'All right. It should be around here...' Those were Joachim's thoughts as he neared the last location where he had first met Ren. It was obviously not their hideout, but it shouldn't be too far. Also, if his theory was correct, and the weird ghost he thought he heard was in truth a Duel Spirit, then Yami should, in theory, get his general location.
He had noticed something strange on the way, though. Closer to his home or where he assaulted those three goons, the number of Academia soldiers was something to reckon, and they also seemed not to leave any corner unchecked. Here, it wouldn't be weird to call it another reality.
Not only were there fewer people patrolling, but they also seemed almost reluctant to do anything in this area. A total idiot looking to get into unknown trouble would dismiss this fact as them just being lazy. He, despite not being the smartest or wisest person in the world, wouldn't think like that. 'There's something fishy, no doubt about it.'
A small detour to surround the area did nothing but confirm his suspicions. 'They are even sneaking glances at that place. I would have to be blind not to see it.'
There were two theories for this. The first one would be that they simply fear going in there with their small numbers, and the second is that they are waiting for others to do a big attack. The latter seemed to be the most likely option since if they were scared — something he doubted — they could simply ask for reinforcements as that also showed they KNEW where the rebels were.
'If before I thought I had almost no time, now I am practically running against the clock.' Joachim frowned heavily behind his hood. There was no way he would be able to properly come up with countermeasures for different situations seeing how little room there was to spare.
He hated the feeling of not having at least one failsafe in case things went wrong. He tended to make stupid decisions when that happened.
'Okay, let's calm down for a moment.' Taking a deep breath, the golden-haired man tried to face the incoming peril with a calm approach. 'They are waiting, meaning they won't attack just yet. Not knowing the when is what makes me anxious, but if I had to guess, then they are waiting for Gloria and Grace, and they won't be coming for a day or two. Let's add at least half a day more for preparations.'
Once he got that down, he managed to regain his confidence, which in turn helped him think better. 'There is no time for convoluted plans, which means everything I do will involve taking heavy risks. I can think of them, but setting the pieces for their execution is sadly not a luxury I have at the moment.'
'For now, my priority is learning how to use a Duel Disk. Once I do, I will have to go and duel some Academia goons to test how I fare in a real duel with actual stakes in it. Depending on my performance, I might have to take one route or another. Let's just pray I don't embarrass myself in my first attempt, though. But well... baby steps, I suppose.' Relatively happy — for the situation he was in — with his thoughts, Joachim decided to get to the action once and for all.
"Sorry for making you wait, Yami. Any Spirits nearby?" The man in question shook his head, telling him to think nothing of it before making his gaze wander around the perimeter. It wasn't long before the armored man paused, looking in a certain direction.
"There, huh?" Joachim affirmed rather than asked, earning a nod from the Spirit. He didn't know who exactly he was going to find, but he was sure it wasn't someone from Academia. The only ones here were merely foot soldiers, and those decks couldn't possibly have a soul.
Quickly, thanks to Yami's help, they made it to the location where he had sensed his kin. Once there, the blond-haired man removed his hood and told the Servant of Ra to turn invisible for the moment. He didn't need him to freak everyone out and make things harder than they would probably be.
With that in mind, he sat down on the edge of a building, deciding to wait. He didn't want to scream since that would garner unwanted attention. Besides, surely Ren would notice him and swiftly arrive to meet him, right?
...
...
...
'...Why isn't he arriving yet?!' At first, he thought he would naturally have to wait. After all, it wasn't like he had any means of contacting the XYZ Duelist, so it was reasonable that he wouldn't be able to know 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 when he would appear, but still! He has been waiting for at least half an hour and there were no signs of him anywhere!
'There is no choice left, is it?' His shoulders sagged as he sighed in resignation. Looking around to make sure there weren't any possible threats on the streets, he took a deep breath once he was sure the coast was clear.
"What are you doing?"
"Re—Gah?!" Joachim gave a startled yelp and almost fell off the ledge of the house he was on had it not been for his quick reaction.
He took numerous deep breathes as he slowly turned around to find the person he was looking for staring at him with a dull expression.
The golden-haired youth pointed a trembling finger at him, wanting to say so many profanities per minute that it would make him look like the most vengeful person in the world. In the end, though, he calmed himself down after a few moments of saying nothing.
"First, don't EVER do that. EVER. You almost gave me a heart attack. Second, since when were you behind me?!" He all but whisper-shouted to the person in front of him who couldn't keep his neutral expression any longer as he chuckled in amusement.
"I was here shortly after you started waiting." The honest response caused Joachim's eyebrows to twitch in annoyance. Who did this guy take him for? His personal jester?
'Yami, were you aware of this?' There was no way he wouldn't be. He would start to consider Ren as some kind of ninja God if that were the case.
'Affirmative.' That response made him audibly groan. What was happening right now? Was there a hidden camera somewhere?
"And you didn't deign yourself to tell me because...?" Since this question was valid for both Yami and Ren, he asked it out loud, expecting, at the minimum, some sort of explanation for their stupid behavior.
'I thought you two were sharing a moment of tranquility before getting to the important matters.'
"I wanted to see how much your patience would last."
It was official, he hated these two.
"Nevermind that, I came here to talk, and to ask you for a favor." Shaking his head to dispel his grievances, he decided to immediately go to the source of their current troubles. That was more important now.
Ren's face instantly lost all traces of amusement and went into serious mode again. He doubted Joachim would come to visit him so suddenly if it were something trivial. "What happened?"
"Before that, here, catch." The Transmigrator took the Academia Duel Disk from behind his back and threw it at Ren, who quickly caught it by reflex.
Looking at the object, the brown-haired youth frowned a bit before returning his gaze to his strange ally, who was waiting with his arms folded. "Did you steal this? And most importantly, did you make sure to reset it?"
Joachim heaved a sigh of relief. "So there really was something to track it. I must say, I got really lucky when I thought of that. And I prefer the term 'Borrowing without asking' thank you very much. That aside, I am surprised you didn't show any noteworthy reaction."
This time, it was Ren's time to sigh, although he seemed to have done it out of resignation. "Though it shames me to say it, we don't treat our Duel Disks properly; or more like, we don't have the luxury. We have resorted to, quote-unquote, "Borrowing without asking" numerous times already. Only two of us have our original ones. It is disgusting, but a beast without its fangs is no beast at all, so we don't have much of a choice."
'Huh, so that's what it was, who would have guessed?' To say he was surprised would be an understatement. He never in his wildest dreams thought they would remotely touch something that had the Academia seal on it, but he supposed desperate times call for desperate measures.
"So, what is it, then? I doubt you came all the way over here just to show me this." Ren asked with a raised eyebrow as he returned the Duel Disk back to Joachim without a second thought. He didn't strike him as the type to ask every time if what he was doing was good, scared he would mess up somehow.
After receiving it back from Ren, Joachim didn't put it back, but instead held onto it, since he would be using it soon. Then, he met the brown-haired guy's eyes with his own.
"Well, one of the reasons I came here is for you to teach me how to use this since I don't have any idea how." He pointed to the Duel Disk in his hand, causing Ren to show a bewildered expression as if someone had told him they didn't know how to use a spoon. "You don't?"
"I don't. Stop looking at me like that." He had to resist the urge to go and slap the back of his head. Even more so because he knew he would get his ass kicked if he tried anyway.
"The other — but not less important — thing is about the incoming extermination plan those Academia imbeciles are planning. I haven't known you for long, but what I do know is that you are perceptive, so you most likely already know something is coming." The fact that Ren didn't change his expression when he told him this was proof enough that he was right, and in fact, he was aware. His next words did nothing more but cement the fact.
"We have noticed. The patrols have diminished, and we are not hunted as much as before. We know they are like mindless zombies that will not give up, so the thought that they just let us be is just wishful thinking. Add two and two together and you get an obvious answer. In hindsight, we drew too much attention to ourselves. However, I don't regret what we did." He didn't seem to be worried about what would happen, or maybe he was just resigned, the blond-haired man couldn't tell.
Despite all the bad news, something positive could be gotten out of this, though. He wouldn't be suddenly accused of trying to set them up, which in turn would cause discord, only to lead to stupid mistakes that could have been avoided.
"Uh-huh. Well, that saves me time. Going by what I could get my hands on, two Academia Generals are gonna lead the attack in two, at most three days. You should take advantage of the timeframe to escape—who am I kidding? You are not going to do that." A hand went to his forehead, seemingly resigning himself for what was to come.
"Then that makes things easier. We won't... We can't get back. In a war, no effort is meaningless. Even if it's small, you never know when it can make a big impact on the overall picture." That answer told Joachim that no matter what he said, his mind wouldn't change, and he doubted the others wouldn't be the same.
"...At least promise me that you won't just throw your life away at the first opportunity screaming "For our fallen comrades!!!" or something like that."
"I hate that I can picture some of us doing exactly that, and so I can't retort. You didn't have to make the imitation, though..." Now it was Ren's turn to bring his hand to his forehead, this time with some mirth mixed in. These types of things helped him be more relaxed and not think about the guillotine hanging by a thread above his neck.
"In any case, you teach me how to use this thing and I will gladly draw the attention of the others." Those words caused Ren to frown. Although he didn't say them with a heroic air around him, and his face showed that he was not taking the situation lightly, he couldn't help but think that Joachim wasn't understanding just what he was saying.
"Even if get everyone's attention away from us, we won't escape, I already told you. Besides, you don't have to get involved. You would just be throwing your life away." It might be selfish on his part, but he already was carrying many deaths on his shoulders. He didn't need another one.
"Don't misunderstand. I am not telling you to escape, I already told you that I knew you wouldn't do it. I am just giving you an opportunity to find another hideout as far as possible from your current one. You know this place is only a death trap now. As for me getting involved? It's too late to back up at this point. And it's not like you have to worry about me, I have the means to defend myself. Other than that, I am not going to be saving every Tom, Dick, and Harry I meet on the streets. I won't put myself in danger just because."
Ren groaned as he looked at the sky wanting to let out his frustrations. "No matter what I say, you are not going to listen, so let me at least give you the means to fight since you don't know how to do what even two years old kids can."
"Can we stop gabbing about that? And look who's talking. You are worse than me. If I told you some pigeon's poop was going to fall in your head you would say it's your life mission to witness the event and even look up and open your mouth." Both their lips were twitching as imaginary sparks formed between the two.
"Enough about that, let's go so that you can meet the others. After that, I am going to teach you how to use that disgrace and we will have a Duel to see how you fare." Ren said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"By all means. I will try not to be too harsh on you since you are my instructor. I promise I will let you keep your dignity." Same as the person before him, he smiled amicably, but his eyes told otherwise.
"I look forward to it." Ren and Joachim put the back of their hand over their mouth and started laughing almost quietly like rich ladies, causing Yami, who was witnessing the events while being hidden from you to let out a perplexed sigh.
'Humans are strange creatures...'