Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh GX. I only own the insanity.

The Infinity Chronicles; Hero's Life Arc

Chapter 56: Time Needed; Time Spent

Chansen stood resolutely in front of the small metallic portal that led to Prince Rysel's private viewing room. He had been ordered not to move from this spot upon the Blood Prince came out.

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Inside his private viewing room, Rysel had made sure to put in the finest of amenities in place, including something that humans called a mini-bar. The small room was built around facing the large screen that was built into one of the walls, and that was where the Blood Prince was.

Rysel sat back in his seat and watched the clearing shown on his viewing screen intently. ("So, Amaeura decided to stick her nose where it wasn't wanted and powered up the V2 back to normal. And this time it's Ichigo alone against the experiment.") It was impossible for his friend to his win, and that was rather frustrating to him. ("This isn't what I envisioned when I thought about the possibility of beating the Saviors.")

It was too late to intervene though. "Ichigo…I hope you don't die."

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The strong wind created by the V2's lightning powers blew through Starlight Savior's hair, whipping the long dark blue mane across her face and forcing her to manually move it out of her eyes. ("This is as good a place as any to end this.")

Lightning crackling along its body, the V2 snickered at her from across the clearing. "Why bring me here? Is this the place you wished to be buried?"

"Awaken Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius." Holding her hand out, the heroine felt the songblade form in her grasp. ("It rests on my shoulders. I have to beat this guy.") Turning on one heel she charged towards the creature, the blade set to strike.

"So it's one last suicide strike?" The V2 pointed a single finger at her, lightning striking down from the sky towards Starlight Savior. "Good, I was getting tired of this pointless running around!"

"Awaken Capricorn!" The heroine disappeared and then appeared directly behind the creature. "Celestial Songblade…"

Snickering, the V2 turned and back-handed her full force. "Don't make me laugh. That sad attack won't work on me." It blinked in surprise at how easy that strike had connected. ("Wait a second, that hit wasn't solid…")

"…Dance!" Starlight Savior appeared behind it again, the crystal blade falling and slashing the monster's body hundreds of time at once.

Stumbling forward, the V2 felt numerous lines of light appear along its body. Those cuts started to burn as it felt itself falling apart. "Quit screwing around…" One by one those lines faded away.

"Che…stubborn aren't you?" Starlight Savior kicked forward and lifted the blade to begin the attack again. ("I will break this guy!") She swung…

Snapping its arm up, the creature sneered as it caught the weapon by the blade, pinching it between its three metallic fingers. "From the looks of it, you're finished. Without your sword…" Its eyes widened as it found a dark blue crystal crossbow pointed at its face.

"Divine Star Crash!" Starlight Savior watched the monster disappear within the point-blank blast of dark blue energy that came from the crossbow's point. Pulling tightly and kicked the creature's arm, she dropped the crossbow and tore her sword free. "Celestial Songblade Dance!" The sounds of a blade slicing flesh thousands of times could be heard from within the smoke cloud created by the sudden change in pressure around them both.

Through the whitish-grey smoke the faint glow of dark blue light could be seen. Then there was a loud crack noise followed half of the songblade shooting out of the cloud and embedding itself into a nearby tree trunk. "It's useless!" The V2 and the heroine both exploded out of the cloud at the same time, its lightning-covered fist punching into her stomach. "Don't you get it? That won't work!"

Skidding backwards until she was nearly rolled out of the clearing, Starlight Savior growled through the sound of her breath being blown out of her body by the strike of the V2. ("He's right. It's my strongest attack though.")

Suddenly she had a revelation as an image of the zodiac symbol that had been awakened by the Seraph Scepter appeared in mind. ("Sagittarius, wasn't it?") She made a quick run-through of its abilities in her head while watching the falling bolts of lightning that were headed towards her. ("You're an explosive blast? Perfect and I know just the combo for it too!") "Awaken Capricorn!"

The V2 saw the lightning crash down where the Savior had been and send dirt and burnt plant life flying through the air, but it knew better than to expect that to be the end. "So, where did you go? I can only assume you used your little teleportation power to get out of the way of that attack."

"Awaken Sagittarius, Taurus, and Virgo!" The sound came from everywhere at once, yelled loudly enough to make use of the echoes created in concealing where it had originally came from.

"That's a different combination than you used to summon that songblade thing. So, you intend to use a new technique to defeat me?" The V2 looked around the clearing while the wind created by its personal storms blew through its ears. "Do you hope to catch me off guard with this new trick? You won't get close enough to use it, I promise you that!"

A sudden whining noise told the monster it was wrong about the nature of the new attack. "Galactic Sniper Shot!" The loud click of a trigger being pulled came from nearby and suddenly the entire clearing became a replica of what a nuclear explosion was like, mushroom cloud and all.

From her hiding place Starlight Savior dropped the dark blue crystal bazooka that had been formed from her new combo. "Heh…I was already in range…" Then she collapsed face-down to the grass, eyes closing slowly.

The aftermath of the explosion started to clear, revealing small bolts of electricity crackling along the outer lining of the dust clouds that had been created. "I'll commend you on actually creating an attack that I felt." The V2 emerged from the cloud and stomped towards the fallen Savior. "But if you expect that level of power to beat something like me then I had better just put you out of your misery."

("I can't move.") Starlight Savior wanted to still fight, but she was completely out of energy. This didn't her legs from twitching though as she attempted to roll into a standing position. However it was all for naught, as her energy was currently in the negative thanks to reckless overuse of her body's ability to use the Infinity Mind's limitless energy. ("It looks like I lose then. Man, I thought I could have kept that effort up a little longer.")

Right before it reached her the V2 froze in its tracks and coughed up globs of black blood which splattered on the grass in front of it. ("I'm nearing my end.") Winding up its fist, the creature got ready to crush the heroine's skull. "Good-bye."

"Hold it, foul creature!" A voice yelled out, the sound echoing across the clearing. "You haven't won yet!"

"And now there are more interruptions?" The V2 ignored it and drove its fist down. "I'll kill you regardless!"

"Hey!" Cowl blowing in the wind behind him, Captain Zeta flipped in and slammed his boot into the creature's skull roughly, though the impact did little more than jar the V2's movements. "What did I just say? No killing the hero!"

The V2 tilted its head over to look at Captain Zeta. "I'm in no mood for your stupid antics, move!" It slammed a forward punch into the masked hero's gut roughly, watching the Captain bend around its strike.

Captain Zeta sneered slightly, his arms latching onto the creature's single limb when the blow hit. "That…hurt…but…" His eyes widened and he looked eye to eye with the creature. "Get an eyeful, jerk." His eyes flushed from scarlet to purple-blue, the irises becoming incredibly thin.

The V2 stared into those orbs, and then went slack.

Releasing the creature's arm, Captain Zeta dropped to his feet and scooped up Starlight Savior. ("That won't work for very long, but at least it bought us time!")

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Starlight Savior slowly opened her eyes and groaned. "I sure seem to be getting knocked out a lot today." She quickly took in that she was in some kind of cave. "Great, now where am I?"

Captain Zeta sighed as he heard another tree get vaporized outside. The masked hero was hiding near the entrance to the cave, peeking out occasionally to see that the V2 was doing the monster equivalent of clear-cutting the forest surrounding it in its attempt to find them. "I heard that thing was burning its life force to power itself, so if we just wait right here then it'll just die on its own."

"Yeah…" Starlight Savior sighed and tried to shake off the horribly burning headache she had. "How'd you get me away from it? Last thing I remember it was pretty intent on tearing my head off."

Shaking off the terrible headache he had, the masked hero inched away from the entrance to the cave. "Let's just say that I gave it a nice vision."

"Starlight Savior!" The monster roared loudly. "If you think I intend to just wander about trying to find you then you are dead wrong! Or maybe you've forgotten but we're near where all of those other humans live too? By no means are you my main target anymore!"

"So much for the waiting until it burns itself out plan!" The heroine leapt to her feet and was about to head back outside when Captain Zeta's hand snapped out and grabbed hers. "Let me go, I have to stop him!"

"I'll deal with it." Standing up, the masked hero removed a couple of cards from his belt and offered them to her. "This is what you need to worry about for now."

"Huh?" Taking the two cards, her eyes widened at what they were. One of them was a very familiar over-foiled gold-text card, while the other was unfamiliar to her but it had the same kind of over-shininess. "Seraph's Scepter? And what's this other one? Crisis Call?" She looked at Captain Zeta curiously. "What am I supposed to do with these two?"

"Those cards…well, the scepter anyway, replenished the strength of you and your friends." He looked over at the cave entrance and licked his lips, the look of someone about to do something incredibly foolish in his eyes. "Use them to restore your strength. Once you're at full power head out and stop that thing. I'll buy you the time you need." Without waiting for her response, he ran outside at full speed.

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The V2 could sense their prescense now. ("I can feel the humans just beyond this position. I will tear them to shreds, one by one.") It approached, knowing just a few dozen trees rested between it and releasing its rage on the humans who were going to be slaughtered.

"Shining justice will prevail!" Captain Zeta flew in from a tree branch and slammed his heel down on the top of the creature's head.

"Shut up." Lightning exploded from the V2's body and sent him hurtling backwards into a tree. "I knew one of you would show up when I declared I was going after the humans." Turning to face the now-smoldering hero, it licked its maw again. "You're one of the more annoying ones, so I'll kill you first." Lightning exploded from its arm into the shape of a wrist-blade.

Captain Zeta grimaced and rolled out of the way to avoid the strike that parted the tree he had crashed against. Then he was a blur of movements as the V2 attacked with a flurry of blade swings. There was no thought in his mind; there was just a state of being as he managed to barely evade strike after strike.

Snarling in anger, the V2 stopped its charge and summoned down a blast of lightning that hit the masked hero square in the chest and sent him flying backwards into another tree. "You're skilled at narrowly avoiding hits, but if you haven't noticed your time is up." It sneered. "I will…" Eyes widened, the creature dropped to one knee and started coughing up another spray of black blood. ("My life force is nearly gone.") Stumbling to its feet, the creature snarled and prepared to call down another bolt of lightning.

"Divine Star Crash!"

The V2 glanced over at the source of the voice just in time to get engulfed by a blast of dark blue light. When the blast cleared it snarled. "You again? What does it take to get rid of you?"

Starlight Savior smiled weakly. "I'm not quite sure of that myself, but I'm sure not much more." Dropping the dark blue crystal crossbow formed by Taurus, she felt her legs almost give out on her right there. ("After sitting in that cave for a minute of staring at those cards it occurred to me that it was stupid to let Captain Zeta get killed.")

Said hero took a couple of shallow breaths to try and shake off the pain from the fact that he had just gotten electrocuted and then hit by lightning. ("Nope, it's not working. I…I'll just have to walk it off.") He tried to stand, and then he noticed that Starlight Savior was here. "What…"

"I won't let you fight this thing on your own." She sighed weakly, not out of exasperation but out of the fact that it was getting extremely hard to stand up. "Actually, I'm not sure what I can do though. I'm kind of in the negative when it comes to power."

"And that's why you'll die horribly…" The V2 charged up a ball of lightning in its hand. "My time is nearly gone, so this will be my last act. Die, Starlight Savior, and feel the darkness of oblivion."

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Rysel glanced at the watch he had gotten from one of his Earth spies. It wasn't really to check the time, but for some reason it felt right. "Cosmic Balance should be kicking in right about…now."

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Starlight Savior dropped to one knee, the mere pressure of such a powerful attack weakening her. ("It looks like this is where I really do get blown away. Sagittarius gave me a nice explosive attack, but it's got no effect on this guy.")

"Disappear forever, my hated…" The V2 growled and threw up its arms as a blast of golden light blinded it. "It's this thing again? Why does it show up just to interfere with me?"

Starlight Savior blinked as the Seraph Scepter formed before her, the ornate golden object floating in the air a few feet off the ground and releasing that warming light from before. "Are you here to help?"

"These young whippersnappers don't seem to be able to do anything. If a chump like that glow-stick is giving you problems then how do you expect to protect the whole universe?" The scepter released a golden pulse in line with the voice's speaking. "Bah, it doesn't matter. I'm not here on your call, I'm here to speak with the one who knows me name."

"Your name?" Starlight Savior had no idea what that was, meaning that apparently the golden object wasn't here for her.

"Infinity…Miracle…" Captain Zeta said weakly. "That is your name…"

"That is correct. You know who I am then…" The scepter floated over to the fallen masked hero. "You'll have to remind me of who you are though. I don't recall making any contact with a freaky masked human."

The V2 roared loudly, still unable to see because of the blindingly powerful light coming from the scepter.

"Yeah," Captain Zeta chuckled weakly, managing to sit up and smile tiredly as he pulled back his cowl to show off his green hair. Tugging his mask down around his neck, a smug grin crossed Masami's face. "It's been awhile since I last saw you. At that time I thought it was a dream, but now I'm sure of it Hey, can you go help Starlight Savior though? There's no time for recollections. That thing is too strong, we need you."

"I recognize you now, Masami Morioka." The scepter throbbed now, the light coming in sporadic bursts. "Yes, I will help Starlight Savior. I don't intend to share body-time with that stupid Infinity Mind though. He's a buffoon."

"I'm sick and tired of these interruptions!" Snapping up its hands, the V2 unleashed blast after blast of electrical energy. "I'll destroy you all!" It wasn't aiming anywhere in particular, but was instead hoping to hit one of them with a random shot.

Masami closed his eyes and remembered those words he heard so long ago during those childhood dreams. "Spread your wings, Angel of Miracles!" The Seraph Scepter unleashed its golden glow on him. Then it disappeared in a burst of light, swallowing up the masked hero as well and creating an orb of golden light in their place.

Starlight Savior stared at the orb in amazement. ("Captain Zeta was Masami? And the Infinity Miracle? Wait a second, that doesn't make any sense…") Then she was knocked unconscious by the overwhelming power that came from the orb's destruction.

("You came to me at that time because you were interested in my pain, and wanted to help me. I thanked you and then you disappeared, but told me that you were merely a legend and that I shouldn't remember your existence.") A pair of golden eyes opened slowly. ("Apparently that's not my fate.") Standing in Masami's place there was a new figure. "It looks like it's time for me to take charge of this fight. And like any good superhero, I arrive just in the nick of time too."

Trying to clear the spots from its eyes, the V2 squint-glared at the new arrival. "And who are you?"

"Me?" The speaker wore a golden bodysuit with armor segments of the same color, which went against the normal two-toned suits that other Saviors wore. "My name is unimportant compared to this fact." He grinned widely; face still partially hidden by the incredible golden light coming from his body. "I'm going to wipe you out in one shot!" Then a very familiar laughter came from the new Savior…that same maniacal laughter as Captain Zeta and Masami.

"So there's a new Savior now, so what?" The V2 charged up its lightning ball attack again. "I'll blast you into powder along with the other one!"

"I think not!" The light died down to allow sight of a golden-haired and golden-eyed young man holding the Seraph Scepter in his grasp, his rather effeminate face smirking. "In the name of this Miracle World, I will defeat you in one shot!"

He smiled confidently, a star of light coming from one of his teeth. "I am the ultimate guardian, born of miracles, puppies, rainbows, and other good stuff like that!" Snapping his hand up, he pointed at the creature. "This is my chance to repay the debt I owe Ichigo and the others for the fact that Captain Zeta was unable to help them. That identity is no more, for now I exist as the ultimate paragon of cosmic justice."

"How about a name then, loudmouth?"

The Savior held up his free hand and extended his index finger and thumb. "Sure, as a last request I'll tell you my name." His thumb fell against his hand like the hammer of a gun. "The name's Shining Savior, strongest of the Saviors, so be sure to tell your friends!"

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Rysel sighed and rested his head in a palm. "And there it is, the Cosmic Balance in action."

The Cosmic Balance was a theory established long ago by a group of intergalactic scientists. It theorized that whenever there was a power struggle between two forces and one side of that struggle brought out something incredibly powerful, the universe would grant an equal or greater power to the opposing side to even things out. ("This is why I disliked the idea of the creating the V2. It might be as powerful as me, but now we have the Miracle to deal with along with the four they already have.")

The Infinity Miracle, according to his sources, was the prototype version of the Infinity Mind created by the first of the self-deemed Infinites Caretakers. It was originally deemed only a legend, as even the current Infinites knew nothing of it since its creation dated back to before their generations has started to keep track of their records. ("The legend says it was deemed too powerful by the Infinites to be placed in the hand of one being and was sealed up and sent into deep space where it was never to be recovered. Plus they put a powerful lock on it, though I guess the word lock must have meant door, because from the looks of it the Infinity Miracle was never in need of being freed.")

And yet now it had arrived on the planet Earth to even the odds out in this battle. ("Let us simply hope that the other part of the Cosmic Balance theory applies here, or else our invasion of Earth will be impossible.") That was a given, because if the strength of the Infinity Miracle was what he thought it might be, then even the Marrow would be unable to block the Source's attack when it was harnessed to a worthy controller. "And apparently Masami-kun fits the bill….oh joy, I get to see father make his displeased face and blow up the nearest attendant."

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The V2 broke out of its stand-off with Shining Savior as it was forced to cough another glob of dark blood. "I…have no…time for…this!"

"Then let me cut to the chase!" The golden hero snapped the Seraph Scepter up and closed his eyes. Grasping the ornate item in one hand he twirled it over his head rapidly as golden light filled the area around the two of them. "Golden Divine…" Stopping the twirl of the scepter with both of his hands, Shining Savior held it over his head with his arms stretched to their full length. "…Radiance!" The center of the object released an explosion of bright rays of golden light, each one carrying the full power of the Infinity Miracle behind it.

The V2, still coughing up blood, threw up its arms to try and protect itself as the rays engulfed it. "This is merely light…I can…" Its eyes widened as it watched its arms melt away like they were ice exposed to heat. "This cannot be…it's only…light…"

For a few moments it was simply left to be covered in the light, and then a flurry of cannonball-shaped blasts of golden light slammed into its frame, leaving it bent over backwards with huge dents in its metallic body. "Good…shot…" One last ball of golden light, this one the size of the monster it was hitting, slammed into the V2 and melted what was left of the monster away.

Lowering the Seraph Scepter, Shining Savior grinned and gave the victory sign to no one in particular. "Victory is mine!" Crossing his arms in front of him in an X-shape, the new hero started laughing crazily. "Bwhahahahahaha!" Then he stopped and looked over at the unconscious Starlight Savior. "Awww, I didn't have an audience."

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"Wake up sleeping beauty." A hand snapped out and slapped Ichigo across the face a couple of times.

Eyes snapping open, the half demon hopped to his feet and glanced around in confusion. "Where'd the big scary thing go?" He looked at Masami, who was kneeling in front of him. "Hey Masami…what happened to the big scary thing?"

Chuckling, the green-haired boy stood up and readjusted his Ra Yellow uniform. "Oh, that thing?" He breathed on his fingernails and pretended to shine them, since he was lacking something more substantial. "I beat him."

Ichigo took a minute to process that information, and then the events of the battle came back to him. "Infinity….Miracle?" There were so many questions that needed to be answered. Who was Masami really? How did he know about the Infinity Miracle? Why is there an Infinity Miracle in the first place? "And why don't you smell like a demon anymore? You were Captain Zeta, and he was a demon!"

"Ichigo, do you really have the time to stand here and ask me silly questions?" He coughed meaningfully. "Or have you forgotten that Erika Amero's official duel is in twenty minutes?" When he noticed Ichigo start running in numerous circles around the small area they were standing he chuckled. "Here, your reward for winning the duel against Anarchy."

He removed his belt buckle, which was a ridiculously large band of golden metal. It clicked and folded to his touch, going from a lump of gold-colored metal parts to something reminiscent of a remote control…if they made remote controls with enough buttons to activate every electronic device on Duelist Academy Island.

Skidding to a stop Ichigo looked over Masami's shoulder the shiny object. "What's that?"

Pressing some of the four hundred-plus buttons on the remote, Masami watched the small screen in the middle of the device flicker with a few strange symbols. "Alright then," He turned and offered the remote to Ichigo. "Take this and point at Miss Amero. Press the green steel button at the very bottom of rows. It's clearly visible, triangular, and it has light shining through it." He pulled his arm back right before Ichigo could grab the device. "Repeat what I just said."

"Push the button with the light shining through it!" Ichigo hopped up and down impatiently. "Do you understand how angry Eri's going to be with me if she doesn't get changed back to normal before her duel?"

Sighing and knowing he was going to regret this immensely; Masami extended the remote and watched the half demon snatch it and disappear in a trail of dust. "I feel I have doomed us all…" Then he collapsed to his knees, sweat building up on his face. "I overdid it, and I had to use my trump card against that thing. I'm going to need to rest for a little while."

"You can rest," Nikolai said from behind the Ra Yellow.

"While we walk," Adriel continued, standing next to the Russian boy resolutely.

"And you explain what the heck all this is about," Chris finished, standing just as resolutely as the others.

Exhaling loudly, Masami stood up with his back to them and slipped up his glasses on. Pulling out his paper fan, he flipped it open and turned to look at them with an innocent expression on his face while fanning himself. "Whatever are you talking about? I just came by for a walk and had a nice chat with my good friend Ichigo. That's all."

All three of them glared at him, obviously not buying it.

"…..AH!" Masami pointed behind them. "What's what?"

None of them turned around.

Closing his fan and reinserting it into his coat, the boy removed his glasses and folded them up. "I see…" He stuffed them into his pocket and opened his scarlet. "So, I'm guessing the lot of you listened in on my conversation with Ichigo? Fine…." He threw the smoke bomb in his hand towards the ground. "Ninja vanish!" Then he disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Nikolai closed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Zaytel, if you please." A few seconds later he heard a scuffle from within the cloud, followed by someone falling to the dirt.

The smoke cleared to reveal Masami face-down in the dirt with his arm twisted behind his back by Adriel. "Well that was a waste of a perfectly smoke bomb. I hope you're happy!"

"Shut up and start talking," Nikolai shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking towards the Academy. "But do it while we're walking, I'd like to make sure that all of our problems have been resolved."

To be continued…