Chapter 7
Kronos eats his Children
Thursday, June 21st, 2012
4:30 PM
Regan's breath was taken away from the speed that they reached before the world around her got dark and she looked away from Guardian Angel Joan. There were clouds swirled around like a vortex in a video game and she was alone with Joan.
"Yugi," She called reading the air for his aura or of Atem and Bakura's. All she got was a hollow emptiness of nothing existing within the vortex except for her monster and her puzzle. Did she die and she was being carried by an angel to the next world? Seemed too convenient as then nobody would get their way with her. What could you do with a dead body?
"You're not dead." Nile sighed in her head.
Regan was about to ask her where the hell they were than when the clouds started to clear in front of them and a blue sky with a bright sun blinding her for a second. They exited the clouds and Regan felt the afternoon warmth on her skin. The senses of living things came to her making her feel less empty. She looked around and saw that the landscape was different from the island with clusters of different buildings and large highways connecting the clusters of buildings and tiny neighbourhoods below. There weren't many vehicles on the highway like it was the quiet before the rush hour. Everywhere she looked it was just city and a large body of water in the distance.
"I'm not sure if I want to be back in that vortex or not." Regan said to herself as her angel started following the highway towards the large center skyscrapers.
The sounds of tires screeching below her and cars hitting each other brought her attention behind them. Guardian Angel Joan turned just to dodge an attack from a large almost see through dragon on the highway. Cars drove around the dragon's feet or u-turned making cars behind them follow suit.
"Come on, what did we do?" Regan called down at the dragon.
It growled as it attacked again by throwing a car at her. Guardian Angel Joan kept dodging the attacks of the dragon. It wasn't long before the highway was empty minus the few cars that were in accidents or crushed by the large dragon stepping on them. The sound of an engine reached her ears. She needed to end the fight before people got hurt.
"Guardian Angel Joan, attack that dragon." Regan ordered hearing the engine coming closer at faster speeds. Could they not see the giant dragon on the road?
Her monster attacked just as the dragon sent out a beam. Joan's attack hit the dragon destroying it, but a split second went by before Regan and her monster were hit by the dragon's attack. She yelled in pain before feeling consciousness slip for a few moments. Regan fell towards the highway as her monster disappeared with Nile shouting at her to summon a monster. Regan opened her eyes to find that she was upside down. She grabbed a card from her deck and placed Mirage Dragon on the duel disk. It appeared for a brief moment before being destroyed when a monster named Garvas flew from above and smashed her dragon into Regan just as she placed an aura shield around her. Garvas came at her. Regan drew her swords just as a bright crimson colour dragon appeared from the corner of her eye, incinerating the demon monster and catching her. She was in amazement at how strong the aura of the dragon and how ancient it felt, almost as old as the Millennium Items, but not quite as old. The dragon landed as a red motorcycle stopped in front of them. Regan slid off the dragon landing awkwardly on the cement.
The motorist got off his bike, took off his helmet, and stared at her and the dragon in shock with his dark blue eyes. The motorist had black hair with blond streaks, wore a blue with black strips jacket with a black and red shirt underneath which matched his black jeans as they both had amber circles almost like pads on the collar, bottom rim, and knees. The circles were also on his brown gloves and boots. Regan drew her swords eyeing him raising the amount of aura she let into the swords to make them glow more. A high wind blew over the highway causing some of her hair to cover half her face.
The man stopped his progression. "May I ask what's going on?"
"You tell me." Regan hissed. Her head was hurting from the damage she had taken.
"From what I see, you caused a mess in the middle of my city with Duel Monsters and scaring people who have seen enough destruction." The man stated in annoyance.
"They attacked me; all I was doing was minding my own business."
"Who are you?"
"You should already know that since you came towards the fight instead of running away. Who are you working for? Dark Matter or Lilith, or is it Them?" Regan questioned taking a step forward threateningly.
The man gave her a blank expression. "Look kid, I've never heard of those people. Now how about you put those swords down and we can discuss this on friendlier terms."
"I guess you don't have any magic tricks up your sleeve, meaning you are working for Them."
"I think we got off the wrong foot here. The dragon that is behind you is called the Crimson Dragon. He saved you from being a part of the road meaning that you aren't a bad character. My name is Yusei Fudo and I work as a researcher for the city."
"Cute story, but I don't believe you." She hissed as she tried to read his aura. She got nothing except for a dizzy spell. The dragon took off and disappeared leaving her slight advantage of ditching the highway man to a nil. She went for her deck again to summon another monster when her legs buckled and she dropped to a knee. She was more injured than she thought and using too much aura at once after practicing and running around before was taking a toll.
"Are you alright?" Yusei asked as he walked towards her.
Regan jumped back from him and landed clumsily on her two feet a fair distance. "Stay away from me."
The sounds of sirens from the central tall buildings were heading towards them.
"We gotta go." Yusei stated.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"If you think that I'm part of whoever Them is as a simple researcher, than can you imagine how many people are in the Sector Security?"
Regan gripped her swords tighter as she thought about the tight security of her brother's school and how two people could have slipped by. A police force had to be crawling with people from all three of her enemies. At least with this Yusei guy, she could deal with if he really wasn't as he said he was. Though, she did have a third option of just ditching all of them.
'Regan, you can't. You don't have enough strength if another monster appears and attacks you. This is our best option to finding a safe place to hide out until we can go home with Atem, Bakura and Yugi. You should rest a little while.' Nile told her.
Regan didn't like it, but she didn't have much of a choice when the corners of her sight were starting to blur and blacken. She placed her swords away somehow so she wouldn't drop them and Yusei helped her over to his bike. He pulled out a second red helmet from his seat.
"Totally not suspicious," She hissed taking the helmet.
"I actually help a lot of people in this city, so having the extra helmet makes things much easier with traveling."
"Sure." She muttered as she got onto the strange motorcycle and they took off quickly away from the scene.
The ride was interesting with the highways high off the ground around the middle part of tall buildings. Suddenly, hologram signs appeared with the words Turbo Duel written on them and people started to pull over as two motorcyclists drove onto a rising highway.
"What's a Turbo Duel?" She asked him as they drove under the raised road along with the rest of the traffic.
"You've never heard of a Turbo Duel?" Yusei asked her. She thought she heard curiosity in his voice.
"No."
"It's Duel Monsters on Duel Runners, the city was repaired to have turbo duels and with sector security permission; the roads are raised and the duel can commence without disrupting traffic or traffic disrupting the duel."
Regan was more than amazed as she looked at the two vehicles racing behind her with monsters following them. Then something occurred to her. "What's today's date?"
"It's Sunday."
"No, I meant like date, month, year," She hissed in annoyance and slight worry, it was Thursday the last time she checked.
"June 21st, 2043." Yusei answered simply.
"Could you repeat that, I thought I heard 2043."
"You heard correctly, why did you think you heard wrong?"
Regan started to panic, "That's not-? How-?"
"What's not?"
"Regan you need to calm your breathing." Nile stated in her head, but it only made Regan panic some more as she thought about Yugi and her other friends and where they could be and then everything went dark.
00000
Regan woke up to find a ceiling above her, a couch she was lying on and the smell of oil and noodles in the air. Her stomach growled. When was the last time she had eaten? Forty-eight years according to what Yusei had told her. She snapped to attention and sat up quickly and regretting it just as fast. Her head pounded and she was dizzy.
"God dammit," she hissed in annoyed.
"You shouldn't have got up so fast." Yusei said from somewhere in the room.
She turned towards the voice and found him on a chair in front of a computer. "What happened?"
"You fainted and almost fell off my duel runner. It was an interesting ride back to my house."
"Oh I bet," Regan sighed and then she grew curious. "What are you doing over there?"
"Nothing really, just looking up stuff."
"Like what?"
"People falling from the sky and being attacked by monsters. Nothing is showing up in the news other than a few monsters appearing across the city." Yusei sighed as he turned to her, "I should probably head out to fix that."
"Fix it how?"
"By getting rid of the monsters of course. From what I could tell from your battle with a few of them, you just have to have a monster with a high enough attack to get rid of them."
"And then more spawn, what are you going to do then?" She judged.
"Well it's just going to have to do until I find the source."
"If you find the source, I might just get to whoever it is first." She said and found her arm lighter than she had remembered before she passed out. "Where's my duel disk?"
"It's in your bag and your deck is in your deck box. I know how uncomfortable it is to wake up with a disk on your arm so I took it off for you."
"Where's my bag?"
"On the floor beside you." He said pointing to a spot in front of the couch. She looked down and saw it there. She pulled out her deck and looked through it to make sure he hadn't stolen anything.
"Well I guess this is a good start."
"You seemed determined, mind telling me why?" Yusei asked turning to her. She didn't bother answering and he stretched in his seat. "Alright, how about your name?"
"If I told you and this is really June twenty-first 2043, you wouldn't believe me."
"From the things I've seen, I would be surprised if I didn't believe you."
Regan bit her lip looking away, why should she bother? All she needed was to find a map of the city and figure out where her friends would be. She turned back to Yusei, even if he back stabbed her, she was the only one that she knew that could take her to where she needed to go. "Dammit,"
"What?"
"Fine, I'll tell you who I am as long as you do something for me."
"Depends on what this something is." The man said with narrowed eyes.
"You help me find my friends and help us out around this place until we go home in exchange I'll tell you my name."
"You are going to have to give me a little more than that."
"Names are powerful things you know."
"And so is helping a person that is complete stranger who are asking for even more help with finding some friends. For all I know you are the one planning a trap against me."
She rolled her eyes.
"How about I help you with your request, if you tell me your name and a little bit of background?"
"Fine," She hissed in agreement. "My name is Regan Heartin Kaiba."
"Kaiba?" Yusei questioned almost like he was trying to get on her nerves.
"Did you forget to learn how to use your ears already? Yes, Kaiba is my last name."
"Alright, you don't have to bite my head off. So who are your friends? Why do you think I'm someone who is against you?"
"There are three others that I think ended up here. And as for why I think you are someone who is against me, well that's not something I really want to answer right now."
Yusei looked at her like he was trying to analyse her but sighed as she didn't break under his gaze. Suddenly, a ringing noise went off in the room. Regan jumped and turned to it to find his motorcycle with a screen glowing on it. Yusei got up from his chair and walked over to it.
He pushed a button on the bike and a surprised look came to his face, "Jack, long time, no see. What's up?"
Regan jumped over the side of the couch and landed. She was glad her feet were working when she landed. She walked up closer to the bike to see a blond haired man with his hair sticking straight up like it was gelled there. His face looked like someone had shit in his cheerios and he was asking Yusei to help murder them.
"What's up?!" Jack asked in a British accident angrily. "Well, I was going to have a surprise visit with you and was just standing on Daedalus Bridge when a duel monster appeared from nowhere and started attacking a kid on a bloody Egyptian God. And then he-"
"Did you just say an Egyptian God?!" Regan exclaimed pushing Yusei away. "Which one?"
"Erm, Ra I think… Hey, who do you think you are pushing Yusei off screen?"
"Someone who doesn't really care about your attitude," She hissed back.
Jack looked stunned which changed when the sound of an explosion on Jack's side was hear drawing his attention away from the screen. "I'll talk to you later Yusei, I gotta help with this situation. More monsters just appeared and it looks like the kid is being overwhelmed."
He hung up before Yusei could say anything.
"We have to go, that's one of my friends!" Regan demanded looking around the room. She spotted a motorcycle and ran to it.
"Wait can you ride that thing?"
"I don't have a licence but yes." Regan said as she picked up a helmet off the shelf. She tried it on and it fit comfortable. "I can drive a motorcycle."
"It's a duel runner."
"So I can summon monsters with it?"
"If you have to…" Yusei trailed off. "If you never drove a duel runner before Sector Security will be all over you."
"It's only illegal if I get caught; I just won't activate a duel with it."
"That might work. And if it doesn't?"
"They'll have to catch me first."
Yusei shook his head and pushed his bike to a garage door that was opening on its own. She followed and once she was outside she got on the bike and started it. Then they were off. Yusei led the way as they quickly got on the highway driving a little faster than what the speed limit stated. Regan started to play with the screen on her computer slightly and found Yusei's name in the contacts. She pushed it and Yusei's face appeared on the screen with a surprised look on his face and disturbed look on his face.
She tilt her head to the side, she could read his aura even though he was easily twenty feet away. Something was now bugging him. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Yusei said hiding whatever he was disturbed about. "So your friend has an Egyptian God card?"
"He actually has all three of them."
"All of them?!"
"Yea, but even with the god cards, one of them was summoned for our other friend to get out of an ambush. If they aren't together that means he's has two gods summoned at the same time in different parts of this city. And from what you friend Jack said, he's also being attacked by monsters meaning he has to summon more monsters to defend himself."
"I see,"
Regan's attention was drawn away when she heard sirens. "What the hell? We aren't doing anything illegal, just going with traffic."
"It might just be- oh."
"Oh what?!"
"Yusei, what are you doing with an unknown driver?" a police motorcycle driver asked as he pulled up between us.
"Someone you know?" Regan hissed, maybe she should just start driving faster now.
"Yes, this is Trudge from the Special Unit in Sector Security." Yusei stated turning his attention to the Sector Security. "She knows that she's doing and we have a situation to attend to."
"It wouldn't have to do with the Egyptian God playing around the monument would it?" Trudge asked.
Yusei growled. "What are you going to do about it if it is?"
"What kind of situation is it that you are desperate to have a twelve year old drive a vehicle?!"
She caught eye contact with Trudge sending a death glare. Trudge shuddered and Regan felt his aura shift to unease. "I'm not twelve and you are wasting my time."
"I am an officer; don't talk to me like that." Trudge growled sliding backwards beside her. "Who are you?"
"My name is Regan Heartin Kaiba."
Trudge's face went into a state of shock. "Regan Kaiba? But that's impossible. Tell me who you really are."
"I already did, you buffoon! I have ID and I'm wearing my school uniform to prove where I even go to school. If you don't believe me about my ID, I will gladly prove it after I go find my friend!"
"There is no way you could be Seto Kaiba's sister." Trudge argued.
"Fine, I'll duel you to prove I am who I say I am."
"A simple duel won't suffice," Trudge said as her screen switched moving Yusei to the right corner of the screen and the main screen having a duel board.
"Speed World Two activated, all safety functions disabled, automatic driving disabled." Her duel runner said as her bike went onto the rising road on its own before she had control of it again.
"What are you doing?" Yusei asked angrily moving between the two of them. "Are you trying to kill her?"
"If she says who she said she is, then she should come out with minor injuries." Trudge replied placing his deck into his bike's deck holder.
"I'm presuming the level of intensity of an attack was just disabled so that means most of the attacks will feel like real attacks?" She asked.
"Something like that, there are some duelists though that are psychic duelists that can cause real damage though, but Trudge doesn't have that ability." Yusei informed her.
"What happens when a monster is really summoned and attacks on these things?"
"Usually the duel runner will come to a stop, but since someone was being an idiot!" Yusei replied loud enough towards Trudge. "The duel runner will probably lose control and crash. Did you forget that there are real monsters running around?"
"Uh," Trudge's said as realization came to his face. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now, I'm still going to win and prove that you aren't actually who you say you are and then we are going to have a little chat back at the station."
"Whatever grandpa,"
"Grandpa?! Okay punk! Since you're so cocky, I'll let you go first, if you can get to the corner before me." Trudge said as he flew passed her.
She rolled her eyes as she turned the accelerator at full speed. This was so easy compare to the trail in the virtual world, it was smooth. She flew passed him and waved as she went by. "I guess I go first." She announced.
Trudge's face appeared on the left hand corner of the screen. Yusei had a look of disapproval as she threw her cards into the duel disk that was built into the runner. They automatically shuffled themselves which surprised her at the technology placed into the duel runner. She drew her cards and looked at them as a grin appeared on her face. She was going to be able to find her friends faster and if Ra was where Jack was, hopefully Yugi was the person she would find first.
Trudge VS Regan
Something flicked on the screen and Regan saw a counter system with the words Speed Counter beside it with one counter on it.
"What's a speed counter?"
"You don't know what a speed counter is?" Trudge asked.
"Never heard of it, this is my first duel on a motorcycle and from what Yusei told me, they are called Turbo Duels so."
"A speed counter is a counter system that increases with the number of turns and you lose speed counters for taking damage over a thousand points." Yusei told her. "Speed Counters are used to play Speed Spells."
"Hmm, alright." Trudge said suddenly, "Since you don't know what they are, I'll allow you to use spell cards for this duel if I get a thousand life points as well as three Speed Counters."
She nodded without hesitation. There were some obviously new rules about Turbo Duels that she didn't know about and any help was worth it even if Speed Counters seemed really important for playing the game.
Trudge – LP: 5000 Regan – LP: 4000
Turn 1: Regan H: 5 LP: 4000 SC: 1
She drew her sixth card. "I activate two cost downs."
Two cards appeared behind her. She guessed they were for Trudge to see.
"Two of them?"
"Yes, which allows me to lower my monsters levels by four. And now I activate Double Summon which allows me to preform two Normal Summons or sets this turn."
The two cards disappeared and another card appeared behind her in her mirror.
"What are you planning?"
"An FTK," She replied with a grin on her face, is she didn't know better it looked a lot like her brother's.
Trudge didn't seem to appreciate that but laughed anyway. "An FTK, really?"
"Really, I Summon Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord and to join him I summon Guardian Angel Joan!"
Her two ace cards appeared on each side of her. Van'Dalgyon turned to Trudge and waved a goodbye wave.
Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord Dragon/Effect Attack: 2800 Defense: 2500
Guardian Angel Joan Fairy/Effect Attack: 2800 Defense: 2000
"Two high level monsters?!" Yusei shouted in surprise. "In one turn!"
"They were high levels, but now Joan is only a level three while Van'Dalgyon is a level four." Regan corrected as she went to place her last card down as a shadow appeared on her bike. She looked up just to see a Five-Headed Dragon fly overhead and land in front of them. "What the hell?!"
Regan heard Yusei stop behind her as she hit the brakes. She heard squealing and looked behind her to see Trudge lose control of his bike. His wheels locked and ran into the back her bike violently. Her bike turned ninety degrees before tipping for a roll. She dropped off the side and rolled with it. She hit the pavement hard and rolled as her bike went over her. She came to a stop with her face facing the sky. She would have continued lying there if it wasn't for the ground shaking and the sound of pavement being torn up started to head towards her. She turned her head feeling dazed when she saw a beam heading towards her. She tried to get up when a sharp pain hit her chest. She looked down and saw blood on her shirt and her puzzle jabbed into her. She hissed in pain as she pulled it out and quickly rolled out of the way to a stand. She jumped out of the way when the beam from the five-headed dragon changed directions and she winced as she landed. She looked down at her uniform and found there wasn't even a hole where the puzzle had stabbed her. The uniform must have been pretty tough.
'We really need to stick rubber on the puzzle's edges.' Regan said mentally going down on one knee.
"We aren't putting any such thing on the puzzle!" Nile shouted in her head.
'I'm tired of it stabbing me!'
"It's only the second time, if it stabs you a third time. I'll think about adding rubber covers."
'Watch the third time actually kill me.'
"Glad you are thinking positively about the situation at hand."
"Yea, a giant five thousand attack point dragon that can only be killed with light type monsters gives me the thought of not wanting to die."
"Are you okay?" Yusei called to her. She turned to him and found him a good distance away from her next to Trudge. Yusei's bike was standing a little behind him. "Who are you talking to?"
"I'm talking to the annoying voice in my head that is secretly trying to kill me!" She snapped at him turning back to looking around the highway. She needed to find the bike with her deck in it. She spotted it a little in front of her, but really close to the feet of the duel monster. She sighed, she really didn't want to do this, but she was injured and couldn't predict her own movements.
"Van'Dalgyon, Joan, I need you to distract it while I go for my deck. Don't get killed."
"As you wish Regan." Van'Dalgyon said and Regan took off towards the bike.
"Regan?!" Yusei called behind her, but she ignored him.
She got to the bike and turned it over to find her deck and cards on the disk without a scratch. She sighed in relief as she picked up the bike when the dragon stepped backwards. She looked up to see the five heads lookin down at her.
She drew a card and looked at it. "I activate Brave Attack, Van'Dalgyon, add you attack to Joan and attack Five-Headed Dragon."
"Are you serious? She drew that card?!" Trudge asked behind her.
Regan grabbed her wound. Even though her uniform wasn't punctured, her skin was and it hurt lot. The dragon saw Guardian Angel Joan coming towards it and it attacked. Her monster dodged it and attacked with a ball of light. It stepped forward and Regan tried to move, but her chest pounded making her knees buckle. She grabbed the bike for support and it slipped under her weight. She fell to the pavement just before the bike fell on her. "Fucking hell."
"Let me do this." Nile said and Regan shook her head.
"No, I got this. You shouldn't have to take any of the pain."
"Regan…"
Regan pushed off the bike with some struggle and rolled away. She and the bike barely missed being stepped on as a foot came down on them. She stood up and saw Joan fire another orb that hit the dragon and it shattered. She sighed as her monsters touched pavement.
"Hey kid, are you alright?" Trudge asked behind her.
She turned to him with a glare as he stopped in front of her. "And this is the reason why I have to go find my friend! It's because you didn't fucking believe me that this dragon just appeared out of fucking nowhere and your shitty driving skills that could have got us all killed! Was that your plan?!"
"N-no, I'm sorry-"
"You aren't someone who works for anyone that's against my friends and I so save it for someone who cares because you aren't worth my time!"
The officer had a very shocked look on his face from her shouts of anger but didn't say anything.
"Your shirt has blood on it." Yusei stated interrupting her rant. "Your pendent stabbed you in the fall then. It also has blood on it. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine; it's not the first time that this puzzle has stabbed me." She responded toning her voice down a few notches towards him. He was actually helping her and every time he said something, he sounded genuine about it. She turned back to Trudge who looked scared of her. She read his aura and found that he was truly scared of her and not in an unreasonable way and she wasn't sure why, but she was okay with his response. She picked up the bike. It seemed to still be running. "Did you still want to continue the duel?"
He didn't answer again.
"If you do, I'm going to tell you what I will play and you can decide from there if you really want me to do it. My monsters are real and I don't want to hurt anyone so it's your choice."
"W-what was your next move?" He stuttered.
"I was going to activate a card called Turn Jump which is use during the battle phase and it skips three of your turns and three of mine. Then I was going to attack you for 5800 points of direct damage."
"So it was a first turn kill." Yusei said in interest.
She nodded. "Now, is this bike still functional to go find my friend?"
"Let me look it over."
She stepped away from the bike and Yusei looked at the bike for a few moments pressing buttons and revving the engine before nodding. She didn't hesitate to jump on the bike. "Let's go then."
"What about me?" Trudge asked getting over whatever scared moment he was in.
"Find four runners for her and her friends." Yusei told him as he walked back to his bike. "As well as some Speed Spells. I'll meet you back at my place."
"And where do you expect me to get those, out of my own pocket?"
"You have resources."
"You damn satellite scum; do you think you can boss me around like that?"
"I could give you the bill to repair the whole bike that you almost destroyed?"
"Never mind."
"Thanks." Yusei got on his bike and started towards Regan. "Let's go find your friend."
She accelerated and drove after Yusei leaving the turbo duel highway and towards a highway that stretched across a large body of water with a large monument in the center.
"I forgot to ask, what city is this?"
"This is Neo Domino City."
Her eyes went wide. "What happened to Domino?"
"It was destroyed and split into two land masses in an explosion about twenty-one to twenty-two years ago." Yusei answered. Regan felt depression come from him.
"So this is what that note meant."
"What note?" Yusei asked her suddenly, she hadn't noticed that she spoke out loud.
"A note I received before this happened. It was referencing the Greek myth of Kronos, the titan of time, eating his children. It's meaning means that time will consume everything." She answered as she felt a tear slipping down her cheek. Her chest hurt, but it was nothing compare to her head as she figured everything out. "Now time will eat what is precious: is what the letter said. Time ate us."