A non-duel chapter again folks! Be warned!
Just a Proxy
Within the familiar black room with green circuits stepped Picaro. Like usually, none of the low ranked knights was there and Specter was checking how far Faust, Baira and Dr. Genome's project to make a cyber-virus had come. The demonic knight kneeled down and bowed his head to Revolver after the failure. He spend a long time analyzing Playmaker's play style and strategies, only for all of his hard work to go to waste because of some girl with little to no duel experience. The memory about it was haunting him, after all the trash talk, he ended up being the worthless one.
"I never gave an order for you or any of my other knights to go after Playmaker." Revolver stated calmly, turning around to face Picaro. "So, tell me, why did you thought that you have the right to go out and challenge him on a duel?"
"I meant no ill intent to our cause, nor any sort of glory when I challenged Playmaker." Picaro answered. "I was given orders from the highest authority to defeat our enemy and take back the escaped Ignis."
"Highest authority? So, it was Dr. Kogami that ordered you to go after him?" Revolver asked.
He didn't expect that his father would go out of his way to order a single hacker's destruction when there were more important things to be done, like the finding and destruction of the Cyberse. But behind Revolver's cold-blooded eyes, a part of him felt disappointed in himself because apparently Picaro was a more trustworthy and skilled duelist in Dr. Kogami's eyes than his own son. This self-loathing made his anger to rise, as well as his desire to defeat Playmaker with his own two hands and rip out the Ignis from the Cyberse-user's broken Duel Disk.
"Yes, I was given my orders by Dr. Kogami himself." Picaro confirmed and stood up. "Although I lost the duel, I was able to find some interesting information about Playmaker that might help us in our future operations against him."
"And what exactly did you find?"
"The girl that defeated me, Proxy, seems to have ties to him. She protected him and even knew who the Ignis was, so our original Intel which stated that Playmaker works alone in LINK VRAINS was apparently wrong." Picaro explained, clicking the edges of his claws together to open a screen which showed a picture of Proxy with Grand Ranger Serene during the duel. "While I'm not sure about their relationship it seems like she is some sort of apprentice that Playmaker had taken to help him out. If we get close to her, we might be able to use her to lure the big fish out of hiding."
"Hm, do you know anything else about the girl?" Revolver asked, taking a step toward the screen. His soulless yellow eyes staring at the girl's picture. "Do you have any way to come in contact with her without alerting Playmaker about our actions?"
"I do." Picaro confirmed. "But using her would be the harder part. Apparently the Ignis has a way to find out the presence of Hanoi, so if we try to infect her with the virus that we are developing Playmaker would find out about it instantly."
"What are you planning to do then?" Revolver asked. Using the girl as bait would be hard if they can't turn her into a victim.
"I will use some of my personal tricks to catch her." Picaro replied. "Unlike with Playmaker, there is a much larger pool of people to use as hostages to make the girl cooperate with our demands."
"Then you are free to do as you please." Revolver told him. "Just don't go after Playmaker personally again, even if Dr. Kogami tells you to. This an order from me."
"As you wish." Picaro bowed one more time before he left. But behind the knight helmet and hood, Revolver couldn't see the little smirk that appeared on his knight's face upon leaving.
Roxy's POV
"Today is a pretty nice day." I told Kusanagi, while helping with his food stand.
Since my first victory in a duel yesterday, I and Kusanagi went to visit Playmaker's house to see how bad his condition was. Thankfully, Ai was able to fix everything while they were inside LINK VRAINS so all he needed was a good sleep in order to get back his energy. Kusanagi had told me that Yusaku sometimes spends all night to search through the internet for any traces that could lead him to Hanoi and that seemed to have finally gotten a tool on his body, at least inside the virtual reality. Despite how close of a friend he was to Playmaker, I could tell that he was partially happy that the 'Hero' finally got forced into getting a good rest.
"One hotdog and coffee."
"Hm?" I turned toward the client, only to meet Yusaku's cold gaze. "Hey, there! Did you get a good rest?"
"It was refreshing." Yusaku nodded and leaned against the truck, watching the screens that showed Blue Angel and Rocketeer in different duels.
I sighed, he was a very hard person to deal with. His cold gaze alone would be enough to push most people away from him, and let's not speak about the massacre that occurs when he tries to speak with someone. The first thing I could think about when I look at him is that I was unwanted in this group. Though I could completely understand him, and began to search for a place to stay at as well, it still made me feel like a piece of shit for wasting his and Kusanagi's time with my petty problems.
It wasn't all that bad though. Looking on the positive side of the spectrum, such a soft girl like me needed the rough treatment in order to become tougher! So even if it was his cold gaze reminding me to disappear, I was happy because it was supporting as well. Sort of.
"I didn't expect to see you here so early today, Yusaku." Kusanagi smirked, putting the sausage down, then leaned over the grill to look at Yusaku. "You look like you have woken up from the wrong side of bed."
Really? He looked the same as always to me.
"Tell him that. Mister lame-o came here as soon as he woke up." Ai complained.
"This is where I must be." Yusaku stated, crossing his arms in a manner that put his Duel Disk under his arm, silencing the little A.I. inside of it. "Were there any new activities that could lead us to Hanoi?"
"No, and don't worry, if anything popped up, I will just send Roxy to investigate it and call you if there is trouble." I smiled a bit at Kusanagi, after hearing that.
"I don't want you to let her get anywhere near the Knights of Hanoi again." My smile quickly dropped after Yusaku stated that.
Like, come on! I won a match against one of them! Yes, I had a lot of luck and Playmaker had already set everything for me by getting Decode Talker in the Graveyard, but I still did something! Doesn't that count as something? Of course, I would prefer if I don't duel another Knight of Hanoi, like, ever again, but it proved that I can take care of myself!
"Come on, if it wasn't for her, you could have been in a much, much worse situation!" Kusanagi crossed his arms and shook his head. "You didn't even thank her for saving you!"
"I agree that she must have been magnificent, if she was able to defeat the Knight of Hanoi, but there was a condition in my agreement to help her." Yusaku pushed himself away from the truck and turned to look at me. I averted my gaze knowing what he meant. "I told her that I don't want her to get involved with Hanoi because that would endanger her live, but she still dueled."
"Isn't that more of a reason to let her stay! So we can look out for her if the Knights of Hanoi target her?" Kusanagi asked back.
Wait, they could come after me now that I revealed my connections to Playmaker! Oh no, what have I done!
"You misunderstand me." Yusaku stated. "I will let her help us, but not in LINK VRAINS. They already know about her deck and its strategy, so it's a matter of time for the Knights to start implementing counters to it in their own decks! She isn't experienced enough to face a challenge like that and even if she was-"
"- You don't want to involved innocent people in our fight." Kusanagi sighed.
"But I'm already involved!" I pointed out, gesturing toward myself. "I'm sorry for breaking my promise to you guys, but if the Knights of Hanoi choose to go after me… There are people in LINK VRAINS that could be hurt because of that! I don't want to be a hero, but I want to at least know how to protect those I care about in case things go to the worse."
The words didn't seem to have fazed Yusaku, even just a bit, or if they had, he was too got at masking them because I saw absolutely no change in him. His posture, his cold gaze, nothing had changed. After a bit, he glanced around - there were no customers at the moment – so he walked over to the back of the truck and opened it. At this point, I was used to what this meant so I began to close while Kusanagi was turning on the computers.
"There were no sights of Hanoi lately, what do you plan on doing?" Kusanagi asked, sitting down on one of the chairs.
"There was something that I was thinking about since yesterday." Yusaku replied, sitting down as well. "The trap that Go Onizuka set in order to duel me was a SOL program, right? Why are they trying to take me out of the picture when the Knights of Hanoi are the much bigger threat?"
"It's not much different from when I was a free A.I." Ai sighed. "During the five years in which I was fleeing through the network, I was being chased by both the Knights of Hanoi and SOL Technology themselves."
"Wait, are you suggesting that the ones who created LINK VRAINS are working together with Hanoi to catch you?" I asked; it would be worrisome if that was the case.
"The two groups are each other's main enemy." Kusanagi shook his head. "But it's true that lately they had started to get on us harder than before. So, are you suggesting to hack their servers? That would be crazy!"
"I know. That's why we must find alternative ways to gather data about both my lost memories and your brother." Yusaku stated.
"Hmm, I will start looking into it, but it would take at least a few days to figure out something with the data that we have at our disposal."
"Coffee and hotdog." I handled Yusaku the order he gave before we closed. Though they seemed preoccupied with SOL and Hanoi, I didn't forget that Yusaku was most likely hungry.
Of course, he didn't reply, instead just taking the food and eating. Which was fine, I wasn't expecting him to thank me for something as simple as that, he didn't need to thank me, it was common sense. Ok, ok! I'm the type of person that needs other to notice my actions, because otherwise everything I do would feel completely meaningless.
"So, would you need anything else?" I asked.
Yusaku simply shook his head for a 'No', not even breaking eye contact with the computer screen in front of him.
"Ok then…" I rubbed my hands together and looked around. How should I tell them the news… "Um.. Just to let you know, I was looking for a place to stay and found an online ad. It said that the rent was negotiable, so maybe it could work out."
"That's great news." Ai replied first.
"Indeed they are, but does that mean that you are leaving us?" Kusanagi asked me.
At that I paused; what sort of answer should I give him? I was a burden for them, there was no doubt in that, even if I move out of Kusanagi's truck, staying a part of this team alone would cause more trouble for them. Kusanagi already had to go out of his way to erase my logging history to help me avoid getting my identity revealed and Yusaku would also have to deal with both the Knights and protect the other users in LINK VRAINS because of my actions alone.
"I don't know, I will need some time to think about it. I'm not even sure if it's a good idea. I got no idea what 'negotiable rent' means, nor if I could actually pay it."
I also had no idea what the people that I would most likely end up living with would be like. They could be some angry old couple, or even worse than that. I got no information about the user who publicized the ad because their profile was blank; not even an image. At this point, my mind was in a debate on whenever I should even go to check it out, or not.
"So, when are you going to check it out?" Kusanagi asked me.
"I don't know." I shook my head. "The ad said that visits were accepted after three after morning, so even if I go today, there is much time until then."
"Geez, you sound almost like you don't want to get yourself a home!" Ai suddenly exclaimed.
"N-no, that's not it!" I shook my head.
I wanted to get my own place to live in. Kusanagi had helped me already with a lot by letting me stay in his truck for several nights, but I didn't want to take up his space any longer. It just didn't feel right to stay at his pace for free.
"Hm, is that so? Just make sure you check out the place before you accept the offer, unlike Mr. Serious over here." Ai told me, narrowing his eyes at Yusaku.
"Hostages don't get to complain where they are kept." Yusaku stated simply, while clicking on the keyboard.
"Your house is about to collapse!" Ai exclaimed. "And why is it so boring? You have almost nothing in it!"
"Be quiet." Yusaku hissed at that. "If you share any personal information about me with someone else again, I'm going to dismantle your program."
"Oi, hotdog guy! Playmaker is threating me!"
"Kusanagi, turn off the speaker."
I sighed, those two were arguing like always. Well, not always since Yusaku was able to silence the little guy that lived inside his Duel Disk, but I believe you get the point I'm trying to get across. While they were complaining to Kusanagi – who by the way, had some smug look on his face – I took my own Duel Disk and sat on the spare chair.
"I'm going into LINK VRAINS." I told them. At this Yusaku turned to glare at me again and probably say something, but Kusanagi put a hand on his shoulder and nodded; I smiled in return. "Into the Vrains!"
As the rings that changed my form to that of my avatar disappeared I quickly found myself standing in the middle of the streets of the city sever in LINK VRAINS, surrounded by many other avatars who were walking around, chatting or simply dueling. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so that made me a bit happy.
As I walked further down the streets, people began to occasionally throw glances at my way and at times I even heard the world 'Proxy' being muttered between them. I tried to remain collected and not react, after all, there was no way they could be talking anything about me, right? I was just a nobody that recently made my account.
"Hey, isn't that her?"
I stopped in my steps and turned around, several avatars pointing at me from afar as they kept on talking loudly for everyone to hear them.
"Yes, it looks just like the girl from the reporters' video!" Another one exclaimed.
"It's the girl that saved Playmaker from the Knights of Hanoi!"
My eyes went wide as the whole crowd came running toward me. Instinctively, I tried to turn around and run, but they were everywhere. All they let me do was stand there and close my eyes as they all crashed into me. Some were throwing arms and shouting for an autograph, others wanted to duel me, and third – which seemed to be the reporters – began to ask me questions like:
"Are you connected to Playmaker?"
"What made you do this courageous action?"
"What do you think of the title, 'LINK VRAINS Hero's Hero'?"
"P-please! Let me go!" I finally shouted out, but to no point, no one was listening to what I was saying.
They kept on squeezing me and I began to feel my breath stopping. Being in large crowds like this, people shouting around me, being in the center of it all. I put a hand over my chest, feeling my heartbeat starting to get faster with each passing second, while my stomach rebelled. Even if it was the virtual reality, I felt sick and ready to vomit.
"Hey!" A new voice called, taking everyone's attention off me for a moment.
Using the distraction, I tried to push my way out of the crowd, when something grabbed me by the collar of my suit and pulled me off the ground. My sweet world! Why is everything crazy happening to me?!
"Calm down, it's me!" I looked up at the voice and saw Rocketeer on his D-Board. He smiled at me and turned to look at the path before him. 'Why didn't you tell me that you were a friend of Playmaker? That wasn't fair."
"I-I'm not his friend." I shook my head. "I-I can explain it to you, but…"
"I messaged you several times until now, but you haven't replied to none of my messages." My eyes widened once again at that statement.
"S-sorry, I didn't know that you could message others." I told him. I really didn't know that.
"Heh, for real?" I noticed a slight smile on Rocketeer's face. "Then we have a lot of stuff to talk about. On a more private place of course."
As he said that, a portal appeared not too far from us, and he drive right through it. The transition to the other area was so quick that it took less than the time to blink and we were already there. This time, the server he dragged me to, was much different from the usual, with large flowers raising above us like trees and large chunks of earth floating in the blue sky like islands. My chin dropped at the scenario, while Rocketeer simply leaned against a tree and crossed his arms, looking at me. I turned toward him as well, knowing that he wanted us to talk about something important. All my hope is that he won't break his friendship with me, but I couldn't blame him if he did; I was a horrible friend so far.
"Listen…" Rocketeer began, glancing around. "I know that our friendship isn't all that well established, and even if it was, I also understand that there are things which each one of us wants to keep to themselves. But you had just dueled a Knight of Hanoi and saved Playmaker! You became more popular for one day than the rest of us after months of performing!"
"S-sorry." I lowered my head. "I-I didn't mean to o-overshadow you."
"That's not the main point here!" Rocketeer exclaimed and walked over to me. Seeing his robotic figure coming closer, I instinctively tried to pull back, but he grabbed my cheeks and looked me in the eyes. "You dueled a Knight of Hanoi that was able to overpower Playmaker! Do you… Do you how worried I was when I saw you dueling that bastard? Then, you just handled his ass, and I… I don't know what to think any more except for: Are you really a duelist newbie?"
I glanced at the side and put a hand over my mouth to cover my smile after his words. He was worried about my well-being – also about my dueling skills – but mostly about the first! I turned my eyes back on him and put my hands on top of his as I shook my head.
"I was just lucky that Playmaker had set up the field for me." I muttered. "My intentions weren't to make you worry, but I… I remembered your words and they made me act."
"My words?"
"At that day, you told me that LINK VRAINS was like a family for you and because of that you would do anything to protect it." I reminded him. "I too, feel you and LINK VRAINS as something close – a home if I might. Because of that, I couldn't just let Hanoi to do as they please!"
"Is that so?" Rocketeer smiled and put his robot arm on my head. "But you are still a newbie, so dueling such powerful opponents would be dangerous!"
"Actually…" I began to explain it to him, but quickly bite my lip; I couldn't tell him that I'm being taught by Playmaker!
"W-what?"
I remained silent, trying to come up with a different thing to say. I did trust Rocketeer and knew that he wouldn't tell my secret, but if I told him, it would turn him into a target of Hanoi as well. I didn't want to risk my only friend's safety for that, or anything else!
"Proxy!" Rocketeer narrowed his eyes at me. "What is it? You know that I'm a person you could trust."
"I-I…" the words that I wanted to say were stuck in my throat, suffocated me every time I tried to mutter them. "I can't do it anymore!"
I yelled that out and feel on my knees. It was too much! Too much for me to handle it anymore! Everything that happened in the last few days: Almost getting killed in LIN VRAINS, meeting Playmaker, being saved by an angel, becoming friend with Rocketeer, the duel against Hanoi, looking for a home – losing my home. Why couldn't I get a break for just a day? A moment to catch my breath and collect my thoughts about all that happened; that was all I asked for.
"Woah, woah, woah! Don't start crying again, please!" I looked up at Rocketeer, there were no tears in my eyes, despite how badly I wanted to cry out my soul. "Jeez, what happened with you again?"
"Everything." Everything was happening so fast and I couldn't keep up with it. "I'm so weak, so frightened, and so miserable."
"Guess, I will have to sit through another sad story, huh?" Rocketeer sighed; I could tell that he was starting to get annoyed with me. That was something we could both relate to - I hated myself as well. "So, what's going on?"
"There so much, I don't know where to start." I wrapped my arms around my legs. "I so was used to having a peaceful that everything happening around me right now is… I don't know the word for it –startling perhaps?"
"That's something I can understand. Not relate, but understand." Rocketeer told me. "Why don't you start to explain everything from the start?"
"I don't remember if I ever told you, but the first time I logged in LINK VRAINS, it was the Hanoi's attack on the servers. Back then, I had no idea what was happening, all I knew was that buildings were on fire, the avatars were screaming while a giant mechanical robot burned them alive."
"That must have been a bad first impression." He chuckled.
I glared at Rocketeer for those words. Seriously, I was trying to be serious and tell him about all the bad things, he could at least try to be serious about it!
"Sorry, sorry. I was just trying to light up the mood a bit." That wasn't an excuse!
"I barely managed to escape with the skin of my teeth, but the image, those horrible screams and the laughter of the Knight of Hanoi… I-I'm scared of them, probably even horrified." I glanced at my hand, remembering the first day in LINK VRAINS, how I stood there in front of the dragon, completely frozen and unmoving. "When the Knight that defeated Playmaker was about to finish his job, I was terrified, but your words gave me the courage to face him. Usually, after you face and defeat your own fears, things should get easier, right?"
"Yeah, that's how it works." Rocketeer nodded. "But it wasn't the same for you, was it?"
"No." I confirmed. "It wasn't the same at all. After dueling that Knight, my fear of Hanoi has only increased. I'm absolutely terrified of their name; of what they could do. I'm so scared, not only about my safety, but about all of this. What will happen if Hanoi comes after you next? The crowd save you helping me!"
"Don't worry!" Rocketeer exclaimed, crossing his arms. "If those Hanoi bastards ever try to come after me, I will beat all of them in a duel and let the admins deal with them afterward!"
I tried to force a smile, but I knew that if Hanoi attacked Rocketeer, things would go much more complicated. As Picaro had showed, some of the Knights were actually strong duelists and they don't always play fair.
We stayed like this for a while, until Rocketeer's duel disk began to make some noise. He looked down at it and opened a screen with text. I looked at Rocketeer's eyes, how fast they moved while he read through the message, then closed it with a nod.
"I just got a call to meet someone." Picaro stood back up and opened a portal toward another server. "This server isn't used much, you could stay here, collect your thoughts. I will try to come back as fast as possible, ok?"
"Yes."
"Great! Make sure to message me if anything happens."
I nodded to him and he jumped through the portal which closed right after him. I took a deep breath and lied on my back, staring at the beautiful blue sky. There was no sun to shine in my eyes, but the scenario was still worth to be seen. I glanced over to my Duel Disk and pressed the screen, showing the digital clock. There was still some time to waste before I have to go.
Back home, having an account in at least fifteen sites was a must in order to socialize with other kids. Browsing through the web was a top choice in my list of activities to relax after a stressful day. Almost ironic how the virtual world turned into my biggest fear for such a short time. I'm scared, even terrified to be here, but I couldn't leave because this place felt like a home to me. I got friends here; things to fight for. Could those things be meaningless just because they aren't physical and don't exist outside this reality?
"Meow~"
I threw my head back against the flat ground and saw an upside-down black cat coming toward me. I turned my body around so that my chest was lying on the ground and reached out for the little animal. The cat didn't seem to get scared by my actions and simply walked onto my hands, lying down on them, so I could gently take it and bring it closer to myself. Surprisingly, it was the same cat that I met yesterday with the purple eyes and horn-shaped ears. Geez, are they using the same designs for all creatures?
Come to think about it, why haven't I seen any other creatures except for this cat? Wait! You can use animals as avatars in LINK VRAINS, right? I tapped my Duel Disk for more information around the area, but it wasn't showing there to be another player nearby. When I tried to look at the cat's information its name was also 'Cat' so that confused me even more. Are there animals in LINK VRAINS or not?
"Meow~"
"You are such a strange thing." I muttered and patted the little animal on the head, making it purr. "Who gave you such a strange design?"
The cat looked up at me and raised its palms placing them against my chest.
"And now I'm talking to a cat… Just great."
I sighed but the creature mewled happily and rubbed its face against my hand. Even though it wasn't real, the cat seemed to have gotten a liking toward me.
3rd POV
Rocketeer sighed deeply. The Charisma Duelist was sitting on the white couch in the private served he took Proxy to visit yesterday. He had gone out of his way to arrange a duel for today, but his opponent hadn't logged in yet, so he was stuck doing absolutely nothing useful. Then there was the call that he couldn't talk with Proxy about. Those idiots, don't they know that with his current live as a Charisma Duelist they couldn't write to him whenever they pleased; something might catch wind on what was going on and call him out, effectively ruining everything he worked so hard to build.
"That pompous ass isn't carrying about what I'm doing, is he?" Rocketeer talked to himself, but his gritted teeth and clenched fist showed that he wasn't exactly happy about his current situation.
"I didn't except to meet you here today." A happy voice called out.
"Hmm?" Rocketeer turned his eyes to look at the newcomer; the end of his lips raising into a smile. "Well, I just have much free time on my hands lately, Blue Angel. Talking about time, don't you have a challenger to burn today?"
"There is still time until then." Blue Angel shook her head.
"Really? You usually don't log into LINK VRAINS for anything more than to defeat someone in a duel." Rocketeer pointed out matter-of-factly. "So, what has happened for you to come here now?"
Blue Angel pouted at that. "What's with this question? Can't a girl come to have some fun for a bit?" She asked feeling a bit offended.
"Um, I haven't say that you can't." Rocketeer shook a finger. "It's just unusual for you to come for that. And by unusual I mean, like, something you have never done before."
"It's a change of topic, but why aren't you with your friend?" Blue Angel suddenly asked, noticing the absence of a certain someone. "I heard that she has gotten very popular in the last twenty-four hours."
"I left her alone on a private server to collect her thoughts. She… really isn't alright."
"What happened? Everyone calls her a hero, shouldn't she be happier about it?"
"It's not so simple." Rocketeer shook his head. "She… she told me that the victory was just extreme luck. She is definitely an amateur duelist who, due to all the tension and adrenaline she thought that it was the best time and place to challenge her fear of the Knights of Hanoi. At the end this backfired and now, due to what happened and everyone's apparent liking toward her after the saving of Playmaker, she is shit scared to show up in public."
"But that's awful!" Blue Angel exclaimed.
"She got a lot of problems, Blue." Rocketeer sighed and leaned back into the couch. "A lot more than she told me, I can tell you that much. There is a lot of pressure around here, so it's probably something personal."
"I see…"
"But there is one positive of her current state."
"And what would that be?" Blue Angel asked. She couldn't see what would be good about a girl being too scared to show her face in public.
"Red seems to know about Proxy's little adventure as well and is searching under every rock to find and duel her. As you know how brutal this fellow can be, it's best to keep Proxy hidden from her until I manage to somehow calm her down."
"Blaze Rose really has some social problems that she needs to work on." Blue Angel sighed, then she glanced around, making sure that no one else was there. "Anyway, wouldn't you mind telling me the server on which Proxy is currently? I would like to talk with her."
"I knew that I would trust you to do this." Rocketeer smirked and pressed a button on his Duel Disk, sending the data and password to Blue Angel.
"You wanted me to talk with her?" Blue Angel raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. "Why didn't you tell me that directly?"
"Because you are a tsundere and would have declined if I asked you to do it~"
"I-I'm not a tsundere!" Blue Angel shouted back at Rocketeer. "Jeez, no wonder that you don't have a larger fan base, you can be pretty annoying to deal with at times."
"Heh, that's part of my charm." Rocketeer replied and stood up. He looked at his Duel Disk for confirmation and nodded. "Great! My opponent just logged in! I won't be able to go back to Proxy after this, so would you please tell her that?"
"Why don't you just message her right now?" Blue Angel asked. It seemed like the more logical thing to do.
"Because if I do, she is going to log out and you won't be able to talk with her. Anyways, see ya later!" Rocketeer waved at the blue haired idol and disappeared from the server, leaving the girl to sight in frustration.
"That guy…" He really had a special power when it came to giving others a headache.
Proxy's POV
Around half an hour went and Rocketeer hadn't shown up. The black cat remained still with me, lying in my hands with its tail wrapped around its body and eyes closed. The little being purred in its sleep. Strange given that it was a virtual cat.
Suddenly, its ears stick up and the beast opened its eyes, looking at the horizon before me. Momentary after that happened, a blue portal appeared a few feet away from us and someone came out of it. The familiar long blue hair, wings and cheerful smile greeted me as Blue Angel materialized a few meters from where I was sitting.
"B-Blue Angel!" I quickly stood up and bowed to greet her. "It's nice to meet you again."
"The honor is all mine." She gave me a cheerful slime.
"Um is there anything I can help you with?" Rocketeer told me that this server wasn't usually used, so of course the first idea I had was that Blue Angel came for a more specific reason.
"Yes, there is something." Blue Angel nodded in confirmation. "Rocketeer told me that you were here and about what has happened yesterday."
"Oh…" Well, it wasn't like he swore to keep it a secret; not that keeping it a secret would have changed anything. "If it's about dueling, I don't want to have anything to do with that anymore."
"But why?" Blue Angel raised an eyebrow. "I watched you yesterday and you have a potential."
"It's not about potential!" I shook my head and stepped back.
She couldn't understand how I felt! The only reason I wanted to start dueling was to learn what happened for me to get in this city, this situation, this… Reality. I only sought answers, not expecting anything serious to happen from just playing a card game, but I soon realized that it would be impossible to just duel for fun here! Here, I had to win in order to survive and protect those who I care about. To save the people that showed me kindness and helped me get up in the hard times. Losing - this is the one thing I'm scared about, losing my life, my friends, all the connections that I built in the last few days!
"I see…" Blue Angel walked closer to me. "Your problem isn't with dueling, is it?"
"I'm sorry." I stared down at the cat in my hands, too embarrassed to look the idol in the eyes while we talked. "I'm not someone strong."
"You are wrong."
"How could you tell that?"
"Because looking at you, I can see a bit of myself."
I stared at her with an empty gaze. What did those words mean? She saw a little bit of herself in me? But we were so fundamentally different from one another, she was cheerful, energetic, always happy and positive, while I was the complete opposite of that. I would never be able to stay in front of a large crowd and give the same warm and confident smile like she did. I couldn't see how this would work, could you?
'Huh, why do you look so confused?" I snapped out of my thoughts and turned back to Blue Angel after she asked me that question. "Oh, I get it. You thought I talked about my Blue Angel persona, right?"
"Um.. Yes. Is there something else that I should have thought about?" Because I didn't know anything about this girl beyond her Charisma Duelist.
"I'm talking about the real me." She replied, her smile suddenly dropped and turned into a small, sad frown. "I remember, back when I first began to learn how to duel, I feared that my brother would be against it. There was an awful time in my life, during which he did so much about me that I could never-ever thank him enough. Because of that, I didn't want to make him worry about me and my wellbeing, so I made the decision to stop dueling."
I stayed quiet and listened to the story. The black cat moved its head and looked at Blue Angel with its purple eyes. Strangely, when I looked at it, I felt like the beast was experiencing some kind of pride while listening to Blue Angel's story, but that must be just be getting crazy, right?
"I understand how awful it is to think that those you care about wouldn't accept the path you choose to walk. I was scared about how my brother would react and how this would affect his job." Suddenly, Blue Angel paused. Her frown turned into a smile again and her cheeks became a little red. "That's when two very special duelists came to me. They were a family that my brother was familiar with because they had worked together on some issues. They were also the ones who told me that I had the potential to become a great duelist."
The story sounded a bit familiar to me. Part of it sounded the same as what Rocketeer told me about his and Blaze Rose's backstories, especially with the two great duelists…
"They told me that if I backed down at everything because I didn't want to make my brother worry, I would just hurt both of us even more. That's what fears are about, keeping us down, keeping us locked. If I ever chickened out and turned my back on the things I'm trying to achieve, it's as locking myself in a cage. It's normal for someone to worry about others, even be scared for them, it shows that we truly care about them. But if we let those fears lead us, we won't be able to protect our precious people when it counts!"
"I see…" That was a very nice little story. "But aren't there times when our fears are justified?"
"Yes, there are. But what are your fears?"
"To lose! I tried to act like a hero and save Playmaker because I care for him, but now because of that the Knights of Hanoi know about me and will probably go after my close ones! I'm scared that I will lose and become the reason for their demise!"
"And what will happen if you choose to not fight back and protect them? Will Hanoi spare your precious people if you choose to run in fear?"
"N-no."
"The coldest truth that I learned was, there are no right decisions. We only have the ability to choose and live with the consequences. Whenever they would be good or bad."
"That truth… sucks."
Blue Angel laughed at that and then nodded. "Yeah, I can't argue about that."
There was no easy way in life and now I was slowly learning that the hard way. Making decisions for myself, living with the consequences from them, those were all new sides of reality that seemed to have remained hidden from me for so long. No wonder that fourteen year olds like me aren't take as seriously as adults.
"How do you feel right now?" Blue Angel sat down next to me and asked.
"I don't know." I replied to her in the most honest way. Looking at my history from the respective of an adult would be hard. "I feel… the same?"
"Well, I didn't mind to change you." I laughed awkwardly at the comment.
Looking at the digital clock on my Duel Disk I bit my lip. I should log out soon to go see if I will manage to get the lodging. But would it be even worth it? It probably wasn't a good place if they let people stay there for free.
"Is there something on your mind?" Blue Angel asked me.
"It's a rather personal issue." I admitted. "I'm looking for a place to stay in and… Well, I found one, but I'm not sure if I will take it, nor am I sure if I ever want to live there."
"Huh? Why?"
"I'm… worried how it would turn out to be. Uh, is there a problem?"
"Didn't we just talk about this?" Blue Angel pouted. "I told you that if you look at everything from the negative perspective, nothing good will ever happen. You must get some self-confidence!"
"What should I do then?"
"Simple: Go and visit it, if you like it, do your best! Getting a place to live is very important, you don't have time to worry about the outcome. And trust me, I know about that from personal experience."
"I guess you are right." I had to do this because of Kusanagi as well. He let me live in his truck until now, so I need to make him proud and fight for myself!
"Thanks!" I smiled at Blue Angel. "I will then go and do as you suggested! See what the place is like for myself!"
"That's the spirit!" Blue Angel winked at me. "But, um, where did the cat come from?"
"Oh, this?" I suddenly remembered about the black cat which was lying in my hands. "I don't know, it just showed up, doesn't seem to be a player, so maybe an NPC?"
"That's the first time I heard about such a thing." Blue Angel shook her head.
"Do you want to pet it? Its fur is pretty soft." I told her and handled it to her.
Blue Angel seemed a little worried at first, but eventually she nodded and took the cat from me, putting it on her lap.
"Meow~"
"Ah!"
As soon as Blue Angel put the cat down, it raised and placed its palms on her chest, similarly to what it did with me before.
"Ha-ha, it did the same thing and before."
"It did?"
I nodded to her, the cat lied back down after touching the 'muskmelons' for a few seconds. It's body relaxed and the tail swung back and forth as the gentle sound of its purring was the only sound in the area. I looked at Blue Angel, she nodded in confirmation and I left.
"The girl is back." I heard the familiar voice of Ai as I slowly opened my eyes.
Kusanagi was looking over at me with a slight smile while Yusaku was still working on the computers. Moving slowly, to avoid falling or anything like that, I stood from the chair and stretched a bit.
"Did anything noteworthy happened while you were logged in?" Ai asked me.
"Yes." I nodded and looked at all of them. Taking a deep breath, trying to relax my beating heart, I put on a huge smile. "Kusanagi, Yusaku, Ai, could I remained a part of your group after I find myself a place to live in?"
This caught Yusaku's attention as he stopped typing and turned to look at me as well. Kusanagi crossed his arms and sighed. We stayed like this for a moment, sweat began to form on my forehead due to how awkward this situation became.
"Yusaku is against it, but I don't see any harm in it. It's up to you." Kusanagi finally told me.
"W-wait! What do you mean by that? I'm for her to stay with us as well!" Ai exclaimed.
"Hostages don't get to vote." Yusaku muttered and returned back to typing.
I sighed, those two again… "I want to help you in your fight against Hanoi!" I exclaimed clenching my fists.
I'm still scared of the Knights of Hanoi, but with Playmaker by my side, I would make sure to give my best and support him! Together, we will achieve each other's goals to protect LINK VRAINS and bring this group of terrorists before the law!
"Then this time it's official." Kusanagi stepped forward and reached out with his hand, shaking mine. "Welcome to the team, Roxanna!"
That was right, I'm officially Playmaker's sidekick and partner. I nodded and turned, noticing the blanket which I use to cover myself when sleeping. There was one last thing I had to deal with for today…
After talking with Kusanagi and Yusaku about what steps we would be taking next to catch the Knights of Hanoi, it finally came time for the most important decision that I had to make. The people in the bus looked weirdly at me, probably because I went to look for the location of the apartment on the ad while holding the blanket. Taking the bus cost me pretty much all the remaining money that I had, so hopefully I won't get kicked out immediately.
To be fair, I expected the ad to be about some simpler place, but the map that Yusaku installed in my Duel Disk before I left was leading me in some rich neighborhood. Stopping next to the red dot that market the address written on the ad, I looked in front of me and immediately my jaw dropped from the view. I was standing in front of a three story high white house with flower arrangement on the sideway terrace of the second floor. There was no front door, instead, there were stairs that lead toward a door on the second story.
Gulping my embarrassment and doubts, I took the first step. My legs were trembling and anxiety took over my system. This wasn't anything like what I expected to see. It was more like a palace than a house. The people living here were definitely very rich, compared to me, a miserable girl without a cent, it would be amazing if they don't order the butler to throw me away immediately, right? Despite those thoughts and my trembling legs, I didn't stop. Step after step, I felt my body getting heavier, gravity pulling me back to the ground. After what felt like an entire hour (A/N: 1 minute and 25 sec. actually...) I finally reached the top and pressed the bell.
"Coming!"
I heard footsteps and waited for the owner to open the door while, trying not to panic. I mean, not any more than I already have. My legs had stopped to tremble, but now they stood frozen like infused with the ground.
The door opened and I was greeted by a girl. She looked to be around my age with green eyes and long vibrant white hair with green bangs on the right side of her forehead and some more green locks on the back which was tied into a ponytail. She wore a white dress shirt with a green tie, a short black skirt with black socks that reach below her knee and brown shoes.
"Hello." She bowed with a smile on her face. "You must be here for the ad, right? Come in, come in."
Ok, I was surprised to see such a young girl here, but I nodded and took my shoes off before walking inside. Looking inside, it looked pretty much like what you would expect from a house. It had a kitchen, a living room, several bedrooms and restrooms, along with two set of stairs; one leading toward the third floor and the other toward the first.
"As you can see, the house is completely furnished." The girl told me, gesturing around. "You can use anything, but please don't go to the other floors without permission, ok?"
"R-right." I nodded. Why those places were special was beyond me, but her house, her rules.
"The free bedroom is in that corridor." She pointed toward a long corridor that was after the living room and the kitchen. "It's the door in the left; the right one is mine. You don't seem to carry any clothes so if you want, I could give you one of my spare pajamas for tonight."
"Um… thanks, but I haven't chosen if I want to live here or not." I sweat-dropped. This girl was going a bit too fast for me to keep up with her.
"Ah! Right." She nodded. "Well, at any point, feel free to look around. If you got any questions, just ask me."
"O-ok."
"Oh, also! Sorry, last thing. Can you cook?"
I felt a part of my heart shatter at the question. When it came to cooking, that always used to me the job of my mother back home, so I had absolutely no experience or idea what to do. It was pretty pathetic since I have heard my classmates telling stories about when they would go visit one another and the host would always make them food by themselves.
"N-no. S-sorry." My head dropped in defeat. Once again, I couldn't even do the most basic things needed for survival like cooking.
"It's not a problem." The girl waved it off. "We are usually the ones doing the cooking around here."
"W-we?" I asked, but she walked away before I could get a proper answer.
With nothing else to do, I went on to look around the house. I'm not sure what to tell about it, despite how luxurious everything seemed, it also had the appearance of a normal family house. Everything was tidy and clear, but there was no trace of a maid, so was the girl taking care of the house by herself? Going into the living room, I found a large white sofa with a glass table in front of it and a huge TV on the wall. At the side were several flowers in pots and a huge cabinet filled with trophies and certificates put on display behind a glass.
Walking closer, I noticed that most of the 'prizes' were from dueling events, but there were also others about topics that I didn't understand. The most interesting part were the pictures put in frames in front of the glass. They all depicted two individuals, a boy and the girl that I just talked with, but at a younger age. There was also one that depicter three individuals.
The girl I talked with was on the left side of the picture with a huge smile, short hair and was making a peace sign with one hand while hugging the person next to her with the other. At the right side was the boy from the other pictures; he had white and red hair tied into a ponytail and crimson eyes. He too, had a huge smile and had his hands wrapped around the person in the middle. Lastly, there was another girl that the other two individuals were being affectionate with. She had short black and blue hair with matching blue eyes and a somewhat awkward smile written over her face.
I could tell where, but I felt like I have seen the black haired one somewhere. Not because of her look, but because of that look in her eyes, it seemed so familiar. It was like something that I had seen hundreds of times before, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
"Do you like it?"
"Ah!" I yelped and quickly turned around to face the girl, accidentally pushing the image to fall. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't be." The girl laughed it off and passed by me, taking the picture in her hands. "Those are all great memories, but this one is my favorite."
"W-who are they?" I bite my lip as quickly as I asked the question. This wasn't my business, asking personal things like that was rude!
"Hmm, they are my older siblings." The girl replied, putting the picture back on its place. "They were many amazing adventures that we went through, but not long after this picture, some of us had to go on their own separate ways…"
This just made me feel even worse for asking. The three seemed pretty happy on the picture though, I wonder what must have happened for them to separate. As someone who never had a sibling, I could only wonder what it felt like to have more to your family than just two parents.
"So, did you make up your mind?" The girl suddenly asked me.
"Huh?" What did I have to make my mind about again?
"Are you going to stay here?"
"Y-yes! I would love to!" I nodded eagerly, but… "But what about the rent? What does negotiable mean?"
"Oh that? It means that we won't press you about paying if you don't have money. In fact, what sum do you think that you will be able to pay?"
"I…" It was embarrassing to admit such a thing… "I don't actually have a job yet."
"Is that so?" The girl laughed and patted me on the back. "Don't worry! If you want, I could help you get some well-paid job."
"Really?!" Someone would do such a thing for me?
"Of course! That's what a family is for, right?"
"Yes…" A family… that was something I didn't believe to ever obtain in this city. But maybe I got lucky to come here…
"Oh, I'm such an idiot!" the girl suddenly slapped herself on the forehead. "I completely forgot about the introductions!"
"D-don't worry about it too much." I smiled and reached out for a handshake. "My name is Roxana Petit, but people usually just call me Roxy."
"Nice to meet you Roxy. My name is Avice." The girl replied, grabbing my hand and shaking it. "Avice Greyson."
A/N: So, here are the after effects of Proxy;s heroic actions during the last chapter. Not much else to say except the obvious fanservice for those of you who have followed my Arc-V fanfiction. I also hope that I managed to make Blue Angel close to her canon personality. After all, she is different from Aoi, more cheerful and lively and from what I have seen, willing to help others when they have problems. Of course, when we see Aoi herself later on, she won't be the same as Blue Angel, just letting you know here.
Also, at VRAINS, someone finally addressed the elephant in the anime! Yusaku finally addressed the fact that Kogami's plan was retarded. Of course he didn't say that, but it was obvious for anyone who has watched the whole first season. This moment of self-awareness that the writers poured their souls into was the best line from VRAINS for me. Period.
Thanks to CAD270895 and ChaosMedivalDukemon for the favorite and follow. Thanks to My-Own-Time for the favorite.
Now to my favorite part. The reviews!
ScalchopWarrior: Actually, there are many people on YouTube and forums outside of Fanfiction that believe that Shootingcode is a reference to Shooting Star Dragon so you aren't alone in that. But why they had to make a Code Talker into the Shooting Star Dragon reference instead of the Firewall Dragon evolution is beyond me.
For Proxy's win. Well, she had time training in the tutorial and with Playmaker so she has some skills, but ultimately, she wouldn't have won if Playmaker's Decode Talker wasn't in the Graveyard so she could revive it. She is still going to lose in the future, don't worry about that, but for this duel, she had Playmaker's help (sort of).
On Picaro, well... I didn't want him to use his real deck because that would be a huge give away on who he could be. Also, I wanted Skull Dread to be summoned in this story in the most amazing, yet retarded way possible, so there is that.
I don't understand what character decay means so you would need to explain that to me in detail.
ThePLOThand: I know that this is about an older chapter, but I will address your idea of having Yusaku grind for Link Monsters anyways. First, he doesn't see Proxy as an ally, but you would understand that when you reach the recent chapters. As for the actual grinding. Well, some people say that it's possible that Yusaku is canonically, getting Link Monsters from Storm Access outscreen due to the huge amount of those that he has, including Security Dragon (a smaller Firewall Dragon) and Talkback Lancer (Code Talker support WTF).
My-Own-Time: Thanks! I'm actually having a lot of fun writing Yusaku the way he is, so that might be why I somehow manage to keep him in character. Proxy really won't have much influence over Yusaku's personality, so don't worry about him changing.
I also appreciate that you like the duel layout. I was worried that people might not like having the card effects thrown in the middle of the chapter, but I wanted to make sure people know what to except because, well, then it would seem less like bullshit when someone uses a card's effect to turn the whole duel around. At least that's how I view it.
Thanks to everyone for reading so far and I can't wait to meet with you guys next time! Until then!
Diabolic Tracer out!