Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Adrenaline was pumping hard in his veins as he tore down the highway. Colored by city life, the lights along the streets and along buildings lit up the approaching night. They were flickering on, a slow steady glow in defiance of night and sleep by proudly proclaiming open businesses. Burning along the sides of the road the way run way lights did for airplanes running down strips of land.
And Crow wanted to fly so badly.
If the Blackbird only had wings he could have soared away, over the city buildings and out of Neo Domino. But not with Jack riding passenger on his ride, or with the fact that D-Wheel's were not designed for that function. Flying would have been so much faster, eating up tracks of land and spitting them out in the dust far better than driving.
But driving was all they had.
Even if he hadn't gone to sleep yet, he could stay awake for this.
He could drive faster, break all the limits if necessary.
At least he told himself this as he drove.
Go faster.
It was the only words that repeated in his skull as they had tore down the halls of the hospital and charged off towards his Blackbird.
Go faster.
They beat themselves into the accelerated pulse he now had.
Don't let Divine win!
It was the outer reaches of the city, closing in on the city limits, when the thought occurred to him about his kids. He was gone a full night with no notice, and now another two days, the kids needed an adult. So he flicked on the phone, calling out to Martha knowing she would be home getting dinner ready for her kids.
Sharp wind bit into his skin serving as a steady whistle to the steady beeps of the phone as it waited to be connected.
"Hello? Oh Crow!" Martha's image blinked to life on the screen before his eyes. Bright eye and patient, in the background he could see the wall of the living room in the orphanage. "How are you doing?"
"Its ah, I'm ok, but I've got a job that's taking me out of the city tonight and I won't be back until Thursday. It was so short notice can you check on my brood?" He asked as he slapped a smile that felt so fake on his face; he waited to be called out on it.
She nodded readily enough, but he caught sight of her eyes shifting to something over his shoulder. A small concerned frown formed on her face before she asked, "why is Jack riding with you? I thought the King has his own ride?"
"AN ASSHOLE BROKE MY D-WHEEL!" Jack roared with enough force that, if Crow didn't already have a death grip on the BlackBird, he would have probably wrecked in surprise. Jack wasn't part of the call though, and it was only through his roar that the mic picked up his voice at all.
"Ohhh, and let me guess, the part is out of town and that's why you're with him?" Martha asked with a raised eyebrow.
'Oh my God, thank you!' Crow thought, "yeah, its a real pain, they made Wheel into a pile of scrap and its do it 'now' or deal with Jack's belly aching." Crow explained in a rush, the distaste of lying to his mother figure washed out by the sharp taste of wind and the desperate need to not deal with this right now.
"Don't worry, I'll go check on the kids once dinner is done, you boys be safe!" Martha began to a small shooing gesture, her hand reaching for the phone when Crow's voice stopped her.
"Wait... nearly forgot, uh Little Ruka has a friend, little girl named Patty. I've been helping Patty out because her grandma moved in with them." He began when Martha began nodding knowingly.
"I'll call the twins, see what needs doing, you don't need to worry. You just be safe, stay out of trouble and I'll see you when you get back." The visual for the phone blinked out leaving only a black screen. Ghosts of Crow's own helmeted head glided across the screen as they sped past street lights and taking with it Crow's concerns about Martha.
"I'm so glad that went well," Crow sighed, only to instantly regret forgetting that Jack was riding behind him.
"The hell you mean? You know she's going to find out!" Jack roared over the wind, with that voice that everyone heard at least once in their life. The 'We are so screwed stop grinning no its going to get worse' voice. His hands were planted on Crows' shoulders and squeezed to put more force to his words.
"Yeah well once we're..." Crow frowned, swallowing the rest of the sentence as he refocused his attention back on the long road before them. There were far fewer buildings around them now, the traffic thinning out as they rode away from the city. "Just shut up Jack."
Which the blond, begrudgingly, obliged as he sat in disgruntled silence. Wheel of Fortune would never be able to make an eighth of the speed of BlackBird. It was totaled by Divines' damn manipulative hands. While Jack wanted to wrap his own hands around that assholes' neck and strangle him.
His mind was empty of any real words, only the labels of emotions he felt after the doctors had entered the room. Because of course no one could speak basic Japanese, they had to use their big words. 'Custom tailored virus', wasn't something he easily grasped, both he and Crow had been mute with confusion. Picking apart the words to their basic parts as his mind hit a blind spot when he tried to put them together.
It had lashed out at the 'tailored' part as he tried to pretend he wasn't as... uneducated... as he really was. But when he thought of 'tailors' he thought of people who custom made clothes or rides. Not something like a virus. So his mind faulted, tripped and sank under waves of confusion as the doctors tried to explain.
That Yusei wasn't just dying.
That Yusei was a living bomb.
A sucker punch that had knocked the air out of his lungs and set him slumping into a chair even as Crow slumped against a wall and down to the floor.
"The hell?"
"They're saying, that somehow Divine had a custom virus created, injected into me, and if I don't die before the virus 'activates'..." Yusei sighed and gave a slight shrug, "I become patient zero."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Kill you?" Crow asked from the floor his voice cracked with shock and dismay.
"We have him put into isolation... trying to..." the doctors began but by then Jack had tuned out most of what they were saying.
Yusei just stared at Crow steadily, before pulling his gaze away. Yanking off his riding gloves, Yusei pulled off his jean jacket and began pulling off his shirt. Revealing that scar he still bore from his duel against Kiryu. The mark on his body of a backwaters field surgery that removed whatever got jammed into him.
Meanwhile the doctors, in their professional silence, handed over a hospital frock for Yusei to wear. Since he was now a well a true patient of the hospital.
"Should we step outside?"
"That is a clean stitch, its good to know that Satellite at least was in the hands of reputable professional doctors."
"How the hell does anyone just make a virus with a timer?" Jack heard himself ask, butting his way back into the conversation that the doctors had begun.
"Aki and the twins will be upset," Yusei pointed out firmly, as good a clue as he could give for them to calm down. Calm down or let their Marks report the mounting panic that the trio felt. 'Fuck being calm', was the sentence that Jack 'wanted' to say. But if Aki found out...
"That bastard is going to pay..."
Which was why they were here.
Why they were riding on a cups and cans of coffee, hopped up on fury, and making a one way trip out to a place called 'Crash Town'. They had a 48 hour round trip to make, and only 44 hours to make it in.
"He said he'll hold the antidote for you," the nurse, some black haired sturdy built woman explained, her tone clueless as she stood there. Looking from the doctors she worked for to the young men around the room. "I'm sorry is something wrong?"
"That bastard isn't 'holding' the antidote, he's the guy who injected into Yusei," Crow explained from the floor.
Jack could still see the startled and concerned expression on the woman's face as she looked over at her superiors. But the doctors didn't have a clue about Isao or Divine and Jack was in no mood to explain things. The message was clear though, go to Crash town and Isao would 'give' them the antidote.
The bastard had turned Yusei into a ticking time bomb, and now government officials needed to be involved...
"What is Divine's beef that he would go after Yusei and Aki like this?" Crow's voice broke Jack's darkening thoughts forcing the teen back into the world.
"Aki was his weapon, he was using her abilities by feeding on her own insecurities. But as expected Yusei was able to reach her in a way no one else had," Jack explained. Almost grateful for the distraction as the night ate up the world. Leaving only the small yellow pool of light produced by the headlight of the BlackBird.
"He ran a... lets called it an 'academy' of sorts. It was promoted to help troubled kids, but that was a front, it was actually a place for Psychic duelists like Aki and Little Ruka. So no one would ask questions, and since students were generally on the fringes of society already due to their abilities." Jack shrugged, before recalling that Crow couldn't see it. "No one cared. So he was free to train them to be weapons, to turn their powers into tools to do what you've seen Aki do."
"And well, Misty cared, she was the older sister to one of his students, and he murdered the kid. From what Carly told me, Misty couldn't file charges because there was no 'proof' of murder, he couldn't be arrested. But you can bet he was gleeful to test Aki's strength against an Earthbound God when that went down."
"You know, I regret asking, but now that I know I'm really going to enjoy beating this guy into a pulp." Crow answered his voice tight with wound up outrage and grief.
"Going to be real satisfying to grind that bastard and Isao into the ground won't it," Jack asked, using the English word for 'Satisfying'.
Crow answered by taking his free hand and putting his fist over his shoulder, even in the darkness Jack was close enough to see the act. Giving Crow a fist bump in answer, answering a silent call for the old days. When people who trespassed onto their territory was dealt with accordingly, sure Kiryu fell off the bandwagon. Went harder and more dangerous than they were willing to go, while Yusei struggled to hold them all together.
Even if it was just the two of them, they would deal with it the old way. Beat everyone in their way until they were satisfied. In the distance he could see the stars far better in the sky, and the landscape was flattening out. Indicating that the man made light was starting to filter out of atmosphere.
'I've never really 'left' Neo Domino...' Crow realized as he looked along the landscape, trying to recall if this was normal. Did Japan have such flat distances? Or was this all the work of the Zero Reverse? 'Aki said there was a volcano made by Zero Reverse... If it was making volcanoes in China, what did it do here close to the epicenter?'
Thoughts such as those brought back the memory of Yusei crying, yelling about his guilt at Zero Reverse. Did he know what the world looked like outside the city limits of Neo Domino? If he didn't, how would he have reacted if he saw it? 'Focus Crow, we need to reach Crash Town, everything else can wait.'
"Hold on... 'Misty'? Carly's friend Misty? That Misty?" Crow asked, as the small thread of what Jack told him came back.
"Yeah... I'll ring your neck if you tell her, but she's been good to Carly, both her and Aki. After Divine killed Carly, Misty generally looked after her, still does. 'parently they're both into fortune telling and she helps Carly out on that front as well." Jack confessed, comforted in knowing that both women were still in Neo Domino to help Carly. Or Carly was in Neo Domino to help Aki. It was a toss up at this point.
But Crow gave a brief laugh, the most relaxed and light hearted he had managed since the yesterday. "Yeah, she's a good woman, which makes me wonder what she sees in a tall ass pile of ego like you!"
"Who wouldn't want to be with a king!" Jack demanded imperiously, wanting to mock punch the idiot on the head, save Crow was driving.
"Who would want to be with 'a' king when they can be with 'the' king," Crow replied, almost thoughtfully. "So Yugi was the original King of Games, and now he's coasting outside the timelines right? What happens when he returns? Like if he finds his timeline right now, and its around this year. Does he just suddenly age to catch up to the age he should be? Or is he going to just reappear as the age he appears to be right now?"
"The hell does that matter?" Jack asked, confusion coloring his voice with his sincere curiosity.
"It doesn't, but it helps me not be focused as hard on my anger. So I can drive," Crow explained, as he tried to see something that would make him think of Japan. Instead of this darkness that filled his mind with landscapes that never sat right with what he thought of Japan looking like.
"The long absent King returns? He created the Duel Spirit world right? Aki could go off and I think even she would be dwarfed by what he could do." Jack answered growing thoughtful, wondering how the world would react and the questions raised. If Yugi showed back up looking 19, and if he returned to dueling... Well he wasn't a Turbo Duelist, so the group was safe from being shown up that hard. For now.
But would Yugi take up Turbo Dueling?
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Fubuki, Yusuke \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The night air was cool and crisp, the sky mostly clear as the pair stared up into the sky. Asuka had stepped inside to help clean up after their dinner. Said meal was another feast lovingly crafted by the siblings mom. Everything that Fubuki enjoyed in double portions, enough to see the poor guy into a food coma at this rate.
"I'm sorry, Yusuke. I tried to rescue the real one... but..." Fubuki began startling his lone guest into whipping around to look at him, naked shock in his eyes. "I don't even know what cards he used, Yusuke overwhelmed me."
Honest stood there, his mouth dropping open in shock as the guilt washed over him. "I don't know what you're talking about, I'm right here." He replied, desperate to keep the ruse up. 'How does he see past the illusion? I put him under the same as everyone else...'
Fubuki gave a dead eyed smile as he pulled out his side deck and produced a single card from it. He held it up and even in the faded distant light of the living room, Honest could see the Red Eyes Dragon Mask that Fubuki had been wearing. Now a card, no different than any other duel monster card. "Its still calling me to come home."
Gutted Honest felt tears well up into his eyes as his head sank down. "Forgive me, please forgive me. I never meant for this to happen..."