The next morning...
"No!" Leo cried out. "He's gone! No! He can't be gone." He was dashing around the main room, desperately trying to find Yusei.
"Did the Tooth Fairy forget you again?" Luna yawned, walking into the room wearing a pink gown.
"No! Yusei's gone and he took his Duel Runner." Leo yelled. He was wearing a blue gown.
"Did he leave a note?" Luna asked, looking around.
"No! This is your fault! You should have been nicer! He could have made me the best duelist ever!" Luna noticed something and walked over to the room where Yusei's Duel Runner had been stored.
"Look at these." She said, picking up a pink and white Duel Disk, presumably hers.
"What did he do?" Leo asked, walking over and picking up his own Duel Disk, sliding it onto his arm. "Hey, it fits!"
"He likely adjusted them based on your size. And he left to keep you two safe." Rose explained.
"But he didn't even say goodbye."
"Oh well." Leo said. "We'll meet him again someday, and then we can thank him!" Suddenly, there was a beep from the video screen behind him and he turned to face it as it flickered into life, displaying the image of a brown-haired boy wearing square glasses.
"What's up?" The boy asked.
"Hey, Dexter!" Leo called. "Luna and me met this totally awesome guy…"
"There's no time for that!" Dexter yelled. "I got a lead!"
"What do you mean?" Leo wondered.
"The Black Rose!" Dexter cried.
"Come on." Leo said. "The Black Rose is just some urban legend, Dexter. She isn't real."
"She isn't just a legend! Her cards come to life as she plays them! And I know where she is, I've rebuilt my Deck to take her on!"
"Where is she?" Leo asked.
"I was reading some blogs, and I found out that she'll be at the street duels in the Daimon Area later today!"
"Wow… you mean we can seriously Duel the Black Rose?!" Leo cried.
"Yes!" Dexter yelled. "Once we beat her, we'll be the most famous duelists around!"
12
Yusei was working on his Duel Runner at Blister's garage. Music was playing from the laptop he had set out on the table and connected to his Runner while he repaired it.
Going fast makes me feel alive,
My heartbeat's in Hyper Drive,
Do you think you can win? Only if I lose,
Just let destiny choose,
"What did that purple-haired freak say about the Fortune Cup last night?" Blister asked. In answer, Yusei pulled the invitation from his jacket and handed it to him.
"Man… that's low." Blister commented. "They're in the Satellite, right?"
"Yeah." Yusei replied, fiddling with some circuits on his Duel Runner.
"Then I'll help you out. I'll get over to Satellite and check up on them, make sure nothing bad happens."
Suddenly a taxi pulled up outside and the door opened. Stepping from it were none other than Tanner and Yanagi.
"Yusei!" Tanner called. "Hey there!" Yusei smiled and silenced the music with a tap of keys on the laptop before turning to his friends.
"When you beat Armstrong, we didn't just get early release, we got way early release!" Yanagi said. "So we came over to this…" He paused, unsure of what to say.
"This dump." Tanner finished for him. "You planning to throw a rug in here or not, Yuse? I like the Duel Runner though. Nice ride, bet you wish you had it in the Facility. Can I have a ride?"
"I dunno…" Yusei said.
"Oh, come on. I'll bring it back without a scratch and at full charge! I know…" He took out his Deck. "Let's Duel. If I win, I get a ride."
"Fine with me." Yusei said with a smile, tapping a control on his Runner.
"Disengaging Duel Disk." The Duel Disk detached in a hiss of steam and Yusei attached it to his gauntlet. "Let's Duel." They walked out of a side door and into a square yard beside the office building.
As the two stood ready, there was a sudden roar of a Duel Runner engine and Jack's Duel Runner, the Wheel of Fortune, swerved into the yard. Its rider dismounted and pulled off his helmet.
"Atlas." Tanner said sharply. "It's been a while. What's up?"
"My career, thank you." Jack retorted, turning to Yusei.
"Why are you here?" Yusei asked. Jack pulled out the Stardust Dragon card from his pocket in answer.
"I heard you'll be at the Fortune Cup." The King said. "I've got a deal for you, Yusei. You would have beaten me that night, so I need to set the record straight."
"I got a deal for you, Yusei, for your Stardust Dragon! You add it to your deck, win, and then you can keep the card. I win, I get it, and then you and I are straight." Jack proposed.
"Straight? What about our friends?"
Jack's eyebrows rose unexpectedly. "What? What are you talking about?"
It was Yusei's turn to pull something out of his jacket. He showed Jack the picture.
"Your purple-haired pal Lazar stopped by, and if Lise and I don't duel, they pay the price." Yusei explained.
"What?"
"Surprised, Jack? Well don't be. I know Goodwin's behind all of this. And I guarantee he's gonna regret ever putting our friends in harm's way."
"Well then you'll definitely need your Stardust Dragon now, won't you?" Jack tossed the card to Yusei who caught it. "And just so we're clear, I don't know anything about this threat, got it? I duel for me. Goodwin has got his own agenda," he remounted his runner and placed his helmet on. "So I guess I'll see you at the Fortune Cup then. And Yusei, you had better bring your a-game with you."
Yusei's eyes narrowed. "I will."
Without another word, Jack rode away.
"I have to see that card!" Yanagi shouted, approaching Yusei, others in tow. "Oh, it's true! That's Stardust Dragon; it's amazing! This is big stuff! You are a Signer!"
Yusei looked a little disbelieving.
"Don't you see? With that card you made the Crimson Dragon appear!"
"But Jack was there too."
"Then that must mean you're both signers! You two are connected."
Then the wind started to pick up. A sign that someone was descending from the sky.
"So this is where you were." A deep voice stated.
Standing a few feet away from Blister, Tanner and Yanagi was a dragon with dark red scales.
"D-dragon." Yanagi started to freak out.
"That's my friend Wenslow." Yusei filled them in. "He's a dragon in human form."
"Dragon in human form." Blister repeated as he spread his wings.
Wenslow then stood on his hind legs and shrank down to human size. He was told of the Fortune Cup by Lazar and agreed to compete with his dragon deck featuring the three Blue Eyes White Dragons, knowing what would happen to Rally and the others if he didn't.
/
Goodwin drank in the light from the Dragon Star. "Even now, the Dragon Star's power grows. It knows our quest to gather all the signers is on the verge of success. You are my loyal servants of Yliaster. Your mission is to expose those people who possess the mark of the dragon." The director addressed five hooded people. Lazar stood nearby. "You must push them to their limits. Make them exhaust their skills, stir their emotions, now go, and do not fail me."
The robed people bowed and exited.
"Soon all the pieces will be in place once again, and your power shall rule the world!"
/
An underground duel in a further removed area of the city was underway. One monster destroyed another. "Try harder next time." The duelist still owning a monster on the field said.
"Is that Joey Wheeler?"
"No, that's his cousin, Jessie Wheeler!"
Blister walked up behind Tanner, Yanagi, Yusei, and Lise. They'd needed to kill some time while they figured out what to do next. Checking out an underground duel seemed fitting.
"Good news. I found a workboat that'll take me to the Satellite tonight."
"A workboat? Don't those things just carry trash and disease?" Yanagi asked.
"If you're lucky. This isn't some pleasure cruise. It's to check on Yusei's friends. They may be in trouble, Grandpa. See, they've got much bigger things to worry about."
"Like the Fortune Cup?" Tanner said confidently.
"There's a lot more at stake here than just the tournament, Bolt. Goodwin and Atlas forced the two of them to duel. If they're involved, something bad is going on."
"Like the end of the world!" Yanagi prophesied. "Everyone in New Domino. Marker or not, Satellite or citizen. All our fates are tied to the Signers and the Vessel!"
Blister clapped a hand to Yusei's shoulder. "Not sure I believe that, but just in case, why don't you try to win anyway, K?"
"Uh huh." Yusei wasn't really paying attention to them.
Later that day…
Blister walked out of a building.
"Thanks for the deal!" He called back as the door was shut behind him. Smiling, he walked down the street and into a square with several Duel arenas carved out in the centre. He crossed the square and stopped beside Yusei, Tanner and Yanagi.
"I've hired a boat to get over to the Satellite tonight." He said. "Once I'm there, I can check up on your friends." Yusei smiled.
"Thanks, Blister." He said. Suddenly, there was a flurry of shouts in front of them.
"You said the Black Rose would be here, Dexter!"
"She has to be here! The blogs don't lie, Leo!"
"Guys, calm down! You're making a scene!"
"Who's the Black Rose?"
"She's an urban legend round these parts." Blister explained. "They say she possesses a power that makes her cards come to life, and that she wields a dragon monster capable of defeating the greatest creatures."
"No. She's not a urban legend. She's very real and very dangerous." Wenslow growled out.
Leo, Luna and Dexter emerged from the crowds next to the group.
"Wow Yusei!" Leo cried. "Thanks for the neat Disks!" He held up his Duel Disk excitedly.
"You three are looking for the Black Rose?" Wenslow asked them.
"Yeah." Dexter said. "And we're gonna beat her too."
Wenslow shot them a fierce gaze.
"Quite the opposite. Leave this place and do not return."
"Why? You're not in charge of us!" Dexter shouted.
"You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into." He shot back.
"Her name is Akiza Inzinski and she's a psychic duelist." Rose told them exactly who the Black Rose was. "She attended Duel Academy with me and Sara a couple years ago."
"We should go!" Dexter warned when the two of them caught sight of a disturbance occurring where the street duel had been taking place.
"Wait. Something's happening!" Leo's excitement grew.
The crowd stampeded past them, running as fast as they could.
"The Black Rose!"
A small maelstrom kicked up.
"She's just a myth." Blister tried to sound convincing.
"Oh yeah?" Tanner asked.
"There's a reasonable explanation here."
Purple, thorny vines shot out of the ground, breaking everything in their path. Terrified duelists did their best to stay out of the way.
Another purple vine tore up the concrete straight for the group. Leo, Dexter and Yanagi were tossed aside; Yusei was able to land on his knees; and Tanner narrowly avoided getting a thorn to the face. Wenslow held the vine in his jaws.
"What is that?" Yusei peered through the smoke to see the silhouette of a dragon roaring. "Whose dragon is that?" Yusei pulled back his sleeve to reveal his glowing mark.
"Oh my!" Yanagi breathed.
"That's no tattoo!" Tanner commented.
"You're right, Tanner. It is the mark of the dragon!"
Blinding white light shot out in all directions. The figure of a small person appeared amidst the smoke. The dragon roared again.
"Akiza." Rose and Sara whispered in recognition.
The smoke cleared and a girl with red hair dressed in a black cloak and white mask was visible. Her red duel disk was activated with her card in play. The dragon.
Yusei and Leo stopped.
All the smoke disappeared. The rest of the guys caught up.
"Okay, so she's not made up." Blister admitted. "Now what, Grandpa?"
"I don't know!"
The Black Rose looked at them through the eye slits in her mask, her amber eyes filled with malice and pain.
"Black Rose… why are you doing this?" Yusei asked, stepping closer. She recoiled.
"Stay away from me!" She cried. "That wretched mark!" She drew a card from her Deck and slashed it onto her Disk…
Yusei looked back, the Black Rose was gone. She had used the cover of the blast to flee.
"That was… real." Yusei said. "It wasn't just Solid Vision… it was more than that… I could really feel that blast."
"Psychic duelists can make their cards become real." Sara told him.
"Why did she call this mark wretched?" Yusei wondered, looking at his fading Mark of the Dragon. "Why would she describe it like that?"
12
Late that night…
The Black Rose ran into an alleyway and leaned against the wall, panting heavily as she pulled off her mask and held it in her grip. Underneath it, her face was markedly pale, her eyes deep amber, features soft, but betrayed by the hatred in her eyes.
"Why did he have a mark?" She panted, falling to her knees and trying to recover her breath. "And why were those twins there?"
12
The next day…
The sun shone down on an immense stadium, the Fortune Cup stadium. The stadium's interior was ringed by a Turbo Duel track beside the stands, within which was a pair of chalked out Duel Arenas. Between the arenas was a projector creating the image of a giant orb of blue light, within which could be projected various tournament information.
Within a private booth inside a tower beside the Duel arenas, Rex Goodwin sat and looked down upon the masses of New Domino City, gathered for the event. Jack was sprawled out on a sofa behind him with a scowl on his face, unhappy not to be dueling for quite a while.
Lazar entered the room, bowing to Goodwin.
"The Black Rose has received her invitation." He reported. "She will be participating in the Fortune Cup alongside Yusei." He chuckled at the end.
"All is as planned." Rex said. "Soon the Crimson Dragon will rise."
"And Yusei will fall…" Jack thought…