Bring The Heat, Soulburner!

by kcufad

What if Yusaku wasn't the main character? What if Ai wasn't the Ignis that escaped? What if a different character was the main character with his two best friends on his back and fight the Knights Of Hanoi? Entrustshipping, Future Angelmakershipping and more. (Usage of Dub names) Cover Art: ThunderMarisol

6. A Shepherd's Hunt

Time To Answer The Reviews:

Star-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: Thanks, I worked really hard on it. Honestly, I wasn't expecting either, but I wanted to show his strength, so I decided why not? and gave him the 2 Link-4 monsters. Sorry to tell you, but Soulburner isn't going to duel him in this chapter, someone else will. Now that I think about it, I do find it really funny honestly.

Ken Valbrandur: I really wanted to give these two the best that they could dish out, if you ignore Teddy's Link-4 and other Extra Deck monsters, also don't worry, here is the next duel I was working on that I am pretty proud of myself.

Javier Gomez: Thanks

Guest: Thanks

It has been a couple of days after the duel between Soulburner and Gore, with the Fire Duelist winning in his 3rd turn and making his popularity sky rocket as well, even if that made silver-red haired boy annoyed that his fame is getting even bigger and bigger by the day. There will be a point he would get used to all of this fame, but now isn't the time.

Maybe after he defeats the Knights Of Hanoi.

The news were going everywhere about his victory over the Gore, calling him an old relic, so some duelists thought they could have shot against the Gore, but they were quickly humbled as Gore busted out his Gouki The Great Ogre against all of them in one duel, which changed the news not to reflect that Gore was an old relic, rather that Link VRAINS got a new star by the name of Soulburner.

While Gore was mildly annoyed, angered and jealous of him with his new fame, he decided that, he shouldn't care about that. He didn't care if he wasn't the Number 1 Celebrity Duelist in Link VRAINS, he cared that he was the Number 1 Hero for the kids in the orphanage. Heck he even stated that he would love to have a rematch with him in the future, that was…more friendlier than their first duel.

Kiku and Seigen were shocked when they hear the news. Sure Seigen did know that he was facing a Knight Of Hanoi, but he didn't expect to see The Gore challenging him in a duel and it was a Speed Duel, having more advantages than a Master Duel for him because of his Skill, but more disadvantages because of the smaller field, it was even more shocking that Theodore even stood his ground in that duel, which was weird for them since he only returned to dueling not long ago.

Kiku was shocked since it was an hour after she left that she saw the duel on TV, which thankfully, was on the internet so she could see him in action and how he won that duel, which to no one's shock, it was because for most of the duel, Flame was giving him instructions. She then had to listen to her brother ramble about her not so subtle crush the entire time, and wondered if he could have a poster of him, which made her laugh a little bit.

After the duel, duel requests for him then went flooding. Day after day, hour by hour, minute by minute, he would get duel requests from everywhere. Mustafu City, Den City, Domino City, Paradise City, Paris, China, Kaiba Dome, Zagreb, Spain, from the local kebab store, New York City, the local grocery store, EVERYWHERE!

It was so bad that Theodore couldn't sleep for an entire night, he couldn't switch off his duel disk since he was afraid for Flame's safety, but he knew that he was hating it since it kept vibrating with every duel request, so he came to school with shadows under his eyes with a horrible posture and his movements were slow as he tried his hardest not to fall asleep.

When he sat down on his seat, which Kiku was on his left and Seigen was on his right, he instantly fell asleep, making a somewhat silent THUD! when he landed on the hard table, damaging it alot, but like it wasn't damaged before.

Theodore asked his best friend if he can mute the notifications, but allow for Flame to communicate with them, which for Seigen only took about 10 minutes for him to hack into and it worked out perfectly. Which he was thankful for.

He decided to look into the notifications about the duel requests for later, which were the same. Some kids, some wannabe hot shots and everything in between. It was kind of sad honestly.

He also found an email from a guy named, "Daddy Long Legs," (A/N: I did not make that up. Look it up. In Episode 14 of VRAINS.) that said he wanted to help him with his quest against the Knights Of Hanoi, but he didn't see it was necessary at all since…well…uhm…he doesn't trust anyone with a user name like that.

Like who would make that up? Most likely a guy with a goatee that has a food truck selling hot dogs who gets angry when someone says that a hotdog is a sandwich. Okay that was kind of specific, but it fits perfectly.

Somewhere a certain guy with a goatee that has a food truck selling hot dogs who gets angry when someone says that a hotdog is a sandwich sneezed.

A guy with blue hair with purple highlights looked at him, "Are you okay, Kolter? Is it a cold?"

"Ah nah, bud. Someone is probably talking about me." said Kolter as the guy with blue hair shrugged as they looked at the computer.

"Has he answered the email? Soulburner, I mean." said the blue-haired boy as he looked at Kolter.

"No, he hasn't done it yet, but we must be patient about it." Kolter looked at the blue-haired boy with a smile as he then looked at the computer and leaned on his chair, "I am just confused why he hasn't responded yet."

"Maybe it's because of your username." said the blue-haired boy.

"What's wrong with my username?" asked Kolter as he looked at the younger male.

"What's right with Daddy Long Legs?" said the blue-haired boy. "Seriously, I am actually confused why you have named yourself that. I can give you three good reasons why that username would creep anyone out," he said as he raised his hand and his index finger, "One: The username will make you look lik-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. I have to change something different." said Kolter as he thought of something different and he had a lightbulb on his head, "How about Ho-"

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish."

"Was it about hot dogs?"

"...lucky guess."

Back to Theodore, Seigen, Kiku and Flame, they were currently in the classroom while it was break. They did enjoy the outside, but today, it was because Seigen wanted to make another upgrade on their duel disks and for Theodore to rest on the table.

Their last upgrade was something interesting yet very simple. There was a small microphone in their duel disks so it could record voices and anyone could speak to it, a small speaker so they could hear from what was going on in their situation and if they need help, and to top it all off, there was a small device inside of the duel disks so they could record all of what was happening in any given moment and it could be viewed from anywhere they want and to whomever they wanted, didn't matter if it was to Seigen or to the entire world, it will work and send it to whoever they wanted.

In simple words so Seigen could explain it to Theodore better, he built a microphone and speaker so they could communicate with each other through long distances and a camera which the silver-red haired boy nodded once he realized what he meant by that.

Seigen took Theodore's, which had Flame in his eyeball form and closed so no one could tell it is him who is Soulburner, Kiku's and his duel disk and started to work on them. What was it actually? He won't tell them since he wanted to keep that a secret. Kiku decided to get some fresh water, and then return a couple of minutes later as she took her phone and decided to talk to her friends that weren't an AI program, a dingus that doesn't know she has a crush on him, and vice verse for her side, and a guy that smells like energy drinks. Theodore decided to take out his deck and looked over his old cards with his new Salamangreat cards and see how he could make it his own style.

Those old cards being that of something like Graceful Charity, Final Offguard, Negate Attack, Draining Shield and the works. He decided to put in a Impenetrable Attack since he thought it can save his monsters, with some draw cards so he could make them work even better.

They really enjoyed this silence and that let them have some freedom and some peace and quiet from the basically war that they were a part of against the Knights Of Hanoi, with a surprising enemy of SOL Tech when they sent Gore after Soulburner, but thankfully he won that duel.

However, they felt a massive cold down their spines when they could feel something much more threatening and dangerous coming in the near future that could even rival the higher ups of the Knights Of Hanoi.

They decided to ignore it, for now, as they continued doing their own thing as Theodore placed his old cards back into his backpack and looked at his deck so he could practise it in his head. Sure he wasn't book smart, but he is street smart and thinking about some combos is a good trait of him if he is about to fight against the leader of the Knights Of Hanoi.

Unfortunately, one kid with green eyes and black hair entered the room, unknown to all of them since they were occupied on their own thing, as he walked to his seat since he forgot his lunch. His name was Sarura.

Sarura looked at Theodore's hands and his eyes went up, "YOO! You have Soulburner's cards!? I thought they weren't even released yet!" he said in a child-like expression and energy as they all froze like ice.

They all looked at Theodore with dread in their eyes, even from Flame as he opened his eye a little as he looked at his partner.

Theodore coughed in his hand as he looked at his classmate, "What do you mean by these cards?" he asked as Sarura looked at him in confusion.

"Uhh, dude, you have cards from Soulburner, you know the guy that defeated the Knights of Hanoi, or at least their members." Theodore tried his hardest to show any emotion as Sarura looked at him, "Seriously, dude? You know the guy that defeated The Gore?"

Theodore glanced at Kiku and Seigen, but their eyes told him that they don't know how to deal with this situation as he then looked at Sarura, "Yes, I have seen that rather handsome fellow," his best friends, and Flame, looked at him like he grew a leg, "and asked my good buddy, Seigen, to print them on his 3d printer." Seigen looked at his best friend as

"Oh cool! Can I look at them for a moment?" asked Sarura as Theodore bit his lip as he took a single card from it, Sunlight Wolf, and gave it to him to look after.

"Here, but make sure you don't say to anyone else about this and give me that card back." said Theodore as Sarura.

"Yeah, sure." he said, nodding as he looked at it and found it almost official. Too official to his liking, but he didn't mind at all.

Seigen grabbed Theodore's collar as Kiku whisper yelled at him, "Why the hell did you bring your actual deck here, Teddy?! There can be any moment where your, scratch that, all of our identities!" she did that as she pinched him on the ear as Seigen looked at him.

"Never mind that!" Seigen also whisper yelled, "I am more angry that he thinks that I am going to let you touch any of my babies after the disasters that you make, and on the second note, why mine?!"

"Not to mention you did it in a room with a massive amount of people that could enter at any other time." Flame whispered to his partner.

"Okay, fine! To answer all of your questions: The reason why I brought them was because I was sleep deprived and forgot to remove the deck from my duel disk. I am sorry that I am using yours, but realistically, you are the only one that we know that has a printer. Finally, I didn't know that he would enter so soon, so you can't blame me on that part!" he said as they all realized that Theodore actually made some good points on why he did that.

Kiku released his ear while Seigen let go of his collar. "Sorry." they whispered to him. He said that it was okay.

Sarura finally finished reading the card as he returned the card back, "Pretty sweet card." he said nodding as he looked at Seigen, "Can you-"

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish."

"Was it about printing some cards?" asked Kiku.

"...lucky guess." he said as he took his lunch and left the classroom.

Meanwhile with Akira

Akira Zaizen was currently sitting in his car. It was driven by Hayami once again as she was the one drive he could always count on. He sat on the seat with his hands intertwined with each other as he looked at the window.

It was a couple of days since the Gore was defeated by Soulburner, which he didn't expect that he would do in any way, and he had to rely on another one of his duelists that he needed to defeat him, which he never thought he would ask him for help, but this couldn't be helped.

It was either him, or he would get demoted from a security manager. If The Shepherd would fail, somehow, he would get demoted also, so his job as a security manager would be on the back of the bounty hunter, which he needed to trust in so he could keep his job. Not for the money or for himself, but for his younger sister.

Akira sighed as he saw another red light and he was behind a couple of cars. He looked over to see a motorcycle and a woman in leather with a helmet on her head. He rolled down the window, "Hello, Emma." said Akira as the woman turned to him and removed her helmet.

The woman, or Emma as Akira called her, was a young woman. Her hair was divided into 3 parts. On the front and on the left side of her face was a light purple, on the back it was a much darker purple and on the middle it was lavender. She had pink eyes. She was slightly shorter than Akira. She wore black boots, a pink undershirt under her jacket, black fingerless gloves and a black choker.

She turned around with a playful grin on her face. "Hello, Aki~"

Hayami gripped her wheel tighter as Akira pinched the edge of his nose, "Emma, please don't use that name in public or in work space."

"You can't blame me! I haven't seen you in such a long time!" she said.

"It's been 2 days."

"It's been 2 days too long."

Akira and Emma dating, in simple terms, dating. As much as Akira truly loved her, he really did, only 2nd to his younger sister, to the person he loves the most in the world, but he has to admit. While they are in public, she can be so annoying.

Calling him nicknames that he only liked being when they were mostly alone, doing as many dirty jokes as possible and faking being overly clingy. Would he ever admit it? No, he will never give her the satisfaction of that because if he does, he knows that he lost and it's a battle he will never lose.

"Emma, please we are in a public space."

"So? Let them!" said Emma as Hayami cursed up a storm.

"Emma, please." Akira pinched the edge of his nose for the second time that day, "Look, I need you to do a favour."

"Woah! At least buy me dinner first." she said with a massive grin and Akira looked at her as they ignored someone saying, "Oh my god, get a room you two!"

"Emma, I swear on all Egyptian Gods, I will…just listen to me, okay?" he asked as Emma looked at him.

"Okay, fine, what is it, hun?" asked Emma as Akira sighed.

"I need you to look into the data of Soulburner, Stormrider and Frostgirl, so we could learn about their past and every little detail you can find about them, anything from raging from height, weight, type of deck, their favourite food, anything, especially their real names." said Akira as Emma nodded as he leaned on his seat, "I wish it could be easier if we could have access to the SOL Tech's data bank, but unfortunately we don't." said Akira.

"Geez, you really want to get this guy and his pals, huh, hun?" asked Emma as Akira nodded, "Well, I could do that for a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks with my bugs, but when I get all of that, what will you do with it?"

"I was thinking on using it to lure him in a duel, but then I realized that he most likely wouldn't do that since he could look that it is a trap if he was able to defeat one of the highest ranking duelists in Link VRAINS, so I have to look into the data bank for this." said Akira as he looked at Hayami's window next to her and gave her a look that said "Don't tell a soul I said anything." which the brown haired girl nodded.

"Okay, that kind of makes sense if you want to fight against him, and not including the Knights Of Hanoi, but I gotta say, you are really determined to get this kid and his AI program." said Emma, a little impressed at her boyfriend.

Akira remained stoic as his eyes narrowed in a cold glare, "How can I not if they will give me a demotion if this one fails?" asked Akira as he looked at his girlfriend.

"Yikes, well good luck on that, but can I ask you something if it isn't too personal?" Akira gave her a nod to let her continue, "Who are you sending? Your sister at him?" she asked as Akira's look deepened.

"No, it's…him." without a second thought, Emma instantly realized who he was referring to, and she couldn't believe it, this can't be true.

"You are sending The Shepherd against them? They are only kids. The last time we worked with him, he nearly put us in trouble and in danger only to get to a target that could have been defeated if we all worked together? HIM?!" she nearly stood up from her motorcycle, but realized that would be idiotic of her.

"Sadly, yes." Akira sighed as he looked at her, "I know he is hard to work with and I know that it would be near impossible to convince him to stop, but out of everyone I could get and seen, he is one of the best there is, and not to mention he is the best bounty hunter on the planet with a 101% capture rate." said Akira as Emma tried to talk back to something like that, but she has to admit he is the best there is to the point of breaking something that is mathematically impossible.

"Alright, I understand, and I will go to work with my bugs as fast as I can." said Emma as she looked at the lights and saw that it was orange, "Well I got to go and I'll see you later." she said with a wink.

"Yeah, I will see you soon as well." said Akira as they both drove to different destinations.

After a couple of minutes of driving, Akira arrived at SOL Tech and walked inside of the company and then into his own office.

He sat on his chair, waiting for his former bounty hunter comrade, but he is afraid that he doesn't see them as that, but rather nuisances. He asked Hayami if she could grab her a cup of coffee to which the assistant agreed and walked outside of the office.

He placed his hands under his chin as if on cue, the person he needed to hire for the hunt for the Ignis entered the room. The man had light purple hair on the top while at the bottom it was dark purple. He wore a brown scarf that covered most of the bottom parts of his face like the mouth and neck. The man wore dark blue glasses that covered his eyes, which were light purple. He wore a blue jacket and under his jacket were white pants and another smaller white jacket. On his left arm was a duel disk that he programmed to lie, which no one thought would be possible, but on his right arm was a mechanical prosthetic. On his face was a scar that he wasn't fond of.

It was him. The best bounty hunter on the planet. The person that hates AIs that could even rival that of the Knights of Hanoi. The Shepherd.

"So, Zaizen," he began, what was like a gruff voice that sounded like he is always growling, "I never thought we would encounter each other again after our last job together." he said as Akira sighed.

"I never thought as well Shepherd, with you almost putting us in danger, attacking alone that could've hurt you, or even the fact that you called Ghost Gal, her actually name." said Akira as he narrowed his eyes on the last part, "I wonder, how do you know about her real name, anyhow, only a few know that fact about her." he said as Shepherd's eyes narrowed, but it couldn't be seen.

"Why would I tell you anything about that? All I want to know is why you would ever hire me and why should I even accept?" asked Shepherd, who was as demanding as a general in an army.

"I guess it will be impossible to avoid any question or confrontation with you." Akira closed his eyes and brought his hands near his face and pinched it. He then looked at his former comrade. "Have you heard about Soulburner?"

"Yeah, I have. It's some punk kid that thinks he is the bee's knees since he has a deck that no one else has in their arsenal, defeated a couple of Knights Of Hanoi and even Gore himself and even has an advanced AI on his duel disk that I want to crush." he said as he clenched his right arm as he hated even a thought of an advanced AI. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's quite simple really." said Akira, fixing his posture as he looked at Shepherd straight to his face with his expression hardened, "I want you to take down Soulburner and to get, not destroy like the others, get the Ignis. Do you understand?"

"I do, but why?" the Shepherd asked as Akira looked at him.

"I thought you know why, but it looks like I have to explain it to you. Your skills as a bounty hunter is second to none, you are the best of it that I, SOL Tech or anyone really has ever seen with a capture rate that no one has ever seen and is above 100%. You are an expert at following and deciphering any and all AI programming better than anyone to the point that it makes even the Knights of Hanoi jealous. Your deck is also an almost perfect counter to his Link monster with your Trap and Spell cards with your monsters having more attack points than his two most powerful monsters, not to mention having the strength to use their monsters to your advantage. That is why I wanted to hire you." said Akira as Shepherd's look hardened.

"No, I already know all of that, I was just asking why are you listening to SOL Tech?" he asked as Akira looked at him.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"What I mean is why are you a lapdog for SOL Tech? Always listening to them like a trained dog, never thinking outside of what you are given and not to mention, you are doing something that I know you don't want to do." said Shepherd.

Akira stayed quiet as he realized that what all that Shepherd said was right. He never wanted to do this to someone that was the same age as his younger sister, the same one that could've been a friend to her. If he was the CEO of SOL when he is around, he never would do anything ill minded to him, but rather he would question him about everything and ask him about the Ignis.

The only reason why he even knows about the Ignis was because of King gave him all the information that he should know about, and he never really knew about them until he started working with them. He hates that Shepherd knows this and he only questions this, even if he didn't care about him in any shape of the world.

"You make a good point, Shepherd, but," he looked at the camera and knows that SOL Tech was listening to it, "you should know that I will always stay loyal and listen to the higher ups without questioning them."

"Spoken like a true lapdog." Shepherd shook his head.

"I have a question for you. Why are you concerned about me?" he asked as Shepherd scoffed at him.

"You? With all due to the small respect I have for you, I am not even the slightest bit concerned for you. I was only asking you a question since you would have never done this with all of the missions we have done together." said Shepherd as Akira nodded, "But, let's get back to the Ignis." he said as Akira almost forgot about that.

"Right, I gave you a mission to defeat Soulburner and get his Ignis, so what do you say? Will you do it? Will you capture an Ignis for us, and not destroy it like the other AIs you have done in the past?" he asked as Shepherd hardened his look at him.

"Fine, I will do the job, and I better expect a worthwhile pay for the job." said Shepherd as he turned around.

"You won't be disappointed with the pay." said Akira and as soon as Shepherd left the office, he fell back on his chair, thinking about what Shepherd said to him.

"What I mean is why are you a lapdog for SOL Tech?"

Akira took out his phone and started texting on it, to make sure that it wouldn't be seen by the rest of SOL Tech.

While Shepherd was leaving SOL Tech, he ran into Hayami, who was carrying a cup of coffee for Akira, and hit her on the shoulder, accidentally. "Oh, sorry!" said Hayami as she turned around as Shepherd turned around with a raised eyebrow as they looked at each other.

While looking at Shepherd's features, she couldn't help, but blush at how handsome Shepherd was, even while covering most of his face. The scar itself was also a handsome feature on the purple haired man. She has to admit, he was much more handsome than Akira.

Shepherd couldn't help, but look at the smaller person with amusement. He has to admit, she was adorable. He turned around with a small blush that wasn't visible, "Oh, don't worry, it was an accident." said Shepherd in his regular voice as he realized that he said that in his regular voice.

He hit himself on the foot with his other foot, "Well, it was nice to see you, but bye." said Shepherd as he walked away in a much quicker motion than before.

As soon as he got to his apartment, he cursed at himself out loud for using his regular voice at anyone that wasn't his mother for about 5 minutes, as then he looked at his duel disk and sighed.

He sat on one of his chairs and said, "It's Time To Link Into The VRAINS!" he said as his duel disk did nothing other than transport him in Link VRAINS.

In Link VRAINS

Shepherd arrived on top of a roof top of a building that was available to stand on. He wore a hat that was like a combination of a witches hat and a cowboy hat, that was purple and had green linings around it. He wore a tight gray spandex on top of his body. He had pink eyes with a red colour around his nose and eyes while his mouth was purple. He wore a purple scarf that doubled as a cape which had green lining on it.

He wore a purple shirt underneath with orange lining while wearing a jacket that was dark gray with green lining as it extended to his left arm with it having a shoulder pad on it, with his left hand wearing a black and orange gray glove and on top of it was a gray duel disk. He wore black pants with gray shoes with orange lining on the bottom with wheels on the back like a cowboy from the midwest. The most interesting part of his body, more specifically on his right arm that was a prosthetic arm made out of metal, with orange lining that acted like veins on the hand, and close to her hand was a spinning barrel with a hammer behind it.

If his name and outfit didn't scream that he was a bounty hunter, nothing will.

He was standing around and looked at his duel disk and pressed some buttons on it. He looked at it and saw that there was no sign of an Ignis, but he did see some rouge AIs flying around and decided to spare some time destroying them, but not before hearing some duelists behind him say, "YOO!"

"BRO!"

"HOMIE!"

"You look sick!"

"Wanna du-"

Shepherd turned around and pointed his mechanical arm at him as he raised his other hand, "I will give you three seconds to get away from me. 1!" he snapped his fingers as all of the duelists turned around.

"You could've just said no." all of them said at the same time as they went their separate route.

The Shepherd turned around and shaked his head. "Idiots. Well, I guess I could kill the time by killing some rogue AIs." he said as he jumped from the roof and a board appeared under his feet which was purple, blue and green.

He flew towards one of the AIs as from his arm, tiny bullets were flown towards them and making small explosions from it, destroying the AI. Oh.

He can't wait.

Soulburner won't know what hit him.

After a while

It has been a couple of hours since the small incident at school with Theodore forgetting that he shouldn't show his deck in public, but hey, at least there weren't any drama. They went to Theodore's since Kiku really doesn't want to deal with Kiki right now, after the headache at school.

So when they entered, Theodore's grandma, Iris, walked over and gave the two guests a welcoming hug, with just a little, couple of, several teasings of Kiku and her grandson together which made the two redder Flame's flame, and Theodore's grandpa, Taniel, shaking their hands, they were off to his bedroom, which their grandson said was strictly for school work.

After they calmed down with Seigen grinning the entire time and Flame having the smirking emoji which raised so many questions on how he could do that. They placed their duel disks on their wrist and yelled at the same time, "It's Time To Link Into The VRAINS!" as then their duel disks said, "INTO THE VRAINS!"

In Link VRAINS

Soulburner, Frostgirl and Stormrider arrived at Link VRAINS and they looked around the place as they felt a weird presence around them. It wasn't anything special, but it felt like something weird and something important was going on.

They could see from a distance a duel going on between Gore and Blue Angel going, with The Gore in the lead with a Link-4 on his side of the field, and they thought it was the same.

It was the same peace- semi-peaceful place since the Knights Of Hanoi were still going around this place with the threat of destroying Flame and Link VRAINS with it, and they even heard a rumour of rogue AIs going all of the place so several bounty hunters have to go against them.

They all took a deep breath.

It will take a while for the Knights Of Hanoi's leader to even show up or even learn who he even is while they were at it, and even learning about his origin and the Lost Incident would be helpful.

From a distance they could see some Knights Of Hanoi around some guy who was trying his best to get away from them, and they decided to help him out. So the-

"I FOUND YOU, SOULBURNER!" They all turned around to see a person they have never seen before, but have heard about him, well Frostgirl and Stormrider did. The person raised his arm as from his duel board appeared missiles.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" cursed Soulburner as all of those missiles went straight towards them.

"EVERYONE, JUMP! NOW!" yelled Flame as the fire clad duelist nodded as all of them jumped from the building, as duel boards appeared on their feet, escaping the explosions that could've severely hurt someone.

"Who is this guy?!" yelled Soulburner as The Shepherd flew towards him and aimed several bullets at him that went faster than cars. He had to dodge all of them, but in the process destroying most of the buildings in the process and harming the innocent.

Shepherd got closer and closer towards him, as Soulburner had no choice, but to move as fast as possible away from everyone else, but the bounty hunter wasn't finished with him, instead, he would get his target.

"Don't you think that you can escape The Shepherd!" growled Shepherd as bullets and missiles were flown towards the Ignis and Soulburner as the 16 year old boy turned left and right to dodge the blasts.

He flew in all sorts of directions, dodging all of the ammos as he thought he had infinite amounts of them since it seems that he hasn't once reloaded it. How was that even possible?

"Hello, is this thing on?" asked Frostgirl as Soulburner turned the microphone permanently on as he couldn't be bothered to change it while being in the chase of a crazy psychopath with a gun for an arm.

"Yes, you are on!" Soulburner as he narrowly dodged a bullet, literally, as Flame did all sorts of dance moves to dodge every single bullet.

"Good, my feature is working." said Stormrider as Soulburner went up to block the missiles as it created an explosion.

"Ahh, yeah it does work! But question! Who is this guy?!" yelled Soulburner as he turned around to see Shepherd behind him shooting a bullet, but the Salamangreat player turned around just in time as he went down.

"YOU ARE NOT ESCAPING ME! NO ONE HAS EVER ESCAPED ME!" yelled Shepherd.

"Well his name is The Shepherd, the number 1 bounty hunter in Link VRAINS and in the entire planet. His playing style isn't revealed yet, but from what we do know about him is that he has a 101% capture rate." said Frostgirl as she tried to get closer to Soulburner.

"A 101%? That's mathematically impossible!" yelled Flame as his eyes widened. "Who does he think he is? The Dark Ignis?" asked Flame as he turned right at the right second.

"Because he once caught a guy, and he was straight up like "Nah, you are not worth capturing, go on and continue your pathetic life." and let the man go, only for a minute later, he caught a guy later with a massive unseen shit eating grin." Said Stormrider as he swore he never thought he would see the man that did that and if he was honest, if he wasn't targeting them right now, he would have so much respect for the guy when he read that.

"That's crazy! But honestly, respect if he isn't targeting us!" yelled Flame as Soulburner gained little fire from his fingers as he then threw it at the bullets so he couldn't be hit by them.

"Same here if I didn't try to dodge every single bullet on the planet!" yelled Soulburner as he went up, down, left and right and once again to dodge the bullets and even a couple of missiles. Seriously, how many does this man have?

"Alright, hear me out, if you can from the war zone, is to stand still-" he ignored his friends yelling at him "WHAT?! Are you insane?!" as he continued, "-And to click on one of the buttons on your duel disk. There you will see a screen that is linked to only me and Ki-Frostgirl's, and pick any one of us, so please do that!"

Soulburner grunted as he tried to find a way to stand still for even a couple of seconds as his duel board went into overdrive and went away from Shepherd, even for just a couple of seconds.

Shepherd appeared almost next to him as he raised his mechanical hand at him with his other hand raised, "I'll tell you something. I will give you to the count of three to give me the Ignis, or else. 1!" he snapped his fingers.

Soulburner quickly pushed a button on his duel disk and a screen with a shot of Frostgirl and Stormrider popped out of it, above Flame.

"2!" The Shepherd snapped his fingers once again as bullets could be seen in his arm the very next second.

Soulburner quickly picked one of them as he didn't have enough time to pick, which was at the hands of his good pal, Stormrider. When he did that, Flame immediately disappeared from his duel disk and then, right on Stormrider's duel disk.

The Shepherd turned his eyes towards the green glad duelist as he immediately went to him. Soulburner and Frostgirl sighed in relief once that was dealt wi- Wait, what about Stormrider!?

"WOAH What happened?!" asked Flame as he turned around as Stormrider made him turn around and face him.

"Oh, nothing much. I just switched, make you switch on which duel disk you can currently be on." said Stormrider as Flame looked at him in shock.

"You can do that?" The Fire Ignis asked.

"Yep, and honestly, it wasn't that hard. All I had to was look into the duel disks and-"

"Give me the Ignis, right now." said Shepherd as he placed his hand next to Stormrider's face, "And don't even think of switching places like the other guy or I will blast you in smitterins."

Stormrider widened his eyes in shock, but then he closed his eyes and smirked, "Fine, I will give you the Ignis," he said shocking almost everyone, but not Flame as he just narrowed his eyes at him, "but, only if you defeat me in a duel!"

Shepherd narrowed his eyes at him and took a breath. "If it's a duel you want, then it's a duel you will get!" he said as he turned and went back a few spaces, but too long so he doesn't lose his target.

He then heard from his duel disk, "Shepherd, I swear to all gods on the planet, if you don't get that Ignis after you win, SOL Tech will permanently suspend your account for Link VRAINS." Shepherd's eyebrows were raised when he said that, but he didn't pay too much attention to it as he knew that it was from Akira, "Before you ask why, it is because you used weapons in this server, caused destruction on the buildings and harmed the innocent, so if you want to log into Link VRAINS ever again, win this duel." he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I got that." said Shepherd as he now flew towards Stormrider, who had his eyes on him the entire time, as they looked at each other and then at the same time yelled, "DUEL!"

The Shepherd: 4000 lp

Stormrider: 4000 lp

Speed Duel!

Turn 1.

Stormrider drew his 4 cards with Flame on the top of his duel disk as Shepherd's hand was automatically filled. "I'll begin this duel!" yelled Shepherd as he swiped his hand to reveal his hand and he grinned, but it wasn't visible.

He picked one of the cards, "I'll start my assault by normal summoning my Duplicate Drone!" he yelled as then on his side of the field appeared a massive mechanical black ball on the field with yellow lining around it with three eyeballs around the ball as on the bottom was a yellow fan that went like crazy.

(Duplicate Drone: Level 1 - Wind Machine - Attack: 0. Defense: 0.)

"Since I control Duplicate Drone on my side of the field, I get to special summon another copy of my Duplicate Drone from my hand, so appear! Duplicate Drone!" he yelled as then a second copy of Duplicate Drone appeared right next to the first summoned Duplicate Drone on his side of the field.

(Duplicate Drone: Level 1 - Wind Machine - Attack: 0. Defense: 0.)

"2 monsters already?" asked Soulburner as he and Frostgirl were now right behind The Shepherd as they saw their friend duel the bounty hunter.

"And he only activated 1 effect the entire time, not bad." said Frostgirl as she nodded with the strength of The Shepherd.

"Now, I'll activate a Spell card from my hand, Blitz Drone!" he yelled as a card materialized on his side of the field, "I'll soon begin explaining what this Spell card can do, but not before I activate my monster's effect in my hand! Since I control a Drone monster, in which this case I have two with the same name, I can special summon from my hand, Scud Drone!"

On his side of the field appeared 3 green missiles as on the center was a ball with a small button with glass protecting it in which it connected with the missiles and around it was a machine like circle that circled his 3 missiles and button. As then all of Shepherd's monster zones were now filled making him unable to summon anything from his hand.

(Scud Drone: Level 3 - Wind Machine - Attack: 800. Defense: 1100.)

"3 monsters on his side of the field," stated Stormrider as he realized in what position they were in.

"He's going to Link Summon!" yelled Flame as he stated the obvious.

"That's right, Ignis! I'll start by forging my circuit!" on his side of the field appeared a circuit, "The Summoning Condition is one Drone monster, so I set my Scud Drone in the Link Arrows!" he yelled as his Drone monster flew into the bottom link arrow.

"I Link Summon! Appear, Link-1, Battledrone Sergeant!" he yelled as from the circuit appeared a standard battle jet. On the tip of the jet, the end of the jet and on the bottom of the wings was dark blue while everything around it, even the tails of the jet, was white. When summoned, its exhaust pipe was engulfed in flames as it appeared on his side of the field.

(Battledrone Sergeant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 800. Link-1. Link Arrows: Bottom-Middle.)

"Then, I will forge my circuit twice!" a circuit appeared on his side of the field, "The Summoning Conditions are 2 Drone monsters that aren't tokens, so I set my two Duplicate Drones in the Link Arrows!" He commanded his two monsters as they flew at the circuit at the bottom and one of the middle arrows.

"I Link Summon! Fight on the battlefield, Link-2, Battledrone Warrant!" he yelled as on his side of the field appeared a fighter jet that made the first one look weak in comparison. The tail of the plane, wings, and almost every other top part of the jet was dark gray, but the tip of the jet and on the bottom of it was dark red. It had spikes around the tip, and on the bottom of the wings are red missiles ready to be launched at his opponent. It was at Sergeant's only Link Arrow.

(Battledrone Warrant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Bottom-Middle.)

"Two Link monsters, already? Dang you don't waste time do you?" asked Stormrider as he was shocked that he was going so far in just the first turn.

"I concur. Not even The Gore could do a Link Summon that fast, and he held 2 Link-4s!" said Flame as he crossed his arms to continue to watch the duel.

"Well, unlike that muscle bond attention seeker kid," Gore sneezed during his duel against Blue Angel, as he was currently in the lead, "I duel with precision and enough force to destroy anyone that comes my way, even without a Link-4!" he yelled as then a circuit appeared on his field.

"So, what I can do twice, is what I can do thrice! I forge my circuit! The Summoning Conditions are at least 2 Drone monsters, so I set my Sergeant and Warrant in the Link Arrows!" he said as his two monsters flew at the circuit as his Warrant occupied two Link Arrows while his Sergeant did 1.

"The Legendary Battle Jet has been formed and from it, appears death and destruction to all AIs! I Link Summon! Link-3, Battledrone General!" on his side of the field appeared a battle jet that made the other two look like toys in comparison. It was much bigger than the other two. It was pitch black as obsidian and it looked as tough as it. Around its wings were two massive rockets that were about to blast something with it. When summoned, it changed the air current around them.

(Battledrone General: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 2400. Link-3. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Middle-Right, Bottom-Middle.)

"Mother of God!"

"Look at that thing!"

"It's massive!" yelled Soulburner, Frostgirl and Stormrider one after the other.

"His size isn't just for show, its effect is also massive! He allows me to special summon one Drone card from my graveyard, so I will choose my Scud Drone!" he yelled as on his side of the field appeared his Scud Drone.

(Scud Drone: Level 3 - Wind Machine - Attack: 800. Defense: 1100.)

He pushed his arm forward, "Two effects go off at the same time! First off, when Scud Drone is revived from my graveyard, I get to draw one card from my deck!" he said as a card appeared on the field and he drew it.

"Secondly, Blitz Drone's effect also activates! It destroys the revived monster," he said as his monster blew into several pieces and flew into his Continuous Spell card, "so I can deal you damage for its attack points! That means 800!"

From the Spell card appeared a missile as it then flew straight towards him at fast speeds, making a small explosion.

Shepherd: 4000 lp

Stormrider: 4000 - 3200 life points

"He dealt me damage…" his eyes widened as he realized that this will be a serious battle, "...in his own turn."

"You best believe that I will demolish you!" he said as he swiped his hand and pointed at it, "I'll then end my turn with a face down." he said as a card was set vertically behind his Battledrone General.

"Don't think I am not done!"

"Are you serious!?"

"Oh byte!"

"When I control no monsters in my Main monster zone, I get to special summon my Battledrone Warrant from my graveyard, so come out!" he yelled as on his side of the field appeared his Link-2 monster.

(Battledrone Warrant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Bottom-Middle.)

Turn 2. Stormrider - 3200 lp - 4 cards

Stormrider looked at his hand and thought the best possible combo he could make with it as he announced his move, "My turn! I draw!" yelled Stormrider as he drew the top card of his deck as he flipped through it and grinned.

"I activate the Spell card, Pot Of Greed!" he yelled as a card materialized on his side of the field as he began explaining the legendary Spell card's effect, "This card allows me to draw 2 cards from my deck!" he said as he drew the 2 cards from his deck.

His hand size now became 6 as he looked at all of his cards and took one from his hand, "I'll then activate the Spell card Pre-Preparation Of Rites!" The card materialized on his side of the field as he began explaining, "With this card, I get to add a Ritual Spell card from my deck and, in addition to that, I get to add a Ritual monster if the name was in the Ritual Spell's card text. So I will add Nephthys Conductor and Rebirth Of Nephthys!" he yelled as two cards popped out of his deck as he then took them.

"I see, so you are going to Ritual Summoning as fast as possible?" asked Flame as he crossed his arms, Stormrider nodded.

"Hah! You can try all with all of your might, but nothing will stop The Shepherd! Even with a powerful Ritual monster!" yelled Shepherd in defiance.

"Really? Well let's test that shall we? I activate my Ritual Spell card, Rebirth Of Nephthys!" a card materialized on his field as he began explaining, "With this, I use a monster from my hand or field as a Tribute for any Nephthys Ritual monster whose level is either exact or above it! So I use my Nephthys Defender as my tribute!" he said as then a purple circle appeared in his feet that had symbols all over them that had the face of the Sacred Phoenix as a monster appeared on the field only to be sucked in it, as 2 flames appeared on the circle, one at the top, and the other at the bottom.

Stormrider then began to chant, "For a Ritual of the Sacred monster, a Conductor is needed for the summon of the legendary monster! I Ritual Summon! Appear, Level 2, Conductor Of Nephthys!" From the Ritual Circle appeared a petite sun tanned woman, that wore sandals, two brown gauntlets on her legs, while wearing an Egyptian style red dress that went around her chest, but not around her arms, around her arms was a red cloak, around her body was an orange cloak that was made out of the same material as the red cloak. She wore a hat that was the shape of a Phoenix. Her eyes were ocean blue as her hair was divided in two routes as they brown.

(Conductor Of Nephthys: Ritual - Level 2 - Wind Spellcaster - Attack: 2000. Defense: 0.)

"Nice monster, Se- Stormrider!" yelled Soulburner with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, and don't forget, he hasn't normal summoned yet." said Frostgirl as she also had a grin on her face, but it wasn't as visible as Soulburner's.

"If you think that is nice, Soulburner, you should see her effect, which I now activate!" yelled Stormrider as he pushed his arm forward, "When she is Ritual summoned on my side of the field, I get to special summon a Ritual Nephthys from my hand or deck!" a card popped out of his duel disk to which he took it, "So come out, Devotee Of Nephthys!"

The figure was a much more mature woman, with black sandals, black gauntlets on her calves, a black skirt, a robe that on the backside went much lower than on the front side that was beige, light blue and dark blue all at the same time that showed her shoulders, a dark blue scarf, a hat that covered her eyes that resembles the Phoenix, but this time it was dark blue and with dark hair.

(Devotee of Nephthys: Ritual - Level 2 - Wind Spellcaster - Attack: 1200. Defense: 1200.)

"Two Ritual monsters," The Shepherd narrowed his gaze at his two monsters, "They aren't enough to defeat me!" he yelled.

"Of course they aren't! Because like my friend told me," he pointed at Frostgirl with his thumb, "I still haven't normal summoned yet! So I think I will change that! Come out, Disciple of Nephthys!"

On his field appeared a petite sun tanned girl on the field with golden sandals, black gauntlets on her calves, a red dress, a necklace with a white feather, two gauntlets on her hands, a hat with a head of a phoenix, dark eyes and dark hair with orange highlights on the end of her hair.

(Disciple of Nephthys: Level 2 - Wind Spellcaster - Attack: 0. Defense: 2000.)

Frostgirl then took a good look at all of her best friend's monsters and how similar they look with each other and judging at the back of his head, he was most likely grinning eye to eye, "Soulburner?"

Her not so subtle crush looked at her with the same type of face, "Yeah?"

"Have you noticed anything about his monsters?" she asked as he nodded with slight uncomfortability.

"Hard not to." he said as Frostgirl agreed with him.

However, since Stormrider hasn't heard them, he continued on with his turn, "Now, I activate my Disciple's effect! During the Main Phase, I get to destroy one card in my hand," one card was then set ablaze and sent to the graveyard, "I get to add a Nephthys card from my deck! So I will add Cerulean Sacred Phoenix Of Nephthys!" he yelled as a card popped out of his deck to which he took it.

"I am not finished! I'll now cyclone my circuit!" from the tip of his hands appeared a circuit with a mini tornado as then Flame looked at him.

"That…that sounds exactly what the Wind Ignis would say whenever he would Link Summon." thought Flame as his eyes narrowed as he remembered something odd with Seigen's Link VRAINS name, "Stormrider…that sounds like…his deck!" thought Flame as his eyes widened as he looked at him. Could he be his origin?

Stormrider didn't notice him staring at him so he continued with his turn, "The Summoning Conditions are at 2 Nephthys monsters, so I set my Devotee and Disciple in the Link Arrows!" he yelled as his monsters went towards the circuits.

"I Link Summon! Appear, Link-2, Nephthys, The Sacred Preserver!" he yelled as from the circuit appeared a massive statue that was behind him. It was made out of gold and on top of a podium. It depicted that of a golden Phoenix that was at least 20 feet tall. It blocked off Soulburner and Frostgirl's view from the duel, so they went around it to watch the duel.

(Nephthys, The Sacred Preserver: Link - Fire Winged Beast - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Bottom-Middle, Bottom-Left.)

"Dear god, that's massive! I can barely see the top!" yelled Frostgirl as Soulburner looked at it, as it kinda looked familiar.

"The effect of my Preserver activates! When it is Link Summoned on my side of the field, I get to add a Level 8 Winged Beast from my deck straight to my hand, and then I get to add a Ritual Spell from my graveyard." explained Stormrider as Shepherd glanced at him as he couldn't read his expression, "So he-"

"Not so fast!" Their eyes widened as Shepherd threw his hand out, "I activate my Continuous Trap, Capture Drone!" chains appeared from the Trap card and wrapped around the newly summoned Link monster.

"Hey, what gives?!"

"Nothing much, just my Trap card's effect! I can target any Link monster on your side of the field, and Capture Drone captures it, making it unable to attack, or be used for a Link Material, not to mention its effect is negated, so all of those cards that you could've used for a Ritual Summon are now negated!" yelled Shepherd as he explained his Capture Drone's effect as Stormrider gritted his teeth.

"Curses, we were so close!" Flame looked at Stormrider's hand and realized if the effect would have gone through, he could've Ritual Summoned a monster from his hand.

Stormrider took a card from his hand, "I set a card face down." a card was set vertically behind Perserver and Conductor. "Battle! Conductor of Nephthys destroys your Warrant! Ritual Flame!" Stormrider yelled as from the hands of the Ritual monster appeared a small fire that was blue as she threw the flame at the Battledrone monster, destroying it.

Shepherd: 4000 - 3200 lp

Stormrider: 3200 lp

Just like that, their life points are now equal, but even with that, they could feel that Shepherd was in the lead, and if one mistake was made by Stormrider he would lose the entire game and Flame.

"I end my turn." he said.

Turn 3. The Shepherd - 3200 lp - 0 cards

"And this will be the last turn you will ever have! I draw!" yelled Shepherd as he drew the card that was on his duel disk, and looked at it, as a small grin appeared on his face. "Perfect."

The card disappeared as he looked at his opponent, "I'll start by activating my Skill! Drone Force!" he yelled as all of the green lining on his body glew a lighter shade of green as he began explaining, "With this, one monster on your side of the field loses 200 for every Drone monster in my graveyard, Scud Drone not included since it was banished with Drone Blitz, and my Battledrone General gains the same amount that your monster lost until the end of the turn!"

He then pointed at Stormrider's only Ritual monster, "And I pick your Conductor Of Nephthys!" Stormrider's eyes widened.

Flame crossed his arms, "I counted 4 Drone monsters in his graveyard, 2 Duplicate Drones, 1 Battledrone Warrant and 1 Battledrone Sergeant. Which means our monster loses 800 attack points while his gains 800 attack points." he said.

Battledrone General: 2400 - 3200 attack points

Conductor Of Nephthys: 2000 - 1200 attack points

The Shepherd thrusted his arm forward as he continued with his barrage, "That's not all that I could do, I also activate the effect of Capture Drone! I get to special summon Drone Tokens equal to the amount of Link Arrows that your Preserver has!" he yelled as Stormrider narrowed his eyes at him.

"As if! I activate my Skill, Nephthys Sacrifice!" the blue lining on him began to glow even bluer as he began explaining his Skill, "This card destroys one Nephthys monster on either my hand or field, so I choose my Preserver," his statue blew into many massive bits that went towards the Data Storm and the data was sucked in by it, "So I can add a Nephthys card straight to my hand!"

A card popped out of his deck as he took it.

"Okay, good, he made it so he doesn't have any disadvantages at all." said Soulburner.

"Hopefully, he could get over this turn as soon as possible." said Frostgirl.

"You managed to counter my Skill, but can you counter my Battledrone General's effect?! I can revive one Drone monster from my graveyard, so come out, Battledrone Warrant!" he yelled as then on his side of the field, and on the bottom of the Link Arrow of General, appeared Warrant.

(Battledrone Warrant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Bottom-Middle.)

The Shepherd thrusted his hand towards him, "And thanks to my Blitz Drone's effect, I can tribute it," his newly summoned Warrant disappeared as from it a missile appeared from the Continuous Spell card, "so I can deal you damage equal to his attack points! And…FIRE!"

The missile was shot as Stormrider did some calculations on what will happen, he will be left with 2000, just enough for Shepherd's victory, but he won't let that happen! He grunted as he opened his lone set card, "I activate my set card, Energy-Absorbing Monolith!"

A monolith appeared on his side of the field as it absorbed the missile, "This card negates any effect damage that would have been inflicted on me, and then it transfers into a life point gain effect!" he yelled as then a blue missile appeared from the monolith as it went towards him.

Shepherd: 3200 lp

Stormrider: 3200 - 4400 life points

"I am still in it!" yelled Stormrider as Shepherd cackled as his spine became cold.

"Yes, but not for long!" yelled Shepherd as he swiped his arm and picked the only card in his hand as then the card materialized in front of them, "I activate the Equip Spell, Assemble Drone! This card allows me to target one Drone Link monster in my graveyard, and special summon it! So come out, Battledrone Warrant!"

As then his Link-2 monster appeared on General's bottom Link Arrow.

(Battledrone Warrant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Bottom-Middle.)

"Assemble Drone also allows my monster to gain 500 extra attack points!" Shepherd yelled as his monster glew red for a bit.

Battledrone Warrant: 1200 - 1700 attack points

Flame did the calculations in his head, and realized that even though they would survive the turn, their life points wouldn't be one to be fondly remembered as it would leave 700 life points, but judging by Shepherd's words it feels that his General has more than one effect.

"Battle! Battledrone General attacks your Conductor Of Nephthys! Missile Barrage!" yelled Shepherd as from the missiles of the Battledrone General were shot towards Stormrider's only Ritual monster on the field.

"Stormrider! Use the effect of your Believer!" yelled Flame as he looked at his friend.

"You got it! I activate the effect of my Believer Of Nephthys! I halve all the battle damage for the rest of the turn by destroying it from my hand!" he yelled as he picked up a card and as then, it was scorched alive.

"You still take the damage of my assault!" he yelled as his monster obliterated Conductor as nothing from it could be seen, even with a microscope.

Shepherd: 3200 lp

Stormrider: 4400 - 3400 life points

"My Warrant hasn't done anything to you yet! So attack! Blast Cannon!" shouted Shepherd as his monster pointed all of its missiles at Stormrider as it flew towards him in a blazing fury.

Stormrider shielded himself from the attack while the rest could only see their friend take all of the blasts.

Shepherd: 3200 lp

Stormrider: 3400 - 2550 life points

"Alright, I am safe now. I just have to draw a card from my de- Why do I hate that unseen smile?" he asked as all of them took a good look at Shepherd as they could tell that he was smirking the entire time.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I have another effect left?" he asked as their eyes widened.

"Another effect?!"

"In the Battle Phase!?"

"Are you kidding me!?"

"Oh Byte."

"That's right! And it goes around my Battledrone General! When a monster made a direct attack, I can tribute that monster, and you take damage equal to the amount it had on the field, and last time I checked, effect damage isn't the same as battle damage so you're taking the full force of this barrage!" he yelled as his Warrant went towards Battledrone General as it turned into a massive missile.

It targeted Stormrider and it blasted straight towards him, making a small explosion.

When the dust was settled, Stormrider was on his knees, breathing heavily.

Shepherd: 3200 lp

Stormrider: 2550 - 850 life points

As Stormrider stood up, he realized how much of a good thing he added Believer, and not any other monster he could've add since he would have won that duel in just this turn alone.

They all realized that if he fought Frostgirl, or even Soulburner, he would've won those duels without a question, and it feels like they were only scratching the surface on everything that he could possibly do in this duel alone.

They felt that…he had something in his deck, something that makes it clear that isn't just Link monsters, he uses, but also, the other types of monsters.

"Looks like you survived this turn, but nevertheless, soon I will defeat you, obliterate you into oblivion and get that Ignis from you." They all looked at Shepherd when he said that as he narrowed his eyes. "I end my turn, and then my Battledrone Warrant's effect activates! Return!"

On his side of the field reappeared Warrant for the third time this turn and the 5th time this entire duel.

(Battledrone Warrant: Link - Wind Machine - Attack: 1200. Link-2. Link Arrows: Middle-Left, Bottom-Middle.)

Turn 4. Stormrider - 850 lp - 2 cards

Stormrider looks at Shepherd as he could be seen flying in his duel board with his arm crossed as he looked at him like he was a prey and he was the predator, he looked at his best friends, who were worried sick about him since it looked like an unwinnable battle and then looked at Flame who looked worried for his and Stormrider's safety.

He gritted his teeth as he hated this feeling. He can't let this slide. He can't let Flame in danger like this! He simply won't allow this to happen to him! Not before he knows about a certain incident in his life…

He shook his head as he looked at his deck and placed his fingers on top of the deck and yelled, "It's my turn! I draw!" he yelled as he placed the card in his hand, but not before yelling, "During my Standby Phase, two effects go off since 2 of my monsters were destroyed by an effect the previous turns! First off, Believer allows me to draw one card from my deck!" he yelled as he drew his card and placed it in his hand.

"Then, since Matriarch Of Nephthys is destroyed during my turn, I get to special summon her on my field! So come out!" he yelled as a card popped out of his graveyard and slammed it on his duel disk.

On his side of the field appeared a woman, I think all of them were seeing a pattern, that was much more mature than his other monsters. She wore golden leggings, a beige coloured robe that wrapped her entire body with some golden accessories, a nice tan, dark eyes and dark hair that went down on towards her stomach as the end of her hair was slowly turning white.

(Matriarch Of Nephthys: Level 2 - Wind Spellcaster - Attack: 600. Defense: 600.)

"Now, I'll activate the Spell card, Preparation Of Rites! This card allows me to fetch a Level 7 or lower Ritual monster from my deck," a card popped out of his duel disk as he took it, but he really didn't intend to summon it right now since he has better plans with it, "and then a Ritual Spell card from my graveyard." a card popped out of his graveyard as he took it.

"You can summon anything you want! Nothing will get over my assault of monsters!" yelled Shepherd as Stormrider grinned.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked as they all turned to him as he took a card from his hand and the card materialized in front of him, "I activate Rebirth Of Nephthys! With this, I can Ritual summon any Ritual Nephthys monster from my hand, so I will send my Sacred Phoenix Of Nephthys, so I could summon an even more powerful monster!" he yelled as on his side of the field appeared a circle that was purple that had the face of Sacred Phoenix on them, as 8 flames appeared on them.

Stomrider began to chant, "Sacred Phoenix, let the flames engulf your body! As the feathers of your kind will burn into a new Phoenix! I Ritual Summon! Descend, Level 8, Cerulean Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!" From the Ritual circle appeared a phoenix that was bigger than Battledrone General. The golden wings of the Sacred Phoenix turned into beautiful azure coloured wings that was engulfed into blue flames as its golden eyes glew as its wings created a whirlwind.

It landed directly in front of Stormrider.

(Cerulean Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys: Ritual - Level 8 - Fire Winged-Beast - Attack: 3000. Defense: 1000.)

"WOAH! Look at the size of that bird!"

"It's massive!"

"Not bad of a Ritual Summon, not bad at all." said Frostgirl, Soulburner and Flame all at the same time, but Shepherd wasn't worried in the slightest.

"Like I am scared of a chicken! Chicken are mere prey for the predators as they couldn't do anything for their survival, like you!" he pointed his finger towards Stormrider as his eyes were narrowed. "You will never beat me with a monster like that! Even with those attack points!"

"Is that so?" grinned Stormrider as he took the remaining cards in his hand as everyone raised their eyebrows at him, "Because I activate his effect! I can destroy any number of Nephthys monsters in my hand or field, like my Devotee and Disciple in my hand, and your monsters are toasted!"

"WHAT?!" yelled Shepherd as he couldn't believe his ears when he heard it. Two cards from Stormrider were now burnt to a crisp.

"You heard me! Cerulean Sacred Phoenix, destroy his Warrant and General with Sacred Reincarnation Blast!" from the mouth of Cerulean Sacred Phoenix appeared blue flame and it was thrown directly towards Shepherd's two Link monsters, melting them away as they exploded.

"He is now wide open for an attack!"

"That means that Sei- uhh, Stormrider wins this duel!" yelled Frostgirl and Soulburner as she looked at Soulburner when he said that. He really needs to get used to the naming schemes.

He rubbed the back of his head when he said that as he looked at Frostgirl.

"This can't be!" yelled Shepherd as Stormrider grinned.

"Oh it be, alright! Go, Matriarch and Cerulean Sacred Phoenix Of Nephthys attacks you directly! Sacred Phoenix Flame!" from the hand of the much weaker monster appeared fire so gentle, but so hot at the same, as the same couldn't be said for Cerulean's flame as it was destructive and hotter enough to vaporize Blue-Eyes ice.

They then both shot at Shepherd as he blocked himself from the attack, but it wasn't enough for his life points

Shepherd: 3200 - 2600 - 0 life points

Stormrider: 850 lp

STORMRIDER: WINNER!

"This…shouldn't be possible!" yelled Shepherd as he looked down at his duel board as Flame appeared from Stormrider's duel disk in his form that eats away data like meat.

"Sorry, man, but it is possible, and I don't see why you aren't a part of the Knights Of Hanoi." shrugged Stormrider as Shepherd looked at him.

"The Knights Of Hanoi? Why would I ever work with those losers?" asked Shepherd as he stood up "The Shepherd works for nobody!" he said as he clenched his robotic arm.

"Really? Huh, could've sworn you would since it would make sense, and honestly, makes me feel way worse to do this to you." he said as Flame looked at him before he responded with a nod. He could do this to him with no harm.

"That's right! And here is a little payback for trying to delete me moments ago!" he yelled as he went towards with a massive bite, but Shepherd quickly looked at the top of a building as he decided not to fight against this beast, but rather, jump off the board.

He then landed on top of the building in a superhero type pose.

"Damn it, we were so close to get him!" yelled Stormrider as Flame appeared back to his regular, incomplete form.

"Well, look at the bright side, at least we know what we have to look for during this quest if he ever fights again." said Flame as Stormrider nodded.

"Yeah, honestly, he was the toughest opponent I have ever had in my entire life." said Stormrider as he couldn't even think straight as he thought of times he could've lost the duel if he didn't activate his effects at the right moment.

"I have to agree with that, Stormrider. I haven't seen an opponent this tough since Soulburner's duel with Gore." said Flame as he crossed his arms with his eyes narrowed.

"Right, and if he is somehow weaker than the leader of the Knights Of Hanoi, then," his eyes narrowed in a cold way, "we have to be preparead."

"Agreed." he said as he looked at his sides and saw his partner and his not so subtle crush, Frostgirl. "Looks like they are here."

Stormrider turned to see their eyes, which were both impressed and shocked at the same time. "What took you guys so long?"

"We were behind you the entire time during your duel." said Frostgirl as he 'ahh'ed. "Also, what the hell? When did you ever had that card in your damn deck?"

"I got it last week," he said.

Frostgirl tried to say something about that, but honestly, it was the perfect response. "Okay, I didn't expect you to have that answer ready, but- Wait you are using an incomplete deck?"

"I mean, yeah, but it still worked to defeat the Knights Of Hanoi…and to kick Soulburner's ass with it."

"Okay, do you have to remind me of that duel every other day?"

"Yes." Frostgirl and Stormrider said at the same time.

Soulburner looked at Frostgirl and tried to fight against that, but truth be told, he did get his butt handed to him as well by her, as he wanted to duel without Flame's assistance, so he just pouted.

"Jerks."

"Oh come on."

"Don't be like that."

"I mean, you have to admit."

"That's what friends are for."

"To bully each other relentlessly."

"Forever."

"Until the end of times."

"And the day we-"

"OKAY, I GET IT!" yelled Soulburner as he got tired of his best friends' quips that he knows will last at least for 5 minutes. Sometimes he can't stand them…but that would be a lie.

Flame chuckled as he looked at Stormrider, "That is amusing, but can you please return me to my partner now? I feel more relaxed there."

"But that is the same model of a duel disk." said Frostgirl as the Fire Ignis looked at her.

"Fair point, but I think it is because he is my origin." he said as they 'ahh'ed at that.

"Yeah sure, give me a second." he said as he pressed a button that revealed Frostgirl and Soulburner faces on them as he pressed Soulburner as Flame appeared in his duel disk, "There you go."

"Thanks!" he said as he smiled, but then looked at him, "Wait how did you do all of this?"

"I am also intrigued by this. I didn't think this was even possible." said Flame.

"Yeah, how did you do that?" asked Frostgirl as Stormrider sighed.

"Well it is easier for me to explain it to you while we are not in Link VRAINS, so let's just log off, shall we?" he asked as they all nodded as they then logged off.

Meanwhile Shepherd was on the floor, with his hands shaking in anger as he looked at the three users in spite, "Damn those…how…HOW DARE THEY!?" he stood up with the intensity of a wolf as he gripped his fist into a ball.

"Once I get my hands on them, I WILL DESTROY THEM AND THEIR IGNIS!" yelled Shepherd as he then heard someone logging in.

"You will do no such thing." a familiar voice said as Shepherd turned around with his mechanical hand pointing at him.

His eyes widened, "Zaizen? What are you doing here?" he asks with venom in his voice.

It was Akira Zaizen with…absolutely no changes to his avatar to his regular self. The only thing that is different from him was that he had a dark blue duel disk that had no deck slot and it was the newest design from SOL Tech.

"What I am doing here? Well that's simple," his eyes narrowed at the Shepherd which he returned, "You are banned from Link VRAINS. You can not log in Link VRAINS until we decide to let you in."

"What?! How dare you!?" he yelled as he thrusted his hand to his side as he looked at him.

"How dare I indeed, especially since you targeted innocent users that from what we have seen, are not part of the Knights Of Hanoi, and even threatened a group of duelists who did nothing wrong to you other than asking you to a duel." said Akira as he raised his hand in the air to his face.

"They should have learned that you should leave me alone while I was doing my job! Who else is going to get the Ignis other than me?" he asked an honestly good question, "Ghost Gal? The Gore again? Your sister?" Akira's eyes narrowed when he said that as he knew that his sister was a popular duelist in Link VRAINS.

"Some schmucks that have a total of 3 wins on their belt? Playmaker?! Face it, Zaizen! I am the only one who can do this type of job! I am the best there is a reason why I am the best bounty hunter in the world!" he shouted at the security manager of SOL Tech, as he wasn't being cocky, he was being factual. Only he was this skilled to get an AI, but this time it was the only time he ever failed to get his target, as not even the Knights of Hanoi could do a better chance than him.

"That may be true, but you did do something that you shouldn't do, target innocent duelists." Shepherd gritted his teeth as Akira looked at him, "But don't be angered just yet, Shepherd, as you still have access to other servers to do your job, this server however," he snapped his fingers in the mannerism of the Shepherd.

"You won't have access to." he said as he turned away as data from Shepherd began dematerializing.

"No. No! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! HOW DARE YOU, ZAIZEN! ONCE I AM DONE WITH THE IGNIS, I WILL GET TO YOU TOO!" he shouted as he was slowly disappearing. "GOOD LUCK ON GETTING THE IGNIS, YOU FOOL! BECAUSE NOBODY WILL EVER CATCH HIM WITHOUT MY HELP! GOOD LUCK!" he yelled as everything started to dematerialize as he fell to the floor.

"You idiot." he said as he fell to the floor, but this time with no support as every data disappeared from him.

Akira turned to him, "It's a shame, really. I really wanted to be on good terms with him, but it seems that fate wouldn't like that in the slightest." he said as he logged off.

Meanwhile, to nobody's knowledge, not even the chess pieces know this, but Varis watched the entire duel with interest. "So it appears that Soulburner's partner in crime has defeated The Shepherd, which is a shame though, we really could've used his help for the job."

He didn't really like to admit, but the Shepherd would've been an insane help to him. Not only was he an expert hacker and is able to track down AIs from light years away, but his skills were extremely sharp, even on the level on the Commander Of The Hanoi with his skill in duels. He even felt that he had monsters like his own, monsters that weren't just Link Monsters, but he knew that they wouldn't be stronger than his own.

But he has no time to mourn as he had to think about ideas of getting the Ignis, but he can't just go in and duel him, he doesn't want the massive attention like Soulburner wants, he needs to do this privately and more safer for his own safety. He looked over everything that he could make.

He could send one Knight of Hanoi, but that won't work in the slightest.

But then he had an idea. He looked at the image of the person that Soulburner appeared to be the most fond of, Frostgirl. He grinned as he had a plan already for the job, and she will be their pawn. For the Ignis.

And if by some miracle that doesn't work, he and his father have created a device that might come in handy later on.

He grinned as he logged off, wanting to share the idea to someone else, but more privately.

Stage 1 will come shortly.

Authors Notes:

And done! Phew, finally a good 13k word chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it, and sorry for the little wait.

Here it is the only Season 1 Chapter that contains the Shepherd, and I have to admit, he is my 4th favourite character in VRAINS (Yes, above Yusaku, Ai, Akira, Specter and Ghost Gal.). I really love his character. His design is one of my personal favourites, his Drone deck is interesting and if I am being honest, I would love to play the deck in real life due to how powerful they look, and I love his mini arc in Season 2 where it goes in deep dive on his background, which I do plan on using when I come to that part, and how he duels Ghost Gal, Varis and then Lightning in what honestly to god might be my favourite duel in all of Link VRAINS. Seriously, there is something about that duel that I just love, even more than Varis vs Soulburner, Varis vs Playmaker Round 4, Ai vs Playmaker, Bohman vs Playmaker, Specter vs Blue Angel and Specter vs Lightning.

I honestly believe if he was inserted here in canon, between Blue Angel and Gore's duels, Playmaker would have lost. Think about it, he only has Encode and Decode Talker, and if the turns would have gone like that, then he would have enough to OTK Playmaker, heck the only reason why he even lost that duel against him was because of Cyberse Magician and Cyberse Clock Dragon. I will use him more in Season 2 when I come to that part, and I hope you guys can wait until then.

Here it is Stormrider's chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed it since Nephthys is a deck that I like having combos about, but I honestly want more support for this series. I wanted to give this to Stormrider since I actually want to show that he is currently the strongest out of the three, both in duel and in intelligence, and how much he cares for his friends and Flame. Also, I do have an idea for Season 2 with Shepherd about this duel later on. I decided to add a feature to pass Flame over since believe me, that is going to be important later on.

Next up is gonna be Kiku's chapter, and the way she gets a card from the Hanoi will be different, and I hope you guys will enjoy it!

I have to write 2 more chapters of Yugioh GX: Rewrite! so you guys have to wait a while for that duel so sorry.

I think that is about it, and see ya!

Altered and Made Up Cards:

Rebirth Of Nephthys: Made it so it could add Conductor as well.

Nephthys Sacrifice: Skill - You can only activate this Skill once per duel. During either player's turn (Quick Effect): Destroy 1 Nephthys monster face up on the field or hand, and if you do, add 1 Nephthys monster to your hand.

Believer of Nephthys: Level 2 - Wind Spellcaster - Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000 - If an opponent's monster declares, you can destroy this card, you can halve the battle damage for the rest of the turn. If this card is destroyed, during your next standby phase, you can draw one card.