Author's Note: I wasn't sure if I'd get this chapter done today, or if I'd even get it started. Today has been a very sad day for me, as my cat of almost seventeen years finally passed away this morning. He had been doing okay for the past few days, but during the night he had some kind of massive stroke. My dad and I had no choice but to take him to the vet's to put him down. If this were any other story I was working on, I'd probably put it on an indefinite hiatus like I did with another story when this whole thing with my cat started. But in this case, I feel like I need to keep working on this thing. The fact is I started developing this story in the first place to deal with some other stress I've been going through, and writing this chapter today has been helpful with what I'm going through. So on with the show.
I'd like to thank K.I.T.T. RIDER real quick for reviewing my last chapter. It really was encouraging.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
Chapter 4: The Growing Plague
Akari awoke early in the morning on the couch of the Tsukumo house. She had been pulling an all-nighter trying to determine a link between the seven people who had ended up as shriveled corpses. As far as she could tell, there was nothing at all that connected those seven people together. It seemed that their deaths were completely random. Just as Akari was about to get up to grab a quick breakfast before resuming her investigation, her D-Gazer began to ring. The Caller ID told her that it was Kyoko.
The redhead accepted the call and Kyoko's face appeared on screen. "Hey Kyoko, did you find something?"
"We've got problems, Kari." Kyoko told her. "Those seven mummies have vanished, and it seems like the M.E.'s that were about to do the autopsy vanished with them."
"Are you serious?" Akari exclaimed as she rose to her feet.
"Yeah, and it gets weirder." Kyoko continued. "The surveillance feed from the morgue also went down last night, which means we have no clue about who or what happened in there. But what's worse is that we've been getting more and more reports of people who vanished last night."
"Have there been more bodies?" Akari asked.
"Not so far, but we've got even more trouble." Kyoko answered. "This morning, some idiot janitor at the morgue blabbed about what's going on to a reporter he knows. News of the disappearances has also gotten out. By this afternoon, the whole city is gonna know about what's going on. We'll be lucky if panic doesn't break out."
"What can I do to help?" Akari asked.
"You just keep doing what you're doing." Kyoko told her. "Have any luck finding a link between our first seven victims?"
"Afraid not." Akari answered. "Seems like whatever happened to them was totally random."
"Damn!" Kyoko cursed. "I was afraid it'd be something like this. This means who or whatever is doing this is just picking off the first people it sees."
"There might still be a common link that we're just not seeing yet." Akari told her. "Why don't you send me what you can on the other people who've turned up missing and I'll see what I can dig up?"
"Okay, but it's gonna be a long list." Kyoko warned. "In the meantime, you might want to stay in tonight just to be safe."
"Will do." Akari agreed. "I'll let you know the moment I find something. Later."
Hikari was in the lab typing away at one of the computers. It seemed that her initial assumption about the reactor Kaito and Christopher had been using was correct. Due to a programing error, the reactor was putting out more power than was needed to open a portal. This meant that all that was needed to adjust the control software so that the reactor would put out the right amount of power without causing an overload. As Hikari began to correct another line of code, her D-Gazer began to ring.
Looking at the Caller ID, Hikari saw that it was her younger sister, Hana Fudo. Hikari put the device on so that she could continue to work while speaking. Before her eye appeared the image of a young woman with blue eyes and red hair with long pigtails.
"Hi sis!" Hana greeted in a cheerful manner. "Just calling to see how you were."
"I'm doing pretty good." Hikari replied. "How're things back home?"
"Pretty good. Uncle Crow came by for a short visit yesterday." Hana answered. "How're things in Heartland?"
"Not bad, I guess." Hikari answered. "Hey, do you remember Ryoga Kamishiro?"
"Sure I do." Hana replied. "I also remember how you went gaga over him."
"Well, I wouldn't say I went gaga over him. But I did like him a lot back then." Hikari admitted. "Anyway, he's still here in the city. He's still the same as he was all those years ago, more or less."
"Really." Hana replied with a sly grin. "So spill, has anything been going on between the two?"
"Well, we did go on sort of a date yesterday." Hikari admitted. "And I kinda… kissed him before I left."
"Good for you, sis!" Hana praised. "It's about time you got yourself a new boyfriend."
"Yeah, but…" Hikari began as her expression saddened a bit. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for this kind of relationship again."
"Look Hikari, you've been single for two years now." Hana pointed out. "I think you've given yourself more than enough time to heal. You can't be afraid to get yourself back out there forever. Besides, I'm sure what happened with… him… won't happen with someone like Ryoga."
"Yeah… maybe you're right." Hikari replied. "Thanks, sis."
"Call me if you need anything, okay?" Hana told her. "I better get going now. Talk to you later."
"Later." Hikari replied. With that, the line went dead and Hikari resumed her work.
It was fairly late in the afternoon as Shark and Durbe sat in the living room of the Kamishiro mansion watching T.V. The station they had on was reporting on the disappearances from the night before. Both of them were quite troubled by what they were hearing.
"We may need to do something about this, Nasch." Durbe told Shark.
"I kinda figured you'd say that." Shark replied.
"I like to believe that one of the reasons Astral left the 10X Numbers with us was so we could use them to protect this world." Durbe continued as he adjusted his glasses. "And I can sense that there's a dark power responsible for these disappearances. Don't tell me you don't feel the same thing."
"Yeah, I can sense it too. The problem is, we don't know what the hell we're up against." Shark pointed out.
"Indeed. We may need to do a little investigation of our own." Durbe agreed.
"We should probably get Yuma and Kaito in on this too." Shark decided. "We may need all the help we can get."
"Nasch, your girlfriend's here!" Alit called from outside the room, causing Shark to flinch.
"Oh, Ms. Fudo's come to visit." Durbe observed. "I'll go gather the others to tell them what's going on while the two of you talk. You can join us when you're ready."
Shark nodded and with that, Durbe left the room. After a moment, Shark got up to see Hikari at the front door, only to find her already in the room.
"Hi." Hikari greeted with a wave. "Your friend at the door let me in."
"That was Alit you just met." Shark explained. "Most of the others are here somewhere too."
"So, the rest of those Barian Emperors live with you?" Hikari asked.
"It's a big house." Shark replied with a shrug.
"Does the crazy one live here too?" Hikari asked. "You know, the one who betrayed you and your sister?"
"Vector? Nah, he doesn't live here." Shark answered. "I don't know where the hell his hideout is. He does drop by every now and then though. So is there a reason you dropped by?"
"Well, there's something I want to talk to you about." Hikari revealed. "Mind if we sit down?"
Shark nodded and the two of them went over to the couch. As soon as they sat down, Shark waited patiently for Hikari to speak.
"…Ryoga, I'm sure I made it pretty clear that I'm interested in you." Hikari began. "Well… before things get any further between us, I think you should know that my last relationship ended pretty badly."
"What happened?" Shark asked.
"You know the evil I told you about that threatened Neo Domino two years ago? The one that the other Signers and I had to fight?" Hikari reminded him. "That evil was my last boyfriend."
"Seriously?" a surprised Shark asked.
Hikari nodded. "We had been seeing each other for almost a year, and things had gotten pretty serious between us. I was just crazy about him… but it turned out he didn't feel the same way about me. All along, he had just been using me and the other Signers to revive an evil version of the Crimson Dragon and reshape the world into his twisted version of what it should be."
"So you had to take him down." Shark realized.
Hikari nodded again as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Defeating him was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I haven't been in a relationship since. I think I'm ready to open myself up again, but I'm still a bit vulnerable. I don't know where this thing we have is going, but I wanted to let you know what you're getting yourself into."
"It's fine. I don't know where all this is going either." Shark replied. "But we can take this as far and as fast as you want. I don't want to pressure you into anything you're not ready for."
Hikari smiled and put her hand on Shark's. At that moment, Durbe walked into the room and cleared his throat, getting the couple's attention.
"Forgive the interruption Nasch, but everyone's waiting to begin." Durbe announced. "And unfortunately, Mizael's getting a little impatient."
Shark sighed and rose to his feet. "Yeah, I suppose we should get this started."
"What's going on?" Hikari asked.
"You know about those disappearances that have been going on in the city? We think there's some kind of powerful evil behind it." Shark explained. "And we're probably the only ones in this city who can take it on."
"Let me help then." Hikari requested as she stood up. "I am a Signer, after all. I should be able to handle whatever we might be up against."
"We are a little short handed with Merag away." Durbe pointed out.
"Fine then." Shark agreed. "Let's get to it."
Kaito entered the lab at Heartland Tower with Orbital at his side. He found Christopher standing in front of one of the computers looking closely at something on screen.
"This better be important." Kaito told Christopher as he walked up.
"I'm not sure how important this information is, but it may have something to do with what's happened to Droite." Christopher began. "The good news is that Hikari was right about the control program for the reactor. It was putting out far too much power. Fortunately, she was able to correct the system to allow the reactor to create a portal efficiently and with less power."
"I don't see what that has to do with what's happened to Droite." Kaito told him with a hint of impatiens.
"I took a closer look at the data from the night of the accident, and it turns out we did create a portal to another dimension." Christopher continued. "Though it was a very small one."
"And unstable." Kaito added. "It obviously imploded and the resulting power surge hit Droite."
"Actually, the portal was quite stable." Christopher revealed. "And it would've grown larger if the reactor hadn't overloaded. The discharge that struck Droite came from something on the other side of the portal."
"So… what does that mean?" a surprised Kaito asked. "Are you saying that something from the other side of that portal attacked Droite?"
"I'm not sure what exactly happened." Christopher answered. "For all we know, we have simply opened up a portal to a dimension filled with random energy discharges. Even so, I believe we may have found a clue of some kind. I'm just not sure what sort of clue."
Kaito huffed and began to head for the door with Orbital. "Let me know if you actually find something useful. I don't have time for this right now."
With that, Kaito exited the lab with his faithful robot following close behind. Christopher sighed and shook his head before turning his attention back to the screen.
The evening was starting to grow late as Akari continued to work. She looked at the clock on the wall for what was probably the tenth time, waiting for Yuma to get back. Even though she knew that her younger brother was more than capable of taking care of himself, she couldn't help but worry with some unknown force out there reducing people to shriveled mummies. Akari was stirred from her thoughts by a suddenly knock at the door. Cautiously, Akari got up to answer the door, grabbing a baseball bat that happened to be lying around on the way there.
With her blunt instrument raise, Akari opened the door and found Droite on the other side. The butterfly duelist had on a simple brown trench coat.
"Oh, it's you, Droite." Akari spoke, breathing a sigh of relief as she lowered her bat.
"Sorry for dropping by so late." Droite told her. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. Just can't be too careful with the craziness going on right now." Akari answered. "If you're looking for Yuma or his friends, they're not here."
"That's fine." Droite replied. "Mind if I come in for a few minutes?"
"Um, I guess that's okay." Akari agreed. "Make yourself at home."
With that, Akari moved aside to allow Droite to enter. Droite walked in and sat down on the couch.
"Would you like something to drink?" Akari asked. "I think we have a couple of cans of soda."
"I don't really drink soda." Droite replied.
"That's fine." Akari told her as she went to the fridge. "I was actually about to start on dinner. I've had to do the cooking since my grandma left on her little trip. Yuma should be back soon, so if you like you could join…"
Before Akari could finish her sentence, she turned around and saw Droite standing right in front of her. Droite moved in and backed the redhead up against the fridge.
"Uh, Droite… is everything okay?" Akari asked, becoming a little uneasy.
"You know Akari, you really are a very pretty girl." Droite told her.
"…Are you feeling okay?" the redhead asked, becoming even more uncomfortable.
"And such pretty eyes." Droite continued. "Tell me Akari, don't you think my eyes are pretty."
Akari looked at Droite's orange eyes and suddenly found herself transfixed by them. There was just something hypnotic about those orange orbs that made it impossible for the redhead to look away. With Akari under her spell, Droite moved in and placed her lips firmly on the redheads. Akari glowed with a purple aura as the energy began to flow.
Author's Note: So there was a little more elusion to the events of the 5D's Alternative sequel I intend to do in the future. I actually hope I'm not spoiling too much from that story. Of course I don't have all the details for it worked out yet.
Please review and let me know what you think.