Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth

by DivadX

Yuhiro Furutani, one of 8 children kidnapped 10 years ago by an unknown group, now works as Raguel, an agent in LINK VRAINS' Black Market. One day, he fights the Knights of Hanoi and encounters Playmaker, who becomes his newest assignment. Follow Yuhiro as he now must decide who he wants to become: as both a duelist and as an individual.

47. Chapter 47: Strategy Meeting

Responses to Reviews

Thank you to HunterHQ, Noobmaster, Unnamed, Guest, Anonymous, E.T. 2000, Unknown, Guest, ZarcEternal, Ambiguous, Guest, Guest, ZeroMK7, Guest, Guest, Donjusticia, and Yuman28 for reviewing Chapter 46 of Obscured Truth.

First off, hello everyone! I hope you're safe and are doing well as always. From your reviews, I can definitely tell you've enjoyed the chapter, as well as Malf's first duel. That being said, Malf will duel more as the story progresses, so expect his Darkscourge deck to evolve with each duel.

But enough talk. Let's get to answering some reviews:

HunterHQ: Yuhiro only knows Azrael as the azure-overcoated man, and won't learn his name until later on in the story. However, he was immediately able to realize that Malf was the one behind the murders after seeing him wear Monty's pants as a trophy. Allow me to put you at ease: Drachen and Electrolyzer are alive and well. Malf just forced the both of them to log out due to the surprise attacks he inflicted on them. They will each have their duel debut in Chapter 48. Malf's Skill Delusional Heartbeat isn't delusional; there are ways you can counter it. If you want to know what Skill's OP, look at Go's Anti-Skill, or the second effect of Playmaker's Neo Storm Access. Your theories are very interesting, my friend. You never know what may come up one day. Lastly, the Hanoi and Watchman don't have bounties on their heads because SOL Technologies wants the Ignis. And hey, anything's possible.

Noobmaster: Clear Wing Synchro Dragon is indeed a female, as evident by White Wing Magician. Of course Hi-Speedroid Rubber Band Shooter will be used later on, so pay attention. Yes, Malf is going to be very difficult to kill. Why doesn't Raguel or Blood Shepherd shoot down their opponents instead of dueling them? Its Yu-Gi-Oh. Problems are solved in dueling. No, Demeter won't use the Raidraptor archetype. Had SOL Technologies succeeded in their high performance Ignis plan (I'm considering expanding on that, by the way), they would have indeed marketed it off to the public where anyone could make it their own by customizing it to their like, thus making the Ignis from the Lost Incident obsolete.

Unnamed: High-Speed mode is a great contingency if needed indeed. There's a reason why neither Yuhiro nor Yusaku investigated the Project: VIII data, which will be revealed after the next few chapters. While Herald and Wraith heeded Watchman's warning and prepared in advance, the other Ignis (except for Aqua, and Earth by extension) didn't want to believe it, as their world could never be broken into. Arrogance was a key factor here. You never know what may happen in the future. So keep on reading to your heart's content!

Guest: You'll just have to read on and find out. No, I doubt Bohman started out as Paradox Hydradrive Atlas. I know for a fact he commanded it to destroy the Cyberse World. And just because Medusa won't be dueling doesn't mean she won't get her glory. Good point on the partnership between Origin and Ignis. As for summoning methods, you'll have to read the story to get your answer.

Anonymous: In a way, Rachel is involved in the mess once again, as Azrael did release Athaliah from the prison transport and eviscerated her and Akira during the Tower of Hanoi events. Yuhiro and Herald don't know who freed Ace and Athaliah. All they know was that the azure-overcoated man (they won't learn his name until later on in the story) was responsible for sending Miyu to the hospital again. And yeah. Tsubaki's in danger as well, given Ace was also freed from the prison transport. For the Hanoi's reactions on the recent events, you'll have to wait and see.

E.T. 2000: Malf is indeed dangerous, especially with his deck. What inspired me to create the Darkscourge deck, you may ask? Well, a lot of things. One: I researched which decks were Meta at the time (Orcust was one of the inspirations, believe it or not) and how they persevered. Two: Various video games, such as Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story and the Shadow the Hedgehog video game. Three: A theme, which in this case would be disease-like elements and aliens from outer space. Happy you like Slipstream, as I have a feeling you'll like him even more as the story progresses. What's your idea for Yuhiro? Please put it in your next review after reading this chapter.

Unknown: The Charisma Duelists will appear in Season 2. There is a specific reason indeed on why Azrael is targeting Raguel. And yes, Malf's Skill is powerful, but it does have weaknesses. Would you like to see him use it in a Master Duel?

Guest: Happy you see my point on a deck and its symbolism to its owner. You never know what will happen to Yuhiro in this Season, as like you said: His sense of justice and his ideals will be tested in more than one way. And by the end of it, he'll be changed forever. Has Yuhiro killed anyone yet? No. Azrael? Yes, if you go back to Chapters 39 and 43.

ZarcEternal: Fixed the error you pointed out, so thank you very much. Glad you loved the duels. And yes, Malf's Skill Delusional Heartbeat was indeed inspired by True Assassin, or Hassan of the Cursed Arm's Noble Phantasm: Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat.

Ambiguous: Rest assured: Slipstream will use his other Speedroid Synchro monsters. He won't use Clearwing Fast Dragon until Season 3 though, as there's a symbolic reason behind it. If Akira Zaizen got more credit by defeating Kitamura, then that means other characters will be getting the credit they deserve too. So rest assured on that.

Guest: No. Yuhiro will not be sucked into Blood Shepherd's trap. This I already established earlier. And like I said above, by the time Season 2 is over, Yuhiro will be changed forever.

Guest: Of course Greg owes Yuhiro and the others for saving Rachel. That debt will be repaid in the story. The reason why Slipstream said he needed to fix his duel board because the engine on it was not working. It also shows another aspect of his character: He likes to tinker with technology. What will happen in the Turf War episodes, you may ask? You'll just have to read on and see.

ZeroMK7: Happy you enjoyed the scene. It shows Malf's craziness, that's for sure. I hope you enjoyed the chapter as well!

Guest: If Windy put explosive collars on Azrael, Wraith, or Malf, they'd get out of that little mess. And the collars aren't needed, as Azrael already has a leash on their human allies. The similarities between Windy, Herald, and Wraith compared to their origins? You'll have to see as the story progresses.

Guest: The bounty hunters weren't within earshot when Yuhiro shouted out Miyu's name, nor were there any eyewitnesses. And even if someone witnessed Azrael and Medusa's fight, who would believe them? Besides, the camera feed was shut down for the entire time when he attacked Miyu.

Donjusticia: There you are, Donjusticia. I was wondering where you went. Oh, just a heads up. Be careful what you wish for...

Yuman28: Happy that you not only enjoyed the chapter, but that you enjoyed Malf as well. To answer your first question, Cyreath Castor & Pollux won't be Yuhiro's only Ritual Monster, just like how Cyberse Magician won't be Yusaku's only Ritual Monster. As for the other Extra Deck Summoning methods, Yuhiro will learn them as well as the story progresses.

With reviews answered, its time for the chapter! Enjoy below!

Chapter 47: Strategy Meeting

The sky appears, full of clouds. Playmaker races through the clouds on his duel board, followed by Raguel, Soulburner, and Slipstream. Two swords then slice the clouds completely to reveal NEW LINK VRAINS. One of the swords, a katana with symbols inscribed on the blade, crosses downwards to the left. Crossing downwards to the right was a typical western sword, with a golden rain-guard and a blue grip. The sword also had symbols inscribed on the blade as well. The two swords made a shining X, causing the Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS! logo to appear, and underneath it, the words "OBSCURED TRUTH" ominously appear.

Yuhiro and Yusaku are walking down the street to school. Naoki runs past them, a large smile on his face. Aoi walks past them on the other side, smiling lightly and blushing at Yusaku. Then Takeru walks up behind them and wraps one arm around Yusaku. He then wraps the other arm around Yuhiro, surprising him for a few moments before being pulled to the side by Rachel, who's clearly happy to see him. Yuhiro smiles back at her.

Tsubaki and Hideki are shown boarding an airplane as they head to their destination. After sitting down next to each other in their respective seats, Tsubaki looks out in the window, which shows a reflection of Rosetta, while Hideki picks up the airplane guide and reads it. In the sky above them is Ace, a malicious sneer on his face.

Go Onizuka is shown wearing a hoodie as he leaves the waterfront for the last time. Outside of his home, he encounters Kenmochi and Yoroizaka, who are waiting for him. Smirking, the three of them raise their left arms into the air and enter NEW LINK VRAINS, with Go in his new avatar riding beside his new allies. Stregone crosses his arms as he looks down at them, a look of shock and disappointment on his face.

Kusanagi is then shown with Roxy at a nearby picnic table, both enjoying food and laughter while talking about technology. Flame and Ai are shown arguing in Café Nagi, while Herald ends up getting annoyed with their bickering. As a result, he snaps his fingers, causing Progleo to jump onto the desk and startle Ai and Flame.

At SOL Technologies, Akira Zaizen and Hayami are shown in Queen's office, with Queen handing them a signed order regarding Playmaker and Raguel. A look of hesitation appears on Akira's face, but he hides it just in time.

Azrael and Wraith are then shown with Ace and Athaliah standing behind them, shrouded in shadow along with their ace monsters Zerrziel, Ruler of the Evil Eyed and El Shaddoll Construct. Standing behind Azrael and Wraith though, is a black, bipedal dragon with red sclera, white irises, and black pupils obscured in shadow. The dragon roars before disappearing with Zerrziel and El Shaddoll Construct. Jumping above Azrael and Wraith is Malf, sporting a demonic expression on his face. He then extends his right arm forward towards the screen, darkening it completely.

When the screen becomes clear, Playmaker and Raguel are shown riding their duel boards next to each other, with Cyberse Witch and Cyberse Magician in front of Playmaker, and Cyreath Hercules and Cyreath Medusa in front of Raguel. The two are chased by Blood Shepherd, who directs two copies of Battledrone Sergeant to fire at them. Although the two of them are hit by the explosions the missiles caused, they escape unharmed. Suddenly, Drachen orders Red-Eyes Black Dragon to fire at them. In response, Playmaker and Raguel are shown swerving left and right to avoid the consecutive fire blasts. Joining the young man in the hunt is Electrolyzer, who orders a male, humanoid monster wearing several components of futuristic armor pieces to attack Playmaker, but Raguel turns his duel board around and activates a card, causing Hercules to glow a bright light before transforming into a colossal, statue-like man with long, shaggy black hair and elbow protrusions. His eyes glowing red, Hercules charged forward with his axe sword and clashed with the male humanoid.

The screen then shifts to Slipstream watching the duel between Playmaker and an obscured Bohman, while Raguel duels Electrolyzer. Noticing Haru, who's also watching the duel between Playmaker and an obscured Bohman, Slipstream takes a card and summons Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, who roars at the boy. Haru, in response, takes a card and summons Hydradrive Nagini, who hissed at Clear Wing in the process.

Blue Angel and Rosetta are shown in NEW LINK VRAINS at a picnic table, laughing and enjoying each other's company. The two of them then turn their heads towards the duels going on in the sky, a look of concern on each of their faces.

Watchman's group is then shown, with Percival standing slightly apart from them as he makes a fist with his left hand. Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon appear before a massive, red-skinned demonic looking monster with golden elements, several eyeballs embedded on its body and four tentacles with bladed claws rises from behind them.

The Knights of Hanoi are shown summoning their monsters. Motor Worm Spread Queen, Helixx Necro Darwin, and Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps first appear before fading into the background. Next is Dark Magician, Berserker of the Tenyi, and Lucifer, Condemner of the Burning Abyss, with Sunavalon Dryanome behind them. Borreload Savage Dragon then rises from behind the four monsters and roars loudly.

Akira is shown at Green Park with Emma, Gekiryushi, and Aoi, giving them details on finding the Ignis. Emma proceeds to make a flirtatious gesture at Akira, making Gekiryushi facepalm and comment on how flirting can be useful at a time like this. The two women then begin to argue, with Akira and Aoi trying to break up the argument.

Yuhiro and Progleo are shown with Miyu at the Den City Hospital, trying to help her walk. Miyu, who's using the parallel bars, ends up slipping, only for Yuhiro to immediately catch her from behind and help her stand up. Roxy then runs out of nowhere and starts pummeling Yuhiro, causing Miyu to almost fall backwards again to their shock. Catching her this time though is Medusa, who appears behind her and smiles, much to everyone's relief. Miyu smiles back, grateful for Medusa's help. The screen then flips around before showing Yuhiro on his knees, clasping an unconscious Miyu's hand in sadness and rage.

Cyreaths Hercules, Medusa, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus are then shown in the air, with Turboblaze Dragon racing past them. The five of them prepare to attack alongside Turboblaze Dragon, who unleashes his Desolation Flare attack as well.

Raguel and Herald are then shown on top of a tower, facing off against Azrael and Wraith in a duel. Behind Raguel and Herald is Turboblaze Dragon, while behind Azrael and Wraith is the black, bipedal dragon from earlier in the opening. Both dragons roar at each other. Raguel reeves up his sword, while Azrael unsheathes his katana before the two of them and their dragons charge at each other.

Yuhiro, Roxy, Miyu, Kusanagi, Takeru, and Yusaku are all shown sitting outdoors at a picnic table near the Den City Hospital, all of them eating hot dogs, and Takeru, Kusanagi, and Roxy are laughing. Three duel disks are shown on the table, with Flame lecturing Ai while Herald plays a game on Yuhiro's tablet.

Yuhiro, Roxy, and Miyu are sitting down on a bench outside the Den City Hospital, with Medusa standing nearby them and Progleo on Roxy's lap. Miyu proceeds to rest her head on Yuhiro's shoulder, causing him to blush as she smiles. Yuhiro smiles back at her, while Roxy and Medusa both smile at them, happy they're able to find happiness with each other. The scene then switches to NEW LINK VRAINS, with Raguel, Playmaker, and Soulburner standing on a building and looking out into the radiant sky.

At Café Matsuo, in the backroom...

An exhausted Yuhiro stepped out of the backroom, a look of fury and sadness on his face. He slammed his fist at the nearby wall as he breathed heavily, unaware that he left a large dent in the wall.

Ignoring the pain in his body, Yuhiro headed towards his seat in the backroom before connecting his duel disk to the computer itself. From there, he furiously began typing, wanting to know what happened to Herald. After several minutes of typing and analyzing the screen, Yuhiro found out what happened. Malf was equipped with a virus program whenever he exploded, causing the person affected by it to log out and suffer temporary pain in the real world as well. Had it not been for Herald's last-minute shield, this fate would have befallen onto him.

It took him ten more minutes to use the anti-virus program installed in Café Matsuo's servers to help Herald out, but in the end, it was worth it. Whatever wounded Herald had now been purged from his system, as evident by the small flickers of electricity around Yuhiro's duel disk. All Herald could do now was to regenerate and rest.

Yuhiro took his duel disk and ran to his room, putting it on the desk near his bedroom. "I'll be back soon, Herald." He ran down the stairs and out of Café Matsuo, making a beeline for the Den City Hospital. Although Yuhiro didn't notice it, he felt his speed increase in a short burst, causing him to slightly run faster than usual. By car, the trip to the Den City Hospital was about twenty minutes max. While running there took a bit longer, that didn't matter to Yuhiro at all, given the situation he was in right now.

Eventually, he made it to the entrance, breathing heavily as he opened the front door and went inside. Yuhiro didn't notice the people staying away from him as he walked over to the receptionist's desk, who had a terrified expression on her face.

"Can I... Can I help you?"

"Which... room... is Miyu... in?" Yuhiro asked between heavy breaths. The receptionist, in response, grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down the location before handing it to him. After looking at it for a few brief moments, Yuhiro walked away from the receptionist, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

K3... Need to get to Room K3, he thought, forcing his body to move forward and ignoring the pain he felt. When Yuhiro reached it, he found Roxy outside of the waiting room, talking with a woman there. The woman wore blue scrubs all over her body, as well as a lab coat with a name tag that said "Emica Okubo". She had long dark hair with green highlights tied in a bun, as well as emerald-colored eyes.

"Medically, she's completely healthy." Emica told Roxy. "But for reasons we can't explain, she's not responding. It's as though she's fallen into a coma."

Roxy let out a sad sigh, having feared the worst. "I see. Um, thank you Dr. Okubo. I'd like some time alone now." Emica was about to put a hand on Roxy's shoulder for comfort, but stopped herself, having remembered something important. She then walked past her and headed down the hallway, passing by Yuhiro in the process.

"How is she?" Yuhiro asked, going over to be beside her.

"Just when Miyu left the hospital, she's back here again!" Roxy snapped. "While it looks like she's in a coma, I don't know what's going on with her this time, and it just makes me feel so... helpless." She turned to Yuhiro. "But maybe you have some good news. Like you were able to track down and rescue Miyu from that dark-blue figure, right? Right?" The way Roxy said it sounded like she was pleading, hoping that he was able to stop the dark-blue figure from taking her beloved niece.

But all Yuhiro could respond with was a shake of his head, forcing Roxy to accept reality as she widened her eyes in sadness, tears forming in her eyes.

SLAP!

She suddenly slapped Yuhiro across the side of left cheek with the palm of her right hand, leaving him speechless before silently touching the bruise.

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

Roxy slapped him across the side of left cheek with the palm of her right hand seven more times, a furious and sadful look on her face. She then walked past Yuhiro as she went inside Miyu's hospital room and sat down at the chair near her before beginning to cry. Realizing that his presence would not help her right now, Yuhiro put his hands in his pockets and walked away from the hospital room, sorrow clearly registered on his face.

Three years. Three years he had fought to help Roxy take care of Miyu, and he thought it was finally over when she woke up. Now, Miyu was back in the Den City Hospital. Again. All because of the azure-overcoated man and his pet. Had it not been for SOL Technologies' bounty hunters, Yuhiro would have been able to catch up with the azure-overcoated man.

As he exited the hospital, a look of determination replaced the sorrowful look Yuhiro had earlier. He wouldn't stop until the azure-overcoated man was tracked down and punished for what he did to Miyu. No matter how long it would take, Yuhiro will save Miyu.

Even if it costs him...

Everything.

At the Light Ignis's Palace...

Haru and Bohman were in the throne room, looking upward at the Light Ignis on his throne, who took the form of a male, tall person covered in black and with a holy light surrounding him. Leaning on a wall nearby was Azrael, who had his arms crossed. Wraith, on the other hand, was on Azrael's shoulder. The Light Ignis levitated off his throne and landed on the ground, intent on talking with the duo. As if knowing what to do, Haru crouched on one knee in front of the Light Ignis. Bohman, on the other hand, simply stared at him with no regard whatsoever.

"Uh, bro? That's your cue to take a knee." Haru said to Bohman, who did just that.

"Did you acquire Jin Kusanagi's data?" the Light Ignis asked them.

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy though." Haru answered, looking up at the Light Ignis. "We ran into some trouble."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"The Playmaker kind." Haru emphasized.

"So, he's returned to LINK VRAINS at last," the Light Ignis mused over.

"Yeah, along with the Dark Ignis." Haru continued. "They defeated Bohman, but I think it was a good learning experience for him, just as I had a learning experience from my duel with Azrael."

"To clarify, he did defeat you with no difficulty whatsoever..." the Light Ignis reminded Haru, making him grit his teeth.

"At least I can evolve!" Haru protested. "Besides. There was this Slipstream guy who tried to interfere with Playmaker and Bohman's duel, and although our duel ended in a draw, I still drove him off."

"Now, now. I'm not saying that to provoke you," the Light Ignis stated, placating Haru. "All I'm saying is that, like Bohman, you have ways to go. The fact you drove this Slipstream away proves you're evolving. I'm quite pleased you succeeded, for had you not, Bohman would have had two opponents to deal with."

Haru took a deep breath and calmed down. "Alright. I understand. Thank you for telling me this, and I apologize for my outburst."

"There's no need for apologies, my friend," the Light Ignis told Haru. "You were just voicing your opinion. Moving along, was there anyone else who appeared in LINK VRAINS?"

Haru nodded in confirmation. "The White and Fire Ignis's shown up on the scene as well. I ordered Bit and Boot to capture the Fire Ignis, but he and his Origin defeated them. As for the White Ignis, he and Raguel were occupied with Malf."

"I see." The Light Ignis thought this over. "Patience, Haru. Do not mistake a setback for a failure. We will find the both of them in time."

"ME BACK!"

Everyone turned their heads toward the portal of light that just appeared, with Malf on his duel board emerging from it. He then leapt off his duel board and landed in the throne room, a sadistic smirk on his face. Haru glared at the creature in disgust upon looking at him, and for good reason too. From what he and the Light Ignis learned, Malf was created using three things. A base, data material, and the consumption of intelligence. While the Light Ignis was pleased that Azrael and Wraith created an ally, more so an AI to help with the cause, Haru was disgusted upon learning he was used as the base for Malf's creation. When he voiced his concerns with the Light Ignis, he told them they would need as much help as possible for the coming war. He even pointed out that this allowed them to maintain the element of secrecy and ensure Bohman was fully ready for his calling. Besides, who would expect a small creature like Malf to be sadistic? The answer: No one.

The Light Ignis made some good points earlier about Malf, Haru thought to himself. But still, it's a good idea to be wary around him. After all, he's unpredictable, and only Azrael can successfully control him.

"Ah. Welcome back, Malf," the Light Ignis welcomed him. "I trust your mission was a success?"

"Unfortunately, no." Malf answered. "Me was close, but Raguel somehow evaded me Skill and beat me in a duel! Me will get payback on him. This me promise."

"You'll get another chance soon, Malf." Azrael assured him, walking over to the Light Ignis. "The whole point of your mission wasn't to beat him, but to get his attention long enough for me to escape and finish my task. As you've fulfilled your role, the mission was ultimately a success."

"Exactly," the Light Ignis added before turning to Azrael. "Speaking of tasks, were you able to infect Miyu Sugisaki with my virus?"

"I have, even though there was some resistance." Azrael answered, narrowing his eyes at the Light Ignis. "As I've said before, Light Ignis, your plan in harming the Water Ignis's origin was completely underhanded. It goes against my code of honor as well."

"I understand how you feel Azrael, but for us to win, we need to get rid of anyone that could become a nuisance," the Light Ignis reminded him. "Besides. You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs."

"That may be true, but you still fought dirty." Wraith pointed out. "Regardless of your reasons, Azrael and I had our own reasons for completing your task."

"Lets just to agree to disagree on the matter, shall we? After all, its just a waste of time." The Light Ignis then turned to Bohman. "Now, hand over Jin Kusanagi's consciousness data."

Haru turned over to Bohman. "Go on." Bohman complied by standing up and opening his mouth. Soon, a stream of purple data came out and went over to the Light Ignis, who opened his right palm to retrieve it.

"There. I fulfilled my end of the deal." Bohman said. "Now it's your turn. You promised to restore my memories."

"Oh? Did I?" the Light Ignis questioned.

"Yes, you did." Bohman reminded him. Haru, who was watching this exchange, stayed silent.

"I remember no such thing." The Light Ignis raised his right arm in front of him at Bohman, a green glow forming around his palm. As a result, it caused him to become drowsy. "But don't worry. You won't remember we ever had this conversation. That is, when you go back to sleep." Sure enough, Bohman fell forward, having fallen asleep by whatever the Light Ignis did to him. Once that was done, he turned to Haru. "He'll need new memories for what lies ahead."

"Agreed." Haru nodded as he stood up. This was ultimately for the best, as Bohman needed to get stronger to eventually fulfil his purpose.

With the meeting having apparently been finished, Azrael and Malf proceeded to exit the throne room. However, they stopped walking when the Light Ignis spoke up.

"Where are you two going?" the Light Ignis asked them.

"I'm taking Malf to one of the regeneration rooms." Azrael answered, turning back to the Light Ignis. "He needs to be at full strength for his next mission."

"Ah, I get it," the Light Ignis replied, understanding Azrael's point. Based on what he recently learned from Azrael, Malf had an ability to practically explode and take his opponents down with him. What's more, he can regenerate, but at the cost of having half his original strength. When the Light Ignis questioned this ability, Azrael assured him that this flaw would be corrected the more people Malf defeated and absorbed, absolving him of his doubts. "Very well. You may proceed." With that, Azrael and Malf then left the throne room.

Meanwhile, at Yusaku's apartment...

"Squeak!" a small, toy-sized robot said with joy. His body was mostly pale cyan with teal wheels and pink spheres. He had a white neck and stomach with mitten-shaped, pink hands that can extend from his body. His face was a black screen with yellow slits representing his eyes, which he can use to show his emotions. Lastly, he had two horn like attachments around his head with pink rings and orange tips. "Roboppy is happy that his master is back! Roboppy was scared that you forgot about his one and only best bud forever!"

"What? Best bud forever?" Ai repeated, who was riding on Linkuriboh. "Shh. Not so loud in front of company." He turned to Linkuriboh. "You heard nothing."

"All that matters is we're together again!" Roboppy continued, hearts appearing on his eyes. "Hearts beating as one!"

"Aww. That's so sweet!" Ai stretched over and hugged Roboppy, stroking him on the head. "But don't you know how to keep it down, you dumb dummy!"

"Roboppy does not, because Roboppy's intelligence didn't get upgraded like master promised!" Roboppy reminded Ai, causing him to stretch back to his duel disk out of shock.

"Oh, yeah. I've been working on it twenty-four seven. Just for you, best bud forever." Ai told Roboppy. However, Roboppy's eyes then narrowed at Linkuriboh, having now grown suspicious.

"Then why is Roboppy's best bud forever with that sphere?"

"Oh, you mean Linky?" Ai asked. "He's like my pet. Say hi!"

"Hi, never will be my master's best bud forever!" Roboppy said to Linkuriboh, sparks flying between them.

"Ah, you can feel the electricity between them already!" Ai put his arms back on his head with joy, glad that Roboppy and Linkuriboh were getting along (which they obviously weren't). Suddenly, a shiver ran through Ai, causing him to cry out and inadvertently stop Roboppy and Linkuriboh's tension between them.

"Master, is everything alright?" Roboppy asked out of concern.

"Kuri Kuri Ku..." Linkuriboh added, also concerned.

"I'm fine." Ai answered, scratching the back of his head. "Its just..." The next thing he knew, Linkuriboh jumped out of the duel disk, causing Ai to fall off of him and land on his butt. "Linky, get back here! Wait a minute! How did you escape the duel disk?"

"What's going on here?"

Everyone's attention was turned towards Yusaku, who had just returned home.

"Welcome home, master." Roboppy said to Yusaku. "You won't believe what Roboppy is witnessing."

"Hey there, Yusaku." Ai waved to Yusaku as he walked down the stairs, his attention now focused on Linkuriboh. "I was introducing Linky to Roboppy, and the next thing I know-."

"How did you escape the duel disk, Linkuriboh?" Yusaku asked, picking him up with his hands. To his surprise, Linkuriboh warmed up to him immediately. Its like with Progleo, Yusaku thought, as he petted the top of Linkuriboh's head. He was sentient in the Cyberse World, and now is able to interact with this one. Yusaku made a mental note to ask Yuhiro about this development the next day. For now, though... "Ai, did you do anything that caused this to happen?"

"No, I promise!" Ai answered. "What I do know is that a new program may have been sent to me or something."

"Hmm. Interesting." Yusaku went over and picked up his duel disk before heading to his desk, with Ai nearly stumbling over in the process. "I'll do a quick scan to see what this program is. In the meanwhile, you should get some rest Ai. After what you've been through with Bohman, a good rest should help you out."

"Works for me." Ai returned to his duel disk and began to nap as Yusaku began to work, identifying the new program that Ai received.

Elsewhere, at Café Matsuo, during the night...

Yuhiro groaned and opened his eyes. Then he blinked, sat up, and looked around. "What the...?" He was on a barren wasteland, where above him was a fiery, apocalyptic sky.

"What the Hell is this?" Yuhiro muttered, standing up on his feet. Looking around, he saw that he was alone. Making a decision, he immediately started walking.

Yuhiro didn't know how long he walked for. However, he eventually stopped once he heard a groan.

"Who's there?" He gasped upon looking at Playmaker lying on the ground. "Playmaker!" He rushed over to the fallen duelist, who was in a small pool of his own blood. Playmaker was covered in bloody cuts and bruises, parts of his jumpsuit had been torn off, and his duel disk was damaged as well. "Wake up, Playmaker!" He shook him, only to no avail. Yuhiro's attention was then directed to another groan in the distance. "Stregone!"

Stregone was laying face-down some distance away from him. The golden armor on his body had been destroyed, the teeth marks all throughout his jumpsuit caused blood to appear, and his cape had been torn in shreds. Yuhiro quickly ran to the fallen duelist and tried to shake him awake, but like before it didn't work.

"Damn it..." Yuhiro muttered. He soon heard the sounds of footsteps ahead of him. That meant there was someone alive!

Yuhiro got up and quickly started running, only for him to gasp in horror upon looking at Numera wobbling in front of him in defeat. Like the others, her jumpsuit was also covered in cuts and bruises. However, her left arm had been bitten off at the stump, along with several holes in her body resembling teeth marks. The screen on her duel disk was also cracked. She then fell forward, with Yuhiro running over and catching her. "Stay with me, Numera. Please..." He then heard a scream, causing him to look upwards at the source.

Just ahead of him was Azrael, who had unsheathed his katana and taken Miyu hostage. Beside him was Malf, with blood in his teeth as he smiled at Yuhiro.

"You!" Yuhiro roared in fury, putting Numera down gently before heading over to Azrael. "LET HER GO!"

"Regardless of whether I kill her or not, it doesn't matter." Azrael told Yuhiro. "The fact you couldn't save her, no, the fact you failed to protect those you cared about means you lacked the strength to do so. One way or another, you will accept your destiny." To Yuhiro's surprise, Azrael slammed his katana down to the ground, causing it to glow with dark-blue energy as it broke the ground apart. And unfortunately, Yuhiro knew exactly what would happen next.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Suddenly, Yuhiro gasped and opened his eyes before vaulting upwards. Breathing heavily, he looked around, having realized he was back in his room. After Yuhiro got his breathing under control, he pulled out the white-ruby pendant that was wrapped around his neck and gripped it, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"I couldn't protect them..." Yuhiro said, tears falling out of his eyes. "I failed to save her... I... Oh." The next thing he knew, Hercules/Alpha Mode materialized by his side and pulled him in a fatherly embrace, providing comfort in the process. Knowing there was nothing else he could do for now, Yuhiro let all his sadness out, feeling safe in Hercules/Alpha Mode's arms.

The next day...

Yuhiro slowly got up from his bed, having still been affected by the nightmare he had last night. Taking his duel disk with him, he walked downstairs slowly, afraid that he might trip and fall due to the lack of strength in his body. Luckily, Yuhiro made it to the kitchen portion of the second floor, which was a good sign.

As he put his duel disk down at the kitchen table and headed to the counter to make his breakfast, Yuhiro noticed that Roxy wasn't there. This would make sense, given the events that happened, as well as her reaction to them. He touched the left side of his cheek, which stung less since last night, despite the red bruise still there. Did the swelling of the slap go down? Or was this something else? Perhaps this was his Link Trigger healing the wound, minor it may be.

DING!

Yuhiro's attention was directed to the toaster, which released two pieces of Rye toast. Grabbing them from the toaster and putting them on his plate, he then put blueberry jam on each piece before bringing his plate to the kitchen table. While Yuhiro's breakfast of toast and yogurt was simple, it was efficient to restore his strength. Before he could take a bite, though...

"Ugh..." Herald said, emerging from the duel disk, a tired look on his face. "Man, yesterday was rough."

Yuhiro's eyes widened upon looking at his duel disk. "Herald, you're alive!" He grabbed his duel disk and hugged Herald, surprising the Ignis.

"Glad to see you too, Yuhiro." Herald replied. "But you're hugging me too tight."

"Oh. Sorry about that." Yuhiro put his duel disk down, allowing Herald to get some breaths of air. "You hungry? I can split my breakfast if you want."

Herald thought it over, then said, "You know what, why not? After what happened, I could use some food." Yuhiro then handed Herald one of his pieces of toast to Herald, who turned into his Hydra form before munching it down. "Now that was good! Makes me wonder what Roxy's hamburgers taste like!"

"You'll like them! That, I can promise!" Yuhiro told Herald, chuckling to himself in the process. However, he suddenly stopped, causing him to become unhappy as he remembered what happened. It had just been yesterday morning when Miyu woke him up for pancakes, having finally completed her physiotherapy. But it all went to Hell the moment the azure-overcoated man put Miyu in the hospital. This led to him failing to rescue her, as well as losing his only lead when Malf blew himself up. And Roxy's reaction to all these events was not good at all. It made him upset just thinking about it. To top it off, Bohman and Haru escaped with Jin Kusanagi's consciousness data, making yesterday a complete mess. If it hadn't been for them, then Miyu and Jin could have been able to resume their lives.

"Yuhiro?" Herald said out of concern, as Yuhiro stood up from his seat at the table.

"Have the other piece of toast." Yuhiro told Herald. "I need to make a call." He then walked downstairs, while Herald proceeded to eat the second piece of toast on Yuhiro's plate.

Once Yuhiro made it to the backroom and ensured that Herald couldn't hear him, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Hello?"

"Are you aware of yesterday's events?" Yuhiro asked in a dangerous tone.

"I'm aware of a lot of events. You'll have to be specific." Watchman advised him.

Yuhiro scowled. "Do not lecture me, Watchman," he warned. "Were you aware that a golden man appeared and stole Jin Kusanagi's data? Or the fact that an azure-overcoated man attacked Miyu in the real world and escaped into the network?"

"...Not until it was too late," Watchman admitted reluctantly. "If I was in my prime, I would have been able to pursue them beyond the network."

"Then why did you not send Percival or Demeter to assist Playmaker and I?" Yuhiro demanded. "Either of them could have helped!"

"When I learned that the Cyberse World was destroyed, I sent Percival to investigate." Watchman calmly explained, which obviously didn't help. "As for what happened to Miyu, I already assigned Demeter onto the case. She'll look into the matter and report back to me once she finds something."

Yuhiro rolled his eyes. This was not helping him at all. "If you do find something about Miyu's condition, tell Roxy and I immediately."

"Of course." Watchman sighed. "In the meanwhile, is there information you want to share with me, perhaps?"

"Yeah." Yuhiro answered. "Ace and Athaliah are running loose in LINK VRAINS. There's also some guy called Speckles, who you know nearly hacked into my computer. Not sure what their role is in all this, but we can't let them slip under the radar. Also, there's a creature called Malf, who I dueled in LINK VRAINS. We were able to defeat him, but before I could get answers, he blew himself up and wounded Herald."

Watchman was silent on the other end before responding. "I see. Thank you for telling me this, Yuhiro. I will personally keep an eye out for this Malf. Should anything else come up over the next few days, report to me."

"Fine." Yuhiro spat out. He was about to hang up when Watchman continued speaking.

"Your Link Trigger is a powerful ability, Yuhiro." Watchman told him. "However, if you don't train it..."

"It's a double-edged sword, I'm aware." Yuhiro interrupted, exiting the backroom and going upstairs to the kitchen portion of the living room. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you need to prepare for what's to come." Watchman answered. "We'll be in touch." He then hung up, causing Yuhiro to sigh at what happened.

"You're not going to eat breakfast?" Herald asked him, as Yuhiro went to one of the kitchen drawers and grabbed three envelopes and pieces of paper, along with a pen.

"Don't worry, I will." Yuhiro assured him, going to the kitchen table and sitting down back at his spot. As he began writing, Herald leaned over from the duel disk to look over out of curiosity.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Writing letters to Tsubaki, Greg, and Akira Zaizen." Yuhiro continued writing. "With Ace, Athaliah, and Speckles working together in the Black Market, they need to be stopped. Now that Tsubaki's an aspiring Charisma Duelist, her chances of being targeted by Ace will go up, and this letter will warn her in advance. As for Akira Zaizen and Greg, I can ask them to find the whereabouts of our Black Market foes both in the Black Market and in the real world."

"Smart thinking." Herald praised him. "The best part is that it can't be tracked, unlike if you were to send it online."

Yuhiro nodded back as he continued onto the next letter. It took him a few minutes, but eventually, he finished writing all of them. Once that was done, Yuhiro had his breakfast (at Herald's insistence) before grabbing his stuff and heading downstairs.

As Yuhiro exited the building, he took the longer route to Den Academy for two reasons. First, he had to stop by the Den City Post Office and deliver the letters. Second, it was so he could avoid Aoi, for Yuhiro needed to be alone right now. Given everything that happened yesterday, this made sense, as Yuhiro was in a state of pain, sadness, and loss. How could he face Aoi and tell her that he knew Miyu, her childhood friend? Furthermore, the fact he failed to rescue Miyu from the azure-overcoated man? If Aoi knew the truth, she'd be furious with him for his failure, as well as the fact she was kept in the dark about this information for all this time. Honestly, Yuhiro didn't know what to do, and could use some advice on this matter.

Eventually, he made it to the Den City Post Office and paid the fee to ship the letters. He also paid extra for same day letter delivery, as this matter was urgent, and the sooner Akira, Greg, and Tsubaki acquired the information, the better. After leaving the Den City Post Office, the rest of the walk for Yuhiro was rather silent. However, the silence was interrupted when he heard a beep from his duel disk.

"It appear I got some messages." Herald said, displaying it so he can read them in front of him. "Damn. Can't believe Fujiki didn't have any better luck than we did." When he finished the second message, though, his eyes widened. "No way."

"What is it?" Yuhiro asked.

"The second message is from the Fire Ignis!" Herald exclaimed with joy, causing Yuhiro to widen his eyes in surprise. "That means he's still alive!"

Yuhiro narrowed his eyes. So the Fire Ignis's Origin was a student here. A transfer, perhaps? Whatever the case, it made Yuhiro feel good, as it meant he and the others had another ally on their side. "What did he say?"

"Well, according to the messages from Ai and the Fire Ignis, they want to meet after school." Herald read them a second time to ensure he didn't get anything wrong. Looking ahead, he retreated into Yuhiro's duel disk and turned into his eye form, having realized they reached Den Academy. "Looks like we're at the school. Don't worry, I know the drill."

"Good. And if something does come up, communicate through text only." Yuhiro instructed, as Herald remained silent while he entered the school. As Yuhiro walked through the hallways to reach class, he noticed Aoi trying to greet him, but he continued walking, not wanting to talk with her right now. After Yuhiro reached the classroom, he sat down in one of the empty seats available. Looking around, he noticed Gekiryushi sitting in her spot in the classroom. Judging from her appearance, she was doing well, especially after the Tower of Hanoi events. Yuhiro was grateful she didn't join SOL Technologies' bounty hunters, as he'll need all the allies he can get for what's to come.

The other students eventually filled in the remaining seats, which included Rachel, Naoki, Aoi, and Yusaku. Once Yusaku sat in one of the spots in the backrow of the room, he turned to Yuhiro, the two of them locking eyes. He lifted his duel disk and nodded, whereas Yuhiro nodded back before turning to the front. As much as he wanted to meet the Fire Ignis and his Origin, that can wait until after school. Yuhiro then looked around the classroom, noticing there were a few students missing, among them Saburo Inoue. Just as I thought, the seaweed-haired bastard is not at school, he thought. If we find him, we'll get a lead on Ace and Athaliah's whereabouts.

A few minutes later, the rest of the class was settled. Yuhiro was in the second-front row in the left side, Rachel was in the seat beside him, and Aoi was in the seat behind him. Yusaku was at the far back, and Naoki was in the middle, looking at his tablet. The teacher then walked in at the bell.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said. "Today, we will be having two new transfer students who will be joining us." The teacher turned to his left. "The both of you may come in now."

Two male students then entered the classroom. The first male had flame shaped black hair, with a red fringe and dark red eyes. The male was probably as tall as Yuhiro and Yusaku, if not a millimetre or two taller. As for the second male, he had white hair with red highlights at the front and at the back. He also had blue eyes, along with green-framed glasses. If anything, the boy was a millimetre or two shorter than Yuhiro and Yusaku. Hang on, Yuhiro thought, putting two and two together. That's Takeru Homura, the guy I bumped into a few days ago!

The teacher then gestured for Takeru to go first. He stepped forward and smiled. "Hi. My name is Takeru Homura. Please take care of me." Looking over the classroom, Yuhiro noticed people reacting positively to Takeru, as evident in some of the girls' interest in him. He narrowed his eyes at Takeru's duel disk. It had a red body with a yellow circle and a sharp protrusion on the side. So Takeru was also involved in the Lost Incident, huh, Yuhiro deduced as Takeru listed off a few of his hobbies. Once that was done, the teacher then assigned him to sit beside Yusaku in the back.

The other male then stepped forward and smiled. "Hello. My name is Akairo Gekido. Please take care of me." A majority of the classroom's reactions were strongly positive, with some shocked that the son of the Gekido family would be attending school at Den Academy. As for the girls, they swooned upon looking at Akairo. Not this again, Yuhiro thought, rolling his eyes. The last time this happened, a majority of the boys were attracted to Gekiryushi, even though she was older than they were. This resulted in a series of heartbreaks for them over the next few days, as she didn't want to go out with any of them.

After Akairo listed off some hobbies, the teacher assigned him to sit in the middle row where Naoki was. Naoki, upon hearing this, immediately tried to introduce himself to Akairo, only for him to reject his introduction. Whoever Akairo is, he at least has common sense, Yuhiro thought. With introductions done, the teacher began the class, causing the students to pay attention for the next hour.

A few hours later, after school...

Yuhiro packed up his things and stood up from his spot, glad that the school day was over. Now he had the opportunity to meet up with Yusaku and the Fire Ignis's Origin, as well as the Fire Ignis. If there was one good thing that happened today, this was it.

But before the meeting, he had one more obstacle to overcome. As Yuhiro walked down the hallway and exited the classroom, he noticed that Aoi was following him. This. Was. Not. Good.

"Hey, Yuhiro." Aoi said, catching up to him. "I noticed you were quiet around me today. Is something up? You know you can talk to me if-."

"I'm meeting up with a few people in a few minutes." Yuhiro explained. "That's the only thing on my mind."

Aoi narrowed his eyes at Yuhiro's comment. "Come on. There's something else. Please let me know what's going on."

Yuhiro stopped walking. He then turned his head to glare at Aoi. His face was pale, and his eyes were wide and fierce. Judging from his facial expression, she could tell that Yuhiro was experiencing both anger and sadness at the same time. But why though?

"Please... just leave me alone..." he pleaded. "I am begging you. Just. Leave. Me. Alone." Before Aoi could say another word, Yuhiro then stormed off, heading to the entrance of the school.

"Yuhiro..." Aoi muttered. What could have happened that made Yuhiro act this way? Was it something related to the Lost Incident? Maybe it involved the return of Playmaker and his duel against the golden man? Or the mysterious fire duelist's appearance? Or some other unrelated factor that affected those events?

Her thoughts, however, were interrupted when she noticed that someone was tugging on her sleeve. Turning to her left, Aoi was surprised that Rachel was there.

"Miyake? You gave me a scare!"

"Sorry." Rachel said, a smirk on her face. "You looked like you were staring off in the distance at someone. Is it a crush?"

Aoi gave Rachel an unimpressed look in response. "It wasn't anything like that at all." An idea then popped in her head. "Say, Rachel. You've interacted the most with Yuhiro, right?"

Noticing that Aoi was serious, Rachel dropped her cheerful demeanour and paid attention. "Yeah, of course. Why?"

"He hasn't been himself, and won't tell me what's going on." Aoi answered, putting a hand on her chin. "Could you go and talk to him? I bet he'll listen to you."

Rachel smiled wide upon hearing Aoi's suggestion. "That's a great idea! I can check to see how my big brother is doing!"

"Yuhiro's your big brother?" Aoi repeated in confusion. That made no sense whatsoever, as Yuhiro and Rachel's last names were different. So just what was Rachel talking about? Before she can ask, Rachel walked forward and placed her finger on Aoi's lips.

"Its just in the figurative sense." Rachel explained, mischievously smiling. "That being said, I'll go talk to him. Who knows what's on his mind?" She giggled as he walked off, a plan forming in her mind.

Some days, I just don't understand you, Rachel Miyake, Aoi thought to herself, a dumbfound look on her face.

Elsewhere, at another area in the school...

Yuhiro exited Den Academy and walked to his left, as instructed from the messages Herald received from Ai and the Fire Ignis. After doing so, he then turned left behind the school, where he found Yusaku chatting with Takeru at a distant area. Yuhiro glanced around and made sure no one was nearby before approaching the duo. "I'll be honest, Takeru. I didn't expect you to be the Origin of the Fire Ignis."

Takeru turned to Yuhiro and chuckled. "Yeah, well. When we first met, I originally wanted to introduce myself as a duelist with an Ignis, but I stopped when I noticed you didn't have your duel disk with you. So I stayed quiet, just in case." Yuhiro nodded. A smart move on Takeru's part, as he could have unintentionally given himself away to an enemy.

"Hold on a minute!" Ai interrupted. "The both of you already know each other?"

"Yeah." Yuhiro confirmed, turning to Ai. "Two days ago, I ran into Takeru when I was getting supplies for Miyu's room..." His voice trailed off when he started remembering all the events that happened yesterday, especially his failure to save Miyu. Ai, noticing this, backed off.

"We can talk about it later, if you want." Takeru suggested, with Yuhiro nodding in response. He offered his hand. "As you know, my name's Takeru Homura. But in the network, I'm Soulburner."

Yuhiro looked at it before shaking it, deciding to move onto pressing matters, like this meeting. "Yuhiro Furutani. I'm Raguel in LINK VRAINS." He turned to Yusaku. "I'm guessing Takeru introduced himself to you before classes Fujiki?" Yusaku nodded.

"He knew my identity already, and presented proof he was our ally." Yusaku simply said, gesturing to Takeru. Takeru then lifted his duel disk as a black figure with red lines all over his body and yellow eyes emerged.

"We meet at last, Raguel." Flame said.

Yuhiro narrowed his eyes. "So you're the Fire Ignis."

"Indeed I am. But in the human world, I am known as Flame. With the F for Ferocious, L for Leader, A for Awesome, M for Magnificent, and E for Elucidating."

"I see," was all Yuhiro could respond with.

"You always were dramatic, Fire Ignis." Herald said, emerging from Yuhiro's duel disk.

"I know, right?" Ai chipped in.

"It's been a long time, White Ignis. Good to see you again." Flame said, nodding to Herald. "I haven't seen you since the Knights of Hanoi attacked the Cyberse World."

"I myself have a long story, and one I'll share with you later. Oh, and I go by Herald now."

"Herald?" Flame repeated. "That's not a bad name. Unlike a certain AI over there, where you can use his name for puns."

"HEY!" Ai protested, glaring at Flame. "It's a rather cool name, as you can make a lot of jokes with it!"

"At his own expense..." Herald commented quietly, causing Flame to laugh as Ai turned his glare at the other Ignis.

"So, Flame is the Ignis based off of you?" Yuhiro asked Takeru, who nodded. "That means..."

"Just like the both of you, I too went through the Lost Incident." Takeru finished, a frown on his face.

"I see." Yuhiro turned to Flame. "And I'm guessing you made contact with Takeru after the destruction of the Cyberse World?"

"So you're aware of this too..." Flame mused, crossing his arms. "While I am impressed you know this information, I must know how you figured it out."

"Ai sent a message to me after he returned to the Cyberse World, as well as what he saw." Herald explained, vouching for Yuhiro. "He also said that the Black Ignis was alive and doing well."

"That is good news." Flame responded. "The more Ignis that are alive and out there, the better." He turned to Takeru. "You want to explain the rest, or should I?"

"I'll do it." Takeru answered, looking up to Yuhiro and Yusaku. "After the both of you destroyed the Tower of Hanoi, the Ignis's troubles should have been over. But they weren't. Instead, something came and destroyed the Cyberse World, causing Flame to contact me for help. Now I'm coming to the both of you to ask for yours."

Yuhiro thought the information over before speaking. "I have to find the one who attacked Miyu in the real world, and I'll probably be helping Fujiki find Kusanagi's brother's consciousness data as well. That being said, I also promised Herald I'd help him find the one who destroyed the Cyberse World. As such, can you tell us whatever you know Flame about these recent events?"

"I'll tell all of you what I know." Flame answered. "But not here. We need a quiet and obscured place to talk. After all, you never know who could be listening."

"Luckily, I know the perfect place, Flame." Takeru said. "I heard Den City's got an amusement park, right?"

"Yes." Yusaku confirmed. "But I doubt it fits Flame's requirements of quiet." Ai, however, got what Takeru was saying, and whispered his idea to Flame, who nodded in agreement as well.

"What are you two whispering about?" Herald asked, raising an eyebrow at his two fellow Ignis.

Ignoring Herald's question, Flame turned to Takeru. "I like your idea of the Den City Amusement Park, Takeru. Let's go there right away!"

Takeru chuckled at the others before speaking. "Its settled. The sooner we go, the better." The three humans then started walking away from their meeting spot and away from Den Academy, heading towards the Den City Amusement Park.

However, before they could get there, they had one more obstacle to overcome.

"Say, Furutani." Yusaku said, getting Yuhiro's attention. "I have a question for you."

"Oh? What's up?" Yuhiro replied.

"Last night, Linkuriboh was able to escape the duel disk and interact with the real world, just like how Progleo did." Yusaku explained. "Do you know how this occurred?"

"It was because of the program I used when creating Progleo." Herald answered. "Since Ai was able to rescue Linkuriboh, it'd be a good idea for Progleo to meet one of his old playmates again."

"But couldn't you have asked me first before sending it?" Ai questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe, but-." Suddenly, the three humans and Ignis heard movement in the nearby bushes. "Oh my goodness! There's a wild Pokémon in the nearby bushes!"

"A Pokémon?" Flame questioned. "What exactly is a Pokémon?"

"Its this weird game that Yuhiro's scary friend Roxy got Herald into." Ai explained. "Can you check it out, Yuhiro? I'd do it myself, but Yusaku here locked me in his duel disk."

Yuhiro sighed. "Fine. Herald, you know what to do."

"You got it, pal!" Herald replied, as Progleo appeared underneath him. "Progleo, go to that wild bush and find out who's in there!" Progleo jumped out of the duel disk and landed on the ground before sniffing the area, getting closer before picking up the scent. Once he did, Progleo went into the bushes and searched inside before tackling Rachel out of them, happily licking her.

"Progleo! You'll blow my cover!" Rachel told the cub, oblivious to the fact that her cover's already been blown.

"Rachel?" Yuhiro said, getting her attention as she looked up at him, Yusaku, and Takeru. Busted.

"Hey, Yuhiro. It's good to see you again." Rachel stated, getting up on her feet and approaching him.

Yuhiro knelt down to her level before speaking. "Rachel, this isn't the best time. I have to speak with Takeru and Yusaku about something important that came up."

"I know. But I followed you because you weren't yourself today." Rachel responded, a worried look on her face before she turned to Takeru, a curious look on her face. "That, and I wanted to meet Takeru Homura, another of the Lost Incident victims."

"Hang on. You know I was in the Lost Incident?!" Takeru exclaimed, taking a step or two back out of surprise.

"Takeru, if it makes you feel any better, Miyake knows that Furutani and I were in the Lost Incident as well." Yusaku pointed out, surprising Takeru even more.

"You're not going to tell anyone else, are you?" Takeru questioned Rachel, raising an eyebrow at the young girl.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I promise." Takeru let out a sigh of relief after hearing Rachel's answer. "That being said, here." She walked to Takeru and pulled out Geomathmech Final Sigma from her deck before giving it to him.

"A Duel Monsters card?" Takeru said. "Didn't know someone like you dueled."

"Not just any Duel Monsters card." Flame explained, also looking at the card. "It's a Cyberse monster." Takeru widened his eyes in surprise as Flame turned to Rachel. "You owe us an explanation as to how you got these Cyberse cards!"

"Its something I'm curious about as well." Yusaku added, agreeing with Flame. "Since you likely told Furutani the story, you owe it to us as well."

Rachel sighed, knowing there was no other way around it. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you and Fujiki. But only if I get to come along with the three of you." She mischievously smirked as she said this, causing Yuhiro to facepalm and Takeru to sweatdrop, while Yusaku just looked at Rachel with a blank expression on his face.

When did my life get so complicated, Yuhiro wondered to himself.

Ten minutes later, at the Den City Amusement Park...

"Woah!" Ai pressed his hands and face against of the Ferris Wheel capsule Yusaku, Takeru, Yuhiro, and Rachel were sitting in. The duel disks Ai, Flame, and Herald were in were all strapped to a bar on one side of the capsule. "Everything looks like ants up here, even the ants!" Ai turned to Flame. "And to top it all off, it's the perfect place to have a serious conversation!"

"Indeed." Flame agreed. "The gravitation created from this slow, circular rotation can confuse even the most technically advanced listening devices."

"No they can't! I think you just wanted to ride a Ferris Wheel." Ai accused Flame, who groaned and crossed his arms.

"That too."

"Don't worry, Flame. I'll put it in the special server I'm making in my spare time." Herald assured him. "I do wonder..." He turned to Yuhiro, who was beside Rachel. "What's Roxy going to say when you tell her you took Rachel on a Ferris Wheel ride?"

Yuhiro rolled his eyes and groaned as Rachel grabbed his left arm, joyful she could spend time with her 'big brother'. "If you tell her, I'll delete your Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Save Files."

"Please don't..." Herald begged Yuhiro, who was firm in his decision.

"That's enough, you two." Yusaku told Herald and Yuhiro before telling Rachel. "Miyake, why don't you tell us how you got your Cyberse cards?"

The girl had a downcast look on her face but it turned into one of determination. "Alright. While the three of you got your Cyberse cards through other methods, I got mine during the worst year of my life..." Rachel proceeded to tell Yusaku, Takeru, and Yuhiro of the horrible experiments she suffered from during Project: Apotheosis. How Athaliah chose her, out of dozens of test subjects, to synchronize with a group of Cyberse cards called Mathmechs. As a result, Rachel was the only one to wield the deck, at the cost of her childhood. And while Project: Apotheosis was eventually shut down by her guardian Greg, it still traumatized her to this day.

"Man, that's one heck of a story, Rachel..." Takeru said. "I'm sorry you went through all that."

"...Thank you." Rachel replied. "I appreciate you saying that to me."

"Whatever this Project: Apotheosis is, its almost similar to that of the Lost Incident." Flame stated. "The only difference is that instead of eight victims, this Athaliah woman ended up kidnapping dozens of victims for her experiments. Do you by any chance have any information on it?"

"Furutani and I do." Yusaku answered. "We got the information a while back from Miyake as thanks for shutting the Tower of Hanoi down. The USB Stick she gave us also had information on another project called Project: VIII."

"Project: VIII?" Ai repeated. "Wasn't that the one we learned from Percival and Watchman a while back, right?" Yusaku nodded at Ai in confirmation.

"One danger at a time, Ai." Herald told Ai.

"Why don't you tell them everything you told me, Flame?" Takeru suggested to Flame.

"Sure." Flame turned away from the glass, as did Ai and Herald. "It all started after Ai hid the Cyberse World from the outside world. Knowing we were safe from the humans that were hunting us, it finally gave the five of us some time to think and to discuss."

"Discuss what?" Ai questioned.

"Our relationship with humans." Flame explained. "Whether we could truly coexist with humanity. Because though Dr. Kogami, a human, gave us life, the same humans were trying to eradicate us."

"But not every person wants that to happen to you, Flame." Takeru told Flame.

"I'm with Takeru, Flame." Yuhiro spoke up. "A long time ago, I was assigned to capture Ai and bring him to my Black Market boss Monty. But after my experiences with Herald and learning more about the Cyberse World, I ultimately dropped the assignment and chose a better path. One that benefits both humans and the Cyberse."

"Yuhiro speaks the truth." Herald added. "It took him time, but he really did become someone that I'm proud to call my partner." Yuhiro smiled at Herald upon hearing this.

"Do you want to continue, Flame, or do you need a minute?" Takeru asked Flame out of concern.

"I'll be fine, Takeru. But thank you for thinking of my well-being." Flame answered before turning to everyone else. "Some of the Ignis thought that if we could get past these misunderstandings, the Ignis and humans can live in harmony. Others weren't so idealistic, as they believed humans would never stop trying to destroy us."

"Those individuals are scared." Yusaku said. "Scared that if AI evolve past humans, they'll become the superior species and try to eliminate those deemed inferior." He steepled his fingers. "Due to this fear, Dr. Kogami himself became the cause."

"Its repeated in history time and time again, mainly in wars such as the Renaissance and WWII." Rachel chipped in, getting everyone's attention. "Unless a different path is taken, then history is practically guaranteed to repeat."

"Indeed." Flame agreed with Rachel, impressed by her intelligence at such a young age. "And I feel I could have convinced the skeptics to see it my way, if we weren't rudely interrupted."

"Interrupted by who?" Ai questioned.

"By an enemy who knew our every weakness and destroyed the Cyberse World." Flame answered melancholically.

"WHAT? Someone found the Cyberse World?!" Ai asked, surprised. "That's impossible! I hid the Cyberse World from the entire network!"

"Yes, but it wasn't good enough." Flame replied, glaring at Ai.

"No, it was more than good enough! I was extra careful! But someone ended up finding the Cyberse World, so I guess I failed."

"Flame, he did his best at the time." Herald interjected, backing up Ai. "You can't blame someone for doing their best, as that's all you can do in dire situations."

"Flame, who attacked the Cyberse World?" Yusaku asked.

"It could be anyone or anything." Flame spread out his arms.

"It had to be the Knights of Hanoi!" Ai immediately exclaimed.

"I highly doubt that. The attack occurred at the same time the Tower of Hanoi was active. So it couldn't be them."

"Oh. Then I'm stumped..." Ai looked down, unable to make a comeback.

"What happened to the other Ignis, Flame?" Yusaku asked.

"We all managed to escape in time, but I lost track of them in the chaos." Flame answered. "However, thanks to what I'm seeing before me, as well as the fact the Black Ignis lives, I managed to account for three more Ignis's alive."

"You found out that three more Ignis's are alive?" Ai excitedly questioned.

"I think Flame means you, Ai. As well as Herald and the Black Ignis if he doesn't count himself." Yuhiro told him, causing Ai to sulk over once again.

"If I remember, there's a total of eight Ignis." Rachel recalled, a hand on her chin.

"That's right!" Ai confirmed. "One for each attribute in Duel Monsters!" He turned to Herald. "Hey, wait a second. What attribute do you and the Black Ignis have?"

"Well, truth be told, the Black Ignis and I weren't given an attribute." Herald admitted, surprising Ai. "Though we do hope to find out one day."

"Aside from that little detail, my story concludes here." Flame said. "Ai, Herald. I want your help to find the Ignis together."

"Of course!" Ai agreed.

"You have my help as well, Flame." Herald added. "Besides, it'd be good to reunite with the Black Ignis."

"Playmaker, I believe this mission will benefit you as well." Flame added, turning to Yusaku.

"And why do you think that exactly?"

"Because the attack on the Cyberse World and the attack on Jin Kusanagi are connected."

"Connected how?"

"The one who attacked the Cyberse World used a Link Spell." Flame answered.

"A Link Spell?" Yusaku inquired.

"The same Link Spell that Bohman used against you."

"So they're all part of the same squad." Ai said.

"I believe that to be true." Flame affirmed.

"What about the attack on Miyu?" Yuhiro asked, getting everyone's attention. "Is it also connected to all of this?"

"An attack on Miyu?" Rachel repeated, shocked at what she was hearing. "What do you mean, Yuhiro?" Yuhiro couldn't respond, as he was fighting back the emotions he felt yesterday.

"Herald, what does Raguel mean?" Flame questioned Herald, who had an upset expression, along with Ai.

"Miyu was also one of the victims of the Lost Incident." Herald explained for Yuhiro. "Two years after the Lost Incident, she was put into a coma for eight years until recently, where she woke up. Unfortunately, someone else attacked her and escaped into the network before we could get answers."

Flame thought this information over before speaking. "If that's the case, whoever did this wanted to prevent the Water Ignis from making contact with Miyu. As to whether or not the assailant is allied with Bohman is unknown to me."

"The Water Ignis, you say?" Yuhiro repeated, thinking it over. It then occurred to him. The Water Ignis might know of a way to save Miyu! "Alright. If it means finding the Water Ignis and saving Miyu, then I'll help you both out." He turned to Yusaku. "What about you, Fujiki?"

"I've already made my own decision." Yusaku answered, before turning to Ai. "And you?"

"You mean to put my life in danger?" Ai questioned. "Its getting kind of scary how I'm getting used to doing that."

"Whoever is behind all of this needs to be stopped before anymore damage can be done." Yusaku emphasized.

"Great! Then let's get out of this gondola!" Flame decided, which angered Ai and Herald.

"I thought you enjoyed this ride!" the both of them shouted at Flame.

"Wait!" Rachel suddenly said. "I want to help as well!"

Yusaku turned to Rachel. "If that's what you want to do, then no." Yuhiro frowned at Yusaku, while Takeru looked at him in surprise. "We're fighting for three things. One: To save a friend's brother's consciousness data. Two: To find Miyu's assailant and determine how to save her. Three: To find the remaining Ignis. While I believe you have good intentions, you have no relation to the problem. You also have Cyberse cards, which will put a target on your back if you go through with this decision."

"But I want to help!" Rachel protested, standing her ground. "I can not only provide you guys with assistance, I can also handle myself in a duel! Or do you forget the last time you tried to reject my offer to help, Fujiki?"

Yuhiro laughed upon remembering that Rachel punched Yusaku in the gut, while Takeru looked at him confusedly. As for Yusaku, he simply narrowed his eyes.

"She makes a good point." Yuhiro said, as the capsule began to descend. "Which is why I have an idea. I'll take her under my wing personally." Both Yusaku and Takeru raised an eyebrow, as if wanting Yuhiro to continue. "If we need help, I'll contact her with the necessary details. You can say she'll be backup in case either of us need it."

"Plus, my guardian's the FBI Commissioner." Rachel added. "He not only has information about the Lost Incident and other projects related to it, but can provide you with leads if you ever need it. Do we have a deal?" She then gave everyone except Yuhiro and Herald sad puppy dog eyes in an attempt to convince them to accept her assistance. While it had no effect on Yusaku whatsoever, it was a different story for the others...

"Oh, byte! I never seen such a cute face in my life!" Flame exclaimed, having succumbed to the sad puppy dog eyes. "Okay, you can help. But first, get permission from your guardian."

"Yeah!" Ai agreed. "I don't want to be punished over failing to protect someone on the mission."

"Looks like Ai and Flame already stated their answer." Takeru said, turning his head to Yusaku. "What about you, Yusaku?"

Yusaku thought about it for a moment before making a decision. "Miyake, if this is what you want to do, then you can help us. But only if you hold your end of the deal."

Rachel nodded, knowing that Yusaku was serious. "Don't worry. I will," she assured him.

"Alright. Negotiations are complete." Yuhiro announced, as the capsule arrived at the ground, allowing the four humans to get off the Ferris Wheel. "You and Takeru head back to Café Nagi and inform Kusanagi of what we discussed. I'll head back to Café Matsuo and... talk to Roxy."

"Is splitting up a good idea?" Takeru asked.

"Roxy has a system that should help us work together." Yuhiro answered. "And I'll probably have to walk Rachel home."

Rachel joyfully gasped as she hugged Yuhiro's left arm, causing Yuhiro to groan in embarrassment. "We'll talk later, Takeru, Fujiki." The two teenagers nodded before heading to Café Nagi. As for Yuhiro and Rachel, they started walking back to Café Nagi.

"Something happened between you and Roxy, didn't it?" Rachel asked once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah." Yuhiro admitted. "She slapped me eight times for failing to save Miyu yesterday. I'm not sure if I should talk to Roxy because of what happened."

"You should." Rachel firmly told him. "The both of you will be working together, so you might as well get it over sooner than later."

"I know, but..." Yuhiro began, only for him to be interrupted when Rachel pointed her finger at him.

"No buts!" Rachel crossed his arms and made Yuhiro pay attention to her. "You and Roxy have known each other for a long time, and you can't let what happened destroy your bond with one another. So man up and do the right thing!"

Yuhiro sighed, knowing there was no way around it. "Alright. I'll talk to her and work things out."

"Good. Then I wish you the best of luck." Rachel then began walking away from Yuhiro and headed back home, leaving him speechless for a few moments before heading back to Café Matsuo.

Meanwhile, near SOL Technologies...

Akairo walked down the street towards SOL Technologies, glad that the school day was over. While the girls there were nice, most of them had a crush on him for one reason whatsoever: To acquire a portion of the Gekido family's privileges and luxuries that came with their wealth. Honestly, what was Ryoken thinking, signing him up for a public school like Den Academy? He understood why the Knights of Hanoi did this, but having to get through girls who only desired to elevate their own status was a pain in the ass.

Still, there are some interesting people at Den Academy, Akairo recalled. Ryoken instructed him to keep an eye on Playmaker for him in the real world at school, and to report back if something of interest came up. He also instructed him to keep an eye on Yuhiro Furutani, as well as other people of interest that were on a list Akairo received earlier today. Not sure why Ryoken would want me to keep an eye on Rachel Miyake, he thought. As for that other transfer student, he had a similar duel disk to that of Fujiki's, so he's bound to be another victim from the Lost Incident. I should tell Ryoken as soon as I can. As if on cue, Akairo's phone began to ring. He smirked upon realizing who was calling and answered on the third ring.

"How was your first day at school, Aka?" Ryoken asked.

"It was fine, but most of the girls at Den Academy behaved the same way the others did at my private school." Akairo complained.

"Is that so?" Ryoken replied, chuckling to himself while Akairo grit his teeth. "Don't worry, Aka. I'm sure you'll find one girl that will fall for your charming looks and generous personality. In the meanwhile, just try not to let the bad girls get under your skin, hot-head."

"I told you not to call me that!" Akairo emphasized, sighing to himself. "Anyway, I found some information you should know. Apparently, a transfer student named Takeru Homura is one of the victims of the Lost Incident."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Are you sure of this?"

"Yes." Akairo answered. "He had the same duel disk as Playmaker."

"What color was the duel disk?"

Akairo thought it over. "Uh, a red body with a yellow circle and a sharp protrusion on the side."

"Hmmm..." Ryoken thought this over. "There's only one duelist that has a duel disk like that..." He would have continued speaking, but Akairo interrupted.

"Sorry, Ryoken. I just entered SOL Technologies," he said, entered the building. "Apparently, there's a bounty hunter meeting in a few minutes. I'll update you with more information when I can."

"Understood. And thank you, Aka." Ryoken then hung up on the other hand, thus ending the call. After confirming the directions to Akira's office, Aka turned right from the receptionist's desk and headed to the elevator. From there, he went up a few floors before exiting it and turning left. Once that was done, Akairo walked down the hallway and entered Akira's office.

He went over to one side of the office and looked around it. Akira was at his desk with Hayami standing next to him, while Go Onizuka stood in front of the desk. Nearby Go were two young men, one with a pink afro and the other with spiky brown hair. Based on his research, Akairo learned that their names were Kenmochi and Yoroizaka respectively, people that interacted with Go before. Lastly, Brion was on the other side of the room with his arms crossed, silently waiting for the meeting to start. Soon, the door to Akira's office opened, revealing the final bounty hunter.

"All the bounty hunters have arrived, Mr. Zaizen." Hayami announced.

"Excellent. Now the team is complete." Akira said with a smile.

"Seriously?" Go raised an eyebrow. "Scarf Face behind me is the big bad bounty hunter we've been wasting our time on?"

"Yes, Go." Akira gestured to the man behind Go. "His name is Blood Shepherd."

"Blood Shepherd, huh?" Go repeated, looking over his shoulder and smirking. "I bet he massacres the people he's supposed to protect."

The pink and purple-haired man was tall and wore a blue trench coat over a white shirt, white pants, and a brown scarf around his neck that covered the lower part of his face. His eyes were covered by blue reflective sunglasses. "I find that those who talk too much are covering up for their own deficiencies," he said. "One example would be publicly revealing your identity to the entire network, am I correct?"

"And I find those wearing anaconda scarves are covering up their ugly side." Go replied. "Who wears sunglasses indoors anyway?"

Blood Shepherd ignored Go's retort and shifted to Akira at the far back. "Zaizen, do you honestly expect this caveman to find Playmaker?"

Go clenched his fist, angry that Blood Shepherd was no longer paying attention to him specifically. "Hey, don't you give me the brush off. And yeah, I'll be the one who'll hunt him down."

"Then I wish you the best of luck. As long as you don't get in my way, that is. Because if you do, you'll be the next on my contract list after Playmaker."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Go growled, intent on punching Blood Shepherd to teach him a lesson. However, Brion, having enough of this petty argument, stepped in between of them.

"Enough!" Brion told Go and the other man. "We may be on the same team, but that doesn't mean we are all required to work together. Besides, any conflict between us benefits our true opponents. Playmaker, Raguel, and other duelists that have Ignis's." Go, seeing Brion's point even though he didn't like him, backed down.

Blood Shepherd, on the other hand, turned to Brion. "I recognize you. You're the last Prince of the Miyahara Family in Central Japan. For you to use your real-life appearance as your avatar in the network is just as deficient as what this caveman over here is doing. Especially when terrorists murdered your entire family and caused you to go through Hell for a long time."

Brion turned to Blood Shepherd and scowled. "You would never understand what I went through, so back off." Akairo, having overheard this entire conversation, laughed.

"You people are so petty, and tiny," he commented, a massive smirk on his face as he got their attention. "From what I learned, the caveman wants to defeat Playmaker just to reclaim what's left of his former glory, scarf face wants to get another bounty off his list, and you..." Akairo pointed to Brion. "...are the wild card in this situation. Whatever reason you have for signing up, it'll be leaps and bounds better compared to caveman and scarf face here."

"IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK, PUNK?!" Go growled, going over to Akairo and grabbing him by the collar. Kenmochi and Yoroizaka quickly ran over to Go, realizing he's on the brink of losing his temper.

"Calm down, Go! Its not worth it!" Kenmochi told him.

"Just stay calm a little longer, and you can take your anger out on Playmaker!" Yoroizaka added, all while Akairo maintained his smirk. Due to Yoroizaka's comment, Go released his grip on Akairo, but not before shooting him a warning glare to stay out of his way.

"Is this okay, chief?" Hayami asked him nervously. "I don't think they'll get along with one another."

Akira simply smirked in response, not bothered by it in the slightest, "I never expected them to," he responded, much to Hayami's surprise. If anything, it was actually a good thing, as it would improve Playmaker's chances of avoiding being caught. Hayami then smiled and nodded at Akira's answer.

Having found no more value in this ridiculous argument, Blood Shepherd turned to Akira. "Zaizen, do you know who dueled Playmaker, or at the very least have information about Raguel's last duel? If you do, it'll help track them down."

Akira extended out his hand in response. "Take a look at this." A screen then opened up, which revealed Bohman's duel against Playmaker from the other day. "I'm surprised to say even I don't know who he is. Whatever disagreement he has with Playmaker is his own, but if you find him, he may lead us to Playmaker."

"Then where's that glow stick at!?" Go growled impatiently, stepping forward to Akira's desk. As evident by his behaviour, Go had been waiting very long for his chance to duel against Playmaker again, and he wasn't about to miss it for anything.

"There's no recorded info of him logging out." Blood Shepherd answered, as Hayami looked up in surprise.

"How'd you know?" A few of the other hunters turned to Blood Shepherd.

"Even I can get that level of info," was all he replied with, as a few of the hunters narrowed their eyes at him, seeing his skills as no joke.

Akira, however, wasn't surprised in the slightest, having worked with him before in the past. Seeing no need to beat around the bush, he said, "He vanished in LINK VRAINS' restricted area." The hunters were all surprised by this revelation.

"The Restricted Area?" Go and Blood Shepherd repeated.

"Why does LINK VRAINS have a restricted area in the first place?" Brion asked, but before anyone could answer the question, Akairo spoke up.

"What about the creature who stabbed me and forced me to log out?"

Brion narrowed his eyes as he recalled his encounter with the creature known as Malf. Even with his PSY-Frame deck, all it took was one massive punch in the face before he was forced to log out. The other hunters, however, blinked as Akira pulled up another screen. This one showed Malf's duel against Raguel.

"Some information, luckily." Akira answered, going into his desk drawer and pulling out a letter. "Raguel sent me a letter this morning warning me about the creature on this screen. Based on information obtained over the past few weeks, as well as Raguel's duel, the creature's name is Malf. He's been responsible for the deaths of many people in the network."

Everyone, even Blood Shepherd, was shocked by the news. A creature like Malf running loose in the network would be a great hinderance in the hunt for Playmaker and Raguel, as well as their Ignis's.

"While the creature Malf isn't connected with the man Playmaker was dueling, I'm not so sure about Raguel." Akira continued. "Should any of you run into him, be very careful."

"Is that it, Zaizen?" Go impatiently asked. "If that's all, then we might as well-."

"I'm not done, Go." Akira interrupted, giving him a glare and telling him to wait. "There's one last thing I need to tell all of you." He showed three more screens, which showed one individual each. One screen showed Ace, the second showed Athaliah, and the third showed Speckles. Upon looking at Athaliah, Brion tensed up. "Raguel also informed me that these three are active in LINK VRAINS. I don't know what their intentions are, but it can't be anything good." Akira gave all of the hunters a serious look. "I spoke to Queen about this, and she immediately had bounties assigned for all three individuals you see on these screens."

Blood Shepherd nodded. "I'll find each of them and bring them in. But remember: Playmaker and Raguel are my priorities."

While Kenmochi and Yoroizaka nodded, Akairo narrowed his eyes. Ryoken told him that months ago, the Knights of Hanoi formed a partnership with Ace and Athaliah, and Rosetta at the time because they needed allies and materials for the Tower of Hanoi. Ryoken even planned on eliminating Ace and Athaliah himself if needed. However, Playmaker and his allies had done that earlier. But now that they returned... Akairo made a mental note to inform Ryoken of this later.

Akira smiled lightly before noticing that Brion hadn't moved. "Mr. Miyahara?"

The others turned to him and Akairo couldn't help but be startled by the look on his face. Brion had gritted his teeth in anger, and his skin had turned pale. What's more, his eyes were filled with a raging fire...

"Mr. Miyahara?" Brion suddenly snapped out of his daze once he noticed Akira speaking to him. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." Brion answered, looking at Akira sharply before turning around and heading for the entrance. "Let's go hunting."

A few hours later, at Green Park...

Aoi walked to the gazebo of Green Park, as per on time. A half hour earlier, Akira messaged her to come to Green Park, and also told her that Emma and Gekiryushi would be there as well. Usually, when Akira needed to hire someone for a job, he'd contact either Emma or Gekiryushi. So why would he ask the both of them, along with Aoi, to meet up here?

While Emma used mind games to talk to Aoi in their previous conversation, she did give her the right push towards logging into LINK VRAINS and dueling against Baira months ago. Had it not been for Emma, Aoi would have quit dueling. Whatever this meeting's about, it must be important enough for Akira to call her here along with Gekiryushi and myself. Until I understand Emma's motives fully, I should set my opinions about her aside, Aoi decided. She eventually found Emma leaning on the side of a tree, her arms behind her back.

"So, you're the second to arrive here, huh Aoi?" Emma said, turning her head towards Aoi. "How've you been?"

"I've been fine, thank you very much." Aoi replied. "Do you know why my brother called you here?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, not sure. Though I am interested to find out." Soon, a taxi pulled into Green Park. "And it looks like we're not the only ones here." The two of them watched as Gekiryushi stepped out of the taxi and paid the driver before walking over to where they were.

"Emma." Gekiryushi briefly said, not surprised that Akira brought her here to the meeting as well. While there was less tension between both women, Gekiryushi's code of honor still prevented her from working with dishonorable people. She, however, was willing to set it aside if the situation called for it.

"Ms. Sanada." Aoi said, recognizing her from earlier today. "I didn't know you worked for Akira."

Gekiryushi turned to Aoi, a serious expression on her face. She then lightened up, offering Aoi her hand. "Call me Gekiryushi. In the network, I'm known as SengokuQueen. Its nice to meet you in person, Blue Angel."

Aoi gasped in surprise momentarily before getting her bearings together and shaking Gekiryushi's hand. "Its nice to officially meet you as well. You don't plan on telling anyone about my identity, right?"

Gekiryushi, in response, smiled. "Even if you weren't among those who fought against the Hanoi, I wouldn't do that. Its against my code of ethics, after all."

"And yet you discriminate those who have looser morals, such as criminals, bounty hunters, black market agents, et cetera." Emma commented, causing Gekiryushi to turn to her.

"Do you have a problem with that, treasure hunter?" Gekiryushi questioned.

Before Emma could respond, all three of them heard a black car drive along the road before parking at the entrance of Green Park. Stepping out of it was Isomaki, Akira's chauffeur, who opened the back door to let out his boss Akira out of the car.

"Thank you." Akira said with a pleased smile to Isomaki, who bowed with respect to his boss as he walked into the park and reached the gazebo where everyone else was. When they saw Akira walking towards them, they all smiled.

"Hey, Akira." Aoi said, happy that her brother was able to make it despite being held up at SOL Technologies.

"Thanks for waiting, everyone." Akira replied gratefully as the others gathered around him.

"I never thought the day would come when the four of us would meet." Emma admitted. "Nor did it occur to me that I'd have to work with Gekiryushi again." Gekiryushi rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Emma's comment.

"What did you want to talk to us about, Akira?" Aoi spoke up rather curiously.

"The Lost Incident, to be exact." Akira answered Aoi. "After I got my position back as Security Chief of SOL Technologies, I was able to access more information regarding the Lost Incident. As I went through the research, I found that a total of eight Ignis's were created."

"Eight Ignis?" Emma repeated, puzzled as the others listened on.

"That's right." Akira confirmed. "The Lost Incident created the ignis. One of them is Playmaker's AI and another is Raguel's. Together with the other six Ignis, they created their own world – the Cyberse World to be exact." He then frowned. "But recently, someone or something destroyed it, causing the others to scatter." With an uneasy expression, Akira then looked up at Emma and Gekiryushi. "Emma, Gekiryushi. I need the both of you to find the whereabouts of the other Ignis."

"But why do you need me and Gekiryushi? After all, didn't you hire bounty hunters to find them?" Emma responded, feeling rather curious as to why he'd ask her to make such a request to her. Akira said nothing but let out a slight sigh, hinting his regret in the decision, causing Emma to catch onto what he was really getting at. "Oh? You want to keep this a secret from SOL Technologies, don't you?"

Akira then reached into his pocket and took out a small handheld device. "Look at this." He pressed a button on it, which then projected a large display screen almost as tall as a grown man, depicting a layout of NEW LINK VRAINS. "The other day, someone battled Playmaker and vanished into the restricted area." Akira scrolled down to the lower levels, everyone's eyes following the screen curiously before stopping at a small glowing sphere at the bottom level. A marker labelled 'Restricted Area's Core' appeared as Akira continued speaking. "There's a mysterious gate in the restricted area's lowest section. It is probably connected to an unknown world." A stream of light poured out to a greenish vortex at the bottom. "Whoever battled Playmaker must have went there, which sparked another idea. What if the other Ignis were hiding there as well?"

"Interesting..." Emma muttered. "So what did you do?"

"We sent a research team down to the gate a few days ago." Akira explained, before an uneasy feeling came to his gut.

"And?" Emma wanted to hear the answer, while Aoi and Gekiryushi looked to Akira, waiting for his reply.

Akira hardened his expression slightly before answering. "Not a single one of them returned." His answer caused Aoi's eyes to widen, while Gekiryushi narrowed her eyes, slightly angered that SOL Technologies had the nerve to not only keep this a secret from the public, but for not attempting to organize any rescue attempts as well. It also made her all the more glad she isn't affiliated with them anymore, given their track record of how little they care for their own employees, at least for most of the high ups.

Putting it aside, Akira turned off the screen before turning to Emma and Gekiryushi. "As this task is dangerous, I can only rely on the both of you."

Emma, in response, turned to Akira and smirked. "Why do you want the Ignis so badly? Are you planning to get them before SOL Technologies and negotiate?"

The very thought of this idea caused Aoi to glare at Emma in anger. "My brother isn't like that!" she yelled, feeling deeply offended.

Ignoring Aoi, Akira narrowed his eyes as he recalled his previous conversation with Dr. Kogami. "This mission is too important," he told her. "I need to know for myself if the Ignis are a threat to humanity. Because if they're not..." He paused for a moment. "There are many who want to see them eradicated."

Gekiryushi paid attention to Akira's statement, understanding what he meant. A long time ago, she judged anyone who was less than moral as a result of the Shinpi-Tekina Dojo's destruction all those years ago. But due to her experiences with Raguel, her loss against Dancho, and the duel against Rosetta, it humbled her. Now, Gekiryushi was not as quick to immediately judge others based on her work. And while she lightened up, that didn't mean her tense interactions with others were immediately washed away. One example would be with Emma Beesho.

As for Emma, she let out a light sigh. While she hated when Akira was being a goody two shoes, he did have a point. Besides, business was business, regardless of who hired her. "Alright. Payment is three times as usual." Before anyone could protest about her greed, she continued speaking. "If you're keeping this a secret from your company," Emma explained, walking forward towards Akira with her arms crossed and a serious look on her face, "your bounty hunters will go after me should I mess up. Including Blood Shepherd."

Aoi narrowed her eyes, recalling Yuhiro's conversation about Blood Shepherd, who was known for being relentless in his hunts, as well as being very intelligent in hacking and dueling. Gekiryushi, on the other hand, had a disgusted look on her face upon realizing that Akira hired Blood Shepherd of all people. She remembered Blood Shepherd as someone who had little to no honor whatsoever, which was why he was among those she despised the most.

"That aside, you also don't want the Ignis eradicated." Emma teasingly deduced with a smirk as she leaned in a little at Akira with a playful look. "Always the good boy scout, aren't you Akira?"

Akira folded his arms. "Maybe I am. And if that, along with more payment than usual, is what it takes to get your help, then so be it."

"Alright, then. You got yourself a deal, Hun." Emma winked playfully at him in response.

"Oh, psssst!"

Everyone turned to Gekiryushi, who made a raspberry upon seeing the whole conversation between Emma and Akira.

"Excuse me?" Emma raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. I'm not here." Gekiryushi attempted to move past the matter, but it obviously didn't work.

"Nice try, Gekiryushi." Emma replied. "I know for a fact you went Psssst. What do you mean by that?"

Gekiryushi sighed. "All right, fine. Your 'flirtatious' gestures on Akira Zaizen made me question how far you'd go to obtain what you want."

"And why does that concern you?" Emma questioned, taking a step towards the other woman.

"Its because flirting has no place whatsoever on the job!" Gekiryushi answered. "If you do use it, then you're no better than the people in the Beta Branch on the Black Market!"

Emma gasped, taken aback by Gekiryushi's comment. "You take that back!"

"Unless your behavior changes, I don't think I will." Sparks flew between both women as an argument ensued, causing Akira and Aoi to step in between them and break it up.

"Emma, is it really worth it to get in an argument right now?" Aoi questioned.

"You might want to stay out of this one, Aoi." Emma advised her. "Because things are about to get ugly real fast."

As for Akira, it wasn't any better for him. "This is not the time to be picking fights with your teammate, Gekiryushi."

"Zaizen, you know fully well that I have a code of honor." Gekiryushi told him. "And it's one that prevents me from working with dishonourable people like her."

Although it took five whole minutes, Aoi and Akira were able to break up the argument.

"Enough, both of you!" Akira said to Emma and Gekiryushi, now getting exasperated. "I called you both here because each of you have successfully aided me in the past. Right now, I can really use your help again. So I'm asking you both: Can you please work together just for a little while?"

Gekiryushi stood down. "Alright. I'll honor your request, Zaizen."

"I suppose I can tolerate Gekiryushi until the mission's done, Akira." Emma said as well.

"Thank you." Akira let out a sigh of relief as he pressed a button on the handheld device. "Let me give the both of you this."

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"A program that forces you to log out anytime and anywhere." Akira explained. "But be careful. While it will give you peace of mind, the program can only be used once."

"I had no idea you were so generous." Emma commented, as Gekiryushi shook her head in dismay. Within moments, a voice on their duel disks said the following:

DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE

"Well then, we'll be sure to buzz you if we find anything." Suddenly, Emma and Gekiryushi turned towards the voice of another duel disk that spoke out:

DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE

"I'm coming with the both of you." Aoi announced, having already finished installing the program into her duel disk. She then turned to Akira, a serious look on her face.

"Oh no. Gekiryushi and I are not babysitting!" Emma protested. Gekiryushi, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow at Aoi, wanting to see how this conversation plays out.

"Babysit?!" Aoi repeated, now feeling offended. "Do not treat me like a little kid. One way or another, I'm coming with the both of you, and none of you can change my mind."

"Are you sure about this, Aoi?" Gekiryushi asked her, with Akira also looking at her. "This mission will be dangerous."

"You don't think I know that?" Aoi responded to Gekiryushi's comment before turning to Akira and Emma. "I can protect myself, so you don't have to worry about me." She then turned her gaze to Akira. "Please, Akira. Let me fight so I too can learn the truth."

"But Aoi..." Akira began, but was interrupted by a sigh from Emma, which caught his attention.

"Fine, but don't slow either of us down." Gekiryushi, on the other hand, was silent, impressed by Aoi's determination.

Knowing that Aoi was in safe hands, Akira turned back to Aoi. "Aoi, please listen to me carefully and take this to heart: Humanity's future rests on this mission."

Aoi nodded, understanding the weight and seriousness of the mission. Mustering up all her strength in her heart, Aoi stood firm prepared to accept all responsibility. "Yes."

"And..." Akira placed a hand on top of Aoi's head. "Please return home safely."

"Akira..." Aoi blushed with mild embarrassment, but also slight happiness knowing that her brother was trusting her. Seeing this, Akira smiled and nodded with acknowledgement as Emma did the same.

Gekiryushi did the same thing, only she gave Aoi a thumbs up soon after. However, a memory from long ago forced her to retract it as she frowned to herself. Of when she learned Duel Monsters with Kataru and Arakan under their Sensei, Zandaka Ikiagi, at the Shinpi-Tekina duel dojo. There were times when Zandaka placed his hand on his son's head, assuring him that things would be okay. Is it possible for us to go back to those peaceful times, Sensei Ikiagi, she thought.

"Is everything okay, Gekiryushi?" Aoi's voice snapped Gekiryushi out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine." Gekiryushi answered reluctantly.

"There's one last piece of information I need to share with all of you." Akira told everyone. "Once you're in the Restricted Area, communication between us will be completely cut. I guess there isn't anything more I can do but wish the three of you good luck."

"Relax, Akira. We'll be fine." Emma assured him.

Akira smiled. "Thank you." Emma then headed to her motorcycle, while Aoi stood around, unsure of what to do. "Aoi, why don't you go with Emma to her hideout? I need to speak with Gekiryushi in private."

"With me?" Gekiryushi repeated, going over to Akira in surprise. Knowing this was serious, Aoi nodded and followed after Emma, getting on the motorcycle with her before the two of them sped away from the park. "Did something come up?"

"I'm afraid it did." Akira answered, pressing a button on the handheld device and projecting a screen that displayed Raguel's duel against Malf. "Raguel sent me a letter earlier today, telling me of the one responsible for the many deaths in the network. As shown by the opponent Raguel dueled, it's a creature named Malf."

Gekiryushi narrowed her eyes. So Malf was the culprit behind the recent deaths in the Black Market. "He needs to be stopped before more innocent people become his victims."

"Agreed." Akira turned to Gekiryushi. "Since Malf is one who you won't be able to bring to justice, I'm tasking you to eliminate him completely."

Gekiryushi thought this over before speaking. "Zaizen, you know just as well as I do that I don't kill people. I bring them in."

"I'm aware." Akira admitted. "But if we don't do something soon, then more people will die, regardless of whether they work on the Black Market or not. So can I count on you to eliminate him?"

Gekiryushi was silent for several moments. She became a bounty hunter to bring unethical people to justice, not to kill them. Otherwise, Gekiryushi would become no better than the people she was assigned to hunt and bring in. But after she got humbled by recent experiences, she questioned the ideals that guided her for so long. What is justice? And is someone who killed still ethical?

These questions bothered Gekiryushi, so for now, she decided on one goal: To protect the people in the network. Should the enemy repent, she'd spare them. However, if they forced her hand...

"I'll look into it and do what I can," she finally decided, much to Akira's relief.

"I appreciate it very much, Gekiryushi." Akira responded. "Whatever reason Malf is in the network, I have a feeling that his appearance is only a prelude for what's to come."

Elsewhere, at Café Matsuo...

Yuhiro made it back to Café Matsuo, having taken the shorter of the two routes for today. As he took out his key and prepared to open the front door, he hesitated. Why was his hand shaking? Oh right. He failed to save Miyu and got slapped by Roxy eight times for it. What's more, Yuhiro was afraid that Roxy would never want to talk to him again after what happened. If that were true...

"Yuhiro, you've been staring at the door for a whole minute." Herald pointed out, emerging from the duel disk.

"I'm well aware of that." Yuhiro responded. "I just... don't know what to do."

"Roxy's your friend. Step up." Herald told him, before stretching over to the door and knocking on it three times. "Roxy, we're home."

"What are you doing?" Yuhiro whispered, as Herald retreated into the duel disk and turned into his eye form.

"Pushing you to do the right thing." Herald answered. "Besides, I don't need this crap right now." Sure enough, Roxy answered the door within a few moments. When Yuhiro looked at her, it was clear she didn't get enough sleep last night.

"Oh, its you." Roxy said. "I'm guessing you want to come in?"

"Yeah..." Yuhiro entered inside Café Matsuo. As if knowing what the other was thinking, the two of them then walked on over to the backroom and sat down in their respective seats. Awkward silence filled in the air until Yuhiro spoke up. "So... about yesterday..."

"I'm really sorry!" Roxy interrupted, turning to Yuhiro. "For slapping you and reacting the way I did. Just when I thought Miyu's suffering was finally over, she ended up in the hospital again! I don't know why someone would attack her, and it just makes me feel so helpless!" She started crying, unable to keep herself together.

"I deserved it. For failing to protect her." Yuhiro admitted. "If it makes you feel any better, I had a brutal nightmare last night as a result of yesterday's events."

"A nightmare?" Roxy repeated out of concern. "I thought you didn't have them anymore after the Tower of Hanoi events."

"Well, it popped up again, and it was worse than the ones I had before." Yuhiro's expression became hopeful as he continued. "I do have some good news, however." Roxy looked up and gave him her attention.

"You do?"

"Yeah." Yuhiro confirmed. "I know who's responsible for attacking Miyu, as well as how we can save her." He then proceeded to tell her that the azure-overcoated man was responsible for the attack, and had it not been for SOL Technologies' bounty hunters, he could have challenged the azure-overcoated man to a duel to save Miyu. Yuhiro also informed Roxy of Malf's appearance, who was responsible for the deaths in the network, which shocked her upon learning that Herald got wounded following the duel. From there, Yuhiro told Roxy about his meeting with the Fire Ignis and his Origin, as well as the realization that the Water Ignis may hold the key to saving Miyu.

"My God..." was all Roxy said once Yuhiro finished speaking. "I didn't realize Jin was attacked around the same time Miyu was. And the fact we not only know who was responsible for attacking her, but a way to save Miyu too..."

"We'll get Miyu back." Yuhiro assured Roxy. "Her and Jin. This I promise."

Roxy wiped her eyes with her forearm. "I know. And thank you, Yuhiro. For giving me hope."

"No problem."

The two of them then sat in companiable silence for a bit before Roxy spoke up. "Here. Let me check that bruise on your face. It's the least I can do after yesterday."

"Uh, Roxy. I don't think-." Yuhiro began, only for Roxy to tilt his face so he was looking to the right, only for her eyes to widen in surprise.

"Its completely gone!" she realized. "I swear, last night, there was a large red mark on your cheek!"

"This morning, it was still there." Yuhiro told her. "Do you think my Link Trigger had something to do with this?" Before Roxy could answer him, a video feed suddenly popped up on the monitors, indicating they were getting a call. Yuhiro took off his duel disk and put it on the digital keyboard, knowing who was calling. "We'll talk about this later."

Roxy nodded as she pressed a button on the digital keyboard, accepting the call. Kusanagi was on the other end, and the background was the interior of Café Nagi. "Hey, Kusanagi. Good to see you again."

"Good to see you as well, Roxy." Kusanagi said, smiling back. "Hang on a second." Kusanagi typed something and suddenly the view changed. "I connected you to a tablet instead of the main computer," he explained, as he carried the tablet out. He put the tablet down on a picnic table, where Takeru and Yusaku were sitting and their duel disks were laid out.

"Hey, guys!" Roxy said, waving at everyone. "Nice to meet you, Soulburner. I'm Roxanne Matsuo, but if you like, you can call me Roxy."

"Nice to meet you, Roxy." Takeru said, smiling at the tablet. "I'm Takeru Homura, and this is Flame."

"Ah, so you're Raguel's friend, Roxy." Flame stated. "It is nice to meet you. Although I wonder why Ai finds you scary."

"Kusanagi, please turn the tablet." Roxy requested, as Kusanagi turned the tablet so it was facing Ai. "WHAT DID YOU TELL FLAME ABOUT ME, Ai? WHEN I FIND OUT, YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Gaah!" Ai screamed, retreating into the duel disk. "Don't let her hurt me, Yusaku!"

"If you learn anything, Flame," Herald said, emerging from Yuhiro's duel disk, "its to not aggravate Roxy. Otherwise, it will not end well for you."

"Noted." Flame nodded. Kusanagi laughed as he repositioned the tablet to one end of the table and then sat down on the other.

"Yusaku filled me in on the details, and I gotta say, that's quite the story." Kusanagi said. "Plus, the fact that Takeru here knew Yusaku's secret identity totally caught me off guard. More off guard than the fact that Yusaku here actually made some friends. Unreal."

"We know your identities." Yuhiro pointed out.

"You started out as an enemy. You don't count." Yusaku told him.

"Until I met Herald and went through a bunch of eye-opening events." Yuhiro countered.

"Which changed him for the better." Herald added.

Takeru smiled before it changed to a frown. "Don't you worry, Roxy and Kusanagi. As a victim of the Lost Incident, we know how to keep a secret." He looked up at Kusanagi. "That being said, I'm sorry about what happened to your brother." Takeru then looked at the tablet. "I'm sorry about what happened to Miyu as well."

"Thank you." Roxy said, grateful for the condolences. "The fact you're here to help means a lot to me."

"Thank you as well." Kusanagi added, frowning. "While life may have dealt us a rough hand, what matters is refusing to fold and continuing to fight. If you do, you can take that pain and do some good."

"And you can count on us to do everything we can to help you, Jin, Roxy, and Miyu." Takeru promised.

"I know Takeru doesn't look like the type who can fight a mosquito, much less defeat one." Flame said, gesturing to his partner, who was annoyed with his Ignis. "But his dueling skills are second to none."

"That's not how I'd put it, but thanks." Takeru replied.

"It could be worse." Yuhiro said to Takeru. "Imagine dealing with an Ignis that's addicted to video games."

"Hey! I am not addicted to video games!" Herald protested, getting a laugh out of everyone.

"Herald, you mind if I ask you something?" Flame asked, getting his attention. "Ai told me that you gave him a program so that Linkuriboh could interact with this world. Is this true?"

"Uh, yes." Herald confirmed. "Why?"

"Let's just say the cat wants to get out of the bag." Flame responded, as a red and white mechanical cat with her tail on fire appeared from Takeru's duel disk underneath him.

"Balelynx!" Progleo cried with joy, as he jumped out of the duel disk and onto the digital keyboard, looking at Balelynx on the screen happily. Yuhiro ended up grabbing the cub and putting him on his lap so he wouldn't block the video feed. "I missed you so much!" Balelynx ended up retreating back into the duel disk, having been scared by Progleo's sudden appearance.

"You scared the poor cat." Flame told Progleo. "When Herald gives me the program, you can see her and Linkuriboh again, like old times. Does that sound good with you?" Progleo nodded enthusiastically, looking forward to the playdate.

"Moving along." Yusaku said. "Kusanagi, have you found any leads?"

"I've been tracking and trailing Bohman's digital signature." Kusanagi answered. "And although I haven't been able to get an exact location.." He pressed a button on the tablet, splitting the screen in half and showing a map of LINK VRAINS' central structure. Kusanagi pointed to the bottom, labelled 'Bottom Security Gate: Tartarus'. "I've been able to narrow it down to this spot."

"That's deep in the LINK VRAINS' restricted area." Yusaku realized. "What would he be doing here?"

"And what about the azure-overcoated man?" Roxy pipped in. "Were you able to find his digital signature as well?"

"Sorry, Roxy. I'm afraid not." Kusanagi replied. "As for Bohman, when I combed the area to see if there were anymore clues, I found something that seemed to be out of place. Some fragmented bits and bytes of a strange program. Here." He pressed a few more buttons on the tablet, loading a green algorithm.

"Wow. That's um..." Takeru chuckled to himself. "I'm not really a straight-A student when it comes to stuff like this. What about you, Yusaku? Do you recognize it?"

Yusaku looked it over thoroughly for a few moments before speaking. "Though it isn't exactly the same thing, it looks similar to one of Ai's programs."

"WHAT?" Ai, Flame, and Herald said at the same time as all three Ignis's looked closer.

"You're right!" Ai realized.

"It's an Ignis Algorithm." Flame added.

"Woah, for real?" Kusanagi said, surprised at Ai and Flame's words.

"Yes, of a Wind Ignis." Flame confirmed.

"So could that be where the Wind Ignis is hiding out?" Yusaku asked Ai.

"Well, there's only one way to know for sure..." Ai answered.

"We'll have to go into the restricted area ourselves." Herald finished Ai's trail of thought.

"Kusanagi, this is the most promising lead we have. We need to get into the restricted area as soon as possible. We may not find an Ignis or Bohman, but I'm sure we'll find something." After Yusaku said that, he, Takeru, and Kusanagi went into Café Nagi, and Kusanagi transferred the video feed back to the main computer.

"Hey, guys." Roxy said. "I just received something interesting. You might want to look at this." Roxy sent Kusanagi a file, which he opened as the others looked at it.

"It's a message from Ghost Girl!" Ai realized, looking at it.

"A message? It looks more like a map." Flame observed.

"For entering the restricted area." Kusanagi deduced.

"Why would she help you?" Takeru asked him.

"Because she wants us to clear the way for her." Yuhiro answered, sighing to himself. "While Ghost Girl is on better terms with Roxy and I, she can still be mischievous at times. Her plan is simple: We'll enter the restricted area using her info, get rid of all distractions, and then she swoops in to take the treasure for her client."

"Its how Ghost Girl operated throughout her career as a treasure hunter." Roxy said. "I hope that she's helping us for a noble reason this time around."

"Regardless of her reasons, the route she mapped out for us still looks crazy dangerous to me!" Ai pointed out.

"But according to Ghost Girl's map, it's the only way through." Yuhiro told Ai. "There's a portal that even SOL Technologies doesn't know about."

"Then that's where we're going." Yusaku decided.

"Before the three of you go, I have a little something for the each of you." Kusanagi said. "Yusaku, Takeru. Please place your duel disks on the counter." The two of them did so, then Kusanagi pushed some buttons, making the bottom of the duel disks glow green.

"What is this, Kusanagi?" Yusaku asked Kusanagi.

"I've taken the liberty of installing Ghost Girl's map into each of your duel disks." Kusanagi explained. "I also upgraded the LVSS firmware as well. It now has a stealth function, which will shield you against basic traps, but you still got to watch out for top of the line stuff. Oh, and I'll send it to you as well, Yuhiro. Just put your duel disk on the counter, and it will be installed." After Kusanagi sent the file to Roxy, Yuhiro put his duel disk on the counter. From there, Roxy pushed some buttons, making the bottom of the duel disk glow green.

"One last thing. I also added an emergency logout program to eject you out of LINK VRAINS if you run into trouble. But remember this: You can only use it once. So make sure to use it if you don't have any other choice."

"Understood." Takeru said, nodding in confirmation.

"There's also a chance that communications will be down once you cross the gate." Roxy stated, looking through the map. "So good luck. All of you." All three of them nodded. After Progleo went back into Yuhiro's duel disk, Yusaku and Yuhiro entered their closed-off spaces inside Café Nagi and Café Matsuo. As for Takeru, he made do with a chair. The three duelists then took their decks out and inserted them into their respective duel disks.

"Deck Set! Into the VRAINS!"

A light shines and the letters spelling out VRAINS light up the screen before a network is formed and several cards are drawn in towards a pillar of light. Playmaker, Raguel, and Soulburner are shown with their respective Ignis and stats, along with real-life forms that across the backgrounds that match their Ignis' colors. The screen then shows each of them being shocked while wearing VR sets as kids, along with a kid with light-green hair that flowed backwards and curled at the back. The kid also had dark-green hair spikes on the sides of his head, with light-green spikes at the back of his head as well.

The screen gets swallowed with darkness at it reveals a young Yukage huddled up and crying, his shadow shrinking behind him before taking the form of Wraith and comforting him. Yukage looks up with a menacing and soul piercing glare before the darkness consumes him and he's replaced with an older version of himself. Azrael and Wraith are then shown in NEW LINK VRAINS, as they look out into the digital sky. The scene then shifts to Bohman standing tall above NEW LINK VRAINS and holding the earth in his hands with Haru by his side. Malf grins in the shadows behind them, his red eyes shining bright in the process.

A drop of light falls down, and as it explodes, it reveals Playmaker, Raguel, and Soulburner, standing on buildings watching over the network, along with Slipstream as well. Blood Shepherd is shown commanding a trio of Battledrone Sergeants before the screen shifts to Drachen, who is shown commanding Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The screen then shifts a third time to Electrolyzer, where above him was a male, humanoid monster wearing a black and white suit that had electricity emitting from his wrists and head, as well as several other monsters that resembled futuristic armor parts. The screen then shows Go Onizuka, Kenmochi, and Yoroizaka with Dinowrestler King T Wrextle, Gouki the Blade Ogre, and Gouki the Solid Ogre behind them ready for battle.

Blue Angel, Ghost Girl, Numera and SengokuQueen are then featured together riding their duel boards across the night sky with shooting stars flying across them. Trickstar Holly Angel was with Blue Angel, while Numera was with Geomathmech Final Sigma. Ghost Girl was with Altergeist Dragvirion, while SengokuQueen was with a male shinobi wearing grey robes and armor pads with neon-yellow lines running over them. The man had a red scarf around his neck, along with a face-mask and face visor on his head. He also had spiked-brown hair and a ponytail as well. In his right hand, he carried a Sai, while the brass knuckle on his left hand emitted four translucent blades.

The screen then changes to Raguel, Playmaker, and Soulburner riding on their duel boards with Cyreath Medusa and Cyreath Hercules in his new form, Cyberse Magician, Cyberse Witch, and Salamangreat Heatleo behind them. Following the trio is Slipstream and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. The four of them join together with a fist bump and smile in the real world as the wind blows, with Kusanagi, Roxy, and Greg watching them from Kusanagi's truck. Rachel then runs toward the quartet, and more specifically, Yuhiro, a look of joy clearly on her face. Unbeknownst to everyone, they're watched from the shadows by a cloaked person who glares at them, biding his time.

Card Gallery

No new cards in this chapter.

QOTC

If the Ignis held a video game tournament, who would win and why?

Chapter Preview

Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth. Chapter 48: Speed of Sound. Upon entering into the network, Raguel, Playmaker, and Soulburner are immediately chased by SOL Technologies' bounty hunters. While Soulburner and Playmaker prepare for their duels against Go and Blood Shepherd, Slipstream unexpectedly appears before Raguel to aid him against Drachen and Electrolyzer...

Author's Notes

Phew, what a chapter! I didn't expect there to be so much content, to be honest with all of you! But I managed to finish the chapter in a week and a half, which is what I promised you in the previous chapter. Let's do a quick recap of the events, shall we?

One of the things that occurred were the interactions between Roxy and Yuhiro. As Yuhiro failed in rescuing Miyu, Roxy ended up slapping him a total of eight times. She did this because she didn't know how to process her grief and accept the reality that occurred. It is due to Roxy's reaction that Yuhiro felt guilt in his failure to rescue Miyu, as well as making a promise to save her, even if it costs him everything. While I can confirm they reconciled, their friendship has been strained due to these events. How well do you think I handled this? What do you want to see going forward? And how will this affect the story, you may ask? You'll have to read on and find out for yourself.

We also have the Light Ignis's meeting with Bohman, Haru, and Azrael, as well as Malf's return and Haru's thoughts on him. Allow me to point something out about Azrael: He is against the Light Ignis's plan to infect Miyu with a virus because of his code of honor. Regardless of his own thoughts and reasons, Azrael still carried out the mission and fulfilled it to the letter. After all, as per the Light Ignis's words, "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs."

Then we have the meeting between Yuhiro, Yusaku, and Takeru, with Rachel joining them as well. A couple of things to point out. First, some of you might be wondering how in the world Yuhiro and Takeru already know each other. To answer your question, they bumped into each other when Yuhiro went to get supplies for Miyu's room back in Roxy's Reports 22, so read it if you need clarification. Second, you may be wondering why Rachel was at the Ferris Wheel instead of with Akira, Aoi, Emma, and Gekiryushi. There were two reasons. One: So Rachel could learn more about the Cyberse World's destruction and pitch in to help. Two: To give Yuhiro the push needed for him to reconcile with Roxy. I'm not sure if I've said this before, but Rachel and Gekiryushi will have larger roles in Season 2 than Season 1, while Stregone and Rosetta will have minor roles for Season 2. For those of you who are wondering which group Rachel will work with, allow me to explain it to you: Whatever group of people Yuhiro is in, Rachel will help him. As such, she will work with Aoi, Emma, and Gekiryushi at some point in the story.

Following that, we have the bounty hunter meeting, along with the meeting at Green Park, and the scene depicting Yuhiro and Roxy's reconciliation, as well as Kusanagi and the LVSS. Oh, and fun fact: Like Ai and Herald, Flame too has a Cyberse monster that's sentient! That monster is none other than Salamangreat Balelynx. You'll see her interact with Progleo and Linkuriboh in future chapters, that I can promise you.

So without further ado, I would like to thank everyone for reading Chapter 47 of Obscured Truth. As always, please let me know your thoughts about the chapters below in your reviews. Also, constructive criticism is appreciated, as your tips and advice helps make the story better. In addition, don't forget to favorite and follow the story. That way, you will get a notification once the next chapter is released.

What did you enjoy the most about this chapter? The interactions between Yuhiro and Roxy? Yuhiro's nightmare? The Ferris Wheel scene? The bounty hunter meeting? The meeting at the park? The revelation that Flame has his own sentient Cyberse monster in Salamangreat Balelynx? Or something else?

Next chapter will pick up from the events of this chapter, and will cover episodes fifty one to fifty four of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. There will also be a total of two duels next chapter. Who will be facing off against who next chapter? You'll just have to find out next time. See you then!