" 'Known for their experimentations on psychic duelists, the Arcadia Movement is seen as a generally unsafe place to be'," Carly read aloud from her blue notebook. " 'Some have been seen entering the building and never returned, others were reported missing before they were spotted on the streets in Arcadia uniforms...' A-ha! 'Known profiles within the Movement! Akiza Izinski, Sylvia Reviar...' Wh... wait..." Carly frowned at the image she turned the page to. "Misty? Like, the ultra-famous supermodel Misty? What connection does she have to the Movement?"

She had met Misty once before, at a party meant to "clear up" Jack's past. Thinking about Jack now was painful, though, after he destroyed her camera's SD card and told her to stay out of his business. He'd said he wanted to keep her safe, but it hurt, and she was losing her grip on the truth, her one connection to him.

That's why she chased down this information, tracked it down as far as it could possibly take her. And those two pink-haired girls, Akiza and Sylvia... They were both in the tournament as well. Sylvia had even made it to the finals before meeting her defeat at Yusei's hands.

There had always been something odd about that girl, anyway. And if she could use her one time meeting Misty to her advantage...

Carly reprogrammed her GPS after looking up Misty's apartment building on the phone and set off in her mini-van.

I have to know the truth. What's Jack got himself into?

o ~ o ~ o ~ o

Tanner and the old man had woken up, as Trudge could tell by the sound of it. Tanner was quick on the uptake and was filling in the old man on what was up.

"Their plan from the get-go was to kidnap us," he told him.

"But why us?"

"Well, it's less-so us and more likely Luna."

"So does that mean they want to use the Signers for something?"

"Dunno. But if they're after Luna, then we're in danger. They'll do something bad to us if we stay here. They did the same thing to Sylvia, remember?"

"The girl who's trapped here, right? Yusei said something about her friends being brainwashed, I remember..."

"They're most likely being used as hostages so that she listens to what they have to say. If we want to avoid having the same happen to us, we can't sit around and wait for them to come find us. Let's think of some ways to escape from here."

Good man, Trudge thought. Tanner seems to have a decent head on his shoulders.

Just as Tanner had finished off his conversation with the old man, his agent started conversing as well.

"There you are," the voice of the man in charge said. Trudge should've picked up on his name.

"Sir," his agent said.

"I need you to escort Liquid and Okita down here. The meeting will begin soon and I don't want their brainwashing to wear off just yet."

"Understood, sir."

"I'll give you access to the top floor."

Wait, that's brilliant! When he's up there, he can get to Sylvia! Trudge's heart leaped into his throat. This better fucking work.

"Thank you, sir. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"That'll be all. Continue your training when you're done."

"Understood, sir."

"Sayer," another voice said from behind, growing quieter as the steady footsteps of his agent began again. He stopped around the corner, though, just far enough away for the mic to pick it up. Trudge had to put the bug close to his ear to be able to hear it properly. "What are you planning to do with Leo?"

"After he regains consciousness, I'll try to convince him," Sayer said easily. "If we can get Leo on our side, surely Luna will follow."

"Don't hurt the boy anymore," Akiza said, steady and strong. Trudge recognized her now, from the tournament. She was the Black Rose, wasn't she? The witch.

"Of course. There's no more need to now, after all," Sayer obliged.

Had one of the kids gotten injured?! Had he hurt the boy?! If Trudge just let another kid get in harm's way on the job, he was gonna feel sick. He already felt sick just listening to that Sayer guy talkin' nonsense all the time.

He opened a line. "Get transportation to a hospital ready. At least one of the kids is injured and may need immediate medical attention."

"Roger."

"I'll continue listening and provide updates."

o ~ o ~ o ~ o

"Ancient Fairy Dragon, help! Help me, please!"

I stirred in my sleep, the darkness surrounding me in the strangest way. Like a hug or a trap, and I couldn't tell which. It didn't hurt, but I couldn't move. Maybe that was just my injuries, or maybe it was my soul that was injured. I couldn't tell. Still, I couldn't move or see or breathe or do anything but listen.

That was okay. I didn't need to do anything but listen. Breath in this world wasn't necessary for me. It was a luxury at best.

"Luna..."

I heard Ancient Fairy Dragon's voice responding to hers. Luna gasped excitedly, but Ancient Fairy Dragon's voice was grim and weak.

"Luna... I cannot help you from where I am. However, the threat of the Dark Signers is approaching. Find my servant, Regulus, and combine your powers. Together, you can free me. Do that, and I promise to protect you until the end of my life."

Luna was here. I could feel her presence, hear her voice, but I couldn't find her. She was right at the tips of my fingers--where my fingers should've been--but I couldn't reach out and card my hand through her teal hair in comfort.

She was pulling away. She was going away! I couldn't let her leave yet! She had to know I was here! I needed her to know I was here!

"Lunaaaa!" I called, my throat dry, my voice raspy and weak, and I heard her gasp.

"Sylvia?!"

"Luna, I'm here! I'm up here!"

"Sylvia, where are you?!"

"High up. Listen--I--" My brain rushed with things I wanted to tell her. So many things to say--I'd said them all before to myself, pacing in my room, talking to my imaginary friends, but here she was, the real thing, and I couldn't say those things just yet. She was worried and hurt and--and she was scared, so scared, and I knew exactly how that felt, so I needed to say something--

"I'll protect you!" I finally decided to say. "I'll protect you and carve a path to Ancient Fairy Dragon and Regulus for you, if you'll still have me, okay? I'll--I'll protect you until she can do it instead--until she's strong enough. I promise, okay? I promise!"

Luna's relief flooded through me, and I realized I'd said the right thing. I could hear her big smile when she called back to me.

"Okay, it's a promise! Thank you!"

With that, our connection was forced apart, and I woke up harshly in my room, the door locked, but my guards nowhere to be seen.

Liquid? Okita?

I stood hesitantly, despite my aching feet, and dragged myself to the door, hoping to see through the window up on top. No, they weren't there. The door was...

!!

The door was unlocked.

Why was the door unlocked?

I jumped a little at the sound, afraid to leave my room. What would happen to me--to them--if I just up and left?

But several looks to my left and right told me that the corridor was completely empty. No guards, no anyone. Just... me. Just me in the hallway, watching in confusion and a little bit of hope as seconds ticked by and no one came to stop me.

I couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. Afraid as I was that Sayer would just appear at any given moment, I couldn't give in to him forever. If I'd promised to protect Luna, I had to get to her first.

That was the thought that kept me going. I turned off my overthinking brain and took it all one step at a time, allowing myself to tunnel-vision to my goal: escape. I hid behind walls and flower pots, thankfully small enough that I just stayed out of others' views if they were to ever pass by, but no one did. The hallway was completely empty. Even the elevator was unoccupied, although I hardly trusted it. People would be waiting on the other side when I went to lower floors, so that was hardly the stealthy option. With all my injuries and bloodstains, I'd stick out like a sore thumb against the pristine sterility of the rest of the Movement.

So I ran for the emergency stairs. Unfortunately, both the stairs and the elevator were locked with an accessibility key, which I needed to get.

The rest of the floor was huge. I had no clue how to get anywhere on here. Even in the regular Arcadia Movement, my directional sense was awful and I had to rely on Liquid and Okita to get around to my regular training facility and back to our room. It had taken me way too long to get used to the maze of halls.

So when I ran into a young janitor in the hallway, I panicked and froze.

The janitor looked at me with a funny look, her swirly glasses examining me with something unexpectedly sharp behind them.

"You're a member of the Movement too, aren't you?" she asked me.

I nodded hesitantly, afraid to say much else.

"Sylvia Reviar."

"Eep!" I flinched as she said my name, yelping in surprise. She didn't miss my flinch.

"What... What happened to you?"

This custodian was strange. Smart and strange, and I was honestly afraid that she'd do something to me. But when we heard footsteps down the hall, I whirled around in a panic and she pulled open a cloth box on the bottom of her cart with the swiftness of a fox and pointed to it. "Hide in here! Hurry!" she hissed.

So I dove inside and she shoved me in, and my senses were overwhelmed with the smells and tastes of some awful cleaning products with harsh aromas, but I couldn't make a sound or gag from the hand sanitizer that wormed its way into my mouth as I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer and I felt the cart begin to move.

Was I really that light? She didn't seem to have any trouble moving it at all.

I was expecting some kind of interaction to go on, but no one paid the custodian lady any mind, even as she walked into the elevator with me in it. How she'd gotten to this floor, I will never understand, but she made it here somehow, and when I heard the doors close, I tried to crane my head in the direction of the light, where it seeped between the crack between the box and the shelf just above.

Honestly, I was a little confused. More than a little, actually, very confused. She was just sheltering me without complaints. She could've easily given me up to someone. I didn't know if that was what she was about to do still, actually, but... somehow I trusted her.

She's a good person. Besides, her spirits seemed happy to stay with her.

At one point, voices passed us, and for a moment, I heard Akiza walking past me. I wanted desperately to reach out to her and hug her, but Sayer's voice stopped me before I'd even begun to move.

"I've never seen you around here before."

"Ah--well, you see, I'm the substitute's substitute, because the substitute for the normal guy also got sick and the normal guy had a medical appointment, so I'm here to fill in for them both!" the custodian stammered. Perhaps I misjudged her? She sounded pretty nervous now, although she seemed confident back there.

"I see. Keep up the good work, then."

"T-thank you!"

And as the footsteps faded away, the custodian didn't move away from him and Akiza. Instead, she turned the cart around to a different direction and...

opened the door.

Sayer's door.

When she closed the door behind her, she sighed in relief, as if she'd been holding her breath--likely was--and opened up my little cloth box, allowing me to stumble out. One glance back to where my spot was and I could see all the blood I'd left behind, so I profusely apologized to her.

"It's alright, Sylvia, you're safe now," the girl told me, taking off her gloves and--and unbuttoning her uniform? "The truth is, I'm not actually a janitor."

I watched as she tossed aside the sterile white clothing and put on her small orange vest over the blue-white striped shirt she'd worn underneath, and how she re-buckled her fanny pack. With a finger to her lips and the tip of her glasses, she winked at me.

"I'm a reporter. My name's Carly Carmine," she told me. "And I've heard about you, but I don't actually know a lot about what's happened here. Do you think you could fill me in? I'm looking for the truth on this matter. The truth about the Crimson Dragon."

Again with the Crimson Dragon. An important role, an important destiny. But I didn't fully know what it was.

"I'll..." I wrung my fingers together, still nervous. "I'll tell you what I can," I finally decided in a hushed tone, "but I can't guarantee it'll be enough. I... I don't have the greatest memory, y'know..."

"That's fine," Carly assured me. "Any little thing will help."

With an affirmative nod, my eyes darted to the grand door and I pulled Carly away from it. At some point, Carly took the lead and brought me to a bookshelf, most likely for her to try and find corroborating information in along with my testimony.

I rolled up my sleeve as much as I could, as carefully as possible, revealing the hook-like Signer mark on my arm. "These scars," I began, although she gasped harshly.

"Did he do this to you?"

I shook my head. "These scars are... a mark. Of the Crimson Dragon," I recited, as well as I knew. "They're a part of me. They glow whenever the Crimson Dragon has something to tell us. And... Um... And there's five Signers in total--"

"I know that much," Carly interrupted me. "Five Signers. You, Jack, Yusei, Akiza, and that girl Luna, right?"

I nodded.

"Five Signers. But do you know anything about the Dark Signers?"

Dark Signers? That was the first I'd heard of them. I gave her a wide-eyed shake of the head. "There are dark Signers?"

Carly pursed her lips. "Yikes... You don't know about them?"

"N-no. I've... I've been trapped here in the Arcadia Movement for--for a while, now, I don't exactly know how long, but... but since before the tournament, I was trapped here."

"Since before?" Her eyes gained that sharp edge again as she stared at me. "What do you mean by that?"

"I... Well, I was brainwashed before, by Sayer's psychic powers. Not like my friends have been now, but--"

"Your friends?"

"They're meant to be guarding my... my room? My cell, and they've been brainwashed to do it. But they don't have any control over themselves or their actions the way they are now. The way I was brainwashed was different. I'd... My previous memories--the few I had--were rewritten in a way that made me believe I belonged in the Arcadia Movement. I don't. I'm not psychic. But I have power that Sayer wants, and that's why he went through the effort." I didn't speak fast, but I condensed as much of it as I could. "Now, uh... My door was unlocked, and I noticed my friends--my brainwashed friends--weren't here anymore, and I ran for it and then found you, and--"

"--How did you get from point A to point B? I feel like we kinda skipped a step here," Carly said, bringing me back. "You said that you were brainwashed. Are you not anymore?"

I shook my head. "No. During the tournament--" And I bit my lip and hesitated here, wondering if she'd believe me, but if she was looking into the Crimson Dragon and the Arcadia Movement, I figured I'd toss it all to the wind and trust her on this one. "During the tournament, I... was matched up against a Professor, if you remember. Professor Frank sent me to a place called the Spirit World, and there I awakened to my... my abilities. The ones Sayer wanted from me. But going there also broke the effect his brainwashing had on me. And... And I remember--foggily, but from the Spirit World I remember--that he didn't want to endanger my life just yet trying to regain control over my mind because I was still useful to him, so he had to find another way to control me. That's... That's how my friends got brainwashed. And--and I got brainwashed a second time too, the same way they were, this time, but Yusei saved me, and--"

Carly held up a hand to stop me, because as I went on, I stammered more, hurried my speech, and I hadn't noticed before but I was clearly getting overwhelmed. Her eyes softened.

"It's okay now, Sylvia. We can figure this out."

And Carly was so kind to me that I couldn't help the way I broke down in tears and practically dove into her arms, hesitant because I didn't want to get my blood on her clothes, but she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around me anyway.

I had to keep going, despite my tears. "--And after Yusei saved me, I... I showed him what they were doing. I told him. I'm--I have a collar on me--electric, just like my friends'--and if I don't listen to them--if I don't train--if I don't do what he wants, I-I get punished, or underfed, or--or woken up in the middle of the night, or something--and if I do what he wants I... I don't wanna use my power, Carly, I--I don't! I don't wanna hurt anyone, and there's no in-between! I either hurt or get hurt. I'd... I'd rather get hurt."

Carly held me by the shoulders, looked me square in the eyes--and I had to look away, because her gaze was too hard, and it was easier to look down and around, and anywhere else--and she shushed me quietly. "Okay. Thank you for telling me, Sylvia. Okay? Now it's my turn. You're a Signer, and you've been kept in the dark for way too long."

I whimpered, but I dried my eyes again. I recalled Luna's voice, pleading for help, scared and confused, and I pulled myself back together in record time. Within three seconds my harsh sobs had quieted into soft hiccups.

"The Dark Signers are what you Signers are meant to face off against," she began. "Jack told me about the legend. The Crimson Dragon is calling for your help after five-thousand years of being dormant."

She knew Jack? Jack as in Jack Atlas, Yusei's friend? Ex-friend? Er, rival?

"The Dark Signers are gathering up at the gates to the underworld or something like that," she went on, "and the dark god the Crimson Dragon fought against those five-thousand years ago is about to be resurrected--or, uh, unleashed, I guess, from its sealed prison. The Nazca lines have also been disappearing, which has everything to do with the Dark Signers."

"I remember... Luna told me that the spider geoglyph we saw in the vision looked like the Nazca lines," I recalled aloud.

Carly nodded. "That's because it was. The Nazca lines are supposedly a place where the Earthbound Immortals--and the dark god--were sealed away for good. Right now, there're two Signers in this building: You and Akiza Izinski. I came here to ask her for some more information. But... I'm not sure she knows any more than you do, huh?"

I shook my head. "She's most likely trying to stay on Sayer's good side, honestly. I believe in her. I warned her about Sayer's actions and the things he's done, and Akiza's my friend. I'm sure that she knows what she's doing. She's strong like that, unlike myself."

Carly gave me a warm smile. "Don't say that. Why don't you help me figure some things out? We're here at the bookshelf. We should find whatever more information we can on the Arcadia Movement."

"But... I'm a mess. Won't I get the books dirty?"

"In that case, why don't you look around the rest of the room? Maybe there's something useful here. It is Sayer's study, after all."

If it was Sayer's study, that meant I could probably get my cards back! I stood up and nodded obediently, hurrying to his desk. There had to be something here. Something in that opening. Something like...

I felt around where I'd seen Sayer move his hand when he sat at the desk, and finally my fingers hit a bump. I pressed down on it.

Bingo!

Carly was startled into dropping a book she was picking up from the bookshelf, except it didn't fall, and my cards revealed themselves to me in a little glass box. I easily lifted the lid and--with a wipe of my hands on my already-stained uniform--I gingerly lifted them. Thankfully, my hands left no blood marks behind, so I didn't have to worry about that.

But the desk wasn't the only thing that moved, and Carly stepped away from the bookshelf to reveal a secret library hidden in the wall.

"Whooaaaa..." we both marveled as I hurried back to her side.

"Sayer hid this the whole time?" I asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him," she said, her mouth setting into a glaring frown. "It's time to uncover some secrets."

The room was small, with a computer and rolling chair complete with two small but full bookshelves. Just these tools alone would be more than enough to hide away plenty of incriminating information, and I was certain that was what Carly was looking for.

My heart fell as I looked in here. Somehow, I knew we wouldn't be able to stay for long. So instead of joining her, as I knew she would be fine on her own, a shiver ran down my spine and I backed away from the door.

Carly looked confused, but she must've chalked it up to simple panic or something, because I ran around the room frantically searching for a Duel Disk. I couldn't find one, though, and Carly already went ahead and started digging through the books.

"I'd made a list of missing people after someone told me about their missing brother," Carly told me. "All related to the Arcadia Movement."

Missing people? I turned to look at her, half-bewildered and half-afraid.

"Everyone in this file is missing," she informed me, flipping through some more pages of a book. "Either dead or MIA. This whole business is shady. 'If the subjects don't pass the tests, they are actively disposed of, one way or--' Oh, come on!" Carly groaned as she knocked over a pile of books beside her. In a flurry of panic, I rushed to help her clean them up, but she had stopped and stared at one of the ones that had been flipped open to a random page.

"Goodwin?!"

What were the odds of that? The man who organized the tournament, right?

"Goodman?" I repeated, glancing over.

"Goodwin, you know! The guy in charge, the Man!" Carly corrected me.

"R-right. Goodwin. Good-win. If he's at the top, he's a winner. Goodwin." It's embarrassing, but I'd known this man's name already. Somehow I could just never get it right. I had to find a good way to remember it somehow.

"So Director Goodwin is--"

"What do you think you're doing?"

A bright and painful shock wracked me through, numbing my neck and practically paralyzing me in place. I couldn't tell if I was the one screaming or Carly, and if she was screaming my name or if I was screaming hers. It was probably both.

Sayer grabbed me by the hair harshly, lifting me off the ground. It wasn't hard; I'm light and small, and I was especially so when I didn't have a proper diet.

"A rat snuck in and a mouse broke free," he sneered. "I'd have thought you were under Goodwin's orders," he told Carly as she backed away hesitantly, "but judging by the surprised look on your face, I must be mistaken. You're acting on your own."

He dragged me as he cornered Carly, and the shock had long since died down but I still felt it somehow, and he shoved me forward after he caught her by his desk.

"Young Sylvia. You wouldn't be trying to plan an escape, would you?" He didn't wait for me to answer, grinning in a chilling way that had me shaking my head pleadingly. "If you want to make up for the mistake you made--for the hurt you've made me feel--you'll duel and defeat the rat."

He shoved a Duel Disk in my hands. This wasn't meant to happen. I wasn't supposed to duel her. It wasn't supposed to happen like this!

But all this time training had me automatically strapping it on my wrist and shuffling my deck that I'd salvaged from his desk and carefully slotting them in. I was lost. Somehow this all felt wrong, but I couldn't do anything to stop it.

I was vaguely detached from my own body. Looking back, I might've been dissociating, or maybe I was trying to retreat to the Spirit World even while awake. But I was only vaguely aware when Sayer turned me by the shoulders to face Carly, who struggled to keep her face calm and neutral in front of me.

"Little rat," Sayer told her. "You only have one chance before Sylvia completely defeats you."

A sense of dread--worse than the one I already had--began to settle in my stomach. I had to give it my all here, didn't I? I really didn't want to. I wanted to hold back against Carly, to give her the chance to escape, or to save herself.

But I couldn't, or I'd be punished. My friends, wherever they were, would be punished too. I gave Carly a pleading look. Please win, I tried to tell her with my eyes. Please defeat me so that you'll be safe. I can't fight him now myself, because I'm not the only one at stake here.

Of course, there's only so much I could do. Magically sending her telepathic messages when she wasn't connected to psychic dueling or the Spirit World in any way was nearly impossible.

Sayer tossed her a Duel Disk and she shuffled her deck as well, activating it.

"Well? Get on with it!"

"D-Duel!"

Sylvia: 4000
Carly: 4000

"Sylvia goes first," Sayer said for me, his eyes glinting in that way that they knew something I didn't, he wanted me to do something--

I drew.

"D-draw." I drew, apologetic as I met Carly's eyes and examined my hand. I had to go all out, or else...

Or else.

"I Summon The Weather Painter Thunder in Attack position," I said, loudly enough to be heard but quiet enough that... hopefully she knew I wasn't doing this because I wanted to.

Thunder appeared at my side in a flash of golden light, and a feeling of relief filled me, despite the situation. Carly seemed impressed with Thunder's display of flashy lights using her wings and crayon, but of course, she was my opponent, and she couldn't hold that expression for long.

Thunder: 1700 ATK

"Next I activate The Weather Cloudy Canvas," I said, putting it right behind her. Second column from the left, just like Thunder, my Continuous Spell appeared. "Now I activate Thunder's effect. By sending Cloudy Canvas to the Graveyard, I can replace it with a different 'The Weather' Continuous Spell or Trap card."

I quickly sent it to the Graveyard--Thunder sent off the Canvas with a happily traced X from her crayon, and the lightning that leaked from it destroyed the card as thunder struck the same spot—and a new card appeared in its place.

I would've flinched at the loud thunder and noise--because, as I'd come to learn the past couple of weeks, I actually have a severe fear of loud noises and thunderstorms, which is fun--but for some reason, Thunder's noise didn't bother me at all. It didn't even sound different, but... I don't know. Maybe it felt different. It was still kinda loud, but not nearly as loud as real thunder would be.

But I digress. The card I replaced it with was The Weather Rainbowed Canvas. "Now, my cards work a little strangely, Carly," I told her, warily meeting her gaze.

"I know. They gain effects based on Canvas range, right?" she asked, her posture tense.

I nodded. "Yeah. And Rainbowed Canvas gives Thunder the ability to go inside while I go search for another Weather Painter."

And so Thunder did just that. In a crack of lightning, Thunder was gone, retreating inside the Canvas that emitted a rainbowy aura right behind her. In her place, I summoned The Weather Painter Rain in her old spot.

"Rain's effect activates when she's Special Summoned onto the field. Thanks to her ability, I can place a 'The Weather' Continuous Spell or Trap card onto the field anywhere I want from my hand."

The duel almost felt automatic as I went on. My comments were as minimal as possible, unenthusiastic but still somewhat myself-sounding, and the whole time Sayer kept his hand on my shoulder.

I activated Rainy Canvas from my hand two spaces to the right, set a card face-down and ended my turn.

His hand's grip on my shoulder tightened, and my mark reacted strangely. The blood dripping down my sleeve by now felt normal enough not to pay attention, but Carly didn't have a good reaction to it at all.

Carly went next. Her cards were interesting, and I'd wished I could've gotten to know them better. When she drew, she activated the effect of the card she'd drawn, Fortune Fairy Chee, and revealed it to Special Summon it, then allowed us each to draw another card. She seemed disappointed when she drew hers, but went on with it anyway.

Before she could, just as the Standby Phase passed us by, I activated Thunder's effect and re-Summoned her from the Rainbowed Canvas.

She summoned Absolute King Black Jack--both her monsters had no Attack or Defense Points, by the way--and set a card face-down before ending her turn.

It was a bit disappointing, seeing her turn pass us by like that, but I drew my next card and activated Rain's ability--provided by Rainbowed Canvas, that is--and Special Summoned The Weather Crimson Pixie. Then, I simply Summoned Cloud from my hand.

I'm going through the Duel quicker like this because, honestly, writing out everything that happened while I was in the Movement just... didn't feel good. It was a pretty basic duel, all things considered. We never exchanged words. Carly knew reasoning with me would be pointless because I'd literally told her everything that Sayer had done to me, and she knew I wouldn't do this if I had any other choice.

All the pieces were set for a Synchro Summon, but I didn't feel safe doing that just yet when Carly's face-down card was on the field. So I activated the effect given to Cloud by Rainy Canvas, and as Cloud retreated into my Continuous Spell card, I removed her face-down card from the field, leaving her monsters wide-open for an attack from Thunder.

I didn't know what Black Jack's effect was, but given Chee's higher level, I wanted her off the field first, just in case. So I had Thunder attack and destroy Fortune Fairy Chee--oh, if you don't know, Chee is the EARTH-Attribute one.

When Thunder attacked, however, and her strike of lightning from her crayon went straight through Chee like scissors through paper, I felt a small wind from the impact of the attack.

Carly felt it too. Just a small wind, enough to move her hair around and almost blow away her glasses, but it was a wind from the battle nonetheless.

Carly: 2300

I ended my turn, panicked, but Sayer only squeezed my shoulder harder. He whispered things in my ear--things I don't quite understand, and didn't at the time, either, but those things seemed to awaken something inside me.

Carly took her turn, not missing a thing if her sharp eyes could catch it, and drew her card--disappointed again, I noticed--and I took that chance to Special Summon Cloud from the Rainy Canvas and Rain from the Rainbowed Canvas during the passing Standby Phase.

She activated a Field Spell, Hidden Village of the Spellcasters. Only those who had Spellcaster-type Monsters on their side of the field could activate Spell cards.

It wasn't a problem for me. My monsters gained effects from the cards that were already on the field, so I didn't need to worry. I couldn't place them on my field myself anymore, without the help of another monster effect, at least, but I could still play almost entirely as I normally would.

She Tributed Black Jack for the Normal Summon of Fortune Fairy Ann, the DARK-Attribute monster, set another card face-down and ended her turn.

Then something in me snapped. I was almost barbaric. Sayer's hand let me go as he suddenly felt something strange--I felt it too--and suddenly all I wanted was to get the rat out.

She was trouble.

She was not!

She knew too much.

Please, escape!

I'd have fun destroying her.

CARLY!!!

And all caution was thrown to the wind as I drew the last card.

"Crimson Pixie tunes The Weather Painters Cloud and Rain, in order to Synchro Summon!" I declared, loudly, shrewdly, so harshly my throat began to hurt again. "As all light becomes one, the spectrum is created of all colors of the rainbow, forming new power and new possibilities! Synchro Summon! Rain powerful death on our opponent, The Weather Sky Dragon!"

And those small winds from before suddenly grew into typhoons. Carly's entire body was pushed up against the window behind the desk, and the desk had somehow been blown completely away. Sayer backed away from me, horrified in an awed sort of way. I was vaguely aware of him.

He was unimportant to me right now. Only Carly mattered.

And I tried, desperately I tried to regain control of my power, like I had during training. But his feelings--his urges to destroy and kill this woman were far too strong for me to hold off, and I was too weak to hold back.

Sky Dragon descended in a tornado of power, its indigo and purple wings lighting up as its form changed into something massive and powerful, its Attack and Defense Points changing with it.

Sky Dragon: 2700 ATK/2400 DEF

When it roared in Carly's face, her glasses finally flew off and her stone-gray eyes--god, she looked so scared and afraid and I can remember it so clearly, but I couldn't do anything--

I didn't end it there. I summoned The Weather Painter Snow and used the effect from Normal Summoning her to add Thundery Canvas onto the field, smack-dab in the center where I'd been saving a spot for it.

And then it was only a matter of banishing Snow into the Rainy Canvas to remove Carly's face-down card before I had two perfectly good monsters to attack her with and finish her off.

Do it quickly! Don't let her suffer!

Let her suffer? Good idea!

Thunder attacked first, and Carly's screams were something I could never forget. It must've sounded like my own screams, too, when my shock collar was activated. The force of the attack cracked the glass.

CARLYYYYY!!!

Sky Dragon attacked next, as Ann had been completely destroyed with no hope of defense, and in a whirlwind of rain and clouds, the glass broke and Carly...

Carly fell.

I snapped back into myself and sprinted to the edge, reaching my hand out to her in despair. But of course, I was too late, and the room was too large for me to have caught up to her in time. Carly was out of reach. There was nothing I could do to save her.

Glass shards littered the floor now, and I could feel the wind. Sky Dragon... hadn't disappeared yet.

I turned my glare onto Sayer, who'd come back to his senses.

Thunder and Sky Dragon were incorporeal now, I could tell. Their holograms disappeared, but I could still see them. The looks they gave me were heart-wrenching.

Stop it. I didn't want this!

With a blind roar, I snatched up one of the glass shards that came from the window pane and charged at Sayer. He wasn't fast enough to get to his remote before I jabbed it into his side. Somewhere non-lethal, but enough to immobilize him and fill him with pain, so that I could tear at my shock collar and use another big-enough glass shard to jam it. It hurt, but I tore it off and kicked him in the other side, where I didn't stab him.

I can't believe I did that.

He shouldn't lose too much blood, so long as he keeps the glass shard in there. And even if he pulled it out, it wouldn't bleed too much, since I didn't dig that deep. And I hated having to resort to that, but at the very least, the pain should keep him at bay for now.

Get to Luna.

Don't... Don't think about Carly! You have no time!

GET TO LUNA!!!

I didn't mourn Carly's death that day. I was too busy focusing on running, getting to Akiza as fast as I could.

Getting to Luna as fast as I could.

Getting to Liquid and Okita as fast as I could.

Getting to someone--someone friendly as fast as I could.

And then the Earth shook.

The whole building shook, everything trembled, I lost my footing and fell to the ground mid-run to the elevator, but I kept running as the ground shook because I needed to find Akiza, I had to tell her what happened--

Behind me, I heard Sayer groaning and footsteps shakily running towards me, and I had to keep running, I had to run from him--

Except that it wasn't towards me, it was away, and his voice rang out on the intercom in a frantic manner, "Everyone, evacuate the building immediately! Get to safety as fast as you can! Hurry and leave!"

But the announcement didn't stop there. Thunder crashed over the speakers, and Sayer's voice was distant as he moved the phone away from his face to yell at someone.

"But that's impossible, you shouldn't have--"

And that's where the announcement cut out.

I didn't have time to think about it. Tears stung my eyes but I had to get around to everything and everyone at once. During an earthquake such as this, the elevator would surely be out of order, or at the very least not a smart thing to use. So I ran for the stairs, following my heart and my Mark to find Akiza and tell her everything.

===

(I forgot how emotionally draining this is to write. The duels are the most taxing thing because of the monotony and the method with which I write them (because there's so many elements to the cards that it's hard to keep track of everything and that makes it impossible to just improvise them outright) but the actual emotional part is the amount of freaking TRAUMA AND DRAMA THIS SHOW HAS GOODNESS GRACIOUS MY FREAKIN GOD

LIKE

EVERYONE IN THIS SHOW MAY AS WELL BE TRAUMATIZED WITH ALL THE OCCULT STUFF GOING ON I SWOD TO JOD

Have you seen Yusei?!? He's TREMBLING because of Kalin! Sylvia? She has NO trust in her own memory because PEOPLE KEEP TAMPERING WITH IT! Luna? Too young for this shit! Same with Leo! Akiza? GASLIGHTED SINCE DAY ONE! Jack? ALSO GASLIGHTED SINCE DAY ONE!!! And Liquid and Okita were literally forced into maiming their best friend on the daily, so THAT'S fun. Carly's seen some shit and FUCKING DIED--Have I mentioned that? Yu-Gi-Oh! is FUCKING DARK, MAN!

At least, it used to be. Back in the good old days, when 5D's was the most recent (and frankly the best imo) series of Yu-Gi-Oh! that thing was the shit. The plot, the darkness, and even the weird-ass motorcycle and card game circumstances were just good. I poke fun at it a LOT, and I still will continue to, because it's the weirdest fucking thing to have the state of the world lie in the stakes of a fucking CARD GAME that some people might not be good at playing--and if you're not good enough at the game, no matter how hard you try, you'll always die in the end, because that makes sense--and also how the fuck do the cards not FLY OFF THE DUEL DISKS attached to the huge freaking motorbikes? How do you ride constantly with just one hand while handling cards in the other? How do you do motorcycle tricks while dueling, without having cards fly everywhere, and then proceed to not die, continue to duel, and kick ASS?!?

All these and more next time on--

No but seriously. Yusei is a terrible influence and I will stand by that until I die. I like the story--and I honestly do like how dark it is--but damn if it isn't the weirdest fucking shit--

also yes I swear now)