ON THE ROAD TO EQUUS CITY

Playing around with the features on her duel pad, Yuka found a map feature. That was going to be helpful for navigating the county. There were eight cities that she had to visit, each one with a duel gym - Equus City, Pistris City, Salamandra City, Avis City, Simia City, Canis City, Felis City, and Bovis City - with a few smaller towns scattered between them. There was also some woodland between some of the towns and cities, most notably the Verdant Forest and Zelenyy Woods.

There were multiple ways she could get to Equus City, the closest city to Initiis Town. To the west was the Interstate, with an exit that turned north and then east, but only motor vehicles were allowed on the Interstate, so Yuka couldn't take it with her bicycle. There were some country roads to the northeast that passed through some farmland, but Yuka felt that those roads would take too long; not only that, but none of those roads were paved, and she didn't want to run the risk of getting a piece of gravel in one of her tires and flatten it. The third path led directly north, through a patch of woodland. If she went at a good pace, she'd probably be at Equus City by the end of the day.

Besides, Yuka liked wandering through the woods. There was just something so serene about the forest. The shade of the canopy; the smell of the trees; the trickle of water from a nearby stream; the singing of the birds and chirping of the insects; it was even better after it rained, where the forest was cooled off, which especially helped during those sweltering summer days. Since it was mid spring, Yuka didn't have much to worry about with the heat, but she knew in the days to come that the temperature was going to start going up.

Yuka pedaled her bike down a small path between the trees, over roots and around stumps. There were some other people hiking on this trail; the trail was too small for both the hikers and the bike, so Yuka had to stop and move off the trail to let them pass.

She checked the map feature on her duel pad. Amazingly, she'd already gone four miles out of town and into the woods. She didn't even realize she'd been going for that long; it had already been two hours; she left home at around nine in the morning, and it was already pushing noon - she'd been riding for nearly three hours.

After taking a short break to eat a small pack of trail mix and drink some water, Yuka was back on her bike and riding on the trail. The temperature was already starting to rise; not enough to be unbearable, but enough for Yuka to notice.

The trail curved to the right, but Yuka needed to keep going forward. Equus City was north of Initiis Town; turning right on the trail would take her east. Sure, the path probably turned north again, but she didn't want to lose pace or time. If she kept going the way she was, then she'd be in Equus City in no time.

Yuka brought the bike to a stop as she came to a gap in the path. The rest of the path was on the other side of the gap, twenty feet or so away. Yuka climbed off her bike and stepped up to the edge of the gap and looked down. The bottom of this chasm was forty feet down, with a fast flowing river at the bottom.

"Wow," Yuka breathed. "That is some serious water power down there. Now how do I get across?" She looked around, spotting a log ten yards away, a tree that had fallen over at some point and crossed the gap. Yuka wheeled her bike over to the tree. From the look of things, the force of the tree's impact on the ground buried the branches into the ground, anchoring the tree in the dirt. The rest of the tree stretched across the gap, with signs at the other end that the tree had been knocked over, possibly by some strong winds, if she had to guess.

Yuka tentatively stepped up onto the log. The bark was still dry and rough, perfect for her shoes and the tires of her bike maintaining grip and traction. She hoisted her bike up onto the log and slowly started to wheel it across. As she went, she kept her eyes on the log, watching her feet. She slowly put one foot in front of the other, going as slow as she could to maintain her balance. The bike was wheeled alongside her, one hand on the handlebars and the other on the seat to keep it steady.

"Doing good," she said to herself. "Just a little bit longer and I'll be on the other side."

She looked up to see how much longer she had to go. She was halfway across the log. It wouldn't be long until she was on the other side.

Because she was looking forward and not paying attention to where she was walking, Yuka's foot slipped on the side of the log, throwing her off balance. She yelped as she fell to the side, losing her grip on the bike. She struggled to grab hold of the log as she slipped, hearing the splash of her bicycle hitting the river below.

Gravity was aginst her; she lost her grip and fell into the gap, forty feet below, and hit the river, hard. She struggled to keep her head above the surface, struggled to swim against the rapids.

The force of the water was too much. She was pulled under the water, and a moment later, everything went dark.

##################################################

Hugo had been in this spot for the last few hours, the fishing line bobbing in the river since he arrived. He hadn't caught anything yet - it would have been nice if he'd caught a trout that he could cook up for dinner this evening - but that didn't matter. After a few days of travelling, it was nice to just sit and relax.

Which he was doing just now, sitting against a log, his arms resting behind his head, his earbuds in as he listened to some music. The song playing now was the latest release by the Canis Cavaliers, a song that they said was based on the life of Seto Kaiba.

Don't say if I were you

Or tell me what to do

Or how things would be if you were in my shoes

Cause you're not me

Please help me if you can

This isn't what I planned

I gues I don't expect that you could understand

Cause you're not me

Hugo turned the music off and removed his earbuds; it was time to check his line. Even after all this time, it was still sitting in the same place in the river it was when he first cast the line; other than flowing with the current, there had been no change.

"Come on," he grumbled as he reeled the line in. "No bites? Guess this spot's no good. Might as well move - wait, what?" Something went floating past in the water, a mangled hunk of metal and rubber that just barely resembled a bicycle. "What's that doing there?" He looked back upstream, where the bike had come from.

There was something else in the river. Hugo squinted his eyes to get a better look.

"Uh-oh," he gasped as he saw a human figure floating down the river. "I get the feeling they're not doing that for fun." The figure was ten feet off the bank, and getting closer to him every second.

Hugo hopped off the bank and into the river; it was only three feet deep at this point, enough for him to safely walk through. Sloshing through the water, he reached the figure and grabbed them by the back of their vest. The water soaking the figure's clothes made them heavier than they probably should have been; Hugo found it difficult to pull them to the bank.

"Come on," Hugo strained as he pulled the figure to the bank. "Come on, we're almost there." As he neared the bank, he readjusted his grip, holding the figure under the arms, as he hoisted the figure back onto shore.

Hugo set the figure on the ground near the log he had been resting against and removed the figure's backpack and cracked bicycle helmet. He could now see that he'd rescued a girl, about his age. Her skin, clothes, and auburn hair were soaked from being in the river; there were bruises on her face and arms, and she'd clearly lost consciousness at some point.

Hugo opened the girl's mouth and listened. She was trying to breathe, but each breath was gurgled; from the sound of things, she had water in her lungs.

"Okay, just hold on a minute," Hugo said as he rolled the girl over onto her side. He started patting her on the back, trying to push the water out of her lungs. "Come on, you. Don't go drowning on me now."

After a moment, the girl started to cough and gag. She rolled over, getting up onto her hands and knees, and coughed up some water. She continued to cough, more water coming up with each one.

Hugo let out a sigh of relief. "You're okay. Thank goodness. Not gonna lie, you had me worried there for a second."

The girl took a few seconds to catch her breath after all that coughing. "What happened?"

"You tell me. I see a busted bike floating downstream, and then I see you floating after it, and you were knocked out."

"That's right; I fell into the river. Wait, you said you saw my bike?"

"Yeah, sorry, but there's no recovering that thing. It's probably on its way to the Lesotho Bay by now."

The girl rolled over and leaned against the log. "Great," she moaned. "Wait, what about my bag?"

"It's right here," Hugo said, holding up the blue backpack. "Had to take it off to get that water out of you."

The girl snatched the backpack from Hugo and opened it. "Thank goodness, everything's here. Good thing these bags are waterproof." She looked to the device strapped to her wrist. "This things looks okay too. Please tell me it still works." The screen lit up. "Good. Still works."

"That's a duel pad, isn't it?" Hugo asked, his eyes fixated on the device.

"Yeah," the girl answered as she turned the duel pad off. "I was on my way to Equus City when I fell in the river. Left from Initiis Town this morning."

"Then you're way off the path," Hugo pointed out. "From here, it's going to take about two and a half days on foot to get to Equus City."

"Shoot," the girl grumbled. She put a hand on the log to support herself as she stood up. "Well, I can't go there soaking wet. Give me a minute." She stepped away and ducked behind a large tree.

Hugo turned away and looked back at the river. That girl said she came from Initiis Town; that was several miles away from here. She must have taken a shortcut she thought would get her to Equus City faster. Clearly, she'd thought wrong. She probably tried to cross an unmaintained bridge, if he had to guess.

"There," he heard the girl say as she stepped out from behind the tree. "Still damp, but at least I'm not soaked."

"Oh, one thing I forgot to mention," Hugo said. He picked up the bike helmet. "Be happy you were wearing this thing." He indicated the crack on the helmet, which went straight down the center and nearly split the helmet in half. "That could have been your skull."

The girl huffed in frustration. "Great. Well, guess I should be happy my brains are still in my skull. Thanks for fishing me from the river. I'm Yuka. Yuka Rumiko."

"Hugo Akiba. Nice to meet you. Hey, if you want, I can show you how to get to Equus City from here."

"You really know the way?" Yuka asked.

"I'm kind of a drifter," Hugo answered. "I've been all over the place and I know these woods like the back of my hand. Every shortcut, every plant to avoid, best places to hunt and fish and rest...Like I said, I've been around."

Yuka hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders. "Okay, Hugo. Lead the way. But if it turns out you're trying to stiff me..."

"Duelist's honor," Hugo said, holding up his right hand.

A few moments later, he'd gathered up his supplies, and they were off.

####################################################

Night fell faster than Yuka had expected. She and Hugo had been walking for several hours when they reached a small clearing. The two of them spent some time gathering up some sticks to use for a campfire, which Hugo started with a few strikes of a flint knife. Yuka handed Hugo a pack of trail mix before sitting on the other side of the fire.

"You do this a lot, don't you?" Yuka asked Hugo.

"Been doing it for about three years now," Hugo answered. "Personal choice, really."

"You don't have a mom and dad?" Yuka asked softly, trying not to sound insensitive.

Hugo shook his head. "They passed away in a plane crash when I was young. My aunts raised me for a while, but they were pretty unattentive and more worried about their looks and social status than anything else. So one day, when I was fourteen, I said 'heck with this', gathered up some supplies, and off I went. I take some odd jobs in the towns I come to for some cash for food and hotels, but I spend a lot of time in the woods. I like how peaceful it is out here, you know. Besides, you can't see that in town." He looked up to the sky.

Yuka followed Hugo's gaze. The sky wasn't jet black like she was expecting; rather, it was a rich navy blue, with twinkling stars and a brilliant full moon shining in the darkness. Wisps of space, probably a nebula, probably another galaxy, formed a sort of rainbow through the stars. A streak of white went flying through two stars, a comet streaking through space.

"Wow," she breathed in wonder. "That is gorgeous."

"I know, right?" Hugo agreed. He lay down on the grass, resting his arms behind his head. "I love just laying out here and staring at the stars. Kind of makes you realize that in the grand scheme of things, we are really tiny. I mean, look at the moon! It looks like it's really close, but it's actually so far away. The nearest star that isn't the sun - if we were to leave Earth now, we'd never reach it in our lifetime. And that's not even getting into how far apart from each other the planets are. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, the universe is huge."

"You've thought about that a lot, haven't you?"

"Well, when you have this much time to yourself, you have a lot of time to think and reflect on things. That and think about what you're going to do tomorrow. For instance, tomorrow we'll be going to Equus City. We should be there by this time tomorrow night."

"Guess we'd better turn in then," Yuka said as she unfolded her sleeping bag from her backpack. "See you in the morning then, Hugo." She kicked off her shoes and slipped into the sleeping bag, sleep taking her shortly after.