High above the chaotic streets of Domino, sat a small figure on the very top of one of the tallest buildings in the city. Perched on the edge of the roof of Kaiba Corp with only the safety bar preventing their demise via plummeting to the ground below, they swung their feet back and forth. In their hands was a pair of binoculars they were currently using to look through the streets, hoping to spot at least something alive besides the occasional miserable looking stray dog or cat that made them want to just go down there and scoop the poor animals away from the danger ridden streets. But alas, they had a job to do and while using a pair of store bought binoculars were probably not the most practical thing to use to try to scope the entirety of a city, it was the easiest, safest, and consumed the least amount of energy that would likely be needed later.

After another sweep of what little they could see of the downtown district they sighed and stretched their arms far above their head, trying to work out the cramps in their shoulders. They narrowly avoided hitting their hands on the large circular robot that floated several feet in the air besides them, the robot simply cooing in response to the close call. The figure patted the side of the robot gently and set down the pair of binoculars, an idea hitting them so suddenly they might as well as had a light bulb flashing above their head.

"19C, do you have a program that would be able to scan the city and detect any living people? Like, not zombi-fied ones?"

"Zombi-fied?"

The figure startled at the sudden voice in their head, nearly falling over if it hadn't been for the quick reflexes they had cultivated throughout their short sixteen years of life. While they had somewhat grown used to it since they had experienced and worked with 19C a few times in the past, it was still a bit shocking sometimes to experience a robot talking directly into your head.

Shaking their head, they huffed, "Sorry, not zombi-fied. Can you scan the city and see if there's anybody that isn't infected by the Honkai virus?"

19C simply cooed once again in response, lightly rubbing it's metal body against the lone figure's hair. Several electronic beeps then rang in the air around them, and it was several minutes before a white light emitted from the lights in it's face (or at least, what the figure thought was the robot's face) and projected a large hologram map of Domino city in it's entirety. It was quite detailed, showing the exact names of each street as well as the amount of Honkai scattered throughout the city, their presence on the map being marked in the form of little red dots. Among them, there were only five white dots that signaled those unaffected by the Honkai virus, one of them being the lone figure themself.

"I detect five unaffected human organisms to the north, heading towards our current location."

"Thank you!" The figure cheered and affectionately rubbed their cheek back against the cool metal of 19C's body, the chill being rather refreshing in the midst of the evening heat. It was quite a pleasant surprise to discover there was four survivors other than themself in the city, after all the current chance for a human being to have enough energy tolerance to resist being infected when exposed to Honkai energy, was around... 1 in 1 million. Having come across not one person, but multiple people who happened to be apart of that chance, was like hitting the metaphorical genetic jackpot in one hit.

They were startled out of their thoughts when 19C emitted another series of sharp beeps and the holographic map before them went fuzzy and disappeared for several moments, before returning with slight changes compared to before. The four white dots from before were a little closer to their current location, but so were multiple smaller red ones and a large red one which was not far behind the rest.

"Large amounts of Honkai energy are rapidly closing in on the survivors," 19C said, "Shall we prepare for battle Master?"

Said Master hummed thoughtfully and jumped to their feet, standing still on the ledge of the roof of KaibaCorp Tower. They adjusted the strap of their bag, before patting the holsters on their thighs, making sure everything was in order and prepared for an incidents in a confrontation. Once they had finished checking over everything in their inventory, they smiled to themself.

"Yep."

And with that, they leapt off the top of the building with unearthly grace, a large circular robot painted to look like a duel monster and heavy artillery attached to it's sides, following closely behind.

)-(

If there was one way Atem would have wanted to spend his afternoon, it would quite literally be anything other than running for his life to avoid getting torn apart by a large robotic-like beast that was roughly the size of a small house. He grit his teeth as he aimed a particularly large swing of his pipe at a group of what could only be described as zombies, knocking them all down, permanently, in order to create a path for those following close behind him. In the background he could hear the newscaster on the big screen plastered to the building behind them, her voice shaky and slightly panicked.

"Domino City had lost contact with the outside world this morning at 10 AM," She said, "The United Nations confirms that Domino City is plagued with the transmittable disease: BH."

Ah, yes. 10 AM. The moment everything had turned into a complete and utter disaster.

Before that time, Atem's day hadn't actually started off all that bad, in fact it had been pretty nice compared to his first week in japan. His alarm clock, which he swore had some sort of otherworldly vendetta against his very existence, had gone off at the correct time instead of it's usual thirty minutes late routine. He had even managed to take a shower and eat breakfast in time, before heading to school which was a miracle considering he rarely ever managed to get the time to do both. By the time Atem had reached his classroom, he had been in one of the best moods he'd ever been in since he had moved to Japan.

Apparently it had showed, considering that multiple people had felt it safer to approach him than they had the week before. Among them had been Anzu and Ryou, who had been nothing but kind to him and had even offered to give him tutoring sometime if he struggled to catch up with the work. The offer was appreciated, but ultimately unneeded as back in Egypt he had already studied far beyond what their class was currently at - not by his own will of course.

After that, school had proceeded normally until the exact moment the hour hand on the clock hit 10 AM. Their usually punctual English teacher, Chono-sensei, had shown up on the school grounds bloodied and injured. She had been promptly escorted to the infirmary by the nurse's aid, Notori Miyumi, to assess if her wounds were serious. In the infirmary Chono-sensei then proceeded to maul the living hell out of both the nurse and poor Notori, and before everyone knew it, the Honkai energy Chono-sensei had been infected with had spread quickly to the rest of the school. Only four other people besides himself had been immune to the energy, and they had then promptly had to arm themselves and fight their way out of the high school.

Which lead Atem to his current situation in the downtown area of Domino City, only eight hours later.

He grunted in surprise when he felt a hand with a surprisingly strong iron grip yank him back towards it, and another wrap around his throat in an attempt to choke him. Atem gasped for air and weakly grabbed the offending hand, throwing the zombie over him and onto the ground. For good measure, he placed a well aimed swing of his pipe at the zombie's head and grimaced when blood splattered against his black and white sneakers. From experience, he knew that it would be a bit difficult to get those blood stains out.

"You okay buddy?" His friend nearby asked, running to his aid and taking down the few stragglers around them.

Atem rubbed his hand against his throat gently, wincing when pain laced through his being upon contact with the sore area. From how strong that zombie was, he knew there was very likely going to be bruises in the shape of fingerprints on his neck quite soon. "I'm fine Jounouchi-kun," Atem murmured, "It just managed to surprise me from behind."

Jounouchi grinned widely and patted Atem's back roughly, nearly knocking the smaller teen over and onto the ground, "Yeah, well, that's why you've got the rest of us to cover your back y'know?"

"Indeed," Atem smiled in response and looked behind them, searching for the rest of their small group. Three students were several feet behind him and Jounouchi, all holding weapons of their own that they had picked up along the way after they had escaped Domino High earlier that day. A tall brunette in a pink high school uniform lead the trio with a surprisingly fierce expression, in her hands was a bloodied ko-naginata that she had pilfered from a nearby museum. Right next to her was an even taller boy with a peculiar shaped hairstyle in the form of a spike, carrying an old military pistol that he was currently reloading with a look of frustration on his face.

"What are you two doing?!" Anzu shrieked, her voice shrill and shaky with fear, "RUN!"

Atem simply nodded and grabbed Jounouchi by his arm and booked it down the street, narrowly avoiding the raining debris as a large white and pink accented robotic monster burst through a building just a block behind them, completely destroying everything in it's path. Jounouchi let out a high pitched scream as the ground beneath the small group shook, the monster charging towards them on it's thick legs that towered above them all.

Honda, stopped for a moment to try to shoot the beast and give the others more time to run but the bullets simply hit it's armor and it remained completely unaffected. If anything, it just seemed angrier than such a small and insignificant being had dared to try to shoot it and it roared loudly. Honda stared in horror before quickly jumping out of the way of a large leg that would've crushed him had he not reacted fast enough. He yelped and darted after the others, cursing the absolutely useless pistol that he had snagged.

"Bullets aren't effective on it!" He yelled.

"Nothing we have is effective on it, ya idiot!" Jounouchi yelled back, "When will this fucker just give up already?!"

Atem grunted in frustration and ignored the ache that was beginning to settle in his legs from the constant running they had been all doing for the past few hours. What Jounouchi had said was true, nothing they had tried with the weapons they had picked up earlier had any effect on the large beast and it was starting to wear them down. If they didn't think of something quick, it was very likely they all would end up crushed via Honkai monster.

He looked around quickly, trying to form a plan of escape in his head. The group was fast approaching Kaiba Corp tower, one of the tallest and most fortified buildings in Domino City and possibly abandoned due to the outbreak of the virus. If they managed to enter the building, they had a chance of escaping the Honkai beast entirely, or at least for a short period of time until it found a way in. Either way, it would give them enough time to recollect themselves and make a plan.

"Everyone, head towards Kaiba Corp! We can try and get away inside." Atem ordered, his voice firm and steady despite the shakiness of anxiety he felt in his chest. Trying to stop at the building and enter was taking a large risk that could possibly get them all killed, but he saw no other way if they didn't want to be worn down to the point of exhaustion and make themselves even easier prey.

"G-good idea!" Honda panted, wiping the sweat from his face and dodging a reaching zombie.

Anzu easily sliced through said zombie for him with the blade on her ko-naginata, whimpering when she felt hot and sticky blood splatter onto her skirt. Atem felt sorry for the poor girl, despite having obviously held up a strong front because of the current situation at hand, he knew from experience that it was never easy in the beginning to kill something that strongly resembled a human being. She shook her head and then the fierce expression was back on her face as she raced towards the entrance to the Kaiba Corp building.

Jounouchi was the first one to get to the entrance, his air muscle sneakers skidding against the pavement as he came to a stop in front of the door. Atem followed close behind, and to their mutual horror the glass on the door was already smashed in, fragments littering the ground. Zombies were inside, some of them already on the ground with bullet wounds in their bodies and a few others buried under debris from collapsed walls, trying to get out from underneath the heavy items.

The rest of the group came to a stop behind them, silent in their terror as they realized they had to either fight their way through the Kaiba Corp building or they had to make a run for it and hope for the best. Either way, they were clearly backed up in a corner and currently the only outcome to the situation Atem could see was their imminent deaths either via being torn apart by Zombies or being crushed to death by a giant robotic beast.

Anzu frowned as the Honkai beast grew closer, the cement cracking beneath it. "What do we do now...?" She asked quietly, clearly at a loss like the others. She sounded like a scared child and while Atem hadn't known her for long, it hurt to hear her sound so afraid.

Jounouchi readied his bat and growled, the tremor in his hands betraying his strong facade, "I'll go down fightin! The rest of you should make a run for it."

It was an admirable way of thinking, Atem had to admit, but there wasn't any possibility that just Jounouchi would be enough to halt the beast - nor would even their combined might be enough. They were only four teenagers, and out of them he was the only one with any training when it came to Honkai, but training could only go so far when you didn't have any effective weapons at hand.

Anzu seemed to agree as she stomped her foot and shook her head, tears in her eyes, "No way! Jounouchi, we're not leaving you!"

"I agree with her man, you're my best friend and if we're dying kamikaze style, then I'm going down with you." Honda said, a stern look on his face.

An argument broke out between the three and Atem frowned, glancing back at the monster that was only a meter away by now and seemed to be slowing down as if it was toying with the idea of their incoming death. He stood there for a moment staring it down as if challenging it to come for him, before a strange sound distracted him and the others from the situation at hand. A pair of binoculars fell onto the ground from above, shattering into little plastic pieces the moment it touched the pavement.

Atem looked up towards the top of Kaiba Corp tower, only for his heart to suddenly stop when he saw a small figure clad in black jumping off the roof and descend towards the ground at an alarming rate. Anzu, who had looked up towards the source of broken binoculars as well, screamed in horror and pulled Jounouchi and Atem away from what would be the assumed splatter zone of a soon to be deceased body.

"REMODELLED KURIBOH 19C!" The figure yelled, almost sounding as if he was enjoying his fall. For some reason, the voice sounded incredibly familiar to Atem and he found himself watching in wide eyed horror as the figure rapidly approached the ground.

Suddenly, what could only be described as a large circular robot with huge arms and a bad paint job meant to resemble a Kuriboh, quite literally appeared out of thin air behind the figure. The robot let out a loud roar and the moment both it and the figure grew close enough, it slammed the javelin it held in it's right green hand down onto the Honkai beast, emitting a large burst of light that obstructed everyone's vision and momentarily blinded the entire group of students.

Atem winced and blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the spots in his vision as Jounouchi and Honda made pained noises in the background, Anzu groaning soft curses and complaints about her eyes. The moment he was sure his vision was clear of spots and that there wasn't any fuzziness, Atem looked towards where the Honkai beast had been only moments ago, slightly expecting to find a bloodied body on the ground and another rampaging robot. Instead, he was greeted by the destroyed body of the Honkai beast and the boy from before gracefully landing on the ground in front of it like a guardian angel descending from the sky. The large robot, Kuriboh 19C, loomed over his small body protectively as he brushed himself off.

As the smoke cleared away and revealed their savior, Atem's widened in shock as he realized just exactly who had come to their aid. The very familiar sight of his best friend's gentle smile greeted him and he was surprised that he hadn't recognized him earlier despite the difference from his usual choice of fashion. After all, they shared the same peculiar hairstyle that drew attention from everyone around them.

As if voicing Atem's thoughts, Jounouchi shouted loudly from behind him, "Yugi?!"

"Jounouchi-kun?" Yugi looked at him in surprise before his expression brightened up considerably and he ran towards the taller boy, throwing his arms around his middle, "You're alive!"

Atem watched Jounouchi stumble backwards a few steps as he caught Yugi in his arms and hugged him back tightly, somewhat still in shock at the sight of his seemingly harmless best friend absolutely obliterate the very same monster that was about to kill them only moments earlier. Behind him hovered the large robot, the javelin in it's hand dispersing practically into thin air as it disappeared. It looked intimidating as hell, even with what looked to be a Kuriboh spray painted onto it's face.

Jounouchi laughed in complete astonishment as he stared up at it, "Buddy, I think the only reason why we're all alive right now is because you and your robot just wrecked the hell out of that thing."

Yugi's head perked up at the mention of there being others besides Jounouchi and he reluctantly moved away from Jounouchi to look over the rest of their small group of survivors, his gaze seeming to linger on Atem, his purple eyes becoming watery. "Honda-kun... Anzu... Atem... You're all alive..." he murmured.

"Indeed we are, mainly due to your actions." Atem smiled kindly at him, fighting back against his own urge to cry. As much as he wanted to run forward and pull Yugi into his arms, and collapse in a mess of tears and laughter due to the sheer happiness that filled him at the sight of his best friend alive, he couldn't afford to do so at the moment. Not only were they still all out in the open where another beast could find them, but he felt incredibly uncomfortable with displaying such an open act of emotion with people who he still wasn't quite close with.

"It was nothing much," Yugi said as he wiped his tears away, "Kuriboh 19C did all the work, I just helped."

"Okay, as much as I'm grateful to see you alive," Honda said, having seemingly finally recovered from his shock, "Can we have some answers?"

Anzu nodded in agreement, her face still pale from quite the fright she had received earlier. "As happy as I am to see you Yugi... I really just want to know what's going on. Especially like, five minutes before this I had no clue that you could just y'know... jump off buildings and destroy a monster taller than a building."

Her voice had gone slightly shrill at the end and Atem could see that she was losing her nerve just a bit, and he didn't blame her. Anzu had gone through quite a lot, being the one who initially had gathered the group together and the first one to find a weapon to fight back with. He patted her back awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her and Anzu shot him a thankful but exhausted look.

Yugi once again brushed the dirt off his shorts and his expression grew serious, "Of course, though we should get moving to a safe point before any more Honkai come along. It's a bit of a long explaination... so it would be better to explain along the way."

With that, he turned around and began to navigate gracefully through the wreckage of the Honkai beast, Kuriboh 19C following close behind him.