Leah LP: 1700
Number 17: Passion Aurora: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK_2500/DEF 1800 – 1 OLU
Tiras, Keeper of Genesis: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2600/DEF 1700 – 1 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Spiritual Haven of the Borealis [Field Card], 2 set cards
Katie LP: 1900
Number 91: Flarestormer: Pyro-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 4/ATK 2000/DEF 200 – 2 OLU
Number 94: Matrix Golem: Machine-Type/Xyz/Gemini/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 2000/DEF 2000 – 1 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: Fire Formation – Tenki
Hardly anyone was paying attention to the duel.
Matt was sitting in the front row, staring vacantly at the army of monsters on both sides of the field and barely taking any of it in. He was too busy pondering some far more pressing matters. Two in fact. Firstly, how he could make his team stronger. Team Delta was losing the Number hunt – it was as simple as that. He had no idea how many Numbers each side possessed, but he knew that Lithon and Kodoku had at least six Numbers between them. Then there was Skyler who, after absorbing all of Dan's Numbers, had at least eight. When added together, the members of Team Delta had seventeen, but individually they each had less than either of their opponents, not accounting for Numbers that they hadn't seen yet.
His second problem was how to heal Dan. The boy's memory had been wiped by Skyler a few weeks earlier, and as a result, he had lost all memories of how to duel, making him completely ineffectual. While they searched for a way to heal their teammate, James had said he would take over. James was perfectly capable of hunting Numbers, and had even managed to snag them a Number a while back with no help at all. The only problem was that he didn't care. Whether it was chores, lack of skill, computer work, or abject laziness, James would always find some excuse not to participate in the hunt. Even now, he was watching a news program on his computer, not even pretending to pay attention to the practise duel.
That left Matt and the girls in the hunt alone. As of late, Matt had been doing most of the hunting for the team, so Leah and Katie were now getting in a practise duel in the Delta's personal dueling arena, in order to stay in top form. Unfortunately, they were too preoccupied with their own worries about the future to put much effort into the duel, and as a result, they were doing little more than going through the motions.
Only Dan was showing any interest. Indeed, he was sitting on the edge of his seat in the front row, his arms resting on the barrier, completely enthralled by the duel. With his mind wiped he was little more than a beginner to the game, so he was fascinated by this exciting form of combat.
Matt watched him sadly. 'This is sick,' he thought to himself. 'This hunt isn't about just collecting Numbers anymore. It isn't just a pastime or a hobby. It's real. It's too real. People are getting hurt, their friends and family are in danger, and their lives are being ripped apart by an enemy they don't even know is there. This whole city is being slowly destroyed, and my friends and I are right in the middle of it. We're right on the front lines. We're dragging humanity into this war, one person at a time. Because that's exactly what it is… a war.'
His thoughts turned to the components of the war. The warriors: Leah, Katie, Skyler, Kodoku, and himself. Their weapons: the Numbers. The generals: Professor Usur and Doctor Lithon. The dead weight: James. The victims who'd gotten off relatively unscathed: Mizutsu, Makoto, Ryoki, Haydra, Edward, Drayan, Genjū, Feng, Huang, and Koshima.
And those who'd been less fortunate: Esta, Andrea, and Harrison.
And Dan, of course.
'…it can't go on like this…' he mused. 'This has to end. If the war goes on for much longer in the way that it's going, we'll all end up dead or worse. We have to make ourselves stronger, or we have to escape while we still can. One way or another, we have to find a way to end all of this, before-'
"Psst, hey Matt," James hissed.
Matt, startled out of his thoughts, twisted around in his seat to look at him. "What?" he asked quietly.
"Come and take a look at this," James replied, tapping his computer screen.
"Why?" Matt asked. "What is it?"
"Just come and look," James insisted.
Matt sighed, then heaved himself out of his chair and began clambering over the rows of seats to reach James, who was sitting four rows behind him. The girls, lost in their own thoughts, paid him no heed. Dan didn't even notice.
Finally, Matt collapsed onto the seat next to James and scowled at him. "Alright, I'm here. Now what's so important?"
James grinned and held out a set of headphones, which trailed from a slot in his computer. "See for yourself."
Matt eyed the headphones with exasperation. "James, I'm really not in the mood for another conspiracy theory about our boss."
"It's not like that – this is a recording from a news channel," James insisted. "Trust me, just watch it."
With a deep sigh, Matt scooped the headphones out of James' hand and stuffed them into his ears. "Go on then," he muttered as soon as they were securely in. James nodded and hit the play button.
"-to her as a 'modern day Mother Teresa'. No-one has yet been able to offer an explanation as to her remarkable abilities, but critics suggest that this may be some sort of trick, or even an advertisement campaign by the hospital. Nevertheless, as Deiana continues to tackle increasingly complex illnesses and injuries, it is quickly becoming apparent that Deiana may not be your average nurse."
The woman speaking was an on-the-scene newsreader, and from the looks of the gleaming white walls and lines of beds behind her, Matt guessed that she was standing in a hospital. As the camera panned around, he quickly saw a large group of people gathered around a single bed. There were members of the public, doctors, nurses, and newsreaders all mixed in together, and all staring intently at a single woman kneeling beside the bed.
This woman – apparently the one named Deiana – had very pale skin and bleach-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, but with a fringe that covered her forehead. Matt also noted that she was dressed in scrubs traditionally worn by nurses. She was leaning over a patient's bed – judging by the poor man's face, he seemed to be a burn victim, with one side of his face horribly scorched – and was speaking softly to the man, who nodded vigorously the moment she was finished talking. Deiana smiled and reached out with her hands, then paused and spoke again, apparently asking permission for something. When the man nodded again, she gently cupped her hands around his face, her palms covering a set of particularly nasty burns. The man winced as she touched his injuries, but the nurse ignored him and closed her eyes, concentrating hard.
A hush fell over the crowd.
Ten seconds passed.
Then fifteen.
Slowly, Deiana lifted her right hand and moved it further up the man's face.
The crowd gasped, and Matt, still watching, shared in their awe.
Where Deiana's hand had been moments earlier, there was now smooth skin, with no signs of the mottled burn marks that had been causing the man so much pain before. Matt couldn't believe what he was seeing. He moved his head closer to the screen, staring intently. He saw Deiana's left hand shift across to cover the man's mouth, and saw exactly the same thing on that side – the injuries had vanished, to be replaced with a patch of perfectly healthy skin in the exact shape of a handprint.
"What the hell is this...?" Matt muttered under his breath. James grinned.
The seconds stretched into minutes, and Deiana's hands continued to wander over the patient's face, removing any injuries she found. Through the earphones, Matt heard the crowd talking quietly amongst themselves. Some were calling it a miracle, whilst others were muttering words like 'trickery' and 'publicity stunt'. Matt didn't know what to believe. The scene before him was just too weird to take in.
Finally, Deiana breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, stepping away from the man so the crowd could examine him and the cameras could get a clear shot.
The man was completely healed. There were absolutely no signs of the mottled burns that had covered his face mere minutes earlier. Realising that his 'treatment' was finished, he spoke hurriedly to a nearby family member, who passed him a small hand mirror so he could check his face.
His transformation seemed to inspire as much astonishment in him as it had in everyone else. His eyes brimmed with tears as he examined his reflection, and he ran a hand across his brand new, unblemished skin. Overjoyed, he allowed the mirror to fall into his lap, reached up and pulled the mysterious nurse into a tight hug, thanking her over and over again. She smiled and returned the gesture, and all through the crowd there was a spattering of applause.
Matt just stared at the screen, dumbstruck.
"She's a healer..." he muttered.
"Not quite." Matt jumped - he'd forgotten that James was sitting right next to him. "It's not her. She's not the one doing the healing," James went on.
"But-"
"Just keep watching."
Wondering what on earth was going on, Matt returned his attention to the screen, where Deiana was parrying all sorts of probing questions from the reporters, insisting that she had to get back to work. "I can't spend very long here," she was saying. "Other hospitals need me. But I want to try and visit as many people as I can while I'm here." Smiling again, she turned and moved away to the next bed. The crowd made to follow her, and the cameraman that was allowing Matt to watch, who was pressed up against someone else's bedpost, chose to stand back and allow the throng of people to make their way past him through the narrow ward. The camera continued to roll, and Matt watched the wall of faces pass with indifference, already eagerly anticipating the nurse's next performance.
Suddenly, he saw a face he recognised.
Skyler.
Matt almost swallowed his tongue in shock. There he was, right there... the man who'd destroyed his team and hurt his friends. His hands curled into involuntary fists, and he felt the hatred burning in his very core as he stared at the despicable man. If they hadn't been separated by several miles and a glass screen, Matt was certain he would've laid into that man right there and then.
But what was he here?
Matt forced himself to examine things more closely. The first thing he noticed was that Skyler had forgone his usual attire, and was instead wearing a smart grey suit, which Matt assumed was to help him blend in more effectively, as Skyler's usual grey-and-black trench coat did tend to make him a bit conspicuous. He also wore a black glove on his right hand, which Matt knew was to conceal the cybernetic limb that lay beneath.
But those eyes... those pale blue, empty, soulless eyes hadn't changed one bit. But they were focussed, hungry... he was staring at Deiana with an intensity Matt had never seen from the stoic hunter.
Matt pulled the headphones out of his ears. He'd seen enough. "It's her," he said slowly. "She's a Number holder. Her Number's giving her the power to heal people."
"And..." James prompted.
"And Skyler's there, so he must want that power," Matt concluded. "Which means that Deiana is in horrible danger. We have to head over there and-"
"No, Matt, you're missing the point," James interrupted. "That girl's Number has the power to heal people. Well here's a crazy thought: maybe the Number's power isn't limited to physical injuries. Maybe it can heal... other things as well. You get my meaning?"
Matt shook his head in confusion.
"Come on man, this is a no-brainer," James insisted. "Both you and I know a certain someone who may benefit from a dose of healing magic. Someone... in the near vicinity, perhaps?"
Matt's eyes widened as it hit him. He glanced down the rows of seats to where Dan was sitting, still with his back to them. Then back at James. Then back at Dan. "Do you think that'll work?" he asked, finally returning his attention to James.
"Think about it," James replied. "The doctors tried all the conventional medical procedures. They failed. We tried all sorts of unconventional methods. We failed. If the process of taking Numbers was what did this to him, then maybe a Number is the only thing that can fix him. What do you reckon?"
"What do I reckon?" Matt repeated. "I reckon it's the only option we have left. How long ago was that recording taken?"
"A few minutes ago."
"That, plus the time it'll take us to get to the hospital," Matt said, more to himself that anything. Handing the laptop back to James, he stood up on his chair and bellowed down to the duelists below him. "Hey! Leah! Katie! Stop the duel!"
Leah stopped mid-move and glanced up at him. Katie did likewise, and Dan twisted around in his chair to get a better view. "What's up Matt?" Katie called to him.
"End the duel now!" Matt said again. "We have to get going! There's no time to explain!"
The girls only hesitated a moment longer, before nodding to each other and placing their hands over their Decks at the same moment.
Leah LP: 1700 [DRAW]
Katie LP: 1900 [DRAW]
"Everyone gather your gear!" Matt said, clambering over the seat rests to get to the aisle. "We have to get going now! I'll explain everything on the way, but for now, let me tell you this..." he made it to the end of the row and stood up straight, surveying his team grimly. "...it's going to be one hell of a day!"
Author-made cards:
Number 17: Passion Aurora
Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800
2 Level 5 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate this card's effects until the End Phase.
Number 91: Flarestormer
Pyro-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 4/ATK 2000/DEF 200
2 Level 4 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn, during either player's Damage Step, when a face-up monster battles: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card, then target 1 of the battling monsters; that target gains 100 ATK for each monster in your Graveyard until the end of the Damage Step.
Number 94: Matrix Golem
Machine-Type/Xyz/Gemini/LIGHT/Rank 4/ATK 2000/DEF 2000
3 Level 4 monsters
This card is treated as a non-Effect Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it treated as an Effect Monster with this effect. ●This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; you can Normal Summon 1 monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set this turn (you can only gain this effect once per turn). When a monster is Normal Summoned: Inflict 400 damage to your opponent.
Spiritual Haven of the Borealis
Field Spell Card
Face-up Spirit monsters gain 100 ATK and DEF for each Spirit monster their controller controls. You cannot Normal Summon non-Spirit monsters. Once per turn: You can Normal Summon 1 monster from your hand as an additional Normal Summon.
Fun Fact #1: This story's going to be a big one.
Fun Fact #2: Some of you may have noticed the underlined stats not only in this story, but now in most of our previous stories as well. Since FanFictionDotNet is finally allowing us to underline things that are also in bold, we've decided to implement something that we've wanted to do since we first started writing - underlining a monster's ATK or DEF stats to indicate its Battle Position. In other words, if a monster's ATK stat is underlined, it is currently in Attack Position. Likewise for an underlined DEF.
Fun Fact #3: A Skyler in a suit... definitely not creepy at all.
Fun Fact #4: The name Deiana is a shortened form of the name Deïanira, who was Hercules' wife in Greek mythology. When Hercules starts becoming rather unfaithful to her, she dips his tunic in what she believes is a love potion, but was actually the poisonous blood of the Centaur Nessus, which eventually leads to Hercules' death. Stricken with grief, Deïanira follows him soon after. Mythology can be very morbid sometimes...