greedy. I didn't even object to the 'cause' thing.
"Sorry Roman," I needed people who believed in building a better world, not brainwashed minions; I hesitated for the fraction of a second, glancing at Kalin, under my eyes, but rejected the idea. Objectively speaking, I liked Roman Goodwin, but there's the rest of my team to think about. And if Kalin's okay with it, which he seems to be, Roman Goodwin can go to hell.
"Let's go guys," I didn't wait for an answer as I walked quickly to the car (yay, car!).
"I could offered you all the wealth of Neo Dominos," Roman Goodwin called out again, I ignored him.
"I could make Rex your puppet if you saved him," Roman Goodwin continued undeterred, "then Neo Dominos is yours for the taking."
So appropriate for a villain, I mused, to offer somebody else's tax dollars to attain his own goals. I'm not entirely sure what that is, I mean saving Rex Goodwin then brainwashing him seems to defeat the point.
"Yuki-sama," Greiger stopped, "it doesn't hurt to listen to him."
I looked at him perplexed, "Greiger?"
"I know we've agreed to develop only a fraction of northern Domino, but we will inevitably relinquish rights to much of the land we cannot yet populate. If we could just borrow money from Neo Domino for a year or two, we could occupy the entire area. We could feed thousands more people!"
"Really?" I asked perplex, I didn't expect Greiger to be on Roman's side, of all things.
"Roman Goodwin is a lot of things, but he's not a liar," Greiger assured me.
"That's not what I meant," I explained, "I mean, you know, what's with Zero Reverse and everything. Even your family was destroyed by Roman Goodwin."
"That is your concern?" Greiger laughed, the corners of his eyes wrinkled in amusement, "I am fortunate that you would take our village in, even after I fell to the shadows. Now I can offer hope to many more villages like my own, I will not be stalled in this path by something Roman Goodwin failed to do. Zero Reverse was a thing of the past, it's pains dulled by the passing of time. Satellites have already picked their sides, whether for or against us. What's Roman Goodwin going to change? I have no doubt most have already forgotten his name."
Curious. Roman had sucked Greiger's entire village into the Netherworld, then tricked Greiger to work for him.
"Roman killed me," Greiger explained at my amused look, "But he also gave me life again. Only in this life was I able to see the Light of your ways, thus I am grateful to him for being a part of my path to eventually reach the destination at your feet."
Flattery really doesn't become him, but he's getting better at it. Nonetheless, I remains curious as to his real motives. On the other hand, I probably feel more impartial to the decision than I should. I bought the area to the North of Domino to ensure that we would continue to be financially well-off after the Dark Signer arc. I could call the entire piece of land my own, or sell part of it to fund my own developments. No matter how little of our land we actually get to keep, it'll still be in the range of thousands of kilometers squared, in other words, more than enough land to provide for me and the people I know.
I imagine the world would be a better place if I were to run the entire place, since I just have a poverty line than the rest of the world at this point. But frankly, I didn't care too much.
I looked to Kalin, who nodded resolutely.
"You're the one facing Rex Goodwin, but if you're willing, it's not a bad plan."
It's funny how he didn't even consider me losing.
"Dueling is so not the problem." I grumbled. I desperately need the resources and capital Roman brings, but how am I supposed to explain that to my team?
A/N: Yuki is changing :D
A/N 2: Roman is literally the catalyst for the first two seasons. From what limited scenes we have, he seems to lean towards the Signers rather than the Dark Signers. Seriously, if you were trying to win a duel, would you really choose Carly Carmine to duel Jack Atlas?
A/N 3: Sometimes I think the stuff I write are ridiculous, then Croatia beat Argintina 3:0. Fiction has to be credible, reality doesn't. Either that or Messi just made a killing on the betting markets.
A/N 4:
Below is Roman and Rex Goodwin's actual conversation from the show. I think I mentioned it before, it gives a good window through which to look at Roman Goodwin's character and motives.
Rex Goodwin is brought into Roman's lair. Yes, brought into Roman's lair, not against his will but escorted by soldiers obviously not under his command.
"I was starting to think you weren't going to show Rex. But this is a private party, why have you brought these pitiful specimens with you." Roman
"These pitiful specimens are my personal escorts Roman." Rex
"I see. Well unfortunately we have very important matters to discuss, so your soldiers will have to go." Roman summons giant spider to capture soldiers in spider's web (not pornographic at all...) "Now that's more like it, wouldn't you say."
"I have to confess, I thought you have forgotten the promise you made." Roman
"I don't forget promises, Big Brother. I have been living that promise everyday for the past 17 years. I've done everything you asked me to do! I've stayed in contact with Iliaster, I watched the stars, I gathered the Signers. I'm the reason we're standing here now!"
"Be careful how you speak, let us never forget that we are merely pawns in a game bigger than we will ever know. 17 years ago, I had the courage to open Pandora's box! Then putting my faith in Destiny, I entrusted you with Earth's survival. We must hurry. The Netherworld is calling to me, brother. My time here is fleeting. We must do everything we can to bring the great Spirits together. I've played the part that Destiny wanted me to play. I've fed the Army of Shadows, I've opened the gates to the Netherworld. Soon the King of this Netherworld will emerge, ready to fight! But your Signers, Yusei in particular, is trying to close the gate. They're trying to stop Destiny. But so be it. If that's what ends up happening, I suppose we have to respect Fate's will." Roman.
Rex Goodwin looks appropriately taken aback.
"Perhaps you're right, but for the past few years, I've been thinking about everything we're trying to accomplish, I've realized that there's another possible outcome, one that we've never considered." Rex Goodwin implicitly offering to share the throne he craves with his brother.
"There're hundreds of possible outcomes little brother." Roman.
"I suppose you're right. Then let's not waste anymore time, let's finally learn what Destiny has in store." Rex Goodwin. Not that into sharing.
"This is the power that took your father, soon, these beautiful lights will find me as well.
And when he loses, at least in the original, he blew up the bridge, letting himself fall into what is supposedly the energy vortex from the Shadow Realm.