After managing to give Interstellar the slip, Demon King and his team managed to make it to the port where they get off at. They have no idea what lies on the other side. All they know is that Shura went through there and they need to find him. They went through the same port that Shura might have gone through, but they weren't expecting what they saw on the other side. It looked like they were back in the real world in some sort of valley.
"What the? Where are we? Did we go back to the real world?" Demon King questioned.
"That's impossible. You're still in your avatar appearance." Eden said. "Do not be fooled. Everything around us is still virtual."
"Seriously? If I didn't know any better, I would say we're back in the real world." Aoneko claimed as everything looked so real. All of them hopped off their duel boards and had a look around, but nothing really stood out.
"It's amazing out here." Kyubi said.
"Yeah, but I can't hear your friend anymore." Jinn said. "It's just as he warned us. We won't be able to communicate with him now."
"And we're not aware of what is in this virtual world. We must move carefully." Eden said. "We might still be in a virtual world, but I'm still not sure as to where we are. It's not like when we entered Interstellar's mainframe, but it does not appear to have any resemblance to any interface of any network system."
"Are we even going to find this Shura here? What if he logged out?" Sylph questioned.
"He came here for a reason. I guess the only way we're going to find out anything is if we have a look around." Demon King said. He had a look around, but he didn't get the chance to look very far. He only took a few steps before something appeared to have activated. "What now?!"
"What did you do now?!" Jinn questioned. They all didn't know what happened until some sort of robotic guard appeared right in front of them.
"Entry prohibited. If you wish to proceed any further, you must defeat me in a duel with the set time limit."
"Huh? What is this?" Demon King questioned.
"It looks like some sort of security system." Eden said.
"Another security detail? Are we going to have to come across these things every time we travel to some place in the virtual world?" Aoneko complained.
"Let's just go around it. There's only one." Kyubi said. She attempted to move around it, but the robot initiated some sort of security feature. It generated a wall and placed it in front of Kyubi and stopped her from going anywhere.
"Entry prohibited. As stated, you must defeat me in a duel within the time limit if you wish to proceed any further."
"We have to duel this thing within a time limit if we want to go anywhere?" Demon King questioned. "Fine. How much time we get?" They thought they would have plenty of time, but he was wrong. The robot projected the time and it wasn't long at all. "What?! We only have five minutes?!"
"That's not enough time to go through a duel." Aoneko said.
"Negative. It is enough to defeat me if you agree to face me in a rush duel."
"A rush duel?" Demon King questioned as he wasn't familiar with that. "Is that another type of dueling?"
"I'm not familiar with it." Kyubi said.
"We can't really afford to waste time with a duel style we're not familiar with." Aoneko said. "How are we suppose to win this type of duel in the time limit when we don't have a clue as to what we should do?"
"Maybe I can..." Eden was going to run a search for the rules, but then Sylph just logged herself out. "Why did Sylph leave?"
"Because she knows someone that might be able to help." Jinn said. "She'll have to go back to get him, but it's going to take some time. I guess all we can really do is wait until then."
"But I can just do a search on the rules and guide you from there." Eden said.
"But you all are new to rush dueling. We need someone with experience. It might take a while, but there isn't much more we can do about it." Jinn said. They weren't sure this was the best idea, but having someone that understands how rush dueling works might be beneficial for them. Hopefully, it doesn't take very long.
...
The Theater
Kleene went back to the real world because she might know someone that could help them. However, she went all the way to the theater to do that. A performance came to an end with everyone loving the show. Backstage, the actors were finishing up their work.
"You're quite the actor."
"Nonpersonal aren't allowed back here." The actor said until he saw it was Kleene talking to him.
"You can ditch the disguise since old acquaintances. I can tell that's you, but it's rather nice to see you again." The actor ditched the disguise so she could talk to the real face. "I came here because I need your help, Laguna." She was really talking to her old cohort and fellow servant of Drakken Joe: Laguna. Is another foe going to become friend?
...
The Virtual World
All of them waited for Sylph come back with whoever she thinks might help. They stayed right where they are with the robot not even attempting to fight them. It was just their as a guard. All of them were getting tired of waiting around, but then they heard something and saw that Sylph was able to come back.
"Sylph, you're here!" Aoneko said, but she and the others were surprised to see Laguna was with her. "You! You were with Drakken Joe!"
"I remember him. I believe his name was Laguna." Kyubi said.
"He's the one that can help us?" Eden questioned.
"I remember that Laguna might be a duelist, but he's also an actor." Sylph said. "Since being an actor takes a lot of time, he learned about rush duels because they're faster for him to deal."
"So, you really came all the way out here just to help us?" Aoneko questioned. "Why would you do that when we were enemies once before? What about your loyalty to Drakken Joe?"
"Loyalty? He really just left us." Laguna said. "I am an actor, but I ended up working for Drakken Joe because I needed to make a little money. As you probably saw, he's not someone you say no to. Before I knew it, I was working for him as his assailant. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about his plans. I guess I should be grateful. After I lost to this Wiseman friend of yours, I was absorbed into his tower like everyone else. When you defeated Drakken Joe, you freed me and now he's not bugging me anymore. Sylph told me you needed a little help, so I suppose I can return the favor. I will say that coming out here like this is rather an interesting opportunity."
"Does that mean we can be friends?" Demon King said.
"Not quite. I'm just doing you a favor." Laguna said.
"But can we even trust him?" Kyubi questioned.
"You can. Laguna isn't like Daichi or Fie. They worked with Joe because they admired him, but Laguna was caught up in a bad situation like me and my brother." Sylph said. "He can help us."
"So, this is what you need me to rush duel against?" Laguna questioned as he stood facing it.
"Can you do it in five minutes?" Eden questioned.
"Just sit back and watch." Laguna said as he held up his duel disk and accepted the challenge.
"Recognizing opponent's duel disk. Challenge has been deemed accepted. Beginning rush duel." The robot started up it's systems and the two could begin.
"This sounds like it would make for a great video." Aoneko said as she started recording this.
"Get ready for the rush." They both said as they were now starting and the timer started.
"I shall begin. In a rush duel, you start with four cards and can draw on your first turn. I draw. I will start by summoning three monsters." The robot said as three monsters emerged: Vorse Raider, Celtic Guardian, and Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts. Each of them had 1900, 1400, and 1500atk points.
"Did that thing just summon three monsters?!" Demon King said as they were all amazed that happened.
"In a rush duel, you're allowed to summon more than one monster, but you are only limited to three zones." Laguna said.
"I place two face-downs and end my turn."
"My turn!" Laguna said as he drew his card. "I'll begin by summoning Crying Maiden LV. 3" Laguna summoned out his maiden as she appeared with 1000atk points. "Next, I use her special ability to lower one monster's attack points by 300. That means your Vorse Raider is growing weaker." His maiden unleashed a crying sound and caused Vorse Raider's power to drop to 1600. "Next, I'll tribute her so that I can summon Crying Maiden LV. 5" His maiden grew and became a stronger version of itself with it having 2000atk points. "And her special ability causes one monster's attack points to drop by 500. I'll select your Celtic Guardian this time." His maiden unleashed another crying sound with Celtic Guardian's power dropping to just 900. "Now, I activate Maiden's Crocodile Tears. Since I have a Crying Maiden on the field, I can destroy one monster whose attack points are lower than their original. I choose Vorse Raider." Suddenly, Vorse Raider was destroyed. "Then, you take damage equal to Vorse Raider's original attack points." The robot's life points dropped all the way down to 2100. "And once I set these two cards, Crying Maiden will destroy your Celtic Guardian. Screaming Cry!" His maiden attacked with a sonic cry. The sound wave smashed against Celtic Guardian and destroyed it with the robot's life points dropping even more to 1000. "I end my turn."
"My turn! I draw!" The robot drew, but it drew a total of five cards.
"Did it just drew five cards?!" Kyubi said.
"Yes. In a rush duel, you draw until you are holding five cards." Eden explained.
"Activating Fusion Conscription to add Curse of Dragon to my hand for it is part of Gaia the Dragon Champion." The robot said as it added another card. "Activating facedown: Polymerization to fuse together Gaia the Fierce Knight with Curse of Dragon." He took the two monsters in his hand and they were fusing together. "I fusion summon Gaia the Dragon Champion." His fusion monster appeared on the field with it having 2600atk points. "Next, I set a monster. Next, Gaia the Dragon Champion will attack Crying Maiden." His dragon rider attacked as it shot its lance forward and struck Laguna's monster with his life points dropping down to 3400. "Now, Gazelle will attack you directly." His beast pounced right at Laguna and slashed against him with his life points dropping even more to 1900. "I end my turn."
"He's still got plenty of fight left in him." Demon King said.
"Yeah, but can he do it fast enough?" Aoneko said as she noticed the timer. "He's got less than three minutes left."
"Interesting... You decided to play it safe rather than attacking me." Laguna said. "Clearly, your strategy is really meant to hold on until the clock reaches zero. If you hadn't played it like that, maybe you could have finished me. Then again, you might not have a monster strong enough to do that. I thought machines and programs don't make mistakes, only those who programmed them. You're about to see that not finishing me was a mistake. I draw!" He drew five cards, but he's got to move fast. "I'll begin by summoning another Crying Maiden LV. 3." He summoned out another maiden with the same power. "I now activate her special ability to drop your Dragon Champion's power to 2300." His maiden let out the cry and caused the fusion monster's power to drop 2300. "Next, I activate Tear Arrow. Since I have a water attribute monster on the field, my spell allows me to see one monster that's facedown." The facedown monster was flipped up, and it showed that it was the Giant Soldier of Stone. "The Giant Soldier of Stone. A great monster for defense, but if the defense points are higher than the attack points, it will be destroyed." Suddenly, the soldier was destroyed. "There's more. I'm activating my trap card: Crying Growth. This exchanges the Crying Maiden I have on the field with one in my graveyard, so my Crying Maiden LV. 5 comes back." He said as he brought back his monster by switching it out with the other. "And now, it's ability will drop Gazelle's power, making it weak enough for me to finish this."
"I activate Altar of the Tribute. This allows me to tribute Gazelle and add it's attack points to my life points." The robot said as he sacrificed his beast and now had 2500LP.
"I see... I thought that trap would have been a problem, but I have my own." Laguna said. "I activate my Sorrowful Tears trap. When a Crying Maiden is special summoned, your monster loses power equal to it's attack points." He claimed as Gaia's power dropped all the way down to 300. "With that, I now tribute Crying Maiden LV. 5 for Crying Maiden Lv. 7." He had his maiden grew stronger to its strongest form with it having 2800atk points. "It's over. Attack!" His Crying Maiden attacked by unleashing a sonic cry and destroyed Gaia with the robot's life points dropping all the way to zero.
"Access granted." The robot said with it disintegrating.
"He did it!" Aoneko said.
"And with a minute to spare. Impressive." Kyubi said.
"Thanks a lot, Laguna." Demon King said.
"Yes, thank you. That program's appearance tells me that we are on the right track." Eden said. "Shura must have gone through here."
"So, you're here looking for someone." Laguna said.
"Yeah, that's right." Demon King said.
"Laguna, maybe you should stick around." Sylph offered. "We could use your help again. I can promise that it won't be dull around here."
"Sounds like a hassle, but I suppose I could stick around considering I came all this way." Laguna said as he just went with the flow.
'It was rather nice of him to help us like this. I wonder... Did Sylph invite him all the way out here so that he could try and have a better life.' Aoneko wondered, but only those two could say for sure.
"Well, let's go find Shura." Demon King said as they could get back on track. If Shura really is in this strange world, they'll find him and get answers as to whatever might be going on. With Laguna, another foe turned ally, helping them out and coming along for the ride, this could make things interesting.