Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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No one spoke.
No one moved.
The twins and Crow were frozen in shock, their eyes going over every inch of the image on the screen.
Crow was shaking as he reached towards the pocket where he had put the card that 'Yugi' had placed into his care. His fingers ghosted over the front pocket where he had placed the card, unable to hook his trembling fingers into the pocket itself. Finally one leather covered digit finally made its way into the pocket. Numb, glove covered fingers could no longer discern the difference between a card and fabric as he tried to slide the card back out.
"B-b-but... how?" Rukas' trembling voice was nearly lost as she turned her attention down to her backpack. Her knees stopped supporting her, but she didn't need her legs anyway as her focus was on her backpack. Sinking to the floor she pulled open her backpack and looked at the brightly colored autograph books she had carried, for herself and Patty. This wasn't possible, she 'knew' what it felt like when she was in the presence of a spirit!
For that whole ride of the elevator the 'only' spirits she had sensed had been the spirits of Kuribon and Kuriboh! "Kuribon? You saw them right?" She asked, into the air when she realized for the first time that Kuribon wasn't with her. She looked in the air around her, expecting her friend to have followed along! How could she have possibly lost track of Kuribon? She reached out with her power tugging on her Spirit friend.
Surprise and worry for Ruka could be felt in answer as Kuribon came soaring into the room eyes wide with worry. Kuribon hurried to Ruka before, having entered through the wall behind the girl, turning midflight so that it could throw itself into Rukas' arms. "You saw them right? You saw Lord Yugi and Kuriboh, right?" She asked anxious for confirmation from her friend.
Yusei braced to defend Ruka's behavior for it was sudden and abnormal for her to literally call out a Spirit in the presence of those who didn't know her talent. Even if he couldn't see Kuribon at the moment, he was prepared to defend Ruka's actions. His eyes went from the secretary's expression to Mokuba's and the defensiveness that he felt he would need to get into settled. Kinoshitas' expression was smooth of any thought, whatever she was thinking was hidden behind her experienced veneer.
Mokuba was decidedly different though, he clearly couldn't see what Ruka was doing with the way his eyes kept looking about her. Yet there was almost a nostalgic air about him as he sat, recalling something that was playing back in the back of his eyes. Something on his computer pulled his attention away with only a sudden slight gesture towards Kinoshita. Sending the elderly secretary back to her desk so she could calm down from this sudden fright. The sound of the door closing, a sound created by well oiled joints still came off like a shotgun from point blank range. And with him not facing the group anymore, Rua found some motion in his joints to drop next to his sister in support.
Ruka was quietly crying, her face buried in hands, too distraught to summon the Spirit physically into being.. "Kuribon says there was no one in the elevator... Kuribon says we were all there was in there, just us and Kuriboh..."
"Yugi mentioned that Kuriboh mostly looks after children..." Yusei began, feeling the need to explain the strange sudden comment that Ruka, supposedly, made.
"Kuriboh was the spirit of a human child, as the story goes, he among many other kids were all murdered in an event 3,000 years ago. In an effort to save their souls from damnation they were sealed away. Over time when Pegasus made the game, Kuriboh served as the flagship of their kind. Mostly because of his bond with Yugi, I got to interact with Kuriboh, though I haven't tried to call him back since I was 11." Mokuba explained returning his attention back to the group before him.
"Wait... 'human souls'?" Crow stuttered in shock, his continued search for the card that Yugi had given him forgotten under such horrifying comments.
"Yes, there are two types of Duel Spirits, ones borne from the bond between the Duelist and the Cards' imagery and ones that were born from the souls of humans." Mokuba nonchalantly explained, before a sardonic twist of his lips made him ask. "I thought you knew? After all it would make sense given that pretentious idiot, Divine, would brag about the power held among the Duel Spirits."
"Kuribon... was a human kid like us?" Ruka asked looking down into those sweet, gentle eyes that held such trust and devotion. If Kuribon 'was' a human at one time it didn't show it, instead cuddling up to Ruka's chest like a large fluffy kitten.
It was at that moment that a very familiar head peeked up from the ground. Her deep lavender, flowing hair pinned down by a black headband framed in delicate white lace was the first to appear. Rising up from the ground revealed her large sky blue glass like eyes and pale china dollesque face. She looked about once her eyes were fully above the floor, taking in the large ornate desk to her left and the twins in front of her. She continued rising up once she saw the twins revealing her ruffled collared gown and her bright blue crystal topped wand.
Witch of the Black Rose, floated up until her platformed shoes were above the carpet then she stopped, which seemed incredibly odd for her. The Witch was normally very forward and direct, she would already be on the same eye level as everyone else, instead she stayed low to the floor. She gripped her wand in both hands before looking up at the ceiling as though she saw something to be actually scared 'of'.
"So... Dragon... on the roof of the building, she's rather big, rather territorial, and I'm not too big on being a snack. SO! You wanted something Yusei?" She finally announced to the room before she began the stilted walk of a child not wanting to wake a sleeping parent.
"The least you could do is say 'hello' Witch of the Black Rose," Mokuba noted casually as he straightened his posture so he could look over his desk. He couldn't see all of her due to the width of the desk, however; he 'could' see her head as she moved along. Followed by her stopping, turning to look at him, then shifting from china doll white brow to bright, new bloom rose, red. Though she 'did' stick her hand up and waved at Mokuba, since she 'knew' where she was. Top of the building could only mean 'one' thing after all. That coupled with Carly's fairies filling her in on the details from the ground floor.
Yusei, on the other hand, frowned when he caught sight of her and the meaning behind her presence. Why had Aki allowed them to go further? What possible sign could the group have gotten that would have compelled Tenjoin to press further into the Duel Spirit World? If not for this whole debacle he would have turned around and left to find Aki. Instead he was now in Kaiba's office with a mystery on his hands! All of it focused on the image on the monitor of the elevator that he and his group had taken to get to this floor.
A... Now that he actually redirected his focus onto the screen, the screen was changing. There was a pointer moving the window along and the words 'Father, will you please pay attention' scrawled across the bottom in an open notepad. Bringing back to mind that Kaibas' son served as the Vice President of KaibaCorp. In fact, thinking back on it, it occurred to Yusei that the other secretary 'may' have been the Vice President's. That she would bodily put herself in the doorway indicated her devotion to her duty and the company that she would be willing to lay down her life for it. Which was an impressive display for a gaming company.
He felt the bottom of his jacket jerk downward causing him to lose his focus on the monitor and place it on the Duel Spirit standing at his feet.
"Aki wanted you to know that she tried her best, but Asuka wasn't having any of it she just took off on her own. I swear that girl is possessed by this, though I guess I can't fault her on it." Witch briefed Yusei, between the dragon and her knowledge about Kaiba, she really didn't want to be there. More over, she wasn't really sure how she could explain 'Asuka just took off' beyond that. Since that was what it amounted to, they had been looking around the area when she took off. Not just 'took off' though, she was heading for a sleeping volcano.
Speaking of 'not having any of it', Yusei could only shake his head before he reached down to his side deck. Witch watched patiently as he went through the cards in his hands, knowing that the longer she took, the longer Aki could hold off on their little trip. He finally pulled out a card, looked it over and handed to her face down. Though she would have been remiss if she didn't admit, to herself at least, that it was strange that he would hand her a card. Witch had thought she would be carrying equipment, maybe some long range communicator for Aki to talk to Yusei.
After all, his voice could break her free of mind control so it made sense that he would want something near her. Just in case she ended up going violent again.
Instead he gave Witch a card?
She turned the card around so she could see what she was carrying that exceeded the use of such human technology and blinked a few times. Rubbed her eyes with her arm thoroughly before she tried looking at the card again. Her lips straightened into a line as she leaned back to look up at him and stuck her hand up expectantly. "For a card like this? You better put a ring on it."
Yusei didn't answer as he put his side deck back into its holder, he merely glared down at her with a quiet frown. One that deepened as Witch gave him a sly smile in answer as she tucked her wand's wooden shaft under her arm.
"I see how this is... Ok... I'll take this to her," Witch announced as she faded out of sight with the card in her hands.
He glanced over at the twins, and felt his own heart ache, it would have made sense for Rua to produce the autographs that 'Yugi' had given the pair. Only it wasn't as though they could prove that the books were blank before they arrived. Even Rua was aware of that and didn't waste his time trying to convince Kaiba of anything.
"Wait, hold the elevator!"
Crows' voice startled everyone out of their silence and shock, pulling their attention to the screen on the wall. Once more there was a change, the notepad put to the side the majority of the screen was taken up by another security camera inside the elevator. Unlike the one that they already saw, this one was stationed above the control panel, aiming down into the center of the elevator. Unlike Kaiba who had frozen the video to one moment in time. This time the video played from the beginning...
Crow hurried into the elevator as the twins stared up at something with unabashed awe as Crow tried to get their attention. "Ruka, Rua, you know better." Yusei had stepped in causing Crow to move forward a few steps yet the twins didn't care even then.
"B-b-b..."
"it... its..."
"ITS YUGI!"
The twins' finally managed to vocalize the root cause of their awe struck gaze, moreover they were not staring directly 'at' the security camera. It was clear they were looking at something below it, causing their line of sight to never shift upwards. Youthful exuberance unrestrained out of awe and amazement, that honesty of youth that stayed its course.
While Yusei recalled the next moment; the 'hi, nice to meet you' from 'Yugi', what he 'did not' recall was the sound of loud static. If Crows' voice from the security video was sudden, the sound of static was unsettling. It raced along the skin sinking in and causing hair to stand on end burning the flesh on his arm in the shape of the head he bore.
A glance at Crow showed his fellow Dragon was just as unsettled by the 'answer', given the video, they expected silence. Not 'just' white noise, the exact length necessary to produce that same worded answer that they had heard. The video kept playing as Crow ended up in the back of the elevator and Yusei made himself comfortable beside the door. The hissing noise rose up again, where Yugi had asked the floor they were going to.
Meanwhile a small screen to the side showed button presses and corresponding times, revealing that the elevator had closed and not been given an immediate destination. More over no one was touching the button to activate the trip up, only to have the button suddenly go hot and a time assigned to it.
"We're trying to see Kaiba."
It was disconcerting to watch the video as it continued to play, if Yugi 'had' shown up in the video Yusei would have been fine. Even if Yugi did 'not' show up and there had been nothing save a, essentially, mass hallucination, Yusei would have been fine with that as well. Yet seeing Yugi in the elevator when they rode it and able to communicate back and forth in person. Only to see a recording that showed Yugi had never been 'in' the elevator and all his part of the conversation amounted to static.
'This is ridiculous, we all saw him, yet he wasn't there. We heard him, yet the video is picking up noise when he spoke. If I hadn't met Aki and Ruka I would say this is some overly cruel prank to pull on the twins.' Which was the biggest thing, ever since he left Satellite, his whole world had been turned upside down. He was about machines, the physical inorganic constructs that made up the world around him. Now he was dealing with Spirits, magic, throw in ghosts and he was so far out of his depths. He felt he could swim the ocean to America with less problems that adapting to these new environs.
Yet he had to adapt, he had been given the position of leader and that meant dealing with things he had no skills in. Though now he was getting increasingly worried, machines he could handle, they didn't talk back and finding their flaws or damage and repairing that was easy, if time consuming. Humans weren't machines and he was starting to worry that he was going to screw something up terribly.
Prime example; Yugi, it would have been easy to accuse Kaiba of having some sick twisted hologram system. Maybe someone editing out an actor who was playing the role of Yugi. After all Yusei did overstep boundaries, and it would be rational to think Kaiba would want him back in his place. Only the sounds that were being growled out of the recording was sending irrational chills down his spine.
The video continued relentlessly, as Crow asked for an autograph and even now Ruka was shyly holding up her autograph book that she had fished out. Watching as she held open that pristine page put a knot in Yusei's stomach, more over when the video was paused. The mouse went back to work, the camera's replay focusing down to show that the pages were empty and putting Ruka's innocent gaze front and center.
The video resumed...
Ruka stood there, hopeful and excited with her twin holding the pen out as though offering it to someone before him. As they stood there waiting with baited breath words began to bleed onto the page: I appreciate your ever kind hearted nature, thank you for being a fan; Mouto Yugi.
Mokuba sighed in mild frustration, reaching over to his phone he pressed a button, his sharp displeasure dulled into an almost tired, "Matsumoto, you may unseal Ryu's office."
'For my brave fan; Mouto Yugi.'
The words kept bleeding onto the pages, as the video ran every word Yugi spoke to the group in person came out as white noise. He never appeared in the elevator, it never stopped on its way up, and the books were never held in any hands save the twins. But on camera blank page after blank page was put on full display of the security camera, only to have the words bleed into life.
Leaving only Crow, unlike the twins who had books that 'Yugi' could sign, Crow received an actual physical object. The pair looked at each other, Crow looking so helpless and even frightened, once more reinforcing the notion that Yusei was the leader. He needed to be able to say something to reassure the younger member, but words weren't Yusei's talent.
As he struggled to think of something that would put Crows' own anxiety at ease there was a sharp rap at the door. Giving Yusei a much needed distraction as he turned to see who was entering, though he knew who it would be. But any excuse to not look at the desperation in his brothers' eyes was welcomed.
The door opened revealing the other secretary and just behind her, the Vice President of KaibaCorp, Kaiba, Ryu.