Cipher 002: Living the Dream

Alone in the darkness He stood, waistdeep in black water. "You, the other who saw the Fall." A voice spoke out, reaching the depths of his mind. "It was seen, your desire. You want the power he wielded. They all wield." Words could be distinguished, words with unfathomable meanings. And He could not reply. "Perhaps you will last, he failed." The voice just kept on talking, leaving Him with more questions after every sentence. "The power will pass to you, remove that limit from your existence." The oily water parted and the black fog that surrounded him before started to creep up his body, slowly consuming him. He did not want this, he struggled against it. Until the voice told him one last thing. "Nobody will be able to stop 'them', if you refuse." And even though He had no idea who It spoke of, He gave in to those words. It was just easier to submit. He felt his body stiffen, his skin becoming rigid like metal and his limbs frozen like ice. "Do not fail."

"..." He awoke, Azars eyes opened to a new morning. "My room?" He lied in his own bed, in his own apartment. "But how..when.." He looked at his alarm clock. It was about 7 AM. "It's Monday already? I was out for that long, and yet I came back here?" The night before this, was a blur. What he did remember was leaving home from work, and meeting someone. "I fought someone!" Slowly the pieces all fell back into place, the entire duel against the wielder of Leviathan Dragon restructured itself. "What happened to me then?" However his memories did not go beyond the outcome of the game. He remembered winning, but not what took place afterwards. "Was it all.. a dream?" He had to consider that possibility. Up until now he had always believed in what he saw, but it was pretty hard to come to terms with all of this. That kid had summoned a real physical dragon, had hurt someone with it. And in the midts of that duel, he himself started playing cards he did not know he had, and he did not even seem to care about it. Though even if he considered all of that a dream, he was no closer to understanding what really happened. "When did the dream even begin?" Clues began to appear as he got out of bed. For one thing, he was still wearing yesterdays clothes.

And on his desk rested a disk-like tablet. "The D-Pad!?" Another remnant of the experience. "His dueling pad." Azar had sold his old dueling equipment, a simple dueldisk, some time ago, this was definitely not his. This was the one the stranger had, the one he took to start the duel. And inside the deck compartment were cards. "But when I took it, there was no deck in it already. It was empty." He carefully took the cards out. On top of this deck was Alexandrite Dragon. "Is it just my cards, or is there more?" He rifled through the stack, most cards were from his old beatdown deck. "The swarm cards, are not here? Or are they?" He did not see Evilswarm Heliotrope, yet nor were the three Gemknight monsters they were made from in there. He just had a set of blank unreadable cards. "Could these be them? The Numbered dragon and Evilswarm Bahamut?" No matter what he tried, the cards stayed featureless. "I don't have the time to test things." He still had to attend school, despite everything life was moving on.

On the way to school he purposely walked passed the river to check for anything that could prove that duel really happened. Unfortunately he found nothing out of the ordinary on the bridge. "Then..No." he shook his head. "I am not going insane. I know I am not!" He moved onwards. School was the same as usual as well. Though Azar found it difficult to focus with this many lingering mysteries in his head. What happened to his opponent? Who were he and that other guy? What was a Numbered monster? The quick online investigation he took during recess did not answer anything either, the questions plagued him the entire day. "Heeeeeyyy Azar. Can you hear me?!" It took the loud Shin to snap him out of his trance. "What..oh." His fellow classmate ran up to him as he was about to leave the school building. "You haven't said a thing all day, are you okay?" Shin asked. "I am fine." Azar said, as an idea crossed his mind. "But actually. You could do something for me." He then took his cards out. "I need to test this deck."

"Oh! You prepared one already?" Shin was quick on the uptake. "No problem. I might need some trial runs myself." He took a D-pad of his own, out of his bag. "You took that with you to school?" Azars equipment was back at the apartment. "Brought two in fact. Since I know you sold yours." Which apparently that was not be a problem, as Shin got a second model out of his bag. "Do you even have any study books or notes in there?" Azar looked at him with questioning eyes. "I can study at home. My mother will make sure of that anyway." He looked around. "Suppose we can't duel here tho'. The hall monitor will throw a fit." He knew just the place, the courtyard in front of the building. Duels, like many other outdoor activities, often took place here. "By the way, is there any reason you brought this up now?" Shin was not used to Azar being this pro-active. "Nothing specific." Azar had his reasons of course. But again he did not think sharing it would be a smart move to tell Shin the details. He was a nice guy, but he always had problems keeping secrets. Azar did not want to let anyone else know about last evening, not until he was sure it had happened. "Guess it's the duelist in you. I know the feeling, this game never gets boring to me!"

He activated his pad and inserted his deck. "Then we are ready." Azar had done the same. "No. You're not. You forgot something." Shin took another pair of devices out of his bag, and tossed one towards Azar. "What?" He caught some small lens-glass tool. "The D-visors. Don't you remember?" Shin fastened his to the side of his head, like a pair of glasses it framed his eyes. "You can't see a dueldisk or pads holograms without it. Plus D-pads are major upgrades from dueldisks, the holograms don't look nearly as fake or stiff as they used to! The visor can even scan all kinds of handy info on cards; rulings, trivia and such." He drew six cards. "Anyway I take the first turn!" He placed one monster face-down on his side of the field and ended his turn. "Of course." And now Azar knew, what was so wrong about yesterdays duel. "I saw..what I see now." He put the visor on, and saw the holographic representation of the set card, positioned like a three-dimensional object on the real world. "Then.. I could see Leviathan Dragon, and his other cards.. without a Visor." In fact even a set card looked less lifelike here. "But what matters now is this duel. Even if its already different, I must see if I can recreate the events." Azar estimated he would have to go all out, no holding back.

Azars LP: 8000 Shins LP: 8000

"I summon this monster." The first hologram that appeared in attack-mode was Vanguard of the Dragon, a spear and shield wielding reptilian(4/1700/1300). "By discarding a dragon-type monster from my hand. It gains 300 attackpoints." The Vanguard(2000/1300) charged itself as a highlevel but effectless dragon was sent to Azars grave. "Then I activate the spell card, Swing of Memories, to revive a normal monster from my graveyard for one turn." He used it on the dragon he had just discarded, the mighty rabbit/dragon hybrid; Rabidragon(8/2950/2900). "And the two will attack." The Vanguard threw his spear. "Neat trick there, Azar. But you will not damage me this turn." The spear skewered Shins facedown monster, an Apprentice Magician(2/400/800). "See? When my Apprentice is flipped, it summons a new level 2 spellcaster in face-down position." Shin set another monster from his deck. "So you run spellcasters now." Now Rabidragon could not attack Shin directly. "I will note that and continue my assault." The second facedown was destroyed by the Rabbit dragon. It turned out to be a Frequency Magician(2/800/400) who died with little trouble. "Then that was all." The turn was ended, and Rabidragon was sent back to the grave. Its revival only lasted one turn after all.

"Yup, spellcasters. I started using these because they can get out XYZ monsters real quick." He summoned a young redhooded girl(2/600/400) holding a bell. "Let me show you how. This caster here, Saambell the Summoner, can summon one monsters from my hand if it shares her level." Meaning he could summon any 2nd level monster. "I special summon Flelf!" Shin went with an blonde elvish swordsman(2/800/1300). "And I perform an XYZ-summon!" He overlayed the two monsters and brought out a more armored version of the previous Elf(2/1600/1000). "Rank 2 XYZ Monster: Shining Elf." Then Shin suddenly removed two monsters from his graveyard. "I also special summon Chaos Sorcerer by banishing a light type and dark type monster from my graveyard!" Apprentice Magician, a dark type, and Frequency Magician, a light type, were banished. A pale sorcerer(6/2300/2000) in black bondage gear appeared afterwards. "Now this is my assault!" Chaos Sorcerer blew up the dragons Vanguard and Shine Elf attacked directly. "Your move, Azar."

Azars LP: 6100

"You have got be kidding me." But before they could continue, they were interrupted. "I thought Azar joining you, meant he was going to help you study. Not that he would play card games with you!" Natasha had found the two, it seemed. "Oh ehr heya Nat." Shin should've seen her coming. "What else can you expect from a hyperactive dolt like him?" And she was flanked by her 'accomplices'; Longhaired Lucy with her many jewels and shorthaired Mia with her tomboyish clothes. "Certainly not good grades." They happily joined in on the chiding. "Well you're welcome to watch if you care." Shin shrugged them off. "I didn't say I cared!" Natasha backed off a little. "But did you have to duel here?" Her aggravation did not decrease however. "There is no policy against it." Azar simply said. "Well there should be. I can make it happen you know! It's bad enough that students keep skipping classes or entire days to do whatever they want." She hissed. "Oh I don't know. Maybe the monsters got to those." Mia snickered. "As if." Lucy just rolled her eyes. "School is over, we can do what we want!" Shin fired back at her. "Whatever. We have better things to do." Natasha turned her back to them and she and her friends walked off.

"Hope that didn't bother you." Azar asked once they were out of sight. "Never has." Shin answered with a grin. Azar just smiled and began his turn. He summoned his Alexandrite Dragon(4/2000/100). "Oh, this triggers my XYZ monsters effect!" Shin detached Flelf from Shine Elf. "When a monster is summoned, Shine Elf drains 500 of its attackpoints!" The elfs white energy weakened the gem dragon(1500/100). "I came prepared for that, Shin." But Azar activated an equip spell. "Amulet of Ambition, it provides a normal monster with attackpoints when it battles a monster with more level stars." The Amulet hung around the dragons neck. "Like your Sorcerer." And the dragon of four stars, gained 500 points twice, as Chaos Sorcerer was two levels above Alexandrite. Alexandrite(2500/100) struck and destroyed the Chaos Mage with its claws. "Another neat combo. But maybe not too painful." Shin barely lost any life in that exchange. "And none too useful against a monster with no levels at all." Shine Elf had a Rank instead of a Level, so the Amulet had no advantage over it.

Shins LP: 7800

"True." Azar planned to compensate for that. "I set this card." He placed a trap down. "Hmm. Do not like the looks of that. So...I summon Breaker, the Magical Warrior!" The crimson magician knight(4/1600/1000) revealed himself. This was Shins solution. "He gains a spellcounter when normal summoned. And can sacrifice that counter to destroy a trap or spell you control!" Breaker fired off its spellcounter, to shatter Azars trap: Justi-Break. "Oh that could've been painful. Good thing I got rid of it!" Breaker then proceeded to break Alexandrite Dragon(1500/100) with its sword. Since both cards had the same level, the Amulet did not do anything. And next Shine Elf delivered another direct attack. "Seems I am not doing so well." Azar took it well on the surface. Yet underneath he was getting impatient. After all those losses, he still felt nothing.

Azars LP: 4400

"Should I force it?" He drew his next card, which was Rescue Rabbit. "I have to try." He summoned the rabbit(300/100). "Oh! Nice! When did you get that!?" Which Shin had not seen before. "Last week. Anyway. It is time..I banish Rescue Rabbit to summon two Hunter Dragons from my deck." This time the rabbit summoned two thin black dragons; Hunter Dragons(3/1700/100). "Shine Elf!" Shin reused the effect of his XYZ monster to weaken them both(1200/100), detaching its last XYZ material to do so. "That will not stop me!" He tried to place both of them on top of each other. "You..were going for an XYZ-summon too?" Shin gasped. "...Still?" But the two dragons separated again. The black cards in Azars extra deck were still blank and his D-pad did not register them. "What should I do?" He quickly put on a less pained face for his friend. "Uhh, I forgot I didn't have any yet. Guess I end my turn."

"Really? If you need one that much. I have plenty in reserve." Shin then normal summoned another spellcaster, Gagaga Magician(4/1500/1000), and combined it with Breaker to form a rank 4 XYZ monster. "I could give you this one for instance: Gemknight Pearl" The monster was a pearl white warrior (4/2600/1900) "Though first I want to show off a little, if that is okay with you?" Before Azar could even a word in edgewise, Shin had played a spell card. "Oni-Gami Combo! I detach all materials from my XYZ monster, to have it attack twice this turn!" And like that, it was over. Pearl delivered two punches to flatten both Hunter Dragons, while Shine Elf delivered the finishing blow to Azar himself with his sword. Azar did not even flinch. After the last duel, this felt insignificant, and wasteful. "Sorry Azar, I can not resist a spell when I see it." Shin sheepishly apologized. "No apologies necessary. This deck clearly needs fine-tuning." Azar turned off his duel pad. "That's enough for one day...Thanks Shin." He said, forcing a smile. "No problem." Shin didn't notice. "Keep the pad. I will see you tomorrow!"

Azars LP: 0

Having made no progress, and with more time on his hands, Azar returned home and returned to searching for any kind of info on the net. He did not like mysteries, he had to know more. That was when he realized he had to look from a different angle. What if these late-night attacks were connected to these Numbers after al?. "Increasing number of coma-related incidents?" The articles he read about that subject, revealed that these attacks did not leave people injured, it left them in a coma. And even worse, it was happening across the country, it still was. Whoever he dueled last night could not have been the only one responsible for it. "So this has happened for a while now?" The first victim was found months ago. "Even before the light appeared?" There were up to half a dozen victims, ranging from ages fifteen to twenty-five. Nothing was said about specific locations, but one of these victims could have been the two people he met last night. "I must see them. If one of them is that man, I must find him again. He can help me get to the bottom of this."

(To be Continued in Cipher 003: Not Alone)

New Cards used by Azar Helder
Vanguard of the Dragon
RabiDragon
Hunter Dragon

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Swing of Memories
Amulet of Ambition

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Justi-Break

Cards used by Shin Artega
Apprentice Magician
Frequency Magician
Saambell the Summoner
Flelf
Shining Elf
Chaos Sorcerer
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Gagaga Magician
Gemknight Pearl

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Oni-Gami Combo