The First Gears! Time and Space Assemble!
"R-Rocketeer?" Proxy's eyes meet with those of her friend. Both happiness that he was unharmed and worry about his well-being from here on. "W-what are you doing here?"
An unrecognizable for the girl playfulness shinned in the boy's eyes as he took a step toward her, and then another, and another. Proxy's concern for the robotic avatar turned into confusion and then, as he walked past her fallen body, her mind came to the conclusion that he wasn't there for her. Rocketeer made his way over to Blaze Rose, the girl stood there, still and unmoving like a doll. Or more precisely, her behavior matched that of a puppet without a puppet master.
Raising his large robotic arm, the boy ran a finger over the chin of his prey. Blaze Rose of course, didn't respond with anything. Her eyes were lifeless and empty, her mind was under the complete control of the virus that infected her systems, but watching her emotionless face, Proxy could see something that Rocketeer couldn't or didn't care about. Blaze Rose's soul must be crying in pain and agony.
"This one turned out better than the last, didn't she?" Rocketeer suddenly asked, his lips raising up into a smile that was anything but well-meaning or warm. "I had to do some tweaking of the program to make sure she doesn't end up going berserk like the little blood sucker before her. But you have to admit, the extra work was worth it, since I was able to preserve most of her dueling skills."
Proxy gulped and glanced at the NitroGear user once again, before returning her attention to Rocketeer. Her mind couldn't comprehend what the robotic avatar was talking about, or why he was acting like Blaze Rose was his puppet. Actually, she could figure it out, but like some sort of defending mechanism, her mind didn't seem to want to accept to interpret the situation in that way. She didn't want to accept that Rocketeer could somehow be somehow involved with the virus of Hanoi.
Proxy was trying desperately to fight off any bad thoughts about Rocketeer, her only friend in LINK VRAINS - The man that helped her out so much and was there every time she needed a shoulder to lean on. She wanted this to be a misunderstand, to be able to believe in him, but somewhere deep inside both her heart and mind, the BrioGear used knew that those hopes were false and that was what hurt her more than the damage she suffered from her duel with Blaze Rose. Proxy closed her eyes and something that shouldn't be possible in LINK VRAINS happened; a tear ran down her cheek.
"It's not possible." Proxy muttered softly, catching Rocketeer's attention. "Y-you… You couldn't be part of this. You told me that LINK VRAINS was like a second home to you, that because of that it was worth to sacrifice yourself if it means protecting it! So, why are you helping the Knights of Hanoi to destroy it?"
Rocketeer stared wide-eyed at Proxy after those words. Taking a step back, like someone hit by a bullet, the young man put his robotic arm over his face, covering it out of Proxy's view. His hand began to tremble and his shoulders shook. A sole chuckled echoed through the air and after it came a loud laughter. The metal fingers of Rocketeer's arm parted away and his eyes looked down at Proxy while he keep on laughing at her naivety.
"Y-you... Hahaha!... You really – hahaha - believed my words?" Rocketeer asked her. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and straighten his posture. "Just how naïve can you be to believe in every single word that someone tells you? I don't care about LINK VRAINS, what will happened to it, or which crazy bastards are going to destroy it! I have only one goal to achieve and that is all that truly matters!"
"That can't be true." Proxy shook her head and tried to stand up. Her limps were trembling from the damage her body took, but despite that she keep on fighting the pain and raised herself on her feet. "Y-you could be that heartless. The Rocketeer I know would never join the Knights of Hanoi!"
"The Rocketeer you know, huh? So that's the problem, you still look at me as Rocketeer, don't you?" Rocketeer asked and held his robotic arm up. A mad grin formed on his face as his arm began to crack apart. "Then allow me to destroy all of your hopes by show you the true appearance of my account!"
Rocketeer clenched his metal arm into a fist and the cracks began to fall off until it all broke down and a slender claw came out to replace it. His outfit changed to a white royal outfit with green accents, a short cape and heavy metal boots. Finally, a black knight helmet formed around his head and his outfit produced a long hood. Seeing her friend's appearance take such a drastic change, Proxy felt a chill ran down her spine, not because of anything else but because he looked exactly like someone she hoped to never meet again.
"You know that one, don't you?" the knight asked her, holding his claw before her. "When the shell I call Rocketeer gets destroyed, I'm called Picaro."
"No." Proxy shook her head while keeping her eyes on the demonic knight before her. "But then that means… No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be true!"
"Too bad for you then, because it is." Picaro mimicked a sad voice. "The reason why Rocketeer disappeared when Playmaker got attacked was because I'm Picaro!"
Proxy fell on her knees and looked down at the ground. Her entire being was shocked and devastated, she wanted all of it to be just some sick nightmare! Proxy put her hands over her head, thinking about everything that happened before all of this. Even before Picaro first showed up, she remembered about the day when Rocketeer took her to a server made for Charisma Duelists.
"Also, you haven't forgotten about our private duel later, right?" She remembered Rocketeer's words to Gloomy Ruby.
"But if you want a duel, then fine, I will give you one just to shut you up. We will do it two days from now, you can choose the server on which we are going to duel." And the way he used Blaze Rose's arguing in his favor.
"Playmaker will stop you." Proxy declared.
Even though she was too weak to fight him and stop Picaro's madness, there was someone far more skilled and stronger than her - LINK VRAINS' hero, Playmaker. He had fought many Knights of Hanoi before. So, even if she fell here, at least there would still be hope for the world of LINK VRAINS.
"Look." Picaro told her and raised his claw to point at the distance.
Following where the demonic knight pointed at, Proxy's eyes widened upon seeing what Picaro was referring to. With the ground torn apart and lava shooting into the pitch black sky, the rest of the city was a hell on earth. Buildings were destroyed and columns of smoke raised above the city, but most noticeable about the whole disaster was the huge Data Storm that tore through the center of the city. Its intensity was so high that it tore through the buildings it came in contact with and took their ruins with itself on its senseless path of destruction.
Picaro crossed his arms behind his back while looking at the hellish city himself. No one could tell what he was thinking about it all and his helmet did a good job to hide his expression.
"Playmaker and Revolver are dueling inside that Data Storm." Picaro informed the girl. "Revolver must have told him that if Playmaker manages to win, he will give him the removal program for the virus on Blue Angel's avatar. The hero you trust so much is right there, fighting the leader of the Knights of Hanoi, but he won't come out of there alive. Even if Playmaker somehow manages to score a win, the moment Revolver leaves the Data Storm I will use my program to close it. Due to being inside it outside of a duel, he won't be able to use Storm Access and the Hero of LINK VRAINS will be torn to little bits."
"N-no…" Proxy clenched her fist, while staring at the demonic knight. She couldn't allow him to hurt anyone else! "I won't let you… I will stop yo-!"
Proxy stopped mid-way in her sentence. She felt a sharp like her heart was being torn apart. Her trembling lips parted away, whenever she wanted to scream or say something was hard to determinate because no voice came out of her mouth. She blinked in disbelief, one of Picaro's sharp claws had pierced through her chest where a human's heart would be. The demonic knight leaned forward, his helmet a few inches away from the girl's face.
"The duel with Blaze Rose should have finished you, but I had mercy. However, if your choice is to keep fighting for Playmaker, then you can die with him." He whispered with a chilling voice and retraced his claws back.
The moment he did that, Proxy collapsed backward on the ground, gasping for breath. She felt the spot around the found like it was burning her skin off. The pain began to quickly crawl to the rest of her body, she wanted to move, scream, do anything, but her body wasn't responding. Even her mind was going off due to the intense pain, but if she could think enough to try and describe the feeling that ran through her body, she wouldn't be able to. It was an agonizing combination of burning, paralysis and suffocation.
"Does it hurt?" Picaro blatantly asked the girl whose body was shaking uncomfortable on the ground before him. "Don't worry, it will get better once my virus gets pass the anti-virus defenses of your avatar."
Proxy didn't reply to his reassuring words, how could she while also suffocating? If she had enough strength for one final move it would be to try and reach out to Picaro. Not to push or hurt him, but to try and reach to her friend whose heart she believed was held captive behind that demonic avatar made of iron and hatred. Unfortunately, the paralysis was too strong for her to fight against it.
"I know that what I'm doing here might look wrong or even evil to you, but I'm not in this for the mindless destruction." Picaro clarified. The demonic knight kneeled down next to the shaking knight and ran his claws over her cheek in an almost gentle motion. "Yes, right. I too was once a young and naïve person like you, someone with dreams."
Picaro's words seemed to drag some unknown weight with them. Like they were shackled to his previous sins, they came out painfully from his mouth. His face couldn't be seen because of the helmet, but his tone and gestures were enough to clarify that he wasn't too proud of his actions. Maybe it was because he knew that Proxy was just another innocent victim that was dragged in a fight which wasn't hers to begin with.
"I always wanted to be on the top, to sit on a throne above the whole world. I knew that making that dream a reality wouldn't be possible, not if I aimed to bring it to this world at least." Picaro gestured toward the town of LINK VRAINS; the ruins and clouds of black smoke that raised above them. "But there were legends in this world that could help me make my dream real within this digital reality. You know how the story goes from here on, don't you? They gave me my deck, taught me how to use it and I came to win my desire place as the number one. It was pretty exciting at first, winning duel after duel, proving my worth, but then I reached the top ten on the leader board and the ugly face of LINK VRAINS revealed itself to me."
Picaro paused for a moment, almost as if he was waiting for a reply from Proxy. Of course, in the condition that he had put her, the girl was unable to either more or speak. The demonic knight could see the torment in her eyes, but continued with his story.
"I saw many things. Angry fans attacking one another, it wasn't just once that I had to take responsibility for the actions of people I didn't know because they were fans of my dueling. The Charisma Duelists were even more greedy and selfish that I expected. I mean, did you think that they actually cared about those to whom they appeal? All they cared about was their place on the leaderboard and destroying any competition before it could endanger their sacred place on top of that corrupted pyramid that idiots like you and Playmaker are trying to save. This whole world is a lie build upon the unrecognized work of people whom SOL Technology threw in jail so they could monopolize LINK VRAINS."
Even with the extreme pain that her body was put through, Proxy was listening to Picaro's words. She didn't believe that half of the things he described were real, maybe he was exaggerating about them. But hearing that SOL Technology stole the work of people in order to gain money from LINK VRAINS shocked her. She could at least see somewhat a reason as to why the Knights of Hanoi hated this digital world, even if she didn't agree with their methods to deal with its problems.
"But it wasn't all bad, you know?" a hallow chuckle came out of Picaro's mouth. "During that time I found more about how my teachers were able to create their own cards within LINK VRAINS. A secret place somewhere within this fake world that could take you to a completely difference place. A well hidden completely new digital world that isn't run by greedy companies. A utopia where humans could finally let go of the limitation of their flesh and become something more! A completely new and better mankind with me sitting on the throne and leading it!"
Saying that Picaro clenched his fist triumphantly and look up at the pitch black sky. After that however, his head lowered, a hateful memory from his past flashed into his head reminding him why he joined the Knights of Hanoi in the first place. The demonic knight slammed his fist into the ground, making it crack underneath the strength of his hit.
"Of course, those bastards already knew about the existence of this better, superior world, but instead of sharing it with everyone else, they did something different, something evil! Using their knowledge, they manipulated the data to create a gate that can only be unlocked with the sixth oGear decks that they created. When they found out about my research, they gave up on teaching me and tried to take my deck, but I was able to run away from then and joined a group that wouldn't try to stop my research. Faking my loyalty to the Knights of Hanoi's cause, I was able to quickly raise in their ranks and obtain information about their true target. A different world hidden in the network known as Cyberse, a place created by A.I.s developed by the founder of the organization himself."
Inside Greyson's house – the quiet steps of someone echoed in the silence that had fallen over the rest of the building. Taking slow steps, Avice went into the corridor that lead to the bedrooms. She stopped next to hers and then turned to the right, where Roxy's bedroom was located. The green haired girl pressed her body against the door trying to hear something, but after being meet with nothing but silence, she slowly turned the handle and glanced inside, where Roxy's unconscious body was lying on the bed.
Avice took a deep breath and closed the door again. She pressed her body against the back of the door and reached into the pocket inside her school jacket. Pulling out a deck out of it, she sighed and walked into her own room.
"Through my research, I found the possibility for an alternative entrance, residing somewhere inside the Cyberse." Picaro keep on explaining to Proxy. "Of course, you might think that I'm a bad person for joining the Knights of Hanoi in the first place and for helping them destroy LINK VRAINS, but that isn't right. The moment I'm able to either collect all six oGear decks or discover the hidden Cyberse, I'm going to end the Knights using my own version of their virus. Since it doesn't respond to the removal program they have created, by the time someone manages to make a cure all of them will be death. Wouldn't that be a win-win for everyone? The evil terrorist organization was destroyed, LINK VRAINS is saved and I will create a utopia for humanity to live in."
Picaro's story ended and he turned back toward his victim. His sharp claws were moving and pressing against one another while he looked down at her.
"I don't mean to do badly to this or any other world, Proxy." The demonic knight told her and kneeled down next to her. "My friendship with you wasn't fake, even after I found that you were helping Playmaker I didn't immediately go after you, because I didn't want to hurt you. I still don't, so why don't you join me? You won't need to join the Knights of Hanoi or accept their beliefs, just… Just be by my side, ok?"
Proxy thought what response she would have given to this story if she had heard it by Rocketeer when they first meet, or before she knew that he was a member of Hanoi. Back before she had anything personal reason to fight in this conflict, would she have turned her back to everyone else and followed him? Frankly, she believed that it was exactly the thing that she would have done if the circumstances were different. But after she saw all the damage that he did to LINK VRAINS and how easy he would turn against her, her response was completely different from what a past version of her would have chosen. There was a determination to keep on fighting that burned inside her eyes and Picaro had no choice but to notice it. The demonic knight sighed in disappointment and raised his claws.
"I really didn't expect you to make this choice, but I won't judge you." Picaro's chilling tone reached something within Proxy. She was scared, but she still choose to stay by her choice and closed her eyes ready to take the final strike. "Farewell, Proxy!"
"Hiiissssshhhhhhhhh!"
Proxy's eyes opened wide and she looked in front of herself. The black cat with purple eyes that she meet several times before was standing in between her and Picaro's claw, hissing and the man in knight armor. This turn of events was just as surprising to the high ranked Hanoi who felt a chill run down his spine while staring the small carnivorous animal in the eyes. What scared him the most about the small beast, was how his claw and his whole body for that matter, froze right before he could destroy the cat.
"What the?" Picaro looked at the cat in confusion. After a moment however his confusion turned into anger; he found out the cat's secret. "You are…-! EVAN!"
The cat hissed back and purple electricity began to shot out of its fur. The small animal looked at the black sky, prompting the others to do the same. The black smoke that floated above the whole city was suddenly pierced as a white beam of light flew down and collided with the black cat. The collision released a large amount of energy which threw both Picaro and Blaze Rose and send them flying. That would have knocked both duelists off the building if it wasn't for the demonic knight sticking his claws into the ground and for the girl managing to grab onto her D-Board.
Two figures appeared within the white beam. First, the black cat which grew and stood up on two feet before turning into a tall man. The cat ears that were once resting on his head became part of a hood which the man pulled back to make his avatar's face visible. Short black hair with glowing purple edges that spike upward in the back covered his head. Matching purple eyes with two glowing red lines that started below his eyes and ran down his cheeks.
He wore a black short jacket that reaches just below his chest with a longer torn part that reaches below his knees and a black and purple sleeveless suit underneath the jacket. There were also long purple gloves that reach his elbows, a black and purple Duel Disk of the same model as Playmaker's merged with the left glove.
The second person that came out of the light was a shorter girl. She had long blue hair with green accents that was tied behind her into two long stands held with large white metal pieces. Her eyes were yellow with small blue markings on her cheeks and similar white metal parts attached to the edge of her chin.
The girl's outfit consisted of, a white choker with a green ribbon and a small jewel on the center was that went around her neck, a short white dress that only reached her thighs with a glowing blue gem attached on the center of it and lined with a gold frame. Her dress had attachable sleeves and had blue lines where her naked skin met the dress. Underneath she wore white, thigh-high boots with green accents and small golden spikes on either side of her boots.
"So, you bastards finally choose to show up?" Picaro hissed as he pulled himself back up.
The man and the girl looked at each other before turning back toward Proxy. The older one raised his hand toward her, causing the BrioGear used to scream as red mist came out of her body and flew into the man's hand, where it shattered to pieces. Proxy gasped for air and wrapped her arms around her body trying to calm herself down.
"The virus!" Picaro shouted. "How?"
"Heh, you really don't understand how your own program works, do you?" Avice's avatar asked.
"The reason Hanoi's virus is so hard to remove is because once it infects the target, its coding infuses with the one of the user's nerve system." Evan's avatar stated. "Since the data about a user's nerve system is supposed to be invisible, we wouldn't be able to detect the center of the problem nor know how to remove it without causing permanent damage to the victim. However, the story is completely different if we try to remove it while the virus is still trying to overcome the firewall and hasn't bonded with the user's data."
"Y-you bastards!" Picaro yelled at the two. "Are you really going to come between me and my goal when I'm so close to completing it?!"
The Greysons shrugged in response to the Knight of Hanoi's question. They hadn't been planning their actions that far, but a simple glance around the half destroyed city and the demonic knight's try to murder Proxy could answer Picaro's question. The BrioGear user pressed her arms against the ground and took a few deep breaths. With the virus removed from her system, the ability to move and talk was slowly coming back. She raised her head to look at the Greysons.
"H-he is… p-p-planning to… kil-kill Playmaker." Proxy informed the two duelists.
Evan and Avice glanced back at Proxy and nodded. Enough victims were already dragged it, they wouldn't allow another one to be taken. They would defend the Hero of LINK VRAINS, if for nothing else, because his presence was enough to calm down the users during times of crisis like this one. Playmaker was the embodiment of righteousness and courage for those within LINK VRAINS.
"Leave it to us." The Greysons' said in using and activated their Duel Disks. "We are going to thoroughly kick his metal ass."
"Red!" Picaro yelled and his puppet, Blaze Rose's avatar jumped off her D-Board to join her puppet master as they activated their own Duel Disks as well.
Proxy managed to force herself to sit up and watch the duel from a better angle. She noticed the black and white motive that each of the Greyson siblings seemed to adore, watching them from behind, they looked like an angel and a devil who were working together to bring balance and peace back to a ruined world.
"DUEL!" All four duelists shouted at once.
『PhantomFire LP: 4000 Hand: 5 & Silver Star LP: 4000 Hand: 5 (VS) Blaze Rose LP: 4000 Hand: 5 & Picaro LP: 4000 Hand: 5 』
"Heh, so it has come time for the failures to try and face their teachers, huh?" PhantomFire (Evan) asked mockingly as he drew his first five cards. "Allow me to show you why you will never be able to surpass us then! I activate the Ritual Spell, Advanced Ritual Art! Using it I tribute the Level six, Summoned Skull from my deck."
A hexagon shaped black abyss formed in front of PhantomFire as he reveled the tribute. His monster card burst into flames that flew to each edge of the abyss and a glowing red pentagram appeared in the middle of the abyss with a black mist raising from the darkness.
"The contract was accept. The demon wielder of lightning raises from the darkest pitch of hell and accept the dark soul I offer you! Gishiki Shōkan! Advent Skull Archfiend (Lv.6, ATK: 2500)!"
Out of the black mist raised a creature made of white bones with large bat wings and visible muscles. Its head had large horns bended to face downward.
"You are always using that monster when you plan on being serious." Picaro stated, staring at the white demon.
"A good duelist's always serious." PhantomFire responded and took two other cards from his hand. "You have never been able to beat me before, so you should be careful or you might lose on my next turn. I will then set three cards and finish there!"
"Come on, it's been a long time since I and Red were under your wing!" Picaro said. "Unlike you, we changed and evolved to become better, stronger. All of your strategies and the cards in your cards are known to us, we can both read through your moves like an open book!"
The Greysons glanced at each other and smirked before turning back to face their opponents. "Is that what you are truly thinking, Shin?" Silver Star (Avice) asked, titling her head to the side in a fake curiosity. "You poor boy, always trying to surpass everyone and everything. Always in a race against the world, you never stop to think about the consequences of your actions. You think that beating us will open your path to giving humanity a new world, creating a perfect species? Come on then, tell me how exactly do you plan to beat perfection itself in a duel?"
"What are you talking about?" Picaro chuckled and gestured toward the Greysons with his claw. "Perfection? You? The two of you are just some nobodies trying to play Gods! If you are so great, then why don't you tell Proxy the reason why you didn't stop the Hanoi virus earlier?"
"W-what?" Proxy's eyes widened as she looked at the two Greysons.
"Do you know why they were able to show up exactly when you needed to be saved?" Picaro continued. "These bastards have the whole LINK VRAINS under supervision! They know when something happens and who did it, they knew about all of Hanoi's attacks and how to stop them. Those two were following the Ignis' movements through the servers long before Playmaker showed up to take it, but never did anything to try and reserve it, nor anyone who got hurt, or even killed by Hanoi. Those two heroes that saved you from me, right there? They are nothing more than two siblings with a God complex!"
Proxy didn't know how to respond to that, none of the Greysons tried to deny those claims; they just stared at Picaro with bored expressions, like a pair of naughty kids that had to listen to a lecture by their parents for the thousandth time. She couldn't tell what reason they had to be there, duel against Picaro and Blaze Rose, but she felt that the questioning could way for after everyone was saved.
"So, is anyone of you going to take the next turn?" PhantomFire suddenly asked.
"I will be your opponent!" Blaze Rose exclaimed and took a step forward.
『Turn 2 [Blaze Rose] LP: 4000 Hand: 6』
"Of course, our want-to-be rival." PhantomFire smirked.
"First, I activate Double Summon!" The flaming Charisma Duelist played a Spell Card that opened two burning rings on her side of the field. "With the power of this Spell, during this turn, I can Normal Summon twice!"
"Chain Link Two! The Quick-Play Spell, Fires of Doomsday!" One of PhantomFire's set cards flipped face-up. "I Special Summon two Doomsday Tokens (Lv.1, DEF: 0) in Defense Position!"
The marks on PhantomFire's face began to glow and he pulled his arms behind his body. Two black flames formed in his hands and he threw them on the field. The demonic fire burst from each side of Advent Skull Archfiend and two small monsters with a single green eye in the middle of their heads appeared on the field.
"Tokens with zero defense?" Picaro titled his head to the side. "Did you already forget how Red's deck works?"
"NitroGear, an archetype of FIRE attributed monsters with battle position manipulating based effects and a focus on Synchro Summoning with additional Link Summoning for support." PhantomFire described. "Its main strategy is Beatdown and because of that there are a lot of high level monsters in the deck. Blaze Rose has always been a rather difficult person to deal with, she gets heated up very fast and prefers the more simplistic and straight forward strategies, so her dueling style is brute by nature."
Proxy stared in awe as the young man gave a full description on not just the deck, but Blaze Rose as well. It probably shouldn't come as a surprise to her because he and Avice had to be the ones who created the oGear decks. They just fit the description that Blaze Rose and Picaro laid down about the legendary duelists so perfectly.
"Trap activate!" PhantomFire continued and his second set card flipped face-up to reveal itself. "Crush Card Virus! At the cost of you taking no damage until the end of our next turn, I can tribute a DARK monster with thousand or less attack to destroy all monsters on your field and in your hand with one thousand and five hundred or more attack points!"
PhantomFire reached out with his right hand toward one of the Doomsday Tokens. The black fire turned into a purple ball with spikes and flew in the duelist's arm, making it glow.
"Activate!" PhantomFire shouted and slammed his fist into the ground, creating several cracks underneath Blaze Rose.
The damaged parts of the floor began to glow in the same purple color as PhantomFire's hand and the virus burst upward, flying into the Charisma Duelist's cards, changing the color of three of them to a pale grey. Blaze Rose showed the cards in her hand before sending the infected ones to her Graveyard, their names were: NitroGear Mighty Slasher, NitroGear Acid Lancer and NitroGear Red Sword.
NitroGear Red Sword
Level: 3/Attribute: FIRE/Type: Pyro/Tuner/Effect
ATK: 1600/DEF: 600
Effect: You can target 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls and 1 face-up monster you control; that target's battle position cannot be changed until the end of your next turn, also change that monster's battle position, and if you do, destroy the first target. If this card is destroyed and send to the GY, you can add 1 "NitroGear" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to the hand.
"Then, I will use the additional effect of your trap to destroy NitroGear Veteranion, NitroGear Molten Grotto and NitroGear Sabre Hand from my deck!" Blaze Rose took three other cards from her deck and put them in her Graveyard.
"So you figured out the rest of my trap's effect." PhantomFire smirked in amusement that the girl was able to figure that out.
NitroGear Molten Grotto
Level: 5/Attribute: FIRE/Type: Machine/Effect
ATK: 1800/DEF: 1400
Effect: If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "oGear" monster from your Graveyard to Special Summon this card in Defense Position (from your hand). If this card's battle position is changed, you can add 1 "NitroGear Lesser Grotto" your Deck to the hand.
NitroGear Sabre Hand
Level: 3/Attribute: FIRE/Type: Warrior/Effect
ATK: 1600/DEF: 600
Effect: If all monster that your opponent controls are in the same battle position (min 2.): This card can attack your opponent directly. If this card is destroyed by a card effect and send to the GY: You can target 1 FIRE Tuner monster in your GY; Special Summon both this card and that monster, and if you do, immediately after this effect resolves, Synchro Summon 1 FIRE Synchro Monster using only this card and that monster as Synchro Materials.
"The effect of my destroyed NitroGear Red Sword will now activates!" Blaze Rose exclaimed as flames appeared in her arm. "When it's destroyed, I can add a NitroGear Spell or Trap from my deck to the hand. I add NitroGear Junkyard. At the same time, the effect of NitroGear Sabre Hand activates as well, by targeting Red Sword in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon both itself and the targeted monster!"
The sets of flames burst beside Blaze Rose and her monsters materialized. The first one was a small robotic-looking warrior with a gas mask over its scarred head that had three holes on the back with flames coming out of them. Its body was covered in a silver armor with a black chest and waist. Instead of arms, the monster had several black gears floating next to its body with a stream of fire in them. Its legs were four, each of which ended with a golden spike for a feet. The second was, as its name suggested a burning black sword with a red skull on the handle.
"Next, the effect of Sabre Hand forces me to immediately use the monsters I summoned by its effect for a Synchro Summon!" NitroGear Red Sword turned into three wings and NitroGear Sabre Hand flew after it. "I can feel a soul burning for battle! I tune the Level three, NitroGear Sabre Hand into my Level three NitroGear Red Sword! Synchro Summon! Level six! NitroGear Twin Blaster!"
Out of the beam of light came a monster that looked similar to Nitro Warrior but a bit smaller in size. His skin was green with black armor on his shoulder, arms and legs along with several orange spikes. Two large horns were coming from its chin with several smaller ones on the back of his head. He had bee-like wings on its back and two large black cannons on its shoulders.
NitroGear Twin Blaster
Level: 6/Attribute: FIRE/Type: Warrior/Synchro/Effect
ATK: 2400/DEF: 1400
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner FIRE monsters
Effect: Once during each of your turns, if you activated a Spell Card, this card gains 1000 ATK during its next attack. Once per Battle Phase, when this card this card destroyed a monster by battle, draw 1 card. If this face-up card you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and send to GY: You can target 1 other "Nitro" Synchro Monster in your GY; Special Summon that target.
"I have never seen that monster before." Proxy commented from the side.
She hadn't seen most of Blaze Rose's monsters until this duel and it amazed her to see the Charisma Duelist use a Synchro monster that was different from her ace. It wasn't that surprised though, unlike Proxy, PhantomFire and Silver Star were experienced duelists, so of course they would be able to push their opponent further that her.
"Hm, I see that you have finally learned how to properly use your deck." PhantomFire commented. "Usually you fail to do any further moves during the turn after I play Crush Card Virus."
"Why didn't you play the trap during the Battle Phase to stop her from making any further moves instead?" Silver Star asked with a smirk on her face.
"Heh, where would be the fun in that?" PhantomFire asked back.
He wanted to test Picaro and Blaze Rose, see if they had actually became better than the last time he meet them. If they could recover after he exploited their decks major weaknesses, then it would be worth to give them more than five minutes of his time.
"Next, I will activate NitroGear Junkyard!" An orange circular circuit formed under Blaze Rose's feet when she activated the Field Spell. "When this card is activated, I can add a Nitro card from my deck to the hand. I choose to add NitroGear Laughing Doc, and I will immediately Normal Summon it!"
A nitro tank with armored body, and red cross symbol at the front jumped up and down behind Twin Blaster.
"Next, I Synchro Summon once again!" Blaze Rose threw her arms upward and Laughing Doc turned into a single green ring which flew over Twin Blaster. "I tune my Level six, NitroGear Twin Blaster to my Level one, NitroGear Laughing Doc! Synchro Summon! Level seven! NitroGear Warrior (Lv.7, ATK: 2800)!"
A blast of light flew into the sky and Blaze Rose's ace jumped out of it, landing right in front of Advent Skull Archfiend. The giant burning warrior stood up and roared at the tiny demon in front of it. PhantomFire realized that things changed for the worse. NitroGear Warrior had the ability to inflict double piercing damage if it battled a Defense Position monster and his Doomsday Tokens had zero defense, so the damage would be 5600!
"See? I told you that we evolved since your lessons." Picaro mocked. The demonic knight turned toward Blaze Rose and bowed at her. "Why don't you end this duel, Red?"
Silence fell over the four duelists. Blaze Rose didn't listen to her puppet master's words, her hands began to tremble while her eyes meet with those of Silver Star and PhantomFire. The Charisma Duelist had been dreaming of the day when she would defeat her old teachers for so long, but she couldn't actually bring herself to do it. For a moment, her soul was able to regain control over her possessed body.
"What's wrong, Red?" Picaro looked at his dueling partner.
"I… I…" Blaze Rose raised her hands and grabbed her head. The NitroGear duelist fell on her knees, the crimson aura that surrounded her body began to become smaller.
"I think she remembered." Silver Star stated.
"She remembered whom she is fighting against." PhantomFire continued.
"She is breaking out of the virus' control!" Proxy exclaimed.
"I… I'm…" Blaze Rose continued to mutter. Her grip over her own head strengthened as old memories replayed themselves in her head.
She remembered the boy who saved her from her abusive father in that alley all those years ago. She remembered how he stayed with her until the ambulance came to pick her up and then followed her to the hospital. She remembered that the boy later showed with his sister and helped her continue her education. She remembered the girl that helped her get accepted to live in the school dorms of Den City High School. The days they spend helping her to study, the fulfilment of their promise to teach her how to duel. She remembered all of those moments as well as the faces of the boy who saved her and his sister. The faces of Evan and Avice flashed into her mind followed by the faces of their online avatars, PhantomFire and Silver Star.
"Useless." Picaro pressed the palm of his claw and a sequence of 0s and 1s covered the skin.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Blaze Rose screamed madly and the crimson mist began large once again. The aura stared to enter her eye sockets and mouth, her final push to break free from the madman's control was meet with agonizing resistance.
"Stop this!" Proxy shouted at Picaro. "Stop it! This isn't right! Listen to me, Rocketeer!"
"When will you stop calling me that?" Picaro asked her as more codes ran through his claw and Blaze Rose's screams became louder. "Rocketeer was just a persona I created as a cover!"
"Battle!" Blaze Rose roared, red mist coming out of her eyes. "NitroGear Warrior destroy Doomsday Tokens! Nitro One-Hit!"
Flames came out of NitroGear Warrior's shoulder and reached all the way down to his fists, engulfing them in the burning hot fire. The monster roared and slammed into the token with all of its strength, the attack raising flames and engulfing both PhantomFire and Silver Star in them.
"It's over." Picaro sneered and put a hand on his hips. "Taking down every single Gear holder within a single day surely feels nice. I hope that hell isn't too hot for you, teach."
"It's pretty chilly as a matter of fact." The flames burst apart freeing the two duelists and PhantomFire absorbed the fire into his hand. The Greysons' Life Points were still at 4000. "You didn't expect it to be that easy to beam us, did you?"
"How did you survive that?"
"Come on Pica, you know that I'm always thinking two moves ahead. I was the one who designed those decks and gave them to you, did you seriously think for a moment that I wouldn't foresee the possibility of Blaze Rose using her ace to attack my tokens? Hmm, I wouldn't have summoned the Doomsday Tokens if I didn't have a way to gain the fullest of benefit from them. That's why I activated my trap, Dark Spirit Art – Greed right before the attack connected. This card releases my token to let me draw two cards from my deck. That's of course, unless Blaze has a Spell Card to show, hm?"
Blaze Rose gritted her teeth and looked down at the cards in her hand before shaking her head; she had played all of her Spell Cards before the Battle Phase started. Seeing that the girl had nothing to respond with, PhantomFire drew two cards from his deck, replenishing his hand for his next turn.
"Then, NitroGear Warrior will destroy Advent Skull Archfiend!" The large warrior turned around and threw its burning fist toward the demon, only for it to catch the attack with its claws.
"Advent Skull Archfiend can't be destroyed by battle or monster effects, unless it's by a Ritual Monster." PhantomFire explained as his monster pushed Blaze Rose's back. "Of course, I will take the three hundred points of damage."
『PhantomFire & Silver Star LP: 4000 – 300 → 3700』
"I set a card, turn end." Blaze Rose said, angry that her One Turn Kill was reduced to just 300 points of damage.
"Picaro has really turned you into a good puppet, hasn't he?" Silver Star asked. "Only sad part is that a puppet can never duel as good as someone with a free will. Oh well, my words aren't going to reach you anyway, so I'm just going to beat you into the ground instead. Draw!"
『Turn 3 [Silver Star] LP: 3700 Hand: 6』
The girl looked at her cards and moved on to make her move after just getting a glance of her cards. "I discard the Level six, AstroGear Auslöser Tiger, to Special Summon Lightray Grepher (Lv.4, ATK: 1700) from my hand!"
AstroGear Auslöser Tiger
Level: 6/Attribute: LIGHT/Type:Machine/Effect
ATK: 2400/DEF: 1600
Effect: If this card is in your GY, you can banish 1 other LIGHT monster from your GY: Special Summon this card, then banish 1 face-up card on the field. If this card is banished: Negate the effects of all face-up cards your opponent controls and reduce the ATK of all their Special Summoned monsters to 0 until the end of this turn.
"Next, I activate Grepher's effect, I discard AstroGear Lammabschließen to banish AstroGear Beistandfrom my deck!" Silver Star dropped one card from her hand to the Graveyard and then took another one from her deck. "Next, I will use the effect of Auslöser Tiger to banish AstroGear Lammabschließen and Special Summon it back on my field!"
A white armored body with golden plates appeared on the field. Its belly and chest opened up with several gears showing from inside, all of which were spinning around a blue energy orb. The front of the monster's body opened and a yellow energy ball attached itself to it. Several plates came around and formed the head, which lacked any eyes or other features that weren't its sharp mouth which contained the yellow energy orb inside itself. A large spike came out of the body's back as a form while four large triangles floated underneath it acting like legs that weren't attached to the main part of the monster.
"The effects of AstroGear Auslöser Tiger and AstroGear Lammabschließen activate respectively!" The large machine beast opened its mouth, loading a beam. Silver Star pressed a button on the side of her head and the white plates around it came together into a white mask with green eyes. "When AstroGear Auslöser is Special Summoned by its own effect, a face-up card on the field will be banished! Of course, the one I choose is NitroGear Junkyard!"
Silver's monster fired its beam through Blaze Rose's spell, vaporizing it. The Charisma Duelist screamed in anger with the crimson mist around her body reacting as well.
"Next, Lammabschließen lets me banish a monster from the field until the end of the turn. I shall banish AstroGear Auslöser Tiger!" The machine beast roared as its body began to vanish in the light, until it completely disappeared. "Since Auslöser Tiger was removed from the game, its other effect activates. Until the end of this turn, all cards you control have their effects negated and the attack of your monsters drops to zero."
Both Picaro and Blaze Rose looked at NitroGear Warrior, as the monster fell on its knees with 0 attack points. "Damn you." Picaro hissed.
"Do you see it now?" Silver Star asked. "Your formation is so easy to be broken apart, just like with a clock, if one of the gears doesn't function properly, the whole thing is going to stop working. This is why people like you would never be worthy to challenge us as equals. Go, Advent Skull Archfiend! Devil's Thunder Strike!"
PhantomFire's monster flew in the sky and raised its claws over its head. A lightning fell from the black smoke and hit the demon who charged the energy through its body and fired it at NitroGear Warrior. The monster screamed as the attack burned through its skin and destroyed it, but neither Picaro nor Blaze Rose reached to that.
"Due to the effect of PhantomFire's Crush Card Virus, you won't take damage during this turn." Silver Star explained, setting one card on her field. "I set a card, then go toward the End Phase of my turn when the effect of AstroGear Lammabschließen returns AstroGear Auslöser Tiger to my field! Your turn to show me what you got!"
"You two really think that you are better than me?" Picaro hissed. "You think that you could play with me and get away with it? I'm the ultimate Gear user, you are just a bunch of relics that get in the way! I will annihilate both you and those smug looks on your faces! My turn, draw!"
『Turn 4 [Picaro] LP: 4000 Hand: 6』
"Due to the effect of Crush Card Virus, I must reveal the card that I drew and if it's a monster with more than one thousand and five hundred attack points it will be destroyed." Picaro stated and a screen appeared before the Greysons, showing them Turbo Synchro. "You were able to come up with a perfect counter to Red's Aggro style, but TurboGears doesn't have high attack power monsters in the Main deck!"
PhantomFire and Silver Star rolled their eyes, as the ones who created the Gear decks, they both knew how each one was supposed to function and what strategies it could incorporate.
"I will start by activating the trap that Red set previously for me, Descending Lost Star!" A black portal formed under the card leading toward the Graveyard. "When this card is activated, I can Special Summon a Synchro Monster from my graveyard in Defense Position. As a cost, its effects will be negated, defense value reduced to zero and level reduced by one! Since in Tag-Duels the players share their graveyards, I will bring back NitroGear Twin Blaster (Lv.6, DEF: 1400)!"
The first Synchro monster that Blaze Rose summoned during her last turn came back from the death and kneeled in front of its new owner.
NitroGear Twin Blaster, Level: 6 → 5, DEF: 1400 → 0
"Then I Normal Summon Turbo Synchron (Lv.1, ATK: 100)." The little green machine formed on Picaro's field with glowing red eyes. "I call forth the Wind to tear down the lies of this world! Come on! The Level five NitroGear Twin Blaster will tune to the Level one Turbo Synchron! Synchro Summon! TurboGear Warrior!"
A slim red humanoid robot came out of the light that was emitted by the Synchro Summon. The monster looked more like a machine than a human though, it had long robot arms covered in red armor that ended with sharp claws. Its legs were long as well and had circular feet. Two wheels were attached to each side of the monster's hips and its head seemed to have a haircut with a large spike pointing forward. There were also several small spikes on its shoulders, similar to the ones one could notice on a motor biker's jacket.
TurboGear Warrior
Level: 6/Attribute: WIND/Type: Warrior/Synchro/Effect
ATK: 2500/DEF: 1500
1 "Turbo" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Effect: This card cannot be targeted, and is unaffected, by the effects of Level 6 or lower monsters. When this card attacks a Level 5 or higher Special Summoned monster: Halve the ATK of the attack target until the end of the Damage Step, also, negate its effects.
"My preparations are almost complete! I will equip my monster with the Equip Spell, Turbo Claws!" TurboGear Warrior's claws grew longer and sharper as the spell affected it.
Turbo Claws (Spell) Equip
When the monster equipped with this card attacks, your opponent can't activated Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step. If the equipped monster destroys an opponent monster by battle, you can activate this effect: Destroy this card and the equipped monster can declare a second attack during this Battle Phase, but any monster destroyed by battle with it is shuffled into the Deck instead.
"You already know what the Spell does, so I won't bother explaining!" Picaro shouted and outstretched its own claw. "Instead, I will attack your Advent Skull Archfiend with TurboGear Warrior! Accelerated Crash!"
"Due to TurboGear Warrior's effect those of Advent Skull Archfiend are negated and its attack power is halved." PhantomFire narrowed his eyes.
Advent Skull Archfiend, ATK: 2500 / 2 → 1250
TurboGear Warrior slashed Advent Skull Archfiend in half, the demon hissed in pain as it was destroyed. PhantomFire and Silver Star took the full strength of the attack and their Life Points fell down.
『PhantomFire & Silver Star LP: 3700 – 1250 → 2450』
"The effect of Advent Skull Archfiend activates." A portal opened in front of PhantomFire and a scythe came out of it. "When it's destroyed, I can Special Summon one Summoned Skull from my hand, deck or Graveyard. Come out, my servant!"
After the black scythe came out it was followed by a red demonic creature with bend backward legs, a long tail, huge crimson bat wings, black horns and no eyes on its face. The monster landed in front of PhantomFire with its 2500 ATK and let out a cry.
"Now the effect of Turbo Claws activates!" Picaro gestured toward his monster, whose claws turned back to their normal size. "By destroying the equip spell, TurboGear Warrior gets a second attack! I will use it to destroy AstroGear Auslöser Tiger! At this point, TurboGear Warrior's effect halves your monster's attack and negates its effects!"
AstroGear Auslöser Tiger, ATK: 2400 / 2 → 1200
"Then I will activate AstroGear Beistand's effect!" A barrier formed in front of Silver Star's monster. "If a LIGHT monster would be destroyed, I can Special Summon this banished card to negate that destruction!"
The little robot appeared in front of Silver Star and her monsters with 700 DEF. TurboGear Warrior slashed AstroGear Auslöser Tiger, but was unable to destroy it due to AstroGear Beistand. PhantomFire and Silver Star winched as the attack pushed them back.
『PhantomFire & Silver Star LP: 2450 – 1300 → 1150』
"So you saved your monster?" Picaro shook his head. "Pointless! I activate the effect of TurboGear Accelerate Blast from my hand! I discard it along with TurboGear Carrier to inflict five hundred points of damage to you for each card discarded!"
TurboGearAccelerate Blast
Level: 6/Attribute: WIND/Type: Machine/Effect
ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000
Effect: (Quick Effect): During the Battle Phase, if a player took damage this turn, you can discard any number of "TurboGear" monsters from your hand, including this card: Inflict 500 damage to your opponent for each monster discarded by this effect. During your opponent's Battle Phase, if a WIND monster you control is targeted for attack while this card is in your GY: You can target 1 other "oGear" monster in your GY; banish this card and Special Summon that target, then it becomes the new attack target.
TurboGearCarrier
Level: 5/Attribute: WIND/Type: Warrior/Effect
ATK: 1200/DEF: 1200
Effect: If you control no monsters, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. This card can't be destroyed by battle if it's attacking. When you take battle damage while this card is attacking: You can Special Summon 1 "Turbo" Tuner monster from your hand or Deck with ATK less than or equal to the battle damage you took, and if you do, immediately after this effect resolves, Synchro Summon 1 WIND Synchro Monster using only this card and that monster as Synchro Materials.
Silver Star and PhantomFire screamed as they were blasted, the strength of that attack was enough to knock them off their feet and send them rolling beside Proxy.
『PhantomFire & Silver Star LP: 1150 – 1000 → 150』
"N-no…" Proxy couldn't believe her eyes. Rocketeer, no, Picaro was able to reduce the Life Points of the legendary duelists to just 150 in just one turn. "Come on, stand up. Please!"
"I will then set two cards and end my turn." The cards appeared in front of Picaro for a moment before disappearing. "You aren't as talkative now, are you? To think that I was once so naïve that I thought of you as some sort of legends. I'm going to crush both of you and then no one in LINK VRAINS will ever be able to stand up to me!"
Proxy wanted to somehow turn down Picaro's voice, but she just couldn't. The BrioGear user crawled over to Silver Star and shook her, trying to get the duelist back to her senses. Proxy was weak, she didn't have the strength to face off against someone like Blaze Rose or Picaro on her own. She needed them, those weird siblings slash stalkers.
"Come on, get up." She shook Silver Star again. "If you lose, Playmaker will be killed! LINK VRAINS will be destroyed and Picaro will win!"
"Mhm, that was just awful."
"Huh?"
Proxy turned around and saw PhantomFire standing back up. His whole body was bruised from the damage it took, but he didn't seem to care about it. Actually, looking at his eyes, Proxy saw something that confused her, even scared her. The young man's dark purple eyes were beaming with excitement; he was enjoying the situation in which they were!
"Truly, truly awful." Hearing a second voice, Proxy turned back to Silver Star who was slowly getting back up as well. A smile was present on the female duelist as well.
"Those attacks were so blunt, no precision, no finesse in your monsters, or your own movements." PhantomFire criticized while readjusting his Duel Disk. "I heard what you told Proxy about becoming a King of your own world, tell me, how do you plan to reach that if you can't even do one good performance?" The iris of Phantom's right eye became light purple and opened up, his pupil turned red while the sclera became a darker color.
"You could say whatever you want about yourself, but there is no difference between you and Blaze Rose." Silver Star stated and took a step forward with electricity coming out of her back. "Both of you carve nothing but personal satisfaction and for others to be aware of your own goods. Like some little children you are trying too hard to get the approval of people you don't even know. That's just so low and pathetic that it's sad." The electricity that came out of Silver Star's back began to take the shape of six wings.
Seeing the two duelists like this shock Picaro. Both the demonic knight and his puppet, Blaze Rose, took a cautions step backward every time the siblings took a step forward. Even Proxy who believed them to be on her side was too scared to say anything or make any move. Silver Star and PhantomFire smirked and pressed their shoulders against one another, then, in complete synergy spoke as one.
"You two are the most pathetic students we could have had."
A/N: I would say that it's good to be finally back, but it was just a week and two days since the last update, so... Ehhhh. Honestly, I would have come updated earlier, but right after the exams ended I had to attend to a party that lasted much longer than I would have liked it to, so there is that. I'm really not sure what to say about this chapter though, Rocketeer turned out to be the big bad guy, but you guys really shouldn't be surprised by that. I mean, he disappeared before Picaro appeared and was the only person other than Proxy known to have meet with Gloomy Ruby and Blaze Rose in private. Some of you might not notice it, but I had also tried to give Picaro more WIND monsters during his first duel since Rocketeer was the holder of the WIND oGear deck.
What I was more interested in talking for today however was Blue Angel's redesign in the anime. From what I heard, she had changed her name as well to Blue Girl (it surely isn't similiar to Ghost Girl or anything). I'm really happy that the writers have given her enough attention to change her avatar's appearance, of course as we learned from Yuzu and Arc-V a redesign doesn't mean shit about the character's revelance, but I just like the new look. The outfit itself looks a lot like that of Ghost Girl but with Blue Angel's colors, even so I enjoy it no less. What got my attention the most about this new look however is, weirdly, the hair style, it being shorter and stylized really gives me more of an 'Aoi' vibe than Blue Angel's old appearance. I honestly want to believe that Blue Girl's look will become pernament because I feel like it shows Aoi outgrowing her old Blue Angel persona and the problems that she used it to shield herself from. But that's just how I interpreted the change, what about you guys?
Thanks to wanderer097 for the follow. Also, I want to use this chapter to give special thanks to Romadrox8975 for the favorite and follow! I can't believe that I forgot to do it until now, but I recommend you to check out her Vrains story with an OC. It's name is Yugioh Vrains: The Thunder Hunter and though it seems to have a good amount of grammar errors and others, it can be an interesting read.
Finally, as always, I'm going to respond to your reviews!
ThePLOThand: Literally in this chapter!
ScalchopWarrior: No worry bud, though I'm not sure how good frequent updates are when my Arc-V story is suffering from them. Also, I want to make something clear about why Proxy lasted so long in her duel against Blaze Rose. It wasn't because of her skills, in fact, it was mentioned several times in the chapter as well that Blaze was just playing around and could have finished the whole duel in her second turn with just one attack if she wanted to.
As for why Elizabeth won't be appearing. Well, her appearance in the first chapter was meant to be a symbolic passing the torch from her to Roxy. Her story is already finished in the time this story takes place and it wouldn't make sense for her to suddenly return. There is also the problem that making her deck is always a like a curse to me, I can never make it to not suck no matter what I try to make it work like.
MusicianWish: I wanted to leave my response to you for last because I really like respond to your reviews! First, yes, Proxy is going to lose her own share of duels in this story and what I think would be most interesting about those loses is that unlike other characters, she isn't protected from losing duels that would cost her live, so there won't be much Plot Armor for her.
Also, about her motivations, well, I wouldn't be that sure. Despite dueling to save people, Proxy isn't a hero nor a duelist, she is just a 14 years old girl that was dragged from her home to a place she doesn't know, forced to learn to duel in order to help causes that she has no interest in. All she wants is to take the good side, however it's hard to decide which side is the better one, given the motives that drive Playmaker and Hanoi. On the on side we have someone driven by a desire for revenge and to hurt those who wronged him, but is saving others from time to time. On the other side we have an organization that tries to save humanity at any cost necessary.
As I said before, or I hope I did, I will try to explain Evan's and Avice's characters in this story as good as possible, so you wouldn't need to read another story. Of course, if you want to, it's an Arc-V story named Arc-Tracers. Everything else that I'm going to say about that story and this one is that they don't exist in the same timeline, but they share the same characters. Weird, right?
Also, sorry about Rocketeer, but he was meant to be a Vector since his introduction.
And that's all from me for today. Fav/Follow/Review and see you next time!
Diabolic Tracer out!