'I have no idea how we're going to find Taylor before that woman gets back to me.' I thought to myself. I paced back and forth across the sidewalk. I looked up just because I needed to look at something else, and that's when I saw it. A billboard advertised that the Black Rose was going to be in the Fortune Cup! "That's it!" I yelled excitedly.
"What's 'it'?" Maddy asked.
"The Black Rose." I pointed at the billboard. "She's being advertised by Arcadia as competing in the Fortune Cup!"
"I love her deck…" Maddy smiled.
"Yeah, and she's a member of Arcadia. We can go to the fortune cup, and sneak onto their transport as they're leaving."
"And you think we can just waltz on in like nothing happened or that we belong there?"
"If we buy tickets to it, then yes."
"Right. Not used to just watching them…"
"We're just buying tickets to get into the stadium. We're not watching." I told her.
"Alright. We have a few days till it starts though, right?"
"Yeah. So you go do your deck building or whatever."
"You read my mind!"
As she went off I pulled out my deck and looked down at it. 'I can do this. I mean, the world's been saved with this game before, so what's one more person?'
I looked back up at the Arcadia building, towering above me in New Domino. 'Maybe Maddy has a point about making deck adjustments.' I put my deck back into its deck holster and put on my helmet before getting onto my runner. I rode down towards an old friend's. He didn't play duel monsters, but he was insanely lucky with what he pulled from packs. I knocked on the door and he opened the door, slightly hunched over with a pair of glasses over his brown eyes. He was in his gray hoodie and jeans, like always. "David!" I said excited when I saw him.
"Ryan, not that I'm complaining but what brings you here unannounced?"
"I need to borrow some of your luck. You know that pack that released last week? It has some cards that could help me out, and I plan on getting my sister back from Arcadia."
"Arcadia?!" David yelled. "Dude, how are you going to get through an entire cult of psychics?" He asked me as he brought me in.
"I hope it will be carefully and quickly. I know you don't duel, but I'd appreciate this little bit of help. Lady Luck likes you more than she does me."
"Alright, you buy however many packs you think it will take for me to get those cards." He told me.
"You wanna come with?" I asked him.
"I always enjoy a ride with the breeze going through my hair and across my face." David said as he ran his hand through his short black hair.
"Let's get going then." We left his house and got on my runner once again. I handed him my spare helmet and we were off to the card dealer. As we walked in there were a few people, but not as many as one would've thought. I grabbed three packs of what I needed. I set them on the counter and started to pull out the money I needed for them as David came up behind me with a lot of packs and a few individual cards in his hands.
"Dave, what are you doing?" I asked him.
"You said your sister was taken, and I'm going to help in whatever way I can. I'm going to learn how to duel."
I put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "That means a lot to me. Thank you for this."
"Uh, buddy, you gonna pay for your cards or…?" The dealer asked.
"Yeah, sorry." I said, letting go of David and putting the money on the counter. "Let's hope your luck turns out insane today."
Turns out, his luck WAS insane today. He was able to scrape together a decent deck, and I got the cards I was looking for, plus a little extra. We stood across his backyard from each other, ready to test his new deck, and my new cards.
"Follow my lead." I said as I started the duel. "First, I play Herculean Power, then I set another back row. Next I summon Tuned Magician in attack mode." A circle of light appeared and the magician jumped upwards from within it. "Your move, David. Draw a card."
He pulled a card from his deck and looked at it. "I summon Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn." The tanned man leapt upwards from a circle of light with his sword glowing brightly. "Then I activate his effect to send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard. He sent reinforcement of the army and Jain the Lightsworn paladin to the graveyard. "Now I activate The Warrior Returning Alive, adding Jain the Lightsworn Paladin back to my hand, but because he was in the graveyard, Raiden gets boosted by 200 attack, making him stronger than your magician. Now, Raiden, attack and destroy it!" The warrior ran towards my spellcaster and swung his sword up, my magician tried to block it with his staff, but that was knocked aside as he was slashed in half and he shattered into shards of light. A life point counter appeared in between David and me showing my life points dropping by 100. "I end my turn and because of Raiden's effect, I send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard." He milled the next two cards.
"I draw." I said as I pulled the next card to my hand. "First, I summon Blazewing Butterfly." A tornado of flame appeared in front of me and as it disappeared a large butterfly with fire wings was floating in front of me. "Now, I activate Dragon's Mirror. By removing the Magician you destroyed and Blazewing Butterfly from play, I can fusion summon one dragon. So I summon Superalloy Beast Raptinus!" I said as a mirror appeared before my butterfly and in it showed the magician. They both went into it at the same time and the mirror started to glow. Then it shattered and from the shards came my dragon. "It's stronger than Raiden and it helps gemini monsters when they get on the field. So, Raptinus, attack with effect thunder blast!" The dragon reared back and a blue lightning blasted towards Raiden, and it destroyed him, lowering David's life points by 300. "I end my turn."
He drew his card and put it in his hand. "I banish Raiden from the graveyard to summon Black Collarserpent. Then, I play Ruins of the Great Divine Dragon." A large statue and decrepit pillars surrounded us. "Next, I activate it, destroying Collarserpent." The dragon's orb of darkness on its chest expanded, consuming it, then disappearing. "Because of that I bring a White Dragon Wyvernburster to my hand. Then, I banish Collarserpent from my graveyard to Special Summon Wyvernburster. Then I set one monster and end my turn." In the end of that turn, there was a small statue standing in front of him, a blue and white wyvern floating next to him, and a facedown card next to the statue.
"My draw then." I pulled the next card and looked at it. I smiled. "I summon Crusader of Endymion." I said as I placed the card on my duel disk. The spellcaster emerged without his armor at first, but then it rose from the ground and floated around him. "Now, Raptinus, attack the face down card." The dragon launched a bolt of blue lightning towards the facedown monster. It flipped up and it was a smaller red dragon, Magna Drago. It was zapped to death and shattered light Raiden and my Magician. "Now, Crusader, attack the Wyvernburster." I commanded my monster. He reeled back as if to launch a punch and thrust his fist forward. The piece of armor on his right arm shot forward and pierced into the white dragon, destroying it.
"Because of that, I get to add another Collarserpent to my hand." David said, getting it as his duel disk selected it.
"You're getting it. I end my turn."
"I banish White Dragon Wyvernburster to special summon Black Dragon Collarserpent. Next, I destroy him with my Ruins, to summon another Dragon Lord Token." The dragon turned to stone and wrapped itself around David. "I add a White Dragon Wyvern Burster to my hand, then I banish Collarserpent from my graveyard to summon it. Next I set one card and end my turn."
I drew my next card and opened up the sixth compartment for field spells on my duel disk. "I activate Catalyst Field." The area around us became an expanse of space with lightning flashing through it. "Then, using Catalyst Field, I summon King Pyron without sacrificing." There was a ball of flames that condensed into a humanoid form then a cape of fire dropped down from his shoulders. "Then, I activate his effect. Once per turn, I can burn you for 1000 life points. Your majesty, use Royal Flame." Pyron's cape went upwards and dove down onto David and swirled around him, before returning to the King. "Now, Raptinus, attack the white dragon." Raptinus opened his gaping maw, and bit down on the dragon, crushing it into shards of light. "Crusader, attack the facedown." He launched his left gauntlet toward the facedown with a quick jab. The card flipped over and a white and red dragon appeared before being impaled on the armor.
"You triggered Masked Dragon's effect. If he's destroyed by battle, then I can summon a dragon with 1500 or less attack from my deck, and I choose Decoy Dragon." A cute little green dragon crawled out from under the stone of the statue protecting David.
"That's fine." I said. "Pyron, attack the statue in front!" I told him. The fire king put his hands together and thrust them forward, making a sideways spiral of fire, destroying the statue. "And I'll end my turn there."
"I'm going to do the same move I've been doing. I banish Wyvernburster to summon Collarserpent then I make Decoy Dragon into a statue and set a card. Now, Collarserpent is going to attack your King Pyron! Go, dark void breath."
The dragon launched a blast of dark energy at my fire king from its mouth. "I activate Gemini Booster, increasing King Pyron's attack by 700 points." King Pyron had a metallic backpack with a lot of sensors and an electrical gauntlet attached to each forearm appear. He blasted back with an flame tornado bigger than the darkness blast and destroyed the Collarserpent.
"I'll add a Wyvernburster from my deck to my hand. I end my turn."
I drew my card and put it down almost instantly. "I summon Dark Valkyria. Then, I activate her first effect and put a spell counter on her. Next, I remove the counter and destroy your facedown monster." The fallen angel's wings lit up with a dark glow and launched the power at the the face down card. The monster destroyed was a Galaxy Serpent, light, small, and beautiful. "Then, I activate Crusader of Endymion's effect. He can add a spell counter to one card that can use them, and I pick Dark Valkyria. Then I activate her again and destroy your Decoy Dragon statue." The two monsters shared energy then Dark Valkyria sent a wave of darkness into the statue of Decoy Dragon, making it crumble. "Now, Dark Valkyria, attack the Collarserpent statue." She launched towards the statue and pierced its neck with her wing tips. "Now, Raptinus, finish this with effect thunder blast!" The dragon braced itself on the ground and launched forth a bolt of blue lightning into David, winning me the duel.
The space around us faded back to reality and David was rubbing the back of his head. "I guess it still needs some adjustments."
"You still did great for your first ever duel." I told him. "It should be more than enough for us to get into Arcadia."
"Yeah, question about that, what do you expect to do to get in. Not like we can duel our way in."
"I'm glad you asked, we're going to the fortune cup and hitching a ride on their transport." I told him. "We may have to steal some uniforms from them to get farther than that."
"You're planning on hijacking a truck being driven by psychics?" David asked.
"Yes. Yes I am." I confirmed.
"Alright, what day? The tournament is over two of them."
"The first. We can't risk the Black Rose not showing up day two and missing our ride."
"I'll be there." He told me.
"Great." I hit the fist he held out. "Prep your deck. If what I hear about these freaks is true, the damage they deal in duels is real. Who knows what happens when you lose."
"I'll be careful." He promised.
"See you tournament day." I told him as I left.
As I sat down on my runner I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I looked at it and it was a number I didn't have in my contacts. I put on my helmet and answered it with the bluetooth I have installed on it. "Hello, this is Ryan Drak."
"Hello, Ryan, we've been wanting to talk to you. What is a time and place we would be able to meet?" A smooth male voice came through the speakers.
"A few questions. First: who are you? Second: what do you want with me? And third: Not during the Fortune Cup or directly after day one. I have pressing business those days."
"I'm a part of a nearby neurological development lab in your area, and I was told that you think a relative of yours recently volunteered their services for us and I wanted to make sure your family didn't have a history of mental illness."
"We're Irish." I told him. "Girls get the anger, guys got the enjoyment of alcohol and stubbornness."
He chuckled. "Thank you for that, but we mean actual mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or alzheimer's."
"I don't know of any. Is that all?"
"Well, we've recently been informed of some talents that you had from this relative and were wondering if we could get an interview for a job here."
"Without an application?"
"We've heard very good things."
"Fine. Tomorrow, four o'clock. Tell me where to be, and I'll be there."
"How about The Tandoori Star? I hear their Maghreb is divine."
"Sure, whatever. Like I said, I have pressing matters that I have to attend to, so just don't waste my time with it."
"We'll see you there." The man said and hung up.
'Weird place. I'll just go and see what it's about.' I thought.
I pulled up to the place they told me to go on my runner. Fancy. I handed the valet the keys to my runner. "Don't scratch it or hit anything." I told him. "Feel free to grumble though. I find it helps me a lot with letting out frustration."
I walked into the entrance with the reflection of my suit facing me. I looked around for the person they sent. I got a picture of the person they sent to interview in a text after they called. It was a man with brown hair that went upwards in a huge crescent shape. He had on a green tie, and black everything else. It was business attire, so it didn't look that weird. I kept looking around for him in the crowd of people sitting in the front of the waiting area.
"I knew you'd come." The same voice from the phone said from behind me as a hand was put on my shoulder.
I looked behind me and there was the man who was supposed to meet me. "I hope you made a reservation." I told him.
"But of course." He said as he went past me to the host desk. "Two for Divine." He told the hostess. She looked at the list and nodded her head. "Yep, you're right here." She grabbed some menus and walked out from behind the desk. "Could you please follow me?"
We followed her to the table and we sat down across from each other. I opened my mouth first. "So what do you want from me?" I asked the man.
"Let's get to your questions after we've ordered." He told me, looking over the menu. "Besides, you're the one being interviewed."
"Fine. Ask whatever you need to."
"What's your experience with psychic duelists?" He asked me.
"I've only dueled one and that was a few days ago."
"I see. Was there anything odd about this duel?" He asked.
"Well, I can confirm the rumors going around that psychic duelists deal damage to your body at the same time as your lifepoints."
"Intriguing." He said as if he was only half listening. "So, what kind of talents could you bring to our organization."
"When something needs to be done, I get it done." I told him.
"Splendid." The man said as the waitress came and asked if we wanted drinks.
We got them quickly and the man looked me in the eyes after his first sip. "Do you know anything about the Arcadia Movement?" He asked.
"I know enough to know that I don't want to join them."
"That doesn't answer my question sufficiently." He sighed. "You'll have to be more specific. What do you know?"
"I know that they kidnapped my sister and that they claim they're all psychic duelists."
"Kidnapping? I know that they're controversial, but that's one hell of a claim."
"My mom told me they took her and when I got home, that house was trashed and my sister was gone."
"I'm sure our organization can help you and your mother out with that. See, that Arcadia Movement's recent activities have been discrediting my firm's scientific studies. We're looking for some people to disassemble them from the inside out."
"What makes you think they'd let me in?"
"Well, that psychic duelist you dueled the other day? He contacted his superiors and said that you had potential. Both as a duelist and as a member."
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. "How about 'no'? I'm not a psychic duelist."
"The man's cuts, bruises, and burns say otherwise." He pulled out some photos of the man I had dueled and he did have some injuries where my monsters had hit him.
"So say that I am a psychic duelist. What do I do to get Arcadia to take notice in me?"
"They already have. I appreciate that you've silenced your phone for our interview, but I have a feeling they'll call you within the next…" He pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch, "thirty minutes."
"How do you know any of this?" I asked him.
"I've got people on the inside that at the moment can't do anything except observe and give me intel. So, would you like to join in?"
"Before I answer, tell me one thing: do your people on the inside know what happened to my sister?" I asked him.
"No, I'm afraid they don't. New people are brought in all the time. Hard to keep track of them all."
"Oh." I was disappointed greatly.
"But I'm sure you'll find her. They tend to give new members rooms based on last names, so you two should end up close together."
"So, what do I do to get in?"
"They'll tell you when and how." He told me. "You might want to turn on your ringer now."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned the ringer on. "I say we cut this interview short so that I can answer their call."
"I agree. You will accept my proposition, won't you?"
"I have a feeling you won't take 'no' for an answer."
"Very perceptive of you."
"Fine." I said.
"Feel free to go. I'm the one who invited you so I'll pay."
"Thanks." I told him as I got up and left. As soon as I left the restaurant, the ringtone started going off. I pulled it out and it was another number I didn't know. I pressed the answer button and put the phone next to my ear. "Hello, Ryan Drak."
"Hello, Ryan," a woman's voice said from the phone's speaker, "I'm calling you to see if you would be interested in coming in to talk about joining the Arcadia Movement. We can have you in to talk to Mr. Sayer in four days."
"I would be interested." I lied to her. 'I'll probably be seeing him sooner than you think.'
"Wonderful. If you'd stop by around ten o'clock at the Arcadia Building, Mr. Sayer will speak with you then. Do you need an address?"
"I should be fine."
"Alright, we'll see you then." She hung up and I put my phone back in my pocket. I looked at the valet. "Black duel runner with white stripes on the side, double wheels on the back."
"Yessir. I'll be right back with that."
The valet returned within 3 minutes with my runner. "Thanks, here you go." I tipped him and was on my way. 'Arcadia is going to hate me.'