A few days later, Jack stumbled down the stairs to immediately be interrogated by Dad, who raised an eyebrow, "Where did you get those bruises?"
He paused and looked down at his bare chest, "Shadow duel. But I got a new form of Archfiend, so it was a fair trade."
Dad's eyes drifted over to me, "You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No. Only Jack was injured in the duel. I was a safe distance away."
As his eyebrow rose, Jack went to the garage, "Don't worry, Dad, Geiger and I made sure that she was at least six meters away from the duel, and off to the side."
I scooped some food up and tried to keep a small cut out of Dad's line of vision. On the ride back I had discovered a slender cut along the side of my hand from one of the times that rocks had broken around us.
"What in the blazes?"
Dad ran downstairs, and I grabbed a piece of toast before following after him.
The blonde giant practically threw a paper into my face, and I took it from his hand.
Scratched on the paper was simply 8 words: Game Paradise Arcade, play Accel Terminal. More information - L
Pulling the piece of toast out of my mouth, I held up the scrap, "Ever seen Lazar's handwriting before?"
"That's it alright. Put it right on top of my ramen."
Muttering, I bit into my meal, "Where he knew we would find it after the chase through the mall."
Jack's cheeks nearly turned the color of Aki's dress, and I shoved him, "Chill. Get Crow or Aki. Soon as I eat, I'm going to investigate."
Dad stood between me and the kitchen, "Two questions. Why do you think that going after an anonymous tip is a good idea? And how long were you planning on hiding that cut?"
"I cut myself on the runners all of the time, what's the big deal?"
The stare intensified, and I sighed, "It's just a cut. Anyways, with each passing day it's harder and harder for us to get out of the city. Heck, last time I had to actually bribe people. They want you and I to die with the city, not beforehand. So there's no point in attacking me before they duel us."
Taking another bite, I stretched, "Can I please go eat?"
Crow, Aki, and Jack led the way into the brightly lit room, and I looked around for the machine. It wasn't hard to find, seeing as it was lit up like an American Christmas tree, and had a fake duel runner on it.
A paper stuck out from underneath it, and I picked it up, "Looks like this is the login information. Anyone want to see if it is a trap?"
Before I could even blink, Crow sat down and started booting up the game, "What do I need to enter?"
I held the paper in front of him, and he typed in the information, causing the screen to declare: Welcome, Vice Director Lazar.
"So he gave us his own information. Let's just hope that they aren't actively searching for him."
A simulation game popped up, and I glanced at the stats:
Life Points (Crow)=1000
Speed Counters=4
Deck=0 cards left
Graveyard=0 cards
Hand=Speed Energy & Jester Confit
Own monster=Jester Lord-0 (as long only monster on own side, gains 1000 per magic/trap card on own field
One facedown (Thunder Break-discard one card in hand to destroy one on field)
Turns left=1
Attempts left=3
Life Points Enemy=1800
Enemy monster=Basokiyan-1600
Enemy has one facedown
Crow cracked his fingers, and smiled, "I set Speed Energy facedown and then activate Thunder Break. I send Jester Conflit to the graveyard in order to destroy the enemy's Basokiyan."
The enemy spoke, "When Basokiyan is destroyed, so are all of the cards in your hand."
"Well, that's totally useful, because I have no cards in my hand, but since I have a magic spell on the field, my Jester Lord gains 1000 points. He's going to attack you directly!"
Life Points Enemy=800
Bright lights filled the screen, and a single sentence flashed up: You needed to defeat the enemy in a single turn.
Aki pulled Crow out of the seat, and took his place, "Looks like I get to duel now."
Crow's face turned as red as his hair, and he moved back to stand beside Jack.
"First, I start by removing 4 speed counters in order to inflict 800 points of damage to my opponent. Then I set Speed Energy facedown, and activate Thunder Break by sending Jester Conflit to the graveyard. Due to Thunder Wave's effect, I get to choose one card to destroy, and I choose Basokiyan."
Once again, the programmed enemy spoke, "When Basokiyan is destroyed, so is all of the cards in your hand."
"And my hand is empty, so that doesn't effect me. Then I attack with Jester Lord, who has gained 1000 points."
Life Points Enemy=0 Defeat!
She smiled as she walked over to me, and Jack was on it before I could blink, "Looks like there's a second level."
I rubbed my temples, "Go for it."
The field this time had so much more on it, and Aki muttered under her breath, "You lose, and then we'll only have one attempt left."
Life Points Jack=300
Speed Counters Jack-10
Life Points Enemy=4000
Speed Counters Enemy-10
Menraado-600
Donuuno-1400
Basokiyan-1600
Vs
Jester Lord-0
Jester Queen-800
"Okay, so I have 2 facedowns, and 4 more cards in my hand. His monsters have effects that only happen when they are destroyed. Menraado destroys my monsters, Donuuno destroys my spells and traps, and we know that Basokiyan destroys the cards in my hand. But Jester Queen can attack only when no other monsters are on my field, and can attack the number of times equal to how many cards are in my spell and trap card zone."
Jack looked at his options, then cracked his fingers, "I remove 4 speed counters using Speed World 2, and deal 800 points of damage to you for every speed spell in my hand. Since I have two of them, you receive 1600 point of damage!"
Life Points Enemy=2400
"And then, since I still have speed counters left, I'm going to do it again!"
Life Points Enemy=800
"Next, I activate Speed Energy! When I have 2 or more speed counters, I am able to raise a monster's attack power by 200 points for every speed counter that I have. I choose to raise Jester Queen's power by 400."
Jester Queen-1200
"I place two cards facedown, then I play Hi-Speed Rush. This allows me to destroy one of your monsters if I have 2 or more speed counters, but I have to sacrifice one of my own. So Jester Queen and Basokiyan are both getting destroyed."
The opponent blinked, "When Basokiyan is destroyed, so are all of the cards in your hand."
"I don't have any left, so that was pointless. But the point of that was the fact that Jester Queen's ability now activates. She can attack 4 times, starting with... Menraado."
Life Points Enemy=200
All of us sighed as the special effect of Menraado completely destroyed Jester Queen.
"Failure. Reason: lack of monster."
Jack went red, and I raised an eyebrow, "You had the right idea, you just did things in the wrong order."
I walked over to Luna as Crow and Jack exploded into an argument, "Luna, do you want to try?"
Her face paled as she looked up at me, "Are you sure? This is our last shot."
Ruffling her hair, I crouched to look her in the eye, "You and Aki are quickly catching up to my level. If I'm always the one dueling, then the two of you will never get a chance to get better."
She slipped past the guys, and looked at the set up, "I'm going to use Speed World 2 once, and deal 1600 points of damage to the opponent."
Life Points Enemy=2400
"Then I use Speed Energy to raise Jester Queen's attack."
Jester Queen-2000
"Once her points are up, then I use Speed World 2 again, but this time it only deals 800 points of damage."
Life Points Enemy=1600
She smiled, "Then...I use Hi-Speed Rush to destroy both Jester Lord and Donuuno."
"When Donuuno is destroyed, so are the cards in your spell and trap card zone."
Her two facedowns exploded, and without a second's pause, she placed the cards in her hand down, "I can just replace them."
"Now Jester Queen can attack twice. First, she attacks Basokiyan!"
Life Points Enemy=1200
Yet again, the robot spoke, "When Basokiyan is destroyed, so are all of the cards in your hand."
"It doesn't matter, I have no cards there. Next, I attack Menraado!"
We all froze as the computer showed Jester Queen eating Menraado instead of just attacking it.
Life Points Enemy=0 Defeat!
Luna jumped up, "I did it!"
She ran up to me, and I gave her a hug as Aki followed the rest of the instructions on the paper, "Good job Luna. We're proud of you."
Aki froze, and I looked up to see a company's name on the screen, "What on Earth?"
Momentum Express Development Organization
"Have any of you heard of them before?"
Everyone shook their heads, and I quickly downloaded all of the information, "Someone remind me to back this all up when we get back to the house. I'm not rising losing this."
A/N: Thanks to Nozomi Higurashi and Bravemaridin for reviewing the original version of this chapter!
