Up above, the crimson dragon away faded just as quickly as it appeared.
"What was that?!" Naruto shouted from the ground, having been knocked off his D-Wheel by that mysterious dragon's intrusion.
He looked towards Yusei and saw that his friend was fine as well. Though, the man's arm seemed to glow with a weird, crimson pattern.
Suddenly, everything around them was lit up with a soft yellow light.
Naruto quickly noticed that they were surrounded by a barricade of Security and their flashlights. Up in the sky, Naruto could make out the form of several helicopters.
"This is bad, Yusei! We have to get out of here!" Naruto called out as he set his D-Wheel back up again. He sped off, forcefully ramming through a Security officer as he looked for an escape route.
For a while, Yusei followed him, until a helicopter descended and cut off Yusei's path.
Naruto skidded to a stop. "Yusei!" He cried out in concern
"Run, Naruto! I will be fine!"
"Grr!" Naruto looked towards where Yusei was, and then towards the fleet of helicopters hovering above them. There were too many of them for him to do anything.
"Damn it!" Naruto reluctantly turned his head away from his friend and rammed his foot on the gas.
He came all the way to the City to rescue Yuugo. There was no way he would let himself get arrested by Security so easily.
The boy sped out of the stadium, bursting through the glass door entrance as he tumbled his way onto the cold hard streets.
Even as he got farther away from the stadium, he could still hear the spinning blades of the pursuing helicopter ripping against the wind.
Eventually, he managed to lose them by sliding into a narrow alleyway. As he saw the helicopters sped zoom off into the distant skies, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He spent several days asking around the City, and found that most people possessed no knowledge of the Arcadia's Movement organization.
Until finally, the owner of a local auto store, directed him to a nightclub at the shadier part of Neo Domino.
According to him, the barkeeper there always had knowledge of the juiciest of gossips.
So Naruto did as he was told and arrived at the bar late in the night. The moment he pushed through the door he was greeted with a dimly lit world of neon nights.
The aisles of tables around him were seated with people from all walks of life, though none of them were of any interest to Naruto.
Instead, he headed straight to the bartender's counter where he promptly took a seat. The woman next to him seemed to have noticed his presence.
Immediately, the bartender, a mustached man dressed in a western suit turned to face him. After ordering an obligatory drink, Naruto asked the question that he came here to ask.
"Arcadia's Movement?" The bartender repeated his words as he gently polished a wine glass. He seemed to have recognized that name after a moment of thought. "Ah… that group of looneys."
"You know of them?" Naruto asked, practically shooting out of his seat in excitement. Finally, after all his searching, he managed to find a lead.
"Yup." The mustached bartender nodded his head. "Last I heard, they stirred up quite a ruckus in the Daimon Area… Or I guess I should say the Black Rose Witch did…"
Naruto's brows rose in confusion. "The Black Rose Witch?"
"She's a real nasty girl, I heard. Literal heart of ice. Stay as far away as possible. Nothing good will happen for people that get involved with her." The bartender's tone became hushed as he warned him.
Naruto only became more worried about Yuugo's well-being. "But did anyone see a guy with blonde hair? Kind of styled like a lump of banana?"
"A guy with banana hair?" The bartender seemed to ponder briefly. "Nah… sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
Naruto's hands balled into a fist as a strong anxiousness took over him. "...D-Do you happen to know where the Arcadia Movement is located?"
The bartender shook his head. "Sorry, I can't help you with that."
Damn it! Naruto stared at the wooden bar counter. Yet another dead-end.
"If you would like…" A new voice joined the conversation. One that packed a calm, sultry edge. "I can tell you the secret of the Arcadia Movement."
It was the woman that he sat next to. Apparently, she had been listening in to their conversation.
Naruto looked at the woman and saw that she was a black-haired person with fair, bisque-like skin. A pair of large, round sunglasses obscured her eyes.
The woman turned towards the bartender. "We would like to get a private room for ourselves if you don't mind."
"Of course!" The bartender agreed. "Come, I will show you guys the way."
Inside the VIP room, the woman removed her sunglasses and set them on the table, revealing a pair of sharp jade-like eyes.
Just by looking at her, Naruto could tell that this was a woman of tremendous class and grace. She had a level of elegance that the people in Satellite simply could not achieve.
"My name is Misty Lola." She said, her tone soft and serene.
Somehow, Naruto had a feeling that the woman expected him to know that name.
"My brother Toby Lola also had psychic abilities. Because of that, he sought out Arcadia's Movement."
Psychic abilities? Is that really what Yuugo has? Naruto gulped nervously. "What happened after that?"
"They killed him."
At that moment, Naruto felt a cold void in his gut that seemed to drain the temperature from his blood.
Within seconds, he felt himself go light-headed.
"They what?"
Misty continued on, her tone calm and undisturbed in spite of the gnarly truth that she just revealed. "Despite their claims of wanting a peaceful sanctuary for Psychic duelists, Arcadia's Movement is just a ruthless killing machine."
This time, Naruto reacted by shaking his head violently. He couldn't accept it. There was no way he could accept that he let his friend walk off with people like that.
"No! You're lying!"
"They found my brother's corpse in the Daimon Area."
"I-It can't be…"
"He was killed by the Black Rose Witch…"
The Black Rose Witch…
This was the second time that this name was brought up tonight.
"Y-you don't think this Black Rose Witch might have killed Yuugo as well?"
Misty shook her head to show her uncertainty. "I can't say for sure." She then produced a notepad from her purse and scribbled an address on it. "I will give you the location of Arcadia's Movement's headquarters. You will have to find the truth out for yourself."
Naruto sped up through the streets on his D-Wheel. Misty's words from just a few hours ago continued to haunt his mind.
"Yuugo…" He whispered the name of his friend as he prayed for his safety. Up ahead, the towering headquarters of Arcadia's Movement drew closer and closer.
He crashed right into the glass door of the building, ignoring the robed security guard's words to tell him to stop. In the background, the security siren blared loud and fierce.
"Yuugo!" He cried out as his eyes swam about in the interiors of the building, desperately searching for even a shadow of his friend.
A sudden fiery explosion knocked him and his D-Wheel up into the air. He crashed onto the floor roughly, but in his worry and desperation, the pain barely registered.
Naruto glared at the person who attacked him. It was one of the robed guards who tried to stop him, earlier. In that man's hand, he held a copy of Hinotama.
"I see...This place is the real thing…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he rose from the floor. "This must be the psychic powers that Misty told me about." He grabbed his Duel Disk and slapped it onto his wrist. "If it's a duel that you want, then I will just have to crush you. Every single one of you!"
From behind him, the silhouette of Clear Wing arose and loomed over them menacingly.
…
…
…
…
Naruto rolled his damaged D-Wheel down the desolate night street of the City. One of the tires had burst during his brief rampage in the Arcadia Movement headquarters.
His face was pale and his eyes were saddled with heavy bags of fatigue.
He couldn't find Yuugo in that building. No matter how many floors of the building he combed over, his friend was nowhere to be seen.
The infamous Black Rose Witch was nowhere to be found either.
Rain poured from the sky as if the heavens were weeping.
Without an umbrella, Naruto sought refuge under the awning of a closed grocery store.
From the other side of the curtain of rain, a lithe womanly silhouette slowly drew near him. The sharp end of the woman's heel stabbed mercilessly into the moistened ground.
It was Misty. The woman that he met in that bar.
She held an umbrella over his head and grabbed him by the hand. Her hand was soft, yet cold, almost like a block of ice.
She smiled and gently led him out of his hiding place and out into the open, like a benevolent goddess who came to aid a troubled mortal.
"Let's get revenge on the people that ruined our lives. Let's crush the Black Rose Witch…"
All he could do was nod along. "
