A/N: I OWN NO PART YU GI OH 5DS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE CREATORS!
Chapter 5: The Spirit in the Woods
Third Person POV
Dexter, Leo, and Luna walked through a forest. A black bird flew off and Leo suggested, "Why don't we turn back?"
"It was you're idea to explore in the first place," Dexter pointed out. He pulled a crafty face and asked, "Are you scared?"
"I'm not scared!" he yelled and pointed a finger to Luna. "I was just thinking on whether or not Luna is scared."
"I'm fine, Leo," Luna responded simply.
"Alright. So am I," Leo agreed. They continued with Leo a bit scared still, holding onto Dexter's back as they walked.
Though they didn't notice, Luna stopped while her brother and friends continued. She looked at a different direction and said, "This atmosphere… there's something here."
Suddenly, she was pulled into a trance and walked in the direction while Leo and Dexter continued to walk ahead. As Luna walked, Kuribon called and tried to tell her something urgent.
Shortly after, Regulus appeared and he said, "Luna, I can feel a strong spirit. You should turn back." An unseen force then caused the two spirits to disappear while Luna kept walking.
. . .
Yusei and Era had just come back from Yusei's training and were talking to Jack and Crow. Crow then began to tell Yusei about a forest.
"Wait, the forest that spirits away?" Yusei asked.
"Yeah. Rumors about it have been appearing lately, that many people have gone missing from the forest," Crow explained.
"Know anything Era?" Jack asked.
Era began to think. "If I'm thinking of the right forest, then I do know one that has a lot of dark energy around it. But it isn't like a demon's dark energy. More like a spirit that is lost," she explained.
"What do you mean by that?" Crow asked.
"Sometimes a spirit of a person who died gets trapped in between the Afterlife or Underworld and Earth. It's not very common. But it's usually due to an emotional attachment or action the spirit had done when they were alive," Era explained. "When they're trapped, they tend to lose their way and they have to be reminded of what truly happened in order to find their way to the Afterlife or Underworld depending on where they were supposed to go."
"Well, people are saying that it's a monster that lives in the forest," Crow responded.
"If it was a monster, Yusei and I would've sensed it long ago," Era retorted gently.
"What do you think, Yusei?" Jack asked.
"I'm not really sure. Era is right. Whenever we've been out flying and we've gone over a certain forest, there is a weird dark energy around it. But we would've been able to tell if it was some kind of monster," Yusei responded. "Do you think there could be any relation to the incident with the Ghost?"
Crow finished the sandwich he was eating and said, "You're thinking too hard. Kids love talking about legends and those sort of things after all. Well, I'm heading off to work." He then left on his duel runner. Yusei was tensed, not really sure what to think of it.
"How much longer do you think until you're done with training?" Jack asked.
"Not entirely sure," Yusei answered. "The Demon Exorcist spell is pretty complicated. I can see why angels have to go through a test with it before they can head back to their world."
"Yusei's moving along pretty well though. If he gets out and practices enough, it shouldn't be too long before he can tell everyone else," Era added.
"How do angels go through the test in the Angel Academy, anyway?" Jack asked.
"As Yusei knows, when a demon successfully brings someone into the Underworld via possession, they can't release them right away. In fact, the person isn't dead yet when they bring them to the Underworld. As such, Stealth Angels will go in and get these people while they're alive when it's time for the tests. The people are then used to test the angels-in-training," Era explained.
"What happens if they fail?" Jack continued.
"The only way you can actually fail is if you accidently stop part way through," she answered. "Which means experienced angels who are deciding whether the angel is ready are ready at all times to save and release the possessed human if the angel messes up."
"Would you have to do that when I take my test?" Yusei asked.
"As you're teacher and one of the only experienced Combat Angels left, yep," Era answered. "But don't worry about that yet."
"How do you practice with the spell?" Jack asked.
"You just use the circle as a practice. If something goes wrong with the spell, both in use and practice, the circle will turn purple," Yusei explained. "I've been able to successfully do it a couple times but I still need practice before I can go through with the test."
"Huh," was all Jack responded with.
. . .
Back in the forest, Luna stepped on a twig causing her to return to normal. "Where am I?" she responded noticing the different layout then where she was before. "Leo!" she called. "Dexter!" A creepy noise was then heard which got Luna alert. "I knew it. There's something here." Suddenly, a vine began to come down and surround her. "Leo!" She closed her eyes fearfully. "Leo, help me!"
"Heavy Storm!" called a voice and destroyed the vines closing around Luna. "Are you alright?" asked a voice. As the smoke cleared, a boy walked up. "Are you hurt?"
"You're…" she stopped telling him to finish.
"My name is Haley. And you are?" he responded.
"I'm Luna," she answered.
"It's nice to meet you. It's dangerous being alone. There are a lot of bad guys in the forest," Haley told her.
"Bad guys?" she repeated.
"Would you like to come to my house? Claire will be happy to have a visitor," Haley asked. "You'll be safe there."
"You have a house out here?" she replied and followed him.
. . .
Back in the basement and Yusei's apartment, Yusei was working on parts of his duel runner with Era watching.
"Yusei! Yusei!" called Dexter's voice. They turned as Dexter ran in. "Yusei! Era!"
"What's wrong?" Yusei asked.
"Luna went missing in the forest," Dexter informed shocking both Yusei and Era. "Leo went looking for Luna in the forest too."
Yusei got up and asked, "Does this have to do with the forest that takes people?" Dexter nodded.
"Stay here, Dexter. I'll go look for them," Era ordered changing into her angel form.
"I'm coming, Era," Yusei stated. Era shook her head in refusal. "I'm not arguing, Era."
Era sighed in defeat. "But you stay here, Dexter. Contact us if they come back," she told the child. He nodded and Era flew off while Yusei drove knowing he shouldn't fly with Luna and Luna being around.
. . .
Leo ran through the forest. "Luna!" he called. "Luna!" He stopped. "Luna!" Suddenly, a creepy noise was then heard and Leo got a bit scared. "What… is that?" He calmed himself down. 'Don't be scared, Leo. I have to hurry and find Luna,' Leo thought before running again, calling Luna's name.
. . .
Haley and Luna arrived outside a house. "We're here," he told her. He opened the door and they walked in. Haley closed the door behind them.
"So you're defeating the bad guys in the forest through duels?" Luna asked.
"Yes. But nobody believes me," he replied.
"I believe you," Luna responded. "I can see duel monster spirits."
"So that's how it is. I was able to feel it when I first met you. You have an interesting power," Haley told her.
"Uh, thanks," Luna responded and followed him forward. They soon came to a door.
Haley called in as he opened it. "Claire, we have a guest," he told a girl in a bed.
"Uh, hello. I'm Luna," the Signer introduced.
"Claire, you should greet Luna as well," Haley responded. Not a movement was made from the bed she was in.
"Is she sleeping?" Luna asked.
"She always sleeps because she's ill," Haley answered. "She's always scared of the bad guys. I am the only one who can protect Claire."
"Are you the only ones in the house? What about your parents?" Luna asked.
"They went gone away a long time ago. They didn't even say anything," Haley answered.
'Claire's the same as me. Claire is afraid of the bad guys like I am. And because I tend to be ill and frail, Leo protects me and takes care of me. And Haley's like me in a way too. He's discourages how his parents went away long ago and never said anything,' Luna thought. Haley suddenly walked to the window. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Something is coming. It's a bad guy," he told her. "Stay here with Claire and don't leave the room."
"Wait! I'll go too…" Luna tried but was cut off by the door mysteriously shutting, shocking her.
Outside the house, Leo walked up. "It's a big house. Luna couldn't be in there," he stated. Suddenly, the doors to the house opened up with so much force that the wind caused Leo to cover his eyes for a second. Leo uncovered his eyes and asked, "What is that?"
Haley appeared and pointed at him, saying, "You, bad guy, I won't let you take another step here!" He readied his duel disk. "Come duel me."
"Uh, why am I a bad guy?" Leo asked confused. "What're you talking about?" He stopped as he heard Luna call his name. He looked up at the window on the top floor and saw her. "Luna!" He ran forward towards the house. But the doors closed and Haley stood in from of Leo.
"I won't let you through," Haley told Luna's twin.
"Are you the one who took Luna?" Leo asked. "Why are you doing such a thing?" Haley remained silent. Leo took out his duel disk from his academy backpack and said, "I'll definitely take Luna back!" They pulled their five starting cards. He looked at Luna. "Luna… I'll definitely save you!"
"Leo…" Luna muttered from in the room.
Haley took the first turn and drew. "I activate the continuous spell card, Circle of Life!" he declared and a yellow circle appeared around the field. Haley walked onto the circle and explained, "Now we can't use any spell cards unless we discard a spell card during our turns. Let me show you my combo. I set Mirror Prison to the graveyard to activate the continuous spell, Circle of Terror!" A second circle appeared just outside the yellow one. "Now we can't summon monsters unless we discard a monster card from our hand during our turns." A black aura then surrounded the house Luna was in.
'Is trapping Luna in there part of Haley's powers?' Leo thought and looked at his hand. 'I can't do anything now unless I discard cards from my hand.'
"I send the zombie-type monster Sleeping Beauty to the graveyard to activate its effect. As long as Sleeping Beauty is in the graveyard, the zombie type monsters in my hand have their levels reduced by one," Haley explained. "Therefore, my level five Hollow Spirit becomes a level four. So I normal summon my Hollow Spirit (Attack 1200/ Defense 1000) in attack mode. Attack can't be declared on my first turn, but I will have you take Hollow Spirit's effect. When there's a zombie type monster in the graveyard, I can inflict 800 points of damage to you." Hollow Spirit formed blue energy of light that seemed to be sucked out of Leo whose life points fell to 3200. Leo yelled in pain from the attack. "I end my turn."
Leo stepped forward a bit and weakly asked, "What was that? It felt like an actual shock." He then thought, 'Is Haley a psychic duelist?' He shook his head. 'Get ahold of yourself! If I get scared of something like this, I can't save Luna!' He drew his card. 'I need to break that combo, or else.' He then declared, "I send Morphtronic Datatron to the graveyard."
"There's no meaning in just summoning a monster to break this combo," Haley said. "With Mirror Prison that I had just sent to the graveyard, most monsters cannot attack. But zombie and machine type monsters are safe from it."
Leo smirked. "That means it won't have any effect on my deck. I summon level three tuner Morphtronic Scopen (Attack 800/ Defense 1400) in attack mode," he declared.
"So you have a machine deck?" Haley asked surprised.
"That's right," Leo replied. "With Scopen's effect, I special summon the level four normal monster Morphtronic Videon (Attack 1000/ Defense 1000). Now I tune level four Morphtronic Videon with level three Morphtronic Scopen. Docking strength with courage in order to protect world peace. Synchro summon! The envoy of love and justice, Power Tool Dragon (Attack 2300/ Defense 2500)!"
"You are quite lucky. But I won't lose to something without a soul," Haley told Leo.
"Don't make a fool of Power Tool Dragon. I activate its effect. This allows me to add one random equip to my hand," Leo declared. "I discard Morphtronic Cord from my hand to the graveyard and equip Power Tool Dragon with Break Draw!"
Suddenly a duel runner drove up causing both Leo and Haley to look in its direction. That's when Haley noticed Era land beside Leo.
"Leo, the next time you want to go get yourself in this kind of trouble, let me tag along," she told him. Yusei then came up and pulled to a stop next to Leo.
"Are you okay?" Yusei asked.
"Yusei! Era!" Leo exclaimed.
"So another bad guy has appeared," Haley stated. "But the girl… she is different." Era looked at him.
"There's something's wrong about this field…" Yusei started but Leo cut him off.
"I'm fine. So go rescue Luna!" Leo told him. He pointed to the window and said, "She's trapped up there."
"I got her, Yusei," Era stated.
"I won't let you take a step into the house," Haley stated. A dark aura began to surround Haley making Era step back a bit.
"He's a lost spirit," Era stated.
"I'm your opponent, Haley," Leo told the boy. "Power Tool Dragon, attack Hollow Spirit!" Power Tool Dragon attacked Hollow Spirit, destroying it and causing Haley's life points to drop to 2900.
Haley let his guard down and in that moment drove his duel runner and broke down the door and drove inside before stopping. Era ran in after him.
"How dare you…" Haley began but Leo interrupted him.
"When Power Tool Dragon destroys your monster, I can draw one card," Leo explained and he drew his card.
Haley got angry and said, "Unforgivable… I won't forgive anyone who hurts my most precious person!" An evil, dark skull enveloped and surrounded Haley and Leo yelled in fear.
. . .
Yusei and Era turned hearing Leo's scream after Yusei was off his runner. "Leo," Era muttered.
Yusei turned to a picture hanging on the wall. "This is… I remember hearing that a long time ago, there were some people living here. Among them were two siblings," he recalled.
"It's true. A brother was taking care of his sister's illness but it made him sick," Era stated. "The brother passed away and it looks like the sister followed her brother as well."
"Did you try to help them?" Yusei asked.
"The spells for healing illnesses are above our training, Yusei. You know that," she replied. He nodded with a small grin. "Those work with Healer Angels."
"Let's get moving," Yusei suggested grabbing her hand and leading her up the stairs.
. . .
Back with Haley, the darkness continued to surround him and Leo wondered, "It couldn't be that he's a demon?! In that case, I can't lose. I won't hand Luna over to a demon."
"When Hollow Spirit is sent to the graveyard, another door to the graveyard opens. Show yourself, Hollow Ghost (Attack 2600/ Defense 0)!" A darkness appeared on the ground as Hollow Ghost appeared out of it.
"2600 attack points?! Just when I had defeated Hollow Spirit," Leo responded shocked. He calmed down and thought, 'I have to find a way to beat this guy.'
. . .
Up in the room with Luna, she muttered in worry, "Leo…" But she stopped when she heard someone crying.
She looked over to see a girl crying in a corner near the bed. "Big brother, where are you?" she cried.
"You, could you be…" Luna said.
The girl continued to cry as she said, "Don't leave me alone here." She rubbed the wall calling out to her big brother once more.
"Y-You're Claire," Luna realized "Where are you right now, Claire?" The girl however continued to cry "big brother" while rubbing the way with her hands.
. . .
The duel between Leo and Haley continued. "I set a face down and end my turn," Leo finished.
"Even if you try to take my sister's life, it's useless! I will protect my little sister, Claire… even if I have to give up my own life!" Haley told Leo.
"You have a little sister?" Leo responded surprised.
"It's my turn," Haley called drawing his card. "Hollow Ghost, attack Power Tool Dragon!" A dark blast hit Leo's monster and Leo's life points dropped to 2900.
"Well, due to Power Tool Dragon's ability, by sending Break Draw to the graveyard, I can negate Power Tool Dragon's destruction," Leo defended.
"I activate Hollow Ghost's effect! When a card is sent to the graveyard, you are dealt 600 points of damage," Haley played. Hollow Ghost flew around Leo, blue energy sucked out of the Signer's brother while he yelled from the pain as his life points fell to 2300. "Next through Circle of Light and Circle of Terror's effect, I have to send a spell and a monster to the graveyard. I will then have you take 1200 points of damage through Hollow Ghost's effect." Leo yelled out in pain again as Hollow Ghost sucked more blue energy out of him and his life points fell to 1100.
. . .
In the house, Yusei spotted a dark aura enveloping a door ahead with Era. He began to walk over to it keeping Era's hand in his when he felt Era stop. He looked at the door next to him and heard voices coming from it.
"What're those voices?" Yusei wondered and reached to open the door.
Era gripped on a bit tighter making him look at her. "Yusei, be careful. Something's wrong behind this door," she told him.
"I know," he responded. "I sense it too." He opened the door and to see cards with people trapped in them.
"This is almost like what Pegasus did to Mokuba and Seto Kaiba during Duelist Kingdom," Era muttered.
"What?" Yusei responded not having heard this before.
Once of the voices called out interrupting them, "Help me."
Another said, "Let me out of here."
"Could these be the people who disappeared in the forest?" Yusei wondered.
"I… think so," Era replied.
. . .
"I will now end my turn," Haley declared.
Leo huffed, a bit tired from the attacks. "I know you're trying to protect your sister," he said. "And I completely understand those feelings. That's why I definitely can't lose!" He then thought, 'This isn't about me. It's about Luna. Which is why one way or another, I'm going to win this duel!' Leo began his turn and drew his card. ''If these circles are what's trapping Luna, then I need to get rid of them.' He then played, "I reveal my face down, Morphtronic Impact Return! By returning a Morphtronic monster from my hand to my deck, I can return Circle of Life and Circle of Terror to your hand." This shocked Haley as the cards returned to his hand. The circles then disappeared along with the darkness that surrounded the house.
. . .
In the house, the aura around the room Luna was in disappeared. Yusei opened it calling Luna's name, to which she turned and responded by say both angels' names.
The angels walked over to her and Era asked, "Are you alright?"
Luna just pointed over to Claire and said, "We have to save her. Or at this rate, we won't be able to save either Haley or her."
"Big brother," Claire cried. She then turned to the three of them, or more specifically at Era. "You… You're here to bring us over, right?"
Luna spotted something glowing on the doll in the bed. Taking part of the covers off, a glowing card was revealed to be what it was.
. . .
In the duel, Haley got angry but then said, "Since a card was sent to the graveyard, you'll take Hollow Ghost's effect!" Leo yelled out from the pain as Hollow Ghost sucked more blue energy out of him and his life points fell to 500.
"I activate Power Tool Dragon's effect to add a random equip spell from my deck to my hand," Leo declared. He then whispered before he looked at the card, "Come to me… the power needed to protect my most precious one!" He looked at the card and smiled at it. "I play the equip spell, Power Pickaxe and equip it to Power Took Dragon! Through Power Pickaxe's effect, I can remove one monster from your graveyard from play that has a lower level than Power Tool Dragon. And I choose to remove Hollow Spirit! And when Hollow Spirit's not in your graveyard, Hollow Ghost's attack points go to zero! And now Power Tool Dragon's attack points are raised by half of the removed from play monster's attack (Power Tool Dragon: Attack 2900). Power Tool Dragon, attack Hollow Ghost!" The mechanical dragon sliced Hollow Ghost in half, which destroyed it and created a small explosion of smoke. After the smoke cleared, Haley was kneeled on the ground as his life points fell to zero.
"Am I unable to protect Claire with my strength?" Haley asked.
Luna's voice then called out, "That's not true." Haley turned to her.
"Luna!" Leo yelled and Luna put both her hands on her heart and responded.
"Big brother," called a voice and Era walked out followed by Claire. She walked over to Haley. "What happened? It's no good if you leave your room."
"Big brother, please don't hurt these people," Claire said. She looked at Leo. "That person is trying to protect his little sister as well." He looked at Leo confused.
Leo began to run over to him but Luna ran over, calling Leo's name and grabbed his hands.
"You're safe," Leo said.
"Yeah. All thanks to you," Luna responded.
"Thank goodness," Leo stated. They let go and turned their attention to Haley who looked away.
"You don't have to protect me anymore. You're hurt as well. We're no longer…" she trailed off. She then looked at Era, "She told me what happened. She is a true angel."
Haley opened his eyes and said to Claire, "I couldn't protect you."
"You've protected me more than enough," Claire responded.
Haley then turned to Leo and Luna. "Leo, Luna," he called, "it looks like I did something horrible."
"It's okay," Luna told him. "You were trying so hard to protect Claire." She looked at Leo who nodded. Haley looked away again. Luna approached him and said, "Take this." She held out the card from the bed and he took it.
"Big brother," Claire said, "let's go. Like Era wants."
"Yeah," Haley replied. They looked at the twins one last time. "Leo… for me as well?"
"I'll protect Luna!" Leo answered.
He and Claire then grabbed hands and floated into the air before vanishing completely. The house began to disappear, leaving only small remains of it. A bunch of kids were grouped around inside the rubble.
"Why are they here?" Leo wondered.
"They're the people taken away by the forest," Yusei answered.
"Haley didn't realize he was dead, but his strong feelings to protect Claire held him here," Era explained. "Then he saw the people here as bad and trapped them here. They were a lost spirits, not able to find their way to the Afterlife."
Leo turned to Luna, saying, "I somehow understand Haley's feelings. If he was still alive, I might have been friends with him."
"Yeah, me too," Luna agreed.
"We better get back," Era stated. "Dexter will probably get worried if we don't."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about Dexter," Leo responded.
"Leo…" Luna groaned before they started laughing.
"Let's go you two," Era told them before taking off with Leo and Luna getting on behind Yusei.