Chaotic Hangouts

Chapter 7: Takius, Keough, and Iruga: Alive in Link VRAINS?!

Date: December 2nd, 2022

A teardrop falling onto the page of a book. A poisonous arrow that failed to hit it's target in an ancient temple. The sweet smell of fresh cinnamon bread. The clinks and clanks of a sword against wood as a knight swings their sword while training. A fall into the depths of Glast Heim. A strange portal opening up in the middle of a Data Storm during a rematch between Go and Playmaker. The love story of a swordsman turned crusader and an acolyte turned priestess. A drive for taking technology to a new height. The willingness to give the violence hungry crowd what they want. To dueltain to make people smile. To duel for revenge against the Hanoi. A loss of innocence and a gain of deep resentment towards society. A possession that devastated Ant Hell. The bugs clogging the Culvert sewers. A friend turned foe through so much pain and suffering. The twisting of someone who watched their best friend get killed thanks to a manipulative old creep. An adventurer tricked by the enemy to speed up a revival of a demon lord. People being turned into cards. The societal neglect of a young mii who went on to cast his face away. What do all of these have in common? For starters, they all have or will take place in existence but at different locations. Next, each is connected together somehow, stringing the lives of many on the same thread in the process. Several of these have had ripple effects that have altered so much. Their effects can be seen and felt among those who came together due to the Lost Incident, the Dark Lord's manipulations, or whatever else. In the ancient city of Glast Heim, an abandoned former capital of Rune-Midgarts that was left untouched for 500 years after so much suffering under the reign of a tyrant, something happened. Well, some things happened. But what we're focused on is what happened regarding the revival of the Dark Lord.

This was some time after the seal on the city of Glast Heim was lifted by Royal Exorcist Bonnie and Lord Knight Swiftdrawer and the final Sigil Assassin deactivated permanently. A great battle waged between the Dark Lord and his pawns against a sage, hunter, merchant, poring, assassin, crusader, and priestess. It was fierce. Several lives were lost and the survivors thought that this was the end of their friends Takius, Keough, and Iruga. They were forced to move on, knowing that they'd never see them again. Little did they know that they were going to see them again. But it was going to be under extremely complicated and unusual circumstances that would play out over time. And it would follow an attack by 2 Ignis in Prontera that failed. In Link VRAINS, things have mostly calmed down following Al's sacrifice, the defeat of the UMC employee who kept defeating duelists, and the return of the Ignis. The Knights Of Hanoi had everything under control. However, even they couldn't foresee the yelling about meaningless things and resurrections that were going to land on their figurative virtual doorsteps nor the trouble in another world at the same time. Sol Technologies had finally announced something never before seen in Link VRAINS, a fully fledged tournament. Many entered but only one could win. The duels got more intense by the duel as more and more players lost and were forced to watch where and how they landed. Finally, the final duel began. Soulburner, Blue Maiden, Revolver, and Spectre were on the sidelines, just watching the duel. Revolver and Spectre talked about some unidentified new users but decided to wait on investigating until the final duel was over. By some luck, it was down to Playmaker and Go. They fought amazingly. Goukis Vs Cyberses. A duel for the ages. A 2nd rematch of a lifetime.

Just when Playmaker reduces Go's life points to 0 after retrieving a new monster from the Data Storm called Chaos Firewall Xyz Dragon and using them to beat Go's best monster, something happened. In the middle of the data storm generated for the speed duel that just ended, a strange portal appeared out of nowhere. If one were to examine it, they would find it to have no code whatsoever and only magical energy. The souls of Keough, Iruga, and Takius should have passed on or been trapped in Glast Heim forever. Keough. A knight who was seemingly killed because Roan and Yufa wanted to come with Glast Heim with him and Iruga as the two had to investigate it for signs of the revival of the Dark Lord. Back then, Roan and Yufa were naive. Iruga should have never agreed to let them come after they begged to instead of going back to Prontera. Once in there, Roan and Yufa who were still a swordsman and acolyte respectively were terrified of all the monsters but the mission was going well until they tried to leave. Glast Heim is full of powerful and dangerous monsters that would kill the majority of adventurers who have ever lived in Midgard. As the party of 4 started to leave Glast Heim, the Abysmal Knight stood in their way. Think of them as a undead dark attribute knight on a undead horse colored black mostly. Keough had Iruga focus on getting Roan and Yufa out of there while he tried to fight the undead knight on horseback. As the gates of the city were closed, they watched as Keough was attacked and seemingly died. In reality, he was placed into a ritual circle all tied up, unable to move as his body burned with pain but wasn't harmed any further. The wound from the attack went all the way through his stomach area or so and well, the Dark Lord used its pain to get him to embrace hatred.

Soon enough, Keough accepted it and became Haze, his outfit even changed to become creepy. After that, he became an intelligent and despairing pawn of the Dark Lord who controlled the orcs at will, even killing a party of adventurers including a knight with ease using them. He would be instrumental in reviving the Dark Lord, possessing his sister Yufa, tricking a thief into awakening Osiris and his army of undead individuals in Morroc, helping disrupt the Bell Tower in Aldebaran, causing fright and destruction in Comodo, and more. Iruga is his best friend. They've known each other for most of their lives. They played together, they sparred together, and they advanced into their first and second jobs together. Later, they started bringing Roan and Yufa along with them. After Glast Heim, Roan and Yufa parted ways with Iruga who began wandering around. He would end up saving the falcon who is the companion of a hunter named Judia after she caused him to get seriously hurt. This was in the Labyrinth Forest, a dangerous and easy to get lost in forest around the Payon region. Later, he would save Judia herself after some bandits captured her and she refuse to become the bandit leader's wife so he tried to feed her to some hungry wolves. He rescued her in time and they began traveling together. Given that Iruga is quiet and not that emotional as an assassin typically is, it's wild to think he and Judia became a couple and had a baby though Iruga didn't live long enough to see his infant son, Iruga Jr. They got together and did procreating after they saved Roan, Yufa, Maya a merchant, Poi Poi, and Takius, a magician from spirits from the realm of Geffina Ruins locked away inside Geffen Tower in the middle of the city of magic, Geffen.

Iruga saved Roan and defeated a Doppleganger, a tricky lifeform that imitates whoever they're fighting down to the fighting skill and appearance of their prey. Judia helped the others defeat a Nightmare, a terrifying organism that can cast illusions of nightmares. It was the night before the battle against the Dark Lord and his surviving pawns that Judia and Iruga made out. The next morning, a complicated and painful battle began in Glast Heim after a possessed by a demon Yufa teleported them inside and separated them. This was just after Maya saved the others with Takius from being turned into stone after other monsters were vanquished in the Glast Heim Outskirts. Inside Glast Heim in a veil of night and darkness, Keough confronted and attacked Roan. He and Roan, now a crusader fought until Iruga intervened and encouraged him, Judia, and Maya to go on ahead. Due to this, he and Keough fought to the death with Iruga intent on saving his friend from not being himself. They were just about evenly matched and died at each other's hands with Keough's soul freed from the curse in his last moments. They passed on peacefully. Takius as you know now also died in Glast Heim. When she was a little girl, she was taken in by Zephyr, a powerful wizard. He taught her the ways of magic and they promised each other to find the ultimate truth together to supposedly save humanity. Zephyr put a blinder around her eyes that he claimed would be important for her. Her name was Catherine but he told her that she'd be Takius for now on.

When Takius was much older and stronger, a party of 3 jerks stole items from her as she was traveling alone, thinking they'd get away with it. But even with her blinder on, she tailed them for weeks using her sense of smell among other things. After weeks, she confronted them in Prontera the same day Roan and Yufa had come back after a long time to visit Keough's grave as he was still presumed to be dead. The two after Yufa did some shopping, saw the commotion with the confrontation in an alleyway around the center of town, by the fountain in the middle. Roan got Yufa to hide for him before she jumped in after some time to agree with and defend Takius who was reprimanding the 3: Anasan a rouge and sketchy woman, Tubby a thief at the time, and the other one, a blacksmith. Yufa got them almost into a fight and made Roan joined them. He acted like a whimp but luckily, the captain of the Prontera Cavalry, Herman showed up and caused the 3 hooligans to scram. After asking if they were okay, he departed and Takius took Roan and Yufa to a cafe and paid for their food there to thank them for helping out back there. There, they got to know each other but it was cut short when Anasan, seeking revenge on them for their stunt earlier, had her lackies find them. After that happened, she threw a magical item called a Dead Branch on the group, spawning in the Clock Keeper boss and she ran away with her lackies. Roan, Yufa, and Takius managed to by some miracle defeat the Clock Keeper even after Roan made some mistakes. Herman saw them again and complimented their efforts. Even the knights fled at the sight of the Clock Keeper. After that, they parted ways on good terms. Takius later joined them in expelling monsters from Geffen Tower along with Maya and became a permanent member of the party for several adventures.

The Morroc pyramid adventure to stop Osiris and his army of the undead, visit to Ant Hell in the Sograt Desert, trip to Alberta to investigate reports of monsters which was a false alarm, the trip to take care of what was happening in Aldebaran's Bell Tower, and of course, the trip to Payon where spirits of the long deceased kept being revived, dying, and attacking. But during the trip to Ant Hell, Takius was possessed and what would have been a peaceful trip got brutal. The huge ants of Ant Hell lived in a peaceful society led by Maya, not the merchant, the Ant Queen. Every so often, a ceremony takes place where Maya lays a special egg, the successor Ant Queen before she died. But Zephyr manipulated Takius in destroying that special egg. Now, all the ants were angry including the Maya and the party was forced to fight back. As a result, all the ants had to be kill and Ant Hell was destroyed. During the Morroc pyramid adventure, the party confronted Keough who was behind it. Takius and Maya worked together to force Osiris back into slumber but not before Keough called Takius "pawn of Zephyr". Zephyr ignored her for a while before replenishing her faith in him only to use it for his selfish ultimate truth. Let's talk about his backstory. He was a kind man who did experiments to try to help people. But one day, a experiment went wrong and destroyed everything he loved including his family. To make up for it, he went insane and started looking for the ultimate truth to help humanity. But then, the Dark Lord recruited him and it went bad from there.

Now, Zephyr was using the tortured souls to gain power and start destroying them over and over after Takius started refusing to once she started doubting him again. He almost killed everyone including her but Yufa came to their aid, having become a priestess abs started freeing the souls much better than she did before she left to become one and as the situation first began. Yufa managed to sway the one who was constantly reviving those souls with a bell to stop and promised to play with her. But Zephyr killed her, gained power from all the souls(his ultimate truth) before leaving, and Takius left to become a Sage. She returned to help in the battle in Comodo. In Glast Heim, she faced off against Zephyr and it was fierce. In the end, the Dark Lord revealed he was using Zephyr and so, he and Takius rekindled and died together. Her staff so happened to land between the Dark Lord and the party members who still lived in their showdown. It was helpful in stopping him. That's basically what you need to know about Takius, Iruga, and Keough. Now to tell the story of what happened in Link VRAINS much further.

The other end of the strange portal opened up above Glast Heim and sucked the three of them in with what remained of their mortal bodies. "Iruga, do you have any idea what's going on? Why are we back here?" "I do not, Keough. We have to be ready for anything." If you thought Boman in Link VRAINS or Unagami in Prime Empire were unbelievable enough, this might throw you in for a loop. *center screen wipe* Boman became one with Link VRAINS and sapped the energies of many players and kept people from logging pit as he created stronger and stronger data storms to draw more and more powerful Hydradrive monsters. Boman was created by the Light Ignis. Lightning to create something superior to the Ignis. Boman was defeated by Playmaker several times and wiped of his memory before coming back tougher every time. Eventually, he became so self aware that even Lightning couldn't control him. He absorbed Lightning and the other Ignis except Ai. And that's how he merged with Link VRAINS along with Mirror Link VRAINS. Playmaker defeated him with AI's help and peace returned for some time. Unagami is the manifestation of Milton Dyer of Ninjago's game Prime Empire, meant to be a classic side scroll adventure game. But Milton was forced to shut down the game and leave it incomplete. This was after Unagami let a friend of his named Scott into Prime Empire after asking: "Would you like to enter Prime Empire?". Scott didn't leave for 30 years. It took the ninja of Ninjago confronting the Mechanic and them going inside the game to calm Unagami and free Scott and everyone else who was trapped and turned into energy cubes once they died in Prime Empire.

Unagami finished the game himself and escaped into the real world with his Red Visor army thanks to the Mechanic using Zane the Nindroid as a power source for the real world portal. The cubes were used for Prime Empire's portal. But after some fighting and talking, Milton and Unagami made peace and all Prime Empire inhabitants stayed in Ninjago while the players were freed. The words "Into the VRAINS" flashed around the fallen 3, Iruga, Takius, and Keough. When they appeared out of the portal, all eyes turned from Playmaker and Go shaking hands after their duel finished to the portal and them coming out of it. A tense pause happens throughout the whole of Link VRAINS as word traveled fast. Iruga speaks: "What is this place?" "Iruga, I have no idea either. This is a strange world. We aren't in the afterlife or Midgard anymore." Takius replies: "My teacher never said there were other worlds besides Asgard, Geffina, and Alfheim. I've seen them, this isn't either of them. What's going on? We were at peace in the afterlife. Why are we here and where did that portal come from? It's magic was both familiar and unfamiliar somehow." Keough adds: "We all died in that battle. Our destinies are complete but we're here. What is the purpose of this?" Revolver gets on his duel board, having located the unknown new users and confirming them to be them. It seems that something or someone created the basics of a digital presence for each of them before they were even dragged in through the portal. He confronts them with the other Hanoi: Spectre, Faust, Biara, and Dr. Genome right behind him: "What do you mean you died? Who are you and where did that portal come from?" Spectre remarks: "Oh that's a new reason to come here into Link VRAINS. How interesting." "Not now, Spectre."

Playmaker comes over too and is followed by the other: "He's right. There are 3 reasons as to why we need to keep our guard up. One, they showed up out of some mysterious portal. Two, we don't know if we can call them friend or foe. And three, the implications of their arrival could cause major problems for Link VRAINS." Iruga, the short white haired and tan skinned assassin with gray eyes and the standard Midgardian assassin outfit gets into a battle stance and pulls out his dagger which of course crossed over too. AI comes out of Playmaker's duel disk: "Woah woah, calm down meatbag! We aren't going to hurt you! Look, we're harmless!" "Playmaker, make your AI shut the hell up or will I have to do it myself!" Everyone sweat drops, even Spectre and Iruga. And they're among the last people to sweat drop at anything, even putting someone like Kakashi to shame in that department. Well, everyone except Revolver and Takius. They're very stoic. The sage surprisingly had her outfit change during the linking to VRAINS and by extension, Duel Links. Her long black hair, pale skin, and gray eyes are unchanged but now, she's now wearing black and brown robes similar to the Great Sage Varmundt's for some inexplicable reason. Keough is a knight with a white and yellow shirt, blonde hair that's long in the back, blue eyes, and a green cape alongside whatever pants and shoes he's wearing. Takius says: "I don't get what's so funny." Keough sighs: "Of course you don't. Your former master had you so blind that you never really had much fun." Iruga adds: "Let's stay focused. You're not the only ones with questions. Just where are we?" "Listen up, new meatbags! You're in the world of Link VRAINS, a world of-"

"That's enough out of you, AI." "But Playmaker! I wasn't finished speaking! You can be such a party pooper sometimes." "Ignore him. I can tell you're still confused. You were clearly transported here from another world. We know that but what you don't know is that only your mind traveled here. We've been through enough to know that you're telling the truth but we cannot trust you for 3 more reasons as well. One, one of you pulled out his dagger as soon as Revolver showed himself with the other Knights Of Hanoi. Two, whenever someone arrives to Link VRAINS in a non typical fashion, it usually means trouble. And 3, someone else may be involved and want to use you 3 for something." "I understand your concerns but you have no reason to fear us. But let's talk somewhere more privately. This is a sensitive matter." "What Iruga said. This isn't something ordinary people can understand." That's when Kareru and Hato show up with Hato flying Kareru around: "Hey, pick up that flying! They must be talking excellent dirt and gossip down! Come on, get me in closer already and get the camera on it!" "But boss, I'm so exhausted! I can't fly any faster than this! I need a break!" "But nothing! Our bank accounts depend on this! Now get rolling and speed up!" No one notices them because the Brave Battler aka Brave Max, real name Shima shows up. He's wearing a superhero style costume of typical hero colors over his long torqoise hair, pale skin, and yellow-green eyes.

Let's just say he's a bit of a character who practically embarrasses himself: "Hey guys, can I join your discussion? It'll be so much fun!" "What do you mean join our discussion? In case you haven't noticed, you're quite a bit of a chump!" "Calm down, Ai." "No! He thinks he's so confident because he's Brave Max/The Brave Battler! All he does is stand and talk awkwardly all day! Do you have any idea how painful it was to watch his TV special? He's trying too hard!" "*sobs* Hey that isn't very nice!" "But it's true!" "I'm no fan of him but he's still a person. Calm down." "Playmaker's right. There's no reason for you to be acting this way." "Nobody asked you, Flame!" "I was just trying to help unlike you." Takius has had enough: "Watch your tongue. This is no time for arguments. We should get along. Let's bring him along." "I advise against that. His strategies are poorly thought out. He's an amateur." "But Playmaker! I'm your biggest fan! Why are you so mean? You act like you know me." "I've seen you duel. Your skills need work." "Wait, the great Playmaker has seen me duel? This is an honor!"

Another round of sweatdrops occur. Spectre chuckles: "As amusing as this is, we really must find a place to go speak about this privately. After all, the matter is more complicated than it seems and we can't just go around talking about things that will frighten the public. Unless that's what you wish, Master Revolver." "I have no interest in toying with normal users." After that, they just kind of forgot about Brave Max. Genome knows a place: "Hey everyone, follow me. I know the perfect place to talk about this." Brave Max gets left behind as they speed off with Takius, Iruga, and Keough being invited to respectively hop onto the duel boards of Ghost Gal, Faust, and Spectre. They accept after Ai explains it annoyingly and Brave Max shouts as they leave: "Hey, wait for me! This is no fun! Come back, I just wanted to show my support as a fan." The now beyond exhausted Hato starts falling because he has no energy: "Hato! What did I tell you about dropping me off when you got exhausted? This is just great! No scoop and now we're falling! Come on, we got to catch up to them for real this time! Fly up and catch me, you slacker!" "Sorry boss!" "Stop saying sorry boss, it won't do you any good! We're falling because of you! Get those wings flapping! What did I pay you for to do?" "You didn't pay me anything. We're broke, remember." "And whose fault is that." "Your fault, boss. I knew getting that fancy editing and recording studio was a bad idea!" "Why didn't you stop me?" "You made it a surprise and spent all our money on it! Do you have any idea how hard it is to deal with college debt and a mortgage?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about. Anyway, how are we still falling?" "I don't know, boss. Aren't we supposed to be accelerating?" Those were the last word anyone in Link VRAINS heard from the 2 until they were taken back from Midgard by Ghost Gal and Blood Sheppard later on in the day. Brave Max upon seeing them fall through a portal exclaims: "As Playmaker's number one fan, I just have to get his autograph! Wait for me, Playmaker!" He speeds off in search of Playmaker. At the same time, Playmaker and the others have almost made it to the edge of Link VRAINS. Ai isn't pleased: "Damn it, Genome! Why didn't you tell us that you were going to have us go in the restricted section? We're going to be zapped into bits and bytes if we go in there!" "You're a funny AI. Now watch me make you be funnier." The grin on the hacker with pale skin, brown eyes, short green hair with dark green spikes, a white suit, white shoes, and a white and blue coat grows wide.

Not as wide or sadistic as Spectre's but wide enough. He launches a program that vaguely resembles Yuya Sakaki's Hippo Carnival for no reason whatsoever and it coats itself on everyone: "I don't know how my program ended up looking like that but it doesn't matter. What matters is that this will protect us from all of the security. We'll make it to the middle of the restricted area with no problem and in no time too. It's the perfect place in Link VRAINS to discuss the situation." "What?! You had that with you and didn't tell us?!" "Oh have I angered the AI? How interesting. But as fun as this is, let's head to the center." Luckily, Ghost Gal still has the map: "Look everyone, this place is a confusing maze. You don't want to get lost in here. Trust me. Just follow me and I'll lead us to the center in no time at all. You can trust me." "And why didn't you tell us you still had the schematics of this place?! You humans are so strange sometimes!" "Ai, stop it. What's with you today?" "I believe Ai here is reverting back to how he was before losing us caused him to take over Sol Tech and nearly wipe out humanity with their AI robots: the Soltis. But only for it to be a fluke because he wanted to sacrifice himself so Playmaker didn't have to sacrifice his life for Ai." "Real smart there, Flame! Ugh!" "Do as Playmaker says, Ignis. We don't have time for your foolishness. I can barely tolerate it myself. I almost want to feed you to Borreload Dragon. Actually, I know why you're acting like more of a bastard than usual. Spectre, explain to them what I mean. We're far enough in here to start talking about the situation."

"Oh but Master Revolver. That won't be necessary." "Spectre, are you disobeying my direct orders? I told you to explain it to them." "There's no need when someone can explain it better than I can. I admit it, I'm not perfect. Isn't that entertaining to know?" "Like I didn't know your face wasn't perfect!" Keough asks: "Does this always happen with you people?" "No. For 3 reasons, it doesn't. One, Ai isn't normally this agitated anymore. Two, we don't gather together like this unless it's an emergency. And three, I generally have no interest in making small talk or having much conversation. I prefer to be alone. Even now." This is when Dominic links into VRAINS and spawns in on a duel board of his own right in front of them: "Hi everyone. I'm closely monitoring what's going on in the other world. Of course, the rate at which time flows is very different here compared to there. What a causation to want a nap. But I can't let myself give in to the urge to nap. This is important. Even I'm taking this seriously. Theoretically, you shouldn't have to deal with a more complex situation than these 3 showing up here. But as much of a pain it is to say, that's not the case. I just want to nap and invent but I'm here anyway. This is tiring. Let's get this over with. Someone is playing with portals. Actually, several are. Windy and Lightning escaped Link VRAINS. And someone else who appears to be a goat of some kind is creating the other portals. For what reason? I don't know and even if I had to find out urgently, I wouldn't be bothered to anyway because again, I want to nap and invent. Or maybe I will be bothered. We'll see." Go gets mad and bawls his fist: "You mean to tell us that a goat is playing with us and that those two escaped from Link VRAINS?! You better not be busting my chops, porkchop."

"I don't lie because lying is exhausting. I just want to be honest and chill alongside inventing some devices. Oh and I know all about you, Keough, Iruga, and Takius. Duelists and Ignis, you can trust them. Swiftdrawer filled me in on who they are sometime ago. There's no reason to be concerned about their presence. Don't make yourselves a threat to them and you won't be attack with a dagger, sword, and/or staff. Right now, Lightning is fighting Swiftdrawer and Windy is taking on Roan, Yufa, Maya, and Judia along with the Prontera Cavalry." "Yufa? She's fighting someone from this strange world with Roan and the others? I hope she's safe. I left her in the care of Roan after all." "Don't worry, she's okay. I'm impressed at her resilience even though she needs MP candies now to replenish her magic. Ugh, all this explaining is so tiring. Let's get to the point. All of you need to understand each other and stop fighting. We need to find and stop the goat. Finally, we need to figure out a way to send these 3 back to Rune. I have computed multiple simulations for trying to get them out of here but not a single one worked. That even includes using a device that I am mostly responsible for the creation of. That's not good. Having Leo Akaba and Unagami here might be helpful. That is if we can't find something that works ourselves." "What?! That's what's happening?! What are the odds! No wonder I'm so angry! Lightning and Windy left and their negative emotions have been affecting me! This is so annoying!" "I don't like this either. *sigh* I thought this situation would be simpler but no. Nap please. Oh look, we reached the center. Good, we can begin trying ideas to get them back to Midgard as nothing established will work!"

In short, as Dominic began trying things, the others introduced themselves to each other. Just as they finish up, the chaos resumes. Aqua, the light blue Ignis with blue water drop and circular markings, a hourglass shaped body, pink eyes, and twin pigtails speaks right before that happens: "It's nice to meet you, Takius, Iruga, and Keough. I just wish we could have met under better circumstances. I hope you can forgive the others for being annoying or untrusting. Deep down, they all care a lot even if they don't show it. I know you'll be able to see that inside of them too if you can't already. I also wish your world was more peaceful and you never had to die because of the manipulations of others." "It's alright. Sometimes, life just doesn't work out like you wanted it to." Before Aqua could express her appreciation to Keough for his words, Brave Max appears just as Ghost Gal and Blood Sheppard are told by the Hanoi about Lightning and Windy's defeat. Dominic is waiting for help with more ideas so he's tinkering with some gadgets now. "Well everyone, it looks like we're going to the world of Midgard to retrieve the data of those troublemakers. We'll be back soon." "You do realize that saying that wasn't necessary, right?" "Relax brother." "Hey everyone! I finally found you! And it took long enough! Playmaker, you have to give me your autograph! I'll even duel you for it!" "Look kid, you're way out of your league here. I beat you easily a while back. Remember? You're not his sidekick or his number one fan and you never will be." "Yeah! Don't waste your time, there's no way you stand a chance against Playmaker! I know so!" Ghost Gal and Blood Sheppard open a portal to Prontera from there and leave, leaving the others with Brave Max to deal with. This isn't going to end well. "Someone being a huge fan of someone is a strange concept to me. It's never this extreme back home."

"Well, welcome to Link VRAINS, meatbag!" "Playmaker, are you being to stop him from running his mouth or not?" "I have a more important concern. How did Brave Max get here? We didn't bring him with us. He isn't coated in Genome's program. Something isn't right." But then, Playmaker's hacker partner and creator of hot dogs that aren't sandwiches, Kusanagi who has purple hair with short bangs and is slightly long in the back, pale skin, gray eyes, a brown trench coat, purple hoodie, teal pants, and brown ish boots shows up behind Brave Max: "It's my doing. He was practically begging for someone to help him find you, Playmaker. I couldn't have the kid keep moping around all day trying to get everyone's attention. You understand right, pal?" "But Kolter, you could have handled this better than that." "I'm not so sure about that, Playmaker. I believe this was the only way to take care of him." "What are YOU talking about, meatbag?! In case you haven't noticed, he's annoying and clumsy! Now get out of the way and let me show you what I would have done if I saw him desperately wanting to see Playmaker!" Ai is just about to transform into his human like self that was previously really only possible through Sol Tech's Soltis AI robots. But, Kusanagi isn't who they believe him to be. "No Ai, you won't be doing that. I won't allow you. Baa." "Umm, what's going on? Why is there a annoying creature?" "Now you fully question my existence? You can be so confusing, extra annoying meatbag! Wait, did you say baa, Kolter?" Dominic hears this and turns light blue: "I need a nap. This is too frustrating and ridiculous for even me." But he pulls himself together by drinking a cherry cola made with cane sugar that isn't Cheerwine before putting his gadgets away and revealing his new weapon: "This is so tiring but you won't put me to sleep, Kusanagi! Or should I say, goat?! Behold, my Multipurpose Tool Of Science!" "Baaaaaaa! *goat scream* Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Kusanagi turns into a goat or more specifically, the goat that can stop time.

Time stops for everyone but the now undisguised goat. They take full advantage of this. They headbutt every single individual in sight several times each. Or at least, that's how it was until Takius revealed she was immune to the effects of the goat's power: "You cannot stop me. I have been through too much and I refuse to underestimate you! Cold Bolts Of Ice!" Icicles rain down on the goat and do some damage. After that, she chants again: "That's not all! Spell Breaker!"This breaks the effect on time the goat has so time resumes immediately. Upon seeing several others get suddenly hurt and knocked back, Iruga glares at the goat and leaps into the air: "We will defeat you. Sonic Blow!" With his daggers, he sends out a fast and devastating barrage of attacks that hurt the goat a little bit but they're tougher than anyone expected. The goat stands their ground and is just about to headbutt Takius when Keough gets in the way: "Oh no you don't! I did many wrong things when I was controlled by the Dark Lord. I must make up for those mistakes if not for myself but for my little sister, Yufa. Magnum Break!!" The fire style attack hits the goat several times in a couple seconds, dealing significant damage. Seeing that the goat is far from done, Dominic puts on an extra pair of safety gloves just in case and puts his lab goggles over his eyes instead of the top of his head: "This fight will get boring so quickly that I'll fall asleep in just 10 seconds at this rate! I'm just going to end it here! Leave this to me! Brave Max might have a virus from this goat that may protect him now but might hurt him or even erase him entirely later! I don't want to find out because that will just make me even more tired of this stuff! At least I can fully focus on this all now that Lightning and Windy are down. I will molecularly rip this goat apart! They're trying to kill us! My anti virus program is going off the charts with detections when I get close to you, Takius, Iruga, and Keough! They're trying to use viruses to destroy us!"

"As Playmaker's number one fan, let me stop the goat instead! I will stop it!" "Gah! I want to nap so bad! Stay back and don't treat another life form as an object! If you get in the way as my attack is about to be unleashed, you will be ripped apart and die both here and for real! Use your brain! It's not that difficult! It's too dangerous for anyone else to interfere! Let me concentrate! I'm hardly ever this focused! The preparations to rip the goat apart are almost complete!" "But I wanna help! I never do anything to help." Ghost Gal and Blood Sheppard return with Hato and Kareru. They wake up immediately: "Hey boss, did someone just knock us out?" "I don't know but I'm not sad anymore and that's a great thing because that battle will be a nice scoop!" "Umm. Boss, we're back in Link VRAINS in a area crawling with digital security! Why aren't they attacking us?" "Well, how am I supposed to know?!" Dominic silently and effortlessly molecularly rips the goat apart, becoming the 2nd person to actually kill them after Ultimate Shaggy. Those two are frightened at seeing that: "Aaaa did that man just rip a goat apart HERE?! Just who is he? Let's get out of here! He's scary!" Indeed, Dominic has an intense focus that's even present on his face. Hato replies: "Good thinking, boss! Let's get out of here before it's too late!" "Hey guys! Wait for me!" "See, I told you you wouldn't stand a chance against Playmaker! Yeah, you better run, you bastard and coward! Honestly, you meatbags are beyond my understanding!" Revolver and the other Hanoi stop them: "Where do you think you're going? All of you could have a lethal virus that kills people logged into Link VRAINS after a certain amount of time. We don't want that spreading now do we?" Brave Max puts on a brave face and speaks in a poorly done confident and deeper voice than his usual voice: "If you aren't going to get out of the way then I'll make you with a duel!"

Spectre laughs: "You honestly think you can take on any of us at your current level of skill? My my, what high expectations you have. Master Revolver, would you allow me to take care of this pest for you? I'm always at your service." "Go ahead. I don't care. I'm more interested in stopping any of the viruses inside of any of our guests." "That won't be needed either. I can handle all of the viruses themselves." Dominic easily eliminates the viruses nsofes all that have or were suspected to have them and sighs: "I'm going back to Miitopia. I need to sleep. Sorry I can't be of more help but I'm just too tired to help at this point." And with that, he just leaves just like that, completely out of the blue. Some time of dealing with Kareru, Hato, and Brave Max before Spectre summons his best monsters to scare them off later, Akira Zaizen sighs himself: "I can't take this anymore. None of the solutions we're now trying are working. And those 3 were so irritating to deal with. We need external help. Dominic mentioned some who could help us. I'm getting Leo Akaba and Unagami. Maybe they can help." He contacts them as the others finally relax since Ai has chilled out now. The chaos of the hangout has come to an end. Good thing too because Leo Akaba and Unagami quickly show up. Unagami is in the form of a white haired kid with yellow skin, black eyes, a red outfit and headband, and much of his hair bunched together in the back and extending quite far down as a result. Leo's pretty tan skin has some visible blood vessels on it alongside his bald head, purple military general like outfit, red-violet with a black ending cape, gray boots, armored plate and red eye gadget over the top left of his head, black gloves, light blue eyes, and black buttons on his outfit. Unagami speaks up: "Have you tried gathering life energy to create a portal to that world? I can help you." "We aren't doing that! We'd have to sacrifice some of our friends and I don't want to lose any of them ever again!" "I agree with Ai for 3 reasons I don't need to explain."

"Wait can't you use Lightning and Windy's data as life energy? I would think so but I don't know that much, porkchop. Dueling and pounding my opponent is much my expertise." Over the next few hours, they try everything including using the data of the destroyed Ignis to no avail. They at least didn't bring those two back. Instead, the one who collects fallen villains like trading cards recruited them to their group in exchange for helping them get revenge. Leo Akaba and Unagami end up staying in Link VRAINS for sometime to help figure this out since Quantum Leap won't send them back. To think, a goat caused them to get to the virtual world. Unbelievable. At any rate, that also means Iruga, Takius, and Keough would end up staying there for a while too. It wasn't until closer to Christmas time that they finally were returned to Midgard. But that's a story for another time. This adventure telling ends here.

Outro: Sorry if you see the sudden wrap up as a bad thing. I accidentally took a kind of nap and woke up with my mind cleared. That kinda screwed with me but it's okay. Oh well, it turned out pretty good anyway. So here you go, another part of the Ragnarok arc completed. That's all I have to really say. I like how it was largely Ai, Brave Max, Hato, or Kareru being annoying. See ya next time.