For reasons that couldn't be readily grasped by a certain mindset, the Chinese government had taken a negative view on anyone involved with the recent capture of several dozen Rare Hunters. The leaders, their aides, the new recruits, a well-intentioned spy who was intent on taking them down. It was if they wouldn't believe every ridiculous excuse that was presented to them by a horde of screaming convicts. Strange.
Checks were being carried out at every port, both sea and air. Anyone with with even a single Duel Monsters card was being questioned and anyone with anything even Semi-Rare was being held without charge while they were tested for authenticity. It was turning out to be the single largest anti-piracy operation in history. A thousand people had been arrested overnight and the sheer volume of information would keep police forces across the world busy for months.
"You going to buy that or what?" Looking up from the newspaper cover he had been reading, Jaden wordlessly handed over a loose handful of change. Totalling it up with a trained eye, the newsagent gave a sour grunt as he slipped the coins into one pocket.
Getting out of China hadn't been an easy feat. It had involved forests, a thick jacket, several protein packs and a thermal blanket at nights. Luckily, since he had also sneaked into China avoid any Rare Hunters from seeing his passport in use, he had been able to take a plane from Mongolia right to Domino City without customs so much as batting an eyelid. All the while, three thoughts had been burning in his mind. That the leader of the Rare Hunters, 'Outlaw', had directed him to return to Domino City to find answers. That he had known all along that Jaden had been coming. And that all his efforts for the past few years had been overshadowed by the one raid.
The last point was especially irritating. Jaden knew that he had done a lot of good for a lot of people and nothing could take that away but it felt like someone else had suddenly jumped in at the end and claimed all the credit. He wasn't in it for any sort of recognition but disliked the sort of people who would take it at the expense of another. At least he was able to relax in his own house for the first time in a long time.
The Yuki family had kept an apartment in the city since he was a kid. It was where he had grown up, only a few miles away from the original King of Games. It was where they had celebrated his first birthday, his first day of school, getting his first pack of cards. But not all the memories were happy ones. It was also where Yubel had first manifested, the first indication that he was not a normal child, the first sign that he would do things that most people couldn't imagine.
"I will apologise as long as it takes." Invisible to everyone but a handful of people, Yubel appeared behind him as they approached the street he had grown up on. "But I was just trying to protect you and didn't understand that it was just a game at the time."
"It's fine." In the first year on the road, they had talked a lot about all the things that had happened while they were apart. She had wanted to learn about his life without her and he had tried to sympathise with the hurt she had endured. "Ancient history."
"You do know that we were actually part of ancient history in our previous lives?" Keeping a steady hover, she was keeping an eye on their surroundings. It would allow her to spot any sort of danger before Jaden's own eyes.
"And in another world." Even after actually setting foot there – or at least in some amalgamation of it and others – the idea still brought a goofy smile to his face. It was sort of appropriate. In his last life, he had been a prince of some undefined kingdom. In this one, he was the ill-recognised King of Games with a very different title. After all, what else was a prince but an 'Uncrowned King'? In a more buoyant frame of mind, he finally reached the street that his house was on. Even from halfway down the block, it was instantly clear that his comfy – albeit dusty – bed would have to wait for a while longer.
Standing outside the building were a pair of suits that particularly screamed 'shady'. Each one was wearing tinted sunglasses and listening to the sort of earpieces that weren't sold most shops. One blonde, one brunette. "Hey." One of them noticed his coming and nudged his partner. "That's the guy." Stepping away from the building, they started in his direction.
An alarming list of people could be interested in him. Of those involved, only a small handful probably had innocent intentions. "Hey, wait!" Wisely decided that prudence was the better part of bravery, Jaden crossed the street at speeds and hit a narrow alleyway at faster ones.
There are intricate details in architecture that design and designer alike cannot account for. How time and windfall will sweep rain against one side of a rarely cleaned alleyway and cause a thin veneer of moss to form. Which walls are going to endure a reversing car and end up with a gap big enough to jump through. Only the people who had spent years growing up in the neighbourhood would know these crucial details. So even if his pursuers had longer legs and better stamina, Jaden was able to keep ahead while they slipped and tripped in his trail.
It wasn't much of a lead. Maybe ten seconds. But one of those many details he had learned as a child was exactly which two metal railings in the fence just around the corner looked solid but weren't actually secured at the bottom. "Sorry, Pharaoh." Already irate at being jostled in the sprint, the big tabby was eager to leave the confines of the sack and readily slip between twigs and branches of thick bushes on the other side of the barrier. Tossing his bag over the top of the leafy blockade, Jaden dropped to his stomach and wriggled through a tiny gap between thorny branches and damp mud.
One thing that years of sneaking into the park through an illicit back entrance cannot prepare for was when thick rose bushes were planted on the other side when you weren't looking.
Forcing aside brambles and branches, his feet slipped between the loose railings as his pursuers rounded the corner. It didn't matter if they saw his direction for two reasons. Firstly, because there were several ways out of the park he could reach before they managed to follow him through. For another, they had just been the welcoming party. Their boss had a better grasp of strategy. He was famous for it.
"The local council planted them a couple of years." Sitting quietly on a bench near where Jaden was trying to dig himself out of the foliage, a quiet reader had picked up the paper from his backpack and started browsing the front page. "Good work on the Rare Hunters." Looking down at the cat curling around both legs, he made no move to stroke it as he rose to both feet. Such a chubby creature tolerated only a few people. Just because it was pressing itself against his leg didn't mean that it would claw his hand off. "We couldn't have done it without you." Reaching down as Jaden finally managed to force himself free, a grim face pretended not to notice the numerous twigs and leaves still stuck in that crazy hair.
"Yugi?" Gripping the palm, he was pulled upright by a strong Duelling arm. "What are you doing here?" They hadn't met in person since Jaden had started looking into the Rare Hunters. It had been Yugi who vouched for his contact inside the organisation but the possibility of actual meetings had been scant. Both had their own international schedules and being in the same country was rarer than some of their cards.
"It's time we had a talk. Come on, let's go to my place." From the other side of the hedge came sharp yelps of pain and discomfort. Unable to locate the loose railings, the pursuers had assumed their quarry had jumped the fence and slid underneath. They hadn't managed to fit into the narrow gap and were painfully paying for their hubris. "Once Joey and Tristan managed to get themselves out of the shrubbery." Another rustling resulted in one falling atop the other and both undergoing another painful series of jabs.
Once they had relocated to safer surroundings in the cramped apartment above Kame Game, Jaden was given a seat while Yugi set a kettle to boil and poured two cups of coffee. Old Solomon Mutou was out somewhere about the town and Joey and Tristan were taking advantage of the empty house to help each other pick thorns from their bodies. "I'm sorry for not letting you know about the raid." Setting a mug down in front of Jaden, Yugi gently sat on the other side of the table. Even though they were only inches away from one another, a vast distance still separated them yet. "We couldn't take the chance of anyone finding out. It would have been suspicious if one of the final contestants didn't show up and anyone looking too closely might have realised who you are."
"No problem." Wrapping both hands around the warm drink, Jaden gave one of his charming smiles. Everything was alright if it was Yugi was calling the shots. "Did Outlaw get away okay?" Even though he hadn't been told to prepare an escape plan in advance, it was more likely that the traitorous leader of the Rare Hunters had plenty of warning. Judging from the way he had spoken to himself, he had been wearing a wire of some sort.
"Outlaw?" A look of slight puzzlement crossed the more experienced face for a moment. "Ah. 'Outlaw'. Is that what he's calling himself these days?" Moving past the momentary confusion, they actually had a far more important matter to deal with. "Tell me, did you happen to notice anything strange during your Duel?" Sipping at his drink, that implacable game face had gone up between heartbeats.
"How did you know about that?" Nobody had seen what card he had actually drawn yet Outlaw had known that it was a new addition. And now, Yugi somehow knew that it had happened as well. Appearing over one shoulder, Yubel spread out her wings in a defensive barrier to shield Jaden from behind.
"Would you care to deal out your cards?" Resting his mug in the air on a leaning elbow, lilac irises flickered for a second over Jaden's shoulder. If they had been a hit higher, he might have assumed that Yugi had been looking at the invisible Duel Spirit.
"Sure." Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out the thick Deck. Peeling each card from the pile, one at a time, he carefully stacked them back down on the table. On the other side of the platform, Yugi slowly finished off his drink. "See? It was probably just a card that got mixed in by accident." Unconvinced eyes stared back at him.
"Do it again." A note of steel entered his voice as Yugi stood back up to get himself a fresh cup of coffee. "As fast as you can, this time." Confused and a little insulted, he began slipping through the cards at speeds that he hadn't used since his few rare ventures onto the professional circuits after leaving Duel Academy.
Just to underscore his performance, he started calling out the names as he went. By the time he was halfway through, he was running out of air. "Avian, Necroshade, Dandylion." Pausing at the fluffy little creature, he could also feel a cramp building in his hand. "Can I at least have my coffee before it gets cold?"
"You said Dandylion?" Still staring out of the window, Yugi seemed oblivious to everything that wasn't on his mysterious agenda. "Check it again." Looking back at the card, Jaden realised that he had called it out wrong. This was one of his Elemental Hero monsters.
"Sorry." It appeared that the original King of Games had a few tricks that he hadn't passed on. Maybe he was using the reflection in the window? Whatever it was, Jaden would have to learn the trick if he wanted to live up to his legacy. "It's Elemental Hero..." Then he realised that, while this was an Elemental Hero monster, it wasn't one of his cards. "What's going on?" Looking back at, he saw a flicker of an emotion cross Yugi's face. Not one that many people had ever or would ever have.
"You're drawing cards that shouldn't exist. Not here, not now." Taking his seat again, he reached across and took the card from Jaden's fingers. "This is just a symptom that something had gone deeply wrong." Looking at the card for a minute, his mind went a million other places in the maze of his memories.
"Yugi, tell me what's happening." Jaden admired his idol – and always would – but had lost the blind hero-worship since his adventures and mistakes at Duel Academy.
"Providing you do as well as you did last time, our different paths will finally meet each other and go forward together." Passing the card back over, it had transformed back into Dandylion since leaving Jaden's hand. "In a few days, Yusei is going to ask for your help. Do exactly what he says. It's important."
"What do you... Yusei?" Everything was a whirl. Between the changing cards and sudden freedom from his hunt of the Rare Hunters, this was nearly the last straw. "What's he got to do with it?" Not that he wasn't instantly looking forward to seeing his old friend but they had never expected to see him again.
"That's not my tale to tell." Stacking the cards back into a pile, he held them out for Jaden to take back. "But he's currently in more trouble than you can imagine." Not trouble in the ways that they had come to expect. Far more dangerous and insidious than anyone could expect.
In his own time, Yusei Fudo woke up and had a perfectly normal morning. He got out of bed. Went into the bathroom. Had a shower. Cleaned his teeth, shaved off the stubble that had accumulated over the course of the night, rinsed off his face. Put on clean clothes, put his dirty clothes in a laundry bin for later, straightened up his duvet. Did all the normal things that he did every morning and had done for hundreds before that one.
Walked out of his room, spent a few minutes fussing over Hoshi as she rolled on her back and demanded a bellyrub. Enjoyed the smell of cooked coffee beans that filled the room. Watched as the cat rolled to her tiny paws and fled with a hiss as quiet footsteps approached.
"Damn." A gentle form stood over him. "I really thought that she might finally be coming around." Tinges of resigned disappointment coloured the husky voice.
"Give it time." Rising to his feet with a slight wobble, he accepted the cup of caffeine waiting nearby with a grateful smile. "She'll come around."
"I hope so." Tender grey eyes looked at the snarling cat as she backed towards the stairs. "Do you have any idea how irritating it is trying to live with your boyfriend when the other woman keeps stopping by?" A mock scowl was set on the usually calm face.
"Oh?" Flirtatious eyes flickered back at her. "So that's how I'm meant to introduce myself? 'Hi, I'm Lethe's boyfriend'? Would that do it for you?" And the beautiful woman by his side tucked a strand of short-cut silver hair behind one ear and smiled.
"Well," Raising her cup to her lips, steam obscured one eye and a playful smile. "I can think of worse ways." Standing in his living room with Lethe Mnémonikos by his side, Yusei Fudo was happy, healthy and looking forward to the weekend. Everything was right in the world. Just as it had been for years.
Okay, I'm banking on a lot of WTF‽ (- that's an interrobang if you're interested) reactions. If so, hold tight. The weirdness factor is about to go... OVER 9000!
But seriously, there is a plot reason. I haven't just gone mad. (Well, no more than usual). Everything should make sense once you find out what it is. At least, as much sense as anything Yu-Gi-Oh! related can.
In the meantime, I'll try and address any questioning reviews without giving too much away. Go on. You know you want some juicy hints in exchange for a juicy review.