(A/N: As previously stated, I've been looking forward to something in this chapter I've been meaning to do for a long time. See if you can guess what it is by putting a guess in your review)


Per Mukuro's instructions, Makoto headed for Tower Deneb. He was about to build anti-ground cannons. However, before he did so, he checked the map to see which enemies his action had pulled towards him. Turned out, Ishizu had shifted course.

"Mukuro! I'm installing anti-air cannons! Ishizu is on her way to target me!" Makoto exclaimed.

Mukuro looked at the group's funds. "You should have enough money to build a fortification as well. Use that to give yourself an advantage. However, since we don't know if we're up against AI or not," Mukuro said. "I advise building a fortification only when Ishizu gets too close to divert course."

"Quick fingers, got it!" Makoto exclaimed. If it's Ishizu I'm up against, she should recognize me from our duel in Battle City. And if she's an AI, it stands to reason the rest of Ishtar is as well.

Makoto took a moment to look at Ishizu's team: Dunames Dark Witch, Orion the Battle King and Magician of Faith. Not the strongest, he felt, and it would likely crumple to his completely healthy team after she got shot by anti-air cannons.

As he was waiting for Ishizu to make her way towards him, Makoto lit a pit fire in the fort. It didn't really do anything, but he was just enjoying interacting with the environment. However, in this particular case, lighting such a fire proved to be beneficial.

"Excuse me."

Makoto nearly fell over with a start at the sound of someone's voice. He got up, whirled around and saw a rather strikingly beautiful elf woman. She had bronzed skin and was wearing a purple dress. Her eyes were green and she had long, reddish brown hair.

"Uh…hi?" Makoto squeaked.

"Are you part of the resistance?" the woman asked.

"Resistance? Er, well…" He put a hand on his chest. "My name is Makoto Naegi. I'm a member of the Black Dragon Squad. We're a band of thieves."

"Are you against the Empire or aren't you?" the woman asked.

"Oh. We're definitely against the Empire," Makoto said with gusto. "They're uh…" he scratched his cheek, looking a little nervous, "trying to kill us."

"I see," the woman said. "Would you be willing to help me?"

"Uh, we're kind of in the middle of trying to escape, but I guess I can help," Makoto said.

"Excellent. You see, I'm looking for my younger twin sister. Her name is Lora. Although, I'm not even sure if she's alive or not," the elf woman said.

"We'll find her. I'm sure she's alive too," Makoto said with an amicable smile.

"I may be sending you on a wild goose chase, but…I have to find her. We're twins after all," the woman stated.

"Hey, I'm a big brother," Makoto said. "I know I'd freak out if my little sister went missing." Have to realize I'm probably talking to an NPC AI. She probably isn't programmed to respond to queries like that.

"What would you say to taking me along?" The elf woman asked. "Your battles are only going to get tougher from here on out. I'm sure you could use the help. Plus, if I travel with an army, it will give me a better chance to look for my sister."

Makoto saw a prompt on his display:

GEMINI ELF (KACHUA) WISHES TO JOIN YOUR ARMY

Gemini Elf?! Makoto exclaimed internally. I thought she looked familiar. It appeared that the developers had split an iconic level-4 monster into two monsters and even gave them names. Still, more monsters was never a bad thing and 1900 base attack points would be a godsend to their army.

Makoto hit the accept button without hesitation.

"Excellent. I promise not to get in your way," Kachua stated.

"Get in our way? No! Not at all! You'll be a huge help!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Thank you."

GEMINI ELF (KACHUA) HAS JOINED YOUR ARMY

"What happened?" Joey asked, opening comms.

"Uh, I think I recruited a monster without a fight," Makoto said.

"Awesome! Can we try it out right now?" Tristan asked.

Makoto poked and prodded at every point of the interface. "It doesn't look like we can while we're on a mission." He said. "The monster chance interface is grayed out."

"Man, talk about your lack of quality of life choices," Joey said, sticking a finger in his ear.

Miho clapped her hands with delight. "I think it adds to the challenge! Like, you have to take the monsters in your party right for the task."

"Yeah, but it's Duel Monsters, Miho. Strongest monsters win," Tristan said.

Makoto laughed. "Duel Monsters hasn't been that simple since Battle City, Tristan. There's a lot more to the game than attack points. I'm sure it's the same for this game too. We're just not high enough level to see that yet."

"Hey, fair enough," Tristan remarked.

Mukuro then cut in with an announcement. "Tower Sirius secure. Anti-Ground cannons installed."

"Roger that," Joey said.

"Hmm, it appears I've attracted Odion's attention," Mukuro said, looking at the enemy interface map. "That leaves the three of you to deal with four enemies. Install both types of cannons and prepare for battle!"

"Youuuuu got it!" Joey said.

Comms were then closed.

At that point, it was a waiting game, waiting as the enemy units traveled across the horizon to get to each individual base.

Ishizu made it to Tower Deneb before any other units struck first. Makoto watched his anti-air cannons fire and used that as a signal to install fortifications. Ishizu, shockingly pressed onward and straight towards taking Makoto head on.

"Ishizu," Makoto said, readying himself to field his team.

"We do not wish to spill blood needlessly. Surrender," she said.

"Same. Come on, Ishizu. I know you're not a bad person. We fought in Battle City. Although," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I suppose getting a chance to play a game like this with Marik and Odion must really make you happy. I guess no hard feelings, right?"

"Silence," Ishizu said, cuttingly. "You are an enemy of the Empire. If you will not surrender, then you leave me no choice."

Ishizu's wounded monsters appeared for a battle. Makoto loaded in his team as well.

"I accept your challenge!" Makoto exclaimed.

Looking at the enemy interface, Makoto noticed that, among his foes, Magician of Faith was, unsurprisingly, the weakest monster.

He had all three of his monsters concentrate their attacks on it. Magician of Faith survived with only a sliver of health left.

She must have chosen to guard over dodging, he thought. But…even so, that seems a little—

He then gasped, spying something quite strange. The shockwave from his attack blew at Ishizu's hood…and revealed something around her neck that shouldn't have been there.

"That's…the Millennium Necklace," Makoto said. "But…that's impossible. You gave that to Yugi after our duel!"

"Don't be absurd," Ishizu said. "This necklace has been in my family for generations! It is an heirloom of the Empire!"

It is an AI! Makoto exclaimed. He quickly opened comms, setting his monsters to guard so that he had time to explain. "Guys! We can exploit the Ishtar forces! Marik! Ishizu! Odion! They're all AI!" Makoto exclaimed.

"What? All of them?" Joey asked.

"How can you be so certain?" Tristan asked.

"Take a good look at Ishizu's neck on her enemy profile image," Makoto told them.

"Huh? Ain't that the Millennium Necklace, or whatever," Joey said.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, she gave it to Yugi, but this Ishizu insists it's an heirloom of the Empire."

"That explains why that Odion guy was buttoning it the whole time," Joey said.

"And why Ishizu walked right into my trap. We've got nothing to worry about," Makoto said as made a fist and gave Ishizu a look of renewed vigor. "And that means we don't have to hold back!"

Although Makoto's monsters had suffered a barrage of attacks from Ishizu while he was on comms, he was now prepared to take back to the offensive. With a wounded team, Makoto was able to take out what remained of Ishizu's monsters HP.

Ishizu gasped as her body seemed to just blip out of existence after her team had been defeated.

"I'm advancing to Tower Centauri to fortify and hold my position," Makoto said. "I'll move in on Marik when we're all ready."

Mukuro nodded. "Good strategy. Do it."

Odion's slow movement meant that she would be waiting a while inside the fort for him to arrive. Knowing he was an AI gave Mukuro time to strategize and review based on Joey's previous battle with Odion. This time, Mukuro would have the advantage, Odion being at half health and all due to the effects of her anti-ground cannons.

While she waited, the enemy forces were well on their way to attack the Researcher Guild, Joey first in line as Mukuro had instructed. The team that attacked him ended up consisting of Wing Eagle and two of the monster known as Mavelus.

"Piece of cake," Joey remarked. "They're all at half health."

It was about to be anything but.

At the start of the battle, Wing Eagle slammed into his Sengenjin for not exactly insignificant damage and both Maveluses used an attack known as Heat Wave that was Omni-directional, but only had one target, making it impossible which of Joey's monsters was being targeted.

"Man, this game has some serious problems with unbalanced difficulty. I'm gonna stick that in my user feedback review," Joey said.

"I guess this is what we get for pissing off the Empire," Tristan said, groaning.

"It'll be all right, Joey. Miho is here if you get hurt," Miho told him.

Joey nodded and proceeded to smack the shit out of Wing Eagle with his Sengenjin. Since the opposing monsters were too fast to dodge and too tricky to guard against, Joey decided to just go all in on the offensive.

This proved to be a giant mistake.

As soon as Wing Eagle took significant damage from Sengenjin, Joey received a message:

PLEASE STAND BY POLYMERIZATION IN PROGRESS

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Wing Eagle merged together with one of the Maveluses via the two monsters swirling together like a funnel and everything flashed before Joey's eyes. After the flash, the two birds were replaced by one bird: Crimson Sunbird.

"Wait! What?!" Makoto exclaimed, seeing this on the data screen.

The sunbird was quite powerful, boasting an impressive 2300 base attack and not insignificant amount of HP. A white aura was also glowing around it.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Miho exclaimed. "Crimson Sunbird is fused from Faith Bird and Skull Red Bird!"

"If Hajime or Chiaki were here, we could probably get an explanation," Joey said.

Makoto looked at more data. "AH! I see now! Polymerization is an item you can use to fuse monsters together. Wait, does that mean fusion monsters like Mavelus and Kaiser Dragon are pre-programmed into the game."

"Worry about the details later. I got Fried Chicken to carve up."

Soaring Sun

When Joey saw the attack name of Crimson Sunbird's attack flash on screen, he immediately tried to determine where this flaming twister of hell, the monster generated by flapping its wings rapidly, came from. However, all of his commands were locked.

Data came up: Soaring Sun cannot be blocked or dodged.

"You gotta be kiddin me!" Joey exclaimed. He watched the attack slam into and damage Sengenjin.

Instead of now fighting 3 individually weakened monsters, Joey Wheeler now found himself facing down a weakened Mavelus and what felt like a mini-boss.

"Joey! If you use the Escape command, it'll be forced to retreat!" Tristan said.

"Hell no! We don't know if fusions only last one battle or not yet. This overgrown rooster needs a cock-a-doodle dumpin' on and Joey Wheeler's gonna bring the pain!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Tristan shouted.

"Shat up," Joey told him. "I'm tellin you. I got this!" Joey said.

"Don't mistake confidence for recklessness," Mukuro told him.

"Don't sweat it, Mukuro," Joey said. He smacked his fist into his awaiting palm. "Ain't no challenge Joey Wheeler can't handle!"

"What about dueling Kaiba?" Tristan asked.

"…Almost no challenge Joey Wheeler can't handle," Joey responded.

With that, Fate's Ultimate Eliminator got to work figuring out a strategy on what to do. He began by using all three of his monsters to whallop the remaining Mavelus. Like this, he could not put his full concentration on tearing apart his opponent's only remaining monsters.

Soaring Sun

This time the attack landed on Axe Raider, doing quite a bit of damage in the process.

He directed Swordstalker to attack, and it dealt damage. Numbers in white indicated such. Then Joey saw numbers in green appear and the monster's health went back up.

"It can regenerate?!" Joey exclaimed, furiously scratching his head. "That's it! No more mister nice Wheeler!"

Soaring Sun

The next attack blazed Swordstalker, but Joey had ceased to care. Throwing caution to the wind and just focusing all his AP on attack, Joey directed his monsters to simply surround Crimson Sunbird and lay into it. This…strangely proved to be effective as Joey's attacks were doing damage faster than Crimson Sunbird could regenerate.

His team was in tatters.

His heart was racing.

But Crimson Sunbird's health reached zero.

"Take that, you overgrown turkey!" Joey shouted in indignation.

"Uh, roosters are not turkeys," Mukuro pointed out.

"He's just angry. Let him vent," Makoto told her.

Per Mukuro's instructions, Joey switched out with Miho as the enemy's remaining forces started to advance forward.

Mukuro could then see Odion's Mystical Beast Serket advancing down the mountain towards her. Excellent. She installed a Fortification to increase her chances of victory.

Odion appeared before her fort. "You will pay your insults and humiliation during our last encounter, Officer of the Black Dragon Squad."

Mukuro took only five seconds to close her eyes and exhale and she was immediately "in the zone" as it were. This game, Kingdom, may not have been her usual battlefield, but she'd already grown accustomed to using her monsters as weapons. Using the interface was not much different to operating a tank or a vehicle. In essence, virtual or not, game or not, to Mukuro, Kingdom was still a battleground, and, as the Ultimate Soldier, she would show no weakness.

She had Dragon Seeker fly in almost immediately against Mystical Beast Serket, finding it easy for her monster to dodge its massive AoE single target attack. In fact, her Dragon Seeker was so swift for a flying unit that it had little trouble evading most of Odion's attacks.

At the same time, Mukuro's Flame Cerberus was taking the equivalent of half-court shots from its initial position while her Archfiend Soldier waited in the wings in case she needed the extra muscle.

The only thing that made Odion trouble was when Mystical Beast Serket used its special ability to absorb the souls of enemy and ally alike for a power up to its stats. Worse, Odion had a nasty habit of using it and then immediately guarding using its last action point to prevent additional damage.

However, Mukuro simply waited rather than blow her AP on a 0 damage attack over and over again. She had a theory and she wanted to test it.

As Mukuro stared down the massive, immobile scorpion, she realized how strange it was for her to be so methodical and strategic. Sure, she was more of a follower of orders than a giver, but that was different. Joey and the others were relying on her to make decisions, a situation she'd never really found herself in. Whether it was the chief's or Junko's, Mukuro was the type that simply obeyed orders.

And yet…


3 year ago…

Holding a sniper rifle in her hands, a grenade launcher strapped to her back, Mukuro watched a military aircraft start to take off from miles away.

Chief Serpica, a man old enough to be Mukuro's father, stood behind Mukuro. His bushy brown beard partly covered up the scar on his left cheek. He had an eyepatch on his right eye. He took out a cigar and lit it up.

"Whatcha doin there, kid?"

"Taking aim," Mukuro said.

Serpica looked at the retreating, routed enemy and all the dust getting kicked up. "You're going to need more than one round."

"No," Mukuro said. "I only need one shot."

Her brain was acting like a supercomputer, analyzing complex math equations in an instant. She was not her sister. She couldn't predict a person's actions fifteen actions in advance, but when it came to simple behaviors of the world around her…

BANG!

KA-BOOM!

…Mukuro had just as much analytical capabilities as Junko.

Serpica's cigar fell from his mouth onto the sandy dirt. Mukuro had tagged the aircraft's fuel tank and ruptured it with enough force to cause the whole aircraft to explode.

"We can finish eliminating the enemy," Mukuro said, watching the aircraft spin out and crash, only to explode. "…At the very least we can collect their corpses."

Serpica smirked. "Good shot, Ikusaba."


Present Day

…When it came to math, physics, and logistics, Mukuro was always on top of her game. She could calculate arc angles all day in her head and predict the trajectory of enemy fire to make dodging bullets as simple as doing a somersault.

A game like this, it seemed, was right up her alley.

She was no expert on tactics, but she was at least skilled enough in pattern recognition to know that, even if Odion had no moves left, his monster's guard…had to drop eventually.

After only a few minutes of waiting to be safe, Mukuro commanded her Archfiend Soldier to go in and start swinging away. She ended up scoring hits for full damage.

"All right, Mukuro!" Miho cheered.

Mukuro blushed. "Ah, well," she cleared her throat. "Well. Yes. Nothing to be concerned about here. I will be holding my position here for now. If enemy reinforcements arrive like two missions ago, I don't want them taking this base. At least Makoto can advance on Tower Centauri. According to the map," she said, pulling it up. "There is nothing but mountains between me and the enemy's base."

"Well, hopefully we don't run into any trouble up here," Tristan said.

"Rest assured if you do, I will retreat to assist," she said. "However, holding forward positions is a key strategy to any battlefield."

"You know for someone who didn't want to be the tactician, you sure are good at it," Joey told her.

"N-Nonsense," Mukuro stuttered. "Th-these are basic strategies even kindergarteners understand."

"Pretty sure kids that age only care that the toy gun goes pew pew," Tristan remarked.

"Awwwww, Mukuro, are you embarrassed?" Miho asked, laughing.

"I AM NOT!" Mukuro shouted and abruptly closed the channel. That would teach them.

Joey laughed. "You know, I always thought she was a stuck up kinda gal, but I guess when you get past the iron soldier, she's just a normal girl under there," he said to Tristan and Miho.

Miho giggled. "Miho's glad Mukuro's part of our team."

"Me too," Joey said. "Anyway, look alive. Next enemy at 7 o' clock."

"It's 7?" Miho asked.

"He means your positioning, Miho," Tristan told her.

"Oh! Right! …Miho knew that!"

The incoming enemy got blasted by the anti-ground cannons and then soldiered on right into Miho's forces. The enemies she were up against were two Saggi the Dark Clowns and Illusionist Faceless Mage.

"Jeez, even here, can't get away from that dumb clown," Joey said.

Miho didn't understand Joey's problem.

"We can talk about it later," Tristan said.

"Okay!" Miho exclaimed.

Immediately as the battle started one of the Saggi's used an item.

Miho's interface read:

GERM INFECTION BEING CAST
PLEASE WAIT!

Next thing she knew, all her monsters were poisoned.

And then her interface read

RAIMEI BEING CAST
PLEASE WAIT!

Next thing she knew, her monsters took insignificant amounts of damage, but they were all paralyzed.

"Ah, crud. That's not good," Joey remarked, look at the battle data.

"Hang in there, Miho!" Tristan exclaimed.

"I don't understand. The difference between the difficulty of this mission and the last one is like night and day," Makoto said over comms. "Do you think it's on purpose?"

Mukuro was on comms again, but didn't answer. She really had no idea.

Miho's monsters took a serious thrashing as both Saggis and Faceless Mage attacked her monsters over and over as the poison slowly chipped away at her health. Before long, her enemies still had their health left and Miho hadn't even launched an attack.

Fortunately, Miho was now capable of fighting back and she did so without hesitating. With swift decisive action commands, she took out one Saggi and then the other before being hit with another Raimei by Faceless Mage.

With her monsters paralyzed again, the sole remaining opposing monsters began zapping her Aloof Lupine over and over again. Miho bit her thumbnail, sweating. This was not going well. She was supposed to be able to take out one or both squadrons, but there was another squadron just like it inbound.

"Mukuro! I think you should head on over here!" Tristan shouted.

"Leave it to me!" Mukuro declared. She prepared to abandon her position at Tower Sirius.

"No! Mukuro! Stay where you are!" Makoto exclaimed. "I'll take care of it!"

"Huh? Makoto?" Mukuro was surprised.

"I'm closer to intercept," He said. "I'll take out the enemy in the back of the formation and then take Tower Pegasi to recover. Then, you, me and Joey can move in and take out Marik."

Mukuro thought it over. "As team tactician, I approve this decision. Do it!"

Makoto nodded and swiftly flew outward to intercept the flying team in the back of the enemy formation.

While he did this, Miho weathered the storm of the Faceless Mage and then swapped out for Tristan to take on the incoming squadron of the exact same build.

Like with Miho, Tristan's team was instantly poisoned and paralyzed, letting the two Saggis and Faceless mage just wail on his team until he could mount a proper counterattack. Unlike Miho, the Saggis boasted a lot more HP than he could dish out readily in one battle.

"Hey, Joey. I'm in a tight spot here," Tristan said. "My team's health doesn't look so good."

"What do you want me to do? My team took a pounding from Crimson Soaring Sunshine!" Joey shot back.

Tristan was able to knock out one Saggi and heavily wounded the other, but in the process, his Battle ox was lost and his team was not looking good.

Worse, the remaining monster team had been considered the winner and did not receive an immobilization penalty during their forced retreat.

Sweating, Tristan braced himself for the inevitable, only to suddenly find his avatar getting flung backwards through the town as Miho stepped in.

"Miho! What are you doing?" Tristan asked.

"This is Miho's way to pay you back for that time she tried to kidnap you! This time, Tristan, Miho will protect you!" Miho declared.

She fielded her wounded team against the wounded Saggi and the Illusionist Faceless Mage. Tristan had done enough damage that Saggi the Dark Clown was only one tap away from death by her Wingweaver.

As a result, Miho wasted no time taking action. As soon as he team materialized, she did not give the enemy AI any quarter. Blasting Saggi into oblivion, she only had to eat a Raimei to the face, paralyzing her team and letting Illusionist Faceless Mage just wail on it for a little bit, taking out her Aloof Lupine, which was already at low health. Miho waited for the paralysis to wear off and then barreled down on Faceless Mage with her team. It was bulky. It could take hits. However, Miho was determined to take it out right now.

Another Raimei. More waiting, more taking hits. Divine Dragon Ragnarok was knocked out and now it was a one on one battle between Faceless Mage and Wingweaver, but her monster could not take much more.

"Miho! Use Escape! We don't know what happens if your team is wiped out! You haven't been through virtual reality like we have!" Tristan shouted. "Whenever Kaiba Corp executives plot against us, they always try to trap us here!"

"Miho will…MIHO WILL NOT LOSE!" Miho shouted.

Like a madwoman screaming Nordic war cries, Miho shrieked at the top of her lungs and began rapidly tapping the attack button on her Wingweaver, determined to wipe out this pesky Faceless Mage.

The monster's health dropped lower and lower with every attack. Miho was getting closer and closer to victory. Eventually, one more attack and Miho would win. As long as she didn't see the Raimei message appear, she would win. She only had one more attack though too. Should she risk it? Should she pull back? If Faceless Mage dodged or guarded, it would be over, her team would be wiped out and there would be nothing she could do about it.

But Miho hadn't come this far to back down now. The periwinkle haired girl went all in and shouted, "WINGWEAVER! ATTACK! HEAVENLY MAGIC CANNON!"

Wingweaver gathered energy and then blazed the attack at the faceless mage. The attack struck home and the monster was destroyed. Miho had won.

Miho sighed with relief and then started to feel faint. Tristan caught her by the arms.

"I got you," he said. "Easy there."

Miho cooed and then reached up and stroked her boyfriend's face. She smiled and then closed her eyes for a bit. She needed a brief rest. Not too long, her team needed her, but just long enough to catch some virtual sun on her face and ease fatigue.

Meanwhile, Makoto had caught up to the last remaining enemy team. They were fielding Kryuel, Summoned Skull and Dragon Seeker.

Makoto knew how to handle this though. He immediately began by spamming attacks at Dragon Seeker when it flew into to attack his Serpent Night Dragon. While it cost him quite a lot of AP, it was worth it to try and knock out this fiendish monster as he also had to divert some of Serpent Night Dragon's AP to avoid attacks from the monster's powerful claws.

Then he saw the message

HINOTAMA BEING CAST
PLEASE WAIT

Summoned Skull suddenly let loose a trio of fireballs from a spell in its inventory and burned Makoto's monsters for not exactly insignificant damage.

Kryuel then came swinging in and attacked Serpent Night Dragon just as it dodged an attack from Dragon Seeker. Makoto's monster suffered the full brunt of the attack, but it wasn't that much damage given Kryuel's low base attack.

Makoto then finished off Dragon Seeker.

HINOTAMA BEING CAST
PLEASE WAIT

This came at an awful time as Makoto's Serpent Night Dragon was put in dire straits. If he lost his monster, he might not be able to claim victory.

Makoto diverted his attention away from Kryuel, to Summoned Skull. Well, he had Lady of Dragons and Koumouri Dragon attack it. Serpent Night Dragon couldn't attack it without Kryuel hitting his monster from the side so he avoided putting his monster at risk. As he wailed on Summoned Skull, it began unleashing its famous Dark Lightning attack. But it was so telegraphed, an expert gamer like Makoto found it easy to be dodged in most cases.

Serpent Night Dragon eventually ran out of AP, but so did Kryuel, meaning his Serpent Night Dragon was safe.

…Or so he thought.

HINOTAMA BEING CAST
PLEASE WAIT

With the last of its AP, Summoned Skull hit Makoto's monsters with a fireball that wiped out his Serpent Night Dragon, leaving him down his most powerful attacker. Still, with just enough AP to keep fighting, Makoto managed to knock out Summoned Skull and then tap Kryuel.

Pressing the advantage, Makoto turned around and fought Kryuel with his last two monsters. Its Savage Shadow Slash was very telegraphed and gave an ample dodge window. Both Lady of Dragons and Koumouri dragon were quite nimble so they had more than enough capability to take it 2 on 1, especially since the attack was melee focused. It left Kryuel pinned between Makoto's monsters—with careful positioning—from both ends, allowing Makoto to attack with whichever monster wasn't currently being attacked from the front.

With Kryuel defeated, that was it, only Marik remained, but the team…had paid a heavy price.

"Makoto, make a healer at Tower Pegasi. Joey, heal up and follow me. We're going to go defeat Marik."

Defeat Marik she said. Marik's team consisted of two Dark Elves and a Skull Knight. How on earth were they going to defeat him like it was nothing.

Still, there was nothing for it. Joey listened to Mukuro. Mukuro advanced into the mountains between Air Shrine and Tower Sirius. She stopped halfway, waiting for Joey to reach safety, heal up and begin his march towards the last remaining enemy.

Suddenly, Marik automatically came up over the comms. Instead of using a party channel, he was speaking globally. In other words, the game equivalent of a cutscene.

"You fools! Did you really think I would be bested so easily!" Marik shouted. "Witness the folly of your efforts! Come, my reinforcements!"

Suddenly a very short timer began counting down

ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS IN:

And the time was counting down from five minutes.

"What are we gonna do?!" Joey shouted. "We're gonna get killed out here!"

Suddenly a flashing alert was sent not just to the Black Dragon Squad, but Ishtar as well.

"What's this?" Marik gasped.

Makoto looked at the alert. "Incoming unknown fortress from the southwest!"

"Oh, that's just what we need. More bad news," Joey remarked. "A floating fortress. Greaaaaat."

Suddenly the reinforcements timer went dead, followed by, on the global map several Empire outposts in the Cheylumn region disappearing.

"WHAT?!" Marik shouted.

Suddenly an unknown caller jumped into the global comms. "No matter the time, no matter the day, play foolish games, win foolish prizes."

Joey felt his heart stop and then race. "Th-that voice!"

A familiar head of ringleted black hair and piercing red eyes showed up on the previously static-riddled comm line. Its owner then chuckled haughtily. "My, how careless of you to leave your flank open like that, Marik." They smiled sweetly, placing their chin atop their neatly folded hands. "I do believe this is what many would call check and mate."

Seething with rage as his plans were foiled, Marik uttered with a snarl, "Celestia…" then with full-blown rage shouted, "LUDENBEEEEEEEEERG!"

"Ah ha ha ha ha." Celeste cackled in her usual haughty fashion at seeing such a, in her opinion, boorish man lose his temper.

"Frenchy?! That you?!" Joey asked.

"You know anyone else that annoying and full of themselves?" Tristan asked.

Celeste's team leader, revealed to be Chaos Hunter suddenly appeared just southeast of Air Shrine, Marik's stronghold.

"Feel free to leave Marik to me, Joey. This battlefield requires, as one might say, a lady's touch. I shall hear no objections to this," She said calmly and then marched her team to face off against Marik atop the stronghold roof of Air Shrine. When she said she would accept no objections, clearly she meant it.

"Hey! Who said you could come in and steal all the glory?"

Celeste looked surprised. "My, were you not the ones requesting aid from the entire map?" Celeste asked.

"Eh? You answered our call for help?" Joey asked.

"I can explain the hows and whys later. Right now, I have some payback to dish out."

Celeste fielded her team consisting of Vampire Lord, Chaos Hunter and Vampire Lady. She stood against Marik's team consisting of the two Dark Elves and Skull Knight.

"Honestly, this game is truly in beta. The real Marik would have a much more thematically appropriate team. At least give him Revival Jam," Celeste quipped.

"Fool! I control all manner of monster and miscreant! I am the High Mage of Ishtar!"

"And this was the team you landed on? My, my, how sad," Celeste remarked.

"Silence, witch! You will wish you'd begged for mercy back at Enno Castle!"

"Right, Enno Castle where I outwitted your forces, stole your precious treasure map and escaped your clutches. Tell me, does that bruise to your ego still hurt, or do you still need a mommy kiss to make it better?"

Marik growled and commanded Skull Knight to attack with its signature move: Reaper Blast. The strike from the monster was so mighty indeed that it was incapable of being dodged.

But it could be blocked.

Keenly aware of this, Celeste selected a guard command to her Vampire Lady, the target of the attack. Sure, damage was still inflicted, but it could have been much worse.

"My turn," Celeste stated.

She commanded Chaos Hunter to attack one of the Dark Elves, dealing serious damage to it. Chaos Hunter's long whip was a melee attack, but it was so far reaching that it didn't have to move from its position in order to attack.

Marik did not sit idle and had that same Dark Elf attack with Magical Cannon at Chaos Hunter.

With her arms outstretched to field commands, eyes scanning the battlefield, and mouth surprisingly closed, Celeste played a game of touch and go with Marik's team. She didn't overcommit to any one monster, instead spreading her damage out across Marik's forces.

"Hey! Frenchy! If you take out one monster, it's less damage for your team," Joey chimed in.

"Be quiet, you oaf," Celeste shot back. "I know what I'm doing."

And indeed she did. Makoto got it. They'd never faced Marik before, likely Celeste hadn't either.

She's feeling out the AI's strategy in order to see how best to deal with his monsters. If she can't beat him, she's giving Joey and Mukuro the best chance they have to finish him off.

However, after a time, Celeste seemingly just abruptly took the kid gloves off. This was accented by her raising one arm in the air and snapping her fingers. Not that this was supposed to do anything—auto battle was not a mechanic, but it drew attention away from her other hand running commands along the interface. Granted, Celeste did not have an audience, but ever the egotist, she acted like she did. She was a performer through and through after all.

She began by focusing all of her efforts on Skull Knight. She had figured out Marik's strategy. He only attacked when attacked in response to his opponent's behavior. However, when he was fielding three long range monsters, that just meant that as long as Celeste didn't drop her guard, she was in the clear.

So, to that end, she had Chaos Hunter expend all its AP on Skull Knight, exchanging blows one for one. When Chaos Hunter ran out of AP, so too had Skull Knight. With that out of the way, she proceeded to eliminate only now have Vampire Lord and Vampire Lady attack it. Since their bewitching blasts of darkness were also long range, it gave Celeste the perfect pincer attack to eliminate an otherwise helpless monster. Her remaining two monsters then exchanged attacks with Marik's Dark Elves one for one, guarding when necessary. Sure, Celeste needed to use a few AP to guard against attacks, but she'd gotten the job done, mostly.

"Well, he's been weakened," Celeste said. She looked at the map. "You two are awfully far away. May as well finish the job."

"I am not that much further from him than you," Mukuro pointed out.

"Well, too bad, you'll have to outpace me. Oh, look at this. I don't have a movement penalty," Celeste returned, and re-engaged Marik in battle.

Down his Skull Knight, Marik was completely outmatched against Celeste's otherwise mighty Chaos Hunter who made short work of his Dark Elves one on one without Celeste even having to bother with her other two monsters.

She smiled sweetly at him. "And that is what some may call the coup de grace."

Suddenly, Odion began running out from a rest area in the stronghold to where Celeste and Marik had finished fighting. "Lord Marik, please! We need to go! If we don't escape now, we'll never make it! Please! We must hurry!"

Never make what, Makoto thought.

"I'll get you for this Black Dragon Squad!" Marik shouted. "You too, Celestia Ludenberg! Mark my words, you will all pay dearly for this!"

With that, a teleport visual effect was activated and Marik and Odion left the Beastly Badlands entirely.

Joey, more than thankful to not have Marik's forces on his heels, sat down on the ground and breathed a sigh of relief, clutching his ankles. "Man, that was close!"

"How did you know to come rescue us, Celeste?" Tristan asked over comms.

"Did I not say that I was answering your call for aid?" She asked.

"Lemme guess, you realized the Black Dragon Squad was us and decided to rub it in my face," Joey said.

"Well, you're half-right. I did like the thought of oweing you one, but I didn't immediately recognize the name Black Dragon Squad as your aesthetic," Celeste said.

"Then what tipped you off?" Joey asked.

"When you make a mission request, both party's levels are shown. Only you, Joey, could draw the ire of the Empire at such a low level, you garish buffoon."

"HEY!" Joey shouted.

"Wait, so you knew it was us, but you still came to our rescue?" Tristan asked.

"Awwww, Celeste does care," Miho stated with a smile.

"Don't be ridiculous. I just thought it would be amusing to have you all in my debt. Speaking of which, please follow me, and don't dawdle."

"Follow you where exactly?" Joey asked.

In response to his question, a massive castle began floating overhead attached to a chunk of land.

"I found this floating in the ocean southwest of Enno all by its lonesome. Marik's old map led me right to it. It cost one million gold to restore it to its former glory, but it was worth it."

"I'm sorry, did you just say one million gold?!" Joey asked.

"Yes, I did," Celeste said.

"How the heck did you get a million gold?" Joey asked.

"Oh, it's quite simple," Celeste said. "But first…" She waited until her floating castle was above Air Shrine and then pressed a button on the interface. "…As much as joining your party makes me ill, I suppose if I want to teleport us all up to my home base, it will have to do."

Joey accepted Celeste's party request and then she teleported them all up to her floating Castle. They group could now see the whole of the Beastly Badlands from high up in the sky. Celeste then set a course for Gigan-Syip for the group to get further away from the Empire's clutches.

"As for the gold, there's a cheat code in the game," Celeste said. "The Kaiba Corporation puts the same cheat code in all of its games."

"But this was made by SIC labs," Tristan said to her.

"Scott was a lead programmer at Kaiba Corp, I thought maybe, given that the Duel Disk was used, he would carry on the tradition. It was a gamble, but I turned out to be right. If you want 573 gold for nothing, just open the map and begin freeform drawing coordinates in the following order. North. North. South. South. West. East. West. East. Then hit cancel and then hit confirm on the empty coordiantes.

BLING!

A sound effect deposited 573 gold to Celeste's character.

"And there you have it," Celeste said. She then showed the group her character's finances. She was boasting a hefty 57,300 gold.

"When you're flying in a fortress overhead, sometimes you just get bored," she said. "And when you're bored, this is the best thing to do."

"This feels like exploitation," Joey said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you want to go back home or not?" Celeste asked.

Joey grumbled, conceding her point.

"That's what I thought."

"Still, Celeste, we can't thank you enough," Makoto said.

"Yes, yes," she said with a shit-eating smirk, "Heap on the praise. You may now all grovel at my feet and kiss them in gratitude."

"You wish," Joey remarked.

"There is something that I am still confused by, Celeste," Mukuro said.

"What's that?" The girl asked her.

"You knew that Joey was the one in danger based on your earlier deductions. You had no way of knowing who else would be in his group, yet you braved certain danger and mustered up the strength to fight one of the Empire's strongest armies for someone that, to the best of my knowledge, you greatly dislike. You said it was to have him owe you one, but you could have just as easily left him, and us, to our fates," Mukuro pointed out.

"Well, that's…" Celeste said, glancing sideways.

Joey started laughing.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm afraid I missed the joke," Celeste said. "Besides the one that is your entire life."

Joey stopped laughing, but not cause he was offended. "Come on, Frenchy. Just admit it. You were worried about me."

"Oh please, as if I would ever waste braincells worrying about a neanderthal like you," Celeste said.

"C'mooooon," Joey said with a big, dumb grin, "Just say you did it to save us. What's the harm?"

Celeste smiled overly sweetly. "You know, Joey. I haven't actually yet fully tested this game's physics engine. I wonder how your avatar would fare dropping from my floating castle. Would hit terminal velocity before you broke every bone in your body upon hitting the ocean I wonder."

Joey swallowed.

"That's what I thought. Now be a good boy and drop the subject," Celeste remarked.

"Sheesh, all right. Fine," Joey said.

Celeste stopped smiling and looked surly as she averted her gaze from Joey, slightly turning her body away from him and the others. "I said I wasn't worried about you and that is my final answer," she said, fingers clasped together as her knuckles fidgeted with her finger brace. "So drop it."

"Well, whatever your reasons, Celeste," Makoto said. "We're glad to have you around."

"Heck yeah, we are. More teammates means more butt kicking coming the Empire's direction."

Celeste sighed. You could have just left him to rot, but no, you had to play the hero and show him up, didn't you? I should have just ignored the request and kept going. I am regretting this already. Her gaze went back towards Joey and Tristan as they put arms around each other's shoulders, celebrating their survival. Celeste made sure no one was looking at her as she allowed herself to smile softly. But…I suppose I would have regretted not saving him even more.

She looked out over the horizon as the Researcher's Guild was coming up and, soon, Gigan-Syip would be appearing below. Black Dragon Squad, hmm? I suppose there are worse team names to be a part of.


Night fell over the world of Kingdom as everyone was sleeping soundly somewhere in Celeste's castle. The girl herself was staying up, checking the map as she gazed out over the edge of the plot of land that floated along with her castle.

Joey walked up behind her. "Can't sleep?" he asked.

"The day and night cycle is not the same twenty-four hours as it would be in the real world. And, unlike all of you, I am not exhausted, having only fought one battle," Celeste said.

Joey sat down, swinging his legs over the island's edge. "So, whatcha up to?"

"Looking for a spot in Gigan-Syip for us to idle. The Empire will need to be thrown off our tail before we can continue raiding them," Celeste said.

"Speakin a which, what made you decide to pick a fight with 'em?" Joey asked.

"Well, at first I began as an aristocrat under a noble family Nonnber," Celeste said. "I was a key Marshall in local defense, you see. At first, I used my position to get close to the Empire. However…"


A few days ago in Kingdom time…

Having been dispatched to put down rebellion in Nonnber, northern region, Celeste was finishing mopping up with local enemy NPCs when a voice called out to her.

"Oh! Is that you, Celeste?"

Celeste, turned her head to see one of the most aggravating individuals approaching her. "Oh, hello Nagito."

"I see you're helping Emperor Haysheen's hope grow," he said. "Fantastic! The more the Empire pushes the resistance into a corner, the more the resistance has to fight back." He hugged himself. "Ahhhh, Empire versus resistance. How glorious both hopes are to watch."


Present Day

"I decided right then and there that any faction with him on it was a faction I wanted no part of. So, I made moves to turn on the Empire as soon as I could. To that end, I joined the Ishtar Order, but only as a ruse. When I found secrets of Vampire Castle hidden in a vault, I stole it, turning Marik and his forces on me in the process. I had actually just acquired this fortress from revenants fielding zombie monsters when I saw the global request. Honestly, you would anger the Empire so easily."

"Yeah, yeah, up yours," Joey responded, eyes half-lidded.

"Still, call it fate, or destiny, or what have you, but it is good that we met up. After all," Celeste said, standing up. "You would not be able to navigate this game without the help of someone as beautiful, charismatic and intelligent as me. If left to your own devices, I imagine you would ram yourself into a mountain and crash the game, killing us all. So, consider my assistance to you charity work to make sure we all get home safely."

Joey growled, annoyed by Celeste's vernacular.

"At any rate, I recommend we wait two in-game days and then consider our next options," Celeste said. "The food my vampire servants provide us shall feed us in the meantime. Renovating this old castle was worth the investment, even if it made my fingers all sore to use the cheat code that many times." She then headed for the roof staircase into the castle.

Celeste was about to take one step down when she heard Joey call out to her. "Hey, Frenchy."

Celeste turned. Joey had his back to her, hands in his pockets, head tilted up at the clouds. "Hmm?"

"Really glad you teamed up with us. Means a lot," Joey said.

Celeste cleared her throat, fortunate that Joey could not see her blush. Of course, she denied to herself that the blush was even there. "Yes, well, as I said, it is necessary. We should all get home safely." She then headed into the castle.

It would be some time before the Black Dragon Squad rose up to face the Empire once more, but once they did, the Empire would feel the sting of the most powerful thieves guild in all the land.


(A/N: And scene! Have I mentioned before that writing Celeste at her haughtiest and most snarky is really fun? It has been a while, so I'll remind you all that Mai couldn't make it to the arc this time since she's touring on the pro circuit. So, I have Celeste taking her dialogue and "role" for the vast majority of the arc. My apologies to the Ibuki/Joey shippers that won't be getting their time's worth of interactions between the two. Celeste just matches Mai's girl boss attitude so she fit better for Team Joey than Ibuki did. And, who knows? Joey's roster isn't full padded out yet. You never know what might or might not happen.

But anyway, that's about all for me for right now. Until next time, as always, from all of me to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)