"You're doing what?!" Maddy and David asked together.
"I got an offer from Arcadia to join up with them because when I dueled one of their grunts they got actual injuries from my monsters' attacks." I repeated to them. "It comes up after the Fortune Cup. So I'm going to go up to them during it and distract them so you can sneak onto their truck."
"How will you get in though? You said you would be able to get in a few days after the Fortune Cup. You can't expect us to be in there for that long."
"I don't." I told David. "I plan on convincing them to bring me to the Arcadia building for preliminary testing of what I can do."
"What if they say 'no'?" Maddy asked.
"Then I'll knock on the side of the truck twice, that will tell you to get out."
"How would we get out after we get to the building though?" David questioned.
"We'll figure that out when we get there."
"That is not what we should do." David said. "We need some kind of plan. Otherwise they'll just get security to kick our asses and send us out."
"And I'll be another step closer to the facility!" Maddy yelled.
"Okay, well what did you guys have in mind?"
"I'm blaming you if anything happens."
"Nothing bad will happen." I told her. 'Probably.'
"We should still have some idea of what we're doing before we get to the cup tomorrow." David wasn't convinced.
"Okay, well, how about when we're on the way back from the stadium, you guys hide in some of their boxes of stuff?" I suggested.
"That could work." Maddy said in agreement.
"Good. Now then," I looked at the table with tickets on it, "who's ready to get Taylor back?"
"Me!" Maddy cheered.
"Sooner the better." David said.
"Great. Go get some sleep. We're getting there at six o'clock to get close to the front of the line."
"I should have gone to bed hours ago then!" Maddy joked. She kinda hates mornings.
"I'll see you two tomorrow." David said, leaving.
"Hey, could I talk to you guys for a minute?" I asked the Arcadia grunts loading boxes back into the trucks they came on.
"Listen, we're not in charge of recruitment or complaints, so take it up with the guy riding shotgun in this truck."
"Thanks." I said and went to the front of the truck. In the seat I saw someone I very much did not expect. "Divine?" I said, shocked.
"Ah, Devain. Nice to see you again."
"What are you doing with them? I thought you were working against them and you needed me on the inside to feed you information."
"I'm in the upper levels. You're to give me info from the middle and lower ranks."
"Couldn't you just ask people who are already in Arcadia to do that?"
"It's a very need to know basis organization. Low ranks might be privy to something that the VP might not know."
"Well, since you're so high up, do you think you could advance my test duel to when we get to the Arcadia building?"
He grinned. "I don't see why not. Hop in."
I climbed up into the truck as Divine moved over to the driver's side. I tried to keep him talking as the other two were hopefully sneaking into the truck's trailer.
The truck I was in drove into the parking garage under the Arcadia Building. It stopped in a spot marked for it and I hopped out of it. I looked to Divine when he got out of the truck. "So what's my test?" I asked him. The grunts at the back of the truck were struggling with two particular boxes because of their weight.
"We'll see, won't we?" He said with a smile.
The other truck's back opened and the Black Rose stepped out without her mask on. She looked at me and scoffed. "He's the best we've found in the past month?"
"Akiza, he's good at what he does. He just needs some help with his psionics." Divine told her.
"My name is 'Ryan,' by the way, so you can stop referring to me as 'he'." I piped in.
She glared at me. "I didn't ask, and I don't care. Just don't do anything stupid." She said, getting down from the truck's trailer and walking off.
"Don't mind her." Divine told me. "She's just a bit on edge because of the tournament. Come on, your test is this way." He led me through the building and I was slightly impressed by the set up they had here. It was very high tech. Soon enough, we came to the dueling arenas they had. Divine grabbed a duel disk from where it was hanging on the wall. "If you want to join, you'll start with this duel disk."
I thought back to my duel runner and my red and white disk. I nodded and put the silver disk on my arm. I looked out to the dueling rings and didn't see anyone standing out there waiting for us. Divine put a duel disk on. "You're my tester?" I asked, surprised.
He nodded. "I might as well be. I'm going to be the one sticking my neck out for you in board meetings, so I should know what I'm risking it for. Shall we?" He asked and waved his arm towards the dueling arenas.
"We shall." I said and the duel disk extended. We took our places on either end of a dueling arena.
"Your test, your move first." Divine told me.
"I appreciate it." I told him, looking at my hand. "I'll begin with Catalyst Field." I put the card into the field slot of the duel disk and the arena shifted to space with pink lightning and novas happening occasionally around us. "Then I normal summon Tuned Magician." A green ring appeared in front of me and the spellcaster jumped up from it. "I then used Catalyst Field's effect, I can normal summon a gemini monster one additional time. So I gemini summon Tuned Magician." A green tuner ring appeared around Tuned Magician. "Then I'll set a card and end my turn."
"I activate Emergency Teleport to summon to the field Lifeform Harmonizer. Then, I activate Psychokinesis, I pay 1000 life points and target a card on the field to destroy it. I choose my own Lifeform Harmonizer." The gooey monster sprang up and coated him, I saw some steam rising off as the monster disappeared. "I'll set a card and a monster to end my turn."
"I use Catalyst Field to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon to the field without a sacrifice." The dragon swooped down in front of me, its black and silver armor gleaming in the galactic battlefield. "Then I gemini summon it for it to gain its effect. He can now attack twice a turn." I smiled. "Tuned Magician, attack the face down monster." He conjured a ring of green light over the face down monster and brought it down over the card as a woman with a pair of cat ears was rendered down to stars that faded into the rest of the field. "Now, Chthonian Emperor Dragon, Twin Emperor Blast!" The dragon extended its neck upwards and the gleaming of its armor flew off of it as twin flames that slammed together with Divine in the middle. His life points were reduced to nothing and the galaxy faded and we were back in the duel arenas.
"You passed." Divine told me. "I wasn't hurt though. How did you do it to that grunt before?"
"I… I don't know. I was just so fired up and angry and wanted to get my sister back."
"Try to tap into those emotions when dueling other Arcadia members. They're not going to hold back and you shouldn't either."
I nodded. "Will I be able to get my runner soon?" I asked him. "I only paid for eight hours of parking."
"How long ago did you park it?"
"Six and half hours ago."
"Yeah, tell one of your Arcadia Brothers or Sisters that Divine wants them to drive you back to the stadium so you can get it."
"Thanks." I told him as I walked away from the dueling arena.
"What kind of wanna be just thinks he can walk up and ask for a ride?" The grunt said, snobily. "Why should I take you to the Kaiba Dome?"
"Well, one, because I asked you nicely. Two, Divine said so, and three, I need my runner back before my parking expires." I answered him, giving about as much respect as I was getting.
"Tell you what, newby, beat me in a duel and I'll take ya wherever you want."
"If that's what it'll take." My duel disk extended and I put my deck into it.
"Tell me, kid, you like cartoons?" The woman asked me as her duel disk extended in the same way.
"I have a feeling I won't enjoy the duel if I don't."
"Right you are. I'll start us off by summoning Toon Goblin Attack Force in attack mode." A horde of cartoony goblins hopped out from behind all the rafters and pillars in the garage.
"Toons? Really?" I asked, now dreading the duel.
"That's right, kiddo. Next, I'll set two cards and end my turn."
"Wonderful. I'll draw then." I looked at the card I drew and immediately put it into my field zone. "I'll start by activating Catalyst Field. Then, with Catalyst Field's effect, I normal summon the gemini monsters Tuned Magician and Heavy Knight of the Flame." A burning ring appeared behind me and the mage and chariot driver emerged from it, coming in front of me. "Next, I'll activate the spell card Unleash Your Power, giving them both their effects." The mage summoned a green ring around himself and the chariot driver's armor ignited, showing the spell had taken effect. "Now Tuned Magician is a tuner monster, and Heavy Knight has a very handy battle effect. Speaking of which, Heavy Knight! Attack the Toon Goblin Attack Force! Heavy Flame Charge!" The charioteer starting charging towards the goblin horde.
"That battle effect won't be going off! I activate Toon Defense! Any attack against a Toon Monster is now a direct attack!" A book opened up and the entire group of goblins hid inside it. The book fell over, making a ramp that Heavy Knight used to run over the Arcadian.
"Fine then. Now, before these two are flipped face down by Unleash Your Power's effect, I'll use Tuned Magician and Heavy Knight of the Flame in a synchro summon." Tuned Magician leapt behind me and green rings flew forward towards the flaming knight charging at me and he was reduced to bright orange stars. "Four plus four is eight, so come on out, my gemini dragon, Black Brutdrago!" The light shown in the rings was intense and as it faded, in front of me was a hulking black dragon with thick muscles, red eyes, and weights strapped to his arms. "Then, I activate his effect. By discarding one gemini monster in my hand, I can destroy one spell or trap card you control. And I think it's going to be your facedown. Brutdrago, Brutal Rush." The dragon rushed forward and slammed its massive clawed fist into the card, destroying it before it could be used. "Your move." I said, smugly looking at her.
"Fine. I draw." As she took the card from her deck, the toon book opened up and the goblins emerged once again. "I'll start with Toon World. I banish the top three cards of my deck facedown. Next, I'll activate Mimicat, to take the form of your Tuned Magician. Next, I'll set a card face down. Toon Gobbos, attack directly with the power of the Toon World finally with you!" The goblin horde all leapt over Brutdrago and brought their various weapons down on me, bludgeoning and cutting me. She grinned. "My, how the tables have turned. Though, the goblins go to defense mode now. Your turn, small fry."
"I'll set two cards. Now, Brutdrago, attack the Attack Force! Brutal Finisher!" The dragon leapt into the air, ready to bring a massive blow down onto the Attack Force.
"No! I need that for more attacks! I activate the effect of Toon Defense again, making it a direct attack!" The goblins were all sucked into the book again.
"You should really stop calling me kid, with your short sightedness. A direct attack reduces your life points to nill." I pointed out to her as Brutdrago used the book as a springboard and leapt at her with a powerful fist aimed for her. I was surprised to see it make contact and saw her fly backwards, making impact with the truck as the monster holograms faded away. I ran over to the woman. *Warning, curse words ahead* 'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!' I thought as I ran over to her. I didn't want to hurt her! She was nowhere near as infuriating as when I found out Taylor was kidnapped.
