Me: Well, I'm pretty sure everyone wants to know what happens next, so I'm just going to skip most of everything until the end… Oh, did anyone pay attention to the team I named Dueling against Team New World in the semifinals? I mentioned it in the last chapter… And they're important. Very, very important. *Grins* So, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds or Pokemon, but I do own my OCs and most of their cards. Enjoy!
Chapter 49
Someone's calling my name. I can't quite hear who it is, though… "Sky"… There it is again! Who's calling my name? "Sky, c'mon… don't die on me"… A blur of colors races in front of my vision, and I still can't recognize the voice.
A voice so loud I would cringe if I could move shouts, "The three of you are contaminating the scene! Please back away from the bodies!"
Bodies? I'm not dead… At least I don't think I am. And bodies, as in plural? Who else… what happened?
"No! You need to get them to a hospital! They're alive! They survived the explosion!" I finally recognize the voice—it's Shoshan.
Everything fades out again…
XXX
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
My attention is roused again, but I still can't move and I don't feel like Shoshan's next to me. My chest hurts, hurts so much, I can't breathe…! What's going on?
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!
And suddenly, a child's voice, "We'll take it from here, doctors."
A clutter of metal on tile, and the shifting of clothing… "Who might you be?" Male voice, I don't recognize it.
The same girl replies, "Sky Fudo cannot die. You don't have the tools necessary to save her, though."
Someone else speaks, and this time, I recognize the voice—Lester. "Trust us, Doctor Shiro. We can save her life."
No! No, don't trust them! I want to shout. Lester wants to destroy Neo Domino City! He won't save me, he'll kill me!
"Listen kids, I have a job to do. I don't even know how you got in here," the doctor says. "Please leave."
"Wrong answer," the girl says. And she mutters a word that makes me wonder who she is. Meigs. In the magical language that Fudos use, it means 'sleep'. The girl must be a Fudo… but how?
For the third time, everything fades out…
XXX
"Sky, Sky, get up!"
I moan a little and open my eyes. I realize I'm not in pain and I can actually see properly. It looks like I'm looking at the bottom of a table… because I am. And I recognize the table. "Crap," I mutter. "This place again." I see that Yusei is here as well, sitting next to me. Or would it be under me, since my head is on his lap?
"What do you mean by 'this place again'?" he asks.
"I… can't say. I made a promise not to talk about it," I reply. I look around the diner and notice the lack of people. Last time, there were at least people here, but now it's just the two of us…
A bell rings, and the door opens. In walks a tall woman in a black Racing Suit, designs of broken gears on it. Her face is obscured by the black vizor on her helmet, and it looks so thick I wonder how she sees through it. The woman walks over to the table and sits across from us.
"The name's Dusk," she says. Her voice sounds so familiar. Uncannily familiar. But I can't place it. "I'm assuming you were expecting someone else to be here, weren't you Sky?"
"Ye… ah," I say slowly. "But how do you know that I know of this place?"
Dusk chuckles a little. "Oh, I know a lot about the two of you. Like, for starters, Yusei's powers are still sealed because you have yet to tell him about them."
At this, Yusei frowns. "What are you talking about? Sky, is she telling the truth?"
"I am," Dusk interrupts. "Actually, the reason I'm here is to say that unlocking Yusei's powers is the only way the two of you don't end up dead. Which, technically, you both are dead at the moment. But the lack of powers thing left a tiny loophole, made larger by the fact that you died at the same time."
"What did Lester do to me?" I blurt.
"Lester?" Her mouth opens to an 'O.' "You must've been semi-alert in that hospital room. All Lester did was take you away from the hospital."
"What about the girl? There was a girl with him."
"You'll find out soon enough," she replies.
I shut up now. I'm pretty sure my brain is trying to process the whole 'I am dead' fact. Sure, I've been extremely close to death before, but… actually dying? That was something the Dark Signers were for… And what on earth did she mean by a loophole?
"…You didn't answer my question," Yusei says quietly.
I look at him and sigh. "I didn't mean for you to find out in this way… But it's true. You have powers that, well, are probably on par with my own. It's a family… heirloom, I guess."
He stays silent for a moment.
"If… If you want proof, hold out your hand and say the word 'Gaisma'," I mutter.
Yusei looks at me and does exactly what I say. A small orb of light appears in the palm of his hand. He looks at it, then looks back at me, and back to the sphere of light. He says nothing, but his silence speaks more than enough.
"You weren't expecting that, were you Yusei?" Dusk asks. "Yes, it was quite a shock to me as well, when I first learned. But it doesn't take too long to get a hold of."
I glare at the woman sitting across from us. "Who do you think you are? You're no Fudo, so why do you talk like you are?"
A short chuckle, and she replies, "Oh, you would be very much surprised to find out who I really am. But I suppose you'll have to wait until the finals." She shifts her weight and leans back on the bench. "Now all you have to do is teach him a healing spell, and the two of you can go back home."
"Wait," Yusei says. "Sky, why on earth would you keep this a secret from me?"
"I didn't want anything to happen to you," I reply. "The magic has a tendency to attract danger…"
"Were you ever going to tell me?"
"Of course!" I exclaim. "Look, I'd made up my mind to tell you after the WRGP. I would have told you earlier, but things just happened one after another, and we've never really had the time for a private conversation…"
"For something as important as this, I would have made time!" Uncharacteristically, Yusei yells at me.
Honestly, I'm just stunned. I didn't realize that telling him would make him mad like this… Well, I am being forced to tell him… Maybe that's why he's mad. I never even hinted to him having powers… "I'm sorry," I say quietly. "I didn't have the right to keep this from you. As soon as we get back, I'll teach you as many spells as I know. But in order to do that, the healing spell is Dziedet."
"Uh… what?"
"Zee-eh-deht," I say slowly. "A lot of the spells are rather complicated to say."
"Going by that one alone, I would say so," Yusei agrees.
"Alright, it seems my work here is done." Dusk stands up from the booth. "I'll see the both of you soon."
A bright flash of white fills our vision.
XXX
When I come to, I realize that I'm lying face-down in a bush. I slowly push myself up and look around.I don't recognize the park at all. Also, no one else is here, except for Yusei, who is in a similar position to me but in a different bush.
Carefully, I untangle myself from the branches, wincing as pain flares in my chest a little. Whatever happened, I don't think it fully worked. And as my magic is still sealed, well, I'm just going to have to let that heal naturally. When I stand, I realize my left ankle is in a similar state that my chest is.
I limp over to Yusei, and wake him up. He rolls over, revealing torn clothes that are caked in dried blood. My clothes are in the same condition. I guess a return like that didn't replace our clothes…
"You alright Sky?" Yusei asks.
"I'll be fine. You?"
"Just a minor headache, and my right shoulder hurts a lot. I think I might've landed on it when… our Runners exploded."
"Huh. Well, that's going to have to heal naturally." I stop and look at the sky. "I wonder how much time has passed…"
"If Yliaster was involved in our abduction from the hospital, probably not much," Yusei says. "I still don't understand why they would help us…"
"I don't understand either," I reply. "We'll have to ask in the finals, well, which ever one of us gets there that is. You think they're going to reschedule our Duel?"
"I don't know… Ngh!" He grabs his right arm, and I can see that it is glowing.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I don't think they're rescheduling our Duel. Team New World and Team Broken Time just tied. With that and the fact that our result was inconclusive, they might put us against one of the other teams instead, or they might Battle Royale the finals," Yusei says.
"You got that from your Mark glowing?"
"Yeah. Should I find it odd that you get information from a dragon living in your head?"
"True that," I reply, laughing a little. "Alright, we should go find our friends. If your Mark glowed, then the other Signers must've felt that."
XXX
Oh, they felt it alright. Mere moments after the two of us started walking away from the bushes, I get tackle-hugged by someone and end up landing on the ground, with the person hugging me lying on top of me. When my vision clears, I realize it's Shoshan. I feel my face turn hot, and I say, "Shoshan, it's great that you care, but can you please get off of me?"
"S-Sorry," he mutters, his face turning bright red.
"It's alright," I reply, putting myself into a sitting position. I look over to Yusei, and all of my other friends are surrounding him. "Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" I ask.
"What? No, you were just occupied with Shoshan," Crow says. "You going to explain what the h*** happened to the two of you?"
"Sure… but can we get a change of clothes first?" Yusei asks. He tries to stand back up, but flinches a little. "Sorry, my shoulder isn't healed yet. Can someone help me stand?"
XXX
We ended up not being able to tell our story until the next day. Apparently, when you get abducted from the hospital while in surgery, and you come back and you're definitely not dead or dying, the doctors still want to run about three million tests. Just to make sure. They had to give me anesthesia for several of the tests, mostly because I wouldn't cooperate with them. I'm sorry, I still don't like doctors very much.
Anyways, they only tell me I have a sprained ankle and a bruise at the bottom of my ribcage, which also has a scab on top of it. That means I have to be careful not to stretch out and break the scab.
They also add that I must've gone through some type of miracle, because there is no damage to my lungs whatsoever. Upon me asking what that meant, Dr. Shiro told me that, when I was first admitted to the hospital, I had a jagged piece of my broken Duel Disk lodged there, and it had actually punctured both of my lungs.
Well. I definitely underestimated the power that Yusei has.
After that, it was a lot of waiting, because Yusei took longer than I did to get through the tests. He ends up cleared with only a dislocated shoulder (to which he has to wear a sling, and Crow has already laughed at him for) and a mild concussion. A mild one, and both of his injuries should heal before the finals.
Oh yeah. The finals. Team New World had, in fact, played their card and gotten the finals to be a Battle Royale. They offered condolences for our injuries, as did the three members of Team Broken Time—one of whom is Dusk! Then, they decided that the finals could wait until after everything went back to normal and our Duel Runners got fixed.
Once we got back to Poppo Time, that's when we told our story. Well, I told the story. The entire time, my friends are silent, which doesn't happen very often. They don't even react when I mention the fact that Lester was in on the plot to kidnap me from the hospital. And when I finish with the fact that Yusei can also use magic, there's a long silence.
And then, Jack starts laughing. Soon after that, basically everyone except for Akiza and Shoshan join in. I glare at Jack as he stops and says, "That has to be the biggest pile of baloney I've ever heard!"
"You think I'm lying?" I snarl.
'Sky, let me handle this,' Yusei's voice echoes in my head.
I stop and smile a little; I guess the bond is fully fixed now. 'Go ahead. Only… Say the word 'Pele'. Peh-lay.'
He repeats the word aloud, and a small mouse appears in his hand. It scurries up Yusei's arm, sits on his shoulder, looks around a little bit, and then vanishes. "She's not lying," Yusei says.
"You mean… you did that?" Leo asks. "Sorry for doubting you…"
"It's alright," I say. "That's all you guys needed to know. I guess now, we just have to fix our Duel Runners…"
XXX
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the WRGP! After a month of preparing and recovering from the tragedy of the semifinals, the four teams are ready to Duel, Battle Royale style!" MC declares.
The people in the stadium cheer loudly, and in the pit I frown a little. If Team New World is in the finals, then the people here might be in danger. I don't want anyone to get hurt…
"I'll go first," Shoshan says. "I bet you anything, those people from Yliaster are going to bust out a Meklord quickly. My Deck doesn't rely on Synchros at all, so I would be the best to at least beat one of them."
"Then I'll go second," Sydney says. "I have ways that don't rely on Synchros. Your Deck, though, is mostly all about it. Hopefully we manage to get Team New World down to size by then."
"What about Broken Time?" I ask. "If they were good enough to end the Duel in a draw… They might pose a threat to us."
"We'll deal with that when we get there," Shoshan says. He puts his helmet on and gets on his Duel Runner. Then, he places the team sticker on the sleeve of his Riding Suit, and smiles. "Wish me luck!" And he takes off, arriving at the starting point.
Jack and Lester follow suit, arriving at the starting point mere seconds after Shoshan does. Then, a young girl, maybe ten years old, gets to the starting point on a silver and pink Duel Board. The end flares up and out, with designs of roses on it. The girl, in her skintight pink tank top and jeans seems oddly familiar, as magenta hair sticks out from under her helmet… Though I can't tell what color eyes she has.
The four of them exchange a few words, and though I can't hear what they said, I can guess that Jack was likely demoralizing that young girl. 'What's her name again?' I think. I quickly search it up, and find that her name is Hana. There is an even younger girl on that team as well, who can't be older than four, and yet apparently has managed to defeat several people in this competition, including Primo.
'Well, this Duel is going to be rather interesting…' I think.
The green light flashes, and all four of them take off. It looks like they're all going the same speed—which is surprising for the Duel Boards—until Hana and Lester exchange a glance and ride directly in front of Jack. The blonde swears and slows down. Right before they take the corner, Hana ducks out and winds up behind Jack.
Shoshan's Life Points: 4000, Lester's Life Points: 4000, Jack's Life Points: 4000, Hana's Life Points: 4000
Shoshan, who was oblivious to what happened, realizes that he can go first and smiles. "Okay, my turn!"
All Duelists S.C. 1
"Alright, I'm kicking things off by Summoning Noibat in Attack Mode! But she's not staying long, because I release her in order to Special Summon her evolution, Noivern!" Shoshan shouts.
Noivern ATK: 2600, DEF: 1200, Level 6
A dragon appears with a mixture of black and purple for her body color, purple on her underside and on the back edges of her wings, and black everywhere else except for the underside of the wings, which are green. White fur wraps around Noivern's neck like a scarf. Her ears are gigantic, and the insides are green. She has three claws on each wing, all of which are red, and a similar red color is on the top of her head in the shape of a 'V'.
"I'll set three cards face-down and end my turn."
"My turn then," Lester says, drawing his card.
All Duelists S.C. 2
"I Summon Sky Core in Attack Mode, but it doesn't matter because I'm activating my Speed Spell-Lightning Rod! Because I have at least 2 Speed Counters, I can destroy my Sky Core, and you know what that means! The five pieces of my Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity now gather on my field!" Lester exclaims.
Meklord Emperor Skiel Infinity ATK: 2200, DEF: 2200, Level 1
A large, blue robot appears next to Lester in five different pieces, and they connect. The robot appears to have wings, though only the frame of them. Also, the compartment on what appears to be its chest looks like an infinity symbol, with a spiral of green light inside of it.
'A one-turn Summon into a Meklord… I hope Jack and Shoshan know what they're doing,' I think.
"I would attack you directly, Jack, but that just wouldn't be fair," the boy continues. "I'll just set two cards face-down and end my turn."
"Hmph! You'll regret doing that. It's my turn, I draw!" Jack declares.
All Duelists S.C. 3
"I discard Power Supplier from my hand in order to Special Summon Power Giant from my hand. Unfortunately, that decreases his Level by the Level of Power Supplier, which is two," Jack says.
Power Giant ATK: 2200, DEF: 0, Level 6 to 4
A giant made mostly out of light and dark blue crystals appears, green crystals on each shoulder and yellow ones sticking out where the monster's knees should be.
"But that Level decrease is exactly what I need, because I Summon the Tuner Top Runner!"
Top Runner ATK: 1100, DEF: 800, Level 4
'Oh no, he's not going to… Not with a Meklord on the field…'
"I Tune my Level 4 Top Runner with my Level 4 Power Giant! The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!" he chants.
Red Dragon Archfiend ATK: 3000, DEF: 2000, Level 8
'And… he did…'
"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack Meklord Emperor Skiel! Absolute Powerforce!" he orders.
"Hah, the effect of Skiel Guard negates an attack once per turn," Lester says. "Sorry, but your effort is pointless!"
Without changing his facial expression, Jack continues, "I'll place card face-down and end my turn."
"My turn, then!" Hana declares, drawing her card.
All Duelists S.C. 4
"My cards… yes… When I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Prince of Stardust in Attack Mode!" she begins.
Prince of Stardust ATK: 2500, DEF: 2000, Level 8
A man wearing clothes suited for a prince hundreds of years ago appears. The clothes are light blue, and a hood covers his head. The hood is shaped oddly like Stardust Dragon's head, and a scepter in the man's hand looks like Stardust Dragon is wrapped around it.
"Then, when I Special Summon Prince of Stardust, I can also Special Summon Princess of Roses to join him!"
Princess of Roses ATK: 2400, DEF: 1800, Level 7
This time, it's a woman wearing ancient-looking clothes that are covered in dark pink rose petals. Her hood looks like Black Rose Dragon, and the scepter also appears to have that dragon wrapped around it.
"Now, for my Normal Summon, I'm bringing out Lonefire Blossom!" Hana says.
Lonefire Blossom ATK: 500, DEF: 1400, Level 3
'Oh crap, that's the signature set up for Tytannial,' I realize. 'That's not good…'
"I activate the effect of Lonefire Blossom and Tribute it in order to Special Summon… Copy Plant, the Tuner monster." She grins like it was the best play ever.
Copy Plant ATK: 0, DEF: 0, Level 1
A small stub of brown vines appears in the air.
"What in the world…?" I ask.
"That was a waste of a move! That girl could have busted out Tytannial!" Sydney points out.
"Wondering why I did that? Well, first I activate the effect of the Level Rose in my hand. By discarding it, I can change Princess of Roses' Level to 8. Then, I activate Copy Plant's ability and have it mimic the Level of Princess of Roses," Hana says.
Princess of Roses Level 7 to 8, Copy Plant Level 1 to 8
"This means I can now ov—" she stops, and a scowl crosses her face. "Tch. Guess Dusk doesn't want me busting out Chaos Rose Dragon just yet. Oh well, I set a card and end my turn."
'Chaos Rose Dragon? I wonder what kind of card that is… and if that's the reason she made Copy Plant basically useless…'
"My turn now, I draw!" Shoshan declares.
All Duelists S.C. 5
"Ah! I Summon Oshawott in Defense Mode!" he starts.
Oshawott ATK: 1000, DEF: 1000, Level 2
A small otter with a light blue body, white head and arms, and dark blue tail, ears, and feet appears. A small yellow shell is attached to the otter's belly. Oshawott kneels down, holding the shell above his head, and everything turns blue.
"Now, for what I really want to do! Noivern has the ability to attack up to three times per turn, although she can't attack someone directly more than once," Shoshan says.
"If this is your Battle Phase, the effect of Princess of Roses activates," Hana says. "During anyone's Battle Phase other than my own, Princess of Roses grants Prince of Stardust 1000 extra ATK. Also, Prince of Stardust prevents any of my other monsters from being attacked."
Prince of Stardust ATK: 3500
"You do realize I was going to attack Meklord Emperor Skiel, right?" Shoshan asks. "Noivern, go ahead and do just that! Attack with Boomburst!"
Lester laughs, "I activate my Counter Trap Negate Attack! Nice try Shoshan, but I'm not letting anyone touch Skiel."
Shoshan frowns, but continues, "I'll end my turn then…"
"Hah, my turn!" Lester says, drawing his card.
All Duelists S.C. 6
"Hmm… No monsters to Summon, but one monster to absorb. Meklord Emperor Skiel, absorb that Red Dragon Archfiend!" he shouts, pointing at the red dragon.
"Not so fast, I activate my Continuous Trap Dimension Switch!" Jack counters. "This lets me banish Red Dragon Archfiend."
From the space on the robot's chest, several tentacles of light appear and try to catch the red dragon. But before they do, the dragon vanishes in a flash of light.
The boy glares at Jack, "Well, that leaves you wide open for attack!"
"Not exactly, as I can send Dimension Switch to the Graveyard to bring Red Dragon Archfiend back to the field."
"Hmph! So you can last one turn without getting it absorbed. Just wait until my next turn," Lester snarls. "I set a card face-down and end my turn."
To be continued…
Me: So, what do you think?
Sky: What in the world are you going to do with that Duel?
Me: Lots of stuff. Especially since it's kind of obvious that Hana collaborated with Lester…
Sky: Do the members of Team New World and Team Broken Time know each other or something?
Me: Yes. Very much so. As for how and why… Everyone's going to have to forget what the show said about the apocalyptic future. And about the backstories of… Paradox, Lester, Primo, Jakob, and Zone. I'm leaving Antinomy's backstory mostly alone…
Lucy: *Pokes out of the Closet of Doom* Can I come out yet?
Me: Eh… Sure…?
Lucy: Awesome! So, fill me in on what I missed!
Me: I… uh… wrote the part about Yusei and Sky failing in a Turbo Duel…
Lucy: WHAT!? THAT WAS MY PART! MINE!
Sky: I think the other muses did a good job with it… I don't want to think about what would have happened if you wrote that part…
Me: No, you don't. Anywho, I'm trying to work on everything, although I don't know if I'll be able to update this week. I might be able to update something on the 16th, 17th, or 18th… And then, I won't be able to update at all between the 19th and the 26th, despite being on break. I'm going to NY to visit my family for Christmas, and while there I don't have access to a computer. If I'm following one of your stories, I can still leave reviews, but my 3DS does not let me upload chapters.
Sky: What puts this week out of the picture?
Me: I'm in my church musical. I have practice today, Wednesday, and Friday, dance on Tuesday, band concert on Thursday, my band's mattress sale fundraiser and the performance of my church's musical on Saturday, and a second performance of the musical on Sunday.
Meri: And I'm going to pester her with ideas throughout the entire thing!
Me: Ngh… I know… *Sighs* Well, I'd love to see reviews! You can guess what happens next, just say that you enjoyed the chapter, or, if you saw any errors, point them out. I'll see you whenever I manage to update next, which will most likely be Crimson Feathers!