"I wish Nanashi could have lived to grow to such an age…", Flynn thought.
I just hope Nanashi doesn't let me down again.-Lucian Naruto
It depends on the route…Bonds Nanashi wouldn't. Anarchy on the other hand…
Chapter 60 Infernal Tokyo
Flynn once again found himself in a white space without his fellows in sight. Suddenly the four white appeared before him.
"Your atom has brushed against one possible world. It is the possible world that he chooses to preserve.", White K said.
"…You have sensed it. You know that the future you chose to preserve was swallowed by an even higher power's will to preserve.", White Issachar said.
"However, you have the choice to not preserve. We shall show you that possibility too.", White Hugo said.
"But do not forget…", White Isabeau said
"What lies in store for the future of humans is a wasteland of despair because they are mere tools.", the White said, before Flynn's vision went white again.
Flynn woke up in the underground base of Kasumigaseki again. He rubbed his head in exasperation feeling massive deja vu. The base seemed to be in disarray.
"Hoy, are you awake? We're back at the Counter-Spirit Force base…", Walter said.
"Not this again…", Flynn murmured.
A bizarre green skinned man walked in drawing their attention.
"Who's there!?", Jonathan questioned, warily.
"That's my line. You just suddenly appeared at our hideout—Huh…? Those are military grade duel disks…Oh, this is perfect. Akira! Hey, Akira!", the bizarre man said, before he left shouting.
"Akira…?", Walter questioned.
"It seems there's another Akira too.", Flynn said.
They walked out of the room and were stunned to see the base was full of spirits. They tensed before they realized the spirits weren't going to attack them. Though, they gave them weird looks except Walter that made them uncomfortable. The look in their eyes was that of someone seeing a tasty meal.
"Ah…damn! It looks like those handsome neurishers are already taken.", a female spirit said, seeming to hold back drool.
"Are those duel disks? Why do neurishers need those?", male spirit 1 questioned.
"Neurishers…?", Jonathan questioned, cluelessly.
"Man he's lucky…their souls look delectable.", male spirit 2 said and Walter was confused at the jealous looks.
"What are they talking about?", Walter questioned.
"I have no idea…but these guys look like they want to eat us…", Flynn whispered.
They looked through the various rooms trying to ignore the stares. Finally they found the bizarre man again. With him was a demon with brown skin along with red and white patterns around his body. He was completely naked with gold eyes and spiky black hair. The whites of his eyes were black and one of his red marks went over his cheek in the same place as Akira. He had fangs, pointed ears and claws.
"…Who the hell are these guys?", the other spirit questioned.
"These are the guys I was talking about, Akira. See? Their arms, look at their arms.", the bizarre man said as he pointed at them.
"This man's also called Akira?", Walter questioned.
"The Intruders came to meet with me…? Lady Luck is on my side.", Akira said.
"'Intruders'…?", Jonathan questioned.
"Alright, listen. You need to help me out. We're gonna beat Kenji together.", Akira said.
"Kenji…?", Jonathan questioned, recognizing the name.
"Why?", Flynn questioned.
"Y'know, Kenji? As in, the King of Tokyo? Hmm…You guys are a little weird. I wonder…Lemme ask ya this: where'd you come from?", Akira replied, clearly confused by them.
"We know nothing of this Akira or this world. Perhaps we should simply say we're from Tokyo and see how he reacts?", Jonathan whispered.
"I think we should just say we're from the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado.", Walter whispered.
"What are you whispering about? I asked a simple question. Where'd you come from?", Akira questioned.
"The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado.", Flynn replied, simply with a deadpan expression.
"Ah! What are you saying…!?", Jonathan questioned, raising his eyebrow.
"The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado…!? Where's that? Russia? China? Ha, I ask like it really matters. Look, I don't care who you are. Let's work together, okay? Besides, if Kenji's men find you, you're dead.", Akira said.
Flynn looked skeptical at the last part and his fellows gave him knowing looks
"I'm not so sure about that last part.", Flynn replied confidently stunning Akira.
"What do you mean…?", Jonathan questioned.
"It seems Kenji's shaking in his boots after what the Prophets of the White World told him. When the Intruders touch the remote, Kenji's gonna die.", Akira said.
"Remote…?", Walter questioned.
"You're interested in the remote, huh? Well, I'll fill you in as we go. See, I think you guys are the Intruders from the prophecy. If you join me, I won't let him kill ya. Let me know if you're interested.", Akira said.
Flynn thought about it for a moment realizing the only way to get the remote was by cooperating with him like the other Akira.
"We are. We need that remote.", Flynn said as he stepped forward and Akira smirked.
"Heheh…hell yeah.", Akira replied, ecstatic.
"So…where is this man Kenji?", Jonathan questioned.
"Don't rush me, goody-two-shoes. There's an order to everything.", Akira replied.
"'Goody-two-shoes'…?", Jonathan questioned, cluelessly.
"Kenji's damn strong. We need powerful cards if we want to take him out. Northwest of here, there's a town called Shinjuku. I plan to defeat the guys in charge there and take the town.", Akira explained.
"We'll be pillaging the entire town?", Walter questioned.
"Exactly, bad boy.", Akira replied.
"So I'm 'bad boy', then…", Walter replied with a funny look.
"Why's that necessary? How strong is Kenji?", Flynn questioned.
"He has a Signer Dragon for crying out loud!", Akira replied.
"We have four.", Flynn replied casually as the two spirits looked wide eyed.
"W-what do you mean four?!", Akira questioned, incredulously.
"Actually five…Remember I have Navarre's deck, Flynn.", Jonathan reminded.
Flynn revealed Stardust Dragon and Clear Wing to show he was serious and the spirits gaped incredulously.
"C-Clear Wing?! And Stardust Dragon…you have both?", Akira questioned.
"Yup, they're rather annoying together too.", Walter commented.
"I have more of it will convince you to skip pillaging a town like petty bandits.", Flynn replied.
"You have more…?", the bizarre man questioned, looking horrified.
Flynn held up every Synchro monster in his possession and the spirits nearly fell over in shock.
"Y-you have eight…?! Okay maybe we can skip that part, vanquisher.", Akira replied, dumbfounded.
Flynn cocked his head in confusion at his nickname which seemed to have a very different tone from the others.
"Hoy, why does Flynn get a cool name rather than a weird one?", Walter questioned, incredulously.
"Are y-you sure, Akira?", the bizarre man questioned.
"Fuck it. With that kind of fire power, why waste our time? Let's go. He's at Camp Ichigaya.", Akira replied.
"I will register this as a new quest to the list.", Burroughs said.
When they left the room they still had some weird stares. They were stopped when they approached the exit.
"…Nuh-uh. Keep away from the elevator. Akira told me to not let anyone in or out right now.", the guard said.
"…And now Akira is telling you to let them use this elevator whenever they want. These guys are my special guests.", Akira replied, walking up attracting a lot of attention.
"Oh? Oh…! Does that mean that the Intruders are finally here!?", the guard questioned and Akira nodded.
He moved out of the way letting them pass. This Tokyo also had no ceiling and was on fire with spirits running everywhere and pure chaos. The Samurai looked wide eyed at the pandemonium.
"Gracious…!", Jonathan gasped.
"Errr, it seems…unstable…!", Walter said in a concerned tone.
"I've never seen such a…unique place. It's on fire. There and there and there. And…everywhere.", Flynn commented dumbfounded.
When he thought about it was similar to the place he saw Walter in his dreams. Same with Jonathan and the previous Tokyo. He wonders what this all means.
"Always hilarious to see a country boy reacting to the big city for the first time. It's like this everywhere. There's always a few gang wars going on.", Akira explained.
"This is very different from Kiyoharu's Tokyo, or ours…", Walter commented and Akira's eyes were wide for a moment before he continued.
"You can do whatever you want here, as long as you got the strength to back it up. That's the rule in Tokyo.", Akira explained.
"…..", Walter replied as his fellows looked at him.
Once upon a time a world like this would be a dream to him, but he has people he wants to protect. In a world like this everyone is in constant danger. He can still remember Navarre's sudden demise. In a world like this it was probably a common occurrence.
"How do you feel about this kind of place, Walter?", Flynn questioned as if he was testing him.
"It's simple with none of those complicated hierarchies or rules but…I dunno. This place doesn't seem to be any better than home.", Walter replied.
Akira watched the two for a moment. It seemed surreal to him.
"Now's not the time to stand around and gawk, though. We're gonna be at war ourselves soon.", Akira replied.
"This isn't a war. It's an extermination. I cannot accept anyone who would create such a vile world as a good person.", Flynn replied.
"Damn…you just love sounding badass don't you?", Akira replied.
They started heading to Camp Ichigaya. Walter looked at the chaos around and Flynn watched him closely. Jonathan looked completely clueless wondering what was with the two.
"Hoy, Akira. What are neurishers?", Jonathan asked.
"They're humans who we keep as livestock to sustain ourselves. We take a little nibble on their souls to keep us going. Not enough to cause lasting damage. It may sound bad, but you're given a choice on whether you want to be a neurisher or a spiritoid. Also the spiritoid takes care of their neurishers. As you can tell I'm the latter.", Akira explained.
Jonathan was silent for a moment before turning away.
"It seems even in a lawless system there's still hierarchy.", Jonathan replied.
"When you think about it deeply it's not too different from the class system we had back in Mikado…Sure they chose their positions, but once they did they could never go back.", Walter thought.
"It can't be avoided. That's the way of nature. Though, I'm surprised you don't know. Isn't bad boy over there a spiritoid?", Akira replied.
"I'm fused with a spirit, but I've never heard of a spiritoid.", Walter replied.
"You didn't do the surgery? You're fused with one? I guess that explains why you're different.", Akira replied.
"I used Super Polymerization to do it.", Walter explained.
"I've never heard of that card. Definitely seems like a simpler way to accomplish the transformation.", Akira replied.
"Well, Hiruko and Tayama said it's one of a kind. Apparently it was created by sacrificing a bunch of spirits.", Walter replied.
"So, that's why I never heard of it…", Akira replied.
"Kenji rules this place, but it's chaos so his power means nothing. I want a new world, but not like this.", Walter thought.
"So, those spiritoids thought we were Walter's property?", Flynn questioned.
"That's probably what they assumed.", Akira replied.
"I wouldn't want to own anyone as a slave. People are born to be free.", Walter replied.
Walter looked over to Flynn thinking of the shadowy Flynn from his dreams. The two couldn't be any more different from each other.
Flashback
He was in a similar place to where Flynn saw Walter in his dreams. The shadowy Flynn stood across from each other.
"You must gain power…The strongest will be the one to enforce their will upon the world…", the shadowy Flynn said with an eerie smile across his face.
Walter sweated nervously, reasonably freaked out by the eerier Flynn.
Flashback end
"Though in those moments where he lost control he seemed to become him for a brief time.", Walter thought as he remembered the times he saw Flynn go berserk.
They had both had to grapple with the darkness. Him nearly considering dining on their enemies souls and Flynn losing control of the dark power inside him. It was similar to what Ys said all that time ago, but the succumbing part never happened.
"I don't want to succumb to something like that. I want to protect Gina and the others with my power.", Walter thought.
They arrived in front of Camp Ichigaya after a rather short walk. Their duel runners were not even necessary.
"I hear Kenji's somewhere in here. In my dream, it was this giant room, kinda like a dome…", Kenji explained.
"…Ah, I understand.", Walter said.
"If Kenji dies, I'll finally be King of Tokyo…", Akira said.
"Akira, I'm curious. What do you plan on doing once you become king…?", Jonathan questioned.
"Promise you won't laugh?", Akira replied.
"I'd never.", Flynn replied with a smile.
"Rules have never been my thing. Frankly, I want to make Tokyo a place where we can all be equal.", Akira revealed, stunning the Samurai.
Flynn kept his smile hearing this and Jonathan looked relieved.
"You mean to have the strong and weak both be treated alike? Hmm….What do you think, Flynn?", Walter replied, seeming to ponder the idea.
"It sounds wonderful.", Flynn replied and Akira lightly blushed.
"Y…You think…?", Akira questioned, flustered.
"You're staking your own life for the benefit of others, yes? Then you'll need to be strong…King Akira.", Walter said with a smile.
"I'm honored to help in such a noble mission, King Akira.", Flynn said with a light bow making Akira more flustered.
"Ah…?!", Akira stuttered.
He felt really weird when Flynn said his name especially in that tone. He sounds like…him.
"…Alright, enough small talk. The rest is up to you.", Akira said.
Akira moved out of the way. Clear Wing pondered lecturing him too, but he was at least doing more than the other Akira. She puffed her cheeks still feeling miffed that Akira wasn't taking action himself.
"Ever since he met Ryou he nearly lost the ability to create change himself. He relies WAY too much on him when he should be doing this himself.", Clear Wong thought.
They walked through the building for the third time having practically memorized its layout by now though there were girders in the way. So, they checked in the rooms for a way to move them.
"Yer neurisher applicants, aren't ya? Sorry, I thought we finished today's bunch. Ya need to disinfect to get to the lab. The key to healthy livin' starts with choosin' clean food! Now, step right up here in front of me. Bow and hold that pose.", spiritoid 1 said.
The Samurai didn't as he said as Walter did so begrudgingly. He supposes he couldn't tell he was a spirit in his current form. The spiritoid then opened up the way and they moved onto a different room. There they saw two spiritoids talking.
"Look, I told you before…It's a sad accident, but that's the risk you take with merging.", spiritoid 2 said.
The third spiritoid was silent.
"You knew the risks when you signed up to become a spiritoid, right?", spiritoid 2 questioned.
The third spiritoid continued to be silent and Flynn looked sympathetic.
"No, there's no way to reverse the process. Give up.", spiritoid 2 said and the conversation continued.
Flynn frowned deeply when they left the room. They went to a few more rooms and got disinfected again, opening up more of the place. Eventually they found another spiritoid who gave them a key card. They then went into the elevator and went into the room where the reactor was.
"No one is around…", Jonathan said in confusion.
"Ah, it's here on the floor. Shall we get this over with?", Walter said with a smile.
"I can't let you pick that up…", a voice said.
Suddenly a spiritoid descended. His body was a bizarre hodgepodge of various spirits. He had a blue and red body suit with gold armor. On his arms were two blasters and he had avian wings on his back. He wore a red and gold helmet obscuring his face.
"What…? That's the King of Tokyo?", Walter questioned.
"Some call me that…But it doesn't matter. You're the Intruders, right? Forget about the remote…I'm getting tired of killing.", Kenji said.
"We must return to our own world. And in order to do that, we require that the gate to the Spirit World be opened.", Jonathan replied, unintimidated.
"So in the end, it boils down to this…You want the remote so bad you're willing to duel me?", Kenji questioned.
"Of course. We'll go through you if you don't feel like cooperating.", Flynn replied, confidently.
"…Then I can't let you live. Get your game on because it will be the last game of your lives.", Kenji threatened as a gold duel disk materialized on his arm.
"Hoy, I'll kick this dude's ass. I feel like I should.", Walter volunteered.
"That's right…Kenji is…Walter's past life…", Jonathan thought.
"Go ahead.", Flynn said.
"We believe in you, Walter!", Jonathan said.
Walter pointed at Kenji challengingly as he activated his gauntlet.
"I'm going to prove I've surpassed you. The future is now, old man.", Walter said.
Kenji snickered at Walter's confidence. He could swear the Samurai reminded him of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"You'll be shut down like every punk that's ever challenged me.", Kenji replied.
"Duel!", Walter said.
Walter LP 4000
Kenji LP 4000
"Walter intends to surpass his past life like I did. Perhaps through surpassing them we can surpass fate?", Flynn thought.
Flynn blinked at the latter part of his thought. What exactly did he think their fate was? And why did he have preconceived notions about it? He knew for sure the three of them were connected for some reason, but not why. They were presumably friends in the Counter Spirit Force along with Akira. He noted some strange things some spirits like Lilith and Gabriel said about them and the preconceived notions they had about them.
Flynn had a very strange feeling.
…
…
…
The spirits around them have tried to manipulate them like pawns on a chessboard, but they've avoided their manipulations. The spirits expressed extreme surprise at this. He assumes they are not quite the master manipulators they thought themselves to be, but why were they so sure about some things.
"It's pointless…", Flynn looked around when he heard the voice of White Issachar.
However, he didn't seem to be anywhere confusing Flynn.
To be continued…