Chapter 9: Heartland: The Destroyed City of Hope
Following the duel, Yuya had been knocked unconscious, but both Yugo and Yuma thought that was for the best. Astral had been rather interested in what happened, so they investigated Yuya's body using the airship's state of the art scanners which detected 2 additional presences in Yuya's body, one of which was reasoned to be Yuto, confirmed after Yuya woke up, but they couldn't identify the 2nd presence, although Yugo had a theory, based on the duel. When Yuya had woken and fully regained awareness, he realised that they were in a ruined skyscraper, and when he looked around, he only saw the ruins of a massive city around him. "Where are we?" he asked groggily,
"Welcome to the Xyz dimension," Yuma informed him, "And welcome to my home, Heartland."
"This is your home? It looks so much worse than I imagined." Yuya sadly noted,
"It was once beautiful, something I'm sure that that Yuto guy can attest to."
"We should get going," Yugo said, providing some unusual wisdom, "After all, if that 'Duel Academy' is still here, we are just sitting ducks!"
"You're right. Luckily, I know where the resistance is based. I can take you there." Yuma said,
"Well lead away!" Yuya exclaimed, perhaps a bit too excitedly, but no one particularly cared. With that, they headed off, the Airship returning to the interdimensional space in Yuma's key. They had been walking, Yugo riding his duel runner, for a few hours when they heard a voice say "… Take them out with Photon Stream of Destruction!" followed by a few screams. "What was that?" Yuya and Yugo both asked, Yuma wincing,
"That seems to be Kite. We should go talk to him." Yuma said, changing his path to head that way. Once they arrived, they saw a man a couple years older than Yuma, wearing a long black coat, his dark grey and blonde hair whipping in the wind being caused by a nearby duel being conducted between 3 Obelisk Force members and a woman with long blue hair. "Ice Beast Zerofyne end this duel with Freezing Bestial Slash!" The monster on her field charged at the Obelisk Force members, slashing them ending them all.
Obelisk Force 1: 2200 LP - 0 LP
Obelisk Force 2: 100 LP - 0 LP
Obelisk Force 3: 4000 LP - 0 LP
The woman then raised her duel disk, pressing a button and a purple light was emitted, and when it died down, she was holding three cards, a picture of the Obelisk Force members on them. A feeling of dread fell through Yuya's stomach, as despite the fact that he knew that that power existed, he though only Fusion duellists could, forgetting part of Yuma's story in the process. "Why?" He questioned, "Why would you card them?"
"They would have carded me if I lost. I thought you'd understand." The woman said, turning around. Her lower face was covered by a red scarf, but her eyes were a striking magenta. Upon seeing Yuya's outfit, she squinted a bit, seemingly judging the brightness of his outfit compared to the typical outfit of a person of Heartland. Yuma then stood forward, sensing that if he didn't, things would escalate in a way that he didn't particularly like. "Rio, he's done nothing. He hasn't lived through the pain that we all did." Yuma interjected,
"Yuma?" The woman named Rio asked, "You're back? How?"
"Long story that involves the other dimensions." Yuma replied,
"Well tell us all later. I'm sure everyone will want to see you." The other man said, throwing a concerned glance at the three Obelisk Force members. With that, they set off, Yuma introducing Yuya and Yugo to the others, who were named Rio and Kite, and Yuya realised with a sinking feeling that he was infront of Shay and Lulu's father. A man whose life would have been destroyed by the invasion even more so. As they walked, conversation went to the trip on the airship, and Yuya's behaviour once Utopia entered his field came up very soon. "The Numbers shouldn't be able to possess anyone anymore," Kite growled, "So why does it seem that UTOPIA of all Numbers possessed this kid?"
"It wasn't Utopia," Yugo spoke up, "Based on what I understand, the Numbers would amplify the negative qualities of its host, correct?"
"Yes. A mark of the Number's, well, number would also appear somewhere on the holder's body." Yuma answered,
"But Yuya seemed to be a different person entirely. It was like something had awakened. He was nothing like the Yuya I had seen in the tournament."
"Well that certainly is reassuring," Rio said sarcastically, "So a Number potential possesses someone for the first time in nearly 2 decades, and it doesn't just amplify to the normal levels."
"That's not the strangest thing, however," Yuma said, "There was no '39' on the Chaos Number that was summoned. Instead, it had this weird emblem that looked like a dragon I have never seen emerging from a crystal. Yuya, do you have the card?"
Yuya was afraid of this being asked. He'd already checked, and indeed he had the card in his extra deck. He'd also found other cards, like the Supreme King General and the Sorcerers, in his deck that elicited sense of fear in Yuya, but something deep inside him was instead bending that fear into some twisted strength. Reluctantly, he took the card out and passed it to Yuma. "The Supreme King of Despair?" Kite asked, "Are we sure this is the Utopia we know? Sounds rather contradictory of the monster Yuma has."
"Indeed. But look at the card. It does seem to have a '39' in the artwork, but it is in a discarded, shattered shoulder plate. Like it is throwing away being a Number to fight for whoever that emblem belongs to." Yuma replied, handing the card back to Yuya. As they continued to walk, Yuma, Rio and Kite kept arguing over what this would mean for their world. After all, they were still fighting against Duel Academy. As they were arguing, however, they didn't hear a massive crack and definitely didn't notice a rather large chunk of concrete that fell off a decaying building. It fell through the air rather quickly, and when they did notice, it was right before it landed on Yuya, a massive crunch being heard. Yuya was immediately knocked unconscious, and they all ran over to Yuya, somehow seeing that he was still alive. There also seemed to be no serious damage. "How could we be so careless?" Rio stated, eyes still wide with horror,
"He's still alive, and there is no obvious damage. I don't know how, but Yuya may survive this unscathed." Yuma noted, making sure Yuya's body was alright,
"That should be impossible," Kite said, "Not to rain on everyone's parade, but that seems to have been far above terminal velocity."
"You don't think it was that do you, Yugo?" Yuma asked the Synchro duellist,
"Maybe, but I don't know." The Synchro Duelist said, concerned for his look-alike, who had made a rather strong impression on him in the little time they'd known each other. Clear Wing, is there anything we can do? He rhetorically thought, Clear Wing being the first thing he thought of,
"I'm like you: not entirely sure" came the surprising reply, which caused Yugo to jump a little bit,
Wait, we can actually communicate through thoughts? Yugo asked his dragon,
"We always have been, but I don't think you were able to hear my replies until now" the cool, female voice half-laughed, "That Yuya kid seems more in tune with his dragons, so I wonder if he has also opened the bridge of communication with his dragons."
Saying a quick 'we should probably talk later to his dragon', Yugo suggested slinging Yuya's body over the back of his duel runner, as that would probably be the quickest, not to mention safest, method of transport. About a minute later, Yuya was safely secured, and they set off again, now regularly checking for dislodged or unstable debris. "So," Yuma asked, "Has anyone been lost since I left?"
The faces of his friends didn't change, but Kite spoke first, "Trey and Quinton were gotten a week or so ago, and before that, most of the surviving members of your former class were carded around when you disappeared."
A small frown now upon Yuma's face, he asked "How's Quattro holding up?"
"Not that bad, but at the same time, not that good either. It really just depends on the day."
"I see," Yuma mused, "Well, how far until the base again?"
"About another kilometre or so." Rio said, not even looking back,
"Ah. You ok there Yugo?" Yuma asked, noticing a slightly stressed look on the Synchro Duelist's face,
"Yeah, just thinking about some things." As Yugo said this, his extra deck started to glow, and in his mind he felt a scream coming from Clear Wing. Ripping open it, Clear Wing's card was glowing, and he then noticed that Yuya's deck box was glowing, and opening it, he saw Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion's cards were also glowing, and Yuya was stirring in the half-sleep that he was now in. Strangely, he was muttering 'No' repeatedly, as if there was some sort of disaster or tragedy was occurring. Deciding to speed up, they soon made their way to the resistance base, where they settled Yuya down and watched on worriedly.
Next Chapter Preview: Yuya wakes up in a strange room, and is quickly swept up into a duel at a tournament. In this duel he finds out some confronting facts.
Hey all. Welcome to the end of the most recent chapter. Sorry for this one being rather short, but I was having a very hard time writing this chapter. No duel this chapter, but we meet Kite and Rio in this chapter, and find out that two of the Arclight brothers were unfortunately carded. Also, just before anyone perhaps yells at me, I'd like to say the reason for the numeral based names instead of their actual names is that they readopted them for the invasion.
Also, Yuya living that concrete block is literally just so I can make next chapter happen, where we will be seeing Yuya's dream. Also, Yugo talking to Clear Wing, if only for a minute! We know from canon that Zarc could communicate with his dragons, which is also seen after Zarc is beaten at the end of the series, so why not have each Yu-boy able to talk to their dragons?
Bluedada – Thank you for the kind words. It was certainly a fun duel to write, and hey, perhaps Yugo and Yuma will have another duel or two with and/or against each other.
Thank you all for reading this chapter, and I will actually have next chapter out by Tuesday, which won't impact the next, next chapter. To sum up, next week chapters 10 AND 11 will be published! If you enjoyed this chapter, or the story so far, please leave a follow if you haven't already and wish to keep up to date, and also consider leaving a favourite if you do, but no pressure. If you have any questions or other things to say, leave a review, and I'll see you all next time - NightWingBOI
