Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Here, while we wait, the nurses found this lying about, wanna see if it still works?" Isao asked, as he walked into her hospital room. He held a large old VR headset in his hands and an apology on his face, "one of the nurses seemed to have found it. They use it for the kids who are confined to their beds," he explained.
The light blinded her.
The VR system ran a Duel system, but its two player system didn't work, the selection for two players was glitched. So she was left dueling the computer system, a simple blocky figure of stone gray blocks. Every so often the Dummy would glitch with a momentary display of what was probably an 'opponent'. A sleeve here, a skirt there, as though the system was trying to perform as intended and falling short. It filled her time as she was confined to the bed after the volcano collapsed, it was fun though.
In front of her there was this semi void of darkness, oh in the distance she could see the city lights of Neo Domino easily. That familiar skyline of windows lit with the families filled apartments dotting the sky in mathematical placed positions among a scatter of illogical stars. But up close, the light was from Stardust Dragon, the motes of light that he gave off drifting aimlessly to the ground. The way leaves in the autumn did.
Addictive and she found hours filled with her putting on the headset. The background began as a generic gray room, only its shade of color distinguishing it from the practice dummy. Yet with every victory the background changed just slightly. Grass grew, the sky was painted a bright blue and flowers began sprouting up. Just for a start.
As the headset cracked under some force around her, bits and pieces of the practice dummy glitched. The arms were suddenly in jacket sleeves. Glass tumbled down before her eyes revealing what was in front of her. Yet it was Yusei, the light of the motes illuminated his pale, drawn face, the stains of blood.
She had been dueling 'Yusei'? She had unleashed the full raw power of Black Rose Dragon and Yusei's own Stardust Dragon... ON YUSEI?!
"Aki... I'm so glad to see you're ok," Yusei commented. His voice was pained and she couldn't hear it over the noise of Black Rose's rage as much as feel it in her bones. Collapsing into her arms as the last of his strength gave out. As the horror of the moment crashed down on Aki with the weight of the universe.
Had they all been people?
Every 'duel dummy' that glitched human appendages... Were they all people? Some of those clothes fit 'children'! Had she been killing people this whole time? Collapsing under the weight of Yusei's body Aki gave a primal scream of horror. Was the twins among the dead? They called her their 'Big Sister'! Did she kill them? Or was it little Patty?
Thoughts of the seemingly endless possibilities began tumbling over themselves in a mad rush to get her attention. Random people on the street? Classmates? She never read any of the opposing decks as recognizable... Even now, that wasn't Yusei's deck she had faced. Where were his Junk monsters or Warriors? Yet it was him, had she been beating up her classmates? Did she kill them?
'I didn't know... I didn't know...' The thought whispered over and over in her mind skipping from progressing to the next thought. Just looping back to the start as she knelt there screaming while her world crumbled around her.
It felt good.
Every time she won a duel it felt 'good'. It was feeling good to kill?
No, that wasn't her, that was the Witch! Not Aki!
Every breath she took was repulsed by her and escaped in a scream of torment.
"Aki! Aki! Its ok I'm here now! I'm sorry I couldn't talk before! Please forgive me!" Black Rose Witch hovered anxiously around Aki. Her pleading voice reaching nothing as she begged her partner to come back. "Its ok, its going to be ok... well mostly ok, I'm sure they can fix Yusei. Please just come back to us!"
The Witch was buffeted by the hard winds of the Black Rose Dragon, her small hand clinging desperately to Stardusts' wing tip. Yet as hard as the winds were they couldn't rip away the guilt and shame she felt. She casted and boosted herself towards Aki when a lethal red eyed thorn shape dragon head intercepted her. Black Rose Dragon stared at her as though she were a stranger, opening that large mouth to snap up Witch!
"No, bad Rosy! No eating Aki's spirits," Stardust scolded as he barely clamped his hand around Black Rose Dragon's mouth in time.
Amid the flurry of lashing roots and vines, Stardust could see the white of Jack's riding suit as he struggled to approach the dragons. Even a small smear of red that he recognized as Crow, and was near clinging to Jack as Witch was to Stardust. Over the wall he could see Fairy hovering in the air, a sign that the kids were near by. "Rosy no!" He wrapped his wings around the dragon as Black Rose began fighting him. Her face was still in his hand, but she was trying to point it towards the others.
"You need to override Aki, I'm not her Dragon only entrusted to her, I can take Rosy home so you can see to Yusei. But you have to override her control of me," Stardust ordered as Black Rose began lashing out against him for this offense.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything before!" Jack bellowed, the force of his voice actually overpowering the wind.
"YOU DUMBASS YOU'RE THE REASON FOR IT!" Archfiends' retort caused Stardust to slowly close his eyes.
'Really? Now?' Stardust inwardly sighed as Jack started a shouting match with Archfiend even as he continued trying to push through Rosy's madden assault.
"Who are you yelling at?" The redhead, Crow called out, his voice a bare wisp compared to the strength of Jack's voice. Only now a bearer of the Mark and without a Dragon soul the red head couldn't understand Stardust..
Leaving Stardust to try and think of a way to get the message to the twins, his gaze at the wall that blocked his view of them.
"We can override Big Sister?" Ruka asked in confusion, glancing over at Regulus. But the mighty lion could only give his best attempt at a shrug. What did the lion know of the Crimson Dragon after all?
"Its an idea? And its better than trying to get Ancient Fairy fully here," Rua noted when Ruka grabbed his hand.
"You help, we're going to channel this instruction," Ruka replied, given an extra look in case he tried to argue his lack of Mark.
"We need the Crimson Dragon! Even if its just to allow Stardust to help us!" She explained before focusing her attention on the silvery towering presence of Stardust that she could just see. Focus was channeled to her Mark of the Dragon, the clawed hand gently blossomed into light. The normal panic or disarray that she expected from Aki was strangely absent. Yet that was for later, instead she let the energy she felt build flow into the lines that connected her to the other dragons.
Burning to life on the others, Jack and Crow both watched as their Marks burned their way into life on them. The Wings and Tail glowed, causing Jack to actual stop his argument with his dragon. While Crow was in simple awe of the power he felt flowing, for once not in a state of emotional distress. It was peaceful, calm and flowed as though he had his feet in a lazy river.
"I don't deserve to feel this..." Aki rasped out causing Stardust to blink.
'She's rejecting it but... She needs the others, I can't reach her not with what I represent...' Stardust thought as he felt her strangle hold on him finally slipping loose. Yusei's presence wove its way, helping pull Aki's control back just so... Even if he was out cold on the ground he seemed to understand what Aki needed.
"Come on Rosy, let's go home..." He wrapped his wings around her, and allowed his ability to wrap them both up in light. Returning them back to the Duel Spirit world before Aki realized and yanked them back. 'I'll have to trust the others will help Aki...'
Jack and Crow stood straight, finally free of the intense winds to watch as Stardust disappeared in the darkness. His wings wrapped around Black Rose, as they faded away in stardust. Yet as beautiful as that might have appeared, they had more important things to do. Crow breaking to get his BlackBird, while Jack ran straight for the pair in front of him.
They needed to get Yusei to the hospital. This wasn't Yusei's first violent duel, life on Satellite had toughened all of them. Unconsciousness was worrisome and Jack was just grateful that Crow was smart enough to get the BlackBird and not ask meaningless questions. Speed was what they needed at that moment. Jack climbed over fallen beams and broken concrete while Crow attempted to navigate his D-Wheel to reach the pair.
Yet without Stardust to illuminate the area they were left with nothing save darkness and the broke shards of light from cast aside lamps. The head light from the BlackBird shot a spotlight on the ground before it as Crow revved up the engine behind Jack. Despite the absence of both Dragons there was still one duel spirit present.
Clearly one of Aki's, the Spirit could be heard pleading with Aki. Apologies tumbled out of her, giving Jack a hint of what had happened. It had been strange to think they would toss away Yusei's deck, a thought that he had felt beneath him. But now it sounded as though the purpose had been to keep Aki from recognizing Yusei by his deck.
Yet as he moved the feeling of calm that he had been soothed by was pushed away by a sense of horror and grief. For a moment he was confused by the sudden seismic shift of emotions, before logic pointed out that it was probably the twins. Gentle emotions 'did' seem to be a Ruka emotion, so it made sense to come from her. Yet this was clearly Aki's distress, but why?
"Brace yourself. Star can't keep her here..." Archfiends' voice growled out the warning above Jack, the deep voice uncharacteristically worried.
"Shit, Crow hurry, she's coming back!" Jack roared as he began to run with abandon towards the pair.
"That's not bracing dumbass," Archfiend groaned as Jack stumbled over the broken field.
It wasn't a large space, he had made some headway before Black Rose had been taken away by Stardust. But the ground was uneven and snapping his own ankles or blowing out his knees would be just as bad. Rumbling was the soft purring sound of the engine to the BlackBird, yet the ground picked up on it and began to rumble. At least that was what Jack wanted to believe.
'Shit shit shit! She's almost here!' Jack realized when another thing pushed that thought out of the way. 'He' could understand Archfiend and the dragons, but Crow probably couldn't.
"Black Rose is coming back to the field! We gotta hurry!" He called out over the engine as Crow over took him. His white headlight putting a spotlight on Aki's stricken face and that was all Jack needed to see. That heartbroken disconnect that kept her from even flinching at having a face full of light. Grief was naked as was panic and confusion, a cocktail of emotions that the Marks were transmitting. Why did girls have to be so emotional?
Panic began to crescendo as the ground started to break down further as roots erupted into the air. Whatever voice Aki had was gone. Leaving her a seeming mute as she silently screamed in panic, but he could almost hear her scream 'stay away'. Only Yusei needed to see a doctor, and Aki needed... Probably Carly, a big bag of cookies and a good cry.
'Great...' Crow thought as he reached their side. His suspension was soaking in what Black Rose was doing, but he could still see bits of the ground bouncing. More over he could still see the distress in Aki's eyes and he internally winced. If he didn't have the responsibility of getting Yusei to the hospital he would have stuck around. Jack wasn't the best at displaying supportive behavior and Crow could expect the idiot would say something to make things worse.
'The twins are here and that means Carly is here. So I'll just have to hope that she can manage...' Crow thought as he parked next to Aki. He dismounted his Blackbird as a pair of eyes began rising up from behind her. With Blackbird facing away the headlights couldn't provide detail to how Black Rose looked. Leaving it just as an ominous pair of pink colored eyes swaying slightly as though in a wind as it rose up. 'If ever there was a sign to hurry up.'
Dropping to his knees, he grabbed Yuseis' left arm and began throwing it over his shoulder. "Hey sis? I'm going to take him to the hospital. Don't worry about him, I'm leaving you with Carly and the twins, that should..." Crow broke off as Black Rose's nose began getting dangerously close to his face... "Yes ma'am..." He squawked out before pulling on Yusei to get him to the Blackbird.
Anguish and grief in Aki's face was enough to make him feel like he kicked a new born puppy. Lower than a worms' belly. But it had to be done, Yusei needed to be looked at regardless of Aki's wishes. Pulling off his helmet he took off the blue headband he wore to keep his read hair back before getting Yusei seated. As Jack finally caught up, Crow bound Yusei's hands in front of him with the head band.
While in the near distance the twins with a host of unseen spirits came dashing onto the grounds, pausing when they saw Black Rose. The lone light from Crow's BlackBird slashed across the darkness before settling on the twins. Speeding through the forest of thrashing roots, it was a show of skill they mostly missed due to the darkness. They only got a brief view of the pair, the darkness of their attire making it harder to get a solid look. But Crow was leaving and Yusei was with him so they had to hope.
Jogging past them was Carly. She ran past the twins, the writhing roots and made her way fearlessly over the rumbling ground. Stumbling into roots and tripping over random stuff, she ran forward with dogged determination. Screaming, that's how the roots sounded as they whipped the air, high pitch shrieks that plunged into deep booms. Without Crow's Blackbird there wasn't enough light to see anything, and she could only hope that her luck held out until she reached Aki.
Scrambling over one root, monkey like, she could hear Jack trying to comfort Aki. Prompting her to tune him out because wow... Jack.
The pale white of his riding suit became the direction she went for. It wasn't clean, but it reflected back the bits of light that there was. Until she reached them and could fall upon Aki with all her concern. She flung her arms around the pale neck, her own eyes becoming wet as she finally got her hands on her friend.
"Aki! Oh Gods we were told you were killed! A body was even shipped back! I'm so glad..." She choked on her words as she pulled Aki into a fierce hug, while Aki gave no resistance. "What happened?" She asked, deciding that whatever Aki wanted to say was good enough. Be it about the volcano or not.
What she couldn't see was Black Rose's mounting rage, protective to the Nth power. Raised into the air spears of thorns grew from her vines. Darkness hid her movements as these bothers to her partner needed to be weeded out of her garden.
"Rosy, no." Stardust murmured, no longer on the field and with no one to summon him back.
All those hateful warriors.
"Black Rose..." thunder in the distance could be heard, sounding faintly like Archfiend.
Dead with his heart gutted out of his chest...
"Come back! Please!" A fluttering of a wasps wings buzzed about her head.
She could see the ceremonial alter, the bowl that carried his still heart. He had been covered from head to toe, which had been unusual.
"Treason, treason, black hearted betrayal..." She hissed as she brought down the vines with all the force of her body. "Get AWAY from meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I HATE you alllllllllllllllllllll..."