Yugioh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Heads up reminder, this story is based off a bad ending from 'A Past and Future Pharaoh' and stuff explained here hasn't happened yet in the main story. Consider it spoilers! Weeeee
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"We need to find Tenjoin, Fubuki's Panther Warrior," Witch explained as she finally caught up with the pair.
As she floated up Benten doggedly continued, "do you know of a Panther Warrior who may have come in contact with Fubuki's?"
Panther Warriors were a bit rare of a sight, not because their cards were hard to come by, rather they seemed aloof to social interaction on grand scales. Normally they stayed with their deck mates at most in terms of a 'group'. So how was this one, a warrior not a scholar mind you, alone in a library and seemingly for quite some time?
"Fubuki..." Panther Warrior felt his ear flick as he thought back on the years, human time frames were such funny things. The Duel Spirit world was simultaneously as old as the Earth and as young as a good number of humans. "Human male, black clothes, wore a Red Eyes Black Dragon mask on his face? That Fubuki?" That name 'was' familiar, more than just 'familiar' as that was the last time Panther Warrior encountered another of his kind ever since.
But there was baggage that went with that name, and as he stood there with his current book in hand he shook his head. "Look kids, leave that mess alone, I don't know what got you in the mood for dark tales but leave 'that' tale be."
"But you 'know' him!" Benten replied firmly, she 'needed' this confirmation dark tales or no. As she saw Panther Warrior's frown deepen before he began turning towards a table she felt desperate to hold his attention longer. "Please, Fubuki never came home, I'm a Spirit in the service of his little sister! She misses him, they gave up on him and thought him dead and only now have discovered he may be alive. I just need to know if he's dead and a spirit, or alive and trapped here!"
A scolding 'shhh' hissed through the air, a source less reminder that this was a 'library', causing Witch to wince and try to ease Benten's voice down.
The words 'little sister' stirred up memories in Panther Warriors' head, causing his ears to dip down lower and his tail to twitch. He really didn't want to get involved in other peoples trouble, but if the sister was still looking after all this time...
"I don't know if he's here. There are portals that open at various times that allow people to come here and leave. Realistically he would be using those if he's coming and going still," Panther Warrior pointed out and noticed the blank look on the girls' faces. Typical. "Yeah, there are portals that will let humans come into this world or leave it. But if they don't have the natural ability to see us, or the learned one, they only see the land. We're completely invisible, hence why that Fubuki kid was wearing the mask. Its enchanted to let humans see and hear us, what with its size and design." Panther Warrior explained before walking to a seat and putting down the book he held.
"Wait... there 'are' portals?" Witch whispered in surprise, "I've never heard of one!"
"Have you ever tried to bring a human here?" Panther Warrior countered with a twitch of his whiskers as he sat down, slipping his tail into the opening.
"Well, uh no..." Witch confessed, "but Ruka was called here and only her consciousness was brought! She spent some time here and in a coma in the human world."
Panther Warriors lips twitched, showing a flash of fang as he sat there trying to comprehend that they brought the essence and left the body? Who in the world? "Why... why not just bring the body.. they were weak Spirits weren't they?"
Taken aback more by the question that the flash of sharp fang that was easily the length of most of her hand, Witch floundered. "I... think so? She's a little human girl so she deals with mostly fairy type Spirits..."
Witchs' whispers died out as she watched the Warrior cover his eyes with a strong paw, feeling as though she had said something incredibly stupid.
"Look, portals exist, they 'have' to. Yugi 'literally' used them when he made this world and later to come here, he never shut them down. They have a schedule... somewhere around here still, just look them up, and use them. Just don't bring little humans here by disconnecting them from their bodies ok? That can kill a kid, that can kill 'anyone' really."
"Yes, sir... but about these portals," Witch stammered.
"How could humans come here and 'not' realize they're not on their world anymore?" Benten asked, confused by how that would work. There had never been portals, she was sure she would have heard of them by now having been awoken by Asuka. Wouldn't the humans notice if they were walking down a city street and suddenly end up in a completely different one?
"Because the forests here are very similar to the ones found in the human world, its easy for a human to literally walk through a portal and walk out through another. They don't even have to notice, the most that would happen is they would lose phone reception or see ghost like images of any spirit that was near by on camera." Panther explained with with a small rumble that came from talking to a deep chested muscular warrior.
"Forests... so the portals are in forested areas?" Witch asked, since nature was her element and she never heard of this...
"Eh, forests, beaches, anywhere that isn't city or town like. Yugi mentioned he didn't want to break up the feeling of people using the portals. In case of accidents, hence if you can't 'see' the portals one portal may bring you 'here', but another portal will open more quickly to get you home. But if the human 'has' the ability to see us, then they can see the portals and avoid it so they can stay longer."
"So... 'Yugi'..." Benten made air quote gestures with her fingers, "made the portals? Was he a magician of note?"
Panther blinked as he shifted his gaze over at Benten, mentally banging his head against a wall that he had to explain 'any' of this. Why wasn't this common knowledge?
Where as Witch had a light bulb go off in her mind, thanks to all the time the kids spent with Aki and their conversations about the game. "Yugi... Yugi... the Original King of Games?" She noticed the sheer relief that seemed to fill the Panther Warriors' eyes as she whispered, leaning back in his chair as though a weight had been taken off him.
"Yes, exactly, that Yugi. He didn't just make the portals, he made this 'world'," Panther Warrior stated with satisfaction only to watch the girls' eyes grow larger in disbelief. Though in some retrospect he found himself able to understand 'some' of their confusion. One a witch of nature the other a dancer and fighter, they probably never cared about the history of their world. Spirits in general didn't seem to have that ability.
"Ok, fine, I can get why you wouldn't know this, so I'll give you a crash course on the history of our world ok?"
Benten glanced at Witch only to see her fluff out her dress as she sat down on the table, resting her wand on her lap. For which if the Witch was going to listen, even though Fubuki took priority, learning the history 'could' possibly help. With that she pulled out a chair and sat down, lightly tapping out the code necessary to relay the information to her fellow Cybers.
"First things first, don't think of time in comparison to the human world, its not going to work in this." Panther began, once the girls were settled down in front of him, "so years ago when Yugi was still on earth, he decided he wanted a world to exist to protect a series of tablets that had been created to contain human souls. That's why this world exists to start with. Because of the nature of those tablets the souls were allowed to roam free, creating what you would consider the first 'Duel Spirits'. After it was created, it just became a place for Duel Spirits to live. Regardless if it was small kids who energized their Decks with their love, creative energy, or the obsession of a particular duelist, we started to exist. Thus all of us were compelled to come here, because this world existed for Spirits of our nature. Its how I was born really, and a lot of spirits were created during the event that ultimately resulted in why Yugi isn't here anymore."
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The Cybers were relaying everything through voice files and programs, a valued asset for the cybers. But even being machines in some cases, there was outright amazement among all of them as they heard 'this' story of the creation of the Duel Spirit World.
"Wait... so the King of Games 'made' the Duel Spirit world? A human created a 'world'?" Ryo asked, seeking clarification that eluded him in his amazement.
"Agreed," Aki admitted, given the nature of the Signer Dragons alone would logically dismiss such a claim, yet she couldn't shake Panther Warriors' comment about 'Time in comparison to the human world'.
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"So then this 'event' happened," Benten asked, seeking a bit more clarification.
"Right, our world travels with him, when it happened, he left and our world was leashed to earth, only its bouncing around so to speak. So while it isn't really 'old' it kinda is because Yugi created this world to be near Earth, like physically. Only now its not, its kind adrift and the leash keeps our worlds connected. 'We' age in as much as our bonds with our humans who are still on earth do, but really?" Panther shrugged "I guess the best way to explain it is to say we're leashed off shore and are floating adrift in a river."
"About Fubuki though," Benten insisted finally, needing to get back on topic. "You said it was a 'dark tale' why? Is he or isn't he alive?"
"Please try to understand, it makes no sense that his Spirits didn't try to contact her deck. If he was alive it would make sense that they would look for Asuka's deck. Only they clearly haven't and if Fubuki, himself, didn't appear when and where he did. Asuka and the other humans, all of us really would have just continued thinking he was dead." Witch elaborated, giving her best 'earnest girl' eyes that she could.
"If they didn't go looking for his sisters' deck... ever... It means that his deck is dead." Such a nasty thing to have to say, it left a terrible taste on Panther's tongue causing him to pull back his lips and lash his tongue out as though it would help get the taste of the words out of his mouth. "The guy they were chasing is dangerous, too dangerous for one person on their own, or even two. I remember Lei Lei dying and quite frankly I don't want to ever recall it again or think about what could have happened to the others."
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"Dead? Dead like 'Graveyard' dead? Or Dead like 'Removed from play' dead?" Asuka asked looking at Aki for guidance only to be faced with the Rose Duelists' own confusion.
"Dead," Black Rose purred from the shadows around Aki. "You know, dead as in 'never coming back', dead as in 'someone had the power to destroy a spirit so utterly it couldn't manifest again'."
"It is not an ability Duel Spirits have, so logic concluded that it was an irregularity that has this power." Cyber End Dragon noted though its lights were subdued as it spoke, "if everything was Cyber we could tell you if someone went off line. However; not all are Cyber therefore we can not give a proper statistic if this is a true threat or not."
"Meaning that whoever Fubuki went after, had or has the ability to kill Duel Spirits, explaining why our decks heard nothing," Ryo spoke his thoughts aloud for the sake of the other two.
Asuka whimpered, a sound rather unique given it not a sound she would normally make, it was strangled and pitched as though she was fighting to just make 'any' sound at that point. She looked at her own drawn and pale spirits and the thought of any of them dead was heart breaking. Before meeting Aki, had one of her cards got damaged she would have merely purchased a new one. Now her deck was precious friends, the thought of 'replacing' a card like one would replace an article of clothes sickened her.
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"I haven't seen him since that day, but I can say he's not in this world. Regardless of what he was wearing, he's still human and anyone here would know that on sight. If no one mentions him, then either he's avoided all contact with others or he's been imprisoned somewhere. But where, I can't tell you," Panther Warrior opened the book he had in front of him as the most silent attempt at saying 'now shoo' there could be.
"So we just need to find the map of portals and check around to see if Fubuki showed up in those areas..." Witch suggested as she floated up and off the table. "Thank you Panther Warrior!"
Benten nodded as well before getting up and gave him a more formal bow, he had said there were maps but he didn't say where. So it didn't surprise her when Witch made a line straight to the portal they took and undoubtedly back to the Sage.
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"But given that the Spirits were 'killed' I wouldn't have seen them regardless of my past. I would have just assumed them unSpirited cards really.. But the Spirits have moved from looking 'for' portals to figuring out the best portals for our use... So... that was my day, how was yours Yusei?" Aki asked as she sat at the phone not wanting to project her voice and let the rest of the house hear what she'd been up to.
Yusei had been quiet during Aki's reciting of her day. Granted he was a bit annoyed that Asuka found out, especially since now she wanted part of the action. But he couldn't blame Aki for telling her classmate when it was requested from Asuka's and Ryo's own Spirits. He didn't like this though, Fubuki's situation made Yusei think that the guy must have attempted to infiltrate an organization. An Organization that got Rua to actively kill someone when a kid. It wasn't safe. Whoever this group was, was able to 'kill' a Duel Spirit?
The unknowns were too many, the reassurances too few and far between, that letting Aki just 'go' alone was unacceptable. At least if he or one of the other teenage Signers went with her, Yusei could feel some comfort that she would be in the hands of a former gang member. That she would be with people who knew how to throw down in a physical confrontation without relying on her powers.
So of course, Carly wanted to take her figurines to Kaiba Corp to show Kaiba tomorrow and both he and Crow had agreed to help Jack and Carly out in that. Carly's own car was too cluttered and Wheel of Fortune was ill suited to carry anything save the rider.
"I don't like this," Yusei argued, wanting to point out how a member of this group went after Rua. Only the phone was in the same room as the twins and the pair were currently working on their homework. The twins had plead to come with Yusei, since they had tomorrow off, with him caving only if they had finished their homework tonight instead of tomorrow.
Meaning that he had a pair of kids in earshot and no privacy to discuss Rua's connection to the group.
"I know, but Panther did suggest that Fubuki isn't 'in' the world, since you're busy tomorrow, I'll just... find portals. They're nice and all, but until we have more information its not as though they can lead us anywhere useful, so I'll just go in and take a look around with them. Treat it as a 'day one' excursion and not a 'today we find Fubuki' march." Aki offered in an effort to appease Yusei's, justified, concern over the situation. "Its not as though we're going to walk through the first portal and find a sign reading 'Tenjoin, Fubuki this way' and a big arrow after all."
Yusei sighed, knowing there was nothing he could really do, instead he resigned himself to his situation. He couldn't break off the promise he already made, and realistically the odds of Aki actually 'finding' anything were semi unrealistic. "If you 'do' find something, send Witch to me with enough power to carry something to you. I want you to have access to my deck as well if things turn bad."