The hunt for the hunter started immediately after breakfast.
The taxi dropped them off where Dan had dueled Harrison, in a small public square that was usually a popular site for dueling. Harrison seemed to have recovered and left. This early in the morning, however, it was mostly empty. As before, the Deltas split up to search different areas of the city. They had been told (very loudly) to pay very close attention to their D-Gazers, as the Professor would send them an alert if he managed to locate the elusive Skyler before they did.
In fact, finding him turned out to be easier than they thought.
It was Matt who stumbled across him, after several minutes of tedious searching in a nearby industrial estate. He was in an empty child's playground about half a mile away. Remembering his mistake from last time, Matt sent out a signal to the others before approaching Skyler, who was in the middle of a duel with another girl, who Matt assumed was another Number holder. A quick check of the Life Point screens told him that her name was Andrea.
Skyler LP: 4000
Number 20: Blue Firefly: Insect-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 2/ATK 1500/DEF 1500 - 0 OLU
Spell & Trap Card Zone: 3 set cards
Andrea LP: 1150
"Go, Blue Firefly! Attack her directly!" Matt gasped as he recognised the Number from before. The insect curled its wings inwards and launched a red sphere of swirling lights at the girl. Upon contact, they expanded rapidly, completely encasing her. She cried out in pain, but her voice was haggard – it was clear that she'd been put through a lot in this duel.
Skyler LP: 4000 [WINNER]
Andrea LP: 1150 → 0
The final claxon sounded and the augmented reality faded away. The girl collapsed, utterly spent. Skyler took his time carefully removing and pocketing his D-Gazer and deactivating his duel disk. He was clearly in no rush at all. With an odd sense of nonchalance, Skyler walked forwards to his downed opponent, kneeled down beside her, and took hold of her left hand with his robotic arm.
Matt knew what to expect this time, and squinted through the flash of light, doing his best to ignore the girl's scream of agony. Through the glare, he saw Andrea's hand was blazing with light, but it seemed to be transferring itself into Skyler's metal hand. The light died away, and the girl slumped back, unconscious. Matt heard a groan of pain – but this time it wasn't from Andrea, it was from Skyler. Whatever his method of extracting Numbers was, it seemed to cause him a lot of strain.
But it did its job. As Skyler stood up clutching his arm, Matt saw a single card – one that hadn't been there before - clasped in his robotic hand. It was an Xyz Monster, but it was hidden from him. Matt took a step forward, trying to make out more of the card. It looked like it could be Number 3, perhaps... but at that moment, Skyler became aware of his presence. He whipped around to face him, still clutching his arm. Matt didn't flinch.
Skyler seemed to relax slightly when he saw Matt, but his look of mistrust didn't disappear. "So it's you again. I would say it's good to see you, but I'm not fond of lying. Why did you follow me here?"
"You have something we need." Matt replied flatly.
"Ah yes," Skyler said, "Number hunters will always have to go after each other eventually. Unfortunately for you, you chose the wrong one to go after." He clenched his robotic hand into a menacing fist. "I have no interest in you, but if you choose to stand against me, I will crush you."
Matt started to reply, but was interrupted by someone behind him shouting his name. He turned around, and saw Leah, Dan and Katie running across the grass to get to him. Skyler watched over Matt's shoulder with disinterest. Dan stopped a few feet in front of Matt, panting. "Skyler, I... I want to talk to you first."
Skyler observed the new arrivals. "I remember you. You were the one who was duelling against Number 20, weren't you?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. "What is it you want?"
Dan was about to ask the question, but was side-tracked by the sight of the girl, Andrea, still lying there next to the man. He pointed at her and asked a different question instead. "How do you extract Numbers from people?"
Skyler paused for a moment. He seemed to be considering whether the question was worth answering. Then he said, "Alright then, I can't see the harm." He raised his right arm, the sunlight reflecting off the metal. "I use this. I won't tell you what it is or where I got it, but like your devices, it allows me to pull a Number out of a weakened opponent. However..." he lowered his arm again, "...my method of extracting the Numbers isn't as... effective as yours."
"How so?" Leah asked tentatively. She was starting to get nervous about the girl on the ground; she hadn't moved in quite a while.
Skyler pointed at Andrea. "My method of extraction is quicker, but far less intricate. In order to get the Number out of a person's body, I have to grab hold of the Number and use a lot of force to tug it out, rather than the careful unraveling made possible by your bands." He lowered his hand again, still not looking at his victim. "The only issue is that it's very traumatic for the Number holder. Their mind and their spirit will be damaged, sometimes irreparably. It's unfortunate, but leaving them possessed is far worse, and allowing any of you to capture the Numbers is worse still."
All four of them were speechless. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Dan started shouting. "What kind of person are you? I know that these people will be a lot safer with their Numbers removed, but what makes your methods preferable to ours? Ours don't cause any harm at all! What human would choose suffering purely on principle? Answer me!"
"It's not on principle; it's for the greater good!" Skyler shouted back. "It's better that they end up with me than with you!"
"What gives you the right or reason to make that decision?" Katie argued.
He sighed heavily, bringing himself back under control. "You're still quite young, I don't expect you to understand these things." He held up a hand before they could start shouting at him again. "Now then, I have no interest in standing here being interviewed, or being shouted at. So if you're not here to duel, then please leave me in-"
"Why do we have to be enemies?" Matt interrupted. Skyler blinked in surprise. "We're all hunting Numbers; how do you know we're not on the same side? How do you know that we're not hunting for the same reason? For all you know, we could be allies."
"For all I know..." Skyler's look of tired irritation was replaced with a look of disgust. He glared at the three of them. "You work for Professor Usur, so we are definitely not on the same side!" he announced loudly.
"But why?" Katie asked, frustrated. "What problem do you have with the Professor?"
Skyler gritted his teeth. Now he seemed even angrier. "I'm going to destroy that man, and dismantle everything he's ever created! And if you choose to stand in my way, I will destroy you as well!"
Now Matt was curious. Skyler seemed to have a reason to absolutely despise the Professor and, by extension, his workers. But why? Katie whispered that same question to him a moment later. "I don't know," he replied as Leah and Dan turned around to join in the conversation. "I think it's pretty clear that the Professor and Skyler have wronged each other in some way. The thing I want to know is: who's in the wrong?"
Nobody said anything for a moment, while they thought for a moment. Finally, Dan said, "Well I certainly don't trust him after what he's said, and I reckon that's all we can boil this down to – trust. I don't trust him, but I trust the Professor. That's an end of it as far as I'm concerned."
"My thoughts exactly," Katie said, and Matt also nodded.
They turned back to Skyler, who was observing them with barely concealed impatience. Dan stepped forwards. "Alright, Skyler, I challenge you."
The reply came back immediately. "Very well, but I hope you understand the price of defeat: if you lose, I shall take your Numbers."
"And if you lose, I'll take yours." Dan retorted. "And I don't want you resisting, ok? If I win, you hand over all the Numbers you have without a fuss."
Skyler seemed to consider this condition for a moment, but finally responded, "Very well. I am a fair person, and I shall keep to my word: if you defeat me, I shall hand over all the Numbers I currently hold. Although, you should be aware that I don't keep every Number I've captured on my person. So you may only take the Numbers currently with me."
Dan wanted to argue, but short of demanding that Skyler go off, get them, and then come back, which seemed pretty unlikely to happen, there wasn't a lot he could do. "Ok, that's fine then."
"Good," Skyler replied. "In that case, I accept your conditions. So, let us begin!"
"Duel disk, set! D-Gazer, set!" Both players readied their equipment, and the augmented reality rose up around them. Just before they began, Skyler held up a hand to pause things, then pointed to Andrea.
"If one of you wants to move this girl out of harm's way, I suggest you do it now. This is a duel between Number hunters, so it is likely to be a violent one."
The other three nodded and jogged over to move the girl while Dan and Skyler waited. Matt slung her over his back, then retreated the way they'd come, to deposit her on the grass behind Dan. She didn't stir.
Skyler nodded in approval, "Well then, if you're ready, then let's begin." Dan also nodded.
"AR Vision – link established."
"DUEL!"
Dan LP: 4000
Skyler LP: 4000
"I'll start," Dan said. Skyler didn't object. "My turn, draw. I'll just Set one monster and one other face-down. Turn end." Both of his face-down cards appeared in quick succession.
"My turn, draw." Skyler examined his hand carefully. Vaguely, Dan wondered how Skyler was so good at drawing and holding the cards with that metal arm of his. "I Normal Summon Sonic Jammer." A metallic-looking insect appeared. It had a silver body and green wings that were beating so fast that they were just a blur.
Sonic Jammer: Machine-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 350/DEF 650
Dan stared at the little cybernetic insect perplexedly. "Eh? Why on earth are you using a card like that?"
Skyler didn't bother answering. "Now, I activate the Spell Card, Machine Duplication. By targeting a Machine-type monster with 500 or less ATK on my field, I can Special Summon two more copies of it from my Deck. I Special Summon two more Sonic Jammers, both in Defence Position." Two more cyber bugs materialised to join the first.
Sonic Jammer: Machine-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 350/DEF 650
Sonic Jammer: Machine-Type/WIND/Level 2/ATK 350/DEF 650
"Two of my Level two Sonic Jammers, Overlay." The Attack Position monster, plus one of the Defence Position ones, both morphed into green amorphous masses and shot into the sky. A galaxy portal opened, waiting for them. "I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon." The two monsters flew into the portal together, which exploded. "Awaken, Number 20: Blue Firefly."
A glowing purple number twenty appeared on Skyler's neck.. Out of the portal rose a cluster of massive insect eggs, joined to look like a single cohesive, yet quite disgusting unit. One of the eggs burst, showering the field with slime, and revealing part of a blue exoskeleton. One by one, each of the eggs burst, revealing more and more of the deep blue insect inside It seemed that the cluster wasn't actually a cluster of eggs – it was all the same massive egg. With a great heave, the insect unfurled its wings, which were thin and bat-like, and let off a screech which seemed to dislodge the remainder of the smile coating its body. It had a single horn on its head, and the glowing light-blue of its body was visible beneath the darker blue of its skeleton. It was orbited by two red Overlay Units, which made for an eerie contrast.
Number 20: Blue Firefly: Insect-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 2/ATK 1500/DEF 1500 – 2 OLU
Author-made cards:
Number 20: Blue Firefly
Insect-Type/Xyz/FIRE/Rank 2/ATK 1500/DEF 1500
2 Level 2 monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card, then target 1 face-up monster; change that target's Battle Position.
Fun Fact #7: Blue Firefly will be appearing quite a lot in future stories. So I hope you like that Summoning sequence, because we're going to be copy-pasting it a lot.
Fun Fact #8: So, who remembers Sonic Jammer? Do you remember Sonic Jammer? Because we remember Sonic Jammer.
Fun Fact #9: We actually struggled on whether we should use Sonic Jammer or Dimension Jar for this part of the chapter. Functionally, they would perform the same role, but we just couldn't decide on which to use. Silly, I know. Eventually we had to take a vote, and Sonic Jammer won 3-2.
Fun Fact #10: Did you know that perplexedly was a word? I sure didn't.