The Zephyr Express slowed down as it came towards the final bend before the platform. Kara blew the horn three times as the battle worn train had come to a full halt.
Paul and Aaron were rubbing their necks as they stepped off the train, "Well if that's the commute to work everyday, I think an early retirement is in order." Aaron muttered.
"No kidding." Paul said in total agreement.
Just then, Amy bounced up and wrapped her arms around their necks, "Come on guys, it was fun."
"All a matter of opinion." Aaron muttered under his breath.
"So what took you guys so long?" Asked Sarah, she was approaching them from the castle entrance.
"Giant monsters, double duels, the usual." Kara called down to her.
"So you ready to work?" Sarah asked Aaron.
"Um, I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think I need to." He said, a little worried.
"Say what?" She asked.
"He figured out how to use Gearfried's effect on the train." Paul said.
Sarah froze for a second, How is this happening? His progress is accelerating beyond anything we've seen before. I wonder if he's ready to visit the Vault.
Aaron was starting to panic, Jacob, Chuck and Jordan had all filled him in on the rampant destruction attributed to her fury and frying pan.
"Aaron, come with me." She said, turning around.
Aaron didn't know if he should be thankful or not that his head hadn't been flattened; he probably was in for worse.
They proceeded to an elevator, and stepped inside. Aaron noticed that they were supposedly the basement floor, but there were several more floors down.
"How far underground do we intend to go?" He asked.
"Another 2,000 feet, I hope you're not afraid of tight spaces." She said.
"No, afraid of extreme heights." He said, as the elevator shot down into the bowels of the earth.
Aaron looked at his duel brace, took out his deck and started to look through it.
"Whatca you doing?" Sarah asked looking over his shoulder.
"Making sure I built this deck right, I was hoping on trying it out soon." He said, taking out a card, which was the Dark Magician Knight.
"You made a Spellcastor deck?" She inquired.
"Yep, I'm trying to see if I can work with a different type of monster that just my Warrior monsters. Gearfried's still in here, but more of a comfort than an actual purpose." He said.
"I wish I had a DMG, she's my favorite card, but I just could never get one. Even the one in the Vault is off limits." She said.
"Vault? This place got a Fort Knox in the basement?" He asked.
"Sort of, you'll have to see for yourself, but she may have other ideas." Sarah said with a smirk.
"Why do I think I'm in more trouble than I want to be in?"
Meanwhile, up near the ground level, Jacob and Paul were discussing the trouble of the train.
"They're getting bolder, first the attack on the castle and now the train." Paul said.
"These are duelists with experience, but no real concept of what's at stake." Jacob said, looking out on to the horizon.
"So what do you think there next move to be?" Paul asked.
"When Chuck told me about the tournament, he said that tests would appear to test our mettle and our hearts. I don't think our enemy is as important as what we have to do ourselves." Jacob said.
"You're talking about Aaron aren't you?" Said a voice coming from the doorway.
They saw it was a kid in baggy pants, a dark green shirt and a backwards green hat to match, his brown hair and eyes were calm, but held a strange sense of responsibility.
"Yeah Chuck, I am. You know as well as I do that we need 12 members of the league ready for the tournament, and we've got 3 people waiting to take that last spot."
"You know that each brings something different to this league. One is highly creative, but is still not ready; the next has been training herself from day one and is one of the best we have. And lastly we have your discovery of Aaron." Chuck said.
"Kuro is a very good duelist, but Aaron is continuing to surprise us. He manages to jump through his training with ease, and is almost on Kuro's level. When I faced him for the first time, he was brash and was reckless, but towards the end, he started to find a way around my strategy. He is a strong duelist, and fast learner."
"It sounds to me that you think he'll be the one chosen for the 12th place." Paul said.
"He won't have it easy, all three of them will be tried like Matt and the rest of us were. And I think we may get to see what he can do today." Chuck said.
Back in the lower bedrock the elevator came to a halt, allowing Aaron and Sarah to leave.
They walked down a long, immaculate, hallway that lead to a very large steel door.
"This place reminds me of the accounting office at my job." Aaron remarked at the heavy piece of steel.
Just then, the huge steel door flew open at high speed, inside was a girl with Honey-blonde, somewhat wavy hair that flowed over her shoulders and near her neck and hazel eyes, she wore a T- shirt with an eagle on it, shorts. She also wore a dog chain style necklace with a piece of a green stone, a carved black eagle, a talon shaped claw holding a clear orb and a pair of rune tags, she wore a blue watch on her left arm, and a pair of rings on each of her index fingers. She was sitting behind a large wooden desk, looking at a few TV screens.
"Hey Kuro, how's it going?" Sarah asked.
"Well aside from the fact Jordan was talking to himself in the north wing mirror again not much." She said, "Who's the new guy?"
"Kuro, meet the new trainee, Aaron. Aaron, meet our head of security, Kuro." Sarah said.
"Pleasure to meet you." Aaron said, holding out his hand.
Kuro did take the hand, then flipped the whole body on the desk!
"Ow..." Aaron managed to blurt out.
"Seems like a nice guy, but if he can't take my kind of handshake, I don't know how well he's going to do." Kuro said.
"I admit he needs work." Sarah said.
"You two aren't related are you?" Aaron asked, trying to get up.
"No, but she's got to put up with the same amount of trouble, so you could call us sisters." Sarah said.
This is going to take some getting used to, I better pack some Advile for the next meeting.
"So you are taking him into the vault, what for?" Kuro asked.
"He's going to try out the CRS, he's got seer abilities, so he might be able to do it." Sarah said.
"Alright, head on in, take it easy on him." Kuro said, pressing a few buttons on her desk.
A section of the wall simply vanished and left a passage way.
"I'll be gentle, come on Aaron." Sarah said, leading him into the doorway.
They stepped inside, and found it to be an empty room, save for a single chair in the center of the circular room.
"Sit down, and watch."
Aaron sat down in the chair, and all of a sudden, the floor dropped into the ground. He watched as the floor sunk past more rooms, ones surrounded in filing bins, more vault doors, and landed on the bottom.
The room was shaped like a dome, and all of a sudden a computer screen and a strange pad appeared in front of his chair.
Sarah stepped beside him, "Aaron, this is the CRS or Card Reading System, this system makes use of your seer abilities and allows those like us to see into the future or past."
"How does it work?" He wondered.
"Inside this vault, is every known card in circulation, and many that have been uncovered in our adventures. The CRS has a record of each, and randomly presents them to you in the form of a virtual deck. Your seer strengths should be able to pick up the faint energies in the cards and allow you to see a point in time. Its easy to do, but the effect is different for each person." She said.
"When do I start?"
"Right now." She said, as the lights went out, and the screen engaged.
Hundreds of facedown cards began to shoot across the screen, all at high speed.
"What do I do?" Aaron asked.
"Trust your instincts, and pick out cards as they pass by, when your done, they will appear before you one the pad."
Aaron took a deep breath and closed his eyes, Ok, here goes.
He began to move his hand on the screen, he felt very weak pulses of energy, and began to press them.
He opened his eyes, and saw a pyramid form of cards on the pad.
"Flip the cards, each has its own meaning." Sarah said.
Aaron did, and found a strange pattern, the top card was the Umi card, the next two Gearfried, and Fire Princess, the next 3 were Obelisk the Tormentor, Orisis the Sky Dragon, and the Wing Dragon of Ra, but each of them were upside down. And the 4 were a Time Wizard, Meteor Black Dragon, Hino Kaga Tsuchi, and a Union Rider.
"What does this mean?" He wondered, just then the cards began to glow, and so did his eyes!
"WHOA!!!" He called out as everything went black.
Just then, he saw light, bright light. He saw that he was looking straight at a women, she was dressed in robes that belonged to the ancient Egyptian period. Her eyes were full exhaustion, but she had willed herself to stand. Her brown hair was a mess from some sort of struggle, and her face was dirty.
However to the side of Aaron's vision, was a Dark Paladin, the creature was calm as usual but something in its eyes made it seem that it was struggling inside.
It looks like this guy is about to break down and cry, Aaron thought to himself.
Just then, the right arm of the body Aaron was looking through pointed at the girl, "Attack now!" He heard the voice call out.
The Paladin clamped his eyes closed and dove for the girl, and then the image shattered like glass!
Aaron's vision returned, and found himself back in the chair.
"That was new." He said, as the screen vanished in front of him.
"So what did you see?" Sarah asked.
Aaron took a second to look at Sarah, She had hazel eyes behind silver glasses, her hair was shoulder length light brown, and she wore a white t-shirt with blue flowers along the bottom, khaki capris, flowered leather belt, and khaki sandals.
Not the same as the girl in the vision, but when I saw her, I could have sworn I met her before. Maybe if I use my spellcaster deck, maybe it might strike some memories.
"It was strange, but I got a request Sarah."
"Sure, go ahead."
"Could I try my Spellcaster deck against you? I need to see something for myself."
"Of course, let's head up to the Arena." She said.
For the next few minutes, Aaron stared at his Dark Paladin card, one of the strongest cards he managed to assemble in his deck.
"You've been looking at that for so long, you're going to burn a hole in it. What's the deal?" Sarah said.
"In the vision, I saw a Dark Paladin, it looked like it was going to cry. But after seeing Paul's in action, I can hardly believe it had any feelings." He said.
"Well, let's see how it will do when it shows up on the field." Sarah said, as the elevator came up to the arena floor.
As soon as the doors opened, Aaron saw Vaurnut listening to a guy a good foot taller than him, yelling in his ear. The strange thing was his attire, a bright yellow clown suit. His blonde hair was in spiked locks, and his green eyes were flaring.
"V! This is an outrage! I demand a rematch!"
"Calm down Granola, you lost fair and square, and it was your run of the mouth that got you in that outfit." V said.
"I thought his name was Dalin." Aaron said, pointing at the Clown.
"Yep, V enjoys calling him Granola." Sarah said.
"Hey Sarah, you mind telling him to lay off?" V asked.
"Actually I have a better Idea, Aaron and I were going to use the arena to try out his deck, would you two mind joining us?" Sarah asked.
"Sure, a double duel, any objections Granola?" V asked.
"Anytime, Aaron lets do this." Dalin said, leading the way in those incredibly large shoes.
"Why do I think I made a mistake?" Aaron asked himself as he walked after the other duelists.
The 4 duelists stepped into a room with very steep walls, all made of white polished stone, and the floor was a grid patten, save for the circular device in the center.
"So what do we do in here?" Aaron asked.
"Watch." Sarah's duel brace grew into a Thunder Dragon Brace.
V's changed into its Twin Headed Fire Dragon, and Dalin's into its Spear Dragon.
The 3 of them held there braces over the device, Aaron's Tyrant Dragon brace appeared and he held his over the device.
Suddenly, the device unfolded and drifted apart, along with the floor, in four equal quadrants, each carrying a DDL member on it.
They were all pulled to the corners of the room, and a small railing sprang up infront each of them, keeping them from falling into the vast emptiness below them.
Just then, Dalin's railing glowed with light, and his Lp counter appeared.
"I go first, I summon the Cat's Ear tribe in Attack Mode!" Infront of Dalin appeared a trio of kittens dressed in army issue outfits, each colored differently, ivory white, sky blue and light tan. (200/100).
Aaron knew the Cat's Ear Tribe, while comical in appearance, had a useable ability, but it also made him think his partner didn't have all his marbles in check.
"I also add the Heart of Clear Water, and one card facedown that's all." Dalin said.
The light flashed to Sarah, "My turn then, I set a monster and another card facedown. I'm done."
Aaron's rail shined to life, "My move," He said, looking at his cards. "I'll do the same, a monster and another card facedown, and that's all."
And finally it was V, "I set a monster and 2 cards." He called out, as 3 cards appeared in front of him.
"Now I go again," Dalin said, drawing a card. "I set another monster and end my turn."
"Draw," Sarah said, taking her card, "I set this monster facedown." And she was done.
Aaron drew his next card, and grinned, "I summon My Gearfried the Iron Knight to the field."
In a flash of light, Aaron's favorite monster appeared, and apparently was the only monster besides the Cats on the field ready to attack.
I want to attack but the number of trap cards in this place doesn't make me want to trip them, I'll have to play it safe. "I end my turn."
V drew his card, "I end my turn."
Dalin drew his next card, "I summon my Winged Sage Flacos and flip my Des Lacooda and draw one card from his effect."
Dalin's facedown monster flipped up revealing a mummified camel with a dust cloud coming out of his mouth, (500/600). And appearing in front of him was a large human sized and shaped bird dressed in white robes and had a shiny red cap, (1700/1200).
"I take a break from you V, and attack Sarah's original facedown monster." He said, as the Winged Sage flew up and charged the monster.
The sage pounded the card to bits, but they recombined into a metal container with a large green eye. (900/900).
"CYBER JAR!"
The Jar's eye opened up, and a powerful vacuum filled the room and was sucking all the monsters inside!
Aaron and Dalin could only watch as there favorite monsters vanished into the jar as it exploded.
Just then, five cards slipped off each duelist's deck and loaded themselves on the field to show everyone what they got.
Coming in from above, Jacob, Chuck, Amy and the rest of the team came in from the Bang from the Cyber jar.
"I wonder how Aaron's doing?" Paul asked.
"Judging by the look on his face I guess he isn't too happy." Kuro said.
The five cards gained from the Cyber jar for each player were visable for all to see.
Dalin's were Monster Reborn, Metal Reflect Slime, Yata-Garasu, Wall of Illusion, and D.D. Warrior Lady.
Sarah's were Wingweaver, Goblin of Greed, Black pendant, Magic Jammer, and Magician of faith.
Aaron's were Diffusion Wave Motion, Polymerization, Sages Stone, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, and Pot of Greed.
And V's were Twin Solar Flare Dragons, Graceful Charity, Ring of Destruction, and Tremendous Fire.
Aaron grimaced, "Great, I lose my favorite monster for a fill in." As the Green Genie with the black facial hair appeared before him. (1800/1000).
Both of Sarah's monsters were facedown (1000/1800) (300/400), while V's twin string dragons that were made of magma with green eyes appeared in attack mode, (1500/1000).
And Dalin watched as his Wall remained facedown, and a blonde decked in a black leather outfit with a beam dagger appeared in front of him. (1000/1850) (1500/1600).
"I'll end my turn by setting two cards facedown." He said, clearly upset.
Sarah looked at her cards, "I end my turn."
She had enough for the Wing Weaver, but she's being just as cautious as I am, but things aren't looking good for me. Aaron thought as he drew his card.
"I play Pot of Greed. And draw two more cards." He said, then looked at the mess of cards from the cyber jar and the pot.
"I set 4 cards facedown and a monster in defense mode." Aaron said, dumping 5 cards from his hand.
"My turn then, and I play Harpie's Feather Duster on you Aaron." V said.
"I'll chain with my Waboku in case anything else happens." Aaron replied, but now upset that he lost so many cards in a few seconds time.
"I set a monster, and equip my one of my Solar Flare Dragons with the Ring of Magnetism." Another monster card appeared near the twins, but one was soon wrapped in an electromagnetic field like Gearfried was on the train. "Now neither of you can attack." He said, seeing as the Dragon's powers prevented them from being targeted if there was another Pryo on the field.
"Great, more Locks." Amy said.
"I end my turn, And choose you Dalin to taste my Dragons fury." He said, as the twin dragons spewed embers at Dalin.
The clown raised a Rema Barrier to block the flames, but his Life points dropped to 7000 from the Flare Dragon's effect.
"Then it's back to me V." Dalin said, drawing his card, and slammed it into his Brace.
"I activate Magic Effect Arrow!" He called out, as an arrow appeared in front of Dalin and shot right at V's Ring of Magnetism, and blew it to pieces, and dropped V's Lp by 500.
"Now I play Graceful Charity, and draw 3 cards and ditch 2." He said.
"Now I play Dark Hole, and wipe the field clean again." He called out, as a swirling black vortex appeared in the center of the arena.
"I play Magic Jammer." V called out, as his facedown card appeared to cut off Dalin's Magic card.
"I think not, Seven Tools of the Bandit!" Dalin said, as his card shattered the trap card.
"Why'd he do that? He left Aaron vulnerable to a strike?" Josh asked, looking over the edge, and watched as the cards vanished.
"He's got a plan, watch." Jacob said.
"I play Monster Reborn and call my Fiend Megacyber to the field!" He called out, as his Magic card activated and a large warrior in chrome yellow armor with curves and claws, his body was muscular and his face was still with mow hawk helmet and a sharp chin guard. (2200/1700).
"And Lastly, I remove the two monsters I sent to the Grave yard to call forth My Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning." As a Jeregrine monster appeared in front of him. (3000/2500).
"Time I wipe that smile off your face V, attack!" He called out.
"You never learn do you? Mirror Force!" Vaurnut called out.
V's magical barrier appeared in front of him and blew Dalin's attack force into the dust.
"Well that was a complete waste." Nick said.
"I set this monster and I end my turn." Dalin said.
Dalin 6000
Sarah 8000
Aaron 8000
Vaurnut 7500
To be continued...