Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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When word had reached them about Carly's reading stunt, Aki had been both worried and curious. Since Carly clearly had a clairvoyant talent her being able to relocate it to another divination tool wasn't worrying. It was her sitting still and zoned out, which was a very Carly thing to do in brief stints.
Again in 'brief stints'.
But the wheel constantly turning without a question had been unnatural and enough to worry her.
The condo lighting had been overridden so the group could see more clearly while they cleaned. Which they had done a sizeable amount of cleaning, walking by the kitchen showed that it was pretty much sparkling, with only dust on the ground at the entryway. Ready to be swept up with the rest when final sweeping began. The furniture also had been moved about to allow for display cases to be erected, different positions for the tv, tables everything was roughly in place. Giving Aki that 'they're almost ready' feeling. But with so many people unlike the first move which was mostly just Carly and Jack it made sense that they got this much done in a day.
It was a positive sign, as Aki lead Carly to the kitchen so they could talk.
No, it wasn't Carly seeing the future using the wheel that got her. It was Carly's tendency to go off the deep end when excited. Normally being verbally exuberant, very hyper was fine and Aki had learned to deal with it by letting Carly just run the energy through.
It was that Carly got victimized and there would be an understandably strong sense of helplessness and loss of power associated with it. So whatever Carly was 'seeing' in what should have been her usual 'deep end dives' worried Aki. Carly had been stuck in the other condo, turtled up in response to the attack, now? Would she want to stay inside? Or would she want to leave the building with Judai and Jesse running loose? Overconfident that she would be safe because the wheel told her?
Carly's posture screamed that she was on the money as well. Arms crossed in passive protective defiance of her ability, lips a straight, thin line, back stiff as though awaiting a negative reaction. Yet what she was saying as she recounted the 'visions' worried the Rose Duelist. Becoming famous was one thing, it was typical fare really. As the reporter reported on her experience, Aki felt an alarm go off in the back of her mind.
Such obliviousness as Carly recounted getting attacked and gutted because of her ability caused Aki to raise her hands up. "Carly, wait, go back, you said you got 'stabbed'?"
"Yeah so... soo..." Carly replied as her arms dropped from her chest to her stomach as the memory played back. The room felt suddenly chilly as the pain began to blossom in her again. "No..."
Aki reached out and placed her hands on Carly's exposed arms, just feeling the warmth evaporating was unsettling. "Carly, no, I want to believe its ok. Your fairies are preparing to wake up is all.."
The reporter looked up in painful, desperate surprise which Aki answered with a nod that held more confidence than she felt. "I don't know when exactly, but they're reacting clearly through the wheel. You know how are you are when you get excited, you daydream and you may have gone on at it for too long."
"Are you suggesting that they made me see me get stabbed?" Carly asked looking stunned and a hint of anger began to enter her voice. "My fairies wouldn't do such a thing!"
"I'm saying they wanted you to snap out of it, you were zoned out long enough for Ryo to leave the condo, go up to the twins, and contact us. Think about how much time that would mean for you." Aki pointed out firmly. Carly's frown or stiffened stance didn't ease up causing Aki to shake her head.
"You need to ground yourself. Power is a responsibility, if anything the fairies saw the same images you did and needed you to come back down to earth. Misty told us that the ability to see the future doesn't set it in stone. That we have the power to choose, and one of those choices being presented to you could get you killed. Your fairies don't want that."
Carly's shoulders drooped as Aki's case was certainly sound.
"Changing your future is always a possibility. You just need to have the resolve to change it by being more aware of the choices you make up until that point. Fortune telling just tells you the effectiveness of your effort to shape that future. A tarot reader might tell you that the tower showed up in your reading. But that only means that your whole world is going to be turned upside down. A fortune reading is more along the lines of telling you how good or bad that particular day will be. If that makes sense."
It was something Misty had told the women one day. Aki had shown up with some nail care supplies and suggested they hang out and work on their nails. Retrospectively it was a weird thing for Aki to do, so very out of the normal that Carly had been taken aback. But then Misty had called and it became this enjoyable little chat between girls.
"I do have visions," Carly repeated, determined not to be denied her ability, her gift. If she could use the wheel to make predictions to...
"And now you get to learn how to use them safely for the betterment of your life," Aki added with a proud little smile, that became a bit amused. "And not try to have visions while crossing a road."
"But the chicken!" Carly argued in amusement.
"Can 'wait'."
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"So has there been any word around town?" Ryo asked as the conversations had begun to wind down to idle chatter.
Yusei turned his attention to Ryo before nodding, "so far its been harmless, there have been glimpses of 'goth punks' being spotted. Shouldn't be 'that' weird except one has 'bright' spirits with them. Which on further questioning proved to be the Gem spirits which is Jesses' deck."
"They haven't done anything though?"
"No," Crow interjected, "Granny at the market said that she saw the spirits but not him. No biggy her eyes aren't good anymore. But its hard to miss those Gembeasts walking about."
"Just walking about?" Junko asked curious which earned her a nod.
"Yes, they're not attacking anyone or lashing out, even if they see someone who isn't Jesse." Yusei explained before giving a brief nod to Ruka.
"Which means they're not under mind control, they're following Captain Jesse because well, he's their partner. But they aren't being made to lash out by him or whoever took over him. Its not the best of news..."
"But its not the worst," Rua finished up with a nod.
"It must be harsh watching someone you care about being forced to behave and do things that are completely against their nature." Ryu thought aloud as he pulled out his fathers' deck while the elevator rumbled beyond them. "More over, you said he can communicate, meaning he's actively ignoring his partners words..."
"You lot have a lot of nerve leaving without a note or a spirit to let a person know!" A very unamused Zalinka appeared on the lift, her hands on her hips. "You could have woken me up you know!"
She looked like she woke up from a solid nap, her hair in mild disarray while her clothes looked oddly unrumpled.
"We didn't want to disturb you," Ruka pointed out as Rua panic pointed towards the kitchen where Carly was.
Zalinka rolled her eyes as she fairly strolled down to join the group, draping herself down in the open spot between Momoe and the end of the couch. "So what did I miss," she barked out as her butt hit the seat. While her eyes took in the large wheel on the table.
"We were called here because Carly has developed a new ability or her Fairies really wanted to talk to her. Beyond that we've been just starting to discuss the sightings of Judai and Jesse through out the city."
"Oh my aunt Isis is the Royal Seeress to the Pharaoh, if she was here she could probably give Carly some pointers." Zalinka thought back to said aunt, gone long before Zalinka existed.
"Really?" Carly stuck her head out of the room, and they all could hear Aki's indigent cry as the reporter tried to escape.
"I mean it doesn't do us any good now does it? She's been gone since before Zero Reverse the day Uncle Yugi left to fight the Demon." Ryu asked as he put his deck back into their case.
"'Uncle Yugi'," Yusei echoed the phrase with a small frown. "We haven't seen any of the versions of Yugi since that thing above us arrived. How much do you know about him?"
Zalinka shook her head helplessly, "Even though my father served Uncle Yugi, he was never a priest in the sense of training. Our tribes' purpose was to ensure Uncle Yugi regained his memories and power. Father is pretty on par with Mai, Valon and even Uncle Mokuba on being Kaiba's priests."
"Wait, Lord Kaiba is a 'priest'?"
"Which Lord Kaiba?" Crow chirped up as he eyed Ryu and Zalinka in confusion.
"Ryu's father is a priest to his older brother. Though he's a lesser god, Uncle Kaiba the elder 'is' a god in his own right." Zalinka explained, "which just means that if any of those three pray to him, they'll get an more direct, immediate response than say any of us."
"But being a 'lesser' god means he can't override Lord Yugi, hence why he's gone still?" Jack asked as he tried to math this out in his head. Zalinka's nod validating his already pompous posture of confidence. "So what type of God is he?"
"Its in his given name," Zalinka answered before straightening in her seat. "Lord Set, God of Storms, protector of Ra, God of no nonsense, comedy, humor, or good natured ribbing need not pray... Protector of loved ones if he feels up to it..."
"You lost me at 'God of no nonsense," Aki pointed out as she, reluctantly because she hadn't finished talking to Carly, rejoined the group behind Carly.
"Yeah well given his personality, but the last part is the truth. Back in ancient Kemet, now Egypt, that was a type of side thing he did. He looked after outsiders who came into our homeland kinda of like a host. Father said it had a lot to do with the Blue Eyes White Dragon coming from outside our country. So being open minded due to her he was willing to tolerate outsiders so long as they were respectful. But its in that 'host' mentality, to look after outsiders coupled with his duties to protect Uncle Yugi. It mixed to become this sort of 'if you pray for the ones you love or care about, he'll protect them on your behalf'." An idea seemed to strike her at that moment.
"Ok, like this, you have a dear friend who took a cruise, one day you hear that there was a malfunction and the boat sank. Your first instinct is to pray that they're ok, right?" She looked around and watched as everyone nodded, following her example. "If you pray to Lord Set, he's inclined to save the person, toss them a life raft, keep their boat safe from sharks whatever."
"He's 'inclined' though, doesn't sound very..." Junko began as the spirits nodded slowly.
"Yeah, father told me that while its his providence. He doesn't like it, its an impulse he actively works against. He's meant to protect the Pharaoh and seemed to see this ability to distract him from that task. Thing is, he can resist the regular person but he can't say no to his priests. Which is where his younger brother, Aunt Mai and Uncle Valon step in. If 'they' pray to him, for whatever reason he has to answer their prayers."
"Doesn't seem he answered if they're dead, and I haven't heard of any priests to Set..." Ryo noted.
"Father says its because they probably died when Zero Reverse happened. That the blast was so sudden they never got a chance to pray for any type of help. But he mentioned once how the shop is haunted by Exodia... Even if he's dead Uncle Yugi's grandfather would look after the caretakers of his shop... Its what I want to believe." Ryu explained, sounding as young as he was, even almost a bit unsure if it would be accepted.
"Truth be told, I've wanted to visit the Turtle Game shop, but Father wouldn't let me. Due to the dangers after Zero Reverse, but my aunt and uncles used to tell me how Exodia would manifest. Uncle Honda was saved from a bomb by Exodia." Ryu recalled, it had been two years ago, one the last group visit. Father had been at work so the group felt more at ease to tell Ryu some of their more adventurous stories.
"As interesting as that sounds," Yusei disrupted the conversation, "Judai and the others take priority. We may not be allowed to deal with them, but given that they're knocking over buildings, we've not going to go visit Satellite again just to visit a shop. When it means that someone here can end up getting hurt."
Calm, a bit broody, but Yusei's decision was swift enough to return everyone's focus back to the issue at hand.
"You're the boss," Zalinka gave a half hearted salute as she settled into her seat. "And we know they're back so..."
Witch watched as Tutu and the other spirits began to wander off, not back to their own world. But several were clearly hiving off to their own conversation and Tutu was trying to be the most discreet spirit in the world when inviting Witch. So she drifted off after the lot and found them, Natasha, Black Panther, Tutu, one of the Cyber Dragons and Cyber Petite Angel hanging out in Carly and Jack's bedroom.
"I want to go to the shop," Tutu announced and regretted it immediately as Natasha cheerfully threw her armor protected arm around the dancers' neck.
"Atta girl, which way is it?"
Natasha looked about with enthusiasm that slowly soured into the more responsible, "you never went there."
"Well in our defense," Witch began before tilting her head towards the bipedal purple panther, "the only one here who would know easily is Panther, and he would have started waking up at that point."
Said Panther twitched his whiskers as he stood there and gave a disheartened, and disgruntled sound of his own. "I know what it looked like after it got rebuilt, but after Zero Reverse the roads shifted, and the buildings that I used as visual markers were lost. I can find it, but if our partners are looking to go into active combat. Are you willing to abandon them for a... what do humans call them? 'Field Trip'?"
"Point, but we're going to go and find it once Judai is dealt with," Tutu announced, "it would be neat to meet such a spirit. Also what they said about Seto is interesting, like would it work for us? If we prayed to him would he be inclined to protect our partners? Or does he not view us as people?"
"Of course he does!" Witch countered, "Blue Eyes is one of us, and he cares a great deal about her!"
"Yeah but that's just Blue Eyes, what about us lowly 'not Blue Eyes'," Natasha pointed out. "I bet she wants him and the others to come back and they haven't."
"What good is going to come of bothering Exodia though? It normally is a berserker that doesn't speak, and merely serves as the medium that Lord Yugi's grandfather speaks to the living throu-gh..."
Panther watched as everyone stopped and started staring hard at him. "What? Did you not know?"
"But obviously the grandfather is de... how?! How can a human use a Spirit for a form of communication like that?! He's dead, he probably knows 'loads' of stuff that could help us!" Witch blew up as she flew up into the Panthers' face.
"Like what that is!" Natasha added pointed up towards the ceiling with a deep frown on her face. While each spirit began to close in on Panther and suddenly he felt like hiding in the library again and wishing he never opened his whiskered mouth.