Responses to Reviews

Thank you to HunterHQ, ZeroMK7, KingOtakuOverYou, Donjusticia, Guest, and E.T. 2000 for reviewing Chapter 24 of Obscured Truth.

Hello, everyone! As always, I hope that you're safe and healthy wherever you are. I'm surprised with the reviews this time around, as this is the first time in a while that I didn't get many reviews.

Regardless, the story must go on, which is why I'll go straight to answering reviews:

HunterHQ: I had to write the beginning part at some point, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. And regarding Rosetta's situation, it does resemble Akiza's in a way. As for SengokuQueen, the events from Chapter 24 will help in her character development for the chapters to come. Finally, regarding Kitamura, he paid a top-notch hacker, which will be introduced as a minor character later in the story.

ZeroMK7: If you're wondering what deck each of the Ai's used, they used an upgraded version of the Tentacluster deck, with more floodgates and stall cards. I'll confirm with you right now: I do plan on using the Thunder Dragon archetype in my Arc V story. Stay tuned for an announcement at the end of the chapter!

KingOtakuOverYou: Thanks very much for the compliment. And Rosetta being similar to Marvel's Black Widow? Uh, not 100% sure. Regarding Ace, he's alive, although bruised up. As for why Revolver and Lord Kazuma's duels against the Ai's took so long, it's because the Ai's were the strongest out of the bunch Kitamura created, with an upgraded Tentacluster deck for each, along with floodgate and stall cards.

Donjusticia: As always, your reviews remind me of TeamFourStar's Dragon Ball Z Abridged. Allow me to answer your questions. One: Herald is the seventh Ignis, more commonly known as the White Ignis. I've originally decided to give him three attributes, but I've changed my mind to him having a portion of all six, just like the eighth Ignis. As to why, you'll have to read and find out for yourself. Two: If you recall in DSOD, when Aigami summoned the evolutions of his Cubic monsters, he had them immediately went to attack afterwards. I just followed that route to bring in suspense for the opponent Watchman was facing.

Guest: Yup. Kitamura's screwed BIG TIME.

E.T. 2000: I do plan on World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy being used in a duel. Whether it's in this season or in the future, and who will be worthy of using it, you'll have to read on and see.

It's now time for the chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 25: A Rock and a Hard Place

At Café Matsuo...

By the time Yuhiro reached Café Matsuo, he was tired from running all the way there, and as a result, had to walk inside to catch his breath. He ignored the steward bot greeting him behind the counter as he headed towards the backroom, where Roxy was waiting for him.

"Glad to see you got my text." Roxy said, motioning for him to sit down in his seat. "Sit down. We have a lot to discuss regarding Kitamura's stunt."

After Yuhiro sat down in his seat and took his Duel Disk off his arm, which Herald emerged out of, Roxy clicked on a video that was on the monitor. The video showed a live news broadcast of a woman reporting in an area in LINK VRAINS.

"We're coming to you live from LINK VRAINS, where earlier today, SOL Technologies' Security Chief, Kitamura, authorized an attack on the Hanoi's Headquarters and destroyed it," a female reporter said. "Investigators are trying to scavenge anything of value from the destroyed building due to the attack. We can't confirm if there were fatalities, but it's safe to say that the Knights of Hanoi have been killed. Now, with the people demanding answers as to what really happened, all eyes are on a young woman who goes by the name 'Rosetta'. Upon being interviewed, Kitamura claimed she was a part of the Hanoi, and apparently the only living witness. He also promised to release more details in a press conference over the next few days. Stay tuned."

Roxy snorted after closing the video on the monitor and turned to Yuhiro. "You know what I hear from that news broadcast, Yuhiro? Complete bullshit."

"That's something we can both agree on." Yuhiro replied, crossing his arms. "Kitamura's saying that he destroyed the Hanoi's Headquarters in an attack, but I know that's not true for three reasons." He held up one finger. "One: The Knights of Hanoi are cunning. They'd keep their base of operations hidden from the rest of the network, and in the event it became compromised, they would have a backup plan."

"In the form of a second headquarters." Roxy finished for him.

"You going to let me continue?"

"Sorry."

Yuhiro held up a second finger. "Two: If Kitamura's claim that he succeeded is actually true, why didn't he release all the details at once? He must be keeping some information to obtain more glory for that big ego of his."

"That would make some sense." Herald pointed out, emerging from Yuhiro's Duel Disk. "After all, he's practically a power-hungry idiot."

Roxy burst laughing at Herald's comment. "Never change, Herald. Never change."

Yuhiro held up a third finger. "Three: Even with this setback, I have a feeling it won't be enough to stop the Knights of Hanoi. For as long as even a single Ignis exists, they'll reform and continue to terrorize LINK VRAINS."

"Yeah. Your points make perfect sense there." Roxy narrowed her eyes. "Still, I can't believe Kitamura had the balls to do something stupid like that. He has no idea of the ramifications his actions will cause!"

"And as a result, he may have created an innocent victim in Rosetta." Yuhiro concluded, looking down to the ground. What am I going to do, he thought. Rosetta being injured is my fault. If I only took the Cyberse cards from her, then...

The next thing he knew, a message appeared on the monitor, getting Yuhiro, Herald, and Roxy's attention. This was what it said:

Come to LINK VRAINS at these coordinates below. Now.

J38290ghaodoa0sdj3o500d

- W.

"Damn." Herald said, reading the message. "I have a feeling Watchman's pissed with the situation, Yuhiro."

Yuhiro stood up and grabbed his Duel Disk, causing Herald to lose his balance. "I know. Better to deal with it now than leave it for later and make it worse."

"Yuhiro?"

Yuhiro turned around and looked at Roxy, who had her arms crossed. "Don't do anything to incur his wrath further, okay?"

He sighed as he said, "Yeah. Don't worry. I'll be careful." Yuhiro then ran to the closed-off space and closed the door. He then put his deck into his Duel Disk and said, "Deck set! Into the VRAINS!"

In LINK VRAINS...

Raguel blasted out of a portal and landed onto a rooftop in LINK VRAINS, which overlooked a good portion of the network.

"Are you certain this is it?" Herald asked him, as the two of them were looking around for any sign of Watchman.

"I know it is." Raguel answered. "After all, the coordinates are correct."

"You guys are here too?"

Raguel and Herald turned to their left, only to see Playmaker and Ai log into LINK VRAINS.

"I'm guessing you got his message?"

"Yeah." Playmaker answered. Before Raguel could speak, Playmaker continued talking. "I know what happened. About SOL Technologies' attack on the Hanoi Headquarters."

"Which puts our plans in a drastic position." Watchman said, emerging from an orange gateway behind him, along with Percival and Demeter. "One we can't afford right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raguel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It means that Kitamura's actions have escalated the situation." Demeter answered him. "To the point where the Hanoi will retaliate and cause more casualties in their plan to destroy the Cyberse."

Raguel and Playmaker's eyes widened at that answer.

"This situation could have been mitigated if you retrieved the Cyberse cards from Rosetta." Watchman stated, shocking Raguel. "And before you ask, you've forgotten that just like the Hanoi, I know everything that happens in the network." He stepped closer to Raguel. "Do you really think you can get away with an action such as this one from me?"

"Okay, I screwed up." Raguel admitted, looking at Watchman in the eyes. "And I'm willing to accept full responsibility for my mistake. But let me ask you this: If there was a chance to help someone, even if it were small, would you take it?"

"Your actions regarding helping people is small." Watchman said, turning away from Raguel. "As for me, I ensure that any action I take is for the greater good. Not a speck of sand, but the entire beach, if your mind can't comprehend what I mean."

"You didn't answer the question!" Raguel pointed out, stepping forward. He would have continued talking, but Playmaker stopped him from moving forward.

"Enough!" Playmaker told him. "We can't fight amongst ourselves. We have to figure out what to do next."

"Yeah!" Ai added, a worried expression on his face. "I don't want to see you become that fiendish monster again back in SOL Technologies' mother computer."

Raguel relented, calming down and breathing in the process. Playmaker was right. Getting angry by Watchman's statement was not going to get them anywhere.

After thinking, he asked, "So what now? Do we retrieve World Gears?"

"Not directly." Watchman answered. "But in the process of investigating the matter regarding World Gears, I learned something." He then stepped away from the group to look at the network. "I learned-."

"Hold on a second!" Ai interrupted. "Are you saying that World Gears, the World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy, which is the core of the Cyberse World, is still intact?!"

"It is." Percival confirmed, shocking Ai. "Although you should have saved your question until Watchman was done speaking."

"My bad."

"It could be worse." Herald pointed out. "After all, Ai does have a habit for bad timing."

"NO I DON'T!"

"Are you finished you two?" Watchman calmly asked, in a way that silenced both Ignis's. He then turned around to face the group. "I learned that a human inputted his dataprint to prevent anyone from accessing the vault except him."

"Which means that we have to locate this person before the Knights of Hanoi does." Raguel surmised.

"Precisely. And once we obtain World Gears, we'll have an advantage against the Hanoi."

"What exactly is this 'World Gears'?" Playmaker asked, his arms crossed. "And how will it help us against the Hanoi?" He raised an eyebrow at Watchman.

"Uh, hello!" Ai said, turning to Playmaker. "In case you haven't heard by my earlier rant, World Gears is the very thing that runs the Cyberse World itself!"

"So you're saying-?"

"Yeah! It's the strongest Cyberse monster in existence!"

"But I don't see how it will help us in this fight." Playmaker mused.

"You make a good point there." Watchman admitted, looking at the sky. "I confess. World Gears may not want to help us. Rather, it may want to return to the Cyberse World. But if we acquire its help, we may be able to stop the Hanoi for good."

"Is that so?" Playmaker turned around and started walking away. "Then I'll search for a match and find this man. After all, he might have more answers than you." He then logged out afterwards.

"Damn..." Raguel muttered, after seeing Playmaker's quick exit out of LINK VRAINS. He then turned to Watchman. "Well, I guess we're done here then." He was about to log out when Watchman spoke up.

"Raguel."

Raguel turned around and faced Watchman.

"Do not fail me again." Scowling, Raguel logged out of LINK VRAINS as Watchman sighed.

"You can't blame him for his actions, nor do you have to be mean to him about it." Demeter said to Watchman. "He can't help it. He has a heart."

"I understand that." Watchman replied, his hands behind his back as he turned to Demeter. "But we have to prepare him not only for the Hanoi, but for the Crisis to come. Not only him, but the other children from the Incident as well. Or have you come to doubt your commitment to this mission?"

"No. I have not." Demeter promised, turning away from Watchman. "I'm well aware of my commitment. It's just... there are times where I'm overwhelmed with everything going on. That's all."

Watchman stood beside her. "Aren't we all?" He then turned to Percival. "Percival."

"Yes?" Percival said.

"I want you to scare off SOL Technologies away from the Hanoi's Headquarters." Watchman told him. "I looked into the Hanoi's base of operations, and there are no members of the Knights of Hanoi there. Which makes it the perfect opportunity to salvage any information there."

"Understood." Percival ran towards the edge of the rooftop and jumped onto his duel board before speeding away on it. Watchman then opened an orange gateway in front of you.

"Shall we?" Watchman asked Demeter.

"After you." Demeter replied, as Watchman stepped into the orange gateway, with Demeter following behind him.

Meanwhile, in one of the boardrooms at SOL Technologies...

"To a successful operation!" Kitamura toasted, as the people there raised their glasses to join in on the toast before drinking from them.

Right now, Kitamura was celebrating the successful attack on the Hanoi's headquarters. Everything was going according to his vision. The workers at SOL are acknowledging his work as security chief, and soon, as something more. That is, if his upcoming press conference became a success.

No. Kitamura knew his press conference would become a success. And it's all because he had all the cards in his hand. He would publicly release the Hanoi's secrets to the world, exposing them for the criminals they are. Once that was done, Bishop and the others would have no choice but to praise and promote him. Even better, they might give him the second-best position in all of SOL Technologies!

Unfortunately, Kitamura's daydreams were interrupted, as an infuriated Gekiryushi kicked the boardroom door open, scaring everyone there. Even Kitamura was scared, as evident by his widened eyes.

"You!" Gekiryushi snarled, as she stepped forward and grabbed Kitamura by the collar before throwing him to the ground. "What did you do? Answer me, you piece of shit!"

"I don't know what you're-." Kitamura was about to say, but Gekiryushi grabbed him once again by the collar and slammed him to the wall.

"Don't you dare play dumb with me!" Gekiryushi warned him, pinning her arm to Kitamura's neck. "You said that the red data card would transmit and capture any person that it touched. Instead, it made Rosetta go unconscious!" She pressed her arm onto Kitamura's neck, much to the shock of everyone else there. "You lied. Which is why I'm bringing you in to the authorities!"

"You have... no right... to do so..." Kitamura sputtered out. "If you do this, I'll frame you for treason, as well as ensure that your career is over!"

Gekiryushi's eyes widened upon hearing that, causing her to release Kitamura from her grip. He took several steps away from her as he coughed, trying to get his breath back before reclaiming it.

"Do you really think I wouldn't have a contingency in place?" Kitamura smugly stated. "Believe me when I tell you, SengokuQueen. The public will only believe in those that bring the results they want. In this case, they want the Hanoi gone, which is why I'll go to great lengths to satisfy them. So that they believe in me, and no one else!" Kitamura took a few steps forward towards Gekiryushi, threatening her personal space. "Besides, who would believe you, a bounty hunter? After all, I have all the cards in my hand." Two guards then ran into the boardroom as Kitamura said, "Take her away."

The two guards then grabbed Gekiryushi and attempted to escort her out of SOL Technologies, only for her to fight back. "Wait, wait!" Curious as to what she'll say next, Kitamura motioned to the guards to stop, letting her stand up.

Looking at Kitamura, Gekiryushi said, "I know my way out." Believing her, Kitamura nodded to the guards, who let her go. She then walked out of the boardroom and out of Kitamura's sight.

"Are you okay, sir?" one of the guards asked Kitamura, as he rubbed his throat. "Should we go and arrest her?"

"No. Leave her be." Kitamura responded. "She's no longer a threat to us."

Elsewhere, at an unknown location...

"Ah. So that's what happened." Emon realized, as he pondered all the information Ryoken told him and the others while drinking a cup of coffee. "SOL Technologies caught us by surprise, and now you want to pay them back in full."

"Exactly." Ryoken calmly replied, his hands crossed as he looked out the window towards the ocean. After what happened, Ryoken had Takuya contact Emon and Youta for an emergency meeting, but in the real world. Once Emon and Youta arrived at Ryoken's house, Ryoken proceeded to tell them what went down in the Hanoi Stronghold. At first, Youta laughed him off, believing that no one foolish enough would dare attack the Hanoi head on. However, Ryoken's glare caused Youta to realize that the Hanoi leader was being serious.

Ace would have attended the meeting, but Ryoken ordered him to recover from his injuries, as he was closest to the blast before falling down several floors of the Hanoi Stronghold. If it weren't for the program, Ace would have been seriously injured. In addition, SOL Technologies managed to somehow capture and/or kill Rosetta. Which meant, to avoid detection, they had to sever all ties with her for the time being.

"Master Ryoken," Youta said, drinking from his coffee cup, "considering the situation we're in, how exactly do you plan on getting the revenge you so speak of?" He then turned to Takuya. "By the way, this coffee is magnifique."

"Why thank you." Takuya responded. "I'm glad you enjoy it."

"Gentlemen." Ryoken said, getting everyone's attention and pressing a few buttons on his Duel Disk. Soon, a holographic image of World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy came up. "We can turn the tides in our favor by taking World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy from SOL Technologies."

"But we haven't found a match to the dataprint yet." Takuya pointed out, turning to Ryoken. However, Ryoken smirked. "Wait. Unless-?"

"I contacted Athaliah and informed her of the situation." Emon stated. "When I asked her about the dataprint's progress, she hesitated before giving me an answer. Let's just say I coerced her into giving me the match."

"Emon, you sly devil." Youta said, surprised at what Emon just told them. "You've become cunning recently. Where did you pick up that trait?"

"As I said before, you never know what someone is truly capable of until the moment arrives." Emon replied, before pressing a few buttons on his Duel Disk. Soon, it showed a holographic image of an older man with gray hair and blue eyes. He wore a black suit with thin white stripes and a red tie, along with black shoes. "Everyone, allow me to introduce you to SOL Technologies' card designer, Hideki Kinoshita. He turned World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy into a card, and fearing what would happen if it were to fall into the wrong hands, locked it in a vault deep inside SOL Technologies."

"How interesting." Ryoken said, a hand on his chin. "So we know who was responsible for the vault. The question is: How do we convince him to hand us the card? He won't do so willingly."

"Which means we'll have to blackmail him!" Takuya stated, causing everyone to turn to him with eyebrows raised. "Or at least try to. Just like with Zaizen and Blue Angel."

"Takuya, I have already figured that out." Emon said, pressing a few more buttons on his Duel Disk. "After some research, I learned that Rosetta's name in the real world is Tsubaki Kinoshita, the daughter of Hideki Kinoshita."

Youta laughed. "Fate can be cruel, don't you agree Master Ryoken?"

"That's right." Ryoken agreed with Youta. He turned to Emon. "Emon, considering how you have the information, I am giving you the chance to redeem yourself."

"And I'm guessing you're tasking me with retrieving World Gears?"

"Correct." Ryoken confirmed. "Succeed, and I'll forgive your past failures. If Raguel or Playmaker try to intervene, you have my permission to eliminate them and their Ignis's."

Emon gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Ryoken. I will get started immediately." He then headed downstairs and towards the exit of the Kogami household, out of everyone's sight.

"Master Ryoken, are you sure about this?" Youta asked, getting Ryoken's attention. "If Emon somehow defeats Playmaker and deletes his Ignis, you won't get the chance of settling the score with him. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"For the Hanoi to succeed with their mission, I am." Ryoken answered. He looked down to the floor. "Although I suspect Playmaker won't be the one who gets involved with this situation."

On the way to the Den City Hospital...

Hideki Kinoshita sighed as he looked out the window in his limo, which was on the way to the Den City Hospital. After six years, he could finally see his daughter, Tsubaki again. However, he didn't expect the circumstances to be like this. Nor did he want them.

Earlier today, he received a call from Akira, who informed him about the situation. When he learned that Tsubaki was Rosetta and wounded up in the Den City Hospital, it took him a full minute to register what happened. He immediately then called his driver, who proceeded to drive him over to the Den City Hospital.

My little rose, Hideki thought, thinking of Tsubaki. Please fight to live. So I can make things right after all these years.

However, his thoughts were interrupted, as his phone started vibrating. Upon taking it out of his pocket, Hideki raised an eyebrow, for the Caller ID read 'Unknown'. Regardless, he accepted the call.

"This is Hideki Kinoshita speaking."

"Hello, Mr. Kinoshita," a scrambled voice replied. "My name is Infearno, and I am one of the remaining Knights of Hanoi."

Hideki's face paled. "I thought... that Kitamura wiped you out."

"Oh but he failed." Infearno told him. "We're still active, and I can assure you now that an attack from an incompetent fool like Kitamura won't stop us. But let's get to why I'm calling you. I like to inform you that I have made a program which can save your daughter's life."

Hideki's eyes widened upon hearing that. "You have? You can save my daughter?"

"For a price." Infearno confirmed. "I want you to give us World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy."

"No." Hideki instantly replied. "There's no way that I'm-!"

"Are you saying you don't care about your daughter's life?" Infearno asked Hideki, interrupting him. "You prefer the safety of everyone over the one person that's most precious to you?" Hideki wasn't sure if he was hearing things, but he swore he heard Infearno smirk on the other end. "If I were you, I'd think over the offer. After all, a chance like this comes once in a lifetime. But if you do change your mind, you're more than happy to call me back." And with that, Infearno hung up.

What will I do, Hideki thought, putting his head in his arms. If I hand over World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy to the Hanoi, I'll be blamed for the danger that's to come. But if I don't... I may lose my little rose forever. He was so busy with his thoughts that he didn't notice the limo stop. "What's going on?"

"Sir," the driver said, getting Hideki's attention. "We've arrived." The limo driver then got out of the car and opened the door for Hideki, letting him exit out of the car. Unfortunately, there was a group of reporters who were there as well.

"Mr. Kinoshita," a female reporter said, "would you care to comment?"

"No comment." Hideki replied, walking his way forward to the entrance of the Den City Hospital.

"Do you know the victim, Mr. Kinoshita?" a male reporter asked.

"No comment." Hideki answered, entering the Den City Hospital. He made it straight to the receptionist's desk. "Which room is my daughter in?"

"Room 5E." the receptionist answered. "If you turn to your left here and head to the trauma wing, you'll find it in no time." After hearing this, Hideki then turned left and walked towards the trauma wing.

Once he made it there, he saw one person whom he recognized. Akira, and beside him was Aoi.

"Akira!" Hideki called out, causing Akira to turn to his left and recognize him. "Thank you so much for telling me what happened. You're one of the only people at SOL that I can trust." He extended his right hand out.

"You're welcome. After all, I almost lost Aoi to the Hanoi." Akira responded, shaking Hideki's hand. "I don't want anyone else to experience what I went through."

Soon, a doctor and a nurse exited Room 5E, turning to Hideki.

"Doctor. Nurse." Hideki said, running to them. "Will my daughter pull through?"

"I-I think it would be best if we talked inside," the doctor replied, as the trio went inside Tsubaki's hospital room. "It's a complete mystery. Physically speaking, she's in perfect health. It's like I told Mr. Zaizen outside. I believe she's like this because of some trauma. Whether it's emotional or psychological trauma, we don't know yet."

"T-Trauma?" Hideki repeated, shocked at what he just heard. He turned to Tsubaki, who was resting on her bed. "Tsubaki, my little rose. I'm so sorry for abandoning you when you needed me most. Please come back to me." He started crying afterwards as the nurse put a hand on his shoulder, while the doctor went to get a chair so he could sit down.

"That poor girl." Aoi said, as she looked at the conversation through the glass window. She turned to Akira. "We've got to help her."

"I know, Aoi." Akira replied. "All of this is a shock for me as well. To think that Kitamura would pull an idiotic stunt like that and cause harm to Hideki's daughter? He's lucky that not all the information has been released to the public." He grit his teeth, as he recalled something that happened an hour earlier. Before he arrived at the Den City Hospital.

Flashback: One hour earlier...

"Mr. Zaizen is a busy man," a woman with wavy brown hair and green eyes said, as she tried to stop Gekiryushi from entering. "You have to-."

"Get out of my way." Gekiryushi warned the woman. "This matter is urgent."

Seeing that he had a visitor, Akira looked up from his laptop and towards the woman. "Thank you, Hayami. Please leave us."

"Mr. Zaizen, are you sure?" Hayami asked him.

"I'm sure." Akira confirmed. After hearing his reply, Hayami left the room, still uncertain about leaving him with Gekiryushi. He then turned his attention to Gekiryushi. "So, you said this matter was urgent, Ms. Sanada. What is it?"

"I came... to confess." Gekiryushi said, handing him a USB stick. Raising an eyebrow, Akira put the USB stick into his laptop, which upon doing so, showed him several files.

"What is this?"

"These are files regarding Kitamura's attack on the Hanoi's Headquarters." Gekiryushi explained, causing Akira's face to widen in horror.

"Did he-?" Akira was about to ask, but Gekiryushi nodded her head before he could finish. He grit his teeth. Due to Kitamura's idiocy, now everyone was in danger. "I didn't believe it at first, but now that I've seen this, I believe it now." He then looked up from his laptop. "What do you mean by 'confess'?"

"Would you mind if I grabbed a chair?" Gekiryushi asked, to which Akira nodded. After grabbing a chair, she proceeded to explain her role in the attack. How she was assigned to capture one of the Hanoi members at the Hanoi Stronghold. And upon using the red data card, she ended up making a person named Rosetta go unconscious. In other words, Gekiryushi made her a victim of the attack.

"I tried to confront Kitamura about it and bring him in to the authorities." Gekiryushi continued. "But he threatened to charge me with treason and end my career if I did. And he said that no one would believe me, a bounty hunter." She laughed to herself. "I thought I had honor, but after what I just did, I don't think I can call myself an honorable person anymore."

"I see." Akira thought over what Gekiryushi told him. "Thank you for telling me this. Although I'm not sure what I can do in this situation."

Gekiryushi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You've been a more successful Security Chief than Kitamura ever will be. There's got to be something you can do, right?"

Akira double-checked the files on the USB, and upon going through them a second time, he narrowed his eyes. He then did a cross-reference on Rosetta's real-life identity, and within seconds, he found a match, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

"What is it?" Gekiryushi asked, curious.

Akira stood up, having now determined what to do. "You're right. There is something I can do about this situation. Please return home for now. I'll take care of it to the best of my abilities."

Gekiryushi stood up as well, happy to hear Akira's response. "Thank you. Please let me know if you need anything else."

"I will." And with that, Gekiryushi left Akira's office. Akira then pulled out his phone and called Hideki.

"Hello?" Hideki said on the other end.

"Hello, Hideki." Akira replied. "There's something important I need to tell you. It's... about your daughter."

Flashback End: Present day...

"From what I heard on the news, she was a part of the Hanoi, yes?" Aoi asked Akira, getting his attention.

"If I can be honest, Aoi, I'm not so sure anymore." Akira admitted, turning to her. "She could have either willingly agreed to work with them, or was blackmailed into joining. Either way, she doesn't deserve to end up on a hospital bed."

"Yeah..." Aoi agreed, looking down onto the floor. I could reach out to Playmaker as Blue Angel and ask for his help, she thought. But I don't know if he'll respond or not. Her eyes then widened in realization.

"Unless he might help her..." Aoi theorized, remembering how Yuhiro played a part in helping her when she needed it. She then entered Tsubaki's hospital room and approached Hideki. "I'm Aoi Zaizen, and I think I might know somebody who might be able to help your daughter wake up after all."

Hideki turned to Aoi, surprised at what she just said. "Please tell me!"

Taking a deep breath, Aoi said, "His name is Yuhiro Furutani, and Akira and I can take you to him."

Meanwhile, at Café Matsuo, in the living room...

"Well, this could take a while." Roxy said, who was on her laptop and sitting down on the couch.

"That is something we can both agree on." Yuhiro replied, who was on the couch with Progleo opposite to her as he typed a series of code into his laptop. After getting back from LINK VRAINS, Yuhiro proceeded to tell Roxy of what happened. How, just like Herald and Roxy predicted, Watchman was pissed with what happened. He then proceeded to tell both Yuhiro and Yusaku something interesting about World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy: a human inputted their dataprint before locking the card into a vault. That way, no one except him or her would be able to access it.

Which meant that Yuhiro and Yusaku would have to run a scan across all of Den City in order to find a match for the dataprint. And unfortunately, Roxy had to update the scanner on the monitor, which meant they had to do it by hand on their laptops. While Yusaku and Kusanagi were able to do it on the monitor.

"You know that old story about the Tortoise and the Hare?" Roxy asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well, Fujiki and Kusanagi are the Hares, while we're the Tortoises!" She ran her hands through her long dark, curly hair. "Honestly, Yuhiro. This one's on me. If I only remembered to update the scanner portion of the monitor, we'd have results by now."

"Well, it's a lesson learned for next time." Herald said, emerging from Yuhiro's Duel Disk. "If you like, I could enhance your laptops." Roxy narrowed her eyes at Herald, causing him to retreat back into Yuhiro's Duel Disk in fear. "Or maybe not. No need to screw around with technology as it is."

"Herald, come on out." Yuhiro told the Ignis as he reappeared. "It's not a bad idea, Roxy. After all, who knows when we need to do things very quickly? Besides-."

DING!

"Customers here at this time?" Roxy said, an eyebrow raised as she turned her head towards the sound. "They usually come here for lunch. But to come here for dinner, well, it doesn't happen as much as the afternoon. I'll get it." She proceeded to stand up, but Yuhiro did it first.

"No. I will," he said. "You're right. Customers coming here for dinner doesn't happen all the time. Which is why I'll go with Progleo."

"And if it's a meanie, I'll tear them to shreds!" Progleo promised, jumping off the couch.

"I highly doubt that, Progleo." Herald said. "If anything, you'll try to use your cute begging eyes." He then turned to Yuhiro. "Can I come downstairs with you?"

"No," both Roxy and Yuhiro replied, causing Herald to sigh in defeat.

Yuhiro then headed downstairs to Café Matsuo with Progleo and grabbed his apron. As the two of them headed to the counter, Yuhiro grabbed a pen and paper. With everything going on, it's not usual for someone to be ordering from here. They'd usually be here during the daytime, he nervously thought. He walked closer to the counter, ready to take the customer's order, as well as allow Progleo to defend their home if needed...

... But it turned out to just be the Zaizens, as evident by Progleo's happy bark upon seeing Aoi.

"You guys gave me a scare." Yuhiro said, picking up Progleo and preventing him from running out the door to see them. "We don't usually get customers at this time. Anyhow, what can I get you both?"

"Well..." Aoi said, turning her gaze downwardly left, as though she were ashamed. "We're not necessarily here to eat..."

Yuhiro raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand. What do you-?"

"Listen, Furutani." Akira interrupted. "Aoi told me and a friend of mine everything, including who you really are. But I assure you it's for the right reason. Nothing else."

A look of shock was registered on Yuhiro's face as Progleo started barking at Aoi and Akira. He turned to Aoi, who was clearly ashamed, and said, "How... could you-?"

"PLEASE!" Hideki said out of nowhere, pushing his way between Aoi and Akira so he could get to the counter. "Don't blame her. It's my fault. My daughter is in the hospital because of the altercation between SOL Technologies and the Hanoi, and this young lady said you can save her life!"

The look of shock was instantly wiped away from Yuhiro's face upon Hideki mentioning the Hanoi. How could this man know about the Hanoi? And did he just mention a daughter? Wait...

"What's going on down there, Yuhiro?" Roxy shouted from the second floor.

"Uh, Roxy?" Yuhiro said, stroking Progleo's fur to calm him down. "I think we got guests."

A few minutes later, in the kitchen...

"Here," Roxy said, handing Hideki a cup of tea. "This Herbal tea will relieve you of stress."

"Thank you." Hideki replied, drinking the tea. He sat in the opposite chair at the kitchen table, where he could face Yuhiro, with Aoi sitting one chair away from him and Akira leaning on a nearby wall. Progleo was nearby Yuhiro, still cautious around Aoi. "I'd like to thank you for taking the time to see me Mr. Furutani. I'm here because... I need you to save my daughter Tsubaki."

"So you're Rosetta's father, Hideki Kinoshita. Also known as the head card designer at SOL Technologies." Yuhiro replied. "You do realize that, in knowing my identity as Raguel, you put yourself in harm's way if the Hanoi comes after you, right?"

"I know." Hideki admitted, looking down at the table. "But I'm trying to make things right!" Yuhiro's eyes widened upon hearing that. "She's in the hospital suffering and I couldn't save her! It's my fault! I left her when she needed me most, and as a result, I never saw her again until today! That's why I'm here."

"Now before we agree to help you," Roxy interrupted, causing Hideki to turn to her, "how about you tell us the whole story from the beginning? And not just you..." She turned to glare at Akira and Aoi. "...but the others as well."

Hideki sighed. "Okay then. I've never been someone you might call 'Father of the Year'. I... As you already know, I'm the head card designer at SOL Technologies. Not only did that job come with a lot of responsibilities, but it got me involved with a secret project. And as a result, I forgot what mattered."

Flashback: Six years earlier...

"It all began six years ago, when my wife, and Tsubaki's mother died because of cancer. It was hard for all of us, but little did I realize that it would be the beginning of our troubles."

Hideki was in a limo with two other men, which was on the way towards SOL Technologies. A new project was announced recently, and his presence was required today in the making of this new card. While he didn't know much about it, he did know the card's name: World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy. Sadly, today was also the funeral. A chance for both him and Tsubaki to say goodbye to a loving mother and wife.

Hideki leaned towards the driver seat so he could speak to the driver. "Hey driver. I need to stop and pick up some white flowers for a funeral I need to attend today."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," the driver said, "but your presence at SOL Technologies is mandatory. If you don't show up, you could get reprimanded." Before the driver could continue, Hideki's phone rang. Picking it up and learning that Tsubaki was calling him, he sighed and answered it.

"Hey dad." Tsubaki said on the other end. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, sweetie." Hideki answered. "What about you? How are you handling things?"

"I...I really miss mom." Tsubaki replied, fighting a sniffle. "You'll be there, right? At the funeral? So we could say goodbye to her?"

Hideki sighed sadly and said, "Of course, sweetie. I will show up." As soon as he hung up, he gritted his teeth. How could he face her now?

"The project, called World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy, took the whole day. Which meant I couldn't be there for Tsubaki when she needed me."

By the time he arrived home, it was already late. When Hideki knocked on the door, Tsubaki's grandmother answered it. "Mom, I-."

"You missed the funeral." Tsubaki's grandmother firmly told him, as he went upstairs to the living room. "She didn't eat her food, nor did she talk with her relatives." Hideki soon saw Tsubaki on the couch, her head folded into her lap. When she looked up at him, there were fresh tears coming from her eyes, indicating that she had been crying.

Hideki went over and sat down beside her. "I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Tsubaki then hugged him, crying in his lap. Knowing that everything was okay for now, he hugged her back.

"I did my best to make it up to her by being there when she needed a listening ear. Unfortunately, no matter what I did, I only made things worse."

As the days went by, Hideki made sure he was available for Tsubaki to call him whenever she needed someone to talk to. At first, things went well. The relationship between father and daughter wasn't strained, but instead reinforced by his promise.

But despite what he did, fate had other plans in place for them. And it all started one day, during summer break.

"There you are, dad." Tsubaki said, running down the stairs to greet Hideki, who was speaking with an employee from SOL Technologies. The two of them started talking about going to Iceland, which was the place where Hideki met and fell in love with Tsubaki's mother. From there, they started making plans on going to different travel spots in Iceland, starting with seeing the geysers. To conclude the trip, they planned on spreading the ashes at Greenland sea. "Do you think we can continue planning our trip? I'm so excited about-!"

"I wish I could." Hideki said, much to Tsubaki's dismay. "But I'm afraid I'll be busy with an important project at SOL Technologies for a while. We might have to delay our trip."

"Please sir, we need to leave now," the employee said behind Hideki.

"No!" Tsubaki responded, tears flowing through her eyes. "First, it was Cousin Candace, then it was Uncle Phineas, and now you're just going to run off to your job like them? You said you'd be there for me, and now you're breaking your promise!"

"Tsubaki, I know-."

"Don't ever come back!" Tsubaki shouted while looking at him. She then ran upstairs to her room in sadness.

"I was doing important work. But how do you explain that to someone who recently lost their mother? As the months passed, I saw her less and less. I thought I could make up for lost time by planning the trip to Iceland with her as promised, which seemed to have her rekindle her faith in me. But the day before we left... our relationship reached a tipping point."

A few months passed since the altercation between Tsubaki and Hideki. The two of them were at home eating dinner, having bought plane tickets to Iceland and finalized the trip. Having faith in his team, Hideki took a two week break so he could arrange the trip with Tsubaki to make up for his mistake. And to his surprise and joy, she was happy with the announcement. Now both of them could finally honour the person they cared about.

Yet for a second time, fate would drive them further apart.

"What are you excited about for the trip, dad?" Rosetta asked, as she took a bite out of her steak. "I'm definitely excited to see the Aurora Lights. Do you think they'll appear when we're there?"

"I'm sure they will." Hideki answered, chuckling as he sipped down some water from his glass. "And to answer your question-." His phone started vibrating. "Please excuse me, sweetheart." He then went into the living room and answered the phone. "Yes?"

"Good evening, Mr. Kinoshita," the voice of Queen said on the other phone, surprising Hideki.

"Queen, I didn't expect your call this evening. How may I help you?"

"Well, Mr. Kinoshita. I request an update on World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy's creation as a Duel Monsters card."

Hideki cleared his throat before speaking. "Regarding the update, my team has finalized the card's effects and Link Markers, as well as cleared it from all bugs. It should be ready for a public release."

"I see." Queen responded. "Then you wouldn't mind me coming over in person for a final test run, right?"

Hideki's face paled. This was the last thing he wanted right now. He and his whole team put in time and effort towards creating World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy, and it passed all tests. Now Queen was coming in person for a final test run? Great.

He sighed and gritted his teeth in anger. As much as he hated it, orders were orders.

"Mr. Kinoshita?" Queen said. "Are you there?"

"Of course." Hideki replied. "The team and I will be there tomorrow for the final test run."

"Excellent." Queen was pleased with Hideki's answer. "Then I'll see you tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 pm." With that, Queen hung up.

When Hideki returned to the dining room, he saw that Tsubaki had finished her food.

"Hey, dad." Tsubaki said, looking up to see him. "Who was on the phone with you? Was it SOL Technologies?"

"I'm afraid so." Hideki replied, walking over and sitting down at his chair. "There's something I need to tell you, my little rose. Please don't get mad." He then proceeded to tell her about the phone call he got from Queen, one of the higher-ups at SOL Technologies. She had requested his presence tomorrow for a final test run on World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy. Which meant that the trip would be delayed once again.

"So... So you're saying that the trip's delayed again?" Tsubaki asked, now on the verge of tears.

"Only for now." Hideki tried to reassure her. "I promise. I'll rebook it at-."

"So you're choosing your work on some stupid Cyberse project over your daughter?!" Tsubaki shouted, standing up, tears evident on her face. "Enough with your empty promises! I'm done with them, I'm done with being left alone, and I'M DONE WITH THIS NEVER-ENDING PAIN!" She then ran to her room.

"Tsubaki!" Hideki ran after her, but it was too late. She slammed and locked the door in his face. As he sighed, he thought, Maybe she needs some time alone to process all of this. He then went downstairs to the living room and sat down on the couch.

Flashback End: Present Day...

"By Fate's cruel hand, our relationship became more strained than ever." Hideki recalled, slamming his fists on the table. "When I went to check in on her a couple of hours later, I learned that she ran away after reading the note she left behind. I realized then that my actions pushed my daughter away, and so I called the police on finding her. But they couldn't, and for six long years, I was haunted with the thought that I lost Tsubaki forever. That is, until today, where I saw her in that hospital bed." He then looked at Yuhiro. "Aoi Zaizen said that you helped her when she needed it. Now I ask that you help my daughter. She needs you."

"I know, but-." Yuhiro couldn't finish his sentence upon looking into Hideki's eyes. Ones that were begging, pleading with him to help Tsubaki. What could he say? I'm sorry, I can't help you?

"For goodness sake, Yuhiro." Roxy said, her hands on her hips. "You can't turn your back on this poor girl. This man is practically begging for your help."

"Even if I wanted to Roxy," Yuhiro began, "I don't even know where to-."

The next thing Yuhiro knew, Roxy went over to where he was and pulled on his ear. "My niece would be ashamed of you, Yuhiro. If I taught you one thing, it's to help those in need. In addition, if we know anything about the Hanoi, they will come back, and you'll need everyone's help in defeating them."

Yuhiro smiled and nodded at Roxy. "As always, your pep talks do the trick, Roxy."

"Then you'll help? Thank you!" Hideki said, standing up in joy.

"And once this is all over," Roxy added, "maybe you'll take her on a date!"

Yuhiro's jaw dropped.

"I'm just saying if you two had some sort of connection..."

"Really, Roxy? You're teasing me NOW of all times?!" Yuhiro replied, groaning. First, she teased him about Miyu being his future girlfriend, and now she was shipping him with Tsubaki? When will it end?

Aoi started laughing, as well as Akira. "Furutani would definitely make a great boyfriend." Yuhiro groaned once again as Hideki and Roxy joined in, much to his displeasure.

A few minutes later, at Café Matsuo's backroom...

"So this is what Roxy and I know about the recent attack." Yuhiro said, showing everyone the files on SOL Technologies' attack on the Hanoi. He turned to Akira and Aoi. "And just so we're clear, you two aren't to tell anyone about my identity, nor about the backroom, okay? Cause you clearly gave the both of us a shock."

Aoi nodded. "Your identity's safe with us, Furutani. We won't tell a single soul."

Roxy turned around on her chair. "What we don't know is who Kitamura sent for the attack."

"I can answer that." Akira said. "Kitamura sent SengokuQueen and his three strongest AI Duelists for the mission." He handed Roxy a USB stick. "Right after the mission, SengokuQueen came to me with this USB stick, which contained all of Kitamura's plans regarding before and after the attack. He also threatened to charge SengokuQueen with treason and end her career if she told anyone about the true nature of the mission."

Roxy put the USB stick into one of the USB slots on the monitor, causing a bunch of files to show on the screen. Upon looking through them, Roxy's mouth dropped momentarily before she closed it.

"That son of a bitch..." Roxy muttered. "He used SengokuQueen and put Rosetta in the hospital just to advance himself? Oh, he's so dead!"

"Language, Roxy." Yuhiro told her. "After all, Progleo's a young cub, and we're not teaching him potty words."

"But how will we draw Kitamura out into the open?" Hideki inquired, a hand on his chin. "We can't threaten him to show up. Otherwise, he'll use SOL Technologies' resources to stop us."

"Simple." Yuhiro answered, turning to Hideki. "I contact him with an offer he can't refuse. An Ignis."

"WHAT?!" Herald said, emerging out of Yuhiro's Duel Disk, surprising Hideki. "There is no way you're selling me to the worst security chief in the history of security chiefs! I won't allow it!"

"Use your common sense, Herald." Yuhiro advised the Ignis, turning to him. "I'm only temporarily using you as bait. Do you really expect me to just, oh I don't know, give you away?"

Herald facepalmed. "Damn. Can't believe I fell right for that."

"Once Yuhiro contacts Kitamura and he arrives in LINK VRAINS," Roxy said, "he'll use his Duel Anchor to force him into a duel and rip him a new one. And then we save Rosetta!"

"Wait." Akira said, getting everyone's attention. "Let me be the one to duel Kitamura."

Roxy raised an eyebrow. "You sure? If your bosses find out..."

"I've been waiting a long time to teach Kitamura a lesson, and this is an opportunity I cannot pass." Akira responded. "He must face justice for his idiocy, and while I know he won't get fired, I can at least have him reprimanded for his actions."

Yuhiro nodded in agreement. "Alright, Zaizen. I trust you. Would you like me to whip up a Duel Anchor program for you then?"

"I'll contact SengokuQueen for that." Akira answered. "After all, she wants to rectify her mistake, and will help me in any way she can to do so. I'll need a least ten minutes." He then walked out of the room and contacted SengokuQueen on his phone.

"In that case, I'll make some sandwiches for everyone." Roxy stood up and walked out of the room with Progleo, who was eager for a meal. Hideki followed after her, also hungry with everything going on, leaving Aoi and Yuhiro alone in the backroom.

"Um, Furutani?" Aoi said, sitting down on Roxy's chair and facing him. "I want to say I'm sorry for revealing your identity like that to Mr. Kinoshita. He really needed someone to help him save Rosetta, and I only told him because-."

"I get it." Yuhiro replied, interrupting Aoi. "Based on what you know about me and past events, it was only logical for you to tell him. After all..." He turned to face Aoi. "I tried to help Rosetta during our duel, and managed to reach out to her for a moment, only for someone named Ace to arrive and help her escape with the Cyberse cards."

Aoi raised an eyebrow. "Cyberse cards?"

"I'll tell you later." Yuhiro turned back to the monitor. "But regrading what you did, I forgive you, Zaizen. You had good intentions, and nothing else."

"I see." Aoi got up from the chair and was about to leave the backroom when she turned back hesitantly to Yuhiro. "Furutani, are we friends? I know it's not the best time to ask, but-."

"...Yuhiro." Aoi blinked as Yuhiro turned his chair to face her, a smile on his face. "Call me Yuhiro. And yeah, we're friends."

A silence filled the air as Aoi processed the information. She then smiled back. "In that case, call me Aoi. And thank you. For not only forgiving me, but for also seeing me as a friend." She then walked out of the backroom, satisfied with the conversation.

"You sure this plan will work?" Herald asked.

"I am, Herald." Yuhiro answered. "Lets get this son of a bitch!"

Meanwhile, at SOL Headquarters...

Kitamura rubbed his throat with his hand as he worked on his laptop. There hadn't been any reports from the security team recently, which meant the attack was a success. The likelihood of the Hanoi retaliating had gone down to zero due to him deciding to take initiative and destroy the Hanoi Stronghold.

This had given Kitamura time to finalize the information he would be releasing to the press within a few days. Once that was done, fame and fortune would be his.

Everything was normal. The way it should be.

"Sir!" one of the operators said. "Something's just happened!"

Kitamura rolled his eyes. "What is it? I'm sure it's probably nothing."

"It's a message to you, sir."

"Delete it. I'm sure it's nothing more than spam mail." Kitamura groaned. While everything being normal was good, it also meant there was no action to take, causing him to get bored.

"Uh, sir?" The operator turned to Kitamura. "It's from Raguel, and he said if you don't respond, he'll screw around with the mother computer's security systems..." His face widened into shock. "...AND STEAL EVERYTHING THERE!"

Kitamura's face paled. He stood up and shouted, "PULL HIM THROUGH!" The operator typed in a few commands, and soon, a live video of Raguel appeared at the front. "How dare you blackmail SOL Technologies, Raguel! You'll face the full arm of-!"

"Yeah, blah blah blah." Raguel replied. "Can we just skip to the part of why I wish to speak to you?"

"Fine. What do you want?"

"Kitamura, I've come to bargain." Raguel stated. Kitamura raised an eyebrow at what Raguel just said. "Oh, I'm sorry. You want more details? Look at your laptop." Kitamura looked at his laptop, which showed him a set of coordinates. "These coordinates will take you to a location in LINK VRAINS, where we can talk business. Come alone, or else you'll lose the one chance to make your bosses happy." Raguel then signed off, leaving everyone speechless for several moments.

"Uh sir?" a female operator said. "What will you do?"

Kitamura snapped out of his daze. "I, uh, will confront Raguel alone, just like he requested. AND IF ANY OF YOU INTERFERE, YOU'RE FIRED!" He then ran out of SOL Headquarters and headed to one of the nearby pods. As the glass cylindrical door closed around him, he said, "Into the VRAINS!"

At Café Matsuo, in the backroom...

"Do you really think this plan will work?" Aoi asked Roxy, who was sitting beside her.

"If I know Yuhiro, I'm sure he has it all figured out." Roxy answered, her arms crossed as she looked at Raguel on the monitor, who was on top of a building in LINK VRAINS.

"It has to." Hideki said, standing behind them and looking at the monitor. "For my daughter's sake, it must." Suddenly, there was a notification on the monitor, indicating that Kitamura logged into the network.

"The bird has landed." Roxy told Raguel. "I repeat: The bird has landed."

In LINK VRAINS...

"Loud and clear." Raguel confirmed. "Wish me luck." He then stepped out of the corner so Kitamura could see him. At first, Kitamura was shocked at seeing Raguel in the flesh, but then quickly regained his ground.

"You wanted to see me? Well, here I am." Kitamura said. "Now spill the details, or else you'll face the full arm of-!"

"Kitamura, I've come to bargain." Raguel stated for a second time, causing him to fall over in shock.

"Stop saying that!" Kitamura told him, as he got up, exasperated already. "What do you want?"

"Simple." Raguel replied. "You have something that can help save Rosetta's life. And don't even bother lying, or else you're screwed."

Kitamura narrowed his eyes. How did Raguel figure out what he did? "Let's say you're correct, Raguel. You don't have anything to offer me." He then turned his back on Raguel and started walking away. "So I guess this conversation is-."

"Then how about an Ignis like me?" Herald asked, emerging out of Raguel's Duel Disk. "I bet you can't resist an opportunity like this, can you?"

Kitamura immediately turned around at what he just heard. Raguel was willing to give his Ignis up? Just like that? "You're willing to give me your Ignis? I must say, Raguel. I knew you'd eventually make the-."

But before Kitamura could finish, the building they were on started shaking. A dot appeared in the middle before creating a circle that surrounded them. Lines then went into the circle in patterns until they finished, resembling the Bushido symbol.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Raguel sarcastically apologized, shrugging his shoulders. "I just interrupted your moment, didn't I? My mistake."

"What's going on? What have you done?" Kitamura demanded.

"Hello, Kitamura," the voice of SengokuQueen said out of nowhere, shocking him as she and Akira revealed themselves on Kitamura's left side.

"You two!" he snarled, turning his head to face SengokuQueen and Akira. "You dare turn on SOL Technologies' security chief? Once this little stunt is over, I'll-!"

Suddenly, a magenta cord shot out from Akira's wrist and wrapped itself around Kitamura's left arm, surprising him.

"Zaizen, what is this?" Kitamura demanded.

"It's called a Duel Anchor." Akira explained. "Which I had SengokuQueen make for me. I'll have you know that it prevents you from logging out unless we duel." Kitamura's eyes narrowed in anger upon hearing that.

"But considering what you've done, I say we make our duel interesting." Akira continued, as he walked to where Raguel was. "If I win this duel, not only will you provide us with the means to save Rosetta's life, you'll publicly take full responsibility for your mistakes."

"And if I win?"

"Not only will you get Raguel's Ignis," Akira said, "but I'll resign from my current position at SOL Technologies, and never apply there again."

Kitamura started thinking it over. Right now, he was trapped, so he couldn't log out. Furthermore, Akira had the guts, no, the balls to challenge him to a duel, who was clearly his superior.

However, he saw a golden opportunity. He could finally kick Akira out of SOL Technologies for good, and get more recognition and fame for bringing in Raguel's Ignis to the higher-ups.

Perhaps this situation turned out to be good after all.

"Very well, I accept your terms." Kitamura decided, raising his left arm.

"Good to see you're being negotiable." Akira replied, also raising his left arm.

Raguel walked over to where SengokuQueen was. "Zaizen said you had a role in the attack, correct?"

SengokuQueen looked down to the ground as she recalled what she did. "He's correct. I truly do regret my role in what happened."

"Well, at least you're willing to atone for it." Raguel said, getting SengokuQueen's attention. "It shows that you're learning. About yourself, and about other people."

Interesting, SengokuQueen thought, as she redirected her attention towards the duel.

"Duel!" Kitamura and Akira said at the same time.

Kitamura: 4000 LP

Akira Zaizen: 4000 LP

"As your superior, I shall go first." Kitamura declared. "Any objections?"

"None." Akira answered. Might as well go along with it for now, Akira thought. After all, he does outrank me.

"Alright then." Kitamura looked at his hand and smirked. Zaizen thinks he can beat me, he thought, but I rigged my Duel Disk to give me the cards I need whenever I want them. He'll be at my mercy by the end of this duel. "First I activate the Spell card, Graceful Charity. This card lets me draw three cards from my deck, in exchange for discarding two other cards from my hand." He drew three cards, and after briefly looking at them, he tapped two other cards in his hand and sent them to the Graveyard. "Next I activate Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards." He then drew two more cards from his deck.

"Herald, what are the odds of drawing a card that lets you draw more cards?" Raguel asked him.

"In a deck of forty cards, the odds are 2.5%." Herald answered him. "Which means Kitamura either got really lucky, or..."

"He rigged his Duel Disk to get the preferred cards." Raguel muttered under his breath, crossing his arms. Before he logged into LINK VRAINS, he promised to record the duel for Roxy. Not only for her amusement, but so they can use it to blackmail him if needed.

"I pay 500 life points to Special Summon Tentacluster Darkwhip from my hand!" Kitamura said, as a blue mechanical crab appeared on his field.

Kitamura: 4000 – 500 = 3500 LP

Tentacluster Darkwhip ATK: 100 DEF: 500 LV: 2

"I now activate the Spell card, Machine Duplication. This card lets me Special Summon two copies of a Machine monster from my deck to my field with 500 or less attack points!" Soon, two more copies of Darkwhip appeared on his field.

Tentacluster Darkwhip ATK: 100 DEF: 500 LV: 2

Tentacluster Darkwhip ATK: 100 DEF: 500 LV: 2

He's using that strategy, isn't he? Akira thought, narrowing his eyes. Like creation, like creator. This was going to be easier than he thought.

"Appear, my circuit!" A Link Portal soon appeared high above Kitamura's head. "The summoning conditions are three 'Tentacluster' monsters! I therefore set three Tentacluster Darkwhips!" The three Darkwhips entered the bottom-left, bottom, and bottom-right arrowheads, turning each of them red.

"Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Emerge! Link 3! Tentacluster Nautilus!" A giant grey mollusk with blue innards and tentacles was summoned to the right Extra Monster Zone on Kitamura's field.

Tentacluster Nautilus ATK: 0 LINK-3 ↙️⬇️↘️

"Tentacluster Nautilus' effect!" Kitamura continued. "When it's Link Summoned, I can Special Summon a 'Tentacluster' monster from my hand to a zone it points to! Therefore, I Special Summon Tentacluster Drillworm from my hand!" A drill with fins at the back of it appeared on Kitamura's field to one of the Main Monster Zone's Nautilus pointed to.

Tentacluster Drillworm ATK: 600 DEF: 1200 LV: 3

"I activate the effects of both Tentacluster Blastsuckers from my Graveyard! By banishing them from my Graveyard, you take 400 points of damage. And since I'm banishing two copies, well, you get the idea." Two blasts of energy erupted from Kitamura's Graveyard and hit Akira, causing him to slightly wince.

Akira Zaizen: 4000 – 400 – 400 = 3200 LP

"I summon a second Tentacluster Drillworm from my hand!" A second copy of Drillworm swam to his field, in another of the Main Monster Zones Nautilus was pointing to.

Tentacluster Drillworm ATK: 600 DEF: 1200 LV: 3

"I'll also activate the Continuous-Spell card, Flexible Tentacluster!" Kitamura added. "The first time I would take battle damage from an attack involving a 'Tentacluster' monster, I do not! In addition, I can target one of my banished 'Tentacluster' monsters and Special Summon it to my field. Return, Tentacluster Blastsucker!" A small blue and purple jellyfish monster was summoned to the third and final Main Monster Zone Nautilus was pointing to.

Tentacluster Blastsucker ATK: 400 DEF: 400 LVL: 2

"Nautilus' second effect! Once per turn, it targets all monsters it points to and destroys them. However, I activate the effect of Blastsucker. If it's targeted by a Link Monster's effect, I can destroy it, and inflict 400 points of damage to you!" Blastsucker exploded behind Nautilus along with the two Drillworms, causing Akira to take a step back as his life points dropped once again.

Akira Zaizen: 3200 – 400 = 2800 LP

"I'm not done yet, as the effects of my Drillworms both activate as well!" Kitamura said. "Since it was in attack position when it was destroyed by a card effect, I can send a random card from your hand to the Graveyard. If it was a monster, another random card is discarded from your hand to the Graveyard!"

The cards in Akira's hand were randomly shown to Kitamura. "I choose the middle card." The card then turned to face him, revealing itself to be Tindangle Base Gardna before vanishing. "Excellent! As the card discarded was a monster, another random card is discarded from your hand!" Another card immediately vanished into particles.

"It's now time to choose the second card! So I choose the one on the far left!" The card on the far left turned to face him, revealing itself to be Tindangle Protector before turning into particles. "Today must be my lucky day! You know what that means, yes?" Soon, another card vanished into particles.

"I activate the effect of Tindangle Dholes!" Akira suddenly said. "Since it was sent from my hand to the Graveyard, I can target a 'Tindangle' monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon it to my field in face-down defense position. I choose to bring back Tindangle Protector!" A face-down card appeared on Akira's field.

"Trying to defend yourself, huh?" Kitamura responded. "In that case, I use the effect of Blastsucker from my Graveyard to banish it and inflict 400 points of damage to you!" There was no reaction from Akira as his life points dropped.

Akira Zaizen: 2800 – 400 = 2400 LP

"I Set one card face-down and end my turn." Kitamura concluded. Zaizen thinks he's a better duelist than me, he thought, smirking to himself. But what he doesn't know is that I got to see how his deck works when he dueled against Playmaker. If he intends to use his monster's effects, my Trap card will shut them down for good. It's the perfect strategy!

"My turn, I draw!" Akira calmly said, drawing the top card of his deck.

"Stop right there!" Kitamura exclaimed. "I activate Drillworm's second effect from my Graveyard! Since I have no cards in my hand and no monsters in my Main Monster Zone, I can banish one card with the same name as this one from my Graveyard to send a random card from your hand to your Graveyard. By doing this, I get to bring back Drillworm in Defense Position!" As Akira discarded a card from his hand, Drillworm reappeared on Kitamura's field.

Tentacluster Drillworm ATK: 600 DEF: 1200 LV: 3

"Continuous-Trap, activate! Light of Intervention! This card prevents you from Setting your monsters, and if they were to be Set, they're Normal Summoned in face-up defense position!" Victory is certain now, Kitamura thought. For with this card, Zaizen can't use his best cards and combos, nor can he use the flip effects of his monsters.

"Okay, it's official." Herald said. "He rigged his Duel Disk."

"I'll take care of this." SengokuQueen offered, stepping forward, but Raguel stopped her.

"Wait for it," was all he said to her.

"You know, based on what you just did, I was able to come to a conclusion." Akira observed.

"Oh? Is it that I'm superior to you in every way?" Kitamura asked.

"No." Akira answered. "Just like your AI Duelists, you're a one-trick pony, with a lazy, predictable strategy. For a deck like mine, however, it can adapt to the situation at hand!"

"You dare say that about me?!" Kitamura exclaimed.

"Then allow me to demonstrate, as you're too blind to see." Akira continued, ignoring Kitamura. "I activate the effect of Tindangle Delaunay from my Graveyard. Since I have no monsters in my Extra Monster Zone, I can banish this card from my Graveyard, and by doing so, I get to Special Summon three 'Tindangle' monsters with different names to my field in face-down defense position. But due to Light of Intervention, they're summoned in face-up defense position instead. Return, Tindangle Base Gardna, Dholes, and Jhrelth!" Three monsters appeared on Akira's field in defense position.

The first monster was a purple regular icosahedron with eyes and spikes.

The second monster was a worm-like creature with eyes on its skin and spikes sticking out on the sides. Upon opening its mouth, it revealed a single eye in the middle, with teeth on the top, left, and right sides of it.

The third monster was a green triangle, with a silhouette of a four-legged creature in it. On the bottom sides and at the top were four eyes, which generated an electrical field around the green triangle.

Tindangle Base Gardna ATK: 0 DEF: 2300 LV: 5

Tindangle Dholes ATK: 1000 DEF: 1000 LV: 5

Tindangle Jhrelth ATK: 0 DEF: 1800 LV: 3

"Come forth, Euler's Circuit!" Soon, a Link Portal appeared above Akira's head. "The summoning conditions are three 'Tindangle' monsters! I'll set Tindangle Base Gardna, Jhrelth, and Dholes into the Link Markers!" Base Gardna went into the top arrowhead, Jhrelth went into the bottom-left arrowhead, and Dholes went into the bottom-right arrowhead.

"Circuit combine! Link Summon! Appear! Link 3! Tindangle Acute Cerberus!" A three-headed eerie-looking hound with dark-blue skin and violet armor over parts of its body jumped out of the Link Portal and appeared in the right Extra Monster Zone on Akira's field. On its back were bat-like wings, and in each of its mouths with an eyeball in the middle. The beast howled, ready for battle.

Tindangle Acute Cerberus ATK: 0 LINK-3 ↙️⬆️↘️

"You may have Link Summoned your best monster," Kitamura said, "but it's not going to help you win this duel!"

"We'll see about that!" Akira responded. "Acute Cerberus' effect! Since there are three or more 'Tindangle' monsters in my Graveyard, including Tindangle Base Gardna, it gains 3000 attack points! It also gains 500 attack points for every 'Tindangle' monster it points to!" Acute Cerberus howled as its strength increased, causing Kitamura to sweat in fear.

Tindangle Acute Cerberus ATK: 0 + 3000 = 3000

"I Flip Summon Tindangle Protector!" A worm-like creature with a large, green body at the front and bat-like wings appeared on Akira's field. A child-like face was at the front of the creature, which was attached to the green body protecting the nucleus. As it was in a Main Monster Zone Acute Cerberus was pointing to, it powered up further.

Tindangle Protector ATK: 800 DEF: 1600 LV: 3

Tindangle Acute Cerberus ATK: 3000 + 500 = 3500

"I didn't expect you to make a comeback like this." Kitamura stated. "But even with your ace monster on the field, I'll take no damage. And on my next turn, it's over for you!"

"I assure you now, Kitamura. You don't have a next turn." Akira calmly replied. "Dholes' second effect! Since it was used as Link Material for a 'Tindangle' Link Monster, it can attack up to three times!"

"T-T-Three times?!" Kitamura repeated, taking a step back.

"That's correct!" Akira confirmed. "Battle! Tindangle Acute Cerberus first attacks Tentacluster Nautilus!" The three-headed hound released a wave of flames from its tongues, which morphed into a large serpent of fire with a canine-like head. The tornado of fire scorched Nautilus, destroying the creature for good.

"Now attack Tentacluster Drillworm!" Acute Cerberus released a second wave of flames from its tongues, turning Drillworm into particles.

"No, no, no! This isn't how the duel was supposed to go!" Kitamura exclaimed, taking a step back out of fear.

"Tindangle Acute Cerberus attacks you directly, Kitamura!" Akira said. "Isometric Inferno!" The three-headed hound released a wave of flames from its tongues, which morphed into a large serpent of fire with a canine-like head that headed straight for Kitamura!

BOOM!

By the time Acute Cerberus was finished with its attack, Kitamura was lying on the ground, clearly covered in burn wounds.

Kitamura: 3500 – 3500 = 0

"Now then, Kitamura." Akira walked over to where he was, as he tried to get up. "It's time for you to honor your end of the deal."

"I don't recall making any deal with you." Kitamura replied, standing on his two feet. "I'm your superior, and you'll-!"

But before he could finish, SengokuQueen ran straight at him and rammed her fist as deep as it could into his face, sending him to the ground. Blood soon started leaking out of Kitamura's nose.

"Honor your end of the deal." SengokuQueen told him. "Or else there's more where that came from."

"Oh, and this whole duel is recorded." Raguel added, walking towards where SengokuQueen and Akira are. "So in other words, you're at our mercy."

"Okay, okay, fine!" Kitamura conceded, pressing a few buttons on his Duel Disk. Soon, a red sphere of data emerged out of it. "This is Rosetta's consciousness data. It's yours. Take it, and go!"

"Will do." Raguel said, taking the sphere of data. He turned to Akira. "Guess I'll see you in the real world." With that, he logged out of LINK VRAINS.

Akira approached to where Kitamura was and kneeled to his level. "If you do not honor the rest of the deal or try to weasel out of it in any way, what SengokuQueen just did to you will pale in comparison to what I'll do to you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes. Of course," a humiliated Kitamura answered.

"In that case, our business is done." Akira then logged out, along with SengokuQueen, who glared at the injured man before doing so.

They will all pay for this, Kitamura promised himself, as he stood up before logging out of LINK VRAINS as well.

Ten minutes later, on the way to the Den City Hospital...

"Thanks for recording that duel, Yuhiro." Roxy said, a gleeful look of happiness on our face.

"No problem, Roxy." Yuhiro replied. After returning to the real world, he immediately told Hideki that he had successfully retrieved Rosetta's consciousness data. The man was so happy that he bear-hugged Yuhiro, causing him to grunt in pain before releasing him.

Even Akira had to admit his satisfaction in, as Roxy said, 'ripping Kitamura a new one'. After all, Kitamura had it coming for years.

As soon as Isomaki arrived with the limo, everyone headed out for the Den City Hospital, with Roxy taking Yuhiro there in her van.

"I definitely enjoyed that duel." Herald commented, a huge smile on his face. "After all, it's not everyday you see someone perform an OTK like that." He kept replaying the moment where Acute Cerberus turned Kitamura into a crisp. "What a wonderful spectacle. I just love it when karma bites someone back in the ass."

"But in all seriousness though." Roxy said, turning her head to face Yuhiro. "I have a question for you."

"And what would that be?"

"Are you prepared for Rosetta, I mean Tsubaki, to know your real-life identity?"

Yuhiro thought it over. Keeping his identity a secret not only kept him safe, but the people he cared about safe as well. Only a few people knew it because he trusted them deeply.

But to help Tsubaki, he might have to make an exception. Just this one time.

"I'm prepared." Yuhiro finally said, turning to Roxy and giving her his answer. "Besides, I don't think sugar-coating what happened will help her recovery."

"And what about World Gears?" Herald asked, turning to look at Yuhiro. "Mr. Kinoshita admitted in creating the card. We'll obtain the card from him after we save his daughter, yes?"

"We'll just have to see, Herald." Yuhiro admitted. "We'll just have to see..." And the rest of the drive was silent, as Yuhiro looked at Rosetta's consciousness data in the palm of his hand, determined to save her...

Card Gallery

No new cards in this chapter.

QOTC

With Akira getting the chance to shine in this chapter, what other characters do you want to see get their chance to shine?

Chapter Preview

Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: Obscured Truth. Chapter 26: A Rose Always Has Its Thorns. With Tsubaki's consciousness data in hand, Yuhiro and the others go to Den City Hospital to wake her up. Unfortunately, upon doing so, Tsubaki immediately fights back, seeing her father and everyone else as enemies. In order to calm Tsubaki down, as well as help her and her father reconcile, Yuhiro challenges her to a duel in LINK VRAINS...

Author's Notes

Done and done. In terms of content, this was one of the longer ones, so I apologize if it took longer than anticipated. Also, I want to let you know that after this chapter, there are only two more chapters left of the Cyberse Hunt arc before going to the Tower of Hanoi arc.

This chapter immediately continues from where we left off in Chapter 24, where Yuhiro arrived in Café Matsuo to recall with Roxy on what just happened. As soon as that was done, Watchman sent a message in LINK VRAINS to talk with him and Playmaker, where things got a bit... tense. This was due to a conflict between Watchman's actions for the greater good, and Yuhiro helping people in need. Now allow me to highlight a flaw Yuhiro has: He believes he can help people by relating to them through his pain. While his desire to help others is noble, he has to draw the line as to when he can help and when action is necessary. I'll elaborate on that as the story progresses on.

The second thing that happens is the Hanoi meeting in the real world. Or in other words, at the Kogami household. After discussing who was responsible for creating World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy, as well as how they'll get it, Ryoken assigns Emon the task of retrieving it, with the promise of forgiving his past mistakes if succeeding.

The third thing that I'm actually proud of putting in this chapter is Gekiryushi's character development. After being forced out by Kitamura (who threatened her, by the way), she went to Akira to confess her role in the attack. Normally, Gekiryushi would be proud of what she did, but the fact that she regrets putting Tsubaki in the hospital goes a huge way, as it shows that she is learning about how to consider the perspective of others. How will this affect her character going forward, you'll have to see.

The fourth thing that happened is that we meet Tsubaki's father and the creator of World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy, Hideki Kinoshita. Upon arriving, he then tells Yuhiro and the others from the top of what happened that caused his relationship with his daughter to fall apart. Six years ago, Tsubaki's mother died from cancer, but due to Hideki's career, he couldn't make it to the funeral to say goodbye. This soon led to him not being able to be there for his daughter when she needed it, further straining their relationship. And when their trip to Iceland was cancelled by a final test run, well, you could say that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Please let me know your thoughts on Tsubaki's backstory when you have the chance.

The fifth thing that happened was the development of Yuhiro and Aoi's friendship. Although Aoi made the mistake in revealing Yuhiro's identity to Hideki, not only did he forgive her, but he acknowledged her as his friend. This shows another side of Yuhiro: While he has no nonsense, he can be forgiving.

Finally, there's the duel between Kitamura and Akira, which is one of the shortest duels so far. I originally planned for Ghost Girl to defeat Kitamura, but I ultimately decided on Akira because he only dueled twice. That's right, I said twice, and he lost both times. So I decided to give him this win. After all, he deserves it.

Okay, it's now time for another announcement regarding the upcoming Arc V fanfic. For this chapter, I'm going to release the synopsis of the upcoming Arc V fanfic. Please let me know what you think below, and remember, the rest of the Arc V story will follow after the Original Dimension arc, with edits of course:

"Before the Dimensional War, before the four dimensions, there was but only one dimension. One filled with peace and harmony. However, that peace is soon to be disrupted, as an enemy emerges to fulfil a long-lost legend. Join three friends, as they work together to fight this enemy, where one will fall, one will rise, and one will risk everything to save their home."

Thank you for reading Chapter 25 of Obscured Truth. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter in your reviews below. In addition, constructive criticism is always welcome, as it helps make the story even better. If you know of anyone who would be interested in reading the story, don't hesitate in showing them.

What was your favorite part of this chapter? Was it Kitamura getting his behind getting handed to him by Akira (it was certainly my favorite part!)? The identity of who created World Gears of Theurological Demiurgy? Tsubaki's backstory? Or is it something to come?

Stay tuned for what's to come, as I got a feeling you will all enjoy it!