Another day, another episode. Welcome to my humble fanfiction. I ask that you please R&R, because Reviews are love.
Yusei waited patiently on the roof next to built in metal tables and chairs that were set up on the roof for waiting customers. His helmet rested on a table not to far from him. It wasn't long before he heard someone coming up the stairs and took a seat.
Sidney slowly opened the door and was delighted to know her friend had not let her down. Yusei was there, and when he turned around to see her he almost smiled. This made Sidney feel at ease.
"Yusei! I'm so happy to see you!" She approached him and sat down across from him at the table. It wasn't long before Laura came prancing up the stairs with lunch.
"So, are you ready to tell me how it is you can fly now?" Laura asked as she set down the food before taking a seat. Yusei and Sidney exchanged worried glances.
Laura quietly tittered to herself.
"Oh come on! Is this one of those 'you can't handle it' truths?" Laura questioned.
Sidney told Yusei about how Laura had listened in on her conversation with Goodwin and caught word of her floating incident. She shook her head.
"It's more of 'you won't believe it' rather than 'you can't handle it'." She explained to her puzzled friend.
"Try me." Laura urged her. Yusei started by explaining to Laura about the Signers and what he knew about the Crimson Dragon. Sidney then explained the various incidents in which her marks appeared and Yanagi's exclamation that she was the Star Princess, although at this point she wasn't entirely sure what it meant.
"…All I know is that I am supposed to get a power for every signer mark…and they seem to be activated when I feel I'm in danger and there's another signer around. I'm supposed to help them save the world…at least, that's what Yanagi said." Sidney concluded.
Laura had pulled out a bottle of Tea she had brewed and had poured drinks. She sipped her glass as she took it all in.
"Well, you got me there. It sounds pretty farfetched. So, a big flaming Lizard wants you all to save the world? No offense Sidney, you may have won your fair share of duels and verbal battles, but…something as full scale as that? One duel… Maybe a tournament you could handle…but this? you couldn't fight your way out of a paper sack, well…not easily, anyway…" Laura became very anxious.
"I'm not in Middle School anymore, Laura. I'm not exactly the way I used to be." Sidney said defensively.
"Yeah…I'm just acting as a concerned best friend should …Anyways, you know what I find most hard to believe? The fact that pervert is a signer, too." Laura referred to Jack.
"What pervert?" Yusei asked.
"Jack Atlas. I take it she hasn't told you about that."
Sidney flushed red. "I didn't think it was that important. It's more of a personal matter, isn't it?"
"It isn't if you're going to be spending more time around him because of this." Laura sighed. Yusei was a bit confused.
"Anyways, I just want her to be careful. You can understand that." Yusei nodded approvingly. He remembered how Jack had treated her at Blister's hideout. It made a little more sense to him. If he had strictly come there on Goodwin's behalf, he would have acted more apathetic about the whole thing. It was a little unusual, but he knew it wasn't out of character for Jack to act that way.
"So…what do we do now?" Laura asked the two of them.
"For now, our best option is to lay low for awhile until we know more about what we're up against." Yusei suggested. Laura agreed with him, but Sidney wasn't satisfied.
Laura saw her getting tense and whispered to her.
"At ease, Sid."
"Well, now that we've gotten the important stuff covered, are you guys ready to eat? Or, is there anything else?" Laura asked. Yusei shook his head, he pretty much had covered what they knew.
"So…the Star Princess, huh? Does that mean you have to wear a crown and get rescued by daring knights?" Laura joked. Sidney glanced over at Yusei.
"Be serious, Laura. I'm sure it's just a name." Laura looked closer at Yusei.
"You know, you look a lot like a guy my dad used to work with…You're not related to the late Professor Fudo, are you?" Laura wondered nonchalantly. Yusei got a little shaky at the mention of his father's name. It was a long time ago when his parents were killed in a freak accident. He was very young and couldn't recall much of it at the moment, but he did remember being transferred to the orphanage in the Satellite not too long afterwards. He looked down at his food.
"Oh…sensitive subject. I understand. Sidney's like that when we talk about her parents." Laura said apologetically. Sidney got a depressed look on her face.
"Crud…why do I even bother to open my big mouth…" Laura muttered to herself.
"Professor Fudo was my dad." He finally said. Laura bobbed her head.
"Yeah. That makes sense. When I first read about your victory in the Fortune Cup, I was like…Nah, Yusei Fudo? Can't be right…But, it means my dad might be more willing to help us out."
Sidney looked up. "No, Goodwin said he would keep an eye on him. He won't be of much help…at least not until Goodwin let's his guard down, and I doubt that's going to happen."
She looked at Yusei. "I'm not the best with empathy, but I understand that stuff like that can make you upset. Mom left me and my dad before I was old enough to really remember her…she may still be alive, but I doubt she cares about me…My dad…he died recently…he was murdered."
"Ouch." Sidney nodded. Laura disagreed with the gloomy air that lay around them now. She wished she had never brought up Professor Fudo now.
"Say, have you heard of Bolt Tanner? He's my favorite duelist." Laura commented after taking a bite of her sandwich. Yusei perked up a bit.
"I've met him. I know him, in fact."
Laura got a twinkle in her eye. "You couldn't get me his autograph, could you?"
"Well…"
After about ten minutes or so of food and conversation, Sidney excused herself to go wash her hands. Laura and Yusei were alone, so it was the perfect time to ask him about Sidney, in her mind.
She folded her hands and her lips curled into a cheeky smile.
"So, how does it feel to have something in common?"
"Well, it's nice to know somebody understands. But then again, there a lot of people in the Satellite under similar circumstances. I kind of feel bad for Sidney…It's probably even harder losing your parents when you're old enough to really know what happened."
Laura grew frustrated and decided to go with a different approach.
"Yeah, I felt the same way. Say, did you see her outfit? She's usually not clothes-savvy, but that one was really cute, don't you think?"
Yusei felt offset by Laura's change of Subject. "I get the feeling you're trying to get something out of me. What are you getting at?"
Laura wanted to pound her head on the table. "Your opinion of Sidney! Do you like her!? I've been dying to know since she first told me about you."
Yusei felt uneasy. It felt like everyone was asking him about it. Couldn't stuff like this wait until the world was saved?
"If you want a simple answer, then I can't really give you one. I haven't known her that long…If you were wondering if I thought she was beautiful, then yes. I would say that….Is that enough for you?"
Laura ate up his words like they were candy. "That will do for now, Mr. Fudo."
"Hey guys! You weren't interrogating Yusei while I was gone, were you?" Sidney tried to joke with Laura. Laura gave a shallow laugh.
"Hey, did you know Sidney wants to be a Forensic Artist, Yusei?" She quickly changed the subject.
Yusei shook his head.
"I want to help people identify their attackers. Nobody knows who killed my dad. If I become a good enough artist, maybe I can get a picture of him from one of the survivors…and I'll finally be able to name him. That would be enough for me."
…
They talked for another hour before Shinju came up the stairs.
"Sorry guys. It's Goodwin on the phone. He wants Sidney home soon."
Laura sighed. "I'll drive her. Tell him we will be there soon."
Sidney had no choice but to say Goodbye to Yusei. Laura tried to reassure her.
"You'll meet again real soon. Maybe we can help you practice floating next time?" Laura suggested. Shinju assumed she was joking and went back downstairs to talk to Goodwin who was still waiting in the other line.
Sidney and Laura went downstairs to the Jaguar, and were off. Sidney could see Yusei coming down the stairs just as they left, and began to daydream about their next encounter. Laura rolled her eyes. They drove until they were a bit over halfway between the shop and Goodwin's place.
Meanwhile two shadowy figures awaited them a few blocks up the road. Laura didn't think much of it at first until she heard one of them speaking to the other.
"Look there…That's her. You know what to do."
Laura sped up as they went passed them and they became visible. A young man and woman peered at them sideways, one of them wearing a red Duel Disk.
Sidney started to feel intense pain where her marks were, especially on her right arm. She bit her lip and a pearl of blood dripped down across her chin. Laura turned around to look back, and couldn't believe what she saw. A giant black, scaled dragon with deep pink, black tinted rose petals covering its entire body below the neck, stood behind the woman now. She sped up even more and Sidney grew nervous.
"Black Rose Dragon! Seize the Star Princess!" The woman commanded the plant. A long black vine shot out from the monstrous creature and bound itself around Sidney's waist and yanked her out of the car.
"Oh crud! Sidney!" Laura slammed her foot on the breaks. The car grinded to a stop as sparks flew from under the car. She jumped out and followed the vine as it retracted towards the man and woman. The Dragon gazed at Laura with its red reptilian eyes. It seemed almost as if the Dragon's eyes were bloodshot, but Laura didn't have time to stare. Sidney's body seemed to light up like a Christmas tree as her marks revealed themselves. They seemed to flicker almost like fire now, and they burned just the same.
Sidney cried not only from fear and shock but from the unbearable pain the marks were causing her. Her eyes were wide open as the tears streamed down her face and mixed with the blood that was now drying up on her chin. She tried using her new ability. Her body pulled against the force of Black Rose Dragon's Tentacles, but it wasn't enough to break her free.
The mysterious woman jumped on the dragon and the man followed suit.
"Let's go before anyone else sees." He said. The dragon flew away in a flash of falling petals. Laura was still standing there. A few people stopped and got out of their cars to see the spectacle, but assumed it to be an illusion of some sort until the saw the dragon soaring in the sky with Sidney in tow.
People started getting back in their cars and driving away hastily. Others screamed from terror. Others could still not believe what they were seeing. Laura whipped around angrily and barked at them.
"Don't just stand there and gawk! Somebody call the cops! My best friend has just been kidnapped!" She pushed bystanders aside to get a place where she could make a private call. One sensible person finally called the police. Laura hid in a nearby ally and called the shop right away.
Shinju answered. "Laura? Did you drop off Sidney already?"
Laura shook the phone. "There's no time for small talk! Where is Yusei!?"
Shinju could see Laura having a nervous breakdown. At that moment, Yusei had finished talking with Uncle Kuro and had just gotten on his Runner. Shinju yelled at him to come over.
Yusei could see Shinju's panicked expression. He came over and calmly answered. Laura sighed with relief.
"Good. I didn't want the cops to trace my call if they called you on your Runner and think you were a suspect or something…anyways…it's an emergency."
"What's wrong, Laura, you need to tell me straight."
"SIDNEY'S BEEN NABBED! By some pink-haired chick in a weird outfit, a guy who looked like a cross between a hard-boiled detective and a greaser and a huge hybrid plant dragon! You've got to believe me!" Laura talked very fast and it was difficult to understand at first. Yusei's eyes widened, but he did his best to keep cool.
"Did the woman have a mark?" He asked.
"Not that I could see…but when the dragon grabbed her Sidney lit up like it was New Years! Are you telling me you might know who took her?"
"From your description, it sounds like somebody I definitely know. I'll meet you down there…"
"What about Goodwin?" She asked.
"Sidney's safety is more important right now." Laura nodded. She mentioned that she could make a cover story to prevent suspicion from arising. He told her he'd been down there A.S.A.P. and they both hung up.
Laura emerged from the ally to see the police had just arrived. The cops were asking questions of the bystanders. She swam her way back through to see a limousine pull up with Goodwin and Lazar inside. She pushed her way back not to be seen by either of them. Just when she thought she had air, she heard the roar of a Duel Runner engine behind her. She assumed it was Yusei and thanked God.
"That was fast."
She was disappointed to hear Jack Atlas reply to her as she turned around to see him get off his White Duel Runner.
"Word can travel fast these days." Laura sneered at him.
"Well, if it isn't the Goodwin-appointed cradle-robber…" She snarled. Jack smirked at her and gave her an expression of superiority.
"For your information, I may look a little older, but I'm actually Yusei's age, if you happen to know…so don't make statements about something you have no knowledge of. Now, did you see where they took Sidney?"
Laura huffed. She tried to stay polite to save face. "How the… heck should I know? I did see the direction they went in, but there's no way I'm telling YOU! In my mind, you're still a dirty rotten young man, regardless of your age."
Jack didn't want to have to deal with her. In fact, he would have liked it if she jumped off a cliff. But she wasn't going anywhere, and she had her lips sown shut.
"You know, you're beginning to annoy me?"
"Oh, and I wasn't before?"
Yusei came racing up in his Runner, swerving to the side of the street to park. He jumped off and joined Jack and Laura.
Laura was truly thankful now, so much so that she forgot herself.
"Yusei! I don't know where they went, but I saw them go east! The New Domino docks are in that direction…" She blurted out. Jack stifled a loud laugh.
"Thanks that's what I wanted to know." He slid back into his Runner and drove away eastward. Laura ran towards him and felt the heat from the engine still there as he stopped to look for traffic. He briefly turned around and winked at her, which made her furious.
"Come back, you lecherous vermin! Come back here so I can castrate you!"
He turned the corner and was gone. Yusei got an anxious look as he saw Laura exploding. She glared at him; her breath was heavy with rage. But, after moment or two she started to calm down.
"You should go, too." She recommended. He agreed with her, but wondered what made her think she would be at the docks.
"Shady people like to use the docks for hideouts and places to hold hostages. I heard the Arcadia Movement actually owns a couple of warehouses there. I'm assuming that's who they were working for…no ordinary person could summon a dragon out of thin air and use it for a kidnapping, right?"
Yusei got back in his Runner. He could see Goodwin and Lazar above the small crowd, trying to make a speech that would cause them to calm down and go about their business as normal.
"…Only anyone with important information that could lead us to the capture of these criminals and the release of my Foster Daughter should stay…" Goodwin could see Yusei as he turned around and drove away. He gave a malicious smile, which he quickly covered with a somber expression.
I thought he might come for her when the news got out…Especially when he knows the Black Rose to be one of the culprits. Unfortunately… All I can hope for is that either Sidney frees herself with her power or Jack gets there before Yusei does. Nobody must know the truth…
That's episode nine. The conclusion of the Kidnapping will be revealed in Episode ten and eleven! Will Sidney uncover a new power? Where is she and will either signer be able to come rescue her? All of these questions will be answered so stay tuned! Please R&R- #REVIEWS ARE LOVE!!!#