Chapter Four-Level Two

"What do you mean, you can't find her, Macie?" Vincent asked. He'd returned unexpectedly.

"Exactly as I said, Mr. Sklyar. She's nowhere in the house." Macie stared at her employer with a mixture of fear and worry on her face. "Max and I haven't seen her for two days."

"I see." Vincent replied coldly. "Well, for your sake, she better not have gotten lost or hurt somewhere! She's only a child, and I left you in charge." He walked into his office.

Macie shook her head, and fled upstairs to the last place she knew Veronica had been. She looked all around the arcade. How could she have disappeared?! There's no way she ran away. Veronica's much too scared of things. That's why she stays alone so much. Her only real passions are virtual reality games and Yu gi oh Duel Monsters.

"Macie! I'm going to ask around. Maybe someone saw her." Vincent called up the stairs. "Keep looking around the house. For all we know, she could've found a secret passage." Not that Vincent believed that, but he'd rather fantasize that his little sister was safe in passage than out alone, or kidnapped. He walked out of their estate, and got into his Sedan. Please be okay, Veronica. Please! He drove off into the early morning sunlight

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A gnawing sound awakened Veronica the next morning. At first, she was disoriented, but then she remembered where she was, and why. She looked around for the source of the gnawing, and saw a squirrel. She sighed in relief, glad it wasn't a harmful creature. She stood up to stretch her stiff joints. "Breakfast will have to be on the go. I want to get to the next level as soon as I can. I might stop for lunch though." She decided aloud. She opened the pack Noa had given her, and found an apple. "This'll do." She muttered, strapping her duel disk back on, and placing the pack on her back.

After careful consideration, she headed down the path to her left. Most dismal outcomes came from the left, in her experience. She walked, and thought about what this level meant. She'd be playing Dungeon Dice Monsters this time. She tried to figure out whom Noa would make her battle. She couldn't make up her mind.

A few minutes into travel, Veronica saw a large tower ahead. "Alcatraz?" She thought aloud. She shuddered, remembering the story Seto Kaiba had told the day the Noa arc began. Alcatraz was made of the ruins of his adopted father's version of Kaiba Corporation. She clenched her fists tightly. She hated Gozabouro Kaiba with a passion. Both for what he did to Noa, and for what he did to the other two Kaiba brothers. "I wonder…." She quickened her pace, on a hunch. When she reached the base of the tower, she looked up at it's length. It wasn't the Alcatraz, but a very accurate copy. She entered the tower through a set of double doors.

She was met with a surprise. She was back in her arcade. "What in the…" She looked around, in disbelief. Had Noa been wrong? Had she somehow set off a reset switch? "Noa?! Noa! What's going on?!" She was granted no reply, and Veronica shivered. There was something off about this whole thing. She walked over to the door that led out into the hall. When she opened it, she was staring into a hospital room. Her parents' hospital room, to be more exact. There stood Vincent, holding her three-year-old self in his arms tightly. Veronica swallowed hard, and took a step into the room. No one there seemed to notice. "Mama…Daddy…." She whispered softly. Her three-year-old self was sleeping with her pigtailed head on Vincent's shoulder. Their Aunt Megan stood there, an arm around Vincent. Noa, stop! I don't want to see this! There was a reason I didn't remember! She screamed mentally, as the scene changed to their funeral. Then that changed to their aunt's funeral seven years later. She shuddered, and returned to her arcade. Well, that's the room she went into. The arcade was gone, and it had been replaced with a Dungeon Dice arena. "I knew it! This is where my next level will be!"

"Very good." A familiarly cheeky voice replied.

"Duke?!" Veronica gasped. Okay, a holographic Duke, but still….

"That's right. I'll be your opponent for this level." Duke replied.

She looked up at him, pushing her fear down. How was she supposed to beat Dungeon Dice's creator?! It wasn't like she was Yami or anything.

"Shall we begin?" Duke asked, taking his place at a risen platform.

"I…." She stepped on her platform, and pretty soon, she was at his level. "I'm ready…"

"You don't look too confident." Duke remarked, choosing his dice.

"I'm fine." Veronica replied, when she was sure her voice was steady. She dug her own dice out of her pack, and tossed the rest of it to the ground. "It's still three heart points, right?"

"Yes." Duke chuckled a little. "You don't really know what you're doing, do you?"

Veronica closed her eyes tightly. "I do! I know exactly what I'm doing!" She said loudly to make sure Duke would think she was serious.

"Alright then. It's your turn."

The girl nodded, and took her first roll. She muttered, seeing she had no summoning crests.

"Not a very good start, was it?" Duke teased, as he took his turn, turning out two summoning crests.

Veronica made no reply to Duke, remembering how he'd tried to unnerve Joey Wheeler. She remembered it had also been a normal Duel Monsters game. So she really needed her mind there, and not on how he'd cut her down to size. "You won't shake me, Duke Devlin." She informed him, as she took her second roll.

"Is that so?" Duke asked her, as his dice dimensioned to form the beginning of his dungeon path. "Cyber Raider, move three spaces." They both watched as the monster did so. "Your move." He said to her now.

"I was trying to go, until you decided to dimension your dice!" Veronica exclaimed in frustration. She wasn't sure of her best move, and she wished desperately that she hadn't accepted this quest.

"Calm down, Veronica. I'll wait next time." Duke said in a sincere apologetic tone. "You can summon a weak level monster, if you want to, or you can put the crests in your pool, and see if you get higher levels your next turn." The dice expert added gently.

Duke's willingness to help surprised her. Veronica decided on her first option, and called on Magician of Faith. "Dimension the dice!"

"That was your last freebie." Duke told her, and he rolled a third time. "Perfect! Three movement crests!" He dimensioned these dice, and his Cyber Raider moved into position, poised to attack her Magician of Faith.

Veronica gasped. She'd hoped to attack his Raider first. Now it looked like her plan would fail. She rolled her next set of dice, producing two high level summoning crests. "Good! I summon Jinzo to the field!"

Duke nodded his approval. "I believe you're catching on." He told her. "But you forgot to move your Magican of Faith." In his next turn, the dice master rolled an attack crest, and he used it to destroy her Magician of Faith. "You have to keep on your toes. When you can move a monster, you do it." He chided. "Now, I also have two summoning crests and two movement crests." He gave her a sly look, before calling out Battle Ox and moving his Cyber Raider even closer to her Heart Points.

The young girl stared at the game field in disbelief. She really needed to get her monsters moving, if she hoped to defeat Duke. Not that she thought she really would. Duke was about to take out her Heart Points already! Okay, Ronnie. Think. If this game plays out the way you think it does, Jinzo has a special ability in this game. His attack points should rise every time your opponent moves. Maybe you can use an attack crest! She smirked to herself now, and then looked up at Duke mischievously. "Take a Heart Point, Dice boy. I'm about to blow you away!" She rolled her set of dice, and smiled widely, when she realized she'd gotten exactly what she needed. "Two movement crests, a summoning crest and one attack crest." She smirked up at Duke. She picked up her summoning crest, and put it in the pool, then dimensioned the movement crests for more dungeon path. "Now, Jinzo, move to his Battle Ox." When the holographic monster was in position, she ordered the attack.

"Don't be silly, Ronnie! There's no way Jinzo can win!"

"Look again, Duke. Jinzo has a special ability in this game. " Jinzo had destroyed his Battle Ox.

"That's impossible!" Duke cried in surprise. His eyes narrowed on Veronica. "Alright. No more Mr. Nice Guy." He made his next move, destroying one of her Heart Points. "One down, two to go." He smirked at her.

"Don't get so confident. I just rolled some more crests." She used her summoning crest from the previous turn, and the new ones to summon a second monster, Dark Magician. "You're sunk!" She told Duke, as she also ordered two attacks. One was on Cyber Raider, then his Heart Points. "It looks like we're tied, Duke."

"It does, doesn't it?" Duke was angry that this child was about to beat him at his own game.

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"Very nicely played, Doll." Noa commented to the monitor, as he watched Veronica battle it out with his holographic version of Duke Devlin. She was doing better than he'd expected. "But she won't last a minute on Level Three. There will be all sorts of obstacles, before she even reaches the Deck Master arena. And a surprise visitor too." He smirked slightly, thinking about his plot further. Noa was certain despite her strength in these first two levels, her spirit would be broken in the next level. He didn't expect her to succeed. And if she does, by chance, succeed….I'll just make up a good excuse for her to stick around. He chuckled to himself, and went back to focusing on the match, which had ended now. Duke's form disappeared, and the illusion of Alcatraz with him. Noa watched Veronica stare in disbelief at the empty space where the tower had been. Poor foolish girl! She still hasn't accepted this is the real deal. She still thinks she's at home in one of her virtual pods! Maybe I'll help her realize the reality of the situation. The boy snickered, and began to type in new commands to his program. He was adjusting her next level. He would not let her win so easily this time.