Stardust Shimmer
Ten: Swing of Memories
Butterfly Dagger. Twin Swords of Flashing Light. Wicked-Breaking Flamberge. Shooting Star Bow. Rod of Silence. Gravity Axe.
All these weapons, and all these entities of the weapons... not a single one of them are mine despite that I would use them more than any other. All these cards, this armoury of equip magics, long assembled before I came by a boy who experienced loss early in life, and never quite learnt to let go until his death.
'Twas Grarl, Kay'est and I who first appeared before the boy, upon the deserted island, soaking wet and shivering despite the fire he had built primarily to dry his cards, our vessels. Kay'est took to him, she was a maternal soul. Grarl accepted him, soon enough. Elma, Tryce, Ceal, even Baou, they accepted him as their master, wielder, and soon enough friend, yet 'twas always my approval he sought.
I look at him, and perhaps think of a boy who saw a mother where a card existed. The other guardians, they loved him like their own son, even with the barrier of words between us, even when he could only see pale shades of their brilliance. I saw him as a child of mine, even as he grew up, even as he wandered to that traitorous king, even as he threw in his lot with the dark fates.
The Dominion of Beasts is not kind to those who turn its back upon it. I would know, as would Elma, but perhaps Elma forgets. They all do.
I am the sole Guardian of power within this demesne, and even Rafael would admit so. The Celestial Sword, a weapon I have not seen since the last war between the Higher Planes and that of the Fiends, he found it, not a mockery, but the true sword I thought lost during that time. I remember smiling when he presented it, and henceforth after that he had thrown in almost all his effort to find my armour, that which I thought lost too upon the loss of light.
Dartz... for poisoning his mind, I have a mind to hunt you down and show you what an eagle can do to your innards. Damn you, and your great Beast, and your Seals of the Orichalcos and all your darkness. He might have thrown in his fate with you, and us with him, but I would say that when I hit you, 'twas the best thing I have ever felt. Even as we Guardians were imprisoned later, even as you took his soul, I will someday come across your remains, and I will scatter them once I burnt every inch of them.
He stopped at France upon his release, perhaps to revisit the City of Lights. The phallic tower in the city, I find it rather distasteful, but perhaps it is a quaint architectural monument of the humans in the area. The one called the Arch of Triumph, that was nice. The view from the top is amazing. Astounding, any other words in this inadequate lexicon to describe it. Lights, the City of Lights... Paris was good.
The Light of Destruction... that was bad. Even I told Baou so when he packed himself into service to the Conqueror. Baou came back soon enough, proving me right.
Darkness taints us, light purifies us, but without one, the other has no meaning. I am the wind, not held by these constraints.
While Baou searched for the Supreme Conqueror, 'twas in France that the lord of the white dragon found him, pulled him into service as repentance. Others with the power to call upon spirits, others with powers, perhaps equal to that of the nameless one and his kind, others who might hurt innocents and civilians and my dearest child. He accepted; how could he not? 'Twas a chance at repentance and work, honest work he could live by. He met her; she would could call us, make us solid, speak with the child.
That face of joy I truly treasure, when I spread my wings wide and answered him at last.
As with admiration, things give way to love. The other, the champion of the Master Magician, she understands that she has his heart, but his soul has always been ours. She understands too well, maybe, but it worked. They joined hands, hand-fasting in a clear day. Wandering the globe for years with us and the others, a contingent of spirits. One might even say a court.
His daughter was born in winter, named ice flower, even after the family name of the month of frost. Too much water, I say. Look, her eyes are blue. Too much water in the spirit. Rafael himself, he was wind and earth, the woman, Diana she was called, she too was water, with a touch of fire. Their child bore the water of their souls, either great peace or destructive force can be expected from her, I said. He laughed, perhaps later wishing that I was not right. How could I not be? History does not change, as he well knows, and I have followed him through the time with Doma.
The child, his daughter, she grew into it. Ice, her power, not water, but frozen water anyway. Kay'est had wished for more fluidity, but I saw that the child had inherited his hardness. So young and forced to grow up so soon.
Another organisation. Another power. Psychic Duellists, they wanted, they saw in our boy, his mate, and their child. He told me, ordered me, screamed at me to save the child. The wife, she fought anyway, still bleeding from the burns and cuts of those monsters the other called as she held her daughter for the last time. Victorious, but not forever. Her power made it absolute; Rafael passed his cards to the child to find a new wielder, before the last of my power was used for them to escape. Struck down as my wings stole the child and the servant to safety, I could only watch and run and steal them away to sanctuary even as the Guardian cursed and cried at the loss.
As I left the child of my heart behind, never more had I cursed my wings.
Days bleed into months into years, the time all the same to a spirit. Things change anyway, so only the constants matter. We Guardians, we lose strength that we had gotten from long association with Rafael. We lose memory and power, our grip upon the mortal plane loosening with every passing moon and summer. The child's power keeps us, but not long; the keeper of one court cannot keep another for long. She searches for the next wielder, almost desperately with some fervour familiar in Rafael, I know, but time runs short.
Then... the dark knight.
When talking about the late Seiran Shimotsuki, formerly Diana Hunter, Aki Fudo nee Izayoi would always recall long black hair, glittering dark blue eyes that should hardly be Japanese and pale skin no matter no long she stood in the sun to lobby for the anti-discrimination of Psychic Duellists. Of course, there was also a slight smile, almost like a statue or something ethereally transient about the woman, and the same air of mystery Setsuka carried well.
As the former Black Rose Witch, Aki had never been able to carry off that mystery no matter what her powers were like. She almost envied them for it.
Of course, she had accepted when the woman, accompanied by her stoic, strong silent husband had appeared at the Fudo apartment in the Tops and landed a proposition: help reform the Arcadia Movement. As gratitude to a former home, Aki had given her effort to raise it to its true ideals as sanctuary and teaching centre, but the real work had been done by the Shimotsuki adults and their legacy of wealth. That is, until they died, leaving a young daughter and a caretaker struggling to maintain control for the heiress. That control lasted up until Setsuka displayed inordinate will and demanded control of her fortune. The lawyers were hard put to argue with the heiress herself despite their points and logic.
In the end, the Fudo couple merely gave their best effort for the sake of their own son, the heiress herself and the little Kannazuki Seika, and left Ruka to help watch over it.
Still, as Aki clambered out of the limousine towards the grand foyer of the Gotham Rothschild, she was reminded by the presence of black-dressed paparazzi exactly why she detested media events.
"Calm down," Yusei murmured, both to her and himself, she guessed. "We're... I hate this suit."
"It's for a good cause," Aki murmured with the easy banter of fifteen years of happy marriage that, to their surprise and despite every doubt, had not gone the way of most couples. "Fetching as you are in the riding outfit, you can't wear that to a formal event."
"Mama, I concur with Papa," Ryuusei was also in a miniature suit, complete with bow-tie. In the hotel lobby where the rich and powerful of Gotham gathered for the auction of some WayneTech Enterprises patents, including a scanner supposed capable of scanning neural activity without contact and thus suited for use amongst Psychic Duellists, not to mention its potential in the initial detection of neural tumours.
"...the jacket is only practical," Aki pointed out as the Fudo family were declared into the ballroom. "It's cold."
Yusei was offering his own jacket to Aki as Seika wandered up to them, dressed neatly in a frock complete with highly polished round-toed shoes and white socks. "O Jii-chan! Aki-sensei! Ryuusei! We're here!"
"Professor, Aki-sensei, Fudo-kun," Setsuka was wearing a dress of dark blue, complete with light blue shawl and a smaller DuelDisk on her arm. Nakamura loomed behind like some guardian statue, in his usual attire as manservant and caretaker.
A dark-haired man in a neatly pressed, expensive dark Armani suit walked up to them, glass in hand. "Setsuka."
"Bruce San," the girl nodded. "Professor, this is my distant uncle, Mr Bruce Wayne. Bruce San, this is my temporary guardian in America, Professor Yusei Fudo, and his wife, Aki Fudo. Beside them is their son, Ryuusei Fudo."
"Ah, the boy in the first match today," Bruce nodded to the couple in greeting before he spoke. "I don't know much about the game, but you really had him in a bind there."
"Thank you, sir," Ryuusei answered without any inflection.
"My son is not so skilled in English yet," Yusei intervened as the teenager's face grew pained. "He is... unused to prolonged conversation."
"Ah," Bruce nodded, patting Setsuka on the shoulder. "My apologies. Now, I've got a few blondes over there I've got to discuss with, so, Setsuka, feel free to wander about, 'kay?"
"That man is rich," Ryuusei commented as Bruce turned to a gaggle of well-dressed women with a charming smile and left them.
"He is also acting," Yusei shook his head. "I can recognise someone who pretends to be drunk when he's actually a teetotaller, and if I can't recognise masks then I'm not much of a Duellist."
"Yusei!" the family and the girls turned to see Sherry in a sleek white-and-black striped dress coming towards them. "It's been a long time! Aki!"
"Sherry!" Aki smiled. "Yeah, it's been a long time. Why are you here?"
"I'm a chaperone of Harald," Sherry airily replied. "He requested my help in Gotham."
"Harald is here as well?" Yusei blinked, looking around. "Where?"
"Ah, he went out to take a call," Sherry answered. "Who knows with him. When I asked him, he just answered something about fate..."
"He really loves fate, huh..." Yusei smiled slightly. "If that guy had any problems, he'd probably just blame fate and overcome them... that's Harald, I guess."
"As expected, Yusei got it right," the man with long grey hair walked up to them, also outfitted in a suit of elegant but sober cut of monochrome colours. "Perhaps it was fate that pulled us three all here in Gotham again."
"Brave and Dragan are here too?" Aki enquired. "The entire Team Ragnarok is still going strong then."
Harald amusedly tapped his left eye with a finger. "We have a covenant to fulfil as well. Don't forget that."
Further conversation was stopped as the doors blew open with a bang, and all the socialites present paused.
"Gooooooood evening, Gotham!" A smile as wide as a dinner plate, a horribly clashing purple suit jacket and pants over a green shirt, the white face of the Joker created fear in the expression of everyone present as he casually strolled in on the wake of the broken doors, thugs in clown masks with guns following in his wake. "Well, I was just here in town tonight, and I'm crashing in! Where's the entertainment, we need some right now!" The clowns behind him fired to make his point. A woman screamed as the party-people hit the floor, cowering down.
"Didn't fate tell you the Joker was going to gate-crash?" Sherry hissed as the Duellists crouched low.
"I wore my bulletproof vest from my army days," Harald frowned. All of them stared at him.
"Well, what do we have here?" the Joker's sibilant voice hissed as a gloved hand latched onto Seika. "A pretty little piece, too."
"Seika!" Ryuusei growled, as Setsuka snapped open her DuelDisk. The black-haired girl in the Joker's clutches blinked, seemingly too stunned to react.
"Mistah J," a high-octave feminine voice cooed as the red-and-black jester figure of Harley Quinn appeared. "Why, such a cute little thing! What'cha gonna do, Mistah J?"
"Say, little lady," the Joker leaned closer to the girl. "Wanna know how I got these scars?"
"Do they matter?"
Both villains blinked at that simple answer. Joker grinned extra widely. "Yes, yes they do. And you're gonna play along or I'm going to-"
"Then why?"
"Huh?" Joker paused, his face twisting. "Because I say so! So, little lady, d'you want to know how I got these scars?"
"Does this have anything to do with this... situation?" Seika's face was straight, her form composed if slightly terrified.
"Well, you see, one day I was looking into a mirror, shaving, you know," Joker leaned closer. "And I had a really bad day, and I was wondering, why so sad? Why so sad? So, I took the razor, and snicker-snack, first the left, then the right. Now, I'm always smiling."
"I'm so sorry you cut yourself into permanent disfigurement," the little girl answered honestly. This prompted a few chokes from the people still cowering from the guns.
The Joker's face fell, before he snapped his fingers to produce a wide-calibre automatic. "Well, you're not going to feel too sorry after your own permanent disfigurement, little lady!"
"Lend me that," Ryuusei pulled a card of his own to slap onto Setsuka's DuelDisk.
"Oi!"
Thorny vines shot out from the projector, hitting the gun out of the gloved hand and reaching for all the stunned clown-goons. Within seconds the weapons were no more than crushed debris as the dragon spread large red petal wings and unknown winds howled throughout the hall.
"Well, they do say anything and everything goes in a Bruce Wayne party, but a dragon's gotta be a first!" Joker struggled as Harley screamed in the tentacles' deadly hold. A crack appeared in the ceiling right next to his head as a swarm of rose petals fluttered near there.
"Mistah J!"
"Not now, wench!" Joker pulled another automatic, smaller, and sleeker as he aimed and fired.
Setsuka slapped another card. The bullet entered a small dimensional cavity that winked out of existence–
–appearing right behind the suspended Joker as the projectile hit right between the shoulder blades.
The dragon winked out of existence, all gunmen dropped to the ground as the roar of engines preluded the entrance of two elaborate, technologically advanced motorcycles, one dark blue and one magenta, and both riders cracking their knuckles as they dismounted.
"Gotham is crazy," the red-head of the two commented as they pulled a tow rope from the D-Wheel cavity. "I was expecting a party, not an entire armed hold-up."
"Hngh," the other grunted in a monosyllabic answer as he proceeded to round up the stunned clowns.
"Brave! Dragan!" Yusei stood up, right as the whine of sirens sounded.
The Joker was still muttering about dragons as the police escorted him and the rest into an armed vehicle.
"There was a dragon... and... there wasn't," a few of the inebriated witnesses were still telling the detectives present as Commissioner James Gordon down the rest of his coffee.
The paper cup slammed down on the hood of the car. "Dragons. Next time they'll be talking about robots..."
"That's about to become a distinct possibility."
The cup was crushed in his hand as he started. "You've got to stop that."
The Batman made no reply to that comment as he appeared from the shadows. "The dragon. It was black, with red wings and collar resembling a rose, and had black thorny vines. Review the security tapes. It crushed guns into scrap metal and slashed concrete with its appearance."
"Jesus," Gordon shook his head. "Dragons in Gotham?"
Under the lenses, Batman's eyes flicked to a man with long white hair casually giving his statement, standing with Setsuka and the manservant Nakamura. Under his locks a left eye... glowed.
Enough tricks. He was really starting to hate the game. "Not for long."
The girl and three men, the white-haired one and the two others who had crashed the party with Crow Hogan, entered the prepared limousine with Sherry LeBlanc following soon after. Batman gave chase, hardly noticing as a white shape flew overhead.
You're being followed.
The watcher in the shadows spotted another caped figure and a familiar feminine figure, immediately leaping to land before her path. "Huntress."
"Batman," the independent crime-fighter panted. "Question's missing. He's in Gotham."
"Are you sure he hasn't gone to ground?" Batman questioned as the both of them continued running.
"The last case he was investigating involved two organisations," Huntress rattled. "The Elysium Circle, and the Arcadia Movement. Both are apparently-"
"Psychic Duellists," Batman hissed.
Huntress nodded in affirmation as both leaped to another roof. "The leaders of both movements are Regina Mackenzie and Iemitsu Nakamura respectively."
"...the manservant," Batman recalled the stoic man. "Still, why serve the girl?"
"He's holding in trust for Setsuka Shimotsuki," Huntress shook her head. "She's possibly a pawn in all this."
Having actually met her, Batman was as prepared to acknowledge that Setsuka would be a pawn without noticing as pigs were of evolving wings. Still, it was a distinct possibility to consider. "I planted a bug inside the car we're chasing at the moment."
Both leapt down, using their grapple lines to decelerate as the Bat-mobile wheeled up to accept them as Batman triggered the listening device.
"-Thursday, Laufeyson, Wednesday, good job," Sherry's voice drifted in. "So, you tracked the man here?"
"We were due to drop in on him when Elysium struck," a deep voice answered. "Perhaps it is fate that they brought him into Gotham. Doubtless they intend to disguise him as a casualty."
"Even I think it's ridiculous," another voice scoffed, presumably a stranger. "I mean, this is Gotham City. You hear crazy stuff about Gotham. Is it true that Gotham's scarier than anything?"
"Parts of those are exaggerated, your Polar God will protect you," Setsuka's cold tones cut in. "Either way, it is clear that they intend to finish what Apollymi Hunter started with Yliaster. If, perhaps, they did intend to wipe Gotham off the map like this... one can only suppose that means that there are important people in Gotham."
"World-changing turning points," the voice intervened. "As the words of Endymion are true, Vetr, then the Batman is indeed at the heart of this, as is Kannazuki Seika."
Both heroes stiffened at the mention of the Dark Knight.
"Wednesday, what does the Eye reveal?" Setsuka, now Vetr, asked.
"Shooting Star Dragon," Wednesday answered. "There is no change. Fleur?"
"Huh," Sherry sighed. "I traced the Circle from Europe to here. My guess is that they're in town for two reasons at first, then it turned into three when Seika panicked. They were searching for the Darklord Zerato stolen from them by Guardian, as well as promoting their agenda at this tournament. Seika became a bonus. Clear Mind... that ability would make the destruction more real than any psychic power."
A sharp intake of breath. "Darklord Zerato? Why not use something else?"
"They require the original spirit of Zera, which was impossible to locate because the King of Games sneaked it away at that time," Wednesday answered. "Sebastian has done his research well. Unbelievably, Yuugi Mutou entrusted Zera to a masked vigilante. Not that he knows."
He knows now, the vigilante contemptuously thought.
I... didn't know... Zera sounded truly regretful, and Batman sympathised.
"Who's our contact?" Sherry finally asked.
"Tyranno Kenzan," Wednesday crisply answered. "He's undercover, and in Gotham. He also blew his cover this time, so be prepared for battle."
"They won't risk it," Setsuka crisply replied. "Judgement Dragon is with us, we warned the holders of the Sky Scourges when we left them with Hero, Black Rose Dragon is not an answer since it's with Fudo, Final Destiny requires too many options to be cut, and Gandora has not been an option since the days of Yuugi Mutou. Steelswarm Hercules would destroy half of Gotham, but they cannot use it since we caught the Steelswarm chosen and it's a picky choice. Regina Mackenzie would be desperately searching for the final Fallen Angel, if only to unleash that. Oh, we're here."
The two heroes dropped out of sight as the limousine stopped before a warehouse in the Gotham docks, close enough to the city to be rather respectable. As the people inside dismounted, the door swung open to admit four adults and one child.
"The kid's planning this," Huntress hissed, aghast. "A child."
"We're going in." Batman muttered as he dragged the other into the storage area, the doors thundering shut with finality.
Another set of doors closed, two butlers stationed before it.
"Who are you?" the older-looking rumbled.
"Come and this will go off, permanently sealing the doors and allowing them to escape," Iemitsu rumbled, holding up the DuelDisk with a wire trailing to the metal door-frame. "Dark Knight."
"I remember you," Batman pointed. "You were with Apollymi Hunter."
"It would be hard to forget a man struck down by his own monster before the Dark Knight," Iemitsu answered. "He is gone. My duty is to the last of his line now."
"A retainer to the last," Huntress snarled. "Where's Question?"
"That I do not know, though I have some inkling," the other answered. "I can answer nothing, it is y lady that holds the cards. You have to unlock the door. Ah, where are my manners? I am Mizoguchi, retainer to Lady Sherry LeBlanc."
"So, if we attack you, we can't open the door," Batman realised as he stared at the DuelDisk. "How do we unlock the door?"
Mizoguchi twitched as Iemitsu pulled out a briefcase and slammed it open, pulling it open before pushing it to Batman.
Both heroes stared at the contents.
"No. Way." Huntress breathed as she stared at the contents. Cards piled up inside, nothing but the cards of different colours.
"A full deck of forty cards first, before you unlock the door," Mizoguchi held up the disk. "The door will not open unless a specific set of nine cards are present."
"If I shoot you?" Huntress hefted her crossbow.
"This Disk is keyed to recognise my life signs," Iemitsu held it up. "Any irregularities trigger a warning to Missy."
Batman twitched. "Which nine cards?"
"Choose," Mizoguchi sat. "We have all night to."
"What do we do, Batman?" Huntress searched to see the Batman rifling stacks of cards.
The Bat glared as he fished out a worn-looking card, covered in plastic as were the rest within. Wings flared out on either side as the woman seemed to stare directly at him.
Guardian Eatos, the spirit of Zera murmured. And... Gravity Axe, over there.
Another card, worn through water and use, this one showing a giant axe.
Kay'est, Grarl, Baou, Twin Swords of Flashing Light, Butterfly Dagger... Backup Guardna? Odd...
Studying the text, he assembled the cards with care, shuffling before drawing a hand of nine. "I figured it out."
"You did?" Huntress started from her aim at target practice. "What?"
"Eatos takes point," Batman laid out the card for Iemitsu to slot in. "Grarl to her right, with Ceal behind him as support, and Elma and Kay'est as the rear guard on the left of Eatos. Guardian... I remember from investigating her. Endymion... her partner... codename, Guardian. Real name... Rafael Eatos." Gravity Axe, Shooting Star Bow, Rod of Silence and Butterfly Dagger slotted into place soon enough, leaving the last slot blank under the visage of Eatos. With a creaking sound, the door shifted open as both servants sidestepped.
"Chain Energy!"
As yellow light hit them, Batman could only remember one last thought: I really hate Duel Monsters...
In the depths of his mind, a feminine voice laughed.
Please review! Stay tuned for the next turn: For Our Ideals! Duel, Acceleration!