"Serena…"
Maria gently ran a hand across the stasis chamber, where her sister slept undisturbed. She had not aged a day since the day she was put into the coma.
Maria pulled out the locket again, opening it to see Serena's smiling face, full of life.
"I promise… you will wake up one day. This I swear." Maria said.
She pulled out the cards in her deck, looking at the Blue-Eyes White Dragons. She could hear the sorrowful cries from them as they were in Serena's presence.
"I'm sure you'd rather be with her, right?" Maria said. "I'm sorry."
She was interrupted when she heard the door open behind her. She turned expecting either Nastassja, or perhaps Kirika and Shirabe.
But instead, a certain doctor walked in, fixing his glasses.
"We've got a bit to talk about." Dr. Ver said. "Care to join us?"
Sector Two had regrouped at their HQ, having gathered at the bridge. Tsubasa was the only one absent from the room, though she was tuning in from the medbay via a video call.
"Tsubasa, how are you feeling?" Genjuro asked.
"I'm doing fine, Uncle." Tsubasa said. "I thankfully only have a few bruised ribs and a minor head concussion. I should be back on my feet in a few days, if not tomorrow."
"Good." Genjuro said, before turning to the other four girls in the room. "Then we can start the meeting. Because we have quite a bit to unpack today."
"What's there to unpack?" Chris asked.
"Soon after you two left the facility, we received this footage." Genjuro said, as Fujitaka and Tomosato pulled it up onto the screen.
"Hey, isn't that the facility we dropped off Solomon's Duel Disk at?" Hibiki asked.
Genjuro nodded. "But look at what happens next."
The seemingly peaceful facility was suddenly ravaged by explosions, as several monsters rose out of the destruction, smashing through walls and firing blasts. Miku narrowed her eyes, noticing the designs that they had.
"Wait…" Miku recognized those monsters. "Those are Elemental HEROs!"
Genjuro nodded. "We had a few agents check out the location afterwards, finding out that Solomon's Duel Disk is missing. Our hope was that it was possibly crushed under the rubble, but the likelihood of that is very low."
"So now Solomon's Duel Disk is out there too. Shit." Chris cursed. "Is there any good news?"
"We've learned that the group we're facing is the FIS, or "Federal Institutes of Sacred Cards."" Ogawa explained.
"I thought they called themselves Finé." Hibiki said. "You know, like…"
"Finé was responsible for their formation." Genjuro explained. "I had Fujitaka and Tomosato check the files, and it turns out a past reincarnation worked as one of the founders."
"Knew that bitch had something to do with it." Chris spat.
"Are they card thieves or something?" Kanade asked. "Cause there's no way in hell that they'd get the Blue-Eyes White Dragons."
"No. FIS having the Blue-Eyes White Dragons are completely legal." Genjuro frowned.
"What?!" The girls all yelled.
"FIS was a subsidiary branch of Kaibacorp, dedicated to researching the potential within them." Genjuro said. "But after some sort of disagreement, they broke off with the company and became independent… taking several cards with them."
"But how?" Miku asked. "I thought Seto Kaiba wrote it into his will that no one should ever be able to use the Blue-Eyes White Dragons aside from him."
"Oh right." Chris said, rolling her eyes. "I remember reading about how the guy had an ego the size of the Moon."
"You're thinking too small." Kanade said. "I think it was probably the size of a planet."
"The deal that was made with the FIS happened some time before Seto Kaiba had passed away, soon after he had retired from professional dueling. He had allowed FIS to use his deck for their experiments, so anyone that is a member of FIS are legally allowed to use his cards, including all three Blue-Eyes White Dragons." Ogawa explained.
"So they stole the cards, but in a legal way." Chris grumbled. "Great."
"They were powerful foes." Tsubasa said.
"A few of you have dueled their members." Genjuro said. "What can you analyze?"
"Maria uses a Blue-Eyes deck, with several cards that wouldn't be odd to see in Seto Kaiba's arsenal." Tsubasa said. "However, the ace of her deck seems to be the unique combination of the Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon; the Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon."
Chris scoffed. "The dummy and I took the time to read the thing's effects. Destruction immunity, targeting immunity, non-targeting monster destruction that deals burn damage up to twice per turn, and an omni-negate that boosts its attack by 1000. That thing is a nasty monster."
Kanade looked deep in thought, almost as if trying to strategize a way to get around it.
"As for the other two, Kirika and Shirabe." Miku said. "Kirika uses a spellcaster deck based around the Dark Magician, while Shirabe uses a Magnet Warrior deck."
"Kirika's deck is tough, but she… doesn't seem like a duelist that thinks through all of her moves." Kanade rather bluntly stated.
"Didn't she play around your strategy pretty well though?" Miku recalled.
"Shush." Kanade said, a little embarrassed. "Shirabe seems to be the smarter of the two, but the Magnet Warriors are pretty outclassed by most modern archetypes."
"But despite how much their decks clash, they work together perfectly in sync." Miku said. "The two excel in tag-team dueling."
"Were they difficult opponents?" Tsubasa asked.
"Yeah." Kanade admitted. "I'd probably be in a pickle if Miku wasn't there."
Miku blushed a bit at being praised by someone she looked up to. "It wasn't all me. But there's a more pressing matter at hand."
"What?" Hibiki asked.
"Kirika… she had The Eye of Timaeus." Miku said.
"WHAT?!" Everyone (except Kanade) nearly shouted.
"One of the three Legendary Dragons of Atlantis?" Tsubasa said in shock. "But how? And why?"
"I checked the database, but no one has used that card since Yugi Muto several decades ago." Fujitaka said.
"It was said that the card, as well as The Fang of Critias and The Claw of Hermos wielded by Seto Kaiba and Katsuya Jonouchi, had disappeared after they took down the Doma organization." Tomosato added.
"So Kirika has a Legendary Dragon with her, but he was a figure of justice." Hibiki said. "What does that mean…?"
"I was wondering that as well." Miku said.
"Doesn't matter." Kanade said dismissively. "Dragon or no dragon, we'll take her down."
"Wait, there was another thing too." Miku remembered. "Kirika seemed to be able to do… things. Without the help of her Duel Monsters."
"Oh yeah!" Kanade snapped her fingers. "She could do stuff like tear up walls and float, all without touching a thing."
"What on Earth…?" Tsubasa said, confused.
"I remember the floating thing." Hibiki recalled.
"Her name was Kirika Akatsuki, correct?" Ogawa asked. "I'll try doing some digging to see what I can find."
"But anyways, what's our next move?" Chris asked.
"We'll keep an eye out for any of their next actions and inform you all when it happens." Genjuro said. "I recommend you all rest up, but keep ready at any moment."
"So same old, same old." Kanade said, turning to leave. "I'll be training if you need me."
"Kanade-san, do you want to come with us-?" Hibiki tried asking, before the older girl waved her off.
"Give her some space." Tsubasa suggested. "Kanade just needs to blow off a bit of steam."
The others just watched on in concern.
"So what's the issue?" Maria asked, walking into the main room with Ver, where Nastassja was waiting with Kirika and Shirabe.
"Well, you can see for yourself." Nastassja said, as she pressed a button.
The screen lit up, showing some sort of gray monster, jumping about the room and smashed into walls.
"The Nephilim is growing rather unstable." Ver said, arms crossed. "I tried keeping it tame and feeding it cards, but it's no longer possible to keep calm."
"What do we do, dess?" Kirika asked.
"We need the Nephilim to save the world." Shirabe added.
"Well, we wouldn't have, if not for Serena falling into the coma-"
Maria grabbed Ver by the throat and slammed him into the wall.
"If you even suggest doing anything to her…"
"Wasn't planning on it." Ver said, raising his arms and staying calm as Maria slowly let go. "But as I was saying, we'll need its power if we want to stop the coming storm. But we need to move it now."
"How are we going to do that, with everyone searching for us, dess?" Kirika asked.
"I can sedate the Nephilim, but we'll have to move fast." Ver said. "Perhaps a few diversions?"
"That we can do." Shirabe said.
"We need to move Serena first." Maria said.
"I'll make sure we do that first." Nastassja promised. "With that, are there no other issues?"
Everyone shook their head.
"Then let us get to planning." Nastassja said. "We'll need to be as careful as possible as we move the new host of the Light of Destruction."
"May I offer a suggestion?" Ver asked. "There is a way we can easily put our foes into disarray…"
"So you guys come here… all the time?" Chris asked Miku.
They were standing in a Duel Monsters card store. Hibiki was zipping around the displays, looking at the cards available. Miku had stayed back a bit to explain things to Chris.
"Well, this is where we normally go to get new cards." Miku said. "But sometimes we just come here to relax. It's a very calming environment."
"It also looks like you come here to just lose money." Chris snarked.
Hibiki was sinking yen coins into the card randomizer, as it kept giving her random junk cards.
"It is fun to do this though." Miku admitted. "Even if we don't get the best ones."
"Maybe so." Chris said. "Hey… do you think Kanade's gonna be alright?"
Miku frowned. They had checked in on Kanade before leaving, and saw the girl was rigorously training against the AI opponent. She was so into her training that she didn't even notice them.
"I don't know."
"She's acting a lot like…" Chris trailed off, realizing who she was about to say.
Miku's eyes widened in realization. "Yeah, she is acting like Tsubasa-san. I guess that's why they're partners."
"That doesn't seem like a Kanade thing though." Chris admitted. "Guess her partner getting injured really messed things up."
"I only hope that she'll be able to come around…" Miku said quietly.
"Hey, Chris-chan!" Hibiki called, running over.
"Can you address me properly?" Chris said, a little annoyed.
"I managed to grab this! I think you can use this one!" Hibiki said, handing Chris a card.
"Photon Sanctuary?" Chris said, surprised. "Huh, this was a card I didn't have."
"With this, you can summon Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon even faster!" Hibiki pointed out.
"Yeah." Chris smiled. "Thanks, dummy."
"Can you stop calling me that?" Hibiki asked.
"Only if you start calling me "Chris-senpai."" Chris said.
"Okay, you got it, Chris-chan!" Hibiki grinned.
"You're doing this on purpose now, I swear..." Chris grumbled.
"It's Hibiki." Miku reminded Chris. "Unless it's dueling, I don't think she's capable of misnaming you on purpose."
"Go, Raidraptor - Rise Falcon! Brave Claw Revolution!"
Rise Falcon delivered a soaring strike that shredded the AI's last monster, dropping the life points down to zero. Kanade was left breathing heavily as she checked her life point counter.
"7000 life points left." Kanade said, wiping her brow. "I can do better than that. Alright, match number 20, here we-"
The dueling computer suddenly shut down.
"Huh?! What gives?! I thought we did maintenance on this thing last week!" Kanade shouted.
"It's working fine. I just turned it off."
Kanade turned to see Genjuro walk into the room.
"What the hell, Bossman?" Kanade asked. "I was still dueling!"
"You've been here for several hours already." Genjuro said. "The others are concerned for you."
"I'm fine, thank you very much." Kanade said. "Turn the computer back on."
"No." Genjuro said. "You need some rest."
"I can't just lie down and rest when Tsubasa's not in dueling condition." Kanade reasoned. "Someone has to be there for the other three. They haven't been in the field as much as Tsubasa and I. And since Maria managed to defeat Tsubasa, I need to up my game to make sure I don't get taken down too."
"So this is what it's about." Genjuro sighed.
"Yeah, so turn the computer back on!" Kanade said.
"No."
"I said, turn it back on!" Kanade shouted, her eyes turning black.
Genjuro kept his arms crossed, frowning at Kanade.
"I'll duel you if I have to, old man!" Kanade yelled, getting her Duel Disk ready. "I can beat you now-!"
All the fight left Kanade as Genjuro pulled her into a hug. Her harsh expression faded, and her eyes turned back to normal.
"Kanade, I'm not asking you to just give up and admit defeat." Genjuro reassured her. "I just want you to calm down. Tsubasa is fine, and the other three are strong duelists. If you want to protect them, you need to keep yourself in the best shape possible."
Kanade was silent as she contemplated his words. He pulled away from her, before giving her a soda, still cool.
"Take your time to relax. Ogawa, Fujitaka, and Tomosato are all at work trying to track FIS down." Genjuro said. "We'll let you know as soon as we can. I promise."
With one more pat on the shoulder, he left the room. She looked down at the soda. It was her favorite flavor.
"That old geezer…" Kanade said softly with a smile.
The hug was just like the first one he had ever given her, the one he gave when her family was lost to the shadows.
"Well, I might as well actually visit Tsubasa..." Kanade said absentmindedly.
Maria was looking out the window at the night sky. She was deep in thought, wondering what would happen tonight. She looked up at seeing Nastassja wheel into the room.
"Are you ready?" Nastassja asked.
Maria nodded. "Kirika, Shirabe and the Doctor are all in position. How's Serena?"
"Her condition is stable." Nastassja informed Maria. "I've checked it three times, just to make sure completely."
Maria looked down, clutching her pendant. Nastassja slowly moved forward, putting a hand on Maria's. "We will wake Serena up, Maria. I promise."
"Thanks, Mom."
Leaning against a wall in the darkness, Dr. Ver smirked as he fixed his glasses. "It's time to show these brats what a real hero can do."
Elsewhere, Kirika and Shirabe were together.
"This is gonna suck, we have to split up, dess…" Kirika mumbled.
"But it's the best chance we'll have." Shirabe said. "After that, we'll be able to complete our goal without much issue."
"I guess so." Kirika said. "Good luck, Shirabe."
"You too. Stay safe, Kiri-chan."
The Duelists of Sector Two were standing outside the "lair" of the FIS. One Chris couldn't help but comment on.
"So this is the place, huh?" Chris asked. "Abandoned hospital? Seems a bit on the nose, to be honest."
"It makes sense." Miku said. "And it was fairly straightforward to track it down, since Ogawa-san picked up on the shipments being made here."
"Yeah, it would be weird for an abandoned hospital to get food and card packs." Hibiki laughed, rubbing the back of her head. "Unless it were Duel Ghouls."
"D-Don't be stupid. D-D-Duel Ghouls don't exist, right?" Chris asked, a slight shake in her voice.
Kanade really wanted to make fun of Chris right now, but had to hold herself back. Damn it. It sucks having to be the serious one when Tsubasa isn't here.
"Alright, here's the plan." Kanade said. "We'll split into teams of two. Chris and I will check around the East wing of the hospital, while Hibiki and Miku handle the West wing. We duel the FIS, win, then arrest them."
"And try to keep out for any tricks in case they do lose." Chris added. "If they're sore losers, they might have a backup plan."
"Oh, like you did back when you were our enemy?" Hibiki remembered, as Chris had used a card to create a flash of light to hide her escape.
"Shut your trap." Chris snapped.
"Just keep a cool head, alright?" Kanade said. "Keep that in mind, and we'll be able to handle this easily."
"With all that out of the way, let's go." Miku said. "We'll avenge Tsubasa-san's loss tonight!"
"Right!"
"Okay, move out!" Kanade ordered.
The Sector Two duelists split into their two groups. The dueling spirit was going to skyrocket tonight.
A/N: Been a while for this one. I've been working a lot on my other fics in the meantime.
So no duel this time around, more of an exposition and loredump chapter. Wanted to give my duel writer a bit of a break this time.
Next time, the scuffle against FIS begins. What duels will happen, and who will win?
Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.
