Welcome back everyone to the long awaited chapter of "Signs of Renewal!" Fitting for this wonderful Halloween day, this chapter will feature ghosts, zombies, monsters, (a discount Kung-Fu Panda), and even someone in a Halloween costume! Enormous thanks goes to CorinnetheAnime for editing my work, Epsilon Tarantula for creating Neya's deck, and Nox Descious for creating the Duel between Gin, Akio, and Kuma. At the end of this chapter, there will be some announcements regarding the future of "Signs of Renewal" going forward, so please check that out when you are finished reading. With that out of the way, ENJOY!

Part 1: Chapter 11 – Escalation (Scene 4: Day Jobs Part 2)

Gin looked through the cards in her hand, the thoughts of her friends and family still in her mind. They were counting on her and with the cards she had, she could make a difference, first in this duel, and then in helping them.

"Just give up!" Benji growled, staring at her with a menacing expression on his face, "Unless you want me to do to you what I'm about to do to your slime ball of a butler!"

That did it for Gin. It was one thing for these thugs to just want to take her money, it was another thing to threaten her teacher, protector, and friend.

"You're not hurting him unless you get past me!" she squeaked, irritated to hear that her ten-year-old girl voice did not sound the least bit threatening, but relieved to feel that her fear had left her. Throwing down a card from her hand she continued with her turn.

"Since I control no monsters on my side of the field and you do, I summon the Level five monster, Earth Armor Ninja, from my hand!"

Through a blue portal, a tough-looking ninja wearing brown robes and metal armor plating over his upper arms and lower legs appeared to Gin's field. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator showed an ATK of 1600.

"Next…" Gin continued, pressing down on the accelerator in an effort to catch up, despite Benji's threatening movements and facial expressions, "…since I control a Ninja monster, I Special Summon the Level two monster, Terra Cotta Ninja, in defense position!"

Bursting from the track directly in front of her, a terra cotta statue of a ninja wielding a long spear appeared to Gin's field before the statue slowly bent its stiff limbs into a defensive stance as if it were alive. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed a DEF of 1800.

"A level five and a level two monster." Kuma observed. "Are you gonna summon a Tuner now and bring out your expensive Synchro Monster?"

"Yeah…" Benji agreed, a sneer coming across his face, "…think you're gonna flaunt your wealth at us before we take it back from you?"

"My monsters aren't just materials for a Synchro Summon!" Gin retorted, pulling another card from her hand, "My ninja's strength comes from their teamwork and friendship!"

"Sounds like something that came out of a kid's cartoon!" Benji guffawed.

Ignoring him, Gin continued with her move.

"I normal summon the Level one Tuner monster, Ninja Kid, in attack position!"

As Gin threw down her card, her deck's signature monster appeared next to Gin's bike in a puff of black smoke. Twirling his bamboo staff through the air, the diminutive ninja let out a high-pithed "Ha!" before pointing his staff at Gin's opponents while a holographic indicator appeared and showed an ATK of 100.

"Awwwww…" Benji smirked, "…it's so cute! All dressed up as a ninja like a kid for Halloween! ARE YOU TRYING TO INSULT ME!?" He suddenly bellowed, looking enraged, "IS THAT SUPPOSED TO SCARE ME!?"

"CAREFUL BENJI!" Kuma growled, "That monster is a tuner! She can use it to Synchro Summon a very powerful Level eight monster!"

"I told you before!" Gin countered, "I don't just use my monsters as Synchro Materials."

"Then what the heck are you gonna do with those things!?" Benji sneered. "In case you haven't noticed, not one of these monsters holds a candle to Scarred Warrior!"

"That's why help is on the way!" Gin explained, extending her hand towards her monster, "I activate the effect of my Ninja Kid. When it is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon up to two other Ninja Kid from my hand or deck in face-up attack position! So come forth! Two more Ninja Kid!"

Leaping into the air, Gin's Ninja Kid threw down two smoke bombs, which exploded onto the field in front of Gin, covering both herself and her monsters in a black cloud of smoke. When the black cloud cleared away, two more Ninja Kids stood right next to the original Ninja Kid, each of them standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their staffs drawn.

"Oh no!" Benji mumbled sarcastically, clearly annoyed, "More weak monsters."

"The effect of each Ninja Kid is applied!" Gin countered, dark eyes narrowing as she regarded Benji, "Each of them gain five-hundred attack for each Ninja monster I control!"

"WHAT!?" Benji exclaimed as the ATK of all three of Gin's Ninja Kids rose to 2600.

"Next…" Gin continued, "I equip my first Ninja Kid with Fuhma Shuriken in order to increase its ATK to 3300!"

In a flash of light, Ninja Kid's bamboo staff vanished before being replaced by a set of four-pointed throwing stars in each hand as his ATK rose to 3300.

"Time to stop you!" Gin declared, extending her hand towards her monsters, "Ninja Kid one, attack Benji's Scarred Warrior!"

Leaping forward, Gin's first Ninja Kid twirled through the air, rapidly throwing a set of shurikens at Benji's monster with each twirl.

"Speed World Accelerations effect!" Benji declared, "I pay my last Speed Counter in order to increase Scarred Warrior's attack to twenty-six hundred!"

Jumping backwards, Scarred Warrior caught Ninja Kid's shurikens in the folded bandages of his left arm before brushing them out with his right arm. Shockwaves from the attack struck at Benji, lowering his Life Points to 2900.

"YOU CAN'T BEAT ME!" Benji roared, "My Scarred Warrior can't be destroyed by battle, and now its attack is equal to the attack of your other monsters!"

"It can only be protected once per turn." Gin corrected, extending her hand to her other Ninja Kid. "And I can increase the attack of my monsters as well! I pay one Speed Counter in order to increase the attack of my second Ninja Kid to thirty-one hundred and I'll use it to finish your Scarred Warrior! Attack!" she ordered.

Glowing with light as its ATK rose to 3100, Gin's second Ninja Kid charged forward, connecting his staff with the blade of Scarred Warrior's left arm. Scarred Warrior was strong enough to slam Ninja Kid's staff to the ground, but just as the massive cyborg warrior was about to slam his right fist into Ninja Kid's face, Ninja Kid leaped out of the way before jumping on Scarred Warrior's face. Roaring with rage, Scarred Warrior swung his fist back in order to knock Ninja Kid off his head… only to end up hitting himself in the face once Ninja Kid quickly leaped off his body. Staggering from the force of his own self-inflicted blow, Scarred Warrior barely had time to register what was going on before Gin grabbed Ninja Kid's staff from off the track, handed the weapon to her monster, and watched as Ninja Kid used the rod to leap behind Scarred Warrior, and trip the massive cyborg with the staff as the monster staggered backwards. With a final blow to the head, Gin's second Ninja Kid defeated the dazed Scarred Warrior before Benji's monster disappeared in a burst of holographic sparks and Benji's Life Points dropped to 2400.

"NO!" Benji screamed, petulantly tearing at his hair in frustration. "NO! NO! NO!"

"The effect of my second Ninja Kid activates!" she declared. "Since he destroyed a monster by battle, I can banish him in order to Special Summon one Ninja monster from my deck or graveyard in either face-up attack position or face-down defense position. The monster I choose to summon is the Level four monster, Air Armor Ninja!"

In a swirling vortex of wind, a new ninja wearing green robes appeared to Gin's field. Indicators showed the monster had an ATK of 1400.

"When Air Armor Ninja is summoned, I can reduce its Level by one in order to make it a Level three monster." She explained as Air Armor Ninja assumed a combat stance while indicators showed its Level drop to three.

"And now to finish you off!" Gin roared, extending her hand towards her last monster. "Ninja Kid three, direct attack!"

"KUMA, HELP ME!" Benji panicked, looking at Kuma with desperation evident on his features.

Kuma didn't look like he was moved one bit by Benji's pleas.

"It's your own fault!" Kuma growled. "Help yourself!"

Upon hearing this, Gin looked over at Kuma in shock, surprised to find that she was feeling just a little bit of pity for Benji. Still, Benji had threatened her and the people she cared about, she couldn't let him win. Speeding forward and averting her eyes, she heard the crack of Ninja Kid's staff against Benji's bike before Benji roared with fury and his bike abruptly stopped, losing all its momentum as Benji lost the duel.

"You WILL pay for that!" Kuma spat as he sped his bike through another checkpoint, raising his Life Points to 4000 and his Speed Counters to six. Looking at Kuma's expression, which had started to become more savage and feral, Gin began to feel uneasy again. Perhaps attacking Benji had been the wrong move. Thinking back on the way he had just treated Benji, Kuma now seemed to be a far bigger threat than either Unagi or Benji, whose words had turned out to be far more of a threat than their actual dueling power. Could they have been victims all along? Bullied into helping Kuma out of fear and the desperation of poverty, and left with nothing but their attempts to fit in with the cruel duelist by talking as callously and threateningly as possible?

But Gin didn't have time to think about that now. Right now, whether or not Benji, Unagi, or even Kuma were victims, they were still threatening both herself and Akio. If she was going to protect any of the people she cared about, she had to defeat Kuma.

"Now that my Battle-Phase is complete, it's time to prepare for the next battle." Gin declared, "I tune my Level one Ninja Kid with my Level three Air Armor Ninja and my Level two Terra Cotta Ninja in order to Synchro Summon!"

Akio nodded his head in approval as Gin's monsters aligned in a column of light for the Synchro Summon and Gin began her summoning chant:

"Masters of the way of the shadows, immerse yourself in your craft and bring forth the silent warrior whose silver shadow dances in the night! SYNCHRO SHOUKAN! APPEAR NOW! SILVER SHADOW ARMOR NINJA!"

At the conclusion of her summoning chant, a silent ninja warrior clad in silver armor descended from the heights of the trees before landing right next to Gin and unsheathing his sword. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared next to Gin's monster and showed an ATK of 2500. Kuma's Synchro Monster, Warchief-Bear Black Shaman, began growling at Silver Shadow Armor Ninja, red eyes glowing menacingly against the darkness, but Gin's monster didn't flinch as it assumed a defensive stance in front of Gin's monster, ready to protect her at all costs.

Feeling comfort from the presence of her monster, Gin continued with her turn.

"Now it's time for a little light in this dark forest!" she declared. "I activate the continuous Magic Card, Ninjitsu Art of Coordinated Attack! With this Magic Card, I can banish one Ninja monster from my graveyard in order to give that monster's abilities to another Ninja monster I control and increase its attack by one-thousand! With this card, I choose to banish the Air Armor Ninja in my graveyard in order to give my Earth Armor Ninja the same effect as Air Armor Ninja! Use his power to reduce your Level to four now, Earth Armor Ninja!" Gin commanded.

Nodding his head obediently, Earth Armor Ninja clamped his hands together in a meditative pose as his ATK rose to 2600 and his Level dropped to four.

"With this, I am ready for a second Synchro Summon!" Gin declared. "I tune my last Ninja Kid with my now Level four Earth Armor Ninja in order to Synchro Summon!"

Bowing his head in respect to Earth Armor Ninja, Ninja Kid rushed towards the elder ninja, who threw the little boy into the air. Morphing into a single ring of green light, Ninja Kid encompassed Earth Armor Ninja in his light as Gin began her summoning chant:

"Masters of the way of the shadows, immerse yourself in the darkness that comes before the dawn, and rise up as a warrior with the power of the sun's heat! SYNCHRO SHOUKAN! APPEAR NOW! SUN SHADOW ARMOR NINJA!"

Bursting onto the field in a flash of sunlight, Sun Shadow Armor Ninja illuminated the dark shadows of the forest, banishing the twisted shadows and revealing the horrific figures lurking behind the trees to be nothing more than twisted stumps, branches, and common forest animals such as deer and rabbits. Hefting his two sun-ornament decorated katanas into the air, Sun Shadow Armor Ninja let out a mighty war cry before a holographic indicator appeared and displayed an ATK of 2300.

Kuma winced at the light that was shining in his eyes, but his expression looked more annoyed than actually concerned.

"You don't scare me!" he snarled, "I can easily tear down both of those monsters!"

"Not before I damage you!" Gin countered. "Since the Ninja Kid equipped with Fuhma Shuriken is no longer on my field, Fuhma Shuriken goes to the graveyard and inflicts seven-hundred damage to your Life Points!"

Rushing forward, Sun Shadow Armor Ninja pulled a pair of shurikens from the folds of his robes before throwing them at an angry Kuma, lowering the massive duelist's Life Points to 3300.

"I set one card face-down." Gin declared, bracing herself for Kuma's counterattack. "Turn end."

Above their heads, the score counters showed Kuma's Speed Counters rise to seven, Akio's rise to three, and Gin's rise to five. Gripping the handles of his bike as he gained another burst of speed, Kuma raced forward, rage and concentration hardening his features, until his bike blasted through the checkpoint, raising his Life Points to 3800 and his Speed Counters to eight.

"You Top scum have just made the biggest mistake of your lives." Kuma growled, looking back at his two opponents. "I've had enough of you thinking you can just take from us without giving anything back! I was willing to let you both walk away unharmed, but now you've crossed a line! If you hurt my friends, then I hurt you, badly! DRAW!" he roared, before yanking a card from the top of his deck.

"You're going to pay Top dog, and pay dearly!" Kuma repeated, stretching his hand towards his Black Shaman. "First, I use my Black Shaman's effect to Special Summon my Warlord-Bear Grizzly Hero from my graveyard!"

Growling a chant in an archaic language, Black Shaman shook his staff in the air, summoning a black portal in the ground through which Grizzly Hero appeared to Kuma's field. Raising his battle axe into the air, Grizzly Hero let out a mighty war cry as his ATK rose to 2200 with the effect of War Bear Banner.

"I next activate the effect of my War Bear Encampment!" Kuma declared. "Using my Field Spell, I Normal Summon my Level four Warlord-Bear Forge Master from my hand! Come forth now!"

From the distance, Gin heard the sound of a massive animal charging through the forest. As Sun Shadow Armor Ninja turned himself around to face the direction Gin was looking, the light from his armor revealed a burly Andean Bear wearing a blacksmith apron and carrying a massive iron hammer in its hand, lumbering through the woods, plowing through branches as it foamed at the mouth and charged in the direction of the other riders. Bursting through the trees lining the track, Forge Master raised its hammer into the air, bellowing loudly as an indicator displayed an ATK of 1600, which rose to 1800 due to the effect of War Bear Banner.

"Next…" Kuma continued, "…I will further augment my forces by Normal Summoning Warlord-Bear Panda Swordsman from my hand!"

From the tops of one of the trees, a large panda wearing a conical hat, bamboo mask, and ragged bandit robes flipped onto Kuma's field before unsheathing a set of large curved Japanese broadswords with long chains attached to the end of the handles and coiled around its wrists. Twirling the swords around by their chains, Kuma's monster seemed to be taunting Akio and Gin's monsters as indicators displayed an ATK of 1900, which rose to 2100.

"Do whatever it takes to get to the next checkpoint before Kuma!" Akio warned, speeding towards Kuma on his own bike. "I'll hold him off while you do!"

"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL SHE'S PAID FOR WHAT HER ILK HAVE DONE!" Kuma roared, savagely moving his bike directly in front of Gin's path in order to block her off. "I activate the effect of my Warlord-Bear Forge Master! Once per turn, I can pay one-thousand Life Points in order to add one War Bear Magic or Trap Card from my deck to my hand."

"Useless!" Akio retorted. "I have sealed off your Magic and Trap Cards, and I am not about to undo that seal!"

"I'm not that big of an idiot, Top's Dog!" Kuma growled, "I'm not doing this just to get a card I can't use, I'm taking back what the Tops have stolen from us! Or did you forget about the effect of my Black Shaman?"

Akio's eyes suddenly widened as he realized what Kuma was about to do.

"That's right." Kuma sneered, "It's time for another taste of my Warlord-Bear's hospitality! Just like my other Warlord-Bear monsters, if I control a Warchief-Bear monster, I can make my opponent pay five-hundred Life Points for the effect instead, and with Black Shaman's power, the cost is doubled! GIVE BACK WHAT YOU STOLE FROM US NOW, TOPS SLIME!" Kuma roared, "NOBLE THIEVERY!"

Kuma's Warlord-Bear Forge Master charged towards Gin, raising his hammer into the air like a club. In desperation, Akio tried to maneuver his bike in front of Gin, but Kuma's monster bashed Akio aside, causing Gin's butler to nearly lose control as the monster smacked his hammer against Gin's bike, reducing her Life Points to 2000.

"GIN!" Akio called out, face torn between feelings of rage and concern.

"I'm okay!" Gin gasped, struggling to right her bike after getting smacked by Kuma's monster. She had to tell herself that she and Akio still held an advantage over Kuma. They just couldn't let him intimidate them with his monsters.

"I'm not done yet!" Kuma roared, causing Gin to flinch despite her efforts to compose herself, "It's time to behold the true ace of my deck! In order to Synchro Summon with Warlord-Bear Grizzly Hero, I have to pay one-thousand life points. However, thanks to Black Shaman, you will be paying those Life Points instead!" he snarled, pointing at Gin, "GO GRIZZLY HERO! BRING JUSTICE DOWN UPON THE PRIVELEGED FEW! NOBLE THIEVERY!"

"STOP!" Akio roared, swerving his bike in front of Kuma's monster. Snarling with rage, Grizzly Hero quickly bashed Akio aside with a swing of its mighty battle-axe, causing Akio to swerve out of control once again, before the large grizzly bear pounced forward, bashed both of Gin's Ninja's aside with two blows from his weapon, and slammed against Gin's bike, causing Gin to almost fall off as her Life Points dropped to 1000.

"THE TIME IS AT HAND! JUSTICE WILL NOW BE DISPENSED!" Kuma bellowed, raising his hands into the air as Grizzly Hero morphed into a column of four green rings which descended on his Warlord-Bear Forge Master as he began his summoning chant:

"WARRIORS OF PRIMAL FURY, CONJURE FORTH THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER WHO BRAVELY LEADS THE ATTACK OF EVERY BATTLE! SYNCHRO SHOUKAN! APPEAR NOW! WARCHIEF BEAR WHITE CHAMPION!"

The force of the roar that emanated from the center of the column of white light that erupted onto the field caused the surrounding trees of the forest to rock from the sheer force of its fury. Stomping onto the field, a massive fifteen foot tall polar bear wearing bright steel armor, a scratched bronze helmet, and an enormous ragged black cape, raised a pair of massive chipped battle axes into the air before letting out another furious roar. Many patches of its fur were marked with scars and purple war paint and several patches of skin even carried the shafts of long broken arrows. On its back it carried the banner of the War Bears, a pair of two-handed swords, and a massive satchel filled to the brim with plunder. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed an ATK of 3400 which quickly rose to 3600 due to the effect of War Bear Banner.

"YOU'RE BOTH FINISHED!" Kuma roared.

"Not yet!" Gin hollered back, steadying her bike. "Trap activate! Ninjitsu Art of Rust Mist! Now the monster you just Special Summoned has its ATK halved!"

In front of Gin, a trap card flipped open. From the center of the trap card, a thick cloud of dark watery mist billowed outwards until the field was completely covered in wet fog. Straining his eyes, Kuma managed to make out the forms of his War Bears on the field and the distant shimmering of Gin's Sun Shadow Armor Ninja. Bellowing with fury, Warchief-Bear White Champion braced himself as Sun Shadow Armor Ninja charged forward. When the glowing ninja was just a few feet from White Champion, White Champion raised his battle axe to cut the puny ninja in half, when suddenly, the mist directly between White Champion and Sun Shadow dispersed. Howling in agony as the sudden flash of sunlight burned his eyes, White Champion dropped his axes to the ground, not even noticing Silver Shadow Armor Ninja suddenly appear on the massive Polar Bears back before strapping a crackling bomb to the back of White Champion's breast-plate. Kuma roared at the silent ninja, who regarded the enraged duelist for only a moment before raising his finger to his hooded lips in a "shh" gesture and disappearing along with Sun Shadow Armor Ninja in a swirling cloud of dark mist. Not realizing what was happening, White Champion recovered from his blindness and made a grab for his axes, only to howl in even more agony when the bomb on his back exploded, stripping him of his chest plate and leaving a smoking wound in his back. When the mist cleared, the rest of White Champion's armor had cankered with rust, reducing his ATK to a mere 1800.

"You hurt… my… ace?" Kuma exclaimed, staring at his wounded Synchro Monster in stunned disbelief.

"You're plan has failed." Akio declared, pulling forward on his bike. "Your strongest monster now only has average strength. Gin and I are NOT interested in fighting you or any of your companions. Leave now and we will leave you alone."

Kuma, however, didn't seem to be listening to them.

"Why?" he murmured to himself. "Why does this always happen to us? Why after I give my all do I always come up short? Why couldn't I save mom? Why couldn't I save dad? Why can't I help Neya!?"

"Neya?" Gin asked, listening to what Kuma was muttering, "Who's Neya?"

Kuma clenched his fist, peering through his helmet, Gin could almost swear she saw tears in his eyes. "You never gave up after they left us. You did everything you could to provide for us. I wish I could be like you. I wish I could face this world with optimism like you can."

He paused before glaring at Gin and Akio.

"You never gave up, no matter how hard things got for us, SO NEITHER WILL I!"

"There's no point in fighting!" Akio roared, "We're not your enemies!"

"I'll never stop fighting you until the Tops are taken down and I can give Neya the city she deserves!" Kuma roared back. "You'll never understand the life of a Common until you've had EVERYTHING taken from you! Once you lose everything, you learn that it's fight for the little you need to survive or die with nothing! So until I draw my last breath, I won't stop fighting! And I can STILL fight! I activate the effect of my Warchief-Bear White Champion! Even if he has been weakened, he is still not defeated! Once per turn, I can destroy cards my opponent controls up to the number of Warlord-Bear and Warchief-Bear monsters I control! Using this effect, I target your Great Shogun Shien, Legendary Six Samurai Shi En, and Gateway of the Six!"

Roaring with renewed vigor, White Champion hefted his axes into the air before charging towards Akio and his monsters, throwing his axes towards both of Akio's monsters once he was within eight meters of them.

"Akio!" Gin cried, not wanting him to nearly get knocked off his bike again.

"I activate the effects of both my Legendary Six Samurai Shi En and Great Shogun Shien!" Akio declared, extending his hand towards his monsters. "If either of them would be destroyed, I can tribute another Six Samurai monster I control instead. Using their effects I tribute Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and Legendary Six Samurai Kizan instead!"

Bravely sprinting forward, Grandmaster and Kizan each leaped in front of Great Shogun Shien and Shi En, taking the blows of the axes instead before disintegrating into bursts of yellow holographic sparks. However, after surviving the attack from White Champion, Akio's remaining monsters were unable to stop White Champion as he leaped over Akio's bike before smashing Gateway of the Six into rubble with his massive bear paws.

"Thanks to the second effect of White Champion…" Kuma declared, "…I can set one of the cards I destroyed with his effect to my field. So using this effect, I will set Gateway of the Six to my side of the field, face-down."

"That card will do you no good!" Akio countered, watching as the rubble from his gate transformed into a stream of light that flew over to Kuma's field before materializing into a face-down card as White Champion leaped back behind Kuma's bike.

"Maybe not." Kuma agreed, "But it sure felt good."

"We don't want to fight you!" Gin protested. "Just stop. Well leave you alone and-…"

"Your hand has been in my life since the day I was born." Kuma growled, glaring at Gin. "You and your kind have been crushing me, squeezing me, and doing everything else you can do to keep me down. No more. I'm breaking the shackles. I'm taking back what's ours, for me and EVERYONE else I care about!"

He looked up at the holographic indicators showing each player's Speed Counters and grinned to himself.

"Commons like me have stayed in this game because we've been willing to give everything to continue fighting! I activate the effect of Speed World Acceleration! By paying two speed counters, I increase the attack of my Warchief-Bear Black Shaman by one-thousand until the end of this turn! Furthermore, I will pay two more Speed Counters to increase White Champion's attack to twenty-eight hundred, and one more Speed Counter to increase Panda Swordsman's attack to twenty-six hundred!"

Letting out three unified roars, all three of Kuma's monsters began glowing with auras of red energy as their attacks increased thanks to the effect of the turbo field.

"I'm tearing you from your throne, little girl." Kuma breathed, eyes burning with fury. "Warchief-Bear Black Shaman! Destroy Gin's Sun Shadow Armor Ninja!"

"Trap activate!" Akio countered, extending his hand towards his field. "Honorable Sacrifice of the Six Samurai! Until the end of this turn, the attack and defense of my Legendary Six Samurai Shi En is cut in half, however, you can only select Shi En now as an attack target and it cannot be destroyed by battle once per turn!"

"AKIO!" Gin cried, realizing what he was doing.

"FOCUS EVERYTHING ON GETTING AHEAD OF KUMA AND GETTING TO THE CHECKPOINT FIRST!" Akio roared, "I'LL HOLD HIM OFF HERE!"

"IF YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU-…" Kuma began.

Suddenly, roaring with the fury of a lion, Akio and his monsters charged forward, coming face-to-face with Kuma and his monsters and effectively boxing Kuma in as his monsters held Akio's assault back.

"GO!" Akio ordered, golden eyes burning with intensity.

Gin looked on with horror, tears welling up in her eyes. Clamping her hands together and bowing her head while holding back sobs, she slammed down on her bikes accelerator and roared forward, ignoring the battle between Akio and Kuma.

"BLACK SHAMAN, ATTACK SHI EN!" Kuma roared, nearly foaming at the mouth with rage.

"SPEED WORLD ACCELERATION!" Akio countered as the massive Black Bear swung his staff down at Akio and Shi En, "I PAY TWO SPEED COUNTERS TO NEGATE THE ATTACK!"

Gin's bike was only a few feet away from Kuma and Akio's position now.

"I PAY TWO MORE SPEED COUNTERS TO INCREASE WHITE CHAMPION'S ATTACK TO THIRTY-EIGHT HUNDRED!" Kuma bellowed, matching the volume of his ace monster's roar as it unsheathed its massive battle-axes. "ATTACK SHI EN! JUSTIFIED PLUNDER!"

"I pay my last Speed Counter to increase Shi En's attack to one-thousand seven hundred and fifty!" Akio countered, riding up alongside Shi En as his samurai barely managed to parry White Champion's massive blows with well-timed blocks from his flaming sword. However, thanks to the force of White Champion's assault, Akio was unable to evade the damage as he was nearly thrown off his bike from the force of the impact and his Life Points were reduced to 1950.

Gin managed to pull ahead, zooming past the other two duelists as Kuma managed to bust up Akio's wall of monster's with White Champion's attack. Slamming down on the accelerator, Kuma attempted to pull ahead and knock Gin away with his bike, but Akio had already managed to speed forward once again with his monsters and engage Kuma, taking the massive duelist's attention away from Gin as she sped forward.

"TRAITOR!" Kuma yelled, intentionally slamming the rear of his own bike against the front of Akio's smaller bike. "I'LL MAKE YOU GIVE BACK WHAT YOU'VE STOLEN AS WELL! As long as Panda Swordsman is on the field, any time my opponent takes battle-damage, I gain Life Points equal to the damage he took! Go Panda Swordsman! SOCIAL EQUALIZER!"

Panda Swordsman blocked a sword blow from Shi En before kicking the samurai away with a kick below the belt. Quickly clamping its paws together, it began chanting to itself until a green aura surrounded both Panda Swordsman and Kuma as his Life Points rose to 5850.

"I pay my last speed counter…" Kuma growled, "…and increase Panda Swordsman's attack to thirty-one hundred! GO PANDA SWORDSMAN! ATTACK AND DESTROY LEGENDARY SIX SAMURAI SHI EN!"

Slamming into each other, Akio's samurai and Kuma's Warlord-Bear each met in the center of the two duelists, swords pressing against each other as they contended against the strength of their respective opponent. Baring its teeth, Panda Swordsman let out a low growl before bashing its massive head against Shi En, knocking the Samurai back before Kuma's monster delivered a spinning kick to Shi En's chest, knocking the monster against Akio's bike and causing both Akio and his monster to nearly tumble onto the highway. Shi En managed to quickly leap to his feet, but the second he had steadied himself, Panda Swordsman swung his blade against Shi En's katana with a powerful blow, disarming the samurai before Panda Swordsman brought his bear fists down on Shi En's helmeted head and knocked the samurai to his knees. Raising his sword into the air like an executioner, Panda Swordsman prepared to deliver the final blow.

"I sacrifice Enishi…" Akio groaned, "…in order to prevent the destruction of Legendary Six Samurai Shi En." Glancing over to his right, Akio sighed with pain and satisfaction as Gin sped through the checkpoint, raising her Life Points to 1500 and increasing her Speed Counters to six. She was now far in the lead, safe from Kuma's efforts to try and ram her.

Upon hearing Akio's command, Enishi flipped forward in front of the gasping Shi En, taking Panda Swordsman's blow in the neck as the massive bear warrior brought his blade down. As Enishi exploded in a shower of sparks, Akio and his remaining two monsters were blown back as his Life Points dropped to 600 while Kuma's rose to 7200.

Upon finishing his attack, Kuma roared with frustration as he saw Gin far in the lead.

"Victory will still be mine." He threatened. "Even if I have to wait till my next turn to get it. I've been waiting all my life for the Tops to receive the justice they deserve. I can wait just a little while longer. TURN END!" Kuma barked as he and Akio's Speed Counters rose to one while Gin's Speed Counters rose to seven.

"Watash-…" Akio groaned, panting from the blows of the previous battle but wearing a satisfied smile on his somewhat bloodied and bruised face, "…watashi no turn… DRAW!"

Wiping some blood from his lips, Akio commenced his turn, smiling with the confidence of a general who knew that victory was assured.

"What are you so happy about!?" Kuma snarled, glaring down at Akio with suspicion.

"This is…" Akio panted, "…this is your last chance to walk away without getting hurt… Kuma-san."

"WHAT!?" Kuma exclaimed, looking down at Akio with an incredulous expression on his face. "YOU'RE INSANE! I have the advantage here in case you haven't noticed! Even if you managed to drain my Speed Counters, I still have the advantage in Life Points and my monsters are strong! Even if Gin chooses to use her Speed Counters to power up her own monsters, she would still need to pay 1000 Life Points to attack any of my monsters with War Bear Encampment on the field! Furthermore, thanks to my Black Shaman, I won't even need to attack any of you! I can just drain each of your Life Points by making you both pay for my card effects!"

"Then it's a good thing I'll be getting rid of one avenue for your extortion." Akio grinned. "I normal summon to the field the Level three monster, The Six Samurai Kamon!"

Through a blue portal, a smaller samurai in plain brown armor appeared to Akio's field. In one of his hands, he carried a bomb with a lit fuse. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed an ATK of 1500.

"Kamon's effect activates!" Akio triumphantly declared, "Since I control another Six Samurai monster, I can target one face-up Magic or Trap Card and destroy it! With this effect, I destroy your War Bear Encampment!"

Leaping high into the air, Kamon pulled out a set of eight bombs, one bomb between each finger of his hands, and began throwing them into segments of the forest. Within the forest, Akio saw numerous tents and trees get blown to splinters as each bomb went off. Through the gaps Kamon created in the dark forest, sunlight streamed onto the track-way, illuminating the path forward.

"TRAITOR!" Kuma roared again, "TOPS DOGS LIKE YOU DESERVE NO MERCY!"

"Thieves without honor deserve no respect!" Akio countered, "I pay one speed counter to increase my Great Shogun Shien's attack to three-thousand! Attack Kuma's Panda Swordsman!"

"I pay one speed counter to increase my own monster's attack to twenty-six hundred!" Kuma countered. "Furthermore, none of my monsters can be destroyed by battle!"

"But you'll still take the damage." Akio replied as Great Shogun Shien charged towards Panda Swordsman, blue flames billowing out from the end of his sword. Spinning his swords around by the chains, Panda Swordsman managed to keep Great Shogun Shien at bay, but not before Akio's monster managed to send a slash of flame towards Kuma, reducing his Life Points to 6800.

"Legendary Six Samurai Shi En…" Akio ordered, "…attack Warlord-Bear Panda Swordsman!"

"WHAT!?" Kuma sputtered, eyes widening in disbelief. "Why would you do that!? Even if Shi En's attack is back to twenty-five hundred now, it's still lower than Panda Swordsman's attack! Plus, you don't even have any more Speed Counters to boost its attack!"

"YES HE DOES!" Gin roared, staring back at Kuma with a murderous expression on her face. "I'm not going to let you hurt him anymore! I pay one of my own Speed Counters in order to increase Legendary Six Samurai Shi En's attack to three-thousand!"

Kuma gawked at Gin in disbelief. "You… gave your own Speed Counters… for him?"

Gin nodded her head, fury evident on her face.

"Loyalty and respect can transcend classes." Akio explained. "Unlike you, who selfishly kept your Speed Counters to yourself when you could have saved Benji or Unagi, all the while claiming to be a champion for the weak, Gin has showed true selflessness in this duel and showed that the Tops and Commons can indeed work together. And now I shall put her gift to good use! Continue with the attack, Blue Flame Katana!"

Leaping forward, Shi En began engaging Panda Swordsman, using his own flaming katana to disarm Panda Swordsman of its weapons by thrusting his sword forward, wrapping Panda Swordsman's chains around the blade, and pulling forward to remove the weapon from each arm. Casting the weapons aside and slashing through the air, Shi En sent a burst of blue flame into Panda Swordsman, knocking the bear back and reducing Kuma's Life Points to 6400.

Kuma's head darted back and forth between Gin and Akio, staring at the Top child and Common butler in disbelief. Looking at his expression, Akio could see that Kuma looked almost touched by the apparent teamwork. However, clenching his fist and bearing his teeth, he quickly shrugged off whatever he was feeling and resumed his aggressive stance.

"You think you can indoctrinate me?" he asked, eyes thinning into slits. "All she did was throw you one Speed Counter out of pity, when she could have given you a lot more. You, on the other hand, let yourself get beaten to a pulp just to protect a spoiled brat! I don't need that kind of lopsided charity. It's not going to ever help the Commons, and it won't help you win this duel."

"I may not be able to beat you now." Akio agreed. "But Gin and I knew what we were doing. Helping her obtain her current number of Speed Counters was essential to our united victory. Gin knows I have always been willing to care for her, without any thought of reward, and was willing to even sacrifice myself for her sake. However…" he observed, looking over at Gin, who was still glaring furiously at Kuma, "…I don't think she appreciates it when someone lays a hand on any of her friends. Turn end." Akio finished, nodding his head to Gin as he and Kuma's Speed Counters rose to one While Gin's rose to seven.

Gin's face had darkened significantly. Her expression, which had once been scared and timid, now looked fierce, furious, and determined.

"Atashi no turn…" she hissed, "…DRAW!"

Yanking a card from the top of her deck with far more force than was necessary, she continued with her turn.

"I activate the effect of Sun Shadow Armor Ninja!" Gin declared, "Once per turn, I can Special Summon one Ninja Monster from my hand, and if I do, Sun Shadow Armor Ninja is destroyed! So come forth, my Level two Tuner Monster, Ninja Trainee!"

Leaping into the air, Sun Shadow Armor Ninja spread out his arms, Sun crests on his armor glowing with brilliant golden light. Vanishing in a flash of light, Sun Shadow was immediately replaced by a younger female Ninja just a few years older than Gin with long black hair tied into a ponytail, black robes with a red sash, and a silver headband with a crescent moon mark over her forehead. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed an ATK of 400, which quickly rose to 1400.

"Ninja Trainee gains five-hundred attack for each Ninja monster I control." Gin explained. "But her most important effect comes when she is Special Summoned. When Ninja Trainee is Special Summoned, I can target one Ninja Monster in my graveyard and Special Summon it in either face-up attack position or face-down defense position! So come forth! Ninja Kid in attack position!"

Putting her finger to her forehead, Ninja Trainee closed her eyes in concentration until a black portal appeared and Ninja Kid rose to Gin's field in a column of white light.

"You hurt my friend…" Gin growled at Kuma, "…even when he tried to show you mercy! You're cruel and evil and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else anymore! I tune my Level one Ninja Kid with my Level Six Silver Shadow Armor Ninja in order to summon my ultimate ninja!" she declared, raising her hands into the air.

Ninja Kid and Ninja Trainee nodded their heads towards each other before backing away. Running forward, Ninja Kid leaped towards Ninja Trainee, who caught Ninja Kid's foot in her open palms before throwing the diminutive ninja into the air. Spinning into the air before assuming a crane stance mid-air, Ninja Kid morphed into a single ring of green light which descended onto Silver Shadow Armor Ninja, causing a massive pillar of golden light to appear around Gin's Synchro Monster as she commenced her summoning chant:

"Masters of the ways of shadows, allow the dark shadows of the night to depart now and reveal the glory and honor of the warrior in the golden light of a new day! SYNCHRO SHOKAN! ARAWAYO! LEVEL SEVEN! GOLDEN SHADOW ARMOR NINJA!"

In a haze of brilliant golden mist, Gin's new Synchro Monster rose to the field. His elegant golden armor glinted with the light of the sunlight and bore the crest of a rising sun on its chest and head piece. White cloth concealed the lower half of the Ninja's face, leaving only a pair of brilliant glowing golden eyes and a long mane of glowing white hair revealed. In each of the Ninja's hands, he carried an elegant golden katana which seemed to burn with the intensity of the sun's heat itself. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed an ATK of 2800.

"Sun Shadow Armor Ninja's effect activates!" Gin declared, "Once per turn, if he is in the graveyard, I can equip him to one Warrior Type Monster I control! I equip him to Golden Shadow Armor Ninja!"

Over Golden Shadow Armor Ninja's shoulders, a brilliant gold-and-white cape with the crest of the sun appeared. Raising his swords into the air, Golden Shadow let out a mighty war cry as the intensity of his glow grew.

"But I'm not done yet!" Gin declared, "I also use my Ninjitsu Art of Coordinated Attack to banish Silver Shadow from my graveyard in order to increase my Golden Shadow's attack by one-thousand and grant him Silver Shadow's abilities!"

As Golden Shadow Armor Ninja's ATK rose to 3800, Kuma snarled at Gin's monster before throwing his arms out and baring his massive chest at Gin.

"Come at me then!" Kuma dared. "You Tops have never held back before! Why not squash me like every other Common in your path!?"

"I activate Speed World Acceleration's effect…" Gin hissed, "…I pay all Seven of my Speed Counters in order to increase Golden Shadow Armor Ninja's attack to seventy-three hundred!"

"Even if you attack my weakest monster…" Kuma snarled, "…that attack STILL won't be enough to finish me! I WILL end you!"

"I activate Golden Shadow Armor Ninja's effect!" Gin countered, "By tributing my Ninjitsu Art of Rust Mist, I can negate the effect of your Warchief-Bear Black Shaman and change its attack to zero!"

"YOU CAN'T!" Kuma protested, "NOT ANOTHER ONE OF MY MONSTERS!"

Gin's trap card transformed into a cloud of mist. Absorbing the mist in each of his golden swords, Golden Shadow Armor Ninja charged forward with the speed of light, and with just two slashes of golden light from his swords, cut Warchief-Bear Black Shaman's Armor and staff into tiny ribbons before the massive black bear could even register what had happened as its ATK dropped to 0.

"GOLDEN SHADOW ARMOR NINJA!" Gin roared, "ATTACK WARCHIEF-BEAR BLACK SHAMAN! GOLDEN ASSASSINATION STRIKE!"

Charging forward in a blue of blinding golden light, Golden Shadow Armor raised his swords into the air, ready to finish the battle. Suddenly, however, just as he was about to bring his swords down, Black Shaman seemed to sneer at the ninja before vanishing in a flash of black mist and leaving Golden Shadow Armor Ninja to instead bury his swords in the empty track.

"You fell for my trap." Kuma sneered. "I activate the Counter Trap Card! War Bear Deception! Since it's a Spell Speed Three effect, it cannot be negated by Shi En! By paying one-thousand Life Points, I can negate the destruction of one of my Warlord-Bears or Warchief-Bears and reduce any damage I might take to zero! Furthermore, if I control a Warchief-Bear Monster, I can make my opponent pay five-hundred Life Points instead! So go once more my Black Shaman! NOBLE THIEVERY!"

Appearing behind Gin in a cloud of the same black mist he disappeared in, Black Shaman slammed his claws down on Gin and her bike, causing her shriek with pain and fury as her Life Points dropped to 500. However, when she looked back up at Kuma, Kuma was surprised to see that far from frightening Gin, the damage only seemed to have made her even more furious.

"While Sun Shadow Armor Ninja is equipped to Golden Shadow Armor Ninja…" Gin breathed, voice seething with fury, "…Golden Shadow Armor Ninja can attack each monster my opponent controls once each."

"What?" Kuma asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Finish him." Gin growled. "Golden Assassination Strike."

Tugging his two golden swords out of the track, Golden Shadow nodded to Gin once before charging straight towards Warlord-Bear Panda Swordsman and Warchief-Bear White Champion. Panda Swordsman met Golden Shadow first, but was quickly and effortlessly dispatched as Golden Shadow sliced his swords and chains to tiny metal pieces with a series of rapid slashes from his blades before kicking the shocked panda in the gut and sending him flying fifty meters into the air. Determined not to be done in, White Champion bravely met Golden Shadow on the field, Kuma granting his Ace Monster some extra attack with the effect of Speed World Acceleration. Bringing down both his axes with extreme fury, White Champion attempted to bisect the much smaller Ninja, but only managed to bury his axes into the track-way as Golden Shadow leaped into the air, dodged the axe blades, and then used the handles of White Champion's axes to run up White Champion's arm, leap over his back, and bring down both his blades against Kuma's bike, reducing the massive duelist's Life Points to zero before White Champion could stop him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kuma screamed as his bike screeched to a sudden halt and the two riders sped away. As the two riders vanished into the distance, Kuma got off on his bike and fell to his knees, hanging his head down in despair and banging his fists against the track-way in frustration.

"No!" he roared, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

Exhausting himself as his fists began to bleed from being repeatedly slammed into the track, Kuma began shuddering as he struggled to hold back tears.

"No…" he breathed with much less fury and much more sorrow. Reaching into his suit, he pulled a locket from his chest and opened it up. Inside the locket was a picture of him holding a younger girl with purple hair.

"Neya…" he croaked, "…I couldn't do it. I'm still not strong enough. Please… please…" he pleaded to nobody in particular, "…somebody… anybody… help me find the strength to protect and provide for Neya."

As Lilly watched the two Security vehicles begin to net the Commons with impunity like fishermen, her feelings of shock and horror almost immediately simmered into a raging storm of hatred, agony, and despair she had been trying to suppress for that entire day.

They'd already taken Lucy three years ago! They shipped her and her friends off to the underground and threatened to do the same to Lilly if they suspected she was trying to establish ties with the Neo-Arcadia movement. She'd learned her lesson! They'd marked her and sent her off to the streets to wander alone, without even any parents to care for her. Who'd want a potential psychic for a daughter anyway?

They'd been breathing down her neck ever since then. Stopping and frisking her whenever she held a bag of anything, making her take drugs to suppress any potential abilities she might have, and interrogating her whenever she attempted to join any gang so that everyone would avoid her like a plague. She'd tried obeying them, submitting to them, doing everything they told her to do.

So why were they here now!? What had she or any of these other Commons done to deserve this!?

"ATTENTION DUELISTS!" An office inside one of the large trucks called, "YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO STAND DOWN AND COMPLY WITH DIRECTIVE ALEKHINE'S GUN! RESISTANCE TO THIS DIRECTIVE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!"

Lilly couldn't take it anymore. First they punished her and her sister for merely having the POTENTIAL to commit a crime, purely based on the fact that they had traces of psychic powers, and now they were going to punish her and every other Common for not complying with a law she had never even heard of! This was the last straw! She'd tried to not make any trouble for herself. Now she didn't care how much trouble she got in. All she wanted to do was hit them back! Hit them back as hard as they had hit her!

"YOU CHUMPS THINK I CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID LAWS!?" Lilly taunted, bellowing at the top of her lungs so they could hear her. "YOU COPPERS REMEMBER WHO I AM RIGHT? HAVEN'T YOUR LITTLE SCANNERS ALREADY IDENTIFIED MY MARK!? I'M LILLY HOSHI! I'M A CRIMINAL AND A POTENTIAL PSYCHIC! YOU THINK I'M SCARED OF YOU!? YOU THINK I'VE GOT ANYTHING TO LOSE!? IF YOUR GONNA PUNISH ME THEN YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT SEVERE, JUST LIKE YOU DID WITH LUCY! GO ON! FINISH ME! I DARE YOU! SHIP ME OFF TO THE FACILITY AND WORK ME TO DEATH LIKE ALL YOUR OTHER SLAVES!"

"And then maybe…" Lilly thought to herself, a tear streaming down her cheek as the two vehicles trained their turrets on her and Neya, "…maybe I'll be able to be with Lucy again."

"Lilly!" Neya called, looking utterly and completely horrified, "What in the Crimson Dragon's mythical name is going on here!?"

Lilly wiped a tear from her cheek before speaking to Neya in a low tone.

"You wanted to know why I was acting so depressed earlier?" Lilly asked.

"I DON'T THINK NOW'S THE TIME!" Neya protested, dodging a shot from a holographic net, which nearly ensnared both herself and her monster.

"Security took my sister away from me three years ago on this exact day!" Lilly snarled, ignoring Neya's protestations while dodging her own net. "Since then, I've been able to do nothing to help her. I've tried to just move on, make new friends, and make no trouble for myself, but I can never forget about her, especially not on this day, and Security never leaves me alone!"

"AGAIN!" Neya screamed, diving under the water before resurfacing again, "HOW IS THIS RELEVANT!?"

"Have you been wronged by Security?" Lilly asked, ordering her Aqua Avatar – Reef Queen to blast away another net with a burst of water from her two water lilies. "No matter what you do? Are you sick and tired of them stomping on us when they're supposed to protect us!?"

"SURE!" Neya called back, clinging to her Aquaperformer Star Sea Lion as it knocked away another net with a flick of its tail. "What's your point!?"

"THEY'RE NOT GONNA SHOW US ANY MERCY!" Lilly roared, "NO MATTER WHAT WE DO! I SAY WE FIGHT THEM! TOGETHER!"

Neya seemed to consider her words for a moment as she and her monster dodged a pair of nets.

"Are you talking about a rebellion?" she asked, sounding hesitant.

"OF COURSE!" Lilly replied, a furious and almost excited expression coming over her face. "What? Are you scared? Do you think Security's gonna forgive you if you let yourself get arrested for no reason?"

Neya seemed to consider her words for a second before shaking her head "no."

"I'm not gonna throw myself at their mercy." She replied, "And if my brother were here, he'd fight them. He'd do anything to protect me."

"You with me then!?" Lilly asked as her Aqua Dragon Ryu Jin caught a net in its mouth and tore it to pieces.

"I aint gonna start a rebellion." Neya clarified, looking down at the water, "I don't believe in that kind of thing. That'd probably just make things worse. But this is wrong. I'll definitely help you save these people, and I won't let them take you."

"Not exactly what I was hoping to hear, but okay." Lilly shrugged, assuming a defensive Kung-Fu stance as she faced the two Security vehicles.

"You got a plan?" Neya asked, holding up her Duel Disk and preparing to duel the Security forces.

"Smash em?" Lilly asked.

Neya shook her head in annoyance.

"These guys are pretty much cheating." She explained. "It's technically one of their turns according to my Duel Disk, but they're using all their time to just net us instead of actually risking dueling us."

"And what's YOUR point?" Lilly asked, throwing Neya's question back at her.

"Considering they're already cheating…" Neya replied, squeezing some water from her purple hair, "…I say we cheat as well."

Lilly grinned at this. "That's the best thing you've said all day!" she laughed, grinning with excitement.

"You're looking a lot sunnier now." Neya smirked.

"I'm pretty sure my meds have worn off by now." Lilly shrugged.

"Meds?" Neya asked.

"Weird stuff Security makes me take." Lilly replied, waving Neya's question away with a shake of her hand, "I'll tell you about it later. For right now, what's the plan?"

Neya dived under the water, barely avoiding another net as it whistled over the water. Resurfacing with her monster, she gasped for air before turning to Lilly and explaining her plan.

"Our monsters are pretty good at blocking their nets, but if this keeps up, we're gonna slip up one of these times. We need to take those turrets out. If you could send your dragon ahead, I'll go with your monster and try to knock away their nets while you stay back with your other monster and try to disable those turrets. If you hit them hard enough with the Real Solid Vision water, we might be able to damage those things for long enough for our monsters to free the Commons who have been captured."

"Way ahead of you!" Lilly called, surfing forward with her Reef Queen before ordering her monster to fire at one of the turrets located on top of the vehicle. The torrent of water barely caused the heavy vehicle to nudge, but the turret began sparking as the torrent of water damaged its systems. As Lilly prepared to fire at the other turret with Reef Queen, the other vehicle blasted another net in Lilly's direction. However, before it could even come close to hitting Lilly, Neya and her Star Sea Lion had already charged forward and knocked away the net as Aqua Dragon Ryu Jin began engaging the two Goyo Kings standing in front of the netted Commons. With another powerful blast from Lilly's monster, the second turret was quickly taken out of commission.

"MAGIC CARD ACTIVATE!" an officer from one of the Vehicles called. "RAIGEKI! THIS DESTROYS ALL OUR OPPONENT'S MONSTERS!"

Above the duel field, a dark cloud appeared in the sky, lightning crackling inside the swirling mist.

"Now you start dueling!" Neya snarled before extending her hand towards her face-down monster. I activate Aquaperformer Flip in order to immediately Flip Summon my face-down Aquaperformer Design Beaver!"

Leaping out of the water, a female beaver dressed like a fashion consultant twirled through the air before landing in front of Neya. In its hands it carried various pieces of measuring tape, thread, needles, and a single pair of scissors. Shaking its head in disapproval, the monster began examining the duel field as if wanting to fix it up. Next to the monster, a holographic indicator displayed a Level of five and a DEF of 2100.

"Even if my monsters might get taken down…" Neya declared, "That doesn't mean I'm not taking you down with me! When Design Beaver is Flip Summoned, I can destroy one card my opponent controls and activate one Aquaperfomer Oceanarium directly from my deck! With this effect, I'll destroy your Goyo King and then, once Oceanarium is activated and your Raigeki resolves, you'll be destroying some of my Equip Spell Cards, which will let me Special Summon another Aquaperformer monster from my deck in face-down defense position thanks to Oceanarium's effect!"

"TRAP ACTIVATE!" An officer countered, voice booming over the duel field through the vehicle's mounted microphones. "GOYO OPPRESSION! IF A MONSTER EFFECT IS ACTIVATED WHILE WE CONTROL A GOYO MONSTER, WE CAN NEGATE THAT MONSTER'S EFFECT UNTIL THE END-PHASE!"

"What!?" Neya exclaimed as a massive net launched from the trap card, which slammed into Design Beaver and Star Sea Lion. Frightened by the attack, Star Sea Lion accidentally bucked Neya off its back, causing the young girl to fly into the air above the water. Just as she was about to slam into the water, Lilly and her monster rushed forward, Reef Queen catching a stunned Neya in her arms before Lilly extended her hand towards her face-down card.

"Trap activate!" She declared, "Legendary Martial Art - Hung Gar! While this card is face-up, players cannot target monsters for attacks except the monster his/her opponent controls with the highest defense, and once per turn, if a monster is selected as an attack target, the controller of that monster can change the battle position of the monster being attacked. Furthermore, if a monster battles a defense position monster with a higher defense than the attacking monster's attack, the attacking monster is destroyed at the end of the Damage Step. Finally, if a player controls no monsters, any damage he/she takes is halved!"

"What are you doing?" Neya asked.

"You're wide open for an attack." Lilly explained. "I'm not gonna let them hurt you. Not when you still owe me a rematch after this mess is taken care of!"

"Can we talk about that later!?" Neya asked, desperately clinging to Lilly's monster as it sped across the water while looking nervously up at the dark cloud hanging over their heads. "Their Raigeki is still going to activate!"

"Not before I do this!" Lilly countered, pulling a card from her hand. "I next chain my Aqua Avatar – Benthic Drifter to the effect of my Trap Card! By sacrificing my Seagrass Lilly and discarding this monster, I can change the attack of all monsters my opponent controls to zero!"

Bursting from the sea in a swirling column of water, Lilly's ghostly Benthic Drifter raised her liquid hands into the air, the light sacs of her sea plants glowing with bright light, before causing a massive tidal wave of water to rise up as she prepared to throw it at Security's monsters.

"TRAP ACTIVATE!" The other Security vehicle countered, "GOYO OPPRESSION! THE EFFECT OF YOUR MONSTER IS NEGATED AND NOW RAIGEKI CAN RESOLVE!"

From the trap card, another net blasted towards Lilly's Benthic Drifter, tangling the water sprite in its cords and causing the wave of water to fall back down. Above the heads of Neya and Lilly, Lightning bolts began flashing onto the duel field, threatening to destroy their monsters.

"I activate the effects of both Aqua Avatar – Reef Queen, and Aqua Dragon Ryu Jin, who shares Reef Queen's effect! During either player's turn, I can send one Level three or lower LIGHT or WATER monster from my side of the field, hand, or deck to my graveyard in order to make my monsters immune to destruction by card effects until the end of this turn! With this effect, I send Aqua Avatar – Seaweed Lily and Aqua Avatar – Seagrass Lily from my deck to the graveyard to protect both my monsters!"

Raising her hands into the air, Reef Queen caused a large bubble of water to surround herself and the two duelists before clenching her hands and causing the sphere of water to harden into a sphere of ice just as a lightning bolt struck. With a massive explosion, the ice sphere was shattered, but Reef Queen, Neya, and Lilly remained unharmed. Hearing a mighty roar, Neya turned her head to see that Lilly's dragon had managed to protect itself with the same trick.

Neya's other monsters, however, were not so lucky.

Hearing a panicked yelp, Neya turned her head just in time to witness with dismay the destruction of each of her monsters as, one by one, they were each struck by a bolt of lightning and blown into sparks of holographic dust.

"NO!" Neya protested, tears coming to her eyes after witnessing the destruction of the monsters who had acted as her companions and fellow performers.

"We'll get back at them!" Lilly promised, gritting her teeth. "I promise you, I'll beat them, even if I have to-…"

"BATTLE!" the first Security Vehicle declared, "THANKS TO THE EFFECT OF MY GOYO KING'S EQUIPPED GOYO SASUMATA, GOYO KING CAN ATTACK DIRECTLY! FURTHERMORE, GOYO SODEGARAMI PREVENTS MY OPPONENT FROM ACTIVATING ANY CARDS OR EFFECTS WHEN MY GOYO KING ATTACKS, MY GOYO TSUKUBO INCREASES GOYO KING'S ATTACK BY EIGHT-HUNDRED, AND GOYO KING GAINS ANOTHER FOUR-HUNDRED ATTACK FOR EACH GOYO MONSTER WE CONTROL! GO GOYO KING! ATTACK CRIMINAL, LILLY HOSHI'S, LIFEPOINT'S DIRECTLY!"

"Are you kidding me!?" Neya exclaimed, staring with wide eyes as one of Security's Goyo Kings rocketed forward, a massive spear pointing towards them. "LILLY! YOU HAVE TO-…"

The rest of Neya's sentence was cut off as Lilly quickly had her monster race towards the shore before throwing Neya onto the sandy bank, several meters away from the two Security vehicles.

"GET THE FREAK OUT OF HERE!" Lilly called, "FIND SOMEWHERE TO HIDE AND-…"

Before she could say any more, Goyo King slammed his spear against Lilly, Knocking her off her monster and sending her flying into the ocean with a violent splash as her Life Points dropped to 0. As Lilly slowly sank beneath the surface of the water, her two monsters faded away, unable to remain on the field with the loss of their master. Neya stared back, unable to believe what was going on, before noticing that Lilly hadn't surfaced for air.

"LILLY!" Neya called, leaping into the sea and swimming towards Lilly's position as fast as she could.

"ORE NO TURN!" The second Security vehicle called, "DRAW!"

Neya had managed to reach Lilly, who had been slowly sinking to the bottom, the last attack having knocked her out. Kicking off from the sandy bottom, Neya surfaced with Lilly before struggling to swim back to shore.

"BATTLE!" the second Security vehicle declared, "DESTROY THE SECOND COMMON! DIRECT ATTACK!"

Neya managed to reach the shore and throw Lilly onto the bank before collapsing to the ground with exhaustion. Wasting no time, the second Goyo King pounced on Neya, lifting her up into the air and slamming her back down against the sand, incapacitating her and dropping her Life Points to 0 with a single blow.

"Readying extraction." Neya heard one of the vehicles declare. Craning her head the best she could as the Goyo King shifted position to hold both her and Lilly firmly to the ground, she saw the back doors of the Security vehicles open before two teams of four Security officers exited and began gathering the groups of netted commons, pressing a strange device up to the head of each Common and pressing down on a trigger before hauling the nets into the back of the trucks. Next to Neya, Lilly began stirring.

"N-Neya?" Lilly gasped, a thin trickle of blood flowing down her forehead and over her right eye as she turned her head to look at her captive companion.

"INSERT A CHIP INTO THE PSYCHIC, NOW!" One of the officers barked after hearing Lilly speak.

Stomping forward, a pair of Security officers approached Neya and Lilly, holding the strange devices aloft as they did so. However, just as they were about to place the devices against each of their foreheads, a youthful and mellow voice called out to them from across the beach.

"Let them go." The young voice demanded.

Neya craned her neck to look behind herself, noticing Lilly do the same. Walking along the sandy beach, a very young boy who couldn't even be in his teens, was briskly strolling up to the Security officers. He had short green hair, blue eyes, a white shirt and jacket slightly too big for him, and a pair of brown cargo pants. Over his right arm, Neya noticed a crimson claw-shaped mark burning through the sleeve of his jacket with luminous red light.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Neya called, "HURRY! BEFORE THEY GET YOU TOO!"

"Don't worry…" the boy replied, "…we're here to save you!"

"WE!?" Neya exclaimed, "WHO'S WE!?"

"There's someone walking next to him!" Lilly exclaimed, left eye widening while the right eye remained tightly shut in order to prevent the blood from flowing inside.

"What are you talking about!?" Neya replied, seeing nobody next to the boy.

"You can't see her?" Lilly asked, glancing at Neya with an incredulous expression before turning her attention back to the taller green-haired girl walking right next to the boy, an identical but much brighter claw-shaped mark burning against her own right arm.

"Are you ready for this, Jeremiah?" The green-haired girl asked the boy, placing her hand over his shoulder and smiling warmly at him.

"So long as you're here to help me, Ruka." The boy replied, holding his right arm in front of the Security officers.

"Who are you two!?" Lilly called, before her face got slammed into the ground by Goyo King.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" an officer snarled before turning his attention to the boy. "Citizen, you are in violation of directive Alekhine's gun. Surrender now and we will not resort to force!"

"Let… them… go." The boy repeated, voice a little more forceful.

"You can't do anything! What are you? Eight!?" Neya protested before getting her own face slammed into the sand.

"Nope." The boy replied, shaking his head. "I'm ten in a half."

"Great…" Neya groaned internally, "…I'm captured by Security, I've got a crazy kid thinking he's superman, and as if both those things weren't bad enough, Lilly's seeing invisible people!"

"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!" the Security officer called as a squadron of five other Security officers surrounded him on either side before pulling out their own net guns. "SURRENDER NOW OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

"They're getting ready to attack." Lilly heard the green-haired girl instruct the boy. "Unleash the energy in your mark like I showed you earlier and you should be able to defend yourself and save these people."

"THREE!" the officer began counting down.

"Got it!" the boy replied with a nod of his head.

"TWO!"

Scrunching up his face in concentration, the mark on the Boy's arm began growing in brightness.

"ONE!"

The Security officer pointed his finger towards the boy, giving the command to fire. The second the other officers fired their nets, however, the boy suddenly opened up his hands, causing a massive flash of crimson light to envelop the beach, momentarily blinding Neya, Lilly, and all the other officers. When the light faded, Neya choked on her own breath when she saw the same boy standing over a pile of shredded nets, a pair of massive semi-translucent crimson dragon claws made of red light resting over each of his hands like oven mitts. Flexing the fingers of his hands, the boy caused the dragon claws to move in tandem with his own hands as the Security officers slowly backed away.

"A disciple!" one of the officers exclaimed.

"Nope." The boy corrected, taking a step forward, "Phoenix Guard!"

Letting out a small ten-year-old battle-cry, the green-haired boy charged forward, slicing apart holographic nets with his claws as the Security officers attempted to capture him, and flicking away officers with superhuman strength once he got close enough to touch them with his claws. Seeing the other officers get attacked, Goyo King leaped off of Neya and Lilly, freeing the two girl's faces from the sand.

"A psychic!?" Neya sputtered as she pried her head from the ground while trying to remember everything she had heard about the supposed telekinetic powers they wielded.

"He's not a psychic." Lilly groaned, wiping the blood from her face before turning to the green haired girl. "Who are you?" she called, grabbing the attention of the tall teenage girl, who was observing the battle between the little boy and Security. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you helping?"

The girl regarded Lilly for a moment before addressing her, smiling faintly as she did. Lilly noticed for the first time as she spoke, that the girl's feet were not touching the ground.

"I'm not really part of this world." The girl explained. "Except on rare occasions, I'm unable to interact with either the physical elements of the mortal world or the people who live within it. But it's nice to see that there are still some people who can see me." She continued, offering Lilly her hand.

"Lilly…" Neya asked, "…what… the heck… is going on!?"

Lilly attempted to take the girl's hand, but was surprised to see her hand pass right through her open palm. Frowning, the girl sighed before withdrawing her hand and muttering, "Only a psychic with very minimal powers. Heightened perception, but no ability to truly interact with spirits." She glanced over at the green-haired boy who was using his claws to hold off both Goyo Kings, much to the other officer's incredulity. "You two should go now. I'll stay here to help Jeremiah defeat the Security squadrons here and free the captured Commons. Find a safe place to hide and stay there. This city isn't safe, and I fear it will soon become even more dangerous."

"But…!" Lilly protested, managing to stand up.

"Go." The green-haired girl gently but firmly instructed. "Your safety is what matters now, and besides, I think your friend will think you're crazy if you keep talking to me."

The girl then left them, walking briskly towards the green-haired boy while holding up the mark on her right arm. Looking back at her, Lilly noticed the light of her mark fade ever-so-slightly while the mark on the boy's arm rapidly grew in intensity.

"LILLY! EARTH TO LILLY!" Neya called, angrily snapping her fingers in front of the bluenette's face. "Don't you dare go insane on me! I did NOT drag you out of that ocean so you could go nuts!"

"Huh?" Lilly asked, eyes blinking as she gradually regained focus.

"What's going on!?" Neya asked, looking extremely agitated.

Lilly shook her head, remembering what the girl had said to her, but still struggling to process what was going on.

"We need to leave." Lilly managed to get out, wiping some sand from her shirt. "I don't know what's going on, but it's not safe for us to be here anymore."

Neya slowly nodded her head, glancing back over at the boy and seeing him activate a Duel Disk before taking the intrusion penalty. "Do you think he'll make it?" Neya asked, before realizing that Lilly was already walking away.

"HEY!" Neya called, "I thought we were going together!"

"There's someone I need to find!" Lilly called back, scrambling over some rocks, "And besides, you'll be safer if you're not next to a criminal Security can track! Just find somewhere to hide and stay there!"

"But!" Neya called.

"GO!" Lilly barked, before climbing onto the road above the beach. "I'll squash you in a rematch later!"

Neya opened her mouth to protest, but stopped once Lilly had disappeared in the distance. Deciding that there would be no point in waiting to be captured, she began running away from the beach, hoping to reach her home and her brother before Security found her again.

The boy named Jeremiah, meanwhile, had begun his first turn, all the while fending off multiple Security officers and the two Goyo Kings as they attempted to capture him.

"I activate the Magic Card…" Jeremiah began, dodging a blow from a Goyo King with supernatural speed, "…Start Game. This card lets me add one Video Games Hero monster or one Level Up from my deck to my hand!"

Next to Jeremiah, a holographic START button appeared in the air before Jeremiah pushed it with his hands. Upon pushing the button, a card popped out of Jeremiah's deck, which he quickly added to his hand before continuing with his turn.

"Using this card, I'll add one Video Games Hero LV 1 to my hand before summoning it in attack position!"

Flipping onto the field, a small boy about Jeremiah's size in cubic blue armor appeared to the field, dodging a blow from an angry Goyo King with Jeremiah's same skill. Back flipping away with Jeremiah in order to avoid a blow from the second Goyo King, a holographic indicator appeared next to the monster, displaying a Level of one and an ATK of 600.

"STAND DOWN, DISCIPLE!" an officer roared, "You do not have the ability to defeat us! We will be receiving reinforcements in moments and then our field will be even stronger than before!"

"I told you! I'm not a disciple!" Jeremiah protested, slicing through another net. "But speaking of getting stronger, check this out! I activate the magic card, Level Up, from my hand in order to send my Video Games Hero LV 1 to the graveyard and Special Summon Video Games Hero LV 6!"

As he slammed down the magic card, Jeremiah's monster began glowing with white light before expanding in size. When the light dimmed a taller warrior in upgraded blue armor stood in front of Jeremiah, a serious expression on his face. His head was covered with a large blue helmet, his chest bore a Label with the words "LV 6" written on the front, his left arm was shaped like a cannon, and his large armored boots each housed a pair of rockets on the sides. Raising his right arm into the air, the warrior let out a triumphant laugh before a holographic indicator appeared and showed a Level of six and an ATK of 2400.

"Video Games Hero Level Six's effect activates!" Jeremiah enthusiastically called, charging right alongside his monster towards one of the Goyo Kings. "If it is Special Summoned successfully, I can target one card my opponent controls and destroy it! And I choose Goyo King!"

Leaping into the air with a blast from its rocket boots, Video Games Hero LV 6 leveled his cannon at one of the Goyo Kings before firing a concentrated burst of energy at the monster, destroying it instantly with its effect.

"TRAP ACTIVATE!" an officer called, "CALL OF THE HAUNTED! WITH THIS CARD, I WILL REVIVE OUR GOYO KING!"

"Whoa!" Jeremiah exclaimed as Goyo King suddenly rose from a black portal in the ground before taking a swipe at Jeremiah. Jeremiah managed to block the blow with his phantasmal claws, but not before getting knocked back several feet by the force of the blow.

"CAREFUL!" Ruka called to him, as she clutched at the mark on her arm, "If you use too much energy, I'll have to withdraw from you."

"Sorry Ruka…" Jeremiah apologized, pulling another card from his hand, "…I'll try to make this quick!"

"Just try not to use so much energy so quickly." Ruka cautioned. "Once you beat them, I'll need your help if we're going to remove the chips in these people's brains."

"Got it!" Jeremiah agreed, slamming down another card onto his Duel Disk, while dodging another blow from Goyo King.

"I activate a second Level Up!" Jeremiah declared. "By sending my Video Games Hero LV 6 to the graveyard, I can Special Summon Video Games Hero LV 8 from my deck!"

Once again, Jeremiah's monster was bathed in white light as it slowly grew in size and upgraded. When the light faded, Jeremiah's monster looked even stronger, with sleek heavy duty metal armor that looked like it could withstand a blow from a tank. A pair of airplane-like wings projected from its back, each carrying a set of rocket boosters on the end. Over its chest, the label "LV 8" showed in clear gold letters, while a pair of powerful cannons rested above the wrists of his powerful gauntleted hands. His feet each housed a pair of wheels on the sides and a set of powerful rocket jets on the bottom of the boots and back of the heels, enabling the monster to zoom across the field at incredible speeds. Next to the new monster, a holographic indicator appeared and showed a Level of eight and an ATK of 3000.

"When Video Games Hero LV 8 is successfully Special Summoned…" Jeremiah explained, rolling out of the way as yet another officer attempted to ensnare him with a net gun, "…I can target three cards my opponent controls and destroy them! Using this effect, I'm targeting both Goyo Kings and the last face-down card on your field in order to destroy them!"

Nodding his helmeted head, Video Games Hero LV 8 sped around the field, rapidly firing from its mounted wrist cannons until it had cleared away both Goyo Kings and Security's face-down card.

"I'm almost done, Ruka!" Jeremiah called, pulling out two cards from his hand. "I next equip my Video Games Hero LV 8 with two Spell Cards, Megasword Power Up and Double Fist Power Up! The first card gives my monster one-thousand extra attack points and the second one lets my monster attack twice!"

Over the gloves of Jeremiah's monster, a pair of massive blue cestus appeared before a single massive two-handed sword made of blue light appeared in the armored warrior's hand.

"Go Video Games Hero LV 8!" Jeremiah commanded, a triumphant expression on his face, "Attack both my opponents directly!"

Turning their attention away from Jeremiah, the remaining Security officers attempted to stop Jeremiah's charging monster with their nets. However, they were no match for the monster as it proceeded to bisect each of the nets they launched at it with its sword before knocking each officer out with a blow to the head. Once the last officer had fallen, Video Games Hero LV 8 leaped into the air with a burst from its rockets. Slicing its massive sword through the air, it sent a massive crescent-shaped mass of energy into both Security vehicles, blasting both vehicles onto their sides as the Life Points of each dueling officer was reduced to 0.

"I love being a Phoenix Guard." Jeremiah sighed

"Good work!" Ruka congratulated, running up next to Jeremiah and giving him a big hug once he had finished, much to the little boy's horror.

"Aww… gross!" Jeremiah whined, pulling away from Ruka and brushing himself off as if he were infected.

"Someday…" Ruka sighed, slowly shaking her head, "…you'll like it." She pointed over to the various Common citizens trapped in the nets. Most were lying on the ground completely comatose, but a few were struggling against their bindings, attempting to free themselves from the energy netting.

"Hurry and free them." Ruka instructed. "Security will be arriving with reinforcements."

"Okay, coz." Jeremiah sighed, walking up to each net and slicing them open with a slash of his claws. Most of the Commons, upon being freed, immediately ran off, scattering in different directions as they attempted to get themselves as far away from the incident as possible. One, however, stayed behind, nervously shaking a woman who was lying limply in his arms.

"Margaret?" the man called, "Margaret!? What's wrong Margaret!? Why won't you move!?"

"Ruka says she's got a chip in her brain." Jeremiah explained, walking up next to the man.

"R-Ruka?" the man asked, looking around but seeing nobody.

"Never mind." The boy shrugged. "Just give me a second. I'm gonna need her help for this one."

Confused and a little worried, the man watched as the little boy who had miraculously managed to fend off an entire Security force began closing his eyes in concentration. Slowly, the boy and his mark began glowing with brilliant white and red light before the entire field was bathed in his glow.

"We Activate the Field Magic Card, Archaic Forest, and then Special Summon, Archaic Tuner…" the boy declared, in an odd voice that sounded like a strange mixture between his own voice and a teenage girl's voice. "…with this card, I can target my Video Games Hero LV 8 in order to change its Level to six before Synchro Summoning!"

The boy's eyes were glowing white now as he raised his arms to the sky. Around the beach, a large forest sprang into existence before a small pixie with long white hair and old brown garments appeared to the field. Fluttering its tiny wings, the pixie morphed into a ring of white light before encompassing the now Level six Video Games Hero LV 8 in its glow.

"Ancient and eternal guardian of the sacred and unseen realm of spirits…" the boy chanted in the same odd mixed voice, "…manifest thy holy form now to purify and protect the natural world from the dark forces that would corrupt and destroy! Synchro Shokan! Appear now! Level seven! Archaic Faery Dragon!"

Suddenly, the entire beach was bathed in a gentle white light more radiant than the boy's own light. Despite the intensity of the light, the man found he could look on the boy without being blinded and see a massive dragon next to the boy with white butterfly-like wings and a serpentine blue body with a pair of humanoid arms and hands. Spreading out its wings, a stream of shimmering dust poured from the monster's wings before each trail touched the forehead of each unconscious person on the beach, including the Security officers. For a brief moment, the head of each unconscious person glowed white before they all slowly began moving, some of them struggling to get up.

Slowly, the light and the dragon faded away, leaving the boy behind, the mark on his arm glowing with only a faint red light now. When the light was gone, the man looked down at the woman in his arms, who slowly began opening her eyes, coughing slightly as she did.

"Margaret?" the man called again, overjoyed to see her moving.

"Gareth?" the woman asked, "What… happened?"

"We should all probably go." The boy instructed, voice sounding normal now as he began sprinting away from the rest of the group.

"What!" the man called, "Who are-…?"

But before he could finish his question, the boy was already too far away for his voice to reach him.

Neya was sprinting as fast as she could, down the deepest darkest alleyway she could find. Normally, she tried to stay away from shady parts of the neighborhood, but right now, after the harrowing experience she had just had with Security, she felt like the darker, shadier, and more concealed the hiding place, the better.

When she came to a very dark and shadowed corner, she quickly pulled out her Duel Disk and began dialing her brother's number, panting heavily from the exertion of her previous sprint.

"Come on… pick up…" she panted.

"Neya?" Kuma's voice called from the other end. "Where are you? Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me!" Neya panted. "Where are you!? What are you doing!? Who are you with!?"

"I'm… working." Kuma replied, sounding somewhat exasperated. "What's wrong Neya? You don't sound good."

"Please don't tell me you're with Benji and Unagi again!" Neya pleaded.

"Answer the question." Kuma replied, "What is going on? Have you been hurt?"

"I'm… I'm…" Neya panted, wondering what in the heck she was going to say about the crazy situation she was just in, "…just listen Kuma! Security is going crazy, and there are a lot of weird people out right now… you have to-…"

Suddenly, a gloved hand shot out from within the shadows and grabbed Neya by the throat before she could continue speaking. Choking from the firmness of the grip, Neya nearly dropped her Duel Disk to the ground before another gloved hand shot out and grabbed the Disk.

"HELLO!" Kuma called from the other end, "WHAT'S GOING ON!? WHO'S ON THE LINE!?"

"Annoying Synchro Scum." A male voice droned before pressing the Hang-Up button on the Disk. As the man held Neya in the air, the alleyway was suddenly illuminated by a large multi-colored spiral shaped mark, which blazed to life on the person's chest. Adjusting her eyes to the sudden illumination, Neya could see a tall individual wearing what looked like a creepy Halloween costume with a skull helmet, a green suit of armor with skeletal decorations, and a shield shaped Duel Disk over his left arm. Bringing Neya up to his face, the man began speaking to her.

"I know this might be sudden." He droned, ignoring Neya's Duel Disk as it began furiously ringing. "But I just barely got to this dimension and I'm needing some of its inhabitants to help me. Got it? Gag once for 'yes,' gag twice for 'no.'"

Neya tried to pry herself from the man's grip, but his fingers were like hydraulic presses.

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" The man smirked. "No doubt you're wondering who I am-…"

"No she's not!" a mocking sing-song voice called from behind the man. Struggling to breathe, Neya was able to make out the form of a man with long blue hair and a large white lab coat over his body just behind the man who was strangling her. On his chest, the same multi-colored spiral mark shone glowed with eerie ghostly light.

"Right now…" the second man continued in a very matter-of-fact voice, "…the little girl is thinking, and I quote, 'AAAAAAA GAH GAH GAH! OXYGEN! OXYGEN! AAAAAAAHHHHH GAH GAH GAH! STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER! I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S REAR END WHO GENERAL TARLETON IS BECAUSE ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS THE FACT THAT I'M SLOWLY BEING ASPHYXIATED! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Bleh!'" The man finished, head nodding over as he pretended to die. When the man opened his eyes again, Neya noticed with horror that his eyes were a deep pitch black with glowing green irises.

Tarleton didn't seem amused.

"Shove off, Satoru." He snarled, "I was in the middle of recruiting this malformed runt!"

"And I was in the middle of hacking into Security's mainframe, seizing control of all monitoring equipment within the tri-state area, downloading all of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau data in a single file on my Duel Disk, and possibly accessing the nuclear codes of this world's nations just to troll them!" Satoru indignantly replied, holding up a small handheld computer and typing furiously at the screen. "Oh… and by the way…" he continued, as Tarleton's angry expression worsened, "…you're about to make her functionally brain dead. I'd advise slackening that big strong Dreadroot force grip of yours just a teensy bit so you don't lose your oh-so-precious makeshift spy."

"Fine!" Tarleton seethed, dropping Neya to the ground and letting her take a few gasps of air before planting his boot firmly against her small chest.

"Wh-Who are you!?" Neya whimpered, shielding her face with her hands, thoughts of weird Earthbound ghost stories flooding her mind as she stared up at the strange individuals. "What do you want with me!?"

"I DON'T KNOW YET!" Tarelton snapped, pressing his boot harder against Neya's chest before leaning down until his face was nearly touching hers. "I just need you around here, at my beck and call, ready to do whatever I say whenever I say it. Understand!?"

Neya nodded her head, hoping in vain that another person would save her from the situation she was in.

"Good!" Tarleton sneered. "I'm glad these misshapen monkeys have a little bit of brain in their heads. Now then, hold still!" he ordered, clamping his gloved palm against her chest.

Neya looked down at her chest, noticing a brief flash of multi-colored spiral shaped light appear over her shirt before instantaneously fading away. As the mark vanished, Neya suddenly felt a sinking sensation in her chest, as if something was worming its way inside of her.

"Good job." Tarleton congratulated, condescendingly patting Neya on the head. "This little mark I gave you is just a little something that will allow me to know exactly where you are whenever I please. It'll help me keep an eye on you, see what you see, hear what you hear, and best of all, it is almost completely invisible to everyone else, including some people with… special training." He grabbed Neya's cheeks, pulling her head towards him so she was facing him. As he continued speaking, Neya could smell his pungent breath, which smelled unimaginably noxious, like the breath of a corpse. "I just need you to be around." Tarleton explained, "Speak to people, see the sights, and do whatever it is you normally do. But if you hear my melodious voice in your head… you'd better do EXACTLY what I say! Try to run away from me, try to rat me out, even if you so much as mention meeting a stranger today… and I will hunt you down, and kill you! Understand?"

Neya nodded her head, unimaginable terror gripping her.

"Good…" Tarleton whispered in her ear, "…and remember… I'm watching you."

"Oooooooh… creepy!" Satoru smirked, continuing to tap away at his hand-held device.

"Yes." Tarleton grunted, removing his boot from Neya's chest. "So run along little one." He instructed, dropping her Duel Disk on her chest. "Whoever you were talking to sounds worried about you. If he asks, just say you lost the connection for a moment. It'll be best for both of you if you know what I mean."

Neya inched away from the man, slowly picking her Duel Disk up from off her chest before sprinting away from the two individuals with all her might. When she was gone, Tarleton turned back to Satoru, who continued to type at his device, mark glowing with intense light as he continued his work.

"How is it coming?" Tarelton asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Better than a computer noob like you could possibly understand!" Satoru enthused, a maniacal grin spreading over his face as he continued his work. "You know… I would have suspected, given how ancient they were, that the Earthbound would be utterly confused by modern technology. But their knowledge of the technological arts dwarfs even mine! Or at least, it dwarfs the knowledge I had when I was alive. Perhaps to beings who routinely shape the very reality of the universe with miracles, the puny technological marvels we hail as the pinnacle of advancement seem as a caveman's rock and stick would seem to us." He sighed to himself. "Ah philosophy." He mused. "Thou art always there to help me see just how insignificant I truly am… which I don't like so I'll go back to focusing on that which helps me see myself as an unparalleled genius! Computer technology!"

"Any word from our allies here?" Tarleton asked.

"I've gotten nothing from Yuu-Sama yet." Satoru replied, taking a sip from a can of soda resting in a pocket of his lab coat. "But I did contact Mr. Abrams, and he says he will meet us later before giving us some instructions."

"Why not meet us now?" Tarleton interrogated.

"Apparently a new disciple from the Standard Dimension just arrived here…" Satoru explained, tossing aside a can of soda before cracking open another one. "…mmmmmm cherry flavored." He muttered, "Not that I'd know of course." He added, looking mournfully at the label.

"And?" Tarleton pressed, wishing to get back on topic.

"Abrams is doing his usual thing with that disciple." Satoru explained. "According to him, she was completely insane and not really ready to perform her assigned mission."

"And what assigned mission is that?" Tarleton asked.

"Oooh, you might be interested in this." Satoru enthused, "Apparently, the little girl was designed by Yuu specifically to be used as an assassin against the professor's son, Reiji Akaba!"

"An assassin for the professor's son?" Tarleton asked. "Why would Yuu-Sama be interested in that?"

"Don't you know?" Satoru sneered, "I thought the news would have gotten to you by now with all the, oh… eighty-four or so spies you've sent out. Ah well…" He sighed melodramatically while Tarleton gritted his teeth, "…I suppose I'll just have to share what I learned with you when I employed a bit more sophisticated and efficient espionage. Reiji Akaba is here! Currently held in the custody of this Dimension's leader, Roger, but nevertheless here. It is Yuu's express will that the son of the professor should die, and thus, to that end, Abrams is working at this very moment to recalibrate our dear sister disciple and transform her into the beautiful mindless killing machine she was designed to be."

He took a long slow sip from his soda can once he finished before resuming his work. Suddenly, after a few more moments of typing, Satoru suddenly stopped, eyes growing wide with astonishment.

"Could it be…" he exclaimed, furiously tapping at the screen of his device.

"What is it?" Tarleton asked, suddenly feeling on edge.

"It can't be…" Satoru continued, scrolling through the screen of his device.

"WHAT IS IT!" Tarleton repeated, quickly losing his temper.

"OH JOY!" Satoru exclaimed, suddenly leaping forward and giving Tarleton a great big hug, much to Tarleton's chagrin. "I FOUND HIM TARLETON! I FOUND HIM!"

"Let me guess…" Tarleton grunted, trying to pry himself away from the overenthusiastic disciple.

"I HAVE FOUND SORA!" Satoru whooped, "I FOUND HIM! I FOUND HIM! I FOUND HIM! Oh this is just wonderful! Can you believe this Tarleton!?"

"I'm only barely managing to contain my joy." Tarleton dryly replied, finally managing to pry himself from Satoru's grasp. "So… why is Sora so important to you?" Tarleton asked, brushing himself off.

"What kind of question is that?" Satoru protested, "I thought the worth of family love needed no explaining! It's what I've been fighting for ever since I joined the Earthbound Disciples! Wouldn't you give anything if you could just be with your family again?"

"My family hated me." Tarleton growled, tone of voice warning Satoru to not go any further. "Especially my brother."

"Never had a brother." Satoru shrugged, "Or a sister for that matter. As for my parents… they weren't really there for me… Academia duties and all that. But whenever I visited the Shiunins…" he paused for a moment and sighed with contentment as if recalling sweet memoires, "…if it weren't for all of them… my aunt, uncle, and cousins… I'd have never learned how to experience true joy." He finished, all mockery from his voice gone, replaced with grave sincerity.

"True happiness…" Tarleton countered, "…comes independently of others. I'm done trying to please others, whether it's Academia, my father, or my brother."

"I pity you." Satoru sniffed, taking another sip from his can of soda. "I sincerely do. However…" he continued, putting away his soda and handheld device, "…I don't honestly care what happens to you. So if you don't mind…" he threw his left arm forward, activating his large glowing metallic sword-shaped Duel Disk, "…I'm going to pay my cousin a little visit. Go entertain yourself. Have fun watching Shun's duel against Crow. I'll meet you later when Isaac Abrams has finished with his work."

"Good riddance." Tarleton replied, turning his back to his companion as the two walked away from each other.

FEATURED ORIGINAL CHARACTERS

Name: Gin Tami / Original concept by: Greninja / Deck: Ninja/Ninjitsu / Allegiance: Her friends and family / Status: Active

Name: Akio Fujimoto / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Six Samurai / Allegiance: The Tami Family / Status: Active

Name: Kuma Mizuki / Original concept by: thetiger39 / Deck: Warlord Bear / Allegiance: Kuma's Gang / Status: Active

Name: Benji / Original concept by: Donjusticia (name contributed by Nox Descious) / Deck: Warriors / Allegiance: Kuma's Gang / Status: Active

Name: Neya Mizuki / Original concept by: thetiger39 / Deck: Aquaperformer / Allegiance: None: Synchro Dimension Civilian / Status: Active

Name: Lilly Hoshi / Original concept by: Greninja / Deck: Aqua Avatar / Allegiance: Unknown / Status: Active

Name: Jeremiah Frisk / Original concept by: Solphage / Deck: Video Games Hero / Allegiance: Phoenix Guard / Status: Active

Name: Aaron Tarleton / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Antique Gears / Allegiance: Dark Signers / Status: Active

Name: Satoru Shishido / Original concept by: Donjusticia / Deck: Procesystem / Allegiance: Dark Signers / Status: Active

Featured Fanfic Cards

Gin's Monsters

Ninja Kid/ DARK/ Level 1/ Warrior/ Tuner/ Effect/ ATK 100/ DEF 100/ If this card is normal summoned, you can Special Summon any number of "Ninja Kid" from your hand or deck to your side of the field in face-up ATK position. This card gains 500 ATK for each face-up "Ninja" monster you control. If this card destroys a monster by battle, you can banish this card: Special Summon 1 "Ninja" monster from your deck or graveyard in face-up attack position or face-down defense position.

Ninja Trainee/ EARTH/ Level 2/ Warrior/ Tuner/ Effect/ ATK 400/ DEF 300/ If this card is Special Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Ninja" monster (except "Ninja Trainee) from your hand, deck, or graveyard in face-up attack position or face-down defense position. This card gains 500 ATK for each "Ninja" monster you control.

(Original concept by Nox Descious.)

Terra Cotta Ninja/ EARTH/ Level 2/ Warrior/ Effect/ ATK 600/ DEF 1800/ If you control a "Ninja" monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand.

Gin's Extra Deck

Sun Shadow Armor Ninja/ LIGHT/ Level 5/ Warrior/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 2300/ DEF 100/ 1 Warrior Tuner + 1 or more Non-Tuners

You can Special Summon 1 Warrior-Type monster from your hand, and if you do, destroy this card. Once per turn, during either player's turn, if this card is in the graveyard or you Special Summon a Warrior-Type Monster while this card is equipped to another Warrior-Type monster you control, you can equip this card to 1 Warrior-Type monster you control as an Equip Spell Card. The equipped monster can attack each monster your opponent controls, once each. Also, if it would be destroyed, you can destroy this card instead.

Silver Shadow Armor Ninja/ EARTH/ Level 6/ Warrior/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 2500/ DEF 1200/ 1 Warrior Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuners

"Ninja" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect once per turn.

Golden Shadow Armor Ninja/ LIGHT/ Level 7/ Warrior/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 2800/ DEF 2000/ 1 Warrior Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuners
Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can tribute 1 "Ninjitsu" card from your side of the field or hand: Negate the effects of 1 monster your opponent controls, and if you do, change its ATK and DEF to 0 until the End-Phase of this turn. During the End-Phase of your turn, if a "Ninja" monster battled an opponent's monster, you can activate this effect: Add 1 "Ninjitsu" card from your deck or graveyard to your hand.

Gin's Spells

Ninjitsu Art of Coordinated Attack/ Spell/ Continuous/ Once per turn, you can banish one "Ninja" Monster from your Graveyard: Target one Ninja Monster you control. That target gains 1000 ATK. Also, it gains the effects of the Ninja Monster banished for this effect, until the End Phase of this turn. If you do not control a "Ninja" Monster, destroy this card.

(Original concept by Nox Descious.)

Akio's Traps

Honorable Sacrifice of the Six Samurai/ Trap/ Normal/ Target 1 "Six Samurai" monster you control: This turn that monster's ATK and DEF are halved, also, your opponent can only select that monster as an attack target but it cannot be destroyed by battle once per turn during this turn. During either player's turn, you can banish this card from your graveyard and tribute 1 face-up "Six Samurai" monster you control: Increase your LP by the ATK of the monster tributed for this effect. Kuma's Monsters

(Original concept by Nox Descious.)

Warlord-Bear Panda Swordsman/ WIND/ Level 4/ Beast/ Effect/ ATK 1900/ DEF 1900/ Cannot be destroyed by battle. (This card is always also treated as a Beast-Warrior-Type monster). Any time your opponent takes Battle Damage, increase your LP by the amount of Battle Damage your opponent took. If this card is destroyed by a card effect, you can activate this effect: Special Summon 1 "Warlord-Bear" monster from your hand.

Warlord-Bear Forge Master/ FIRE/ Level 4/ Beast/ Effect/ ATK 1600/ DEF 2200/ Cannot be destroyed by battle. (This card is always also treated as a Beast-Warrior-Type monster). Once per turn, you can pay 1000 LP: Add 1 "War Bear" Spell/Trap Card from your deck or graveyard to your hand. (If you control a "Warchief-Bear" monster, you can make your opponent pay 500 LP to activate this effect instead).

Warlord-Bear Grizzly Hero/ EARTH/ Level 4/ Beast/ Tuner/ Effect/ ATK 2000/ DEF 2000/ Cannot be destroyed by battle. (This card is always also treated as a Beast-Warrior-Type monster). The controller of this card must pay 1000 LP to Synchro Summon with this card. (If you control a "Warchief-Bear" monster, you can make your opponent pay 500 LP instead).

Kuma's Extra Deck

Warchief-Bear Black Shaman/ DARK/ Level 6/ Beast/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 2800/ DEF 2700/ Warlord-Bear Grizzly Hero + 1 or more Non-Tuners

Cannot be destroyed by battle. (This card is always also treated as a Beast-Warrior-Type monster). Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 "Warlord-Bear" monster from your hand or graveyard in face-up attack position or face-down defense position. If your opponent pays LP for a card effect, double the amount of LP he/she must pay.

Warchief-Bear White Champion/ WATER/ Level 8/ Beast/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 3400/ DEF 3200/ Warlord-Bear Grizzly Hero + 1 or more Non-Tuners

Cannot be destroyed by battle. (This card is always also treated as a Beast-Warrior-Type monster). Once per turn, you can destroy cards your opponent controls up to the number of "Warlord-Bear" and "Warchief-Bear" monsters you control, and if you do, set 1 of those destroyed cards to your side of the field.

Kuma's Spells

War Bear Encampment/ Spell/ Field/ Once per turn, you can Normal Summon/Set 1 "Warlord-Bear" monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. Once per turn, if your opponent declares an attack on a "Warlord-Bear" or "Warchief-Bear" monster you control, you can pay 1000 LP: Negate that attack. (If you control a "Warchief-Bear" monster, you can make your opponent pay 500 LP to activate this effect instead).

War Bear Banner/ Spell/ Continuous/ When this card is activated, you can add 1 "Warlord-Bear" monster from your deck or graveyard to your hand. Increase the ATK and DEF of all "Warlord-Bear" and "Warchief-Bear" monsters you control by 200. If a Beast or Beast-Warrior-Type monster you control would be destroyed, you can destroy this card instead.

Kuma's Traps

War Bar Deception/ Trap/ Counter/ If a "Warlord-Bear" or "Warchief-Bear" monster you control would be destroyed by an opponent's attacking monster or an opponent's card effect, pay 1000 LP: Negate the destruction of that card, and any battle damage you would have received, and if you do, destroy 1 card your opponent controls. (If you control a "Warchief-Bear" monster, you can make your opponent pay 500 LP to activate this card instead).

Neya's Monsters

Aquaperformer Design Beaver/WATER/Level 5/Beast/FLIP/Effect/ATK: 1500/DEF: 2100
FLIP: Destroy 1 card on the field, then, if it is not face-up on the field, activate from your deck or graveyard, 1 "Aquaperformer Oceanarium". Its activation cannot be negated. If "Aquaperformer Oceanarium" is face-up on the field, this card cannot be destroyed by battle, also, you can set this card face-down.

You can send 1 Set card on the field to the graveyard to Special Summon this card from your hand in face-down Defense Position. Once per turn, if an "Aquaperformer" Equip Spell Card equipped to this card would be destroyed via a card effect, negate the destruction.

(Original concept by Epsilon Tarantula.)

Neya's Extra Deck

Aquaperformer Star Sea Lion/ WATER/ Level 6/ Beast/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 2400/ DEF 2000/ 1 "Aquaperformer" Tuner + 1 or more WATER monsters
Any Battle Damage this card inflicts is halved. This card gains 200 ATK for each differently named "Aquaperformer" Equip Spell Card you control and in your graveyard. If this card has 3 or more "Aquaperformer" Equip Spell Cards equipped to itself, this card can attack your opponent's LP directly. If this card would be destroyed, Destroy 1 Equip Spell Card you control instead.

Lilly's Extra Deck

Aqua Avatar Reef Queen/ WATER/ Level 6/ Plant/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 1000/ DEF 2000/ 1 "Aqua Avatar" Tuner + 1 Non-Tuner

Each time the ATK or DEF of a monster(s) changes (except by the effect of this card), increase the ATK and DEF of this card by 500. Once per turn, during either players, you can send 1 Level 3 or lower LIGHT or WATER monster from your side of the field, hand, or deck to the graveyard: This turn, this card cannot be destroyed by card effects.

Aqua Dragon Ryu Jin/ WATER/ Level 6/ Dragon/ Synchro/ Effect/ ATK 1700/ DEF 2400/ 1 Tuner + 1 or more Non-Tuners

When this card is Special Summoned successfully, you can target 1 monster on the field: Change that Target's ATK and DEF to 0. Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can equip 1 Level 6 or lower WATER Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck or graveyard to this card: This card gains the effects of that card. (Only 1 monster can be equipped to this card at a time with this effect). If this card is destroyed by battle, you can banish 2 WATER monsters from your graveyard: Special Summon this card from your graveyard.

Lilly's Traps

Legendary Martial Art – Hung Gar/ (This card is always treated as a "Ninjitsu" card) Players cannot target monsters for attacks except the monster his/her opponent controls with the highest defense. Once per turn, if a monster is selected as an attack target, the controller of that monster can change the battle position of the monster being attacked. If a monster battles a defense position monster with a higher DEF than the attacking monster's ATK, destroy the attacking monster at the end of the Damage Step. If a player controls no monsters, any damage he/she takes is halved.

Security's Spells

Goyo Sasumata/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip only to a "Goyo" monster you control. The Equipped monster can attack your opponent's LP directly.

Goyo Sodegarami/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip only to a "Goyo" monster. If it attacks, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage-Step. Once per turn, if the equipped monster attacked an opponent's monster, you can banish 1 "Goyo" monster on your side of the field or graveyard: The equipped monster can attack once again in a row.

Goyo Tsukubo/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip only to a "Goyo" monster. That monster gains ATK equal to its Level X 100. If the equipped monster attacks a monster with a lower Level than its own, reduce the ATK and DEF of the attack target by the Level of the attack target X 100. If the equipped monster attacks a defense position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent's LP.

Jeremiah's Monsters

Video Games Hero LV 1/ LIGHT/ Level 1/ Warrior/ Effect/ ATK 600/ DEF 600/ You can Special Summon this card from your deck if you control no cards. You cannot Special Summon monsters or conduct your Battle-Phase the turn you activate this effect. During your next Standby-Phase, you can tribute this card: Special Summon 1 "Video Games Hero LV 6" from your Hand or Deck.

Video Games Hero LV 6/ LIGHT/ Level 6/ Warrior/ Effect/ ATK 2400/ DEF 2400/ When this card is Special Summoned successfully, you can target 1 card your opponent controls: Destroy it. Once per turn, during either player's turn, if exactly 1 card would be destroyed, and no other cards, you can negate the destruction of that card. During the End-Phase of a turn in which this card destroyed a monster as a result of battle, you can tribute this card: Special Summon 1 "Video Games Hero LV 8" from your hand or deck.

Video Games Hero LV 8/ LIGHT/ Level 8/ Warrior/ Effect/ ATK 3000/ DEF 3000/ Must first be Special Summoned with the effect of "Video Games Hero LV 6". When this card is Special Summoned successfully, you can target up to 3 cards your opponent controls: Destroy them. During either player's turn, if a card(s) would be destroyed, you can pay 500 LP: Negate the destruction of that card(s). Once per turn, you can target 1 monster your opponent controls: Negate the effects of that monster.

Jeremiah's Spells

START game/ Spell/ Normal/ Add 1 "Video Games Hero" monster or "Level-Up" card from your deck to your hand. If you control a "Video Games Hero" monster, you can activate this card from your deck. (You can only activate 1 "START game" per turn).

Mega-Sword Power-Up/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip only to a "Video Games Hero" monster. Increase its ATK by 1000. Also, if that monster attacks a defense position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent's LP. If this card is in your graveyard while you control a face-up "Video Games Hero" monster, you can pay 1000 LP: Set this card from your graveyard.

Double Fist Power-Up/ Spell/ Equip/ Equip only to a "Video Games Hero" monster. That monster can make up to 2 attacks per Battle-Phase. If this card is in your graveyard while you control a face-up "Video Games Hero" monster, you can pay 1000 LP: Set this card from your graveyard.

Ruka's Monsters

Archaic Tuner/ Stats unrevealed/ Effects not fully revealed

Ruka's Extra Deck

Archaic Faery Dragon/ Stats unrevealed/ Effects unrevealed

Ruka's Spells

Archaic Forest/ Spell/ Field/ Effects unrevealed

Thank you all very much for your continued support for this series. I can't tell you all how much it means to me that you continue following this work which I and many others have contributed so much to make.

The polls are now in! The majority (60% of the voters) wish for the update chapters to continue. However, a sizeable chunk (40% of the voters) wish for only releases of the official chapters. So here is my proposal to you, my readers.

The policy of weekly update chapters will be discontinued. However, update chapters will not cease altogether. Instead, I will only release an update chapter once I hit a large milestone in this work OR if it really is necessary to inform you all of some major change, and I feel like releasing a small chapter along with it. In making this decision, I have consulted with my co-authors and have decided that due to my growing schedule, I won't be able to release chapters at nearly the rate at which I did in the past. If I continued making weekly update chapters, not only would I divert all my remaining time and energy from the official chapters, but this story would soon become "Signs and More Signs of More Updates," if it hasn't ALREADY become that by now. So expect MUCH fewer update chapters.

Also, I will officially be getting rid of the Chapter/Scene system for this story. I experimented with this for chapter 11 and have decided I don't really like that. So from now on, there will just be chapters. (possibly chapters in two parts, but no more unnecessary subdivisions).

Finally, and this may or may not upset some of you, but I believe I have officially reached the point where no more OC characters will be accepted, with the exception of 1 submission from a reader who has not already submitted a character. If and when this policy changes, you WILL BE informed. Until then, if you have any questions or concerns about this policy change, I would encourage you all to PM me and I would be happy to work with you and MAYBE make an exception if I feel it is necessary. (Oh who am I kidding? Nox Descious knows I'm going to accept another batch of octuplets from ten people within the next five minutes after I post this chapter and devote an entire volume to each individual.)

But in all seriousness, thank you all for your support. The next chapters are being worked on as me and my co-authors speak. Please be sure to thank CorinnetheAnime, Epsilon Tarantula, and Nox Descious for their continued work. Until the next chapter appears, this is Donjusticia saying, "Happy Halloween!" and "God Bless You!"