The Prodigal Student Returns
The train station of Den City was always filled with people. It was the place from where many young men and women with degrees in computer science, software engineering, and scientific computation would make their first steps toward finding a job in one of the few large companies that the city was infamous for. To them, Den City was the place where dreams came true and anyone could make a fortune, but the elders knew better. With all the cyber-terrorist attacks, the revelations about SOL Technologies' corruption and the damage caused by their fighting, Den Station was where all these people took one final look at the city at all these dreams that they had when they were young.
But Arme Yamamoto's story was different. Having grown in this city, she got to experience the dark side of it more than even the adults who were now trying to leave it. She too thought at one point that running away from the city would help her forget about it. But now she knew better. Even if one tried to bury their past, tried to kill it and start a completely new life, they could never erase the memory lingering inside.
That's why she was back here, at the starting point. To make peace with the people she left behind when she decided to leave this damned city. See how much has changed since her departure.
"It's nice to be back home, isn't it?" a boy in a white hoodie and black jeans walked up to Arme.
"You have no idea." The girl sighed. Even though this boy was a classmate of hers for two years, she still hasn't learned his name – she just didn't care enough to remember it. That was another bad trait that was rubbed onto her while she was living in Den City.
"The city has changed so much in just two years." Arme continued. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to find my siblings' home."
"I could help you find it if you want. I come here every school break, you know?" the boy told her.
"Don't worry about me." Arme smiled. "My siblings are pretty well-known across the city. I will manage to find my way around. Be safe."
The boy nodded reluctantly. He didn't want to leave Arme to wander around the big city on her own, but he couldn't talk her out of it. Back at the Academy, everyone, both teacher and student knew how stubborn she was. When Arme made her mind about something, no amount of talking could make her re-think her decision.
Roxy's POV
Ah, there is nothing better than the soft breeze of the fresh morning wind. The big yellow sun just beginning to show up behind the buildings, the happy singing of the birds. And of course, how could I forget the best part of the morning! Looking around while police officers walk past you, putting police tape and carrying out a large black body back, with the single thought of what the corpse inside looks like causing you to want to throw up your breakfast.
Yes, you heard me right! I, fourteen years old, am standing in the middle of a crime scene. Maybe it's called a murder scene?
Anyway, the reason why I'm here should be obvious to you all by now. Yes, it's because of Evan. I don't know why he chose to take me with him, or by what leap of logic he thought that this was a good idea, but when the police called him this morning and told him that one of his employees were found dead in their home, his first words were 'Roxy, jump in the car.'
Talking about Evan, he was currently inside the victim's apartment along with some women called Inspector Honda. I didn't know what they were talking about, since I was waiting outside the apartment, stubbornly refusing to get inside. Who knew what the apartment would look like from the inside after the murder; there might even be blood splattered around!
"Roxy!" Evan shouted, for the fifth time. "Get in here!"
"I won't!" I yelled back at him
"There are no blood or body parts, I promise!"
"Why do you even need me there?"
"Because I said so! Now, you can either come on your own, or I'll come to you and drag you inside!"
Yes, that's what I have to get through every single day. Not like I had any choice.
So, I walked inside and… it was a mess. The furniture was thrown all around the room, the paintings that should have been on the walls were partially burned and thrown on the ground – away from the carpet surprisingly. I walked over to Evan and the Inspector, who was standing above a drawing of how the position in which the corpse was found. This entire place was giving me the chills. The thought that a person lost his life here and that foul smell still going through the air, it was making my stomach turn.
"So, why do you need me here again?" I asked Evan one more time.
"To listen." Evan glanced down at me, then turned to the Inspector. "So, looking around, I say that everything began from the computer. He was working on it when something suddenly appeared, causing him to fall backward, right?"
"What we can't figure out are the burned marks on the table." The Inspector noted. "They appear to be left from a human grip, but they have come from the side, opposite of the victim."
"Like something came out of the computer itself, hmm?" Evan rubbed his chin. "What was the cause of death again?"
"He was strangled, died from suffocation, obviously. Strange thing is, we found burning marks, similar to the ones on the table on the victim's neck. In fact, these marks are all around the place. On the furniture, on the walls. Scenes like these usually mean that there was a fight between the victim and his killer, but all the evidence shows that the victim was killed and then everything was thrown around. We guess that the murderer was looking for something."
"I looked at Max's records before coming here, he couldn't have access to something important," Evan responded.
He began to walk around and I, well, followed after him. He looked at the burn marks that were left behind. They were really strange, even I could notice that. If the murder didn't want to leave any fingerprints, they could have worn normal gloves. Now we can all see where and what they have touched thanks to the burn marks.
"Tell me, Inspector, do you think it's possible for these marks to be made by electricity?" Evan looked back to the police officer.
"Unlikely." Inspector Honda shook her head. "That would require a strong charge. What's more confusing, we went through all security cameras in the area and we didn't find any recording of the murderer entering or leaving this apartment."
"Overseer is hack-prove." Evan retorted. "If it has no recording of the murderer, then we are overseeing something big."
"In all due-respected, my men checked every inch of this apartment. There's no way to enter or leave without getting caught on the security cameras. And as far as I'm informed, people can't just disappear into thin air, yet."
"I will double-check Overseer to be sure then," Evan replied. "I'll also need a picture of the burn marks on the victim's neck. Do you think that you will be able to provide that one for me?"
"I will see what I can do." The Inspector sighed. "You should leave now."
"Just let me take a picture of the marks, ok?" I wasn't sure what Evan was going after, but the Inspector didn't seem to mind him toying with the evidence. In fact, she turned around and left the room entirely!
"I know that I'm too young for this, but should the police be so neglectful toward the evidence of a crime scene?" I turned to Evan.
"I'm paying them." Wait, what?
"Wait, you mean that you bribed the cops?" I just wanted to slam my head through the wall. That was so… so... so like him to do.
"I'm the one who gave them Overseer, I'm their biggest sponsor and the Chief is owning me for a… personal favor. Do you think that I could do half of the things I do without bribing the cops and still not get put behind bars?" That… strangely made a lot of sense now that I think of it.
"So, what are you expecting to find from these marks?"
"I'm not sure yet, but this entire scene feels… familiar." Evan stopped for a moment and looked around. "The marks on the table make it look like the attacked came out of the computer screen, causing Mark to panic and fall over. At first, the idea would sound silly and impossible, but when that creature attacked Kusanagi's brother it came out of a TV screen and then escaped through it as well, somehow managing to navigate its way from the TV to LINK VRAINS."
"Do you think that he's the one who killed your employ?" If that was the case, even Playmaker might be in danger!
"This idea is doubtful at best. The creature that attacked Kusanagi's brother did it because of his involvement in the Lost Incident. Mark has no connection to that event, so he doesn't fit. Plus that, the creature that attacked Kusanagi's brother actually grabbed his shoulders and it left no burn marks, unlike our friend here."
"So now we have two internet ghosts to chase after?" Man, I can't believe that I was born in this crazy world.
"If my thoughts are heading in the right direction, chasing this ghost should be easier." Evan took a picture of the marks on the table and put his phone away.
"You think that he left those marks intentionally?"
"This entire scene looks like a message. One directed toward us."
"A message? You think someone would kill a person just to send you a message instead of, you know, write a letter or send you an email?" I crossed my arms. It sounded like Evan was now pulling accusations without any evidence to back them up.
"Your biggest mistake, Roxy, is that you expect everyone to share your view on human life and how sacred it is." Evan turned his back to me and placed his hands behind his back as he began to walk toward the exit. "But the reality is that to an outsider, be it an alien, an AI, or even God, humans are nothing more than annoying insects, a resource to be harvested and thrown away when no longer of any use."
"Playmaker's Ignis doesn't think the same way." I pointed out.
"That's because Playmaker's Ignis, similarly to the person it was based after, is an absolute tool." Evan then stopped for a moment and looked back at me. "Speaking about Playmaker, did you get in contact with him after what happened yesterday?"
"We did." I nodded. "He wants us to meet at the usual place after school ends. I'm not sure how I'm going to face him."
"He's your friend Roxy. You shouldn't have a problem lying to him."
"And just when the first part gave me hope that you will say something nice in the second." I sighed. That's how it was going to be from now on, wasn't it? I was going to lie to him over and over again until I get ordered to eliminate him.
We walked out of the apartment with a relative silence between us. There just wasn't much that I and Evan had to discuss in a public place, especially while surrounded by police officers. But I had something that I wanted to ask him. It's been three months already and I still haven't gotten the courage to face Evan and question him. I have always been too afraid that he would order me to suicide again, or he will just choose to reprogram me. I don't know what it was about this moment, perhaps it was the danger that surrounded all of us that gave me reassurance that Evan wouldn't eliminate me if I asked him now. With everything going on, I don't think he could manage to reprogram or replace me in time, so when we reached the car, I finally spoke up.
"There's been something that I wanted to get off my chest lately," I told him. "After my programming 'failed', why did you choose to keep me around instead of installing a new personality inside this body?"
Evan didn't respond. At least not immediately. For a few moments, he simply stared at me, those red eyes of his that resembled a demon's orbs, stared down at me so intensely that I felt they were going to set me on fire any second now. But after a while, he let out a loud sight and leaned back against the car, running a hand through his, now short, hair.
"Do you know why I created 'Roxanna Petit' in the first place?" He asked me.
"You needed an agent programmed with resentment toward Playmaker, right? My only purpose was to eliminate Playmaker for you. But now I'm friends with him, I don't think that I'll ever be able to do such a thing to him. At least not intentionally."
I will be frank. I expected him to get angry at me, or to dismiss my worries and tell me some crap like 'in time you will understand' but instead, he just put his hand on my shoulder. Not even in a threatening manner. His touch was more like that of an older brother trying to reassure his younger sister. It was some twisted showcase of kindness that made me unable to completely hate him for his actions. And his expression. It was the worst. With that kind smile that looked genuine, his eyes, which now appeared a much softer shade of red.
"I would never force you to hurt a friend of yours, Roxy." He said to me. "Even if this friend is an enemy I must destroy, I would never force you to fight him against your own will."
"Why did you create me then, huh?" I pushed his hand away. "What even are you thinking? I don't understand any of this! I don't understand you! In one moment you're cold-hearted talking about how human life doesn't matter, then at the second you act like some sort of father-figure to me!"
"That's because I'm trying to, Roxy!" he shouted back, grabbing my shoulders with both of his arms. "It's true that I created you to eliminate Playmaker, but that wasn't your only purpose; it wasn't your main purpose! I created you because I wanted a successor, I wanted to raise my own child!"
"I'm not your child!" I hissed back at him. "I'm working with you because I'm forced into it. Because you installed a program that stops me from leaving or disobeying you! But I'm nothing like you!"
"You're more like me than you realize. Your current mental state and moral values are an almost exact replica of my ten-year-old self." No, he couldn't say this!
"You're telling me that when I become twenty-four I'll be a copy of your current self, is that it?"
"When you become twenty-four, I'm hoping for you to be better than my current self!" He grabbed my head and forced me to look at him. "I never wanted for you to be a merciless killing machine. That's now the fate I wish for you! I want you to learn from me, to learn my skills, my abilities, to learn from my mistakes and perfect yourself in your own way. I want you to have what I never had."
"Then you have failed!" I stepped back, away from him. "I have none of your strengths! My dueling skills, my intelligence, none of what I have equals even a tenth of your abilities!"
I was a failure. Even worse than a human, I failed to meet the requirements of my programming! A malfunctioning piece of hardware in the body of a fourteen years old, that's all I was. They kept saying that I had potential, but the longer I train, the more failures I try to stand back up from, the more I start to think that they were saying all of that just to make me feel needed.
"Roxy…" I stepped back, stopping him from touching me again. I didn't want to hear anymore! "Let's talk about this another time, ok?"
"What more do we have to say?" I didn't know the answer to that question either.
"When I created you I never took into consideration that, well, I have to be your father." He stepped back and looked at his feet. "I didn't have much of a parent figure when I grew up, and I don't know how to act as one either. I know, you're questioning your place right now, questioning how much of your life is true, and how much is a fake memory I tried to control you with. I'm not sure about that myself, but I want to be your father, Roxy. I want to be a good father for you."
"It's hard for me too," I admitted to him. "When I talk with you, I feel like I'm being split between two different people. Half of me hates you for all of the evil things you've done, while the other half looks up to you. I hate you, but I want to be like you!"
"It will become easier with time, I promise you." I felt his hand pressing against my head and looked up, meeting his smiling face. "We will figure everything together, like a family, ok?"
Family? Were we anything like a family? Would a real father use his daughter the way he uses me? I could call him my teacher, my creator, even my master, but not family. I could never call him family!
"Can I ask one more question then?"
"If it's about who's your mother-"
"Why is my last name not Greyson?" I cut him off. It was far better for the sanity of us both to not open the can of worms that was my complicated family tree.
"That's a… complicated question." Evan patted me. "Don't think too much about it. Just come, we should get home already."
I was unsatisfied with his response, but I wasn't surprised by it either.
"Hey, you two! Welcome back!" Avice greeted us happily on the front door, clapping her hands together. "How was your walk?"
"We were looking at a corpse, Avice. Don't say it, as if we came back from a vacation." I told her, stepping to a small spot on the side of the stairs to get my boots off before walking inside the house.
"You won't believe how close the two things are when we talk about my brother." I looked back at Evan to see what his reaction to this remark was going to be.
Giving off a sly smile, he responded with a: "You're the one making it hard for me not to be jealous of the dead. They do have everything that I don't - peace, silence, people who would miss them. But since you brought up the dead, I will give you thirty seconds to explain why you aren't at school, before I send you to a one-way trip to the underworld with my ex-employ."
"I used a voice-modifier to call them from your name and say that I'm sick for the day," Avice smirked. "I figured that you could use my help purging the remaining Knights of Hanoi – you don't have to thank me."
"Didn't the Knights disband?" Although, Revolver did manage to escape between our fingers...
"After they got defeated, some surviving remnants went into hiding," Evan explained to me. "Lately I've been seeing their hacking engine being unsuccessfully being used on LINK VRAINS, so I'm trying to exterminate them before they turn into a larger problem. You know, what SOL had to do when they owned the servers."
"You never told me that this was a problem." I crossed my arms.
"Because it's not a significant setback. I can deal with that on my own. In fact, since you're here, take a look at this." Evan pulled out his phone and threw it at Avice.
Avice caught the device and looked at it. "It's a phone. What else?"
"There were strange burn marks all over the victim's apartment." Evan began speaking, as he sat down on the sofa. "I think they might be some sort of message, but I can't figure it on my own. Also, expect a few pictures of the corpse with the same burns."
"How lovely," Avice remarked, sarcastically. "I should get to it then. Oh, and Roxy, I put Firera's container inside your room. You should go talk to her now."
Ah, so the hard part was finally coming. I heard from Vermilya that during my 'rehabilitation' they have tortured Firera and told her that I was dead, to try and break her. How would she react when she sees me there, alive and safe? And when she learns that while she was being tortured, I was training to be a better duelist on my own? I should be ready for anything, including being rejected by her.
I grabbed the handle. Needless to say, my hand was trembling with fear of how this talk was going to turn out, but I also knew that it was something I couldn't run from forever. Opening the door, I walked inside, immediately noticing a large blue cube put next to my Duel Disk.
The creature inside noticed that someone walked inside and turned around. Her eyes went wide and she pushed the cube, only for electricity to shot out and push her back.
"Roxy!" Her voice was loud, the cube wasn't blocking communication. "Thanks to the creator, you're alive! They told me that you were dead, but I didn't believe them, Roxy!"
"Sorry that it took me so long to come." I apologized, sitting on the bed next to her.
"That doesn't matter!" she shook her head. "You are here now, Roxy! Lower this shield, let's get out of here together!"
"That… won't be possible." I tried to force a smile, but we both knew that our current situation wasn't a happy one.
"W-why?" I could hear as her voice began to break and she fell down on her knees. "W-what happened Roxy?"
"I'm still working with them, Firera. I and Evan, the two of us are now a team and I'm doing what he orders of me. Playmaker and Ai, they are now our enemy, Firera."
"Evan is trying to start a war between humans and AI, Roxy!" Firera yelled at me. "He's fulfilling Dr. Kogami's prophecy about the Ignis! Do you realize, what side you've chosen to fight on, Roxy? If Evan's plan is fulfilled, that could spell doom to your species, to the entire planet and everything on it!"
"There's more to it than that, Firera!" I tried to argue back with her.
"Because he told you that there is?" Firera glared at me. "Are you trusting the man that almost drowned you more than you trust me, the AI that fought by your side until the end?"
"I believe in my instincts, Firera. I can see it, there is an enemy far too dangerous for both humans and Ignis to take down on their own! I don't know the details of his plan, nor why war with the Ignis is required, but all we are doing right now is protecting the world from an even bigger threat." I couldn't explain it to her, but I could see more to Evan's plan than what he told us.
"And you believe that?" Firera narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that this isn't another lie? Your entire lie up to this point was a lie fabricated by him to turn you into a loyal puppet!"
"I'm… I'm supposed to be his upgraded version, Firera. Evan and I, the two of us are one and the same. That's why I trust him."
"You're not him, but you're well on your way to become the same if you choose to follow down that path." I winced at her words. She has never been so cold.
"I wish you could see it too, Firera. I wish you would realize it. These creatures that attacked us during Hanoi's takeover of VRAINS? All those glitches and abnormalities that happened in LINK VRAINS, something's hiding in the network. If the Ignis and the humans don't face each other, I fear what another conflict would raise instead. I… fear that if we don't stop them, they're going to destroy Aqua and the other Ignis" I pressed the off button of Firera's cage, freeing her. "I'm sorry that I can't be on your side on this, but please, if our partnership meant anything to you, fight with me."
"And what will happen if I don't?" Firera narrowed her eyes.
"You will run away, and I'll take the blame. I promise you."
She closed her eyes for a moment. "You will let me away, but you won't join me? You're a naïve child, Roxy. I'll see where this goes alongside you, but if any danger comes toward Aqua, I'll destroy anyone who goes after her, even if that's you."
"Fair enough," I nodded. "I must meet with Playmaker now. A new enemy attacked and stole Jin Kusanagi's consciousness. We got to work together with Playmaker on that one."
"But I can't say anything about the last three months, is that it?" Firera shook her head before flying back into my Duel Disk, turning into a blue eyeball. "I will try, for now…"
"Thank you." I smiled. This turned out better than I have expected. Then again, AIs thought differently than humans, so maybe she was starting to understand me.
That would actually be ironic since I don't understand myself either. I blame in on my programming, but my mind hasn't been the same since the Tower of Hanoi incident. I feel that I've grown… cockier, angrier. Sometimes I would explore with anger about the smallest of things, but at the same time, I would still follow Evan's orders. I feel that my entire being, with all of my beliefs and values, started to be slowly replaced by something more sinister.
"You're thinking about something." Firera looked up at me.
"Don't worry about it." I tried to smile and rubbed my finger against her head, patting her.
She didn't need to worry about me. I didn't want her to start prying on my condition either. I just had to learn better self-control, so I would avoid turning into a savage as my previous incarnations did.
I stood up and walked back into the living room to look at what the Greysons were doing. Evan was sitting in front of the TV, drinking a cup of coffee while Avice was standing over him, scolding him.
"Don't drink so much coffee, you will start trembling again!" Avice shouted at her older brother.
"Just let me poison myself." Evan closed his eyes and leaned back against the sofa.
"If I do that, who's going to pay the taxes, dumbass." They didn't seem to need my help with anything, so I should probably head to Kusanagi's place already.
Aaaaaaand that was when the doorbell rang.
"Are we expecting someone?" I asked.
"No, I'll see who it is." Avice went to the door, and I followed after her. She opened the door, while I peeked from behind her to see who it was.
A seventeen years old girl with blue eyes, and long orange hair with red fringes extending to frame her face was standing on the doorstep. Her outfit consisted of a closed light grey jacket, white shorts that reached below her knees, ending exactly where her black socks started.
The girl looked at us.
"Avice!" She shouted with a smile and grabbed Avice, hugging her before any of us could react.
"A-Arme!" Avice gasped as the girl, probably called Arme, held her close.
"I've missed you so much, Avice!" Arme replied, then looked toward me. "And who's that?"
"Roxy." I introduced myself. "It's nice to meet you. A friend of Avice, I guess?"
"A Destiny Gear." Avice corrected me.
"The sixth one," Firera spoke from my Duel Disk. "I had always wondered, there was DARK, LIGHT, WATER, FIRE, and WIND, so where was EARTH?"
"Sorry, but I retired from my position as a Destiny Gear when I left this house," Arme replied. "I've been keeping in contact with Takuma though. But I haven't heard of him since the incident with Hanoi's Tower. Did he-"
"He's in prison." Evan interrupted us. He was still sitting on the sofa, not even bothering to look at our general direction. "He was working with the Knights of Hanoi at the time, so when the police began arresting, he got put behind bars as well."
Arme's eyes widened. "He was part of the Knights?! Why!? How did you let that happen!?"
"It was beyond my control." Evan shrugged. "After you choose to leave, he and Vermilya thought that they didn't need me either, stole the decks that I gave them and ran away. When I came in contact with them, he was already part of Hanoi."
Arme bit her lower lip. She never thought that they would choose to follow after her footsteps, nor did she expect them to make the choices that they made.
"Takuma's been calling me far more often around the time of the Tower of Hanoi's activation, I should have figured out that something was going on." Arme looked down, almost in shame. Maybe if she paid more attention, she would have caught up to what Takuma was doing and could have talked him down.
"Are you sure that you don't want to join the Destiny Gears again?" Avice asked out of nowhere.
"Let's be honest with each other, Avice. We both know that being part of this group causes more damage to you than being on your own." I would agree with her, but I'm too afraid of Evan getting angry to do so.
"You know what they say about the second times," Avice told her. "They have to be better than the first."
"I bet that those exact words were said by dad when he made you," We all rolled our eyes to Evan's little comment.
"I've got to think it through. Getting back into this team isn't going to be very pleasant." Arme ran a few fingers through her hair, pushing a few locks behind her ear. "But do tell me, what are you up to this time?"
"Hunting down remaining Knights of Hanoi." Evan and Avice said in unison. "Jinx, you own me-! Oh, forget it!"
I giggled as the two simultaneously waved each other off and Avice sat back down on the computer, while Evan took his new Duel Disk. It was one of these that used digital versions of the cards, instead of physical copies. Arme shook her head and put her bags next to the wall.
"I guess that's our cue to leave, Firera." Everyone else was busy, and I wanted to get to the hotdog stand earlier. I closed the door behind me and ran down the street.
Yusaku was going to be still at school, so the only person at the hotdog stand at this time should be Kusanagi. That was good because I could learn from him what happened in details before Yusaku comes and starts asking me the same questions.
3rd POV (15 minutes later)
"So, why are you here?" PhantomFire asked the young woman walking next to him.
Her avatar was as tall as Rocketeer, whose size wasn't among the smaller ones either, standing at two feet. Her eyes were a dark swamp-green color in appearance with scleras that resembled mud, while her short blond hair resembled gold with a blue rose stuck into it. She wore a short-sleeved white shirt that reached just below her breasts with an orange semi-transparent skirt flowing down to her knees. Gauntlets and boots made from black metal with spikes on them protected her wrists and legs. Finally, a long brown jacket hung from her shoulders like a cape, with large wooden braces piecing through the jacket and the woman's shoulders, to keep the cloth from falling off. Her name was Terraspy, Arme's LINK VRAINS avatar.
"I wanted to take a look around the new servers." Terraspy pouted, looking away. "And on that topic, I wonder how comes Terraspy is still available even though I haven't used the avatar since I left your group. Two whole years, and the erasing of the all data inside LINK VRAINS later, Terraspy's data is still somehow lying around, hmm?"
"I won't say it," PhantomFire growled.
"Say what?" Terraspy tilted her head.
Of course, she knew. Both of them did. Blaze Rose, Rocketeer, Terraspy, he kept all of their LINK VRAINS data, he copied all of it and kept it safe because he had hoped that one day they would come back to him, forgive him for the way he treated them in the past. And although she hasn't forgiven him, she never could forgive him for what happened to Sereny. More sickening was how quickly he replaced her with this new girl… Roxy. If Sereny hasn't committed suicide, she was now going to be Roxy's years, but despite that, Evan didn't appear to have any problem with that.
"So, what happened with my replacement then?" Terraspy asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"Let's not play dumb. I'm talking about the person you gave my Gear deck after I left." Terraspy looked at PhantomFire, her face showing an unmistakable loathing for the dark duelist.
"I never bothered with that," PhantomFire responded. "After the first branch of recruits chose to abandon me, I gave up on the idea of creating my own team of elite duelists."
"What's the deal with the new girl then?"
"Roxy? It's a long story, but I'll try to shorten it for you: She's my successor."
Terraspy shook her head. As if one Evan Greyson wasn't enough, if that girl was anything like the Destiny Gears' current leader, Arme would abandon this team for good. But more worrisome was, why Evan needed a successor in the first place. He seemed much better and stronger than two years ago. It was unnerving to think that he was preparing for the bitter end.
"So, what's with the giant tower in the middle of the new LINK VRAINS?" Terraspy looked up.
"Changing the topic, I see." PhantomFire sighed. "But since you asked, I might as well give some exposition, right? Since LINK VRAINS would never get the same level of popularity that it did pre-Tower of Hanoi, I wanted the new design to be on a much smaller scale. The problem was creating the different areas that you could visit when you log into a different server. To make up for the disappearance of these areas, we created a system to allow players to host their own unique servers."
The entire tower was built to keep the information of all the alternative servers together. It made the access easier because instead the server list was split into smaller ones, based on the floor on which said server's gate was located. Another feature of the tower was its interrelation with the new defense-system of LINK VRAINS. Unlike SOL's version, where the server host was in charge of locating and removing dangerous codes and exploits, the floor-based split of the servers allows staff easier time monitoring the new mini-servers. If a dangerous or unique code was used, LINK VRAINS' firewall would send out a signal that could be traced back to the server, or, in the worst-case scenario, to the floor on which the server's gate was located.
One such unique code was located on Floor 8. PhantomFire didn't know exactly what was inside that server, but he was informed that the seed of the entire server had been changed, with some unique additions to it. He couldn't call those changes a creation of Hanoi, as the code, though similar in a few lines, wasn't the same as what the Knights of Hanoi used in the creation of their old servers and programs.
That was where Overseer came into play. Connected to every satellite, camera and data bank on the planet, Overseer's AI took only a few minutes to find all of the personal information and internet history of the users that visited the server.
And that's what lead him to here.
PhantomFire looked around. Their first stop for the day was going to be Central Station. Many users spent their time there, reading about the new events, or simply sitting down to drink something refreshing at one of the virtual cafes in the station. That was also where the first target liked to spend most of their time online. Revenger – formed Knight of Hanoi and a troublesome delinquent. According to Overseer's info, during the takeover of LINK VRAINS and the subsequent detonation of the Tower, Revenger was on a holiday with his parents.
Overseer traced multiple posts on both the official LINK VRAIN forum and other private forums, posted after the reconstruction of LINK VRAINS, calling for recruitment into the Knights of Hanoi. So, even though he wasn't part of the events that other Knights of Hanoi were thrown into jail for, the judge could probably put him away for trying to recruit people into a terrorist organization.
"Do you recognize anyone?" Terraspy asked.
PhantomFire didn't respond immediately. He looked around the crowds of people that had come to Central Station. Among them was a cowboy with a torn purple jacket and shadowy black face with red eyes and an unsettling grin/. That was Revenger.
"Do you see the creepy cowboy?" PhantomFire muttered, looking away from his target.
The taller girl nodded. "I will go around in case he tries to escape."
PhantomFire looked back at the Knight of Hanoi, this time their eyes met. Seeing the dark duelist, Revenger muttered something to the users around him and began to back away, slowly retreating toward a larger crowd of users. PhantomFire began to approach at a quick pace with Terraspy running off to intercept Revenger's escape from the side. Even if the Knight of Hanoi escaped, Overseer had found his address, so they could send police to his place immediately. But PhantomFire wanted to deal with this personally, he wanted to get to Revolver's little puppets before the cops, learn everything he could before the police took the knight away.
But he had to slow down Revenger in some way, or the Knight of Hanoi would escape. Walking to a table with a few users chatting, PhantomFire interrupted them.
"Excuse me, is this chair used?"
"N-no, sir."
Nodding, PhantomFire took the chair and threw it toward Revenger. The other users around screamed and dropped down to avoid getting hit, their voices causing the Knight of Hanoi to turn around just in time to see the large object flying straight for his face. The metal chair smashed into the user's face, knocking him on the ground for long enough PhantomFire to close the distance between the two.
Revenger groaned, holding a hand over his face. He looked up, seeing the dark duelist moving closer and quickly turned around to try and crawl away. It was a futile attempt as the spike-heel on Terraspy's metal boot pierced his back. The Knight of Hanoi screamed, falling on his chest with the tall girl's leg stepping on his back, preventing him from escaping.
"Revenger," PhantomFire said, loud enough for the users around to take notice and circle around to see what was going on. "For illegally tampering with the code of LINK VRAINS' servers, taking active participation in the formed Knights of Hanoi and trying to recruit users into the ranks of the aforementioned Knights of Hanoi, your account is to be banned indefinitely."
"Y-you can't prove anything!" Revenger yelled back. "I'm inno-! Argh!"
The Knight of Hanoi screamed again as Terraspy twisted her feet, moving the blade around inside his avatar. The creepy cowboy slammed his fist against the ground in pain, incapable of saying anything more in his defense.
"I've got all the evidence that I need, including archives of all your forum posts trying to recruit people in the Knights of Hanoi." PhantomFire narrowed his eyes. "Rather than trying to lie, tell me everything that you know about the location of the Knights' leadership and ease your situation a little bit."
"I don't know any-Aaaaahhhhhh!" Terraspy moved again, causing the Knight to scream.
"That's enough, Terra." PhantomFire folded his arms. "He's telling the truth."
Terraspy nodded, stepping off the creepy cowboy. "If you knew that, then why are we even doing this?"
"I didn't know it before. I know it now because he has nothing to gain from lying to us about it." PhantomFire looked at the crowd; this was going to be a good opportunity to show everyone who's in command, and why exactly. "Since I see that you're being honest, I'll give you a chance to get off the hook if you manage to beat me in a duel."
"D-do you think I'm not aware of who you're?" Revenger stepped back. "I'm not going to duel that broken deck of yours!"
"Ok, I won't use it." PhantomFire raised his left arm, which had, attached to it, a purple wristband-shaped Duel Disk with demonic wings. "Any other conditions?"
"A hundred life points only, and one card in the starting hand." Revenger continued.
These types of conditions were ludicrous, the Knight of Hanoi realized that, but he knew what PhantomFire was trying to do there. The only reason he offered that challenge was because of the crowd. He was trying to show them how strong he was, so chickening out of the challenge because of Revenger's condition would be bad press.
"Are you sure about the one card starting hand?" PhantomFire asked. "Sounds like a pretty bad condition if you're facing an Infernity deck."
Revenger tilted his head. "What is Infernity?"
"It's a deck whose playstyle resolvers around having no cards in your hand," Terraspy informed him. "If you're going to duel against an Infernity deck, dropping the hand size to one gives him a pretty big advantage."
"Then you're going to start with a regular hand size!" Revenger shouted, activating his Duel Disk.
"If you insist." PhantomFire activated his own Duel Disk. "But because I'm playing with a hundred Life Points, I get the first turn!"
"Duel!"
『PhantomFire LP: 100, Hand: 5 (VS) Revenger LP: 4000, Hand: 5』
Fire purple orbs appeared in front of PhantomFire, turning into cards. He scanned it for the best combos available and smirked. "It seems that I'll end the duel quickly! I Normal Summon Gagaga Sister (Lv.2, ATK: 200)!" a small girl with blonde hair and green eyes appeared on the field wearing white magician robes.
"Gagaga?!" Revenger shouted. "Didn't you say that you were going to duel with an Infernity deck?"
"I never made that claim. All I said was that an Infernity would easily destroy you with a single card in hand." PhantomFire corrected him. "Not that you're in any position to complain, are you? You were so afraid of losing that you were ready to do anything to change the duel in your favor. That's why you backed away from your initial challenge to use only one card when I brought Infernity up. You didn't think what the chances that I was running the only deck that could make a one card FTK were."
"You…" Revenger growled.
"Don't worry about it." PhantomFire grinned. "Instead, worry about how you're going to survive because I'm going to teach you how a Traditional Card Game duelist duels! I activate Sister's effect to add Gagagadraw from the deck to my hand. Following that, I Special Summon Gagaga Clerk (Lv.2, ATK: 400) from my hand, since I control another Gagaga monster already on my field."
A young boy in magician clothes with a blue ice-cream in his hand and a young pink-haired woman in a white clerk outfit appeared on the field in front of PhantomFire.
"I activate the effect of Gagaga Sister! I target Sister and Clerk to change their levels to their combined levels!" the two monsters looked at each other and nodded before a bright light engulfed them.
Gagaga Sister, Lv.2 → Lv.4
Gagaga Clerk, Lv.2 → Lv.4
"Two Level Fours!?" Revenger took a step hack. "Xyz?"
"Xyz." PhantomFire nodded. "Using Sister and Clerk, I build the Overlay Network!"
A large purple ring appeared behind PhantomFire. The duelist took the holographic projections of his Monster Cards and threw them into the ring. In response, Sister and Clerk turned into orange energy spheres and flew into the ring as well, spiraling around its edges. The two spheres began to accelerate and spiral faster, until they became an orange blur.
"The desert warrior whose bullets always reach their target! Become the star of justice burning in the sky! Xyz Summon! Gagaga Cowboy (RANK: 4, DEF: 2400)!"
The orange blur exploded into a blinding light, opening a portal through which a cowboy with a torn red cloak and a pair of metal gauntlets attached to his arms materilized, taking a defensive position in front of PhantomFire.
"Cowboy's effect activates! When it's in Defense Position, I can use one Xyz Material to inflict eight hundred damage to you!" the Xyz Monster absorbed one of the orbs into its chest and its gauntlets transformed, turning into a pair of revolvers that it fired with, pushing Revenger back.
『Revenger LP: 4000 – 800 → 3200』
"T-that's just a scratch!" Revenger shouted.
"True, it is." PhantomFire nodded. "But the thing is, you idiots don't seem to realize a card's true potential. Take Gagaga Cowboy for instance. Its effect allows me to inflict eight hundred damage to you by using one Xyz Material. Its restriction is also what a real duelist refers to as a 'soft' once per turn. Also known as 'FTK in disguise' when it's stuck onto something that searches, special summons, or burns. Because, what are you even doing playing this game if your dueling style isn't more toxic than the air in Chernobyl?"
"Will you go faster please?" Terraspy crossed her arms.
"Party pooper." PhantomFire frowned. "Appear, the circuit of the past and future!" A riffle formed in the space behind PhantomFire and exploded, revealing an abyss of swirling black energy. "Arrowhead confirmed! Summoning condition is one Gagaga monster! I set Gagaga Cowboy in the Link Marker! Link Summon! Gagaga Apprentice!"
A slightly older version of Gagaga Sister came out of the void wearing the same hat as Gagaga Girl, and a darker version of the latter's shoulder pads. The little girl raised her arms over her head and a black magic staff with a green orb appeared in her hands.
Gagaga Apprentice
Attribute: DARK/Type: Spellcaster/Link/Effect
L-Markers: Bottom Left
ATK: 500/Link-1
1 "Gagaga" monster
Effect: This card cannot be used as Link Material for the Link Summon of a Link-1 monster. If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 "Gagaga" card from your Deck to your hand. If this card doesn't point to a monster, you can activate this effect: Target 1 "Gagaga" Xyz Monster in your GY; Special Summon that target to the zone this card points to, and if you do, attach this card to that target as an Xyz Material. You can only use each effect of "Gagaga Apprentice" once per turn.
"And just in case the deck you're using lacks that extra push required for it to turn into an FTK deck, there's nothing shameful to just google Custom Cards dot net and then print the best support you can find." Evan gestured toward his Link Monster. "Heck, my entire oGear deck is nothing but badly balanced Custom Cards that got permitted for use only because SOL is run by a bunch of Gremlins."
"I don't think anyone here is capable to follow your line thought," Terraspy commented.
PhantomFire sighed. "Of course they aren't. Apprentice's effect! Because she was Link Summoned, I can add Gagagaback to my hand. Then I activate Apprentice's second effect. Because there's no monster in the zone she points to, I can Special Summon Gagaga Cowboy (RANK: 4, DEF: 2400) from my Graveyard and attach Apprentice to it as Xyz Material."
Apprentice threw her staff on the ground, summoning a portal through which Gagaga Cowboy raised. Then, the Link Monster turned into an orange sphere of energy and flew around the Xyz monster.
"Cowboy's effect! I use one Xyz Material to inflict eight hundred damage to you!" Gagaga Cowboy's gauntlets turned into guns and it fired a second barrage onto Revenger.
『Revenger LP: 3200 – 800 → 2400』
"I activate Gagagadraw!" PhantomFire continued on. "At the cost of banishing Gagaga Sister, Clerk and Apprentice from my graveyard, I can draw two new cards! Then I activate Gagagawind to Special Summon Utopic Onomato-p-po-eia (Lv.4, ATK: 1500), I guess? And just because my new Utopic monster has this handy effect of being treated as a Gagaga monster, I can Gagaga Child (Lv.2, ATK: 800) and activate its effect to make it's level the same as Utopic Whatever's!"
Gagaga Child, Lv.2 → Lv.4
"Now, once more, I overlay my two Level Four monsters to build the Overlay Network!" The purple ring appeared behind PhantomFire once more and his monsters flew into it. "Xyz Summon! Gagaga Cowboy (RANK: 4, DEF: 2400)! And it's effect! I detach one Xyz Material to inflict eight hundred damage, again!"
The second Cowboy absorbed one of the orbs into its chest and fired its guns at Revenger. The former Knight of Hanoi growled, taking a step back while its avatar repaired itself from the smoking holes that Cowboy's guns left.
『Revenger LP: 2400 – 800 → 1600』
"H-how many times are you going to- Ow!" Revenger began before the wounds left by the Cowboy's effects spiked up.
"I'm still far from done!" PhantomFire raised his arm, summoning another black void in the sky. "Arrowheads confirmed! Summoning conditions are two Earth Monsters! I set my pair of Gagaga Cowboy in the Link Markers! Link Summon! Missus Radiant (ATK: 1400, Link-2)!" A dog-like monster appeared from the void, jumping in front of PhantomFire.
"While Missus Radiant is on the field, all EARTH monster gain five hundred attack and defense points." An orange aura surrounded the beast, increasing its attack power.
Missus Radiant, ATK: 1400 + 500 → ATK: 1900
"I activate the Equip Spell, Gagagarevenge! Raise once more, Utopic What-is-this-name (Lv.4, ATK: 1500)!" A large coffin rose from the ground and the small white warrior monster flew out of it. "And Utopic's effect! I Special Summon Gagaga Mancer (LV.4, DEF: 100) from my hand, but for the rest of this turn, I can't Special Summon, except for Xyz Monsters! And now, Gagaga Mancer's effect! I revive Gagaga Cowboy (RANK: 4, DEF: 2400) but for the rest of this turn, I can only Special Summon Gagaga monsters!"
"M-more Gagaga Xyz Monsters…" Revenger gulped.
"I overlay my two Level Four monsters to build the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Gagaga Cowboy (RANK: 4, DEF: 2400)!" A third cowboy appeared before PhantomFire and knelt in a defensive position. "Cowboy's effect activates!"
『Revenger LP: 1600 – 800 → 800』
"I-I am still standing!" Revenger growled.
"Now after this one, you won't me." PhantomFire grinned, turning the last card in his hand around. "I activate Overlay Regen! This card can be attached as Xyz Material to one of my monsters. Specifically, to the Gagaga Cowboy that my Mancer revived! And because he left the field, his once per turn effect is reset, so…"
"BOOM!"
『Revenger LP: 800 – 800 → 0』
『Winner: PhantomFire』
Gagaga Cowboy pulled its arm back, the smocking gun retracting back into its gauntlet as all of PhantomFire's monster disappeared. Revenger fell on his knees, defeated, without playing a single card, the bulky man collapsed on the ground with a bullet-sized hole between his eyes. The audience stared in shock at the downed duelist, some taking photos, while others, who had been recording the duel, began to post it on their social pages.
"Is he dead?" Terraspy walked over to the fallen duelist, observing his body.
"Unconscious." PhantomFire corrected her. "My company was able to reverse-engineer the virus used by Hanoi. Once the police get to his home, Overseer will install the anti-virus and free him."
"I see… but you didn't get any information from him." Terraspy turned to PhantomFire, looking him in the eyes. "What are we going to do now?"
"There's a server made using Hanoi's programming. I'll go check that out." PhantomFire then smirked. "And why did you say 'we', I thought you were done with the team."
Terraspy rolled her eyes. "You're my only guide around this place, so I'll stick around for now. Plus that, if we're going to duel someone, I can finally show you what my personal deck is capable of."
PhantomFire shook his head. It seemed that after two years, they were going to be working together again, even if Terraspy didn't want to admit it. It already looked like today was going to be one of these long days.
Roxy's POV
"It's been a long time since I've seen you around." Kusanagi smiled as he handled me the hotdog that I ordered.
"I've been out of town," I replied, as that was the story that Evan came up with. "I came immediately after I heard about your brother. I failed to help much, sadly."
"I heard from Yusaku that you did save his life and kept an enemy off his back while he was chasing the creature that stole Jin's consciousness, so you did help us a lot." I couldn't help but look away, too uncomfortable with this whole deal and my role in it.
I glanced at Firera, expecting her to rattle everything to Kusanagi, but she was silent, keeping her end of the bargain. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. Kusanagi and Yusaku weren't her allies, she worked with them because I and Aqua were working with them, but after our common goal ended and Aqua left, Firera chose to stay with me, fight alongside me, not Yusaku or Kusanagi.
"Were you and Yusaku able to learn anything about this new enemy?" I asked. Since I was already here, I could squeeze as much information as I could, right?
"There's only so little data that we were able to analyze. We know that Yusaku's opponent was able to run away in LINK VRAINS' restricted area. That's not something a regular user could do." Kusanagi told me. "They would need to have access given by either FullerCorp or SOL Technology."
"This morning Evan got called by the police. One of the workers in his company was found dead. Could he have been a mole?"
"It's possible." Kusanagi nodded. "If someone at FullerCorp helped this enemy to steal Jin's consciousness-"
"Evan's not involved, I can guarantee this." I interrupted him before he finished that sentence. "We are trying to help out with what we can, Kusanagi. But if this enemy has such influence that they could get someone who works for Evan to help them out, you and Yusaku are going to be outgunned in this fight."
"Don't forget that SOL Technology could be the one involved," Firera added. "They have been doing dirty work from behind the scenes since the beginning."
"That's also a possibility." I nodded. "Either way, I suggest you give Evan and Avice any update on your mission. They got far better equipment, so they should be able to resolve this crisis faster."
Kusanagi fell into silence. He just nodded and looked down. This entire fight was starting to get to him. Just after one crisis was resolved, another one happened.
What would await us at the end of this battle?
And finally, I got to the introduction of the sixth Destiny Gear - Arme Yamamoto. She was mentioned several times already, including in the "Destiny Gears: Diary" one-shot. She's sort-of the older sister of the non-LIGHT/DARK Destiny Gears, even though Takuma is older than her. Oh, also because of a screw-up with her character template, this chapter came out one week later.
Also, I'm not sure how it turned out, but the main part of this chapter was supposed to be revolving around Evan and Roxy's relationship, and the later's struggle to cope with the reality of being an AI inside a human's body - an idea that the writers of VRAINS sadly choose to use just to trick people. Also, since Roxy's current mental state is an almost exact copy of 10-years-old Evan, and she's been a good girl, that does mean that Evan wasn't a hellspawn since birth, hmm?
I apologize to anyone who might have found Evan's dark and dry sense of humor out of place, but being out of place is the definition of Evan's character so far. Seriously, everything wrong that could have happened in this story did happen all because of him.
Also, I don't want to give any spoilers about VRAINS' finale to those who haven't gotten that far, but Lightning is a gift that keeps on giving. Every scene that he had in the anime has only made me love his character more. Truly, the hero that VRAINS needed, but not the one it deserved.
Thanks to SakushiRyu and Insertname for their reviews and of course, not even the randomness of a Gagaga deck can stop the surging flames of an IRL player desiring to FTK everything in his path.
Thanks to everyone for reading, and I'll see you next time with a very special Tag-Duel.