LunaticChaos: Draken was probably one of my favorite Generals of Hell, because I actually wrote on his past. I'm glad you like him.

Whispering Hope: o_O;;; Ok… should I ask? _

*Chapter 8: Once Human*

The man in the white cloak entered the small office he had arranged for himself, and saw that the one he was to meet was already there.

He sat down on the chair behind his desk, eyeing the one that stood before him.

"Greetings. So you are the one I have heard so much about? One who is strong in fighting, and dueling? You can slay others carelessly, without pause?"

"I am not supposed to have emotions."

"You were once human."

"Why does that make a difference? I am programmed to not have feelings… to just be a tool…"

"True. Very well, I will explain what I wish for you to do. There is a small group of children that I want to have you kill. If not physically, then dueling will be necessary. The conditions of the duel? The loser will die. And I already know full well about your structure, and one certain device inside your body, so do not even consider trying to fail. Well, do you understand?"

"Affirmative."

"Good. I am also aware that you will require pay. What do you desire?"

"I would prefer to discuss that later. It's a complicated process, but one that should be cheaper for you overall."

"Fine. Just leave to find and slay them."

"Right away."

*****

Everyone was silent, staring at the corpse, and Fell, who had blood dripping from his right arm, the one he had used to run Rika through. Max backed away slowly, but that was the only movement any of them made.

Larka was the first to speak. "Fell! Why? Why did you kill her?!"

"It was us or her," he replied, turning to her, face as expressionless as ever. "You may have different opinions, but I would prefer my life to hers."

"That's no excuse! You know full well you could have simply destroyed her deck and Duel Disk, making her harmless! She may not care if she kills or not, but you aren't that heartless!"

"Would you say that if you knew that I do not care? An enemy that is alive can come back. One that is dead will never bother you again."

Larka shook her head. "She didn't stand a chance! That was a murder from cold blood! You can't say that you aren't feeling guilty about that; I know you too well!"

"The first, and most important rule of survival is to only think of yourself," Fell stated. "Why should I feel guilt over one who would be a threat in the future?"

"So you care about nobody? Not even… me?" she whispered.

"If I could, I would sever the feelings I have toward you. But the bonds are too deep; even I cannot deny that." He then walked out of the door, saying as he left, "I will wait outside, in hearing range if you need anything."

Hope was the only one who did not watch him leave, instead looking at Larka to see her reaction. Her eyes shined with unshed tears, to match the look of hurt on her face. But she said nothing.

To take their minds off the touchy subject, Brandi asked, "Who is this Draken guy? You seem to already know him."

"Draken was once a General of Hell," Rue explained. "I dueled, and defeated him. His body was burned, along with his Soul Monster's, Darche. I held on to his Blue Eyes White Dragons, until now. What I don't understand is how you can be alive…" he said to Draken.

"Well, you all died too, but were revived. Do you know who was revived though?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Simple. Anyone with a good heart could not stay in Hell. Therefore, anyone that was not a General of Hell came back to life. I'm a special case. I was tricked by Diablos at a very young age, and only because of my sister's murder. I did not know it, but the Lord let me have a second chance, saying that I still have a good heart, hidden under shades of hatred. So my body, and Darche's, were resurrected. Unfortunately, my deck and Duel Disk were gone for good. But I managed to replace them." He thought for a minute. "Oh, I wasn't the only one whose heart was somewhat good. Alene was much the same way."

"Did she get resurrected as well?" Gaston inquired.

"No. Her death was not in a Death Duel, so she could not be brought back to life. However, her soul was sent to Heaven, so she should be happy now."

"I'm sure she is," Hope agreed. "After what she went through, it's what she deserves."

"Can't argue with that," Neo commented.

Will was concerned about more pressing manners. "We still do not know where our Duel Disks or decks are. We should find them immediately."

Mana indicated to a door in the back. "Maybe over there?"

"I'll check." Brandi opened the door, and looked inside. "Yep, here they are."

They all retrieved their belongings, Larka carrying Fell's. With one last look at the gruesome corpse, they walked outside. Fell was there, wiping the blood on his arm away with a random purple drape that had fallen on the ground. After Larka gave him his items, they went to find the exit.

*****

They stepped outside of the building at last, to see an astonishing sight.

There was no ground. Instead, they were standing on clouds. They had been teleported to a building in the sky.

"It's incredible…" Mana said in disbelief.

"I didn't know it was possible to access the sky," Rue commented. "Learn something new every day."

"What makes me wonder is how we can stand on these clouds, as if they were solid," Will mused.

"I'm more concerned with figuring out how we are going to get down!" Miles said.

"Actually, I have an idea," Draken announced. "Darche, can you please call one of your friends?"

"No problem." Darche's sword began to glow a violent blue. For several seconds he remained still, just holding the sword in the air, when a mighty roar sounded. Everyone looked up to see three huge Blue Eyes White Dragons flying towards them.

"No need for alarm," Draken assured. "These are some of Darche's pals. They can fly us back to the ground, or so I hope."

The Blue Eyes White Dragons landed, and examined the companions with soft hisses.

"They're friends, ok?" Darche told them. "We need your help getting down. Up for it?"

The dragon in the center laid its tail on the clouds, forming a crude ladder to its back. The other two followed its example.

"I guess we'll take that as a yes," Hope assumed.

All of the Soul Monsters besides Darche vanished into their Soul Cards. Miles, Draken, and Darche boarded the middle Blue Eyes. Darche had to be there to lead the way for the beast. Larka, Fell, Rue, and Will got on another, and Hope managed to convince Max to board the third, Brandi coming as well.

"Hold on guys, this might be a little rough!" Darche warned, before whispering commands to the dragon he rode. The dragon roared again, and then dove through a gap in the clouds, the other two following.

Miles held onto the dragon for dear life, having nearly been knocked off when it took off. "Oy! You said a LITTLE rough?! Understatement of the year!"

"Don't take my lines," Will called over to him as the other dragons flew by.

As they were being brought closer to the earth, Hope leaned over to Max and asked him, "Have you ever seen these dragons before? Like, in your dreams?"

"…No…"

So it wasn't a Blue Eyes… then what was it? I don't know of any other big, blue creatures…

Her thoughts were cut off as the dragons landed on the shore near the lake, extending their tails again. Nobody hesitated in leaping off except Draken and Darche, who bid the dragons a farewell before they flew off. The Soul Monsters emerged as well.

"I am NEVER doing that again," Miles panted. "NEVER EVER."

"It just takes some getting used to," Draken said. "I've rode one several times, and it's very fun once you are comfortable with it."

"No way am I going to give them the chance to make me enjoy it," Miles retorted.

"Your loss," Draken shrugged. "Well, we made it back without a hitch. Now what should we do?"

"Rika said something about… 'the Commanders of Heaven'," Hope pointed out. "Does that mean we have yet another religious group to deal with?"

"I don't know…" Draken shrugged. "She immediately knew I was once a General of Hell though, even though I discarded the orb of fire I used to wear. I wonder… are they like us, except trying to bring forth God?"

"Oh geez, I hope not," Hope replied. "It was easy enough to see Satan as an enemy, but God… well, he stands for good. How can we fight that?"

"We're jumping to conclusions," Rue realized. "Let's just deal with these guys first. I mean, think about it. If they are able to kill people in Teknisk Wereld, we know it isn't a good thing."

Brandi turned to Miles. "Were you in this group? You seemed to recognize Rika."

Miles nodded. "Yep…"

"Were they the ones who attacked Max?"
Miles sighed. "Yes. That is why everyone is surprised about Max being alive. Hey Max, I suggest taking off the cloak you wear. If you keep it on, you'll be very easy to identify."

Max pressed the button on his Duel Disk, vanishing. A minute later, he was back, without the cloak.

"Yeah, much better," Miles assured.

Before anyone else could say anything, all of their Duel Disks suddenly began to glow with a soft, yellow light. Then, to their amazement, a voice came from each one.

"Greetings all duelists. My name is Keith, and I am the one who looks over the rules in Duel Monsters. I am contacting you for two reasons. One is that a new booster pack is out. Look out at the local store for Pharaoh's Inheritance! The second thing? Some of the cards already out are now banned from play. The following cards CANNOT be played any more: Injection Angel Lily, Cyber Pod, Fiber Pod, Yatagarasu, Mischievous Demon Twins, Distressing Choice, Change of Heart, Thunderbolt, Harpy's Feather Sweep, and Imperial Decree. So everyone, please remove those cards from your deck immediately. Thank you for listening, and have a nice day." Then the Duel Disks lost their glow.

Everyone but Max, Fell, and Ruecian only had one thing to say to that.

"DAMN IT!"

*****

The man in the white cloak smirked.

"While these restrictions do harm us, they hurt them much more. This should be easier than I thought…"

*****

Rue looked at the last card he had pulled out of his deck. "Why Injection Angel Lily? That card is special to me, damn it! Whoever thought of these dumb rules is going to suffer a painful death."

"On the plus side, those new cards came out," Gen pointed out.

"Yeah. Let's go to the store and get some packs," Hope suggested.

The idea was agreed to, and they made their way there.

*****

After some walking, they were soon entering the store.

"You guys sure got here quickly!" Hector said. "I assume you want some of the new packs?"

"That's right."

"Each pack costs $4. How many do each of you want?"

Hope reached for her wallet. "Three for each person… and three for Claire… that makes thirty packs."

"What?! Geez, I'm going to be sold out at this rate."

"It's alright, I'm paying," Hope told the others. "My mom gave me a lot of money for my birthday."

After thanking Hector and Hope, they left to see what they gotten.

Rue looked in his first pack. "Score! I got Black Magic!"

Will smirked. "I got Dragon Knight Gaia."

"…You suck."

"Yep. I can get a lot of money off of this."

The others did not explain what they had got, reading over the cards and putting a few in their decks.

"How about we go back to the lake?" Rue asked. "I don't think the mountains are a good idea after what happened, or the forest."

"True," Will nodded. "Alright then."

*****

Back at the peaceful shore, they were now discussing what to do next.

"We don't know enough information," Larka pointed out. She was pretending to have gotten over Fell's comments, but still felt an ache in her heart.

"With the Generals of Hell, we searched all of Teknisk Wereld, finding at least one in each area. Well, except for the sky, and some other locations," Gaston recalled.

"So what we need to do is the same as what we did last time?" Neo inquired.

"Sounds like it," Mana replied. "The only problem is where to start looking? Any ideas Miles?"

"I don't know that much," he sighed. "If I did, I'd tell you, but I can't read the minds of my former companions."

As usual, Max had been silent until this point. He was unsure of what they were talking about, and feeling lost, gazed at his surroundings.

That was when he saw, from behind Hope, a flash of metal.

Max didn't know what he was doing, and why. Normally, he would have been frightened stiff, unable to do a thing. But he found himself lunging at Hope, knocking both of them to the ground as a switch blade sliced the air where Hope's head had been seconds ago.

Gaston was up in a flash, swinging his sword at the attacker. The opponent blocked the sword strike with right hand, gripping Gaston's arm. His left fist connected with Gaston's chest. Normally, this would not have done much damage, but electricity came from his fist, causing Gaston to be thrown back with a cry of pain.

This was the first time that they got a clear view of the attacker. Hope could see that he was not a human immediately. Although his blue, long sleeved, shirt and pants, with some gray, fit around him so that you could not see any skin, she had caught sight of metal underneath his sleeve when he had attacked. Still, many could be deceived by his appearance. His right hand was black, in the shape of a human hand. His left was a very shiny, light silver, and looked as if it were a normal hand with armor on it. This was the one the electricity had come from; blue light still danced around it. On his left arm was the switch blade; it was on his outside side, and was coming straight out of his arm. It looked like its position could be changed though. His feet were more like silver boots. The upper chest area still had human skin, and his head was normal enough. His hair was short and brown, and his eyes were a stunning blue. Even though Hope could swear that he was a machine of some sort, his eyes seemed to show that he was truly alive, even though they did not show friendliness.

She noticed this in only a second, for he was attacking again. Gaston was still trying to recover from the previous strike, so Brandi had taken action. She dodged his switch blade and punched him as hard as she could at his waist. A clang echoed through the area as she jumped back with a yelp. Her fist had connected with his metal body. Although unhurt, the man staggered back, which is when Fell decided to help. He leapt at the man and tried to deal a blow to his head. Although Fell was moving very swiftly, the attacker was quick as well. He ducked and brought his switch blade up, at Fell's chest. Fell immediately rolled away, and tried attacking from another angle. The man simply grabbed his arm with his right hand, and then attempted to slice him. Fell barely managed to stop the blade in time by grasping the man's arm.

By this time, Brandi had recovered, and had sneaked up behind the man. Now she attacked, punching at his head. To her surprise, the man let go of Fell and jumped out of the way. Fell pursued him immediately.

Throughout this whole time, the others had tried to stay away from the fighting, knowing that too many at once would only confuse their best battlers. Draken was getting concerned though. None of the attacks seemed to have any effect on their opponent.

"Darche! Get help!"

Darche nodded, and held his sword up as it began to glow blue.

At this time, Brandi had tried to hit his head again, figuring that was his most vulnerable area. Her attack didn't go through as he leapt away.

A roar signaled the arrival of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. This time, only one had come, but it was formidable enough. It snarled at the stranger it saw.

Brandi and Fell got out of the way immediately as the dragon opened its mouth, lightning beginning to form.

The man lost no time in running forward to the dragon.

"Is he trying to commit suicide?!" Rue exclaimed. "I don't care how strong he is; no human can take on a dragon and win, virtual or not!"

The man's left fist once again began to glow with blue light as he slammed it into the Blue Eyes White Dragon's leg. A huge explosion rocked the ground as the dragon was electrocuted, electricity flying everywhere. Screaming in pain, the dragon took flight, away towards the mountains, barely managing to stay in the air as electricity lanced through its body still.

The man sighed wearily, looking at his hand, which had stopped sparking. "It looks like I overdid it that time…"

Brandi got into a fighting stance again as their opponent turned to them. This time, he made no move to attack.

"We are too well-matched. A definite victor won't be decided for quite some time. We will have to solve this in a simpler method." His voice wasn't robotic at all; it was just a normal, deep tone.

"And let me guess; that requires a duel. Why we are still putting our lives on a card game, I have no idea," Rue commented.

Hope had recovered from the attack, and was now standing, preparing her Duel Disk. "I guess I'll duel, if someone must. That is, if you've recovered Gaston."

Gaston nodded, getting up slowly. "I was more surprised than hurt…"

The switch blade retracted into the man's arm. He took out a Duel Disk and strapped it on in place. "Then it will be done."

"I'm Hope," she introduced. "And you are…?"

"Cyborg #0001."

"What?!" everyone shouted.

"A… cyborg? But our technology isn't great enough!" Brandi protested.

Neo seemed confused. "Will, what is a cyborg? I've never heard you mention them."

"It's a human whose body has been replaced by machinery, or electronic devices. But it's impossible to pull this off without killing the human. And a dead human cannot work, for there would be no soul to control the body…"

"There is a way around that," the cyborg stated. "I was killed. Yet I have been revived, into this cursed existence." He activated his Duel Disk. "Talking will get us nowhere. Let us begin this duel. The loser is to die at the winner's hands."

"As usual, I see."

Larka turned to Miles. "Have you heard anything about this?"

Miles shook his head. "No… I had no idea the Commanders of Heaven would do something like this."

"It's too late to do anything about it now," Draken pointed out as the duelists drew their cards.

Hope: 8000

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"Hm… how about you go first?" Hope offered.

"If that is what you wish. I lay two cards down, and summon Cypher Scouter. (1350/1800) Then it is your turn."

Odd… why would he summon such a weak creature in attack mode? He must have a trap down… there's no other explanation. "I play Tempest! This will destroy your two face down cards!"

"They were Attack Nullification and Cry of the Living Dead."

"Good! Now I summon Dark Hero: Zombire! (2100/500) He will attack your Cypher Scouter!"

The beast dashed forward to strike down the Cypher Scouter, but to Hope's amazement, the Cypher Scouter blocked the blow, and counterattacked, killing her Warrior.

"What happened?"

"Whenever my Cypher Scouter battles a Warrior Sub-Type, it gains 2000 attack and defense during the damage step. (3350/3800)"

Hope: 6750

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"All of my monsters are Warriors… this could get difficult. I lay one card down and end."

"I summon Bowgunian. (1300/1000) Both of my monsters attack directly."

"I activate Reactive Armor! This will destroy your Cypher Scouter!"

"That will not stop my Bowgunian."

Hope: 5450

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"At least my biggest problem is out of the way… I lay one monster in defense."

"Whenever I enter my standby phase, Bowgunian deals 600 damage to your Life Points."

Hope: 4850

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"Now I summon Cannon Soldier. (1400/1300) Then I activate Limiter Removal. This doubles all of my Machine Sub-Types' attack. (2600) (2800) Now my Bowgunian will attack your defense monster."

"Severing Samurai... (500/800)"

"Then Cannon Soldier attacks directly."

Hope: 2050

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"Normally, my monsters would be destroyed at the end phase of my turn, due to Limiter Removal. However, there is another way I can go about this. I will activate my Cannon Soldier's ability. By sacrificing a monster on my side of the field, you lose 500 Life Points. So I sacrifice Bowgunian and Cannon Soldier. Yes, he can be the target of his own ability."

Hope: 1050

Cyborg #0001: 8000

"This Machine deck is a lot different from Jason's," Rue noticed. "It seems more of a beatdown style than anything."

Hope looked at her next card, and shrugged. "Worth a try. I lay one card down, and summon Troop Commander! (1200/400) With his special ability, I call forth Blade Knight! Since I have only one card in my hand, his attack is raised by 400! (2000/1000) Both of my monsters attack directly!"

Hope: 1050

Cyborg #0001: 4800

"I lay one card down, and summon Magic Reflector Reflect Bounder. (1700/1000) Do you know what it does?"

"Yes… if I attack it, I take damage equal to my attack power. But I have no monsters who can kill it without finishing off my own Life Points!"

"Correct. Reflect Bounder attacks the Troop Commander."

"You've run into my Magic Cylinder! You lose 1700 Life Points."

Hope: 1050

Cyborg #0001: 3100

"Then I have nothing else to do."

Hope looked at the card in her hand. There's one card that can pull this off for me… She looked at her next card. "This will help. I play Jar of Greed, drawing two cards. Yes! Now I sacrifice my two monsters to summon Buster Blader! (2600/2300) Then I equip him with The Fused Weapon, Murasame Blade! This raises his attack by 800! (3400/2300) Now I will activate Gaston's Deck Master ability! By paying 1000 Life Points, one of my monsters can attack you directly, so I obviously choose Buster Blader! Attack him!"

"Think again. I activate my face down card, Holy Barrier-Mirror Force. Your monster is destroyed."

"Not true! Gaston's ability also has a second benefit. The attacking monster is immune to any magics or traps you activate when it attacks!"

Hope: 50

Cyborg #0001: 0

The cyborg shut off his Duel Disk. "Well done. Since you have won, you will be the one to live." He walked up to her, and kneeled down. "The best way to find a weak point would be the back of my neck. That is where many of my most important circuits are."

"What are you talking about?" Hope asked nervously.

"Since you are the winner, you are the one who is to kill me."

"What?! But… I can't do that!" she protested, horrified.

"It is the rules of the duel. Normally, I would save you from the guilt of it, but I am unable to. You will have to be the one who casts the death blow."

To be continued…