Contact with a Blood Sucker
Roxy's POV
After my talk with Avice, she helped me to settle down; which wasn't hard considering that I had nothing but a blanket with myself. Another positive was that I finally got around to take a bath, which I was unable to do in the past few days because, well, there wasn't a place to do so in Kusanagi's truck. Avice was also kind enough to lend me one of her spare pajamas. It was a little too big for me, but I could still wear it without worry about it falling off me.
The room that I was given wasn't anything mediocre either. It was rather large with a bed big enough for two people, a large closet which was currently empty and even my own TV. I lied down, feeling the softness of a mattress for the first time since I came out of the hospital. It was almost hypnotizing, like I was floating on a soft cloud! My Duel Disk was still on my arm though and I stared at the black screen while thinking about today. So much happened, but there was one thing that my mind couldn't forget.
Greyson – this name brought pain to my heart every time that I repeated it in my mind. It reminded me of my best friend, Elizabeth Greyson. Joyful memories and happiest that was far, far away from my reach at the moment repeated at the back of my head, dragging me deeper into those happy, yet agonizing to remember moments. Of course, this was just a coincidence, but, in a way, it was almost ironic. Back home I had a Greyson as a friend, always helping me out when I was in a difficult situation. And here I was, saved by a Greyson once again.
There wasn't much point in overthinking this though. I raised my right hand and pressed my index finger against the center of the Duel Disk's screen, making it glow for a moment. I opened the menu and looked through my contacts, which were Playmaker and Rocketeer. Despite how comfortable my bed was, I couldn't fall asleep, something was just bugging me and various unrelated to one another thoughts ran through my mind so fast that if I closed my eyes and began to count sheeps, I would be watching white blurs speeding across my imagination.
I needed to talk with someone so badly! It didn't matter with whom or what the topic would be, all I needed was a small chatter to help me relax enough to fall asleep. Avice was probably already sleeping, so I didn't want to go to her bedroom and wake her up for that. She was the householder, so it would be rude from me to do something like that. The question was, whom should I call then?
Rocketeer was a nice guy who always listened to my problems and tried to help me out. He was the most understanding person I knew so far, but then again, I would just be using him for his kindness if I called him at this hour. Playmaker on the other hand was… less than friendly. It would be a complete surprise to me if he don't outright block me from chat for something like this. The choice was between them only and my finger moved rapidly between the chat buttons next to each of their avatars. Eventually, after god knows how long, I made my decision and wrote in the chat.
[10:17:20 PM] Proxy: Can we talk?
Naturally, no response came immediately. In fact, I would be surprised if he gave my message the time of the day. Ten minutes passed since I wrote to him and there was no sight that he would answer at all, my arms dropped on the bedspreads beside my head. I expected that outcome, yet why does it feel so bad?
Beep!
A sound came out of my Duel Disk and I turned to look at the glowing screen. There was text on it, saying:
[10:31:49 PM] Playmaker: What's it about?
My heart beamed with delight, he actually replied to me!
[10:33:07 PM] Proxy: Since I left earlier today, I wondered if you and Kusanagi were able to find out something about SOL Technology.
A weird topic I know, but revenge was everything that Playmaker was thinking about, so I was trying to make the topic more 'pleasant' for him rather than me.
[10:38:23 PM] Playmaker: Yep! Apparently, Blue Angel is the sister of SOL Technologies' security manager, Akira Zaizen. Her real name is Aoi Zaizen.
Wait, Blue Angel? Like, the Blue Angel that I spoke with earlier today? It never came to me that her real persona could be related to someone important like SOL's security manager. TO be fair, who would have expected such a thing anyway?
[10:42:02 PM] Proxy: Seriously?
[10:44:56 PM] Playmaker: Yes, she goes to my school so I will try to approach her tomorrow. Here is what she looks if you wonder.
After he wrote that, I got a notice containing a single file. I opened it and saw the picture of a girl with short light brown hair and yellow eyes. The picture showed her wearing the same jacket that Yusaku was wearing all the time, as well as a white dress shirt with a blue tie. The difference between him and her was that the girl also had a light yellow jumper, but that's probably mean to be the difference between boys' and girls' school uniforms.
[10:46:29 PM] Playmaker: Combining the data from her look, I classify her as beautiful.
Well, I couldn't decline that she seems to have a charm, but that comment was pretty out of character for Yusaku. I never thought that he could be looking at girls like that. Oh god! What is he thinking about me then? No! He would think that I'm weird if I asked him about it.
[10:49:13 PM] Proxy: I agree.
[10:52:20 PM] Playmaker: So, how is your new home?
Yet again, words that I never expected to hear from Yusaku, or in this case - read. He completely catches me by surprise with that new, carrying nature of his. It makes me wonder if Kusanagi doesn't have a finger in that, or maybe he is just practicing talking to girls with me. No offense toward him or anything, I couldn't imagine how someone like him could be able to talk with someone like Blue Angel in real life, if he acted as cold as he usually does.
[10:58:41 PM] Proxy: It's pretty nice actually, the householder is very nice as well. Actually, I was just about to go to sleep, but I thought that it won't hurt if I chatted with you for a bit before that. I haven't bothered you, have I?
[11:02:28 PM] Playmaker: Not at all. I should leave you then. Just know, even if I don't show it, I'm actually glad that you choose to remain with us.
Oh. My. God! If I wasn't sure that this is real, I would have slapped myself across the face to make sure that I'm not dreaming. Yusaku Fujiki, Playmaker, the coldest person that I had ever known, just told me that he was glad to have me in his team!
[11:03:38 PM] Proxy: Thanks!
After writing the last message, I dropped my Duel Disk and stared at the ceiling. What I just read wasn't a creation of my imagination, right? It's not a dream? My mind couldn't comprehend what just happened. Playmaker showed interest in the physical features of a girl, asked me if I'm alright and then even shared his gratitude that I was part of his team. Was it because of the time? Does his emotions awake during the night like a sensitive werewolf or something among those lines? So many questions and weird theories, but I couldn't focus on them at the moment. I felt my eyes starting to feel heavy, the small chat has helped to relax my mind and I started to feel sleepy. Guess figuring out Playmaker's mind would remain a quest for another day.
When I woke up again, it was early in the morning. My eyes shot open and I felt energized from having a good sleep. I felt senses beginning to return to my body and turned my head to the side. My bedroom was dark, but there was light shining through the curtains that covered the window.
I forced myself to sit up and looked around the room. Everything was like I remembered it to be yesterday and my Duel Disk was lying on the bed next to me, so I took it and put it on the nightstand next to me. It was lucky that I didn't turn in my sleep and lied on top of it because that would have probably crushed it. I mean, I'm not heavy, but, the Duel Disk didn't look to be made by an unbreakable material, so I didn't want to test its durability.
I stood up from my bed and walked out of my room. Since I had only one set of clothes, which I threw in the laundry yesterday, I had nothing to change into and was left with the pajama that Avice gave me. As soon as I stepped out of my room, I felt a pleasant smell being carried through the air. It was of something that I have never smelled before, but it was definitely food and by the smell of it, a very delicious one as well. I closed my eyes and let my legs lead me as the pleasant scent became stronger with each step that I took.
It was probably Avice making breakfast, though it seemed a bit too early for her to be awake. Once I walked out of the corridor that leaded to the other rooms, my eyelids raised and I looked around, trying to locate where the kitchen was supposed to be. There wasn't a door separating it and the living room from the rest of the rooms, so I didn't have to search long for it. My steps were light as my body came closer toward the kitchen and the food. I could hear Avice's voice right behind the corner, sounding cheerful.
I stepped forward and surprisingly, she wasn't actually cooking. Avice was sitting next to the table in her school uniform, the same as Yusaku's, with her arms on it and her head resting on her palms while she laughed cheerfully. Following her eyes which were looking forward, I noticed that there was another person in the room with her.
Standing next to the kitchen countertop was a tall man wearing a white shirt with a red tie and black trousers. He had long white hair tied into a ponytail, similarly to Avice's, with red highlights with red spikes on the right side of it. His crimson eyes turned toward me, the smirk that was on his face turned into a smile. The man stood there, looking at me with a cheerful expression, only moving his left arm a bit to place it on the countertop and lean against it.
"Ah, good morning Roxy." Avice stood up and bowed toward me. "Did you have a good night sleep?"
"G-good morning." I replied, bowing as well. The man didn't break eye contact, staring at my eyes even as I bowed. "I had a good sleep, thanks."
"That's good to hear." Avice clapped her hands together and gestured toward the man. "I'm sorry that you were unable to meet yesterday, but this is Evan, my older brother. He is the owner of the house."
"It's nice to meet you." I replied, bowing toward the man. "My name is Roxy."
"I know, Avice told me a lot about you." Evan pushed himself away from the countertop and walked closer. "She told me that you were nervous and a cutie."
"Hey!" I winced as Avice suddenly yelled. "This was supposed to be secret!"
Despite her angry tone, there was a small smile on Avice's face while she was looking at her brother. Evan chuckled and walked next to me, pulling back a chair, he gestured for me to sit down. I felt my cheeks heat up from this gesture - it reminded me of all those romantic movies I have watched with Elizabeth, where the couple goes to have dinner with the man acting like a gentleman. I complied with Evan and sat down, a moment later my chair was pushed closer to the table with a knife, a fork and a spoon set before me.
"I hope you don't mind Japanese food, but living her for the past few years had its tool on the direction that my cooking skills set to." Evan told me and brought dishes that I have never seen before in my life.
"Are we in Japan?" I asked him. It was weird, people here seemed more like cartoon characters than Japanese people and I could understand their language, so it was weird indeed.
"Do you seriously don't know where you are?" I looked down in embarrassment when Avice asked me that question.
"It's a complicated story…" A very weird one as well, I got hit by a car and woke up in a hospital surrounded by cartoon-like looking characters.
"Believe me, we are specialists when it comes to complicated stories. Right, bro?"
"Yeah, that's why we put out that ad, to find you."
I looked back up, meeting both of their gazes. Avice was looking at me with a soft smile and half closed eyes while Evan had a smug smirk on his face. I stared at them while also searching for the exit from the corner of my eyes. The ad was made to lure me in, they must have somehow learned that I had nowhere to stay. But, why did they choose me? Could it be… Knights of Hanoi!
No, they actually found me. After such a short period of time as well. I looked down at the table and pressed my fists against it. There was sweat forming on the skin of my hands, which were trembling, in fact, my whole body was feeling like I was put inside a frozen pool. A series of strange sensations came over me, I felt getting dizzy with a black falling over my vision. My gut felt like it was stabbed by a hot knife as whatever food was left in my stomach started to quickly raise toward my throat.
"Oi, are you ok?" My body tensed up as someone put their hand on my shoulder. I couldn't tell who it was, the voices became all blurry to me.
"She is going to throw up!"
"Not on the food!"
There was a sharp yell after which someone grabbed the back of my chair and pulled it away. I saw the ceiling and a pair of crimson eyes staring down at me before everything turned dark. I had no memories about what happed after that point.
When my senses began to return to me again, the first thing that I senses was a coldness. My whole body was feeling cold, but this was a more specific one, my vision was still dark and somewhere in the more distanced parts of my mind echoed the sound of water along with two voices that I couldn't quite understand. I felt a hand running over my face, it was soft but extremely cold and moist. First it ran two times over my mouth, the insides of which tasted as something that I would rather not name and then two more times over my forehead and eyes.
I could tell now, someone was holding me next to the sink and washing my face for some reason. There were still shadows over my vision so I couldn't tell who it was, but I could slowly start to differentiate the voices of a male and a female along with what they were saying.
"I lost all my appetite after this."
"Come on, how were we suppose to know that she was going to throw up after that?!"
"I don't know. She doesn't seem like the type of person that could deal with tense situations. Did we go a bit too far by telling her about the ad so fast?"
"If that scared her so much wait until I tell her that the chip she got from the hospital was a tracking device all along."
"What?!" I yelled and turned around, only for Avice to grab my arms and pin them down next to the still running sink. "L-let go of me!"
"Well, I guess she knows about that as well." I glared at Evan who was leaning against a push broom. Looking at that smug expression of his was fueling the anger that I was currently feeling toward these two!
"Why did you do all of this? Why me?" I asked them. Why did they have to target me, or anyone for that matter; what was their goal?
It was all too confusing, I just couldn't keep up with it! I was trying and trying to get free from Avice, but her grip was far too strong. Her expression didn't show her to be even trying to hold me up. I tried to push my body forward and knock her down, but she just shook her head.
"If you stop fighting and sit down then maybe we could all understand how we went from having a breakfast to scrubbing vomited from the floor and holding you down, ok?"
Taking another looked at them, I began to process the information. They had caught me anyways so I couldn't escape, but none of them has tried to threaten or hurt me so far. Of course that wasn't much of a reassurance, but narrowing my options, I could either sit down and listen to them or keep on trying to break free from Avice's hold. Even if I managed to do the later, there was still Evan who was far taller and probably also stronger than me.
"F-fine. I will listen." I nodded and looked down at my hands.
"Great. Here, sit down." Evan put a chair next to me, while Avice released my hands.
They still had those smiles on their faces, but the way they held their hands, ready to grab me again hinted that they trusted in me as much as I trusted in them.
"S-so, you were supervising me from the start?" I began with the simplest question. They nodded in return. "Why would you do that? Back then, I knew absolutely nothing about anything happening in this city."
"I'm not sure what you think our motives are, but I can reassure you that you are going to be wrong." Avice shook her head.
"Back then I got a call from Doctor Souma, the person that was taking care of you until you decided to disappear from the hospital. He mentioned that some bystander has found a girl with no ID card or anything that could be used to identify her." Evan reached into the pocket of his pants. "He also mentioned that they found THIS with you."
After finishing, Evan pulled out a deck and put it on the table next to me. I looked at him, then at Avice. Both of them had their arms crossed and stared at me, prompting me to take the cards, so I did and…
"That's my deck!" I exclaimed, seeing that it was composed of the BrioGear cards that I used.
"Halfway there, this is the deck that disappeared from our house a few hours before we were told about your existence." Avice told me.
No way! This deck belonged to them? It did somehow make sense that it didn't just appear out of thin air, but it was surprising no less. I never really thought about how I ended up with these cards and the Duel Disk that I currently use, but for them to be stolen by someone else and then given to me was the last possible outcome that I would have thought of. I ran my thumb over the artwork of Grand Ranger Serene wondering; did I ever have the right to keep this deck?
At first I thought that using it I could get the answers that I needed, but all I was able to get out of dueling was trouble and more trouble. I wasn't like Playmaker or Rocketeer, there wasn't the heart of a hero inside my chest, fighting the Knights of Hanoi wasn't something I wanted to be doing anyways, so holding onto these cards was pointless. It was weird, but I felt some sort of strange fondness toward them all so suddenly.
"They are useless to me, I don't plan to use them for dueling." I placed the cards back on the table and pushed them toward them. "If you wanted them, you could have just asked me to give them back. There was no need for you to go out of your way and stalk me."
"You are getting the wrong idea of our intentions once again." Avice sighed and sat down beside me. "If we wanted the deck back we would have come and taken it. Instead, we thought that maybe it wasn't a coincidence that our deck suddenly feel in the hands of someone who according to all the data we gathered doesn't exist."
"We figured out that you probably don't have a home to return to and that if we tried to approach you directly, it would have most likely scared you." Evan continued after that, leaning back into his chair. "We began to make preparations and thought how to tell you all of this when you suddenly ran away from the hospital, so we had to improvise."
"I see…" It's true that I wouldn't buy if some unknown people suddenly came before me and told me to go live with them.
"As for the chip we left in your Duel Disk, it was mean to be used mainly as protection in case you logged in LINK VRAINS. The main function was to help you learn how to duel and alert us if you got yourself in trouble, so I could use my access to the network and come up with a way to save you. For instance, do you think it was a coincidence that someone appeared to save you when that Cracking Dragon was about to destroy your avatar?"
"And when you got yourself in the company of those two Knights of Hanoi while spying on them?" Avice smirked. "Who do you think was the brave heroin covered in white that came to your rescue?"
"I-it was you?! The girl with the AstroGear deck?" Ok that's starting to get a little too convenient!
"Who else do you think?" She winked and wrapped one of her arms around my shoulders. "We were there from the start, watching over you and making sure you remain safe. Even after you began to work with Playmaker we knew that you would still need our protection. Also, living in a hotdog truck? That's soo last decade."
"You are starting to say weird things again." Evan sweat-dropped. He pushed the BrioGear deck back to me with a smile. "But that's about our part of the story. It's your turn now."
"Eh?" Was there something that I was supposed to tell them?
"Where do you come from?" Oh! Yes, it makes sense to ask that since there is apparently no data of my existence.
"I don't know how to explain it to you guys." I sighed and leaned back into my chair, staring at the ceiling. "It's such a weird story that you would think that I'm trying to lie to you."
"Believe us, you don't know half the weird things that people like us have encountered in the past few years." Avice replied while playing with a lock of my hair.
"Are you sure about that? Because I was hit by a car and then woke up in this… world I guess, without any knowledge about anything and a Duel Disk already in my possession."
"…"
There was an awkward silence as the two of them blinked a few times. Then after a few moments they both burst into laughter. I couldn't tell what was so funny about what I just said. There was a warning that the story is weird, but to react like this was just mean!
"S-so… Ha-ha… You… Oh Ra, I can't… You got hit so hard that your brain got send to this city? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Don't laugh, I want to cry!
"Don't worry, we believe your story." Avice hit me on the back, ouch.
"Here, you can have this one back." I heard Evan say before pushing the BrioGear cards back toward me.
"But… since it's yours, shouldn't you keep it?" I had no use of this deck, nothing really good came out during the time in which I owned it. "I'm really not a duelist, there is no point it giving it back."
"Could you say anything stupider that this?" Evan tapped his fingers against the table, looking at me with an annoyed expression on his face. "After coming so far, after surviving several direct encounters with the Knights of Hanoi, after winning that duel and saving Playmaker himself, you think that there is a way to just stop?"
I turned my head to the side, trying to come up with a good response to that question. I wanted to be of help for Playmaker and protect the friendships that I was able to create, but not through dueling. I knew that something like that would be impossible, but to fight against the Knights of Hanoi? I knew where my limits lied, my dueling skills were subpart compared to everyone else's.
"I told you once that your destiny was already in motion, do you remember?" Avice patted me on the head. "Your win back then was just luck, I agree. That doesn't mean that you don't have the potential to become something better."
"No." I shook my head, but my hand grabbed the deck anyways. What kind of destiny would await me if I choose to use these cards as a duelist? "I can't. I just can't do it. This is not a part of me."
Evan sighed and stood up. He was disappointed by me, there was no need for me to look up to know that was the case. Could you blame me though? Would it make me a horrible person if I thought about my health and security first?
"Tch, it's about time." Evan stood up and left the room.
"Where is he going?" I asked Avice who has started to eat the breakfast. She raised her head to look at me and then toward the empty chair.
"He is going to work obviously." Ah right, he was an adult after all; that was a stupid question from my side.
After a bit, Evan came back wearing a black coat over his white dress shirt.
"Actually, I will first go get Zaizen angry at me and then I will be off to work." He told me.
"You know Zaizen as well?" Was there even something that they didn't know about?
"Um, he is SOL Technologies' security manager, so we work together some times." He responded, fixing his tie. "But how do you know about him?"
That's bad! I forgot that there were two Zaizens around all of this. Evan's crimson eyes were staring down at me, while my brain was struggling to come up with an answer. Ah heck, why don't I just tell them the truth?
"S-sorry, I thought that you are talking about a difference Zaizen." I answered. Sector was cleared.
"So you thought about his sister, Aoi?" Sector wasn't clear.
I gulped and nodded. "I-I wanted to meet with her."
"Heh, just say that!" Avice jumped on me, wrapping her arms around my body once again. "Despite what my brothers says, we are good friends with the Zaizens and especially with Aoi. She is like a sister to us. Come, come, I know what her route for school is, you could talk with her while we are walking, ok?"
Well, I didn't expect that to go this smoothly, but it probably wasn't because of me. In fact, if I had to guess, these two probably knew why I needed to speak with Aoi but were playing dumb. Would it be a stretch to think that they might know that much, when they knew everything about me from the beginning.
I didn't have much time to think about it because Avice suddenly pulled me off the chair and began to drag me toward the corridor.
"Evan could drive us to Aoi's place, so let's get dressed fast. We don't want him to show up late to work because of us, right?"
I could just nod in response while the older girl was dragging me through the hallway and into her room. I won't get into details of what happened after we entered, but I never knew that getting dressed could feel so defiling…
"And here we are~"
Avice threw her arms upward as we reached Aoi's home. Her brother has left us there and drove off to get to his job. From what I understood he was the director of a small company that made video games and also managed a portion of LINK VRAINS' servers. But back to topic, after we arrived and Avice showed me the building in which the idol was living my chin literally dropped. It was a huge, huge skyscraper compared to which the Greysons' house looks like a tiny fly. In fact, it was so huge that I could see where its roof was.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Without a permission from my brain, my head nodded eagerly to the question.
"Is this whole thing theirs?" I turned toward Avice to ask.
"Are you for real?" She raised an eyebrow at me. I asked a stupid question! "They live on the last floor. In a luxurious house… on top of another house. Just… don't ask me what's up with the architecture in this city."
Yes, perhaps some questions were better left unanswered…
We waited outside for around ten minutes doing nothing. I didn't try to have a conversation with Avice because… After learning that she and her brother were spying on me the whole time I had a hard time trusting them, yet alone talking to them. The doors leading inside the building parted away and a large smile formed on Avice's face as a girl walked outside. Aoi Zaizen - she was just like in the picture that Yusaku showed me last night. Seeing her in person made me wonder if there wasn't a mistake, her timid look was nothing like the joyful Blue Angel that I remember from LINK VRAINS.
"Oh." She stopped walking and looked at us. "Good morning, Avice and… My apologies, but I don't think I know you."
"This here is Roxy!" Avice shouted cheerfully hitting my back again. Ouch! "She lives with us from today on, so I thought I could show her around and have her meet some of my friends!"
Aoi nodded in response and turned back to me. "It's nice to meet you, Roxy. My name is Aoi Zaizen."
"I-it's nice to meet you." I bowed to show that I was happy to meet her.
"I believe you won't mind if we walk to school together, right?" Avice asked.
"Of course no." An almost unnoticeable smile formed on Aoi's face as she walked pass me.
'Avice didn't lie when saying that they were close to the Zaizens.' I thought as I followed after them. 'Aoi immediately became happier from hearing that Avice was going to walk with her.'
"S-so, you two are really good friends, aren't you?" I asked them, trying to initiate some kind of conversation.
"Heh, you got that right. When we first meet, her brother was still a regular worked in SOL Technology." Avice turned back to me and began to talk while walking backward. "Since how close our brothers' works were to one another we often spent much of our time together. I and Evan were also the ones who taught her how to duel in the first place, isn't that right, Aoi?"
"It's not like I didn't know how to duel before that." Aoi puffed her cheeks. "You just helped me get better at it."
'That sounds awfully a lot like the story that Blue Angel told me yesterday.' I thought and looked over to Avice who was smiling back at me. 'She also mentioned that her mentors were the same ones that taught Rocketeer and Blaze Rose, so could it be possible that Avice and her brother are…'
"One day we should have a friendly duel, what do you think, Aoi?" Avice crossed her arms behind her head and continued to walk backward while talking.
"You would seriously do that for me?" Aoi's eyes beamed when she heard those words. "But I have to warn you, I have improved much from our last duel."
"I knew that you would become a good duelist." Avice giggled and spun around to put a hand around Aoi's shoulders. "But would you mind if we let Roxy join in as well? Maybe we could call Vermilya too?"
"I don't mind, but I don't think that calling Vermilya would be very proper. You know that she isn't very fond of you."
"Ah right, because of that…" Avice sighed. "Well, then it's going to be the three of us, right Roxy?"
"Y-yes!" I nodded, but didn't really want to be dueling due to obvious reasons. Plus, this was Blue Angel that we talk about, I wouldn't last a turn against her.
"So it's decided!" Avice exclaimed, throwing her arms up.
"I think you should focus on your classes first." Aoi interrupted her. "Tell me, you haven't been getting bad grades lately, have you?"
"What do you think of me?" Avice laughed and raised her fist triumphantly. "I'm not just a dueling genius, but a real genius as well!"
As the two kept on talking to one another and I followed them, it slowly stared to feel like I was the third wheel. No seriously, the only thing I was doing was answering brief questions after which they continued to talk with one another. I needed to get some information out of Aoi in order to help Yusaku and Kusanagi, but I had no idea how to approach her or get to talk with her without interrupting their current conversation. What they talked about was mostly school and a bit about dueling; for the first topic, I was technically in a summer vacation so I wasn't informed and for the second… Come on! Why must dueling be so important here?!
"So, if you are going to return to dueling once again, why don't you think about joining our school's Duel Club?" Aoi asked.
Avice stopped walking and stared blankly into the distance. We paused as well and turned toward her to see what was wrong. She scratched her cheek then titled her head ninety degree to the left.
"Wait our school had a Duel Club?" How is this new information to you?!
Den City High School was rather similar to the rest of the buildings in this city. By that I mean that it was huge! The main building was gigantic, it was only four floors, but the space that it occupied was far beyond what you would expect from a school. There were also several additional, smaller facilities around it that seemed to have secondary roles. The stairways that lead to it also had deviations that lead to apartments build at the sides. I could only guess that those were dorms where students whose homes were too far could live, but as I said, it's just a guess.
"I have to go now." Aoi said and turned in the other direction from us.
"Um… hey…" Now that the conversation was over I reached out to try and talk with her, but she just walked away.
That went pretty badly for me. Despite telling myself that I would help out Yusaku by getting some info from Aoi Zaizen, I failed to even talk properly with her. To be so miserable that to lack the ability to start conversations with people, something must have gotten wrong with me!
"That was fun." Avice stretched out her arms. "I haven't had such a great chat with Aoi in a long while."
Too bad that it was at the expense of my mission.
After this failure I choose to just follow with Avice and have her show me around the place. Oh, she also gave me one of her school outfits to wear for this, so I wasn't standing out. At the back of the building was a huge park-like field with trees and a fountain in the center; it looked so beautiful. There I also spotted a familiar person with blue and pink hair, sitting under a tree and observing the area.
"A nice day, isn't it?" I walked over to him and said.
"Hm?" Yusaku turned toward me all so suddenly; it seemed that I snapped him out of his thoughts or something. "Oh, it's you."
"Are you really going back to talking coldly to me after what you told me yesterday?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"I don't remember even talking to you." So he was seriously going to act like the chat didn't happen?!
"What? You told me about Aoi Zaizen last night, remember? I tried to meet with that 'beautiful' girl, as you called her, but it was hard to start a conversation with her."
"How did you learn that I'm after Aoi Zaizen?" Is he for real?!
"You told me about all of this last night!"
"There are three reasons why what you are telling me is wrong." He shook his head and raised his fingers. "First, if I told you that I would have remembered it. Second, I know that you don't go to this school, so telling you about Zaizen would have been pointless. Third, this is something between me and Kusanagi, even if he accepts you as a part of the team, I don't. Therefor I have to desire to share any sort of information about our actions with you."
"A-are you really going to just say that?"
"Hey there!" My heart was going to jump out from the sudden call followed by Avice jumping on my back. "Oh, is that you friend? Maybe even your boy-fri-end~"
"Avice! I-I-It's not like that!" My cheeks were burning in embarrassment after she said that.
Yusaku and I were just friends. I didn't have any sort of feelings for him and it was obvious that he didn't have any either. We were just helping each other out, but Avice just had to make it all weird.
"Who is that?" After the initial surprise by Avice, I was meet by the freezing stare of Yusaku.
"Are you talking about me?" I whimpered as Avice pushed me aside and almost threw me on the ground. "My name is Avice Greyson, I'm here caretaker from today on! Oh, your Duel Disk has the sweating eye emoji as well!"
Wait, what?
I could feel mine and Yusaku's minds synchronizing for a moment as we both look down at his Duel Disk. In there, of course, was Ai's eye which was looking away and had digital sweat formed on top of it. Wait, could it be…
An A.I. that can talk and think like a real human being exists inside Yusaku's Duel Disk. In order to chat with other LINK VRAINS users you use the Duel Disk therefor…
"This is just a program that I plan to turn into a bad version of Microsoft Word later today." Yusaku replied before he stood up and left. I saw Ai crying inside the Duel Disk
I know that breaking someone's privacy deserves a punishment, but I think that Yusaku was going too hard on the poor thing.
Avice scratched the back of her neck and turned toward me.
"That guy seems weird, be careful around him." As if you are the one to talk about weird!
"H-hey, I hope you don't mind, but could I go back home now?" I failed to talk with Aoi and got completely rejected by Yusaku. At this point getting hit by a truck was a rather tempting idea.
"Yeah, you better go before any teacher comes to ask you about your ID card and stuff." Avice nodded and opened her backpack. "Here, we have made a third copy of the keys for you."
"Thanks." I bowed and took the keys for her before turning around to leave.
It might sound arrogantly and selfishly, but while going back toward the house I hoped that Rocketeer was online so I could sit down and complain to him about how everything that happened today was awful for me.
"So, what happened today?" Rocketeer asked me.
We were in the server with the flowers again, this time sitting on top of them across from each other. I hadn't told him that there were problems, but apparently at this point even just log-in in the same server was enough for him to read me. I wonder, was it possible for friends worse than me to exist in this world? I knew that I was burdening him with problems that weren't his to solve, but all of these things just needed to come out of me and I just couldn't control it!
"Do you have any idea about what Blue Angel might be like in the real world?" I went straight to the point. "I'm talking about her personality not look."
"Well, to be honest, guessing someone's real personality is just as hard as guessing how they look in real life." He replied shrugging; that wasn't very helpful. "Why are you asking?"
"Well…" I couldn't tell him that I needed to get close to her to get info for Playmaker. "After yesterday I thought that it wouldn't be awesome if I were to meet with Blue Angel in real life. But since I don't know what she could be like, I'm unsure if I will be able to talk with her."
"Heh, don't worry about that! Blue Angel is Blue Angel. I'm sure that she is the same in the real life as well. Energetic, cheerful, friendly, sexy." Sadly her real-self seemed more like the opposite of what Blue Angel was than a copy of it.
"What about your problem. Was that place you were going to look at good enough to live in?" Ah right, I told them about that, didn't I?
"The building is beautiful, inside is rather spacious and everything was top-notch. My bedroom was well equipped as well… There is one thing though."
"What is it, the owners?"
"Yes, the owners." I nodded. I didn't want to talk ill about Evan and Avice behind their back since they did so much about me and I knew that they were stalking me, but… "Don't get me wrong they are very nice toward me and seem to want to make my live in the house as pleasant as possible, but… They can also be really weird at times."
"You mean weird like wearing their underwear on their head, or?"
"No, not that." I don't even want to imagine what it would look like if they did something like that. "I don't know how to describe their weirdness. Maybe it's more of the social type, if there is something like that. They sometimes act and say things that a normal person would get in trouble for, if not even in jail. But they seemed to be able to get away with it somehow and… And sometimes I feel them trying to invade my privacy which annoys me, but I know them for just a few hours and things are already like this. I have no idea what to except from the later on."
"That sounds like a problem that you will need a more professional type of help to deal with."
That was a good piece of advice, but did it mean that I had to book an hour to the psychiatrist because of them? If anything, such an action would more likely cause my relationship with them to worse before anything else. Oh well, it won't hurt to write it down as a possible solution if things start to get weirder.
"You are always here to listen to me when I need help with something." I told Rocketeer and forced a smile for him. "I feel like I'm being nothing but a burden for you."
"Come on, don't say that!" Rocketeer exclaimed and stood up. "You are my best friend here, it's only natural that I would be there for you when you need me. I don't mind listening to your complains because it helps me figure out what kind of person you truly are."
"I bet what you found out about me so far is pretty bad, huh?" Of course, I couldn't blame anyone but myself for that.
"Actually, what I found out is that you are a pretty cute person." He grinned at me.
My cheeks burned once again from the compliment and I turned to slam my fist against the flower that I was sitting on top of. Why? Why was I so weak to accepting compliments from boys?! It wasn't fair!
"He-he-he! I got you to blush~" Please stop thinking of my feelings as some kind of game that you play!
Beep!
The orb on top of my Duel Disk glowed as I got a message, which was weird since my only two contacts were Rocketeer and Playmaker. I was with the first right at the moment and the second wanted to have nothing to do with me, unless the message was from Ai instead. I opened it, and yep, it read the following:
'Playmaker is going to duel Blue Angel right now! You should come to watch it as well.'
Wait, weren't the two of them still at school at this time? How could they duel if there were classes? Oh well, Playmaker doesn't seem to care about his education all that much, but Aoi on the other hand appeared to take school as important.
"Are you going somewhere?" Rocketeer asked me.
"Oh, I got invited to watch a duel. Do you want to join?" I would feel happier if he came with me.
"Ah, no." He shook his head. "I got some things to do as well. But could you tell me on which server the duel is going to be?"
"I don't know, maybe in the city?" That was where Playmaker dueled all the time, so there.
"Ok, I will try to make it for you." He waved at me and jumped off the flower. "See ya!"
"Goodbye."
After Rocketeer left, I turned my attention back to my Duel Disk and began to input the coordinates that came with the message. Ai didn't have to message me, but I appreciated the effort this little guy was putting in its work. A flash fell over my body and all the flowers disappeared in an instant, getting replaced by huge buildings with the warm blue sky turning into a much darker tone. I looked around the area, but Playmaker hadn't shown up yet.
"Proxy? What are you doing here?" A voice called out for me.
"Blue Angel?" I turned to the side and saw her standing on top of a building across from mine. "I just happened to come here by accident. What about you, are you here to duel someone?"
"Yes, my opponent must show up any moment by now." She replied. "And there he is."
"Hm?" I looked around again and saw Playmaker walking next to me, holding his Duel Disk up while he scanned the area with his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" He noticed me and asked in a cold tone.
"I just happened to come here?" I tried to lie, but his eyes just narrowed, so it didn't work.
"Better get somewhere safer then because there seems to be a Knight of Hanoi nearby."
Huh? Is that how Ai tricked him into dueling Blue Angel? I'm happy that Ai is trying to help out as much as it could, but for an A.I. it is pretty stupid to keep pushing Yusaku's buttons like this. Heck, I was more worried for the poor thing's safety that Ai itself.
"I think that there is a mistake." I cleared my throat to get his attention, then gestured toward Blue Angel.
"Blue Angel…" Playmaker stated coldly.
"You finally made your decision." She replied.
I stepped back and let them discuss this between themselves. This wasn't too hard since both of them seemed to have forgotten that I existed.
"Decided what?"
"Enough! Still playing dumb?"
"Playing dumb?"
"You invited me here."
"I invited you?" Playmaker looked puzzled for a second before realizing what happened. "Ai, is this you doing as well?"
"Yes!" The little program sounded pretty happy despite how horrible this all could turn out for it.
"You tricked me?"
"What are you talking about? I didn't trick you. I said that there was a Knight of Hanoi and there she is. Right in front of you."
A Knight of Hanoi right in front of Playmaker? It can't be…
"Blue Angel." Ai continued. "Even though it's faint, I sense Hanoi in Aoi Zaizen's deck."
I turned to look back at Blue Angel. Could that be true? Was she really working with the Knights of Hanoi? My fist clenched without me controlling it, she was the sister of SOL Technologies' security managed and a Charisma Duelist, so why would she do something as evil as joining with a group that wants to destroy LINK VRAINS? And if she is a Hanoi then could Evan and Avice be associated with them too?
"So that's what you senses earlier?" Playmaker asked his partner. No, not me.
"I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen." Ai narrowed its eye.
"But why did she join the Knights of Hanoi?"
"Who knows?" Ai responded. "Maybe they are using her as lure to hook you."
"I don't know much about dueling, but if she is Number Two then she definitely isn't a joke. Be careful, Playmaker." I told him.
"Wait, something isn't right here." Ai spoke. "I sense a second Hanoi somewhere nearby! What will you do, Playmaker? You were going to defeat all Hanoi, but you can't be at two places on the same time, can you?"
I stared at Playmaker who stood unmoving. A second Knight of Hanoi, I could be of help but, what if they are someone stronger than me? No, I already made my mind that I won't be dueling and it's not like Playmaker would agree to let me if I wanted to.
"By the time that you defeat Blue Angel the second Knight might escape." Ai continued. "You know that there is only one way to do this, right?"
"Proxy." Playmaker turned toward me and I knew what he was going to tell me.
I shook my head to decline. "Sorry, but this isn't something I can help with."
I'm not a duelist like Playmaker, nor a hero that could inspire others. I don't have the heart, nor soul needed to fight for others through my dueling. Playmaker nodded to my response and jumped off the building, as the wind blew through the city once again. I looked on as he and Blue Angel surfed through the data and got lost in the distance. Playmaker didn't mind my answer, probably he wanted me to decline that request, but even so, why did it felt like I was betraying him? Maybe I was just thinking too much about it.
I heard steps coming from behind me and turned around to see a girl in a gothic outfit standing in front of me with her lifeless eyes staring at mine. She looked familiar to me, but I didn't immediately recognized who she was. She slowly moved toward me, her black hair covering most of the face except for her open mouth and the fangs inside of it. I tried to take a step back and possible jump on my D-Board to escape, but the moment my body moved just a bit she immediately disappeared from view.
"What the-!" I felt an extraordinary pain in my stomach.
The vampire girl's face appeared just a few inches from mine and she hissed at me while the pain in my stomach increased. I instinctively moved my hand to my belly, but the other girl's hand was already there so I looked down. I-it can't be, the pain was because her arm carved a hole through my body. I raised my eyes and meet her red ones, this time I got a better view of her face and was able to recognize her. It was Gloomy Ruby, one of the Charisma Duelists that Rocketeer introduced me to a few days ago.
I grabbed her arm with both of mine and tried to pull it out of my stomach, but she pushed it further, I screamed at the agonizing pain that ran through my system. Gloomy Ruby stared at me for a moment and opened her mouth, stabbing her fangs into my neck. My throat began to hurt while I cried out and slowly dragged myself to take a step back. Only for my body to completely fall from the edge of the building with the cyber vampire holding onto my wounds.
"Get off." I whispered and pried to push her again while we felt.
"Huuusssshhh!" The girl bite harder onto my neck, causing my body to stop move.
Her fangs paralyzed my account. I couldn't move a single part of my body let alone summon my D-Board. There were warnings that if you fall from too high in LINK VRAINS the damage caused to the brain would kill a person and I was descending closer to the ground with each second. I had no idea what to do, was there even a way to avoid death in this situation. Despite falling with me, Gloomy Ruby didn't seem to care, not even one bit. But I did… I didn't want to die here! I wanted to survive and go back home, meet with Elizabeth once more, so I needed to live.
"G-get…o-o-off…" I whispered and tightened my hold on her arm. "Get… off… G-get off… GET OFF ME!"
Using all the strength that I could muster I bend my body into a ball and then kicked her in the stomach with both of my legs at once. Ruby let go off my neck and cried out as she was completely pushed away from me while we were falling. Using the chance, I called for my D-Board which formed right under me and my body fell on top of it with a thud. I took a deep breath in relief and put a hand over the hole in my stomach which started to regenerate as soon as Gloomy Ruby let go. But why was she acting so weird and attacked me in the first place?
"Speed Duel. On!" An automatic voice called and my Duel Disk came to live.
"Eh?" I jumped into a sitting position and looked at the screen of my Duel Disk.
『Proxy LP: 4000 Hand: 4 (VS) Gloomy Ruby LP: 4000 Hand: 4』
Gloomy Ruby was surfing on a black, red and golden D-Board behind mine, holding her left arm out while she followed after me. I never accepted any duel requests so how did she force me into this?
"W-why did you attack me?" I asked her while trying to stand back up.
"Aaaaaaaaaaa!" Gloomy Ruby threw her head back and let out a deafening cry as her hair began to float and bloody red mist came out of her body. She looked eerie, like something right out from a horror story.
"I will destroy you!" She screamed and moved in front of me. "My turn! I set a monster, turn end!"
A facedown card formed between me and Gloomy Ruby. This sort of sudden aggression toward me and her attempt to murder me a while ago were puzzling my mind. My heart was beating faster from the adrenaline, Ai did mentioned that there were two of Hanoi nearby, so could Ruby be the second one? I gulped and looked down at my deck, my hand was trembling once again and I started to lose feelings in my legs. Come on, deep breath. I was already locked in this duel, so I had to give my best to survive it.
"M-my turn!" I declared, drawing a card.
『Turn 2 [Proxy] LP: 4000 Hand: 5』
The hand that I drew wasn't strong at all! There was almost nothing serious that I could do with it at the moment. Damn it! But she had just one card on her field, so I didn't have any Spell and Trap cards to worry about for the moment.
"I summon BrioGear Wave Crusade (Lv.4, ATK: 1700)!" I pointed forward as the familiar warrior appeared before me, holding a sword. "I activate Wave Crusader's effect! With this I can discard Water monsters to increase his attack by 300! I discard BrioGear Octobat!"
BrioGear Wave Crusade, ATK: 1700 + 300 → 2000
"Pointless! Raising attack points is useless!" Ruby shouted back at me.
I bit my lip, did her set card have more defense than my monster's attack? No, she was probably just bluffing to discourage me from attacking. But maybe she was using reverse philosophy and wanted me to attack her instead? What was I supposed to do in that situation?
"I activate the effect of Octobat that was send to my Graveyard." A small portal formed and a fish came out of it. "When it's discarded I get to Special Summon a BrioGear Bat Token (Lv.1, DEF: 100)!"
I looked down at my hand, there was still one more monster that I could discard to increase Wave Crusade's attack by 300, but if I did, I would be left without a good playmaker for next turn. My monster's attack was currently at 2000 so even if she had something with a stronger defense I wouldn't take more than 1000 damage. Ok, I'm attacking then!
"Battle! BrioGear Wave Crusade destroy her face-down card!" I ordered.
My monster summoned a wave of water that build around its blade, increasing it in length and swung it down upon Ruby's field. The face-down card turned into a turtle with a pyramid on its back before it got slice in two by the attack.
"Pyramid Turtle's effect activates!" Ruby stated and a blue portal appeared before her. "When it gets destroyed by battle, a Zombie with two thousand or less defense can be Special Summoned from my deck. Appear, Vampire Brood (Lv.2, ATK: 1200)!"
A wolf jumped out of the portal and in front of Ruby. The left side of its body was white like snow, but the right was made of a black shadow with a glowing red eye and huge fangs filling its mouth. The beast stuck out its long snake-like tongue and licked its mouth staring up at me.
"When Vampire Brood is Special Summoned I can pay five hundred life points to get a Vampire Spell or Trap card from my deck to the hand. I add Vampire Territory!"
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 4000 – 500 → 3500』
'So she is playing a vampire deck?' I thought based on the cards she showed me so far.
"Now, I will enter my second Main Phase and set a card!" I declared, placing the card down on my Duel Disk, but it got rejected and returned to my hand. "What the?"
"There is no second Main Phase in Speed Duels!" Gloomy Ruby reminded me. "So, hurry up. Hurry and end you turn so I could destroy you!"
I gulped and looked at my hand again. The trap I wanted to set was meant to protect me from attacks and the rest of the cards were useless at the moment. Ok, no need to get stressed, if she declared an attack against me during the next turn, I would use my skill to discard BrioGear Freakiver and increase Wave Crusade's attack for the turn. But it would be best if I succeeded to avoid this duel all along.
"Please, tell me why you want to destroy so much!" I pleaded her. "I don't even know you or what I could have done to you to ear such a deep hatred."
"You are in my way! Everyone… Everyone is in my way! You all enjoy to watch me suffer so now I will make everyone suffer because of that!"
I sighed and turned to look forward. There was no point to try and talk with her it seemed, Gloomy Ruby had completely snapped for some reason. And that red mist around her, staring at it gave me chills.
"I end my turn here." Not like I had anything else to do.
"My turn then. Draw!"
『Turn 3 [Gloomy Ruby] LP: 3500 Hand: 5』
"I summon Vampire Sorcerer (Lv.4, ATK: 1500)!" A pale skinned human in witch clothes appeared on the field holding a bat-shapped rod.
Gloomy Ruby glanced back at me before bringing her hand to her mouth. She bite it and tore off the skin, revealing red data floating through the inside. The girl threw her arm upward and the red data flew out of the wound, opening a circuit in the sky; a Link Summon was coming!
"Appear, bloody circuit of death!" She exclaimed as her two monsters turned into bloody whirlwinds and flew in the arrows. "Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two Zombie monsters! I set Vampire Brood and Vampire Sorcerer in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Vampire Sucker (ATK: 1600, Link-2)!"
A young blond girl with angelic wings and wearing a white sunny dress flew out of the circuit. She sat in the air over to Ruby and winked while a screen of her stats was shown to me.
"This is the card that will bring your death!" Ruby exclaimed. "Once per turn, Vampire Sucker can user her effect to Special Summon a monster from your Graveyard in Defense Position, but it becomes a zombie. Bring back BrioGear Octobat (DEF: 200)!"
The said card came out of my Graveyard zone and I had no choice but to do as she asked me to, putting the card on my Duel Disk along with my two other monsters. At least I had bigger numbers than her and one stronger monster. Talking about strength…
"I activate BrioGear Octobat's effect!" I stated. "When it's Special Summoned all of your monsters lose two hundred attack for each water monster on my field. There was three monsters on my field so Vampire Sucker loses six hundred points until the end of this turn!"
Vampire Sucker, ATK: 1600 – 3x200 →1000
"Because of your own effect now your monster is much weaker than mine!" I smirked a little, there was no way for her to attack me now.
"When a zombie is Special Summoned Vampire Sucker lets me draw a card." Ruby told me and added another card to her hand, bringing it back to 5. "Now, I will discard Vampire Takeover to activate the effect of Vampire Brood in my Graveyard. It Special Summons itself!"
'She is going to search for a card again.' I thought, knowing that this was why she would bring back that monster. 'But to do so she must pay five hundred life points so during my next turn she will be down to just three thousand. That's perfect!'
"When Vampire Brood is Special Summoned, I pay 500 life points to add a Vampire Spell or Trap from my deck to the hand." Ruby raised her hand forward and a card materialized in it. "I add Vampire Domination and then set it."
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 3500 – 500 → 3000』
She got a trap ready for next turn. Is she planning to use it to counter my attacks?
"Now, I will activate Vampire Territory from my hand!" A spell card materialized on the field just a moment before disappearing. "Vampire Territory's effect lets me pay five hundred life points to Normal Summon once again during this turn."
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 3000 – 500 → 2500』
'She almost cut down her life in half during a single turn. If this keeps up I won't have anything to worry about.'
"Now, for the last effect of Vampire Sucker." The young girl winked and then several black spikes came out of her wings, all of which stabbed my Octobat. "If I'm going to tribute I can use a zombie controlled by my opponent as the tribute. So come out, Vampire Red Baron (Lv. 6, ATK: 2400)!"
My monster was absorbed by the spikes and a black coffin appeared on its place. A horseman in heavy black armor with a spear in its arm came out of it and joined my opponent's side of the field. That would be bad, but I had a counter if she chose to attack me.
"Battle. I will use Vampire Red Baron to attack BrioGear Wave Crusade!" The black horseman charged at my monster which held its own weapon ready for the crash.
"Yes!" That was just what I wanted her to do! "I now activate my skill! Miracle of Life!"
I took the monster I wanted to discard from my hand and raised my hand to let Wave Crusade absorb its strength, but instead of that my arm got zapped several times. I yelped and fell on my knees feeling the pain reaching all the way to my shoulder. The attack didn't stop through and my monster got destroyed.
『Proxy LP: 4000 – 400 → 3600』
"W-why didn't my skill activate?" I looked down at my hand, what went wrong this time around?
"You are just pathetic." Ruby crashed her D-Board against mine, almost knocking me. "The skill that you tried to activate can be used only during your battle phase! Since this is my turn and my battle phase your ability can't be activated!"
No, I messed it up again!
"I'm not done yet." Ruby shook her head. "When a Vampire monster inflicts damage to you, I gain that much Life Points!"
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 2500 + 400 → 2900』
"Moreover, when Vampire Red Baron destroys a monster by battle, I can Special Summon it on my side of the field. Come to me, BrioGear Wave Crusade (Lv.4, ATK: 1700)!"
"You stole my monster!" Now I had a single token to protect me while she had three monsters that had yet to declare an attack against me!
"Vampire Sucker, get rid of this token!" The blonde vampire fired her spikes at my monster once again, stabbing it several times before it got destroyed. "BrioGear Wave Crusade, Vampire Brood attack her directly!"
Both monsters jumped on me stabbing and biting me respectively. I cried out and collapsed on my knees from the pain that their attacks inflicted on me. There were red marks all over my body to show where exactly they hit me.
『Proxy LP: 3600 – 1700 - 1200 → 1500』
"Since a vampire inflicted damage, Vampire Territory increases my life points by that amount!" the red mist around Ruby became larger as her life points increased.
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 2900 + 1200 → 4100』
I grabbed my head with both of my hands and hit it against my D-Board. I messed up a big time and that could cost me the whole duel, or even worse, my life. Without help from Playmaker I would stand no chance in this or any other duel. My gaze averted toward the red mist that covered Ruby's body, was that how the face of my doom would look like? No, focus! I had to look at what was in front of me, not to win, but to try and survive this encounter for long enough to get help from Playmaker!
"Come on, I end my turn!" Ruby threw her arms to the sides. The attack of Vampire Sucker returned to its original values after the effect of Octobat ended. "Draw a card and make your move! Show me what you are made off!"
I clenched my fist and stood back up, putting a hand on top of my deck. I had to build a good defense to avoid any more direct attacks during her next turn, but with just one monster in my hand, even if I were to set it, Ruby would just destroy it and attack me with her remaining monsters. It all relied on the next card that I was going to draw!
"My turn. Draw!" I exclaimed, taking my next card.
『Turn 4 [Proxy] LP: 1500 Hand: 4』
I looked at the card that I just drew, it was a monster alright, but it had five stars, therefor it was a level 5 and I needed to release something in order to summon it. Damn it! My hand was dead! The only options I had left was to try and gamble it all on Freakiver's effect and hope to get some good cards from the top of my deck.
"I set a card." I stared not wanting to forget setting my trap like I did last turn. "I Normal Summon BrioGear Freakiver (Lv.3, ATK: 1100)!"
The zombie appeared on my field and hissed while holding a dice in its arms. May the goodness of luck be with me for this roll!
"I activate BrioGear Freakiver's effect!" I exclaimed as two gears going through one another appeared in the monster's hands. "I roll a six-sided dice and reveal a number of cards from the top of my Deck equal to the number rolled! Then one of the cards I reveal will be added to my hand and another send to the Graveyard!"
"Useless, useless!" Ruby yelled while shaking her head to the sides. "When a card or monster effect is activated while I control a Vampire, I can activate the Counter Trap, Vampire Domination!"
The card she set last turn flipped face up and a hundred bats came out of it, flying over my monster and completely taking over it. I was only able to see one of its arms that wasn't covered by the bats and how it slowly began to get limp as they sucked out the blood of my monster.
"This trap negates the activation of your monster's effect and destroys it." Ruby explained to me as the red mist grew ever larger. "Then as a bonus, I gain life equal to its attack power."
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 4100 + 1100 5200』
"No, no, no!" I messed this up! "Come on, there has to be something that I could use!"
I looked at the cards in my hand once again. The level 5 monster was useless, but there was a spell that could add water monsters from the Graveyard to my hand. Right! I could use this to bring back Freakiver and use its effect again! She doesn't have any other counter traps on her field to negate it with.
"I activate the Spell Card, Salvage!" I exclaimed as the card formed next to me. "When this card is activated I can add two water monsters with a thousand and five hundred or less attack from my graveyard to the hand. I return BrioGear Freakiver and BrioGear Octobat!"
"So you got them back, huh?" Ruby titled her head to the side. "Well, you already used your normal summon for the turn, so you can't use them anyway!"
My eyes widened, I remembered the rule about only one normal summon per turn. Ah, I completely messed this up! But at least my trap would be able to defend me for a single turn, so I still had a bit of hope left. At least if Ruby didn't have a second of that trap in her hand.
"Turn end." I muttered.
"Was that all? I expected that defeating someone like you would be more satisfying, but you are just another bug." I bit my lips at the insult. She was right, I was a weakling and stood no chance to defeat her.
"You don't have anything to respond with? How Pitiful." Gloomy Ruby brought her Duel Disk up to her chest level. "How about I put you down then? My turn. Draw!"
『Turn 5 [Gloomy Ruby] LP: 5200 Hand: 3』
"Hm, I could end you with this field, but that set card… I don't like it!" I bit my lip, hoping that she wouldn't destroy my last card. "I activate Vampire Desire from my hand! With this spell's, effect I send Vampire's Curse from my deck to the Graveyard in order to increase Vampire Brood's level to six!"
For bats appeared around the beast and it absorbed them all, getting slightly taller than it originally was.
Vampire Brood, Level: 2 → 6
"Further, I activate the effect of Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan in my Extra Deck!" She exclaimed as her deck began to glow.
"An effect from the Extra Deck?!" Did such effects even exist?
"For its Xyz Summon, if I use a monster owned by my opponent, I can treat that monster's level as six!" Ruby pointed as two bats appeared next to my monster and infused with it.
BrioGear Wave Crusade, Level: 4 → 6
"My blood and bones might turn to ashes but a vampire's dark soul will always live on!" A portal in the shape of a galactic formed in the sky as Wave Crusader, Brood and Red Baron were absorbed by it. "The summoning conditions are two or more level six monsters! I overlay BrioGear Wave Crusader, Vampire Brood and Vampire Red Baron! Xyz Summon! Rank six! Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan (RANK: 6, ATK; 2600)!"
A band of bats came flying out of the portal and fused into a tall man with blonde hair and red eyes. He was wearing a white, black and red outfit with a long black cape and a stick in his right hand. Three purple orbs were flying around its body.
"I activate Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan's effect!" The vampire grabbed one of the orbs and turned it into a bat. "I detach one of its Xyz materials to send a card you control to the Graveyard. I send your set card of course."
The little bat flew over to my set Drowning Mirror Force and bit onto it, making it disappear from the field. I fell on my knees in shock, the last line of defense that I had was taken out with the snap of a finger. The two vampires stared me down with their fangs visible, both of their attack values were higher than my life points it was just a question of which one Ruby would choose to attack me with. I took a deep breath and awaited for the end.
"Go, Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan, kill her!" The monster turned into bats and flew straight at me.
"I'm sorry." I gazed at the cards in my hand one last time. I'm sorry, Playmaker, Kusanagi, everyone to whom I owed.
Wait, why were two of my cards glowing?
"AAAAAAAAA!" I didn't have much time to think as the bats flew pass me, biting me. I grabbed the glowing cards and well… did something with them…
"Well that was a pretty one-sided fight, huh?" I stared at Ruby and held a hand over my wounds as the bats passed through me, leaving me alone.
『Proxy LP: 1500 – 1200 → 300』
"H-how are you alive?" That was a good question, even I didn't know what the card was able to do.
"Um… let's see…" I opened my Graveyard and looked at the effects. "BrioGear Bubble Sea: When I take battle damage I can discard this card with one other monster to reduce the damage by their combined defense."
BrioGear Bubble Sea
Level: 5/Attribute: WATER/Type: Aqua/Effect
ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200
Effect: If this card is sent to the GY as material for a Link Summon: You can make all Link Monsters you controls gain 1000 ATK until the end of the next turn. At damage calculation (Quick Effect): You can discard this card and 1 other WATER monster in your hand to the GY; reduce the battle damage you would take by the combined DEF of the monsters sent to the Graveyard to activate this card. If you use this effect this turn, during the End Phase: You can Special Summon 1 of the monsters discarded for this effect and 1 monster with the same level from your Deck but they have their effects negated.
"I used its effect to discard itself and Octobat so the damage I took was reduced by one thousand and four hundred." Just enough to let me survive the attack. "Also, because Octobat was discarded, a BrioGear Bat Token (Lv.1, DEF: 100) appears on my field."
"Don't hurry to be happy. I activate Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan's second effect!" The vampire absorbed another of its spheres and a portal appeared before him. "If a monster is send to the graveyard because of a card effect I can use a Xyz material to Special Summon it in defense position. Come serve me, BrioGear Bubble Sea!"
The monster that appeared was a muscular blue humanoid with greenish chestplates and palms with large fins on the back of its neck and arms. Its legs were made of several tentacles wrapped together to form stronger limbs with two clock gears locked to them. A helical gear was stuck in the middle of its chest and grinding with white energy beating inside of it. The beast's head had two tentacles on its lower jaw like moustaches, but lacked mouth. Its eyes were yellow with sharp pupils and a golden spur gear was stuck on top of its head like a pair of horns.
As my monster appeared on Gloomy Ruby's side of the field it turned to face her and outstretched its arms forward, releasing a warm blue light from two holes in its palms directly into her face. I heard her scream and try to cover her face as the red mist began to shake uncontrollably.
"W-what?" The red mist around Gloomy Ruby became smaller as she grabbed her head. "Where am I?"
'She doesn't remember?' I thought and looked at Bubble Sea. 'Did my monster just brought her back to her senses?'
"Y-you are the girl that Rocketeer brought, right?" She asked me while trying to remain standing. "Why are you dueling me?"
"Don't you remember?" I asked her. "You just tried to push me off a building and then followed after me, forcing me to duel you."
"I would never do that!" She shouted at me. "I don't know even how-! Aaaaaaahhh!"
She cried out and fell on her knees, holding her head as the red mist began large once again. She crimson smoke flew into her mouth and she threw her head back as something began to happen. Her eyes lost all features remaining only two glowing red orbs and the black hair that covered her face began to float madly while small spark of electricity came from her body.
"Vampire Sucker, destroy the Bat Token!" Her monster stabbed through my monster, destroying it. "I end my turn!"
'What is going on with her?' I wondered while her persona changed once again.
"Hurry! Hurry! End your turn!" She kept shouting at me while I was trying to figure out what was going on.
"Due to Bubble Sea's effect, during the end of the turn, I can Special Summon BrioGear Octobat (Lv.1, DEF: 200) and BrioGear Cryo Raptor (Lv.1, DEF: 100) from my graveyard and deck respectively with their effects negated!" I reminded her that two of my monsters came out to protect me.
The red mist that surrounded her body, the sudden changes in her behavior and her inability to remember any of it happening. What was wrong with this Charisma Duelist all of a sudden?
Maybe they are using her as lure to hook you.
Ai's words flashed through my mind. That was it! It sensed Hanoi in Blue Angel's Duel Disk, not on her avatar and there were two Knights of Hanoi nearby when it said that. In what way could they be able to use two Charisma Duelists as a lure to catch Playmaker? Blackmail would be possible, but Gloomy Rose seemed to be trying to fight something a moment ago. Could it be…
It was a crazy, maybe even insane theory, but what if the Knights of Hanoi controlled the girls' brains? Brainwashing, or just brain control. But if I was right about it, how would I be supposed to save Ruby from it and break whatever program was causing all of her suffering? Maybe the Greysons were right about the reality of how this place functioned after all. Even if I didn't duel out of fear from the Hanoi, they would stull use innocent people to try and lure out Playmaker. I couldn't fight them, my strength wasn't enough for that, but in order to save those whose lives were affected by their evil deeds…
I put two fingers on top of my deck and closed my eyes. I wasn't a skilled duelist but the mistakes I made were amateurs, I had to calm down and collect my mind. This wasn't Hanoi that I fought, but one of the people whom they victimized.
'I don't know your full capabilities yet, but please deck, answer to my desire and give me something that could turn this match around!'
"My turn!" I gripped the card and pulled it with all of my strength, drawing it. "DRAW!"
『Turn 6 [Proxy] LP: 300 Hand: 2』
I turned the card to look at it, yet another new monster that I never got to use before. As I looked at it I felt something going in my head, it was like some sort of data transfer. For a moment a small and simple math equation popped in my mind: 2 + 3 = 5
"I Normal Summon BrioGear Freakiver (Lv.3, ATK: 1100)!" The zombie appeared on my field once again.
"That monster again…" Ruby hissed back at me.
"I activate BrioGear Freakiver's effect!" I exclaimed as the two gears began to rotate around the dice in my monster's arms before it got thrown. "I roll a six-sided dice and reveal a number of cards from the top of my Deck equal to the number rolled! Then one of the cards I reveal will be added to my hand and another send to the Graveyard!"
The dice stopped rolling on the number 3 so I took three cards from the top of my deck and looked at them. A monster and two spells, if I added the monster I would be unable to summon it this turn so it would be a death card, but if I send it to the graveyard then Rub's vampire would steal it unless… The card I drew at the start of the turn, of course!
"Using the effect of BrioGear Freakiver I will add BrioGear Storm Formation to the hand and send BrioGear Leviathan Dragon to the graveyard!"
"Is that all?" Ruby asked me.
"Um… Aren't you going to use the effect of Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan to take my monster from the Graveyard?" I asked.
"Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan can only use its effects during my turn." She hissed back at me.
"Oh… Well then… I will discard BrioGear Effect Slime to negate the effects of a Special Summoned monster and halve its attack!" Thankfully my effect didn't need to chain in order to activate, but it was less dramatic this way. "I choose Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan as the target of this effect!"
BrioGear Effect Slime
Level: 2/Attribute: WATER/Type: Fish/Tuner/Effect
ATK: 0/DEF: 1500
Effect: If this card is Special Summoned as a part of the effect of a "BrioGear" card or WATER monster, you can add 1 Level 4 or lower "BrioGear" monster from your Deck to your hand. (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand to the GY, then target 1 Special Summoned monster on the field; that face-up monster has its effects negated, also halve its ATK.
Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan, ATK: 2600 /2 → 1300
"With this everything is prepared. Come forth, circuit of life!" I generated two waves of water from my hands, grabbing Octobat and Cryo Raptor and then slammed my palms together, sending the BrioGears inside the arrows.
"Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two Level 3 or lower monsters! I set BrioGear Octobat and Cryo Raptor in the Link Markers!" My monsters flew at the top middle and bottom middle arrows of the circuit. "Link Summon! The dancing spirit of storms! Grand Ranger Serene (ATK: 2100, LINK-2)!"
"Is that your ace?" Ruby narrowed her eyes. I couldn't tell how they always knew what my ace was, but everyone was right about Serene.
"I activate BrioGear Leviathan Dragon's effect from my graveyard. I banish Octobat and Cryo Raptor to Special Summon it!" The huge water dragon appeared on my field with 2600 attack points! "Now, I use its second effect to revive BrioGear Effect Slime (Lv.2, DEF: 1500) from my Graveyard!"
On the field formed a small pink half human girl, half dolphin with two phosphorescent lights on her head. A miter gear was attached to each side of her dolphin body allowing her to float over the ground. She wore a long sleeveless white dress decorated with yellow frills around the edges and gears off different sizes and colors over them. She wore a medallion with a silver spur gear on it around her neck and had a large yellow ribbon tied around her tail. She had glassy blue eyes and long aqua hair with a yellow headband with three small gear ornaments on top of it.
"When Effect Slime is Special Summoned I can add a level four or lower BrioGear to my hand. I choose BrioGear Pale Crawfish!" I showed the card to Ruby before adding it to my hand.
Now everything was in place. Time to try do something I never did in a duel before this. I clenched my fist and looked at my monsters.
"To the deeps of the ocean I call for the strength to protect this world!" I exclaimed taking the cards of two of my monsters off the Duel Disk. "Summoning conditions are a water tuner and one or more non-tuner monsters! I tune BrioGear Freakiver to BrioGear Effect Slime! Synchro Summon! Slash through the endless waves of evil! BrioGear Howling Guardian!"
A beam of light shot through the sky and a mechanical monster came out of it. The creature's body was made of multiple small aqua blue, green and black plates covering its body in a seemingly random arrangement with some of them sticking out like spikes. Its head had two black circular gears attached to the top of its head and one single black blade coming out of its forehead. Its mouth was covered by a blue plate, its eyes were yellow and lacking any features other than their soft glow. Its shoulders were much larger than expected and the same of dragon heads, while the elbows had crystalized fins that seemed to functionate as blades. A glowing green crystal was coming out of the beast's chest, its kneels were shaped like dragon heads as well, a large armored plate came from the side of each one of them with a large fin attached, giving off the appearance of wings that were attached to the monster's knees. Below that its legs were bend backward and had black skin without any plating covering it. The monster held a long spear made of the same plates that covered its body and held a glowing blue crystal in the center with two golden gears rotating around it.
BrioGear Howling Guardian
Level: 5/Attribute: WATER/Type: Beast-Warrior/Synchro/Effect
ATK: 2400/DEF: 1400
1 WATER Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Effect: Once per turn: You can discard 1 card, then target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy it. If a Water monster that you control inflicts battle damage to your opponent: Gain that much LP.
"A Synchro Summon?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"When Howling Guardian is summoned, I can discard a card to destroy a card that you control! I choose BrioGear Bubble Sea! Scare Chase!" My monster raised its spear and a wave of data came crashing down onto Bubble Sea, destroying it.
"Lastly, I activate the Continuous Spell, BrioGear Storm Formation!" The card showed Grand Ranger Serene, BrioGear Freakiver and a knight in blue armor all creating a storm from inside a blue magical circle.
BrioGear Storm Formation (Spell) Continuous
Once while this card is face-up on the field, when your opponent Special Summon monster(s) during the Battle Phase: You can return 1 face-up "BrioGear" monster you control with ATK equal or higher than the Special Summoned monster(s) with the highest ATK; shuffle the Special Summoned monster(s) into the deck. Once per turn (Quick Effect): If a WATER monster was send from your hand or Deck to the GY during the Battle Phase this turn, you can pay 1000 LP; Special Summon 1 of those monsters.
"Battle! I attack Al Dhampir – Vampire Sheridan with BrioGear Howling Guardian!" The shoulder pads of my monster opened and the gears inside began to build themselves together, creating two small cannons. "Back Blast!"
"I activate the effect of Vampire Fraulein from my hand!" A black umbrella formed on the field followed by a woman in a black dress with 2000 defense. "When a monster declares an attack I can Special Summon this card from my hand!"
"Then I will activate the effect of Storm Formation!" I exclaimed. "I return BrioGear Leviathan Dragon to my hand to return your monster back to the deck!"
My dragon opened its mouth and fired a stream of water that washed Vampire Fraulein off the field before it returned to my hand as well. With this, the attack was able to continue and Howling Guardian's missiles hit the Xyz Monster, blowing it up.
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 5200 - 1100 → 4100』
"As Howling Guardian inflicted damage to you its second effect increases my Life Points by the same amount." My monster pointed its spear toward me and rain fell on top of my body.
『Proxy LP: 300 + 1100 → 1400』
"Next, Grand Ranger Serene will attack Vampire Sucker!"
Serene turned her 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. The orb turned into an energy string that connected the two ends, turning them into a bow. She grabbed the arrow I threw her and put it in, aiming at the vampire.
"At this point, I will activate my skill! Miracle of Life!" I blue arrow made of light formed in my hand as I threw it at Serene. "Once per duel, when a WATER monster I control battles, I can discard a WATER monster and transfer its attack power to the fighting monster! I discard BrioGear Leviathan Dragon to give Serene its power!"
"W-what?!"
Grand Ranger Serene, ATK: 2100 + 2600 → 4700
"Go! Last Serenity!" I threw my arm forward in time with my monster firing her bow. The blue arrow pierced through the Vampire Sucker's heart, making her body glow as chunks of it began to break off.
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 4100 - 3100 → 1000』
"The effect of Grand Ranger Serene activates!" My monster aimed her bow at Ruby. "When she inflicts damage to the opponent, I can send a monster she is linked to in the Graveyard and inflict its original attack to you as damage. I send BrioGear Howling Guardian to the Graveyard to inflict two thousand and four hundred points of damage to you!"
"Why you… AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The red mist around Ruby's body bursted upward while she held a card in her hand. "I activate my skill! Blood Supply! By Tributing a Vampire monster on my fiend or in my hand I gain life points equal to its attack! I release Vampire Grimson in my hand to gain two thousand life points!"
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 1000 + 2000 → 3000』
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 3000 - 2400 → 600』
I bite my lip and tried to look around the field. I had to find something to beat her with during this turn, but my monsters all had finished their attacks. Ah right, my spell! I looked at the information about the field and indeed my spell could still activate an effect.
"Yes!" I pumped my fists. "I activate the effect of BrioGear Storm Formation. By giving up a thousand life points I can Special Summon a monster that was Special Summoned during the Battle Phase! I choose BrioGear Leviathan Dragon (Lv.7, ATK: 2600)!"
『Proxy LP: 1400 - 1000 → 400』
"Attack her directly!" I pointed at Ruby and my dragon prepared to strike.
"You… I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!" I closed my eyes and turned away as my dragon unleashed its attack, taking out the last of my opponent's life points.
『Gloomy Ruby LP: 600 - 2600 → 0』
『Winner: Proxy』
As the duel ended, the strength of my monster's attack send Ruby off her D-Board and she crashed into the roof of a building. I went over to her and kneeled down to cheek how she was. Since it was a virtual world avatars didn't have pulse, but she wasn't waking up.
"Come on, get up." I grabbed her and tried to shake her, but her body remained limp. "Hey… That's not funny."
Oh god please tell me that I didn't just kill someone with my dueling!
Skill:
Blood Supply: If you would take damage or pay Life Points, you can Tribute 1 Vampire monster that you control or is in your hand and gain LP equal to its ATK.
A/N: With 28 pages and more than 16k words, this is the longest chapter so far! Yey! *reaches out to grab the handgun and put an end to all of this*
A lot of important things happened in this chapter. Roxy learned a bit more about what is happening around her and Playmaker seems to be starting to thrust her a tiny bit. But not that much. We saw Roxy feel an emotion that isn't connected to self-pitty or a desire to do good. This is the first time she gets annoyed with someone and that are of course the Greyson siblings. Poor girl, but neither she nor you guys know her weird and crazy Evan and Avice can be.
Talking about Evan, despite him being named in this chapter, he actually appeared many times before in this story. So as a small game, could you guys tell every chapter in which he showed up? Of course you can read back (which I'm sure you will) I just want to see if you could recognize him without the name. Tell me your answers in your reviews!
On another topic, I'm planning to make a small 'side arc' set after Playmaker curing Blue Angel from the Hanoi virus. 'Technically' this chapter would be a detour from canon since no such thing happened in the anime, but not that much since it isn't connected to the story of the main characters. Not to spoil anything, but its going to be about Proxy, Evan and Ghost Girl dealing with the underworld of LINK VRAINS and it will probably be around 2-3 chapters long. I just bring that up because I wonder what you think about it and if you would mind me adding such little 'side arcs' later on featuring my OCs and some of the less ultilized characters in VRAINS (Pretty much anyone that isn't Yusaku, Ai or Kusanagi tbh).
I want to thank Black Cat Angel for favoriting this and Perith99 for following it.
Now to the reviews.
A response to MusicianWish: I find it a little funny how when you write a review I pretty much answer most of the things you affected in your review even though I didn't mean to! I don't know yet how Homura and Roxy would react to one another since they are pretty much like fire and water (Got it? Since their decks are... Ok I will stop now.) I actually think that I should name the cat Boob Cat since... well you should have noticed it in the last chapter. I'm actually not sure how much would be revealed about Evan and Avice in this story since they are the main characters of my Arc-V fic so most of their character would already be addressed there, but you won't need to read that story to understand them here. I won't say anything about the connection between the Ignis and the oGear decks, but pay attention to Evan and Avice about that.
A response to ScalchopWarrior: Yeah, sorry, but there is a duel in this chapter so yay! Honestly, I'm a bit surprised myself by the amount of non-duel chapters this story has, but I guess its because of Roxy. She is more of a sociable character than a duelist, while in Arc-Tracers Evan and Avice just want to get stronger by defeating more duelists and hate humans in general, so that might be why there is such a difference between the two stories.
Honestly, I don't think that Yuma forgot the lesson that he learned about monsters' feelings. He still treat them with respect afterward and tried to protect them when he could, but you have to admit that wasting your resources to protect your monsters because you want to have zero casualties isn't the best strategy. But I still understood what you mean by 'character decay' and I hope to not do something like that with any of my characters.
Oh, also. You guys and girls might have noticed the arrows that I put to show a change in LP, ATK or Level, but lately I have a difficult time to keep those arrows in the chapters. They tend to disappear when I upload the chapter and when I update it, so any idea what I could do to avoid that?
That's all for today. Thank to everyone for reading and I hope to see you next time!
Diabolic Tracer out!