(Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ping...)

It's been at least a few hours after the duel between Athena and Shark ended, which also gave the jump-start to a whole new adventure/problem for the red-eyed teen to deal with, and our viewpoint shifts to the inside of a greatly-spacious computer lab. Sitting in the chair set up in the middle-front close to the largest monitor, was an unknown male figure who was creating a piece of software, but not one that would benefit mankind...

(Click)

Once it was complete, a cluster of pixels over a background of zeros and ones forms into a creature resembling a humanoid bomb with the tenacity of a child, known in the Duel Monster World as Crashbug.

"Bug? Crashbug? (Readies some bombs) Crashbug!"

The unknown male chuckles in anticipation for his programming success, and we see that on the side of his neck, was a glowing numeral 34, indicating that he too had become a subject for the newly-risen Number Cards.

"Time to go viral."

He gives the green light to his virus software, and on the screen, the Crashbug avatar begins the charge into the cyber-verse, along with hundreds upon hundreds of fellow clones. It would spread chaos all over Heartland City, such as messing with the change in the traffic lights, sending vehicles into a mass slowdown and near-miss crashes, and even reconfigured the programming of the LitterBots to be less than helpful.

"(Eyes flash) Re-initializing..."

In which case, the robots would mistake their objective in what to collect in terms of trash, inconveniencing many passers on the streets, including Athena's Grandfather!

"Hm? Something wro-Gyah!"

He was lifted off the ground by one set of mechanical arms (joining two other poor souls in the area), and shouts in an aggravated tone,

"What is this insanity?! Release me at once, you mecha-holligan!"

...And where was Athena during all of this? Well, she has just left from the courtyard of the monorail station to begin her trek home, too distracted with the blue-skinned being who was still tailing her to be aware of the new technical crisis on the rise.

"For the love of humanity, didn't I tell you to get lost, Astral?!"

He replies in a calm if somewhat perplexed tone,

"You did, but I don't understand what you mean by that: How can one consciously get lost? If I go somewhere, I will know where I am."

Facepalming, Athena replies in with irritation,

"Don't take it so literally; it's just a turn of phrase, meaning 'Take a hike', 'Leave'. Borderline, go bug someone else!"

"I can't until you gather the Numbers."

She stops and whirls in Astral's direction before shouting,

"And why exactly do I have to get involved?! This sounds more like a 'you' problem, not a 'me' problem!..."

While she continued to argue with the being, Jamal says to Tiffany, who had paused in their walk none too far behind Athena,

"Okay, we've seen Addy act out of sorts before, but nothin' like this..."

"Yeah...I'm almost wondering if maybe there is an invisible duelist tailing her..."

We pick back up on said aggravated girl's conversation, she replying in a fed-up tone,

"That's a real lame-ass move, trying to use another guilt-trip! Ugh, you know what? Screw it; I don't wanna exhaust myself with this stupidity..."

With that, she begins stomping forward again, leaving her friends to mutter with sweatdrops,

"But on the other hand..."

"Well, least she ain't yelling at us..."

Meanwhile, Astral makes another note about his new surroundings and the people who occupy it, mostly based off of Athena's behaviour.

"Observation Number Two: When asked to do something, humans behave erratically."

She whirls around and barks,

"Oh-hoh, trust me, this isn't even close to erratic for me! And I have probable cause to be erratic too, as you so eloquently put it!"

Just before the half-heated topic could be exhausted any further:

(BOOM)

"Waaagh!"

There came a small explosion from Athena's backyard, followed by the sound of a young man crying out in surprise! She knew instantly what the source was:

"Oh great, not again...Terry!"

Zooming in on the rear of the household's outside, we see a young man in his early twenties, tall with vaguely-tanned skin, a five o'clock shadow matching the shade of his short, copper-red hair styled into a short, messy asymmetrical cut, gray eyes and wearing an outfit of a black t-shirt under a pair of scuffed-up, jean coveralls with brown work boots.

He was currently coughing against a small snake of smoke billowing out of a large machine engine he was working on, it previously having a laptop plugged into it for a more technical part of the fixing he was doing, until it too was swallowed by the Crashbug virus that was launched. Now it was sparking up electricity and getting close to catching on fire, much to the young man's horror.

"Aw, son of a-(cough, hack)!"

By this time, the three young teens had rushed through the house to see what was going on, Athena leading the charge.

"Terry, you okay, bro?!"

"I'm fine, (cough), but some kind-a bug or whatever fried my computer and spiked my engine!"

"Uh, least you're still alive, right...?"

Terry starts to grab his hair in a panic, shoving back the protective goggles he was wearing.

"My clients are expecting this done by tomorrow...!" Athena whispers to her friends,

"Mount-Terrence is about to blow..." Tiffany finishes,

"Which means this is our cue to vacate the premises."

But only she and Jamal would escape the sights of the gray-eyed male, while his sister was caught like a deer in the headlights.

"Hold it right there, little rebel: I've got a job for you!"

Small Time Skip, Athena's POV

Damn it, one problem after another today...

Unfortunately, I've yet to come up with a way to dodge my older brother Terry when it comes to his 'job runs'. Every time he's busy with one of his mechanic projects and his grease-buddies or Adam isn't around to lend a hand, I'm the one who gets roped into his ridiculous errands to find spare parts he needs to replace...Of course, thanks to his streak of explosions in the backyard of some failed trial and error tinkering, it's also become a regular routine to pick up some new soil for the craters he creates in the ground, today being one of those days.

I'm now back in the downtown area with the old wagon to use for hauling the junk home, along with a written list of specific parts Terry wants me to replace, cash attached. None of the mild preparedness prevents me from complaining to myself and my friends, who were kind enough to lend me a hand.

"Agh, this is turning into one hell of a Sunday! I keep telling Terry to stop sending me on these errands unless he gives me good directions on where to find those stupid spare parts because he knows I suck at IDing the right stores, and what does he not do?"

Tiffany and Jamal reply in monotonic unison,

"Give you the directions?"

"Exactly! It's gonna take me hours before I find everything...except for the new soil. (Glances at Tiffany) That I can get at your grandma's gardening store."

Sighing through my nose, I change my focus from my petty grumbling to our surroundings, noticing that traffic was still in a standstill.

"But my barking aside, when the hell are the lights gonna change? It's been fifteen minutes, and everyone's still playing the loser end of Freeze Tag."

Jamal replies,

"Yeah, I was seein' that too...And look, (points upward) even the monorail's not moving."

Tiffany mutters with narrowed eyes,

"There's something wrong here. Maybe a power hiccup?"

My attention then turns to the vending machine on my right, and I see that it was shooting out juices in a free-for-all!

"Whoa! Check this out: Free juice!"

"Wait a second! Addy, those haven't been paid for!"

"Relax, Tiff: I'm just gonna make sure they don't go rollin' into the streets!"

(Grasp)

"Hm? Whoa, hey!"

Next thing I knew, I was lifted into the air by a LitterBot, who was obviously a bit looser in the gears than usual!

"Addy!"

Luckily, I was able to twist myself around to prevent the bucket of bolts from dumping me inside itself like a piece of garbage...by, landing a swift kick in its head.

"Hiya!"

(CLANG)

"Error, error! Malfunction!"

It was taken by enough surprise that it released me, forcing me to land on the pavement on my back with a thump.
Jamal and Tiffany rush to help me to my feet:

"Nice move!" "Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fi-...Hang on..."

I switched around my response, because while I stopped the robot, it wasn't down for the count yet. Using its skinny arms, it pushes itself back onto its wheeled feet, sending a robotic glare with gleaming red eyes from its newly-dented dome chrome.

Uh-oooh...

"Uuh, Jamal? Ya mind, grabbin' one end of the wagon while I get the other?"

"Huh? Why?"

I point forward to the aggravated hunk of metal, and my friends cringe with fear as I add,

"'Cause we're gonna hafta up our speed for the next, oh I dunno, fifteen, twenty minutes to outrun that!?"

And just as the LitterBot begins to charge at us, we all scramble to it and began running for our lives, Jamal taking the rear of the wagon and myself the front with both hands to sprint while carrying!

...And come close to the first time crunch guess, we would all be bending over to gulp in some well-needed air on the sidewalk in front of the local automatic car-wash, finally losing the crazy robot...I hope.

"Hah, hah, hah, did we, lose it?" Jamal replies to Tiffany,

"I, hah, think so...Must've gotten distracted by that mailbox we passed."

As I straightened up again, Astral comments near my side,

"Perhaps that kick you used was a bit too offensive a measure to take..." I reply sarcastically,

"Yeah, so I noticed, smart-guy...Hm?"

That's when my ears picked up on the sound of the jet washers in the car-wash humming a bit weirdly, like something was clogged...I look over, and one of the garage-wide doors jumped up open, before a worker came running out while shielding a lady with a towel from a hydro blast of water!

"Aaah!"

"Head down, head down!"

What the hell?

As soon as they were away from there and near the three (or if I count Astral, four) of us, Tiffany asks him,

"What's going on, sir?"

"I'm not sure myself, but something's making our systems go haywire! It's too dangerous to stay inside!...Auh, look out!"

There then came a huge flood of water from the one wash area, and while the worker and customer were able to escape it...my friends and I weren't.

"Yaaah!" "Agh!" "Whaaah!"

(SPLASH...)

...We got swept with the artificial tide all the way to the other side of the road where the fencing for one of the parks began, me flat on my back and hacking up a bit of water from my lungs, which left an aftertaste of soap in my mouth. Astral came to hover over my head and asks with a trace of concern,

"Are you alright?"

"(Cough) Been worse, still alive."

I sit up at the same time Jamal does while brushing back his drenched dreadlocks, and Tiffany pushes herself to her knees while flipping her own hair back into its regular position, all three of us soaked to the bone.

"(Cough, cough) Damn...you guys okay?"

"I'm, (cough) okay..."

I give my guy-friend the thumbs-up with a slightly-grimaced smile, and we both move to stand up first...only to end up ducking again.

"Gah! Heads up!" "Whoa!"

(Sploosh)

What were we dodging this round? Oh...not much, just a glob of hot wax!?

Luckily, we were fast enough in our duck that it only hits some of the fence and the pole of a streetlight, leaving a quick-hardening statue of a mid-air splatter...

"...Geez, that was close!"

"Yeah, no kidding: Three seconds late and we would've gotten burned!"

Okay, screw the errands: It's way too dangerous to be wandering the city right now! I'm heading back home!

Small Time Skip

The sunset would come burning into the atmosphere by the time I got home, and while Terry wasn't overly impressed that I failed in my job, he, along with Adam and Grandpa, were just relieved that my friends and I got back to our houses safe.

So after I got changed into some drier clothes and toweled off from that unexpected tidal wave, I came back down to eat dinner just as the news reporter was finishing her story on the incident going on all over the city on the TV, it along with every other piece of tech finally working normal again.

"Alyssa Brianna filed this report regarding the sweeping problem regarding..."

(Click)

"That's enough of that. I don't wanna hear another word about other people experiencing malfunctions of lesser importance than mine!"

"Calm down, bro: It's not like your clients were unreasonable when you called to ask for a time extension."

We were all sitting at the kitchen table to eat the food Grandpa prepared for the evening, that being a fish, rice bowls and vegetable stir-fry this round. I clap my hands together and chime,

"Thanks for making dinner, Gramps; looks good!"

"Of course, dear, and Adam's right, Terrence: It's better to be grateful."

Terry looks up briefly from his position of a face-plant on the table with an exhausted glare cast to my other brother, who just wore a calm smile.

Now, out of the two of them, Adam definitely got more of dad's looks, his skin of similar shade to mine, black hair in the style of a tamed mullet (like dad when he was a teen), and grey eyes with flakes of green (I think one of our great-great grandpas on dad's side had the green flaking in the irises too). In terms of personalities, both of my brothers have a mix of our parent's traits of daring and serious, though Terry tends to try and act more business-like in his work as a mechanic (which extends from vehicles to other more blunt-type technology), while Adam's more mellow and down-to-earth these days, his day job being in woodwork and the occasional university professor's aid.

Anyway, my brother who got a bold mix of mom's genes with dad's eyes goes back to grumbling to himself over his mishap in the backyard earlier.

"(Muffled) Why, whyyy did it have to be today that my laptop betrays me and trashed my project?!"

"Speaking of trash, before I nearly drowned at the kooky car-wash, one of the LitterBots tried to scoop me into their compartment...until I, kicked it back and it chased me and my friends to another end of town before it got distracted by a mailbox."

Grandfather chimes in response to my add-on in my tale,

"What a coincidence: Something similar happened to me!"

That caught Terry's attention from his drama:

"Wait, back up, what?"

I grabbed my chopsticks as I gave a quick summary of everything else I saw that was going on throughout the city today.

"The whole downtown was on the fritz: Traffic lights were doin' squat, leavin' the roads lookin' like a massive parking lot, vending machines were shooting out their products, LitterBots mistaking people for trash, and even places like the old car-wash were having meltdowns."

Adam then adds his own little incident:

"Yeah, the guys and I down at the woodwork station had to evacuate outside because the sawdust vacuum decided to do an extreme reverse, shooting its contents all over the place. And don't even get me started on the other power-tools...We're all gonna meet early to try and do a mass salvage clean-up, assuming there's anything left..."

Grandfather remarks,

"That would explain why you came home looking like you went into war with a pencil sharpener (We all laughed at that thought)...Anyway, the radio said everything should be working properly by now."

Terry then asks with a suspecting frown,

"So hang on: Does that mean my computer wasn't the only one that crashed?"

I answer with a raised brow,

"Uh, probably not."

"...Something's fishy about this." Adam jokes,

"But I thought you liked fish."

"Not the food, doofus: I mean this whole sitch with the electronics!"

Terry bounces up to a stand and adds in a more fired-up tone,

"I gotta replenish my energy and head over to Yoko's: She might know something!"

Yoko? Oh, right, his on-again, off-again girlfriend who works for one of the news bulletins...

Hey, wait!

"Auh, dude, that's my fish!"

But surprise surprise, my dear mechanic brother has deaf ears to my complaint and devours the seafood until there was only the head and tail held my the bone, before he rushes out the house to Yoko's.

"I'll be back in a couple hours; don't wait up!"

Once he was gone, I let out a groan directed at the ceiling before snagging the fish on his plate that he was somehow blind to and start eating that, letting its taste calm my frustrations...

Oh yeah, one other thing I meant to mention: Astral was still here, and hovering behind my chair. How did I know this?

"So this is how these humans replenish their energy..."

That's how.

"...And you park your vehicles on something called a 'drive-way', yet you drive them on something called a 'park-way'..."

These observations and questions just kept coming and coming, even while I was (cough) 'doing my business' in the bathroom, which thankfully I managed to keep him out of, barely. I did my best to be patient with him, keeping in mind that he was obviously not from around here on top of being an amnesiac, I really did, but you try keeping a cool head in my shoes and see how easy it is!

I call from inside the bathroom,

"This is hardly the time for your drivel, so can you at least shut it until I'm out?!"

"I am only seeking to better understand your behaviour."

Letting out an aggravated breath melding with a groan, I call back with a bite of sarcasm,

"Yeah, I'm catchin' onto that...but it's not a good idea to disturb a human while they're in the bathroom, 'ridding used-up energies'. I don't really wanna go into details why; it's just one of those unspoken, professional courtesies we follow automatically...if that makes sense..."

"Interesting. Observation Number Three: After replenishing their energy, humans retire to what is known as a 'bathroom' to remove previously used-up sources. Furthermore, they follow this pre-programmed message to not disturb one another while one is in said room out of courtesy."

(Sigh) Close enough...

As I get up and move to the sink to wash my hands (flushing beforehand, of course), I then hear Astral ask,

"One more thing: You seem to be a complex and functional being. So then, why is it that you malfunction when it comes time to duel?"

I freeze my scrubbing, and ask back with a bit of edge creeping into my tone,

"And just what, precisely, are you implying?"

"Your dueling is broken and erroneous."

...

...I felt something in me snap when he used that one word, the one that I never want to hear from anybody, not after the hell I've been through for close to two years.

Oh, Hell No!

Barely biting back a pissed growl, I dry my hands in a haste before slamming my way out into the hall, whirling around to meet Astral's with a glare that must've looked really dangerous for he flinched back in a flash of fear. I then spit out in an even, angry tone,

"Let's get one thing straight: Never, ever, use the term Broken around me! You have absolutely no idea how hard I've worked to pull myself back up to where I am today! The hell I've been through since-rgh!...S-Since..."

Approaching me a bit cautiously, Astral asks,

"Since, when?"

Despite my motivation...I couldn't bring myself to finish, a part of my heart still hurting a little to speak casually about the past, especially to someone I've barely met. So instead, I unclench my fists at my sides with a deep breath and mutter bitterly,

"Never you mind...Look, humans aren't built to be perfect. We're unique in our failures and accomplishments. It's as simple as that."

"I do not understand that. Failure is not an option for me."

"You sure about that?"

His mismatching irises widen slightly at my next question, and a grim smile graces my lips as I muse,

"'Cause you're sure failing at facing failure with a brave heart. From what you're saying, you quiver at the mere thought of being imperfect...But being perfect's boring, pointless."

I start heading off towards my room as I add,

"What makes humans so complex as you so put it, is that we use our failures to achieve greater things, find a way to come back from the worst of times...even if they're not quite the same as before..."

Although...sometimes I wonder if I've really fully come back from, back then.

Small Time Skip, Astral's POV

Using one's failures to achieve? That sounds incredibly contradictory...

And the way she reacted to the word 'Broken': She took it as if it were the worst possible insult.

...What is she not saying?

I am now inside the section of this home called a 'bedroom', watching the human Athena resting in said object the room is named after, her body covered up by material save her upper torso and head, eyes shut while the rest of her face reflected a more settled and peaceful expression, contrasting the rather abrupt behaviour she displays when awake. My thoughts then began to drift to other matters regarding my presence in this world and why Athena is connected with it.

I cannot shake the thought, that I was sent to this world on an important mission.

Perhaps in order to fulfill that mission, I was suppose to take over Athena's body, but something went wrong, and my essence was shattered into ninety-nine pieces, ninety-nine 'Number Cards'.

If I have the power to take control of these humans, it stands to reason that each card containing a piece of me would have that power as well.

The Number 17 seemed to be taking control of that boy they called Shark...

I then recall what Athena said regarding a voice she heard when focusing her vision on the possessed boy, one that she felt she wasn't suppose to hear...making me wonder if my hypothesis about possessing her may be mistaken in some form. Giving the matter a second thought, it did seem a bit farfetched...though I knew not why.

Why would taking over Athena be a part of that mission?

...More importantly...what went wrong?

I then focused my vision on the strange pendant around her neck and over the covers of the bed, which she told me (if in a reluctant and annoyed tone) had responsibility to what brought about the events...My hand found itself reaching to touch the surface, and the next thing I knew, I was, drawn into a new space inside the pendant!

"(Blink) Uh! What happened?...Where, am I?"

Time Skip, No POV

"Mmm...m-mm."

Come the next morning, early enough that the sun was just beginning to rise, Athena would rise to a sitting position in her bed, only to see no signs of Astral's presence near.

"Hm? Weird...Wonder where he went? (Shrug) Oh well, guess he decided to finally take a hike."

Brushing off the strangeness, she gets on with her usual morning routine, from eating a hearty breakfast to her early morning jog around the city, before meeting up with her friend Jamal on her way to the Dueling Academy for a new day of learning, stopping in the girl's bathroom to quickly change into her uniform and not attend first class in her leggings and sports top...

She was now sitting between him and Tiffany at their shared desk around the middle left of the classroom for Math, their teacher going by the title Mister Kay. He was a man around his late twenties, averagely tall with pale-tan skin, muted-aqua green eyes behind a pair of skinny rectangle glasses, thickly-framed in plain brown save the top, burgundy-brown hair styled in a professionally-curtained look, and wore a casual suit of a pink-washed white shirt, navy blue tie, a gray vest bringing out his slate-brown pants, and black shoes.

Though it would seem that the events regarding the technical chaos have left more of an aftermath than expected, as evident by the red Error screens on the student's duel disks and the classroom's holographic projector...

"So I know today we were going to discuss the quadratic equation, and I know you were all looking forward to that. But unfortunately, due to yesterday's system hiccup, our servers are offline. Extra credit for anyone who can find the source of that problem..."

Though most of the class held amused smiles on that last blurb, one boy would take that offer seriously and eagerly, they being a pale-complexioned young boy with bright blue hair styled in a bowl-cut, pear green eyes and wearing the first-year school uniform with his shirt tucked in.

"Uh, Mister Kay? I can take this one!"

He starts his way to the front, despite the teacher quirking,

"You know, I was being sarcastic, right, Caswell?"

Nevertheless, he allows his student, identified as Caswell, to present his findings.

"Ahem, okay: Pay attention, simpletons, 'cause some of this might go over your heads. Yesterday's incident was a result of a virus placed in the city's grid computer by a hacker. But, in the end, by pinging several results-"

"Uh, if I could stop you right there, Cas?"

The boy stops mid-sentence with wide eyes at the interruption, conveyed by noneother than Athena, who stood up with a partially-apologetic but more so casual smirk on her face.

"It's not that you aren't doin' a bang-up job up there, but starting your speech off by using words to make yourself sound like a big-shot genius and the rest of us like elementary kids isn't a good way to get your point across. If anything, it makes you sound arrogant or you're talking through your hat."

Everyone in the room gasps, and the girl with long, black hair tipped copper-red shrugs and says,

"Hey, I'm just bein' honest. Anyway, if you really do know something about the wackiness from yesterday, maybe you should save your explanation for the police and not for school."

With that, Athena sat back down, and the class broke into a series of murmuring, while Mister Kay tried to move everyone onto a different course of action.

"Ahem. Um, anyway, today will be a free period until we can get our systems working properly..."

Meanwhile, Caswell was quietly fuming over being interrupted by the girl with red eyes.

"That uppity, upstart stole my spotlight...That does it!"

He then points a finger in Athena's direction and calls out,

"Athena! I challenge you to a duel, here and now!"

Surprised at first, she accepts the challenge wholeheartedly:

"Uh...(Smirk) Alright, if that's what you want. Mister Kay did say this was a free period after all. Get ready for the duel of your life!"

She then breaks out her duel disk and gazer at the ready for the battle to begin:

"Duel Disk: Go! Duel Gazer: Set! Duel Interface: Show me the impossible!"

Augmented Reality Vision Link Established.

"(Both duelists) Let's do this!"

Tiffany calls from her place beside Jamal at one side of the classroom (the middle left open for the dueling field),

"Show 'im what you're made of, Addy!" Caswell in turn inquires,

"What are you made of, Athena? I heard you beat Shark the other day."

"Then you heard right, 'cause he and I did go toe-to-toe in a duel, and I came up on top."

"I don't believe you. Everyone knows that Shark is the best duelist around, while your reputation is being a borderline roughneck."

Athena frowns slightly at the description, but chooses not to dignify a response, while Jamal and Tiffany back her up on yesterday's events.

"Believe it, Cas, 'cause it's true!"

"The two of us were there and witnessed the duel from start to finish."

A small grin curls onto Caswell's face:

"Then according to the laws of transcendent property..." Athena raises a brow:

"Transcendent Property? Translation please."

"Beating you would mean in the end, I'm the best duelist in school."

She found his statement rather flawed:

"Is that really the kind of logic you follow in life, Caswell? If so, you're destined for alot of disappointment in the future...But anyway, today's not gonna provide a new win for you as long as I have-huh?"

But when she looks back into her extra deck holder to pull out her Number Card, she found it wasn't there!

What the-Where did Utopia go?!

Unless...did Astral take it when he disappeared? Ugh, that little-

"What's the matter? Are you feeling the pressure already?"

Athena focuses back to reality at Caswell's address and first draw, before retorting back,

"Tch, as if! I thrive under pressure!"

Okay, so I have to duel without it. Big whoop. What's the worst that could happen?

...Ten minutes later:

I've really gotta stop asking those kind of questions beforehand...

"I summon, Crashbug X! Now zap her Life Points!"

(Bzzzt)

"Ah!"

(Wham, slide...)

Now, we won't say it was one of her most poorly-executed duels, but we will say that for her opponent, it was one of his quicker wins, using very few monsters to combat against hers and beat her with 3000 Life Points still in his gauge.

Jamal hangs his head with a groan of exasperation while muttering,

"Well that was a bit painful to watch," and Tiffany adds with a chagrin,

"Ah-heh, actually, I can name a few other duels that were worse than this one..."

Caswell felt pretty smug in his victory:

"Ha! I bested you in only a few short moves! You never had a chance! In the end, there was no way an intellectually-challenged amateur could defeat a brilliant strategist such as myself!"

Lifting herself to a stand, Athena shoots an icy glare at him and barks,

"(Growl) I dare you to say that again, smart-mouth!"

"There's no need to boast, Caswell."

"Huh?" "Uh?"

Luckily, before another kind of fight could break loose, Mister Kay steps in to remedy the colliding emotions with a calm tone and a wise smile.

"Dueling is actually alot like Life: Sometimes things go as planned. Other times, we make mistakes and get frustrated. When that happens..."

He borrows Caswell's Crashbug card to use as a visual aid:

"You just have to feed your frustrations to Crashbug. You guys know the legend behind Crashbug, right? Crashbug's this little electrical spirit, and he likes zap things called 'bugs'. Bugs are the those little feelings that get in our way: Frustration, Doubt. Give those feelings to Crashbug and you'll succeed."

While most of the class felt moved by their teacher's little speech, Caswell was skeptical of the legend's merit.

"That's ridiculous, Mister Kay! Crashbug doesn't actually exist!"

"(Smile) Of course it exists. I've seen it."

That left the boy with the bowl-cut gaping, while the other male turns his eyes to Athena.

"So what if you lost, Athena? The trick is to not let the frustrations get to you. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. Keep challenging yourself."

A small smile of gratitude forms on the girl with red orbs as she replies softly,

"...You have no idea how much it means to me to hear those words, sir. I know very few adults who have such beliefs, and I feel like I'm still in...recovery from a particularly low point in my life. To hear someone older and wiser believe in using the bad to etch out a path to the good...it gives me hope for leaving my mark."

Mister Kay's eyes widen slightly in surprise, as do numerous other eyes in the class, for this was the first in a long while that Athena's ever been this bluntly honest about herself to the outside world...

Time Skip

"Gotta say, Math Class was actually pretty enlightening...for once."

We catch up with Athena and Tiffany after school, wandering down one street with plans to get fruit smoothies from a local stand, while Jamal left on his scooter for home due to a massive chore-list he was given by his parents. Along the way, the girls were conversing about their day, specifically, their math teacher and the Crashbug Legend.

"Well, as my mom always says, you can learn all kinds of things in any environment."

"Right she is, too: What Mister Kay said really made my day. He's definitely one of the cooler teachers we have at the Academy, always comin' in prepared with lessons that make sense and won't hesitate to lend a hand when one of us is stumped...Unlike Missus Sena who teaches English; I swear that woman's gonna be replaced by a LitterBot before we understand what she's talking about."

Tiffany laughs slightly before chiding,

"Come on, Addy, she's not that bad. She just needs to work on organizing better...By the way, was the bluntness against Caswell really necessary?"

"Oh here we go again. Look, Tiff, you of all people should know my policy about arrogance and showing off: It's okay to be a bit cocky, but not so much that it belittles others. That's a good way to make enemies."

(Beep, beep)

It was on that note that they were interrupted by the sound of a car horn, belonging to an older model, small-sized red truck with two white stripes running down the hood. It swerves slightly in its next sharp turn around the corner the girls were walking to, stopping in front of them near the sidewalk. The window rolls down, revealing the face of Athena's older brother, Terry, now wearing a white, v-neck t-shirt under a dark grey, zipper-down sweatshirt jacket, black jeans and dark blue sneakers.

"Yo, lil sis."

"Terry? What's up?"

"You and Tiffany interested in riding for a while?"

Though somewhat suspicious of the offer, Athena and Tiffany nod, and hop into the backseats of the truck...Soon, all three were rolling down the highway as Terry reveals some new information he learned regrading the virus crisis.

"So according to Yoko, it turns out yesterday's incident only spread to a few remote servers...Which was a good thing too."

"Why's that?"

"Because if it went any further than that, all of Heartland would've gone back to the dark ages."

Athena was taken aback by such a description:

"(Low whistle) That bad, huh?"

"That bad and beyond. Nevermind what you two, Jamal, Adam and Gramps experienced for a second: Bank data would be wiped out, leaving people worse than broke, and Hospitals would've lost medical records, not to mention the ability to help the sick and injured. It'd be the new definition of disaster!"

While the copper red-tipped girl sucks some air between her teeth, Tiffany remarks to herself with a worry brow,

"I don't even wanna think about mom's possible reaction if that happened. She comes home exhausted enough from her shifts at the hospital...Did Yoko say anything about who the culprit was?"

"That's what we spent last night combing about for on her laptop. It took us 'til midnight, but we narrowed down the virus's starting point to be a server from your school library."

"What?!" "Get out...!"

Come another ten minutes later, the truck would be parked in front of the Heartland Dueling Academy, with the girls standing close to the entrance steps listening to Terry's next instructions.

"Okay. So I gotta head back to Yoko's and pick her up to do some more recon at home. Meanwhile, I want you two to stakeout the library incase our mystery hacker comes creepin' 'round that area again."

"A stakeout? So cool!"

But while Tiffany felt excited about the new objective, Athena wasn't as amused about being pulled into another brother-sister favour.

"You're seriously draggin' me into another one of your ridiculous jobs? (Knowing smirk) Are things getting that rocky between you and Yoko again that you're becoming desperate for a quick fixer? I think it might be time to part as friends once and for all, bro."

"Watch it, half-pint. Not that it's any of your business, but me and Yoko are doin' fine. You just stay focused on your objective for this afternoon, and I'll be focused on mine."

"Which iiiis?"

Terry punches a fist into his other open palm and exclaims,

"What do ya think? Trackin' that prankster down and making him pay for forcing me to delay my big project!"

With that, the grey-eyed redhead takes off in a screech of four wheels...Half an hour later, we zoom inside the large Academy library between the bookcases near the computer labs where Athena and Tiffany were prowling at for any signs of the anonymous hacker.

"(Whisper) So, what exactly was Terry's latest mechanical project this time?"

"(Whisper) Ice cream."

"(Hiss) Be serious...!"

"(Hiss) I am! Some new confections company called him a week ago and asked if he could join on a group project to create a new freezer that uses liquid nitrogen as a cold agent."

While Tiffany was all in with the sleuthing, Athena wasn't really interested, sitting down with her arms crossed as opposed to the former who was peering behind the shelf corner on her feet.

"Addy, we're suppose to keep watch."

"I highly doubt the hacker's gonna be stupid enough to do the same thing twice from the same location. That's just dumb!"

Small Time Skip

And come close to sunset, we'd find both girls sitting on the floor behind the bookshelf, having seen nothing to report to Terry regarding the hacker. As Athena yawns behind her hand, Tiffany notes the time on her duel gazer:

"Shoot, 5:41. We're heading into closing time..."

"See, what'd I tell you? Not every criminal is lame enough to repeat their moves. That's an easy way to leave a trail of candy wrappers for the cops, (smirk) which as a daughter of one, I would think you'd know."

Tiffany shoots Athena a half-smirk of irritation, but then shushes her and points towards the computer desks when she spots something.

"(Whisper) Addy, over there!"

"Hm?"

The girl with red eyes peers over the head of the one with irises of blue, and spots a familiar face tiptoeing into view...

"(Mumble) Caswell?"

"(Whisper) Yeah, and he's acting stranger than usual..."

Athena starts to quietly steal her way over to where Caswell sat, much to her friend's hissed protest.

"Hey, Addy!"

Tiffany's attention then focuses back on the boy with the bowl-cut, as he pulls out a red USB Drive from his pocket.

Huh? Where'd he get that flash-drive from?

He plugs it into the port of the computer he was working on...and wound up launching a new wave of the Crashbug Virus, much to his surprise!

"Uah-aaah! But, I-I didn't mean to launch anything!"

(Grasp)

"Aah!"

"Caught red-handed, Cas! Now explain why you did it, or we can take you to the police and let them handle the interrogation!"

Caswell shakes Athena's hands off his shoulders and quickly heads onto the computer while insisting,

"Unhand me! I'm not behind this; I'm being used!"

Athena wasn't fully convinced he was merely a tool in the real mastermind's plans.

"You're seriously gonna try and lie your way out, even after I saw you plug that drive in?!...Uh, are you even listening; what are you doing?"

"I'm tracking the source of the root kit. If I can pinpoint the place where this machine was just accessed from, then we'll know where the criminal is and-Diuh! This is not good! Look, in the end, I found an encrypted data packet that led me to believe I could access a file on this computer that could tell me who the criminal is, but it turns out the file was some sort of detonator for a computer virus that's now...Wait! I'm onto something!"

After some feverish typing and hacking of his own, Caswell narrows down the last IP Address of the original Crashbug Virus launch.

"There's the location!"

...Tiffany looks over at Athena with a pointed, knowing expression, and the latter lets out a groan before saying to Caswell,

"Fine, you convinced me, smartypants!...So, guess we're heading out."

God, I'm not gonna get much sleep tonight, am I?

Once it was copied onto a map, the three decide to work together to find the real hacker and clear Caswell's accidental wrongdoing before anyone finds out...but not without letting Terry and Yoko know via Duel Gazer about the new development.

"What?!" "Your classmate triggered a countdown?!"

Athena blurbs back through her gazer to her brother's,

"We sent you the access stuff. See if you guys can at least slow it down! We're on our way to the sneak's hideout as we speak!"

Terry felt a bit nervous for his younger sibling's safety:

"But it could be dangerous!"

"No worries, bro, I'll be fine! Always have, always will!"

With that, she hangs up, leaving the redheaded male to run a hand through his locks while sighing into his other palm. Beside him at his room's desk was a young woman with shoulder-length, wavy bubblegum-pink hair, pale-complexion with freckling on her nose, bright green eyes and wearing an outfit consisting of a dark blue sleeveless dress that ran to her knees with a black dress vest overtop, and white, short-heeled pumps. She places a hand on Terry's shoulder with a reassuring smile:

"Don't worry, Ter. I doubt she and her friends won't be back okay...She's a tough girl, your sister."

"Yeah, I know...It's just been a little hard, watching her act so differently than she used to when she was a kid..."

It's like, I'm losing my sister, but I know that's not true...

She's just growing up at a pace no one expected.

Getting back to the girl in question, she, Tiffany and Caswell eventually found their way in another section of downtown, where a large, skinny hourglass-designed tower was going in the city's latest construction project.

"That tower under construction! The hacker should be in there!"

They sneak inside through a side entrance and start combing around for the room where the anonymous cyber criminal would be...

"You sure you didn't copy the directions wrong, Cas?"

"In the end, when have I ever wrote something wrong?"

"Guys, now's not the time for another deb-"

(Clank)

Before Tiffany could finish her sentence, the doorway the three entered through closes automatically on them...!

"...You finally put the pieces together. It took you alot longer than I thought it would."

They look up, and see sitting in a pillared chair much to Athena's shock,

"Mister Kay! But, why are-Wait...(Glare) No. Don't tell me you're-!"

His sardonic smile and closed-mouth chuckle gave her the answer she needed, but Caswell felt the need to announce it verbally.

"You get it, then? In the end, Mister Kay is the criminal mastermind behind the malicious virus!"

The room jolts to life, the screens displaying a timer for half an hour as said accused replies,

"That's one way of putting it."

"But, after all that you said...Mister Kay, how could you do this?!" He replies to Athena,

"Someone like you could never understand." Caswell says to him through gritted teeth,

"I have to say, sir, this is disappointing."

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, Caswell, especially since I'm so proud of you for following my clues. I wanted you all to be here when the virus went, well...viral."

"Are you saying you led us here on purpose?!"

Tossing aside his glasses, Mister Kay lets out a crazed laugh while tugging at his collar...which would expose the glowing mark reading 34 to Athena's eyes!

"A Number!"

Astral's POV

It has been roughly a day since I accidentally summoned myself inside Athena's key, and I found myself wandering about a strange new space, which housed a massive machine of similar material made up from a series of gears and other machine parts...

"Observation Number Four: This world, like Athena, is a complex machine...but not as callous. It is complicated in design, like a, puzzle..."

Just as I made such a note, I felt something happening outside this realm, also indicated by a red flash from one of the gears.

"Uh! What is that? It feels like a Number..."

...Perhaps Athena has found another human with one.

I materialize out of the pendant just as she mutters while looking up at an unknown man,

"Damn, this isn't good at all..."

"That human bears the mark of a Number."

"Guh! You again?! Wait a second...don't tell me you were, inside my pendant this whole time!"

I was a bit surprised of her correct guess, but answered accordingly:

"Yes, I was."

"Uuuh...(Shakes head) Nope, not the time; not even gonna ask. I've got a crisis to deal with, anyway."

Athena then focuses on the man up high:

"Mister Kay, this has to be some sort of mistake: You can't seriously be someone who enjoys doing something this crazy!"

"This is my personal challenge to myself. (Chair lowers) Like you, always trying to leave your mark on the world."

"You and I have very different definitions then: I want to lay down a mark that'll do good for the world, not one regarded for causing harm and chaos!"

I could see that this conversation would merely continue on back and forth, so I decided to provide another route to reason.

"Athena, you must Duel this man."

"(Turn) Huh? Duel him?"

"One of the Numbers has consumed his spirit. The only way to reason with him, is to break the Number's hold."

She looks at me incredulously, but then nods in a serious manner and makes the call towards the man.

"I challenge you to a Duel! If I win and you lose, you have to shut the virus down!"

"You want to Duel me?! Well I am more than happy to agree to your conditions, Athena, but but why do you think you can defeat me? Well?"

"Because tonight's a new night to make history! Let's get it on! Duel Disk: Go! Duel Gazer: Spring to life!"

Duel Interface: Set. Augmented Reality Vision Link Established.

"(Both duelists) Let's Duel!"

Athena's companion, Tiffany, seemed positive for her victory, while the boy joining them this evening was rather nervous.

"You can do it, Addy!"

"Athena has to win, otherwise everyone will think I'm some kind of criminal...!"

Criminal?...Just what exactly did I miss while I was inside the pendant?

I snap out of my thoughts come the man's first draw:

"I believe the first move is mine. I Draw! I place a monster face-down in Defense Mode!"

Athena curses to herself at the play:

"Damn...There's no way to know for sure if attacking or not attacking's a good idea..."

"Why not take the risk and find out?"

"Hmph, if you insist, Mister Kay. Fine; I Draw! First, I summon Gagaga Magician in Attack Mode!"

The magician shows himself to the field, and Athena takes a moment to second guess.

"Now let's see...Should I...yeah, you know what? Let's give it a shot! Gagaga Magician: Attack Mister Kay!"

Though the odds are technically fifty-fifty...that might not have been the best move.

And right I was:

"Crashbug X: Show yourself!"

The opponent's monster appears face-up, and is shown to have 2000 Defense Points, 500 higher than Gagaga Magician. In that event, while neither monster was destroyed, Crashbug would be the victor, and Athena would take 500 points of damage.

(Bzzzt)

"Rgh! Crud, so much for that..."

Tiffany was confused by the actions at first, until the boy beside her explained the rules regarding the scenario just witnessed.
Just as he finishes, the man makes his second move:

"It's my turn now: I Draw! First I summon, Crashbug Y!"

His next monster was summoned in Attack Mode, Level Three and with 1400 Attack Points contrasting 1600 Defense Points.

"And with that, I activate the Crashbug Road Spell Card from my hand. Now, we each choose a Level Four or below monster on our fields, then we each summon a monster from our hands that has the same level as the monster we chose. I choose, Crashbug Z!"

Yet another Crashbug monster is summoned to the field, Level Three but with 0 Attack Points.
It would then be Athena's turn to summon a new monster:

"Okay, seeing that Gagaga's the only monster I can use in terms of the spell, I need another monster that's Level Four...Aha! Perfect: Gogogo Golem's comin' next!"

"I would highly advise summoning that Golem in Defense Mode, since it has an ability that prevents it from being destroyed in battle."

Despite how right I was, Athena was continuing to be stubborn in following my advice.

"(Growl) If I wanted to listen to a being imitating a ghost, I'd ask Ben Tennyson for help!...Besides, sometimes Offense works as a good Defense."

(Note: Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network Studios claim ownership and rights over all references to Ben 10.)

That's assuming one knows how to use such a strategy properly...

"I summon Gogogo Golem in Attack Mode! Don't think he'll be goin' down easy either with those 1800 Attack Points!"

"I'm afraid this is what we call a teachable moment, Athena."

"What?"

"You've set me up for a perfect victory! I overlay Crashbug X, Y and Z! With these three monsters, I build the Overlay Network!"

I mutter,

"Here comes the Number," while Athena notes,

"An XYZ Summon with three monsters..." The man finishes the summoning while jeering,

"That's right! Prepare to meet your defeat! Here comes Number 34: Terrorbyte!"

Level Three with 0 Attack Points but 2900 Defense Points, it was a smart move to summon it in Defense Mode...My ears then catch the description the boy beside Tiffany makes in terms of the Number's appearance.

"It appears to be a data-chip capable of taking the form of a member of the rinoceronte family! But, what's the significance of the number?"

I focus back on Athena as she then says,

"Wait...I wonder..."

She reaches into her extra deck and was surprised to find,

"Auh! Utopia and Leviathan are here? But, they weren't before...Unless...maybe it's because, (turns to myself) you're back."

Hm, interesting: It is only when I am present in this world, that the Number Cards are available to her...

We both focus back up front as our opponent continues on with his turn:

"I activate Terrorbyte's special ability! Like a denominator absorbs a numerator in a perfect fractional ratio, by using one Overlay Unit, I can take control of one of your monsters!"

The monster he chose, was Gogogo Golem!

"Your Gogogo Golem is mine!"

"Auh! Not cool, sir!"

"Now, Gogogo Golem: Attack Athena!"

One punch is all it takes to eliminate Gagaga Magician, along with another 300 points from Athena's Life Gauge.

"Dammit!...Now what?"

A good question.

Terry's POV

While my little sister and her friends were busy tracking the hacker's whereabouts, Yoko and I tag-teamed on my computer to crack the access codes and counter-hack our way into the virus...

"Ha! Finally!"

"We cracked through the viral firewall! Now we just need to find the deactivation code..."

(Ping)

"Hm?"

Unfortunately, getting inside was only half the battle...

"Looks like we've got a labyrinth to solve first. Dang, I hate labyrinths!"

"And the clock's still runnin'...We better get started!"

Let's hope two minds can best a cyber one...

No POV

As Terry and Yoko begin their next part in the hunt for the virus shutdown, we turn back to the duel in the tower as Mister Kay decides to belittle Athena even further.

"You'll never defeat me, Athena. Your dueling is too imperfect."

"So what? My mom always said that it's the flaws that make us who we are, not acting like do-no-wrong robots."

"Perfection is everything. I teach Math because it's the pursuit of absolute perfection! The only reason your Mother said that is so you wouldn't feel like a failure."

Athena felt a slight ache of pressure in her chest from those words, and formed a grim, depressed smile while muttering with a hand over her torso,

"It's always the grownups who don't know how to skip a beat...Still, to hear something like that from a teacher, a person who's suppose to encourage growth of the body and mind...kind-a hurts."

Astral hovers closer to her and asks,

"Tell me where it hurts."

"...It hurts, in my heart."

"Observation Number Five: Words can hurt a human's heart...I will remember that."

Athena takes a deep breath in and out, and forms a determined frown while saying more strongly,

"I can't allow his, or any other negative words get to me. I need to try and block it out, stay brave. (Mumble) Otherwise all I've worked passed...will have been for naught..."

"...Um, Addy?"

She turns to Caswell's direction, as he suddenly breaks into a random explanation about his signature phrase.

"You know how I'm always saying 'In the end'? Well, it's interesting, because the phrase 'In the end' is actually abut starting conditions. Something that is so in the end, was that way from the beginning. It was inevitable..."

Tiffany facepalms with a sigh just as Athena interrupts Caswell with an exasperated yet slightly wry smirk.

"This, isn't really a good time for your long-winded lectures, Cas! Why are you choosing now of all times, anyway?"

Mister Kay provides his own answer:

"Caswell is simply trying to explain that in the end, you're going to lose this duel, and I'm going to infect the entire city's control system, and that's been the case since the very beginning!"