Oh boy, do I need to step up my Team Duels. Sorry T-T
The Fortress Made of Data
"I guess I'm going to do something amusing." PhantomFire finally said and raised his head to look at everyone else; a child-like smile on his face. "During this turn, I'm going to do exactly three Link Summons using only two of the cards that are currently in my hand. And then if I feel like it, I might also finish with a Xyz Summon!"
"Three Link Summons in a row?" Blacloud repeated, amused by the idea. "Then I should warn you that while Steelswarm Origin is in my Extra Deck, if you are going to summon monsters in the Main Monster Zone, they need to be in the zone that Origin points to!"
"Don't worry, this won't be a problem!" PhantomFire exclaimed and took a card from his hand. "First off, I'm going to Normal Summon ChronoGear Pulsar Beast!"
On the field landed a large brownish-yellow robot in the shape of a lion. The creature had two green eyes with a large gear around its neck and heavy metal blades attached to it, forming the 'mane' of the beast. Its front legs were made each from two small ones connected together to form large ones. Its back was covered in sharp clock arms while its chest had a small windows showing the insides of the beast which consisted of gears and some strange green light. Its back legs were large than the front with sharp claws attached to them and it had two tails made of arced blade-like frames.
ChronoGear Pulsar Beast
Level: 4/Attribute: DARK/Type: Beast/Effect
ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200
Effect: During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 DARK monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a "ChronoGear" card: All DARK monsters you control gain 500 ATK.
"Then, Pulsar Beast's effect allows me to Normal Summon a second time during this turn! Show yourself, ChronoGear Hellchain!" A demon in torn black cloak appeared on the field. The creature's head was a simple white skull with flames inside its mouth and eye sockets. Instead of normal limbs, the monster had several chains come from underneath it and serve as its arms while it floated above the ground like a ghost.
ChronoGear Hellchain
Level: 3/Attribute: DARK/Type: Fiend/Effect
ATK:1400/DEF: 1700
Effect: Once while this card is face-up on the field: You can target 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it with its effects negated, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except "ChronoGear" monsters. If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a "ChronoGear" card: You can target 1 "oGear" monster in your Graveyard; add it to your hand.
"Now. Appear circuit of past and future!" PhantomFire threw his arm forward and the space before him cracked open. "Arrowhead confirmed! Summoning requirements is one Level four or lower DARK monster! I set ChronoGear Pulsar Beast in the Link Markers! Link Summon! The overseer of everyone's destiny! ChronoGear Butterfly Effect!"
A large golden and yellow creature with a butterfly-like appearance flew out of the circuit and above the field. Its primary body was large and the lower part ended with a huge tail that was used for the monster to stand on the ground, while its eight legs seemed to serve the function of arms, with the lowest and highest pairs crossed around its belly and chest. The monster had two large yellow eyes with multiple pupils on the sides of its head. Its wings were huge, three times the size of the already human-sized monster. They remained unmoving, despite the fact that the monster was flying and had yellow energy running through them.
ChronoGear Butterfly Effect
Attribute: DARK/Type:Insect/Link/Effect
L-Markers: Bottom
ATK:0/LINK-1
1 Level 4 or lower DARK monster
Effect: During your opponent's turn (Quick Effect): You can tribute 1 DARK monster this card points to; activate 1 Trap Card directly from your hand. During the End Phase of your opponent's turn, if this card is in your GY: you can target 1 other "ChronoGear" card in your GY; Shuffle this card into your Extra Deck, then put that target on the bottom of your deck.
"Link 1? So your idea is to grade-up your Links?" Blacloud narrowed his eyes. That wasn't much of a surprise for him, if at all.
"Next, I activate ChronoGear Hellchain's effect!" PhantomFire continued as his monster threw its chains into the ground, grabbing into something and began to pull it out. "Once while my monster is on the field, I can revive a DARK monster from my Graveyard with its effects negated! Come back to me, ChronoGear Pulsar Beast!" The mechanical beast was pulled out of the ground by Hellchain's effect and left there in Attack Position.
"For the second time! Appear circuit of past and future!" The air between the two teams cracked and a black void opened up. The pseudo-black hole began to suck in PhantomFire's monsters. "Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two oGear monsters! I set ChronoGear Hellchain and ChronoGear Butterfly Effect in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Here comes one of my favorite! ChronoGear Time Timer Kitty (ATK: 1700, Link-2)!"
The neko girl floated in the air above the field and right next to PhantomFire. He reached out and stroke the monster's neck, making it purr in delight, much to the confusion of everyone else that was involved in the duel, or just watched it.
"You… are playing with your monsters during duel?" Ghost Girl raised an eyebrow in confusion from the strange display.
"Playing? I'm simply rewarding my monsters for the great job that they did, or are going to do." PhantomFire explained with ChronoGear Time Timer Kitty nodding after his words. "I activate ChronoGear Time Timer Kitty's effect! When she is Link Summoned, I can revive a DARK monster from my Graveyard next to one of the zones she points at. Come back, ChronoGear Hellchain!"
The neko monster held out her rifle and aimed at the ground before herself, pulling the trigger. The floor was torn apart by the bullet and a portal in the shape of a gear formed under the beast-warrior's feet. Kitty reached out and grabbed onto a chain, pulling the smaller ChronoGear out of the Graveyard with a wink that caused it to blush and look away from her.
"For the third time! Appear circuit of past and future!" A third black hole appeared in front of PhantomFire and two of his DARK monsters flew into it. "Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two DARK monsters! I set the Link Two, ChronoGear Time Timer Kitty and ChronoGear Pulsar Beast in the Link Markers! Link Summon! The unholy Demon looking over this world! Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer (ATK: 2300, Link-3)!"
This time, PhantomFire's ace appeared on the field, landing right next to Steelswarm Origin's Link Arrow. The two monsters stared at each other and both of them hissed in a low tone, like animals fighting for their territory.
"Hahaha, fool!" Blacloud laughter at the sight of the two monsters being linked to one another. "While Steelswarm Origin's is linked, it can't be destroyed nor targeted! Evilswarm Ophion already gave it protection and with your monster added, my Steelswarm Origin's defense is doubled!"
"I'm not the fool here." PhantomFire smirked, his monster clenching its fists as a dark aura formed around its body. "You see, I already knew all about Steelswarm Origin's effect, but it seems like you didn't read my own monster's ability. You see, for every monster that Phantomous is linked to, he gains its effects, so now my ace has the same protective effect as your own!"
'The ability to copy other monsters' abilities. Such a non-specific effect could be a complete disaster for the opponent if used the right way.' Ghost Girl thought to herself, watching PhantomFire and his monster.
"In addition to this, Phantomous' own effect allows all of my linked monsters to deal double damage while he is co-linked! Let's battle! Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer attack Steelswarm Origin! Demonic Disc Slash!" The fiend raised its left arm upward and the disc he wore began to spin with dark energy coming out of it, taking the shape of a scythe.
"Damn you…" Blacloud muttered as the attack hit his monster and knocked it back, but was unable to destroy it, due to its effect.
『Blacloud & Steelmate LP: 4000 - 300*2 → 3400』
"Next, I will use my monster's other effect!" PhantomFire continued, a space-time portal opened before ChronoGear Hellchain and the monster jumped through it. "Once during the Battle Phase, Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer lets me return a monster he points to into the deck and summon a different once! I return ChronoGear Hellchain and Special Summon ChronoGear Time Tamer Foxy!"
Time Tamer Foxy was a fox girl that had yellow eyes and orange hair tied into a ponytail with a large white ribbon, two fox ears on top of her head and a fluffy orange tail. Her outfit consisted of white gloves with golden claws and a bracelet in the form of clock gears on each of her wrist, along with a short pale yellow jacket over a brown sleeveless shirt, white shorts and mechanical yellow-brown boots. The girl was also holding a large metal harmer which large gears attached to the head as its striking faces.
ChronoGear Time Tamer Foxy
Level: 4/Attribute: DARK/Type: Beast-Warrior/Effect
ATK: 1700/DEF: 400
Effect: If this card is used as material for a Synchro, Fusion or Link Summon: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls; shuffle it into the deck, and if you do, send 1 "ChronoGear" monster from your Deck to the GY. If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a "ChronoGear" card: You can target 1 card your opponent controls; place that target on the bottom of the Deck.
"Foxy's effect activates! If she is Special Summoned by the effect of a ChronoGear card it lets me return a card you control to the bottom of your deck!" The fox girl winked at the dragon and raised her hammer, slamming it hard against the ground, creating a storm that pulled the set card off the ground, revealing it to be Infestation Terminus before it disappeared. "It wasn't Infestation Pandemic, but this should be good for you as well, right Ghost Girl?"
"That was an impressive play." Ghost Girl acknowledged before crossing her arms. "But you said that there was going to be a Xyz Summon as well, didn't you? Where is your Xyz Monster?"
"I was waiting for someone to ask me that." PhantomFire smirked and threw his arm up clenching it into a fist. This gesture caused the ceiling to burst as a galaxy portal appeared above the duelist's head. "Summoning conditions confirmed! Two level four monsters! I overlay ChronoGear Time Tamer Foxy and ChronoGear Pulsar Beast!"
Foxy waved for goodbye at everyone after her short time on the field and turned into a purple comet made of energy. Pulsar Beast turned into the same color and the two flew into the galaxy portal which then exploded
"Pitch black souls of demons overlay to create the shadowy dragon guardian of Spacetime! Hear my call, and let our foolish challengers know the wrath of thousand stars! Xyz Summon! Come, Beta Saber Chronicle Dragon!"
A black lighting fell down from it, hitting the field it took the form a dragon coated in darkness. The beast spread its wings, revealing the beast's true form. Two purple eyes appeared within the darkness, followed by two armored hands, two black armored legs and a long purple tail with multiple black spikes on its backside and two blades at the tip. Two big metallic wings blew the cloud away in a halo-like shape, revealing a black dragon with purple torso armor, and a helm that appeared like a long black horn. The monster was surrounded by two purple lights that orbited around it.
Beta Saber Chronicle Dragon
Rank: 4/DARK/Dragon/Xyz/Effect
ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000
2 Level 4 Monsters
Effect: This card can't be destroyed by battle, also, while it has Xyz Materials attached it can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects. During either player's Battle Phase, when this card battles an opponent's monster with higher ATK: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; your opponent takes double the battle damage that you would have taken from that battle. While this monster is linked, your opponent can't target other face-up monsters you control for attack.
'Summoning several strong monsters, managing his resources, damaging the opponent and removing their central pieces from the field all during one turn and by using only two monsters.' Proxy thought while watching PhantomFire's back. His own black and purple outfit seemed to merge with the color scheme of both the dark demon and the shadowy dragon that stood strongly on his field. The two monsters both pushed their chest forward proudly, standing like an impenetrable wall before their master.
"When Foxy is used as Material for a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Link Summon, a monster that you control gets returned to the hand. Disappear Evilswarm Ophion!" Beta Saber Chronicle Dragon raised its wings and fired a stream of electricity at Evilswarm Ophion bouncing the other dragon off the field and back into the Extra Deck.
Blacloud couldn't respond with anything other than biting his lips in anger. A center part of his strategy was just taken care off and by a single Level four no less! The underworld criminal glared at PhantomFire who turned toward his partner.
"Evilswarm Ophion is a powerful monster that has the ability to search its own protecting, the Quick-Play Spell Infestation Pandemic, but there is a major flaw in that strategy- Infestation Pandemic protects only from the effects of Spell and Trap cards but it's useless if I try to use a monster's effect." PhantomFire explained and gave Ghost Girl a thumb up. "Now that Evilswarm Ophion is removed from the field, its effect can no longer lock your high level monsters."
"Getting rid of my strongest monster like that… What sort of devil are you?!" Blacloud shouted.
"The type that so strong that I was kicked out of hell." PhantomFire replied and gestured toward his two monsters. "As Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer is linked to Steelswarm Origin he has that monsters indestructability and while Beta Saber Chronicle Dragon has Overlay Units, he is untouchable as well."
"In addition, as long as your Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer remains co-linked all of the damage that they would take from our linked monsters becomes double." Ghost Girl reminded and turned toward the man next to her. "Getting such a field on your first turn, you are the worst."
"What can I say, I'm a proactive person." PhantomFire replied and took two other cards from his hand. "You already prepared our back with your cards, but I'm going to still set two cards for good measure. Turn end."
"I see why the two of you have such infamous names on LINK VRAINS." Steelmate narrowed his eyes. "But there isn't such a thing as an impenetrable combo! I'm going to destroy yours for boss' shake! My turn!"
『Turn 4 [Steelmate] LP: 3400 Hand: 6』
"I will start by Normal Summoning Magical Musketeer Starfire (Lv.4, ATK: 1300)!" A woman in Indian dancing clothes with a single crimson demon wing on the right side of her body and guns attached to her boots, under her dress appeared on the field. "While Magical Musketeer Starfire is on my field I can activate Magical Musket Spell and Trap Cards from my hand! I activate the Trap: Magical Musket - Desperado! While I control a Magical Musketeer this trap lets me destroy a face-up card you control! I choose Altergeist Marionetter!"
The fiend pulled out her weapon and fired at Altergeist Marionetter, only for the bullet to rust and turn into ash mid-air before it could make contact. As that happened, one of PhantomFire's set cards raised to show itself.
"I activate my Counter Trap, Solemn Judgment! By paying half of my Life Points, I'm able to negate your Trap's effect!" PhantomFire declared as a red aura formed around both him and Ghost Girl, dropping their Life Points.
『Ghost Girl & PhantomFire LP: 3050 /2 → 1525』
"Damn it!" Steelmate cursed, he didn't expect that his opponent would play such a powerful card. "But even if you negated my trap, the effect of Magical Musketeer Starfire will still resolve! Since a Magical Musket card was activated in the same column I can Special Summon a Magical Musketeer from my deck! Come out-"
"Second Trap open!" PhantomFire interrupted as his other card revealed itself as well. "When a monster's effect activates I can play one thousand and five hundred Life Points to use Solemn Strike and negate that effect!"
『Ghost Girl & PhantomFire LP: 1525 - 1500 → 25』
In an instant, Magical Musketeer Starfire shattered into pixels, leaving just Steelswarm Origin on Steelmate and Blacloud's side of the field. The two duelists stared open mouthed at PhantomFire and the risky plays that he made. He almost gave all of his Life Points just to prolong the duel with one turn. 25 Life Points were as good as nothing!
"I… I can't believe that you would give all of these Life Points just to stop Steelmate from making any significant plays!" Blacloud shouted.
"And that's why you are always going to be a fourth rate duelist." PhantomFire sighed. "A true duelist knows that Life Points mean nothing. As long as we have even just one point left, I and Ghost Girl can win!"
"We will see about that!" Steelmate shouted and pressed one of his cards, setting it down. "I set a card and end my turn!"
"Geez, leaving us with just twenty five Life Points, could you gamble any more than this?" Ghost Girl sighed, taking a step forward, ready to take her turn as well. Despite her words, the Altergeistduelist and treasure hunter wasn't worried at the slightest. By giving up on almost all of their Life Points, PhantomFire has made it possible for them to win the duel with just one good strike.
"Just make sure to not leave Phantomous out of the fun and everything should be good." PhantomFire crossed his arms and observed the field. Steelswarm Origin, a set Infestation Pandemic and another unknown card. "Ok, let's do this!"
"My turn!" Ghost Girl exclaimed, drawing her next card.
『Turn 5 [Ghost Girl] LP: 25 Hand: 4』
"I activate Altergeist Marionetter's effect!" Ghost Girl winked and her Altergeist Camouflage disappeared, making the monster visible once more. "I send Altergeist Camouflage to the Graveyard in order to Special Summon Altergeist Multifaker (Lv.3, ATK: 1200) from the Graveyard! Next, Altergeist Multifaker's effect lets me Special Summon Altergeist Pixiel (Lv.1, DEF: 100) from my deck!"
A very small blue and golden monster appeared on the field next to Phantomous' left arrow and away from the other two Altergeist monsters. Despite that one could easy compare it to them and see that the new monster was one fourth of the others' size!
"Afterward I tribute Altergeist Pixiel to look at the top three cards of my deck and add one of them to my hand." The little pixie burst into pixels as three new cards appeared before Ghost Girl. She tapped one of it before continuing. "Then I Normal Summon the Altergeist Meluseek (Lv.1, ATK: 500) than I added to my hand!"
"Now!" PhantomFire called, raising his hand.
"Battle!" Both Ghost Girl and PhantomFire ordered at the same time in complete unison with one another. "Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer attacks you directly!"
"What?!" Blacloud and Steelmate shouted at the same time as the monster jumped over Steelswarm Origin and fired a blast of black electricity toward them.
"You seem to have forgotten my monster's ability." PhantomFire pointed out. "Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer gains all the abilities of the monster it points to and that includes my precious Ghost Girl's Altergeist Meluseek and her ability to attack directly ignoring monsters!"
"Then I will activate my set card, the Counter Trap Negate Attack!" Steelmate shouted, but nothing happened. "Why isn't my set card responding?!"
"In order to activate, Negate Attack must target a monster and due to Steelswarm Origin's ability that my Diabolic Phantomus the Link Slayer has, he can't be targeted by card effects!"
With no other responses left, the two duelists could only grit their teeth as the attack connected and they were blasted off the ground. From behind them all, Proxy was watching with her eyes open wide like dinner plates. The thing she was witnessing at the moment was bullshit on a completely different level from anything she saw previously!
『Blacloud & Steelmate LP: 3400 - 2300 → 1100』
"Next, the other effect of my Altergeist Meluseek that Phantomous obtained allows him to send a card you control to the Graveyard after the battle." Ghost Girl waved goodbye at one of their cards. "Sorry boys, but I think that I'm going to send your Negate Attack to the Graveyard!"
"Now, Beta Saber Chronicle Dragon is going to attack Steelswarm Origin next! Doomsday Thunder Saber!" PhantomFire called out, electricity gathering on top of his monster's head, creating a gigantic sword of electricity which it used to slash through Steelswarm Origin.
"Due to Steelswarm Origin's effect, he won't be destroyed by this battle!" Blacloud called and his monster began to regenerate while the electricity tore through it.
"But you still take the damage!" Ghost Girl called.
"And because Beta is linked to my co-linked Phantomous, the damage is going to be doubled!" Phantomous added. Another lighting hit Blacloud and Steelmate, this time with enough power to knock them down on their knees.
『Blacloud & Steelmate LP: 1100 - 500*2 → 100』
"Lastly, Altergeist Meluseek is going to attack you directly!" the mermaid created a small ball of fire and blasted it at their faces, knocking them down completely.
『Blacloud & Steelmate LP: 100 - 500 → 0』
『Winner: Ghost Girl & PhantomFire』
"Not too shabby." PhantomFire commented and turned toward Ghost Girl. "We make an excellent tag team, don't we?"
"As true as that is, I prefer working alone." Ghost Girl replied, giving him an air kiss before she passed over the fallen criminals. "My drones weren't able to catch anything here either, are we even sure that the data is inside this building?"
"It's probably hidden with a program, try using different set of commands." PhantomFire suggested. The demonic duelist walked over to Blacloud and grabbed him by the collar, pulling the cyborg off the ground. "Meanwhile I'm going to ask our friend here if he would be willing to cooperate. You won't disappoint me with your answers, right?"
"I don't even know what the heck you three want in the first place!" Blacloud protested. He knew that they have come here for something important, but beyond that, neither of them told him anything more about their objectives. "If you want answers, then you could at least make the question clear!"
"Then allow me to explain." Proxy stepped forward and put a hand on PhantomFire's shoulder. The ChronoGear duelist looked down toward his shorter companion for a few moments. Dark purple eyes meet with pale blue, both pairs staring into one another.
PhantomFire would have told her to let him handle the interrogation or just pushed her aside, heck, even ignoring her would have done it. But, there was something inside her eyes that made him obey, a spark of innocent and ignorance that was so understandable to belong to a little kid like Proxy - a simple 14 years old girl. PhantomFire's expression didn't change, but he felt his heart getting a little warner from staring at the girl's eyes. His grip on Blacloud's collar loosened and the cyborg fell on his back with a groan.
"Do as you please." PhantomFire muttered and went to check how Ghost Girl was doing with finding her 'treasure'.
Proxy kept her eyes on the older duelist while he walked away from her before turning back to face Blacloud. Unlike PhantomFire, she was friendlier and would rather take the long approach by talking than beating her target to a pulp – something that she wasn't able to do even if she wanted to. The BrioGear duelist sat down on the floor next to the cybercriminal and crossed her legs, a small warm smile present on her face during the whole approach.
"You know how dangerous and evil the Knights of Hanoi are, right? You have been their target as well." Proxy said, making Blacloud role his eyes. "Don't give me that look, there have been people that got hurt by their actions recently. An information dealer like yourself should have heard about the Hanoi virus, am I right? What we want is all the information about Hanoi that you have gathered, please, there are people still suffering from the virus and if you give us information about it, we should be able to create a remove program, cure them!"
There was a moment of silence, Blacloud narrowed his eyes while thinking it through. If he gave them the data, they would probably leave without causing more trouble to his business, but… getting information about Hanoi wasn't easy, those cyberterrorist were pretty dangerous, so managing to steal even a bit from them was hard and therefor it cost quite a bit to buy.
"Ok, you can have the data, I will give it to you, but only if you tell me what is in for me?" Blacloud finally answered.
"In for you?" Proxy raised an eyebrow, confused at those words. "You want something in return? I'm telling you that this data is going to save human lives, what could be worth more than that?"
"Money?" Blacloud asked back. The cyborg raised himself back up and looked down at the BrioGear user. "Maybe you could give me data that I don't have in return for my help? Or get rid of the competitors."
"You got to be kidding me." Proxy muttered to herself, clenching her fists. "Money? Data? Is that everything that you care about?"
"Why do you think I became a cybercriminal then?" Blacloud asked back, silencing the BrioGear duelist. He raised his left arm and rubbed it while looking down at the girl with his robotic eye. "If I cared about humans I wouldn't be stealing from them, blackmailing and trading with their lives, would I? Open your eyes, brat. No one cares about such naïve things, not on the surface, and you can bet that we down here care even less!"
Proxy averted her gaze and looked down at the ground in embarrassment. She didn't want to admit it, but PhantomFire was right about one thing, sometimes it just wasn't worth to try and talk senses into others. Even if she cared and put others' live above else, not everyone else would have the same value system as her. There were people whose hearts had already rotten with greed, hatred, jealousy or simply have been born with a stone for a heart. She held her fists tightly and bit her lower lip, despite how much it hurt to accept the facts, she wasn't going to let herself follow after PhantomFire's footsteps. She was… She was going to…
"Look out!" PhantomFire's yell snapped the BrioGear user out of her thoughts as suddenly as his two red strings caught her from behind and pulled her away.
A rocket flew through the open door and hit the ground between Blacloud and Proxy, blowing up. The explosion engulfed both the cybercriminal lord and his subordinate Steelmate, while the shockwave from it send the BrioGear duelist flying straight into a wall. Two more rockets came in aiming for PhantomFire and Ghost Girl next, engulfing the whole room in continuous loud explosions and flames.
The windows were absolutely destroyed and the platform with Blacloud's throne had fallen on the ground, wreckage, columns of black smoke and flames were everything that was left of the once beautiful place. Trying to sit up, Proxy groaned from the pain in the back of her head, getting blow up twice per day surely wasn't affecting her mind too well. Placing her hand on the ground, she yelped as the floor zapped her. Rubbing her hand, the girl noticed something that was rather strange, the ground was torn apart by the explosions, but instead of holes, there were streams of white data floating through the blown places.
"AAAARRRHHHHHH!" Proxy jumped at the bloody cry that came from within the room and turned toward a pile of wreckage on which Blacloud's throne was lying.
The remains began to shake and move as a figure wearing all black and purple raised from underneath them with a loud roar and threw the ceremonial chair through one of the broken windows. After getting his anger from getting buried under all that junk out, PhantomFire fell down on his knees and took a deep breath, while Ghost Girl was lying down next to him.
"You know… ever since… that first building… blew up… Ah." The ChronoGear duelist raised a finger and took a few deep breaths. "Even since that damn first building blew up, this whole operations wasn't going according to plan, but this right now is just ridiculous!"
"They blew up your man, again." Ghost Girl pointed out. There was no way for Blacloud to be able to survive an explosion from such a close proximity.
"At least we know whom to thank to for it, this time around." PhantomFire muttered, looking past the wreckage and toward the man who stood at the door.
The person that stood there didn't have a colorful appearance or anything. His hair was silver with a few stripes of black in it, two neon-blue eyes and the red tattoo of six triangles put together to form a larger triangle under his left eye. Outside that his appearance was rather blank, in fact, his outfit was almost all white with a white trench coat with black belts wrapped around its chest and arms, a huge collar whose backside reached a bit above the tip of the man's head. Finishing with white pants and matching boots, the man stood at the door with his arms crossed. Several other avatars that looked like the two assassins which PhantomFire took down earlier appeared behind their leader, armed with rifles once more.
"What are you doing here?" Ghost Girl asked, staring in shock at the man in white.
"You know him?" PhantomFire asked.
"Of course! He was the person who gave me my current job. He wanted some data that Blacloud stole from him, but I never knew that he had an armed militia with himself!" Ghost Girl narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here, Anon? We had a deal that I would get to you as soon as I get the information you wanted, or are you worried that I'm going to double cross you?"
"Heh, of course not." The man in white laughed and gestured for his men to stay down. "But come on, you don't think I would pay some treasure hunter for information that I could get back myself right? I simply needed someone to find a way inside Blacloud's fortress for me and now that I'm here there is unfortunately no need for you, Ghost Girl. So, bye-bye."
"You double crossing bastard!" Ghost Girl yelled at the man.
"You might have gotten inside the fortress, but there is still no data here." PhantomFire spoke up, getting everyone's attention on himself. "We looked everywhere, the data that both you and we are looking for isn't anywhere inside this building!"
"Fool, the data is right before your very eyes." The man chuckled and pulled a small device from one of his pockets before putting it inside the stream of data that floated inside the destroyed walls and floor. "The data wasn't inside the building, it was a part of it!"
PhantomFire's and Ghost Girl's eyes widened and they looked down at the data that floated under their feet. Scanning it, they found that the man's words were truth, the data was different from the rest of the server, it was encrypted and its properties were completely different from that of other buildings. It also explained why the fortress had so many empty floors, because it was growing with the more data that Blacloud stole from others!
Such a hideout… it both amazed them and left hundreds of questions inside their heads. How could Blacloud change the coding without causing major glitches or issues in the system of LINK VRAINS? How was he adding more data after the building was already created? What would happen if someone took all of the data inside the building?
"Since I already have what I came here for, I think it's time to start cleaning up." The man said and raised his hand. All of the armed men that came with him aimed their guns at PhantomFire, Proxy and Ghost Girl. "After all, I don't want witnesses running around telling people around the existence of such a place, do I? Fire on them!"
"Behind me!" PhantomFire shouted and fired his red strings onto a large piece of Blacloud's platform, pulling it over as a makeshift shield.
"We can't hide behind this piece of junk all day!" Ghost Girl protested.
"Why don't we just off the window then?" Proxy suggested and pointed at the destroyed windows. "We could summon our D-Board and speed away before they manage to catch us!"
"Not an option." Phantom shook his head. "You can't Speed Duel in this server. We are trapped between either jumping down to our death or getting executed by these bastards!"
"Just great that's what I-! AHHHHH!" As Ghost Girl complained suddenly a chunk of the ground she was standing on began to break off and fell down to the dark abyss.
"Got you!" Proxy shouted, grabbing the older girl's arm. She looked around and saw that the floor and the walls around them were starting to crack and then data inside them disappeared. "What is going on?"
"Since the data is inside the walls, taking it away leaves a hollow spot inside the building itself…" PhantomFire muttered. A good way to protect your data from being stolen, if anyone tried to steal it, that would cause the whole place to fall on top of their heads, which meant… "I get it! Proxy there is a small blue knife that I added to your inventory yesterday! Putting it into the data, will make it download everything Hanoi related that Blacloud has even put inside this place!"
"Didn't you just say that the whole place is going to collapse if we do exactly that?"
"I did." PhantomFire confirmed and swung the wrecked that he used as a shield, throwing it onto several of the men that fired on him. "That's exactly what I'm counting on. Now just trust me and do as I told you!"
"Fine." Proxy sighed and raised her arm, a small dagger forming inside of it. She glanced over at Phantom one more time and then slammed the blade into the stream of data. The blue device began to glow with ones and zeroes running through it while PhantomFire used his energy strings to grab onto a wall and pull himself toward the armed men, kicking two of them in the face as he did so. He had to divert their attention off Ghost Girl and Proxy for as long as possible. But based on the building's overall structure and how long it would take the dragged he constructed to download all of the necessary data, they were all going to start feeling the difference soon enough.
"Come on…" Proxy muttered as data floated inside the little knife. It was so much and so intense that the device was having trouble taking it all so fast and began to get pushed back. "Do, don't!"
Proxy gritted her teeth and tried to push the knife back in, but the data was coming out too strong and she started to quickly lose ground against it. Her avatar wasn't physically strong, so it was a matter of time before she was completely overpowered and thrown back by the strong force. Only it wasn't for two more hands grabbing her own and helping her push back down against the stream of data. The BrioGear blinked in surprise as Ghost Girl had joined her in helping to extract the data.
"Ghost Girl, you…" Proxy blinked again to make sure that she wasn't just hallucinating.
"I don't have anywhere to go right now, trapped on this building, so I figured that I might as well repay you for saving me earlier." The older woman replied with a wink, making the younger girl to blush a bit in embarrassment.
"Why is none of you shooting that bastard down?!" The man in white asked as his people got throw around like rag dolls.
Despite not having the physical strength of someone like Go Onizuka, PhantomFire had done enough modifications on his own avatar to let him go against an entire army. The moment three of the men were able to take aim, they all got quickly dispatched by his insect legs or he used his strings to shift their aim to something else. One, two, or even three at a time, the mercenaries were quickly disarmed and dispatched off, leaving Phantom to stand face to face with the ringleader.
"I know what you are probably thinking at the moment." PhantomFire started, cracking his knuckles. "You are thinking: 'That guy just took down a full militia worth of armed assassins, what are my chances to take him on?' Believe me, your chances to fight me and hope on anything better than a complete ass wipe are well below zero."
The man in white narrowed his eyes. Being taunted like this, it left a sour taste in his mouth and he had an idea how to fix that. Without wasting a second, the man reached into his trench coat, pulled a gun and fired. A single straight shot that aimed right for the spot where PhantomFire's heart was supposed to be. The demon duelist stepped to the side to avoid the attack, but despite his modifications, he was still just a human.
Proxy felt something… unnerving. Quickly turning around, the BrioGear duelist felt her whole body freeze up at the sight of PhantomFire's body collapsing on the ground with the other man standing over him triumphantly.
"Any last smart remarks?" the man asked, taking an aim for PhantomFire's head.
"Yeah." PhantomFire muttered, holding his shoulder where the shot has gone through. "You might want to hold onto something."
"What?"
The whole building began to shake with more pieces of it falling into the abyss. The man understood what PhantomFire but a bit too late. The violent shook caused him to lost balance for just a moment, long enough for Phantom to kick him and knocking him on the ground. The ChronoGear duelist jumped onto his disarmed opponent and slammed him into a wall, holding him still with his insect legs.
"How did you do this?" The man demanded. To make the whole building to shake so violently, this devil must have used a very powerful code.
"So, it seems that my theory was right." PhantomFire muttered and outstretched his arm forward, pulling the device that the man used to extract data. "The reason why the building began to fall apart from here while you stole data was because Blacloud must have obtained it recently. Hanoi on the other hand? He has been stealing information from them for a long time now."
The man's eyes widened from those words. He realized what PhantomFire was planning to do. "You are…"
"The stolen data is what holds this building standing. By removing it from several locations at the same time I created hollow areas within several of the lower floors. This whole place is going to collapse!"
"You are crazy!" The man yelled. The entire building shook once again and parts of the ceiling fell around them. "If this building collapses we will be buried inside of it!"
"Unfortunately for you, I have already done my research on the subject." PhantomFire replied and his insect legs threw the man back into the corridor. "Are you two done?"
"This should be all of the data on Hanoi." Proxy nodded, returning the knife back into her inventory.
"Only question remaining is how we are going to get out now." Ghost Girl pointed out, crossing her arms. "After this extraction, the lower floors are going to be too unstable so we won't be using the elevator."
"Don't worry, I have already planned that as well." PhantomFire reassured them. The ChronoGear duelist walked between the two girls and put his arms on their waists' pulling them closer to himself while his insect legs turned into wings mode.
"Wait, wait!" Proxy shouted, the other two duelists glancing at her curiously. "I'm not going to take a flight with you after the craziness that was the last ride."
PhantomFire narrowed his eyes. Was that girl for real? They were going to get buried under a building and she was still going to complain about how he handles things. Of course, he wasn't going to just let her annoy him to no end with her complains, so he thought about an alternative. He wasn't sure if she would like the idea, but ultimately it didn't matter so…
"Then you can fly by yourself." He said and threw Proxy off the edge, leaving her with only her loud screams to accompany the fast descent toward the abyss.
"You can be really horrible at times, you know that right?" Ghost Girl sighed.
"Heh, yep I know that." PhantomFire nodded and jumped off the edge as well, activating his wings. "Now let's go catch Proxy before the data gets erased along with her avatar."
Later that day, or exactly seven minutes and thirty eight seconds later, all three were sitting on a platform from where they watched the gigantic fortress falling apart and the floors all collapsing into the dark abyss of the underground. Since LINK VRAINS wasn't too different from other virtual reality games, it too had restricted areas that players were able to get past and the dark hole of this level was one of them. If a player was to fall into the dark abyss, the program was going to just log them out, saving them whom what could have been a long fall and a long death.
But if it wasn't a user that fell to the restricted area, then it was just going to be erased and that was exactly what was happening to the collapsing building and all of the data that it contained inside. Removed, never to be restored again. So many secrets, so much information used to blackmail people with, to ruin lives, became non-existing in just a moment - just like a snowflake.
"So, I went through all this crazy stuff for nothing?" Ghost Girl finally asked. Since the man who hired her, tried to kill her at the end it was most likely that there was no change in her bank account after it all ended.
"Don't worry, I'm going to pay you for helping us." PhantomFire reassured her. He knew that Ghost Girl wasn't the kind of person that would do things just from the good of her heart, if he wanted to keep her loyal to himself, he would have to keep her bank account to numbers with at least five zeroes at the end.
"Heh, I bet you would want something in return for his, won't you?" The treasure hunter asked back, getting only a shake of Phantom's head as her answer. She sighed and leaned back, watching and the rest of the fortress falling into nothingness. "It's such a waste. This place probably held so much information that could still be sold."
"Sometimes there are things that are better to remain secrets." PhantomFire sighed and lied down, with his head resting on his hands. "If you really want a lot of data that people would give crazy money for, then why don't you try to infiltrate SOL Technologies' data bank? Given how self-confident these bastards are I wouldn't expect any strong security."
"Are you suggesting me to go steal from SOL Technologies?" Ghost Girl raised an eyebrow. She knew how powerful the company was and after Playmaker's duel with Revolver that they had a rather… shady past. But to go against such a strong business organization, that would end badly for her if they find out.
"I'm not suggesting anything." PhantomFire retorted. "But at any point, you got yourself a semi-influential guy working for them to cover up for you, so I'm surprised that you haven't tried to do that yet."
Ghost Girl thought about it again. She could just imagine the kind of that stored inside SOL Technologies' data bank. There would definitely be many people willing to pay for such info and even if there weren't, she too had a few questions that needed answering.
"Well, at any rate, such a task would be too dangerous even for me." The infamous treasure hunter lied and turned around to leave. "See you around. Also, why don't you call me out some day, we could have some fun~"
PhantomFire simply rolled his eyes, which prompted Ghost Girl to chuckle. She knew as well as he did, that he was just trying to play hard to get. She gave him one last seductive wink and her body turned to blue pixels, disappearing from LINK VRAINS.
"It's time for us to leave as well." PhantomFire sighed and patted Proxy on the field, making the girl grump in response to being treated as a child.
Proxy's POV
After PhantomFire bid farewell with Ghost Girl, with whom he seemed to have some history with – just pointing out that they seemed to know each other, I'm not trying to suggest anything – we came back to his own server where he wasted no time to take the dagger from me and put it for analyze. I sat on one of the floating cubes around the server to catch my breath and watched Evan as he worked. Despite all of the things that we went through today to get the data, he didn't seem to be tired in the least and immediately began to decrypt the data that we obtained.
"You are really in a hurry, aren't you?" I asked. It made me happy seeing him work so hard to try and save lives instead of, well, taking them.
"Every second we waste, something could happen to either Blaze Rose or Gloomy Ruby." PhantomFire turned around to face me and crossed his arms, leaning back against one of the holographic screens. Despite him not working, the data was being decrypt by itself, he probably ordered Masou to do it.
"I guess you are right." I nodded and looked away.
It was a little weird for me to talk with him like this after we had an argument about human lives not too long ago. I really couldn't get him, he wasn't doing this for money or fame, but at the same time he had such an easy time getting rid of people that stood in his path. Maybe he was just too passionate about saving the Charisma Duelists, but that wouldn't excuse him hurting others to reach his objectives, right? If it did, then he wouldn't be any better at Rocketeer!
"This might be sudden, but what exactly was your life before coming to Den City like?" That was indeed a sudden question for him to ask me. I looked over at PhantomFire unsure how to answer the question.
I mean, there wasn't anything bad about the life I lead before coming here. In fact, if I had a choice, I would choose to go back to my family and friends any time, but unfortunately I was trapped inside this city for the time being. It was a little weird. Back home, I was nothing that a simple girl, my grades weren't the best so I needed tutoring just to get a C+, my parents weren't rich either so I often I gave up on things that I wanted not to trouble them. I wasn't among the popular girls either, but there were many friends out there I could trust, so I never felt lonely.
And what did I have here? A house where I lived on my own, without any parents to tell me until when I can stand up and how much TV I'm allowed to watch per week. Evan and Avice were taking great care of me, giving me money for anything I needed and never tried to put chains on me, nor tell me what I must do. There was no school to care about and people treat me like a hero – or the hero's sidekick – online. Fame, money, adventures, I got all of it, but for some reason this live seemed somehow hollow to me.
No matter how much love and care Evan and Avice gave me, they could never replace mom and dad, nor Elizabeth. Elizabeth… out of everything that I missed about my previous life, her absence was probably leaving the biggest hole in my chest. She was busy as head of the school council, so we were never able to spent much time outside of the tutoring and babysitting (I mean, my parents sometimes go out to spent time for themselves as well). Because of our limited time together I didn't have much memories to remember her with, the only thing left from her was the Monster Reincarnation card that she gave me right before that car incident.
"To tell you the truth," I finally looked up at PhantomFire and tried to give him my warmest smile. "It was the best life that I could have asked for. Although I didn't have much money and wasn't treated like a superstar, I had two loving parents that always looked after me, friends that I could always trust and someone 'special' who always gave me courage to take a step forward. Sometimes, in my best dreams, I could get back there, hug my mother once more; get a warm kiss on the forehead in return. I could talk with my friends and laugh together with them for one more time before my consciousness returns me back to this city."
"Family, friends…" PhantomFire repeated my words in a low tone, almost like he was whispering them to himself. He gave me a nod and smiled as well. "Yes, a life that should have truly been the best thing one could ask for. It's ironic that we don't understand how important the little things like this could be for us until we lose them, right?"
"Yeah…" I nodded in agreement. It was sad that humans had to lose everything they had in order to start appreciating it properly. "But what about you and Avice? Aren't the two of you from outside Den City as well? What was your life back home?"
My question seemed to have made PhantomFire think about something specific because he averted his eyes and lowered his head. It was almost certain that his thoughts weren't too bright. After a few moments of standing with his eyes staring at the ground, he finally shook his head and smiled at me as well, but I could see that it wasn't a genuine one.
"I… Back when I was young, I made a lot of mistakes believing that others would be able to overlook it." His voice began to feel… heavy? His words sounded like they were carrying a great amount of guilt. "I hurt people that mattered a lot to me, special people that meant more than the world and everything on it, and believed that they will forgive me if I said a single sorry. Heh, I was such a naïve kid back then."
"So, what happened?" I asked him, curiously. But his tone made end of this story predictable for me.
"I was absolutely wrong. No matter how many times I said sorry, it was never going to make up for the amount of tears that she shred. When I realized that I failed all of our chances to walk a common path, our lives, or dreams, they had all separated a long time ago. In the end, she left us to find her own life, I and Avice were left alone. The inseparable Greysons became only two."
"Only two…" Why did this seemed to refer to something? It reminded me of something that I saw not too long before… "There was a picture of you, Avice and another girl when you were younger. Was she…"
"My younger twin sister." PhantomFire sighed. "Yes, she was. But I no longer have the right to call her that."
I remained silent, unsure about how to respond to that. I didn't have any siblings, so I couldn't understand how important such a bond was, but to push your own sister away, to lose the right to call her family must be hurting quite a bit. I wouldn't say that it was an excuse for him to act like an asshole still, but his confession made it a bit easier for me to understand him.
"Decrypting complete!" Masou's robotic voice said and all the data on the screen turned green.
"About time." PhantomFire replied and turned around to write once again. I moved the floating cube a little closer so I could watch what he was doing. "Did he get it? Come on… Yes, it's here!"
Yes, we got it! PhantomFire copied a part of the data on a new screen and then opened the original remote program he copied from Playmaker. He began to change its coding using pieces from the data with Masou alerting him every time that it finds a possible error.
"Do you think that this would work?" I asked him.
"We can only hope." PhantomFire replied. "Masou' what's the program's status?"
"Scanning… No errors' found, sir! The program is ready to be used." The A.I. replied and returned into a large cube that functioned as its place to rest.
"Let's hope this works out." PhantomFire muttered and pressed a final button.
The transparent cubes with Gloomy Ruby and Blaze Rose's bodies turned their color to a lighter yellow with small pixels flying into the girls' bodies. We both watched intently, waiting for the result. The Charisma Duelists' avatars absorbed all of the removal program and the cubes turned to their usual lack of color, but unlike with Blue Angel, whose face change to a small smile when the removal program got input, neither of them reacted and their bodies remained there.
"D-Did we fail?" I whispered to PhantomFire. After all, was the data that we got not enough to create a working removal program?
"No, look." He pointed at the cubes again. Indeed, there was starting to be a bit of change, golden pixels covered both of the girls' bodies and scanned them before the two turned to strings of data and disappeared. "They avatars logged out. We did it Proxy, we saved them!"
I turned back to PhantomFire and he was smiling toward me. I nodded, glad that despite our differences we were able to do something good like this. But a part of me was unsure what to say next, although we did a great deed, the conversation that came behind it was still in my mind. Was PhantomFire trying to push himself to smile because of me? I was unsure why, but I raised my arm, wanting to touch him, rub it against his cheek, but before I could reach him, his own hand landed softly on my head and patted me.
"Let's logout now." He told me. "I'm going to cook dinner tonight, anything specific that you would like?"
I averted my gaze and pressed my fingers together. Would it be really ok for me to tell him what to cook? "I don't know… I remember Avice once mentioned a Drawbread, so you might cook that?"
There was once when Avice had complained during dinner that they haven't eater a 'Drawbread' in a long time so it got me curious what that food was. At least, if not anything else, Avice was going to be happy with the dinner.
3rd POV
The sun that shined above Den City had started to set down, the sky was colored in a vivid orange as the fire giant slowly set behind the skyscrapers. Most adults had already started to go home from work, while the teenagers were still outside with friends. The city itself wasn't a very lively place during these hours, but the same couldn't be said for Den Hospital where the doctors and nurses worked restlessly all day long. Currently, there was a bit of a commotion as two of the patients just woke up from a coma.
The nurses were wondering what miracle could have helped the girls wake up, while the doctors checked for anomalies. While it all happened, Avice had her back pressed against a wall, waiting outside the room for the doctors and nurses to come out, so she could get in.
After ten whole minutes, everyone else left and she was able to get inside. Lying in the bed was a girl, one year older that herself, with long red hair that had blue highlights on the back. Her purple eyes were staring at the ceiling in almost boredom and she didn't avert her gaze to look at the person that came to visit her.
"Long time not see, Vermilya." Avice told her with a voice filled with joy.
"Why are you here?" Vermilya asked back. Unlike the younger girl, her voice was hostile and filled with anger. Of all people that could have come visit her, Avice was probably the third worst option. With Evan being a close second, and her father the worst of all.
"To offer a truce?" Avice pulled a chair that sat on the side of the room and rested on it, crossing her right leg over the left. "After what Rocketeer did and the chaos that ensued, I and Evan came to the conclusion that this is more trouble that just two of us could handle."
"Why should I help you?" Vermilya hissed. She tried to suppress her anger, but she could no longer stand it. "Why should I do anything for the two of you? Because Evan saved me from that street so long ago? Because of all the suffering and shame that I went through while trying to make you proud of choosing to teach me how to duel?" Tears began to run down the girl's cheeks as she continued. "After you abandoned me, threw me out on the street like an unneeded toy, you expect me to come back running for the two of you because you need me?"
"You… Do you really think that we could abandon you without looking back? There hasn't been a day we spent without looking after you!" Avice leaned forward and put a hand over Vermilya's. "I will not tell you that you weren't a failure as a student, because you were. For all your skills, you never learned the most important lesson we tried to teach you! You wanted to prove yourself so badly that in the end you threw away everything else!"
"I did it for you! For both of you! I gave up on having a normal life just so I could make the two of you proud!" Vermilya cried back.
"I know." Avice nodded and raised the red haired girl's hand, holding it in his own. "I'm sorry for everything you must have gone through, but if you would be willing to give me, give us, a second chance. We could try to be friends, ok?"
"Why should I accept this suggestion?"
"Because we don't want you to get hurt like this ever again." Avice pressed on. "Because I want to protect you. You don't have to be alone anymore."
Vermilya's eyes softened at those words. Tears were still running down from her cheeks, but they were no longer from the pain that tore at her chest, but from joy. For someone who was abandoned by the only people she ever had in her life, the chance to have someone again, not a teacher or master, but a friend who will stand on equal grounds with her was the most she could ask for.
"Ok, we can try."
Avice smiled at the response and kissed the back of the red head's hand. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, you should get a rest, ok?"
The red head nodded and closed her eyes. For almost a year, her dreams were always being disrupted by thoughts about PhantomFire and Silver Star and how she wanted to duel them to prove that she wasn't worthless. Nothing however, she could at last have a more peaceful and happy dream.
At the same time, inside the deck server that was used as a base by the Knights of Hanoi, things weren't as peaceful. Well, actually they were at first, Picaro was chatting with Baira and Faust about how to update the Hanoi's virus when Specter suddenly walked inside and slammed his fist against a wall.
"Damn it!" The second-in-command cursed as he repeatedly continued to hit the wall. "I shouldn't have contacted a bounty hunter for the job. If you want something done, you should do it by yourself!"
The other knights looked at each other, all of them equally confused by Specter's behavior. Usually he was a very calm and collected individual. To see him like this would only mean that something he worked on got royally screwed up.
"I get it that your brain probably stopped being able to function normally after six months of torture and starvation, but mind explaining to us, the normal people, what exactly got you so worked up that you came to curse here instead of getting off on trees like you usually do?" Picaro asked. His knight helmet was doing a pretty good job at hiding the large grin that was currently all over his face. Every single knight knew that he and tree boy weren't in a good relationship with one another.
"First off, the thing with the tree happened just once!" Specter roared back at the demonic knight. "Second, I learned that an old rat has started to steal info from us again, so I got in contact with one of our more infamous members, a crime lord in LINK VRAINS, to try and get rid of the rat and take back all of his data."
"So, what? Playmaker showed up and kicked your lackey's ass?" Picaro titled his head. Despite being a lost for them, this story was getting more and more interesting for him.
"Only if it was Playmaker, but no." Specter shook his head and a screen appeared before him. "It was them!"
The screen began to play footage from the incident, showing Proxy taking the data from Blacloud's fortress while PhantomFire was beating up the white man and all of his armed men. Picaro leaned forward, staring at the footage that showed his old teacher kicking the asses of several users all at once.
"Not only have they defeated the fool, but also destroy all of the data, making sure that we will never be able to get it again." Specter narrowed his eyes.
"Our virus is almost ready for mass usage, so we won't be needing that data again." Baira replied.
"True, they won't be able to stop us before all the pieces get put in place." Faust agreed.
"Then, if all of you are done with your tasks, I think it's time I complete the special mission that Dr. Kogami gave me." Picaro sighed and stood up, looking at his new claw. After PhantomFire tore it off last time, he had done some modifications to it.
"What mission?" Specter questioned.
"Lying down the seed." Picaro replied. "Now, could you be a good errand boy and tell my team to come and meet with me at the exit?"
A/N: Jeez, PhantomFire, for a legendary duelist you seem to like ending a duel with less than 100 Life Points! The next few chapters are going to focus more onto Hanoi and Picaro/Rocketeer, so they might be a little more interesting and unique.
I also hate to share personal drama with you guys, since it's personal and all that, but I'm fucking tired right now. No, it's not because of this story, in fact, if I was better I would have uploaded atleast TWO chapters by now, but right at the moment, my house is being invaded by insects. Poison doesn't work on them as much as one would want to and as a result every night, when I go to sleep, they start to crawl up my skin and bite me, making it impossible to fall as sleep until the sun rises again in 5 AM. So, I'm sorry if my later chapters seem lackluster, I know that I shouldn't write while I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard, but I just love writting this story so much.
There is also a chance that the next chapter of this story won't come out soon because I want to publish one more chapter of my Arc-V story (haven't updated that one in months), but I got like three writer blocks while writing the latest chapter of that story, so... Yeah, I might end up writting another Destiny Gears chapter instead.
Also, talking about old stories, I want to use this chapter to give special thanks to everyone here who has supported me since my very first fanfiction on this site. I do, in fact, remember every single one of you by username and could list you without needing to look at the list of followers, but I'm not going to. Instead, there is something in this chapter that is meant to allude to my first story Arc-Twins, so could you guys find it? Spoilers: It's not ChronoGear Time Tamer Foxy.
Now, onto the reviews.
ThePLOThand: Actually, I'm not going to either ignore or disagree with you. In fact, I agree, however I noticed that the way I worded myself in the last chapter wasn't very correct. You see, by "keep it close to canon" I didn't mean the events themselves, but the chrononogy in which they happen. For instances, almost all of the characters will have different roles in the Tower of Hanoi Arc. I'm not going to copy-paste the canon, but I can't have stuff like the Anoter Incident happening after the Tower of Hanoi and etc. I hope I wrote it more clear to understand this time.
ScalchopWarrior: You are probably going to have a lot of critiques for the duel this time around, but I'm ready to take it. I too have seen fans of Soulburner turning against him because of things that were the writers' fault, but I think that I didn't like him since his character was first confirmed to appear and I don't like him now either. Reason for that was because I knew that the moment the writers introduce a "partner" for Playmaker, Go and Blue Angel were going to lose even the little revelance that they had in season 1 and I turned out to be right. In fact, I think that this is among the little things that Arc-V did better with than VRAINS. While I hate the guts out of Yuya and wanted to kill him every second he was on the screen, at least Arc-V gave me the chance to ignore him and focus more onto characters that I like, like Shun, Reiji, Yugo or Yuri. But with Vrains, the only character you can follow 90% of the time are Playmaker and Soulburner, who is a Playmaker 2.0, so there isn't much a way to just ignore these two and get to my blue waifu.
MusicianWish: Thanks a lot for the kind words! Also, I'm happy that you got the idea I had with Proxy and Evan's argument, sort of. Since Proxy is just 14 years old, she is still somewhat naive about the world and I wanted to show that. However, there is something important to note about Evan's behavior. He isn't willing to murder people because it's the most "right" thing to do, but because it's the easiest and fastest way to deal with the problem. He simply doesn't care what will happen with humanity at large as long as the people he cares about are safe.
Yes, having PhantomFire say that a duel wasn't too horrible is a far better think to happen than being ignored, which would mean that he isn't impressed.
I will be honest with you, I have watch the YGO anime more about the card game and the cards than I do about the characters and plot, so I understand what the goal is. Problem is whose cards they are trying to sell. So far, from what I have seen so far in both anime and Real World, Soulburner's deck is trash. He uses the same combo to summon Heatleo in every duel and many people might have ignored it, but he even cheated in the duel with Go, where he used a monster that wasn't in his Graveyard to Ritual Summon. Trickstars on the other hand are popular, heck they are even part of the meta. Gouki are a fun deck to play, heck, even Yusaku's Cyberse are an interesting deck that you could make various builds with. If they want to sell cards, they could give us more Trickstars, Goukis and Altergeist. In fact, I want all the new Trickstars that we saw in the last episode because of how great they would be for the deck, but I don't want any of the new Salamangreat because they were, eh.
Anyways, I hope that the responses to the reviews haven't insult any fans of Soulburner and Yuya, but if they did... I'm not very sorry. If you want to argue with what I said, feel free to, I'm always open to an discussion.
Diabolic Tracer out!