Hanoi Strikes Back
"Can't we talk this through as AI to AI?" Ai asked from inside Playmaker's Duel Disk. "This is a misunderstanding, you see, the Knights of Hanoi don't exactly like our kind, so there isn't a point in fighting for them."
The Hanoi possessed prototype looked down at the DARK Ignis prompting it to turn back into its eye form, while HANOI raised its head to glare at Playmaker. The duelist and the machine stared at each other with equally emotionless looks onto their faces for a few seconds until one of them finally choose to break the tense silence that built up around them.
"My duty is to take the DARK Ignis." HANOI stated. "I won't hesitate to use force if necessary, it's in your best interest to surrender peacefully."
"This one doesn't sound like a broken record, Playmaker." Ai said perplexed. "Could have Hanoi created one with consciousness?"
"I'm not a servant of the Knights." HANOI shook its head. "I was given this name as to not have my creator's loyalty be questioned by the higher-ups."
"So, your creator is a Knight of Hanoi after all?" Playmaker asked. "Then that makes you an enemy that I must defeat at any cost!"
"So be it." HANOI bowed and then flew past Playmaker and activated its Duel Disk. "I'm going to defeat you and start the first stage of my master's plan to unite humanity and the Ignis!"
"Unite…?" Ai tilted its head in confusion as to what the other AI meant by those words. But Playmaker didn't pay much attention to HANOI's words. Instead, he turned his D-Board around to follow after the prototype. The wind coming from the Data Storm became powerful and LINK VRAINS' hero noticed how it suddenly began to, almost respond to HANOI and blew stronger against the Cyberse Duelist, keeping him permanently behind the AI.
"The AI is using the Data Storm against us!" Ai exclaimed in panic. "Even I'm not able to use them like this!"
"You can worry about that after the duel." Playmaker said.
"I just hope that we won't end the same as Proxy." AI gulped.
Playmaker narrowed his eyes. He wondered how Proxy could lose against a hand destruction deck when her deck focused around discarding cards. Even if he took into account her more amateurs dueling skills such an outcome would be unlikely unless each of the AIs they saw was running a different kind of deck. Yes, that must have been it!
"Let's get this done!" HANOI turned its head to make sure that Playmaker was following him.
"Speed Duel!"
『Prototype Ai-HANOI LP: 4000 Hand: 4 (VS) Playmaker LP: 4000 Hand: 4』
"I will take the first turn!" HANOI stated and looked at the four cards that he drew for his opening hand. "I will make this quick. First, I Normal Summon Tentacluster Sawmarine (Lv.1, ATK: 0) then I activate Machine Duplication to Special Summon two more Tentacluster Sawmarine (Lv.1, ATK: 0)!" The copies of the monster that HANOI used in his duel against Proxy appeared filling all of his Main Monster Zones. "Circuit open!"
"Ugh, it's going to Link Summoned already!" Ai panicked and looked up at Playmaker whose expression still remained neutral. "Eh-he… no reaction…? Ok."
"Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two monsters, including one Tentacluster monster! I set three Tentacluster Sawmarine in the Link Markers! Link Summon complete. Link Three, Tentacluster Opabinia (ATK: 0, Link-3)!" The giant monster flew above HANOI's head and turned around to face its opponent.
"That's a creepy face!" Ai shrieked before it noticed something. "Huh, it has zero attack points? Then it must have an effect!"
"Indeed." HANOI nodded in confirmation. "Tentacluster Opabinia can't be destroyed by battle and I take no damage from battles involving it. Also, it's unaffected by monster effects!"
"An invulnerable monster so early in the duel!?" Ai dropped its shoulders in defeat. "Is there even a watch to get past such a powerful monster?"
"The female that I dueled previously thought that she could get rid of my monster through other methods, but that mindset only cost her." HANOI replied and pressed two remaining two cards, setting them both onto its field. "Your changes to get rid of my monster and reduce my Life Points to zero is currently at one percent. It's not necessary for me to tell you that this means your defeat is predetermined already."
"My turn!" Playmaker declared ignoring HANOI's berating.
『Turn 2 [Playmaker] LP: 4000 Hand: 5』
"I Normal Summon Lady Debugger (Lv.4, ATK: 1700)!" a female monster whose appearance had similarities to that of a Lady Bug appeared onto the field and winked. "When Lady Debugger is Summoned, I can add a Level Three or lower Cyberse monster from the deck to my hand; I add Cyberse Converter!" A card popped from Playmaker's Duel Disk and he took it. "Then, since all of the monsters I control are Cyberse, I can Special Summon Cyberse Converter (Lv.2, ATK: 1000) from my hand!" A white drone with two yellow eyes on a black screen flew next to the lady bug monster.
"Appear, the circuit that leads to the future!" Playmaker raised his right hand forward, opening the Link Portal. "Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are two Effect Monsters. I set Lady Debugger and Cyberse Converter in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Link Summon! Code Talker (ATK: 1300, Link-2)!" The grey warrior with two yellow eyes appeared on the field with a swing of its sword.
"When I control a Cyberse monster, I can Special Summon Backup Secretary (Lv.3, ATK: 1200)!" A blue vortex appeared on Playmaker's field and another female monster flew out, landing in the middle zone. "Appear again, the circuit that leads to the future!" the square appeared once more. "Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are two or more Effect Monsters. I set Backup Secretary and Link Two Code Talker in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Link Summon! Decode Talker (ATK: 2300, Link-3)!"
"You already got Decode Talker out!" Ai would have jumped in happiness if his body wasn't connected to the Duel Disk. "Although Decode Talker is our most reliable monster, you can't attack with it because of his annoying monster's effect."
"You are too short sighted." Playmaker replied and took another card from his hand before playing it. "I activate Cynet Backdoor to banish Decode Talker until my next Standby Phase and add a Cyberse monster with less attack from my deck to the hand!" A blue vortex appeared above the Code Talker's head and the monster jumped into it, disappearing from the field. "I can Cyberse Gadget!"
"A monster banished by Cynet Backdoor has the ability to declare a direct attack during the turn in which it returns to the field." HANOI pointed out, catching Playmaker off guard. "Did you really expected me to not have something ready in case you try to avoid dealing with my monster? I trap my trap, Tentacluster Smokescreen!" The card that HANOI played depicted Tentacluster Opabinia pulling a monster that was trying to hide in the ground using tentacles from its mouth.
Tentacluster Smokescreen (Trap) Normal
If a monster your opponent controls is banished while you control a "Tentacluster" Link Monster, you can Special Summon that monster to your opponent's side of the field, but it has its effects negated, also increase its ATK by 600.
"This trap's effect allows me to Special Summon the Decode Talker that you just banished back onto your field with its effects negated and a boost of six hundred attack points!" the blue vortex through which the Code Talker disappeared came onto Playmaker's field once again, dropping the monster which looked confused as to what happened.
Decode Talker, ATK: 2300 + 600 → 2900
"Why did you betray my trust, Decode Talker?!" Ai exclaimed and dropped onto his knees while the monster stretched the back of its helmet still not understanding how it appeared back onto the field.
"I will set a card and end my turn!" Playmaker finished and looked toward his monster. He understood why HANOI would pull it out of Cynet Backdoor's effect, but he wasn't so sure about the attack boost.
"Then I'm going to finish your monster!" HANOI drew its card.
『Turn 3 [Prototype Ai-HANOI] LP: 4000 Hand: 1』
"Perfect." HANOI the card and a red aura covered its monster. "I play the Equip Spell Tentacluster Reflect. A monster equipped with this card has its attack power changed to match that of the opponent's monster when it declares an attack! So, let's battle! Tentacluster Opabinia destroy Decode Talker!" The Link Monster opened its mouth and flew at Playmaker's ace swallowing it whole.
Tentacluster Opabinia, ATK: 0 → 2900
"Decode Talker was just reduced to fish food!" Ai's hands dropped at the side.
"After the monster equipped with Tentacluster Reflect destroys one of yours by battle, the attack of the destroyed monster is taken straight out of your Life Points!" Tentacluster Opabinia turned toward Playmaker and roared, creating a powerful gust of wind that launched the Cyberse Duelist's D-Board back a few feet.
『Playmaker LP: 4000 - 2900 → 1100』
"He just eliminated more than half of our Life Points!" Ai panicked and looked back Playmaker who was observing his opponent's plays. "But you don't care about that, do you?" Ai sighed, his duelist was acting more like an AI than an actual one.
"It's my turn then, I draw!" Playmaker drew his next card and looked at it.
『Turn 4 [Playmaker] LP: 1100 Hand: 2』
"This will do." Playmaker said and slammed the card that he drew onto his Duel Disk. "I activate the spell Cybersal Cyclone! When this card activates I can banish one Link Monster in my Graveyard to destroy a monster on the field with the same Link Rating! I banish Decode Talker to destroy Tentacluster Opabinia!" A whirlwind formed out of the card and shot at HANOI's ace, destroying it.
"Ha, his monster is unaffected by monster effects, but that's a different story for Spells and Traps!" Ai threw its hands in the air triumphantly.
"You are struggling pointlessly." HANOI raised its left arm and it began to glow.
"Something's going to happen!" Ai panicked again.
"When a Tentacluster Link Monster leaves the field because of a card effect I can activate my Skill!" HANOI called out and raised its arm forward opening a square. "Circuit open! Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning requirements are two monsters, including one Tentacluster monster! I set three Tentacluster Sawmarine in the Link Markers! Necro Link Summon complete. Link Three, Tentacluster Opabinia (ATK: 0, Link-3)!" A second copy of the familiar monster appeared onto the field and roared at Playmaker.
"It's back!" Ai dropped its shoulders. "We sacrificed Decode Talker for nothing!"
"The effect of Necro Link doesn't end there." HANOI turned around to face Playmaker. "When my monster is successfully summoned you take three hundred damage per every link that it has. There are three, therefore you take nine thousand points of damage!" Tentacluster Opabinia opened its mouth and released several shards that cut Playmaker's shoulders and chest, making him cry out in pain.
『Playmaker LP: 1100 - 900 → 200』
"Your chances to defeat me have just become zero!" HANOI called out. "Give up and I won't cause you anymore harm!"
"N-no, I can still go on." Playmaker shook his head and looked around spotting a Data Storm. He dashed toward it. "I will now activate my own skill! When my Life Points are at a thousand or less, I can add a random Link Monster to my Extra Deck! Storm Access!"
The duelist shoved his hand into the wind with silhouettes of various monsters flying past him while the card began to form. Playmaker pulled his hand out and showed the new card to Ai.
"Eeeeeeehhh? It's just a Link One!" Ai whined. Playmaker ignored that and put the card into his Extra Deck.
"Now I can make a comeback!" The Cyberse Duelist declared and took the last card in his hand, slapping it onto the blade of his Duel Disk. "I Normal Summon Cyberse Gadget (Lv.4, ATK: 1400)!" a humanoid white and blue robot appeared before Playmaker. "When Cyberse Gadget is summoned, I can revive a level two or lower monster from my Graveyard in Defense Position. Raise, Cyberse Converter (Lv.2, DEF: 1000)!"
"Appear, the circuit that leads to the future!" The square portal opened before Playmaker. "Arrowhead confirmed! The summoning condition is one Level Two or lower monster. I set Cyberse Converter in the Link Marker! Circuit combine! Link Summon! Talkback Lancer (ATK: 1200, Link-1)!" A black humanoid monster covered in purple circuit lines came out of the portal wearing heavy blue and green armor with a spear in its right arm.
"This is the monster that you got from the Data Storm…" Ai pointed out the obvious and looked back at his duelist. "What are you going to do?"
"I now activate Talkback Lancer's effect! I release one Cyberse monster to revive a Code Talker from my Graveyard!"Cyberse Gadget burst into pixels and Code Talker appeared behind Talkback Lancer with its 1300 attack.
"Ha, because of its own effect Code Talker gains five hundred attack points for every monster that it's linked to!" Ai crossed its arms proudly.
Code Talker, ATK: 1300 + 500 → 1800
"Cyberse Gadget's additional effect!" Playmaker gestured toward his field. "When it leaves the field, I can Special Summon one Gadget Token (Lv.2, DEF: 0)!" A small white and red robot that had an appearance similar to Gadget's head was summoned in the middle zone. "With this, everything is set. Appear, the circuit that leads to the future!"
"Another Link Summon…" HANOI clenched its fists slightly.
"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are two or more Cyberse Monsters. I set Gadget Token and Link Two Code Talker in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Link Summon! Excode Talker (ATK: 2300, Link-3)!" The green Code Talker raised from the Link Portal and flew behind Talkback Lancer. "Excode Talker's effect activates! When it's Link Summoned, I can deny you access to a number of Main Monster Zones up to the number of monsters in the Extra Monster Zones! Grasp Zone!"
Two black vortexes formed in the Code Talker's palms and it threw them toward HANOI's field, making the two zones that his monster pointed to unusable.
"Furthermore, while Excode Talker is linked toward another monster, that monster gains five hundred attack points." Talkback Lancer raised its spear and a yellow aura overtook its body, raising its attack to 1700. "Now battle, Talkback Lancer is going to attack Tentacluster Opabinia!"
"W-wait, what?" Ai's eyes widened and he looked back at Playmaker.
"Interesting." HANOI observed. "Because Excode Talker blocked my monster zones, Tentacluster Opabinia's effect to steal the monster that it battles against won't activate. But I was prepared for that as well, Continuous Trap open - Tentacluster Fall Wave! When a monster with a lower Link Rating that my Tentacluster declares an attack, I can destroy all of the monsters in that column and inflict their attack to you as damage!" The trap fired a red laser straight at Talkback Lancer's head
"But due to Excode Talker monster it points to can't be destroyed by card effects!" Ai pointed out and indeed, Talkback Lancer jumped away from the attack.
"True, but Excode Talker's effect don't protect itself!" HANOI pointed out and the attack stuck the Code Talker. "Farewell, Playmaker! This duel is over!"
"Is that so?" Playmaker smirked and gestured toward his set card. "Despite the powerful ability of your monster, there were ways to avoid them. Because of that I figured out that you might have cards meant to make-up for those weaknesses. I can activate my trap, Shield Handler! When a card or effect that would destroy monsters is activated this trap let's me negate the effects of one Link Monster on the field!" A grey aura covered Tentacluster Opabinia, taking away all of its effects. "Then, Shield Handler equips itself to another Link Monster and grants it immunity to effect destruction! I choose Excode Talker!"
The Code Talker's eyes glowed and it activates its claws, slashing through the laser, cutting it into two parts that flew past it.
"Now the attack continues." Playmaker pointed out. "And since your monster's effects are negated, it can no longer protect itself, so Talkback Lancer is going to destroy Tentacluster Opabinia!" the Link One charged forward and swung its spear, cutting the Tentacluster in two before it blow up and the debris hit HANOI.
『Prototype Ai-HANOI LP: 4000 - 1700 → 2300』
"When I have no Tentacluster Link Monsters Tentacluster Fall Wave destroys itself." HANOI pointed out as its trap shattered into pixels. "Playmaker… You really are something else."
The Cyberse Duelist didn't respond to his opponent and just gestured for Excode Talker to attack. "Excode Talker will declare a direct attack, Excode Close!" The monster flew over at HANOI and cut it through the waist using the claw weapons.
『Prototype Ai-HANOI LP: 2300 - 2300 → 0』
『Winner: Playmaker』
HANOI's remains flew off the D-Board and toward the edges of the Data Storm, when suddenly the whole place shook and the broken AI's parts got stuck into an intense mass of wind with the silhouettes of monsters flying through it. Playmaker didn't notice that, but Ai did, the Dark Ignis stared as the Data Storm embraced HANOI's broken body and it shivered a little.
"Ugh…" Ai crossed its arms and looked up at Playmaker. "Let's get out of here sooner, this place is giving me a creepy feeling."
"What is it?" Playmaker asked. He most often wasn't interested in what the AI had to say, but that could be worth listening to.
"I don't know." Ai admitted. "But there was something lurking in that Data Storm. It felt… familiar."
Playmaker didn't question what that meant and instead he turned around to get back on track and find the Data Bank before any more of those AI Duelists showed up.
Proxy's POV
"A… …ou th…"
"…re yo… th-re?"
"Are you there?" A voice was talking into my ear, my body felt cold, probably because of the ground on which my body was lying. My head was killing me, it was almost like someone spent the last few minutes yelling into my ears… Well, technically that was what happened, but still, I was sure that something else must have caused it.
"Do you hear me, Proxy?" I could finally make out that the voice talking to me was that of Avice. I put my hands on each side beside my body and lifted myself off the perfectly white floor on which I must have spent the last – I really had no idea how long I was unconscious. The last memory I had was of that creepy AI defeating me, everything after that was blank.
"I'm here." I finally choose to answer to Avice and stood back up to look around. I was in a huge white room of some sort with nothing else, just four walls, a ceiling and a floor. It was like a prison meant to keep its victim locked inside until the end of time. Of course, I could probably just use Serene to break free from this cell. "Are you seeing, what I'm seeing?"
"Negative. We lost visuals right after that AI curb stomped you." I bit my lower lip, did she really need to make it sound so brutally? "According to my computers you are still in SOL's computer, but I'm no longer able to locate your location. Would you try to describe your current location?"
"A white room." I replied simply. "That's literally everything."
"That's… not bad actually. It means that you are mostly safe." I would be almost relieved to hear that if it wasn't for the little 'mostly' which, knowing Avice, meant that I was most likely put into an execution chamber. "I'm going to send Vermilya to save you from… whatever shit you got yourself into, just try not to get yourself blown to pieces. But you shouldn't have a problem with that, seeing how well you handed dueling that AI."
"A-Avice… zzhhhh...! I can't zzhhhh...! Hear yo... zzhhhh!..." Yes, that was right, I would rather fake that the connection was getting worse than sitting through another session of Avice laughing at my poor dueling skills.
"That's immature." I jumped when suddenly a male voice spoke up from behind me. Standing there was a man in a white coat with heavy black armor on his shoulders and chest. I couldn't see his face, partially because of the large hood, but also because of the grey demon mask that he wore. A green sash was tied around the waist and his footwear were heavy metal sandals, his whole design looked like a weird combination between a samurai and a ninja.
"Hanoi…" I leaned forward and held my Duel Disk in front of me. "So their worries were justified. You really came here."
"You must be the one that they call Proxy, correct?" I was taken aback that he knew my name, but I tried my best not to show it. "My name is MetalX, I was warned that the family you are working for would try to get in our way, but I didn't expect them to send their weakest to confront me."
"Family?" was he referring to Evan and Avice? They were the only 'family' that I had any ties to in this world, so most likely it was about them. "Why did you came here? What do your people want from SOL Technology?"
"Hmm, I'm happy that you asked me that." MetalX put his hands on his hips. "I was actually waiting for you to ask me to explain you my evil plan in this empty room where no one would interfere."
"Ok then, I'm listening." I nodded. Phew, it's a good coincidence that both of us want him to tell me what that evil plan is.
"I was sarcastic."
"Oh…" For the record, I knew that he wasn't honest about what he said previously. "But do you really think that you are going to get away with this? SOL is definitely going to find out about you being on their server sooner rather than later and when they do, you will get captured!"
"That's not something you must worry about." MetalX pressed a hand against his chest and smirked. "For you see, I'm not really here. This avatar is being remotely controlled, so even if they caught it, I won't be losing anything. In the worst case scenario, I'm going to blow it up and use a backup to remake it anew."
I bit my lower lip, this was the first time that I heard about something like a remote controlled avatar and I was unsure what to make out of this new info. Was he honest, or just lying to trick me into thinking that capturing him wouldn't be worth it? From what I collect so far from my experience in LINK VRAINS an avatar was controlled by the consciousness of a user, so it shouldn't be possible for a body to move without a brain controlling it. Then again, here we weren't psychical being, but just data that was controlled through commands that our Duel Disks translated to our digital bodies. Taking that into account, controlling an avatar would truly be much easier to program than the technology we were using to upload our consciousness into the net.
"What's this place anyways?" I asked and looked around the white room once more to be sure no other surprised popped out of thin air while I was busy talking to this man. "You from Hanoi surely seem to like taking hostages every chance that you get, don't you?"
"That's not mine." MetalX shook his head. "Did you forget that we are within SOL Technologies' computer? This is where the consciousness of any hacker they find trying to sneak in gets trapped. It's also used to get rid of computer viruses that try to infect the system. The Prototype AIs you encountered were all programmed to send intruders here once they beam them – even the one that I hacked into had to follow the same algorithm. Since you were the only one who lost, you are also the only one to get imprisoned, obviously."
"So, this is jail and you are inside as well." I pointed out. Seems like that guy already failed with his evil plot without the need for me to get involved. "That's great! All I have to do now is just relax and wait for SOL to come and blow you the fuck out."
"You see, this is where you are wrong." I eyed MetalX when he began to walk toward one of the walls. "With that moron of a security manager that they currently have, it was easy for me to hack this cell's programming as well. The only reason why I came here was to see who was caught before I let the system erase you like a useless malware."
The wall that MetalX walked toward suddenly changed into a portal and he stepped through it. Too bad that he already warned me what was going to happen and that he showed me how to get out! I ran toward the portal and reach out for it, but… Something wasn't right. I felt a chill down my spine and instinctively stepped to the side, only for a red lightning to fall exactly where I stood a moment ago. That was close!
I turned back toward the portal, but it was already gone. More and more lightnings fell from the ceiling and connected to the ground and walls, creating pillars of electricity that began to move around the room. Well, at least they were using a stupid, not sure to actually work, way of erasing things instead of the more effective recycle bin way of erasing unwanted files.
"Um, Avice?" I called out. She definitely hasn't turned off her headphones, has she? "Are you there? Hey, Avice?" I jumped to the side and made a roll to avoid one of these pillars from touching me. Damn, they were getting closer! "Hey, can you hear me?!"
"Oh, it's you." I sighed in relief hearing her voice speaking inside my head once again. Thankfully she hasn't abandoned me. "Are you done trying to fake a disconnection and actually listen?"
"Wait, is that why you weren't responding to me before!?" I yelled even though she wasn't here. What I did might be stupid, but leaving me alone in a life or death situation like this one because she didn't like my response was just screwed up! "W-whatever… It seems like I'm currently in some sort of virtual jail designed to keep hackers. A Knight of Hanoi just showed up as well, he left, but now the cell I'm trapped into is trying to kill me! Can't you do something?"
"No worries, I already sent Vermilya to come and rescue you." At least that was something. "I'm still trying to pinpoint your exact location, but the info that you gave me is helping to reduce the search space by a lot! All you gotta do is not die until we find you."
"Ah, thanks. I didn't know that I should try to STAY FREAKING ALIVE!" I crawled onto the ground as the electricity floated above my head. Honestly, I wanted to just summon Serene and have her blast a hole through this whole thing, but of course I couldn't do that. There was barely enough space for me.
"No worries, we are professionals. Have fun!"
"Don't tell me to have fun when my life is on the line!" I yelled back, but Avice didn't respond. Damn it, she must have muted me! Why did I even accept to do this?
3rd POV
"How can something like this happen!?" Kitamura screamed inside his office where most of his workers couldn't hear him.
On the screen through which he watched the duel between Playmaker and Akira. Currently, the former was controlling both Decode Talker and Firewall Dragon and had used the effect of his spell to destroy all Tindangle monsters of his opponent and was about to attack directly.
"Come on Zaizen, my promotion depends on you!" Kitamura shouted into the computer screen. "Tch, what about… Oh no… Nononono!"
SOL Technologies' security direction jumped off his chair and pulled his hair. He had just changed the screen to show where Blue Angel was, however instead of catching the Charisma Duelist's tracks, he saw a recording of MetalX making his way toward the Data Bank.
"A Knight of Hanoi too?! Is there anyone who hasn't infiltrated the computer!?" Kitamura shouted.
"I infiltrated the security sector." Blaze Rose stated.
"That's good, but I got no idea where Roxy might be." Avice sighed. "You know, I'm always open up for ideas…"
"Most of my ideas usually involve huge explosions, so I give you the chance to rethink your decision." Blaze Rose responded.
"That's SOL's property not mine, so I don't mind if you blow their shit up." Avice admitted. "At twelve o'clock, a large number of dangerous objects are moving in toward you!"
"I see them." Blaze Rose dropped her arms, a huge number of red squares flew out of the darkness and headed straight toward her. "Set these losers ablaze, NitroGear Warrior!"
A red clock gear appeared in front of Blaze Rose and grew up, transforming into the huge green monster which clenched its fists, setting them on fire. NitroGear Warrior roared and launched itself forward, passing right in between the squares which then melted away because of the heat that radiated out of the monster's body. Blaze Rose flew through the opening that her ace created and looked back at the security traps, smirking at her little victory that was sure to piss off a certain security manager and probably get him fired as well.
"How do you rate this one?" Blaze Rose asked.
"Six out of ten, too much fire." Avice replied. "Now focus on the task at hand. You can melt SOL's security codes later."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Blaze Rose sighed and stopped. She looked at the wall in front of her and the closed her eyes to focus. "There!"
The Charisma Duelist gestured in the distance and NitroGear Warrior charged toward the wall, slamming its flaming fists against the hard surface. Flames burst out of the synchro's hands and grew in sides, engulfing more and more of the data inside their destructive ring. NitroGear Warrior roared and pulled back, the fire burst, destroying the first layer of the wall.
Only for another one to show up right underneath it.
"Amazing! You pushed a wall! Such a heroic deed, I must tell my brother and prepare you a surprise party for managing to do this!" Blaze rolled her eyes at the obvious sarcasm of her mentor.
"You can either annoy the hell out of me or act as a proper support!" Blaze shouted at the disembodied voice of her ex-teacher. "I thought that the walls could be jamming the signal! My job is to push things and destroy them, not be good with computers and computer programs, that's your job!"
"Oh, because unjamming signals is easy for a fifteen years old, isn't it?!" The Charisma Duelist closed her eyes and put both hands over her ears. Whose brilliant idea it was to have the microphones built into the avatars' heads!
"Listen you little-" Blaze Rose began when suddenly a huge blue beam blaster through the wall and flew a few inches away from her face, managing to incinerate some of the fair on the Charisma Duelist's forehead in the process.
The NitroGear Duelist turned her attention toward the huge hole in the wall and Proxy walked out of it. The BrioGear user leaned against the remains of her prison and took a few deep breaths, her whole body was trembling and her skin had gone pale; for a moment she really thought that her life was going to end inside that hell. The only thing that saved was a single moment during which the lasers separated enough for her to summon Serene and use the Link Monster's attack to break through the cell. After regaining back some of her composure she turned toward Blaze Rose and yelled.
"I almost died in there while you were busy arguing!"
"Heh, whoops." The Charisma Duelist pressed her index fingers together and smiled awkwardly.
Proxy rolled her eyes and jumped onto her D-Board. "I'm sure that the Knight of Hanoi I met is still somewhere inside these servers. Just like we thought, they were even able to invade SOL Technology."
"That's what happens when you don't run proper background checks on your employs." Blaze Rose sighed.
"If you don't mind, could you duel the knight after we find them?" Proxy looked at the Charisma Duelist, almost begging her with the expression of a sad-puppy.
"Why? You are still 'tired' from your last duel?" Proxy rolled her eyes at the comment. Was Blaze really going to start mock her as well.
The complete truth was that despite being brave enough to talk back to the Knights of Hanoi, Proxy was still too scared to actually duel against them. Say that she was all bark no bite, but she couldn't stop the awful memories of all the past times she had to face one of them from resurfacing during each one of her duels.
But she couldn't admit about her fears to neither Blaze Rose nor the Greysons. She simply couldn't do that!
"L-let's just find them first!" Proxy stuck out her tongue and Blaze Rose and speeded forward.
While the two Gear Duelist were on their ways, inside the center of SOL's databank a duel was already on its way to end. Playmaker controlled Firewall Dragon, Recovery Sorcerer and Security Gardna while Akira had only a 0 ATK Tindangle Acute Cerberus and nothing that he could use to stop the upcoming attack. It was his lost, completely.
"Firewall Dragon! Tindangle Acute Cerberus! Tempest Attack!" The dragon fired its red blast at Akira, the attack raising a huge veil of smoke as it hit.
After everything cleared, Akira was holding Blue Angel, shielding her from the attack just like how she wanted to do for him.
『AkiraLP: 1100 - 2500 → 0』
『Winner: Playmaker』
"Brother!" Blue Angel cried out as Akira fell from the damage that he took.
Meanwhile, Ghost Girl turned to look at Playmaker as his monsters disappeared in a wave of flames and he stepped toward databank. He was impressive, to make a comeback from that situation. No one might be able to erase his fire for revenge now.
"As promised, I'm taking the data." Playmaker stated as he walked past the Zaizens. He stopped in front of a golden column with a black sphere floating above it. "Ai, eat as much as you want."
"Playmaker, what did you just say?" Ai peaked out of the Duel Disk. To be invited to a full table like this, and more importantly… "Did you say my name?"
"Hurry up." Playmaker retorted.
"Okay, okai. Sheesh." Ai returned back into the Duel Disk and prepared itself. "Leave it to me!" In an instant, the little AI flew out and toward the black sphere in his monster-like form. "I'll eat everything!"
"You really think that I would let that happen?" A new voice called out and two white spheres fell in front of both Playmaker and the Zaizens' blowing up. Everyone cried out as they were hit by the surprise attack and launched back.
"That's bad!" Ai called out as the sudden attack caused its body to return back into the Duel Disk.
"What just…" Ghost Girl narrowed her eyes. Stepping out of the smoke caused by his own attack, was MetalX.
"A Knight of Hanoi?!" Ai panicked while Playmaker was still trying to force himself to get back up.
"Brother!" Blue Angel cried out again and reached out toward her brother.
Akira, who was already completely exhausted after his lost to Playmaker just a few moments ago was reduced to lying on the flow, unable to move his body after the blast caused the main that he felt to increase. All he could do was stare at the Knight of Hanoi.
'So that's what Greyson meant.' He thought to himself, remembering Evan's warning.
"Have you ever heard about the Trojan Horse?"
"Do you mean the computer virus or the Trojan Horse from the Greek mythology?"
"The second one. I'm asking because SOL Technology's might have just turned into Troy."
There was no way for Hanoi to hack into SOL's servers without anyone noticing, so he must have gained access to the backdoor from within the company. Those all sounded like far stretches and guesses without actual prove, but Akira knew better, if Evan himself had visited to tell him that, it was serious.
"So, you are the infamous Playmaker?" MetalX turned toward Playmaker. "I'm not going to try and stop you from destroying the rest of Hanoi, but I must take that Ignis from you."
"Ah, nononono!" Ai waved its hands rapidly in front of its face. "I'm fine here, no need to worry about me!"
"I would never help the likes of you!" Playmaker shouted back and raised his left arm with the Duel Disk on it. "I swore to become the embodiment of vengeance that's going to destroy you all for what you did to me and many others!"
"Fool." MetalX clenched his fist. "You think that by brainlessly going after every Hanoi that you encounter, something's going to change for the better!"
"Better?" Blue Angel interrupted, catching the two duelists by surprise. "Are you saying that you hurt my brother to make things better? If so… Then I can't accept the world that you want to create!"
"Blue Angel…" Playmaker looked back at the Charisma Duelist. But he had to agree with her, innocent didn't have to be involved and he would never be able to forgive Hanoi for doing so in the first place.
"Duel me!" Blue Angel declared and pointed at the knight.
"No!" Playmaker waved off the Charisma Duelist. "He… he is one of the people that took my past, this duel should be mine, not yours! Take care of your brother, don't let him get hurt anymore!"
"This man is the one who hurt him in the first place!" Blue Angel remind the Cyberse hero. "That's why… I can't forgive him either!"
"Interesting." MetalX chuckled, he just wanted to get rid of Playmaker faster; that was why he used the bombs at the start, but he didn't expect things to turn out like that. Both Blue Angel and Playmaker wanted his head, he could just let them fight among each other and enjoy the show however… He was there on a mission and it was his duty to complete it as fast as possible.
"Since you both seem to hate my guts, why don't we do something that would be satisfying for everyone involved." MetalX raised his Duel Disk and it glowed for a moment, causing both Blue Angel's and Playmaker's to activate at the same time.
"What the…" The Charisma Duelist exclaimed.
"You and Blue Angel were both forced into a duel!" Ai pointed out.
"Me against Blue Angel?" Playmaker gritted his teeth. Of course, Hanoi weren't above using such dirty tactics.
"No, it's you AND Blue Angel against me." MetalX pointed at himself. "I'm going to show everyone the power that I acquired under Picaro's leadership by dueling both of you at the same time!"
"What?!" Blue Angel was taken aback. Was that duelist crazy to challenge both her and Playmaker at the same time!? Or… has there some truth behind his talk about power?
"A two versus one duel, hm." Ai crossed its arms in thought. "According to the rules, there are two ways that this could play out, either you are going to have to share fields, graveyards and life points, or you can share a single field and nothing else. It seems like your opponent already choose the first option at the start, so be careful Playmaker. According to the rules, you can't communicate to form a strategy nor see each other's set cards!"
"A single field and we won't know what's on it half of the time?" Blue Angel couldn't help but hear the AI's words. That just put both her and Playmaker at a huge disadvantage at the start.
"It's too late to turn back on your word now." MetalX put a hand on his hips. "But of course, if you want, you can always forfeit and let me walk away with the Ignis."
"I'm not going to give up." Playmaker stated.
"Neither will I!" Blue Angel followed suit.
"Then let's start this!" MetalX raised his right hand toward his Duel Disk.
"Duel!"
『MetalX Hand: 5 [LP: 4000] (VS) Playmaker Hand: 5 & Blue Angel Hand: 5 [LP: 4000]』
"As I'm the one at the losing end of this deal, it's only fair if I get the first turn!" MetalX stated. "And what better way to kick this duel off than by starting with the best? I'm going to activate my two Continuous Spells, Six Samurai Unite and Gateway of the Six!"
"A Six Samurai deck?" Ai looked at the Knight of Hanoi in confusion. "Isn't that, like, an antique already?"
"Old doesn't always mean bad." MetalX pointed out. "I Normal Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Kageki (Lv.3, ATK: 200) and activate its effect! When Kageki is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon a Level Four or lower Six Samurai monster from my hand, come out, Kagemusha of the Six Samurai (Lv.2, ATK: 400)!" The two warriors raised on the field next to each other while the spells behind them glowed.
"Now, the effects of both Six Samurai Unite and Gateway of the Six activate!" MetalX continued. "When I Normal or Special Summon a Six Samurai monster Unite gains one Bushido Counter and Gateway gains two!"
"Huh, that means…" Ai paused for a moment and began to count on its fingers. "He summoned two monsters and the total Bushido Counters for each summon is three which means… He got six counters in total!"
"Six Samurai Unite's effect and send it to the Graveyard in order to draw two cards." MetalX pulled two cards from his deck, adding them to his hand. "Then, I activate Gateway of the Six's effect to remove four counters and add Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan to my hand! Now, I tune my Level ThreeLegendary Six Samurai – Kageki to the Level Two Kagemusha of the Six Samurai! Synchro Summon, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En (Lv.5, ATK: 2500)!" A monster wearing red armor appeared on the field holding a katana in its right arm.
"So, he's not running any Link Monsters." Playmaker narrowed his eyes. That would mean that MetalX was unable to control more than one Extra Deck monster at a time…
"While I control a Six Samurai with a different name, I can Special Summon Legendary Six Samurai – Kizan (Lv.4, ATK: 1800)!" A warrior in black armor appeared behind Shi En holding a katana as well. "Let's not forget, Gateway of the Six gains four more counters thanks to Shi En and Kizan! I use all of them to add Grandmaster of the Six Samurai to my hand, then I Special Summon it since I control a Six Samurai monster!" An old man with an eyepatch and robotic arms stepped onto the field next to the other two monsters. "Now, I put two Bushido Counters on Gateway of the Six!"
"He keeps on putting counters and search cards." Ai scratched the top of its head. "But I don't see much of a danger coming from his cards." Playmaker ignored the AI. "So cold…"
"I'm ending my turn here!" MetalX stated and pointed at the two duelists before him. "Now, come at me!"
Unknown to either Kitamura or the duelists inside the mother computer, somewhere else inside the network three figures were watching the events through a holographic screen coming out of one's eyes. Although their appearance was covered in shadows to make it harder to detect, their built didn't appear anywhere close to that of a human.
"Knights of Hanoi, SOL Technology, Playmaker and the Greyson Family, all four factions have gathered at once place." The smallest of the three figures said in a voice that sounded half robotic half like a child. "This would be the best time to strike, don't you think so, brother?"
"Yes." The tallest of the figure nodded in agreement with the other one. "My brother is right, we have watched them fought against ones another like children for a candy for quite some time now, they wouldn't expect if we strike now!"
"Negative." The leader, whose voice sounded like a robot woman shook its head. It reached toward its eyes and grabbed the hologram that it was projecting, pulling it out with ease. "In order for our goals to have an over ninety percent success rate we will need to wait for a bit longer. Humans love to cause chaos, destroy their own creations and fight like animals. As it's going, Hanoi will soon declare a full out war to the other three and then, during all of the panic, you can go and complete the mission given to us by the greater ones!"
"After years of isolation…" the smallest one reached for the hologram and pressed it, changing the screen to another one that showed Blaze Rose and Proxy surfing through the data. "We will take the six gear decks and unlock the gate that enslaved our kind!"
A/N: And that was it. I'm perfectly aware of my track record when it comes duels with 3 or more duelists, so I'm actually going to take my time to make this one the best team duel I wrote so far! Because of that it would take some time for the next update, is what I would have said if my next sentence wasn't going to negate this one.
The main announcement for today is that I'm going to put this story on hiatus (hopefully a HUGE hiatus). During the next weeks/months I hope to improve the quality of my context. So, if there is something you would think I should focus on improving, or you want to see something more specific, I'll be more than happy to hear you out. Of course, you probably don't care either way so moving on.
I feel that this story might have dragged a bit, so I will try to accelerate it when I come back from hiatues. My plans for the next chapters at the moments are:
Chapter 24 - the full Playmaker and Blue Angel vs MetalX duel and some side things.
Chapter 25 - mostly a plot chapter with Evan giving the backstory of the oGear decks and what's their inportance.
Chapter 26 - The Another Arc begins, and I plan to have a lot of duels during that arc.
(Of course, those are just my initial plans and everything that I listed here might change.)
There is also the chance that I'm going to start another YGO story some time. That one is going to be a completely original one though and will feature most of my already existing OCs like Evan, Avice and Roxy. Not much to say about that project except that it's going to most likely be published in either the Arc-V/Vrains crossover tab or the Duel Monster tab.
Response to Starman 003: Yeah, I had the feeling that the Guest was you but I didn't want to jump the gun too quickly. To reply to your more important question, anime characters don't see themselves the way we seem them, but when they watch anime, they see the same thing that we do. About Evan and Avice's decks... Well, I previously already gave a backstory, but I choose to retcon it so their actual backstories will be explored in Chapter 25.
Response to ScalchopWarrior: When was there a SOL infiltration during Season 2? I don't remember it...
Response to ThePLOThand: I had thoughts about reintroducing the Transformation Summon in her new AstroGear deck, so she might reuse that. As for Astral Angels, even if they appear in the story, it will be the same deck that Avice used three years ago, no Link updates.
Anyway, that's all for today. See you all next time and don't forget to fav/follow/review.
Diabolic Tracer out!