Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Ok everyone, we have our orders... Lets start looking..." Aki announced at the group of 'ladies' standing before her. Since, while it was true, the Duel Spirits in question were female they were also not human. They appeared as very not human women though at least humanoid and eager to help, but for the unsuspecting Chinese scientists who were in certain areas... Was there any reason why Aki 'wouldn't' want them to keep low?
It wasn't all of Asuka's deck either, only the ones that Aki had already established interactions with from before. Protecting some of the strategies that Asuka would use in her own duels.
/
There was no honest sense of time in the volcano.
The deeper they descended into the darkness the more they could smell the fumes. While it didn't consume the air, it was an ever present warning. The pock marked walls revealed a large open pocket of empty space in the distance. More over a mounting stability to the area, where holes were slowly closing up. Eventually the land 'would' resettle itself after all, not everything could be a delicate mess. Meaning that sooner or later they would reach the boundaries of the volcano's disruptive influence.
While Junko was finally breathing normally, and surrounded with people allowed Isao to finally settled down. Down below they could see a bit of wall, solid by all accounts with no holes with a jutted out rock that served as a platform. Unremarkable save that it held the reason for their current descent into the volcano.
Hidden in the darkness that only got illuminated by the lights of their phones, they could see Jounouchi. He would wave up to them when they shown their lights down directly on him showing how matted and dirty he had gotten. As dirty and covered in dust as they were, given the distance it was difficult to identify him properly by sight alone. He looked to be wearing casual street clothes, a duel disk was propped up against a smaller stone. With the man himself sitting against the wall with one leg sticking out with a large stain that was visible on the pants leg.
It was strange certainly there was no signs of bags or carry ons so he knew he was coming here. But the stain indicated that the break went through the skin if they were seeing this right. Which the urgency alone was enough to push everyone into picking up speed on their descent. Momoe followed the rope, pulling it up gently so they could follow it. Making sure not to pull from the back since they would possibly need it to find their way back up.
Ryo and Kazu were already prepared to help carry the man up the pathway and they could only hope that the Spirits were relaying all this to Aki. With instructions to find a suitable stick to help with the leg. Leaving it up to the girls to carry the lights for the gang when they got back together. The dirt and ash caused each foot to sink down with each step. Making a concern for how the guys would handle walking back up with the added weight from carrying a body.
After all they couldn't just let the volcano drop on them and allow the duel spirits to shield them by manifesting above them. Sure it sounded like a solid idea, until one recalled Isaos' claustrophobia and the air quality.
"We're about as close to 'here' as we're going to get gang," Momoe finally announced as she reached the exit of the tunnel they were in. Ahead of her was Jounouchi, while below her was a small jutted bit of floor that broke at some point. Possibly recently. While another trail could be seen going down her left and winding down into another tunnel.
While the gap 'was' jumpable in the best of circumstances, this wasn't one of them. More over they couldn't just jump back up again. Maybe with the help of the Duel Spirits, but in the event that they couldn't... Like say potential cave in, and or Aki hadn't met up with them yet, it was probably for the best that they take the normal way down.
Establishing a safe route of travel meant she began slowly slinking her way across the wall on her left and towards a curve that would lead them to Jounouchi. Beside her the group fussed over leaving the rope behind momentarily before they settled down. Ryo taking up the spot next to her, creating a girl, boy, girl, down the soft dirt path.
Yet as she walked down she started to notice how the ground slowly firmed up, "oh, the ground is growing firm..."
"You're stepping onto bedrock I think. Well, the part of the earth that didn't get messed up, hence this good rock under me." Jounouchis' voice didn't have as far to travel and his comment was reassuring, at least it would be easy to get him up to the tunnel. "Hey can you make a note of that spot?" he called out as Momoe walked making her stop and blink in confusion.
"There was a tunnel that got covered up the last rumble, but I think the entrance is the only thing covered. If this place doesn't go under I need to go there after my leg is fixed," he explained at their sudden reaction. Mostly stopping in place and staring at him, so he could only assume wide eye shock.
"You want to 'come back'?!" Junko asked in disbelief.
"Yep. I owe it to someone, he counted on me to help him out when we came here and um. I can't really just give up on the guy, he took that path when I saw him last." Jounouchi explained pointing to the spot between Momoe and Ryo.
His words catching Asuka by surprise as she called out, "wait... how recent are you talking about sir?"
"A few years, I met him when he was trying to find a friend... we got separated and next thing I know he's acting all weird and I just..." Jounouchi shook his head lowering it as he did so. "I know the kid has a family to go back to and I'm not giving up on rescuing him. But it ain't cheap to travel here and well you can see how my last trip went..." he gestured to his leg.
"Wait... a family... Please sir. This is important, do you know his name?" Asuka asked as her world spun.
"Oh, its 'Tenjoin, Fubuki, the Blizzard Prince of Neo Domino High School'," Jounouchi recited with a teasing bluster of confidence, as though mimicking someone else. Someone they knew.
"So... its true... He's alive..." Asuka began trembling while Kazu and Isao both grabbed her shoulders to keep her from possibly falling off the path.
"Sir, what happened that day, we're his friends, this is his little sister..." Ryo began and Jounouchi's head sank down as he heard that.
"Come over here... You probably will need a seat for this story," Jounouchi instructed in a subdued voice.
Momoe didn't need to be told twice, she turned and scratched at the space that Jounouchi directed with Ryos' aid. The two were easily able to pierce through the wall with the dust settling down after Ryo's arm broke through. Revealing a deeper cavern path to be taken as the dirt slid away hissing as it poured itself down.
"You know though... Thinking on it, you guys are his friends and family, so you might be able to do what I can't seem to..." Jounouchi noted. "But you'll need my duel disk anyway... It might be the only way to get through to the guy at this point."
This new path now revealed, the group quickly began shuffling on their path towards where it reached the rock that Jounouchi was sitting on.
"By the way, you guys are going to need a bath for months... You know that right?" Jounouchi asked teasingly taking in the dirt covered group shuffling quickly towards him.
"You can say that again sir," Kazu agreed with a barely held back sigh.
Once they reached the rock the group settled themselves wordlessly in a semi circle around the older man.
"Hello, I'm Tenjoin, Asuka, Fubuki's little sister... And these are my, and his, friends. 'Marufuji, Ryo; Muro, Kazushi; Yoshifumi, Isao..."
Junko and Momoe both jabbed Isao in the sides to get him to acknowledge his name while he stared at Jounouchi's broken leg. Which to be fair the leg was kind of ugly on closer inspection. The wide spread of stain on the leg was a passive aggressive shout out that the break was bad.
"Makurada, Junko and Hamaguchi, Momoe. There's one more friend, Izayoi, Aki but she's outside right now, so you'll meet her later..." Asuka finished as the group's spokeswoman, as difficult as that was now that they were all covered in dirt and dust. The back wash of light from their phones must have made them indistinguishable from one another. While their lights nailed Jounouchi to his seat, a suspect of a crime drama about to be interrogated by a group of shadowy figures.
"Well, nice to know the people who came to save me," Jounouchi greeted with a melancholy smile on his face. Now that they were up close they could see the streaks of dust and dirt that smeared itself across his face. His clothes was dirty, the jeans were a mix of dirt and blood, the shirt was dirty enough that they couldn't tell what the original color was. His jacket was worse off in terms of dirt and frayed with age at the edges.
"So... you're his sister. I should wait until we're outside, but I suppose you waited long enough. I mean, I should have called I get that. Or told you what happened but uh... I didn't think you would be open minded enough to understand the situation. But you know about Duel Spirits so that's on me," he began, his words causing Asuka to wince.
"No. If not for Aki I wouldn't have believed you... Meeting Duel Spirits has made this a school year to remember," she replied.
"Well, so we're on the level. I wanted to tell your family what happened, but I wanted to rescue him first. Just showing up and saying what happened would have ended up getting me arrested I'm sure. There's no reason for your family to assume I didn't hurt him instead and was lying about it. So I've been trying to get him back for what feels like a long time now... Which isn't cheap when you keep having to fly back from Japan. Time off work, visas... traveling... None of this is easy." Jounouchi explained with a grimace on his face.
"When I met him, he looked a bit odd, all black clothes, this serious expression that just brought back memories. He also had this magic mask. A spell card given form, that let him see Duel Spirits. Ever since Yugi and the others left, no one has really 'used' magic so I felt it was important to help him."
Jounouchi stopped and looked down at his hands, curling the fingers into fists and opening them again a few times. No one interrupted him as he sat there, so the only sound was of their breathing and the slight noise that came from their movements.
"No. You don't deserve a lie, I need to be honest about what happened. See, they used to call me the 'Luck Duelist' because I just always got lucky when I dueled. Dad was a drunk gambler who always lost... But my luck was always good so long as I was on the right path.. But I don't have magic I could summon only Red Eyes and he's a dragon so I couldn't talk to him. Money Bags always said that I was 'riding on Yugi's coat tails'. Maybe I was. I don't have inherent magic like a magician and that's what I needed. I needed a magician to help me."
"I couldn't see the portal to the Duel Spirits world, and with that mask Fubuki could. I thought if I helped him, I could get him to help me find a way to bring back Yugi and the others. That didn't happen though, in fact we got separated in this maze. He took that path I had you reveal and I gave him my gamblers deck to help him out. Back then this whole place was a lot more stable, the walls were thicker and there was just this hole between him and I. So I loaned him my deck, here when it became clear that he needed more help than just a guy whose luck was falling apart."
"I didn't realize what he was going after though. Which is another reason why I couldn't just go to see your family. I'm the adult, I'm the grown man who should know better than to allow a kid to go into an semi active, partially real volcano. Whatever he faced was enough to let even me see what was going on around me. Watching Spirits die... Gods I knew what Yugi was setting up... Yugi didn't know Duel Spirits could come to life. He never made the Duel Spirit world for all these new Spirits, just a new home for the original souls. So seeing all these newly forming Spirits just starting to show awareness... only to be killed... Some of them didn't even understand that they were being killed, others..."
Jounouchi shook his head before sighing, "when you leave here. Go and watch Yugis' old duels, pre KC Grand Prix and watch how Dark Magician acts. You can see it, he glances at Yugi, he smirks, makes gestures that you don't see with any other duelist that uses Dark Magician. Seeing that level of self aware spirits 'die'..."
He was silent for a breath before shaking the thoughts away, "he didn't win. Maybe its my fault, I just handed him my deck. Maybe I had spirits that I never thought about after the gang left... All I know is that Fubukis' deck was mauled, and while I've seen him 'since'... He's lost to the reason he came here in the first place. He travels like a ghost but seems to haunt this area, there are growing rumors that this volcano is haunted because of him. All black clothes, never speaks and wears a mask so I mean, I need to get him out of here."
"Did he say why he came here though?" Ryo asked, bringing Jounouchi's focus onto the teen. "I can understand why you came here, but I can't understand what would lead him here."
"He wanted to rescue someone, he said he had a friend that he wanted to save from making a mistake. The friend fell in with a bad crowd, was losing himself and Fubuki wanted to save them from that. Which is something I can totally understand, I had to be rescued myself and I was someone who didn't question the mask."
"And now you need to be rescued again..." Kazu noted with a wiry grin, a glance towards the broken leg following his words.
"I know right?" Jounouchi joked along with a shake of his head. "I'm telling you, its all I can do to hobble to the edge when I need to go." He added with a faint gesture off towards the side of the stone they sat on. 'Go' having a double meaning clearly as the girls blinked, but it was unrealistic to expect him to hold it for this long.
"I want you to take my duel disk. I don't know what you'll find down there, but I know the main duel was at the end of that passage there. You'll need it to beat some sense into Fubuki if he's not in a receptive mood." Jounouchi gestured towards his duel disk, an older model by a few generations but it was still amazingly clean. "Over the years, though I didn't contact your parents or you about what happened that day. I 'have' heard stories about that group, and its not good. None of it. What they do is beyond Security, they appear and disappear at will, some melting out of the shadows as though made from it. Others walk out as though darkness is just a doorway, while shunning the light and those that live in it."
"Shun it? This sounds more like a fairy tale than a disappearance," Junko pointed out with a slight tilt to her head and a thoughtful look on her face.
"Yeah... it does doesn't it?" Jounouchi replied looking at her with an almost sage like expression on his face. "We're taught that magic is just slight of hand, smoke and mirrors nothing more. So when we see the real deal we try to justify it, make logical sense of it. Grind it into the ground, make it mundane."
Jounouchi's eyes looked past her as he spoke, his voice became more wistful, his eyes moving as though he looked at his memories...
"You grow up in a rough home, watch your mom and sister leave you behind. You have to be the 'man of the house' because your asshole dad won't do it. Then one day that kid you're beating up for fun saves you from someone who beats 'you' up. That's when the world blooms into color, you see magic, watch as holograms spring to life. Gods soaring through the air to fight against evil, and the group gets bigger. All at once you're not just some Japanese teen from a shitty home. You're a guy helping reincarnated Gods fight against demons! You tell yourself 'If I keep following this guy I can be a hero!' so you follow this little guy who has Gods on speed dial. You travel through magic to other lands, through recreations of the dead past..."