At some strange point someone or someones put up a series of wooden planks to cut off the alleyway. It wasn't formal or neat, with each board slapped into place above and next the one below it. Nor were the nails driven in through stronger tools meant for driving in nails through concrete or metal. Sloppy instead, beaten into place with a hammer and the boards were uneven reinforcing the strange and sloppy placement of it all.

Such sloppiness allowed for Carly to see into the alley. With the slices of clothes that belonged to people.

A small family of three to be exact.

They were pressed up tight against the boards with their little girl shielded behind them. They had pressed her against the planks so tightly that Carly could see the blush of pain forming on the little girls' arm. Her hair was up in a pair of pigtail braids and she was whimpering that they were hurting her.

The planks weren't seriously thick, easily as thick as a single finger on her hand, so Carly reached down and grabbed at the board. It was pressed against the girls' shoulders so an easy enough height for Carly to grab and pull on. Bent, dirty steel nails were what was keeping the boards up, yet Carly wasn't going to be deterred and began grunting as she pulled against the plank.

"Oh! Yes, please thank you!" The woman exclaimed as she saw this woman on the other side of the boards. Suddenly hopeful she leaned down a smidge and began pushing against the plank itself, "Miyuki be a good girl. Help mommy!"

Both of them pressed against the board and it wasn't a high quality plank. Or an expensive one as the sea air had started to dry out the planks. Between the three of them the nails on Carlys' right decided it wasn't worth it as they popped out. It sprung out and skittered across the sidewalk and into silence as the wooden plank creaked. While the ones on the left were more stubborn in their grip but it was enough for the girl, Miyuki, to wiggle through. She climbed up the two lower boards as she climbed through while Carly held the board out for her.

Miyuki was a little scuffed up from probably running, yet Carly noted the patches on her clothes. While clearly the outfit was meant for girls her age they appeared a size too big, and there was this yarn braided belt that was helping keep the clothes up. The mother was dressed better, but when her hand gripped Carly's arm, the reporter could see delicate stitching along the sleeve of her blouse.

It didn't matter though, her hair was a short bob, that thankfully snagged on nothing as she squeezed herself through. As the husband began making his way through the opening it allowed Carly to see Topaz Tiger. He was bigger than before, his limbs had been wrapped in black armor, his tail was supposed to be white and fluffy, lion like. Now it was black and Carly couldn't shake the feeling of it appearing as a jagged spear instead of a tail.

"Hurry hurry!"

Listening to the family was a blessing as it kept Carly from over focusing on the tiger even as her heart hurt. The family pulled Carly from the plank and the four of them began running down the road. Miyuki was held in her mother's arms when the sound of wood shattering burst into the air from behind them. A tigers' angry roar vibrated off the street and buildings, and encouraging the group to run faster.

'Poor Topaz, Yubel did that to him, whatever warped them warped Topaz too...!' Carly glanced behind her and realized that the tail hasn't transformed. Rather it was armored now like the tigers' limbs yet Carly remembered the facial markings appearing differently on the tiger. When she was shown the card the black markings were under the tigers' eyes, now they appeared to wrap completely around the eyes and away to the cheeks.

Maybe it was a sign of Jesse still being there, maybe it was a sign that Yubel couldn't corrupt Jesse's soul only control his mind. It was promising, a sign of hope if nothing else. "Topaz I know you don't want to do this!" Carly cried out as she ran. "Jesse will be miserable if he finds out about this we both know that!"

Fury was embedded in the roar of the tiger behind the family as they ran. While Carly was occupied keeping an eye on the tiger, they navigated the road ahead. It was already so dark, dust hung in the air obscuring possible safe places. So many buildings were locked that stopping to check each one felt like a death wish. So they had ran. If they could just make it back to their building!

But for what Miyuki's family heard as fury, Carly heard as sorrow.

Topaz was chasing them, but a single bound of his body chewed up easily half the distance between them. So he was taking his 'anger', rather his 'time', swatting at the vehicles on the road. Easily stunts that would terrify the young family. He snarled and postured, ripped a light post down with the lashing of his tail.

'Buying us time...' Carly realized as she ran and knowing the poor tiger was, she turned to focus on the family. It wasn't good, unlike Carly who wore the cloth mask and her glasses protected her eyes a bit. The family had nothing and were sputtering and coughing in response to the dust. Carly's flashlight illuminated the darkness and the dust was starting to settle to the ground. But it was low enough to be a fog and the family was moving slower...

'He's big enough to burst though a building door and maybe the wall,' she thought to herself. He was massive, a Spirit physically being manifested in the real world and something as pitiful as a door wasn't going to stop him.

Had the other spirits been forced to endure this? Jack hadn't mentioned it, 'I'll trust him, he'd tell me if the Gem Beasts went after locals. So I'm going to think that Topaz is the first.'

But what to do? Could she convince the tiger to betray Jesse for a time, lay low or ignore his calls? Could he convince the others? Air burned into her lungs, her legs ached as did her hands from pulling on that plank. "I want you three to keep running. Topaz isn't a normal tiger," she gasped out. "He's more dangerous than what you think, he's trying to give you time to escape. So just go home, I'll do what I can."

"You're going to stay?!" The father, already winded and tired gasped out.

"He's trying to buy you time, just go! And with my orbs trailing me its not like we could hide. As if we could hide from his nose. Trust me, he can break a door with ease, this is for the best!" Carly explained before she allowed herself to slow down.

The family kept running, Miyuki had her arms wrapped around her mothers' neck. But she freed one hand to wave 'bye' to Carly as her parents continued to run. Amid the fog of dust that was still settling down, only to swirl up back into the air in response as the family struggled through. Their coughs and footsteps muffled by the dust. Muted, much like the color and life in Domino, the only real color came from the orbs hovering above Carly.

For Miyuki, Carly stood in this warm halo of light as though a Kami was looking out for her.

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"How in Yugi's name did we lose Carly?!" Zalinka demanded as she stood there, slashing at the dust as though she was holding a lightsaber and not a flashlight. Carly had been 'right there' with them! Neither she or Ryu could figure out the exact moment they lost contact with Carly. Zalinka had glanced behind to make sure Carly was ok, only to realize the nearsighted reported was gone. The flashlight brightened to back window of a car abandoned on the side of the road. Piercing through it to brighten the interior and cast its shadow against the wall ahead.

Ryu was quiet, the question was irrelevant at that point because well, Carly was gone. They heard Topaz Tiger and that was really the only thing that mattered. With the spirit on the prowl Ryu could only figure any gangs would go into hiding. She would be semi safe unless she ended up finding the Tiger before them.

"He sounds... sad." Ryu noted in absence as he tried to figure out a way to get a read on where the tiger was.

"What?" Zalinka looked down at the kid who was staring down one direction after another.

"He sounds sad, frustrated if you want. He's not hunting of his own free will and why isn't he with the others? They should be dealing with Yusei and the others right? Why isn't he? I mean he's a 'tiger' he's one of the apex animals, the closest to a warrior. Sides the dragon in the deck," Ryu pointed out.

"They... huh..." Zalinka paused on the surface it felt like a waste of time question. Yet it had merit on closer mental inspection. Just 'why' was Topaz not with the others, why send him out on a killing spree or a hunt? "Maybe... well if Topaz hurts an innocent person that's going to upset Jesse right? So maybe Yubel's control over Jesse and Judai is weakening and they need the pair to do something that would weaken their resolve. Or they want things to use against the pair to black mail them from wanting to break free. I mean, neither of them are killers, get one of their spirits to commit murder... and Jesse 'does' see his spirits as his family..."

"Family... That..." Ryu thought about 'his' family. Mother would be beside herself by now as would Father. Then there was Uncles Kaiba and Uncle Yugi... "Losing family... maybe you're right, but if so I just hope Fudo and the others free Jesse and Judai in time."

Ryu helplessly looked around before he stared up at the black void that existed above the world. 'Uncle Yugi... Where's Topaz Tiger?'

Zalinka sighed in frustration as she looked about, the lights were muted by the dust, the flashlight was kind of useless. They didn't know when they lost sight of Carly and maybe just continuing to find Topaz would lead them to her. But Carly had already been attacked once before, Zalinka didn't want to find Topaz just to learn Carly got hurt by someone else!

Her flashlights' beam bounced off the dust, it swirled like that one painting in blue in waves and curls. Rolling itself about she uselessly scanned the area again with her flashlight, illuminating the same car back window she had multiple times before. A model tiger resided in the car, its paw extended up and outward as though it was caught mid step. Startled by the sudden light it had frozen into position staring at the source of the light, one paw raised to walk.

But that car had been empty before...

Now there was a tiger pointing...

"Come on Ryu, I think your Uncle Yugi just answered our prayers," Zalinka urged as she grabbed the boy's hand and charged off into the direction the tiger pointed.

Ryu's own face scrunched a bit in confusion as he flashed his own light behind him to see what got her attention. Just an empty road and an empty car...

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"Topaz! I know I can't understand you, but you understand me! You have to stop!" Carly called out, her arms spread out as though her slender form could stop such a beast. He could just trample her, leap over her without issue, bound around her. Lots of ways to avoid her, but she stood there with her best 'you shall not pass' arms extended posture she could muster.

Her orbs drifted in the air above her following patterns as though they were as light as dust particles themselves. It illuminated her for the tiger, while her flashlight drifted a beam of white light at the beasts' paws. These massive larger than a manhole cover paws that could grab her torso. If Topaz had a proper thumb. "This isn't what Jesse wants and you know it!"

Topaz Tiger ran straight at her, his eyes reflecting that mix of gold and white light that Carly was carrying. In fact he was so big, that she was almost mesmerized by the fact that she could easily see herself in his eyes.

Then she realized it was because he was close enough to nudge her with his nose... Or just stick her head in his mouth because he had run completely up on her. Not that she saw it, Topaz Tiger was massive, he was stone muscle and towering, his fangs were the length of her hands. So maybe she passed out, fainted while standing, blacked out... Something, but he went from a quasi safe distance away to being so close to her face she could feel his cold wet nose on her forehead!

"I know its hard, you love him, he's been family to you and yours. But you know this isn't who he is and there are people trying to free him. What is he going to do or feel when he realizes what he's made you do? What he's 'done'? You Gem Beasts need to resist his orders! You have to for his sake as well as your own!" Eyes screwed shut in fear, her voice was carried on waves of apprehension borne determination.

Topaz frowned at the fragile little human in front of him. She was right, Jesse was going to be broken by all they had done. They had talked, he and the other Beasts, tried to break Yubels' control over Jesse. But Jesse was willing to hand over his deck to Yubel, and they were ready and willing to tear the Beasts cards up!

"Little Human..." Topaz rumbled despite his words sounding only as growls to Carly.

"How long does it take for you to kill a trio of humans? Or even one person?!"

Carly flinched at the voice, even the wet nose against her forehead shivered ever so slightly! She opened her eyes to white and black whiskered kitty cheeks and that massive nose that was breathing in her face. Topazs' eyes were closed and pained and that caused a pain in Carly's heart. "You poor Gem Beasts... I know... you just want Jesse back as he was..."

"Maybe I should just tear up your card," Yubel leisurely suggested where they had arrived mid air before lowering themselves onto the top of a moving truck. They could see the back of the little human, but they were more invested in looking at the tiger. Said tiger who was supposed to have returned long before now while covered in the blood of his prey.

"No!"

Carly protested without a hint of apprehension at that threat. "How could you? Judai never tore up your card even when you were doing things that made him sad!"

"He sent me to 'space' you idiot!" Yubel retorted with disdain as they stared down at this stupid fragile human.

"You were supposed to 'come back' though! He didn't understand, he thought he was sending you to heaven where God could help you! He felt he failed you!" Carly contested, "but why drag Jesse and his Spirits into this? You don't want your card destroyed so why threaten to do it to someone else?"

"Because that is how I shall show him my love," Yubel pointed out. "Take that machine this whole world runs off of." They gave a sly smile, "now we've seen the damage when it was just starting. But now its power is fully spread around the world like a net..."

"That isn't 'love' hurting someone you care about isn't love!" Carly retorted in annoyance. "You were sent to space where something a lot stronger beat you into submission! When you love someone you protect them! Sure you might have got your signals crossed before, but love isn't meant to hurt!" She argued thinking back to how Jack used to be and how he had grown. As much as he wanted to be 'the King', he had been pretty insufferable. Yet he was sweeter now, often using his 'king' mentality to try and cover up his kindness.

Yubel frowned as the human with their stupid gold orbs turned to look up at them. "I'm not saying you're a bad spirit but you've done horrible things! You need to release Jesse and Judai, if you ever cared about Judai you'd know this is going to upset him!"

"Weak am I?" Yubel echoed in growing rage. This insipid human knew nothing of the Light, the futility of fighting against such a force! Bathed in it until it burned through flesh and bore into their eyes. When they closed their eyes all they saw was the Light! Their fists curled as an energy ball formed in frustration. "You think you know so much because you're human?! A USELESS HUMAN WITHOUT ANY POWER?! You just use us anyways!" they shrieked in frustration. Their fury inflated the size of the energy ball before they flung it down upon the worms who spoke against them. With vicious satisfaction they watched the blazing white hot orb barrel down towards the pair before curling into the air high above.

"Ooooh bad luck!"