Chapter 6: The Яules of Justice

"Byakuro…Byakuro…" Byakuro could hear a voice calling his name accompanied by the sound of a door being knocked.

"Huh…" Byakuro mumbled, half-awake.

"Wake up already, Byakuro. It's already seven, you don't want to be late for school," said the voice with a kind and soft tone.

"Yes, Mom. I'll be ready in ten minutes," replied Byakuro, stretching and yawning.

"Okay, but ready yourself quick. Breakfast is done and you should eat it while it's still warm," advised Byakuro's mom. Byakuro could hear a few footsteps as she walked away from his door down the hall.

"That's weird, I must have been really tired, otherwise I won't sleep for that long," said Byakuro to himself, staring at the time indicated on his alarm clock. "Guess I was having a blast yesterday… Either that, or using Link Joker's power must have really tired me out."

Byakuro finished his morning routine, and his hand was on the door before he heard a loud chorus of voices suddenly clamoring in his head.

"Oh right, my deck," said Byakuro while face palming. He took out a white deck case he had bought yesterday from his bedside drawer and put it his pants pocket.

Byakuro's eyes, still half-lidded from just waking up opened fully. "Can't wait to try out my new deck. I think I'll challenge Ken to a fight at school later."

Byakuro came downstairs towards the dining table to eat his breakfast, but stopped as soon as he saw a black haired girl wearing her school uniform eating bread on the seat across him. "Hello, sis," he said, unsure of how to respond to his sister having gotten up this morning.

"Hey, Nii-san," she said, softly.

There was an awkward silence, as Byakuro watched his sister eating her breakfast, before Byakuro suddenly asked, "Did I fall back asleep? Is this a dream? Someone pinch me." Suddenly, he felt a sudden headache. "OW!" What was that?

"My apologies, sir," Byakuro heard a voice in his head, "I heard you request a pinch, and used our mental link to perform your request to the best of my ability."

'…Shut it, Osmium.'

Byakuro's mom entered the dining room from the kitchen holding an egg-filled frying pan. "Oh, Byakuro, I forgot to mention before that Yuki wants to go to school today, so be a good brother and take care of her on the road," she said.

"Ok," Byakuro said. He turned to his sister. "Yuki, do you have tests today?" he asked.

"No," replied Yuki, barely audible.

Byakuro turned back to his mom. "Mom, Yuki's is having a really bad fever." There was a sudden pain in his foot. "OW! What was that?" He shouted, rubbing his foot.

Yuki giggled lightly. "It's fun to stomp your foot when you make fun of me."

"Don't you have to watch anime or something now?" asked Byakuro, more irritated than anything else.

"Sorry, but it's none of your business, Nii-san," said Yuki, before leaving the dining table leaving half eaten bread on her plate.

Byakuro stared after her. "She must have hit her head REALLY hard," he said, before putting his emptied plate into the dishwasher and chasing after her. "Yuki, wait, Mom said I had to walk you to school!"

On the way there, Byakuro and Yuki walked in silence; the former was an unlikely conversation starter, and the latter simply didn't talk much at all. At least, that was how it was until someone called out. "Hey Yuki! Over here!" Byakuro turned to the voice to see the blue haired girl, Sendou Akira. Then, without warning, his head burst into immense pain and he had to suppress a shout.

"Oh, hello Akira," Yuki said with a smile, unaware of her brother's pain due to her positioning in front of him.

Akira had better positioning, though, and noticed Byakuro clutching his head. "Yuki's brother, are you alright?" asked the blue haired girl.

"Its fine," replied Byakuro, trying to silence the mental voices that were the cause of his pain. "Sendou, is it? Would you mind walking to school with Yuki? I just remembered that I have forgotten something at home," continued Byakuro. The voices in his head seemed to become louder and clearer.

"Don't let her foil our plans!"

"Reverse her now!"

"She cannot be allowed to live!"

"REVERSE!"

"I'll be glad too," replied Akira kindly with a faint smile on her face. "I hope to see you again soon."

The voice immediately silenced when Akira and Yuki left Byakuro's field of vision. With the sudden lack of pressure, Byakuro's head spun, and he fell to one knee. "Yeah, well I hope I never see you again…" He rasped.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, "Well, it's good to see you too, bud."

Byakuro looked up as his vision slowly resolved itself and the world stopped spinning, landing on a familiar frock of brown hair. "Ken?" asked Byakuro, trying to stand and barely succeeding.

"Yeah, but are you all right, Byakuro?" asked Ken, letting Byakuro lean on him a bit. "Not much could make you just kneel in the middle of the road like that."

"I'm fine. Must be tired from staying up all night building my deck," lied Byakuro. Truth was, the power of Link Joker was pushing his limits. 'I thought I had it under control by using unemotional units and minimizing Commander Units like Garnet Star or Pid, but it looks like I can't control it as well as I thought,' he thought. 'If this is the power of even the emotionless units, I might be in trouble.'

To change the topic, Byakuro suddenly stopped leaning on Ken, ignoring the slight headache it caused. "Let's hurry to school, otherwise we'll be late and I don't want to deal with the disciplinary committee members," he said.

"If you say so," replied Ken. The two took off running.

"Ken, let's fight at Cat Capital after school, I'm eager to show you my new deck," said Byakuro between breaths as they ran into the school yard.

Ken nodded in acknowledgement. His worried expression changed to a huge smile, "Me too, Byakuro!"

The bell signaling the beginning of class rang right after Byakuro and Ken rushed into the school, panting heavily.

"If we run towards our classroom now, we'll arrive before Satomi Sensei," said Ken, although Byakuro could barely hear them over his breathing.

"Okay," he replied, gulping in air.

They then begun quickly climbing up the stairs, rushing towards their classroom but their attempt to enter was stopped by someone. "Oh? Late students, I see."

Byakuro could see that the person was wearing the disciplinary committee badge and was wearing its chairman armband on his right arm.

"Byakuro, we're in trouble," Ken grumbled. "Three hundred disciplinary committee members, and we just have to be stopped by its chairman..."

"What's so special about him?" asked Byakuro puzzled by Ken's reaction.

"You don't pay attention about anything in our school, don't you? I bet you don't even know the principal's name or face." Ken sighed. "That guy is Akiyama Seigi, the chairmen of the disciplinary committee, feared by students and even teachers all over the school. He won't let a singe misbehavior slide or rule be broken at this school. And the worst of all, he's Satomi sensei's son," explained Ken,

Byakuro slightly paled at the last line. "…He doesn't hold grudges on his mom's behalf, right?" he asked nervously. Then he realized exactly what had just happened. 'Did I just feel… Emotion?'

He prayed the answer to the first was no and the second was yes, but before Ken could respond, Seigi interrupted. "Stop chitchatting, you two," said Seigi. The chairman had messy black hair and was well built, but the most striking part of his appearance was his eyes, stern as a tiger's and equally intimidating. Most people sensed danger and ran when they saw them. Ken and Byakuro were less affected—Ken because he actually knew the guy personally, and Byakuro because he didn't GET intimidated.

"You both are late to school and were found running around in the hallway so I would like for you two to follow me to receive your punishment," said Seigi eyes becoming sterner.

Ken gulped a bit, while Byakuro remained unfazed. "Hey, Seigi, isn't it? Stop with the intimidating look, you're not scaring anyone, I've met cards scarier than you," he mocked.

"'Cards scarier than you', seriously! That's the best you can think of," said Ken, laughing nervously.

Byakuro chuckled too, but for entirely different reasons—it was close, but Garnet Star beat out Pid in sheer ferocity and fear factor.

Seigi made a "hmph!" noise. "Cold jokes aside, I expected better from you Ken. You put up a good fight before and dealt me five damages during the shop tournament last week," said the disciplinary committee chairmen.

"You were really strong; you've even beaten Kai, the champion of the last national tournament," added Ken clenching his fist. "But that doesn't mean I haven't gotten better. I'll show you if we have a rematch, right here and now."

Byakuro's head snapped towards his friend so fast there that there was an audible crack. 'Wait, what?'

Seigi growled slightly as they reached the front office, where he grabbed a misdemeanor slip from the box. He began writing on it as they walked back towards the classroom. "It's just pure luck that I beat Kai Ryuunosuke. He's undoubtedly stronger than me. My skills and experience can't even be compared to him. If I fight him again, I'll definitely lose," said Seigi wavering before regaining his composure. "You on the other hand, are someone I can easily beat," he said confidently, the stern look returning. "You will meet me after school to decide your punishment. All teachers will be informed that you are not allowed to leave without meeting me, so don't try to sneak off."

Byakuro frowned. "Ken, what's going on?"

Ken turned to his friend. "Oh, that's right, you don't know about Seigi's methods. The way Seigi operates is by cardfighting against the people who get in trouble."

No EFFING way. That was just too convenient. Not that Byakuro was complaining.

"After considering the nature of the original crime and deciding a baseline punishment based on that, the severity is decided by how badly he beats you in your cardfight," Ken explained.

Byakuro immediately saw a flaw in the operation. "What happens if someone beats him?"

"The severity is decided by how badly he beats you in your cardfight," Ken repeated, and Seigi smirked. "Byakuro, what you have to realize is that Seigi is pretty close to a national level player. Even though Vanguard's been a large part of the school's culture for the last twenty years, no one could even hope to come close to winning." Ken's face turned a shade redder. "It's also another one of the reasons I trained so much instead of studied for exams, so that I could stop losing to him."

Byakuro raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?" He immediately turned to Seigi. "So let's say we do the impossible. Let's say we beat you. Will you let us off the hook?"

Akiyama's eyes narrowed even more, and Byakuro got a chill down his spine that definitely reminded him of Akiyama's mother's glares. "You arrogant worm," he said, in a cool, collected voice. "You think you can not only beat me, which is a miracle all upon itself, but also escape the claws of justice? If the first one is nearly impossible, the second one is beyond impossible."

Byakuro grinned an evil grin and narrowed his eyes. "So I guess that means you can't beat us, then."

Ken tugged Byakuro's arm. "Byakuro, stop. We did get here late, after all. It's not a huge deal, as long as we don't let him demolish us."

Byakuro continued, undaunted. "I bet you don't even care about justice. You just want a nice cardfight." Seigi bristled, and Ken visibly shrank back. Byakuro, though, leaned forward instead, his grin stretching even wider. "Tell you what, if we win, we join the counsel and get immunity for all past and future crimes of minor nature. If you win, we take on the duties of the cleaning staff for the next week, no pay."

Ken wailed. "Byakuro, stop this! I might have a chance if I draw a good hand, but you're just throwing yourself to the wolves!"

"Silence!" Seigi snarled. Ken immediately shut up. Even though Ken knew Seigi, it was precisely for that reason that he knew exactly how intense the Akiyama could get when provoked. And no one wanted to be caught in the crossfire.

Seigi raised his chin a half a centimeter. "With three amendments, I accept. You will not escape all punishment if you win, for I cannot just let you go. You will instead receive one hour of detention each, the minimum punishment possible."

Byakuro and Ken both nodded. "Second, you will not be forgiven for your future transgressions. Instead, you will be given a disproportionally smaller punishment. I can bend the rules, but I will never break them." Byakuro and Ken nodded again.

"Third…" Seigi's face suddenly changed its demeanor entirely, growing soft—no, not soft, Byakuro realized, but compared to the face he had just been making, he might as well have just pulled a 180 personality-wise. "I would never force anyone to take a wage-less job. You would merely be given my standard proportional punishment."

Byakuro's smile stretched (almost literally) from ear to ear, and his eyes narrowed deceptively. "Akiyama-san, I didn't think you were so forgiving."

"I have no intention on punishing students more then I should," Seigi sniffed. "Punishment is given to make students regret their action and prevent other students from doing the same. I'm not an evil person; I only wear this armband to ensure that students are treated fairly and receive justice for what they do." He gave a slight nod to punctuate his statement.

Something in the words he said—Byakuro didn't know what—made Byakuro's eyes glint with passionate fire. "Akiyama Seigi, you're different than other students in this school and that makes you interest me… Sorry, Ken but I want to fight him, is it alright with you?"

Ken nodded. "I got no problem with that, I did steal a match with Daisuke from you yesterday so this'll make it even," agreed Ken.

"Thanks Ken. And about our fight, let's postpone it," said Byakuro.

"Can't be helped. No one can stop you when you get like this," he agreed again. 'And given how rare it is, no one would want to, either.'

"So both of you meet me at the school gymnasium after school. And what's your name?" asked Seigi, nodding towards Byakuro.

"Fujiwara Byakuro."

"I'll remember that, this is the first time I see someone interesting like you," said Seigi. Coincidentally, it was at that moment when the three arrived back where they had started. Seigi tore the misdemeanor slip in half, giving one half to Byakuro and keeping the other for the official record. "Now, you're late for class!" He said, his authoritative voice returning. Then he walked away.

"That was close. We almost get punished. Good thing he's not a tyrant…" said Ken with a relieved sigh.

"But I still need to win to avoid getting punished, how strong is he?" asked Byakuro.

"Stronger than me or Daisuke," answered Ken.

"That was useless. I thought you could give DETAILS on how strong he is. Obviously a national fighter would be stronger than a regional fighter," replied Byakuro, a small amount of disdain entering his voice. "Now, let's enter class; Satomi Sensei will be arriving any second."

Ken nodded and followed Byakuro into the class.

The day passed slowly for Byakuro; nothing interesting happened and there were no tests, so he passed the time sleeping, or, occasionally, talking with one of the voices in his head. The Link Joker units were mostly just mass-produced, but some of them had been purely biological at birth, and had later been conquered. When questioned whether or not they regretted their conversion, every unit would wonder what regret was, and why it was a necessary function.

Byakuro didn't stop except for his math test at the end of the day, which he breezed through, barely even trying. Satomi-sensei was glaring daggers at him the entire time, though, no doubt because he was doing so well.

Ken, on the other hand, was sweating the entire time.

"I must have score poorly," complained Ken afterwards. "I even skipped my free period to work on the math exercises."

"It's not that hard, you know," replied Byakuro, dully.

"Maybe for you," Ken sighed again. "Let's go towards the gymnasium, Seigi must have been waiting for us for a while now."

They arrived at gymnasium to find a huge crowd cheering around some sort of system. Seigi stood at one side of the system, and his opponent at the other, his face turned away from the pair. The system was blocky and rectangular, and it looked like a fishtank, but inside there were vanguard units instead of fish.

"Go! Super Dimensional Robo, Daikaiser, Kaiser Blade Slash!" declared Seigi, reaching towards the table. Byakuro couldn't see from his angle, but he guessed that Seigi had rested his vanguard. A huge robot then swung its sword at the opponents Vanguard.

"What's that?" asked Byakuro indicating the units he saw.

"That's the Motion Figure System, when using it you can see your units in action, it's a really amazing experience especially when you try it for the first time," explained Ken. Then, he added, "Some said you could talk with the monsters too, but all the claims so far have been disproven. Shame… I wonder what the units would say or do if you could actually see and hear them."

"I think I've got a good idea," said Byakuro to himself, vividly remembering the rampages he had seen, Garnet Star and Blockade Inferno both ripping into enemies with gusto.

The two turned their attention back to the match. "First Check, Goeagle, a grade 3, I retire your sentinel using my break ride skill. Second check, critical trigger! All effects to my vanguard," said Seigi.

"I lost," said the opponent, putting his sixth damage into the damage zone. Almost immediately after the units all disappeared, the crowd began talking about the match.

"Wow, six to four damages! And the last one was overkill for three crits!" said one of them.

"The disciplinary committee chairmen is really strong," said another.

Byakuro and Ken squeezed out of the crowd. "Seigi, you're as strong as ever," remarked Ken.

"That was just warm up," he bragged. "So Byakuro, are you up for the fight?" he asked.

"Of course I'm ready. I can't wait to defeat you," said Byakuro, the semi-familiar feeling of excitement welling up inside. Already, he could hear the voices of his Link Joker units, shouting to each other to prepare.

"I shall see about that," said Seigi, smirking slightly.

Byakuro walked towards the card placing device and put on the already prepared fighter's gloves. Ken told him that the gloves would allow him to feel more connection with his units (not that Byakuro needed it) and placed his deck and starter. Meanwhile, Seigi was done returning and shuffling the cards used in the previous match back to his deck and was also placing his deck and starter. Both player draw 5 cards from their hand and redraw 2 cards each. "Ready to lose, honorable chairman?" Byakuro asked, tauntingly.

Seigi smirked in return. "Your justice shall be swift and decisive!" He declared.

In unison, they shouted, "Stand Up, Vanguard!"

The scenery around both fighter changed into the default setting of the hologram machine which is a rocky plain enclosed by a beautiful clear sky on Planet Cray. Byakuro took no notice towards the surroundings. "Robin Knight," he said casually as a white fox with a black ring on its tail appear in front of him.

"Dimensional Robo, Daimagnum," said Seigi also calling his starter name. Its appearance consisted of a mostly purple robot wielding two huge pistols.

"Link Joker, huh? Such an evil clan could never win against the Dimension Police. This may not prove to be a challenge at all," boast Seigi.

"I'm sure you'll be surprised," replied Byakuro with a devious grin on his face.

"My clan mechanic work quite well against lock, which only limits my rearguards," countered Seigi confidently.

Byakuro was silent for a moment. "I may not know what the Dimension Police's mechanics are, but I will find a way to overcomer them. Link Joker is the Star Gate nation's ultimate clan, and I promise, I will defeat you swiftly,"

"Stop with the empty chit chat and go ahead to the cardfight!" shouted a person from the crowd, eager to see the fight.

"I go first, I draw and I'll ride Dimensional Robo, Daibrave (7000) and I move Daimagnum (5000) to the back left and I end my turn," said Seigi.

Seigi-Byakuro

5-hand-5

0/0-damage-0/0

0-soul-0

0-drop-0

Daimagnum, empty-empty, empty

empty, Daibrave-Robin, empty

empty, empty-empty, empty

"My turn," Byakuro said. "I draw and ride Bolt Line (7000) and move Robin Knight (5000) to the back left too," said Byakuro mimicking Seigi. Moving it to the left might not have been the most tactical option, but it mimicked Seigi, and the chairman noticed it, ticking him off. 'Good,' thought Byakuro.

"I call Neon (7000) and attack your vanguard, its skill lets him gets 3000 power (10000 to 7000)," said Byakuro while Neon shot a bullet composed of mana at Daibrave.

"Damage check," said Seigi before damage checking a Dailander from the top card of his deck.

"My vanguard also attacks yours (7000 to 7000)," said Byakuro resting his Bolt Line as it proceeded to jump, preparing to land a hit on Daibrave.

"I guard with my Daibattler (7000 to 17000)," said Seigi putting the mentioned card onto the guardian circle.

"Drive check, a critical trigger, all effects to my vanguard (12000 to 17000)," said Byakuro before adding the trigger to his hand.

Bolt Line retreated when Daibattler appeared in front of it.

"Turn end."

Seigi-Byakuro

4-hand-6

0/1-damage-0/0

0-soul-0

1-drop-0

Daimagnum, empty-Neon, empty

empty, Daibrave-Bolt Line, empty

empty, empty-empty, Robin

"My turn," said Seigi. "I draw." He paused to look at the card in his hand, and slowly smiled. "My avatar, fight against injustice and defend the weak, I ride, Dimension Robo, Kaizard!" he shouted. "You who broke the rules, I'll make sure that Justice is done!"

END