Chapter 26: Return of fury
These events I have archived, because at the time I didn't know how my time in the Void was going to end. I wanted to record them in case I couldn't live to tell the tale. But now, with the Void having been crashed by us into the border of Neo Domino City, I felt as though my life was going to have some color again. Not just a black existence like my entry into the Void, nor a gray existence where I fought to attain some hope, nor like my white existence where we put that hope into action, but a polychromatic existence where anything is possible.
"Toby, where is the nearest deck to ground floor," Rebecca asked me. Taking a look, I found that the holographic satellite had been buried about halfway into the ground.
"I'd say Cellblock 9," I said after using the console to check the damage in more detail. The only room that couldn't be seen was the bottom observatory; everything else above seemed to have survived.
"Okay… disabling all thrusters in the starboard area around starboard bow. Custom… focusing… thrust… on single thruster… there. Carnivore, give me full power!"
I turned around to see Yuina force the throttle control forward all the way. I saw that Rebecca's computer screen started to give a warning about too much energy output, and soon, there was a large explosion in the side of my holographic satellite.
"Perfect. Isolating the exploded circuits now, and shutting off the areas of internal damage. Now we should have a perfect exit
Soil started collapsing in the hologram, piling into the large crack, with large chunks of earth bashing into the hull. It somehow formed the perfect ramp from the satellite into Neo Domino City, at enough of an angle to walk on.
"Now we've got one final job, in the area of about Cell 09E10" Yuina announced. We left the area, still with the Warden's Master Key, seeing no sign of the Warden, Gatekeepers or Overseers, and this time we descended all the way to our cells without much resistance from the guards. Once we had collected our possessions, we met up at Cellblock 9. Making our way to the aforementioned cell, we found the hole that we had created. It was now filled with loose soil level to the floor almost. I was then prompted to Summon Uria and tell it to attack the dirt.
As my Uria kept incinerating the dirt, I moved the blast ever so slowly forward. Yuina had me keep this up for at least three hours, after we waited another two hours.
"Good, the soil should be hardened enough for us to walk on it without falling through," she continued. The three of us walked on the solidified earth, whereupon I noticed some sort of glow from my left hand… a red glow. When I looked, there was nothing. Yuina and Rebecca reported yellow and blue glows respectively from the same area, but we agreed it was maybe just the light and we soon made our way to the outskirts of Neo Domino City. At last, we were free of the Void!
Upon seeing where we had ended up, Rebecca grew even more ecstatic; we were by a shoreline. She quickly ran towards the sand, shouting "At last! A real beach!", with us struggling to keep up with her. Once we arrived, she threw off her black jumpsuit and lay in the sand with a pair of sunglasses on her face.
"Rebecca," I panted, out of breath after all that running. "…are you alright?"
"Alright? I'm fucking marvelous, Toby. There's a real sun, a real beach, and I can finally be out of those repressive black pieces of shit that pass as clothing!"
"Come to think of it, I could actually use a rest after all of that." After that, I collapsed on the sand next to Rebecca, with Yuina lying down right next to me. I had to say, since finding out her true name, I've felt much more comfortable calling her Yuina than Carnivore. For some reason, calling people by titles didn't really appeal to me unless they were just acquaintances.
Oh, the beauty of that time. I had forgotten what it was like to have the sun beating down upon you, to feel the warmth provided by the star. I also really missed the sea breeze such that I found pleasure just by feeling the wind on my skin. The Void was so devoid of all of these things; warmth, light breezes, soft soil, that I had almost forgotten what they'd felt like.
A while later, however, we all decided to head into the city. One of the first things we came across was someone from Sector Security, I think his name was Trudge, asking us for an ID. Upon doing what he said by showing him our Void access cards, we had the poor guy take us clothes shopping, because we all badly needed some new clothes. For me, it wasn't such a big problem; most of mine could probably still fit as I had only grown a year and a half. Yuina and Rebecca, however, were another story. Those two had spent more than five years in the Void, so almost nothing of what they had fitted them except for the jumpsuits.
After a few hours of shopping, we came away with some fresh, new clothes. I had Trudge buy me, among other things, a few sets of long pants, as well as some shorts, followed up with eight royal blue shirts. Yuina came out of this with a dark-brown colored blouse, as well as a set of long khaki pants, both of which she began wearing when she had Trudge buy them. As for Rebecca, she seemed to go for a white, knee-length skirt, with a scarlet top, true to her surname 'Scarlet', also buying a beach-umbrella, some sun-tan lotion and a beach towel. As for Trudge, all he got out of this was a possible need to explain why at least forty thousand yen had gone missing from the Neo Domino Treasury. Poor guy, but during certain times you have to do what you have to do.
From there, we had this 'Trudge' fellow treat us to a proper meal. For this, he took us to Café la Geen, and the three of us promptly ordered one cup of Blue-Eyes Mountain Coffee… each.
"Nooooo!" Trudge shouted out, maybe half the area hearing him. I saw his arm suddenly twist around his back and heard him yell "Owww!" as Yuina pleaded in a mock-desperate voice "Please sir, we have gone long without any sustenance, and we need something to drink. Pretty please… before I break your arm and drink your blood!" the last part I could hear being said in a menacing whisper.
From there, we didn't really have any further problems. When the coffee came, I was so excited. Once I put the liquid to my lips, I rejoiced. Finally, I wasn't having black sludge! We proceeded to have a slice of cake each to celebrate the escape from the Void, and by the time we had finished, we had successfully depleted a further 15000 yen from the Treasury. I could tell that Yuina was really enjoying coercing Trudge, though. Personally, I was enjoying just the freedom away from that dreadful place.
"Trudge," a voice spoke up. Turning to look at the source, I saw an unfamiliar face with spiky blonde hair dressed in a white outfit.
"Good timing, Jack Atlas!" Trudge yelled out. "Perhaps you can help me stop these three people from extorting me an-not agaaaaaaaain!" the second part coming out as Yuina twisted his arm behind his back
"Listen, Mr. Atlas," Yuina spoke in a fake-fearful voice, "…I don't know what he means by extortion! He's been willingly treating us to some food."
"You would be much easier to believe if you weren't holding his hand behind his own back," this Jack person sighed. Just then, I caught sight of something, and it made my blood boil. Rebecca must have noticed what I saw as well, because she repeated that person's name. His clothes were strange, with them being brown overalls, but his face was unmistakable; green eyes, reddish-brown hair that terminated in the front with a large curved fringe… Sayer, the leader of the Arcadia Movement.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my Deck light up with a purple-ish pink light. A voice spoke up inside my head that I never expected to hear again. Pure rage filled my head; rage for him sending me away to the Void in the first place, rage for lying to me, rage for deceiving me, rage for torturing me over such a long period of time. I felt the need to erase him from the world, and that was when the voice started speaking. "Yes. Wither his flesh, feast on his power, drain his soul, consume his very essence, devour his spirit!"
"I didn't think a rat would return from that place," Sayer spoke once he approached.
"Leader of the Arcadia Movement… I will make you pay!" I spoke.
"For what?"
"For condemning me… and so many hopefuls who just wanted a home… to the Void… away from their families… into a world of torture!"
"You were too weak, as was everyone else sent there. You were entirely useless to the Arcadia Movement."
"In that case… I will destroy all of the 'useful' Duelists… of the Arcadia Movement… starting with their leader!"