Restructer Revolution
Again, my dear readers, please see the poll on my profile, and vote for the best epithet for Yusei~!
Enjoy!
VI: Recurring Nightmare
Previously:
The feeling of having energy utterly drained from his body was overwhelming, yet as Yusei watched the familiar iron scarecrow, beat up and worn from years of use, slowly rotate into being from absolutely nowhere straight into the path of the zebra's next attack, Yusei keeled over with a smile.
The Heart of the Cards, then...? Please...
From above the battlements, the other smiled, eyes like rubies gleaming in the night. "A Trap card without setting, eh, Yusei Kun? Good. This will at least ensure you survive this night."
Yusei blinked at the uncomfortable feeling of a slight migraine accompanied with the sense of being half-pulled reached his senses. "Eh...?"
He righted himself quickly despite the headache, Usopp sighing in relief beside him as the Straw Hats ran on.
"We're being cornered!" Nami screamed at the horde of zombies approaching from both ends. "This way!"
She grabbed Usopp and leapt off the ledge, onto the nearby Ionic-style pillars, Yusei blinking at her speed in the wake of the leap.
"Oi, Nami, you forgot Yusei!"
"Oh, damn! Yusei!" Nami screamed as they two ran.
"I summon Speed Warrior!" Yusei called, drawing a quick five-card hand as the kangaroo leapt.
The grey warrior somersaulted into being, landing a very hard kick onto the nearest zombie that resulted in things breaking. Yusei ran, the warrior speeding along on its skates quickly wit the occasional aeronautic gymnastics to navigate the stairs.
Running for his life was exhilarating, he realised as he ran, somehow grinning. The captain's smile was infectious, he would claim. "Let's see... their weakness is fire..."
Faintly, Nami and Usopp's screams echoed as something that sounded like a large lump of marble breaking sounded behind him.
"Er, am I supposed to discard a card, or just summon you?" He asked the still image of the gun-toting monster.
Almost immediately, the gun-slinging tuner appeared beside him, almost ghost-like as it aimed behind.
"No!" Yusei hurriedly dissuaded it as the migraine increased. "Quickdraw Synchron, Tuning!" The monster immediately nodded, flying ahead. The Speed Warrior leapt ahead as they approached the next landing, almost like a flying tackle. Both monsters shone like stars, green and eerie, but still, as if they were waiting... for something...
"Am I missing something?" Yusei whispered to himself in despair. "The Heart of the Cards... what am I missing?"
Both monsters merely eyed him, awaiting something... like a signal.
Sometimes, your words are all that's needed to convince the cards...
"Gathering feelings will become a new force!" Yusei bellowed, as the Quickdraw Synchron finally faded into five lights and the Speed Warrior followed shortly. "Become the path its light shines upon!"
The zombies behind howled as green-white light, solid and bright, cut through the night as a pair of arms in green armour came out of the fading blast, followed by a body in the same green that curiously ended in a round engine, almost like a honeybee. There was, however, no humour as the face contorted into a snarl and caused the zombies to freeze in their tracks.
"Synchro Summon! Blaze on, Nitro Warrior!" Yusei called as he slipped down, half-lying on the ledge to glare at the approaching zombies. "Fight! Dynamite Knuckle!"
Flames burned from the exhaust pipes on its back, both fists and the huge jet-engine-shaped thing behind it as it hovered, cracking its fists before it flew onwards to defeat the zombies. Yusei watched, awed as his monster, the very monster that had assisted him before and continued to do so, fought off the undead wave by wave with sweeps and charges and destructively creative use of flames.
Was this how Aki felt like, when she used Black Rose Dragon? he thought. Or, Rose Tentacles? Or, any of her monsters! Without a DuelDisk... Nitro Warrior looks... like it's shrouded in the shadows...
The piercing cries of more zombies reached his ears, causing him to wince and the warrior to falter slightly. Yusei's attention was diverted by the crack of stone, as he realised that the fight was causing the ledge beneath him to begin to fall.
"Nitro Warrior!" The monster somersaulted up, back-flipping in mid-air to grab onto its summoner and fly away from the cursing and falling animal zombies.
Adrenaline caused Yusei's heart to continue its jack-hammer pace as the Duellist took a deep breath, ignoring the fact that the monster he supposedly summoned was holding him and he was currently hovering in mid-air.
"Fly back, please," the Duellist sighed wearily. "We have to save our comrades."
The warrior growled low, but began to turn back anyway.
"What's going on...?" Chopper muttered.
"Is this a dream...?" Usopp stuttered.
"That way of fighting..." Nami recognised the style the dog-faced penguin aka Denguin used, as it beat up its comrades in a sudden attack of chivalry. "Could it be...?"
"You bastard–!" the zombies never got to finish as something big, heavy and green landed on all of them.
"Everyone!" Yusei greeted as the monster put him back on his feet. "Is everyone alright?"
"I'll teach the ones who would hurt a lady some table manners!" the penguin yelled. "You shitty zombies!"
"That Denguin..." Nami realised. "There's no mistaking it..."
"Sanji San?" Yusei questioned.
"Anyway, Yusei! What's with that big gorilla-thing behind you!" Usopp screamed.
The warrior growled threateningly.
"He's mine," Yusei answered, leaning on the monster for support. "I figured out how to summon them. But, it seems like it drains my energy every time, so I'll have to rely on fighting long-distance." He looked as the Mexican stand-off. "Even though the Denguin is doing a good job of it..."
As said, the Denguin that acts like a certain love-struck cook was kicking the hell out of zombies left right and centre, with the occasional kicking of steel maces apart.
"Hey! Why are you doing this, newbie!" a panda zombie yelled.
"It's physically impossible for us zombies to disobey the Master's orders, and yet... how is he able to oppose it?"
"And he's as strong as a General!"
"The power that cannot be measured by common sense... the power to make the impossible possible... the name of the hurricane that blows everything over is... Love!"
That's Sanji San all over it... but he doesn't recognise us. So, either Sanji San got facial surgery and mummification, or this is something with Sanji San's personality but not Sanji San personally. In that case... does this have anything to do with the missing shadows? And what happened to the rest of the crew?
"Indeed, that Denguin talks crazily just like Sanji Kun..." Nami muttered.
"It's true!" Chopper exclaimed.
"Hey, Denguin! Do you know anything about Sanji?" Usopp yelled."Did that Lover-boy Sanji come to rescue–"
"Shut ye traps, ye shitty pirates!" the Denguin kicked Usopp and Chopper.
"Scary!" Chopper screeched.
"So we're still the enemy?" Usopp screeched.
"He's not," The Denguin indicated Yusei. "His face is reliable."
"WHY'D YOU BASE YOUR JUDGEMENT ON THAT ALONE?" Usopp yelled at him.
Suddenly, there was the sound of crashing and Usopp and Chopper turned around to see a plume of smoke rising.
Usopp blinked. "What?"
"Something's coming." Chopper whispered.
"What is it this time?" Usopp complained.
"Wait, Lola!"
"EEEEHHHHYYAYYA!"
Eh? A warthog? Was the thought the three men shared.
"Hey! Hold it, Lola!" a masculine voice shouted.
"Please try to catch me~!" A feminine voice sang.
"Stop joking around! Stop this instant!"
"Why do you want me to stop~? And when I stop..." the pink warthog in wedding regalia immediately did a one-eighty back.
"What?"
"Bridal Martial Arts: Eternal Bride Catch!"
"The hell is that?"
There was another, louder crash.
"-.-... Wha- what?"
"How many times I have to say it, Lola? I'm going to marry another woman!"
"What~? I can't hear you at all~! I love you!"
There was a smaller tremor.
"Liar! It's impossible for you not to hear me from this distance!"
"Oh, you're so shy~"
"Listen to what other people say!"
"Just give up!"
"-.-... Say... aren't they comrades anymore?" Usopp muttered as he watched the drama.
"Who knows..."
"Get... off me!" the warthog flew through the air screaming... towards Nami.
"Nami!" Usopp and Chopper yelled as the warthog impacted, sending debris and dust flying.
"What?"
"I found you." the jealous sounding warthog zombie growled. "This 'Burglar Cat'!"
"Nami!"
"Ah! Damn it!"
"What? Me?" Nami pointed to herself. "W- Wait a moment! I haven't stolen anything yet!"
"Even so...!" the zombie lifted an axe that appeared out of nowhere. "I won't let you have Ab Sama!"
"HHHIIIIEEEEE!"
"Nami!"
"Look out!"
Nami closed her eyes, waiting for the blow that never fell. There was a swift movement, and the Denguin leapt to kick and break the axe. "Don't lay a finger on a lady!"
"Don't... GET IN MY WAY!" the resulting hook sent the tiny mutant undead bird flying far into a stone wall.
"Look out!" Chopper called.
"Denguin!" Usopp screamed. "Why... didn't you attack?"
"I, even if I die, won't lay a finger on a woman!" the Denguin staggered back to stand on webbed feet.
Usopp and Chopper began clapping.
"Oh! Excellent!" Chopper said.
"To notice that thing was a woman, you're brilliant!" Usopp chirped.
The warthog took umbrage at that. "What did you say?"
"No! Usopp! Chopper!" Nami's scream pierced the air as the Straw Hats turned to see their nakama being forcibly kidnapped by an invisible entity.
"I've got my bride!" the same deep voice growled.
"EEE! Nami's flying! Amazing!"
"That's not it, you idiots!" Nami yelled.
"Ah," the Nitro Warrior appeared, grabbing onto the invisible man with a flaming fist that gave off the smell of charred meat. "That invisible man back in the bathroom, right, Nami San?"
"It can't be, he actually exists?" Usopp panted, running after the floating Nami and the green warrior.
"Nami!" Chopper screeched.
"Our name is Absalom!" the man himself began to appear, odd as he was with a lion's muzzle sewn onto his face. "It's the name of your future husband, so remember it!"
"I don't keep my body in shape, for some perverted beast to peek on!" Nami yelled, producing the Clima-Tact. "Thunder Charge!"
"Nitro Warrior!" Yusei called as the warrior quickly retreated from the resulting shocking explosion, Nami herself being thrown off into the warrior's arms.
"Nami!" Usopp yelled, running up to them. "Good! Keep running! Let's leave this forest!"
"He's not falling down!" Nami screeched as they ran, the warrior floating behind Yusei.
"He's not an ordinary person, you can tell that just by looking!" Usopp shot back. "Hurry!"
"I won't let you get away!" the warthog zombie yelled, running after them armed with a pair of katana. "Wait! Burglar Cat!"
"Hey Nami, I think she's only after you!" Usopp yelled.
"Yeah, it's really a bother!" Nami shot back.
"Okay, then... can we split into two groups?"
Nami gritted her teeth.
PONK! "You want to use me as bait? You're heartless!"
"NO!"
"I told you to wait, dammit!" the warthog zombie screamed.
"The warthog is scary!"
"Ah!" Yusei stopped. "Nitro Warrior, battle! Dynamite Knuckle!"
Engines seemed to roar as the warrior flew to land a single blow that caused the zombie in bridal regalia to fly away... upwards.
"Nice, Yusei!" Usopp gave a thumbs up.
"Ah, no." Yusei looked up. "It's coming back."
"Wait!" the zombie screamed as gravity took hold and sent it hurtling back to the ground.
"Who's going to wait!" Nami ran forward, leaving the others behind as the zombie landed on its feet, causing small craters to appear as it kicked up dust in its running wake.
"I won't forgive you~!"
"...wha? What's going on?" Usopp numbly said.
"Are we safe?" Chopper asked.
"But I wonder about Nami..."
"What, we're safe!" Usopp and Chopper sighed.
…
"OH NO, NAMI!"
"Let's go!" Yusei called, already running ahead. "I'll go first!"
"Yusei is so reliable..." Chopper sighed.
"Enough already, let's stop her!" Usopp screamed as the trio caught up with the slasher zombie.
"Give my Absalom back!" the warthog zombie Lola was screaming.
"Why me!" Nami was screaming as she used her Clima-Tact to block the next sword.
"Nami!" Usopp screamed as he leapt up to latch onto the warthog tusks. "Stop, you...!"
"Let her go!" Chopper, in Heavy Point, was screaming.
"Run, Nami!"
"Wait, you!" Lola was screaming as she ran after the escaping navigator.
"Damn! She won't stop!" Usopp and Chopper yelled to the heavens.
"Usopp San! Chopper San! Let go!" Yusei called. "Nitro Warrior, Dynamite Knuckle!"
Usopp numbly stared. "How... did..."
"This... happen...?" Chopper finished.
A stone-faced Yusei and a smiling Nami were busy giving Lola the warthog zombie tips on how to drag Absalom to the altar, the Nitro Warrior already gone and Yusei nursing a migraine usually associated with hangovers quietly, if the expression on his face was anything to go with.
"Oh, yeah..."
Earlier, Nitro Warrior's fists had impacted... sending Lola flying straight towards Nami.
"Nami!"
"Now, prepare to die!"
"W- Wait!" Nami screamed. "I'm..."
The swords were flying ever closer...
"Actually already married!"
Both katana stopped in their tracks.
"What?" Lola looked surprised. "Whaaaat?"
"WHAAAAAT?" Chopper screamed, tongue flying out.
"Oi, oi..." Usopp muttered.
Lola sank to her knees in shock. "Re- really?"
"Re- really!" Nami continued in panic. "My husband is over there! Er... Yusei!" Please play along...
"Nitro Warrior," Yusei stated, expressionless. "Attack the zombie who approaches my wife."
"EEEHHHH? Yusei and Nami are secretly married!" Chopper screamed.
"You have such good taste!" Lola gave a thumbs-up, as far as cloved feet could manage. "He looks so reliable!"
"-.-..." Even the Nitro Warrior sweat-dropped at that.
"And... I think you and the beast-man are a great match!" Nami continued. " I totally support it! Right, Yusei~?"
"Ah." the Duellist replied, face still expressionless.
"The strong and silent type, isn't he?" Lola whispered to Nami.
"Y- Yeah..." Nami whispered.
"No one has ever supported me before..." Lola began to look teary-eyed. "This feeling... you're the first one to ever say something so nice to me... I... I...!"
"Chin up, my friend," Sparkles began to shine around the smiling Nami. "This is what they call friendship. I'm Nami."
"F- Friendship?" Nami~!"
"She totally got her!" Usopp exclaimed.
Back to the marriage counselling.
"And then, and then! I always try to make him push the stamp onto the marriage paper but I could never do it!" Lola was saying. "Even if I put ink on his finger he gets out too fast!"
"Well Lola, that's because you're doing it the wrong way..." Nami was drawling in an understanding manner. "That's too naïve."
"Eh, eh? What do you mean?"
"What I mean, is that while he's conscious he won't sign it," Nami replied. "That's why, when he's sleeping..."
"Attach him in his sleep? Is that alright, as a human being?"
"Lola! You're a zombie, aren't you?"
"Ah! And then there's this rotting issue!"
"He doesn't have to be sleeping, knocking him out will work too!"
"Oi, Nami..." Usopp muttered. "Aren't we gonna run?"
"By the way, Lola..." Nami was saying. "I lost something in the treasure vault... I'd like to get it back, but where was it again? Could you tell me the direction?"
"How silly!" Lola was replying. "No problem. Over there, in Perona Sama's room. It's close. Look here..."
"She really doesn't get it..." Usopp was murmuring to Chopper.
"To think that they're actually married..." Chopper was murmuring.
The sound of a twig snapping broke the temporary silence.
"Eh? Hey, Nami, Yusei, he caught up with us!" Usopp hissed.
"Really!" Nami half-screamed. "Lola! This is your chance! Since I won;t see him again, you'll be alright! Go for it! You two are the best couple!"
The warthog zombie beamed in self-confidence. "I can do it! Thank you, Nami!" She picked up both katana. "You gave me courage!" Lola yelled as she ran. "ABSALOOOM!"
"LOLA!"
"Now's our chance!" Nami stood up.
"In the end, you defeated her without fighting!" Chopper exclaimed. "Yusei and Nami are so cool!"
"Chopper... you do realise that we lied, right?" Yusei answered.
The tiny reindeer was stunned. "REALLY?"
"-.-... Really..." If Aki was here I have no idea how to explain this...
"Anyway, where's the big monster following us earlier?" Usopp looked around.
"Here." Yusei pulled out the card.
"Whoa! The monster's trapped in the card!" Usopp yelled.
"Usopp San..." Yusei sighed, pulling out more cards. "We might need more defence. I summon Sonic Chick!"
The tiny pink-feathered duckling quacked as it appeared, rubbing its head fondly on Yusei's leg.
"It's... a duck?" Usopp looked stunned as the Straw Hats walked.
"Anyway, once we talked to her wasn't she a nice girl?" Nami's eyes flashed with Beli symbols.
"YOUR EYES BECAME STRANGE ONCE AGAIN!" Usopp yelled.
Sonic Chick turned watery blue eyes at Nami. "Quack, Yusei Dono's not going to be married to you! Yusei Dono already has Aki-ojou, quack quack! Keep dreaming, quack!"
"Sonic Chick!" Yusei reproached it.
"Aki?" Usopp echoed.
"The good guys are always gay or taken..." Nami sighed as they ran up the steps to the large tower.
"Did we escape?" Usopp muttered.
"I think so," Yusei analysed.
Nami looked over the balcony they were on. "Right now, Lola should be... heh?"
She ducked down. "He's coming! He's coming our way!"
"This way!" Usopp led them to run into the tower to hide into something else, something with a ragged patched-looking skin and a zipper.
Yusei scowled, already guessing the size limit. "I'll run onwards first, I won't fit in there."
"Oi, Yusei!" Usopp hissed.
The man had already run off, hidden in the shadows of the tower's pillars with the squeaking duck trailing behind.
"Yusei Dono, where are we going, quack?" the duck squeaked.
"We're finding Yuugi San," Yusei answered. "But, how to find him..."
"We've been through this," from the shadows of the hallway, the man himself materialised. "What do you need me for?"
"These monsters..." Yusei waved towards the Sonic Chick. "Why?"
"Your cards have responded to you," he answered. "I am not Yuugi, I have already told you that. Call me Yami instead."
"Ah," Yusei nodded. "Then, Yami San, what is going on with this island? Do you know?"
"There is a man who can call the shadows here," Yami answered, brow furrowed. "Not the same shadows that I command, and to a far lesser degree, but quite dangerous in its own right. He is a dangerous pirate in this world, and what he does threatens the balance of light and darkness in the already unstable region, as far as I know. Beyond that, as for how you came here... that is our mistake."
Yusei blinked. "Eh?"
"Judai saw how stressed you were," Yami answered. "His great idea... was this, and I saw no problems with it. That was before I realised that he did not truly look, and that we left you in a strange realm without any prior notice. Sorry."
Yusei sighed wearily in acceptance. "But, that doesn't explain the Mark."
"I am convinced that the dragon had something to do with this," Yami growled, crimson eyes flashing. "That is why the marks of destiny remain awake when by all rights they should be asleep."
The three-colour haired man sighed, turning around. "Anyway, this is not the time to discuss this. The destiny of this world is inextricably tied to the man whose ship you ended up on."
"Luffy San?" Yusei stated in confusion as both Duellists ran. "How...?"
"Men who remain firm on their beliefs and principles, even against unrelenting odds, often prove themselves pivotal to world affairs, regardless of whether they know it or not," Yami replied. "Especially when they are willing to declare war on their whole world for a single comrade. You know that as well as do I. I have a gate set up ready to send you back, at the exact same moment the dragon used its power. Let's go."
"Wait!" Yusei stopped. "I can't leave them alone! I haven't even said goodbye, I haven't told Luffy San yet! And right now the crew is in danger!"
"I will handle it," Yami bit back. "What can you, a fledgling Duellist who has only just grasped power, do? The Crimson Dragon does not help you, nor does it grant you power yet. To let you run around as you are is suicidal."
"I... I don't want to leave them," Yusei realised. "Not yet."
Yami sighed, drawing a card. "We will discuss this later. Do you sense that?"
"Ah," Yusei drew his own as more squeaks sounded. "Junk Synchron!"
The duck gave a chirp as the orange tuner dressed like a station-master appeared, eyes closed and smiling.
"Gathering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon!" Yusei called as the tuner pulled the engine on its back, revving it up as the bird chirped and ran forth. "Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Warrior!"
Blue armour shifted into position as the monster took a stance, gleaming violet.
"It's effect activates... there must be a lot of weak monsters there," Yami observed, drawing two more cards. "That's good, you already know how to Synchro! Queen's Knight! King's Knight! Jack's Knight!"
Two male warriors in orange and blue, and a single warrioress in red, appeared, all bearing swords and shields and they leapt to counter the monsters, some cross or giant mice and spiders, Yusei noted.
"Your nakama are already captured, give up!" one of them squeaked. "Straw Hat! You will become part of the army of Master! Our master, Gecko Moria!"
"So that's the name of the man," Yusei growled. "Where are they?"
"Shee, why would we talk!" the mice squeaked as the warriors cut through them. As each blade or fist went through, shadows swirled about the monsters, as if granting them power, and the zombies fell to the ground,unmoving with the stillness of death.
"Go to your masters," Yami spoke, his tone absolute, and the shadows obeyed. "I see. These zombies... they are animated by the shadows."
"And these creatures and made by Doctor Hogback," Yusei observed. "Then... they're in danger!"
"Oi, Yusei!" Yami called as the man dashed off, Junk Warrior flying behind. "That... Partial Summon!"
Yusei blinked as a brown horse ran alongside him, Yami seated side-saddle on it. "That...?"
"Think of a plan instead of charging in," Yami scowled, observing the hallways. "We should be approaching the main hall soon, since the decoration becomes more elaborate... Yusei!"
Yusei had barged through the elaborate double doors, in time to see a bound Luffy slumped on the tiled floor and a grinning rotund man of over ten feet with a giant pair of black scissors in hand, grinning and laughing as a black mass in his other hand waved.
That black mass... it looked like...
Yusei saw red.
"LUFFY SAN!"
Please review!
Oh, yeah, the Yusei and Nami getting married thing is a joke. It is not hints of any pairing between them. With that said, see ya next time!