Chapter 27: Broken Jigsaw! Town of Castaways!
"Eurgh, how much farther is it? My feet are killing me!" Sawatari whined.
Shun shot him an irritated glance. "We've been walking for fifteen minutes,"
"You just had to leave that D-Wheel in Synchro, huh?" the blonde fumed at Flare, who turned and glared at him. "Well, excuse me for not anticipating being sucked into an interdimensional wormhole," she huffed.
"Oh, put a cork in it, we're almost there," Yuke snorted.
Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, they came upon an old-fashioned Japanese tori gate that some joker had painted bright pink, from which hung a sign that was marked in a variety of multicoloured old letters; 'weL omE 2: Br KeN JIGs W tOw '.
"Welcome, everyone, to Broken Jigsaw," Yuke grinned as they passed through the mismatched gate. "The closest thing to a capital city the Crashlands has,"
"What the hell is this place?" Gong raised an eyebrow.
And it was definitely worthy of eyebrow raising. The town was a mismatched, higgledy-piggledy cluster of buildings that all looked as though they had no place being next to each other. "Hey!" Flare gasped, pointing at a three-storey octagonal white building. "That's the City of Heartland Overseas Embassy!"
"You recognise it?" Gong blinked in surprise.
"Yes," Shun nodded, frowning. "It was swallowed up by," he trailed off, and Flare picked up where he left off, "a freak earthquake, four years ago,"
"New residents, Yuke m'boy?" a voice called as a large, burly man dressed in overalls trotted up to them. "Yeah," the boy nodded. "Everyone, this is Daike. He works in the plantations just outside of town. Daike, this is Yuya, Shun, Flare, Gong and Sawatari,"
"That's right. Now, who's in charge around here?" Sawatari demanded. I wanna mmph oofh boorf - urm urm urum!" the boy loosed muffled protests as Gong clapped a hand over his mouth, before casting a sidelong glance at the man and twirling a finger next to his temple.
Daike grinned and nodded. "They have anything good on them?" he quietly questioned Yuke. At least, he thought it was quiet. In reality, everyone could hear him.
The boy shook his head. "Nothing special, just like everything else that washes up in this place,"
"Damn," the farmer groaned. "I'm guessing y'all are out of food?"
"Yup," Katie grinned, and the man grinned back. He had a soft spot for the young fox girl. After the accident two years back, most of the town's residents were more generous to the orphaned siblings than they were to most others. "Well, just swing by my plot and I'll get you all the fruit and veg ya need. But if y'all want animal products, ya gonna have to get it the hard way,"
"Er, what's he talking about?" Yuya asked his counterpart.
"In Broken Jigsaw, there's no point in holding out on stuff like food and water. Farmers and ranchers and butchers and bakers make food because it's what they love to do, and they don't bother holding out because odds are that if they do, whoever they hold out on will just take it anyway and leave them the worse for wear while they're at it,"
"I get it. It's interdependence," Shun realised, and Daike nodded. "Sort of. Everyone takes what they need and doesn't get greedy, because bad things happen to people who take more than they need in these parts,"
"What kinds of bad things?" Gong frowned, before looking up to see a tall, muscular African man approach them. "Well then, my friend, you get to deal with me. The name's Kenzan. Tyranno Kenzan. And I'm the Sheriff around these parts, which makes me responsible for making sure everyone gets an equal share. So as long as you all play by the rules," The man grinned, revealing unnaturally sharp teeth. "Then nothing's gonna get broken,"
Flare looked the man up and down. He was wearing a yellow vest that covered his chest but left his arms bare, with a black fedora and khaki pants. His face was shadowed by the fedora, but she could see his eyes. His slitted, reptilian eyes. The girl shivered as the sun glinted off a golden star that was sewn onto his vest.
"Sheriff," Yuke saluted.
"Nice to see you too, kid. They new around these parts?" Kenzan asked, gesturing to the group behind him. "Showed up in the junkyard near my house while me and Katie were looking around," the boy explained.
"Well then. Welcome to Broken Jigsaw, you lot," the man grinned, turning and walking away. "Stay out of trouble!"
"Alright," Yuke grinned. "Everyone, meet back here in two hours. Gong, Sawatari, go with Daike. He can get us some organic produce. And Gong? Make sure Sawatari doesn't get in any trouble,"
"I understand," Gongenzaka agreed.
"Katie? Take Flare and swing by the butcher's. I know you love it there," Yuke grinned, and his younger sister grinned back, showing her teeth. She grabbed the older girl's wrist and pulled her in a different direction as Daike led the two boys off. "Come on, come on! You'll love it!"
Her brother turned to Yuya and Shun. "That leaves us on everything else. Eggs, bread and cheese. Come on," he grinned, and the two boys followed him as he sped towards the centre of town. "The chicken farm's on the other side of town, so it's a bit of a walk. But it shouldn't be a problem,"
X
It was a strange feeling, being out of uniform, Yuri thought to himself.
For his date with Kisara, he had discarded his usual ranking officer uniform and dressed in a casual green shirt with orange tracksuit pants. He shook his head at how abstract his attempt to remain casual was, thinking, 'I even have an iPod with a pair of earplugs in one pocket,'
Naturally, he had his Duel Disk with him, but it had been resigned to the inside pocket of his jacket rather than its usual position on his left forearm. "Starve Venom, you're on break," he smirked. "Today, it's just me and Kisara,"
"Are you talking to your cards again?"
His girlfriend's cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts, and he whirled just in time to catch an expertly aimed kiss on the cheek. "Well, I talk to you, don't I?" Yuri retorted.
"That's different," Kisara shook her head. She, too, had disregarded her uniform in luau of a blue shirt with beige shorts and black high heels, and her usually free-flowing silver-white hair had been done into twin plaits. "So, are we flying, or -"
"Not today, my sweet," Yuri bowed, sweeping out his arm to gesture at a speedboat. "Our ride awaits,"
"Seriously?" Kisara giggled in excitement, leaping into the boat. "I call driving!"
Yuri looked in surprise, but shrugged. "Very well," He joined her in the shotgun seat and in a flash they sped away from the island, arcing towards the nearby town on the mainland as Yuri gasped at the sudden departure. "Must you be so fast?" he demanded.
"Yep!"
X
"Come on, the butcher's nearby," Katie grinned. "I don't envy Gong and that pig, they have to walk all the way out to the farms," she giggled, swishing her tail as she ran. Flare easily kept pace, her legs conditioned by months of evading Obelisk Force in Xyz Dimension.
Katie suddenly started giggling. "What's so funny?" Flare asked.
"Imagining Sawatari as a pig," she chuckled.
Flare wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "Don't foxes eat pigs?"
Katie stopped dead. "I dunno. I've never tried," she shrugged. "Y'now, outside of bacon. But I never really liked bacon that much," she thought out loud, but shrugged. "Doesn't matter! Come on, I can smell the meat!"
As they resumed running, Flare looked around. Most of the residents of Broken Jigsaw that they passed seemed to be normal humans, but a few had similar mutations to Katie. She passed a tall man who, at first, seemed to be wearing a long, black cape. Then her eyes refocused and she realised the cape was actually a pair of black, feathery wings, neatly folded against his back.
The redhead shivered as they passed a surly man dressed in black with his arms folded and a red scarf very similar to Declan's around his neck. An abnormal blue pallor to his skin hinted at something unusual beneath his coat.
Flare decided that Katie had been lucky with her . . . differences. They were cute, and they suited her, and looking around, she could see it could easily have been a lot worse.
A sudden realisation came to her. This was the kind of place where she could take on her true form and no one would bat an eye.
Katie's voice pierced her musings. "We're here!"
Flare stopped in surprise. "This is a butcher's?" The building was a triangular spire made entirely from blue crystal of some kind.
"Yeah. No one's quite sure exactly which dimension this came from. But it works," Katie shrugged, sniffing at the air. "Oh, I just love that meaty smell," Without a word, she dashed in through the doorway, and Flare nervously followed her into the astral spire.
What was inside was about as un-astral as it possibly could have gotten.
Long metal poles, adorned with hooks, crisscrossed the roof of the room, slabs of meat of various cuts, shapes, sizes and conditions mounted on the hooks. "Hi, Pedro!" Katie cheered, flawlessly ducking between the meats and rushing to the other side of the room. Flare followed her a little less efficiently, and when she escaped the maze of venison she was somewhat relieved to see a large, seemingly totally human man scratching Katie's ears with one hand, a wide smile on his face, and rooting behind the counter with the other. "Who's your friend?" Pedro, the butcher, asked.
"That's Flare. She's new around here," the fox girl grinned as Pedro produced a small object that looked a little too much like raw meat for Flare's liking, and offered it to her. Katie snapped it up eagerly.
Flare turned green.
The girl grinned. "You've got the best chicken, Pedro,"
"Oh please. My cuts aren't just meat. They're works of art," the butcher grinned. "You gotta cut it just right. But you ain't here to talk about that. What're you after?"
Katie paused, thinking. "I, uh, like lamb?" Flare offered, and the other girl's face lit up. "Ooh, yeah! Lamb!"
Pedro nodded, climbing out from behind the crystalline counter and selecting a large slab of meat. "How about this?"
"Looks delicious," the orange-haired Duelist grinned, and Flare gulped. Katie noticed her discomfort. "Don't worry, we're going to cook it before we eat it," she snorted.
"I'll just package it up for you," Pedro smiled.
X
"This is where things get tough," Yuke warned his new friends. "Daike's a family friend, so he's no problem. And Pedro the butcher adores Katie, which is why I sent her there. But if we want cheese and eggs, we're gonna have to win them,"
"How?" Yuya frowned.
Yuke grinned and armed his Duel Disk. "How do you think? Old Cooper's stubborn. He'll only give his eggs to people who can beat him. Luckily, he's not very good,"
"Then I'll take him on," Yuya declared, arming his own Duel Disk. "It'll be good practice for learning to Ritual Summon,"
"Awesome," Yuke agreed as they reached a small, wooden building with a chicken pen at the back. An elderly-looking man dressed exactly like a stereotypical farmer rose from a rocking-chair. "Yuke, isn't it? I'm guessing you want some of my eggs?"
"Yep," Yuya nodded, raising his Duel Disk. "Yuke says you'll only give us some if we can beat you,"
The old man grinned. "Got that right. Where I'm from, only the strong survive. And you gotta be strong if you're gonna beat me, kid," he chuckled.
Yuya paused. His words sounded familiar. "Are you from Fusion Dimension?"
The man spluttered in shock. "Well, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time," he admitted. Suddenly his eyes widened and he bared his teeth. The wrinkle lines contorted and crumpled as he grinned, rising from his chair. "How interesting. I'll take you on, boy," he smirked, picking up an old-fashioned Duel Disk. It was such an old model that it had a foldable, retracting blade with five card zones, not a Solid Vision blade like Yuya's. "Let's not waste any time then, and Duel,"
"I agree. I'm taking the first move," the green-haired boy nodded. A couple of nearby people paused to watch, for want of something better to do.
He looked at his hand and paused. "No Fusion, Synchro or Xyz. Guess I'll just have to make do," he shrugged. "I Normal Summon Performapal Friendonkey from my hand!" he declared, and an ugly-looking donkey appeared with a snort and a creepy grin. 1600 ATK. "When Friendonkey is Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Performapal from my hand. I Summon Performapal Lizardraw," he declared, and an orange lizard with a frill made of cards and a top hat appeared with a sly smile. 600 DEF. "Turn end!"
"Alright then," Cooper smirked, drawing his card, and noticing that Yuya Summoned two Level 3 monsters. He raised an eyebrow. That was Xyz style. Coincidence? Or not? "I Normal Summon Alexandrite Dragon from my hand," A tall dragon with gems set into its scales appeared. 2000 ATK. "You see, unlike most people, I don't bother with effects," he grinned. "Who needs a little thing like card effects when I've got overwhelming ATK and DEF points? Now, I activate my Continuous Spell Card, Heart of the Underdog," he declared as a Spell Card appeared behind his dragon. "Now, I'm going to activate my Ritual Spell Card, Advanced Ritual Art! I can Ritual Summon a monster by sending Normal Monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard!" he commanded, and a stone dais surrounded by pillars appeared on his field. "So, by sending the Level 8 Tri-Horned Dragon, I can Ritual Summon my ace monster! Appear, Lycanthrope!" he commanded, and the dais shattered, as a wolf-like monster with bulging muscles and a fierce expression appeared and howled at the sky. 2400 ATK.
"Now, Lycanthrope! Destroy that donkey!" Cooper commanded, and his wolf obeyed, charging at the vulnerable Performapal and destroying it, inflicting Yuya with 800 damage. "Now, Lycanthrope's effect! When he destroys a monster by battle, you take 200 damage for every Normal Monster in my Grave! I have one, so take 200 damage! Lunar Upheval!" he declared.
"And now I use Lizardraw's effect! When another monster I control is destroyed, I draw a card for each one!" Yuya explained as he took 200 damage, his LP dropping to 3000. He drew a card as Alexandrite Dragon destroyed Lizardraw.
"I Set a card. Turn end," Cooper huffed.
"Alright then!" Yuya grinned, looking at his hand. "Time to try this out! My turn! Draw!" He drew and immediately slid two cards onto his Duel Disk. "I activate my Field Spell, Sky Iris, and Normal Summon Performapal Skullcrobat Joker!" he shouted, and a grinning cartoonish jester appeared. "When Skullcrobat's Normal Summoned, I can add a Performapal, Magician or Odd-Eyes monster to my hand. I add my Ritual monster, Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon!" he declared, taking a blue monster card out of his Deck. "I can't believe Yuke had an Odd-Eyes Ritual monster shut up in his attic," Yuya muttered to himself with a smile. "I immediately activate the effect of Sky Iris! By destroying Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, I can add an Odd-Eyes card from my Deck to my hand. I add my Ritual Spell, Odd-Eyes Advent!" he grinned, taking the appropriate Spell out of his Deck.
"Here it comes! Yuya's first Ritual Summon!" Yuke grinned.
"I play my Ritual Spell! Odd-Eyes Advent!" Yuya commanded. A stone dais appeared with two pedestals, one of which carried a gold section similar to Timegazer Magician's weapon, the other with a circle like the one on Stargazer Magician's staff. "I Tribute my Level 5 Performapal Drummerila and my Level 3 Performapal Hip Hippo in my hand!" Yuya commanded, and the two monsters appeared on the dais before shattering. "Mighty dragon, hear my call and respond! Ritual Summon! Level 7!" Yuya chanted, a brilliant white circle of runes and patterns appearing on the dais as a monster began to rise out of it. "Descend from the moon to destroy all that you see with your brilliant heterochromatic eyes! Arise, Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon!" he commanded, and a mighty wingless dragon, covered in blue fur, appeared as the dais shattered beneath it and roared. Golden links of metal covered its body in interlocking patterns, and it's underbelly was bright orange. Pillars of purple energy burst out of its two massive legs, lifting it into the air, as it whipped its long tail around and roared. 2800 ATK.
"I did it!" Yuya was jubilant. "I performed a Ritual Summon!"
"Yuya?" Shun interrupted him. "Yeah?" the boy frowned. "Duel," the elder boy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, right! When Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon is Special Summoned, all the Spells and Traps on your field are returned to your hand! Also, as long as I control Gravity, you have to pay 500 Life Points to activate effects!" Yuya grinned.
Cooper was dumbstruck. "That's . . ." He couldn't even finish.
"Now, Gravity! Destroy Lycanthrope!" Yuya commanded. His dragon obeyed, sweeping forwards as though it were on rollerskates. "Lunar Velocity Impact!"
The dragon instantly destroyed the other Ritual Monster, and Cooper took 400 damage. "Turn end!" Yuya grinned.
"You're gonna regret that," Cooper fumed. "My turn! I draw!" he drew his card. "Now, Heart of the Underdog's effect activates! When I draw a Normal Monster, by revealing it, I can draw another card! I reveal my Flamvell Guard!" he declared, and drew another card. "Again! I reveal my Level 4 Dark Blade to draw another card!" He drew a third time, and nodded. "Good!"
Shun's eyes widened, and Yuke nodded. "Normal Monsters have a surprisingly large amount of powerful support. Cooper takes advantage of this when he Duels,"
"He just drew three cards," Yuya blinked. But Cooper's eyes widened as Gravity Dragon roared at him, sapping him of 1000 LP, and Yuya grinned. "Gravity's effect! He activated the effect twice, so he loses five hundred for each!"
"Doesn't matter! I play Dark Factory of Mass Production!" Cooper cackled, even as his LP was cut to 2100. "I return Tri-Horned Dragon to my hand!" He did so, recycling his monsters. "Now, I play Summoner's Art! This lets me Special Summon Tri-Horned Dragon from my hand!" he grinned madly. 1600 LP. "And now I'll Normal Summon Dark Blade!"
A squat blue dragon appeared with 2850 ATK, joined by a black warrior knight. "He can overpower Gravity," Yuya gulped, then added together Dark Blade's 1800 ATK with Alexandrite's 2000, comparing it to his 3000 remaining LP. "And that'll cost me the Duel,"
"Go, Tri-Horned! Destroy that dragon!" Cooper commanded, and his dragon obeyed, charging.
"I activate Performapal Raingoat's effect in my hand!" Yuya responded. "By sending it to the Graveyard, an Odd-Eyes monster is indestructible until the end of the turn! So sorry, but you won't be getting rid of Gravity!" he declared. A cape fell over his dragon, shielding it, as he took the 50 leftover damage.
"Fine. I'll set a card and end my turn," Cooper scowled.
"Why are you doing this? Why not just let people have your eggs?" Yuya frowned.
Cooper madly laughed. "I'm not stupid, boy. I know that everyone around here can survive just fine without some good ol' bangers and mash. My eggs are a treat, not a necessity. So if I'm gonna give them to someone, I wanna make sure they're worthy of it,"
"I see," Yuya nodded.
"Plus, it's a mighty better way to get someone to talk to me than just hoping they'll stick around and chat after I give them the goods, eh?" the farmer grinned.
"Yeah," Yuya smiled. "I guess it is. Alright then! My turn! Draw!"
He looked at the card he had drawn, and smiled. It was the perfect card for this old man. "Well, I've got a little treat for you," he grinned. "I play my Spell Card! Smile World!" he declared, and a Spell materialised, spewing out multicoloured and stars, all adorned with happy faces and cute little winks.
Cooper was dumbfounded. "What is this?"
"This is the Entertainment Duelling I learnt from my father," Yuya explained with a grin. "A kind of Duelling that makes everyone smile. Smile World increases the ATK of all monsters on the field by 100 points for every monster on the field," he continued. Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon's ATK became 3200, Tri-Horned Dragon grew to 3250, Alexandrite became 2400 and Dark Blade rose to 2200.
"Duelling to make everyone smile, huh? It's been a long time since I heard something like that," Cooper muttered to himself.
"Now, I Normal Summon Performapal Whip Snake from my hand," Yuya declared, using the last card in his hand. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but it's time for me to win," he smiled, and the farmer smiled back. "Go on, you deserve it,"
"I activate Whip Snake's effect, and switch Alexandrite Dragon's ATK and DEF," Yuya declared. The purple snake leapt forwards and wrapped itself around the dragon, constricting it. "Alexandrite Dragon only has 100 DEF," Cooper nodded. "Very good,"
"Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon!" Yuya commanded. He looked at his dragon, and it turned to look back. "Let him off easy, and attack Alexandrite Dragon," The beast followed the order, and with a single blow, Cooper took 2700 damage. "Well done," the old man smiled.
Yuya turned in surprise to see several inhabitants of the town applauding and cheering. Shun nodded, and Yuke beamed. "That was brilliant!" the counterpart grinned.
"Thanks," Yuya sheepishly nodded. "It was nothing, really,"
The crowd slowly dispersed, and Yuya turned back to his opponent, to see Dooper offering him a carton of eggs. "All yours, my friend," he smiled. Yuya took it, and he hobbled away, back to his shack. "Thanks!" Yuya shouted after him.
"The pleasure's mine," Cooper chuckled. "It really is,"
X
The seven met back at the gate at the predetermined time. Gong and Sawatari were both carrying bags of vegetables, and Flare had a bag of pieces of meat wrapped in plastic over her shoulder. Yuya had a carton of eggs slung under one arm, and Yuke was carrying three loaves of manna bread, a special kind of bread made from water and yeast berries.
Manna bread was the only kind of bread that could be made easily in the Crashlands, due to how easy it was to make it. It was in acquiring these loaves that Yuya and Shun had gotten their first taste in how things worked in the Crashlands. Instead of using money or even barter, Yuke had explained that they were expected to spend about half an hour helping Rodrick, the owner of the bakery and yeast berry plantation, make a few loaves. After that, the loaves they had made were left to dry so that they would be ready later, and Rodrick had presented them with a loaf each that was already ready in payment for their services.
"See, that's how things usually are around here. Daike would have had Gong and Sawatari help him do the rounds on one of his crops, watering them and maybe get rid of some weeds," Yuke had explained.
"That makes sense. Help out and you reap the benefits," Shun nodded.
"Exactly," Yuke grinned.
And now, they were all making the trek back to Yuke and Katie's house.
"So, think you've made any progress on the portal thing?" Katie asked Flare.
"Well, we've managed to establish the interdimensional coordinates of the Crashlands, and I already know the interdimensional coordinates of Heartland City. So me and Shun just need to connect to the portal in Heartland and tell it to open a portal here," Flare explained. "I left my Duel Disk in your house, so that it could keep scanning. Hopefully it's got it by now,"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Katie asked, leading the charge back to the house. Motivated by her eagerness, the others followed.
It didn't take long before everyone watched as Flare and Shun pored over the readouts on her Duel Disk. "We got it! We got the connection!" Flare cheered.
"We can open a portal to escape?" Sawatari asked in elation. "Awesome!" Katie cheered.
"Not quite," Shun said, looking at more of the data, and everyone froze.
"What is it?" Yuke nervously asked, expecting the worst.
"We can open a portal, sure, but we can't stabilise it enough for safe travel," Shun explained.
Most of the faces were blank, and Flare rushed to fill the gaps. "Imagine that every dimension has a sphere of magic fire around it. Normally, the interdimensional wormhole can bypass that fire get you through it safely, but if we went through it as it is now,"
"Then we'd all be burnt to cinders by the time we actually got to where we're going," Gong surmised.
"Yeah. It's like that episode of Doctor Who with the double-decker bus and the intergalactic portal. Who saw that?" Flare questioned.
Everyone except Yuya, Yuke and Katie raised their hands. "I never liked Doctor Who. Too grim," Yuya shrugged. "And there's the slight problem of no antennae TV in the Crashlands," his counterpart explained.
"Hey, wait," Sawatari interrupted. "In that episode, the Doctor and the people with him survived the negative effects of the portal by using a double-decker bus as protection from the interdimensional fires," he remembered. "Would something like that work?" the blonde suggested.
"What, are you suggesting we build an interdimensional double-decker bus?" Gong snorted, but Shun was nodding to himself. "Actually, he might be onto something. Yuke, those junkyards where we landed yesterday. How much scrap metal is in there?"
"Plenty, but you won't find anything like a car or a bus. Nothing's intact, it's just useless piles of junk," Yuke shook his head, but Shun wore a small smile. "Don't worry. I've already got a plan. Flare, the portal can be as big as we need it, correct?"
"Yeah, I think so," his friend nodded. "But according to this data, there's only enough juice left for one more wormhole. And it's unstable as it is, something could happen and it'll be destroyed at any moment. Then we'll be stuck here forever," she gulped.
"Then we're on the clock," Shun nodded, a grim smile growing across his face. "But I swore I'd bring help back to Xyz Dimension, so there's no way I'm letting myself get stuck here for the rest of my life. Everyone, get ready. We're going to get to Heartland or we're gonna die trying,"
"Er, can we not take it quite that far? I kinda wanna live," Katie politely asked.
X
Cooper picked up a transponder and switched it on. "Hello?" he whispered.
"What? Who is this? This channel hasn't been used in years!" a voice retorted.
"Because there's been nothing to report for years. But there is now. This is Agent OB-Point-Oh-One. The Lancers are here, in the Crashlands,"
A/N
A/N
I will give full props to anyone who can guess what Shun's plan is. :)
And woo-hoo, triple update to celebrate cracking 100,000 words! Once again, no reviews or original cards (Cooper's Deck is 100% real), and now, when I set story search filters to 100,000+ words, it'll show up! Yay! :)
Anyways, not much to say, so, peace! :)