Connections

Chapter 12

"Nng... how long have I been out this time?"

"Only a couple of days this time." Lightpulsar answered calmly, gently helping her duelist sit up. "How do you feel?"

Jake took a moment to think, as he sipped from the glass of water on the nightstand. "Not too bad, actually. I feel... energized, I guess is the best way to put it."

"Why's that?" Darkflare asked.

"I..." Jake paused, trying to straighten his thoughts. "I'm not exactly sure."

Lightpulsar nodded. "Leyvaten is out with Stardust and the others, they're going to be back pretty soon."

Jake nodded, carefully swinging his legs out over the side of the bed and standing up cautiously. When he found that he wasn't dizzy, he relaxed. "Alright, sounds good. So how're you two doing? Last I heard, you two couldn't go -"

Lightpulsar's face brightened. "Don't you dare -"

Jake grinned widely. "Whatsa matter, Light? Don't wanna talk about how you and Dark spend your nights?"

Darkflare's own red face was rather entertaining for Jake to see. "No! That's private!"

Jake chuckled, and threw his arm around Lightpulsar's shoulders, squeezing her tightly and warmly. "Oh, Light, I'm just teasing you. You know that, right?"

Light pouted. "I know... you jerk."

"Overgrown lizard."

"...Leyvaten has given you way too much practice at those."

"Practice at wha - Jake!" Leyvaten interrupted herself, dashing forth and grabbing her precious duelist in a tight hug. "Oh dear Ra am I glad you're alright!"

Jake's smile widened as he hugged Leyvaten in return. "Heh. Hey, Leyvaten."

"You... you really scared me there." Leyvaten started. "Back when you were so determined to fight Primo... I... I've never seen you like that. And..."

Jake hugged Leyvaten even tighter. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I won't do it again."

"You better not." Leyvaten gently let go of her duelist.

Stardust gently placed a claw on his mate's shoulder, catching her attention. "Jake, we also have some... other news."

"Yeah? What'd I miss?"

"Look outside," Crow said, pointing to the window. "Whatdya see?"

Jake raised an eyebrow at Crow, but did as he was asked. "Am I supposed to see any - what the hell is that?!"

Jack blinked and crossed his arms. "So you can see it."

"Of course I can see it - there's a big giant city-lookin' thing from the sky!"

"Well out of everyone else we've asked, all of us, Team Ragnarok, and you are the only ones able to actually see it."

Jake turned to stare at Jack. He looked back at the thing in the sky, then at Jack again, before he spoke. "Ooookay... how?"

Yusei stepped forward this time. "Crow, Jack, and I met up with Ragnarok not long ago. They mentioned that only those that were Signers or marked with the Rune Eye can see it."

"I have neither." Jake commented bluntly.

"You're the Speaker of the Cards," Stardust commented. "That might give you the ability to see it."

Jake nodded, conceding the point to Stardust. "I guess that's reason enough." He crossed his arms. "Although that still doesn't tell me what it means to be this 'Speaker' that Primo kept going on about."

Leyvaten glanced at Stardust. "Jake, that's... part of the other news. We... found some information on what it means to be the Speaker.

Jake's attention snapped to her. "You did? What? What'd you find out?"

Leyvaten calmly explained to Jake what she and her mate had found, once again excluding the meeting with Evening Star Dragon, as per that dragon's request. Jake paced once she had finished, thinking heavily upon all that he had learned.

I just wish I knew why I was chosen to be this "Speaker" role... Jake mused silently, pausing long enough to stare out the window at what Leyvaten told him was called the Arc Cradle. Squinting, Jake stared at the Cradle. And why that Cradle looks so familiar.

Something else came to mind, and Jake decided to bring it up. "So you met Team Ragnarok? Aren't they the team you're fighting next?"

"Yup," Crow said. He moved over to the computer, bringing up some research Bruno was doing on their next opponent. "Team Ragnarok. They showed us the three synchros they plan to use against us in their duel... and yup, they're right here. Broder is using Loki, Lord of the Aesir."

"Dragan uses Thor, Lord of the Aesir," Jack commented, nodding to the photo of the card Crow brought up. "I can't wait to duel him."

Yusei moved over to the computer as well, bringing up a photo of said card. "And Halldor fights with Odin, Father of the Aesir."

Jake felt a shiver go down his spine, and turned to look at the card on the screen. Yusei looked towards Jake, wondering what he may have thought of the cards, and looking to see if their friend may have had an idea of a strategy on how to fight these powerful cards.

Yusei most certainly did not expect to see Jake's eye change color and have his pupil narrow, and he felt his Signer mark warm momentarily. Yusei felt his back stiffen at what he saw, and he was about to bring it up, but a moment later, he watched as Jake's eye returned to normal.

"So what do you think, Jake?" Crow asked. "Any ideas? I'm kinda stumped on what to do."

Jake took a moment to answer. He smirked towards Crow. "Do what you do best: wing it."

Crow slammed his palm into his forehead, as most of the others chuckled. As they moved towards the garage of their building, Yusei grabbed Stardust's arm at the top of the stairs leading from the loft.

Stardust looked at his duelist, and was rather surprised by the look on his face. "What's wrong, Yusei? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Did... did you see that?" Yusei asked his dragon quietly.

Stardust shook his head. "See what?"

Yusei looked Stardust in the eye. "Jake's eye changed. When he looked at that picture of Odin, his eye changed, and my Sign tried to tell me something."

Stardust sent his thoughts back to when he and Leyvaten investigated Evening Star Dragon's chamber. "And? What did the eye look like?"

"It... the pupil changed to look the way yours do. And everything around it was blue, almost... no, exactly the same way the sky looks during the sunrise."

"And... what did your Sign try to tell you?"

Yusei bit his lip. "I felt... I don't quite know. It was an odd mixture of emotions." He sighed as he gathered his thoughts, moving to pace the room a bit as he did so. "To me, it felt like the Crimson Dragon was warning me of Jake. It felt like it's... afraid of his power, and maybe in awe of it. I... I know you two found more during that investigation Leyvaten's Ravine."

Stardust nodded. "Yeah. We found another dragon, but we promised not to say anything. I'm guessing that somehow he channeled into Jake at that moment."

"Is it possible that dragon wants to duel against Odin?"

"That's what I'm thinking as well."

Yusei opened his mouth to say more, but closed it when Jake came back up the stairs, followed shortly by Jack and Crow and Leyvaten.

Crow spoke first, "Yusei, Jake says he wants to make a request of us for our upcoming duel with Ragnarok."

"So out with it already," Jack told Jake. "What's got you so wound up over the next round?"

Jake stared down at the floor, shuffling his feet a bit. "I want to be the one to go against Halldor in the next duel."

Stardust would say that he was surprised, but that would be lying. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jack beat him to it.

"You can't do that, Yusei's already going to be the one facing him!"

Crow stared at Jake in shock of the request. "And why would you want to do something like that? That's a rather sudden request. You just woke up from a coma! Take it easy for a bit!"

"I can't, Crow! I need to face Halldor!" Jake insisted, looking them both in the eye.

"Yeah? And what's the reason for that?" Jack snapped. "It had better be good!"

Jake glanced away from them towards Leyvaten. "I just... need to face him and his Nordic god card."

"That's not a good enough reason for me. You're going to have to do better than that!"

Jake growled, "Look Jack, if I don't face him now, I may never get a chance to, and I feel like I won't ever forgive myself for that!"

The others in the loft blinked, surprised at Jake's determination. Stardust decided to ask the question on their minds. "And why's that?"

"I..." Jake bit his lip and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Jack... you know those times when you sneak out at night to go and find someone to duel? When you have that dueling itch that you just can't scratch on your own?"

Jack paused for a moment before nodding. "What of it?"

"Right now, I have that feeling towards Halldor and his Odin card." Jake straightened his stance and looked Jack in the eye. "That, Jack, is why I need to face Halldor."

Jack took a few moments to think about, but Yusei spoke first. "I'm fine with it."

Crow's attention snapped to his oldest friend. "You are? But what about what we said back at the park to Team Ragnarok?"

Yusei remained silent, looking Stardust in the eye. After a tense, long minute, Stardust relayed their silent message. "I agree with Yusei. I'm fine with it - on one condition. You have to at least summon me during your duel with Halldor."

Jack spun around to face the two of them, "Wait, are you serious, you're really willing to -"

"You have a deal, Stardust."

Crow blew out a lungful of air. "Alright. Alright! Fine. You can take Yusei's place. Just... don't screw it up for us."

"I won't."

1234567890987654321

"Aaand now it's time for Yusei Fu - no wait, I'm getting a message!" MC paused only momentarily. "Oh my word - this is incredible! Yusei Fudo is bowing out of this duel!"

The entire audience was shocked beyond words, but none more so than Halldor, and the members of Team Pure Nobles. Halldor was the first to recover.

"What?" He leapt up off his runner, stalking towards the stall belonging to Team 5Ds. "You are fleeing from our promised duel, Yusei Fudo?!"

Yusei looked to his former opponent, walking to meet Halldor in the middle of the track. "Yeah, sorry about that, but... a good friend of mine really wanted to duel you."

"Who, Yusei? Is it another Signer? Who could possibly have such a powerful desire to duel me that he gets in the way of finding out our destiny?!"

"Yo."

Halldor's attention snapped to behind his former opponent, and his eyes widened. As of its own accord, Team Ragnarok sensed each of their left eyes shifting to show their Runes.

"That's right folks!" MC interjected, leaping onto his desk, adrenaline pumping through his veins in his excitement. "In an unexpected upset, Jake Rikota is replacing Yusei Fudo for this portion of the duel! This will be his second-ever appearance in a professional Turbo Duel, his last being against Team Catastrophe early on in the tournament!"

Halldor looked Jake in the eye, before heaving a sigh. "Very well. I simply hope you do not disappoint me in this duel." He held out his hand.

Jake smirked, and shook his foe's hand. "You won't be."

"Alllriiiight! It looks like Halldor has accepted the change in lineup, which means the duel can begin! Duelists, prepare your Runners! Viewers, get ready for what we can only hope to be a good show!"

As Jake and Halldor raced out onto the distant duelling track, the Ragnarok leader spoke. "I don't quite understand what it was that drove you to convince Yusei to step down and allow you to take his place. What could you have possibly done to do so?"

Jake looked Halldor in the eye. "I told him I wanted to duel you."

"What?" Halldor blinked. "That's all? But - Yusei and I were supposed to duel! In order to determine our destinies, and see where fate -"

"Fate, shmate. I hate it when people throw those kinds of words around. Let's ignore all that, and get this started. I'll go first!"

Jake: 4000 LP (Life Points), 0 SP (Speed Counters)

Halldor: 4000 LP, 0 SP

Jake smirked at the card he drew. "I'll start the game by summoning Dragunity Aklys to the field!"

Dragunity Aklys (Dragon/Tuner): 1000 ATK/800 DEF; 2 Stars

[When this card is Normal Summoned, you may Special Summon 1 "Dragunity" monster from your hand and equip it with this card. When Dragunity Aklys is sent to the graveyard while equipped to a monster, you may destroy 1 card on the field.]

"And through the use of Dragunity Akyls' effect, I get to special summon one Dragunity monster from my hand!" Jake grinned as he picked one card out of his hand holder. "And I know just the one! Come on out to the field, Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (Dragon/Effect): 2600 ATK/1200 DEF; 8 Stars

[You may Special Summon this monster from your hand or Graveyard by Removing From Play 1 face-up monster equipped with a "Dragunity" card. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you may select 1 Dragon-type card in your Graveyard, except for "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten", and equip it to this card. When this card is sent to the Graveyard by your opponent's card effect, you can select 1 of the monsters equipped to this card when it was sent to the GRaveyard, and Special Summon that monster from the Graveyard.]

"Oh my word! Jake Rikota has summoned his ace monster in the first turn! Can Halldor keep up with this young duelist's speed?"

Jake looked back at Halldor, still grinning widely. "Well let's find out, shall we? I end my turn with three face-downs! Your move, Halldor."

"Then I draw!" Halldor glanced at the cards in his hand.

LP is unchanged.

Both: 1 SP.

"And I'll take the chance to active Class Change! For the next three turns, all speed spells are considered grounds pells, and all ground spells are speed spells that require at least two speed counters!"

"Very well then, I summon Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant."

Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant (Fairy/Tuner): 400 ATK/800 DEF; 2 Stars

"When this is done successfully, I activate it's effect!" Halldor glanced over his hand once more, before choosing two of them and placing them in his Graveyard slot. "I discard two cards in order to special summon two level 4 tokens! I am fairly certain you can see where this is going, Mister Rikota."

Jake felt his heart racing faster than the turbo duel already did for his pulse.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think I know where this is going myself! Oh, it's not often I get to see duels like this!"

All of Team 5Ds knew what was coming as well. It was fairly obvious. Knowing this, Yusei got Bruno in order to take over the computer for a moment.

"What is it, Yusei? What's up?" Stardust asked from where his miniaturized form was hanging onto his duelist's shoulder.

Yusei took a moment to answer, finishing the code he was typing in. A moment later, a direct view of Jake's face appeared on screen. "I wanted to confirm what I saw before, so... last night I did a little tinkering with Jake's runner. I added a camera right above his duel screen."

"What is it you're confirming?" Bruno asked, just as confused as the others.

"You'll see. If I'm right, it should happen the moment Halldor finishes his summoning."

"Let us see if you have the power to face against all three Nordic gods at once, Jake Rikota! I tune Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant with my two tokens, in order to Synchro Summon -"

Jake smirked, grabbing the last card from his hand. "That means I get to cast from my hand the Quick-Play Spell, Mutual Synchro!"

"Mutual Synchro?"

"Now this is a new card, one I've never seen before! Just what does it do?"

"This ground spell can only be activated when my opponent begins a Synchro Summon. I select one Synchro Monster from my extra deck, and summon it straight to the field before your Synchro Summon even begins! I summon Stardust Dragon!"

Yusei and Stardust shared a look. "Wow, that was fast. I didn't know he had that card."

"Me either. You going to be there with Leyvaten?"

"...Not now. I want to see what it is you're talking about."

Jake wasn't finished, however. "But there is a small cost to summoning Stardust Dragon with this card. It costs me life points equal to his level, times 100! That makes it 800 life points!"

Both: SP is unchanged.

Jake: 3200 LP

Halldor: 4000 LP

Halldor felt a grin stretch across his face. He was still somewhat frustrated that his duel against Yusei had been stolen from him, and he was rather confused as to why his Rune Eye had shown itself of its own accord when he'd first seen Jake arrive on the track.

But Halldor was most certainly glad that this Jake Rikota had turned out to be such a good duelist. It would most certainly be entertaining to defeat him, at the very least.

"But that still doesn't stop my summons! I Synchro Summon - Odin, Father of the Aesir!"

Odin, Father of the Aesir (Divine-Beast/Synchro/Effect): 4000 ATK/3500 DEF; 10 Stars

[Once per turn, you may activate this card's effect. If you do, all face-up Divine-Beast-Type monster(s) you control become unaffected by the effects of Spell/Trap Cards until the End Phase. If this face-up card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon it during the End Phase. If this card is Special Summoned from your Graveyard, you may draw 1 card.]

There it was again. That shiver down his spine. Jake watched, a mixture of awe and a strong, overwhelming desire to beat Odin, filling his very being. He knew - he simply knew that beating Odin, and in turn beating Halldor altogether, was something that he simply must do.

It was at this point that Yusei once again felt his Sign warm, as did the other Signers that were watching the camera feed from Jake's runner. Stardust felt his jaw drop.

"Dear Ra... his eyes... they look just like..."

"What's going on with Jake's eyes?!" Leo cried.

The entirety of Team 5Ds stared, watching in a mixture of awe, wonder, and worry. Jake's left eye shifted color entirely, the area around the pupil shifting to be a soft sky blue. His right eye, staring directly at Odin with a fierce determination to beat him, changed to be a darker, more navy blue. This all happened before both pupils narrowed and stretched, akin to that of a dragon's.

"Wow. Those eyes, they look..." Stardust shook his head, before focusing and fusing his spirit with the hologram flying by Jake. "Leyvaten, do you see his eyes?"

Leyvaten nodded, biting her lip as she could hope he was alright. Odin, despite being far away in the distance due to sheer bodily size, also noticed the change in his duelist's opponent - and smiled softly to himself.

"So..." Odin began to speak, catching Jake's attention. "My opponent is to be the Speaker of the Cards. Do not disappoint me, Speaker."

Jake smirked. Oh, I won't, Odin.

Halldor allowed a few moments to pass before continuing his turn. "I will use Odin's ability to negate all Spell and Trap Card effects that target my Nordic gods! Loki, attack Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

"I activate the trap card, Battle Break! This ends the battle phase!"

"Then I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Then it's my turn, and I draw!"

Both: LP is unchanged. 2 SP.

Jake found himself rather confused by the card he drew. This card isn't in my deck... how did you...

Synchro Summon me.

Who that voice belonged to, Jake didn't know. Where this tuner card came from, he had no idea.

But he did know that he needed to do it.

"I'm going to start my turn by summoning Evening Star Synchron!"

Evening Star Synchron (Dragon/Tuner): 500 ATK/500 DEF, 2 Stars

[This Tuner monster may only be used to Synchro Summon "Evening Star Dragon". When this monster is used as Synchro material, you draw one card.]

Crow frowned, "He doesn't have that card in his deck. I faced him in a turbo duel yesterday, just to really see if he had what it would take to beat Halldor."

Jack looked towards his friend. "And how'd he do?"

"Well, he beat me, so that was nice to see... but then he showed me his deck afterwards, and I do have to say, it was pretty solid. But that card wasn't in there."

Yusei nodded along with Crow's line of thinking. "And with how much of a rush we were in to get here this morning, it's not possible for him to have bought it on the way."

"So that means... that it just appeared in his deck?" Black Rose guessed. "But... why?"

"I've never heard of this card, either! It seems that Rikota is just full of surprises today!" MC cut in, voicing the confusion and intrigue of the entire audience.

"And since it's a tuner monster, I'm planning to use it to Synchro Summon!" Jake declared proudly. He could feel his heart pounding, his blood flowing, and his very soul burning with the desire to fight Halldor and Odin with everything he had. "I tune level two Evening Star Tuner with level eight Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

Each of the five Signers, immediately felt their arms burn, each of their five Signs glowing brightly. A sense of fear... an immense amount of respect filled their very beings as the feelings of the Crimson Dragon flowed through them.

The members of Team Ragnarok could very clearly sense - as if they were their own feelings - each of their respective gods fill with a powerful feeling of awe as the ritual for Synchro Summoning began.

Evening Star Tuner, rather than turn into a green outline that vanished and left two gear-like rings behind, it instead showed its two stars leaving behind two bright white rings. Leyvaten, knowing exactly who was being summoned, decided to remain silent and simply do as he duelist instructed. Leaping through the two white rings, her holographic form left behind eight stars that lined up perfectly.

"When the night falls and the Evening Star rises," Jake calmly chanted along with the summon. "My very soul will manifest along with it. Come forth, Evening Star Dragon!"

When the small card was slapped onto the duel runner, the holographic machines began to process the graphics required for the monster.

The entire audience was able to stand up in awe before it finally began to appear.

Two wings, as big as Thor was tall, slowly appeared first and unfurled from high above Jake. Shortly after, a body that was as large as Odin himself slowly began to reveal itself as the graphics processor of New Domino City's duelling center struggled to load the model. It took a solid twenty seconds for the entire visual to finish loading, after which it worked perfectly fine.

The underbelly of this large beast revealed itself to be colored the same as the light side of the moon, stretching from the underside of his muzzle, all the way down the underside of his tail. Surrounding it, was the soft, soothing gold of the early morning sun. The underside of his wings, however, were the same dark shade as the dark side of the moon. The outside of his wings held the black color of the night sky, veins of the gold from the dragon's main body bleeding into it.

The dragon's eyes were rather... unique. The left eye held a black draconic pupil surrounding by the soft blue of the morning sky, while the other pupil was surrounded by the dark color of the evening sky.

"Oh my goodness gracious! Ladies and gentlemen, that is the biggest dragon I've ever seen in my life!"

Evening Star Dragon took a moment to turn around, being careful to not fly too low, so as to avoid running into anything. He smirked towards Odin."Well, Odin, it seems we finally get to settle that bet of ours."

Odin found himself smirking as well. "It seems so, old friend. Let us finally see whose duelist is the better, shall we?"

Halldor, at long last, looked away from Jake's summoned monster, opting to look towards the duelist he was facing against.

"Who... just who in the world are you?" He demanded. "What kind of Duelist are you to command such a magnificent dragon?!"

Jake took several moments to answer, before deciding to spin around and drift backwards for a bit. Halldor once more felt that shiver travel down his spine, the same one that occurred when the dragon was first summoned, as he laid witness to his opponent's eyes.

They looked exactly like Evening Star Dragon's.

"I am the Speaker of the Cards, Halldor," Jake announced calmly. "And Evening Star Dragon is my soul beast."

A/N: Alright, so it's been... a year and a couple of months since the last update. Soooo... here you go, guys! Enjoy!