Dueling is Magic! A Rip in Time Chapter 11: Silence
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Paradox has completed his hunt for the Bearers of Harmony. Yusei struggles to survive in the midst of absolute chaos as he looks for a way to get to Paradox and settle the score once and for all! Will Yusei make it to the singularity? Can he find a way to stop the distortions
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Author’s Note: Now that I’ve got THAT done with, I can get back to the story! Though I may end up reworking the Yusei vs. Paradox duel at the end. There’s a card I want to include that would make it that much cooler.
In any case, now I’ve got this new keyboard and some more cool ideas. Hang onto your hats because we’re about to rev it up!
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Even if Yusei could tell how long he’d been pushing his D-Wheel- battered, scraped and inoperative- through Equestria’s varied landscapes, he wouldn’t bother. Time had turned in on itself, warped beyond recognition and measurement. Nevertheless, he was exhausted.
Yusei stopped pushing. The earth was barren, save for a few scattered boulders. Yusei gently leaned his vehicle against a particularly large rock. He was careful not to pinch Fluttershy between the two.
Fluttershy lay flat on the seat of the D-Wheel. Whether unconscious or worse, Yusei didn’t know.
A sudden wind rushed past him, followed by a time tunnel. Yusei stumbled backward into the D-Wheel. It slipped off the rock, sliding to the dirt below. Fluttershy hit the ground as well. Thankfully, she didn’t get caught between the D-Wheel and the dry, cracked clay.
Yusei fell to his knees.
“It’s all hopeless,” he muttered to himself. “I don’t have the power to follow Paradox. I don’t have the power to fix this. The Elements... my friends... our homes... they’re all doomed.”
Tears ran down his face.
“I’m so sorry!” he cried. “I’m so sorry!”
Yusei held onto hope. A fleeting spark. It burned for so many things. He hoped that he could see Aki again. He hoped for his friends to find him and help him. A harsh word from Jack, encouragement from Crow. He hoped that the other ponies, Discord and Spike were all okay.
But above all else, he hoped against hope that Fluttershy would wake up, if only for a moment, and tell him it was all right.
Yusei hoped in silence.
*****
Night had fallen while he walked. It was as though a blanket of night had been pulled across the sky. He knew it was another distortion and kept pushing his D-Wheel.
Fluttershy still wouldn’t stir.
How could Paradox have returned? What was Yusei missing?
Yusei pushed onward, thoughts racing.
How did Paradox know about Equestria? Why was he here, destroying all of it? How could that help him accomplish his goal?
Yusei stopped. He lifted one arm of the motorcycle and held onto the other to keep the device upright. Using his free arm, Yusei hoisted Fluttershy onto his shoulder.
He let go. The D-Wheel slammed into the sand.
Yusei pulled Fluttershy gently off his shoulder and held her in his arms.
“Fluttershy,” he whispered. “Please wake up. I need you to tell me it’ll be okay. I need to know that you’re okay, that I didn’t fail, that I-”
His voice caught in his throat and he sank to his knees.
The tide came in. The tide went out. The gentle sound of the waves flowed through the air.
*****
Yusei awoke the next morning. Fluttershy lay curled up next to him. He shook the sand out of his hair and picked her up in his arms one more time and headed over to the fallen D-Wheel.
If nothing else, he had a promise to keep to Fluttershy. He had to stop Paradox and save him.
“I won’t give up,” he said as he walked. “Even if there’s no hope for Equestria or Neo Domino City.... I have a promise to keep.”
A gentle sigh reached his ears. He stopped.
He waited.
He felt a pony nuzzle into the crook of his elbow.
*****
Akutsu’s fingers flew across the keyboard.
“Done!” he said. “Aim that dish at the rift,” he told one of the aides.
“Right away, sir!” said the aide.
“Can we contact Yusei now?” asked Ushio.
“This is our best shot at it,” Akutsu replied. “I don’t know if the signal will survive the rift, but I’ve made it as strong as I could.”
“Well, hurry up!” roared Jack.
“Yeah, we have to warn Yusei before we close this thing!” Crow added.
“I’m going as fast as I can!” Akutsu replied. He pushed a button. “Yusei! Come in, Yusei! This is Chief Akutsu!”
*****
Yusei stopped when he heard the static. He looked down at the screen on his D-Wheel. The image was faint and the sound was barely there.
“Yu... Co... in, Yusei! Th... Ch... Ak...tsu!”
And then it was gone.
Yusei sighed. His helmet was stored beneath the seat of his D-Wheel and he couldn’t have tried to communicate with Akutsu without it.
He continued.
*****
Yusei was lucky to find an apple tree in the next era. He picked several and began to eat as his stomach growled at him. He saved a few for Fluttershy, in case she woke up, setting them inside the helmet compartment of his D-Wheel before putting Fluttershy gently back on the seat.
Yusei continued wandering in silence.
*****
Yusei had stopped when night had fallen. He built a small fire from wood he’d found in a nearby grove of trees. He tossed a stick into the flames. A hidden pocket of moisture hissed and popped, and a small wisp of steam rose to join the dancing smoke.
Yusei could hardly stand the silence.
He lay on his back and stared up at the stars. The night sky here was very different from what he was used to. He’d been out to areas where there were no cities before, had seen the stars in all their glory... but he never got used to it. His stars had always been city lights.
He found himself wishing for his friends to be with him, to share this sky with him. The twins would have thought it was amazing. Crow would have held the same appreciation as Yusei. Jack would have snorted and said it was a waste of time, but deep down, he admired the stars just as much as Yusei.
And Aki would simply bask in their beauty. Such a complicated girl, but she had such simple views of life. Yusei admired that about her.
He knew he couldn’t be with his friends right then, but he found himself wishing for some company. He turned his head toward the spot where he laid Fluttershy. Close enough to the fire to keep her warm, but not so close that she would get burned from overexposure.
She was looking up at the stars.
Yusei bolted upright. “Fluttershy!” he said. Fluttershy squeaked and rolled onto her other side as fast as she could.
“Oh! Yusei,” she said. “You startled me.”
Yusei quickly moved over to the yellow pegasus and hugged her.
“Yusei?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I thought I lost you,” he said. “I thought I’d failed... you’ve been out for days. I thought you’d never wake up.”
Fluttershy nuzzled against him. “I’ll be alright,” she said. “Although, I am pretty hungry. Do you have any food?”
Yusei pulled away and smiled at her. “I passed an apple tree yesterday and grabbed some of the apples,” he said as he went over to his D-Wheel. “I ate a lot of them myself, but I saved a few for you.” He pulled several bright red apples out of the compartment beneath the seat and walked back over to Fluttershy. He handed her an apple and she eagerly bit into it.
“This tastes like an apple from the Apple Farm,” she said. :”Are you sure it was just one tree?”
“Yeah, just one standing in the middle of a beach.”
“A beach?”
“Yeah. I bet it was another time distortion.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy quickly finished the apple and started on another one.
The two sat in silence for a long time. Yusei stared at the fire while Fluttershy worked her way through the third and last apple.
“Yusei,” said Fluttershy after she ate the last of her apple.
“Yeah, Fluttershy?”
“What will you do if we find Paradox again?”
Yusei said nothing for a long time.
“Yusei?”
“I have to protect both our worlds, Fluttershy,” said Yusei. “You could have died when he attacked us. I can’t let that happen.”
“But what about Paradox?”
“What about him?”
“Yusei... don’t you remember what you told me about when you first fought him?”
Yusei continued to stare at the fire. “Yeah, I do.”
“If you have to face him again, can you save him?”
Yusei hesitated. “I don’t know. It’s the Field Spell ‘Malefic World’, he said. “Paradox said that anyone who loses a duel in that world loses their life as well. I don’t think I can convince him to stop all of this, but I know I can get him to duel me.”
“Yusei, promise me something,” said Fluttershy. “Promise me that you’ll save him. Don’t let him die this time.”
Yusei leaned back and looked at the stars.
“Two years ago, the man who sent Paradox on his mission attacked Neo Domino City,” said Yusei. “His name was Z-One. He tried to erase Neo Domino City from history to prevent the tragedy that Paradox was also sent to stop. Before he began experimenting with time travel, he’d... he turned himself into me. Mind and body. And he tried to save everyone.”
“What happened to him?” asked Fluttershy.
“He failed,” said Yusei. “Only he and three others survived. That’s when he began working with time travel.
“First he sent Paradox back in time to kill Chairman Pegasus and stop the development of Duel Monsters. When that failed, he sent Aporia to manipulate Rudger into destroying Old Momentum. That also failed.”
“What did he do after that?” asked Fluttershy.
“He sent Aporia back in time again to infiltrate Neo Domino City and turn it into a machine that could open a rip in time and space, like what’s going on here. Once opened, he would send a giant machine called the Ark Cradle through it to destroy the city once and for all.”
“That’s horrible!” Fluttershy gasped.
“That was only half of it,” said Yusei. “Z-One also sent a man named Antinomy back in time. I knew him as Bruno. He taught me a move that I could use to fight against Aporia’s Synchro-eating Meklord Emperor monsters. But even he was just a pawn, and he made me and my friends pawns as well. With the energy I gave off from my evolution, the Infinity Circuit gained enough power to open the door for the Ark Cradle.
“When it appeared after I defeated Aporia, my friends and I went up to the Ark Cradle to fight Z-One and end his attacks on our era. I fought him myself and evolved further than Z-One thought possible, further than Bruno had dreamed. I won. But it wasn’t enough. The Ark Cradle had stopped its descent, but gravity would run its course in due time and it had to be sent back. Z-One sacrificed himself to do that.
“Fluttershy, Z-One only ever did what he felt was right. Even against all odds, he held out hope and did impossible things. He saved Neo Domino City without destroying it. I promise you, Fluttershy, that I’ll do the same. I’ll save Paradox, even if I have to defeat him in another duel.”
Fluttershy smiled and watched the flickering fire. A time rift snaked its way across the sky in the distance. As terrible as everything was, it was beautiful to watch, in an odd way.
“Bruno, Aporia and Z-One all sacrificed themselves for me and my friends,” said Yusei. “I promise I won’t let that happen again.”
Fluttershy tried to stand. As she did, her knees buckled and she fell back down. Yusei was by her side in an instant.
“Don’t try to move too much,” he said. “You’re still pretty beat up.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy. She lay her head in Yusei’s lap.
“We should try to get some sleep,” said Yusei. “We’re both pretty tired.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Fluttershy replied. She yawned and curled up next to Yusei. He lay on his back, his hands supporting his head. “Good night, Yusei.”
“Good night, Fluttershy.”
*****
Yusei was awakened by someone poking him.
“Come on, wake up!” came a voice. “We don’t have all day!”
Yusei groaned and sat up. As he opened his eyes, two bright blue ones met his. Startled, Yusei jumped back. A white unicorn wearing a red uniform stood before him.
“And, uh... who are you?” asked Yusei.
“Name’s Shining Armor,” said the unicorn. “I’m Twilight’s brother. You must be Yusei.”
“Yeah,” Yusei replied. “Um...”
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain. Just get Fluttershy on that red wheel-thing you’ve got and let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” asked Yusei.
“To where Paradox is, of course,” said Shining Armor.
TO BE CONTINUED