Vile: Whew. I was cutting this one a little close to my deadline, but Chapter 3 is up and running! In case you guys were curious, I was actually working today. I have infrequent work days now at different jobs to give myself some work experience, but thankfully, I've been able to keep this going. Enjoy this Chapter, folks!
Numbershot 49: The Most Dangerous Time of the Year
Chapter 3
The group made it up the block, Orbital leading them on a bit of a chase, before they looked up and saw a card floating through the air toward them. "There it is!" Orbital shouted.
"Get it!" Yuma cried. He, Kaito, Orbital, and Haruto leapt at the card and tried to grab it, but the card moved in a way that almost seemed like it was dodging them, making all four of them fail and land on the ground in a series of four THUDs. The card itself then floated down and ended up landing in Kotori's hairbun.
"Ow…" Haruto groaned.
"Well, that was anti-climactic." Jenaveve mused.
'Tell me, my dear... what is your wish?'
Kotori gasped. "What is it, Kotori?" Jenaveve asked.
"I… just heard a voice talk to me." Kotori replied nervously.
"I didn't hear anything." Yuma said, he and the other guys picking themselves up off the ground.
"Could the Number be sentient?" Mia wondered.
'There's no need to distrust me... I am only here to give you what you want.' The voice mused again, the voice a bit clearer and obviously female.
Kotori took the card out of her hair and looked at it, noting that it was blank outside of its black frame. It didn't even have a name. Wondering if it could hear them, Kotori asked it a question. "But why?"
A brief silence ensued before it spoke again. 'I...do not know. But I know it is my nature to grant the wishes of those who hold me.'
Kotori felt uncertain at its words. "Well, there's nothing that I truly want at the moment..."
"What did it say, Kotori?" Jenaveve asked.
"It says that its nature is to grant the wishes of whoever holds it." Yuma and Kaito nodded at each other, now with confirmation of Kaito's theory.
Astral floated behind Kotori to look at the card, rubbing his chin with his fingers. "Its powers have awakened, but it has no image. How strange."
'Surely, a desire must exist somewhere in your heart...' The Number cooed to Kotori.
"Uh… not really. I'm pretty happy with things as they are." Kotori replied. "I'm just glad you didn't fall into the wrong hands."
"Indeed. With this Number in our possession, no Numbers remain in the hands of the unknown." Mia added.
"Well, that's that, everyone. Let's go home, call the others, and start making a play to storm the Distributor's stronghold and get back the rest of the Numbers." Yuma said, pumping his fist for emphasis. Everyone present nodded, and they started to head back home. However…
BANG! BANG!
Two loud gunshots rang out, scaring everyone. "Nyah! What was that?!" Dog-chan cried.
"Orbital, scan, now!" Kaito cried.
"Kashiko-" Orbital tried to say, but another shot rang out, this one piercing right through Orbital and making him scream in pain.
"ORBITAL!" Kaito, Jenaveve, and Haruto cried. Orbital landed in a heap on the ground, still functional, but having electricity crackling from his wound.
"'Fraid I can't let your little friend spoil my hunt, mate." A voice said, his Japanese peppered with a bit of English with an Australian accent. The group turned around and saw a very strange man approaching them. He was a bulky, somewhat dark-skinned man with a slightly bulbous face, teal eyes, and brown hair in a short ponytail, with a thick brown mustache that went straight across his face and into his sideburns. He wore a black shirt with a dark green vest like one would see on hunters, khaki pants, and brown boots, and was holding what looked like some sort of hunting rifle. "And I'll be takin' that Number, too, if you don't mind."
"Just the sound of your voice makes it clear that we shouldn't." Yuma said, narrowing his eyes.
"You must be the Tsukumo brat the boss told me about." The man said with a smirk, then looking at Kaito and Haruto. "Which makes you the Tenjo siblings. Heh, well, big game all around. But, for now…" He then pointed his rifle at Kotori, somehow wielding it with one hand. "I'll settle for the bounty on that failed experiment right there."
Kotori started sweating bullets at the rifle pointed at her, Yuma moving in front of her. "What do you mean, 'failed experiment'?"
"That's neither your concern, nor is it mine. All I needed to know from The Distributor was what to look for and how to track it."
"I should've known he'd be after such a Number. He couldn't take the holiday off?" Haruto rhetorically asked.
The man didn't say anything, keeping his rifle tracked on Kotori in spite of Yuma being in front of her. In an instant, he quickly aimed at her exposed wrist and pulled the trigger, firing a beam of red energy from the rifle that actually wrapped around its target. "Now I gotcha."
"Ngh! What is this?!" Kotori cried.
"It's a Duel Anchor, makin' sure you won't get away. I'm sure Kite over there knows all 'bout it, it being his tech an' all." The man said.
"Looks like even a hunter with a gun prefers a Duel to settle things." Kaito mused.
"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt more than anyone, but with that card in her hands, this'll be the next best thing."
Yuma looked back at Kotori. "Don't let him psyche you out, Kotori. You can handle this guy." Kotori nodded.
"Don't be so sure, mate." The man said, placing his rifle overtop of his arm. The rifle then began to shift and change before it had changed into a makeshift Duel Disk. "I doubt your little girlfriend's faced anything like what I got in old Shirley here."
"Didn't you ever learn not to underestimate your prey?" Kotori asked.
Haruto imitated a burn sound effect with a smirk. "Ouch." Dog-chan giggled.
"Why do you think I'm goin' for you? Your boyfriend's Deck may be a mess, but with the original Number looking over his shoulder, I need an extra edge. Same with Kite's Dragon." The hunter told her. "That just leaves you and Pinky, and from what I know, your Deck won't last long in the savage jungle."
Mia felt a little annoyed. "Kotori, let's prove this creep wrong."
"My thoughts exactly." Kotori replied, throwing her D-Pad into the air. "Duel Disk, set!" The device clacked onto her wrist, activating. "D-Gazer, set!" Her D-Gazer was placed over her eye, flashing. Meanwhile, the hunter gained a yellow tattoo D-Gazer, tinting his eye orange.
"AR VISION, LINK ESTABLISHED." Everyone's D-Gazers flashed, and the area morphed into the Augmented Reality, the readout giving the man a name.
"DUEL!"
Kotori LP:4000
Brisbane LP:4000
"Just to show you how sporting I am, I'll let you take the first move, love." Brisbane told Kotori.
"Gee, thanks. Watashi no turn! Draw!" Kotori drew her card. "Amber Robin, Shoukan!" A light blue robin with an orange gem for a head emerged with a chirp.
Amber Robin: Lv.4 EARTH Winged Beast ATK:1600/DEF:700
"Kaado ichi mai settei. Turn end." Kotori's facedown emerged.
"Oh, if that's the best you can do, you won't last long at all. I draw." He said the last part in English as he drew. "I'll start with this: Field Magic, The Savage Jungle, hatsudo." Within seconds, the street they were standing in became a dense jungle, full of animal noises.
"Oh, boy. A Field Magic usually means bad news." Kaito commented.
"Next, Wild Tiger of the Savage Jungle, Shoukan." Appearing on his field next was a wild, feral-looking tiger that was covered in battle scars.
Wild Tiger of the Savage Jungle: Lv.4 EARTH Beast ATK:1800/DEF:1000
"Now, Tiger, there's your prey. Attack Amber Robin!" Tiger roared. "Eat hearty." The tiger leapt forward, intent on sinking its teeth into the bird.
"Trap Card, Wing Armor, hatsudo!" Kotori's facedown flipped up, and Amber Robin folded its wings, turning them into solid steel and making Tiger slam into them.
"Clever, but not enough. If Tiger can't destroy a monster the first go, he can attack again at double damage." Tiger reared back before leaping again.
"I might take more damage, but when Wing Armor activates, it equips to the monster I protected, preventing it from being destroyed by battle!" Tiger careened into Amber Robin again, but when it bounced off, it backed off this time.
Kotori LP:3400
"You got spunk, sheila. I like that in my prey. Set two cards facedown." The last sentence was English as the facedowns appeared. "The Savage Jungle no kouka hatsudo. Once per turn, I can activate a Trap Card the same turn I place it face-down."
"Nani?" Kotori gasped.
"Trap, hatsudo! Cloak and Dagger!" One of the facedowns flipped up.
Kaito groaned. "Kuso… I've seen that card before."
"Nii-san?" Haruto asked.
"Cloak and Dagger allows him to declare the name of a monster, and if Kotori Summons it, Cloak and Dagger immediately banishes it!"
"Well, Kite, you're a learned one, ain't you?" Brisbane asked.
"I know what many Duelists are capable of." Kaito replied.
Brisbane flashed his surprisingly clean teeth. "Then you can probably guess I'm setting this trap to take out the little sheila's ace up her sleeve: Number 13: Devoted Empress Love." An image of Love's card appeared within the crosshair in the card's artwork, replacing the man.
Kotori backstepped, caught off guard. "Kotori can beat you even without Love! You thinking setting an easily telegraphed trap is gonna work?" Yuma jeered.
"She's not gonna have much of a choice, mate. Turn end, which means Tiger now seeks shelter in the brush." Brisbane said, and Tiger ran off into the surrounding foliage. "Thanks to my Field Magic, all of my Savage Jungle cards are unaffected by the effects of Magic Cards. And I've got other ways to protect them, too." An evil smirk appeared on Brisbane's face. "Just you wait and see."
Author-Made Cards
Amber Robin
Level 4 EARTH Winged Beast
ATK:1600/DEF:700
Whenever this card on the field is sent to the Graveyard by a Monster Card you control: Special Summon this card from the Graveyard.
Wild Tiger of the Savage Jungle (RK777)
Level 4 EARTH Beast
ATK:1800/DEF:1000
If this card attacks a monster, but does not destroy it by battle: It can attack once again this turn. If you use this effect: Double all Battle Damage your opponent takes from a battle involving this card this turn.
The Savage Jungle (RK777)
Field Spell Card
Non-Plant-Type monsters cannot attack directly. "Savage Jungle" cards are unaffected by the effects of your opponent's Spell Cards. "Savage Jungle" Trap Cards can be activated, ignoring their activation conditions. Once per turn: You can activate 1 Trap Card during the turn it is Set.
Wing Armor
Normal Trap Card
Activate only if 1 Winged Beast-Type monster you control would be destroyed by battle. Negate that monster's destruction, then equip this card to that monster. The equipped monster cannot be destroyed by battle.
Vile: The hunter Brisbane has appeared, starting a Duel for the mysterious Number. Will Kotori outsmart the man, or will he track her down and pick her off like a wild animal? Stay tuned to find out. If you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Also, though, please pay a visit to my profile. I posted another new poll with a big question: Should I focus completely on ZEXAL stories until the Numbershot continuity is over? I know I have other fics, but I feel like I need to focus and actually get something done. Take note: Focusing on ZEXAL means I put everything else, including GSTART, effectively on hiatus until I complete the final Numbershot and won't resume them until after (I WILL resume them, don't get me wrong), but it's up to you guys to decide if it's worth it. I appreciate any feedback, and I will completely honor the results, which I'll take at the end of this story. Ja ne for now, everyone!
Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.
