First Contact
"Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two Level 3 or lower monsters! I set BrioGear Cryo Raptor and BrioGear Pale Crawfish in the Link Markers!" My monsters flew at the top middle and bottom middle arrow of the circuit. "Link Summon! The dancing spirit of storms! Grand Ranger Serene (ATK: 2100, Link-2)!"
I jumped out of the portal followed by my monster. Serene raised its head and its eyes glow yellow as it landed in front of me.
"That was so cool!" I shouted and pointed at the AI. "This card game looks awesome!"
Even though there was no chance for anyone to put real money into a card game like this one, the idea looked awesome in this weird dream I have. The monsters looked so real and alive, you couldn't guess that they were just holograms.
I glanced toward the AI which didn't seem to have any particular expression about this, perhaps because it was a machine and all. I don't know why, but its call expression made me nervous to attack. What if it had set a trap and waited for me to make the wrong move and get screwed? It was possible.
Either way I had to do something now! If I got rid of his monster the rest would be easy… I hope.
"I enter my Battle Phase and use the effect of BrioGear Pale Crawfish in my hand!" I said, showing the two copies in my hand. "I can discard it to raise the attack of my BrioGear by 600 for each!"
BrioGear Wave Crusade, ATK: 2000 + 1200 - 3200
Grand Ranger Serene, ATK: 2100 + 1200 - 3300
"Why did Grand Ranger gain a boost as well?" I tilted my head to the side a bit confused. Serene wasn't a BrioGear monster so it shouldn't get its attack points increased, though this made things easier for me so it was cool on my side.
"The first text in the effect of Grand Ranger Serene threats it as a BrioGear monster." The AI explained. "Therefore it gets a power boost as well."
"Oh! Then I attack Missus Radiant with Grand Ranger Serene!" I declared.
Serene turned its left hand into a fist and pushed it forward. The shield opened and a small blue orb came out as the blades underneath were drawn out and obtained glowing writings which matched the orb. Afterward Serene jumped into the air with a feminine battle cry and brought its blades down onto the AI's own monster.
"Trap Open!" I gritted my teeth as the AI's set card flipped face-up. "Safe Zone! I equip it to a monster that I control and as long as this card is equipped to it, the target cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects! Or said in the words that an amateur like would understand, despite the rules stating that the weaker monster gets destroyed, this card prevents it."
A bubble formed around the AI's monster and took the hit instead. As Serene's blades hit, they unleashed a huge amount of blue energy which were reflected to the sides and raised into the form of wings before chasing onto the field. I feel on my knees and had to cover myself from the power of the attack which created some huge cracks onto the ground we were standing onto and sent a bit of debris my way. I was just lucky not to be on the receiving end of this attack because it managed to launch the AI I dueled backward and knocked it off its feet.
『Masou LP: 4000 – 1400 - 2600 Hand: 2』
"Second attack!" I gestured toward Wave Crusader. "Attack Missus Radiant!"
Just like with my previous monster, this one unsheathed its sword and charged ahead, swinging it toward the dog's head. And like before the attack was blocked by a bubble, though this time the strength of the impact was far weaker than before. In fact, I didn't even feel it.
But the AI did.
I noticed that some sort of distortion appeared on the AI's body for a few moments before it disappeared again. Was that mean to show where exactly the attack hit our bodies? Because I saw no other use for that, even though that would be pretty pointless.
『Masou LP: 2600 – 1300 - 1300 Hand: 2』
"You made a mistake." The AI suddenly said as it stood back up. "If you have summoned Wave Crusader on the zone underneath the Extra Zone you used and then attacked with it first you would have been able to use Grand Ranger Serene's effect to tribute your monster and inflict 1700 points of damage to me."
My eyes widened at that and I looked down at the field. Indeed Wave Crusader was in the middle zone while Serene was in the right 'Extra Zone' and one of its arrows pointed downward. Ah damn!
"You should have told me about that sooner!" I said, though I didn't want to sound angry or anything. "I set a Trap Card and end my turn."
At this point the power boosts of my monsters ran out and two screens appeared beside each of them to show me their stats.
BrioGear Wave Crusade, ATK: 3200 - 1200 - 2000
Grand Ranger Serene, ATK: 3300 - 1200 - 2100
"You made a mistake." The AI spoke again and I looked at the field again. "Both Spell and Trap Cards can be set, therefor telling what card you set worked into my advantage!"
"I didn't know that!" I protested.
"My turn." And I got ignored…
『Turn 4 [Masou] LP: 1300 Hand: 3』
"I activate Bait Doll." The AI said as a card that showed a doll and a hammer appeared on their field. "I target a set card the opponent controls and if it's a Trap Card they must activate it immediately."
The single set card I had begun to glow and I knew what that meant. I watched as my Trap was revealed. Its artwork showed a vicious blue serpent with wings fighting a blue and white dragon of ice which had three heads, in the middle of an ocean.
Titans of Disaster (Trap) Normal
During the Damage Step: If a "BrioGear" monster you control is attacked, discard 1 card; the ATK of all face-up non-WATER monsters is halved until the End Phase of this turn.
"Thanks for activating it." I told the AI with a smirk.
"I don't understand your gratitude." The AI tilted its head to the side. "Since the activation conditions of your Trap aren't met the effect of Bait Doll will shuffle it into the Deck."
"Say what?" The trap disappeared from my field and that was it.
"I summon Cosmic Compass (Lv. 1, ATK: 100)." The AI continued and a weird-looking machine appeared on its field. "When Cosmic Compass is Normal Summoned I Special Summon a number of Compass Tokens up to the number of monsters the opponent controls."
In an instant two portals appeared at each side of the machine as two more copies showed up but those were in Defense Position and with 0 defense. I could only guess what it was planning to do with those monsters.
"I calculate that player Proxy will lose this turn." The AI told me and from my respective it sounded too happy about it. "Come circuit of Link!"
The AI threw its hand upward and show a spark of electricity which opened a portal with eight arrows in the sky. The robot then jumped inside the gateway along with it's the three compass monsters which it had just summoned. "Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are at least two monsters! I set Cosmic Compass and the two Compass Tokens in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Appear, Gaia Saber, the Lightning Shadow Knight (ATK: 2600, LINK-3)!"
The three compasses flew into the arrows at the left, bottom and right sides of the portal which then glowed as a black horse with light blue circuit lines trotted out of the portal with a knight in white armor that ridded on its back, holding two spears.
"And not to forget Missus Radiant's effect increases the attack of all EARTH monster by 500!" The dog barked and a golden aura covered the knight, its stats suddenly raised.
Gaia Saber, the Lightning Shadow Knight, ATK: 2600 + 500 - 3100
Ok, let's see how the math works here. My opponent controls two monsters, only once of which is strong enough to defeat mine and even then that monster's ATK was too low to reduce my Life Points to 0. Was there something that I missed?
"I activate Pot of Desires!" Oh yes, there was. "I banish the top ten cards of my Deck and draw 2 cards." The AI explained and two cards appeared in its hands. "Then I activate United We Stand, equipping it to Missus Radiant. This strengthens my monster's attack with 800 for each face-up monster on my field."
Missus Radiant, ATK: 1900 + 800*2 - 3500
"Then I activate Back-up Rider to increase Missus Radiant's attack further by 1500 points!" The dog barked louder, its body began to grow bigger as it did.
Missus Radiant, ATK: 3500 + 1500 - 5000
"Whoa" I said in amazement as the monster's attack reached a height that I didn't believe was possible with just two cards.
Actually, what were the chances for the AI to draw the exact two cards needed to boost its monster and beat me? That was one super lucky machine I had to say.
"Entering Battle Phase." The AI declared. "Missus Radiant attack BrioGear Wave Crusader! Radiant Claw!"
The dog jumped on top of my monster, smashing it, then turned to look at me and howled with so much power that it knocked me back.
『Proxy LP: 4000 – 3000 - 1000 Hand: 1』
"Ouch." I winced, feeling the pain running through my body. "This hurt…"
"Dueling isn't for namby-pambies." The AI said, following with a robotic laugh.
"What did you say?" I couldn't believe that an AI was making fun of me! It was so embarrassing!
"Gaia Saber, the Lightning Shadow Knight attack Grand Ranger Selene! Spiral Saber!"
The knight raised its spears and pointed them forward as the horse trotted toward my monster. Selene activated its blades, but before it could do anything else the weapons stabbed it in the chest. My monster let out a groan before shattering and I felt something hitting my body as well.
『Proxy LP: 1000 – 1000 - 0 Hand: 1』
『Winner: Masou』
"I think I got a bump." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head, even though this was cyberspace and my real body was probably completely unharmed.
Getting utterly destroyed in the tutorial was so embarrassing and shameful. Though why the tutorial – which is made to introduce new players to the game – was so bad at explaining the rules and how everything works? I think that it just made the entire card game, even harder for me to understand. I grumped as the AI began to laugh and call me mean things, which to an extent made me feel even worst for losing.
"Let's duel again." I said and activated my Duel Disk. "I wasn't ready last time, but I will get you this time around."
I wasn't sure why I challenged the robot again, but I just couldn't accept that it managed to beat me like this. I just wanted to prove that I can be good at something as well, so, despite that I had mostly no idea how most of the rules work nor did I have any sort of strategy, I believed that I will manage to pull out an awesome win. I wasn't going to be a newbie, I was going to be an epic newbie! I would show Elizabeth that I can play her favorite game as well.
"This is quite the illogical decision." The AI told me and readied its Duel Disk for another duel. "But who am I to let a chance to completely embarrass someone pass by?"
"I'm not going to lose again!" I shouted back.
"DUEL!"
After what I guess was an hour or so I finally teleported back to the usual Link VRAINS and leaned against the wall of a building, sighing to myself. Would you guys believe me if I say that I completely owned the AI the second time we dueled? No? As embarrassing as it can be for me to admit it, but you would be right. I had fifteen duels with the machine and all of them were me losing and challenging it again while the AI kept taunting me. It wasn't a pleasant experience, believe me.
I looked up, strangely, the sky looked darker than when I logged in, the whole atmosphere of the place seemed to have changed as well, it was, colder and there was no living being around. I felt that the ground below me began to tremble and then heard screams coming from the distance followed by an explosion. I looked around and saw a tail of flames raising over the buildings, then out of a corner came a few players which ran toward me. At first I couldn't understand what happened, but after a bit, everything came together as a stream of fire fell on top of them, completely incinerating everyone. Oh God!
A mechanical dragon without limbs flew over the flames and toward me. Oh god! No! I took a step back and turned around to run, but something tripped me and I fell on the ground. I turned around and then saw it.
There was a hooded man on top of the dragon overseeing the slaughter.
This wasn't just a game anymore, I felt fear and dread. My mind was shouting, telling me to run for dear live. The flames that came out of the dragon's mouth gave me chills and I felt that my heart was beating so fast that it was probably going to explode.
As the beast came closer to me, I could tell that the man was looking at me. Directly at me. He had a smile, a wicked one that made me feel sick just from a glance. I couldn't get up. I wanted to run away, but my body wouldn't move, a chill ran down my spine and the robot opened its mouth, released a stream of fire toward me and all I could do was close my eyes and wait for my end.
"Link Summon!"
Hearing someone's cry I opened my eyes and saw a humanoid in black clothes slashing the flames in two with a scythe. My savior swung their weapon and I saw a large purple scar appearing on the mechanical dragon's head as it stopped to fire at us. The warrior in black clothes rest their scythe on their shoulder and turned toward me as the machine exploded and I heard the masked man screams being muffed by the flames that engulfed him.
"Thanks." I told the warrior.
My savior simply nodded to me and then flew away. As they did so I managed to see a small screen by their side reading some sort of attack stat. I didn't have time to pay much attention to this as suddenly my entire body began to glow and I had to close my eyes from the light.
I felt only the weight of my own body after that. I slowly opened my eyes and for the first time in my life help happy to see the white ceiling of a hospital room. It didn't matter how I got there, as long as it wasn't inside that virtual hell. Though I felt extremely tired for some reason and could barely move a muscle. My entire body felt like I had just ran fifteen miles and I had to fight desperately to keep my eyes open for a little longer. Was it even worth the effort?
My mind was empty, I couldn't think about anything. How did I get into all of this? Where is my family? Why did I woke up in a hospital? I don't know if those questions were in my mind before, but right now I couldn't get myself to try and answer, nor care about any of them. With much difficulty I managed to turn onto my side and closed my eyes. I will just… sleep today and do the rest tomorrow…
3rd P.O.V
A few hours later the lights in Roxy's room were off and the girl lied completely still in her bed. Her chest raised and fell gently and she breathed slowly, she was still sleeping and deeply on top of that. She would never know that someone opened her room, nor that they took her Duel Disk and left.
Outside of the room where Roxy slept was the doctor that helped her earlier, holding the girl's Duel Disk inside his hand. Before him stood another figure with a black hoodie that covered their face from view, but was decidedly a male. He took the Disk from the doctor and raised his head a bit to look at it, giving a good view to his crimson eyes which seemed to glow into the darkness.
"That's good." He mumbled, taking the cards. "It uses a physical deck, that's good."
"What are you going to do with her?" the doctor asked. "I can't keep her in the hospital for long, the higher-ups will start to get suspicious."
"Give me two days to arrange things." The hooded man said. "She must have many questions and being taken in by some unknown people wouldn't help her. I want to do it more… naturally."
"I can do that much for you." The doctor said. "And I don't say it only because you are supporting my hospital."
"I know, Doctor Souma." The hooded man sighed and looked at the cards again. "But to think that a girl with no idea of how to duel would be the one to get this deck… It's just too ridiculous for my taste."
"That means that you will have to look carefully after her." Dr. Souma leaned against the door frame.
"Or lock her into the tutorial and not let her leave until she manages to defeat Masou." The hooded man said.
The man took the black chip that was attached to the back of Roxy's Duel Disk, then pulled out his own, it was the same type, but with a black, purple and red color scheme instead of the usual white, red and blue one. He input the chip and a screen with the words 'Downloading in progress…' appeared on the screen.
"Let the kid be." Dr. Souma replied.
"I was just joking. But I will be busy the next days, fixing the mess that SOL Technologies made inside Link VRAINS." The hooded man said. "And on top of that, this, vigilante hero called Playmaker showed up as well."
"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."
"I'm saying that I'm going to be extremely busy those days and I hate being busy." The hooded man put the chip back on Roxy's Duel Disk. "So, if anything happen and you lose the girl you know who to call instead of me."
Dr. Souma nodded and took the Duel Disk. The hooded man smiled and patted him on the shoulder, he turned and walked down the corridor, disappearing into the darkness. Souma sighed and looked into the room, seeing Roxy sleeping peacefully onto the bed. He smiled and put the Duel Disk on the nightstand. He grabbed the blanket that Roxy hadn't noticed and put it on her before leaving the room.
A/N: After a thousand years, I'm finally back!
So yeah, I guess this isn't as exciting as it should be given the time it took me to write it, but right now I have a bit of a problem with following the summary which says that Proxy will have to learn how to Duel from Yusaku... I mean that guy is so anti-social and unwilling to even ally with pro-duelists that it would be hard to make him work with a newbie. I just hope that the idea I have for that won't make him look too OOC or stupid.
On another note, I was planning to put a chase scene between Proxy and the Knight of Hanoi, but I didn't write it because I'm bad with chase scenes. Yeah, I'm probably going to revisit those first few chapters later down the road.
Well, that's for today. See ya next time!
Diabolic Tracer out!