These are just some really quick notes about this fanfic (Please Read)
I don't own Yugioh Zexal
I know sometimes people like to submit Original Characters but I request that you please don't. The reason behind this is because I am relatively new to writing and I would rather not mess up something that someone else put work into. Deck ideas however, I am willing to accept in the comments section and will credit if I use them.
There will be cards I make up but I will put a section at the end of each chapter for made up cards that debut. Every other card you can look up to see its effects
All types of summons allowed. So Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, etc are all fair game
Story takes place at about the same time as Yugioh Zexal II after the World Duel Carnival
"Staples" will be relatively rare. Staples include cards like BTH, Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, Heavy Storm, Raigeki, Dark Hole, Dark Strike Fighter, Goyo Guardian, etc. The reason behind this is that it's more interesting to write when people have more unique cards to them and that duels don't turn into Mirror Force, Dimension Prison, BTH battles. However, if a character runs an Ice Barrier deck, that person having Brionac is not out of the question.
Cards that are character-bound will be arguably rarer that the staples. This is just for the sake of the story. Thus not everyone will be pulling out Stardust Dragons, Shooting Star Dragons, Black Rose Dragons, Neos, Cyber Darks, Arcana, Dark Magician, Blue Eyes, Rainbow Dragon, Planets, Toons, Numbers, etc.
Card Names will be in English and Zexal Character Names will be in Japanese.
Any comments, feedback, etc, please post whether good or bad
Early in the morning, the sun was shining down on Heartland City as a black-haired high school student named Yuushi Sakudo was making his way to the city monorail as he shut and locked the door to his house.
"Dad's at work in the lab again and Mom went out. Dad was suppose to see me off but he said the lab recently discovered something strange and it had to do with the Iron Curtain or something so he couldn't stay. It would be nice to continue my break but it'll be fun to see everyone at school again. Besides, if I miss the first and easiest day of classes, I might miss out on things happening around Delta."
He ran while looking above and saw a speeding train zoom right by as he looked over to the station he was planning to board. That monorail station was key not only for Yuushi to attend Delta Academy but also served as his hub for entertainment and travel. However it would be less used for the latter purposes now that school break was over. He had fun at several places like his friends' houses, the beach, the mall, the museum and other areas but now classes were about to begin. Still it was a nice break from exams and studying but also other things like duels and other weird phenomenon. The most recent strange encounter was with a group called Nightfall a few months ago. To be honest, even with Nightfall being inactive and their base presumably destroyed, he could not shake a certain foreboding feeling about what their leader Koji had said to him before. Even that warning from Koji though did not deter Yuushi from having fun as he hastily made his way to the monorail station and boarded the train. Despite the crowd, Yuushi managed to find a seat and opened his dark red backpack and looked inside. Inside were a few sheets of blank paper, pencilcase, calculator, binders and other school supplies along with his dark green D-Pad.
He heard the speaker from above, "All aboard. Next departure in two minutes."
Things were right on schedule as the train left the station two minutes afterwards. Yuushi looked outside as they passed around Heartland Tower and he pondered, "All break they've been working on rebuilding that place. I wonder how much longer it will take."
Yuushi tried to scan the tower but realized that there were oil spots and dust on his glasses. He wiped them and put them on but by that time, the train was long gone almost three quarters of the way there. Looking at his D-Pad for the time, Yuushi nodded to himself.
"The monorail seems to be normal. No need to worry about adjusting which train I take."
After arriving, Yuushi got off along with a horde of people but he quickly descended down the stairs onto the sidewalk. The city was just as busy as ever with several cars and other transportation vehicles speeding by. Surprisingly, the monorail was actually a bit faster than usual and Yuushi knew that he would be a bit early when he arrived inside his homeroom. Passing by, he saw a street with a broken traffic light along with a cop and a litterbot directing traffic. It was not quite a litterbot as this one's function was to help direct traffic but it still was likely the same model as it had a similar chubby build and face. The robot even had a police hat so that people would know that it performed official duties.
"I wonder how everyone is now. Ayumi pretty much stayed at home and travelled a bit. I know Hikaru said something about a major tournament and Ryoko went on a family trip overseas."
Up ahead were a pile of students with their own backpacks and D-Pads converging onto Delta Academy as Yuushi himself walked through the school gates. Already, he could see some people finishing up their duels or their conversations as everyone made their way inside. Turning right, Yuushi made his way into a corridor filled with students making their own way to homeroom as well.
"Let's see. Classroom 1-D should be right here."
Opening the door, Yuushi saw plenty of familiar faces as he already noticed Hikaru talking to Ayumi. The two noticed Yuushi as he made his way over and sat down with them.
"Hey, Yuushi. Did you hear the news about Hikaru?", Ayumi asked.
Yuushi was confused, "No. What happened?"
Hikaru was quick to explain, "The best thing happened. At first I thought being in the World Duel Carnival would be the best but those Nightfall morons prevented that. However, since pros from all over came, there was like an open mini-tournament for anyone interested. I participated and I beat the Sultan of Spells and some other people."
"Who?", Yuushi asked.
"A pro duelist. He was in the WDC," Ayumi said filling in some information.
"Yep. I did not win the whole thing but that one win opened some doors for me. My big chance has finally arrived. A scout for a pro league in Heartland City gave me a chance after seeing my performance and I even got a pro duelist named Keita to help me. I just have to train now before I get in some minor matches but then I'll work my way up," Hikaru said excitedly.
A female classmate passed by, "Congratulations Hikaru. If you make it to the top, can I get an autograph?"
"Sure. I'll be sure to remember. As a pro, I have to live up to new expectations," Hikaru declared with pride.
The other boy smiled jokingly, "Good job but don't let it get to your head."
The female of the three plainly stated, "Yeah...congratulations."
"Just need to work hard now. The path to my dream is right in front of me. Maybe I should ask Masaki for some advice. He's probably knows something. I mean he did give me some nice inside information and helped me start this off," the blue-black haired Laval duelist nodded and was too happy to notice the tone of their voices.
Now Yuushi brought up a topic, "Sounds like you two are good friends now. Speaking of the WDC, you both saw the finals and things right?"
Hikaru got fired up, "Of course. There were so many cool things. A roller coaster duel, the cool fields involved, the final platform, those monsters. Shark, Kaito, Tron and Yuma who became the winner of such a massive tournament! Shark Drake, Galaxy-Eyes, Heraldry Crest, Utopia!"
"All those were Numbers though except for Galaxy-Eyes. I wonder if it means anything," Yuushi observed.
"If so many Numbers made it to the finals like that, maybe I should try to get one," Hikaru chuckled and continued, "The ending was a bit rough though. The area around Heart Tower was totally destroyed and I was watching live too in the audience. Reminded me of when Nightfall's base started to collapse and we had to evacuate. News said that an outside group wanted to disrupt the tournament and attacked the tower."
It was such a big event that Yuushi agreed, "I even passed by today and it seems like they have a long way to go before its rebuilt. I even heard that the mayor, Mr. Heartland went missing afterwards."
Keeping quiet during the conversation, Ayumi looked around the classroom, "Do you think Mr. Yamazaki will be late for the first day back?"
"Not likely. Well, maybe but who knows," Hikaru said back.
While looking at the clock, the school bell rang and Yuushi added on, "Now he's technically late."
As that sentence was finished, the door opened and their teacher, Mr. Yamazaki, entered and put his bag down, "My apologies everyone. I am bit late. First day back but that's no real excuse. Bad first impression after the break but let's begin."
There was a lecture on the various states of matter from their homeroom teacher and the morning schedule continued and concluded with a male physics teacher talking about motion and vectors. Classes were typical like this with students either talking notes, dozing off, using their imaginations to be elsewhere or a variety of other things. For a first day back, the lectures were not that difficult or long but that was to be expected though light notes were taken regardless.
Time passed in the high school until it was almost lunch. The teacher looked around the classroom through his glasses, "Either the end of this week or next week, I will talk about combining vectors and how this product affects branches of mathematics, science and engineering along with..."
By this time, most students were looking forward to lunch as the lunch bell rang throughout the classroom. Taking his leave, the teacher exited the classroom leaving the students to go where they pleased for lunch as per usual. Some students already had their lunches out and ran out the classroom while others opted to stay and eat and some others had no lunch and had to buy some food elsewhere. Yuushi and Ayumi got their bags with their lunches inside and met up with Hikaru at his desk as they headed down the hallway and Ryoko joined up with them along the way. Today, they headed to a large round table outside and pulled out some nearby chairs and sat down.
"You guys know what happened to me over my break, what about you guys?", asked Hikaru as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Nothing much. Just went to the observatory in the city, took a break, tried to go fishing but it did not go so well, visited some people, etc. You know, just things like that," said Yuushi as he opened a canned drink.
Similarly, Ayumi took a sip of her strawberry-flavored drink, "I learned how to cook a bit but nothing too amazing. The most exciting part of my break was when we went to the amusement park."
Ryoko pulled out a camera from her bag, "I'm thinking of joining the school photography club. Maybe even the newspaper club but I'd probably have to work on articles then. I wonder what interesting stuff has been happening around the school.
Yuushi was now eating, "Photography? So do you just take pictures or what?"
Now Ayumi was about to finish up her drink, "There a lot of things you have to take into account while taking photos I believe. Lighting, angle, lens, zoom and other stuff."
"Things around the school? Well, uh...there's the new philosophy teacher. Uh...uh...," Hikaru stuttered and thought up an answer, "Reiji Sikiri should be back soon."
"He was at the opening ceremony at the start of the school year before leaving for some trip or something. That's the guy whose father is some Duel Monsters business big-shot? His father is helping to fund some of the projects my dad and his team are working on, right?" questioned Yuushi.
Nodding silently, Hikaru also took a sip of his light-green colored drink, "Yep, that sounds like him. Here's a headline for you, Ryoko. Hikaru Aoki beats the overseas returner, Reiji."
Ryoko chuckled, "I'll believe it when I see it. I doubt people said he was the best at Delta for no reason."
Lunch continued like that until the bell rang again and everyone went back to their original homerooms as the remainder of the classes continued. In Classroom 1-D, there was a female geography teacher going through her lecture as the students had textbooks on their desks.
"Tectonic plates are found under the surface of our planet and earthquakes can be caused because...," she started to say.
Without warning, there was a small quake followed by an explosion out the window followed by flashes of light. At first, everyone thought it was part of the lecture but even the teacher stopped and looked outside. Next thing they saw was rubble explode upward in the distance as a shockwave destroyed a road with cars and other vehicles smashing into each other. Students began to mutter to each other as the teacher tried to figure out what was going on. Flashes of light kept occurring on the streets as people began to panic and run while a large machine resembling a tank with claws and buzzsaws plowed through the streets. Arcanite Magician began to glow as Yuushi looked at it momentarily but did not keep his eyes on the card for too long as others began to comment on the situation.
"What was that?"
"A movie?"
"Maybe it's a tectonic plate or whatever."
Then something flew past the school window and up into the air. It was a Winged-Beast creature as people could see its talons. Suddenly, the creature screeched so loud that students took cover as the windows of the school shattered. The panic from outside spread inside the school as students and teachers alike began to run outside and see for themselves what was happening.
Yuushi was puzzled, "I recognized that creature...it's a Duel Monsters card..."
Class 1-D ran out too as the roof was hit by lightning and began to crumble. Along the way down the stairs, they saw Class 1-A and Ryoko among them as the four friends met up.
"You saw those things right?", Yuushi quickly asked.
Ryoko nodded, "I saw a dinosaur running around. It was huge and on fire! I swear it looked like Jurrac Giganoto. That was no Augmented Reality, my D-Gazer wasn't even active and no AR Vision I know can destroy roads like that."
Hikaru suggested something, "Jurrac Giganoto, you mean the Duel Monsters card? Maybe it's a city-wide AR Vision thing? Like an experiment."
Again, Yuushi was in thought, "Another Duel Monsters card...?"
"If there was something that big, I think Heartland City would announce it at the very least," Ayumi said skeptical about the idea.
Students were screaming as they eventually made their way outside. However, nobody was moving as the front of the school was surrounded by cloaked fiends of some sort.
"Let's try the back," suggested Ayumi.
They turned around and saw a smaller crowd there but nevertheless, the same fiends as before were blocking the area. Looking around, they had all the entrances and exits sealed. Both sides were frozen as the students had no weapons on them compared to the axes the fiends were wielding. After a few moments, the silence was broken as the fiends began to charge forward. Nobody had idea any what to do as they weren't an organized group of some sort. The people at the front had nowhere to go and the people in the back were either too scared to move or had nowhere to go.
"So now what?! Anyone have any ideas?!", Ryoko shouted loudly.
Hikaru made a move for his Duel Disk as he moved to the front and shouted out with all his might, "It's crazy but I have one!"
He slammed Laval Cannon on his Duel Disk when suddenly a portal opened up in front and the blue-skinned Laval monster appeared. Aiming its massive mechanical arm cannon, a ball of magma was shot out at the charging fiend who exploded in flames. Students all looked at Hikaru as the other fiends began to charge. In response though, an deep laugh was heard from somewhere when cannonballs rained down at the fiends in front. Several explosions later, the only thing left of the monsters were dust and craters where they once stood. Standing on a small ledge a few feet above nearby was another familiar face with Captain Dreadeye.
"Hikaru's got the right idea. If we're facing Duel Monsters, then we'll use our own Duel Monsters to wipe the floor with them! Come on!" Masaki yelled out trying to raise everyone's morale.
Though nobody knew how it was possible, there was not one person who questioned how monsters could be summoned like this as the students began summoning their own creatures. A silver-armored knight appeared, followed by an aquatic gunslinger and then even tiger made of lightning. Other people Yuushi recognized from the Delta Duel Monsters Tournament made their presence known too.
"Blade Armor Ninja!", Sakura called out.
"Colossal Fighter!" shouted Yamato.
With three Batteryman AA on his field, Raima activated a Spell Card, "Short Circuit!"
The three identical monsters cried out as white lightning swept the remainder of the fiends at the back of the school. The fiends were jittering around uncontrollably before they exploded and vanished without a trace.
Everyone began to cheer when Yuushi received a call on his D-Pad. He opened communications and saw that it was his father who was calling, "Hey dad. You won't believe what's happening! There's some serious problems right now."
The scientist interrupted, "Does it have to do with monsters attacking Heartland City? Something's causing it and I know it's linked to Arcanite Magician."
Yuushi stuttered, "How...how did you know? Wait, what's Arcanite Magician have to do with this?"
"I'll show you a graph but basically what it says it that there's an abnormal energy covering Heartland City and quickly expanding outwards even affecting the neighboring cities and towns. The energy emitted is similar to the Iron Curtain which is similar to Arcanite Magician. For now, the situation is containable but if it keeps escalating, I'm not sure what will happen," his father explained.
"So you think the Spirit World has something to do with this?", Yuushi concluded.
Ayumi, Hikaru, Ryoko and other students gathered around and could hear Yuushi's conversation but they did not say anything.
Dr. Sakudo looked at the four and nodded, "Based off the energy patterns, it seems that something is calling out to Arcanite Magician. If you can get Arcanite Magician to the lab I can probably trace where the source of this strange occurrence is."
"So that's what's going on then? How's mom?", the boy questioned with great concern.
"Mom's fine. She can take care of herself," Dr. Sakudo began to say when alarms started to go off inside, "We have our own problems here. The fastest way to make it here will probably be by monorail. In an emergency like this, you don't need to worry about schedule or anything. Just work with everyone and try to make it here. I'll say this incase...don't do anything crazy. Call me if there's anything."
With a nod, the call was cut as everyone knew where to go now. If there was a way to solve it, Yuushi figured that it would be the best course of action. The other option was to blunder around without any idea what to do.
Masaki stepped forward and shook his head, "You heard the man. We have to get to the lab! If the lab has a solution, then let's see for ourselves what's over there! I wanted to take it easy today but I guess that's not happening anytime soon now."
This time, a second wave of monsters made up of machines and golems of fire, ice and earth started to approach as everyone planned to clear the way to the monorail.
Mr. Yamazaki brought forth his own monster with a Spell Card, "I use Level Up! Clear a way for us, Silent Magician LV8! Go on ahead of us. We'll hold the area here!"
The white and blue robed silver-haired Spellcaster-Type monster emerged and left a golden breeze of light. One of the machines charged but the teacher's monster empowered its staff and smashed straight through. This was followed in succession with another and another and then another destroyed machine.
By this time, there was chaos all over Heartland City as duelists summoned their own monsters to combat this seemingly endless wave of invaders. Eventually, they made their way over to the monorail and found it to be extremely packed. After a bit, they found a train that was heading to the outskirts of Heartland City near the lab. Yuushi, Ayumi, Hikaru, Ryoko and Masaki could overhear the other passengers talking about the situation as the monorail departed the station.
"What's going on?!"
"Son, just stick with me. I promise I'll get us through this."
"I heard that the outside of the city isn't that bad."
"Yeah, if we can make it there."
Masaki looked around, "So, does anyone know why there are real Duel Monsters trying to destroy everything? It makes no sense. This is crazy"
Yuushi crossed his arms, "There's probably worse out there. But, at this rate it's going...we're going to have a lot of problems."
"Thanks for the confidence boost," Hikaru said sarcastically.
Trying to find answers on her own D-Pad, Ayumi noted, "We're about halfway there at least."
Ryoko looked ahead, "Here comes trouble!"
In the next few seconds, they could see figures descending from the sky above. There were all sorts of things from floating magicians, elemental beings, giant bugs and even monstrous plants the size of buildings. Ayumi could see an incoming battle and she opened the hidden compartment in her Duel Disk and slotted in her deck. Since there was so much panic and preparation, nobody seemed to notice. Other people on the monorail did so as well as everyone was relatively disorganized but willing to fight.
"It's now or never!"
As a male on the monorail yelled that out, monsters were being summoned to defend the ride.
"Arcanite Magician!"
"ARM Staff!"
"Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!"
"Mist Valley Thunder Lord!"
"Dreadeye's Revenge!"
The monsters of the five emerged forth and charged out alongside other monsters from duelists on board. However, not all monsters were able to fly or float which left them stuck on the massive ship Masaki played. This seemed to be the case for many as quite a few monsters were unable to take off and fight which was a huge disadvantage but at least Dreadeye's Revenge could travel and float alongside the monorail.
The hardest thing would be keeping the monorail on track during all this fighting. It seemed next to impossible alone but Yuushi banked on everyone helping out and hopefully pulling through. A sphere of lightning was shot from the sky onto the bridge ahead by a monster above as people began to panic seeing that the train would run straight off the rails and crash into the road below.
A young girl stepped forward, "Let me help!"
She raised up a Trap Card as a platform of light appeared in front. With the fighting going on, the conductor knew that while there was a platform, it was not a track which meant that while the train was on the platform, it would be unstable for a second. While not long, they had to make it to the other side without getting derailed.
"Brace yourselves!", was shouted through a speaker which everyone on board heard.
Everyone either hung on to something like a pole, grounded their feet or just stayed as low as possible when the train violently shook for a moment. Some people hit the roof and many were shaken but overall, the train passed over the platform of light and revealed a monster which was quickly destroyed by a flying gargoyle. Another wave of monsters descended as the duelists on board were rapidly beginning to lose ground. The additional enemy reinforcements made it that much harder as monsters were being destroyed left and right. At this rate things were going, they would get rapidly overwhelmed. Dreadeye's Revenge was holding its own with a variety of monsters using it as either a platform or a second base. Everyone was tense and worried when something started to split the skies.
"What is that?!", Yuushi screamed out.
Everyone looked up as an unnatural storm came in from out of nowhere shaking the monorail itself. The winds got heavier and heavier as Yuushi could see a shadowed figure above. It had the shape of a large dragon when the dragon suddenly screamed out. While its howl reverberated, the skies responded as white and blue sparks began to rip the area apart.
People inside began to panic when Masaki muttered something out loud, "This looks like the Spell Card, Special Hurricane..."
"What...", Ryoko slowly said.
Before anything else could happen, a column of white lightning split Masaki's Dreadeye's Revenge in half as all the monsters on board were destroyed in the blast. Below, the road was split from the impact and the train violently shook once more. Now that a large force of the duelists were gone, the monsters began to get more aggressive and make their way towards the monorail.
Masaki was nearly speechless but screamed out, "No! No!"
Now, a teenager with sunglasses stepped forward, "I was saving this but let's see them get through this! Go, Draining Shield!"
From ahead, beams of ice were shot out from numerous creatures, arrows were being rained down on the monorail from the left while magical projectiles came from the right. A turquoise barrier materialized around the whole train as the attacks vanished upon contact with the barrier. There was no leftover remnants or effects as the attacks were completely negated upon contact. Cheers filled the train as everyone took a sigh of relief with this defense around their ride.
"You did it!", someone shouted.
The teenager proudly replied, "Of course!"
It was not going to proceed that smoothly since the barrier started to crack and the dragon from above was rapidly glowing. A third howl from the dragon later, the barrier shattered and the dragon started to come closer. Now everyone could see that the beast was a large indigo colored dragon with patches of dark blue scales and white-indigo wings. It also had two large grey horns pointing upward that were pointing towards the monorail as the dragon began to dive down generating gale winds around itself.
"Watch out!", Ryoko shouted to everyone.
Indeed, that got their attention with many duelists opting to use their monsters to protect the monorail from this beast. Now the dragon opened its mouth and an indigo sphere of light formed above the monsters. After rapid expansion, the sphere of light released a massive wave of lightning and ice as monsters were vanishing left and right.
Hikaru noticed his monster caught in the attack, "No! My phoenix!"
"Mist Valley Thunder Lord!", Ryoko shouted out in agony, "Our monsters just got blasted like it was nothing."
Monsters on the left side began to turn into blocks of ice and the lightning shattered them into pieces as the frozen beings vanished into particles of light. Even worse, the vortex prevented any hope of any destroyed creatures coming back as the particles of light were drawn into the dragon's mouth. Even Hikaru's phoenix with its revival effect was unable to come back.
ARM Staff stepped in front of the monorail as Ayumi called out, "Mana Protection!"
A see-through light green wall of light crystallized into existence and repelled the vortex of ice and lightning. Everyone seemed relieved but that did not deter the dragon as it was still charging in.
"It was that dragon's effect that destroyed all your monsters," Ayumi theorized, "My ARM Staff was able to protect against it thanks to its own effect."
Masaki was shocked at the appearance of such a monster and thought to himself, "ARM Staff? That's quite the rare card indeed...so, how does she have one?"
Arcanite Magician was busy battling on the other side as it released green crescents of magic that sliced through a massive ancient floating fortress which rapidly exploded in a ball of flames before crashing down.
The glasses duelist looked at Ayumi, "What was that? I heard a bunch of weird noises over there! Everything alright?"
She was assessing the situation as the time to go on the offensive arrived, "Let's see after this attack!"
Her Machine-Type monster pointed the tip of her spiked staff at the charging dragon and two somewhat wide and pointed extensions of solid magical energy formed outward from both the tip and the other end. Seeing something coming, the dragon covered itself with a barrier of ice as the people on the monorail felt a chill suddenly blow in. The staff now resembled a double bladed glaive.
as ARM Staff charged forward. Both forces met halfway and clashed releasing a wave of energy but neither side was budging.
"Come on, Ayumi! ARM Staff, take it down! You got this!", Hikaru shouted.
Looking more carefully, Ayumi could tell that it was actually just the opposite with ARM Staff beginning to get pushed back. Despite the effort, ARM Staff began to lose ground and the dragon roared violently and went for a final push.
Seeing this, people started to get worried though an elderly male stepped forward, "Young lady! I hope this helps."
A lustrous silver coat began to form over ARM Staff's armor. The full body armor, leg armor, gauntlets and boots were now the same silver coloring and reinforced over her old armor. With that change, ARM Staff held its ground in the air and the situation had changed with ARM Staff on the offensive. The dragon was getting overpowered and broke off the clash and went for a vicious swipe. The Machine-Type monster stabbed forward and realized a massive burst of energy completely enveloping the dragon's arm before swinging the staff upwards and slashing through the dragon with the other end of its staff. It was a vertical clean upwards cut through the center of the dragon who faded away into an outline of light.
The old man sighed and after seeing that dragon vanquished, everyone on the monorail let out a victorious cheer.
"Hopefully, that's that," the old man said.
Ayumi bowed her head down with respect and gratitude, "Thanks for helping my monster with Metalmorph. It probably saved ARM Staff."
Taking a step back, Yuushi was not quite as cheerful, "There's still fighting going on and something tells me that it's about to get a lot worse."
Everyone looked up to the sky and saw another wave of creatures about to descend down. Many people were already exhausted but they started to stand as there was no other choice.
"They sure don't give up easy. Wonder how many more there are," Masaki commented.
Hikaru prepared himself, "Doesn't matter. We don't give up that easily either!"
"Wait!", shouted Ryoko as she hastily got a Spell Card.
Seeing that card, Hikaru spoke up again, "We tried using Spells and Traps remember? That guy's Draining Shield held up but then it quickly shattered and we had to beat those monsters back."
The girl argued, "Yes but that time it was the dragon that destroyed that card. Now that the dragon is gone, hopefully there shouldn't be anything to stop this."
"Ryoko does have a point. Besides, it really can't hurt at this point. Our options are getting a bit low," Ayumi suggested.
Yuushi's Arcanite Magician was knocked back as the boy with the glasses quickly shouted, "If you're going to do something, now's the time!"
Without hesitation, the Mist Valley duelist raised up and activated her card, "Now I activate Swords of Revealing Light!"
Above the monorail, a flash of green light lit up the sky like a flare signal. Dispersing from the green light, swords of light descended around the fast-moving monorail and formed a barrier of green light with the swords of light acting as anchor points. A large colossus-like creature punched forward and hit the barrier of light but all the force was nullified as the monorail kept moving. Following up, sonic waves and fireballs from enemy Spellcaster-Type monsters were shot out but again, the swords of light held up as the train sped right through the battlefield.
Ryoko chuckled, "I don't think any of their attacks will get through now."
"Great job, At this rate, we'll be at the outskirts in no time and we can figure out what to do there," Masaki commented.
The next stop was indeed the stop that the high schoolers were planning on getting off at as the monorail made a stop. The Swords of Revealing Light vanished and Yuushi, Ayumi and Ryoko got off along with several others though ultimately chose to stay on the rails.
"Are you sure about this? You know that old saying 'Strength in Numbers' right?", Ryoko questioned.
The Dreadeye duelist confirmed his intention, "You have your part in this and I have mine. Besides, we were able to break their siege and saw how those monsters worked. I still don't know how or why this is happening but let's take advantage of our momentum and shove all these freaks out of Heartland City. There's probably others just needing some backup and our crew here should be able to do something now."
"I need to make sure that not only the city but also that my family and little sister Natsumi are fine. They said that they're holding up with some others but I need to make sure of that for myself. Besides, I think you guys will be fine as I heard that most of the fighting was in the city itself," Hikaru added.
Ayumi was concerned, "But there's so many monsters. What will happen if you all get in a tough spot? You'll need a backup plan."
Yuushi closed his eyes in thought but soon started to leave, "Like Masaki said. My dad said there's something he might be able to do. We owe it to them to try to help them out in our own way. Of course, it's the same with us. Ayumi's right though, if it gets too bad then fall back."
Everyone split up as the monorail went off with the three students heading towards the lab where Yuushi's father was.
The news that spread throughout the city was relatively accurate as there were no real threats along the way. The roads had fewer cars than usual and over the horizon, there was some smoke coming from the edge of the city. It seemed that the battlefield had extended all around Heartland City and Yuushi could not help but wonder how everyone was holding up. Soon afterwards, Yuushi could see the lab and the trio noticed that there were signs of a battle such as smoke and craters. They looked at each other worried and ran to the lab but realized that there were currently no battles going on despite the wreckage. Upon reaching the doors of the lab, there was not any security as Yuushi expected and he just managed to walk right in. Though he saw a few scientists and staff running around, nobody seemed to pay much attention to three students just walking right in.
"Everyone's in a big rush. It looks like they were able to hold off the monsters though," Ryoko remarked.
Yuushi sighed with relief, "Phew. I was getting worried about what might have happened but I'm glad that it turned out a lot better than I expected. At the very least, the worst case scenario was avoided. Now, we just have to find my dad and see what he has to say about all this. The Spirit World and Arcanite Magician and all that stuff."
Lastly, the dark brown haired girl made some observations, "Everyone's probably working on trying to figure out exactly what's happening right now. We never did find out all that much when we went into Nightfall's base."
"Do you think this is what Koji was worried about? As much as I don't want to say it, it would be nice to have his opinion on what's going on. No, any member of Nightfall for that matter would probably be able to give us at least some valuable insight", Yuushi admitted.
A few moments after, the group ran into a familiar person who was not Dr. Sakudo but was someone who likely knew where he was.
"Dr. Hotake!", Yuushi called out.
"Dr. Sakudo did mention that his son and some friends would probably come. We need to hurry. Follow me," the scientist declared as everyone did just that.
They ran down the hall and made some turns before reaching a conference room with Dr. Hotake taking the lead. The doors opened and Yuushi could see several people sitting around a table with a holographic image displayed for all to see. Among the people was Dr. Sakudo as everyone noticed the newcomers to the room with some people momentarily turning their gaze towards them.
Yuushi's father smiled a bit, "Yuushi. Glad to see you're alright. Your mother called before you came here and said that she was doing fine as well."
Dr. Hotake looked at the holographic image, "So did you pinpoint the source of these disturbances?"
Another much older scientist stood up, "Dr. Sakudo and his team said that they had something up their sleeve if his son arrived."
Getting up and hurrying over, Dr. Sakudo began to lead the high school students and Dr. Hotake out, "We'll begin right now. Yuushi, we'll need that Arcanite Magician card when we get to the next room."
Now the group was moving down another hallway to a larger room as Ayumi had a question, "Dr. Sakudo, I was wondering something. Based off what we saw on the way here, did monsters attack this lab as well?"
Dr. Sakudo sighed, "It was rough but we managed to keep them at bay without too much damage. The attacks in the city are much worse though. Compared to the battles there, we just had a light skirmish."
The group reached some wide automatic doors that opened for the group as they approached which led to a large, open room. In the center was a huge central computer that had screens circling the center area of the room. Attached to the computer was a strange device which acted as a small raised surface though it had lights, scanners and other devices build within. The only virtual screen that Yuushi could read or recognize was a digital map of Heartland City with various pinging red dots and covered yellow areas. One could assume that the red dots were where attacks were currently being held and the yellow parts were the areas affected by these attacks.
"The place where you all found Nightfall's base allowed us to gather some good information. Right now, we know that there is some sort of strange energy given off by Arcanite Magician similar to energy found in these attacks. We traced the origin of that energy and the only thing we know is that it's not from this planet or anywhere nearby for that matter," reported Yuushi's father.
His son's eyes widened, "Don't tell me that it's from the Spirit World?!"
Dr. Hotake started to explain, "We were able to track the signal to rough coordinates based off all our intelligence and data that we've gathered. However if we use Arcanite Magician which is likely giving off a similar signal-like phenomenon, our own tracing will be strengthened which will allow us to more accurately pinpoint the source of these attacks. If it is indeed from the Spirit World, then we can develop a plan of attack and defense or maybe even see how these attacks are even possible."
"I barely followed that but if there's something we can do, then let's do it!", Hikaru shouted enthusiastically.
Ryoko was still in awe of this whole situation, "So does this mean that the Spirit World is a threat to us?"
Hikaru jumped in, "Well, the answer's obvious right?"
"There might be a reason for all this. Certainly, it appears that the Spirit World is outright attacking us but that might not be the truth. That's why us scientists here though, to uncover the truth through all the factors that cloud our certainty using proven methods and statistics," Dr. Hotake proudly stated before signalling over to the raised surface, "Yuushi, put Arcanite Magician there and we should be able to use this machine to amplify any signals coming the card and trace it to an origin."
Pulling out the card, Yuushi did exactly what his father said and placed Arcanite Magician onto the platform. Electricity began to crackle and build up rapidly as jolts surged around the machine before the computer itself started to show warning signs through various screens. The scientists around tried to diagnose and stop the problem but things were getting worse. However, something was telling Yuushi that this electricity was not natural when the area around him started to fade.
"What the...I can't move?! Now what?!"
The lab began to fade from sight as Yuushi could feel his surroundings inexplicably change and vanish. All around him were clouds of white and dark purple as he tried to turn his head. However, he was completely helpless as his body faded into this unknown abyss. There was a black portal that he eventually fell into as the boy lost consciousness for a brief moment.
Taking a moment to open his eyes, Yuushi shook his head and realized that he could move his body freely again. Beside him was the glowing Arcanite Magician card as Yuushi picked it up and put it in his Duel Disk before seeing where he was. The skies were black and Yuushi could see the so-called sky which had stars, clouds, planets, moons and something that looked like an orange sun. The around area them was relatively barren like a mountainous desert with hills and massive structures of rock. He was silent for a moment trying to figure out what exactly happened but there was no time as Yuushi could hear a booming voice.
"So, you are the one that has received Arcanite Magician? Yuushi Sakudo."
Even with a scanning function on his D-Gazer, Yuushi could find no trace of this individual speaking to him. Looking around silently, the only visible things were the rock formations and the barren desert-like terrain.
"You seem a bit surprised so let me take a more appropriate form."
In the next moment, a massive form of light shrunk down into a slightly less massive silver armored figure with deep yellow eyes. The armor had a core in the center but based off what Yuushi could see, the core did not really do anything and was more for show. Despite this being's more visible form, Yuushi estimated that this figure was at least the size of a large apartment building as he looked upward trying to see directly into the massive being's eyes.
"How do you know me? Who are you?!", Yuushi demanded to know.
The figure answered back, "Currently, you are in the Spirit World. You had previously encountered a messenger from the Spirit World resembling a dragon warrior. Likewise, a human named Koji encountered a similar envoy and I know that you both passed their tests proving some semblance of strength which allowed you both to move into the Trial of the Two."
Hearing the news, Yuushi immediately shouted back, "If he was your envoy, then that must make you the master that the dragon warrior mentioned. Are you the lord or god of the Spirit World?!"
"Maybe to humans I seem like a god but I am the leader of the Spirit World and I sent Arcanite Magician and Dark Emperor – Sovereign to be my scouts. I have seen glimpses of your encounters in the past two years and I have watched over humanity's actions. I must say though that I am gravely disappointed," the figure bluntly stated.
Yuushi stepped in, "What does that mean?"
A vision appeared in front of Yuushi flashing through various events such as humans and various monsters fighting, humans destroying their own cities, a dragon burning down a city and humans waging various wars and battles throughout an ancient land. More relevant things appeared such as students in schools being bullies, the victims turning into bullies, the Waterworks incident, Nightfall sending duelists into that coma-like state, etc. Then it moved into Heartland City and Yuushi could see monsters from sharks, dragons, cameras, giant puppets, an acid golem, etc damaging areas in the city that Yuushi had heard of including the destruction and now ruins of Heartland Tower.
"How did he make me see those visions? Who the hell is this?!"
All those monsters in the most recent vision had one thing in common as this common factor was etched into different parts of these monsters.
Yuushi muttered to himself, "Those are Numbers!"
Lastly, it showed Yuushi leaving Koji in Nightfall's base as the whole building collapsed in on itself thanks to Koji's cannon device.
Looking down, the figure divulged its reason for the visions, "Since the beginning of your world, both humans and spirits have existed. Over time, humanity triumphed over countless obstacles and eventually thought themselves complete masters of the world. Spirits had less and less relevance until most of them decided to leave the world to form the Spirit World that you stand on now. Though humanity's strength and pride expanded, so did their power and foolishness. Their battles were catastrophic enough to result in untold damage to their own land, resources and even against their own kind. I watched over all this but have not personally interfered though humanity has gained enough power to begin to affect the Spirit World. In many cases, denizens of this world were called forth to do battle for humanity. Powers from spirits were drawn upon and some humans have even visited this world. However, I have only seen negative consequences from the actions humanity has brought into this world even to the point where a massive cannon was constructed recently in an attempt to destroy this world."
Yuushi knew what it was but did not say it out loud, "That was Koji's cannon in Nightfall I bet."
"Seeing that has made me realize that humanity's power will more than likely be used to eventually threaten and destroy the Spirit World. Even Heartland City has fallen under threats such as the Numbers and Nightfall which threaten to destroy your city. As such, I have decided that your world must be destroyed to preserve our world before the spirits pay the price that you humans have. These problems must be stopped before they get out of control. You cannot even complete the Trial of the Two which I have given you seeing as how your counterpart was done in by your own hands," the figure continued.
The boy was outraged, "You're crazy! You can't just destroy our world like that! I won't let you!"
"Yet you cannot stop me."
Before Yuushi could do anything else, his body suddenly became paralyzed again as he could feel an intense amount of force or gravity begin to crush down on him. He collapsed face-down and was powerless to move. At the rate it was going at, Yuushi's body would be crushed as he tried to struggle but to no avail.
A glow of light blasted out from Yuushi's Duel Disk as Arcanite Magician stood facing the boy. With a swing of its staff, Yuushi could feel the overwhelming force disappear as he got back up. Arcanite Magician nodded to the boy with the glasses as they both faced the mysterious being.
The being seemed surprised, "It seems Arcanite Magician thinks that what he has seen from you for the past two years causes him to differ from my opinion. Despite your fragile world, Arcanite Magician has chosen to stand with you for now at least. Your Spellcaster seems to be telling me that humans are full of surprises and great potential that could benefit the Spirit World. Then let me see this potential in a duel. Make no mistake because if you both cannot convince me that humans either do not pose a threat or can be beneficial to the Spirit World, I will destroy your world."
From the core of the being, a smaller version of itself was projected complete with the same silver armor and core only on a smaller scale. This projected figure was still around nine feet tall and could tower over Yuushi but this figure had a strange device on its arms which manifested into a deck. The nine foot tall projection took a step back into a duelist's stance and sized up Yuushi who responded.
"Right now, I'm powerless to do anything but follow along. At least in a duel, the odds are more even."
"If this is like the dragon warrior, then all I have to do is duel you and finish this! Just like with your messenger, I'll win this duel along with Arcanite Magician and we'll prove just how wrong you are!", Yuushi announced boldly.
Looking back, Arcanite Magician nodded and disappeared as the duel was about to begin with five cards being drawn on each side.
"Duel!"
Yuushi- 4000 LP
?- 4000 LP
Chapter 2 Preview
Yuushi: This is the most important duel I've ever been in. There's too much riding on this for me to lose. Leader, lord, god or whatever, it doesn't matter to me!
Yuushi: Those monsters are just like the ones the dragon warrior used. No, they're actually much different!
Yuushi: Even if you've been observing my dueling here and there for about two years, you'll regret it if you underestimate me! Chapter 2: Beginning and End.
