YuGiOh: RWBY Chronicles

by MaxGundam1998

Anna Yuno was just a normal girl who aimed to be a pro-duelist. She then had the fateful encounter with four special cards, known together as RWBY. She now fights an unknown force that threatens her world, and she must duel alongside her new partners to defend it. Go beyond the limit!

29. Chapter 22-1: A Day of Chaos

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Yugioh, and they belong to their respective owners.

RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth

Yugioh is owned by Konami

Yugioh RWBY Chronicles

Chapter 22: A Day of Chaos Part 1

(Emerald District: River's Apartment)

Everything in the Emerald District was the same as normal. Not very lively, and only a handful of people walking around. Right now, Zack and JNPR had made their way to River's apartment. Although they got a little lost reaching the place, since most of the alleyways looked the same. It took some time, but they finally reached apartment room 362; residence of River Sticks.

"Alright, everyone. Let's make sure we're prepared." Zack said.

"Right. We knock first, and wait as long as needed. We don't want any bullet holes in our bodies." Jaune said.

"We're all going to be patient with his behavior. He's described as a random individual. So, let's be careful with how we speak with him. Nora, I'm looking at you. Can you keep your inner queen under check?" Pyrrha said in a stern tone.

Nora nodded and spoke in a calmer tone. "Don't worry, Pyrrha. I'll be mindful of my actions. However, if push comes to shove…" Nora then smirked and pulled out her Hammer. "…then I'll speak with this. Ren. Do you have the most important items?" she asked.

Ren merely nodded as he then held up several fabric-gas masks, and was wearing one over his face. "We may not be able to tolerate the horrors that await our senses in that room based on team RWBY's description. However, we can at least reduce the damage." He then handed out a mask to each of them.

"Great! Our brains are operating at 100%…no wait…they're operating at 1000%!" Zack exclaimed.

"One thousand is a bit of an exaggeration, Zack…when did you put on those glasses?" Pyrrha asked.

Looking at Zack, he was wearing some red-glasses with a little device on the right side of the frame. He then took it off and looked at it confused. "I don't know actually. That doesn't really matter now. I'm going to knock now. Get ready and brace your noses."

JNPR merely put on their gas masks, while Zack knocked on the door. Everyone could hear footsteps from the other side of the door. It then opened revealing River wearing some blue pants and a black shirt. When he saw Zack and JNPR, he immediately closed the door just a bit and peeked out of the doorway with a nervous look.

"Are you here to duel me with some strange condition?" River asked, cautiously.

"O-oh no. We're actually here on behalf of Anna and team RWBY. They had to do something else today, so they sent us here to talk with you. Name's Zackery Aegis. Nice to meet you." Zack said, holding out his hand.

River, slowly opened the door, while maintaining a cautious look, hesitantly offering Zack's handshake. Jackie then popped his head out of the doorway.

"Hey, River. What's got your attention?" he then saw the team JNPR. "Do I need to rile up the Grimm again?" he asked.

"Not…yet. We'll take the 'wait and see' approach." River said, while Jackie nodded.

Team JNPR had mixed reactions to seeing Jackie, as they were both shocked and confused to see a Grimm having a casual conversation with a Faunus. Unlike the Grimm they've encounter so far since arriving, this one was different. Most Grimm exhibit a natural presence of death or despair. However, the Jackal's presences felt, normal. Not completely normal, but it felt out of place.

Jackie took noticed and turned to River. "Are you sure I shouldn't get my sword ready? I feel like I'm going to get jumped on. Especially by the pink one. For some reason, I have a sudden urge to armor up my legs."

"Like I said. Let's just listen. So, what can we do for you today?" River asked.

"We're here to ask you about some of the mysteries surrounding you. You somehow getting Grimm cards, what are doing with them, you being a Faunus, which is cool in our book, and…uh…whatever else comes to our minds." Zack said.

River only blinked a couple of times. "Sounds reasonable. But can it wait? I got some calculus to do. Actually, are any of you guys good at calculus?"

Team JNPR then all looked at Pyrrha. "Huh?" Pyrrha responded.

(Later)

"So, what you want to use here are these differential equations, so that way, you can break this equation into this equation. Hence, you'll get the following result. Also, keep in mind that the derivative of e^x will always be e^x. Do you see it?" Pyrrha said. Right now, she was standing on the table, assisting River with some Calculus problems.

"Oh…I get it now…what about this problem?" River asked.

"Hmm…okay. This one is a bit trickier. I walk it through with you. What you first want to do is…"

While Pyrrha was busy guiding River through his college work, everyone was sitting in on the sofa. To their surprise, the room wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. Sure, it was still messy, and it did reek a little, but it was tolerable.

"I got to say. I was expecting to have our noses under attack and then fall off." Jaune said.

"Don't be too impressed. River was procrastinating with doing his homework that he decided to clean the place because he was getting bored of it. He did slightly okay job at it. Most of his dirty clothes were just stuffed into his closet. I think also saw him stuff a pizza box in there by accident." Jackie said.

"You didn't have to say all that, Jack." River said.

"I know. But I wanted to." Jackie said.

River only rolled his eyes, as he went back to writing on his paper with Pyrrha guiding through the problems. "…And…done! *whew*. Now that was a mental workout. Thanks for the help…uh…Pyra?"

"It's Pyrrha."

"Sorry. You know your stuff. Ever considered taking on the job as a tutor? You can probably help out a lot of people with mental strength like mine." River said, knocking on the right side of his head.

"I wouldn't say that. You are quite intelligent, River. I think you just have a short attention span. If can prioritize on focusing on a single area, you can improve." Pyrrha said.

"Funny. Jackie says that to me all the time." River said.

"Yet, I have to say that multiple times a day. Directly, into your face." Jackie said.

"You don't say it every day." River said.

"Hmm…that is true. But I am sure I say it on a weekly basis." Jackie said.

River only shrugged as he then approached the group and sat down on his bed, while shifting the clothes that were on it to the side, while Pyrrha sat with her teammates. "Need to make a note to go to the laundromat sometime this week. There is a limit of how many times I can reuse the same uniform."

"Especially when you get pizza and fudge sundae stains on them." Jackie said.

"Jack. Do me a favor and shut up please." River retorted.

"No." Jackie replied.

"Fair enough." River then turned to Zack and JNPR. "Now, I suppose you have questions for me, BUT, in all honesty, I don't trust you five enough. I mean we just met, and trust has to be earned. However, since I have to uphold my end of the bargain after that last duel, and not to mention that you helped me with my calculus homework, I do feel obligated to answer your questions truthfully. So, I'll just tell you correct answers. I may not say everything, but it depends on how you guys word your questions. So, ask me whatever you want." River said.

Zack and JNPR whispered to each other, discussing what they were going to ask, making sure to make the most out of this deal.

Ren was the first to speak up, as he cleared his throat. "So, is it true that you're a Faunus and from Remnant?"

"Ah. You guys don't waste time on the serious stuff." Clarifying Ren's answer, River took off the top of his black toupee/wig, revealing more of his orange hair and his two tiger ears. "Normally I don't really care what people think about my ears. But in a world like this, a Faunus sticks out like sore thumb."

"So, in short, you used to live in Remnant." Pyrrha said.

River only grimaced for a moment. "I wouldn't say lived, but yes I did. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Just confirming the facts. No harm in that." Pyrrha said.

"But if you lived in Remnant, how did you get here?" Nora asked.

River hummed to himself. His cat then jumped on his lapped, as he then began petting it while thinking of what to say. "Alright. While I was, living, on Remnant, I met a guy back in Remnant. He offered me…a job. A contract to be more precise. I carry out whatever job he gives me and he pays me. He told me I had to relocate here, which I was fine with. No offense to any of you, but to me, Remnant is not exactly a fun place to live in. What you're seeing in this apartment, is an upgrade compare to how I lived back in Remnant. But that's just my opinon."

"Is that because you're, uh…" Nora hesitated in asking her question.

"Hey. I don't mind being called Faunus. Heck. I'm glad you guys know at all. Now I can take off this stupid toupee. It can get a little bit itchy sometimes. To answer your question, it was mostly because of the environment I had to grow up in. The Faunus part was just the cherry on top on all the misery. You know the usual. He he." River said, smiling.

Team JNPR and Zack looked at each other, wondering what was going on in River's head. He didn't appear to be hostile. They were just worry about snapping something in his mind.

Jaune then cleared his throat. "So, would it be okay talking about the Grimm cards you have? We're curious about them."

"Fair enough. So, what kind of questions do you want to ask about them?" River asked.

"Well, I think the first question that comes to everyone's mind is, how are you…working with the Grimm?" Jaune said, as everyone's gaze turned to Jackie. He noticed and simply waved. "They aren't that cooperative back in Remnant and they are most certainly not cooperative with us here as well."

River thought to himself and turned to Jackie.

"Don't look at me. You're the one answering the questions." Jackie said.

"So, would it be okay if I tell them about…"

"Like I said. You're the one answering the questions. If you say something stupid, I'll cut your tongue off." Jackie said.

River only chuckled. "This why I like you, Jackie." He then turned back to team JNPR and Zack. "Okay. Believe it or not, Jackie isn't your average of run-of-the-mill Grimm. Well, technically from your perspective, every Grimm in this world isn't average. But Jackie is special."

"How so?" Zack asked, looking at Jackie.

"Hmmm, how do I put this? Um…you see, while most Grimm come from a single source, Jackie here originates from a different place. Everyone on Remnant knows that Grimm come from a single place, although it's unknown. The Grimm here deviated from that source and hence Spirit Grimm were created by them." River explained.

"So, in summary, Jackie is a Grimm created by different means?" Pyrrha asked.

River nodded his head. "Bingo, Pyrrha. If I had to put it simply, Jack's was created with the body of a Grimm but with a different mindset."

"Wait. Someone created a Grimm to be non-violent?" Nora asked, sounding a bit shocked.

Jackie then stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I think I should take over the explanation about this part now. You're right about me being different, but I retain some Grimm elements. For instance, I can detect negative emotions. Right now, I can sense down the block that there is a little child crying. Most likely he dropped his Ice Cream. Also, recently the guy down stairs broke up with his girlfriend a couple days. He's being depressed for several days. I almost want to go down there and strangle him. It gets annoying when you can constantly sense stuff like that. It's like a little itch."

Jackie's face then grimace. "Oh, speak of the devil. The man's getting out his tube of ice-cream and listening to sad opera music again! I can't sense specific details of why a person is certain way, but I've seen him do it so many times, I can feel the grieving pattern." He then turned to River. "River. I know you told me I can't kill guy, but can I at least knock him out unconscious!?"

"No."

"Fine." Jackie said, as he walked back to his original position.

"So, where did Jackie come from?" Zack asked.

"I met him when I got the job. It's a bit of a mystery. Needless to say, he's my first Grimm Card." River said.

"I think it's incredible. You're probably the first Faunus to make contact with Grimm, and be friends with them. I envy you. I've always wanted a Grimm puppy." Nora said. Everyone was a bit disturbed from hearing that last phrase.

Ren then cleared his throat before another thought came to Nora's head. "Jackie isn't the only Grimm you have though. There are numerous Grimm Cards in that deck of yours. Victoria recorded a video of the duel, and we've seen what they can do."

"Yeah. The way the deck fights is brutal. Rushing down on a single monster, beating it senselessly. Yang said she felt the pain in the morning." Pyrrha said.

"That's how a Grimm deck works. Rather than focus on the duelist, they focus on the monster. I heard that some duelist would rather keep a monster on their field than mitigate damage. The Grimm exploit that trait. You want to keep a monster on the field? Go ahead. We'll just wail on it some more." River said in a sinister tone. He then noticed everyone had cautious looks. "Sorry. I talk like that when fighting enemies, or when dueling. For the intimidation factor. It's one of the rules my master taught."

"Master?" Ren said.

"Moving along now! Normally, the Grimm Spirits cards would not be so eager to join up with me. They would originally choose death. However, Jack here actually knows some magic." River said.

"Magic. Did you just say magic?" Ren said.

"It's mostly in the form of Rune spells, but I guess it counts as magic." Jackie said.

"A Grimm that can use magic. That's a scary thought. At least you're on our side. Right?" Jaune asked.

"We'll see. We'll, see." Jackie said.

"We're getting off topic here. Normally a Grimm's mind is just kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill and kill. Jack's mind is well, blank." River said.

"Not in the stupid sense. More of clear mind type of blank. What we mean to say is that I'm free to think whatever I want. And if I do have thoughts of killing someone, it's going to be because I want to kill that person for actual reasons. Some reasons minor than others, but still." Jackie said.

"So, in a nutshell, you have free will." Ren said.

River and Jackie looked at each other. "Exactly." Jackie said.

"Mhm. They still act a little like Grimm, but they aren't that bloodthirsty. And Jackie here has the ability to grant that free will to any other Grimm. I have to defeat them in combat or in a duel, and they still have the choice of choosing death. But so far, we have managed to get ninety-five percent of the Grimm we've defeated on our side." River said.

"Actually, River, I think it more like eight-five percent." Jackie said.

"Huh? W-what makes you say that?"

"Are you including the grunts?"

"Grunts?"

"You know, the Saber-Beowolf, Monk-E, Dagger Cougar. Those guys aren't actually spirit-cards. They're just the fodder. No spirits inside, just regular dark manifestation of a deadly creature contained in a piece of cardboard."

"Oh. That's what you meant. Going with that, I think it's more of a seventy-seven percent now."

"Mmmmm, how about we settle with, uuuhhhh, eighty-percent?"

"Nah. It doesn't feel right. You cool with seventy-nine percent?"

"Eh. Why not? So, that's how we acquired a deck and a variety of other spirits of Grimm. As an added bonus, River can use the weapons of the different Grimm. For example, our recent addition, Martial gives River access to nunchucks."

"That's actually kind of neat. Using more than one weapon sounds quite handy." Jaune said.

"Well, why don't you guys carry an additional firearm? You know like a side-pistol? It's not heavy and it acts like good blunt weapon. No offense, Mr. Arc, but you're lacking in the range department. Just a simple sword and a gun. You don't always have mash them together." River asked.

"Actually, students are only allowed to carry one registered weapon with them. It's a precaution. Although, a small pistol does sound like a good idea." Jaune said thinking about it.

"Do it if you can, and if you want. I'm just putting out a suggestion. So, any other questions?" River asked.

"Yes. About these so-called, jobs, you do. What are they?" Pyrrha asked.

"It depends. They can be anything. Delivery, escort, hit-job, capture. It really just depends on what jobs Mordecai gives me. He's the one who sent me here in the first place. As of now, I'm just have to stick with my Pizza Job for now. But don't worry. Think of them as normal Huntsman request jobs. I just have little bit more freedom with what I can do." River said.

"I guess that makes you sort of a Rogue-Huntsman?" Nora said, smirking.

"You could word it like that. So, uh, any other questions you would like to ask me?" River asked.

Zack thought about it. "Okay. We asked you how you got here. How you can control the Grimm. Your relationship with them. Your job. I guess, if have to ask a question, what is it that you want achieve by doing all this?"

"Whoa. Now that's odd ball question. I don't have a lofty answer for you, but if I had to sum it up, I just want to live my life. It's not a big goal, but it's enough for me." River said.

"Respectable. Although you have goals that seem harmless, you can't deny that our paths may intertwine in the future if you continue to use the Grimm." Ren said.

"Heh, heh. Then let's hope it turns out for the best. So, if this end 'ask River a whole bunch questions' segment, do you plan on leaving, or staying? If you want, I have a frozen pizza in the freezer. My oven is meh-ish, but it gets the job done." River said.

"Why not. We haven't had lunch yet. I guess we can take you up on that offer." Jaune said.

"Alright then. I'll just go get the pizza then. Wait right here." River said, as he got off his seat.

"I'm just going to head back to our domain and rest my brain before you cause me another migraine." Jackie said.

"Grimm have brains?" Nora asked.

"We actually don't know if we do or not. We can think and memorize stuff which is the function of a brain. But if you open up a Grimm's head, we just, poof. Like that. Anyways, peace…uh…in?"

"It's peace out." River corrected.

"Ah, my mistake." Jackie said, as he immediately vanished from the room. River then got up and headed over to the freezer draw and began searching. While he did, team JNPR and Zack leaned in closer together to have a discussion of their recent talk.

"He definitely a bit chipper for a guy using Grimm Monster cards. I was expecting something more, brooding." Nora said.

"Well, Anna told me that his attitude in combat tends to be more aggressive, ranging from insulting his opponents, and waging brutal attacks. Also, he's majoring in psychology, which I find the weirdest." Zack said.

"Actually, knowledge of the inner workings of a person's mind may give you an edge in combat. There's a difference between reading what a person is going to do and how they're feeling. Especially if you can control how a person feels in combat." Ren explained.

"Still. He acts a bit too casual. Even the Grimm we were talking with was also appeared to act casual around us. Of course, he took the conversation a bit more seriously, but he didn't really have any hostile feelings towards us." Pyrrha said.

"A Grimm that isn't hostile. Now we've seen it all. Right now, he doesn't seem to pose any threat to us at the moment. I suggest we just hang out with him, see what makes him tick. Who know, maybe we can be all be friends." Jaune said.

"Smart idea. Although, having a Grimm friend sounds, awkward, considering our profession." Pyrrha said.

"I'm on board with that idea." Nora said, while Ren simply shrugged.

River then returned and sat on the couch as he stretched out his legs. "So, uh, what do you guys want to do? I got a gaming console if you guys are interested, or we could watch a movie."

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Everyone attention turns towards the door. River reluctantly got off the couch and walked over to the door and opened it. "Oh. Hi, Roger. What can I do for you today?"

"Afternoon, River. I was wondering if I could borrow some sugar?"

"Sure thing."

After giving Roger his sugar, they bid farewell and he closed the door. Just as he turned around, there was another knock at the door. River only let out a sigh, and turned around, wondering if his neighbor needed anything else. Upon opening door, he was surprised to see a unique individual standing in front of the door.

It appeared to be a tall man, wearing dark-blue and brown colored armored biker gear, with shouldered pads, and blue pants, with a red-scarf sticking out of his back pocket. Looking at his head, he wore a dark-blue helmet with a gold-visor, and two triangle shaped fins on the sides. He also two brown boots, and black gloves on his hands.

River stared at the man for a little, while his brain processed the moment. "Mr. Aegis. It's for you."

"Oh, okay." Zack replied.

"Hey, uh, is it okay if I can come in?" the man asked.

"Well, I basically let in a duelist with four tiny-huntsmen spirits, and I live with dark-murderous-black-monsters. I see no reason why I can't let you in." River said.

"Thank you." The man said, as he then approached JNPR and Zack.

"Hey there. I'm a Huntsmen from the Spirit World. You don't have to introduce yourselves. I already know who you five are. My name is Darius Might." The man known as Darius said.

"A pleasure to meet you. So, what are you here for? Not for small talk I presume." Zack said.

"Exactly. I just get straight to it. I'm here to give you guys an upgrade. Well, an upgrade to your card effects. Some of the boys at the lab, managed to work something up to enhance your skills. It's won't make you guys stronger, but it will alter your effects to be a bit better." Darius said.

"Really? So, are you going to give this to team RWBY?" Jaune asked.

"No. You see, it like this. You guys have some untap usage of Spirit-Energy. Team RWBY already have a majority of their Spirit Energy unlocked. So, it won't change their abilities much." Darius said.

"Really? This all sounds like a shoe-horned plot device that authors use to change stuff in their stories without having to go back to previous chapters and alter past events." Nora said with her arms crossed.

"I have to agree. You know, this reminds me of those card updates of Elemental HERO Flash and Fusion Substitute. This has the same feeling to those moments. Like the god of this universe can't read card effects properly. He he." Zack said, thinking about a God failing to read a card. For the record said God has average writing and reading skills.

"Mhm. Also, do you realize that some of our sentences sound a bit a broken at times? Like there's missing when we speak." Pyrrha asked.

"What did you say, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"I said 'like there's missing words when we speak'. That was strange."

…Okay. Maybe the God of this world wasn't the best in checking over his work, but he still does his best! Aside from the god making typos and failing to read cards, Darius only sighed and put his right hand to his temple.

"For crying out loud. It's a free upgrade. It'll make your jobs easier. Just take it for pete sake! If someone gave you free cake, do you hesitate to eat it?" Darius asked, sounding like he was losing his patience.

Nora thought about it "Hmm. The man brings up a good point. Free cake is a free cake to happily eat, and a free upgrade is a free upgrade to smash stuff more effectively. We'll take it!"

The rest of JNPR were hesitant at first but they eventually agreed. "If they're down for it, I'm down for it. So, how is this going to work?" Zack asked.

"It's a simple procedure." Darius then proceeded to pull out a dangerous sinisterly looking sharp tool with many attachments. Everyone eyes went wide open as they all stepped slightly back in fear. "It will be a quick and painless procedu…" he then took a look at what was in his hand. "Oh. Wrong tool." Stashing it away, he then took out a dagger, but shook his head, putting it back. He then pulled out a mechanical headband.

"Here we go. This device should draw out some untapped Spirit-energy in your bodies. Just put it on your head, and I'll activate it. It might sting though. So, who's going first?" Darius said.

"I might as well. I can absorb electricity. So, it might just tickle for me." Nora said, walking up.

Meanwhile, River was just watching from the kitchen, munching on some orange slices. He then felt his phone vibrating. Once he saw the caller I.D. his expression turned stern. While JNPR and Zack were interacting with Darius, he snuck off to the bathroom, and answered his phone.

"Hello?"

"Good to hear from you, River. How's the Pizza Boy job going for you? I imagine it's not really exciting."

"It's decent, but it can get bit boring. The pay's good though."

The man on the other side chuckled. "Not as good as my pay though. I found another job for you and those crazy monsters. This one is a bit, eccentric. However, I believe eccentric is the right word that matches with you."

"Heh. Won't deny that. What did you get for me this time?"

The man let out a sinister chuckle. "Oh, you're going to love this one."

Outside of the bathroom, Darius had just finished with drawing out spiritual energy from Ren, who was the last member of JNPR to go through the process. Jaune looked dizzy from the procedure. Pyrrha was busy stretching her limbs, as she felt a bit stiff. Nora was just usual Nora. As for Ren, he simply slapped himself on both sides of his cheeks to regain focus of his surroundings.

"Now that, was an interesting experience. I feel the same, but also different. Zack. Can I see my card please?" Ren asked.

"Sure thing, buddy." Zack handed the card over to Ren. Upon inspection the card appeared to be the same. However, there were slight changes, such as fusion materials and the original effect has been modified a bit.

"I don't see the so call 'blossom burst' move you come up with, but my effect sounds more accurate to my semblance." Ren said, skimming over his card.

"Yeah. My effect seems to be slightly better." Pyrrha said.

Jaune and Nora looked at their cards, and saw slight improvements added to their cards. The core idea of the effect was the same, but they were modified to be slightly better.

"Well, this will make our duels go along more smoothly. The it should also optimize with the deck's playstyle. With getting more fusion materials, and replenishing those materials." Jaune said.

"I'm get with what you're saying, Jaune. My summoning materials are way more reasonable. Meaning Zack can summon me to smash some fools more easily!" Nora shouted.

"Yeah, yeah. That's great. I'll just be on my way now." Darius then got up, and went towards the door, but stopped. "Ah. Almost forgot. Here's my card." He then took out a duel-monsters card and placed it on the table and tapped it a couple of times. "Should help out in some duels. Use if you want, or don't use it. I don't really mind what you do with it. So, yeah…uh…goodbye."

And with that Darius had left the vicinity.

"What an odd man." Ren said.

"A nice man though." Pyrrha said.

Afterwards, River came out of the bathroom, stretching his arms, and with a smile on his face. "Well, that was fun, but I'm going to need you guys to leave now."

"W-wait. I thought we were going to have pizza with you?" Zack said.

"I did say that, didn't I." River thought to himself.

Jackie the reappeared next to him. "He has to study for an upcoming test that is worth, a lot of percentage of his for the subject. How much is it again?" he asked.

"20%."

"Oh, dear lord. You heard the man. Get out, now! His entire life is on the line here, literally, because retaking classes is costly." Jackie said.

"But…" Jaune was immediately interrupted by Jackie.

"OUT! Out, out, out, out, out, out!" It took a while, but eventually, Jackie managed to throw JNPR and Zack out of the apartment complex. River then came to the door with head peeking out of the doorway.

"Sorry about that. He can get a bit pushy when he's frustrated. Bye, bye." River said, slamming the door shut.

"Ooookay. Is anyone else feeling suspicious?" Nora asked.

"We all are. That was a bit too sudden if you ask me." Jaune asked.

"Or, he could be actually studying." Zack said.

"*sigh*. It would be so easy if we could just hold his hand and if he told us the truth, we would know if our hand glowed green. But since we don't, who has a plan?" Nora asked.

Everyone was deep in thought. Pyrrha's face then lit up. "Actually, I can use my semblance to try and manipulate the locks that were behind the door. Before we got kicked out, I got a good look at the multiple locks on the door, so I know where to unlock it."

Jaune nodded and smiled. "Nice thinking, Pyrrha. Alright then. Hey, Ren. Can we trust you to sneak in? You can use your semblance to walk in undetected."

"You mean he can turn invisible!?" Zack exclaimed.

"Kind of. My semblance lets me mask my or other people's emotions. It's pretty handy if you're tired of fighting Grimm. Even though Jackie is a different type of Grimm, I can still mask myself from his Grimm senses. I'm also pretty good at stealth. Plus, this small stature has its benefits." Ren said.

"Then enough talking. Let's do this. But if he is really just studying, or procrastinating from studying, just leave." Zack said.

With that said, Pyrrha walked towards the door, closed her eyes while holding her right hand up. As gently as she could, she slowly moved the magnetic locks, and the door lock chain. Ren gently pushed the door opened and quickly moved inside. After closing the door, Ren scoped the main area out and saw River exiting the bathroom, wearing his orange coat, wearing black pants and a white shirt on the inside. He then approached the window, and Jackie appeared next to him.

"Okay, Jackie. These are the coordinates for the job." River said, handing Jackie a piece of paper.

"Hmm. Alright. Give me a moment. So, did he say anything about the specifics of the job?" Jackie asked.

"No. All he said was be prepared for a chaotic day. And that's pretty much it." River said shrugging.

"*sigh*…Why does he have to mess with us all of the time. He's the one who's giving us jobs. The least he could do is give us a brief run through."

"Ah, stop complaining. By the way, good job using that test-excuse the get those kids out. It was a pretty good lie."

"Not really. It was a bit hasty. So, it really didn't stick with us." Ren thought to himself.

"Oh. That wasn't a lie. You do need to study for an upcoming 20% test. And you're doing it when we get back. Period."

"Just make portal, Jack." River said, sounding annoyed.

"Just a little longer…and…done!" Jack used his sword and conjured multiple runes on the window. The runes then began to shine brightly as they then began to envelop the entire window with light. It then turned into a brown and black swirl.

"One portal to wherever to heck we're going to. Let's get going." Jackie said.

Jackie then entered the portal and was immediately sucked in, disappearing within it. River stepped in front of the portal, and performed some stretches. He then rubbed his hands and dived head first into the portal. Meanwhile, Ren immediately went to the door to show his teammates what he discovered.

?

Through the brown vortex, River is seen flying through it. He then saw a light at the end of the tunnel and smirked. He then flipped his body forward, so that his feet were facing in the front. Upon exiting, he landed on the ground in a squatting position, but immediately felt the impact vibrate through his body.

"Yeowza. I really need to work on these landing strategies and poses." River said, as he slowly stood up.

Jackie then came up next to him, in a physical form. "Don't be such an infant. You've taken way worse than that, so quit your complaining."

River only sigh. "Jack. If you're going to insult someone, including me, don't use the word 'infant', but instead use the word 'baby'." River said.

"Why? Infant and baby are synonyms of each other. Does it really make much of difference?" Jackie asked.

"It's pretty simple, Jack. While an infant and baby are technically the same thing, the word 'baby' is a lot more insulting, mostly because infant is considered the scientific term."

"Okay then. Thanks for the explanation, but can we just end this conversation right here? We're losing the main focus of the mission." Jackie said.

"Sure. But I got to ask? How come the portal isn't closing yet?" River asked, pointing at the portal that was still hovering above their heads.

To answer his question, they heard Jaune screaming, as he fell out of the portal, landing face first into the ground. Afterwards, Pyrrha then came out next, landing on Jaune's back. Nora came out and landed on the ground in the same manner that River did but handled it way better. She then extended her arms out, and caught Ren in her arms.

"My hero." Ren said, jokingly.

Nora only giggled, as she let Ren off onto the ground. Meanwhile, Pyrrha just got off of Jaune and helped him off the ground, only for Zack to fall out next, and land on Jaune, knocking him down again. The portal above everyone then began to shrink and eventually disappeared out of existence.

Jaune groaned in pain, and had an annoyed look on his face. "Look on the bright side, Jaune. Being the human landing cushion is helping you build your durability." He said to himself.

"Actually, Jaune, it's mostly because you have so much aura to take in a lot of damage. It's really impressive." Pyrrha said, helping Zack and Jaune off the ground.

"Thank you, Pyrrha." Jaune then turned to River with a more serious expression. "So, this is your idea of studying for a paper test?" he asked.

"Technically, you could say this is procrastinating. Although, since I know you five are smart enough, this is my other job." River said.

"Obviously. So, where are we exactly? It looks…freaky." Nora said.

Everyone else took a look around their surroundings and were also slightly unease. The setting was dark, with no sunlight. In the distant there were rock formations that were spikey. There some building in the area, but they had an eerie look to them, with some of them looking deformed. The only source of light that was illuminating the area were some nearby ghastly looking torches.

"Ah, so this is what he meant by a 'chaotic day'." River said, taking in the horrifying, yet mystic view.

"R-River. What kind of place is this?" Pyrrha asked nervously.

River didn't hear Pyrrha's question, as he was looking on his phone. He then nodded, and went to one of the deformed houses, and knocked on it a couple of times. After a brief moment of silence, everyone heard the loud thumping of footsteps from within. The door then opened up, and behind the door was a gigantic fiend. It had a red muscular body, with two spike cuffs on its arms, and green eye in its stomach mouth. It also wore green pants, with belts on the lower legs. Its head was also just a human skull. This was Inferno Hammer. The demon simply stared at River and let out a low growling sound.

Team JNPR and Zack were stunned from what they were seeing, while River simply maintained a neutral expression towards the demon, while Jackie had a cautious look on his face.

"Uh…hi. I'm here on job, and told to meet my employer here. It's for a special job. Ring any bells?" River asked.

The Demon was in deep thought. "Hmm. Ah, I was told to be expecting you. Come in. I'll treat you to some snacks and tell you more about the job." Inferno Hammer then noticed the others. "Are those five with you?"

"Yes."

"Oh…I guess I'll just settle with the leftovers from last night as planned. They can come in as well." Inferno Hammer said.

River then turned around to see slightly confused and a bit terrified team JNPR and Zack. "Well, don't just stand there. Come on in!"

(Later)

Sometime later, everyone found themselves inside the house with a very twisted and demonic interior. However, it had elements similar to a normal house. Right now, most team JNPR were a bit on edge, while Zack had an awkward smile on his face. River on the other hand seem to be treating this very well, while Jackie had a stern look. River then picked up a teacup on the living-room table and took a sip from it.

"Mhm. Pretty good." He then turned to Inferno Hammer who sat in silence. "Alright, buddy. Let's talk."

"Thank you. I appreciate you for taking the time out of your schedule to assist us." Inferno Hammer said.

"Us?" River asked.

"I guess you haven't heard. I'm not the only employer for this job. Now, before we begin, does anyone have any questions? I can tell that most of you feel uneasy. I don't blame you. We fiends have an infamous reputation."

"Yeah, first one. We're you planning on eating us?" Zack asked.

"Yes. I was. However, we demons have laws about eating humans. We can only eat humans who enter this world without special protection, or permission. If any foolish humans wanders into demon territory, without permission, or special protection such as citizenship, we demons have every right to eat you. It's like how wolves or lions operate. If you go into their territory, you're on the dinner menu. Make sense?"

"Uh-huh. So, do we have that special protection?" Jaune asked.

"Hmm. I think so. I believe we're bound by a contract…uh…Jeroid!" Hammer shouted.

From, one of the corridors a blue multi-limb fiend, with multiple hands, with its head on the lower crotch area and another head in the chest area, and two sharp fangs sticking out from its back emerged. This is Dark Jeroid. Needless to say, everyone was a bit freaked out by his appearance.

"Yeah? What do you need?" Jeroid asked.

"What did the contract say about us and the employer?" Hammer asked.

"Hold on one sec. Let me get my glasses." Jeroid then took out two pair of glasses and put one of them on the eyes of the chest and the other on the lower part. He then pulled out a piece of parchment and cleared both of his throats. "According to the contract, we employers are not allowed to harm the employee in any forms of violence, suffering, or torture. Also, once employee has successfully finished the job, we are not allowed to harm him for the next 24 hours, regardless if he does not have citizenship, nor special permission. That means if he wants stay after finishing the job, he can, but we can't harm him for petty reasons. Also, keep in mind that these conditions also extend to any associates of said employee. Are you five associates with River?"

"YES!" JNPR and Zack yelled.

River then chuckled. "Yeah. They're with me."

"Okay then. The terms of the contract apply to you. Failure to apply with the terms of the contract will result will result with an immediate punishment. First, your legs and arms will be sliced off cleanly. Then all your internal organs will melt and burn from the inside. Your tongue will then immediately detach itself from the inside of your mouth, transform into a tongue-hand and then strangle you, assuming you have a tongue. And finally, you explode. And that wraps it all up."

"Wow. That sounds painful. Especially the tongue part. As you can see, hurting you will hurt me even more. So, you're safe. For now. By the way, this is Jeroid, my roommates. He's also one of the employers." Hammer said.

"Just to let you know, while we're not allow harm you, other demons can still attack you. Be mindful of that. Anyways, I'm going to go out shopping now. You need anything Hammer?" Jeroid asked.

"Some polish for my hammer would be nice."

Jeroid nodded, as he then walked out of the house.

"You know, even if I wasn't bound by a contract, I still wouldn't want to try and attack you six. Well, maybe the unarmed kid would be easy pickings, but still. I would be going into a losing fight." Hammer said.

"You're a lot more reasonable than you look. I mean, no offense, but our usual idea of demons were a bit different." Pyrrha said.

"None taken. I will admit that we demons have done some horrifying things to humans, but that's all in the past. I mean sure, some of us are still chaotic beings, but now a days we just keep demon business here. Back then, a demon ruler would show up once in a while, and try to lead a demon-campaign to conquer other worlds. Man, one of the memorable one was the Dark World Campaign. It was a destructive moment in demon history. However, now a days if you want to do some conquering of others worlds, you need to be either incredibly powerful to do it and have some serious guts. I mean, the entire world is protected by some otherworldly deity, chosen dragons, galactic number monsters, or a very powerful magician who can destroy you by holding up his hands. Now a days, we demons stick to a somewhat peaceful life of violence and chaos. Besides, we're past the conquering stuff. Well, most of us are." Hammer said.

"Huh. I guess fiend culture is more relaxing than we originally thought." Zack said.

"Oh no. It's chaotic as ever. We do have some laws, but to most demons, they're just guidelines. So, be careful. But if I sat here and explained demon rules and our way of life, we would be here for hours. You're here for a job."

"Indeed I am. Give me the details, and I'll see what I can do." River said.

"Good to hear. Have you heard of archfiends? Not like the Red Dragon Archfiend, but more like Archfiends as a whole." Hammer asked.

"A little. What about them?" River asked.

"Well, they just got themselves a new king, and he decided to be the lousiest neighbors to this village of demons. He's been constantly sending troops here, establishing his authority in this area. We fight them off from time to time. However, it becomes a pain to repair stuff after the raids, check if anyone got killed or injured, make sure nothing got stolen. By the way, a lot of stuff was stolen. Do you notice that nice window to your left?" Hammer asked.

Everyone then turned to their left, to see an ugly looking hole in the side of the house, that looked recently brand new.

"TRICK QUESTION! It isn't a window! It was a stupid archfiend that fired a cannonball into my house! The worst part is that I just painted this place. Did you know how long it took to paint this place? THREE DAYS! Three days, WASTED! ARRRAAAGGGGHHH!" Hammer then raised his fist into the air, and smashed it down onto the tiny table in the living room, breaking it in half, as multiple snacks and tea cups went flying into the air.

A tea cup was about to fall on Jackie's head, but he quickly grabbed it in mid-air and crushed it with his hands.

Hammer was now breathing hard, in attempt to calm himself. "Sorry. I got little emotional there. From what you can tell, a lot of us hate that new Archfiend King."

"I can see why. But I have to ask. You guys are demons. You're probably strong and scary. Why don't you guys just go deal with him yourselves?" Zack asked.

"Trust me, we would if we could. However, it's in a heavily fortified area and a frontal assault is ill-advised. One of us recommended using stealth. One problem though. We're not exactly built for stealth. I mean, look at me. I gigantic muscular demon, with skull head. Can you imagine me sneaking in around undetected?" Hammer asked.

"Fair enough." Pyrrha replied.

"So, we decided to ask for some outside help. Thankfully, we heard about you, River. You take on any kind of job your employer gives you. Not a lot of folks are willing to help out demons, and I don't blame them." Hammer said.

"Well, I trust the jobs he gives me, so I can trust this job. Like I said before, I'll do it. So, anything else you would like to me?" River asked.

"Yes. We actually do have a plan. First, a small group of us are going to cause a commotion outside, and that same moment you sneak and capture the king."

"Capture? Judging from the way you spoke, I assumed you would want him dead." Jackie said.

"Oh, we just got plans for him. So, if you can, bring him back, ALIVE. If you can't, his head would be good enough." Hammer said.

"Okay then. We'll try bring him back alive if possible." Jackie said.

"So, exactly are you sneaking us in?" Jaune asked.

If skulls could make smirks, Hammer would have been making the biggest one possible. "Oh, don't you worry about that. We have the ultimate method of sneaking you all of you in. It's so good, that it's guaranteed to succeed. Hehehehe."

(Rodney's Lab)

In the Grimm's main lab, Rodney was busy sitting at his deck with a pencil in hand. His desk was currently littered with multiple pieces of paper, some with designs of different Grimm. Right now, he was busy drawing another Grimm to make.

"Hmm. I have to consider the body type of the Grimm, and type of weapon it should use. I should also take into consideration which body parts on being more developed. How can I incorporate machinery into the body? That is the biggest challenge I face right now."

The doors to the room then opened up, as a Linda then walked in. "Hard at work as ever I see."

"Well, someone has to. Can you please not bother me right now? I'm a bit busy." Rodney said.

"Sorry about that. But I do need to tell you about that Grimm, Martial." Linda said.

"Yeah, yeah. He lost, big whoop. No use crying over spilled orange-juice. It will take some time, but I'll make a new one." Rodney said, sounding a bit disappointed but not surprised.

"About that. I'm here to report about what happened after he lost to, a new guy." Linda said.

Rodney immediately put down his pencil and turned his chair around with a stern look on his face. "What do you mean by, after?" he asked.

(One explanation of Chapter 19 Later)

"…and in doing so, he used some kind of magic to bind the Grimm to his will. That's about it. Anything you want to say?" Linda asked.

Rodney only remained sitting in place, with a shocked look on his face, not moving a single muscle.

"Rodney? Hello?" Linda then snapped her fingers in front of his face. Still no response. "I guess my tale was a bit shocking for his brain that it shut down."

Linda looked around the room for anything that she could use, and spotted a glass of water. "Ah. That will work." She then picked up the cup and walked over to Rodney. She then chugged the glass down. "Aaaaahh. Refreshing." She proceeded to smack Rodney squared on the right cheek.

"OOWWWWW. Woman! What are you putting in that arm?" Rodney asked.

"Just a balanced diet. So, what do you think about the report?" Linda asked.

"T-the report. Oh, of course. The one about the human taking control of a Grimm after defeating him." Rodney said, recomposing himself.

"Technically, he's a faunus."

"Potato, po-ta-to. They're the same thing. Oh boy. This is, unsettling. A person that can take control of Grimm is unheard of. Normally, you would have to be a Grimm yourself to do such a thing."

"What do you plan on doing?" Linda asked, looking a bit concerned.

Rodney only stood up and walked towards a small cabinet, which contained a variety of different duel-monster cards. He then took one of them out. "Simple." He then threw the card into the air. It then began to glow, as a humanoid form began to take shape. It then landed in the shadows with a thud, letting out a vicious snarl.

"Who is fated to perish today?" the Grimm said.

(Underworld)

Back in the underworld, we jump back to where River, Jackie, Zack and JNPR who were preparing to infiltrate the Archfiend's personal castle. How you may ask?

"Hello non-demonic visitors. I'm Harlot, and I'll be your tour guide of the underworld. Please be advised: you're safe from demonic threats as long as you stay within the tour bus safety ring. However, if any you desire to leave the ring, the Underworld Tour Guide Association does not take any responsibility for any injuries, or deaths that may be inflicted upon you. Thank you, and we hope you enjoy this tour." The tour guide was a humanoid red-hair girl, wearing a tour-guide hat with a skull-cross bone symbol, and a blue female uniform, and had a black purse with a cross-bone design on it.

On the tour-bus were a variety of passengers. Some human, elf, robots, beast-humans/Faunus-like, some just being plain humanoid animals, an old wizard, humanoid insects, and some plant-people. Also, some demons from other regions of the underworld had decided to pay a visit. Everyone here had decided to spend their time to take a tour around the underworld for fun, or out of curiosity. Among these passengers are our main characters, who were getting use to the situation.

"I would never would have imagined that demons would try to make money through tourism. It's interesting considering how most forms of media portrayed them more, negatively." Jackie said.

"These are Spirit-World Demons, Jackie. They have their own batches of apples. Some good, some bad, and some ugly. They got their own values and own views of how they see life. This is how one of them sees it." River said.

"A money-making-trap?" Jackie asked.

"Exactly." River replied.

JNPR and Zack were sitting behind the two, taking in the environment.

"Fiends and tourism. Did not think I see these two come together." Ren said.

"Did you know about this, Zack? I mean, you would have to have knowledge of Duel-Monsters." Jaune asked.

"I did. A lot of duelists like using Tour Guide because she can help summon Rank-3 XYZ monsters easily. Although, it's still a shock to me to see the actual real-life thing." Zack said.

"Uh-huh. The Spirit World is full of never-ending surprises. Although, I don't think Remnant would be comfortable about a world filled fiends. I mean, the thought of a walking, talking Grimm was already disturbing to us. This…we have adapted to it, but I doubt the rest of Remnant would be more welcoming to all of this." Pyrrha said.

"True. When those Grimm merge Remnant, I'm sure they'll invite the meanest Fiends to Remnant, like this Archfiend Ruler. It gives me chills thinking about it." Jaune said.

"Still, this place seems, strangely interesting. Surprising as it sounds, I'm actually interested in coming on an actual Fiend Tour for fun. There's just something so, captivating about this place." Nora said.

"Attention guests. We're now coming up on one of the Underworld's famous landmarks. To your left is the Soul Absorbing Bone Tower. This unique location has the power, TO SUCK YOUR SOUL FROM YOUR BODY, and forever trap it there. The main purpose of this tower is draw in lost souls that wander around in the underworld. Afterward, we send specialized fiends to collect those souls and bring them to other demons to decided whether to reincarnate those souls or to damn them for the rest of entirety. As for going heaven, well, your soul wouldn't be here in the first place if you did go to heaven. For your safety, we'll only see the tower from this view. After the tour if you do wish to visit the tower up and close, have fun granting your own death wish. Thank you." Harlot said in a cheerful tone.

"Okay…less captivating now than before, but still. I would like to take a tour of this place, with a guarantee that I'll live to tell the tale." Nora said.

"Guarantee to live, maybe. But will you still keep your sanity?" Ren asked.

"That's a good point, Ren." Nora said.

Harlot then passed by the group, and Zack immediately raised his hand. "Excuse, Ms. Harlot."

"Yes?"

"Is there a chance that we might be traumatized on this trip?" Zack asked.

Harlot thought about it for a moment. "Well, I say it all depends on your mental stability. There's a lot nasty looking fiends in this world. Some grotesque, some spooky, and some rated-R horror. But then again, if you decide to take a tour around the underworld, you probably had a good idea what you're getting yourself into. So, if you are big-strong-brave-boy, then no. You won't be traumatized. But if you're a little-wee-baby whose brain is fragile as an egg-shell, we have therapist back at the main tour-guide area, and chuck-loaded with cute cuddly teddy bears, and before you ask, no, they we're not produce by Fluffal factory."

"Fluffal factory?" Zack asked with a slight hint of discomfort in his voice.

"Oh yes. It's tour-guide protocol to mention that we have no correlation with Fluffal or Frightfurs. Fun-fact, this tour use to go to Frightfur Factory, but apparently some idiot almost had their head bitten off by mean-old-scissor-bear, and another one tried to smash them with a pipe. We didn't get sued, but it was bad business, so we had to cut ties with them. Shame. I actual think the Frightfur's are kind of cute." Harlot said.

"Y-you think they're cute?" Zack asked.

"Uh-huh. Sharp calls, and blades that stick out of them. The googly-eyes, and the evil red eyes. Aaaaahh. It's enough to make my heart flutter. Well, as much I enjoy talking with you, I need to get back to work. We're almost at our next destination. See you later." Harlot then walked away, leaving Zack with a stunned look.

Zack was silent for a moment, as he didn't know exactly what to think of what just happened. "Everyone has their own preferences and mom says I should respect those preferences. Besides, I do not have the right to judge others, considering how I act." He said to himself.

"Hey, Zack. What's a Frightfur and a Fluffal?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nightmare abominations multiplied by ten."

After some time has passed, the tour bus finally made a stop at a nearby lava pool, with multiple geysers of lava sprouting Everyone began to disembark and went in different directions. Some went to gaze at the surrounding scenery, while others chatted.

"Remember everyone. Don't leave the safety radius as indicated on the map. Unless you enjoy being torn limb-from-limb and eaten alive. Also, please don't go near the lava ponds. It's an instant and a slow death at the same time." Harlot said.

After a message like that, no one was willing to disobey that rule. Meanwhile, the main group were waiting near the bus. River and Jackie were making sure no one was aware of them. Needless to say, everyone else was a bit nervous, except for Zack looking at lava-fall coming out of a dragon skull, flowing into a lava-river. He slowly brought out his phone and took a picture, and then slowly lowered it.

"Excuse me?"

Everyone turned their heads to where the voice came from. Everyone saw the voice came from the Tour Guide of the Underworld with a devilish smile on her face. The woman approached River and extended her hand out. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, River…Twigs?"

"Likewise. My last name is Sticks though, but no big deal. Are you going to take us on an exclusive tour of an archfiend castle?" River asked.

"Mmmmmh. Not really. More like, I'm going to show you all a part of it. What you do from there is up to you and your companions. Follow me."

Without wasting time, everyone followed Harlot. They were then led down a stair case that led them to the lower levels of the lava pools was a small tunnel, that looked fiend-made.

"This tunnel here was made by fiends, who will remain unnamed, and it leads straight to that castle way over there, which is runed by the archfiends. A deadly race of demons." Harlot said.

"What's the difference between a normal Fiend and an Archfiend?" Nora asked.

"Demons who are stronger than your average demon. For the record fiend and demon are technically the same things. Well, I need to get back to group and continue the tour. I wish you all the best of luck." Harlot said.

Harlot then immediately left the group and leaving everyone else near the tunnel. River immediately turned to the group and wanted to see if they still wanted to come with him. JNPR and Zack immediately nodded, with determined looks on their faces. River simply smiled and nodded, while Jackie maintained his neutral expression. The trek through the tunnel was nerve-wracking. Aside from the small talk that broke the silence, the trip was mostly quiet. It would have been pitch black if it weren't for the torches illuminating the way forward. Eventually, there was a soon a light at the end of the tunnel, illuminating a stair way.

Jackie then stepped forward and used his sword to lift the concrete slab up. Once removed, everyone then stepped into the main hall of the castle. The room gave off an oppressive atmosphere, with the dark colored interior, with tattered banners hanging from the room, with the only lighting being that of torches and one chandelier hanging on the ceiling.

"Alright, guys. I'm not much rules guy, but I to got lay down some. Rule number one: stay close and don't get separate from the group. Rule number two: treat every moment as if your life is IN COSTANT PERIL!" River said in a deep voice, getting some surprised faces and jumps from JNPR.

"Hehehe. Sorry about that. I just wanted a laugh. But seriously though; treat every moment as if you were in constant danger. You never know when or where danger will strike. Rule number 3…" River thought about it for a while, and a bit longer. "…repeat rules 1 through 3."

"You couldn't think of a third rule, did you?" Jackie said deadpanned tone.

"They are still good rules. Plus, we've never had to work with a group before." River then turned to JNPR and Zack, as he saw each of them nodded their heads to see that they acknowledge the rules.

They then began their exploration of the castle. Immediately, Zack felt his foot sink into a tile. He then looked down at his feet and saw that he apparently stepped on a pressure-plate trap.

"Uh-oh…" Zack said, realizing what might happened.

The floor beneath Zack and JNPR then opened up as they immediately fell into trap hole. River and Jackie heard their scream and turned around to see the square hole in the ground. They ran to the edge and looked down to see Zack and JNPR falling and eventually disappearing into the darkness.

Jackie and River turned their heads towards each other and then back at the hole, making sure they were sure of what they saw.

"Wow. Rules 1 through 3 already broken. Do you humans and faunses keep a record for this kind of stuff?" Jackie asked

"I don't think so. If you want to make your book of records to record it, be my guess." River said, sounding calm about what just happened.

"I'll think about. Well, I believe safe to assume that they're dead." Jackie said in a nonchalant tone.

"I wouldn't sell them out that soon. They seem like a tough bunch to me." River said.

"Probably. But who knows where this pit trap leads? It could lead to a pit of scorpions, a lava-pool, a man-eating-demon-dog, some rock monster..."

"…or my closet." River chimed in.

"Yes. Your closest would be a horrible place to land in. Their noses would fall from the stink of all those clothes. No human, faunus, animal nor Grimm should never be trapped in your closets. It is a fate worse than death." Jackie said with dread in his voice.

"Oh, come on. I know it stinks, but isn't that bad. My cat goes in their for his naps." River said.

"Then the cat you've renamed Silky either has no sense of smell, or it's just broken." Jackie retorted.

"Heh heh." River chuckled.

"You think this is funny?" Jackie asked.

"Kind of. As much as I like talking and arguing with you, I think we got some company." River said, looking what was behind him.

Jackie looked behind where they were and saw that there was company in the room. They were all archfiends. A majority of them were Archfiend Soldiers, purple horn demons wearing green cloaks that engage in close range combat. Some were vilepawns, tan colored demons wielding short swords in one hand and a shield with three sharp claws. There at least eight in total in the room, with more on the way. The Archfiends said nothing, but snarled at River and Jackie, as they slowly approached them, while brandishing their weapons.

"Hmm. Judging by their postures and faces, I think they wish throw up with us." Jackie said.

"Jack. Throw-up is when we puke. The term you're looking for is throw-down. But I'm not complaining I could use the exercise." River said.

"*sigh* Sometimes it's a fight, sometimes it a duel. I don't understand the laws of this world. However, in the end it all results in the same ending; a winner and a loser." Jackie said.

River smirked, acknowledging Jackie's words. In that instance, a copy of Jackie's sword appeared on his back. Jackie in turn drew his sword and took in the surrounding environments. The fiends came closer, weapons drawn, with intent to destroy.

"Now…who's up first?" River asked.

(Play DMC 3 Taste the Blood)

An Archfiend Solider let out ferocious battle cry, as it ran towards River, and swung out his fist. River immediately rolled out of and immediately dashed forward delivering multiple stabs with the sword and sending the soldier flying. The other fiends began running towards River and Jackie, weapons drawn and screaming loudly.

A vilepawn swung his sword downward, as River drew his sword to block the incoming swing. Another vilepawn was coming up from behind him, to strike him in the back. River only smirked as he immediately used his free hand to draw one of his pistols and unloaded multiple rounds into the vilepawn behind him. He then used right leg to kick pack the vilepawn that was in front of him. After breaking his guard, he swung his sword upward lifting both himself and the vilepawn into the air, as he proceeded to air-combo him in midair, before slamming the vilepawn back into the ground.

Afterwards, more Vilepawns and Soldiers began to enter the room, and some were already charging towards River. River immediately side-step the first incoming attack, and then drew both pistols and began blasting them in different directions, to hold them up. A soldier then came up front, forcing him to draw his sword, and block. While, in the deadlock, he raised his pistol and began shooting the Soldier with everything he had, forcing him to stagger back, leaving him vulnerable to more sword attacks.

Jackie was facing down multiple soldiers charging towards him. His approach to combat was different, he merely approached the fiends, with sword in hand. Raising his left hand, he casted his signature runic bind on his foes. The Soldiers felt their movements restricted and their power sealed. Jackie merely walked towards them, and swung his sword with as such force, causing them to fall one by one.

A Vilepawn tried to silent sneak up from behind Jack, and was almost successful. Unfortunately for him, River noticed him immediately and drew his pistol shooting him in the back.

"Behind you, buddy." River said calmly.

Jackie immediately turned around slashed the Vilepawn, causing him to fall. "Take notice to your left."

Without looking, River raised his pistol to his left, and immediately shot the Soldier that was coming towards him.

Just then, large thumping noises could be heard. Jackie and River then turned towards where the sound was coming from and saw two gigantic demons who were somewhat taller than the grunts they were fighting. They were purple-colored demons with bone like armor and blue eyes: Archfiend Commanders.

Jackie immediately tried casting his runic magic on one of the Commanders. He was successful in restraining it, but the second one immediately made a dash for him.

"Let's switch things up now, shall we?" River then held up a duel-monsters card in front of him, and waved it front of him, causing it to disappear in a dark smoke.

Jackie took notice of this and immediately lowered his sword, disregarding the Commander that was about the pummel him. However, before the attack connected, a Black colored magic circle with red outlines appeared in front of Jackie as it began to pass through him.

The Commander's attack made contact, however, it felt pain. Looking down, it saw that in the place of Jackie, was another Grimm: Bunny Panzer, AKA Claymore or Clay for short. He saw that his fist made contact with metallic left-palm of the robotic-rabbit.

"What do you know? You have a death wish. Luckily for you, I can grant it." Clay said sinisterly.

The gauntlet on his right arm them opened up revealing an inbuilt gatling gun. Clay immediately aimed it upward and began blasting the Commander in the face, causing the demon to reel back in pain, as it covered it face.

Meanwhile River was now jumping out of the way from the other Commander's attack. His weapon had also changed to match those of Clays. He immediately ran forward and jumped in the air, performing a round house kick. The treads on the lower leg armaments began spinning as they struck the Commander with force, knocking him down.

River continued his assault by diving down with a kick, and then launched the Commander up again with another punch, and immediately jumped into the air, and struck him back to the ground again.

He then reeled his right arm back as it began charging up energy. "Bounce Crash!" once fully charged, River send his arm flying into the ground causing a small explosion around him, putting the Commander out of commission and sending other Vilepawns and Soldiers flying away.

With Clay, he charged towards the remaining Commander, as both he and Commander locked hand with each other in attempt to overpower the other. It looked like an even fight, until Clay's head detached from the main body. It then transformed into a miniature version of the full-size Clay.

The Commander was shocked by what it saw and lost its grip slightly. The mini-Clay unleashed a flurry of kicks to it's face, while the main-body pushed it back and delivered a punch into its gut, causing the commander to stagger.

Mini-Clay immediately transformed back into a head and reattached itself to the main-body. It then rushed towards the Commander and he reeled back his fist, charging up energy. "Rising Rabbit!" He then unleashed a powerful uppercut, spinning the treads on his gauntlet, catching other archfiends in the explosion, putting them all down.

With River, he looked around at his hard work, being all of the demons that were lying down on the floor, and smiled as he brushed his hands. "*whew* Now that got my blood pumping. Is that all of them?"

"No. My scanners are detecting one more bogey." Clay said as he eyes darted all over the room.

All of sudden, a strange white Mist began filling the room. River and Clay then began to move closer to each other, as they were more aware that this was an unknown threat. Within the mist, two orange eyes were seen. Clay looked to right and noticed the Mist began to take shape around the two orange eyes.

"Incoming!" Clay pushed River forward as the Mist formed a claw and scratched the head unit of Clay's body.

The two then turned where the mist went and saw that an Orange skinned demon, with black wings, yellow claws appeared. It had orange hair and its entire lower torso was made entirely out of mist. The Mist Archfiend.

River immediately drew his pistols and began firing while Clay unleashed a torrent of bullets with his gatling gauntlets. However, the Mist Archfiend dissipated and flew into the Mist.

River and Clay immediately scanned the area, searching for their enemy. The Archfiend came out charging again, twisting its body in a vortex like motion, forcing both of them to dodge. After waiting for a brief moment, they both noticed the ground below them rippling. In that instant, they rolled out of the way as the Mist Archfiend sprouted from beneath them, and actually got a hit on River as his aura began to flicker.

"Jeez. That thing took out a chunk of your aura. A couple more attacks like that, and…well, I guess we'll find out what happens when you die here." Clay said.

"Yeah. He's too quiet. Even my ears can't pick him up. We're going to need to change things up a bit." River said, holding up a card.

"What do you have in mind?" Clay asked.

"Usually, two heads are better than one. But this guy lets me have four." River said, as he waved the card in-front of his face, causing it to dissipate.

"Heh. Well, see you later." Clay said smiling.

In his place, was the Three-Headed Cerberus Grimm, Martial.

"We await your command…the poor, poor, soul who has to face us…THEY'LL PERISH BY MY MIGHT!" Martial said.

"Martial. You got three dog noises. Can you sniff out a Mist Monster?" River asked.

"Tricky…but doable…LET US FOCUS." Martial said. He then closed all six of his eyes. In his mind, he saw the mist in form of the scent. He also noticed a moving scent, circling around them.

"Hmm, erratic behavior…scent locked on…READY TO STRIKE."

The scent he detected then made a sharp turn in his mind, and began picking up speed. With a head hand, Martial ready his Nunchucks, and began spinning them, building up dark energy within them.

As soon as the Mist Archfiend materialized, Martial opened his eyes. He then spun his body in a vertical motion as the nunchucks struck the Archfiend with multiple strikes and the built-up energy amplified the damage done. The archfiend was sent flying into the air, unable to return to its gaseous form.

"Now…this is our chance…UNLEASH YOUR RAGE!" Martial said to River.

River nodded, as both he and Martial jumped into the air. Then began spinning their nunchucks in rapid motion and built-up energy.

"SEIYA!" they both yelled as they unleashed a stream of energy from their weapons, shocking the Mist Archfiend. The Archfiend screeched in pain, as it writhed in pain. The Mist Archfiend immediately slouched forward and fell face first into the ground.

(End music)

"Today's weather. Not so foggy anymore." River said, jokingly.

"Well executed…your strength is true…YOU'RE STRONG, LITTLE MAN!" Martial said.

"Heh. When it comes to sense of smell though, you outclass almost everybody. Even Jackie, and that's saying something.

"Our noises are that of bloodhounds…tracking scents is our specialty…WE CAN TRACK ANY SCENT TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!" Martial said.

"Cool, cool. Thanks for assist." River said, waving a card in front of his face.

In that instance, Jackie reappeared.

"I will admit. That was a good workout. Let's not forgot about our job though. We must conserve our energy for the final boss." Jackie said.

"Good video game analogy. For that, I'll try to avoid unnecessary conflict." River said, smiling.

"I prefer if you did it regardless of what I said." Jackie said, as the two began walking towards the main doors.

"Hmmm. I wonder how does Huntsmen kids are doing." River said.

"Like I said, best to assume that they're dead." Jackie said.

"Like I said before, don't count them out that fast."

"We'll see. We'll see."

As the two exit the main foyer, a Vilepawn and Soldier could be seen lying down on the ground lifting their heads off the floor.

"H-hey. You, okay?" The Soldier asked.

"Barely. That guy and those black beasts hit hard. Owww. I'm going to be regenerating for an entire week." The Vilepawn said.

"Yeah. I say we play dead until they go away."

"Good idea."

The two demons then faceplanted into the floor, as they decided to feign death.

(We now return to JNPR-Z)

While River and his Grimm-spirits were duking it out with the archfiends, JNPR and Zack were heard falling through a complex chute, with twists, turns, and one loop. Eventually, they all fell out of the exit, landing on the ground in a pile.

"Ow. Is everyone else okay?" Jaune asked.

"I don't think so. I can't feel my legs!" Zack said, clutching legs.

"Those are my legs, Zackery." Ren said, prompting Zack to immediately to immediately let go.

"My head is still spinning. Who designed that trap-door-chute?" Nora asked, as her head wobbled around, while her eyes spined.

"It seemed to be a bit unnecessary. However, I am glad that none of us are seriously injured." Pyrrha said.

"Wait. Someone else is here." Ren said.

Upon hearing those words, JNPR and Zack immediately rose to their feet, and drew their weapons, but didn't, because their weapons were gone. Nora immediately had a panicked look and desperately scanned the room for her hammer. Jaune had a worried look, since he was not really good at hand-to-hand combat. Pyrrha and Ren however raised their fists, and both took a combative stance, as they were more trained. Zack picked up a broken shackle-chain that was lying on the floor, and in attempt to use it as a weapon. He did know hand-to-hand combat, thanks to his grandmother and brother. He just thought he look cool with a weapon in hand. After taking a good look in the room, they saw two humans, one female, and one male.

The female was very tall woman, with waist long platinum colored hair that was tied up in a pony-tail. She had blue eyes and white skin. For her attire, she was wearing a loose, white, short-sleeved t-shirt with a leather jacket, well-fitting and well-worn jeans, and open-toed sandals, with a pair of earrings shaped like fish. Right now, the woman, was throwing a rock at the wall, having it ricocheted off said wall, landing back in her hand, and proceeded to repeat this process. Clearly, she was bored out of her mind.

The male had pale skin, unkept black hair and eyes. He appeared to have a height of 5'7 with a thin frame. He was wearing glasses a gray hoodie with a white shirt on the inside, long gray shorts, that goes to just above his shins, black shoes with white laces and soles, a three-silver pyramid belt when in direct light each single metal that shined a different color on the spectrum, along with a chain on his belt. Right now, the man was sleeping on the wooden bed snoring.

It didn't take long for the female to notice the group, with a surprised look on her face. The rock she was throwing immediately landed in her hand, and she placed the rock in a little hole in the wall. She then immediately sat up and faced the group.

"Oh, new cell mates. I'm not sure if we have enough bunks though." She said in a tired tone.

"Um…who are you exactly?" Jaune asked.

"My name is Elizabeth Marinus. The man sleeping over there is Allister Zen." Elizabeth then turned to the man known as Allister. "Hey, Alley! Wake up."

"WHA…WHA!? What's going on?" Allister then looked around and saw the group. "Hey! I know you guys. You're that JNPR group!"

"H-how do you know us? We've barely been any duels recently." Ren said.

"One of my friends works at the hospital and recorded that rooftop-duel you guys had. The one where you got punch by the Junk Warrior Scrap fist." Allister said.

Zack's face immediately went sour. "Y-yeah. It went something like that." Nora did pat him on the back in an attempt to comfort him.

"W-well. At least it makes introductions a lot easier. So, what exactly are you two doing here?" Pyrrha asked.

"*sigh* Well, it's not something I would want to talk about. But, long-story short, we were captured." Elizabeth said.

"Elizabeth and I were running some tests on her duel-runner at the Oasis Card Hangout's garage. Ever heard of the place?" Alister asked.

JNPR and Zack shook their heads.

"Okay. It's fine if you don't know. Some of our friends were with at the time helping with us at the time, three of them. Everything was going so well."

"Until?" Jaune asked.

"Well, apparently…I don't know how it happened, but someone accidently spilled soda on one of the Duel-Disks. The liquid short-circuited it, and caused the dimensional transportation feature to malfunction." Elizabeth said.

"It's kind of weird. We've managed to create teleportation gear, but we didn't make it water proof." Allister said.

"It was probably an older model. Anyways, long story short, we were just really unlucky that we ended up here of all places. We were immediately captured and imprisoned here." Elizabeth said, her hand on her forehead.

"Not to mentioned they confiscated our stuff. You've probably lost your gear too, buddy." Allister said to Zack.

Zack immediately checked his body and found that he was indeed missing his duel disk and deck. The only thing he had were the JNPR cards he kept tuck in his chest pocket. "How did that happened?" he wondered.

"Wait…You said that you were a group of five. Where are the other three?" Pyrrha asked.

Allister and Elizabeth had saddened looks. "Unfortunately, you've just missed them. Alex, Yanagi, and Lars. They've been taken away." Allister said remorsefully.

"They're being taken to Gut-Extractor room." Elizabeth said.

"G-G-G-G, Gut-Extractor!" Jaune shouted.

"Does that mean they're going to harvest their hearts!?" Nora screamed.

"Including intestines, lungs, kidneys, eye-balls, teeth, and pretty much everything. To them, this is no different from how we butcher cows, pigs, or chickens. To them, we're just food that just wander into demon territory." Allister said.

"True. We've heard that humans that come or live here have some kind of special protection or condition where they cannot be eaten or killed by demons unlawfully." Ren said.

"Exactly. Basically, demons are allowed to eat illegal immigrants or unlawful intruders. It's only a matter of time before we're next." Elizabeth said.

JNPR and Zack exchanged glances with each other. At first, they were horrified of what was going to happen. However, it was that feeling of dread that turned to conviction to do what they wanted to do. Regardless if these people entered demon territory without special protection, demon law didn't say you had to submit to being eaten or killed.

"Team JNPR-Z. Let's move out." Jaune said in a commanding tone.

"If you're thinking about breaking out, forget it. The iron-bars are enchanted with magical properties. If you touch them, you get shocked, and plus, only the prison guard has the only key and is also in charge of the Gut-Extractor. We've tried everything, but nothing is going to…" Elizabeth was then interrupted.

"Pyrrha. If you would?" Jaune asked his partner.

Pyrrha immediately stepped forward and held up her hands to the metal bars. She then immediately swung her arms outward. The iron bars then immediately bended sideways, completely destroying the cell.

"Oh. I think I may have overdone it a bit." Pyrrha said.

Elizabeth and Allister only stared at what just happened with their jaws hanging opened. Allister's glasses fell off his face, as Elizabeth picked them off the ground and immediately, putting them back on his face.

"That's our Invincible Girl for you! Way to go, Pyrrha!" Nora cheered.

"Quickly, we must stop the extraction of human guts at once!" Ren said, as he was the first to exit the broken cell.

"Team JNPR-Z, AWAY!" Zack yelled triumphantly, letting out a battle-cry as he ran out the cell.

"FEAR THE QUEEN!" Nora yelled.

Jaune and Pyrrha fisted bumped each other and smiled at one another, as they too followed their friends. Elizabeth and Allister were left behind as the two poked their heads out of the broken-cell. Eventually, Allister was the first step out, and then took in a deep breath through his nose.

"Do you smell that, Elizabeth?"

"Smell what?"

"The smell of sweet, sweet, freedom."

(Gut-Extractor Room)

The Gut-Extractor Room was a simple room. There was only a very dangerous device in the middle of the room, with a conveyor belt. On said belt were three male humans, all chained up together.

One appeared to be 16 years old with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a baseball cap, a white button up shirt unbuttoned with a purple shirt underneath, denim jeans and black boots as well as fingerless gloves. This was Alex Bright. Right now, he was struggling to break out of the chains, but failing to do so.

Another appeared to be twenty years old. He had black hair and green eyes. He wears a green shirt under a pastel orange jacket, black pants, dark gray shoes and a set of earrings shaped like bees. He was trying to think of a plan, and had a calmer look on his face. This is Yanagi Kurohane.

The final male was, a twenty-one-year-old man, with an average height and muscular build, wearing a Black leather vest over a Brown shirt, along with Dark blue pants and Black boots. He had the word 'peace' tattooed on his right forearm in Nordic runes. His hair is Brown and scruffy, reaching Down to the bottom of his neck, he has hazel Colored eyes and has some stubble on his chin. This is Lars Henrickson and right now, he was yelling at the Archfiend Soldier who was calibrating the machine.

"Listen here, you! Let us out these chains right now, or else I'll make you regret it man! You're just a chicken! Too chicken to face me in duel or an actual fight! Release us now, demon, or you're going to get it!" Lars yelled.

"Lars. I don't think the demon cares what you have to say." Yanagi said.

"Well, I have to do something! I don't want to end up on the dinner menu! For the record Mr. Demon, my innards are horrible. They'll give you the worst stomach ache of your life!"

The archfiend soldier only turned to Lars with a slow head turn. "Buddy. I'm just doing this for my paycheck." He said, going back to work.

Meanwhile, Alex had finally stopped struggling, and took a deep breath. "Alright guys. I figured out how to get out of this mess."

"Really, how?" Yanagi asked.

"Praying." Alex said.

"…You're joking." Lars said.

"Nothing is working physically. So, our only option is to resort to spiritually methods. So pick a god and pray! I'll start with Ra. Oh, great sun-god Ra of the spirit world! Please with glorious sunny rays, I ask that you save us from…" Alex began praying furiously, and then eventually switching to Silfer the Sky Dragon.

Yanagi blinked a couple of times and shrugged. "Oh, great mighty and powerful Crimson Dragon! I swear after this incident, I'll never take food for granted again! I understand the process of which all livestock which I consume goes through, and forevermore I shall…" Yanagi continued to pray to the Crimson Dragon and the proceeded to pray individually to each of the represented dragons. Although, he wasn't sure if they count as gods.

Lars didn't really know what to think of the situation. He was only dumbfounded by the idea Alex brought forward, and that Yanagi was just going along with it.

Archfiend Soldier was finally done with the calibrations. "Alright then. Let's get this over with."

The machine began to start up, as the sounds of chomping metal, griding gears and other horrifying metallic sounds could be heard. The Archfiend Soldier immediately went to his chair, and pulled up a new-paper while putting his legs up on the desk.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore us, buster! Release us! Please?" Lars then saw that the conveyor belt moving slowly toward the chomping metal jaws of the machine, and horror immediately was seen over his face. "OhgreatNumeronDragon!Pleaseaidusinourtimeofneed!Spareusfromthetragedythatwillbefalluponus!PleaseohPlease,hearmyprayer…" Lars said faster

The three men continued to offer up their prayers to multiple gods, and some made up ones, faster and some of it was bit gibberish. As the three approached the chomping metal jaws and grinding saws, the noises got louder and louder with each passing moment, making them pray faster and faster. All of sudden, the noise stopped. The three men opened their eyes, to see that the machine has halted, and the conveyor belt was now moving backwards. The three men then turned to their left to see Nora standing over the Archfiend Soldier's body, hammer in hand, laughing triumphantly, and Pyrrha at the controls.

"Hello there." Pyrrha immediately waved her hands in front of the lock and the chains, unlocking the bindings, causing the chains to fall to the floor.

"Yes! It worked! One of our prayers were heard! Thank you, whichever god blessed us with these saviors!" Alex said.

"Huh. It actually worked." Lars said.

"I think I won't be eating meat for a whole week after this. By the way, thanks for the help. What are your names?" Yanagi asked.

"I'm Pyrrha and this is Nora. Your friends are waiting for you in the cell area. Please be safe when escaping. Your gear is located in the room next door. It's quite convenient that the storage room of prisoner belongings was well, next door." Pyrrha said.

"Which meant I got my hammer back so soon." Nora chimed in.

The three men stood in silence, not sure of what transpired. "So, uh, you girls going to come with us to get out of this place?"

"Not just yet. There's a friend of our here somewhere. I wouldn't be right to ditch him." Pyrrha said.

"Helping out a guy that uses Grimm. Did not see this coming in my life." Nora said to herself.

Ren, Jaune and Zack then came running into the room. They were all armed with their gear, and Zack with his duel-disk. "Come on you, two. Let's get moving." Ren said.

"I found a map! It has the layout of the entire castle. Also, it has a weird demonic skull where the throne room is." Jaune said, opening up the map.

"So, we know where to go! Let's go de-throne a archfiend. Muhaha" Zack said, smacking his fists together.

"Yes. Yes we shall." Nora said in a devious tone, while chuckling menacingly to herself. Zack and Nora continued to laugh triumphantly as the two walked down the corridor which led to the stairs.

"Part of me is terrified if those two came up with the plans. Jaune. Keep coming up with the plans so we won't have to rely on theirs." Ren said.

"Don't worry, bud. I'm not planning on stopping any time soon." Jaune paused for a moment. "Hmm. What do you think, River's doing right now?"

"Hmm. Probably something violent." Pyrrha said.

(Entrance to the Throne Room)

River was currently, in a large room, that contained a large door, with demonic decorations. Currently, it was closed, and had a magical pentagram on its doors. Here, we can see, River pushing a block, using Clay's Tread-Gauntlets, as he groaned with the block slightly moving in the direction he was pushing it.

"HRRRRGH…*huff* *huff* *huff*…HIIIAAAAGGGHAAAGH! Whew. Stinking block puzzles. *huff* Okay. That goes there…and that goes over there…that over there…oh boy, my brain's heating up." River said. Clay was also in the room at the time, since he was swapped out at the time.

"So, making progress?" Clay asked.

"Kind of. Just need that triangle block rotated forty-five degrees to the right, and then stack the two rectangular blocks on top of each other. Can you do the stacking for me?" River asked.

"Eh. Why not?"

After some more pushing and grunting, every block that was in the room was in place. The seal on the door began to glow, and slowly began to fade away, releasing the magical lock that was placed on the door.

"Who in their right minds would make the lock to their throne room a block puzzle of all things?" Clay asked.

"Maybe it's a castle fad. Where only the most sophisticated castles have puzzle rooms." River said.

Jackie then appeared as an astral spirit. "Hmm. Fad or not, it's still weird whichever way you look at it."

"I suppose so. Let's just get the job over with." Clay said. He then disappeared, as Jackie took on a more physical form.

River took a deep breath and slapped his cheeks a couple of times. He then pushed the doors wide open. His eyes were greeted with a vast gray and red colored room. It had an over whelming feeling, making any normal person feel nauseous. Across the room, River spotted a Demon sitting on the throne. It was gray demon, with it's a skeletal figure, but with muscle on the inside. This was the Terrorking Archfiend. The current one at least.

"I was wondering what the commotion was about. To think a Beast-Man was causing the commotion." Terrorking said.

"You know I'm part cat?" River asked.

"Oh please. That wig may cover up your appearance, but your presence is not that of a human. However, regardless of what you are, you're outmatch." Terrorking said.

"Well, you may be right. However, if I don't try and take you in alive, I don't get paid. So, I kind of have to do this. It's my job." River said casually.

"Don't forget you can also destroy him if necessary." Jackie said.

"Yeah, but if we destroy him, we get paid less." River said.

"Yes, yes, I know. Just remember it as a last resort okay. It's just a couple of bucks." Jackie said.

"And those couple of bucks are what could decide whether or not my fridge is empty or filled with food." River said.

"If you're finished talking with each other, I would like to get to the point where I squash the both of you." Terrorking said. He rose from his throne and stepped down from the throne.

River approached cautiously, wondering if it was either duel or fight. He felt his hands move towards the hilt of the sword. Jackie narrowed his eyes at Terrorking while taking in the surrounding environment. Just then, he heard a faint roar, no, more like a bloody battle cry. His eyes perked up, as he looked around from where the sound may come from. Eventually, he looked up, as he was able to pinpoint the sound.

"River! Jump back, now!" Jackie shouted.

River only turned to Jackie, shocked by his sudden warning. He then quickly turned his head upward, and his ears quickly picked up on something falling. Just as he jumped back from where he was standing, the rooftop above the room, had burst open, as a figure descended from the sky, stabbing the ground. The impact caused the room too shake, as everyone standing wobbled and almost lost their balance. River flipped his body, and pushed himself off of the ground and landed back on his feet.

Jackie, River and Terrorking peered through the dust cloud and soon saw the silhouette and it appeared to be humanoid. The figure was wearing a dark-gray armor, with dark blue accents. It wore white-bone made gauntlets, and fur-cape. The creature looked up, revealing a lion head, with a white mane, with red-streaks. It had bone fragments attached to its face, and the right side of his face, had a scar over his right eye, although the eye itself isn't damage. In the ground was a white-colored halberd, with a crimson-colored blade, that was appeared to look really sharp. Judging from its appearance, it was clearly a Grimm. The Lion Grimm stood-up and pulled it's lance out of the ground, and scanned the area, as it then spotted River and Jackie.

The Grimm snarled and growled menacingly. "Are you Faunus named River?"

Jackie then leaned towards River's ear. "Say, no. There's a chance he may go away."

"I'll do it, because I'm curious to see if it would actually work." River whispered back. "No".

"Hmph. No need to lie. Your face says it all. You are the one who commands the Grimm. No doubt you're strong, since strength is required to conquer your enemies." The Grimm said.

"Can't deny that. By the way buddy, what should we call you?" River asked.

"…Gao. I'll get straight to the point. I'm here to defeat you, and bring either your lively-body or a soulless corpse back to my superiors. And I will crush you whether you like it or not." Gao said, pointing his lance towards River and Jackie.

River and Jackie looked at each other, knowing that there was no backing out. "Bring it."

"You have resolve. Very well. Since a majority of the Grimm you've defeated were via Duel-Monsters, we shall commence combat with that method. No objections?" Gao asked.

River and Jackie said nothing.

"Very well. Let us begin." Gao said, reaching for a Darkness-Barrier cube. He then immediately crushed it, causing darkness barrier to form around the two duelists.

"Excuse me…Gao, was it?"

Gao turned his head behind him, and saw Terrorking speaking to him. "I understand that this, beast-man is a nuisance to you. I can trust you can deal with him properly? Your appearance is most convenient for me. I believe I'll take my leave here." he said.

Gao only looked at Terrorking with his menacing glare. "Do what you want. I only care about slaughtering my prey."

"Good enough for me. Farewell. I wish you the best of luck." Terrorking said.

"Hey! I'm not done with you buddy. I need to either to kill you or capture you to get paid!" River shouted.

"Did you actually think he was going to sit by and watch you duel?" Jackie asked.

"Kind of." River said, while shrugging.

Suddenly, everyone heard the wall on the right side of the room cracking. Turning their heads to the right. The wall's cracks began to spread across the wall, as it then came falling down, revealing team JNPR, armed and readied along with Zack who had his arms crossed in the background. They quickly

"Did we miss butt-whooping?" Zack asked.

"Jack! Barrier! Zack! Archfiend King! Now!" River shouted.

"I find it sad that I actually understood you." Jackie sighed.

Jackie raised his sword in the reverse grip, and stabbed the ground. A runic circle then surrounded JNPR, Zack and Terrorking. Everyone within the runic barrier were caught off guard by the seal.

"Hey, uh, Zack. I hate to put in this position, but is it okay if you can whoop his butt for me? I'm kind of occupied at the moment." River said, pointing to Gao. Gao in turn put on his duel-disk with force, while maintaining his threatening aura. He then proceeded to shuffle his deck slowly. "It might take a while; I need to make sure Terrorking stays put. No pressure, but the fate of my paycheck rests in your hands kid."

Zack thought about it. "No."

"WHAT!?"

"Hah! I'm just messing with you! Hah ah ah ah hah. I do it. Don't you worry about. I'll take care of him" Zack said, taking out his duel disk.

"Very funny, kid. Very funny." River said.

Terrorking merely scowled at Zack. "Another human. No matter. I was hoping would be able to slip away, but I suppose I can make example out of you." A demonic duel-disk materialized on his arm, as he inserted his deck into the slot.

Zack and River armed themselves with their duel disks and stared down their opponents, while Gao and Terrorking did the same. All four duelist were readied to fight.

DUEL!

The first duel we'll take a look at is River and Gao.

Turn 1: Gao
River Sticks: 4000LP vs Gao: 4000LP
River Sticks Hand: 5 vs Gao Hand 5

"I shall make the first move. I'll set one monster face-down and two back-row cards. I'll end it here." Gao said.

Turn 2: River
River Sticks: 4000LP vs Gao: 4000LP
River Sticks Hand: 5 vs Gao Hand: 2

"Be careful, River. This Grimm is Blood-thirsty, but cunning." Jackie said.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. But let's start off strong. I play Pot of Greed. Now I get to draw two cards from my deck." River said, reaching for his deck.

"You aren't going to draw two." Gao said.

"Wha?"

"I play a face-down. Mystical Refpanel." Gao declared.

Pot of Greed
[Spell: Normal]

Mystical Refpanel
[Trap: Normal]

The trap showed a light-purple-skinned fairy, with angelic wings and dark-purple hair. She wore a light-blue dress and held a mirror which showed a magician's face on the front. Gao's trap then emitted a light, as the fairy on the card appeared on the field.

"Here's how it works. When card effect targets a player, this card changes the target to the other player." Gao said.

"Uh…what do you mean by that?" River asked.

"Your mind is slow. Perhaps seeing would be better than telling."

Gao then snapped his fingers, causing Fairy to hold up her mirror. On the reflective surface, River's Pot of Greed card was displayed. His card then turned into a bright light, and was immediately absorbed into the mirror. The mirror was now displaying the Pot of Greed card.

"In short, this trap card reflects any effects that targets one player onto the other. In layman terms, instead of you drawing two cards, I now draw two cards instead."

Gao then drew two cards from his deck, as the fairy on the field disappeared. River only had his mouth gaping open, as he was fairly shocked of what happened.

"You got to be fricking kidding me." River said.

"It would've been bad enough he negated it, but he decided to go and steal it. Murderous, but smart. A deadly combination." Jackie said.

"This is the opposite of starting off strong, but hey. I can swing it back in my favor. I summon Assassin Owl to my field in attack mode!" River declared. On his side of the field, the ninja owl appeared from a gust of wind.

Assassin Owl
[LV: 3] [Attribute: Wind]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 1700] [DEF: 500]

"Since this little fella was normal summoned, I get to destroy one of your spell or trap cards. Only one choice! Do it!" River shouted.

The Assassin Owl, grabbed his giant throwing star that was on his back and hurled it towards Gao's remaining face-down. The shuriken hit its mark shattering the card. Gao on the other hand didn't seem phased at all.

"You triggered my trap-card." Gao said.

"I destroyed it. It can't trigger if I shatter it." River said.

"On the contrary, destroying is what triggers it. Behold, the Dark Coffin!" Gao shouted.

Dark Coffin
[Trap: Normal]

A black smog appeared on the field, as the previously destroyed card on the field began to reform. The card showed an Egyptian coffin being opened, revealing a black figure within smiling creepily.

"Upon being destroyed, the opposing player has to either discard one from their hand, or destroy one monster your field. Make your choice and be quick about it." Gao said.

River only grimaced. Without saying a word, he took a card from his hand discarded it.

Gao, then began tapping on his duel disk, and was silent for a moment. "The card you discarded was Dark Stasis."

"W-what!? How did you know that?" River asked.

"I checked your graveyard. I have the right to check my opponent's graveyard, and see what cards are in there. I've heard from experience duelists that the graveyard functions as a secondary hand. It's not that much of a surprise." Gao said.

River and Jackie were silent for a moment. "He's done his homework. Unlike a certain Tiger that comes to mind." Jackie said, staring daggers into River.

River slowly turned his head to Jackie, with a deadpanned smile on his face. "Three words, Jack. Shut up, please."

"Three words in turn, River. I don't care." Jackie said.

"Fair enough. Now, since Assassin Owl did successfully destroy your trap-card, I can summon a Level-3 or lower Grimm type monster from my deck. I'll summon Beo-Spearman from my deck!" River declared, as the Beo-wolf appeared in defense mode.

Beo-Spearman
[LV: 3] [Attribute: Dark]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 1600] [DEF: 900]

Beo-Spearman: 1600ATK to 0ATK

"I now overlay, both level 3 Assassin Owl and Beo-Spearman! With these two monsters, I'll build the overlay network!" River yelled. Assassin Owl and Beo-Spearman turned into pure forms of energy, as they ascended into the air, and then entered a black hole in the middle of the field, causing an explosion.

"I XYZ-summon, Rank-3, Subterranean Drilling Jaw!"

Subterranean Drilling Jaw
[Rank: 3] [Attribute: Earth]
[Grimm/XYZ/Effect]
[ATK: 2200] [DEF: 1300]
OVU: 2

The ground began to crack as the Drill-Lance wielding Grimm Shark appeared on the field, and landed on River's side of the field.

"The best part about this guy, is that he can attack you directly, with half of his attack points. Get him, Chomper!" River yelled.

"That name does not work either." The Grimm renamed Chomper said.

Subterranean Drilling Jaw: 2200ATK – 1100LP = 1100LP

Regardless, Drilling Jaw jumped into the air, and pointed his lance downward, as he began spinning his body, as he dug his way through the ground. The ground where Gao was standing then burst open from below, as Chomper emerged, and struck Gao with his lance. However, Gao appeared to be unfazed.

Gao: 4000LP – 1100LP = 2900LP

"Jeez. Not even a flinch. However, I activate Drilling Jaw's effect. Whenever you take damage, I can use one overlay unit and draw a card."

Subterranean Drilling Jaw: OVU 1

"I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."

Turn 3: Gao
River Sticks: 4000LP vs Gao: 2900LP
River Sticks Hand: 2 vs Gao Hand: 4+1

Without saying anything, Gao drew his card and silently placed it in his hand. He looked at his hand, and the current field.

"I'll give no quarter. First I'll sacrifice my face-down monster to summon Warbatusk." Gao said.

Warbatusk
[LV: 6] [Attribute: Fire]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 2000] [DEF: 2500]

On the field, a Grimm with resemblance to a Boarbatusk on remnant appeared on Gao's field, but with major differences. Firstly, it was bipedal, and it wore a green-camo vest, along with camo pants. It also had silver armor on the front of its body and a red-head band tied around its head. However, what stood out the most where it's weapons. It wielded guns, but were black and had bone attachments, showing they were made by the Grimm with their personal touch. These weapons took the appearance of UZI submachine guns, holstered on each of the lower legs. A shoulder mounted rocket launcher, and duel-wielded M24 LMGs in each hand. There were also multiple ammo clips attached, on its waist, and some attached on or hanging from its tusks.

The Warbatusk lit a cigarette and placed it his mouth. It then let out ferocious battle-squeal that a boar would make.

"Interesting. A Grimm that's armed to the tooth with firearms." Jackie said.

"More like armed to the tusk." River said. "If a Grimm like this exists, what's that Jaune kid's excuse for not carrying a secondary firearm? I mean, even the tiniest pistol would be good enough. It's light, concealable, and it has good ammo capacity."

"I activate, Warbatusk's effect. Once per turn, I can change its battle mode. Certain effects activate depending on what mode Warbatusk changes to. In this instance, when Warbatusk switches to defense mode, you take 300 points of damage for each card in my hand and field. The total is five cards, meaning you take 1500 points of damage!" Gao shouted.

The Warbatusk then took on a kneeling position, and then pointed it's LMGs at River, and prepared to fire.

"I play a face-down! Spiteful Counter! For this turn, when you deal effect damage to me, you take half the damage dealt to me. Also, if I control a Grimm type monster, the damage done to me is halved." River said.

Spiteful Counter
[Trap: Counter]

Spiteful Counter showed a Beowolf being stabbed by a Huntsman in the shoulder, but was too angry to care, as he was about to swipe his claws against the Huntsman. The Warbatusk didn't care about the trap, as he pulled the trigger on both of his guns, unleashing a torrent of bullets, striking River all at once. The mini-gun on his shoulder also began to spin as it too unleashed a hail of bullets. River covered his arms, but he felt the impact of all the bullets striking his body. Being duel-monsters, it didn't hurt like actual bullets, but it was still really painful, even with his aura up. The barrage continued to go on, until Warbatusk's guns only made clicking sounds, signaling they were empty.

The Warbatusk, then threw out the empty ammo clips to the sides, and then swiped the LMGs across his tusks, reattaching two new clips to the guns, quickly reloading the guns.

A black aura then began to glow around River as he then threw out his right fist, sending a wave of energy back to Gao, damaging him.

River Sticks: 4000LP – 750LP = 3250LP

Gao: 2900LP – 375LP = 2525LP

"I'll then activate Drilling Jaw's effect. Since you took damage, I'll use an overlay unit, so I can draw a card." River said.

"Clever. I believe I'll continue with my monster's effect. After dealing damage, I can send one Grimm type monster from my deck or hand to the graveyard, as long as its attack points are equal or less than the damage dealt. I'll send Twisted Jester to my graveyard, with zero attack points." Gao said, sending the card to graveyard.

Twisted Jester
[LV: 1] [Attribute: Dark]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 0] [DEF: 0]

"Next, I'll use a spell-card, Stop Defense. This card switches the battle modes of a monster on the field from defense to attack mode. I'll use it on my Warbatusk. This in turn activates its next effect. When switched from defense to attack mode, I can summon a Grimm type monster from my graveyard, with a level equal or less than to the monster with the highest level on my field. I'll summon my Twisted Jester back in defense mode." Gao said.

Stop Defense
[Spell: Normal]

As, Warbartusk stood up, he pulled out a flare gun and shot it into the air. The Jester Monster then appeared on the field as it spun around chuckling evilly.

"Twisted Jester's effect activates now. I can change its level to match one of my other Grimm type monsters. I'll target my Warbartusk, thus changing his level to six."

Twisted Jester: LV 1 to LV 6

"Heh. Alright. I suppose you're going to summon yourself to the field right now?" River asked.

"Not yet. I'll play this first. Limit Level – Area B. When in play, all level 4 or higher monsters must switch to defense mode, including the Warbartusk. You're smart man. I bet you can see where this going now." Gao said.

"Yeah…and it wasn't pleasant the first time." River said frowning.

Limit Level – Area B
[Spell: Continuous]

Limit Level – Area B showed an ancient but technological area. Warbartusk then knelt down and readied his guns again, unleashed hail of bullets on too River damaging him again. Once the bullets stopped, River channeled the dark aura surrounding him, and used it to damage Gao in turn.

River Sticks: 3250LP – 750LP = 2500LP

Gao: 2525LP – 375LP = 2150LP

"I'll send another to my graveyard now. I'll send Goliath Gardna to the graveyard, with attack points of 500." Gao said, sending a monster to the grave.

Goliath Gardna
[LV: 4] [Attribute: Earth]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 500] [DEF: 2100]

"Twisted Jester can be treated as two monsters when XYZ-summoning Grimm type monsters. However, I'll be treating him as one monster for this summon. I overlay level 6 Warbartusk and Twisted Jester to construct the overlay network." Gao said.

Warbartusk and Twisted Jester turned into pure forms of energy as they ascended into the sky, crossing each other, and entered the black hole in front of Gao, causing an explosion.

"Kill or be killed. Soaked with blood of victims. A murderous monster with no mercy. I XYZ summon, Blood King Gao." Gao chanted.

Blood King Gao
[Rank: 6] [Attribute: Dark]
[Grimm/XYZ/Effect]
[ATK: 2750] [DEF: 1000]

Gao's spirit then appeared on the field, as it spun his lance before wielding it with both hands, and then slammed it on the ground and cracking said ground.

"If I'm the only monster on the field, I gain 500 attack points. Now, to put those points to use. I attack Drilling Jaw." Gao said.

Blood King Gao: 2750ATK + 500ATK = 3250ATK

Gao's spirit form immediately lunged towards Drilling Jaw, and giving him no time to react, unleashed multiple thrust attacks, and one final downward swing, successfully destroying him.

River Sticks: 2500LP – 1050LP = 1450LP

"I'll set one, and observe." Gao said.

Turn 4: River Sticks
River Sticks: 1450LP vs Gao: 2150LP
River Sticks Hand: 3+1 vs Gao Hand: 1

"Argh. This guy is definitely not pulling his punches. He a lot tougher than the other Grimm we've faced." River said.

"I suppose you're going to stop playing around?" Jackie asked.

River didn't say anything, and instead drew his card. "I'll start by summoning Dagger Cougar!"

Dagger Cougar
[LV: 4] [Attributes: Wind]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 1600] [DEF: 1500]

The cloaked cougar appeared on the field, and readied his knife. However, it was immediately swapped to defense mode due to Limit Level – Area B. "When I summon this card to my field I can…" River said, but was immediately cutoff.

"You'll do nothing! I activate my ability! By using one overlay unit, I can flip one face-up card on the field face-down. I target your Dagger Cougar, therefore preventing it's ability from being used!" Gao said, pointing at the Cougar.

Blood King Gao: 1 OVU

An overlay unit was immediately absorbed into Spirit-Gao's lance, imbuing it with a dark aura. He then hurled his lance, as it was sent flying towards the Cougar.

"Not so fast! Two can play at this game within a game. I play Book of Moon! This card let's me flip your monster face-down! So, since your spirit form is getting flipped first, my Cougar gets to stay face-up!" River shouted.

Book of Moon
[Spell: Quick-Play]

In that instant, Gao's Spirit Form immediately vanished and was replaced with a horizontal face-down, causing the flying lance to disappear, just before it hit its mark. Gao didn't seem phased though, as he only stared silently at River and growled softly.

"Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Dagger Cougar let's me summon a Grimm type monster from my hand, as long as it has 2000 or less attack points. I think I'll play my own Twisted Jester." River said, as another Jester appeared on River's side of the field.

"And as you know, my Jester becomes level 4, and unlike you, I'll treat him as two monsters. I overlay level 4 Dagger Cougar and two Twisted Jesters!" River shouted.

Twisted Jester: LV 1 to LV 4

Twisted Jester's body then spilt into two forms of pure energy, and ascended into the sky along with Dagger Cougar and entered the black hole.

"Creature of magical knowledge. Raise your blade and invade this realm! I XYZ Summon! Appear! Rank 4, Hyksos Runic Jackal!"

Hyksos Runic Jackal
[Rank: 4] [Attribute: Dark]
[Grimm/XYZ/Effect]
[ATK: 2800] [DEF: 2000]

Jackie took on a more physical form and entered the battlefield as he swung his sword to the side.

"Since Dagger Cougar was used for an XYZ summoning of a Grimm type monster, I get to draw a card. Now, if my memory is correct, he only had 1000 defense points. Which means we can strike him down! Let loose, Jack!" River yelled, pointing towards the face-down card.

Jackie readied his sword and immediately charged forward. The face-down card was flipped as Gao's spirit reappeared. The Spirit-Gao raised his lance and clashed with Jackie, as the two Grimm began trading blows. Due to his defense posture, Jackie was quickly overwhelming Gao.

"I banish Goliath Gardna from my graveyard. When a Grimm type monster I control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, I can banish this card from my graveyard to negate destruction." Gao said calmly.

A large shadow appeared above the two Grimm. Just before impact, the two Grimm jumped back, as figure crashed in-between the two. The Grimm that appeared was a humanoid Goliath, with mammoth shaped feet, and with the head of a Goliath as well. it was heavy armor plating, that appeared to be very bulky, and in its right hand, was a gigantic shield that had some resemblance to a Goliath head. It was now currently standing in front of Jackie, preventing him from reaching his target.

Jackie sheathed his sword, and jumped back to River's field. "Hmm. River. Like Gao said from before, paying attention to the grave is important. I suggest you follow his indirect advice."

"Sure, sure. I'll just set these two cards face-down and end my turn." River said.

Turn 6: Gao
River Sticks: 1450LP vs Gao: 2150LP
River Sticks Hand: 3 vs Gao Hand: 1+1

"Hopefully it will be your last. I play monster reborn! Now I can revive any monster from either player's graveyards. I'll re-summon my Warbartusk back to the field in attack mode!" Gao yelled, as the Warbartusk reappeared. Since Gao had another monster on the field, Gao's spirit form loses 500 attack points.

Blood King Gao: 3250ATK – 500ATK = 2750ATK

Monster Reborn
[Normal: Spell]

"Now Level Limit – Area B's effect will activate to switch my Warbartusk to defense mode, which will trigger his effect!" Gao yelled.

"Look. I already had to take a face-full of bullets twice already, and I definitely don't want to go through that again! I activate my face-down! Bottomless Trap Hole! I can only activate this card when you summon a monster with 1500 or more attack points. This card destroys and banishes it! I think it's about time Warbartusk was relieved of duty, permanently!" River shouted.

Bottomless Trap Hole
[Trap: Normal]

"I beg to differ! Reveal face-down! Royal Decree!" Gao yelled.

"So, much for that idea." River said, scowling.

"It seems you understand the situation. Royal Decree negates all other trap effects on the field, so your Trap Hole has been, sadly, filled up." Gao said, as the Bottomless trap card was destroyed.

Royal Decree
[Trap: Normal]

The Limit Level – Area B card then began to shine, as it then forced Warbartusk to switch to defense, causing the Grimm to take aim.

"River! If you don't do something, you'll lose!" Jackie yelled.

"W-wait? What do you mean?" River asked.

"Whenever Warbartusk switches to defense mode, it deals 300 points of damage for each card on his field and hand. Right now, he has four cards in total which equates to 1200 points of damage. After that, he'll then used Warbartusk's other effect to switch him back to attack mode, but Limit Area – Level B will switch him back to defense mode, and his damaging effect isn't once per turn!" Jackie yelled.

"It appears that one of you is capable of complex thinking. You're definitely an enigma amongst the Grimm. What you say is correct. Warbartusk will destroy you with his abilities!" Gao yelled.

"Being honest, I almost fell for that. Might as well stop it while it's ahead. I play my other face-down! A Quick-Play spell card, called Forbidden Chalice! This card may raise your monster's attack points by 400, but it also negates it's effects, which means my life points are safe." River said.

Forbidden Chalice
[Spell: Quick-play]

Warbartusk: 2000ATK + 400ATK = 2400ATK

Forbidden Chalice showed a young girl drinking from a golden chalice. A small faint glow appeared around Warbartusk empowering him, but also robbed him of his abilities.

"Well played. However, that won't stop me! I activate my own ability! By using one overlay unit, I can flip any card on the field face-down. I'll flip your Jackal into face-down defense mode!" Gao said.

Blood King Gao: 0 OVU

Just like before, Gao's spirit absorbed an overlay unit into his lance, and then hurled it across the field. Unlike last time, the lance hit its mark, causing Jackie to fall to the ground, on his back, as he was replaced with a horizontal face-down card.

At that moment, Gao cracked a vicious smile. "Now my true power is shown."

"True power?" River asked.

"If I have no overlay units, my attack points increase by 1300 whenever I attack!" Gao shouted in a more violent and bloodthirsty tone.

"Okay. So, what?" River asked casually.

"You fail to understand the situation, human. I can inflict piercing damage! Now, I SHALL DESTROY YOU!" Gao shouted.

Blood King Gao: 2750ATK + 1300ATK = 4050ATK

Gao's spirit form, began to make a violent face, with a blood curdling smile. He began sprinting towards the face-down card, wielding his spear in one hand. Jackie was immediately flipped face-up, and was surprised to see Gao's more violent expression. He raised his sword in preparation to block Gao's. Gao only smirked as he then jumped into the air with his lance in hand.

"DON'T STRUGGLE!"

Gao then threw lance straight down into the ground, piercing Jackie's body, causing a massive explosion, destroying the Jackal. Gao smirked, satisfied with his work. His smile then faded, as he was shocked by what he saw next. After the dust settled, River was still standing.

River Sticks: 1450LP – 1050LP = 400LP

"H-how are you still standing! The piercing damage should have done 1950 point of damage!" Gao yelled, sounding furious.

"It was going to do 1950 points of damage. But then I used the other effect of this card." River then pulled a card out of his graveyard, and revealed it.

A tiny astral spirit then appeared next to him. It had a small round body, and was covered in black fur. It had four white paws with black claws, and two big red eyes with yellow pupils. It also wore the skull of a wolf on it head.

"Meet the Kurigrimm. In this case, the Grimm version of a Kuriboh." River said.

"Gri, gri, gri, kuh!" the Kurigrimm said, which sounded like a threat.

"…I did not understand a single word you just said. Anyways, before your attack damaged me, I discarded this little guy from my hand. When I did, I can target, one monster in my graveyard, and reduce the damage I take by that monster's level times 300. The monster I picked was my good old Assassin Owl, with a level of three, meaning, the damage was reduced by 900 points. In addition, Kurigrimm's effect lets me add the targeted monster from my graveyard, back to my hand." River said.

"Gri Grrrriiiii GRI!" the Kurigrimm said pointing at Gao.

"I'm going to assume that was a harsh remark." River said.

The Kurigrimm only turned its body and stared intensely at River. "Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."

"Please stop staring at me." River said. The Kurigrimm said nothing and simply vanished.

Kurigrimm
[LV: 1] [Attribute: Dark]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 300] [DEF: 200]

Gao only gritted his teeth and growled, showing he was clearly not happy.

"The quite the TATIC you have there. As for now I'll just play this. Overlay Regen. The name itself is self-explanatory." Gao said.

Overlay Regen
[Spell: Normal]

Blood King Gao: 1 OVU

Immediately, an overlay unit came flying out of the card and attached itself to the Gao's spirit.

"That'll be all. Take your turn."

Turn 7
River Sticks: 400LP vs Gao: 2150LP
River Sticks Hand: 1+1 vs Gao Hand

"Alright. Let's see what we got here. One monster in my hand, and that's pretty much it. I was planning on summoning Assassin Owl to use his effect to get another monster out, but the first monster I summon is immediately going to get flipped because of his effect. Hmmm. Do I have any "Destroy all Monsters" spells in my deck?" River thought to himself.

Jackie then reappeared next to him. "Looks like we're in a cucumber."

"It's pickle, Jack."

"Technically, pickles are cucumbers that were soaked in vinegar or brine, so I am still correct with the saying." Jackie said.

"It doesn't work like that."

"Regardless of how it works, what do you plan on doing?" Jackie asked.

"I think it's time to call for the nuclear option." River said.

"Nuclear option…you don't mean…?"

(Play: Yugioh VRAINS OST: Turnaround Direct attack)

"Oh yes. Him. Just got to draw the right card. Come on!" River shouted as he drew his card.

Upon seeing the card, River nodded. "Ah hah! Now this just what I need. I play Pot of Avarice! Now, by returning 5 monster cards back to my deck, or extra deck, and giving it a good shuffle, I can draw two cards. I'll return, Twisted Jester, Dagger Cougar, Beo-Spearman, Hyksos Runic Jackal, and Subterranean Drilling Jaw back to their respective decks."

Pot of Avarice
[Spell: Normal]

The five selected cards in River's graveyard then ejected from the disk, as River placed them back into the deck. After the deck was shuffled, River took a deep breath and drew his last two cards.

"Nuclear option time." River said, gleefully as he looked up.

Gao narrowed his eyes, wondering what he was planning.

"I'm going to summon Assassin Owl to my field! Next I'll use it's ability to destroy Royal Decree!" River shouted.

"I won't let you! I activate my own effect! I use one overlay unit to flip Assassin Owl face-down!" Gao shouted.

Blood King Gao: 0 OVU

Gao's spirit form then absorbed the overlay unit in lance, as he hurled it across the field, striking the owl.

"Whatever plan you have is now foiled."

"On contrary, my dear lion friend. I can assure you that it's still in motion." River said.

"What?"

"Since a monster effect activated and successfully resolved, I can summon this monster from my hand. I play, Jelly Seer!" River shouted.

"A what?" Gao asked, sounding confused.

Jelly Seer
[LV: 2] [Attribute: Water]
[Grimm/Effect]
[ATK: 800] [DEF:800]

The Grimm that appeared had the appearance of seer, but with slight changes. Firstly, it's round head, was more of a blob like shape of a normal jellyfish, but it still had a red glow within the rubbery black skin. Furthermore, it also had a pitch-black body, attached to its head. It had two red tentacles that acted as arms, on both sides of the body, and several more tentacles that acted as legs on the lower body. For some strange reason, the small bone fragments on its body came together, and resembled a T-Shirt, which covered the upper-body. It was also pretty small, about the size of a child. Two round red eyes, with yellow pupils, then opened up on the front of the head. The Jelly Seer looked around the room, and blinked its eyes, not sure what to do.

Gao only stared at the monster, while an awkward silence filled the room. "If this is some kind of joke, it's not a good one."

"I know he's not biggest or menacing looking Grimm, but hey. Small things pack big surprises. Like his effect. I summon him using his own effect, for every monster on the field, I can target as many spells or traps in my graveyard, and summon them as level 2 Grimm type monsters with 0 attack and defense points with water attributes." River said.

Gao only scowled. "Of course. A Grimm deck's other focus for winning aside from focusing on attacking monsters is to use spells or traps as XYZ material. No matter a rank two cannot possibly defeat me."

"You're probably thinking that a rank 2 monster can't pummel you into the ground, aren't you?" River said.

Gao reeled his head in surprise.

"I highly suggest discarding that line of thinking. Since they're four monsters in total, I can summon four Seer Clones. But I only have three available monster zones, which means I'll just have to settle for three. I'll summon my Pot of Greed, Pot of Avarice, and Forbidden Chalice as Level 2 Seer Clones!" River said.

Seer Clone
[LV: 2] [Attribute: Water]
[Grimm]
[ATK: 0] [DEF: 0]

The Jelly Seer on the field then raised it's two arm tentacles, and one leg tentacle into the air, and sent them flying into a black portal that appeared on the ground. The tentacles then reemerged from the graveyard, bringing back the three spells, and began imbuing them with a black aura. It then set the cards on the field in defense mode, as a strange black smog came out of each of the cards. Red tentacles then sprouted from the cards, and three Seer Clones, which resembled the Jelly Seer, emerged from each of the cards.

"The next monster I'll summon is special. While some XYZ monsters need a specific number of monsters, this card can be summoned by using as many level-2 Grimm-type monsters that I want." River said, smirking.

"As many as you want!?" Gao said, shocked.

"That's right. I overlay Level 2 Jelly Seer and three Seer Clones! With these four monsters, I'll build the overlay network!" River shouted, throwing his hand into the sky.

Instead of turning into forms of energy, the Seers turned into black liquid substances, and shot up into the air and crossed each other. A Black Hole then appeared in front of River as the River entered the black hole, creating an explosion of light.

"Fresh and stylish! Squid or kid? I call upon an agent of pure chaos! I XYZ Summon! Rank 2, Ink Splatter Cthuling!" River chanted.

Ink Splatter Cthuling
[Rank: 2] [Attribute: Water]
[Grimm/XYZ/Effect]
[ATK: 2000] [DEF: 800]
OVU: 4

A small puddle of black liquid then appeared on River's side of the field. It began to shaking wildly, as it then shot out a stream of it into the air. Upon closer inspection, within the stream of liquid was a small black squid like creature with a white underside, with two eyes on the front of its body, and two long tentacles on the sides. The squid-like creature then began to morph its body in mid-air. Once it landed on the ground, it had a more humanoid look. It had the appearance and was the size of child. Currently, it was wearing black shorts, a black long-sleeve hoodie, and red vest with white lines on it. It also wore black sneakers with red accents. Unlike a human, its skin was pale-white, indicating it was a Grimm. It had two red eyes, with yellow pupils, and black markings around the eyes that resembled that of a mask. On its head, was what appeared to be its hair, only it was only it's tentacles resembling hair. His current style was that of wavy hair, but wavy tentacles that went down to the middle of his neck. There was also a cylinder-shaped tank on its back.

At the moment there was one tentacle blocking his left eye. The squid-grimm used his mouth to blow the hair back, and smirked. A puddle of black liquid then appeared next to the Cthuling. It then dipped his hand into the puddle, as he swished around it trying to find something. Eventually, the Cthuling pulled his hand out, only bringing what appeared to be a Grimm Version of a Water gun. The Cthuling only gave a toothy grin and made a peace-sign with his hands.

"Heya, Ten. You doing good?" River asked.

Ten turned around and looked at River. He merely replied with a thumbs up and a wink.

"Good to hear." River said, returning a thumbs-up and a wink as well.

Meanwhile, Gao was not amused with the Grimm. "You actually believe that poor excuse of a Grimm can defeat me!?" he shouted, sounding furious.

Ten, the Cthuling, heard Gao, but he didn't seem to care about what he thought of him, while he was picking his nose.

"Yes. I do believe that. Ten is pretty good at what he does. He's a special case. For you see, I can detach as many overlay units I want from him, and activate a majority of effects. For example, if I detached five overlay units, he negates and destroys every card on the field, other than himself of course." River explained.

"Every card!?" Gao shouted, losing his composure for a moment. "Hmph. Impressive as that may be, you only have four overlay units."

"Oh. You're right. *sigh* That's a real shame. If only I had some way to give Ten an extra overlay. Like that Overlay Regen you used last turn, then I could use the effect." River paused for a moment, as he had a somber look on his face. It was immediately replaced with a devilish smile. "Oh, wait minute! I do have the exact same card in my hand! What do you know! Ah ha ha ha aha!" he laughed, revealing that the last card in his hand was his own Overlay Regen spell card.

"Argh!" Gao said.

With that, the Overlay Regen spell turned into an orb of light and began circling around Ten, along with the other four units.

"I now detach all five overlay units! Ten's ability now activates, allowing him to negate and destroy ever card on the field! Let's get messy." River said, confidently.

Ink Splatter Cthuling: 5 – 5 = 0 OVU

Ten then jumped into the air and held his right hand into the air. The overlay units then flew towards his hands as they all converged together. A swirl of Black-liquid then surrounded the light in his hand, and continued to grow bigger and bigger. Ten then turned his head around and pointed at River and Jackie while smirking.

"Do we have to do it?" Jackie asked.

"We have to. He won't use the effect unless we say it." River said.

"But it's not required for the activation." Jackie said.

"True. But it's more of ritual for him when using five overlay units."

"*sigh*. Fine. I'll say it."

"That's the spirit. On three. One…two…three…BOOYAH!" River shouted, throwing his fist into the air

"Uh…B-booyah." Jackie said awkwardly, while raising his fist slowly into the air.

The Assassin Owl that was flipped then took a peek from underneath it's card and raised it's wing in the form of a fist. "HOOT-YAH!" it yelled, before returning to it's face-down state.

Ten was satisfied with the replies, although he believed that Jackie needed to work on his shout. "BOOYAH!" he then threw the gigantic ball of liquid down onto the ground. Upon contact, a huge explosion of black-ink to engulfed the entire field, wiping out everything within the blast radius. After the explosion subsided, the field was covered in the black ink, as everything was gone. Assassin owl was gone, Limit Level – Area B, Warbartusk and Royal Decree. However, the only thing left on the field was Ten, and Gao, who was covered head to toe with ink.

"Shouldn't you have gone kaboom with that last effect?" River asked, sounding confused.

"Heh. I had another Goliath Gardna in my graveyard. It was the first monster that was sent to my graveyard." Gao said.

"Oh. When you tributed summoned. That makes sense." River said.

"You seem calm for someone who's recent plan failed." Gao said.

"There's a simple answer for that. The plan's not over. I said it before. Ten's effects activate depending on how many overlay units are used. Use the maximum amount and you trigger all five effects. Here's the fourth. I get to half your life-points with four overlay units."

"What!?"

Gao then spotted Ten with a data-pad in his hand, and he was inputting commands into said data-pad. Furthermore, there appear to be a rocket on its back. He then raised his finger into the air and pressed the digital button. The rocket on it's back then went flying into the air as, it expelled black-ink from the exhaust. It went flying into the air, breaking through the roof of the castle. After waiting for a while, it came flying back through the roof again, and crashing right where Gao was standing. A massive explosion of ink erupted around Gao as he screamed as not only he felt pain, but he felt his strength draining.

Gao: 2150LP – 1075LP = 1075LP

"It stings, doesn't it? Ten's ink can sap away the aura or energy of whoever it covers.

"W-why you…little…!"

"Save your curses for later. We are far from finished. If three or more overlay units are used, I can summon a Cthuling token, with the same stats as the normal Cthuling. The only difference is that it's a level 2 monster since tokens can't have ranks."

Ten threw the data-pad he was holding behind him, and stuck his hand into the ink puddle again. After swishing through it, he then pulled out a miniature satellite-beacon device. He then set it on the ground, and immediately turned it on. The device began sending out a signal.

Through the same hole the rocket made, a jet of black ink came flying down, only it landed next to Ten. From the splotch of ink, another Cthuling appeared, only this one appeared to be female, with two tentacles hanging form the side of its head as twin-tails. The two Cthulings then did a special handshake with each other: grab the hand, fist-bump, fist-explosion, high-five jump. The two then position themselves in combat positions, with weapons drawn.

Cthuling Token
[LV: 2] [Attribute: Water]
[Grimm]
[ATK: 2000] [DEF: 800]

"This is Eleven by the way. The second effect, all Grimm type monsters that I control gain 15000 attack points!" River said.

"15000!?" Gao screamed.

"Oh, my mistake. It's just 1500 extra attack points. Sorry about that." River said, chuckling to himself. Gao only growled with frustration as he had a hunch River meant to say the effect incorrectly on purpose.

Ink Splatter Cthuling: 2000ATK + 1500ATK = 3500ATK

Cthuling Token: 2000ATK + 1500ATK = 3500ATK

"The last effect just grants immunity to being destroy by battle or card effects for up to two monsters on my field. Doesn't really matter since you don't have anything to destroy my cards." River said.

"The same logic applies to you, Gao. Whether your spirit-version is destroyed or not, it doesn't matter." Jackie said. Gao stepped back in realization of what was about to happen.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Jack. Cthulings! Attack Blood King Gao!" River said, snapping his fingers.

Both Cthulings smirked as then began sprinting towards Gao. They then turned into their squid forms and dived into the ink on the ground, and began swimming through it. Like sharks, then began circling Gao's spirit form. Ten then jumped out of the ink, wielding what appeared to be a giant paint brush and swung it down. Gao immediately blocked it with his lance. However, Eleven jumped up from behind and was holding a gatling gun. After charging it up, she then began rapidly firing ink with the gun, forcing Gao to cover himself with his arms, and stagger backwards.

Gao's spirit form wiped the ink from his eyes, and once his vision cleared. He saw Ten standing a bit far away from him. In his hand, he was throwing a pyramid shaped bomb, with black ink inside up and down within his palm. He then gave it good throw, as it then exploded in front of Spirit-Gao's face.

At this moment, Gao was starting feel tired and worn out. Each attack the Cthuling did to him drained him of his energy. He then looked up to see Eleven holding a charge rifle in her hands, with Ten standing next to her. Ten then pulled down his right eye-lid and stuck out his tongue, for extra insult to injury. Eleven then pulled the trigger as she fired a power shot, that collided with Gao's Spirit damaging him. Gao screamed in pain, as he flew into the air and landed on his back.

(End OST)

Gao: 1075LP – 750LP – 750LP = 0LP

Duel Over
Winner: River Sticks

Gao's spirit then faded, as his physical form knelt down on the ground, weaken from the barrage of ink he had just received. River deactivated his duel-disk, as both he and the two Cthulings approached him.

"Got a say, that was probably the most challenging fight I had, second to best to the girl with the crazy growth spurt, and boy was it a doozie. Now, for my favorite part after the victory." River then approached Gao, with the intent of recruiting him.

Just then, a flash of black light, enveloped Gao. River and the Cthulings then covered their eyes. Once the light faded away, River saw that Gao had disappeared from the area. However, there were no signs of death, as Grimm usually fade away when they die.

"What just happened?" River asked.

Jackie then appeared to him in a spiritual form. "Hmm. I suppose he was transported away from here. I sensed his spirit moving away, and not decaying."

River then felt something tugging down on his pants. He looked down to see Ten holding a card in his hand, and extending it towards River. Upon taking and inspecting the card, he saw it was Blood King Gao. Jackie then tapped the card a couple of times.

"Apparently, he left his card. However, his spirit does not reside in this card. You may use it in duels, but you won't be able to summon his as an ally or use his weapon." Jackie said.

"Eh. It's fine. Besides, I already have enough of you guys to deal with. Especially those two." River said, pointing to Ten and Eleven, who were for reason, changing between kid and squid form rapidly for no reason at all.

"They are weirdos." Jackie said.

"I agree. But it's that weird randomness that makes them great fighters. If don't know your enemy, you don't know thy self." River said.

The two Cthulings then shot rockets into the air and watched them explode. "Still. They still make me uneasy, and that's saying something."

"Aside from those two, how do you think…uh…what was kid's name again?" Jackie asked.

"It was Mackery…no, no. Zackery. Yes Z-man. I did kind of force him to duel an evil demon king." River said.

"I wonder how he's faring." Jackie said.

"Let's fine out. But I have a feeling that the kid is going to be just fine." Rive said, smiling confidently.

To be Continued

Author's Note

Okay. Originally, I was going to include Zack's duel with Terrorking in the same chapter, since I once included two duels in one chapter in the past. But then I saw how big the chapter was getting, so, I decided to split it up into two parts. I didn't want to get all of you exhausted from reading a very long chapter, that was over 35000 words, considering I was going to add a whole bunch more to the ending, so maybe this is for the best. Bright side though, is that I've already finished writing the duel, so, it should come out soon.

As for the OCs, included in this fic, they'll also appear in the second part, since I originally intended for them to play a part in a single chapter. Here are the owners.

Myyddraal: Elizabeth Marinus

D3ADPOOLK1D: Alex Bright

ScarfacePhantom: Yanagi Kurohane

24th Colossus: Lars Henrickson

W1ll3r: Allister Zen

And I believe I have introduced every OC that was submitted to me. Hopefully.

Anyways, I hoped you've enjoyed chapter, and I'll get to work on finishing the second part. Let me know what you think of the chapter, and as always, have a nice and wonderful day!