Yu-Gi-Oh 5ds: The Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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The maid put the tray down on the table in the receiving room, the only sound that click of tray as it came into contact with the wooden table. She curtsied to the guests in the room before backing away, leaving the young Mistress to and her guests to their discussion. When she arrived at the door she heard the soft murmur of talking, yet the second she knocked it had gone silent. She didn't know what was being discussed, but clearly, despite their youth, these young adults were discussing something serious.

Asuka sat frozen, unable to even hint at acknowledging the maid when she entered, and for all the warm browns and reds of the room. She felt such an indescribably cold in the center of her being as she tried to process the story Aki had just told her. Fubuki saw her at the unveiling, recognized her, and was possibly alive. That Aki and Yusei were trying to protect her feelings, when they never even 'met' Fubuki was touching. But that there was information on him after all this time...

Ryo was also silent, it felt as though Fubuki's appearance was a message that they were being told from beyond the grave that he was being watched over. Yet as Aki spoke she had manifested the Duel Spirits at their request so they could be with their cherished partners. Fading away only when the maid knocked and it was his own Duel Spirits that tugged at him to believe, that there was a chance that Fubuki was alive. He looked around, beyond just Aki, but to the numerous Duel Spirits that were in the room with them. Originally it was only Aki's Witch, Cyber Blader, Cyber Tutu and Cyber Petite Angel, with his own Dragons and Cyber Phoenix.

Yet as Aki and Witch spoke, more of his deck started stepping out and manifesting. While they were silent verbally, he could hear the soft sounds of sparking electricity and clicking, sounds associated with computers and machines. It left him wondering, passively, if that was their way of communicating or if it was their style of 'breathing'.

As Aki extended her hand to offer the snacks the maid brought, he gratefully accepted a small cookie and poured tea. All the while his mind went over all the cards he knew in Fubuki's deck, it wasn't that the three of them shared their whole card list. But they 'did' duel each other and he recalled the monsters that Fubuki used. Asuka sat beside him, still as stone as he began reciting the cards he recalled in Fubuki's deck. "Bronze Warrior, Pitch Black Warwolf, Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei..."

The spirits reacted in alarm as he spoke, not at his words but at Asuka, pulling Ryo's attention from Aki who sat before him and to Asuka who sat to his right. Asuka, who didn't move a hair for so long, began having light glistening from her eyes. Realizing that Asuka was crying he stopped speaking, while Cyber Tutu and Angel rushed to Asuka begging her not to cry.

"I... our..." Asuka began as she tried to form words around her throat that refused to move.

"Sweet heart, please don't leave your cards all over the house would you?"

Asuka blinked in confusion over the comment as her mom handed over a card and went about her business...

"... That's what was happening? Fubuki was trying to reach us... and I... Oh noooo..." Asuka crumbled forward as she began sobbing, covering her face with her hands. Ryo blinked in surprise rushing to put down the cup and cookie. He sat back up as he gripped her shoulder with his now free hand. "I... Oh noo..."

"Asuka!"

Aki exchanged glances with her Witch as the rest of Asuka's deck appeared and began anxiously hovering over the duelist as she wept. But that Asuka was repeating 'I oh no' did not bode well for whatever happened in Asukas' past.

"I threw them away!" Asuka finally choked out in anguish causing Witch to flinch as she thought about what that would do to his deck. "I tore them up and threw them away! It hurt too much!"

The spirits winced in reaction as Asuka sobbed, the realization that he may have been trying to contact her or her family and she had... had...

"Oh don't cry," Witch crooned trying to calm Asuka down. "Its not your fault. You can't see us, and you weren't friends with Aki so how would you have known?" Witch offered as she floated above the tea set on the table between Aki and her friends. "I mean, yeah tearing the cards up means they are trapped in our world... But hey! We can still find them!"

"Indeed," Phoenix noted, giving itself a small cough to clear its throat and settle the attention back on itself. "If you could kindly recite all the cards you recall, we'll begin scanning our homeworld, Ryo."

Witch hung back watching as the spirits fussed over Asuka before turning to face Aki, "I know of a Panther Warrior, I'm going to go talk to him."

"I will accompany you," a stern female voice announced over the witch causing the pair to start and look up at the new voice.

Said voice belonging to a another Spirit, a strong female warrior type it seemed, her face was framed by a large headdress of steel while her hair long black hair and bound close to the end. She wore a suit of mostly gray and steel blues with maroon arm and shin guards. In her hands there were a pair of thin sticks and a sizable chain that connected the ends of them together. "I am the Cyber Angel Benten, it would be best that we not go alone."

"She's right, even if Asuka destroyed the cards," Phoenix began only to be interrupted by Asuka's barely muffled cry before resuming. "It would only destroy the portals 'back' to this world, none of us have been approached by his Spirits. Something else must have happened to them, so it would be safer that you not travel alone. We cybernetic types can transmit messages over the airwaves, but you?"

"It... he... Cyber Phoenix has a point, thank you for extending the offer Cyber Angel Benten, we'll gladly accept it," Aki replied smiling politely up at the warrior before her.

She recalled her own strong reactions when it came to her father's actions when she was much younger. Causing her to wonder what would have happened if it never happened, if she always had control over her powers, would have changed things. She would have more than likely run into Asuka and been able to interact with the Duel Spirits.

But that wasn't important right now, Witch floated up next to Benten and rested her small hand on Bentens' arm guard. "We're going to the library." She stated before allowing the comforting folds of their home world pull her back into the Duel Spirit world. In her mind she recalled the Royal Magical Library's tower of information and felt Benten following her. Though the oddity of a garden witch and a Warrior in the library wasn't lost on her.

The Royal Magical Library towered in the middle of, essentially, no where surrounded only by nature and a strange massive plot of land that was of nothing but grass. The stonework of the library had little to mark it as a library in the first place save its magical aura that only some could sense to start with. Since it didn't exist near any source of water and thus lacked a lighthouse top to its structure leaving it merely a long tower rising into the sky. Though of course the Library sometimes moved itself, it was a 'magical' library after all. But it always seemed to pick locations that accommodated the large space.

But Witch was in luck and the Library had yet to move on to a new location, allowing her and Benten to settle just before the doors of the tower.

"Trust a witch to go to a 'magical' library," Benten noted as she strode forward with her chain rattling against itself as she approached the building. "But then you say you saw a Panther Warrior here so..."

"Yeah, it was strange but I was in a hurry to find a spell so I didn't think on it at the time. It wasn't until Phoenix mentioned Panther that I thought about seeing him," Witch explained as she floated along side Benten, fussing over her dress. Checking to make sure she was as clean and well tended as possible since it was a 'Royal' library.

Benten reached out and pulled open one of the thick, ornate doors for herself and Witch, the interior revealed to her for the first time ever. Since she never was one to go to a library when her whole life was about dance performance. Thus giving her a reason to walk in with a quiet curiosity as she saw the long empty space revealed to her. A deep, foreboding tunnel stood before her with multiple glowing grass green colored orbs hanging against the wall. Much like torches they were hovering in place at steady intervals providing light for those who would enter.

The number of orbs that hovered gave a small hint about how long they would be walking into this tower, given Benten time to ponder a question or two for the Witch. "I've never gone to a library before, what made you think to come here?"

"Oh, we couldn't understand Petite Angel, so I thought I'd come here and see if there were any spells to help translate for us. I was in luck because there 'are' spells for translating, so you can translate written words, or spoken words. They're not permanent spells, but there is one that allows for the spell to be cast on an item, like how humans use phones! But anyway, I just needed a sound one and came here because of its type of information." Witch offhandedly explained, as her eyes were kept peeled for the end of the hallway into the information center located up ahead. Normally she'd just soar ahead, but that would mean forcing Benten to run and there was no running in the library.

"I see..." Benten thoughtfully replied, though she found herself a little confused because there was Helios and its counterpart, Crescent, as well. Both were libraries so what made this one unique outside of the name? It was that passing curiosity that caused her to ask Witch about the nature of the two other libraries.

"Well," Witch began only to find herself stopped by the fact that she didn't really know. "I've never really asked, since my time was always serving Aki... I guess because we Spell Casters always start off knowing what spells we can cast. But we can ask Information, that's what its there for after all," Witch offered.

Benten thought about it for a bit, she had a duty to fulfill in service to Asuka, but was there anything wrong with learning about the big three libraries? Up ahead she could see a golden light that contrasted nicely with the green of the orbs, as though they were going to walk into the warm golden light of the sun. The only sound was the hard clack of the heels that Benten wore, the jingle of her chain, and the fluttering of the gown that Witch wore.

Golden light grew into a golden buttery hue that pooled out giving a shape to the long hallway, with something that could have been a darken statue in the center of that light. A statue that fleshed out and was revealed to be moving slightly as they approached. Until the pair got close enough to see that it was a lone Dark Sage reading a book while sitting in a thick comfortable looking recliner.

As they walked into the room the Dark Sage began to sit up from his seat, the book floating up and hanging in thin air. "You've returned rather quickly," the older magician noted as his eyes took in the Witch, as his lavender and black robes rustled while he walked forward. The old magician's staff floated forward and he took it in hand mid step.

"We were looking for someone, but before we go looking for him, we had a question," Witch questioned glancing back at Benten to make sure she was still paying attention and showing any interest to start with.

Benten nodded, taking the look as a sign that she was to speak, "There are three different libraries, and I was curious as to why."

The Dark Sage nodded, reaching up he stroked his beard in understanding before gesturing with the same hand to the tower they stood in. "Well the other two libraries serve light and dark arts respectively, essentially all magics, categorized by where they are located at, the what not. This library contains within its walls the same information, as well as all other information as wont by a ruler. So if you're looking for books on various types of dance, you just go over to that portal."

The Dark Sage pointed to a vibrant water blue colored portal that hung in the air off to his left, noting Benten's head snapping around to see where he was pointing. Barely contained excitement showed as she turned as though to make sure she knew where the portal was in contrast to the others.

"Those libraries stay in their respective spots as meccas for magicians and other spell casters who may need an extra spell. This one moves to where ever it would be most appealing to the Ancient Fairy Dragon when she is visiting." He added while Witch nodded, her arms crossed as she thought about it, Heliosphere was near the more Angel and light based spell casters while Crescent was for the Dark spell casters. "Otherwise it would move where our God would wish it to be."

"Ahh, say, have you seen a Panther Warrior roaming around here lately?" Witch asked, wondering if the Warrior had moved since yesterday.

"He's been here for a long time actually, he's waiting for, as he puts it 'a friend of a friend of a friend'," the Dark Sage informed them before launching into the rules of the Royal Library. "Just remember from here on out, this is a 'library' first and foremost, please keep all conversations at a whisper. I realize you may not see anyone in the rooms, but that doesn't mean you're alone."

"Yes, sir!" Witch nodded bowing respectfully, which caught Benten off guard making her bow a little more sudden and sharp in form.

The pair turned and Witch purposely floated herself towards a spruce colored portal hovering in the air with Benten taking up the rear, her eyes following the blue portal that would take her to dance books. She was going to 'have' to come back here now, come back and bring the rest of Asuka's troupe with her.

But first, Fubuki.

Yet already, Benten expected little to nothing of this warrior, after all he was 'waiting for a friends friend' so it couldn't be Fubuki's. Not only that but Panther Warriors were notoriously solitary, so she didn't have a high faith that this was Fubuki's Panther. So she would have to put her faith in the chance that they 'did' communicate or had a way of communicating like the Cybers' had.

They passed through the portal, revealing a room with the shelves built into the walls, and those walls seemingly rose to infinity. A strange place where the tower was a lone solitary pillar yet the space inside it seemed to defy all logic. Benten found herself looking up, and up, and up some more, going so high she literally leaned back in an effort to see the top. Only to see a glowing golden hued white light at what had to be the top. Not that she could see the source of light, the walls were that high, which brought to mind a question.

"Witch how does," she turned to look at the Witch only to find herself alone. Alarmed she began to scan the area more closely when something caught the lower part of her vision. Looking down she saw Witch, on her feet and walking along with her wand in hand, yet... walking on the ground? It took only a few steps to catch up with the barely waist tall Witch when she leaned over, mindful of the library rules. "Witch, why are you walking on the ground?"

"Out of respect," Witch answered looking up at Benten from her far lower position. "Never know when there's a short royal roaming around." She answered and when Benten's head tilted clueless to the side. She pinched her dress and pulled it up a bit in answer, "I don't like upskirt shots. Humans can't see me, and if they can I see them before they see me."

Benten nodded in understanding, though never designed for dresses, she empathized with the Witch on her stance about her dress. Witch didn't ask to be carried, so she didn't offer it, but she 'did' slow up her steps as well as shortened them drastically for the sake of the Witch.

"How does what?" Witch asked looking up at Benten, before looking over the ground floor tables of the tower. The books were held on shelves built into the walls, with the floors lined with tables and chairs for people to sit and read at. But when you were only on eye level with the tables and the tower was vast...

"How does the lights work here? If you get high enough I would think the light would be far to blinding at the upper levels." Benten asked, dropping down to a kneeling position so she could whisper her inquiry to Witch.

"Oh its an illusion the light isn't that high up it just looks that way," Witch answered as a platform from above, hidden behind the light lowered itself into the room. Revealing a lone Panther Warrior with a book under one beefy arm. "There!" She nearly shouted, but caught herself in time.

Benten straightened up, seeing the Panther, she snapped open her performance fan and waved it to get the Warriors attention. His cat like awareness causing him to catch sight of the sudden movement and look at the pair. She couldn't wait on Witch and though it was probably rude she quickened her steps towards the warrior before asking. "Excuse me, but I need to know. Are you the Panther Warrior of a human named 'Tenjoin, Fubuki'?"

"No, mine's 'Jounouchi, Katsuya'. What of it?"