Storm. Rain fell from the heavens, dousing anything and everything. It was dark. A red blade cut through the air, brilliantly reflecting the lightning that crackled through the sky.

"What do you want from me!" The voice of a frightened boy.

The blade was stained a darker red. A body slumped to the ground, growing as cold as the winter city air.

"Nothing you need to live... just your dreams!" The voice of a cackling man.

He sheathed his sword and extended his hand to the shaking figure on the ground.

"Let's go."

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: Zero Radiance by Adriel Touchstone :

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"For ages, humans have wondered what exactly it is that gives us sentience. 'I think, therefore I am.' Nothing genetic gives us the ability to think – nothing explains the imagination. It just is. It's what gives us dreams. Dreams, of course, not bound to natural laws." The voice of the boy who wielded the red sword was the only noise aside from the ambient rainfall and occasional rumble of distant thunder – the storm was receding. Accompanying the boy's voice were images of civilizations across the ages flashing by, which suddenly changed to those of modern-day scientists.

"Recently, a group of scientists discovered a way to finally harness the Dream Drive, the source of imagination." The images switched to several businessmen.

"The Dream Crisis is an underground organization who stole the technology that harnesses the Dream Drives. All the 'unrelated' crimes in the past three days have been the DC experimenting with Drive technology." The...whatever... that was playing the images disappeared and the red-sword boy stepped forward. He had transformed out of the armor he was wearing and was now sporting a long, dark red coat. Underneath was a white dress shirt with the top two buttons left loose. Complementing the dark red of the coat was a pair of black pants and black Italian leather shoes. "My name is Vincent Antoine. I fight the DC. You're with me, now. What's your name?"

"Andrew Tersel...but why us? What makes us special?" Andrew was a stark contrast to Vincent's grungy professional look. Although the two were probably about the same age, Andrew retained the appearance of a teenager – khaki cargo pants and a black tee shirt with a white button-up shirt left open over the ensemble. His sneakers were no contest against Vincent's own shoes.

Vincent rested his back against the wall of the alley where the two were resting – a different alley, of course, than the one where Andrew had been attacked. "Don't know. When I was attacked with the machine, a sword appeared. But that must be the power of the Dream Drive – the power the DC wants."

"Do I have them? The powers, I mean" Andrew asked, still wary of Vincent.

"I don't know." Vincent took out a deck of cards and began to shuffle it, now lost in thought. "They would have been awakened when you were attacked, but I stopped that man from using his machine. Maybe..." he stopped shuffling and looked at Andrew for a second. "Don't move."

Andrew began to protest, but Vincent cut him off. "Trust me." Vincent held up his hand and a red glow surrounded it. The glow floated off his hand and, wisp-like, flew towards Andrew, expanding and spiraling around him, ribbon-like.

"What're you-"

"Waking up your Dream Drive. Don't fight it." The string of red energy continued to float lazily around Andrew, slowly losing its form. As its last traces of coherency disappeared, a weak white radiance began to emanate from Andrew.

"It doesn't look that strong..." Vincent said. He went back to shuffling his deck.

Andrew felt both apologetic and insulted at the same time. A silence passed between the boys. Caught between the two emotions, Andrew gestured towards Vincent's deck. "You duel?"

"Yeah." Vincent said, not lifting his gaze.

"Can I see your deck?" Andrew asked.

"You wouldn't know any of these cards." Vincent replied.

Andrew's eye twitched – he was getting tired of the way Vincent was treating him. "I'm a pretty good duelist... I know a lot of cards."

Raising an eyebrow, Vincent gave his deck to Andrew, whose eyes widened slightly. Out of the entire forty-card deck, Andrew didn't recognize a single card.

"How..."

"Dream Drive. When you learn how to use it, you can make a new deck of your own cards." Vincent took his deck back and continued to shuffle it. Andrew stared mutely at his own deck, a deck of the most famous cards that worked rather well... for him, at least. He didn't really do the tournament scene. However, he somehow knew that it would stand no chance against Vincent's own deck.

A few tense moments passed. All of a sudden, Vincent's spine straightened up, like he had been shocked.

"What?" Andrew asked.

"Something... not good. Come on." Vincent's coat swept out behind him as he walked swiftly towards the other end of the alley they were hiding out in. Andrew quickly followed him.

"You trash won't give it a rest today, will you?" Vincent asked. He and Andrew had run halfway across town, now both standing in a park and both rather wet. A man stood over the body of a small boy who appeared to be unconscious.

"Ah, so you're the one who eliminated our agent... the guy with no name. We just call you Red. And I assume that was the target?" Vincent's opposition was a man in a black suit with a black dress shirt underneath, now pointing at Andrew. He wore black sunglasses and had his shiny blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that fell just below his shoulders. The most noticeable feature on his person, however, was the black device on his right forearm, shaped like a small cannon barrel partially squashed against his limb. Attached to its top were three thin columns running along its length, one of which was filled with a wispy white substance, the other two empty.

"It doesn't matter. Give me the Dream Drive." Vincent said.

"Why should I? You'll have to take it from me, Red. And unfortunately..." the white substance glowed to life and the cannon morphed into a sword blade. "I'll kill you before you get the chance." The black-clad man rushed at Vincent, who materialized the red blade and slashed through the transmuted cannon. The metal end of the sword clattered to the ground, but the tube containing the Dream Drive simply cracked a bit. The cannon unmorphed itself, now incomplete and crackling slightly.

"I don't like killing people. So, I'll destroy your Zero Zone instead." Vincent said. He held his sword blade's flat side against his left forearm and it lost its shape, momentarily turning into a liquidlike form before solidifying as a crimson colored duel disk with dark steel card pads. "I'm sure you understand the rules." Vincent slid his deck into its slot.

"A duel? Alright." The man's stolen Dream Drive again glowed to life, this time materializing a black duel disk around his arm. "You'll regret challenging someone who knows how to manipulate a Dream Drive."

Both players drew five cards. "I'll go first, since I bested you in swordplay." Vincent said, drawing an additional card. "Crimson Knight is summoned to the field in attack mode." 1400/1000 A monster wearing red armor appeared on the field, sword drawn. "I set a card face down and end my turn."

The black figure drew a card. "Dream Shadow in attack mode!" 1000/1300 A large, black, inklike puddle appeared on the field, occasionally popping a head with two yellow eyes out of its mass. "Now I activate the equip spell card Seize the Drive!" The shadow began to pulse and swell in size, finally bursting upward and taking form as a vaguely humanoid, crouching form that was as big as the trees around it. "This card gives any Dream monster 1500 additional attack points, making it far stronger than your monster! Attack now! Black Nightmare!"

As the suit's monster sent its fist flying at Vincent's knight, Crimson Knight's armor began to glow, gaining golden trim and a flowing red cape. Furthermore, Vincent's own red sword appeared in his monster's hand in place of the silver sword it originally wielded.

"In response to your attack, I activate Emergency Armaments. This card allows me to play one equip spell card from my hand, and I choose Armor of the Crimson Order. This card allows me to instantly equip onto the same monster a Crimson Sword or Crimson Shield from my deck. I chose sword. It gives my monster 1000 more attack points and activates the first effect of Armor of the Crimson Order – one effect on your monster is negated during battle."

As Vincent explained all of this, his opponent's shadow shrunk back to its original size and its original attack strength of 1000. Growling, the man activated the white Dream Drive to partially shield him from the blast that would be forthcoming. White mist began to leak from the cracked container, flowing around him and creating a light haze.

"Lastly, I activate Crimson Knight's own effect - one of three I may choose from during any instance of battle. I increase its attack points by 500. That makes its total attack power 2900." Vincent's knight rushed forward and slashed through the shadow, some red energy spilling through and striking his opponent. (B LP: 2100)

The black suited man swore. "Fine! I set two cards face down and end my turn!"

Vincent drew, but before he could do anything, his opponent flipped a card. "Sleepwalking can activate only when I have a Dream monster in my graveyard! I remove it from play and take possession of one of your monsters!" He laughed harshly as Vincent's knight moved to face its former master.

Calmly, Vincent placed a card on his disk. "I activate Crimson Shield, equipping it to Crimson Knight." As the red and gold shield appeared in the hands of Crimson Knight, the monster floated back over to Vincent's side of the field. Responding to the cry of protest from his opponent, Vincent pointed to his Armor of the Crimson Order card. "The second effect of Armor of the Crimson Order is that when it is in play with Crimson Shield negates all effects on Crimson Knight, except for ones that modify only its attack and defense values." As he said this, Crimson Knight's defense went up. 1400 + 1000/1000 + 1000

"Attack him directly with Crimson Slash."

Vincent's monster ran into a misty black barrier. "Dream Eater not only negates your attack, but lets me summon from my deck a monster with an attack power equal to or less than the damage I would have taken!"

As Crimson Knight jumped back to its place, a large black wolf appeared on the field. "Dream Devourer is summoned, and its effect is very particular to this moment... its base attack is zero. But, when it is summoned, that value becomes equal to the base attack of one of your monsters. In this case, it becomes 1400 thanks to your Crimson Knight. When it is summoned by Dream Eater, however, it also gains the point value specified at the time of activation in attack points. Namely, it now gains 2400 attack points!" Vincent watched with some trepidation as the wolf started to absorb the black energy provided by the trap card and swelled in size. 1400 + 2400/0

"Fine. I set one card face down and end my turn."

Vincent's opponent drew. "Consumnation activates when Dream Eater is in my graveyard. One monster on your side of the field has its attack cut in half. And since you've been nice enough to only have one monster this entire duel, my choice is obvious!" (1200/2000) "Now then, time to rid the field of your little action figure! Dream Devourer, Jaws of Dream!" Intending to make the attack as painful as possible, the man's Dream Drive flowed again from its container, surrounding the wolf-like monster.

The wolf jumped at Crimson Knight and ate it in one bite. "Even with your 500 point bonus, you still take 2100 points of..." the black-clad man trailed off as his wolf began to glow red, finally exploding.

"Ruby Radiance activates when you attack my monster with a monster that has over twice its original attack points. Your monster is destroyed and the third effect of Armor of the Crimson Order activates. My monster is destroyed and you take damage equal to its base attack plus whatever bonuses are active at the time. Namely..."

Vincent's knight rose into the air and leveled its sword at its new target. It began to glow even more brightly, restored to its original power plus the 1000 point bonus from its sword and the 500 point battle bonus it could receive. 2900/2000 "I win." Crimson Knight glowed even more brightly than before, turning into pure energy and flying into its sword, which then flew at the black-clad man, striking him through and finishing the duel.

"You...you might have won this little card game, but you'll be finished once I'm through with you!" Vincent's defeated opponent ripped the Dream Drive off of his broken cannon and snapped it in half. Roaring angrily, he harnessed its power, growing much stronger. His suit's seams began to tear as his muscle mass grew. His hair fell out of its ponytail, lengthening to waist level. "You can't touch me now! Even with your little powers, I have two Dream Drives! You'll never get the chance to knock out my Zero Zone!" Now hovering, the man held his hand out. A blast of black energy shot from it, soaring right towards Vincent.

As Vincent was struck square in the chest, his clothes blew away to reveal the red and gold armor from before – the Armor of the Crimson Order that Vincent had used in his duel. Vincent bent low to the ground and dashed forward, dodging more of the man's attacks. As he shot behind his opponent, Vincent stuck his leg out and spun around, a cloud of dust obscuring the area.

"That won't save you now!" the black-clad man shouted, firing more and more attacks into the cloud and blasting up more dust as the following explosions ripped through the park ground.

Red lightning crackled within the cloud. Suddenly, a red bar of light erupted into radiance within it, blowing the cloud away. Vincent was revealed, holding his glowing sword towards the sky, eyes narrowed at his opponent. He flew upwards, slashing the man with his sword, the glow absorbing itself into the target's body. The stolen Dream Drive exhumed itself from his figure and dissipated into the air. Landing, Vincent again stood up, sword again in the air. "Red Valor Storm." he said. Motes of red energy flew into the sword's blade, again giving it a red glow. He quickly spun around, bringing his blade down to waist level. A trail of red energy followed the blade, then flying outwards. Stepping back into a forward position, Vincent stabbed forward with his sword, its bright glow shattering, each shard of light turning into a crescent blade of energy and shooting forward, growing larger as they flew. The man was struck first with the energy trail, breaking his defenses and knocking him backward. The crescent blades then struck him, flying forwards in a narrow curving path.

Vincent's opponent let out one final yell. The area around him turned pure white. A loud cracking noise was heard and the man's eyes went blank. The white glow fractured and another mist – the man's own dream drive, a black substance, flew out from his body. He slumped to the ground.

"Is he...dead?" Andrew asked quietly, moving out from behind the tree he was using to hide.

"No. His Zero Zone was shattered, so he no longer possesses the capacity to think. Technically, he is alive, though."

As Vincent said this, black droplets of water fell from seemingly nowhere. They quickly spread out and formed a pool around the man. The black liquid shrunk into nothing, taking the man's body with it. Turning to the right, he saw that the same thing was happening to the boy who was attacked.

"What was that?" Andrew said in shock.

"Wouldn't be able to tell you." Vincent replied. As he said this, his Duel Disk turned back into crimson liquid and evaporated. "Wouldn't be able to tell you..." Vincent caught his deck and started shuffling it again, walking back into the city.

End

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I have ported over the information from WolfGeneral's thread to my own forum for this fic

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