Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady lunar Phoenix
A/N: So this is a proper version of the chapter, proper length and ending. I will give my current status is that this SUCKS. So I had a midear infection, 2 weeks of suffering and i'm dealing with the fallout. Reading and writing are incredibly difficult right now. The infection messed with my vision and comprehension pretty hard. So please bear with me. Or behold what happens when your ear slaps your eyes.
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Clearly something had happened, something that was starting to bother Yubel as they watched the massive white robots. It was so lopsided, one moment they felt they had complete control over the situation, only for the next moment everything to be turned on its head. The confusion created this unpleasant tingle that ran up their back as they watched the last of the robots be carved apart.
Certainly the sudden unexplained appearance of the white dragon was the start of the strange occurrences. She wasn't one of the ones belonging to the humans they had been facing. Merely unsummoned by the witch until now. Yet not only did it arrive, it was able to challenge them! White robots and white dragons could have been a theme, only the robots worked against the humans and the dragon protected them.
Even now the ground was beyond scorched, dead and less than ash all done by the robots. Not a one struck Yubel as a Duel Spirit. Not resonating as a spirit even, so man made? But what man could open portals and drop those machines here? More over the amount of pure destruction was immense yet the Momentum building was still standing. That was the largest sign that something beyond them was going on.
Below the building the ground felt solid, as normal as the rest of the Earth. However; everything around it and outward reflected the damage of the machines.
"This is wrong, utterly wrong," Yubel finally grumbled as they stood there, arms slowly crossing their chest. They looked about the environment, the devastation that had been caused, melted buildings, wiped out roads, yet in the distance buildings that still housed the living humans... All this caused them to start taking the bizarre seriously.
"What? The robots were a good distraction but..." Trueman began when Yubal flicked a hand carelessly towards where the Momentum building stood.
"No... Something that goes beyond any of us is at work. The dragon's blast destroys everything yet somehow the building still stands. The robots turn the ground into useless dust yet the building and the ground below is still standing strong. I may be a bit vain but I'm not stupid. This is beyond anything any of the dragons could do or us. There's no Crimson Dragon taking flight and that is the only dragon I believe who could have even tried to counter any of this."
"You didn't encounter anything that powerful during your trip in space? Something that would be comparable to the Light?" Trueman asked glancing up into the sky and that strange black strip of darkness.
"No, Space is a very empty place, you look and see the stars. They appear close until you are among them and realize that nothing is close. Its all a test, if you really want to reach the stars you have to wait a long time to travel to them. If you wish to prove your love to someone you have to inflict the greatest pain to make sure they will stay. If someone runs from the slightest tap they won't be by your side when trouble comes to you." Yubel recounted from the bitter memories.
Trueman gave a wordless, noncommittal sound, the logic that Yubel was working from was that interesting level of sane and madness. They were right about the behavior, Darkness would likely approve of the burned ground. Unable to be used for food or anything else people would grow hungry the desperation would bring about anger or despair. Someone was clearly aiding the Dragons and the others, protecting people some way, he only had to turn around. The still standing buildings in the distance served as quiet reminders of the strange protections.
Corruption infused Light should have been a blast strong enough to reach even those distant, barely occupied buildings. Trueman couldn't see from above thus couldn't easily figure out what the radius of this was. Were they in some large circle? A square? Something was powerful enough to take everything being thrown at it and stopping it.
So why not stop 'them'? It was clearly protecting Momentum. Whatever 'it' was, had self awareness that the Momentum Project could inflict global consequences if destroyed. Something quite useful for Darkness. Everything being tied to Momentum meant nothing was prepared for being cut off.
Protect Momentum but leave the Dragons and the humans alone? Except the Blue Eyes White Dragon returned after so long an absence. Empowered by a Higher force no less. Open portals that delivered lasers and massive anti-matter canon wielding robots? No, because if they were against Momentum the building would be gone.
It wasn't Judai or Jesse. One was the weaker aspect of Darkness, the other afforded by so many Crystal Beasts was likely associated with a form of pure Light. Yet Darkness, as a force, and Light, as its equal and opposite, were forms without thought or influence. It was the mind that defined their virtues and sins.
"We need to be rational about this. Think this through. Right now, we could easily outlast them. Humans have limits it would take nothing to wear them down into exhaustion. However; we know we have an active force that is defying your powers, the sheer magnitude of anti-matter yet... Its not the Dragons, they're here and fighting only they haven't called upon their strongest manifestation? Summoning the Crimson Dragon?"
Yubel glanced at Trueman and there was certainly a strong point he was making on the matter. "So abandon the battle? No. You don't sound like that's what you're suggesting."
"Right, something is helping them, but how or what is what we need to figure out. If we know what triggers the help, we can avoid it and wipe our enemies out now." Trueman explained as he began marshaling more copies of himself. Hoping to snag Judai if he could.
"Give them too much time and they might be able to figure out how to reach whatever has been sending them the dragon and the shields to protect them?" Yubel gave a guess that was also an elaboration earning a nod from Trueman.
Trueman's copies filtered into the ground, unbothered by the dead soil and one latched themselves onto Judai.
The Dragons were indeed growing weary, though it was just as much a question of if it was from the battles or the indecisive waves of 'help' they were receiving. Sullen was one way to describe their leader, while the high school students that they were protecting... There was the scars of the fires Yubel unleashed on them. Fear, confusion, the girls who had been burned appeared almost distant from the world around them. The unburned were huddled around them in the way wild animals did to protect their young.
Then there was the former Nightshroud. Apart from and with them, straddling the two worlds. He had the Mask still on him, its light absorbing darkness visible even to the copy. It was surrounded by other cards, spirits who were linked by their hearts to a man long dead. The flop of the group, yet the result of losing connection to the Darkness often resulted in the shattering of self. That the boy retained his original sense of self, was clearly returned to the human world unbroken made him a threat.
Breaking the others would be easy, all were weak, easily susceptible to the chaos around them and their ever fragile places in it. It wasn't 'them' summoning these spirits who shielded them so, it was the Witch. Useless in protecting anyone and here for no other reason than to help imperil the lives of those who fought in their steads.
Fubuki was the threat though, able to see into the darkness, he walked in Light and feared nothing in the Darkness save being possessed. So the only choice was reinforcing the power of the Mask. Convince the boy that the Mask was tied to Darkness, the entity and not Darkness the primordial force. With the Mask, while he was no Witch, Fubuki could actually start rendering more aid than he had at this point...
But besides the unused Mask there really wasn't anything here to signal a higher power was getting involved.
"Come on you two!"
It was the twins, pulling and helping two more waiting casu...
Older of the quartet was a girl with darker skin than the others, a whisper of the witch in power but still 'with' power. With her was a half awake ice maiden yet it was the other boy that got Trueman's copy to take notice.
Said boy was fascinating, floating cards, a multitude of spirits about him, likely summoned by him, yet not bound 'to' him. Every spirit felt as old as Trueman if not older in some cases, with a Light that was almost painful to behold. Moreover those spirits...
As the copies returned to Trueman their information becoming his, Truemans' own mind began sorting it all through. In seconds a terrifying possibility began to form in the back of his mind each frame of information darkening their possibilities. Causing him to grimly speak into the silence between them. "We might have the right idea not to let this fight end. But I don't know if we can make it end in our favor."
Yubels' concern and curiosity was not apparent at first, until Trueman described the boy. Maybe it was some far away memory they had of Judai, yet for a split second their expression became almost nostalgic. Only to be replaced by a more focused internal gaze before they finally started talking.
"What of your master, Darkness? He makes no appearance in all this, he's giving you no help to deal with the Dragons. So why serve? Isn't he concerned about the outcome?" Yubel inquired with a side glance at Trueman.
"My master only cares about bringing in hopeless despair, a land now rotted and unable to be used would serve his cause as well as any other. The devastation around us would as well, it would take at least a year if not more to get all of this restored." Trueman explained with a small flick of the wrist to indicate the surrounding destruction.
"Seems short sighted to me. I see opportunity all around, the ground has to be dug out and replaced yes. But this gives people buildings to restore, all those things they fill the buildings up must be replaced as well, restoration gives people opportunities for jobs and that implies money to sustain themselves. There was more despair here when we weren't fighting because there was few next to no one left. If the people returned they would just move in to their old homes and move on. Now those who have lost everything will be able to look for help. People will rush in to restore the area back to how it used to be." Yubel pointed out causing Trueman to frown.
That... wasn't something that never occurred to him before. This wasn't even a housing district, people didn't by nature 'live' here so they lost nothing. Just a sector with offices, relocate or work from home while the city restores this area. Not only restoring it, it would offer opportunities for improving the buildings readily, employment, businesses would need to purchase new office supplies causing growth...
All this fighting, all this glorious destruction and the pain it would bring would be momentary, and the hope and opportunities it would bring would stretch through the year or years.
"Our God left during a massive battle." Yubel pointed out their tone retrospective. "What about that particular boy concerns you?"
All around them the ground was nothing, being not human, the pair had been hovering just enough above the ashen mess that they likely appeared to be standing on it. Off in the distance he could see the buildings that denoted either residence apartments or office buildings. There was a sliver of yellow entering the night sky. The world was almost rotated enough to bring the sun and light back to this part of it.
"God creates out of nothing. My concern is that boy's deck, its strange, humming with a life that surpasses any other deck. Decks alone tend to feel more like a portal, a connecting thread between card and the spirit associated to it. But this boy has a deck that feels unlike any other, its not a thread that I sense. Its a rope. Bound to something greater and pulling with the intensity that drives the link taunt."
"'Something greater'?" Yubel mused at the wording then at what he had said earlier. "This something being the reason why you are now unsure of our battle?" They pondered the possibility, though what started to come to the fore of their thoughts was worrying. "You fear God?"
"If our battle is being used to call back God, even if we defeated our enemies, we would have the ultimate being right here. No matter how vain you are about the greatness of the Light, even you must recognize that all Darkness and Light bow to their respective source. What good is it if we bring back the greatest being?"
Yubel stood there as the copies rose up with Judai bound in bands of darkness. His controlled mind looked upon them with their loyalty and Yubel was stuck worrying. If God came back what then? "I don't see a problem, God wants us to live by our own choices. They won't stand in our way."
"But he's 'God', The higher the forms, yes, the more disinterested he gets about about our little lives. But his lowest, and closest to us form, is the one that is the most Trickster of them. His cousin, the General, sending Blue Eyes White Dragon makes sense then."
The futility of the thought worried him, If God was picking sides, he wasn't going to pick Truemans' or Yubels side. He would like as not abstain from any real involvement, but that didn't hold back those who would return 'with' him. Those who could readily call 'upon' him as well.
"God permits the freedom of choice, though its said he knows all results of all possibilities, if we stay and fight or abandon the battle." Yubel mused in annoyance. "So do we act to take out the one with the mask or the boy, or do we try for both?"
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"Yusei, Judai is gone!" Crow crowed out in alarm, rushing over with his vivid red hair serving as a beacon for the others to see. Behind him was that field of black with Jack's dirty white riding suited self stumbling his way over the ashen ground.
The sun was rising, but its glow didn't touch the ground, no soft shades of gold or light to brighten this abysmal landscape.
"Its horrible how it just soaks in the light," Aki noted as she leaned over to study behind the pair.
Black Rose wasn't a thrilled dragon, Aki began to rest against Yusei as the pair rejoined them, "I'm wearing shoes and I hate how the ground feels."
"No surprise there given what your Dragon is associated with," Crow noted as he jerked his thumb back. "Shadow rose up from the ground wrapped around him and dragged him down into the ground. Though he didn't shout or anything I can't imagine he was kidnapped by someone so its probably Yubel. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, we got Jesse and right now I have more than enough on my plate with Momentum right there." Yusei gave the building a passing glance born of annoyance while Jack finally joined them.
"How are you holding up? I don't want the twins to feel the need to step up to help, especially with that other kid walking around with all those spirits." Jack demanded out of Aki. He could see the fatigue growing on Yusei, the battles so unlike what they were used to back on Satellite and with Asuka and her group. More over Aki was the one channeling all the Duel Spirits for them, the pair were bound to be tired and Jack loathed the idea of taking command. If the girl went down the spirits would disappear depriving them of their spirit partners save the boy. Which the mere thought of hiding behind a child barely older than the twins?
Jack's pride as a duelist refused to settle for that!
The twins would also then try to step in and if something happened to the pair, Archfiend was fairly confident that Jack wouldn't be able to stand, period, after that.
"I'm... fine honestly. I mean I hate how the ground feels, and I'm wearing shoes so my disdain feels weird to me. But I'm fine, weird given how it used to exhaust me and now its the exact opposite." Aki noted with a small tilt of her head as she looked about the ruined district.
"Maybe you just got tired trying to hold yourself back, and this is just your normal," Crow suggested as he joined in the observations of their area.