A Kingdom Lost (4/10)
Dec. 30th, 2013 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heleentjeThey made their first stop when the school had only barely faded from view, at the abandoned submarine where, mere days ago, they’d found Rei’s medicine. No one mention that little fact, even though everyone was surely thinking it. Misawa most certainly was. He might not have known Rei very well, but that didn’t mean he didn’t miss her.
Half of the submarine was unreachable now, but they still managed to scrape together another first aid kit, a compass, two flashlights and a lot of radio equipment that was useless in its current state. Misawa dismantled it anyway and stuffed the wires into his backpack. With some luck, he’d be able to use it to boost the signal on their PDA’s, so they could get in touch with Chronos-sensei again. They’d lost contact about half an hour before they’d reached the submarine.
Asuka made another lucky discovery in the form of several spare uniforms, which she, Junko and Ayaka gladly donned. The girls’ uniforms were in no way equipped for survival. Junko was already complaining of sunburn and blisters.
They spent the hottest hours of the day inside the submarine, far too warm but still cooler than the overheated outside air. Even with three suns, the Desert World always looked strangely overcast. When he’d first arrived here, Misawa had tried to make sense of the astronomical lay-out of this universe, but without the necessary equipment and with monsters everywhere bent on interrupting a night of stargazing, he’d been forced to give up quickly.
“Where did this thing even come from?” asked Manjoume. “How does a submarine end up in the middle of a desert?”
Shou shrugged. Mototani started rummaging through a file cabinet they’d skipped in their search for anything useful.
“Says here it belongs to a Garam company,” he said. Manjoume looked up.
“Garam? They’re business rivals of the Manjoume group.” He snatched the file from Mototani and leafed through it, his frown deepening. “Bastards,” he muttered.
“What is it?” asked Asuka.
“They were actually spying on Duel Academia, can you believe it? Must’ve gotten caught up in the blast that brought us here.” He turned a page. “Not just Duel Academia but all the academies.”
Misawa glanced over his shoulder. The file contained a profile of Manjoume, detailing his ties to the Manjoume group. There was one for Judai that spent half a page on the Neospacians, and several others, all about students the Garam company considered important. There was a student at North Academy with a gem-based deck, a few students across the world who’d inherited rare cards, and more profiles of students with strong ties to business giants.
“Industrial espionage, is what it is,” said Manjoume. “I swear I’m telling my brothers when we get home.”
Silence fell. Manjoume seemed to realize what he had said, because he quickly closed the file and tucked it away in his backpack.
“The monster went east, I’m sure of it,” Asuka said quickly. Misawa nodded. He’d seen it disappear.
“But what if it changed directions?” Ayaka asked. “We… We might never find it.”
“I’m not giving up on Judai,” replied Asuka.
Ayaka flinched. “I know, but… Maybe we should find a way home first. Then we can find help to look for Judai-senpai.
“Aniki could be dead by then!” Shou said, glaring at her. “Do you want him to die?”
“No, but—!”
“Hey, lay off her!” Torimaki said. “We want to survive this too, you know! I don’t want to jump into whatever danger you’ve found this time on the off-chance that that Judai guy might still be alive!”
“That Judai guy tried to save us all,” Manjoume snapped.
“He didn’t do a very good job at it, did he?”
They’d only left the Academy half a day ago, and they were already fighting.
“Guys, please!” said Misawa. “I agree, we need to look for Judai. But Ayaka-san is right too. We shouldn’t needlessly endanger ourselves.”
“She wants to abandon Judai-no-aniki!”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“Please!” shouted Misawa. “No one wants to see Judai or anyone else die.”
Shou grumbled but didn’t disagree. Ayaka wrapped her arms around her knees.
“How about this? We keep going east and look for Judai. I know there’s a small oasis about two days from here. While we’re looking, we keep searching for a way home and if we find one, anyone who wants to go home, can go home.”
Mototani and Torimaki grumbled, but nodded. Ayaka said, “okay,” head bent low.
The night that followed was tense for everyone, but at least no one argued anymore. Traveling with nine people was slow work, slower than when Misawa had been on his own. Fortunately, the relatively large size of their group seemed to scare off all but the stronger monsters.
They stopped again at noon, but with no shelter, they spent the hottest hours of the day miserable. They did, however, get their first clue in the form of a passing Dragon Lord.
“No, yeah, I saw them,” the monster said. “They were headed towards the Gate, I believe.”
“The Gate?”
“Told them they were crazy, but they didn’t listen.”
Misawa frowned. The Gate, an oft-mentioned but mysterious place in the Desert World. All he’d been able to gather was that it lead to another, even more dangerous dimension, where warlords killed everyone who opposed them. His data was woefully inconclusive, but even Misawa’s thirst for knowledge hadn’t won out from his desire to live. And the monster had taken Judai there?
“The guy,” Asuka asked. “How was he? Was he hurt?”
“Hurt? No,” the Dragon Lord said with a puzzled frown. “Bit sunburnt, that’s all, but that’s to be expected of you humans. He looked quite happy, in fact.”
Asuka looked struck, as did Shou.
“You’re sure?” Misawa asked. Judai happy? Judai awake and making no attempt to escape? It didn’t add up.
“That monster must have done something to him,” said Manjoume.
The Dragon Lord shrugged. “All I’m saying is that they both looked pretty comfortable together. Didn’t say much. They seemed to be in a hurry.”
Misawa swallowed. That didn’t look good for Judai. “When did you see them?”
“Oh, not too long ago. Must’ve been late yesterday night. They’ll have reached the gate by now, but I’m sure you can catch up.”
Misawa exchanged a worried look with his friends. What had the monster done to Judai, that they’d only passed here last night, even with a headstart of two days?
The Gate… They had no choice now, if the monster had taken Judai there. And so it was that they moved on when the sun set, walking through the dark for what had to be hours, until they all had blisters and had finished quite a lot of their water.
Finally, shortly after midnight, Kenzan shouted and pointed in the distance. A large structure had appeared on the horizon, far taller than any of the surrounding dunes and pitch-black even against the night sky. Upon closer inspection, the term ‘gate’ proved to be entirely accurate. It was huge and ornamental, with complicated fractals and polygons that Misawa would have loved to study if everything about it didn’t send shivers down his spine.
Shou took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders and put a hand on the gate.
“No, wait,” said Misawa. “We should spend the night here.”
He didn’t miss Ayaka’s visible relief.
“But Aniki is in danger!”
“I know, but we need a good night’s sleep. We don’t know what’s waiting for us there. We’ll need all the energy we can spare.”
Shou grudgingly relented, and they spent an uncomfortable night in the sand. Misawa didn’t think anyone slept much. Once or twice, he saw Kenzan walk up to the Gate and study it with ill-disguised anger. Finally, at dawn, they ate breakfast quickly, and then Misawa, Manjoume and Kenzan pushed open the Gate.
A wave of cool air came towards them, almost a relief after the hot desert sand. Misawa’s first impression of this new world was that it was… dark. Dark and rocky, and that wasn’t nearly scientific enough an explanation for his liking. He needed time to study this world, do geological research, find out how similar this world was to earth and the Desert World. But first, they needed to find Judai.
They had barely passed the threshold when the Gate slammed shut and someone —a woman?— said: “Welcome. We have been expecting you.”
Half of the submarine was unreachable now, but they still managed to scrape together another first aid kit, a compass, two flashlights and a lot of radio equipment that was useless in its current state. Misawa dismantled it anyway and stuffed the wires into his backpack. With some luck, he’d be able to use it to boost the signal on their PDA’s, so they could get in touch with Chronos-sensei again. They’d lost contact about half an hour before they’d reached the submarine.
Asuka made another lucky discovery in the form of several spare uniforms, which she, Junko and Ayaka gladly donned. The girls’ uniforms were in no way equipped for survival. Junko was already complaining of sunburn and blisters.
They spent the hottest hours of the day inside the submarine, far too warm but still cooler than the overheated outside air. Even with three suns, the Desert World always looked strangely overcast. When he’d first arrived here, Misawa had tried to make sense of the astronomical lay-out of this universe, but without the necessary equipment and with monsters everywhere bent on interrupting a night of stargazing, he’d been forced to give up quickly.
“Where did this thing even come from?” asked Manjoume. “How does a submarine end up in the middle of a desert?”
Shou shrugged. Mototani started rummaging through a file cabinet they’d skipped in their search for anything useful.
“Says here it belongs to a Garam company,” he said. Manjoume looked up.
“Garam? They’re business rivals of the Manjoume group.” He snatched the file from Mototani and leafed through it, his frown deepening. “Bastards,” he muttered.
“What is it?” asked Asuka.
“They were actually spying on Duel Academia, can you believe it? Must’ve gotten caught up in the blast that brought us here.” He turned a page. “Not just Duel Academia but all the academies.”
Misawa glanced over his shoulder. The file contained a profile of Manjoume, detailing his ties to the Manjoume group. There was one for Judai that spent half a page on the Neospacians, and several others, all about students the Garam company considered important. There was a student at North Academy with a gem-based deck, a few students across the world who’d inherited rare cards, and more profiles of students with strong ties to business giants.
“Industrial espionage, is what it is,” said Manjoume. “I swear I’m telling my brothers when we get home.”
Silence fell. Manjoume seemed to realize what he had said, because he quickly closed the file and tucked it away in his backpack.
“The monster went east, I’m sure of it,” Asuka said quickly. Misawa nodded. He’d seen it disappear.
“But what if it changed directions?” Ayaka asked. “We… We might never find it.”
“I’m not giving up on Judai,” replied Asuka.
Ayaka flinched. “I know, but… Maybe we should find a way home first. Then we can find help to look for Judai-senpai.
“Aniki could be dead by then!” Shou said, glaring at her. “Do you want him to die?”
“No, but—!”
“Hey, lay off her!” Torimaki said. “We want to survive this too, you know! I don’t want to jump into whatever danger you’ve found this time on the off-chance that that Judai guy might still be alive!”
“That Judai guy tried to save us all,” Manjoume snapped.
“He didn’t do a very good job at it, did he?”
They’d only left the Academy half a day ago, and they were already fighting.
“Guys, please!” said Misawa. “I agree, we need to look for Judai. But Ayaka-san is right too. We shouldn’t needlessly endanger ourselves.”
“She wants to abandon Judai-no-aniki!”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“Please!” shouted Misawa. “No one wants to see Judai or anyone else die.”
Shou grumbled but didn’t disagree. Ayaka wrapped her arms around her knees.
“How about this? We keep going east and look for Judai. I know there’s a small oasis about two days from here. While we’re looking, we keep searching for a way home and if we find one, anyone who wants to go home, can go home.”
Mototani and Torimaki grumbled, but nodded. Ayaka said, “okay,” head bent low.
The night that followed was tense for everyone, but at least no one argued anymore. Traveling with nine people was slow work, slower than when Misawa had been on his own. Fortunately, the relatively large size of their group seemed to scare off all but the stronger monsters.
They stopped again at noon, but with no shelter, they spent the hottest hours of the day miserable. They did, however, get their first clue in the form of a passing Dragon Lord.
“No, yeah, I saw them,” the monster said. “They were headed towards the Gate, I believe.”
“The Gate?”
“Told them they were crazy, but they didn’t listen.”
Misawa frowned. The Gate, an oft-mentioned but mysterious place in the Desert World. All he’d been able to gather was that it lead to another, even more dangerous dimension, where warlords killed everyone who opposed them. His data was woefully inconclusive, but even Misawa’s thirst for knowledge hadn’t won out from his desire to live. And the monster had taken Judai there?
“The guy,” Asuka asked. “How was he? Was he hurt?”
“Hurt? No,” the Dragon Lord said with a puzzled frown. “Bit sunburnt, that’s all, but that’s to be expected of you humans. He looked quite happy, in fact.”
Asuka looked struck, as did Shou.
“You’re sure?” Misawa asked. Judai happy? Judai awake and making no attempt to escape? It didn’t add up.
“That monster must have done something to him,” said Manjoume.
The Dragon Lord shrugged. “All I’m saying is that they both looked pretty comfortable together. Didn’t say much. They seemed to be in a hurry.”
Misawa swallowed. That didn’t look good for Judai. “When did you see them?”
“Oh, not too long ago. Must’ve been late yesterday night. They’ll have reached the gate by now, but I’m sure you can catch up.”
Misawa exchanged a worried look with his friends. What had the monster done to Judai, that they’d only passed here last night, even with a headstart of two days?
The Gate… They had no choice now, if the monster had taken Judai there. And so it was that they moved on when the sun set, walking through the dark for what had to be hours, until they all had blisters and had finished quite a lot of their water.
Finally, shortly after midnight, Kenzan shouted and pointed in the distance. A large structure had appeared on the horizon, far taller than any of the surrounding dunes and pitch-black even against the night sky. Upon closer inspection, the term ‘gate’ proved to be entirely accurate. It was huge and ornamental, with complicated fractals and polygons that Misawa would have loved to study if everything about it didn’t send shivers down his spine.
Shou took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders and put a hand on the gate.
“No, wait,” said Misawa. “We should spend the night here.”
He didn’t miss Ayaka’s visible relief.
“But Aniki is in danger!”
“I know, but we need a good night’s sleep. We don’t know what’s waiting for us there. We’ll need all the energy we can spare.”
Shou grudgingly relented, and they spent an uncomfortable night in the sand. Misawa didn’t think anyone slept much. Once or twice, he saw Kenzan walk up to the Gate and study it with ill-disguised anger. Finally, at dawn, they ate breakfast quickly, and then Misawa, Manjoume and Kenzan pushed open the Gate.
A wave of cool air came towards them, almost a relief after the hot desert sand. Misawa’s first impression of this new world was that it was… dark. Dark and rocky, and that wasn’t nearly scientific enough an explanation for his liking. He needed time to study this world, do geological research, find out how similar this world was to earth and the Desert World. But first, they needed to find Judai.
They had barely passed the threshold when the Gate slammed shut and someone —a woman?— said: “Welcome. We have been expecting you.”