Whew! Took me longer to finish this chapter, but I at least finished it before the week ended! Anyways, the characters introduced in this chapter are once again brought to you by lordsoftheroses. I have said this twice already, but I cannot stress it enough for you to read lordsoftheroses Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds stories. If you already PMed me, just send me a link if you are interested. Oh, and please enjoy the chapter.
*Classroom, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It was after classes and Shroud was standing next to Spiral's seat, talking with him and Momo.
"Let's discuss today's mission." Shroud said.
"What mission?" Spiral asked.
"We need to find Jeremy Griffan and make him tell us everything he knows." Shroud explained. "Honestly, I thought that was obvious."
"Shroud, you still have a long ways to go until you fully understand other people." Spiral commented. "Besides, have you seen him at all since then?"
"… No." Shroud's head drooped.
"I wonder if we can find anything by looking it up online?" Momo asked.
Shroud felt like a light bulb just lit up over his head. "I got it! I can look up his wife's former name and maybe we can find some clues."
"Who's this person you're looking for?" Aura came up behind them and sat in her seat.
"Oh, uh…" Spiral was flustered and didn't know what to say.
"Spiral, are you hiding something?" Aura asked.
Spiral just stayed silent, but he wasn't putting on a good poker face.
"It's only our business, so-" Shroud was about to say.
"Shroud, stay out of this." Aura scolded at Shroud. "Spiral, I saw you going in and out of the principal's office several times already. You always talk to Shroud and Momo and you barely talk to anyone else anymore. What are you doing?"
Spiral had to contemplate this for a moment until finally speaking up. "Aura, you know I would never tell a lie to you, right?"
"Yes…" Aura simply responded.
"Well, I'll tell you about what's been going on."
"What? !" Both Shroud and Momo seemed shocked.
"Shroud, Momo, I want you guys to look up that thing you mentioned."
"But Spiral-" Momo was about to speak.
"Don't worry about it." Spiral told them. "Everything's going to be just fine."
In the school library, Shroud was at a computer while Momo stood behind him.
"Okay, if we look up that family name, we might at least be able to ask the residents where they live." Shroud said.
"What if he went back to America?" Momo asked.
"I overheard him tell the principal that he and his family will be here for a while. I don't think there will be too many implications." Shroud answered while looking on the computer.
"Let's see… I believe his wife's last name used to be… 'Nagato'… I found something!" Shroud looked on a web page. "The first place we can try is the Nagato Estate. I'll look up for anything else so we can cover all bases."
"You guys are looking up where the Nagato's live?"
A voice came from behind them and they turned around to find that it was Naoto who asked that question.
"Are you guys planning to make a heist to steal all of their Duel Monsters Cards?" Naoto jokingly questioned.
"No, no, nothing like that." Momo responded.
"Well, if you're going for a visit, do you mind if I come along?" Naoto asked. "To say I've visited the home of the head of Industrial Illusions Japan is sure to make a lot of people here jealous. I also overheard Ms. Krystal asking herself whether she'll stop for a visit or not."
"Wait, do you think Ms. Krystal knows them?" Momo realized. "If she was talking about them, then maybe we should ask her!"
"I think I've found every possible home!" Shroud finished his computer work. "Where shall we go first?"
"First, we go see Ms. Krystal." Momo told Shroud.
"Why?" Shroud seemed confused.
"Were you listening to anything we said?"
Shroud, Momo and Naoto arrived at the teacher's lounge and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Ms. Krystal's voice could be heard from inside.
"Ms. Krystal, can we ask you something?" Naoto asked.
"Come in." Ms. Krystal opened the door and let the three of them in. "What can I do you kids for?"
"Which of these houses belongs to the Nagato family?" Shroud handed her the printed pictures of the various houses.
"My friend saw this 'Mr. Griffan' at school the other day and we were wondering if you knew where he lived." Momo summed things up.
"Why are you guys asking this? Jeremy's not really famous." Krystal stated.
"Well, Shroud here is a big fan of his!" Momo put her hands on Shroud's shoulders. "He called him… what was it you called him again?"
"The only American duelist I actually respect." Shroud answered.
"You do know that I'm American, right?" Krystal pointed out to Shroud.
"… My point stands." Shroud simply said.
"And there you have it!" Momo confirmed.
"Well… I guess it's okay. I mean, as long as I'm with you kids, he'll definitely let you in." Krystal said. "So, it's just Shroud, right?"
"Actually, it's going to be us and Spiral." Momo told Ms. Krystal.
"Alright. Let's get Spiral, and then get going." Ms. Krystal told them as they left the office.
Ms. Krystal had picked up Spiral and Aura and took the whole group to the front gate a large mansion. She pressed the intercom at the front gate and spoke into it.
"Hey, Jeremy, it's Krystal!" Krystal spoke into the intercom cheerfully. "I brought some fans of yours!"
"Hi, Krystal!" A female voice came out of the intercom. "Jeremy's not home yet."
"Makoto! It's been so long! Can we come in anyway?" Ms. Krystal asked.
"Um… okay. I'll open the gate." The other girl said.
The front gate opened up and they all walked up to the house.
"Wow! These people must be rich!" Spiral was in awe at the majesty of the mansion.
"Jeremy's actually a middle-class worker, but his wife, Makoto, comes from a very wealthy family." Ms. Krystal explained. "Her father owns Industrial Illusions Japan, so she has access to cards that even WE don't know about."
"Is Makoto the person who answered the intercom?" Aura asked.
"Yep!" Ms. Krystal answered. "We all had good times a few years ago. We haven't seen each other in a while, so I wonder how things have been going since the last time I saw them."
They finally made it to the front door and it was opened by a pretty, cute woman that was the same age as Krystal. She was wearing a yellow sweatshirt and black pants and had long, black hair. Both the woman and Krystal hugged each other.
"Oh, Krystal! It's so good to see you again!" The woman greeted as she hugged her.
"Makoto! You haven't changed a bit!" Ms. Krystal then felt something. "I think I spoke too soon."
"What?" Makoto didn't understand.
"Your… boobs are now the same size as mine!" Ms. Krystal said as she started fondling them.
"K-Krystal!" Makoto blushed furiously and pushed her back. "Not while there are other people here!"
"Oh, they're going to see it sooner or later in their lives." Ms. Krystal shrugged off. "That diet must be doing wonders for you."
"Well, I can't cook and Jeremy's busy, so I usually either have my sister or the chefs take care of the cooking." Makoto commented. "Actually, it's helped this whole family. We're all eating healthier and that'll make our family live much longer. Oh, and who are these young kids?"
"That's right, I never introduced you all. Makoto, these are children from my class at Tokyo U." Ms. Krystal introduced her students. "They are Spiral, Aura, Momo, Naoto and… Shroud. Shroud's a little quirky. Kids, this is my friend, Makoto Nagato."
"Actually, it's Makoto Griffan now." Makoto corrected Ms. Krystal. "We're married, remember? You WERE at the wedding."
"Oh yeah." Ms. Krystal said. "Anyway, Shroud here is a fan of Jeremy's and would like to meet him."
"Then why are these other kids here?" Makoto asked.
"Because we're his friends and we would like to see if this person lives up to the hype." Momo answered.
"He certainly does…" Makoto's mind began to drift. "He might have lost a few times, but there's no one else I think is better… as a duelist… as a lover…"
"Okay!" Aura interrupted. "I think we've heard enough!"
They entered the mansion and the students were in awe looking at the place.
"Wow, this is even bigger than my parents' place." Aura stated.
"Are you rich, too, Aura?" Naoto asked.
"We're very wealthy, but we're a bit conservative about the cost of living." Aura answered. "That's why we live in small mansions rather than places this big."
"Mommy…"
A little 3-year-old girl walked up to Makoto and she picked her up.
"What do you need, Kasumi?" Makoto asked the little girl.
"Oh, little Kasumi!" Ms. Krystal began talking in baby talk. "How are you? You miss me?"
"You have a kid?" Spiral asked.
"Yep!" Makoto smiled. "This is my daughter, Kasumi. Say 'hi', Kasumi."
"… Hi…" Kasumi simply said.
The way she said that (which is pretty much how every little girl says that) was so adorable, that everyone said…
"Awww…"
"Oh, good. It is just you." A stoic and monotone voice said.
Just then, another girl that looked like she was a year younger than Makoto walked up to them. She had short hair, an emotionless face and her chest was flat.
"I was concerned for my sister, so I sent Kasumi to check on you." The girl said without a single sign of emotion.
"Wouldn't it be better to send yourself than send a young child to see if your sister was being lynched?" Spiral questioned Yuki.
"… Oh, right." The girl said without any emotion again.
"This is my sister, Yuki Nagato. She helps me with the cooking when we're in America and when we're here, she helps me take care of Kasumi." Makoto introduced her younger sister.
"Yuki Nagato…" Spiral muttered. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"Who are these people?" Yuki asked. "Why are they here?"
"These are my students and someone just happened to be a fan of Jeremy." Ms. Krystal pointed to Shroud.
"I thought you were teaching at Tokyo University. Why is this student so small?" Yuki wondered.
"Because I'm 10." Shroud answered. "I haven't even hit puberty, unlike my four friends here. Just the other day in the bath, I noticed that Naoto had-"
"Don't tell them where I have hair!" Naoto covered Shroud's mouth.
The sound of the front door opening had filled the lobby and Kasumi's face started glowing (metaphorically, of course) and Makoto let her down.
"Daddy!" Kasumi then hugged the person who entered, who was Jeremy Griffan.
"I'm glad to see you, sweety." Mr. Griffan hugged her back. "How was your day?"
"Good." Kasumi simply said and pointed to everyone that was there.
"Oh, Krystal, it's been a while." Mr. Griffan said when he saw Krystal. "What brings you here?"
"You guys, of course!" Krystal told him. "I brought some of my students along because they wanted to see you."
"Really?" Mr. Griffan seemed confused. "Usually, it's either you, Ali or Colin, but…"
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Griffan, but there's something we want to ask you." Spiral interrupted. "Alone… Maybe this phrase will help you understand… 'Demons are suffering'…"
Mr. Griffan thought for a moment. "All right, then. Follow me to my office."
Only Shroud and Spiral had followed Mr. Griffan to his office, which had a desk with a computer, stacks of paper and a dry-erase board, and he locked the door.
"I have a question for you: Are you members of the Umbra?" Mr. Griffan interrogated them.
"The who?" Spiral didn't seem to understand. "We just have questions about what you talk about with our principal. We saw you before we rescued someone from this other world."
"'Other world', you say?" Mr. Griffan repeated. "So are you responsible for whatever's been happening?"
"No!" Spiral protested. "In fact, we've been risking our lives (and my clothes) trying to save people who went into that other world! The principal is the one who introduced us to it in the first place!"
"You have to believe us!" Shroud got on his knees and begged.
"… All right, then." Mr. Griffan stopped questioning them. "For now. If it's what I told your principal that you want, I'll tell you. I might be a math savant, but I'm also a savant in psychology. A sentence like 'he must have had some demons' refers to the person's personal suffering. So when your principal told me about a Demon, it fit just about every description of the term. I also heard that one of you got a special card. Can I see it for a moment?"
Shroud handed Mr. Griffan his Gungear card and he looked at it.
"Hmm… I can see the similarities, but this card is not what I thought it was." Mr. Griffan handed Shroud his card back.
"What do you mean by 'similarities'?" Shroud questioned.
"Since you're already involved in something supernatural, I guess there's no harm in telling you." Mr. Griffan started to tell a story. "A few years ago, these special cards appeared and they were a representation of their owners' soul. It was called a 'Soul Card'. These were placed in their Extra Decks, but they weren't Synchro, Fusion or your Xyz Cards. These monsters were a part of their souls and each one had a certain condition in order to be summoned."
"Mr. Griffan, if this isn't a Soul Card, then what is it?" Shroud asked as he held out his card again.
"This is just a theory, but there's a term for the ability to overcome personal demons." Mr. Griffan was thinking. "I believe it is called… 'Spirit'. Spirit is the will to overcome obstacles, both physical and emotional. Maybe that card is a representation of your spirit, of you overcoming your personal Demons. They're like Soul Cards, but they're something else entirely."
"Have you ever been inside the mirror?" Spiral asked.
"No, I probably could a few years ago, but I don't think I could now." Mr. Griffan answered. "It's a long story explaining why, but let's just leave it at that for now. Your friends and my family must be getting worried."
"Thank you for the information, Mr. Griffan." Spiral thanked him.
"I appreciate the formalities, but if you just want to call me Jeremy, that's fine with me." Jeremy said as they left the room.
Meanwhile, back downstairs in one of the living rooms, Kasumi was playing with some of her toys, Makoto and Krystal were playing along with her and Aura, Momo, Naoto and Yuki were sitting on the couch, watching the television that was on for Kasumi.
"Are you guys seriously watching Pokemon?" Aura asked.
"Jeremy's not too crazy about the show, but Kasumi likes it." Makoto answered. "It's really just the English version that's kind of going downhill."
"I haven't watched it, but I agree." Naoto said. "I once compared the different voice actors for it and the old ones were perfect. Even though they allow the former company's voice actors back, they only let them do minor character roles."
Jeremy, Spiral and Shroud came back down and entered the living room.
"How did things go?" Momo asked.
"We have a fair amount of new information." Spiral said.
"A fair amount?" Shroud didn't understand. "Did we get closer to solving this case?"
"Shroud, let it go until we leave." Spiral winked at Shroud.
"Do you have a twitch?" Shroud asked.
"Ugh! Never mind!" Spiral said in exasperation.
"Say, how good of duelists are you kids?" Makoto asked them.
"They're young, but they show a lot of potential." Ms. Krystal praised them.
"Ooh, how about one of us duels Mr. Griffan to show how good we are? !" Shroud started to get excited and raised his hand. "I volunteer!"
"I don't see why not." Mr. Griffan accepted Shroud's challenge.
Everyone went to the mansion's backyard and Mr. Griffan and Shroud got themselves ready to duel.
"A word of warning, kid: even in non-competitive matches, I don't hold back." Jeremy warned.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you!" Shroud understood.
"Then I hope you don't mind that I'll start!" Jeremy drew his first card.
Shroud (LP 4000) Jeremy (LP 4000)
"I summon a card face-down in defense mode and set two cards face-down! That ends my turn!"
Shroud drew his first card. "I know exactly what you're going for, so I'll just place this monster face-down in defense mode and end my turn!"
"Then it's my turn again." Jeremy said as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell Card Book of Taiyou! This flips any face-down monster on the field into face-up attack position! I think I'll use it on your face-down monster!"
Jeremy had revealed Shroud's face-down Magipsytech Summoner (Lv.2 1100/500).
"Next, I reveal my face-down Trap DNA Transplant! This changes the Attributes of all cards to one of my choosing! I choose to change all cards into Fire cards! Now I flip over my face-down Hiita the Fire Charmer (Lv.3 500/1500) so I can use her ability to gain control of a Fire card! Since Magipsytech Summoner is now a Fire card, Hiita can control it!"
Hiita raised her staff and a red glow engulfed Magipsytech Summoner, causing him to move to Jeremy's side of the field.
"Now I send both Hiita and your Magipsytech Summoner to the Graveyard so I can Special Summon from my Deck Familiar-Possessed-Hiita (Lv.4 1850/1500)! Then I summon Magician's Valkyria (Lv.4 1600/1800)! I equip Magician's Valkyria with Wonder Wand to grant her 500 attack points! Both of you, attack him directly!"
Both Hiita and Magician's Valkyria attacked Shroud and reduced his Life Points to 0.
Shroud (LP 0) Jeremy (LP 4000)
"Yay, Daddy!" Kasumi clapped her hands at the sight of her father winning.
"Chalk up another perfect win for me." Jeremy praised himself. "It may have been a complete victory for me, but you did at least read my moves." Jeremy placed his hand on Shroud's shoulder. "Dueling may be all about fun, but achieving victory requires thinking ahead and making the move that's available to you. I worked hard trying to build this Deck and the payoff has been satisfying."
"But you're not that famous." Ms. Krystal ruined the mood.
"That's because everyone's attention is on everyone else!" Jeremy responded in partial jealousy. "Anyway, just listen to what I or Krystal say and you'll be a tournament-worthy duelist in no time."
Shroud felt happy when Jeremy said those words to him.
"All right, students!" Ms. Krystal spoke up again. "I think it's time we head back to the Academy."
"It was a privilege dueling with you, sir." Shroud thanked Jeremy.
"I'm always happy to help any way I can." Mr. Griffan said.
The Griffans watched everyone leave and Jeremy spoke up when they were out of earshot.
"Those kids… remind me of us a few years ago." Jeremy started to reminisce. "The whole team… those were the days. It was fun, but I enjoy my life as a father and a husband." Jeremy then hugged and kissed his wife. "Later tonight, you wanna-"
"Jeremy, you know I'm always up for that." Makoto smiled at him and they both began giggling amorously.
As Ms. Krystal and the students were walking home, Aura started talking to Spiral.
"Spiral, there's something I've been meaning to tell you all day, but I just never got the chance to do so." Aura said.
"What is it, Aura?" Spiral asked.
"Um… I kind of signed us both up for looking after orphans on Sundays." Aura answered nervously.
"…" Spiral was silent. "Why did you sign me up without me saying anything? !"
"I figured that you'd do it anyway." Aura answered. "I mean, you love helping people, right?"
"I do and I would, but I'd feel better about this if you just asked me first!" Spiral lashed back. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it now…"
"Don't worry, Spiral." Aura assured him. "It might be fun. You already take care of a kid yourself already."
"Which kid?" Momo wondered.
"Shroud." Naoto knew what they meant.
"Hey! I'm not a kid!" Shroud protested.
"You're almost 10, inconsiderate and have a fascination with trains…" Naoto pointed out. "That pretty much defines a child."
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Alexis Tipton Aura
Monica Rial Momo
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
J. Michael Tatum Jeremy
Wendee Lee Ms. Krystal
Janice Kawaye Makoto
Preview
Spiral: If any of you readers have not read any of the stories by lordsoftheroses, you will be completely lost on these characters. That cannot be stressed enough.
Aura: But next time, it looks like Spiral's going to become a big brother figure to one of the oprhans.
Spiral: Huh? Which one?
Aura: It's a secret.
Spiral: Oh, just a reminder to everyone, I cannot tell a lie unless it is important to do so.
Aura: So, you'd lie to your wife?
Spiral: Of course not!
Aura: In the next chapter of Awakening of the Soul! Big Brother Spi! Oh, this next chapter is going to be SOOO cute!