A/N: These final two chapters briefly bring in Aki as one of the narrators, sort of phasing into the next part of the story (the 'sequel' fic covering the Dark Signer arc), in which Aki is a more major character and will narrate as frequently as Mei has over the course of this one.

Episode 19: King and Calamity

"You're not allowed past this point. I'm going to have to ask you to-" I promptly kicked the suited guard in the man bits and knocked him out with a headbutt. Yusei dropped the other one with a a corkscrew uppercut and we charged through the door towards the stairs that lead to Goodwin's sky box.

Yusei had made it all too clear that Goodwin was a prime suspect in Koyou's kidnapping, being the one who organized the tournament with the intent of gathering the Signers and Koyou having a mark. The fact that he'd kidnapped Yusei's friends to force him into the tournament was all the more evidence against him. I was about to charge straight in when I recognized a voice that was speaking inside. I stopped Yusei and listened in at the door, Yusei soon followed suit.

Goodwin sounded like and arrogant bastard as he replied, "Prof. Kou, you yourself know full well that I'm not the one responsible for the disappearance of your son. I have no interest in that boy at all. I don't have any use for him."

"What about his mark? Seems like a Signer mark." My dad retorted. It sounded like he was testing Goodwin.

"That looks nothing like any of the pieces?"

That shocked Yusei.

"You're still suspicious, Goodwin. You don't seem at all surprised that someone has a fake Mark of the Dragon. Someone legally dead."

"I have far more important things to concern myself with. I'm sure someone in your station is aware that they've already started acting."

They?

"That's none of my concern."

"Really? I thought that sort of things was tied to your destiny?"

Dad chuckled, "I can see you have no children, Mr. Goodwin. When you have children, their destiny replaces yours. They are the only thing that matters right now."

"Then you should be looking for your son rather than wasting time talking to me."

Dad agreed, "If I find out my suspicions are right and you really are behind this, then I'll be coming to see you again."

The door came open and Dad didn't seem surprised to see me there. He had a look on his face I'd never seen him have. It wasn't anger. It was something else, beyond that. It was unsettling. He grabbed my arm and stopped me from going in, then turned to Yusei, "I believe you have some other concerns to address with him?"

Yusei read the atmosphere and stepped in to confront Goodwin, with Dad pulling me like he did back at the police station. It was the kind of pull, reinforced with the entire authority of a father, that no child could resist. I did confront him verbally though, even though speaking was hard in the wake of his mood, "Dad, what was that about? You already knew Koyou was missing?"

"I was there when a second ambulance pulled up and made my conclusions rather swiftly. I assume you came across the resulting confusion?"

"Yeah, but that other stuff you and Goodwin talked about-"

He stopped and turned to me, "That's got nothing to do with you."

"But Dad-"

He got firm with me verbally, it was the first time in years he used his authority on me, "Koyou is going to be fine. You are staying here and you are going to enjoy the last round. Sit far from the track though it could get messy. I'm going to get Koyou now."

"Dad-"

"No discussion. Don't you trust me? Aren't I your father? If you can't rely on me to protect you kids what good am I?"

"I'm not a kid anymore."

"I'm still not putting you in danger when it's not required. Plus I don't want you to see what I'm going to do to Divine."

He eyes tried to be gentle, but there was something behind them boiling that scared the hell out of me. In my very soul I knew that whatever he was planning, I didn't want to be anywhere near it. "Fine, but both of you come back safe okay? With Aki if possible."

He smiled, "I promise."

"And give Divine an extra dose of unspeakable horror for me."

"Deal."

Dad brought me to Tanner and the others, told them to make sure I stayed with them, and ignored all questions about the matter. He simply went off, most certainly to pay a visit to the Arcadia Movement trailer outside or perhaps the headquarters itself.

Aki's Perspective

I was being prepped for submersion in the rejuvenation tank when I heard a ruckus outside the transport. "Sir, I'm going have to ask you to step-"

Suddenly my mark began to ache and the wall caved in, the dent somehow taking on the shape of a man in the grip of a giant hand. The cry of another guard being flung through the air reached my ears. Of course I was terrified. Something was suddenly attacking us and I was in no condition to fight it away with my powers.

Divine smiled, standing up, "Oh, it seems an old friend has come to visit."

When he moved to go outside, I grabbed his arm, fearful for him, "Divine! Don't go out there!"

He gently clasped the sides of my head and kissed me on the forehead, "Calm down. It's nothing to be afraid of. It's just Mr. Kou. Care to talk to him.

I recoiled.

He pulled me to my feet, "Come on, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again."

With that, he lead me towards the door and stepped out, stopping at the door so I would be safe in the stairs. Much to my shock, he'd been right. The only one there was Kai-sensei. Divine greeted him warmly, "Professor, welcome! What brings you here?"

"Where's Koyou?"

"I believe I saw someone by that name being carried of in an ambulance a while ago. You should pay better attention."

Sensei glared, "That wasn't the real ambulance. Koyou was kidnapped."

I gasped. Divine simply shrugged, "The first person you suspect is me? I already promised to not go near your family again. I'm a man of my word."

Kai-sensei looked at me. It was a frightening look, like a furious man eying someone in his way, "Why don't you go back inside Aki-chan? This is a private discussion."

I clutched Divine protectively, fearing my old teacher intended to hurt him. Divine placed a hand on mine to comfort me and grinned warmly at his aggressor, "Aki doesn't need to go anywhere. There's nothing for us to discuss. You should be looking for your son rather than harassing us. You rejected our kind years ago, why should I bother with yours?"

Sensei glanced at me again, pondering something. As if he were tempted to get violent even in front of me, "You're a real bastard, Divine. You knew I wouldn't do anything to you with Aki arround, so you brought her with you. I bet you even made it sound like you were being considerate of her."

"I'm hurt that you think so little of me. Aki is like my daughter."

"Oh I see what you really see Aki as and it's far from a daughter." He turned to leave, "I'll be talking to you later."

He left and Divine turned to me, "Sorry you had to see what kind of man he really is."

I glanced over, still unsettled, at the frightening dent in the side of the transport. On this side, I could see whatever had caused the impact had also charred the metal slightly. It was like something a high-level psychic duelist could do. Looking at Kai-sensei walking away, I knew I would have nightmares about whatever power he had... because the man hadn't even been carrying a duel disk at the time. I grabbed my arm as a went back to the chamber, remembering how it had throbbed and ached when that power was used. It was familiar, but I'd never felt it from the mark before. I'd felt the same thing on a trip to the zoo once, when I'd first seen a mother lion in person. It was the fear of being around something that could either be kind, or tear you to pieces. Uncertain danger could often be the most frightening.

Mei's Perspective

I found it hard to concentrate on what was going on on the field when all I wanted was to go help my brother. Tanner, Yanagi, and the twins did their best to be nice a cheer me up (none of them knowing Koyou was missing) but I just wasn't into it. I mostly ignored the announcer and what remained of the crowd. Yusei and Jack got in place to start their turbo duel and I watched on with only the mildest interest, even though it was such a huge deal. It couldn't compare to my concerns.

"Duel!"

Yusei: 4000 vs Jack: 4000

Yusei set a monster and two face downs. Jack saw through the move and summoned Twin-Sword Marauder, attacking twice and piercing through the defense of the set Shield Wing, even though the monster's effect kept it from falling from the battles. After that Jack ended with a face down.

Yusei: 2600 vs Jack: 4000

Yusei drew, summoned out Junk Synchron and synchro summoned Junk Warrior, using it to destroy Twin-Sword Marauder. Yusei then used the trap Synchro Blast to inflict 500 damage every time one of his synchros attacks.

Yusei: 2600 vs Jack: 2800

Jack trumped the move, summoning a Dark Tinker, reviving Marauder with a trap that boosted it's level by one, then brought out his Red Dragon Archfiend. The huge devilish dragon loomed large over the duel with 3000 attack. He then drew a card by Dark Tinker's effect and went after Junk Warrior right before setting three cards.

Yusei: 1900 vs Jack: 2800

My interest got a little more intense when Yusei activated his set Descending Lost Star, bringing back Junk Warrior in defense and the trap dropped its defense to 0 and its level by one. Then he brought out a previously unseen tuner: Hyper Synchron, tuning the two level 4 monsters together for his level 8 Stardust Dragon. Thanks to Hyper Synchron, Stardust gained 800 attack. Jack seized Hyper Synchron through a trap called Tuner Capture.

Despite that, the two Signer dragons were opposing each other, and soon sparks were flying more literally than usual. Bolts of red lighting surged throughout he arena and moments later a huge crimson dragon ignited into existence, large enough to give the whole duel arena a hug. In the next moment it spread its wings and there was a flash of light that refused to die down. I couldn't see or hear anything except the clamor of of the audience freaking out. What the hell was going on?

Koyou's Perspective

I awoke surrounded by a sphere of red energy, flying at high speed along a path of light. I was shocked to see Yusei turbo-dueling Jack beneath me, losing a bit but seemingly making a comeback. They seemed equally shocked about our current environment, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I looking to my right and saw Luna and Aki in similar bubbles to my own, though they were transfixed on the duel and apparently hadn't noticed me.

Back below, a field of ancient Aztec, or maybe Mayan, people were engaged in a ritual, bowing before five people that were praying to the sky. Each of the five had a mark on their arms to correspond to a part of the Mark of the Crimson Dragon. I immediately noticed that my own mark (glowing brightly on my arm, didn't resemble any of them. It was a shocking twist, and I had no idea what it could mean. At least not completely. It was all too clear I was not a Signer. What my mark was and why I was privy to this scene if I wasn't one of the Signers was a mystery.

The duel continued after an unheard exchange between the two duelists. Yusei attacked Red Dragon Archfiend with his boosted Stardust, only to be countered by a trap called Tuner's Mind, which split the dragon into it's parts and forced Yusei to attack the defense position Dark Tinker. Yusei's face up Synchro Blast inflicted 500 damage to Jack.

Yusei: 1900 vs Jack: 2300

Jack combined his Twin-Sword Marauder and Hyper Synchron to re-summon Red Dragon Archfiend with 800 more attack and protection from detruction in battle. It struck Stardust Dragon, who must have been taking advantage of the same effect. He then pelted my friend with a face down card called Fiend Cannon, then set two cards.

Yusei: 900 vs Jack: 2300

Yusei began his counterattack by sactivated a speed spell called Silver contrails, boosting Stardust's power by 1000 and attacking Red Dragon Archfiend. Synchro Blast tacked on more damage. He then set three cards.

Yusei: 900 vs Jack: 1300

With Stardust power back down, Jack went after it, only to run into a trap from Yusei called Crossline Counter that boosted Stardust to 4300 attack. Jack went for a combination, activated Speed Spell – Overboost to accelerate to 11 speed counters and then activated Speed Spell – The End of Storm. Yusei countered the destruction effect using Stardust Dragon. Jack capitalized with something called Sneak Exploder. It never went off, so I'm not sure what it was supposed to do. Yusei's Stardust revived and he went for a card called Meteor Stream, but it was countered by Jack's Crimson Fire, which was in turn countered by Yusei's Shining Silver Force, which negaed it and destroyed al of Jacks spells and traps. Due to Overboost, Jack's Speed Counters went down to one and Yusei passed him. At the start of his next turn, Yusei ended the duel with Speed Spell – Final Attack, boosting Stardust to 5000 attack and Jack's life points hit 0 rather hard.

In the very next moment I came back to the real world and found myself sumerged in water, wearing a wetsuit. There were wires attached to me, probably monitoring my life signs. My whole body ached as it became reacquainted with my wounds. I glanced at my arm as the throbbing there stopped. My mark wasn't glowing anymore, but it was still there.

I could hear voices coming from the other room, "Yes, Divine, subject Omega has woken up. The next phase of the brainwashing procedure can proceed. We received some interference while he was out, but the energy is gone now. The mark is also working an maximum." Brainwashing? "Yes, sir, it is ironic that the slowest developing specimen unlocked the power first."

What the hell? I tried to get up, but I promptly noticed that I was restrained. I tried to break them anyway, but they were metal. I was freaking out as anyone would at the mention of brainwashing and being called a specimen. The machine started up and my arm immediately started burning fiercely. Bolts of energy arced out from my body and filled the room, shorting out pretty much everything, even the lights. My bonds released and I pondered the idiocy of an emergency release on restraints as I hoped out of the machine and froced open the sliding doors to the room.

There was a female scientist there, appropriately panicking into her phone, "S-sir, Omega just shorted out everything in the chamber and broke out. He seems angry."

I heard a shout of "AGAIN?" from the other side of the call.

Snatching the phone, I caught Divine saying, "Have security subdue him and take him to the rooftop for the experiment. I think it's time."

He hung up. I threw the phone aside and was about to advance on the scientist, when I noticed the room I was in. There was five upright tubes one the walls, all wired to a duel runner being used as a generator. My head throbbed. I recognized that lace from many flashbacks. Why was it here? What did this mean? I noticed a sixth horizontal chamber in pieces, as if something terrible had broken free from it. My head ached even more and I buckled over.

Memories flooded my mind, I saw myself erupting from the chamber and looking around. Brutally killing all who tried to stop me with my bare hands, breaking out of the room as if it were nothing. Why was I seeing myself in a flashback. It seemed like... it seemed like I was-

My thoughts were cut off as I took a stun gun to the back of the neck and blacked out. The voice of the scientist was the last thing I heard as I lostt consciousness, "Next time, get in here before it nearly kills me! I'm a scientist! I shouldn't have to subdue people! Now, Divine says to take him to the roof. It's time for the Endgame Project to go into the final phase. Notify Subjects Alpha, Beta...," My consciousness drifted away into darkness.

Next Chapter: The Endgame Project

Set in stone events: The truth is revealed as Divine makes his play to seize the power of the Crimson Dragon. Koyou is forced to accept a horrifying reality and is trapped in a duel with the future on the line. Can Koyou, alone, thwart the plans of the sinister Divine?

Find out, as Stardust Accelerator ends next chapter and the next phase of the story is announced!

Countdown: 1