Requiem of the Lost

"I know that it's been just a day since I called you, but did you get any information about that person?"

Takuma Kita, also known as the Charisma Duelist Rocketeer, or the Knight of Hanoi Picaro was sitting in a small café in the center of Den City. It was a quiet place without many visitors, which made it a good place to sit down and enjoy a hot coffee in peace. Or this case, to share vital, illegally obtained information of a person's personal data without getting overheard by a civilian, or worse, by a police officer. His partner was Hiroki Yukimuro, a scientist associated with the Lost Incident and a genius Knight of Hanoi know going under the username MetalX.

"You gave me very limited information to work with, but luckily for you, there aren't many people around with Western names, so I was able to find her medical file within a few hours. Sereny Blanc."

Hiroki put a folder with documents and pictures on the table. After making sure that no one was watching them, Takuma pulled the folder and opened it. Inside of it were copies of all the documents that Hikori was able to get his hands onto, including a picture of the girl. She was young, maybe eleven or twelve years old with short blond hair and two red locks on the front. Yes, some of her features were similar to those of Roxy, but Takuma could make a clear distinction between the two.

"According to the files, Sereny Blanc died a year and a half ago from overdosing with sleeping pills and painkillers," Hiroki said, his voice filled with grieve for the young girl's tragic end. "Her body was cremated at the request of her adoptive family. And before you ask, no, I haven't searched where her grave is."

"Her adoptive father was Evan Greyson." Takuma read. "That's the part of the report that I don't like."

"Listen, I know that you have problems with the man, and I respect you enough not to ask about it but are you suggesting that he tried to murder her?" Hikori crossed his arms. "I don't know what happened, but read the medical records, she died in the hospital. Official reports say that she had an eighty percent chance to survive. If he was trying to murder her, then he wouldn't rush her to the hospital."

"He went out of his way to adopt her, he wanted to make her his property 'officially'." Takuma bit his lower lip. His hearth was raging – Evan had bigger expectations and hopes for Sereny that for any of his later pupils. "A man like him would never raise a hand against something that belongs to him. So no, I don't think that he's involved in her death. What I can't understand is why he wanted her body to be cremated. I know that it's standard for Japanese funerals, but Evan has never followed Japanese traditions during the time I spent under his care. There was something he wanted to hide…"

"Whatever you say." Hiroki rolled his eyes. "But turn to page five. Sereny has been a patient at Den Hospital around five months before her death. I found both medical and police records from that time. She had escaped from her foster home with some other girl named Miuko Koizumi. The reports state that the two were involved in a driving accident that took her friend's life."

"So your suggestion is that the depression of losing her only friend drove the girl to commit suicide?" Takuma rubbed his temper. Talking about tragedies during his coffee break wasn't pleasant, but he had to get to the bottom of this, if not to just make sure that Roxy won't end up the same as this girl.

"I'm not suggesting anything." Hiroki shook his head. "This is a case you wanted to get involved with, not I. If the answers I found aren't enough for you, feel free to continue researching it on your own. I still have to finish the virus and Kogami has already finished the Tower of Hanoi. I don't have time to look into this case anymore, you understand that, right?"

"I'm thankful to you for managing to take time from your more important project to find all of this." Takuma smile wholeheartedly. "Kogami will send Revolver to personally overview the progress of the tower, so I won't be needed there for the time being. If you want, I can help you program the virus."

"You could help me with the antivirus program." Hiroki stood up and turned around to leave. "I know I can trust on you, stay safe, friend."

"Sure." Takuma nodded. He kept his eyes on the scientist until the man left the café, then turned back to the folder before him.

There was more to what happened with Sereny, his gut feeling told him that. Even if she was dead, Evan wouldn't want the body of his 'adoptive daughter' – words that almost made Takuma vomit in disgust – to get burn to a crisp.

"Damn it!" Takuma leaned back into his chair and grabbed his hair in anger. "Even if I managed to escape you, I still can't stop thinking about what you're doing, old man! To be involved with you is like a never-ending nightmare. I made so much, so why are you still here to laugh at me!"

He wanted to scream, to trash around, to yell until his lungs burst. He had grown paranoid of the name Evan Greyson, so much that he was starting to look for an ulterior motive behind everything that his former teacher said or did. It just wasn't fair. Why, despite all the hard work, despite all of the training and power that he accumulated, that demonic figure was still standing in his path, haunting his dreams. Was Takuma slowly succumbing to insanity? Was that the reason why he couldn't stop thinking about the Greyson? Maybe it would be best to visit a therapist, but Takuma was against that idea. All the damage that this time demon has caused would be healed once he opened the door to the new world.

Yeah, that thought calmed Takuma down. The mysterious another world, hidden deep inside the network, a place where humans can start anew. It was his father's dream to find that place, now it was his. There were no illnesses in the virtual network, no mortality, no starvation. It would be a utopia, a place where people would all live together in harmony, without having to worry about where they would sleep, what they would eat. There would be no greed, people would no longer have to commit crimes, nor will be given the chance to.

Humans were genuinely cruel, selfish and evil creatures. But it wasn't their fault, nature itself created them to be this way. And Takuma wasn't an exception from this, he knew that deep inside of him lived a monster, one which was made stronger by Takuma's individuality. All of them were this way. They were all beasts empowered by their individuality, so if Takuma wanted to raise humanity to the next stage of evolution, he would have to get rid of that.

He would figure out something when the time came, but first, he would need to take control of the Tower of Hanoi. That power devastating weapon that Revolver wanted to use against the Ignis, was the perfect way to destroy the gate. A move which Evan would be unable to predict. Since in order to open the gate be built, Takuma would need the data of all six oGear decks, the Greyson would be expecting a head-on war. Fortunately, Takuma wasn't the kind of fool to fall for such tricks. Even the best defense would be nothing before a superweapon meant to destroy the entire digital world.

"Checkmate, old man." Takuma placed the money for his coffee on the table, took the folder and the café. This time he would win for sure.

Roxy's POV

Things were never supposed to happen the way they did. This was all a horrible mistake that I should have tried to prevent. I should have yelled, cried. I should have done something back then! Because I don't know what I should do now. After Evan, excuse me, PhantomFire defeated Playmaker, the latter's trauma from the Lost Incident must have come back full force. I didn't truly understand him, I never will, but after all, Playmaker did for me, I wanted to be there for him when he needed me. The only problem was, what should I do? How could someone like me, a girl who had a happy life, a family and friends, be able to sit down in front of someone who was so hurt and calm him down? There was no way! I wouldn't be able to do it!

Despite that, I was running toward the hotdog truck. I just couldn't leave Playmaker alone. Even if my presence wouldn't help him, I wanted to show him that he wasn't alone, that there were people who wanted to help him, stand beside him in these hard moments. Of course, I was ready to be shut out cold – but I wouldn't blame him if he did that. If I went through the things that he did, at the same age as him, I would have likely given up on humanity and creating bonds with humans as well. But even if he was willing to let me get close, I was the one who got him involved with PhantomFire in the first place. It was my fault that all of this happened!

Actually, now I remember something Evan, sorry, PhantomFire told me before I left running to see Playmaker. He wanted me to help Playmaker bond with Ai. Was it because he understood Playmaker's pain? Yeah, if you about it, all of Playmaker's pain came from the people who kidnapped and tortured him, but Artificial Intelligences such as Ai had nothing to do with it. Even if Yusaku wouldn't open to me, he could open up to Ai. Yes, that would be the safer route to take! Ai and Yusaku were partners, they fought side to side in every duel, and the bond between them was much stronger than the bond between me and Yusaku. Instead of trying to get close, I should try to get them closer to each other, make Yukasu see that he had a friend whom he could trust. Yes! Plan formulated!

Soon after, I reached the van. It was closed as usually when Playmaker was on in VRAINS. I walked to the backdoor and knocked twice, a signal of a sort with which I informed both Yusaku and Kusanagi who I was. I heard some talking on the other side followed by footsteps, then Kusanagi opened the door and greeted me with his usual polite smile. But I didn't have the force to smile back at him. Not when I could see Yusaku sitting behind him, his jacket off and the blue tie was untied. He looked so pitiful, his eyes were staring at the ground like a broken doll. Kusanagi noticed where I was looking and his forced smile dropped as well.

"How is he?" I asked. Yes, a stupid question, I know, but if you haven't noticed I wasn't the best at starting conversations. Less so with sensitive topics, such as this one.

"Frankly, he's taking it better than I expected." I would have thought that this was a joke, but the serious expression on Kusanagi's face told me that he was dead serious about it. "I just… I don't know what to do anymore. That bastard… why did he have to interfere? Why now?"

Ok, Kusanagi was pissed off. I wouldn't blame him when PhantomFire made fun of Playmaker's condition and said that the Lost Incident didn't matter, he partially insulted Kusanagi's little brother as well. And I just couldn't recognize my mentor anymore. When I first met Evan, he stroke me like that nice older brother figure who came to my aid when I was in danger and spent every moment he had teaching me things, some of which was questionable, but he was nice, so I listened despite that. But now, he was just trash talking a depressed and traumatized student. Was that supposed to be heroic? Good? Or did he just not care about anyone else? Maybe it was later, maybe that was why Vermilya and Takuma tried to break away from him. Maybe all the good things he did and say to me were just lies to keep me close.

No! I shouldn't be thinking about things like that! He understood that the thing he did with Playmaker was wrong, so he sent me to try and minimize the damage. He was just the type that loved roughly. Yeah, he said it himself, he cared about Playmaker, he wanted to help him overcome the trauma and maybe that was the way to do it, by forcing him to face his fear of losing. Yusaku was trying to avoid losing because it reminded him of the trauma, but now he was no longer trapped in that room, no one was going to hurt him for losing. He had to see that he was free from the dark abyss and hope was still within reach.

"Hey." I waved at Yusaku and sat down on the other chair, never taking my eyes off him.

"Hey," though he did reply, his voice sounded broke, like it came out of an empty shell rather than a human.

"We came to see you as soon as we could." Aqua showed up from my Duel Disk. That was good timing. "How do you feel, Playmaker?"

"How should I feel?" Yusaku placed his head in his palms. "My entire life was leading me toward a single purpose, but now that it's gone… I don't know what I should be feeling. Maybe I should break down, start crying and trembling, but I just don't see the point in doing that."

He didn't see the point in being devastated… Yusaku. Could you even be salvaged? I won't go and call you a robot, no, you've shown your emotions many times, your anger, your care, I have seen so much from you. And it hurt me to see you like this. I don't want you to fall on the ground and start crying or yelling, an emotional outburst is not something I advocate for, but do you even remember how to showcase your emotions anymore? Or did the trauma took that away from you too? Why aren't you pissed off that Evan stole your only purpose in life? Devastated? You just took all of that it, not sure how to react.

"You're right. There's no point in that." I agreed with him, even so little. "But the Knights of Hanoi are still at large, you can't rest now!"

"What's the point in fighting anymore?" Yusaku looked up at me. "I lost, I'm not strong enough. The only thing I had left is now gone, there's no point in anything anymore."

"What are you saying!?" I shouted back. Yes, I know that I was here to help him out, but listening to him talking like he was a loser made me angry! "Wasn't you fight for revenge? To avenge those who were hurt by the Lost Incident? You began a hard fight against an entire army! Did you expect it to go with only victories? Of course, you were going to lose, everyone loses sometimes!"

"I'm not everyone!" Yusaku yelled, slamming his fist against his knee. "I put all the emotions of my last ten years in dueling, all of my strength and determination. Only for all of it to be crushed so easily."

Well, I had to agree about it the easy part. What stings worst that to lose was to lose against someone who wasn't even trying to duel you.

"What're you going to do then?" I asked him. "Are you now going to just sit here and watch as the Knights of Hanoi destroy LINK VRAINS! Will you just wait for them to knock on your door and ask you to hang over Ai?"

"Wait, what!?" Ai jumped out of Yusaku's Duel Disk. "Can the Knights of Hanoi do that?"

"Ugh," Aqua facepalmed. "Think about it, Ai. They're doing this to destroy us, if there's no one to stand up against them, they will succeed."

"Can't we ask them for a timeout until Playmaker sorts his problems?" Ai asked. I couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or was seriously thinking that the Knights of Hanoi would stop their advance because Playmaker was in a bad mood.

"Yusaku," I continued. "Will you really leave the fight? Would you be able to shoulder the guilt of giving up? Would you be able to live with yourself knowing that you left all other victims of the Lost Incident to fall into an even deeper abyss?"

"…" He didn't respond.

"This. This is bigger than us!" Why wouldn't he understand it! This wasn't about him anymore, nor was it about me. "You're not the only victim of Hanoi, you weren't the only person they hurt, but you're the only person who could fight back! You had something that none of the other victims had! The courage to stand up against your fear! Why're you backing down, when you finally came face to face with it?"

His fear was to lose. To him, dueling was like breathing and a loss was equal to losing the ability to breathe. He was stubbornly trying to keep his eyes closed to the truth that losing wouldn't hurt him anymore. He wanted to believe that every duel he had was the same as in the Lost Incident that everything was bet on that single duel. It was the only way he knew how to continue his life.

"If I'm too weak, then PhantomFire will defeat the Knights of Hanoi, right?" Yusaku asked back.

"Could you say that to your younger self?" It was a low hit, I know, but maybe that would make him realize the weight of the situation.

"What're you talking about?"

"You heard me. Could you face your younger self and tell them that you gave up fighting the Knights of Hanoi because someone else could? If that was the case, why didn't you give the mantle to someone else before?"

"…" No answer again. No. He didn't have a response this time around!

"If not for those victimized by Hanoi, if not for those who fought beside you, then, please, do it for Ai." I pointed at the Ignis. "And do it because he's a part of you. A part which would always be there for you when you need it, even if you don't like it. Because if the Knights of Hanoi win, you'll really lose your past."

"She's right, Playmaker!" Ai waved his arms. "I'll always be with you! Don't let the Knights of Hanoi take me, please! Think of your friendship for a moment!"

"Please, leave," Yusaku muttered.

So that was how he would play it, huh? Fine then. I wouldn't stay here and anger him, after all that happened he did deserve a break to rethink everything. Without much more to say, I stood up and walked out. I was most sad about him, having fought beside Playmaker for so long to save his brother, only to fail at the finishing line. But no amount of speaking from me could change Yusaku's mind. I wasn't one affected by this incident, I wasn't even a part of this world when it happened.

"Ah!"

Aqua and Ai gasped at the same time. I looked back and saw that Yusaku had frozen for a moment as well. Did something happen without me realizing it?

"Yusaku, you felt that too?" Ai turned toward, well, Yusaku.

"W-what're you talking about?" Kusanagi asked, and I nodded in agreement, we didn't feel anything.

"There was some strange feeling in the network right now," Aqua informed us.

"And Yusaku must have been able to sense it due to his Link Sense." Ai rubbed his chin. Link Sense? What was that supposed to- You know what? I don't even care anymore.

"We should check LINK VRAINS." Aqua insisted.

I glanced at Yusaku again. He looked tempted for a moment but shook his head. Ah, why did he have to be so stubborn at the worst time?

"I'll go check it out!" I stated and raised my Duel Disk. "Kusanagi, would you please connect to my Duel Disk, so you can keep an eye on our progress? It might… be helpful for you and Ai."

"Right away!" He nodded and walked toward the computers.

"I'll help make the connection from the Duel Disk," Aqua informed me. "You should run home quickly!"

"Right!" I nodded.

"You have come back quickly." Avice looked at me from the couch.

"I don't have time to explain right now, but I think that there might be an emergency at LINK VRAINS!" I shouted, looking around for a place to lie down while I log in.

"I felt it again!" Aqua showed up from my Duel Disk. "Whatever it is, it's growing stronger with each moment!"

"So now you're the one who's going to replace Playmaker at being the Ignis wielding hero of VRAINS?" I glared at Avice for the comment. That joke was very badly timed. "S-sorry about that. Let's go to our rooms and log in from there. I'll be your cover for this mission, ok?"

"Yeah." I nodded. Avice was Evan's equal in term of strength, to have her cover me would make this much, much, much, much easier.

I ran into my room and locked the door (out of habit) before jumping onto my bed. Taking out my deck, I placed it back into the Duel Disk and logged in, my consciousness quickly fading away and the familiar view of my room slowly getting replaced by an unknown area in LINK VRAINS. It was a city, again, but it was darker like it was night time.

"Did we accidentally logged into the American server?" I asked.

"That's just how the place looks right now." I nearly jumped out of my skin as Silver Star appeared behind me and wrapped her arms around my back.

"That's not the time to fool around!" I shouted back. Uh, why was I blushing so much from being hugged?

"I advise to process cautiously," Aqua suggested. "I can feel something dangerous hiding within LINK VRAINS. The wave is even stronger inside the servers."

"Don't worry, we already have a guide to lead us." Silver Star stepped away with a smug grin and gestured toward the air. A swarm of fireflies flew over her and into the distance.

"Whoah! Did you make those?" Did Silver Star really make hundreds of small drones to help us out? She's so cool.

"Nope, but I know who did." Oh. Well, she wasn't so cool anymore, but still pretty cool. "Let's follow them!"

Before I could ask her how she planned to do that, I already got my answer. Silver Star jumped off the building we were onto and landed on her D-Board, flying away. Apparently, we were going to follow the swarm on air, which wasn't that bad of an idea. It would be faster too. I jumped on my D-Board and followed after Silver Star. Hopefully whatever Aqua could feel wouldn't cause too much trouble.

3rd POV

"How is it going?" Ai asked.

"Still not much," Kusanagi replied, before shooting a glance back at Yusaku. "I set the LINK VRAINS Searching System so that it won't miss even the tiniest anomaly. I'm not sure how useful it would be for Roxy from here, but we have to do something to help out, right?"

"Whoa!" Ai gasped. "I felt it again. It's almost like a pulse!"

"Something showed up!" Kusanagi informed as a picture appeared on the computer screen with the word 'Caution!' underneath it. "What? LINK VRAINS' infrastructure program has been altered."

"That's bad!" Ai exclaimed. "Aqua's not all that familiar with LINK VRAINS as it is. She would get in trouble if the infrastructure around her begins to suddenly change!"

"You're the one who would get in trouble if such a thing occurs." Kusanagi retorted.

"Mean!"

Yusaku ignored them and kept looking at the screen. Why was his Link Sense responding to the danger inside LINK VRAINS? Was that a sign? The Cyberse Duelist clenched his fist, for the first time ever, unsure on what he should do. He was very intelligent and sharp, a person who rarely made mistakes and always was quick to make a choice, but now it was different. He didn't know what changed, but he was no longer able to make decisions the same way as before.

Proxy's POV

I and Silver Star rode our D-Boards through the city, following the swarm of fireflies. Despite that they kept disappearing behind buildings, we were able to keep up with them fairly easily. Whoever designed them must not have been expecting that someone would follow these… things.

"They appear to be stopping," Aqua informed me.

And indeed, the fireflies were slowing down, until they completely stopped. Me and Silver Star jumped off our D-Boards and landed a few feet away from them before looking around. There was nothing here. Great, the fireflies led us in the wrong direction.

"Hey!" Or maybe not…

He turned to the voice that called out. It was a duelist that I have seen before, a girl that PhantomFire worked with when we entered the lower levels. I think her username was Ghost Girl. Yes, right. It was definitely Ghost Girl!

"You sure catch up quickly with your drones." Silver Star said.

"That's not a very nice greeting." Ghost Girl responded. She leaped off the building she was standing on and landed between the two of us.

"Is she an ally?" Aqua popped out to ask. Uh, why did she have to show herself every time someone she hasn't seen before popped up? It made the whole 'keep your Ignis a secret' thing a lot harder when said Ignis didn't cooperate.

"I see that your group has grown since we last met." Ghost Girl stated and, though she was wearing a mask, I could tell that she was smiling. "You don't happen to be selling this Ignis, do you?"

"Sorry, she's not for sale," I replied with a smile on my own.

"I figured so much." Ghost Girl shrugged. "I take it that the two of you're here because you also got the tip that something's happening in LINK VRAINS? Something big most likely, since Silver Star is here?"

"You and PhantomFire have a really big reputation in LINK VRAINS, don't you?" I sweated. It was surprising that they were so well known by hackers and bounty hunters for their skills, yet no one else in LINK VRAINS knew about their existence.

"We're here because my friend's Ignis detected something dangerous." Silver Star pointed out. "Feel free to join us if you please."

"And what about the fireflies?" I asked, pointing at the little things that were all around us.

"Those are programs that I used to guide me toward treasures." Ghost Girl shrugged. "They look around and tell me about interesting items."

"Is it okay to take her with us?" Aqua asked.

"Don't worry, I don't bite." Ghost Girl winked. She stepped forward and pressed a button on her Duel Disk, opening a portal in the ground. "See ya on the other side!"

Saying that she waved at us and jumped through the portal. Now that there were three of us, our chances would be better, right? But maybe I shouldn't be so quick to trust Ghost Girl. We jumped through the portal and, surprise, surprise, we landed in some sewers. Not the smelly and dirty kind, but the out-of place-for-a-virtual-reality-based-around-dueling type of sewers.

"So, does anyone here have an explanation on why VRAINS needs its own sewers?" I asked my companions.

"It's for unnecessary data." Ghost Girl informed me.

"This is where all the dog memes go." Silver Star stated.

"I already know that you're messing around with me," I told her, proudly.

"Which means that you would have believed it if it was said by someone you trust more." Silver Star shot back.

"The path's separating from here." Ghost Girl informed us. There were two tunnels to go into from here on, but which do we choose?

"No need to say it." I already knew how this would go. "We'll split into two, right? Who's with who?"

"I'll go the right way." Ghost Girl suggested. "You two should be more used to work together, so you can go the left way, ok?"

"Thanks!" I waved at her.

The woman waved back at me and jumped on bits of ground that floated over the other data, landing on the other side of the sewer. She turned back and waved cheerfully at us one more time before running off.

"She found out something, didn't she?" I asked Silver Star.

"Definitely." Silver Star nodded. "But it's alright. If something happens to her, we'll know that this path is dangerous."

So, Silver Star wasn't worried about Ghost Girl's life at all? I looked down at Aqua, she seemed worried as well. But we couldn't really go after Ghost Girl, could we? I mean, it wouldn't be fair, since she knew the danger and that we were trustful allies, despite that choose to try and trick us into going the wrong way. It was her own will to go there alone.

"So, how did your visit go?" Silver Star crossed her arms and looked at me. "Did you find Playmaker this time, or was he away again?"

"I found him this time." I nodded. "We talked, well, I talked. But no matter what I said, he just didn't want to listen. I understand that he went through a lot and I'm not judging him, but doesn't he realize that LINK VRAINS needs Playmaker now more than ever? That this place is more dangerous than it was ever before?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to admit to himself that LINK VRAINS still needs him. But talking about danger, it seems we got a guest on our own." Silver Star commented. Wait, what?

Silver Star turned around and kicked me in the stomach. My mouth opened but no sound came out of it. That kick, if it was in real life I would be suffering some serious internal injury because of it. The force of Silver Star's kick sent me back several feet and my body collapsed from the pain. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Silver Star.

"And now…" I heard her say and a giant claw came out of the data, swinging at her. If it was me there, that attack would have torn me into pieces before I could feel what's happening, but Silver Star was able to easily avoid the claws and jumped backward, creating some distance between herself and the thing that attacked her. Talking about it, the thing that attacked was huge, like a giant. Its body was made from data and it was ugly, like, really ugly.

"What's this!?" Aqua gasped.

"If I'm to guess, someone most likely threw their Tamagotchi in the toilet." Silver Star replied, and I glared at her.

"We. Are. Not. Amused."

And neither was the beast. The creature looked back and forth between me and Silver Star, puzzled what to do. Was it… unable to choose who it had to chase? So that was why Silver Star kicked me in this direction instead of pulling me with herself – she figured out that the creature was sent to deal with both of us. I would have still preferred if she used a more gentle approach to move me aside.

The creature roared and its body began to slowly expand to the sides. Wait, no. It wasn't expanding, it was tearing itself in half. I managed to stand back up and activate my Duel Disk while the giant's body got torn apart and two smaller, but identical in appearance monsters took its place.

"Divide and conquer, huh?" Silver Star narrowed her eyes. "How about no?"

She raised her arm and fired a red cable that attached itself to the ceiling, then pulled herself upward. After getting over the creatures, she deactivated that energy cable and fired another one in front of me, pulling herself back down. She landed right in front of me and turned around, activating her own Duel Disk. The creatures looked at us and roared, creating two blue cubes of data that attached themselves to the back of their left wrists. Were we seriously going to solve that with a duel?

"Whoever sent these things here, sure has a good taste." I heard Silver Star comment. She turned toward me and winked. "How about it? Mind teaming up with me on this one?"

"That would be a good chance to test out the improved BrioGear cards I made for you." Aqua turned toward me. "Let's go, Proxy! With our power combined, the wind of victory will blow our enemies away!"

"No fart jokes!" I yelled at Silver Star before she had the chance to drop another childish joke.

"How distasteful." She clicked her tongue. Wait, I was the distasteful one here? "But ok, serious time!"

"Duel!" We shouted in unison.

Meanwhile, in another part of the sewers, Ghost Girl was still following her little helpers. They lead her a long way and she was already reaching the processing plant. It was surprising to her for more than a single reason. First, who would be hiding a treasure or important data inside the processing plant of all places, and second, why was there a barrier around the place? Restricted areas in VRAINS were very few, and out of all the places the cyber hunter knew in VRAINS, she least expected to find a restricted area around the sewers.

"That's an interesting place that you found, isn't it?" a voice asked.

"Eh?" Ghost Girl turned around.

A ring of pink data appeared before the cyber hunter and a life form began to materialize inside of it. First materialized two small feet, then a white dress and next, a pink AI with the appearance of a little girl with her hair tied into two pigtails appeared in front of Ghost Girl. The new Life-Form smiled and bowed politely to the older individual.

"It's nice to meet you, miss. My name is O.N.I, short from Overseeing Network Intelligence." The AI introduced itself. "I'm a program created by Evan Greyson and currently act as his eyes and ears within LINK VRAINS, while he's busy with other work."

"And just when I thought I saw the craziest thing this family had." Ghost Girl rolled her eyes.

"Did you say something, miss?"

"N-no!" Ghost Girl shook her head. "Anyway, if Evan sent you, then you must be here just to observe, right? You won't get in my way?"

"Of course, not." O.N.I smiled. "I was sent to get a recording of what's disrupting the servers, nothing more than that. Plus, I still don't have any combat abilities or a deck, so there's not much I can do even if I was sent to eliminate you."

"I guess," Ghost Girl didn't like the idea of having people watch her while she worked, but it couldn't be helped. "There's a barrier, so stay back until I get rid of it."

The AI nodded and took a step back. Ghost Girl's guts were telling her that whatever she was looking for was too dangerous to mess with it, but she stubbornly ignored those warnings. Even though both Greysons were here, she couldn't turn around and run, not while there was a treasure to discover. Taking out her special knife, the cyber hunter cut through the barrier, effectively tearing it apart. After doing that, she gestured for O.N.I to follow her.

The two walked inside the restricted area. It was the core of LINK VRAINS' reprocessing system, but what appeared before them was nothing like her expectations for a core. Yes, the thing was spherical for the most part, but it was black with pink tentacles coming out of its surface. Data from all parts of LINK VRAINS was being absorbed inside its body. Ghost Girl narrowed her eyes. That thing, it wasn't supposed to be there.

"This is bad." O.N.I held out its arm and scanned the large body. "The amount of energy within the sphere is too high. I suggest we leave."

"I still need to gather data about it." Ghost Girl replied and stepped forward. Clicking her fingers, the cyber hunter sent all of her drones toward the black sphere for a more informative scan.

"As you wish." O.N.I sighed.

The pink AI walked out of the plant and turned back to Ghost Girl. O.N.I put its hands behind its back and waited for the treasure hunter to finish her work. Sadly, unlike O.N.I who was programmed to be able to detect movement within the server, Ghost Girl had no way to know that a highly dangerous individual was approaching her position. It was the most feared person in LINK VRAINS at the moment, the leader of Hanoi himself, Revolver.

It wasn't long until Ghost Girl's fireflies felt the Knight of Hanoi's presence and flew out to check it out. Confused, Ghost Girl used her grappling hook to follow them, ignorant about the danger she was getting herself into. As that happened, a gate fell down, blocking O.N.I from following. The AI narrowed its eyes and kept watching as Revolver stepped out of the hallway that Ghost Girl was in front of.

"Transmission: Revolver has appeared." The AI stated emotionlessly. The voice on the other end of the transmission said something and O.N.I nodded. "Starting recording, file's title: Ghost Girl's Last Hour."