Yugioh ZEXAL: A New Utopia (Plot up!)

[wolfrunner]

"Hey Kio! I hope you don't mind visitors because either way I'm here, I even brought a new person to come and meet you! Kim was going to come along but she never showed, so I grabbed someone else instead!", Regina as she pushed open the hospital room door and stepped inside. After having left the HeartLand Memorial, the duo of young due lists eventually made their way to the hospital and found their way to room 410 thanks to the help of a receptionist and a nurse directing them. Though hesitant at first the teen took a breath before walking into the room despite not knowing the resident's condition. Speaking of conditions, the green haired girl's wasn't much to boast about either. From the foliage caught in her hair blending with the locks to the scraps and cuts covering her exposed skin, Regina was less then presentable for sure. The female duelist could have sworn that those short cuts were as rigorous as they proved to be....

[CorvusSchnee]

Fate would never be one to claim that he believed in luck, due in part to his upbringing, but he would certainly say he was lucky to remain immaculate in appearance after all that he had gone through getting here. "I do believe that this day has taught there is no such thing as shortcuts in life. Every path comes with its fair share of trials and tribulations," he said, struggling to catch his breath. He might be quite handsome, but his elegance came at the price of lacking in physical strength and stamina.

However, he was far better off than the boy lying in the hospital bed. It seemed like he was only sleeping, but the observant eye could tell that the patient was in a state of being far deeper than sleep. A place between life and death, a state of unconsciousness that even a deep sleeper could not achieve. Yet Fate envied the boy for that. It must be perfect for searching one's soul, to spend time locked in their own minds.

[wolfrunner]

"You could have stopped me at any time and suggested a different route you know. Besides I don't see you covered in plants.", the teen said with a shrug in response to her companion,"Come on and I'll introduce you." Leaving Fate's side the teen made her way over towards the bed, before dropping herself into a chair resting beside it. Once she took her seat, Regina removed the strap of her bag from her shoulder to rest it on her lap. Digging around in it for a brief moment, a small grin found it's way pulling at the corners of her mouth as her hand clenched around and removed what she had been looking for. It was a small rectangular case which the green haired girl had been using to store the unconscious duelist's cards. Well the Ghostricks anyway. Two the teen had been keeping in her own deck for good measure. "I brought your deck and yes every single card is where it should be. Before you ask though don't worry about your Xyz Monsters....I'm hanging onto them for now so they're safe and sound. You can have them back when your nap is over. For now you can trust Hope and me to keep an eye on them, okay?", the female student said setting the card case down on a table near the bed. Regina had no idea if her new classmate could hear her or even cared about what she was saying in his still state, but continued talking as if he was awake anyway.

[CorvusSchnee]

"It was sad in a way, watching Regina speak to her classmate as she was. To be able to hold a conversation, but know that he wasn't likely to be able to converse as well. However, there was the hope that the boy would wake up in time. Then it happened, and all it took was Fate taking a glance at the boy's facial features for his family's gift to activate itself. Flashes of future events rushed through his mind in a flurry that he almost couldn't keep up with. Two machines, entering an Overlay Network and emerging without chains, a black mass of shadows overwhelming the city. So much pain and suffering, yet so much hope as well. That was all he could see, however, and there was still so much that he could not decipher. "Miss Regina, you need not worry. He will awaken in time, and these Xyz monsters you are holding for him shall play an important role in future events."

[wolfrunner]

"Yeah I know he'll wake up eventually....no worries about that here. We had a pretty intense duel, two actually, so it's no surprise he's totally out of it. Besides he owes me another duel.", said Regina though she didn't turn away from the seemingly sleeping boy,"He beat my butt the first time around and the second doesn't count because it was two on one Battle Royal Style. I can use this time to figure out a strategy so I can totally cream his butt for a change our next duel. I can't just let that defeat go. That's not my style." Making a fist the green haired teen raised her voice in declaration,"Hear that Kio!? You'd better rest up 'cause when you wake up I'm going to turn you to fish food for sure this time! That's a promise and passing out isn't going to save you again!"

[CorvusSchnee]

"Sometimes, introspection will change an individual in ways they would never have imagined changing before. I would not assume that he will be the same upon waking, for he is likely searching his soul for answers to questions his heart has borne for many years. These answers will change him, and by extension his dueling style. So to make plans when you do not know how he will attack is foolish to say the least." Fate did not intend to be harsh, and his tone certainly did not bear any malice. He simply wanted to ensure that Regina did not make plans that would lead to her defeat. It was wonderful to know that she was thinking ahead, but thinking too far ahead could make one lose sight of the larger picture. "I must know, though. What exactly caused him to enter such a state? A normal duel does not result in this, of that I can assure you."

[wolfrunner]

At Fate's question about what caused Kio's current state of being, the rather loud female duelist fell silent. Too silent and too quickly. It was a perfectly logical question to ask of course but that was not the issue, the issue was the answer. Should Regina trust Fate or the fact that, if it was the wrong decision to explain things to her classmate, that she could defeat him in a duel to make up for it? Or did she lie and keep what really happened from him? Regina grit her teeth in frustration as she tried to make up her mind on how to respond. "I said we dueled twice didn't I? Anybody would be exhausted after that.", she said trying to buy time to make up her mind.

[CorvusSchnee]

"Not so exhausted that they would end up in a hospital bed. I've had more than two duels in a single day, but I never once ended up in his position. Whatever the truth of the matter is, you can rest assured that I will not betray any confidence you might place in me. That much I can promise you." She could try to claim that the boy was weak of physique either, as Fate was himself weak of physique. If someone like him did not end up in such a vulnerable state, then it was unlikely someone who looked to be in better shape would either.

[wolfrunner]

The hospital room was silent for the time. In fact the silence started to stretch to the point where it didn't seem as though the green haired girl was going to give her male companion an answer and ignore his words instead. "The duel did do this to him, or at least it helped land him here. What really was responsible for Kio's condition are the couple of cards I'm holding onto for him.", Regina admitted as her fist unclenched but her physical stature otherwise remained unchanged,"The cards are called Numbers. There are one hundred total and each one is a different Xyz monster, but each is really powerful. They are powerful enough to take over and posses whoever holds them and that's exactly what happened with Kio. Number 13 and Number 31 took control of him and that, plus the fact that he was somehow able to turn the duel into a Shadow Duel where the damage was real, landed him here. Guess I'm partially responsible for getting him here too considering I stepped in and attacked him to end the duel...even if a Number can only be destroyed by another Number. I didn't have a choice. What I want to know is why he was given them in the first place though and how they became tainted with Chaos. Dad always told me that all the Numbers were perfectly benign cards now so what could have gone wrong with Crime and Punishment?" The last bit was more Regina thinking outloud then directed at Fate as she became thoughtful. She had been hoping to ask the unconscious boy these questions but was unable too thanks to his current state. Her father was a possible option she supposed but she had the feeling it would be a fruitless attempt.

From the doorway to the hospital room, keeping out of sight of the duo speaking with each other as she watched on in silence, was Rio. The women kept herself tucked out of sight as she listened in on the student's conversation.

[CorvusSchnee]

"I have always believed that the true nature of the 'heart of the cards' lies in the bond a duelist has with their deck. If this is true, if a duelist's heart is one with their deck, then it can stand to reason that even the smallest bit of darkness in one's heart can corrupt cards with such power. Every heart has darkness within it, some doubt, fear, or even hatred. If one lets that overwhelm the light in their hearts, then the heart becomes dark and welcomes evil like an old friend." Now Fate was entering his philosophical state, a state in which he would not stop until that which lay within his mind's confine was spoken in entirety. "As I said, you will likely learn more about him, and what you will learn will shed light on the events that are unfolding. It is, perhaps, because of the darkness in his heart that his Numbers, 13 and 31 or Crime and Punishment as you call them, were corrupted. I wonder where the darkness came from, though? This you must learn in time if answers are what you seek." Fate would know about darkness, as it lay within his heart just as much. Doubts that he could fit in, doubts he did his best to quash on a daily basis. One did not grow up with the ability to foresee the future and what it held without feeling alienated by their differences. Yet he overcame those doubts each and every day, at least for the most part. "May I see these Numbers of his?"