"Okay… message sent." Jin said. "But LINK VRAINS is global… how do we know he even lives here in Japan?"
"We just have to hope." Aoi replied.
Aqua looked at the computer screen, she watched Revolver continue to destroy LINK VRAINS.
"He has one of the Ignis… there's no other way someone not involved in the Hanoi Project could have Storm Access." Aqua said.
"Do you have any idea who?" Jin asked. "Would it be my one?"
"I don't know who your partner is and I don't know who it could be."
"So there's me… Playmaker, Soulburner and Jin. The other two are out there somewhere." Aoi said.
"So we hunt the Ignis down?" Jin asked.
"Nope. Once we stop Hanoi, I don't care."
"This Ignis race came from us… how can we not help?"
"They have their own way of living, we shouldn't get involved." Aoi replied.
"Might I ask something, Aoi?" Aqua said.
"If you must."
"Why do you wish to save LINK VRAINS itself?"
"That's not relevant."
"Is it because you were an idol before you quit? You have a soft spot for it?" Aqua innocently probed. The face of Jin was with fear; he knew Aqua had asked a question that Aoi never wanted to hear.
"I will tell you once, Aqua. Leave my past alone, I'm not the same person." Aoi said.
A message appeared on the digital card; Jin had received a message from Playmaker.
"He…. he lives in Den City….." Jin said.
"It makes sense. We all seem to live here and the Hanoi Project took place a few miles from here." Aoi said.
"He wants to meet us… at…"
"At…?" Aoi tried to prompt Jin to continue.
"At the Hanoi Project warehouse."
"Is it okay to go?" Aqua said. "I mean since you had…. your life changed there."
"I thought you didn't understand human emotion."
"Emotion is the same for Ignis just we don't have as much as humans… but I'm learning."
"I'm coming as well!" Jin said.
"I understand." Aoi said. "But how will we get there… your brother transports you and the warehouse isn't exactly the best of terrain for someone in a wheelchair."
"Then I guess it will be an interesting time getting there!"
….
Aoi and Jin made their way through overgrown bushes and trees. This was intentional; the powers that be wanted the Hanoi Project warehouse to be forgotten about.
"Are we close?" Aqua said in the duel disk.
"We're not far." Jin said.
"How do you know?"
"Because it's impossible to forget about the place." Aoi interrupted.
Aoi pulled back another bush and there it was, a large white rundown building. Decayed and overrunning with plants.
Jin followed and the two looked at it further.
"This…. isn't what I expected to feel." Jin said.
"Let's just get this over with." Aoi said. "I guess we got here first, I can't see anyone?"
Behind the two, they heard the plants rattle. The two quickly looked in that direction and saw a figure walk out.
"J….. Jin…..?"
"Brother…?!"
Out stepped Jin's brother, Shoichi Kusanagi.
"Well this just got more complicated." Kusanagi said.
The bushes moved again and out stepped another familiar face, it was Yusaku in a grey hoodie with the hood up.
"Aoi Zaizen?" Yusaku replied in a similar tone.
Little While Later
"Jin….. how… how could you be doing this?" Kusanagi said. Yusaku and Aoi stood against the wall of the warehouse, not looking at each other. The two brothers were in dispute.
"You can talk! You're doing the exact same thing!"
"It's different! I'm not a victim!"
"My past can't define me!" Jin hit back.
"I know that but this is different!"
"You can't make your mind up for me!"
"I guess this is sibling arguments." Aqua said who came out of her duel disk. She looked at Yusaku.
"So you're really Blue Girl." Yusaku said.
"Yes and this is Aqua."
"So do you two know each other well? Aqua asked.
"No. We go to the same school and are in some of the same classes but not that well." Yusaku replied.
"You accepted my offer, I appreciate that." Aoi said, crossing her arms.
"I wasn't sure but… LINK VRAINS is being destroyed and the time is ticking, needs must."
"We should work out a plan." Jin added, wanting to avoid fighting with his brother.
"Correct, do you have contact with Soulburner?" Aoi asked Yusaku.
"No, no I don't. We're on our own. This is the perfect place to make a plan." Yusaku said as he put his hand on the warehouse. "We're isolated and any sign of Hanoi has been removed."
"Yusaku, I can't risk Jin." Kusanagi said to his friend.
"Right now we have no time for that. Please can you open the door?"
"Fine…." Kusanagi wasn't happy about any of this but he knew Yusaku was right.
The doors opened thanks to Kusanagi using a paper clip in his pocket to open the lock.
Yusaku pulled the doors opened and the bright light lit up the dark and dirty warehouse.
Inside were seven doors, each one connected to an empty room.
Aoi went to the second door and rattled the door handle. The door had been sealed for ten years so was jammed at first but eventually she got it open.
Once it opened she walked in and looked around. Flashbacks in her mind quickly flooded in. Aoi looked up at the wall above the door and it had "002".
"002? You were the second child?" Aqua said.
"I guess so."
Jin moved forward to the first corridor, he moved before Kusanagi could say anything.
"Jin!"
Jin didn't listen; he was in a world of his own now. Jin opened the door and saw inside the room.
Within was the room Jin was tortured for six months. His face froze, almost as if he had been put on pause himself.
"Jin! Don't look at that!"
Jin felt the skin crawl with fear; his chest was ice-cold from the panic attack, his heart beating further.
"Jin?" Aoi said.
"It's a panic attack." Yusaku added.
Kusanagi took the handles of his wheelchair and quickly wheeled him away.
"I need to take him home, Yusaku. You two work out a plan, I can't have him like this."
"Understood." Yusaku said. "But we should go to another location, one which doesn't scare your brother."
"Fine… let's head back to my van. Follow me"
Van
"Are you feeling better now, Jin?" Aoi asked. The four sat in the hot dog van with the windows shut.
"Yes, sorry that happened."
"It's fine."
"No it's not." Kusanagi replied. "You can't do this, Jin!"
"We can't fight about this now." Yusaku said. "We need to plan."
"I know, I know…"
"Anyway…. since Hanoi have locked down LINK VRAINS, SOL must be trying to regain access." Jin said. "There is something they could do which would end the beast attacking."
"Which is?" Kusanagi said.
"A full reset!"
"A reset?" Aoi repeated.
"That's….. actually a good idea." Kusanagi sounded impressed with his brother.
"They could just use a backup copy to reboot it." Jin added.
"So why haven't they done it?" Aoi said.
"I don't know. I presume SOL keep access to the reboot switch separately otherwise Hanoi would've hacked that."
"So we need to break into SOL…. the same company who treat my brother? Don't be mad!" Aoi hit back.
"When you dueled Ghost Girl… she didn't say who hired her… maybe…. SOL did?"
"SOL… Aqua thought the same thing." Aoi looked at her duel disk as Aqua appeared.
"They built LINK VRAINS from our material…. it adds up."
"But they treat my brother with amazing care…. I can't believe it!" Aoi stood up. "You're wrong on this!"
"Your emotions cloud your mind; it's the only logical outcome." Aqua said.
"Who is your brother?" Yusaku asked.
"The Security Manager but he fell into a coma… SOL has looked after him since." Aoi said.
"It's our only choice though." Yusaku said. "We have no time for delay."
"It's a big company, Aoi…. who knows what they hide." Jin added.
"But if they see me…"
"They don't know you're Blue Girl."
"But… a hard reset would… delete the rest of us Ignis." Aqua said.
"Oh…. we can't do that." Jin replied.
"Then we do something similar …. we go to Hanoi's base and shut the beast down!" Kusanagi suggested.
"That could work." Aqua added.
"We have no clue where the base is… yet alone how to even begin to find it." Yusaku said.
"Hanoi has one of the Ignis… I could track him down." Aqua said.
"Revolver can use Storm Access, so yes; he must have an Ignis feeding him the power." Aoi said, in thought.
"Do you know how to do that?" Jin asked Aqua.
"I think I can, I haven't tried it before."
"Then we have to try." Jin said.
Ten Minutes Later
"Is this necessary?" Aqua said.
Aqua held onto a wire which was connected to Kusanagi's main computer.
"This will allow you to connect to our map of LINK VRAINS and pinpoint exactly where we need to go." Aoi said.
"Now focus on sensing the other Ignis." Jin said.
"I will try." Aqua closed her pink eyes and concentrated hard.
On the map a yellow dot appeared around the map, changing locations as Aqua tried to locate the Ignis.
"Come on…." Jin said.
The dot stopped right near the middle of LINK VRAINS and the group looked surprised.
"Is it really there?" Aoi said.
"Well… that's where the other Ignis said." Aqua leaned down onto the table, tired.
"Good job, Aqua." Jin said.
"LINK VRAINS tower…. why there?" Yusaku said.
"It's right in the middle of LINK VRAINS, perfect for sight-seers to see all the land." Aoi added. "So obvious, it's unobvious."
"Then we strike there." Aqua said. "And save the Ignis!"
"What are we looking for?" Yusaku asked Kusanagi.
"Hanoi's base will be near impossible to get into…. but if you can, then the beast would be coming from a power mainframe. If you shut that off, you two will be heroes."
"We would need a powerful virus to shut it down." Jin said. "We don't have that time to make it."
"Then work together." Aoi said.
"Yes, we head to LINK VRAINS and you send it to us." Yusaku added.
"Jin and me? But I…."
"What? Scared I'll outclass you, Brother?" Jin teased.
"No! Actually… I'll enjoy working with you, Jin. Okay it sounds like a plan!" Kusanagi said as he rotated his chair.
"We can handle the Hanoi base… let's go." Aoi said.
"Okay! Team….. wait, we need a team name!" Kusanagi said, pointing to sky as he turned around… seeing neither Aoi nor Yusaku.
"You embarrass me so much…." Jin said, face palming.
LINK VRAINS
Blue Girl and Playmaker landed on their D-Boards. They saw the beast in the distance, continuing to destroy the network.
"It hasn't touched the main plaza of LINK VRAINS." Blue Girl said.
"So Hanoi's base is here." Playmaker added.
"So what do we do? Just… walk in?" Aqua said from within the duel disk.
"I guess we do." Blue Girl said.
The two lowered down on their D-Board's and jumped off. They looked around and saw nothing but the plaza and the sound of the beast in the distance.
"Let's go." Blue Girl and Playmaker walked towards the large glass tower.
The two reached the elevator of the tower and everything looked normal as it could be.
"Aqua, do you sense the Fire Ignis anywhere?" Blue Girl said.
"I feel the Fire Ignis…. it feels like he's here but not here…"
"What do you mean?" Playmaker said.
"I don't know how to put it… it's a feeling."
"Here but not here? Maybe this place holds an entrance somewhere to the main base?" Blue Girl replied.
"That could be the answer." Playmaker said as they looked around.
Blue Girl and Playmaker checked the walls to see if a brick opened up the passenger.
"Wait, this tower is digital… we could get them to scan the building for us." Blue Girl said as she stopped.
"Did you hear that?" Playmaker said to his duel disk.
"Yes we did." Kusanagi replied.
"I will scan the building. I'm not sure it will do any good though." Jin answered through Blue Girl's duel disk.
"Hanoi probably know we're here, get ready for any movement."
Revolver
"Using their Ignis to track our Ignis… how very smart." Revolver said as he smirked. He was in the Hanoi base watching CCTV.
Behind him a figure also appeared in the base via a teleported.
"You didn't cover all your bases for once, Revolver." a female said. She wore all white clothes like Revolver but with purple markings. She had purple hire which had a knot on the top and followed down her neck.
"A mistake can always become an opportunity." Revolver said. "You've been waiting for this chance, Violet Dagger."
Blue Girl
The two saw a wall lift up in the tower. Behind it was a green portal.
"So, Hanoi has opened it." Blue Girl said.
"They're expecting us. We're going in."
"Wait a minute." Kusanagi said.
"I know it's a trap. But we have to."
"This is walking directly onto their turf… this is crazy!" Jin added.
"This is my chance to strike at heart of Hanoi, I'm taking it!" Blue Girl said.
"Just stop!" Playmaker said. "We need to plan first."
"Fine…" Blue Girl said.
"Wait, Playmaker… I remembered something you told me, back at the Hanoi club. Soulburner's friend was called Kiku."
"Yes she said that name to me in a panic."
"I served someone with that name the other day; she left her name on the order to pick up. I think we found out where Soulburner is."
"Do it and send him here, I'm sure Hanoi will wait."
Van
"Okay, Jin, you work on the virus and the escape programme, I'll go find this Kiku."
"Without you?"
"We already started on both…. I know you can do it."
Kiku/Takeru
"Well I hope you've learnt your lesson, Takeru!" Kiku said to him. The two were outside a block of houses.
"Just leave it. I already got humiliated by Revolver…." Takeru replied.
Kiku's phone rang, she answered.
"Hello?"
….
"How did you get this number?"
….
"Wait, you work with Playmaker? The hot dog vendor? Where?" At this point Takeru looked up. "… Fine, I'll tell him." Kiku hung up.
"Kiku? What was it?"
"The hot dog vendor who served us works for Playmaker. I left my number with him to call me when our food was ready…" Kiku explained.
"And?"
"Playmaker and Blue Girl are at Hanoi's base, they're going to strike."
"Thank you, Kiku!" Takeru grabbed his red duel disk.
"No! Wait!"
"Into the VRAINS!" Takeru yelled as he disappeared and went into the network.
"Takeru!"
Base
Soulburner walked into the base and saw Blue Girl and Playmaker waiting.
"This is starting to become a thing!" Soulburner joked.
"I presume you got told everything?" Playmaker replied.
"Nope, I heard "base" and "strike" and I rushed over."
"We're going to shut down the beast." Blue Girl said.
"Good plan, so let's go!"
"Wait." Blue Girl added. "My friend sent us this escape programme, it could be useful." Blue Girl sent the programme to Soulburner's duel disk.
"Okay downloaded, let's go!"
"He's a wild one…." Aqua said.
"Aqua, you stay in the duel disk. We don't want to lose you." Blue Girl said.
"Understood."
The three one by one walked into the portal as the CCTV camera zoomed in.
Hanoi
"Shut off all communications." Revolver said as he watched them enter.
"Blue Girl… is she the one?" Violet Dagger said.
"You will be dueling Playmaker, I wish to duel Blue Girl personally. And you know I don't know about who was who."
"And Soulburner?"
"Get Trojan, I know he's wanting another chance to duel."
"I shall get him, Revolver." Violet Dagger said.
A/N
Okay the next chapter will be following in next few days! Thanks for all new comments etc and to Rom for his ideas!
SakushiRyu – Thank you very much.
jalen johnson – Thanks for the support dude and the next Aoi duel will feature them! Not long!
Samueljoo – Blue Girl will remain, thanks for the idea Samuel but Blue Maiden doesn't fit the story at the minute.
