Chapter 10: Eliminating the Dragon of Fiends

Yusei's POV

We tried looking for Nepgear and Jack, but they must have been far away from us. Even still, we searched for a while longer. That's when we heard a sudden explosion, which came off as loud. "You hear that?" Crow turned to face me. "Yeah, it sounded like it came from that way. It must be Nepgear and Jack's tag duel." I started to run in the direction where we heard the explosion from. Crow followed behind me as we hurried. "I really hope Nepgear is okay, Crow." "Yusei, I'm sure she's fine with Jack by her side." "I know, but still… … Huh? Hey, I think I see something up ahead…!" "W-wait up, man!" We ran into a field of grass, and there, we saw them. "Jack, Nepgear!" I called out to them. "Y-Yusei! Crow! You guys are fine?!" Jack looked relieved to see me. "Yeah, we're okay! Although, we suffered some brutal real damage in our duel." Crow told him. "I can see you guys aren't doing so well…" I observed the situation. "Yeah, this bizarre dragon is at 4000 attack points. It can end us at any point, Yusei." Jack said. "Are you done bickering to each other? We have a duel to do." One of those Sylpher guys waited. "..." We didn't say another word.

Nepgear's POV

Jared's Turn

Ricardo & Jared's LP: 1700

Jared's Hand Size Before Draw Phase: 0 Cards

"My turn, then. I draw! ...There's nothing I can do that ought to improve anything here, I will pass." He passed his turn. He must be confident that his partner can end us with Horax. This is very worrying, I won't lie… It's my turn now, maybe I can hold off that dragon until Jack manages to destroy it.

Nepgear's Turn

Nepgear and Jack's LP: 950

Jack's Hand Size Before Draw Phase: 1 Card

"Here I go again, I draw! …" Or maybe I can destroy it entirely... This is honestly better than what I was hoping for. "I switch Magical Android to defense mode, set this card face-down, and end my turn. Magical Android gives us 600 more life points with its ability." I protected myself.

Ricardo's Turn

Ricardo & Jared's LP: 1700

Ricardo's Hand Size Before Draw Phase: 1 Card

"I draw! ... Horax, attack and destroy Magical Android! Breath of Terror!" He declared on my monster. "You know what to do, Nepgear." Jack said to me. "Yeah... ... Gyah-! ... You may have destroyed my Magical Android, but that doesn't mean you're safe. I activate my face-down card, Telepathic Power! Since you just destroyed one of my psychic type monsters with one of your own in battle, that monster is destroyed, then me and Jack gain life points equal to your monster's attack points!" I played. "WHAT?!" Ricardo exclaimed. "You've just doomed yourself, you idiot!" Jack told him. Horax was destroyed and we were back on top. "I-I'm not done just yet! I activate Horax's other ability! Since it was destroyed by a card effect, I can destroy cards on the field equal to the number of synchro materials used to summon it. Jack, say goodbye to you two dragons! Spirit Retribution!" Ricardo fired back. "Hrr- Damn...!" Jack's monsters were both gone. "No...!" I became worried again. "That's not good!" Yusei and Crow both uttered at the same time. "*pant* I end my turn…" He ended.

Jack's Turn

Nepgear and Jack's LP: 5550

Jack's Hand Size Before Draw Phase: 0 Cards

"I-I'm sorry that your two monsters got destroyed, I didn't know…" I cried a little. "Don't worry, that wasn't your fault Nepgear. … You did the right thing, now we don't have to deal with a dragon that had 4000 attack points. I draw! Nepgear… this is a thank you for destroying that dragon for me. ... I summon Grave Resonator to the field in attack mode! This monster has a useful special ability that I'll use right away. By banishing a dark dragon synchro monster from our graveyard, I can bring back another one that is level eight or below to the field with its effects negated. I banish Exploder Dragonwing to summon back Red Dragon Archfiend again! Unfortunately, Red Dragon Archfiend can't attack after being brought back with Grave Resonator's effect. But, I don't need to use it for that because I tune level one Grave Resonator with it! I synchro summon... Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss!" Jack brought out a new synchro monster. "... …" Ricardo and Jared both knew that it was over for them. "Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss, attack them directly and end this duel! Burning Powerforce!" Jack delivered the final blow. "Gyaaaaaaaah!" They both screamed. "Yay!" I was very glad. "Great!" Yusei and Crow followed up with. "Argh... Tch. Fine, here are the girls: Take them…" Ricardo brought the bubble over to us and made it disappear. "But do remember this: We will be back to try and take Nepgear again." Jared said. "When you do, we'll just beat you again!" Jack intimidated him. "D-damn you…" He winced before fading away with his partner.

Just seconds after that, a card suddenly dropped to the ground. "Hello, what's this?" Jack looked at it. "I-It's Horax!" I saw it. "It looks like they accidentally dropped it when leaving…" Yusei assumed. "Nep Jr., I am so glad that you're okay…" Neptune suddenly embraced me in her arms. "I-I'm sure you are, uh… Neptune." I was still trying to remember her. "Thank God… it was getting stuffy inside that bubble." Noire sighed. "Relax, at least we're freed now." IF said to her. "Yeah, this is great and all, but we're STILL trapped in a sense. We can't go back to Gamindustri with Nepgear." Uni brought forth an issue to the other girls, one that I didn't really understand at the time. "Yes… that is unfavorable for us, Uni." Vert frowned. "That means we'll all have to find jobs around here in the meantime; to make sure that we can get by." Blanc made a face of frustration. "What a pain…" Neptune had let me go and she sighed. "Don't you all have somewhere to stay?" Yusei asked them.

Jack placed Horax in his extra deck while this was going on. "We have a spot to place these tents down… they're in this." IF showed them to Yusei. "Wow, they must be pretty compact to fit inside…" He was impressed. "They were specially designed to be compact when not in use." She told him. "Oh yeah, has Nepgear had a proper place to stay at since she got here?" Uni asked the guys. "She's been staying at a place where a close friend of ours lives." Yusei told her. "Oh, alright." She looked like she was satisfied with that response. "It's late afternoon… we should head back to the shop." Crow suggested to the other guys. "Yeah... C'mon, Nepgear, I'm sure that Akiza has been wondering where we were." Yusei said. "O-okay! See you all later, I need to be with them to continue fixing things, I'm sure.." I nodded, then told the other girls. "If that's how it's gonna be… *sigh* Alright, see ya." IF sounded like she was annoyed.

We came back to the shop and Akiza was standing outside of it. She saw us come by and wondered where we were. We told her about what happened and she gasped. "Thank goodness that you're okay…" She sighed. "You should thank me, Akiza... I won that tag duel for both myself and Nepgear. But, I couldn't have don't it without her. She had a trap card that permanently turned into a different one. Nepgear, show her the card." Jack said. "Um, okay…" I showed Akiza Assault Mode Activate. "There definitely wasn't a trap card that turns itself into a different one in that deck when I gave you it…" Akiza noted. "I know, it suddenly appeared in my deck when I was in the tag duel… Jack, remember when a sudden light lit up my deck?" I said, then reminded Jack. "Yeah... that must have been when you got a card like that." He guessed. "Not just that one either, I noticed other new additions as well. Here." I decided to go inside the shop and sit at the table to lay down my entire deck.

Akiza observed the added cards with intrigue. "Psychic Elementalist is definitely new... Psychokinetic Sacrifice… They're certainly good cards, to say the least. Do you know how you got them through this light you mentioned?" She looked, then asked me. "N-no... I don't." I answered. "Hey, aren't psychic type monsters still relatively new?" Jack thought about it. "Are they...?" I looked at him. "Kind of, Jack." Akiza told Jack. "Be as it may, psychic monsters might become powerful as a type… the further things go along." Yusei said. "You're kidding… the latest type becoming quickly powerful?" Crow looked surprised. "That's what it looks like, Crow…" Akiza looked at him. "Damn…" He sounded impressed. "Hey, Polymerization is in here... What the hell? ... The fusion monster that's in here is blank. Why is it like that?" Jack wondered. "Huh… that's strange…" Yusei noticed. "Yeah, I dunno what that's all about..." Crow looked at it for a second. "... What could this mean for me?" I asked. The others shrugged, obviously not knowing the answer to that. "That... doesn't matter right now. Nepgear's deck is better and we're safe for the time being. Let's use whatever time we have to prepare for when we have to duel more members of Sylpher." Akiza decided. "Yeah." The rest of us nodded. The rest of the day passed and I went back with Akiza to her place.

The night was quiet as we laid in bed together. "Nepgear, what was it like to be in that duel? You described to me a little about how it felt, taking real damage... How painful was it? I want to know so that I can protect you from now on." "Well... it definitely didn't feel good. I coughed out blood and it hurt me quite a lot. Am I gonna have to endure this pain whenever I DO go against someone from Sylpher...?" "... I... I guess you do... but you don't have to endure it alone... Me, Yusei, Jack, and the twins will be with you as much as we can. Right?" "..." "Here, I'll help you as much as I possibly can..." Akiza embraced in her arms and I cried a little. "*sniff* Thank you..." I cuddled with her before I fell asleep for the night. For a while, everything was peaceful again. I continued to fix things with the guys at the shop. I got to see those girls from time to time as well. I even saw that Trudge guy a couple of times. One day, a short man suddenly visited us. "Well, I can see that you are doing fine, Jack…" He said to him. "Lazar? What are you doing here?" Jack looked up to see him. "I heard from Trudge that Yusei told him about this syndicate called... Sylpher, correct?" The short man answered. "Yeah, that's right... But, what does that have to do with you being here today?" Yusei confirmed, then asked a question of his own. "You see, I have recently been promoted to being the director of Sector Security. Now that Ylliaster is out of the picture, I can rightfully take the position I should have received when Goodwin disappeared. And as the new director: I wish to do everything that I can to protect New Domino City from Sylpher. Who knows what sort of threat they pose to this city... ... Ah, this must be the girl they're after. Nepgear, I presume?" Lazar noticed me and asked for confirmation.

It took me a couple of seconds to say something. "Th-that would be me…" I stuttered. "My, you don't have to be so weary... Sector Security will be patrolling both the city, as well as the Satellite 24/7. This includes Trudge; I'm sure that you got to know him a little." He assured me. "Waait, how can we really trust you?" Crow doubted. "*sigh* Crow, I understand if you still believe that I could be evil... but please understand that there is a specific reason for me wanting to become the director, besides keeping New Domino City protected in basic terms." Lazar told him. "Okay, then what reason could it POSSIBLY be?" Crow asked him. "It's to prevent something, such as that Ylliaster takeover, from ever happening again. Remember when I was nothing more than their personal lapdog? They ruled the city from behind the scenes with an iron fist. It wasn't just horrible for me, the rest of Sector Security also had their hands tied behind their backs. And because there were three of them sharing the position as director... there was no way that they would be ignorant to anything we would have tried. Look... I promise that I won't do anything unscrupulous, like taking over the world. In fact, I'm tired of doing questionable acts. I just want to perform this job cleanly and with dignity." The short man made a serious expression.

Half a minute passed without any of us saying a word "That's a good point actually… I think I can believe and trust him, guys." Yusei made his thoughts known. "... Me too. He sounds genuine here." Jack agreed. "... *sigh* Fine... I'll give ya the benefit of the doubt, Lazar." Crow tossed his doubts and distrust aside. "I must thank you three for coming to an understanding with me. Now, Nepgear…" Lazar bowed, then faced me again. "Y-yes?" "No matter what happens: Don't ever have yourself be taken away by Sylpher. I know that may seem obvious at this point, but it must be said. We don't know why their leader wants you so badly; all the more reason to keep yourself protected. Of course, Sector Security will be constantly on the lookout for suspicious characters, as I said before. As long as you don't go out at night, you should be fine." "Really?" "Well, we don't know for sure… but staying inside for the night seems to be the safest choice right now. Sylpher members probably don't want to risk it anymore by trying to take you during the day. There would just be too many witnesses catching on." "I… guess." "So yes, stay indoors for every night… and that's all I really have to say to you. I must be going, Nepgear. I have a job to do as the current director of Sector Security. It was nice getting to talk with you, goodbye." Lazar left, and it was just us again.

We stayed silent for a minute before any of us said something. "Sector Security will be on the look for Sylpher... I hope that this is a threat that they can contain." Yusei looked outside for a moment. "What? Are you saying that you don't have faith in Sector Security?" Jack looked straight at him. "N-no, it's not that, Jack... I'm not entirely sure if that's going to be enough. We had trouble with Sylpher…" Yusei told him. "Hm... Yeah, that IS true… And if we had trouble, how can they deal with those guys?" Jack agreed. "Maybe Trudge can hold his own a little?" Crow shrugged. "... Worst case scenario: They keep Sylpher busy and we can prepare for them. I don't think it's that bad for us…" I said. "A-are you sure, Nepgear?" Yusei questioned. "I suppose that doesn't sound too bad…" Jack slowly nodded. "Yeah, I guess we have Sector Security as a defense for a while." Crow agreed. "But... we'll need to stop Sylpher at some point. We can't just rely on Sector Security entirely. Otherwise, the city could be jeopardized in the midst of Sylpher trying to take Nepgear." Yusei told us. "Yeah." We nodded.

Uni's POV

Most of us got jobs for ourselves in New Domino City as time passed. Of course, Compa was hired as a nurse for the hospital. She was almost immediately renowned for her knowledge of specific medical procedures. IF decided to learn how to duel for herself and work as a solo investigator. This would involve her going around town, solving crimes related to Duel Monsters, and capturing criminals for Sector Security to arrest more easily. Blanc was kind of screwed a bit when it came to finding a job, at first. When she did find one though, it stuck to her like a magnet. She basically got to work alongside this Carly chick, finding any potential scoops for news coverage. Vert took care of children at a daycare, since it was the closest thing she could get to caretake a little sibling. My sister, Noire… her job was quite shocking to know when I found out. She was a cosplaying model and I had thought that she completely denied liking to cosplay in the past. I figured that she was just trying to do so in secret, because no one else mentioned it. Neptune's form of work is also very similar to Noire's, and she was against it when Vert had pressured her into doing it. She was only doing it for the easy payment of money. Yes. Neptune was a legit model, but she HATED doing the job. Still, she presented fake smiles when she needed to for photos. I felt sorry for her, because she continued to rant on about how it was kind of ruining her to Vert, who was amused by these rants.

As for me… I didn't really get anything. Not because I denied anything coming my way, but all the possible jobs were ones that I wasn't proficient in. On top of that, people kept saying that I was just some kid who couldn't get a job. This constantly irked me to my very core. I brought my issue up to IF while we were in our tent and she gave me a suggestion. "Why not learn Duel Monsters? It's better than just not doing anything, you know…" She said. "I mean… ... I might as well if I can't get a damn job for myself. I think enough of us have jobs to keep a stable income anyway…" I sighed. "I'll teach you myself, Uni." IF clasped my hand with her hands. "... You've been getting awfully buddy-buddy with me recently… Is any particular reason as to why, IF?" I narrowed my eyes. "Why the sudden aggression? We're friends, right?" She looked at me, appearing to be disappointed with me. "F-friends? No. You're from Planeptune, right? Why would I befriend someone who's from Planeptune? Now, I'm not heartless... I just don't associate myself with those from Planeptune as a "friend"." I continued to narrow my eyes as I stared at her. "Girl, you gotta lighten up... we're all here to bring Gear back to Gamindustri. We need to work together as comrades in order to get that outcome." IF sighed. "... Oh, lighten up you say? Who got us to rush into this world in the first place? ... Nepgear, that's who. … It's all her fault that we've been stuck here and can't get back home...! She was such an IDIOT!" I boiled up into a rage. "... ..." IF couldn't say anything to calm me down, she was terrified of my anger at the time.

I continued to go on after hearing nothing come out from IF's mouth. "So, when she remembers everything… I will PERSONALLY beat the crap out of her! … It pisses me off that Nepgear is my rival... She loves her sister so much that she inadvertently causes trouble for EVERYONE else. And then there's the whole thing where she has been so passive in the past..." I rolled my hands into fists. "U-uh… …" IF at this point fell over from her legs shaking out of fear of my rage. "..." I silently stared at her with a scornful face. "Y-you're scary when you wanna be…" She tried to get over her fear. "Damn right, I am…" I calmed down slightly. "Uni, you need to learn not to be such a meanie to people from outside Lastation." Compa attempted to scold me with puffy cheeks. "Oh sure, like you're one to lecture me…" I scoffed. "Say. That. Again. To. Me. Will you?" She carried a smile and sounded cute, but I sensed a large aura of malice from what she said. Ugh, goddammit! Compa creeps me out with her murderous cuteness… "*sigh* Fine, I'll just lay down and take a nap if it means that I'm not considered a "meanie"." I gave up. "Thank you for understanding, Uni." Compa said cheerfully. Being forced into submission is not how I like things. Although… Noire is in the same boat as me. I'm not the only one in this group who has to begrudgingly cooperate with everyone else. … Maybe I was being a little mean to IF just now… She was only trying to get on my good side. … But it came off as so weird, because her buddy-buddy advances were quite sudden. Was it from that talk when we had that first soak in the river water together? Did she appreciate the fact that I was also fla- NO! WHAT AM I-?! ARGH! … I don't even know anymore…

More of the day progressed and evening came. IF still wouldn't utter a single word to me as we ate with Compa. She would flinch whenever I looked at her. "... *sigh* Maybe I was too harsh on you, IF… You didn't do anything to me and you didn't deserve that. I'm… sorry for scaring you like that. … This doesn't mean that I like you though. You've got to prove to me that I can trust you... okay, IF? At the end of the day, I'm the CPU Candidate of Lastation." "... You're sorry? ... Alright... tell you what: I'll prove that you can trust me. Tell me anything important that you want me to do and I'll perform that task, no questions asked." "Really? Then I suppose you can start by teaching me how to play Duel Monsters tomorrow... that's one way to start this deal." "Can do."

Author's Notes: Nepgear and Jack managed to defeat two of Sylpher's members after a struggle takes place. The girls are freed and Neptune hugged her amnesiac sister, feeling glad that she was okay. Not long after that, everyone parted ways and the girls decided to get jobs as quite some time passed by. When one particular day came, Nepgear and the guys were visited by the current head of Sector Security, Lazar. He came to talk to Nepgear and told her to not go out at night, because of possible attacks from Sylpher. He requested that she must protect herself and not let Sylpher take her away. Meanwhile, Uni brings her issue relating to a lack of jobs to IF. IF suggested that Uni could learn Duel Monsters, also saying that she'll teach her. This unexpectedly caused Uni to be bothered by the "buddy-buddy" feel she was getting from this.

After IF tried to affirm that she and Uni were friends, the CPU Candidate of Lastation slowly lost herself and let loose her rage. This scared IF and she didn't say another word to her for a while. Compa scolded Uni for being such a meanie and demanded her to stop, which worked. When the three ate dinner, Uni made things up a little with IF and said that she wanted to learn Duel Monsters. How well will Uni learn the game? Why did she continue in wanting to learn Duel Monsters? Next chapter, Chapter 11: The Rise of a Competitor.

Story Exclusive Card Bios

Grave Resonator

Card Type: Monster

Level 1 Dark Fiend Tuner Effect

500 ATK / 0 DEF

Effect - When this card is Normal Summoned: You can banish DARK Dragon Synchro Monster from your GY; Special Summon 1 Level 8 or lower DARK Dragon Synchro Monster from your GY. The monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot attack and its effects are negated. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a DARK Dragon monster.