Matt awoke with a glimmer of hope.
He was surprised with himself, as there was very little to be hopeful about. A few days ago, his teammate Dan had foolishly engaged in a rematch with Skyler, their greatest adversary. The results had been catastrophic. Dan had lost to one of the most powerful Numbers they'd ever experienced (yet they never actually saw the monster that dealt the final blow), and as per their agreement, Skyler had extracted all of Dan's Numbers. The aftermath was that Dan's mind and soul had been irreparably damaged, and he was now suffering with amnesia. He couldn't remember Skyler, the Numbers, his friends, or any of their past experiences. Even his best friend had remained a stranger to him.
Yesterday had been particularly tough, and it had only served to show Matt exactly what Skyler had done to their team. While Matt had been dueling, and had collected two new Numbers, the remaining four members of Team Delta had started bickering amongst themselves. James yelled at Dan, Dan reprimanded James, Leah defended Dan and got angry with James, and poor Katie was stuck in the middle, wanting to stick up for her boyfriend but knowing he was in the wrong.
And Matt could do nothing about it. Words couldn't fix a wound like this. He was being forced to stand by and watch as his friends were torn away from each other around him.
He had already decided. He wouldn't lose another friend over this. If he ever saw Skyler again, he was going to kill him.
Nevertheless, he decided to push these dark thoughts out of his head for the moment, and instead focussed on the positives. 'Maybe they'll be better today,' he reasoned. 'Maybe it was all a bit much yesterday, and all they needed was a quick rest.' He kept this mind-set even as he was getting dressed, so that when he went to leave his room, he was feeling slightly elated, and all the troubles of the past few days seemed lessened.
It didn't last.
He had half convinced himself that when he opened his door, he'd find everyone happy and laughing together like they used to, but from the moment he stepped out of his room, he knew it wasn't going to happen. The TV was on – a first for them, as they spent so much time chatting that they hardly ever used it – and Dan and Leah were sitting on the sofa in front of it, watching a news program in stony silence. James sat up the dining table, engrossed in his laptop and steadfastly ignoring everyone around him. And Katie was in the kitchen, fixing breakfast by herself, another first. She was the only one to acknowledge his entrance.
"Morning Matt," she smiled, pausing briefly from slicing peppers to beckon him over. He crossed over to her and sat down at the counter. An awkward silence followed. He wanted to speak to her, but he didn't want the others overhearing.
Ironically enough, it was Dan that came to the rescue. Since the battle with Skyler had stripped him of his memories, his perception skills had vastly improved, as he was constantly trying to learn as much about his new life as he could. As such, he quickly recognised Matt's need for a little privacy, even if Leah and James didn't. He nonchalantly reached for the remote and turned the TV's volume up. It was only a little bit, but just enough to put a damper on any noise they happened to make. James' eyes flicked up in irritation, before returning to his computer screen.
"Clever," Matt observed. Katie raised an eyebrow at him, and he explained what was going on in a low voice.
"Oh, I see," she smiled once he'd finished. "Very clever. So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Matt's face immediately grew serious. "I wanted to know; what do you think of... well... all this?" he asked, gesturing around the room.
She knew what he meant, and her smile vanished in an instant. "It's horrible," she replied sadly. "James is still angry with both of them; he won't even talk to them. Last night, he was so angry he took it out on me."
"He what?" Matt gasped, before remembering to keep his voice down. "Did he... did he hit you?"
"No no, he'd never do that," Katie assured him. "It was mostly just ranting and raving about this and that. And I was the only one nearby, so I got the worse of it. He feels like everyone's against him after what he said to Dan."
"He wouldn't be far wrong," Matt muttered. "That was a horrible thing for him to say."
"I know, I know," Katie replied, and at that moment, Matt could see just how stressed she was at being caught in the middle of all this. She slumped onto the counter, upset and exhausted, her head buried in her arms. "I just want things to be ok again. I just want things to go back to the way they were."
"Same," Matt said. He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just sat their awkwardly as Katie carried on making breakfast. In hindsight, he realised that he should've joined in, but he was too awash with his own negative thoughts to be of much help to anyone.
Then came the sound none of them wanted to hear.
The alarm.
Matt didn't even try to conceal his groan. This was the last thing he wanted to be dealing with right now. Number hunting required concentration and full strength, and he didn't really feel like any of them were up to the task. Unfortunately, the alarm refused to let up, so he eventually pushed himself off his stool and went to get his Deck. James snapped his laptop shut with a grunt, but otherwise made no attempt to get up from the table as everyone else went about gathering their gear.
As the four of them clustered around the door, Katie turned back to her boyfriend. "Come on," she prompted. "We're going to miss it."
"Yeah, about that..." James replied. "I'm not going."
Four pairs of eyes zoned in on him.
"Why?" Matt asked, hiding his annoyance behind a deceptively passive voice.
James shrugged. "I don't feel like it. Besides, it's not like I really help much, is it?"
Katie was about to argue, but Leah stepped up to her and shook her head, warning her that it wasn't worth the effort. And Katie had to admit that she was right. James was stubborn at the best of times, but now, after everything that had happened, they didn't have a hope of convincing him to come along.
"We'll discuss this later," Matt said, before pulling the door open.
James nodded and opened his computer as the rest of the Deltas filed out. He didn't even say goodbye to his girlfriend. He didn't even wish them luck.
*SOME TIME LATER*
The Delta's search had taken them through a metal gate into a sports field, the kind used by schools during their sporting events. It effectively amounted to a big field with a bunch of white lines painted on it. The Primary School students were the ones that used it most, but it was the school holidays, so the whole field was empty.
Well, save for two duelists...
One of them was a boy, a teenager named Koshima, wrapped in a travelling cloak and wearing a pair of rugged trainers. The red number seventy-six shimmered softly on the back of his left hand, and that told them all the needed to know. He was the Number holder they wanted.
His Number, in fact, was already out. It actually seemed to be a pair of creatures, connected by an arching beam of energy. One was a massive, hulking bear-like thing, while the other resembled some sort of wolf. Both had their bodies covered with blue armour, while the rest of their visible skin was dark, smooth, and featureless, like black glass. Any facial or bodily features were denoted by glowing red lines. A grand total of nine glowing yellow orbs traced circles around their hulking forms.
And standing across from the creature, totally composed, was Doctor Lithon.
Lithon LP: 3800
Epignosai Aleph: Machine-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 2300/DEF 2300 – 0 OLU
Epignosai Pe: Winged Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 2200/DEF 2200
Epignosai Lamedh: Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1800/DEF 1800
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Swords of Revealing Light, Number 19: Golden Counter (equipped to Epignosai Aleph), 1 set card
Koshima LP: 1700
Number 76: Rhystic Roamers: Beast-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 1000/DEF 2000 – 9 OLU
The Deltas groaned. Not Lithon again! The last time any of them had seen him was before Dan had received his amnesia, where he'd viciously defeated Skyler and snatched Skyler's most powerful Number at the time. He had done so by using something called a Chaos Number, which the Deltas were still nonplussed about.
"Go, Epignosai Aleph, attack his Number now!" Lithon commanded. While it was equipped with Golden Counter, Aleph was being treated as a Number, which allowed it to destroy other Numbers by battle. The mechanical construct sent a tidal wave of black and white sludge at Number 76, which consumed the pair of creatures in an instant. "Epignosai Pe, direct attack!" Another of Lithon's monsters, which resembled a black condor drenched in tar, swooped out of the sky to finish the job. Koshima cried out and stumbled back as the flying mass of gloop and plumage struck him like a disgusting cannonball.
Lithon LP: 3800 [WINNER]
Koshima LP: 1700 → 0
Lithon was already striding towards his defeated opponent by the time the finishing claxon sounded. As the augmented reality field descended around him, he reached the boy and pulled a metal construct from inside his bright yellow lab coat. It was a thick metal disk, with a glass dome on top of it, and several sharp metal protrusions that resembled the legs of an insect jutting from the side. Lithon placed the device in the centre of Koshima's chest, and the protrusions clamped down on his skin. With a wicked grin, Lithon tapped a few buttons on his wrist-computer to activate the device.
Leah and Dan had both seen it used on Skyler once before, but while Leah averted her gaze, Dan watched Lithon go about his work with abject fascination. She needn't have worried. Koshima was already unconscious from the prolonged Numbers duel, so there was no screaming and thrashing as there had been with Skyler.
Instead, the device whirred away merrily for a moment, before a compartment on the side opened and the boy's Number was spat out. Lithon snatched it up and eyed it with satisfaction, then shoved it into his pocket.
That should've been the end of it, but Lithon still had one more trick up his sleeve. With the press of a single button, the device flashed a bright white colour, and then it simply vanished, along with the boy it was attached to.
Leah gasped. One second the boy had been there, and the next he was gone, with only a patch of flattened grass to show them where he'd been. It was as if he'd simply popped out of existence.
Unfortunately, her gasp was loud enough to attract Lithon's attention. With a curse, he whipped around to face them. "Hey! Who goes- ah..." As he recognised them, Lithon's initial shocked expression was quickly replaced by a smirk, which denoted both satisfaction and malice. "We meet again, Team Delta. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"
"Enough with the pleasantries, Lithon," Matt retorted. After the events of this morning, he was in no mood to play around. "What did you do to that kid?"
"A simple transportation," Lithon replied. "I've moved his body to my lab, where I can conduct further experiments on him and the interaction he had with his Number."
"What kind of experiments?" Matt queried. "And don't lie to me, because if you do, I swear I'll-"
But Lithon's attention had already shifted onto Leah. "Hello again, young lady. Have you sufficiently recovered from your last duel? Last I remember you were still cowering in the dirt, clinging to your friend for support."
"Whilst you were having your plans wrecked by a guy who's apparently weaker than you, and ending up so weak that you fled from us with your tail between your legs," she retorted.
Katie stifled a laugh. 'Same old Leah,' she thought.
Lithon flared up in indignation. "He lost, and I captured his Numbers! That's all that matters!" Calming down, he turned his gaze on Dan. "And what of you, boy? Don't you have anything to say?"
Dan seemed to consider his response carefully. "You're kind of creepy," he concluded. "You talk funny, and you're just a little bit bipolar, but other than that, there's nothing particularly offensive about you. I'd say you're an ok guy." He held out a hand for Lithon to shake. "Pleased to meet you, Lithon. My name's Dan."
Lithon stared at the outstretched hand as though he'd just been offered a snake. He then glanced up at the boy, then back at Matt. "What's wrong with this one?" he queried. "Did he get brain damage or something?"
"Never you mind!" Matt snapped. "Now are you going to duel or not?"
"No," Lithon replied.
They stared back, dumbfounded.
"What did you say?" Matt growled.
"I said no." Now Lithon was grinning. "I've done my Number collecting for the day, and I currently have no desire to duel again." He held up a hand before Matt could interrupt him. "However," he went on, "since you're all here, I think now would be a very good time to test out one of my newest toys."
"And what would that be?" Matt asked sarcastically. "Another weird Number evolution?"
Lithon snorted with amusement. "While the chance to exercise my Chaos Number again is extremely tempting, it's not what I had in mind. Instead, I'll introduce you to a different kind of servant."
"Servant?"
"Indeed. You are all the servants of that Professor Usur bloke, so it's only fitting that one of his henchmen should be pitted against one of mine." He raised his voice. "Come on over, my servant! Come and greet our guests!"
As one, the four Deltas turned in the direction Lithon was indicating, towards the metal gate that marked the entrance to the field. The wire fence around the field was over two metres high, and as such, the gate was the height and shape of a door, encompassed by a metal door frame.
And leaning against the metal frame, silhouetted against the rising sun, was a figure. The Deltas shielded their eyes and squinted, but they couldn't make the person out. Who was it?
"Now now, that's just rude," Lithon chuckled. "Step into the shade. Let our guests get a good look at you."
The figure stepped forward.
Author-made cards:
Epignosai Pe (credit to Superjad)
Winged Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1700
Once per turn: You can target 1 "Epignosai" monster in your Graveyard; banish it, and if you do, this card gains 500 ATK and DEF until the End Phase.
Epignosai Lamedh (credit to Superjad)
Beast-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 1800/DEF 1800
When this card is Normal Summoned: Banish 1 "Epignosai" card from your Deck.
Epignosai Aleph (credit to Superjad)
Machine-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 2300/DEF 2300
2 Level 4 "Epignosai" monsters
This card gains the original Types of all Overlay Units attached to it. Once per turn: You can detach and banish 2 Overlay Units from this card, then target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
Number 19: Golden Counter (credit to javaraicekid)
Machine-Type/Xyz/Union/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 1300/DEF 1600
2 Level 4 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 face-up monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. The equipped monster is treated as a "Number" monster, and cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead).
Number 76: Rhystic Roamers
Beast-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 1000/DEF 2000
5 Level 4 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. You can target 1 Xyz Monster you control, then reveal 1 monster in your hand that has the same Level as that target's Rank; attach the revealed monster to that target as an Overlay Unit. Once per turn: You can detach 10 Overlay Units from this card; send cards from the top of your opponent's Deck to the Graveyard until they have exactly 1 card left.
Fun Fact #1: Welcome back to the plot. Did you miss the plot? Because we missed the plot.
Fun Fact #2: You each get three guesses as to who Lithon's mysterious henchman is. Actually, just one guess. I mean, seriously, this isn't going to be the biggest revelation of all time - it shouldn't take three guesses to get this.
Fun Fact #3: Wow, that was very close. Just one more Overlay Unit on Number 76: Rhystic Roamers, and Lithon would've been royally screwed.
Fun Fact #4: Well, our poll is now over, the people have spoken, etc, and the result of the poll is that "Keep current structure" scored more points than "Change to different structure" did. As you wish, general public, as you wish.
Fun Fact #5: The title "Methods and Materials" refers to a section used in the majority of experimental design, coming after the Introduction and before the Results section. This fits pretty well, what with Lithon being... well... a scientist and all. With regards to this story, however, it also provides a double meaning. 'Materials' can be used to refer to Xyz Materials/Overlay Units, which are pretty prevalent in ZEXAL stories. 'Methods' will be discussed later.
Fun Fact #6: It's that time again: time to rant about FanFictionDotNet's proofreading system. For one, it really doesn't like the word Epignosai. While I was editing this document, the 'Author-made cards' section was basically awash with red lines. And while I'm complaining, apparently the words "could've" and "claxon" don't exist. Seriously, FanFictionDotNet, sort this out.