Yu-gi-oh
No Limits
Chapter 25-The Stray Dot
By Kevin Jones
Chase
"All right, since I got here first, the first move goes to me."
"Fine with me Mr. Rhodes; I'm actually quite curious as to your dueling style."
Day two of the tournament has me face to face with Ralph Ortega, the creepy Journalist guy from the other day. It's an unusually cold, cloudy, windy, October day with the 2 of us facing off on Ellis Island. Biggest problem so far is that this guy was a half hour late on a cold, cloudy, windy, October day.
"My draw, I summon Elemental HERO Clayman (ATK: 800/DEF: 2000) in defense mode. Next I set 1 card face down and end my turn."
Ortega
"That was fast."
"It feels like 45 degrees out here, next to a 45 degree river, followed up by the fact that were technically in New Jersey."
"What is it with New Yorkers and hating New Jersey?"
"Drive down there and you'll see my point."
"Very well then, I draw. I play Random Burial. Now thanks to this card, I can send up to 3 copies of the same monster to your graveyard. Next I play Revive draw, now I draw 1 card and Special summon the monster with the highest ATK from your graveyard to your side of the field in attack mode, which means you get a Malice Ascendant in attack mode. (ATK: 700/DEF: 1000) Next I play Halve Half. With this card, I send half the cards in my deck, 15, and cut your life points in half. (4000-2000) Next I summon, Malice Turtle (ATK: 50/DEF: 50) in defense mode. Next I play, minus 40. Now since my deck had exactly 40 cards in it at the beginning of the duel, I can use this card. Now for every one of my cards that have been removed from my deck, this card gains a minus one counter. As of now it has 25 minus one counter's. Also, every time a card is removed from my deck, minus 40 will gain a minus one counter. I set 1 card face down and end my turn."
Chase
I have a really bad feeling that he's used this strategy before. "I reveal my trap card, Level Returner, now I can reduce the level of Malice Ascendant from 4 to 2."
"I don't know what you're doing but now the effect of Malice Ascendant activates. Since you have two other Malice Ascendants in your graveyard, I now have to send the top two cards from my deck to the graveyard."
This is going to get interesting. "Now, I summon, Road Synchron! (Level: 4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 800) Next I play the spell card, Brain Control! I pay 800 life points, (2000-1200) now I get to take control of 1 of your monsters and guess the one I want."
"Interesting, you're planning to Synchro Summon using my level 2 Malice Turtle."
"That's the plan, now go Road Synchro, Malice Ascendant, and Malice Turtle! Give this journalist a new story to write!"
Road Synchron begins vibrating as it starts to quickly drive off; as its wheels turn they begin to vanish into 2 stars, one on each side. As the body vanishes, the stars turn into four green rings which stay parallel to each other in two groups while Malice Ascendant and Malice Turtle jump through them. They vanish into two sets of two stars, one set for each pair of rings. The rings place themselves 1 on top of each other and with a burst of light, "I synchro summon Road Warrior (ATK: 3000/DEF: 1500) in attack mode!"
"3… 3000 ATK points!"
"Don't forget about my Clay Man, I switch him to attack mode!"
"I'll still survive this attack!"
"Not quite, I still have Road Warrior's effect! Now I can special summon 1 level 2 Machine type monster from my deck, straight to the field! Come forth Nitro Synchron! (ATK: 300/DEF: 100) Now, it's time to end this duel! Road Warrior, attack him directly, Lightning Claw!"
"Sorry but you haven't won this duel yet! I remove from play the Necro Gardna that exists in my graveyard to negate your attack!"
"I see, you used one of the cards you used as cost for Half Have in order to stop my attack, clever."
"Sending half my deck to the graveyard isn't a cost."
"What do you mean it's not a cost?"
"The card is designed to have a negative effect for both of us. For me it's losing half my deck and for you, its losing half your life points, seems fair to me."
"Bull shit, and don't forget I still have two more attacks raring to go. First up, Clayman use Clay Clobber (4000-3200) and second, Nitro Synchron, Nitro burn (3200-2900) I set one card face down and end my turn."
This guy didn't even flinch when he was punched by my Clayman.
Ortega
"My draw, (25-26) damn, I don't have enough counters to destroy you yet. Looks like I'll have to play this, then. I play Heaven's Lost Property, now we both draw three cards and then discard two. (26-29)Now, I reveal my trap card, Minus Hand! Now we both discard our entire hands, in exchange I get to place one Minus one counter on my Minus 40 card!"
"Let me guess, this was your plan from the beginning."
"Bingo, because now I can activate Minus 40's second effect. Now, since Minus 40 has 30 Minus one counters on it, I can destroy it in order to inflict 3000 points of damage to your life points!"
"Oh no you don't, I had a feeling Minus 40 inflicted effect damage, which is why I set this little number! I play Synchro Barrier, now I tribute my Road Warrior in order to negate any and all damage I'd take for the next 2 turns!"
As Ortega's card begins to glow brightly, Road Warrior rushes towards it. As Road Warrior slashes the card with his claws both he and the card vanish.
"Clever, but now I activate the effect of another monster in my graveyard. I activate the effect of Malice Angel; I banish her so now I get to draw two cards. Next I set one monster and 1 card face down and end my turn."
Chase
"My draw, and-"
"Now, I reveal the trap Exchange of the Spirit!" No, not that card. "You see, I can only activate this card when I have 15 or more cards in my graveyard, which luckily I do. Now I pay 1000 life points (2900-1900) and now we have to switch the cards in our decks with the cards in our graveyards."
"Which basically gives you most of your deck back, while I'm stuck with only…11 cards."
"I know, great isn't it? Not happy, well if you'd like, we can save ourselves the time and you can just surrender now."
"Kiss my ass 4-eyes. I summon, Elemental HERO Sparkman (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400) in attack mode."
"Attempting to launch an attack are we?"
"It's more than an attempt, now Sparkman, Static Shockwave!"
"Oh no you don't, behold my face down monster, Spirit Reaper!"
Oh crap, it's the Grim Reaper. "I know all about Spirit Reaper and how he can't be destroyed by battle."
"A powerful card isn't he."
"Until, I'm able to bring him down. I switch Clayman and Nitro Synchron to defense mode and end my turn."
Ortega
"My draw, once again, another perfect draw." Something fishy is going on around here. "Now I tribute Spirit Reaper in order to summon, Vampire Lord." (ATK: 2000/DEF: 1500)
"Great, creepy, purple man with blue hair, fangs and a cape."
"He also has a nasty effect, and as soon as this attack goes through, you'll see it with your own eyes! Now Vampire Lord, darkness energy on his Sparkman!"
The Vampire jumps high into the air and fires a black cloud from his hand that engulfs Sparkman- (2000-1600) "hey why is the energy coming towards me?"
"Simple, now the first of Vampire Lord's effects activate. Now you have to send one monster from your deck to the graveyard."
"Now you're just trying to deck me out."
"Of course- oh you're getting rid of my Malice Ascendant and I thought you liked my little present." (11-10)
"Are you done yet?"
"Yes, you may draw from your tiny deck."
Chase
"My deck may be small but I have a feeling I've got something else that's bigger than anything you've got."
"Is that a small Penis joke?"
"Actually I was talking about skill but I'm sure that one's true to." Unfortunately I have feeling neither skill nor manhood can help me here. "My draw," (10-9) although this can by me some time. "I play, Hammer Shot now your Vampire Lord is destroyed."
"Not bad, going to attack?"
"I end," my life points are too low to risk an attack and his are too high to make the risk seam tempting.
Ortega
"My draw, another good draw, lady luck must love Me."
"Yeah and I'm the resurrected Ghost of Steve McQueen."
"Speaking of resurrected."
"What the hell!" A coffin has now sprung out of the ground and as it opens, I can see a familiar purple hand reach out.
"Whenever Vampire Lord is destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon him during my Standby Phase."
"Great," for those who can't tell, that was sarcasm.
"Now I play the equip spell, Vampires Aura. Now I reduce Vampire Lord's ATK by 500. (2000-1500) Now I gain life points equal to his level times 100. (1900-2700) Plus he can now attack twice per turn so long as you control a monster, inflict piercing damage and you have to send the top 2 cards of your deck to the graveyard."
"Plus the one monster I'll have to lose from Vampire Lord's effect."
"Bingo, now Vampire Lord, attack, destroy his Nitro Synchron and some more of his deck! (1600-200)Now you lose the top 2 cards of your deck," shit, my Brain Control and my Synchro Barrier (9-7), "as well as one monster from your deck," at least I don't have to worry about these Malice Ascendants anymore, (7-6) "and now I'll end my turn."
Chase
"My draw, (6-5) damn it; this isn't going to help me. "I end my turn."
Ortega
"Shame, looks like lady luck hates you. My draw, but once again, she's nice to me."
"Say lady Luck one more time and see what happens."
"Are you mad at me? Maybe a familiar site will make things better. I play Heaven's Lost Property, now we both draw three cards, so long as we discard two!
"Damn it." (5-2)
"Next, I play Smashing Ground, Now your Clayman is destroyed!"
"Clayman," he exploded, and now I'm defenseless.
"Now Vampire Lord, end this duel!"
"I don't think so, you're not the only one with a Necro Gardna and I'm using mine right now!"
Vampire Lord's blast is stopped by the red armor of Necro Gardna.
"Clever, now make your final move."
Chase
If my last two cards are in the right order, I might still have a chance to wipe this guy's glasses off.
"My draw… you've been cheating the whole time, haven't you?"
"What makes you think that?"
"There's no way in hell anyone can be as lucky as you are. You're duel disk has a fixed shuffling system. It places every card right where it needs to be."
"So I've been figured out," he's now laughing. "Fine, I admit it, this Duel Disk is specialized to give me exactly what I need when I need it. I'm no Duelist and these people are looking for someone with intelligence. So all I did was use my strong points, such as computer hacking, to bypass my weaker points, such as Dueling. So, are you ready to give up."
"No, just wanted to make sure I was right. I summon, Junk Synchron (Level: 3/ATK: 1300/DEF: 500)!"
"Another Tuner, but you don't control any monsters."
"That's what you think; now I activate Junk Synchron's special ability! Now I can special summon one level two or lower monster from my graveyard in defense mode! I summon, Tuningware." (Level: 1/ATK: 100/DEF: 300)
"What good will that do you?"
"Lot's, next I play the spell, O - Oversoul! Now I can special summon one normal monster with Elemental HERO in its name from my Graveyard!"
"Sparkman or Clayman?"
"Neither, I summon, Elemental HERO Avian!" (Level: 3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000)
"But wait, you could've summoned a powerful eight stared Synchro Monster, why only allow yourself to bring out a seven star?"
"Seven's all I need." Junk Synchron flew high into the sky; he then pulled the Cord on the engine attached to his back, allowing for the engine to roar. As they made more and more noise, Junk Synchron dematerialized and turned into 3 large green rings. Tuningware and Avian then jumped through the rings and dematerialized themselves into 4 shining stars that arranged themselves equally among the rings and in a burst of light, (3+1+3=7) "I synchro summon Junk Archer!" (ATK: 2300/DEF: 2000)
"Cute, you summoned an orange Robotic Archer with one eye, he still can't win this for you in time."
"Wrong again, now I activate the effect of Tuningware! Since he was sent to the graveyard, I get to draw one card." (1-0)
"You fool, now you're at zero. All I need to do is skip my next turn and I win!"
"There isn't going to be a next turn! I play Battle Tuned! Now I remove from play the Debris Dragon in my graveyard, so Junk Archer can gain 1000 ATK points." (2300-3300)
"You had this whole thing planned out from the minute I made you switch your deck with your graveyard!"
"Bingo, that's called skill, not luck and certainly not cheating!"
"Why you little bastard."
"What nothing better to say. I thought it was a Journalist's job to say snappy things! Now I activate Junk Archer's effect! Once per turn, I can select 1 monster you control and remove it from play until the end phase, Dimension Shoot!"
"Wait but that means-"
"Yup, you're wide open for a direct attack. Go Junk Archer, Scrap Arrow!" (2700-0)
Winner: Chase Loser: Ortega
"Figures, I finally wind up only a few days away from finding out everything about Segas and then you show up."
"Why are you so obsessed with learning about Segas?"
"Why do you think?" I can hear actual sorrow in this guy's voice. "When someone asked Leonardo da Vinci to paint a picture of a woman, he did it. When someone asked Evel Knievel to jump a bus, he did it. From the minute I first saw the Segas symbol, I knew it was meant to be my life's work. Even though I've lost today, I will learn all there is to know about Segas."
"Right, well before you go jump over a bus I think you can help me with something."
Ortega seams interested. "What could you possibly need my help with?"
"I'm trying to dig up whatever information I can on these people and part of that means finding out whatever I can about Judge Taft."
"So you want what I know."
"I'm almost certain I know more than you do. The only problem is that Taft seems like a Humanitarian to most and those who know better are too afraid to say otherwise."
"So then what would you like me to do?"
"I'd like for you to find me someone he's convicted."
"You're thinking he's got a few political prisoners aren't you?"
"Is it that surprising?"
"Not really, do you have any names in mind?"
"I can't find a name but I do know the case. Have you ever heard of Antifreeze?"
…
"Do you think we can trust Ortega?"
Me and Debris Dragon are almost back at the school. If Ortega finds anything out, he's going to come to the school.
"Ortega may be a creep but he's not going to miss a chance to stay involved in this insanity. It's better if we stay at the school, so that way we're here to meet Ortega if he finds anything.
"Chase over here!" Oh crap, Vanessa is waiting outside the school gate.
"She might have a message from Mustang."
As much as I hate to admit it, Debris Dragon might be right.
I stop my Runner in front of her; she looks like she's been waiting a while. She's got a big grin on her face and considering how cold it is out here, she must really have something important to say.
"What have I done now?"
"It's not something you did, it's something I did."
I'm already losing interest. "You found a cure for out of control, excessively long hair."
"Very funny, I think I've found a previous Grand Master of Segas."
"Wait-what- how on earth could you have found that out?"
"Very simple really," Vanessa jumps on the back of my Runner, pulls out a pair of black sun glasses and places them over her face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Well obviously we're not going to walk to my apartment."
"Your apartment?"
"Do you want this information or not?"
…
As usual, Vanessa's place is empty aside from the 2 of us. Granted I haven't gotten a chance to check considering she's been pulling me like a rag doll to her bedroom.
"I've never been in here before." Vanessa's room is about the average size of a bedroom with a pink rug over a hard wood floor. Her walls are cream colored, granted I can't see one of them because it's covered by a giant bookshelf. Her bed sits across from the book shelf with the third with wall consisting of a large closet. A white dresser, covered in clutter, sits next to the closet with a peg board covered in different photos- "Is that me?"
One of the photos is of me; next to it is a photo of a Kai and another of Toni below it.
"I love to take pictures and I put pictures of my friends and places I've been to on this board."
I recognize some of these pictures; other kids from school, some are different sites here in the city, a few pictures of places in Europe, her Grandfather and- that's strange. There's a picture, an older looking picture, of a guy. He's got green eyes, short red hair, pale skin and a big smile. He looks too old to be a boyfriend, maybe-
"Found it!" Vanessa is looking at an old book full of Post-It notes.
"What's that?"
"This is a book about famous inventors who have influenced the city."
"Is there any particular reason you have that?"
"Well with everything going on around here what did you think I was going to do? Just sit on the side lines like last time?"
"That was the plan?"
"Well not anymore. While you guys were just willy nilly doing as the evil nut cases said, I went to the library to do a little research. I figured that since these guys wanted to push society forward then a few of them have probably become famous inventors here in New York."
"And you figured that you could find a clue to different members in that book."
"It was worth a shot." She picks the book off her white colored night stand and takes a seat on her pink bed spread. "Take a seat." I unwillingly walk towards the bed and take a seat next to her. She begins to skim through the pages, the smile on her face getting bigger with each flipped page. She looks like a little kid finding an egg on Easter.
"Chase allow me to introduce you to Mr. Alfred Ely Beach."
Vanessa puts her arm around my neck and pulls my head right next to hers.
"You need a mint," she really does.
"Just look at the page."
Alfred Ely Beach (September 1, 1826-January 1, 1896) was an inventor from Springfield, Massachusetts. He is most noted for building New York City's first functional subway tunnel.
"Do I have to read this whole thing?"
"You don't have to read any of this." Vanessa then places her finger on the picture on the next page.
The picture is photograph of beach shaking some guy's hand. Beach wasn't a very tall man; in fact, he kind of looks a little funny. He's got a fat nose with a flat front, as well as a mustache that looks like he tried to shave it with dull blade. On top of that he's pidgin toed with an oversized suit and a bad comb over haircut.
"Am I supposed to be looking for something special?"
"Right here," she slides her finger down the picture and stops her finger by the man's neck.
I roll my eyes, but I look down to take a closer look anyways. "What the hell?" I don't believe what I'm seeing. Right on the man's collar is what looks like a pin, but not just any pin. The pin looks exactly like the bird silhouette that Segas uses as its symbol.
"I made that same dumb founded face when I first realized it to. Alfred Ely Beach basically redesigned every city on the planet. Call me crazy, but that sounds to me like something Segas would want to do."
"How are you sure he was the leader?"
"Well at first I thought it was too good to be true. After all, if you were part of a secret organization, you wouldn't just keep your symbol on you, which is why I decided to do a little more research, this time on the Internet."
She moves over towards her night stand. She opens a white colored drawer and pulls out a silver lap top with a pink skin.
"You know there's a lot of bull shit on the Internet."
"I know, why you think I looked so tired?"
"Wait, how long were you looking for this stuff?"
"I got to bed at a little past 2."
"2!" Well actually she kinds of looks like she was up late. During history, she could barely keep her eyes open or her head off the desk. Even now she looks like she's about to collapse on to her pillow.
"It took me a while but I found Beach's original subway diagram."
"Now when you say a while-"
"I found it at about 1:30 this morning. Now check this out."
Vanessa places the tip of her short finger nail onto the screen.
"What the hell is that?" Under Vanessa's finger is a small dot in between 2 sewer tunnels.
"That's what I was trying to figure out. So I researched the diagram and I found this."
She now has up an old newspaper article from the late 2020's. The headline reads Mysterious room found in old subway tunnel.
"So someone found an old room in the subway system," I say.
"And according to this article, this room can be located on any diagram of New York City."
"So in other words, this dot has been on every diagram of this city for over 150 years and no one noticed?"
"Plenty of people have noticed, believe me. Like Sherlock Holmes said, "There is nothing more elusive than an obvious fact."
"Like most smart people, Beach was probably over confident. From looking at this book, it looks he came from working class roots instead of an upper class family so the only way he could have joined Segas is by winning this tournament. He probably used some weird ability he had to make sure that the dot would always appear on every map of the city."
"Plus, if he really was over confident, then he probably figured he could wear the pin with pride and expect no one to notice."
"It's worth a shot. I'll head-" Damn, what about Ortega? I don't know when he's going to go to the school and if this is too good to be true then I'll ruin both leads at once.
"Oh no, I've seen that face before. What are you planning?"
"Hey, do you remember a tall skinny Hispanic guy from the tournament orientation?"
Vanessa ponders this thought for a moment. "I think so."
"I need to you head back to the school for me and wait for him."
"Why?"
"I'm having him look into Judge Taft for me. I told him, that if he finds anything out to come look for me at the school."
"Yeah sure, but where are you going?"
"Where else, the sewers."
"Why are we in a sewer?"
"Be quiet Debris Dragon."
During World War 3, a lot of bombs were used down here. The tunnels remained intact and a lot of tests were done to make sure they could still sustain the weight above. They passed that test but this ended up revealing that there was so much damage done to the inner structure that the power given off by the trains would eventually cause the structure to crack and shatter. But since everything gets used in this city and a lot of the old sewer tunnels were being converted to trash tunnels heading towards the Satellite Sector the government decided to make the damaged Subway tunnels into the sewer tunnels and then just build a new subway system.
We've been down here for about 20 minutes. Before I left to bring Vanessa to the school, I printed out a diagram of the sewer tunnels closest to the strange Dot.
"Even if we find this room, and that's a big if, how are we supposed to get into this room? Since it's supposed to be a secret in plain sight, I assume that means they lock the door."
As much as I hate to admit it, Debris Dragon is probably right. Like I said before, this is a long shot.
The underground of New York City is kind of like a huge Spider Web. It has dozens of tunnel networks that reach all over the city, each one serving a specific purpose. These tunnels go for miles in all directions; that includes down. Whenever there's been need for anything new down here they just went ahead and built whatever they could, where ever they could. Because of this you literally have networks of huge tunnels, and giant filling areas and we're looking for one room. One room in a dimly lit, damp, cold, sewer tunnel.
"Hey is someone over there!"
On instinct I quickly press up against a wall. The voice I just heard was loud and deep which means that this is probably a big guy. I can vaguely see a light through the corner of my eye. They are very few guards down here, but what few there are, tend to be armed.
"I know I saw somebody, now come out with your hands above your head."
What do I do? Judging by how much light there is I'd imagine this guy can't be more than several feet away. The echo from my footsteps is so loud down here, even if I tried to run; he could probably hear me and then catch up to me.
"Chase, what are we going to do?"
On the other hand, I could try just giving up to the guy... no that wouldn't work. If I do that then the first thing he's going to do is see my criminal mark and if he Sees that then the first thing he's going to do is bring me back up to the surface so he can file charges and I doubt telling him my reason for coming down here will go over well.
"I haven't heard you run yet, so I assume that your still here. Which means you've got till I reach 10 to come on out. 1, 2, 3...
What to do, what to do- that's it.
"Chase what are you doing? Why are you turning on your Duel Disk? I don't think this guy wants to duel."
"7, 8, 9,"
Come forth Nitro Warrior!
"Hey what the hell!"
Quickly, I take advantage of the man's shock and jolt in front of him. I tighten my fist and punch him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him straight in to the water. As fast as I can, I begin to run. I'm not sure which direction I'm going, but I have to get some ground between me and that guard. If only I-
"Chase!"
I'm falling; I must be in falling into some kind of a drainage station. Damn it, what am I going to do- my instincts just kicked in. Something told my arm that there was something to grab on to so my arm did what it was told.
The lighting down here is so pour that I couldn't see where- I'm slipping. I'm holding on to a stray pipe. From the looks of it, this area is designed for water from different tunnels to drain into, which means the bottom, which looks to be very far away, is probably very- my grip- I got to think of something. This pipe is probably just left over from a previous design, which means-
"Chaaase!"
I lost my grip. I'm falling, time feels like it's standing still but I know that in probably a second I'll be under water. Even if it's not that deep from the height I was at there's no way I can hit the floor without breaking something. Maybe my leg, my neck, my head and I don't see-
…
"Oh good your waking up."
"What the, what the hell?"
About a second ago, I was falling, but now I'm lying on the ground... and it looks like Elemental Hero Voltic is standing above me.
"What, what's going on here, w-where am I... and where's Debris Dragon?"
"Good questions, but unfortunately I only know the answer to one. Debris Dragon got weakened to the point where we had to switch him with someone else. Seeing as you're probably going to need to break a lock, we all figured I was the best option."
"What do you mean Debris Dragon got weakened?"
"You tell me?"
"Huh?"
"One minute, we're all freaking out because we're all about to die and the next thing we all know, we're here and Debris Dragon is fading in out of consciousness?"
"That doesn't even make sense."
"How so?"
"How so! First of all, why would you guys die? Your all just spirits."
"It's not as simple as that." Why is he so calm about all this? "You see, are attachment to this world is through you. So if you die because of unnatural causes, then we won't be able to survive in this world so we'll just fade away."
"OK, fine, that adds a little pressure to stay alive but what's so bad about Debris Dragon losing consciousness?"
"Think about it for a minute. Have you ever seen Debris Dragon sleep?" I shake my head. "That's because us spirits aren't supposed to sleep while we're in this world. When we return to your deck, sleeping is mostly what we're doing. If a Duel Spirit were to lose consciousness while active in this world they'd literally fall apart."
"Then how'd we get here?"
"Like I said, I don't know but whoever, or whatever, brought us was emanating so much spiritual power that it not only had Debris Dragon facing his death but it filled this entire area with Spirit Energy."
"OK, so we're all in someone, or something's debt, but where are we?"
"Take a look."
I slowly stand up, still a little shaky I guess. I turn around to see a- a door- just a random door in a very old looking subway turned sewer tunnel.
"Whatever saved us brought us to exactly where we need to be," I don't believe this.
Looking around, this whole tunnel seems ancient. The only light here is being generated by Voltic so I can only see a few feet away but from what I can see, the walls of this tunnel are made from bricks. Bricks that have lost their coloring and because of the sewage, they look like a pale green color.
"This area is ancient probably," says Voltic
"From the looks of it, it might be part of the original subway network, which means that this tunnel is almost 150 years old, just the thought of all this mind-boggling."
"If you think that's mind boggling, then check out the door."
He's right; as I look at the door I can tell it's modern. It's stainless steel with a modern day lock on it.
"So this is it. The Stray Dot of The New York City underground and were locked out."
"Not exactly, don't forget, this entire area is filled with Spirit Energy and there's no greater power up for a Duel Spirit than pure Spirit Energy."
"Then why did it almost kill Debris Dragon."
"Little guy had to take the full blast of it. I'm just feeding off what's left." As he says this, Voltic places his purple hand on to the lock. You might want to close your eyes, this could get bright. I do as I'm told and as soon as my eyes are shut I hear "pop." "OK, I'm done."
"Wait that's it." I open my eyes in disbelief.
"This room functions on its own generator. All I had to do was burn out the circuit to the lock and then give the opening mechanism enough juice to open the door. Don't forget electricity is my specialty."
"Fair enough," I pull open the door but before I look inside, I turn back to Voltic. "Anything dangerous in there?"
"You'll have to look inside."
I pull the door and open, walk inside, feel around for a light switch and- "What is this place?" It looks like something out of a mad scientist movie. I mean, everything in here is spotlessly clean. Considering where I am, this place should look like the inside of a toilet but it doesn't. I guess there's only one thing to do.
I walk over to a filing cabinet. I pull open the top drawer, hopefully I should be able to find something useful in he- what the, what the hell?"
"What do you see?"
"You tell me."
Voltic walks over and looks inside the drawer.
"Well it isn't candy."
Sitting inside are several clear glass cubes. Each one containing grey lumps. I step back a little, there's something that's scaring me about these lumps and I have no idea why. I look at the cabinet but all it says is... Alfred Ely Beach. All it says is Alfred Ely Beach in black Marker. I look around, this entire room is nothing but filing cabinets, and each one has a different name written in the slot.
"This is what's being kept secret in plain sight. A bunch of filing Cabinets?"
"Well I assume that these little blobs are important. Try opening another one."
I hesitate but still I open a drawer across from the one I just opened. Inside is another jar. This one has a... a brain in it. Like with Ivanov but this isn't attached to a device this is just a pickled Brain floating in greenish liquid.
"So this room is for storage. Most likely all these drawers are probably fall of Brains that have been used in some way for experiments. Hey why are you looking at the ceiling?" Voltic is literally just staring up, motionless.
"I suddenly got the feeling to look and then- well take a look."
"Fine but- oh good God," on the ceiling, written in what looks like dried blood are the words I saw the truth.
"What does that mean?"
"We should leave."
"Do you know what that means?" I can tell he's keeping something secret.
"It clearly means that someone saw some form of a Truth but what truth they saw is beyond me." He's not a good liar. "We need to leave."
A part of me wants to stay but a part of me wants to go as well.
…
"Brains, I spent the majority of last night on the Internet going through conspiracy sites so you could find a Zombie Cafeteria."
I'm back at school now, in my room actually. I'm sitting on the floor petting Steve while Vanessa sits across from me on the bed, holding her nose, apparently I stink from being in the sewers all afternoon.
"I assume that the room once served a different purpose. Even though it's in an old area, it's defiantly been remodeled a few times over the decades."
"So it's probably out lived its purpose and is now just being used for storage."
"I hope?"
"You hope?"
"There was something else in there. On the ceiling... well...-"
"Out with it already."
"On the ceiling of the building it said I saw the truth."
"The Truth?" Her voice just now had the same tone that Voltic's did when he read the words plus the expression on her face is definitely fear.
"Does that mean anything to you?"
"No- well- I don't think so. It feels like I've heard that somewhere before."
"Maybe on one of the sites you were looking at last night."
"No, I've got all those sites burnt into my memory and I don't remember hearing anything like that but I've definitely heard that phrase somewhere before, the truth."
She looks confused now, that being said I think Steve is probably the only one not confused around here.
"Knock, knock." I hear Kai's voice on the other side of the door. I get up and open the door to reveal both Kai and Toni. "Looks like there's a party going on in here."
"Just get in; technically I'm not supposed to have girls in here."
The 2 come in, Toni closing the door behind them. She takes a seat next to Vanessa on the bed and Kai leans his back against the wall.
"Something wrong Toni." Says Vanessa but before Toni can respond Kai opens his mouth and says, "She's out of the tournament."
Suddenly we all shocked, Toni is not the type of Duelist to be defeated easily.
"Who did you lose to?" I ask but instead of responding she appears to just get more annoyed."
"She lost to Wilson."
"Hey! He just got lucky."
"I thought you said you didn't believe in luck," I say.
"He used a weird deck, that's it. He'll probably get wiped out next round by one of you guys. But enough of that, Chase why do you stink?"
I look over to Vanessa; she nods as if she knows what I'm thinking. I'm starting to get the feeling she knows what I'm thinking.
"Well, as it turns out. There may be something... stranger going on here than what we thought.
Next time: Rain
"Wait Kai, did you just lose?"