Connections
"What kind of trouble?"
"The bad kind."
"Greeaat..."
"How foolish of us to think we got away from it."
"Seriously, is there any way for us to avoid trouble?"
"Apprently not."
"It looks like a bunch of those duel bots have been released to wreck havoc on the city," Trudge told them as they listened in to HQ's report.
Both Stardust and Yusei tensed at the very mention of the duel bot, something that went unnoticed by almost everyone there. The dragon smiled as Leyvaten pulled him closer in an attempt to comfort him, having noticed his reaction.
"...Thanks," He whispered to her thankfully.
"Of course," She responded quietly. They blinked at the hacking sound they heard, before turning to Black-Winged. Said dragon was giving the universal sign of gagging at the sight of their affection.
"If you're going to get friendly like that, get a room," He told them. Leyvaten sighed with exasperation.
"Crow, how do you put up with him?" She decided to ask.
"Practice," He answered. "Now what're we going to do about these bots?"
"We have to go out and duel them, of course," Jack answered immediantly.
"We'll split into groups to get them faster and more efficiently," Yusei agreed with a nod. "But Crow, you have to stay. Your arm still needs to heal."
Crow sighed in disappointment, but nodded his agreement. Jake had already given back all of the cards, except for Black Rose's.
"I want to go to the hospital and give back your card," Jake said to the flowery dragon. "And considering the trouble, I think it would be a good idea to have you near Akiza."
"Will you join the duels afterwards?"
The young duelist frowned in thought, "I... don't know."
There were frowns of confusion before Leo spoke up, "Why not?"
Leyvaten moved next to Jake, and got a closer look at him. Then she blinked with surprise.
"You're barely standing! What's wrong?" She exclaimed with worry, immediently moving to support him, something he gladly accepted.
"If I knew, I'd tell you," He admitted. "Perhaps riding to the hospital isn't such a good idea."
"Now that you mention it..." Crow started to say. "Maybe Leyvaten can fly you to the hospital, and Black Rose could just follow?"
"That would probably be a good idea," Jake agreed with a nod. He had to stabilize his balance afterwards, the motion throwing his balance off for a moment. "Yeah, definitely not going to be turbo dueling for a while if I can't even stand up right..."
There was a series of agreements from everyone nearby, watching his reaction to a simple nod. Whatever was wrong could probably be figured out at the hospital.
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"Hey, you're awake," Jake called from the doorway, Leyvaten with him in her smaller form, as was Black Rose. The latter raced forward and hugged her duelist, making Akiza blink.
"...Did you have another case of bringing them to life again?" She asked her friend, whom nodded carefully. "Are you alright?"
"Kinda."
"...That's not very reassuring."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
Akiza rolled her eyes, and came forward to help Jake to sit on the bed, which he thanked her for.
"Here's Rose's card," Jake said, handing over the little white card. "Sorry for taking it without talking to you."
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she asked you to," The older duelist assured. "Maybe you should get some rest."
"Not yet, Yusei and the others are out there, dueling a bunch of bots," Jake said, shaking his head. "Wanna stay up until they win."
"Jake, you had trouble staying awake the entire time I carried you here," Leyvaten scolded, frowning at her duelist's stubborn side. "Get some rest; I'll tell you the results when you wake up."
"...Promise?"
With a bit of a sigh, Leyvaten promised to tell him what had happened when he awoke. Within moments of laying on the bed, he was out.
"He's more exhausted than he lets on, as usual," She sighed, taking a spot near him.
"What caused it?" Akiza asked.
"I don't know, but I think it started after his duel."
"Wait, he dueled in my place?"
"And kicked ass, of course," Black Rose chimed in, sounding a bit smug. Akiza rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure you had fun with that."
"Yeah, I'll have to agree with that."
"Tell me about it later, for now could you tell me what's going on?"
"I don't see why not," Leyvaten shrugged, before explaining it very concisely.
Akiza got an idea, "Do you think he's this way from Black Rose and Black-Winged appearing? I think there might be some sort of link there."
"I think you're right. I'm not sure why it happens, and nobody in my valley knows either."
"What about Blue-Eyes?"
"She left ages ago, had to return to her duelist."
"Makes sense, I suppose," Akiza nodded, glancing at the young teen. "I just wish we knew more."
"So do I, Akiza," Leyvaten said, curling up close to her duelist, worry clear in her eyes. "So do I."
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"NO!" Yusei cried out, as Primo once again stole Stardust Dragon.
"Ha! Is this the limit of this era's great Duel King?" Primo taunted, grinning darkly as he slammed the young duelist for enough damage to reduce him to 900 points, with his being double that. "Doesn't seem like much to me!"
The young king growled and pounded his fist on the dueling disk of his runner, upset and frustrated. Stardust's pain and fear from within the Meklord Emperor weren't helping, not to mention that he couldn't hear his dragon's voice anymore. Something about the machine cut it off, and that just set him on edge.
"Yusei!"
Who was that? He recognized it, but it was... faint, difficult to hear. He knew that voice, he was certain... but from where? It didn't matter, he needed to stop Primo from succeeding in ruining New Domino City – at any cost!
"Yusei!"
"Debris, what's going on?"
"I don't know! I can't hear Stardust, and Yusei isn't responding!"
"I'm going to go check on Jake, maybe he can help! You keep trying Yusei!"
"Yusei, can you hear me? Yusei? Yusei! YUSEI!"
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Jake bolted upright, adrenaline surging in an instant. He didn't feel completely better, but he knew he had to get out of here and join in the duelling.
"Jake!" Leyvaten exclaimed, leaping up when he tried to stand. "You can't go, you have to –"
"What I have to do, Leyvaten, is go out there and help!" Jake snapped, making the dragon flinch back. "I don't care how poorly I can stand, I'm going to duel. Yusei's deck... didn't you hear it?"
"No..."
Jake remained silent at that, as he forced himself up and took a moment to gain his balance. He refused to talk as he walked out of the hospital as quickly as he could, Leyvaten following closely behind.
"Where's our runner?"
"Back at the stadium, I wouldn't have been able to carry it and you at the same time," She answered. "But you can't be serious about –"
"I've never been more serious, Leyvaten!" Jake cut her off, once again catching her off guard as he stared into her eyes, his burning with a fire she hadn't seen before. "Yusei's deck came to me asking for help. He can't hear them right now, something's cutting off their connection, probably having to do with his duel. And what I am going to do, with or without your help, is go out there and help him!"
He started to walk off, rather unsteadily, but was picked up as he went.
"Then let me at least carry you to our runner," She said. "And get some rest on the way. You'll need it."
Jake had nothing to say to that, he was still rather tired. He just hoped he'd have the strength to help.
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"What's the matter, Yusei? Make your move!"
New Domino's King grit his teeth as he drew a card, playing it immediantly, "I play Necro Linker in defense mode! That'll be my turn!"
"Pathetic!" Primo laughed, as he drew. "I activate my trap, Wise T3! It allows me to special summon Wisel Top 3, and replace the current Wisel Top with it!"
Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity (Machine/Effect): 5000 ATK/2500 DEF, 1 Star 5500 ATK/2500 DEF, 1 Star
"Meklord Emperor Wisel, attack Yusei's pathetic monster!"
Right as the attack was about to land, Yusei activated his Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, but the trap was destroyed; thankfully, he only had to discard Arbitrator from his hand to stop the battle phase, at the cost of the trap being destroyed.
"Very well then, you've only stalled your destruction for one turn! Make your move!"
Yusei took a deep breath, and as he reached for his deck, he got the faint feeling that someone was calling for him and he couldn't hear them. When he tried to pull out a card, his runner buzzed at him, making both him and Primo confused.
"What?" Yusei asked. "You said you ended your turn! What'd you do?!"
Primo, for once, was silent, as the both of them looked over their duel screens – and received a shock. A third duelist had appeared! But how?! They were in a duel!
"He forgot that all Duel Runners were still locked in Battle Royal mode!"
Yusei started and turned to see if his suspicions were correct – and he was shocked to see that they were. There, catching up, was Jake and Leyvaten. Checking his screen, Yusei noticed the teen had Leyvaten out, three face downs, and four cards in hand – and a familiar one in effect.
"So did you, apparently," He smirked to his friend, whom slowed down just enough for the younger duelist to get closer.
"Are you alright? You look horrible."
"Certainly describes how I feel," Jake admitted. "But I heard your deck."
Yusei gave a confused look, which made Jake sigh, before the teen sped forward.
"Primo, eh? Thanks for the duel bots. Certainly made it easy to build up to this point. Don't worry, I got dinged for arriving late, lost 1000 life points."
Jake: 3000 Life Points (LP), 0 Speed Counters (SPC)
Yusei: 600 LP, 0 SPC
Primo: 1800 LP, 6 SPC
"How dare you interrupt our duel!" Primo snarled.
"Not my fault you were stupid enough to forget about battle royal mode!" Jake snapped. "And it's not my fault your emperor's got a loud voice. I could hear it a mile down the track."
It was that sentence that jarred Yusei, making him realize exactly what was giving him a familiar feeling. He looked down at his deck, and noticed how their voices were muffled, like he was in a water tank and they were trying to reach him through the glass and water. As if that was the key, their voices started to get clearer, but very slowly.
"Now if you'd be so kind as to shut up, I'd like to take my turn! I've already drawn, so pay attention," Jake said, placing a card face-down next to the other two. "I'll place this card face-down, then I'll activate this one!"
"I negate and destory it through Wisel Top 3's ability!" Primo exclaimed, watching as Dragon's Rebirth was destroyed harmlessly.
"Fine with me, because I'll activate this one instead! Escape From the Dark Dimension!" A dark portal appeared above their heads. "It allows me to return one Dark monster to the field from my RFG zone! Welcome back, Darkflare Dragon!"
A dragon erupted from the portal, bursting into dark flames as he slowed to keep up with his duelist.
"If you notice, now that I'm here, your spell cards have changed to be ground spells. This is due to Class Change, it turns a ground spell into a speed spell, and vice versa. So now I'm casting Card Destruction!"
"I use Wisel Guard to negate and destroy it!" Primo growled. This... this... boy was just jumping into his duel and already had field presence!"
"We're stalling to give Yusei time to recover and hear his deck again, right?" Darkflare asked.
"That's right. Now I activate Burial From a Different Dimension! It allows me to put three cards in my RFG zone back into my graveyard! With that done, I now activate Monster Reborn, and bring back Lightpulsar Dragon!"
On the opposite side of Leyvaten, a glowing cross appeared, before shifting into the form a dragon with a white coat, wings spread wide as she slowed down to keep pace with the duel runner, giving a wink across to her mate. Darkflare grew a slight blush, but remained fairly stoic.
"I think that's good enough for now," Jake said, looking to his older friend. Assuming he can hear them again now.
"Alright, now I go!" Yusei exclaimed.
"Are you alright?" Rescue Warrior asked immediantly.
"Yeah, now I am," He responded as he summoned the creature. "I'm going to have Rescue Warrior attack Meklord Emperor Wisel Infinity!"
Jake's eyebrows rose, until Yusei stated that the creature's effect negated all battle damage, which was a very, very good thing. When the warrior is destroyed, Yusei can also return a creature he owns but an opponent controls back to his side of the field – such as Stardust Dragon. The effect of Skiel Carrier 5 still made him lose 300 points.
Jake: 3000 LP, 1 SPC
Primo: 1800 LP, 6 SPC
Yusei: 300 LP, 1 SPC
"Thank Ra you're alright!" Leyvaten exclaimed immediantly, her worry flowing through in waves.
"Thanks to you guys providing a nice distraction," He answered calmly.
"And now I tribute Necro Linker in order to special summon Formula Synchron, and with his effect, I draw a card!"
"Formula Synchron?" Jake wondered, looking to Leyvaten, whom shrugged.
"Spoilers, Jake," Synchron said with a smirk, as Yusei ended his turn.
"Oh, come on!"
It was at this point that Primo finally figured out what Jake was doing, "You can speak to the cards!"
"Took you long enough to figure it out. What's your point?"
"The boy who can speak to cards... our plan's biggest threat!" At this, the infinity symbol appeared around Jake and Primo.
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter! Wisel Infinity, strike the boy!"
"Yes, sir," The machine intoned calmly, coldly.
"I activate the trap card Interdimensional Matter Transporter for Leyvaten!"
"Wisel Top 3 negates and destroys it!"
"Then I activate Windstorm of Etequa, it changes the battle positions of all of your monsters!"
"I activate a face-down, Final Attack Orders!"
"Jake!" Leyvaten cried, flinging herself around her duelist. Despite her protective position, much of the damage still went through as the blast obliterated her.
"Rrgg!" Jake grit his teeth, as he did everything in his power to keep from spinning out. His lack of strength from before the duel wasn't helping anyway, blackness was already encroaching on his vision from the corners of his eyes. Gotta stay... awake...!
Jake: 100 LP, 1 SPC
Primo: 1800 LP, 7 SPC
Yusei: 300 LP, 2 SPC
"And that will end my turn," Primo snarled, displeased he was unable to finish off the boy.
Jake's hand trembled as he drew, the adrenaline was barely, barely keeping him awake. "I... play this card face-down and call it a turn."
"Is that all the fabled Speaker of the Cards can do?! Ha!"
'Speaker of the Cards'? Jake wondered, giving Primo a tired glare, but the guy was fairly tight-lipped when Yusei took his turn, opting to start by beginning to speed up upon drawing.
Jake thought this was rather strange, especially when he heard Stardust go absolutely silent, as if he were focusing heavily on something. Leyvaten was paying attention from where she was in her card, despite being in the graveyard zone at the moment. When Yusei vanished into a cone of light, ignoring Primo's taunts, Jake's vision flashed for just a moment, just one very short moment.
He found himself back in that room, the one in his mind; there, on the wall, the flash of light had faded and it showed a dragon. One he'd never heard or seen of before, something that reminded him of the time between night and day, something between light and dark. And then the vision was gone, and he jolted in his Duel Runner, and found himself looking into the eyes of a new dragon.
"You alright there, Jake?"
Jake glanced at his duelling screen, and spotted a new card on Yusei's field, and quickly deduced who this was. "Wow, Stardust, that's quite the upgrade."
The dragon gave a grin, "Leyvaten certainly thinks so."
"Now, it's time for the battle phase!" Yusei exclaimed. I activate Shooting Star Dragon's ability! I reveal the top five cards of my deck, and for the number of tuners I reveal, he gets to attack that many times! Let's see how lucky you are, Primo! Nitro Synchron! Junk Synchron! Effect Veiler! Debris Dragon! And finally, Hyper Synchron! That's five attacks!"
"What?! No!" Primo cried, as Shooting Star Dragon flew high and split into five different copies, each colored differently. "Skiel Carrier 5 will negate one attack!"
"Fine, but there's still four more!"
"And Wisel Guard 3 become the target of one, and the battle damage is negated!"
"But it can't do that twice!"
With three strikes, Wisel Guard 3, Skiel Carrier 5, and Wisel Top 3 were smashed to smithereens, and with them, Primo's life points.
Jake: 100 LP, 2 SPC
Primo: 0 LP, 8 SPC (Lose)
Yusei: 300 LP, 2 SPC
"I'll just surrender, Yusei," Jake said, as he shakily picked his cards off his duelling deck. "I don't really have anymore strength after that blast." Or after that vision.
"Understandable," Yusei nodded, as Leyvaten reappeared in her real form and the duel runners went out of duelling mode. Stardust had returned to his original form, and the dragoness sidled up to him.
"You damn well better learn how to become that at will," She growled lustfully into his ear. "I want to see how big you are in that form, got it?"
Stardust gave her a bemused look before scooping her in his arms and giving her the most passionate kiss he could, even as they flew along. "You bet."
"Jake, you've done it again!"
"Again?" Jake said tiredly. He noticed the neither Darkflare nor Lightpulsar had faded after the battle, making them feel rather uncomfortable. "Yusei, you deal with it, I'm too tired."
Yusei was about to retort, but noticed that the teen was, indeed, exhausted. It was a wonder he was still moving at all. With a few button presses, the older duelist made the younger's runner fall into an automated path behind him. Within seconds of this, Jake was out.
"It seems that the Speaker of the Cards is still getting used to his powers," A voice called from above.
A minute later, the other Signers appeared, where they had a lovely chat with the two other Meklord deck users, both of whom held Primo in contempt for his actions. They also commented on how Jake was more important than any of them could imagine, including the boy himself, but that was all – before they vanished. With the resignation to face the three off in the Grand Prix, they gathered themselves up and headed back to the garage. They all wanted to get some answers on who, or what, Jake really was – and what his abilities were. Before that, though, they wanted to clean themselves up and rest.
They just knew that they'd need as much rest as they could get before the Grand Prix continued...
A/N: Holy crap, this was annoying to get out. I was stuck for the longest time on what to do with Jake! And now I want to see what you guys think... while I try and decide on what to do with him now...