Introduction: One of the things I've found out about myself as a writer is that half the time I can only write what I feel like. And after I got finished with my last story, The Scarlet Empress I felt like continuing on this series of ZEXAL stories for a little while longer. That said, I'm going to keep this introduction short. For those who don't know, this story takes place a little over two years after the end of the anime and picks up where my other stories, Vampire Papillon and The Scarlet Empress left off. I'd also like to thank K.I.T.T. RIDER for helping me develop this story. That said, on with the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.


Prologue

It was night as the psychic duelist, Brimstone, formally known as Clayton Forbes, sat alone in his cell at a very high security facility. All there was for Brimstone to do in that cell was to sit on his cot and look at his reflection in the mirror. It had been a long time since the redheaded psychic had taken a good look at his face. Normally a mask covered the upper half of his face, but that mask had been taken from him when he was taken into custody, as did his deck and duel disk. If he still had the latter two items, breaking out of his cell would be a simple matter for him. But without summoning a monster to focus his powers, all Brimstone could do was sit on his cot, look at his reflection and think about how a powerful mercenary like him had ended up imprisoned.

It had all began a few days ago when Brimstone and his younger brother, Clermont, now known as Splicer, had been hired by a young man named Dante Fairbanks to capture a young woman named Rio Kamishiro. The kidnapping was supposed to be an act of revenge against another young woman known as Cleo Atlas. Dante seemed to be under the delusion that he was some reincarnated prince, and that Cleo was the reincarnation of his archenemy. But the young Mr. Fairbanks had paid a large sum of cash for the job, so Brimstone didn't real care how crazy he was. When Dante's initial plan failed, however, he sent Brimstone and Splicer to destroy Cleo and Rio, and it was his and Splicer's defeat at the hands of the duo that had landed them both in jail.

Brimstone swore that he would get back at Cleo and Rio and everyone they cared about if he ever got out somehow, but at the moment that didn't seem very likely. As he continued to contemplate his fate, the psychic duelist suddenly heard the sounds of some kind of violent struggle from outside. Before Brimstone could rise to his feet, the door to his cell was suddenly torn away. Standing in the doorway seconds later was a mysterious figure wearing a black hooded cloak. All Brimstone could see under the hood was a pair of glowing green eyes and what looked like a featureless copper-colored mask.

"Are you the one called Brimstone?" the figure asked in a distorted but distinctly female voice.

"If I say yes, you gonna kill me?" Brimstone asked back as he stood up.

"I will take your response as confirmation." The figure replied before throwing a set of objects to the floor of the cell.

The objects in question were Brimstone's confiscated deck and duel disk, as well has his brown skull-like mask. Brimstone's lips curved into a smirk as he picked up the items, placing his mask where it rightly belonged on his face.

"Come with me." The hooded figure ordered before walking back into the hallway.

After a moment, Brimstone left his cell as he heard the sound of another heavy metal door being torn off its hinges. As soon as he stepped into the hall, he saw a slender pale young man with dark hair walking out of the cell the hooded figure was standing in front off. The young man was placing a visor over his eyes. Brimstone of course knew this young man as Splicer.

"Hey lady. I don't mean to complain, but who the hell are you?" Brimstone asked. "And why the hell are you busting us out?"

"I am called Anitak." The hooded figure answered. "And I have come here for the purposes of enlisting your services as mercenaries."

"So you want us for a job." Splicer deduced.

"Correct. But this is hardly the place to discuss such things." Anitak told them. "Please follow me."

Suddenly an anomaly that resembled a swirling galaxy appeared by Anitak. Brimstone couldn't help but think that the phenomenon looked like the kind of overlay network that appears when a duelist performs an Xyz Summon. Anitak walked into the anomaly and Brimstone and Splicer quickly went in after her. On the other side the three had ended up inside a dusty old abandoned warehouse with tin walls and high broken windows. The large structure appeared to be completely empty except for what appeared to be some kind of statue.

Splicer walked over to the statue to take a closer look. The statue appeared to be a bald almost monk-like male figure wearing grey robes. The right half of his body was painted back while the left half was painted white. As Splicer leaned in to take a closer look at the very realistic-looking statue, the object suddenly opened its eyes, causing him to jump back.

"Hello, Clermont." The statue greeted. "Oh, forgive me. I forgot you and your brother reinvented yourselves as Splicer and Brimstone. It's been a long time hasn't it?"

"Wait a sec." Brimstone spoke as he walked closer. "Is that you, Marcel?"

"Surprised to see me?" Marcel asked.

"You kidding? I thought you and the rest of our old gang bought it when I blew up that damn facility where we all trained." Brimstone replied. "What the hell did you do to yourself anyway?"

"Like the two of you, I also reinvented myself a little bit." Marcel answered. "My appearance allows me to fully express my art."

"I can't believe you actually managed to survive." Splicer declared.

"Many of us did." A high voice interrupted.

Brimstone and Splicer turned around, and standing behind them was a young man of about fourteen who stood at a minimal height of four feet. He had light-blue hair and iron-grey eyes. His outfit consisted of a blue sweater-vest with a white long sleeved shirt and red bowtie, along with a pair of tan slacks and black shoes.

"Hey there, Mortimer." Brimstone greeted. "So you're still alive and kicking too, huh?"

"No thanks to you." Mortimer coldly replied as he walked past them.

"Indeed. It was very rude of you to blow up the facility without taking our lives into account." A mellow female voice spoke.

Walking towards the duo was a young woman of about seventeen with long wavy white hair and very pale-blue eyes that seemed crazed. The kind of eyes that looked as though they had seen sights that no mortal being was ever meant to see. She had on an elegant grey dress that would've been fashionable back in the early 1900s.

"Hello, you two." The white-haired girl greeted with a large smile. "Lovely evening, isn't it?"

"Hi, Miriam." Splicer greeted back.

Miriam suddenly looked to her right. "Yul-chthot mriam sh'tal."

"What the hell did you just say to us?" Brimstone asked.

"I wasn't talking to you just now." Miriam informed them. "I was speaking with my gods."

"Oh jeez. I forgot about those freaky imaginary friends of hers." Splicer whispered to Brimstone.

Before Brimstone could reply, there was a small explosion of purple smoke in the corner of the warehouse. The smoke cleared to reveal a young man with short dark-brown hair and violet eyes wearing a sparkling red tuxedo with a white cape. Between his hands, the young man shuffled and played tricks with a deck of normal playing cards.

"Hey guys." The young man greeted. "Like my entrance?"

"So you're here too, huh Ayumu?" Brimstone observed. "This is like some kind of weird high school reunion."

"Um, excuse me." A soft female voice spoke, causing Brimstone and Splicer to turn.

Standing before them was a young woman of about five feet in height with long curly blonde hair and lavender eyes. She had on a long sleeved pink and white dress with a long skirt and a large pink bow adorned the back of her head.

"H-hello Clarmont, I mean Splicer." The girl greeted.

"Aw jeez! Hi Lucy." Splicer replied.

"Looks like your old girlfriend's here, little bro." Brimstone teased.

"Will you shut up?" Splicer responded.

"Hey, that's what you get for using dragons in your deck." Brimstone whispered. "You know Lucy is with dragon users."

At that moment, another person silently walked into the warehouse. It was another young woman with nearly shoulder-length plum-colored hair and copper-colored eyes. She had on a long sleeved black dress with a long skirt.

"Well, well. So you're here too, huh Kaede?" Brimstone spoke to the young woman.

The purple-haired girl glared back at him. "Don't talk to me, you wicked thing!"

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone's evil to you." Brimstone replied. "Looks like you haven't changed a bit. Well, looks like the whole gang's here."

"Not so fast, old buddy." A voice suddenly spoke. "Aren't you forgetting about little old me?"

Walking out from a dark corner of the old warehouse was a young man who looked to be about nineteen with wild black hair with a wide white streak down the middle. He had on a black muscle shirt with grey jeans and fingerless black gloves. On the buckle of his belt was a hexagonal symbol that was white on the right side and black on the left, and in the middle was a large letter A with a reversed color scheme. A black eyepatch covered the young man's right eyes, and on his face was a mad grin.

Splicer went even paler upon seeing the man. "Oh shit!"

Brimstone let out a heavy sigh. "Hello, Kaine."

"It's been a long time, huh guys?" Kaine spoke as he walked towards them. "Bet you never thought you'd see me again, did ya?"

"Well, a guy can dream, can't he?" Brimstone replied.

At this, Kaine chuckled. "I always did like that sense of humor of yours, Clay. Almost makes me forgive the fact that you left me for dead, and that I lost my eye because of that explosion you caused. …Almost."

"Aw, c'mon Kaine! I did all of us a favor when I blew up that hell hole we were all in!" Brimstone pointed out.

"Now, now. No need to get all excited, Clay." Kaine told him. "Hell, if I wanted you two dead, you would've become bloodstains on the wall as soon as you walked in here. But you do owe all of us big time for leaving us all high and dry back then. Which is why you're gonna help us out with this next job, and you're gonna do exactly as I say. Or I can just make that bloodstain thing happen right now."

"Well… I guess when you put it like that, how can I say no?" Brimstone replied.

"If you're all finished, I believe we should get down to business." Anitak interrupted.

"Right. Sorry 'bout that." Kaine told her. "So what's this job you want us to do?"

"I want you to use any means necessary to eliminate the targets I am about to show you." Anitak answered.

Suddenly seven holographic screens appeared in the air in front of Anitak, each one of them showing a picture of young people who looked to be high school students. The seven targets were six young men and one young woman, and it was the young woman that instantly caught Brimstone and Splicer's attention. The young woman had long blue hair and pinkish eyes. Both of them knew her very well as Rio Kamishiro.

"Well what do you know? Looks like we get a chance to settle the score with Fairbanks's ice princess." Brimstone grinned.

"You know the one girl we're supposed to take out?" Kaine asked.

"She's from our last job that went south." Brimstone explained.

"Ms. Anitak, why exactly do you want these seven targets eliminated?" Mortimer asked.

"All I will tell you is that they are a hindrance to my plans." Anitak answered. "That, and they are no ordinary humans."

"Um… is one of them a dragon user?" Lucy asked.

"The one called Mizael uses a dragon deck, yes." Anitak confirmed. "In addition to these seven, there are two secondary targets that I wish you to eliminate as well."

The seven floating screens vanished and were replaced by two new ones. One of the screens showed a young woman with blue hair with two small gold highlights and blue eyes. The second screen showed another young woman with long dark hair and violet eyes, who Brimstone and Splicer instantly recognized as Cleo Atlas.

"So we get to go after the Atlas bitch too?" Brimstone observed. "Looks like this'll be a good job after all."

"The other target is Hikari Fudo, the eldest daughter of Yusei Fudo and the one many of you may know as the Black Rose Witch." Anitak continued. "These two targets are the reason why I enlisted the added help of Mr. Brimstone and Mr. Splicer."

"Well, I guess it's pretty obvious why you want a bunch of psychic duelists like us to do this job." Kaine spoke. "But I am a businessman. So I gotta ask what you're gonna give us to do this job?"

"You will amply compensated financially for your services, of course." Anitak assured him. "But more importantly, you will be able to satisfy the desire for destruction that I'm sure most of you have. Plus I'm sure you will find no other targets that are more challenging."

"That's good enough for me." Kaine told her. "You just hired yourself some mercenaries, lady."


Author's Note: I'd once again like to thank K.I.T.T. RIDER for her help with this story. She helped me develop most of the OC that have appeared in this prologue. I like to think I do an okay job coming up with characters, but because of the large cast of antagonists I was dealing with, I felt like I needed some backup. Without KITT's help, this story would've taken a lot longer to get off the ground.

Please review and let me know what you think.