Dueling is Magic! Many Futures

by Wolfgang

Chapter 15: The Black Tome

The room was dark, save for the light that swung overhead, its lamp shade focusing the bulb’s glow onto the table and concealing the rest of the room in shadow. Sherry sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair that creaked every time she moved, threatening to give under her.

Tetsu Ushio entered the room and sat down in a metal chair across from her. No noise. It was new, or at least solidly built. It probably wasn’t as uncomfortable as her own chair either. She tried not to let her jealousy show.

Ushio folded his hands in front of him and rested them on the table. “Sherry LeBlanc,” he said. “It’s been a long time, I believe.”

“Forgive me, but I don’t know you,” Sherry replied.

Ushio gasped, then hung his head. He looked back up and said, “We met briefly during the WRGP. The Ghost incident, remember?”

“I remember anozer woman stomping on your foot,” Sherry remarked.

Ushio sighed. “Look, Sherry, most of your friends from Team 5D’s are here. We want to trust you, but you need to give us a good reason to.”

“Let me guess: you want information on ze Black King.”

“Correct. Anything you can tell us.” Sherry remained silent. Ushio sighed again. “Alright, let’s start with the obvious question. Who is he really?”

“I don’t know,” Sherry said.

“You were working for him, weren’t you?” said Ushio.

“Zat does not mean I knew his identity,” Sherry answered.

“Then why did you join him?” Ushio asked.

“Because...” Sherry started. She looked away. “Because of Mizoguchi.”

“Mizoguchi? Your butler?”

Sherry nodded.

“What about him? Was he captured by the Black King?”

Sherry shook her head.

“Then what?”

Sherry shook her head again.

“Miss LeBlanc?”

“I’m sorry,” she finally said. She was crying. “Please, just... just leave me alone for a while. Allow me to regain my composure.”

Ushio nodded. He stood up from his chair and left the room.

“I don’t think she’s telling us everything,” said Leo.

“What gave it away?” asked Jack sarcastically. “She’s obviously buying time to come up with a lie to tell us about Mizoguchi.”

“Not that,” said Leo. “I mean about the Black King’s identity. She knows something.”

“What makes you so sure?” asked Twilight. “Isn’t she our ally now? Why would she hide something like that from us?”

“I don’t know why,” Leo said, “but while we were in the library, I heard her and Aporia talking. Aporia told her, ‘I am glad you’ve learned your lesson about names.’”

“So what?” asked Jack.

“Sherry hesitated and almost said something else before that,” Leo said. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just imagining things.” He yawned and said, “I’m going to bed.”

“I should check in with my friends and go to bed myself,” said Twilight. “Take care, Jack.”

“Back?” said Twilight. “Are you sure?”

Yeager nodded. “However, this time you will be accompanied by a team of engineers and soldiers. They’ll get the lights running in the Goodwin Estate to make your search a little easier. The soldiers will protect the operation from Dark Troopers.”

Leo stared at the edge of the conference table. Yeager got up and walked around to him, then put his hand on the teenager’s shoulder.

“If you are worried that we regard this as a mistake on your part,” he said, “don’t. If anyone is to blame for what happened yesterday, it’s me. I never should have sent the two of you alone.”

“But- Mayor Yeager, I can handle these kinds of missions!” said Leo. “Maybe you don’t think I can protect anyone on my own, but I-”

“I never said that,” Yeager interjected, “and I never will. I know you better than that, dear boy.”

“You do?” Leo asked. Yeager nodded.

“Most duels conducted using Duel Disks are recorded by those Disks,” Yeager said. “After the Arc Cradle incident, I took the liberty of watching the duels fought by you and the rest of Team 5D’s. I cannot say for sure that I know how you felt during your final duel against Aporia, but I can certainly imagine how taxing that duel was for you. And from what Jack and Luna told me, you were ready to sacrifice yourself to save them both.”

“So... if you believe in me so much, why send all this extra support?” Leo asked.

“It was a mistake not to in the first place. Whether it was by sheer coincidence or due to a spy, two powerful agents of the Black King appeared during your mission yesterday. I underestimated the enemy, so this is my responsibility. I won’t let that happen again!”

“I understand. I’m sorry for thinking you didn’t trust me.”

“Not at all, dear boy.”

“We should get going,” said Twilight. “I’ll go get Spike and Rainbow Dash.”

“Will Jack be coming too?” Leo asked.

“I’m afraid not,” said Yeager. “Our base is still in dire need of proper defense. Even if I thought we could spare him for this mission... but nevermind that., He says he also wants to stay and observe the interrogation of Miss LeBlanc.”

“Jack’s seemed a bit... on edge lately, hasn’t he?” Leo remarked. “It’s been more than a week since he lost to Crow. Shouldn’t he have vented enough and started looking for ways to beat him?”

“Perhaps,” said Yeager. “I’ve known Jack for many years now, and though I’ve always been on the receiving end of his unfortunately short temper, it’s never been this bad. I will talk to Miss Aki. Perhaps she can help calm him down.”

“Thanks!” said Leo. “We’re off then!”

Though sudden, the operation was put into action without a hitch. Two supply trucks carrying lights, computers and scanning equipment left the base, led by Leo’s D-Wheel, and followed by a truck which carried a platoon of soldiers, as well as Ushio, Twilight and Spike. Rainbow Dash flew over the convoy and kept watch for attackers.

Most of the highways were deserted, so the trek to the Goodwin estate was short. Once in awhile, the convoy would slow down to navigate around an abandoned car.

Once the convoy arrived, Ushio hopped out and immediately began giving orders. The soldiers spread out to keep watch around the mansion while the engineers unloaded the supply trucks and carried the equipment inside.

After another half an hour of setting up the equipment, the engineers informed Ushio that the power could not be restored and began setting up the portable lights in the secret stairwell and the library. A full hour passed before they had finished, even with Twilight’s help.

When the lights finally came on, Ushio said, “Alright, I’m going back up top to keep an eye out with the soldiers. Sundown is in four hours, so gather anything interesting and scan it in. At one hour to sundown, we pack up and move out.”

“What about the books?” Twilight asked.

“We might have to leave them,” Ushio said. “If whatever you find doesn’t help us out, we might be able to come back.”

“If there’s enough room in the supply trucks, can we take them with us?”

“We only have an hour to shut everything down and load it into the trucks. We won’t have time to grab the books too.”

“Leave that to me,” said Twilight with a grin.

“Magic?” Ushio asked.

“Magic,” Twilight replied.

Ushio shrugged and turned around. “I’ll leave it to you then. Good luck.” With that, he left.

Twilight turned to Spike. “Okay, Spike,” she said. “You know what to do. Start perusing titles, but keep an eye out for anything that looks like a card catalogue. It’ll make things alot easier if we can look at each title and locate anything that looks promising right away.”

“Got it!” said Spike with a salute. He took a shelf and started looking at spines of the books that it held. He glanced up and quickly realized that he would need help.

“Hey, Twilight?” he said. But Twilight had disappeared into the depths of the library. Spike shrugged and decided to to the best he could. He COULD go and find a human... but aside from Yusei, he wasn’t too comfortable around them, if only because they seemed uneasy around him and his friends.

So he searched the bottom two rows of each shelf. Most of them didn’t have titles on the spines, and he knew that would slow them down. Labels with numbers and letters on them had been taped to the spines of each book, but without the card catalogue, they were useless to him.

“At least Twilight can use her magic to get the books down and look at them,” he muttered. “I’m stuck down here. And I can’t climb these shelves without- hey, what’s this?” As he pulled a book off the end of the row, he noticed a lump sticking out of the bottom of the shelf. He pawed it with his hand. It seemed to have a regular shape, but it was too dark to make out. He thought for a moment. Then he spat out a short burst of green fire.

As the airborne flame withered out of existence, Spike began to grin. “It’s a bolt!” he said. “The shelves are bolted to the floor!”

He was grateful that he was only on his second shelf. He went back to the first and began to climb.

Five shelves into the library, Spike said to himself, “What are we even looking for?”

Spike grabbed the next shelf above him and pulled himself up to the top. He grabbed a book and sat on the edge of the shelf. “No title on the cover either,” Spike sighed. He opened the book and started flipping through the pages. “Hey... this is a duel! ...and here too! This is a record of duels!”

“Kid, who are you talking to?” said one of the humans.

“Uh... myself?” said Spike sheepishly. The human turned around and continued working on adjusting the light fixture in front of him. Spike went back to the book in his claws. Page after page contained information on the duels recorded within. Spike put the book back and grabbed another one. It also had duels written inside. As did the next book, and the next.

“This whole shelf must be duel records,” said Spike. He turned to the human. “Hey, mister! Have you got something I can write with?”

The human looked back at Spike. “Why do you need it?”

“All the books on this shelf have duels written in them,” Spike explained. “I should make a note about it so that Twilight will know what she’s looking at.” The human sighed and took a pad of paper out of his shirt pocket, as well as a short, thin rod, and handed them up to the baby dragon.

“Thanks,” said Spike. “Uh... what’s this thing?”

“That’s a pen, kid.”

“Is it like a quill?”

“Sort of.” The human took back the rod and pulled one end off of it. The end was pointed, but had a rounded tip. “The only difference is that it has the ink inside of it already.” He handed the object back to the baby dragon.

“Really?” Spike started to scribble on the paper. “Cool!”

“By the way, did you climb up there?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bad idea?”

“Nah, the shelves are bolted to the floor. They’re not going anywhere.”

“You could fall and hurt yourself.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that could happen.”

“How about I help you out? Other than adjusting lights, I don’t have anything to do, and the lights are fine the way they are.”

“That’d be great, thanks!”

“Let’s get you down from there first.” The man reached up and lifted Spike off the shelf, then set him down on the floor.

“Thanks,” said Spike. “I’m Spike. What’s your name?”

“Kazama,” said the human.

“Have you calmed down a bit?” Ushio asked. Sherry nodded. “What is it about your butler that made you work for the Black King?”

“It’s... ze reason he was so devoted to me,” Sherry said. “You see, he’s more than just my butler... more than a bodyguard... after my parents were murdered by Yliaster, Mizoguchi became zee most important man in my life. He raised me, cared for me... he did everyzing he could to train me and keep me safe. But it was all a farce.”

“What are you getting at?” asked Ushio.

“Mizoguchi was my caretaker,” said Sherry, “but it wasn’t for my sake, or for my parents. A month before ze Black King rose to power, Mizoguchi told me the truth about himself. And I hated him for it.”

“Hated him? Why?”

“Because he was an Yliaster spy!” Sherry yelled. “He... my parents named him my godfather... and he murdered them!”

Ushio said nothing.

“I first thought zat it was a cruel joke,” Sherry continued, “but I knew him better. I knew he had no reason to lie about something like zis. I became furious with him. He was my father’s best friend and he betrayed him!” Sherry’s voice was getting louder. “He murdered my parents trying to find the ‘Z-ONE’ card for Yliaster! And when he found it, hidden by my father inside the teddy bear he gave me, he received new orders from Yliaster, to train me, to secretly nurture my rage, to mold me into a powerful Duelist to serve Yliaster and Z-one!

“He begged me to forgive him... but I walked away from him instead.” Sherry slumped back into her chair. “He found me then... zee Black King. He asked me to help him build a world without zat kind of betrayal. I said yes.”

“But here you are,” said Ushio.

“Yes. Here I am.” Sherry blew her bangs out of her eyes. “I learned what he really wants. And... I want to find Mizoguchi. I cannot hate him forever. I want to forgive him.”

“We’ll help you find Mizoguchi when this crisis is over,” Ushio said. “But right now, we need information on your old boss. What is it the Black King wants?”

Sherry looked into Ushio’s eyes with a narrowed gaze. “A world of silence,” she said.

Spike and Kazama had searched seven shelves and noted the types of books each one held. It didn’t take long for Spike to realize that there were groups of shelves devoted to singular subjects.

Kazama unrolled a scroll he found on a top shelf and dragged his eyes across the mysterious text. “Some language I can’t read,” he said. “It looks old. Really old. But if it’s anything like the rest of the shelf, then this one is about an encounter with some monster or other.”

Spike made a note of the shelf on Kazama’s notepad.

“There might be something here Twilight can use,” said the dragon. “You go on ahead to the next shelf. I’ll dig through this one for anything that might be useful.”

“Okay,” said Kazama. “But don’t go climbing the shelf again, alright?”

“I promise nothing,” said Spike. Kazama chuckled and went around to the next shelf.

Spike put down the pen and notepad and started inspecting the spines of each book. Unlike most of the other shelves, these books actually had visible titles. Spike read each one in turn, but none seemed to catch his eye.

And then one did.

The binding of the book was an inky black. There was no title on the spine. Spike pulled it out. No title on the cover either.

And yet... something intrigued him about this one.

Spike opened the book. The pages were yellow with age. He turned them carefully. There was nothing written on the first several pages.

“Why’s there an empty book in here?” Spike muttered. He turned another page. More blank sheets of paper. Spike sighed and moved to return the book to the shelf when he noticed something.

Ink began to flow from the center, moving to the outer edges of the pages, spreading like veins. The ink began to twist and curl until it formed letters that slowly separated from one another.

Spike looked over to the next page.

Kazama heard something fall.

“Spike?” he said, poking his head around the side of the shelf. A book with empty pages lay open on the floor.

/*********************\

Next time on Dueling is Magic! Many FuturesSpike has vanished from the underground library and Twilight is frantic! She and Kazama search the library, and as much of the mansion as they can in the time they have. But unbeknownst to them, Spike has been thrown into his own search as he is shown a history he did not expect to see...

Chevalier de Fleur
WIND
Level 8
Warrior/Synchro/Effect
"Fleur Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Once during each of your turns, when your opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card: You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
ATK/2700
DEF/2300