Hello everyone, it has been a long time since I last updated this story. I have no excuses, just my honest thoughts. My rather poor writing when I started this crossover story has really affected my mood to write this story, like chapter 2, 3, 4, 5 and a lot more. People even say that my tag duel of Pink Dragon Mask and Blue Angel against Specter was terrible, it has really affected my spirit extremely.
I have no intention of dropping this story, however. I've been thinking of going back and rewriting the chapters to fix my mistakes and make them better. I've rewritten 3 chapters right now I believe, but I've still got a long way to go. And I'm certain it'll take a long time. It's a big mess that I have to clean up.
Me bitching about it won't fix anything, so I'm getting to work. This update was for me to get back into the flow and such. This one involves two duels, but they won't be completed, call it a cliffhanger or whatever. I've been working on this whole chapter for November, and I've just barely managed to finish it.
Now for some reviews answered.
Guest: What are you talking about?
SparkySparkpaw: I hate that insulte to Yu-Gi-Oh!
Shu-Nightmare: Thanks for the support, but their reasons for disking this story is understandable. And the fault is all mine.
kieranroy22: Saya got those in the Arc-V story, but I intend to rewrite that duel and change it.
izukuaftonorlolbit: Different Duelist summons Exodia.
Doc of 102: Those insulting reviews are needed to knock some sense into me.
That's all the reviews answered for now. Enjoy the chapter, I worked hard to make it a good one.
Chapter 26: The start of a new battle.
3 months has passed since the heroes of LINK VRAINS returned to the Pendulum Dimension and reunited with their friends and family. Their newest friends and partners quickly became close friends with the residents of the four dimensions as well, despite the short time.
Nothing extreme has happened these past 3 months, but a lot of development was made. With the thought of a new threat looming in the future, Kolter and Yusaku officially made a partnership with Declan, the Lancers and LID. And with it came some benefits for them.
Declan had given Kolter a sort of food truck for his Café Nom business and it was a bit bigger than a normal truck. He had it designed with a better setup than in Kolter's van, a teleporter in the upper levels of the back to teleport Yusaku, Ash and the others when they need to enter LINK VRAINS and more equipment for Kolter's cafe business. The most impressive part of it all was that they created this truck to even come together with Kolter's van and be separated if need be. Of course the van needed some improvements as well, but they were well worth it.
Kolter was over the moon for the gift Declan has given him. Before, he and the others had trouble all logging into LINK VRAINS at the same time in his small van, but with this that problem's easily been solved. The teleported had been designed to teleport Yusaku, Ash and the others to a LID's secret room that had been made to connect with the network in Yusaku's world, allowing them to enter LINK VRAINS whenever need be.
Kolter even got a big pay from LID for helping Ash and the others, a whole year's worth of doing his Café Nom business. He also was given a private contact network to LID to contact Declan whenever. Azure and the others improved it so that nobody could hack it or sabotage them.
Yusaku's been given good treatment from Ash's friends and family too. Declan had his company work on creating new Cyberse monsters for him such as Cyberse Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Pendulum cards. Ai gave a helping hand since he was the creator of Yusaku's Cyberse cards and knew best on how to improve his partner's deck.
LID's card developers had a bit of a challenge with this. Cyberse monsters were unlike anything they've ever dealt with before, but with some help from Ai, they managed to pull through a little. Progress was slow, but manageable. They created 3 Cyberse Synchro monsters, 3 Cyberse Xyz monsters and 3 Pendulum cards.
The Synchro Monsters were called DPH Gendamoore, Enigmaster Packbit and Cyberse Integrator, two of them were Synchro Tuner monsters. It was also clear to say that Cyberse Tuner Monsters came with them as well.
The three Cyberse Xyz Monsters created were called Pendransaction, Cyberse Reminder and Primathmech Alembertian. Out of the three, Cyberse Reminder was the one that best worked for his deck. Primathmech Alembertian could work for him as well, but it was more for the Mathmech deck. And Pendransaction could work too, but was a bit tricky to use.
As for the Fusion Cyberse cards, two new ones were created for Yusaku. They were called "Cyberse Desavewurm" and "Diplexer Chimera", really supportive cards for Yusaku's Firewall Dragon and Cyberse Clock Dragon. Jaden had helped with the creation of those two Fusion monsters since he was the best Fusion Duelist the Fusion Dimension has.
And for Cyberse Ritual cards, Yusaku got two new Ritual monsters. One was called Paladin of Storm Dragon, a monster inspired by all the famed paladin monsters of dragon decks. And the other was a Ritual Tuner monster with the name of Cyberse Sage, a monster that could help with Fusion Summoning.
Finally, the Cyberse Pendulum monsters, those had taken more time to create than the others. They have not yet been fully completed despite the past 3 months, but Yusaku was patient since they were almost close to completion.
LID has been busy not just with creating new cards for Yusaku, but with creating Link Monsters as well. Thanks to some help from the Ignis and scanning Link Monster cards, they've managed to create a good load of Link Monsters. Link Monsters such as Predaplant Verte Anaconda, Prank-Kids Rip-Roarin-Roaster, Five-Headed Link Dragon, Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess and Abyss Actor - Super Producer to name a small number, but there were plenty more created.
In just a month and a half after Ash and the others returned home, LID released Link Monsters to the four dimensions, and it was an event to remember. They also included the new Master Rules of Duel Monsters, the same one from Yusaku's world since it was needed to use Link Monsters in a duel.
It took a demonstration duel for all the residents of all four dimensions to understand how the Master Duel rules work and how it's important to use Link Monsters. Fortunately for Yusaku, he wasn't in the demonstration duel and avoided being the center of attention of basically four worlds.
Declan made a speech after the demonstration duel, telling the residents of the four dimensions on how he planned to have his company create a Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System, or in other words their own LINK VRAINS in the future.
Declan had spent the first month and a half learning about LINK VRAINS and its systems with help from Azure and the others. Normally, he would have preferred to make a partnership with SOL Technologies and have their permission to create their own LINK VRAINS, but that wasn't the case because it was SOL Technologies of all companies.
He had been informed about SOL Technologies' crimes and actions not only against his friends, but to the creator of Azure and the others, Dr. Kiyoshi Kogami as well. All he's heard so far has made it clear that SOL Technologies was untrust worthy for the moment and best to avoid making contact with them for now.
So, he avoided seeking their cooperation for now and focused on creating LID's own LINK VRAINS. They did some research on the old LINK VRAINS that has been abandoned by SOL after the battle with the Knights of Hanoi. There were rumors going around in Yusaku's world that the company was creating a new Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System called "LINK VRAINS 2.0".
It would probably explain why they've abandoned the old LINK VRAINS. Thanks to the Knights of Hanoi, it was reduced to a destroyed city wasteland with a huge tower in the middle of it. No profit for them with their ruined LINK VRAINS, so they forgot about it and moved on to make a new and improved LINK VRAINS.
This worked in Declan's favor however since a team of developers were able to log into the old LINK VRAINS and collect data on it. Ash, Yusaku and the others had to get some more Duel Disks from Yusaku's world to help them log into the network though.
It was a slow work in progress since it was much different from Turbo Duels, Action Duels and whatever they've ever done in the past. But their progress was much faster than when SOL Technologies first created LINK VRAINS. Something that Azure and Ai made clear from the data the White Dragon Ignis ate when they infiltrated the company a while ago.
Ash, Yusaku, the Lancers and others had been given special access to the developing Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System to help with its development. Like avatars, D-Boards, Data Storm wind, the world around them and much more. It was a new experience for them all, much like how developers create video games and such, but different.
Anyway, enough of that for now. Let's talk about the friends that Yusaku, Kolter and all the Ignis created in the past 3 months.
Azura, Blaze, Raven, Velvet, Yuna, Wendy and Carla have all gotten close to their partners' families and old friends. Azure's helped with Yusei's work in Fudo Mechanics Inc on fusing the abilities of Ener-d and Dimension Energy. Progress has increased a little bit, and it was starting to look like they're on a breakthrough, but they still had more work to do.
Like her brother, Blaze has helped only with Akiza's work as a doctor. She's been able to help create prosthetic arms, legs and such, only they were much more advanced than normal ones. They could not only scanned the person's skin and blood to take the appearance of their original lost appendages, but even feels like the real things and creates new blood for them. It was almost like they've been given new appendages to replace the lost ones.
Wendy has been working with Bruno on Syncros Acceleration since Turbo Duels fascinate her greatly. She even sometimes helps Sherry with her teaching her French class style of dueling, but never shown herself to the public.
Raven has been learning above the wildlife that Shay protects, learning more of the animals that live in the world. She's learned much of the different kinds of animals that Shay has protected since he became a life preserver, helping in protecting those animals. But she hasn't stopped there. Raven has been doing research on animals that have gone extinct.
Raven has searched through the four dimensions for any laboratories that have the blood and DNA of animals that have gone extinct. She's done her own secret work on restoring the extinct animals to life without stealing anything. Raven has no desire to steal anything, just wishes to help preserve and restore the wildlife.
Carla has been keeping to herself mostly these past 3 months, just enjoying days of peace in the special Cyberse World. Especially with her new human form, but there's been a few times she's gone out. Like to help with LID's creation of their own LINK VRAINS, or secretly watch how duelists are taught in Duel Academy. She's especially really interested with the rare jewels that Jessie finds since they're ancient yet very beautiful still.
Yuna's been helping with Yuya's plans to create Yu Land starting from one day out of consideration for Zuzu. She's only been able to help with the plans, schematics and prices for the creation. She's even helped with creating music to play for the amusement park, but that's all she's been doing for now. Besides that, Yuna's kept close to Zuzu.
Finally with Velvet, the Hybrid Ignis has just been enjoying her childhood again now that the threat of the Knights of Hanoi destroying her race was over. Like any other children, she's played around, learning and enjoying time with her family. She's, of course, spent time with Saya in the real world with the young human girl coming to visit her in her own Cyberse World often.
Kolter has become great friends with Ginta and his family with their love of food. He's helped Ginta with figuring out the secret if he's ever scammed when he orders fast food on the job. Besides that and getting his new food truck, Kolter has finally visited his younger brother Jin in the hospital and told him about the truth of the Lost Incident 10 years ago and the people responsible for it all was gone now.
After hearing all of that from his brother, Jin has begun recovering from his trauma created by the Lost Incident. It's slow progress, but progress overall in the last 10 years. He's walking around, recently began going outside, making sounds with his mouth yet unable to communicate just yet.
As a token of her appreciation for all he's done for Ash, Lulu and the others, Akiza did a check up on him in secret. It was a bit tricky to do without raising suspicion from the hospital's staff, but Blaze managed to make a fake ID for Akiza to use.
The highlights of Kolter's day were Akiza telling him that Jin's soul was healing and in time, he'll make a complete recovery. All Kolter had to do was continue to support him, something that he had every intention of doing.
Now as for Yusaku, his social anxiety kept him from opening up to everyone quickly, but he's been making some progress. Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, Yuma and Yuya all found him interesting. He reminded them of themselves in a way, so they wanted to get close to the Cyberse Duelist to help him in anyway.
Yusaku himself felt a sort of kinship with the five for reasons even he didn't know. Against his rather better judgement, Yusaku spent some time with the five and learned much from them. He was surprised to hear that Yugi, Jaden, Yusei and Yuma all had past lives and remembered them fully, not to mention how they stopped world ending threats.
Their ways of dueling was different from his own, but Yusaku managed to learn a bit from them. He had no plans of changing the reason why he duels though, but the others accepted that. Yuma and Jaden still somehow got Yusaku to face them in a duel for fun.
Yusaku further impressed them, even Ash, by managing to get a tie with both Jaden and Yuma. They were truly amazed with Yusaku's potential as a duelist, confident that he could become one of the most powerful duelists in all times if he desired it. Except the Cyberse Duelist had no desire for fame or to reveal his identity as Playmaker to either worlds.
The one person that's been working the hardest to become close to Yusaku was Maleficent. It was clear to see for everyone, except for Yusaku, that the Fiend-Type Duelist had fallen in love with him, something that was once an impossibility.
She's taken every chance she's got to be with Yusaku, using all her breaks from work to visit and spend time with him. Maleficent made no attempt to hide her interest in Yusaku, proof of that is when she always wraps her arms around one of his and press it against her chest.
All the romantic displays Maleficent has done to him has made Yusaku very uncomfortable because he's got zero clue that she's interested in him. Romance was the one absolute thing that's been completely absent in his mind ever since 10 years ago.
Yusaku's been focus on uncovering the truth of the Lost Incident and has felt isolated since then. He's improved greatly ever since he started working with Ash and the others, but he's never once thought of finding a girlfriend before. Heck, no one's ever shown him attention like this before in his whole life.
So Maleficent's rather straightforward interest in him throws Yusaku off his balance. Despite that however, he hasn't done anything drastic to have her back off since Maleficent has done nothing terrible to him. He just become unsure of how to behave around the young movie star. He even has a rather hilarious fear of Maleficent dragging him into acting for a movie.
Zion has taken some time for himself to know the Cyberse Duelist that his sister was interested in. Of course he's played the overprotective brother act around Yusaku in hopes of intimidating him, but always gets thrown off when the Cyberse Duelist actually asks him for help to hide from Maleficent.
Seeing that plan of his fail terribly, Zion changed his focus on challenging Yusaku to a duel. Despite seeing Yusaku's duel against Yuya, he wanted to duel him himself. Though personally, he just wanted to test Yusaku's strength against his own to see if he was strong enough to protect his sister if things went well in the future.
Zion put up a good fight, especially with his new Link Monster cards, but was defeated in the end. He at least earned Yusaku's respect in the duel and Yusaku earned his as well. Zion's been working on getting a rematch from Yusaku constantly in hopes of defeating him one day, but the Cyberse Duelist always refused since he had no real reason to duel him again.
As for Ash and the girls, nothing real important has happened. Celina, Zuzu, Rin and Rose have all returned to their previous schools before they got sent to Yusaku's world. They haven't really made any other friends in that world, so they returned to their previous schools, but were ready to transfer back to Den City High School when the time was right. And of course they took Carla, Yuna, Wendy and Blaze with them to help keep in contact.
Ash and Lulu decided to remain in Den City High School to keep Yusaku company. They were his only friends in high school with the only ones willing to interact with him were Shima, Skye and the Duel club. But besides that, Ash, Lulu, Kolter and the other girls were the only real friends he had.
Ash, Lulu and Saya also decided to stay in the house they bought in Yusaku's world. Ash and Lulu had every intention of living in their own house once they graduated, but since they already have a new house, they decided to stay in it. And Saya of course decided to stay with her parents. Their Ignis partners were more than okay with their choices since it'll keep them closer to their allies in this world.
Speaking of the Ignis; Azure, Ai, Raven, Velvet, Carla, Yuna, Wendy and Blaze have all gone back to living in the special Ignis' Cyberse World. Azure had finished creating his program that'll allow him and the others to fast travel between their partners' Duel Disks and the Cyberse World, something that Ai was grateful for since Yusaku put the lock program back to keep Ai from sneaking off or someone attempting to steal him.
Azura, Blaze, Raven, Velvet, Carla, Yuna and Wendy, besides their work with the humans in the four dimensions, returned to their work in the Cyberse world like the Mathmech monsters.
Ai, on the other hand, returned to enjoying life and playing around with Velvet with the Cyberse Monsters. He's taken time to create new Cyberse monsters and cards for Yusaku of course since no further improvement would caused them trouble in the future.
That's what's been going on for the last 3 months since the Knights of Hanoi were defeated. There's been no sight of Varis, Black Dragon Mask or their comrades since. The only one with a known location was Kyoko Taki and that was a maximum-security prison. Locked up to the extreme.
And there's been no sight of the other Ignis either. In short, things have been peaceful, a little too much. It was the calm before the storm moment and soon, another war will take place soon.
And it would begin today. The day that LINK VRAINS 2.0 was released to the general public in Yusaku's world.
(Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS opening 2: Go Forward.)
The sky full of clouds appeared, covering the world. Playmaker flew in out of nowhere on his new D-Board through the clouds, followed by White Dragon Mask behind him. A new Duelist came flying in on a red, black and orange D-Board and followed the two. A shadow covered young man riding on a pure orange red D-Board flew in as well.
As the shadow covered Duelist flew through the clouds, they cleared to reveal LINK VRAINS 2.0 with raining lights with the D-board rider disappearing. The "Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS" logo appeared, followed by the title "White Dragon Emperor" underneath it. The title sparkled pure white for a second or two before shooting forward and covered the screen.
"Our lives aren't forever".
"We wander, searching for the meaning of life".
The world changed to a random street in Den City. Yusaku and Ash were walking beside one another, both dressed in their school uniform and carrying their bags, heading for school. The Cyberse Duelist appeared a bit down while the White Dragon Emperor was staring at him in slight concern.
Shima ran past them on Yusaku's right side, quickly tapping the Cyberse Duelist's right shoulder as he ran by. Yusaku's gaze shift over to Shima as he ran, while Ash smiled a bit. Skye walked past them from Ash's left, smiling at the White Dragon Emperor with him returning the smile.
The two comrades faced forward, before they were joined by three others. On Yusaku's right side, Maleficent walked in, dressed in the female Den City High School uniform, and wrapped both arms around Yusaku's right arm, hugging it against her chest with an overjoyed face while Yusaku had an uncomfortable face.
Two males and one female walked over to walk beside Ash on his left and right. On Ash's left is a fair-skinned young man. He has white hair with red highlights and blue eyes. He's wearing a pair of green framed glasses and the standard Den City High School uniform. His uniform consists of a slate-colored jacket with light blue trim, a white dress shirt with a pink necktie, black pants, and brown shoes.
And on the right is a white-skinned 17-year-old man with red hair that stood up straight with a dark blue highlight in the middle. He was wearing a Den City High School uniform with a few changes of his own. The slate-colored jacket was over his shoulders like a cap, a white dress shirt with a bright red necktie. He had bright red crimson fingerless gloves that went to his elbows, black pants and red shoes.
Alongside the 17-year-old was a 16-year-old female just a bit shorter than him. She has short dark blue hair, peach skin and dark eyes. For clothing; she's wearing a black coat over a grey shirt, blue shorts that reach her knees and dark green boots for footwear.
The white-haired male and Ash turned to make eye-contact with each other and grinned mischievously. And as for the red-haired male, he just outright started laughing at Yusaku's current predicament, only to comically cry out when the dark blue-haired girl slapped the back of his head with her right hand with an annoyed frown.
The screen quickly changed to a white world where White Dragon Emperor and Playmaker stood beside each other. And around them were many shadow covered figures around them, their features covered with only their glowing eyes visible.
"Even if it's not the right direction, just keep looking forward".
The world changed, showing Yusei and Akiza standing in front of Kiyoshi Kogami's grave and tombstone, glaring down at them in anger for stealing their children 10 years ago. Images of a young Ash and Rose appeared in the background with VR headsets, both crying out in pain as they were electrocuted.
It changed once more to space with one world being surrounded by 4 others. Four lines, all different colours such as purple, green, black and light blue came out of the single world and connected with the four others.
"Sharing hope for the future".
The screen changed once more, this time to the Cyberse World that Azure and the other special Ignis created. Azure, Ai, Wendy, Raven, Yuna, Carla, Velvet, Blaze and a shadow covered man all stood together on the edge of the peak overlooking their home.
Azure stood still with his coat blowing while Ai had both hands folded behind the head. Raven's hands were folded behind her, Yuna and Velvet stood next to one another holding each other's hands. Carla stood on her toes with the right foot behind the left and her left hand on the hip. Blaze had an irritated face as the shadow covered man edged closer, growling like an enraged dragon.
The screen split into two sides with the backgrounds being a dark room. The left displayed the red-haired unknown male holding up his left arm with a bright red Duel Disk on and holding out a deck with the right hand. And on the right side, Zuzu stood with a serious expression.
The unknown young man began moving his right hand back upwards, before he was suddenly replaced by the white-haired young man. And at the same time, Zuzu began to lift her left hand up before she was replaced by Celina, then the dark blood red-haired male with his own new model Duel Disk in the form of a red and blue wristband with a black orb.
The white-haired young man stopped lifting his right hand once it was high enough, before suddenly being replaced by Yusaku. At the same time; the blood red-haired male was replaced by Rin for 2 seconds until Lulu took her place with the black-haired female holding up the left arm with her Duel Disk on.
The camera zoomed in on the two screens exactly when Yusaku moved his right hand and inserted his deck while Lulu's Duel Disk displayed the words "Into the VRAINS". It started zooming out to show Ash and Rose in the places of Yusaku and Lulu, both displaying serious expressions as they prepared to log into LINK VRAINS.
The world changed to show Akira Zaizen sitting at his table with his subordinate Risa standing close by on his right, both of them facing forward.
The world changed once more to an outdoor pool with four different people there. Lying down on a deckchair was an African American male with short black hair in a small ponytail. He had dark brown eyes, golden gem piercings and was wearing sleeveless black shirt with a white cape over his shoulders, black pants with black shoes.
Lying down on the American man's left side was an adult woman with short blue and green hair, wearing a swimsuit and shorts underneath a dress.
Standing 3 feet behind were two adult men. One was a Caucasian male with red hair and golden eyes, wearing a black jacket over a red shirt, black jeans and black shoes.
The other man was an Caucasian Italian male with long blond hair, two dark blue eyes with a scar on his nose. He is wearing a black tailcoat jack over a black long sleeve shirt with a belt buckle across his waist. He is also wearing black pants and pale black boots.
The African American man smirked deviously, pressing the woman against him with his left hand around her waist. The woman was smiling deviously as well, while the two behind them stood at attention like soldiers with passive faces.
The world changed to a dark world where 5 small figures, around the same size as Azure and Ai in their Ignis forms, stood together. Their bodies were covered in darkness, but their different coloured eyes were visible. One had bright yellow eyes, another's got normal yellow, the only female had pink. The bulky one's got blue eyes and the last one has purple eyes.
It changed once more; White Dragon Mask standing across Black Dragon Mask with the Black Dragon Emperor's ace; Eclipserage Deadstar Dragon looming over him.
The camera shifted over to face White Dragon Mask. With wings spread and tail out, White Dragon Mask held his right fist up into the air with a bright light erupting from it. And surrounding him were the three Egyptian God Cards; Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra.
"Tell me - We're searching for memories lost in the darkness".
The world changed once more, to LINK VRAINS this time. White Dragon Mask and Playmaker were riding their D-Boards through the sky right beside each other. The two flew around a single airborne building in separate directions, before regrouping with their monsters; Cyberse Magician, Cyberse Witch, White Dragon - Mistress of Dragons and a shadow covered Amphithere dragon appearing close to their duelists.
Cyberse Witch and Mistress of Dragons turned around, before they deflected two different attacks into another nearby building with their staff and claws. The camera shifted over to face the two heroes of LINK VRAINS, revealing they were being chased.
Their chasers were Gore in armor of SOL Technologies and an unknown man. He is wearing a purple with green hat, red and blue mask with pink eyes, purple cape, black coat, blue shirt with green accents, black pants and boots with red sole and yellow star behind the boots. He also had a black glove on his left hand, and his right arm was actually prosthetic with attributes of a six-shooter gun.
Flying behind the two chasers were Gouki Destroy Ogre, Gouki The Great Ogre and two jet planes monsters.
White Dragon Mask and Playmaker continued flying away with their monsters staying close. Ai and Azure, in their full Ignis forms, were facing Gore and his partner with the Dark Ignis displaying a mocking expression while the White Dragon Ignis frowned at them.
The two heroes flew out of the camera's sight, while Gore and his partner flew right up to it. Gore roared as he punched the air with his left fist, while the unknown man brought his left hand up before throwing it down.
Gouki Destroyer Ogre and Gouki The Great Ogre roared before flying forward, while the two jet planes fired missiles with their target being Playmaker.
White Dragon Mask flew away to the side with his monsters following him. The missiles drew closer to Playmaker, but he flew around in a circle, resulting in some missiles crashing into themselves and exploding. Cyberse Magician and Cyberse Witch flew away, while Playmaker ride his D-Board upwards with the missiles chasing him.
They eventually caught up with Playmaker and exploded on contact, creating a smoke cloud that covered the Cyberse Duelist from view. Yet in just a second, Playmaker emerged from the cloud of smoke, injured yet still ridding on with a determined expression.
As for White Dragon Mask; the masked duelist spun his D-Board around to face Gore and his monsters. White Dragon - Mistress of Dragons and the shadow covered Amphithere dragon flew in close, before roaring and charged forward.
The shadow Amphithere dragon crashed into Gouki the Destroy Ogre, stopping it in its tracks while Mistress of Dragons caught The Great Ogre's axe with both her hands, stopping it as well.
White Dragon Mask gave a confident smirk as he brought his left arm in; Azure displaying a matching expression to his partner.
"I feel your flame; your impulses pierce the light'.
The world changed to a canyon with a dark sky above. There standing on the top of rock pillars were the highest members of the Knights of Hanoi; Issac, Specter, Black Knight of Hanoi, Female Dark Knight of Hanoi, Sayla, Baira, Faust, Knight of Hanoi girl and Dr. Genome, the wind blowing their clothes and hair a bit.
And standing behind them on higher stone pillars were Black Dragon Mask and Varis, both standing with their arms crossed with the masked duelist's wings spread out and tail swaying.
All together; the members of the Knights of Hanoi raised their right hands into the air. From the dark sky above, lighting erupted, and powerful monsters appeared. Borrelend Dragon, Eclipserage Deadstar Dragon, Cyber Slash Harpie Lady, Sunavalon Dryatrentiay, Sky Striker Ace - Azalea Temperance, Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star, X-Krawler Neurogos, Dark Mummy Surgical Forceps, Helixx Necro Darwin, Motor Worm Spreader Queen and Machina Fortress.
All of these monsters flew down to behind to behind their masters before facing forward. Together, they all let out powerful cries.
"I want to share your pain".
The screen changed to the Pendulum Dimension above Paradise City, before changing to the front of the Leo Institute building. There Yuya, Declan, Sylvio, Shay, Dennis, Moon Shadow, Gong, Sora, Riley, Krystal, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Zion, Eizen, Ginta, Clara, Ines, Ayla and Althea all stood in front of the building, facing forward with serious expressions.
The world changed to a bright white one where Azure, Ai, Wendy, Raven, Yuna, Carla, Velvet, Blaze and a shadow covered man all stood in a circle formation in their human forms, facing the same direction. And 5 feet away behind them were White Dragon Mask, Playmaker and 7 shadow covered figures, facing the opposite direction.
They all turned around to look at their partners, before bringing up their left hands and reached out to grasp one another's hand. Just as they were about to grab hold, a bright light suddenly erupted in between and blinded the screen.
"1 2 3... 1 2 3... with soul! Yeah! Yeah!"
"Come with me, come with me, go forward".
Decode Talker, Encode Talker, Powercode Talker, Excode Talker, Transcode Talker, a blue coloured code talker monster with a bow on its left hand, White Dragon - Silver Pendulum Dragon, White Dragon - Purple Fusion Dragon, White Dragon - Green Synchro Dragon, White Dragon - Black Xyz Dragon, Novaforce Stardust Dragon all appeared one by one in LINK VRAINS' sky.
As they did so, Cyberse Clock Dragon flew by in the background, followed by two shadow covered dragons. White Dragon – Harbinger of Storms suddenly flew past down below the horde of flying monsters, followed by 2 shadow covered dragons with different coloured glowing eyes.
Decode Talker, Encode Talker, Powercode Talker, Excode Talker, Transcode Talker, a blue coloured code talker monster with a bow on its left hand, White Dragon - Silver Pendulum Dragon, White Dragon - Purple Fusion Dragon, White Dragon - Green Synchro Dragon, White Dragon - Black Xyz Dragon, Novaforce Stardust Dragon all gathered together, before suddenly looking behind themselves. Firewall Dragon and White Dragon - Blue Link Dragon suddenly came flying in out of nowhere and passed their comrades, passing through the camera.
They both flew back to their comrades, before Firewall Dragon began preparing its Tempest Terahertz and Blue Link Dragon started gathering energy for its Blue Draconic Blast attack. As for the other monsters behind them, the dragons roared and Code Talkers all cried out as they raised their weapons.
The camera split into two screens that displayed Firewall Dragon and White Dragon - Blue Link Dragon right as they unleashed their Tempest Terahertz and Blue Draconic Blast attacks forward.
The screen started changing rapidly once more; first displaying the red-haired and white-haired male giving each other a fist bump with their right fists with massive smirks on their faces. The screen changed to Ai, in Ignis form, standing in a black world with five figures standing 10 feet behind him with their backs turned, darkness covering their features.
It changed once more, now displaying Varis and Ryuga kneeling down in front of their father's grave on their right knees, bowing their heads to the tombstone. The world changed again to a colourful world where Ghost Gal and Blue Angel stood beside one another, smiling at the camera.
The screen changed a forest where human form Blaze stood, turning away from a shadow covered man with arms crossed and puffed out cheeks, but there was a healthy blush on her face as she did so.
In the human world in Den City park; Ash, Yusaku, Kolter, the white-haired male, Lulu, Rose, Zuzu, the red-haired male, dark blue-haired female, Celina, Rin, Saya and Maleficent were all around a picnic table. Ash, Celina, Rin, the white-haired male were all sitting down around the table, eating hotdogs happily.
Lulu and Saya were standing a few feet behind them, facing Kolter as he was in the middle of explaining to them how to manage his cafe whenever he's not around. Zuzu was sitting on the other side, wireless headphones on as she listened to some music and watched in amusement as Yusaku stared at Maleficent with a wide-eyed expression as she was leaning her head against his left shoulder with both hands wrapped around his left arm.
Celina and the blood red-haired male were a few feet away, facing each other with their left arms up, Duel Disks equipped, about to duel. Carla, in Ignis form, was standing up from her partner's Duel Disk's black center, gazing up at Celina with both hands on her hips. The dark blue-haired female was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed, watching the two duelists.
And on the picnic table; everyone else's Duel Disks were placed in a circle close to each other. Azure, Ai, Raven, Velvet, Yuna, Wendy, Blaze and a shadow covered Ignis with yellow eyes were all standing up from their partners' Duel Disks.
Blaze was facing away from the shadow covered Ignis, smacking her tail into his face resulting in him flinching. Ai and Velvet watched the two with amused expressions, Raven was sighing, Yuna and Wendy were looking at each other with the Witch Ignis pointing at Blaze with her right hand's thumb. Azure himself was giving a shrug of his shoulders at the unknown Ignis.
In a lust forest; human form Ai walked through past the trees with human form Velvet ridding on his shoulders. Linkuriboh was floating around the two human form Ignis with an expression of happiness, a feeling that was shared by Ai and Velvet as the Dark Ignis continued walking forward with his niece riding on his shoulders.
The screen changed for one final time, displaying the world of LINK VRAINS 2.0. White Dragon Mask and Playmaker ride their D-Boards through the skies with nine shadow covered duelists following them on their own D-Boards, also covered in shadows.
Azure and Ai were in Ignis forms, standing up straight. Blaze, Yuna, Raven, Yuna, Velvet and Carla were with six of the shadow covered figures, while the unknown Ignis was with another one of the covered duelists.
The eleven duelist flew around, sticking close before they started picking up the pace with the camera zooming in on all the Ignis as their partners flew past the camera, starting with the shadow covered figures the first nine. Playmaker was the second last one to fly by with Ai waving at the camera. White Dragon Mask was the last one with Azure pointing at the camera with his right hand's index claw before ridding out of sight.
(Opening end)
(Den City)
Den City was lively today because their patience was about to be rewarded. After the battle with the Knights of Hanoi ended 3 months ago, LINK VRAINS shut down and no one was able to log into the Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System since. But that was about to change.
Because today was the day LINK VRAINS 2.0 was to be released.
This new Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System was publicly announced not too long ago and it was said to be much more advanced from the original LINK VRAINS. New D-Boards, Speed Dueling legal, advanced avatars and even a new world in the virtual reality. It was said to the most exciting event in a long time.
In the open plaza area in the middle of the city, there was hardly anyone there. It used to be full of people there to watch the famed Celebrity Duelists of LINK VRAINS such as the Gore and Blue Angel, but that's not the case for today. Most of Den City's citizens are all busy checking out the new LINK VRAINS released today.
In its usual spot was the Café Nom, parked and open for customers to order food. Except the owner Kolter wasn't there making hot dogs right now, instead it was Yusaku dressed in a more casual outfit with the Café Nom apron on. But he wasn't alone right now.
In front of the van, Ash sat down on a white fold out chair in front of the van, dressed in his casual outfit with the old model Duel Disk that Kolter gave him strapped to his left wrist. The White Dragon Emperor had both hands folded behind his head, staring up at the sky above.
And in the van helping Yusaku with handling the cafe was Maleficent, dressed in the same outfit as when Yusaku first met her, only had a white apron on as well. The Fiend-Type Duelist had a satisfied smile as she stood right beside Yusaku, helping him cook hotdogs right now.
"When you see them like this, then that means that side is finished and you can flip it over". The white-haired beauty told Yusaku, turning her head to gaze right at his face. Yusaku gave a nod, eyes focused on the hotdogs as he did what Maleficent told him and flip them over with the metal tongs in his right hand.
Maleficent suddenly grew quiet, much to Yusaku's confusion. He turned to look at the white-haired beauty, only to blink upon seeing her staring at him with a mesmerized face. "...Ummm, is there something wrong?" The Cyberse Duelist asked with an uncomfortable face from the way she's staring at him.
Maleficent slightly shook her head in response, smiling like a high school girl in love. "Not at all... I'm just admiring your handsome face". The Fiend-Type Duelist answered without a single bit of hesitation in her voice. Her words may be genuine, but they caused a cold shiver to go down Yusaku's spine.
Ash was watching them with an amused grin on his face. 'Oh, Yusaku's got no idea just how lucky he is that Maleficent's looking at him like that. Over a thousand guys back home have confessed to her, but she's turned them all down because none of them interested her. I was even starting to believe she has no interest in romance at all'. The White Dragon Emperor thought to himself, before closing both eyes and turned forward with the amused grin still present.
"Yusaku has no idea that he's become public enemy number 1 of all the male high schoolers back home". Ash added, before chuckling once more from the thought of Yusaku running away from a mob of angry male high schoolers. He had no doubt that would be Yusaku's worse nightmare come to life.
"Is that so? Your friend must be famous then". A familiar voice said from Ash's right, catching him a bit by surprise. The White Dragon Emperor opened both eyes, before turning to his right where he saw, to his further surprise, Skye Zaizen standing there just 2 feet away with a kind smile on her face.
The young woman was wearing a casual outfit consisting of a white shirt with light blue jacket, a short blue skirt, and black socks on her brown shoes.
"S-Skye...!" Ash uttered with a surprised expression, honestly taken aback that she's here. The last time he saw her was before he and Yusaku went off to face Varis and Black Dragon Mask. After the battle had ended, he's had no further contact with her the last 3 months for two reasons. To prepare for their newest enemy responsible for Cyberse World's destruction and to avoid SOL Technologies' notice.
After all, Akira got back his position as Security Chief from what he's heard. Just like they planned to after the battle with the Knights of Hanoi, they revealed the footage of Kitamura attempting to betray SOL Technologies and join the Knights of Hanoi.. It was no surprise to learn he got fired completely and Akira got his old post back.
Still, they needed to be careful around him and Skye since SOL Technologies' top branch could be watching them at any time.
The hidden Celebrity Duelist's smile grew a bit at Ash saying her name. "Long time no see, Ash. Have you been well?" Skye asked with a curious voice, folding both hands behind her back.
The White Dragon Emperor kept staring at Skye with a wide-eyed expression, but eventually gave a smile at the girl. "You could say that. These last 3 months have been good to not just me, but the others as well". Ash answered the brown-haired girl, uncrossing both arms once he finished speaking.
"I'm glad to hear that". Skye stated, before breaking eye contact with Ash to gaze down with an uncertain expression. She was quiet for 5 seconds until she managed to find her voice and speak. "Were you and your friends able to go back home?" The brown-haired female asked, lifting her head to make eye-contact with Ash once more.
Ash lifted an eyebrow at Skye's question, but answered her. "Yes, we were. We've all reunited with our friends and family from our world". The White Dragon Emperor answered, looking over to Maleficent past his left shoulder once more.
"In fact, that girl that's staring at Yusaku right now is a childhood friend of mine. Her name is Maleficent Kessler". He added, regrowing his amused smile from before after seeing Maleficent hugging Yusaku's left arm now.
Skye blinked at Ash, before looking over to Maleficent with an expression of wonder. "That's... an unusual first name". She stated, wondering why anyone would name their daughter "Maleficent" since it meant causing harm or destruction.
Ash let out an amused scoff at Skye's words. "You're not the first one to think or say that. Maleficent's parents wanted to give her a unique name and that was the one they chose". The White Dragon Emperor told his friend, before proceeding to get up from the fold out chair.
He turned to fully face Skye and smiled at her. "It's good to see you again, Skye". Ash told Skye, resulting in her growing a small blush. "Thank you for saying that". The brown-haired female stated, having missed her friend greatly in these past 3 months. She even reached out with her right hand and gently took hold of Ash's left hand.
The two spared a quick glance at their connected hands, before looking back at one another. "I probably already know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. Are you and the other heroes of LINK VRAINS gonna log in today?" Skye asked with a curious voice, almost certain of the answer to that question.
And Ash's answer was exactly what she was expecting. "No way. We're on the top of SOL Technologies' most wanted list right now and I for one don't want to be wasting time dealing with bounty hunters". The White Dragon Emperor answered, looking away to his left with a small frown.
In the 3 months that passed; White Dragon Mask, Playmaker, Purple Night, Lunalight Dancer, Music Singer, Green Witch, Pink Dragon Mask, Black Rose Dragon Mask, Blue Angel and Gore were all recognized for their efforts in stopping the Tower of Hanoi. But SOL Technologies has put bounties of Playmaker and the masked heroes of LINK VRAINS for no unexplained reason, to the public that is.
It was clear to Ash, Yusaku and everyone else why they're wanted. It's because SOL Technologies wants Azure, Ai and the other Ignis. With Ai's Cyberse World destroyed, there was no need to hide it again. SOL Tech found it, but found nothing they wanted. What a bunch of suckers.
With no knowledge of where the Flame, Wind, Water, Earth or Light Ignis are, SOL Tech decided to put their focus on them since they're the ones with Ignis partners. Ash had no idea what they intended to do with Azure and the other Ignis if they successfully captured them, but he and the others had no intention of letting that happen.
That's why no one plans to log into LINK VRAINS anywhere unless it's absolutely secure and no one could see them. Keeping their identities was just as important as well, and they can't risk SOL Technologies or anyone that isn't an ally to find out.
"You haven't told anyone about me being White Dragon Mask, right?" Ash asked Skye with a hint of worry in his voice. She was the only outside person that knew he was White Dragon Mask and if she connects the dots, Skye could realize the real life identities of his comrades as well. And if she tells anyone from SOL Technologies that's devoted to the people responsible for Kiyoshi Kogami's state before his death, they can't stay in this world anymore.
Fortunately; Skye shook her head at Ash's question. "You don't have to worry, I haven't told anyone. Not even my brother". The secret Celebrity Duelist answered, much to Ash's relief at hearing this.
Skye gazed down at her hand holding Ash's hand. "I don't want put you or my student in any danger. You all saved me, my brother and countless people, so I won't stab you in the back". Skye told the White Dragon Emperor, lifting her head to look him in the eye and for him to see the conviction in her eyes.
Seeing the honesty in her eyes, Ash gave a pleased smile that his identity could be trusted with Skye, someone that fought by his side to protect both worlds' networks. He suddenly blinked upon thinking about the comrades he had in the battle against the Knights of Hanoi, specifically one.
"Skye, have you... have you heard anything about Gore?" Ash asked Skye with a hint of concern in his voice. Things with Gore have gone rather bad because the Gouki Duelist had quit being a Celebrity Duelist not too long after the Tower of Hanoi had shut down. He, Lulu and Saya had watched an interview of him on TV and how he lost his cool after the reporters had constantly asked him about White Dragon Mask, Playmaker, Purple Night, Lunalight Dancer, Music Singer, Green Witch, Pink Dragon Mask and Black Rose Dragon Mask.
Even more concerning than Gore stepping down from being a Celebrity Duelist was him joining SOL Technologies to start anew, as a bounty hunter. They had only found out about this thanks to Azure and Ai secretly hacking into SOL Tech's network to learn any secret information they had.
Skye's face fell at Ash's question, before looking away to the side. "I haven't heard from him in some time. Gore and I weren't really friends when he was a Celebrity Duelist, but we did converse a few times for events". Sky answered Ash, causing him to slightly raise an eyebrow at her. He wondered if she knew Gore was a bounty hunter for SOL Tech now or was pretending, she didn't know.
Deciding not to question her about it, Ash dropped the subject. "Are you planning to log into LINK VRAINS soon? I'm pretty sure that the now number 1 Celebrity Duelist won't miss out on a chance to make an appearance". Ash said with a growing grin, catching Skye's full attention as she turned to face him again.
Blushing a little at the mention of her new status as Den City's top Celebrity Duelist, Skye opened her mouth and spoke. "I was only made the number 1 Celebrity Duelist because Gore quit, I never really earned it. But the answer to your question is yes, I'll be logging into LINK VRAINS soon. Just came here to grab a quick snack". The brown-haired female answered, slightly turning to look over to the van.
The brown-haired girl suddenly grew a nervous and flush face as she looked back at the young man in front of her. "And... I was hoping to see you again". She added, before looking away with her flushing face growing redder than before. Ash himself blushed as well from Skye's voice and grew silent, only gazing down at the ground below.
The two quiet for the next few seconds, no idea what to say to each other after what Skye just said. The silence was eventually broken by Ash.
"You should hurry. LINK VRAINS 2.0 opened not too long ago, and I'm sure people are excited to see Blue Angel". The White Dragon Emperor advised Skye, keeping both eyes on the ground as he spoke. Skye gave a short nod of the head, but before she could pull her hand back, Ash did something that took her by surprise.
Ash brought Skye's right hand up to his face and kissed the back of it.
Skye blinked in surprise with her cheeks flushing bright red at Ash's surprising actions. The White Dragon Emperor pulled away from Skye's hand and let go of it. He faced the brunette once more and gave her a smile. "No matter what happens in the future, you'll always be important to me Sky. And to Pink Dragon Mask". The raven-haired male told Skye with pure sincerity in his voice because he truly means what he's saying.
Skye's blush intensified at Ash's words and the meaning behind them. Feeling too embarrassed to keep eye contact with the young man, Skye turned away and tilted her head down in some vain hope he wouldn't see how flushed she is.
"Y-Yeah... I'll see you later". The brunette stuttered, quickly letting go of Ash's hand and started walking over to the van. Ash watched the young woman go with a small smile, certain that they'll see each other again very soon. The future was an unpredictable thing, but he was certain of one thing that won't change. His feelings for Skye.
Ash suddenly grew a semi-concerned face upon thinking about Akira and how he'll take the news if he and Skye did end up together. 'He's definitely gonna try to kill me when he learns I have a harem. Let's just hope I can convince him not to actually see it through'. The White Dragon Emperor thought to himself, letting out a nervous chuckle from the thought.
Ash went back to the fold out chair and folded both hands behind his head again. He gazed up at the sky in thought, this time about his home in the Pokémon World. He's spent time with Pikachu and everyone else in the last 3 months as well to make up for his sudden disappearance. In the time he's spent back there, Ash has learned about an upcoming event that started in the time he was away.
The Pokémon World Coronation Series.
It was a tournament to decide the best trainer in the world, something that fully captured Ash's attention. Unfortunately for him, it was too late for him to join since the tournament had already began, but that didn't trouble him. And honestly, he didn't have time to participate right now.
But when the next Pokémon World Coronation Series begins, Ash had every intention to enter and win the whole thing. Right now though, he was busy with preparing for the upcoming battle against the mysterious destroyers of Ai's Cyberse World.
"Hehe..." Ash chuckled a little as he grew an eager smirk, his very spirit shaking in anticipation for the day he enters the next the Pokémon World Coronation Series. "Just wait, Pikachu... We're gonna rock it and become the strongest team in the whole Pokémon World". The White Dragon Emperor uttered to himself, fully intending to go on another journey in the Pokémon World once he's done taking care of things in this world.
He didn't know at this point of time, but he'll have two new friends once he begins that new journey in the future. But who they are will remain a mystery for now.
(Meanwhile in the other Cyberse World)
In the ice mountains of this Cyberse world; human form Ai stood at the edge of a mountain, clothes blowing a bit wildly, holding his left arm up. And for some reason, he had a Duel Disk equipped to his left forearm. It was an old style Duel Disk of Yusaku's world.
It has a blue orb outlined by a purple and black body that extends up the forearm with pale yellow decorations. It has a purple blade similar to the ones used in the world of the four dimensions, with curling, regal designs on the ends. There was even a deck of cards slotted in the deck zone.
The human form Dark Ignis let out a pleased chuckle as he lowered his left arm, the Duel Disk deactivating with the blade disappearing. He looked down directly at the deck of cards, cards that he created himself in these past 3 months.
With their new human forms, Ai and the others realized that they didn't need to let their partners do all the dueling by themselves anymore. Now they could duel themselves and help their partners in any upcoming situation. Like the future enemy they're preparing for, the Knights of Hanoi if they ever returned to continue their goal or SOL Technologies if they try to get in their way.
There was the matter of what kind of deck they would use since they couldn't use their partners' decks. So, after thinking about it for a good 2 hours, they all decided to create their own decks to use themselves. Decks that were a little inspired by their partners' decks.
Ai currently has no idea what kind of decks Azure, Blaze, Raven, Yuna, Carla, Velvet or Wendy have created, but he had a good few ideas for his own deck. Unlike the Cyberse monsters he created that became Playmaker's deck, he had this new deck have an archetype. He still made it so that cards without the archetype name could be used for this deck too.
The name of this archetype is "AtIgnister", a deck that was created to represent his feelings for the Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Light Ignis. The deck hasn't fully been fully completed just yet, but it was completed enough for Ai to duel. He had just finished giving it a small test such as what kind of starting hand he'll have 3 times, and he was very satisfied.
"This has to be my greatest work yet. This deck rocks". Ai stated with an excited grin, gripping his right fist and bringing it up a little. He's worked harder than ever before in his life on this deck, even looking over data of the past duels Playmaker's had to learn a perfect balance with cards. And these 40 cards were the result of his hard work.
"Really? I hope that isn't you just boasting since it's your creation". A familiar voice said from behind the Dark Ignis. Ai widen his eyes in surprise since he didn't sense anyone nearby and thought he was alone in this part of Cyberse World.
The human form Dark Ignis looked over his left shoulder to see his best friend Azure, human form, standing 10 feet away from him. Even Linkuriboh was there, standing on Azure's left shoulder with the two of them looking directly at Ai.
"Where'd you come from? I didn't even hear your footsteps, which is hard to miss in the snow". Ai questioned his best friend, turning around to face him as he spoke. Instead of giving Ai an answer with words, Azure simple spread his wings out as his answer.
The Dark Ignis grumbled at seeing Azure's wings and the message he was sending him. "Using flying to sneak up on people? That's my thing". Ai gave a grumble, which Azure gave an unamused face at him. "I'm fully aware of that, but we're getting off topic here. Is your deck completed yet?" The White Dragon Ignis asked, paying no mind as Linkuriboh flew off his shoulder.
"Kuri kuri!" The Link Monster cutely cried out, flying around its creator with an overjoyed face. Ai chuckled a little as he watched Linkuriboh a little, before facing Azure. "My deck hasn't fully been completed yet. There's still a few things to go over, but it's completed enough to be used in a duel right now". The human form Dark Ignis answered, before slightly tilting his head in curiosity.
"What about your deck? Out of all of us, you've been the busiest Ignis these last 3 months. You haven't had as much free time as us". Ai said to Azure, placing the right hand on his hip as he spoke. The White Dragon Ignis has indeed been incredibly busy helping their human allies, further advancing this Cyberse World, creating new Cyberse monsters and looking for their Ignis friends.
Azure let out a small sigh, but still gave a small smile. "You don't have to worry about that. I've found time to create my own deck". The human form White Dragon Ignis answered, holding up his right hand right as a deck of Duel Monster cards materialized and he grabbed hold of it.
"Like your deck, it hasn't fully been completed yet. I've at least managed to get it ready to use in a duel". Azure told Ai, the deck of cards disappearing once he finished speaking. He was a more advanced Ignis than Ai, but he hasn't had much time like him to create his own personal deck. That's why his was yet to be completed.
Ai gave a pleased grin at Azure's words. "I'm glad to hear that. So..." The human form Dark Ignis began, lifting his left arm as he spoke. "...Want to have a practice duel to test out our new cards?" Ai finished with an eager voice from the thought of trying out his new deck.
Azure raised an eyebrow at Ai, before growing a smirk. He raised his left arm up, right before a powerful bright white light appeared at the forearm. It quickly cleared to reveal a perfect copy of White Dragon Mask's Duel Disk with a deck of cards already slotted in.
"Why not. Having a practice duel is the perfect way to see how our decks work and see what needs improvement". The human form White Dragon Ignis said with a hint of excitement in his voice. The Duel Disk activated with the blade appearing, followed by Azure's deck shuffling through the shuffle system.
Ai chuckled with anticipation, lifting his left arm with the Duel Disk activating once more. "Duel!" The two best friends cried out, drawing their starting hand of five cards.
Azure Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 5.
Ai Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 5.
"Kuri!" Linkuriboh cried out with a wide-eyed expression, proceeding to fly away into the sky to give those two some distance. The Link Monster flew higher into the sky until eventually flying into someone's stretched out hands.
"Kuri?" Linkuriboh looked to see that it was Velvet, human form, holding onto him. And flying right next to the Hybrid Ignis was her mother, Raven. The two female Ignis had been watching Azure and Ai ever since the White Dragon Ignis and Ai began their conversation and made no move to interrupt it.
Velvet brought Linkuriboh closer and began cuddling the Link Monster as if he were a toy to cuddle. She gazed down directly at Ai as he took the first move. "It seems like Ai's deck is ready to be used in a duel, I suppose. Still, why did he name his deck's archetype "AtIgnister"? It is a weird name". The Hybrid Ignis spoke with an emotionless voice, gently stroking the right side of Linkuriboh's body.
Raven stared down at Ai as he drew the top card of his deck. "He is the creator of that deck, so Ai's in his rights to name them however he wants". The human form Bird Ignis remarked with a small smile, before turning her head slightly to look at Velvet.
"What about you? Have you been working on creating a deck of your own?" Raven asked with a curious voice, folding both hands behind her back once she finished speaking. "..." Velvet grew silent, offering no response to her mother.
Despite being a child still, Velvet was actually skilled at creating cards of her own. Proof of that was the Trickstar monsters that she and Saya created in their short break against the Knights of Hanoi and gave to Blue Angel before her duel against Specter.
Velvet hasn't told her parents about her Trickstar monster creations because she was honestly a bit embarrassed to tell them. She and Saya had created them in secret and Velvet didn't want to tell them since they were her first creations. Maybe one day she will, but for now Velvet just wants to keep it her own little secret.
"I'm still too young to begin creating a Duel Monsters deck of my own. I need to grow up a little more first". The human form Hybrid Ignis answered, slightly tilting her head down once she finished speaking. Raven's face turned soft at her daughter's words and the unspoken message in it.
'She doesn't have confidence in herself to create her own creations. Velvet is young, but that doesn't mean she can't start now with some help from us'. Raven thought to herself, lifting her right hand up and gently placed it atop Velvet's head.
The Hybrid Ignis blinked in surprise, before gazing up at Raven as she gently began stroking Velvet's hair. "You don't need to wait. You could start right now and I'll supervise you". Raven told her beloved daughter, speaking with a soft voice. She may not know about Blue Angel's newest Trickstar monsters that Velvet created yet, but Raven still wanted to help her daughter whenever she can.
Velvet looked at Raven's face and stared at it in silence for a couple of seconds. "... Can you really afford to spend time watching me? Our days of peace and preparation could very well end today, so are you certain?" She questioned Raven to be certain, looking away once she finished speaking.
No one knows when their new enemy will attack, so they have to be ready at all times to act immediately. Raven spending time watching over her could be used for more important stuff. Velvet did want attention from her parents, but the safety of her people and friends was more important right now, so that's why she hasn't tried to interrupt them.
"You're so mature for such a youngling. But you don't always have to be like that always. You're still just a child, and all children deserve time with their parents". Raven told her daughter, gently taking Velvet's left hand with the right one. "Now let's go. I'm very excited to see Cyberse monsters of your own creation". The human form Bird Ignis said with a hint of excitement leaking out of her voice.
She turned around and began flying away, pulling Velvet along with the young child keeping a hold of Linkuriboh in her right hand. Velvet gave in without any trouble and allowed herself to get pulled along by her mother.
She turned her head to look down at Azure and Ai just in time to see the human form Dark Ignis hold out a single card with his right hand's index and middle fingers. She faced forward and slightly frowned as she began thinking of what her first creation should be.
(Link world)
Meanwhile in the house that has now become the permanent residents of Ash, Lulu and Saya; it was peaceful without anything to disturb the peace. Inside the living room and seated on the living room's couch beside one another were Lulu and Saya.
The two females had excited smiles on their faces as they gazed down at their left forearms, directly at their Link world Duel Disks.
The pair of mother and daughter were just about to log into the new LINK VRAINS to enjoy themselves and see the new world. Of course they had no intention of walking in clear view of the public as their avatars since that'll draw unwanted attention from SOL Technologies and bounty hunters. They already had disguises in place for when they log in. Raven and Velvet made certain it was foolproof and no one will tell its them.
Lulu took her eyes off the Duel Disk to look at Saya. "You ready?" She asked the 7-year-old girl, receiving an excited nod from Saya. The young child continued staring down at her own Duel Disk, excitement clear in her eyes to see the new LINK VRAINS 2.0.
Lulu gave a small chuckle full of amusement at Saya, before gazing down at her Duel Disk again. "Okay, then let's not wait any longer". She declared, receiving an excited cry of agreement from Saya. "Yeah!" The young girl cried out, throwing her right arm into the air out of excitement.
Saya brought her arm down, before both she and Lulu held their left arms up. "Time to LINK into the VRAINS!" The pair of mother and daughter called out together. Their Duel Disks' screen lit up brightly, before their bodies were surrounded in blue data as they logged into the new LINK VRAINS.
(LINK VRAINS 2.0)
All Lulu and Saya could see was a black world, before a bright light appeared out of nowhere in front of them and gleamed brightly. The light soon cleared with the two females blinking as the world around them changed.
One second they were in some dark world, and the next they're standing in the middle of a massive city, with a large central tower going up into the sky in the center. There were fireworks going off in the sky with floating islands, floating buildings as well and even a few people ridding on D-Boards visible. The city itself was filled with thousands of people, many in casual cloths, others in costumes, even a few children with balloons as well. Some people had their avatars in the form of animals, robots or aliens even.
Truly, this LINK VRAINS was much different than the previous one. More upgraded you could say.
Saya gasped in pure awe at her surroundings, while Lulu looked down at herself to see the disguise Raven had made for her. The disguise avatar had the appearance of a 19-year-old girl with long purple hair tied in a ponytail, light skin and pink eyes. As for clothes, she's wearing a white dress that reveals her legs in front, but covers them in the back with white lace sleeves and leggings, while wearing metal heels. She's also wearing purple pauldrons on her arms, a purple chestpiece and a black choker. This looks is completed with a purple, spiky tiara.
'Raven really made this disguise avatar beautiful. Something more normal would have been perfect, but this'll do'. Lulu thought to herself, truly amazed with how well Raven made this avatar look in appearance. She turned her head to look at Saya's disguise avatar.
Saya's avatar was in the form of a child still. She had long white hair that fell past her shoulders, peach skin and blue eyes. As for clothes; she's wearing a long-sleeved pink sweater and a purple skirt, as well as red shoes.
'That looks more normal than my disguise avatar'. Lulu thought to herself, mentally wishing Raven's disguise for her was more like Saya's one. Her disguise avatar was more otherworldly looking while Saya's one was a more normal looking one. She let out a small sigh with her eyes closed, deciding to just let the whole thing go since it wasn't really important.
"Ahhh..." Saya breathed out in awe, gazing around her surroundings with wide eyes filled with wonder. She turned to her mother just as Lulu opened her eyes. "Doesn't this place look amazing?" Saya asked the older female with an excited voice, capturing Lulu's attention.
She looked down at her daughter's face and gave a small smile. "I'd say so. This place is definitely a cut above the other LINK VRAINS, but remember it's also more top notch than the other one". Lulu told her daughter, giving an unspoken message about this world. After all that went down in the previous LINK VRAINS, there was no doubt that SOL Technologies ensured this place wasn't so easily to hack control over.
Saya frowned a little, before giving a small nod. Lulu looked over at her daughter's frowning face and let out a sigh. She reached out with her left hand and pat Saya's head.
"Let's forget about all that for now and enjoy the new LINK VRAINS. This whole afternoon is ours, so let's enjoy it". The disguised young woman said to her daughter, words that made Saya blink up at her. The little girl dropped her surprised expression and regrew her excited expression from before.
"Right!" Saya responded, reaching up with her right hand and grabbed hold of Lulu's left hand. The young girl started walking forward, pulling her mother along with Lulu putting up no fight at all.
Instead, the young woman resorted to looking around her surroundings and all the changes this new LINK VRAINS has to offer. 'The avatars are more advanced than before; the shops are different and most of all...' The disguised woman thought to herself, gazing up to the sky just in time to see a random teenage female fly away on her D-Board.
'Speed Dueling is now permitted without any sort of punishment. Did SOL Tech do that out of the goodness of their heart or is it a scheme to get more money?' Lulu mentally question herself, wondering just what SOL Tech's aim is to allow Speed Dueling when it was illegal in the previous LINK VRAINS.
Lulu was broken out of her thoughts from a horde of excited cries that came from her right. Both she and Saya stopped in their tracks, no clue that they stopped next to a large guy in blue armor, and looked to see a stage right there surrounded by a large crowd, some holding up fans with love hearts imprinted on them.
Lulu blinked in surprise, while Saya let go of Lulu's hand. "Now what could this be apart?" The disguised Xyz Duelist said with a curious voice, lifting her right hand up a bit. Saya gave no response as she walked forward, only to stop and grumble at seeing her view completely blocked off by the people in front of her.
"No fair! I can't see!" She complained with a sour, tempted to take her disguise off and fly to see. But fortunately, didn't do that and instead stared looking for a gap in between the people to see.
The lights on the stage suddenly went out, taking Lulu a bit by surprise, but then suddenly rainbow coloured lightning came from above and struck the stage, causing a bright flash. The flash quickly died down to reveal Blue Angel standing on the undamaged stage, holding a microphone with both hands.
At the sight of LINK VRAINS' precious idol, all the people went crazy as they started cheering for her. "It's her... Blue Angel!" The blue armored guy said in excitement, catching Lulu's attention.
She turned to look at the random guy, only to blink upon recognizing him. 'Isn't he Brave Battler? The person that Ai gave Cyberse Wizard to in order to draw out the Knights of Hanoi?' The teenage girl thought, remembering what Yusaku and Kolter told her about Ai's scheme that lured out Faust. But besides that, she knows nothing else about the guy and she really had no interest in finding out more.
Saya paid no attention to Brave Battler, instead focused on staring up at her teacher through the gap she found. The young child had a massive face at seeing her beloved teacher, wishing nothing more than to run up to Blue Angel and hug her in joy. But she managed to restrain herself and just watch with a massive, excited smile.
Blue Angel brought her left hand up to the side of her face and spoke on the microphone. "Aww guys, you sure do know how to make an angel feel love!" The idol of LINK VRAINS called out to all her cheering fans. She took hold of the microphone with both hands and continued speaking. "Now who in the True Blue crew is ready to party!?" She cried out, jumping up a little and throwing her left hand into the air, giving a wink with the left eye as she did so.
The cheering crowd cheered even louder at their idol, giving an answer to her question. "Me! This is so much better than taking out the trash! Blue Angel, do you see me?! I'm here!" Brave Battler cried out in hopes of getting Blue Angel's attention, no clue of the look of pity Lulu was giving him.
'He has no idea that LINK VRAINS' idol basically off the market to grab'. The disguised Xyz Duelist mentally said, before gazing over to Blue Angel. She wordlessly stared at the blue-haired female, thinking about Blue Ange's bond with her own boyfriend.
'Skye Zaizen... Before he met you, the only girls Satoshi wanted to be with were Celina, Zuzu, Rin, Sayaka, Rio and I. Plus Ray, but that's beside the point. Something about you drew him in, and I honestly don't know what it is. But if you and Satoshi do end up together, I won't stand in the way since you're a good person. I just hope you understand why Satoshi loves not just you, but all of us too'. Lulu thought to herself, laying her right fist gently atop her chest and stared down at it.
It was already chaotic enough with Ash's harem being her, Celina, Zuzu, Rin, Sayaka and Rio. Especially how it started off and be became common knowledge, at least to all their friends and family. It took a whole lot of convincing, begging and reasoning, but they managed to work it out with the families of Sayaka, Zuzu and Rio. Out of all of them, Rio's one was the easiest since they were Ash's adopted family.
At the thought of family, Lulu grew a nervous smile upon thinking of Skye's family. 'Something tells me that Akira Zaizen is gonna be the most troublesome one to convince. Bet you're gonna be really glad that you're indestructible when that happens, Ash'. The disguised young woman thought to herself, turning to her right only to blink upon noticing something at the top of a building not too far away.
Lulu frowned a little, unable to make out what she's seeing perfectly, but she had something to fix that. Lulu's pink eyes began gleaming a little purple as her eyesight increased dramatically, a nice feature that Raven made both for this disguise avatar and her real one.
One second Lulu couldn't make out what's standing at the top of the building, the next she was able to perfectly. And what Lulu saw took her a bit by surprise. 'No way... Ghost Gal!' The Xyz Duelist thought to herself in surprise at seeing the person she wanted to become real friends with.
Ghost Gal's avatar has been redesigned: she's no longer wearing a mask, her collar has been changed, her mauve stripes are now hot pink. Ghost Gal's gloves have been altered and, along with her belt, are now dark purple. Part of her sides are now white, she has shoulder pads, the belt buckle is now in the shape of a gold and dark olive "G" with a similarly colored diamond where her zipper was. And of course, Ghost Gal's Duel Disk was equipped to her left wrist.
The famed bounty hunter was standing at the edge of a rooftop, arms crossed and hair blowing from the breeze. 'Her avatar's changed from the last time I saw her. I guess she had the same idea as me and the girls. I wonder if she changed her name'. Lulu thought to herself, taking in Ghost Gal's new appearance.
In the 3 months that have passed since the Tower of Hanoi incident; Lulu, Celina, Zuzu, Rin, Rose and Saya have all decided to change their avatars' appearances and names since it was due time for a makeover. Not to mention for some of them, their old names weren't exactly the most creative since they weren't really video game people. So their naming sense back then weren't the best and they wanted to change that.
Back to the present; Lulu noticed that Ghost Gal was gazing down at the city with a grin, but wasn't exactly looking at anyone. The bounty hunter suddenly looked to her right, much to Lulu's curiosity as she turned to her left and saw what Ghost Gal was looking at.
There was a large hologram of Playmaker slowly turning around with the words "Wanted! $500,000 Reward Playmaker'. It changed to show a hologram of White Dragon Mask with Playmaker's name changing to his. It began a cycle, showing LINK VRAINS' masked heroes Purple Night, Lunalight Dancer, Green Witch, Music Singer, Black Rose Dragon Mask and Pink Dragon Mask, before returning to Playmaker, the reward staying the same with each image and the names changing.
The sight forced Lulu to frown a little. 'We saved both worlds from catastrophe, and SOL Technologies puts us on the Wanted list with a large bounty. Are they truly that desperate to capture Raven and the others? I honestly don't care what their reasons are, they're not getting my partner or the other Ignis'. Lulu thought to herself, turning away from the hologram with a "hmph".
Not just her, but the other masked heroes had no intention of giving up their partners either.
(Unknown location)
Akira Zaizen stood a few feet away from a deckchair, where an adult woman laid. She had short blue and green hair, light blue eyes and light skin. As for clothing, she's wearing a swimsuit and shorts underneath a dress. She also currently had black sunglasses on that covered her eyes from view and was holding a glass of juice with the right hand.
The two appeared to be at a resort's pool somewhere, but the location was unknown. The woman that Akira was looking at is actually SOL Technologies' second highest in command; Queen and she was currently relaxing. And Akira was here to talk to her on why Playmaker and the masked heroes of LINK VRAINS were being hunted down.
"But Queen, I don't see why you want to capture Playmaker and his allies when they saved us all". The newly reappointed security manager questioned his boss, no real desire to hunt the people that saved his sister and the world. Plus, he knew Skye would be devastated if something happened to White Dragon Mask.
Queen tilted her head to look at Akira with an expressionless face. "Wow Zaizen, you get your old job back and you think you have the right to question our orders". The female adult said with an unamused voice. She raised her glass of juice and continued.
"Kitamura had delusions of grandeur when he thought he could betray us to join the Knights of Hanoi, and he was punished for that. Just because you were promoted back to security chief doesn't mean we won't demote you again if you don't stay in line". The second in command of SOL Technologies threatened Akira, much to his silent anger at hearing this.
He grit his teeth and let out a small growl, but didn't speak to object again. Akira had no doubt she'd demote him again, so whether he likes it or not he has to stay on her good side. Someone else as security chief of SOL Tech would put Playmaker and his allies in bigger danger than right now. That's why he had to stay as security chief for now, learn all of SOL Technologies' plans and moves, then report it to his secret team.
Queen looked directly at her glass and spoke. "We finally found one of the two Cyberse Worlds, but we didn't find any of the five remaining Ignis there. And like the past few years, we haven't a single clue to find the other Cyberse World. SOL Tech needs the Ignis to make long term survivability of LINK VRAINS possible". The female adult said with a hint of irritation in her voice at the "other Cyberse World". Something SOL Technologies has been working to the bone to locate for years now and continues to accomplish.
Akira's frowned deepened as he couldn't keep himself from speaking this time. "I can understand that, but what I don't understand is why you want to crossover to the world that White Dragon Mask and his friends came from". The adult man said with a sour voice, mentally kicking himself for failing to hide perhaps the most important secret of White Dragon Mask and his allies.
It was Kitamura who had told the higher ups in SOL Tech about the secret of the masked heroes of LINK VRAINS. He had been watching Akira's duel against White Dragon Mask in SOL Tech's data bank. He had kept it secret since then, but attempted to use the information to keep his position as security chief, but failed. But thanks to him, now SOL Tech knew about a secret that was better off hidden from them.
Queen opened her mouth to speak, only for someone else to beat her to it. "Are you really asking such a pointless question, Zaizen?" Some with a male voice questioned the reappointed security chief with a stern and deep voice.
Akira lifted his eyes away from Queen to the pillar just 3 feet away from her deckchair, while the woman herself looked over her left shoulder. Walking out from behind the pillar is an African American male with short black hair in a small ponytail. He had dark brown eyes, golden gem piercings and was wearing sleeveless black shirt with a white cape over his shoulders, black pants with black shoes.
Akira frowned at the sight of the man, while Queen gave a pleased smile at seeing him. "...King..." The security chief said with a low voice, staring at the true boss of SOL Technologies and the man that gave him a job in the company. And not to mention, Queen's husband.
King looked away from Akira and took 3 steps forward to the pool. He stopped in his tracks and stared into space for 5 seconds, until he eventually spoke. "Kiyoshi Kogami truly was a genius beyond our time. Creating the 12 Ignis was truly spectacular, but discovering another world and creating the means to travel there... Magnificent, he truly was in every sense of the word". The African man said with pure amazement leaking out of his voice.
Akira's frown deepened at King's words. The leader of SOL Technologies knew about Dr. Kogami's achievement because he had been secretly watching Akira when he logged into LINK VRAINS during the Tower of Hanoi events. He had watched and listened to the deceased man as he told him, Skye, Pink Dragon Mask how he was the one that created the link between the two worlds, how he was infected by a virus from SOL Tech and his wish for coexistence.
Him knowing that Akira knows what SOL Tech did to Kiyoshi Kogami put him at risk, so he couldn't afford to make any moves that would upset him. The worse would be him put into a coma from a virus just like they did with the deceased man, leaving Skye all alone. That's why Akira couldn't afford to act recklessly or else Skye would be all alone.
So, he remained silent even as Queen spoke. "Magnificent and defiant. He deleted every single bit of his research of the other world, making sure we never discovered any of it. He was determined to keep us from finding out about the world that White Dragon Mask and those other masked hooligans came from". The green and blue-haired female said with irritation leaking out of her voice from thinking about that man.
Akira turned back to Queen. "That still doesn't any my question. Why do you both want to make contact with that world? We know nothing about it, or what the people in that world have accomplished, so why?" He questioned them, feeling a small bit of relief that King and Queen didn't have any more information of the world of the four dimensions.
He truly felt relief that Azure had cut off Kitamura's live feed before White Dragon Mask started telling the history of his world. If King and Queen knew about Action and Turbo Dueling, Akira was certain they'd be relentless to obtain that technology and replicate it for LINK VRAINS. And don't get him started on the dimension traveling technology and Duel Academy's card sealing system.
King slightly turned and looked at Akira over his right shoulder. "White Dragon Mask and his comrades have Duel Monster cards unlike what our world possesses. Synchro, Fusion, Xyz, Pendulum and Ritual cards. Playmaker and Varis are both from this world, yet they somehow acquired Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Ritual cards. And I'm certain Pendulum will be added to that list soon". SOL Tech's CEO said with a hint of greed in his voice.
He turned around to fully face Akira and began walking up to him. "If we can acquire the means to create our own Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum and Ritual cards, SOL Technologies' fame will skyrocket. That's why we must make contact with that world and find a company to make a partnership with". King told the younger male, stopping right in front of him.
The two had a stare down; King being just a bit taller than Akira. "That's why we need to capture one of the Advanced Ignis. They brought White Dragon Mask and his comrades here, so surely it can make contact with their world. Capturing an Ignis is SOL Tech's number one objective, but capturing Azure or the other Advanced Ignis is much preferable". SOL Tech's CEO told Akira with an icy cold voice and a dark look of greed in his eyes.
Akira kept his face natural, keeping the inner feelings hidden to not give anything away to King. He doubted that even if SOL Technologies somehow crosses over to the world of the four dimensions, they won't find a business partner. It was an entirely different world from this one and they knew almost nothing about it. All Akira knew was what White Dragon Mask told him about the Dimensional War, but that was it.
Queen placed her glass of juice down on a nearby tray, before placing her feet down on the ground. She lifted herself off the deckchair and walked over to her husband's right side. Once she was close enough, Queen placed her left hand around King's back while he wrapped his right hand around her waist.
"Zaizen, you're in charge of our new Bounty Hunter Task Force. It's a shame that it isn't complete yet the overseas bounty hunters have yet to arrive, but we'll make due with what we currently have. The targets are anyone with an Ignis. You will lead this team and deliver us an Ignis, understood?" Queen told the security chief with a frown, tilting her sunglasses down for him to see her eyes.
Akira gave a short nod, pleasing King greatly at seeing him obey his wife. "If you succeed in this mission Zaizen, you have my word that your carer will skyrocket as well. I'll make certain of that". SOL Tech's CEO told the younger male, giving a sly grin to Akira.
Without waiting for a response, King and Queen turned around and began walking away to the back of the pillar that King walked out of. "And remember Zaizen, failure is not an option". Queen stated as she and her husband walked out of Akira's view.
The resort around Akira suddenly glitched, before it disappeared to reveal him in his office. That whole thing had been virtual reality that allowed Akira to speak with his bosses and now that their talks were done, he was back in his office.
Akira lowered his head and grit his teeth in frustration at the whole situation. 'White Dragon Mask, Playmaker... I can't get directly involved anymore, and I can't help you directly. All I can do is hope you two and your friends will be fine'. The adult man thought to himself, sending his best wishes to the heroes of LINK VRAINS.
(Half an hour later)
Akira sat in his chair behind the table, elbows resting on the desk with the left hand over the right one. Two holographic screens were displayed, but Akira wasn't looking at them the least bit. Instead, he was staring at the office's door, waiting for his guests to arrive.
And low and behold; the door opened to reveal his assistant and bounty hunter team. Akira's assistant is a young girl named Risa Hayami. Her attire consists black coat, pink tie, black pants and black shoes.
As for the bounty hunter team; there was currently three members of the team behind Risa. The first member was George Gore himself. The former Celebrity Duelist was no longer wearing his famed outfit and instead was now wearing the armor of SOL Technologies.
The outfit consists of a green jumpsuit, with blue pads on his chest, grey pads around his waist, a brown belt and boots with red borders and blue pads. His armor bears the logo of SOL Technologies on his left side of the chest. He's also wearing some bandages around his forearms. Unlike his previous look, Gore's not wearing a helmet, revealing yellow hair.
As for the other two bounty hunters, they're actually old friends of Gore that have joined SOL Tech's bounty hunter assault force to support their friend. Their names are Kenchi and Yozaka.
Yozaka is a man with spiky brown hair and gray eyes. He's wearing a dark green shirt, with protecting blue and green gear, blue belt, dark green pants and dark green boots. He's also got the logo of SOL Technologies on the left side of his gear.
Kenchi is a man with afro pink hair and yellow eyes. He is wearing a dark green shirt, with protecting blue and green gears, blue belt, dark green pants and dark green boots. He also got the logo of SOL Technologies. Basically the same thing Yozaka is wearing right now.
"The bounty hunters have arrived, Mr. Zaizen". Risa informed Akira, before she walked in a little and turned to Gore, Kenchi and Yozaka with a welcoming smile. "Come right in". She invited the three in, which they all walked into the office and headed straight for Akira's table.
Akira watched them approach and once they stopped in front of his table, he rose up from his seat. "Ahh, welcome gentlemen. It's been awhile, Gore". Akira greeted the team of bounty hunters warmly, holding his right hand out to Gore for a handshake as if they were old friends.
Gore made no move to take Akira's hand, he just stared at him with a natural expression. "Not long enough, bub. I never thought the day would come when I'd be working for ya". The former Celebrity Duelist responded to Akira, much to his hidden disappointment at seeing how much Gore has changed since 3 months ago.
Akira pulled his right hand back and dropped the warm smile. "I was thinking the same thing. But here we are. So Gore, why did you decide to give up the celebrity circuit for this one?" The security chief of SOL Tech questioned Gore, curious to know why he's become a bounty hunter now.
Gore's eyes slightly narrowed at Akira and it wasn't in a good way. "I got plenty of reasons to choose from, but not a single one of them is any of your business. So how's about we just keep this meeting moving". The young adult responded, closing both eyes in an uncaring way.
Akira crossed both arms and let out a humming sound in response. "Listen; just give me the basics. Target, location and deadline. That's it". Gore told Akira, no desire to waste time on anything that isn't his job and goal right now.
From behind the bounty hunters, Risa looked at the back of Gore's head. "Before that, we're waiting for one more hunter to arrive". The brown-haired woman informed Gore, catching his attention as he opened his left eye to look at Akira for an explanation.
"Yeah? Well, you should know that no one keeps The Gore waiting". The Gouki Duelist told Akira with a hint of irritation in his voice. Akira didn't flinch at Gore's tone and instead turned his head away slightly to the right with both eyes closed.
"Then you should make an exception. At least this one time..." Akira began, opening both eyes to reveal a fierce look in them. "Because this is one bounty hunter who's bad side you don't want to get on". He finished, speaking from experience because he's worked with this bounty hunter in the past a few times.
Gore grew silent at Akira's words for 5 seconds, but eventually spoke again. "SOL Tech hired more bounty hunters, right? This team just 4 members". The Celebrity Duelist stated, aware that the company's bounty hunter assault force isn't merely 4 members only.
Akira gave a nod in response. "That's correct. Bounty hunters from overseas. They should arrive either tomorrow or the day after". The young man answered the former Celebrity Duelist, receiving an unimpressed face from Gore. "I just hope they're worth the wait". The young man stated, hoping these overseas duelists were worth waiting for and that they could actually do.
"They will be, Gore. They may not be as well known as you or the fourth bounty hunter, but they are skilled duelists". Akira reassured the former Celebrity Duelist, gazing down to the holographic screen on his right. It displayed six images of the overseas duelists, but their features were covered for some reason.
SOL Technologies was preparing well for the upcoming battle, one that they had no idea that was about to take place.
(Back in LINK VRAINS)
Lulu and Saya were currently going up an escalator, their destination being LINK VRAINS' Central Station. The two have had a good time so far in LINK VRAINS and they weren't done just yet. Of course they've done everything they could to avoid attracting unwanted attention to themselves. And right now, the two were heading for Central Station to check it out.
Saya was in front of Lulu, an expression of pure delight on her face from the fun she's had so far. "The new LINK VRAINS is so different from the old one. All the limitations the previous LINK VRAINS had don't exist here". The disguised child said with a bright smile on her face.
The smile quickly disappeared as Saya's expression changed to a disappointed one. "I wished that we didn't have to hide ourselves and enjoy it without worry". She said with a hint of sadness in her voice, looking down at both hands as she held them up.
Lulu gazed down at the back of Saya's head with a sympathetic smile, before placing both hands on her shoulders. "Huh?" Saya blinked, before looking up at Lulu over her left shoulder.
"I understand, but just be a bit patient. You won't have to worry about those problems soon". The disguised young woman told her daughter, giving a wink with the right eye. Saya lost her sad look and replaced it with a smile followed by a nod of the head.
The pair of mother and daughter reached the escalator's end and stepped off. Lulu and Saya gazed up at the building that's a few feet away; LINK VRAINS 2.0's Central Station. It was a dome with doors all around it.
"Simple, yet big. It's a good place for people to meet up with friends". Lulu remarked, liking the rather simple design of Central Station. It was big enough to hold thousands of people and lots of entrances that were big, allowing lots of people to enter at once.
The disguised girl let out a small sigh at her own thinking. 'I did it again... I thought of how well a place like this could be used in a war to hold people or find people. I really need to stop doing that'. Lulu thought to herself, opening both eyes once she finished mentally speaking.
Lulu then blinked upon noticing something through the corner of her right eye. She looked to her right and saw, much to her surprise, Ghost Gal and Brave Battler standing in front of each other a few feet away. 'What are those two walking about? I don't think Ghost Gal would have any reason to speak with someone like him'. The disguised young woman thought, a bit weirded out that her "friend" was speaking with a normal bystander.
Ghost Gal finished speaking with Brave Battler and walked away. Lulu turned her gaze back to Saya with a small smile. "Are you ready to go inside?" The disguised Xyz Duelist asked Saya, which she gave a nod immediately. Lulu giggled a little at her daughter acting like a normal 7-year-old girl.
The pair of mother and daughter walked and entered Central Station. There were booths everywhere they looked. Most of them were shops but at the center was an information booth, with another booth listing events.
Lulu and Saya looked around their surroundings with pure wonder in their eyes. "It really is amazing how virtual reality can replicate the real world in so many ways". The Xyz Duelist said to herself, taking a mental note to tell Declan about this world's new LINK VRAINS and how to make the one LID's creating different from this one. Just to make sure it's not a copy and was different in its own way.
"Out of the way!" A voice cried out from nearby, catching the two girls a bit by surprise. Lulu and Saya looked over to their left where they saw two penguin avatars, one blue with black hair and the other purple with pink hair, harassing four people sitting around a table.
"Move!" One of them snapped, frightening the four people as they immediately got up from their seats. The purple penguin jumped at one of them, a young woman, pushing her back before he landed on the ground.
"This is our spot! That's right!" The purple penguin snapped at the girl, right before she and the others ran away from the two harassers. The purple penguin turned to the blue one with a grin on his face. "This is a good spot, bro". He said to the other penguin, not sounding the least bit guilty that he hit a woman.
"...And of course, there are scumbags here as well". Lulu stated with a growing frown, crossing both arms. "I don't understand why some people continue to act like that even after threats like the Tower of Hanoi. I guess it's just in some people's nature to be terrible". The disguised young woman added, shaking her head in disappointment at such people like those penguins.
Saya was quiet, but she had a disapproving frown on her face directed at the two penguins. People that harassed innocent people for fun or jokes disgusted her, something that's normally impossible to do due to her kind heart.
The blue penguin took one of the four seats around the table, while the purple one noticed a single person sitting down alone around the nearby table. He frowned, before walking up to the unknown person and stopped behind him. "Hey! You move too!" The purple penguin exclaimed, lifting his right flipper before smacking the unknown person's back with it.
That was the last straw for Saya. Before she even realized it, she was running over there without a trace of fear, much to Lulu's surprise. "Huh? Chloe?!" Lulu called out with wide eyes, referring to Saya by the fake name the disguise avatar has.
Saya didn't stop at her mother's call or turn to look at her. Right now all that was on her mind was to stand up to those two bullies. "Leave him alone!" She exclaimed, coming right up to the purple penguin and pushed him back.
The purple penguin stumbled back a step or two before regaining his balance. "Huh?! Hey! Get lost kid!" He snapped at Saya, but she didn't so much as flinch. "Those people and this person have done nothing wrong to you, so you have no right to threaten them! So just leave them alone!" The young child retorted, speaking with resolve and without a single shred of fear.
Saya was so focused the penguin in front of her that she didn't notice the man behind her was looking at them over his left shoulder.
(Play #04 yugioh VRAINS SOUND DUEL 3 - Blood Shepard)
The blue penguin popped over to the purple one, looking smug as he held both flippers to his waist. "So, trying to play the here, huh? You're gonna regret that kid". The blue penguin said with a confident voice, while the purple one grinned as he raised both flippers into the air.
"Violence can't be performed in LINK VRAINS, but that doesn't apply to us". The purple penguin boasted. The blue penguin raised his right flipper as blue electricity flicked over it. "We modded ourselves using illegal programs". The blue penguin told Saya without a shred of hesitation on what he's about to do next.
Saya didn't move an inch and kept facing the two penguins, but there was a trace of sweat going down the right side of her face. "This is what happens when you try to play the hero! Take this! Penguin punch!" The blue penguin shouted out, rearing his right flipper back into a fist before swinging it forward to punch Saya.
But suddenly; a right prosthetic arm came out of nowhere and grabbed a tight hold of the blue penguin's head. Saya gasped in surprise, before turning around to see that the prosthetic arm belonged to the person that she had been defending, only now he was facing Saya's direction now.
The man's avatar was different from all the other ones Saya has seen so far. He is wearing a purple with green hat, red and blue mask with pink eyes, purple cape, black coat, blue shirt with green accents, black pants and boots with red sole and yellow star behind the boots. He also has a black glove on his left hand, and the prosthetic arm has attributes of a six-shooter gun.
"Let me go, punk!" The blue penguin shouted out, trying to break free and was failing miserably. The unknown man stood up on his feet and brought the penguin closer. He did look down at Saya on his right, where he saw her staring up at him with wide eyes full of wonder.
"You should run along now. Kids your age shouldn't get involved with stuff like this". He told the young child with a low voice, earning a small from the disguised girl before she ran off to her right. The unknown avatar watched her go for 2 seconds before turning back to the squirming penguin he's holding tight.
"As for you; what I'm about to do is too light a punishment for trying to hurt a little girl". He said with a cold voice, right before lifting his right prosthetic hand with blue lightning flicking across it. The penguin twitched as he kept squirming, then stopped moving before going limp with both flippers dropping. Finally, he disintegrated into red data.
"Bro!" The purple penguin cried out in horror, both flippers on the sides of his head and eyes comical white in horror. All around, everyone was staring at the unknown person in shock, horror or realization. The only exception was Saya, who was back besides Lulu, staring at the unknown man with the same wonder in her eyes still visible.
"He disappeared! /He's a bounty hunter!" A few nearby bystanders talked among themselves, making no move of getting involved since they didn't want to risk their avatars getting killed just like that penguin.
The unknown person turned his gaze to the petrified purple penguin and lightly held his prosthetic arm out to him, giving an unspoken message that he's next. The purple penguin sweated like he was in lava, even taking a step or two back before fully turning around and ran as if his life depended on it. "You'll regret this!" He screamed out as he ran to one of the exits.
Lulu and Saya watched the purple penguin run until he eventually disappeared from sight. The pair of mother and daughter looked back to the unknown avatar and saw him retaking his seat, only this time in a different position with his left leg over the right knee. "Just... who is that bounty hunter?" Lulu whispered to herself with a small frown, feeling a dangerous vibe from that man.
"Well, well, you're not as heartless as I remember, Shepard". A familiar voice said, revealing the name of the unknown bounty hunter. Shepard gazed to his left, while Lulu and Say slightly tilted their heads to see Ghost Gal standing right there just 2 feet away from the bounty hunter.
"Ghost Gal". Shepard acknowledged the female, while she just gave a small teasing grin at him. "You actually defended a kid from a bunch of punks like those? Have you started warming up to people lately?" Ghost Gal asked with a curious voice, placing her left hand on the hip.
"That's none of your business. Now, why have you come to speak to me?" Shepard replied with an emotionless voice, instantly erasing the grin on Ghost Gal's face with her letting out a small sigh. "Never mind, you're still the same as ever". The female adult stated, before closing both eyes and lifted her left hand up.
"I heard that SOL Technologies hired you to hunt down Playmaker and his masked friends". Ghost Gal said as if she were stating a fact, much to the alarm of Lulu and Saya at hearing this. 'He's a member of SOL Tech's bounty hunter team!?' The disguised Xyz Duelist mentally shouted out, a single trace of sweat going down the right side of her face.
"And I heard that they made the same offer to you". Shepard said to the hacker and Ghost Gal made no attempt to deny it. "Yeah, they did. Except that I didn't take their deal". Ghost Gal responded, holding up her right hand for a moment before lowering it and opened both eyes to give Shepard an unimpressed face. "It didn't really spark my interest". She added, yet that just got a chuckle of amusement out of the bounty hunter.
"Or in other words; they didn't offer you enough money". Shepard remarked, those words making Ghost Gal narrow both eyes at him. "You'll need a lot more zeros at the end of the check to get me to hunt Playmaker and his friends, especially Purple Night". The female hunter stated, taking Lulu a bit by surprise at the mention of her old avatar's name.
Shepard let out an amused "hmph" at Ghost Gal's words. "I don't. I never let my pray escape. Playmaker and his friends won't be the first ones". The bounty hunter said without a hint of overconfidence or doubt, almost like what he was saying was a fact.
Ghost Gal's frown deepened a little at Shepard. Lulu had a deep frown herself, talking a mental note to inform her comrades about this bounty and how he felt dangerous to her.
As for Saya herself, she was still staring at Shepard with curiosity in her hers. She, just like Lulu, could feel that he was dangerous, but there was something else she's feeling from him. Saya could feel both sadness in him for unknown reasons, and affection directed at Ghost Gal. Not the affection of a man in love, but the affection someone would have for a sibling.
(Later/ With Azure and Ai/ Music end. Play YU-GI-OH! VRAINS SOUND DUEL 1 -05. DEN CITY)
Azura and Ai breathed out a bit heavily, their cloths blowing a little bit as they stared across at one another, keeping their left arms up with the Duel Disks still activated.
The practice duel between them had proven to be a good one for them. Their decks, while not fully complete yet, were working very well. There were of course some improvements to make, but so far they've proven to excellent so far.
Azure and Ai have been practice dueling for a good while now. It may be just for practice and to see how their decks work so far, but this was still their first duel ever and they wanted to enjoy it as much as they could. Right now the two Ignis had 500 Life Points and one card in hand each. A result of using every card they had.
Azure Life Points: 500/ Number of cards in hand: 1.
Ai Life Points: 500/ Number of cards in hand: 1.
Azura stopped breathing heavy and gave a satisfied grin. 'This... was a good experience. I'm starting to understand why people enjoy Dueling so much. I really need to get into this more often with me doing the Dueling'. The White Dragon Ignis thought to himself, tilting his head down to look at the single card he's holding; a Monster Reborn Spell card.
Azure lifted his head to look directly at Ai and spoke. "Ai, that's enough for now! I'm satisfied with how my deck has turned out so far and don't need to see any more". The White Dragon Ignis told Ai, words that took him a bit by surprise.
The human form Dark Ignis gazed at his hand consisting of one card, before giving a shrug of the shoulders. "Yeah, why not. I've pretty much used up all my tricks". Ai remarked, inserting the card into his deck. Ai's Duel Disk then deactivated with the blade disappearing.
Azure gave a short nod, before placing his Monster Reborn card on the top of his deck. The Duel Disk's blade disappeared first, before it deactivated completely.
Duel Terminated!
Both Duel Disks and decks dematerialized from their owners' forearms. Ai placed his right arm on his left forearm and rubbed it gently. "Geez, I never knew that a Duel Disk could be so heavy and taxing on the forearm. I definitely gotta give Yusaku more credit for handling that thing on a regular basis". The human form Dark Ignis said with a small hiss from how sore his forearm felt.
Azure gave a small chuckle at his friend. "Maybe you should start working out more. These types of Duel Disks aren't like the ones that SOL Tech created, they're more staining on the body. We may not have bones, but it still gives off the feeling of sore bones". He told Ai with a carefree voice, resulting in the Dark Ignis giving out an amused chuckle.
"Oh, now that's funny". Ai remarked, sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed. "And as for that little remark about working out, I never had a reason to. We don't gain weight or lose it, so there's no need to put work into it". He added, letting go of his forearm and looked directly at Azure.
"That may be so, but you could still work on improving yourself to-" Azure spoke, only to stop when a strange feeling attacked him out of nowhere. The White Dragon Ignis widen both eyes in alarm, before looking over his left shoulder to the sky above with an alarmed expression.
(Music end/ Play Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS SOUND DUEL 2 - Track 23 Tower of Hanoi)
Ai blinked at Azure suddenly stop speaking and tilted his head. "Azure? What's up?" The Dark Ignis questioned, catching Azure's attention. He gazed at Ai through the corner of his right eye for a moment before gazing up at the sky with a deep frown.
"I felt a disturbance in the network". Azure answered, right before his eyes began gleaming yellow as he accessed the network. In just 2 seconds he found the disturbance and was left stunned at what he learned. "That shouldn't be possible!" The White Dragon Ignis exclaimed with a wide-eyed expression full of shock.
Ai blinked once more, but this time out of surprise, at his old friend. "What, what, what?! What is it, Azure?" He questioned, quickly climbing up to his feet and ran over to Azure.
The White Dragon Ignis turned to Ai, allowing him to see the stunned expression of his face. "I don't know how it's possible, but something somehow escaped the network and entered the real world directly". Azure informed his best friend, resulting in Ai letting out a gasp of pure shock at what he's heard.
"That's impossible! Nothing could ever do something like that, at least not without a sort of vessel to reside in!" The Dark Ignis exclaimed, receiving a nod from Azure as he agreed with him on that. "Do you think this is the work of whoever attacked my Cyberse world?" Ai questioned Azure, lifting his right hand up slightly.
"I won't know without taking a look at whatever managed this. Ai, this could or could not be what attacked Cyberse World, but there is one thing clear. We need to capture it". The White Dragon Ignis told Ai, earning a nod of agreement from the Dark Ignis right away.
"I'm with you on that!" Ai stated, before turning around with his cape blowing a little bit. Ai's whole body suddenly started gleaming a black and purple light, before bursting like a firework and disappeared completely.
This was Azure's program that allowed any Ignis with it to teleport straight from their partner's Duel Disk to the advanced Cyberse World, or the other way around.
Azure closed both eyes, before his whole body began gleaming a white and silver colour. And just like how Ai did, Azure's body burst like a firework and disappeared.
(In Den City plaza)
Ash, Yusaku and Maleficent have stayed in the plaza the whole time since Skye talked to them. Ash has been relaxing on the white fold out chair the whole time, while Yusaku and Maleficent have been busy running Café Nom, despite there being almost little to zero customers for the day.
Right now; Ash was looking over to Yusaku and Maleficent from his seat with both hands folded behind his head, watching the two finish a row of sausages. The Infernity Duelist let out a small sigh with both eyes closed, before turning to Yusaku with a bright smile. "With that, we should be ready for the next 10 customers". Maleficent informed the Cyberse Duelist, receiving a nod from Yusaku.
"Thanks for helping me take care of the cafe. I'd honestly have a harder time without you". Yusaku thanked the white-haired beauty for her help. Maleficent grew a smile of bliss with her cheeks flushing at Yusaku's thanks, a sight that made the Cyberse Duelist sweat a little nervously at.
Ash gave an amused chuckle at the sight. But unfortunately for all of them, their time of peace was about to come to an end. "Oi, Yusaku!" A familiar voice called out from the shelves, grabbing everyone's attention. They looked over to the closed cabinet, before Maleficent went over and opened it. She reached in with both hands and brought out Ash and Yusaku's Duel Disks, only Ai and Azure were there now in eye form.
Maleficent looked over to Ash, before tossing the Duel Disk to him, which the White Dragon Emperor caught with his right hand. Ash wasted no time and equipped toe Duel Disk to his left forearm.
Maleficent handed Yusaku's Duel Disk to him, which the Cyberse Duelist equipped it to his left forearm as well. Ash and Yusaku gazed down at their Ignis partners and saw Azure and Ai gazing up at them.
"Ai? What's wrong?" The Cyberse Duelist questioned his Ignis partner, while Maleficent reached for something in the cabinet with her right hand. "I'll tell you what's wrong! Something somehow left the network and entered the real world! And it isn't a human logging off!" Ai answered with an urgent voice, taking everyone by surprise at hearing this.
Maleficent looked at Yusaku over her left shoulder and opened her mouth to speak, only to close it when a ringtone of a phone went off, coming directly from Yusaku's right pocket. Everyone directed their gazes at the Cyberse Duelist as he brought out his old style cellphone. He answered the call and brought the device to his right ear.
"Kolter, listen. I think that the ones responsible-" Yusaku began, only for Kolter to cut him off from his side. "Yusaku! Jin was attacked!" Kolter cried out from the other side, much to the alarm of everyone at hearing this.
(Music end)
"He was attacked?!" The Cyberse Duelist exclaimed in full alert mode. Ash quickly got up from the fold out chair, while Maleficent brought out something else from the cabinet; her new Duel Disk. It was a new model Duel Disk in the shape of wristband. It was pure black with dark green straps.
Maleficent had got this new Duel Disk some time ago and brought it to LID to disable its link with SOL Tech. Even scanned her cards to make card data of them to use in LINK VRAINS whenever the situation calls for it.
"Yeah, and whoever or whatever that thing is fled into LINK VRAINS!" Kolter informed his friend, right as Maleficent equipped her new Duel Disk on. "Right! We're on it!" Yusaku stated, before he ran over to the secret room. Maleficent quickly pressed the lever inside, causing the window to close in and the counter to retract, blocking the inside from view.
Ash ran around to the van's back and pulled the doors open, just in time to see Yusaku enter the open secret room. A blue scan went over Yusaku's body in a matter of 2 seconds, before it focused direct on Yusaku's Duel Disk, then disappeared. Yusaku's body began digitizing in a blue colour until he was eventually teleported with blue energy traces left before they faded out of sight.
This was one of the upgrades Declan and the Leo Corporation gave to Kolter's van. It was a combination of dimensional transport and the program to travel between worlds. It was installed in the secret room of Kolter's van to teleport all authorized Duelists to another location safe from the public eye. leaving no risk of anyone seeing them log into LINK VRAINS.
Ash climbed into the van, while Maleficent stepped into the secret room. The White Dragon Emperor turned around and closed both doors, while the Synchro Duelist teleported as well.
"This all can't be a coincidence. The timing is too matched up!" Azure remarked with his eye narrowed. Ash turned around and ran into the secret room, the door closing behind him. "If all of this is connected, then we have no time to waste!" The White Dragon Emperor stated, right before the secret room began scanning him as well for 2 seconds before stopping with a blue scan over Ash's Duel Disk.
Ash's body began digitizing in a white colour until he was eventually teleported with white energy traces left before they faded out of sight.
(Unknown location)
In three separate rooms almost identical to the secret room in Kolter's van; Yusaku, Maleficent and Ash all appeared with different coloured flashes. The room Yusaku's in was exactly alike the one in his house, while Maleficent's one had black in place of blue and Ash's got white as well.
The three had been teleported to a warehouse in Paradise City, one that belonged to LID and has been modified. It was full of chambers that were connected with the network in Yusaku's world, allowing anyone inside of them to log directly into LINK VRAINS as if they were in the other world. And there was a total of 30 chambers to use, erasing the problem of using up space.
Ash and Yusaku wasted no time and brought out their decks with the right hands. They swiped their right hands out to the side, before slotting their decks into the deck zones. Maleficent, on the meanwhile, simply lifted her left arm up in front of her face.
"It's time to LINK into the VRAINS!" All three duelists called out in perfect sync, their Duel Disks activating at those words. The words "Into the VRAINS" materialized on the sides of Ash and Yusaku's Duel Disks, while the words appeared on Maleficent's Duel Disk's screen.
Data appeared around the three and quickly formed spheres around them, covering the bodies of Yusaku, Maleficent and Ash from view completely as they transformed into their avatar.
(Transformation scene/ Play Mega Man ZX Advent Tunes OST - T20: Determined Eyes (Double Megamerge - Model ZX)
Maleficent appeared in a dark green world full of black coloured data. The white-haired beauty began falling with her arms spread and legs out, all the while she kept smiling. Eventually she suddenly pulled up and ascended up into the air, flying around a bit.
Maleficent's body began to gleam a light black colour as she spun around. She closed both eyes, moved her left leg forward over the right one, held her left hand to the side with the right one held up into the air.
Maleficent's clothes and Duel Disk disintegrated, before the black gleaming light began to transform into clothing for her. First a strapless black leotard with a sweetheart neckline appeared, followed by a chain belt with two silver rose motifs with a deck holder on the left appeared over her waist.
A black chocker appeared around Maleficent's neck. Then a silver glove appeared on Maleficent's right hand, before she swiped it out to the side and held up her left hand right as another red glove appeared over it. A black bolero jacket with silver buttons, ruffled flared sleeves and three floor-length coattails then appeared over Maleficent's body. Thigh-length hose and stiletto lace-up pumps that resemble ballet shoes on the top appeared over Maleficent's legs, acting as footwear.
Maleficent took a deep breath as she faced forward, before opening both eyes with a smile. A black mask with silver highlights appeared over her face, concealing her identity. Maleficent moved her left leg over the right and held both hands out as her hair spread out like a pair of wings, before a black ribbon appeared and tied her hair, making a ponytail.
Maleficent gave a giggle as she lifted and held her left hand out forward. A stream of data appeared over the hand for 3 seconds before quickly clearing to reveal her Duel Disk back. She brought both hands up over her head with the left over the right.
Maleficent then took a pose with her hands down and left leg flung back in a leaping motion.
(LINK VRAINS/ Music end. Play YU-GI-OH! VRAINS SOUND DUEL 1-08. Link VRAINS)
White Dragon Mask, Playmaker and Maleficent's avatar all appeared in the new LINK VRAINS' sky and immediately began falling straight to the multi level city. The hair and clothes of the three began flowing widely with White Dragon Mask's tail swaying side to side.
"Look for some guy glowing yellow, flowing like plasma like a sun or something". Kolter told his allies from their connection through the network. Another upgrade that they got was their communication devices improving to the point that they could communicate even if their real world bodies weren't close to one another.
Azure and Ai's eyes quickly gleamed their receptive colours, before dying down instantly. From out of nowhere; three D-Boards soared through the air out of nowhere, heading for the three duelists. Two of them were the D-Boards of White Dragon Mask and Playmaker, while the third one was a new one.
Playmaker's D-Board had taken an upgrade compared to 3 months ago. Its form was the same as before; white with black and blue sides, blue fins on the back sides and red stripes all around. It has two yellow gems protruding from the front and blue and white guards with light blue extensions.
White Dragon Mask's one had changed as well. It was now in the shape of a jet plane with its colour being a pure gleaming white colour. The wings were in the shape of dragon wings, exactly like Blue-Eyes White Dragon's wings. There was a blade sticking out of the front and back, facing forward.
Maleficent's D-Board was shaped like a bat's body and was pure black, blades sticking out where the wings' tips were. It had dark green stripes and the Infernity symbol was on her D-Board's surface.
The D-Boards came soaring down to their riders and they all landed safely on them. Taking control of their D-Boards' controls; Playmaker, White Dragon Mask and Maleficent all ride the boards into the city of LINK VRAINS.
Azure and Ai emerged from their partners' Duel Disks, no reason to remain in eye form. Playmaker looked down at his upgraded D-Board and mentally compared it to its previous version. "It's way more manurable than before. And it's faster, too". The Cyberse Duelist remarked, words that got a chuckle from Ai as he stood proudly with both hands on his hips.
"What do you expect after I gave it a makeover?! When I put my mind to something, it'll be incredible beyond anything anyone could imagine! Hahaha!" Ai laughed out, throwing his head back as he did so. Playmaker gave his Ignis partner an unimpressed face, yet remained silent for now since he didn't want to hear more boasting from him.
White Dragon Mask spared a quick moment to look down at his newly upgraded D-Board, before gazing to the left directly at Maleficent's avatar. He raised an eyebrow at the appearance, finding it rather unique in its own way. "Wow... Nice avatar you created, what's its name?" The White Dragon Emperor asked with a curious voice, Azure turning to look at Maleficent's avatar himself.
The Infernity Duelist tilted her head right to look at her childhood friend and gave him a sly grin. "Thanks for the compliment. And as for the name, it's Black Joker". The now named Black Joker introduced herself to her allies, giving a small humble bow to White Dragon Mask.
"Black Joker, huh? Unique name truly, but that's not what our focus should be on for now. We have a target to locate". Azure remarked, reminding his partner and Black Joker of their mission. The three of them faced forward right as they flew into the data material wind right above the city.
"Kolter said the guy was glowing yellow, flowing like a plasma sun, right? He shouldn't be too hard to miss". White Dragon Mask said as he, Playmaker and Black Joker began looking around their surroundings for their target, ignoring the people looking at them as they passed by.
"There's no way we'll miss him. We just need to look and know right away that he's the guy we're looking for". Ai remarked, sitting down with his right knee up and the right elbow resting on it. Black Joker looked to her left and noticed people were staring at them as they flew by.
"Guys, the paparazzi is staring at us". The Infernity Duelist informed her comrades, turning to look at them once she finished speaking. "Unimportant right now". playmaker stated without a second of hesitation, no care about the public seeing him or his comrades right now.
White Dragon Mask and Black Joker followed Playmaker's lead and focused on their mission at hand, ignoring the many people staring at them.
"Whoa... No way". A random young male utter as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "That's totally Playmaker and White Dragon Mask". A young woman remarked from behind the male, staring at the two heroes of LINK VRAINS in surprise.
"Who's that with them? I've never seen her before". Another female questioned, looking directly at Black Joker with jealousy in her eyes at how beautiful she was. "Wait until I tell everyone". A guy said out loud, no care whatsoever why the two heroes have returned and only cared about informing everyone of LINK VRAINS about it.
And true to his word, the guy sent out a worldwide message to every person in LINK VRAINS. The message had a picture of Playmaker, White Dragon Mask and Black Joker with the words "Playmaker and White Dragon Mask has returned with a new ally!" In just a matter of seconds, all of LINK VRAINS became aware of the return of Playmaker, White Dragon Mask and the first appearance of Black Joker.
In a random part of the city; Ghost Gal stared down at the image of the post before looking up to the sky just in time to see the three fly by. "You sure picked the wrong time for a comeback, and to introduce a new friend". She stated, no clue why those two heroes have returned or why someone new is with them.
In another part of LINK VRAINS' city; Blue Angel sat on a chair in front of a round table with an umbrella over her, enjoy a nice glass of juice. Right now, she was looking across the distance to Playmaker, White Dragon Mask and Black Joker as they flew by. The idol remained silent and only blinked at the three.
Among all the people gazing up at the three soaring above the city; Lulu and Saya were among them. The pair of mother and daughter were standing at a rooftop, looking up towards their friends with curious expressions. "Why have they logged into LINK VRAINS? Now everyone's eyes are on them". The disguised Xyz Duelist said with a small frown.
Saya turned to look at her mother and blinked at her. "Mama, should we join them?" The young child asked Lulu, grabbing Lulu's attention. She looked at Saya and shook her head.
"No, at least not yet. If they need help, we'll join up with them. For now, let's just watch them". The disguised Xyz Duelist answered, both her and Saya gazing back up to their comrades and watched them. They couldn't afford letting anyone see them change into their real avatars, so for now they stood on standby in case they needed to help.
Back with Playmaker, White Dragon Mask, Azure and Ai; the five were still looking around their surroundings for the yellow glowing man yet still haven't found any sign of them. "No sign of the guy. How hard is it to find someone that sticks out of the ordinary?" Ai complained with a deep frown, starting to get annoyed with how fruitless their search is.
"Found you, Playmaker! White Dragon Mask!" An unfamiliar voice called out from behind, taking the three humans and 2 Ignis by surprise. White Dragon Mask, playmaker and Black Joker all slightly turned and saw Shephard not too far away, chasing after them on his own D-Board.
Shepard's D-Board was red and white with a gold spot and black back. Also was in the shape of a cross.
"Who's this cowboy?" Black Joker questioned with a grin, taking a mental jab at Shepard's appearance since it was rather cowboy based. "Ha!" Ai let out a laugh at the Infernity Duelist's words.
"Give me a second". Azure said, right before his eyes flashed yellow as he accessed the network to find data on Shepard. The search only took 3 seconds to complete and Azure had all the information he needed on the bounty hunter.
"His name is "The Shepard". He's a bounty hunter that SOL Technologies has recruited to capture one of us". The White Dragon Ignis informed his comrades, eyes ceasing glowing since he had learned everything he wanted about Shepard.
"A bounty hunter, huh? If he's already managed to catch sight and catch up with us, the other bounty hunters that Sol Tech hired shouldn't be too far behind". White Dragon Mask said with a frown, wings flapping just once after he finished speaking. "Meaning we don't have time to waste". Azure remarked with a frown of his own directed at Shepard.
"You've got guts showing up with bounties on your head. You and your friends never looked like much on the brains department". Shepard spoke, right as they all passed through the hologram displaying Playmaker with the bounty displayed. "And you even have some new masked chump with you". The bounty hunter added, much to Black Joker's comical annoyance at what he called her.
Shepard soon came flying besides Playmaker, White Dragon Mask and Black Joker on their right with the three of them and the two Ignis still staring at him. "I don't know why SOL Tech wants you two and your friends so badly, but then again I don't care". Shepard stated, turning his head left to look directly at them.
(Music end)
Ai frowned at Shepard with narrowed eyes. "I just met the guy, and I don't like him". The Dark Ignis remarked, before giving a startled cry when Linkuriboh suddenly emerged from the Duel Disk's orb underneath him. "Whoa, Linky!?" Ai cried out in surprise, gazing down at the Link Monster he's atop of with wide eyes. 'Kuri!' Linkuriboh cutely cried out, gazing directly up at Playmaker.
Black Joker noticed something through the corner of her left eye and looked. She widened both eyes in surprise, before pointing forward with her right hand's index finger. "There he is!" The light blue hair-haired female exclaimed, catching her comrades a bit by surprise.
White Dragon Mask, Playmaker, Azure and Ai gazed forward and saw, that true to Black Joker's words, their target was up ahead. It was exactly how Kolter described the guy, he was glowing yellow, flowing like plasma like a sun. And he was riding atop a yellow and purple four-pointed circle D-Board with pale yellow guards.
"Wow, Kolter described the guy perfectly. Must have took him hours to make his avatar like that". Ai remarked, looking at the glowing yellow person with a curious face. "I don't think that's his real avatar. It must be some sort of disguise to conceal his real appearance". Azure said with narrowed eyes, kneeling down on his left knee with the right hand resting on his right knee, wings spread and tail out.
He was standing like this because he was analyzing the glowing man as much as he could without making psychical contact.
"It doesn't matter if that's his real avatar or not! All that matters is taking back what he stole from Jin!" Playmaker exclaimed, catching Ai's attention as he gazed back up at his partner. "That'll be difficult with the cowboy on our tail. He doesn't seem to be the type that cares about anything else than his objective". Black Joker pointed out, slightly lifting her left hand up.
"Haha! Leave it to me!" Ai cried out, climbing up to his feet even despite still being atop Linkuriboh. "I'll blow him away with-" The Dark Ignis began, yet was cut off by Azure at that moment. "Ai, there's no need to resort to that". The White Dragon Ignis told his comrade, catching Ai a little by surprise before he looked over to Azure.
White Dragon Mask gave a short nod of the head in agreement to Azure. "We'll handle Shepard, you guys focus on the glowing stick". The Dragon-Type Duelist told his friends and comrades, before acting without waiting for a response from them.
White Dragon Mask's D-Board's thrusters went off stronger than before. He shot forward like a jet, before suddenly turning around and went forward, going straight for Shepard. White Dragon Mask raised his left arm forward, before shooting something from his Duel Disk.
It was a short, yet extremely sharp dragon tooth. It soared through the air before stabbing Shepard's D-Board directly underneath the bounty hunter. Shepard gazed down at the tooth, while White Dragon Mask flew past him on his right.
The dragon tooth suddenly began gleaming, followed by yellow lines coming out and spread all over Shepard's D-Board. "What!?" The bounty hunter exclaimed, losing control of his D-Board as it moved without his command. It turned and began following White Dragon Mask's D-Board with a good 10 feet distance.
"It worked! I knew this new program would be perfect!" White Dragon Mask remarked with a proud grin on his face. "I must admit; this was a rather impressive idea you came up with. Using a dragon tooth to hack and overwrite D-Boards' programs, taking away the controls and force it to chase after you all the while keeping a 10 feet distance". Azure remarked, appearing very pleased with what he's seen.
White Dragon Mask chuckled in response to Azure's words as he continued riding his D-Board away with Shepard following against his will. Playmaker, Black Joker, Ai and Linkuriboh watched their comrade go, before looking over to the yellow glowing avatar in front of them.
"Now that the bounty hunter's gone, we're free to deal with the glowstick!" Ai exclaimed, holding up fists up right as the D-Boards' thrusters went off. Playmaker and Black Joker drew closer to their target, soon reaching a mere 10 feet distance.
Ai sat back down on Linkuriboh and turned to his partner. "Alright, what's the plan here? Who's dueling him?" Ai asked with a curious voice, shifting his gaze over to Black Joker then back to Playmaker. "I am!" The Cyberse Duelist answered without wasting a single second. He lifted his head up to look directly at the yellow glowing man.
"If I defeat him in a duel, I can extract his avatar data to not only learn his identity, but find out why he did what he did". Playmaker explained to the Dark Ignis, which Ai gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Sounds good. I'm starving". Ai remarked, Linkuriboh turning around to allow the Dark Ignis to look at the unknown avatar.
The glowing man was looking at Playmaker, Black Joker and Ai over his right shoulder, or at least that what it looked like. "I know". He said all of a sudden, clenching his right fist up, giving an unspoken message.
"Looks like he's willing to duel and not run away". Black Joker commented, before turning to look at Playmaker. "I'll watch from a distance and keep an eye out for any more bounty hunters. Rock his world, Playmaker!" The Infernity Duelist exclaimed, before breaking off to the left and flew away.
Playmaker, Ai and Linkuriboh watched her go, before facing forward. "Oh yeah, one more thing". The Dark Ignis spoke suddenly, Linkuriboh turning for him and Ai to face Playmaker. "The Leo Institute sent over the card data of the Cyberse Pendulum cards to me half an hour ago. Even sent more support cards as well. Check it out". Ai informed his partner, before both he and Linkuriboh returned to the Duel Disk.
A screen appeared above the Duel Disk's screen, displaying 5 cards. 1 Link Monster, 2 Pendulum monsters, 1 Spell card and a single Trap card as well.
Playmaker brought his right hand up and pressed on the Link Monster's image. He gave a pleased grin at what he saw. "Interesting. And just in time". The Cyberse Duelist stated, the screen disappearing with him facing forward. "Here goes!" Playmaker exclaimed, throwing his left hand out to the side before holding it up with the Duel Disk's blade activating.
"Let's Speed Duel!" Playmaker and the unknown glowing man cried out.
Playmaker Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
? Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
Not too far away; Black Joker watched the Speed Duel with a passive face. She then started turning her head left and right in search of anyone flying in, but saw no one. Seeing that the coast was clear, Black Joker directed her focus on the Speed Duel.
"I'll go first. I place two cards face-down..." The glowing man called out, lifting his right hand and throwing it up with two face-down cards appearing in front of him. "And end my turn!" He declared, lowering his hand once he finished speaking.
Playmaker Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
(Play Yu Gi Oh! ARC V Ost 13- A Battle that Cannot be Lost)
Playmaker showed no reaction to the rather short turn of his opponent; he just narrowed both eyes. "Ore no tān! Draw!" The Cyberse Duelist exclaimed, drawing the top card in a dramatic fashion by throwing his right hand higher up to the side.
Playmaker gazed through the corner of his right eye and turned the card over. He blinked in surprise at seeing what it was. "This is...!" He said in surprise, not expecting to draw this card so soon in the Duel.
Ai emerged from the Duel Disk and looked up at the card his partner seemed so surprised to see. He grew a pleased expression at what he saw. "Wow, talk about Heart of the Cards! Drawing one of your new cards on the first turn? Lady Luck must really like you". The Dark Ignis remarked, truly amazed with his partner's luck with the draw. After all not every person is lucky to draw one of their recently new cards like that.
Playmaker gave no reply to Ai; instead faced forward with a serious expression. "I set the Scale 2 Firewall Flasher in the Pendulum Scale!" The Cyberse Duelist declared, swiping his right hand up and revealed the card.
It was a Pendulum Monster with the card's image showing a slime dragon that looked similiar to Firewall Dragon with some differences, for starters it had no legs. It had black skin and yellow cybernetic lines around it, silver and black wings that were in the shape of a crescent moon. The end of the tail was in the shape of a silver moon as well. Firewall Flasher had short claws. Its eyes were glowing yellow and finally, it was breathing out yellow stardust energy from its mouth.
(Firewall Flasher/ Level: 4/ Attribute: LIGHT/ Type: Cyberse/ Pendulum/ Effect/ Pendulum Scale: 2/ ATK: 800/ DEF: 1200/ Pendulum Effect: If you successfully Link Summon a Cyberse Link Monster, you can draw one card from your deck. If a "Firewall" card you control is destroyed by a card effect, you can Special Summon this card from the Pendulum Zone to your field in DEF Position/ Effect: If this card is used to Link Summon a Cyberse Link Monster, you can select one monster in your GY or banished and Special Summon it. The monster Summoned by this effect gains 800 ATK.)
Playmaker placed Firewall Flasher's card at the right edge of the Duel Disk's blade. A blue pillar of energy appeared right beside Playmaker on his right, followed by Firewall Flasher rising up from within it. Once it was high enough, the Cyberse Monster ceased rising up with the number "2" appearing underneath it.
"Next I discard Dotscaper..." Playmaker began, discarding a card to his Duel Disk's Graveyard Zone. "In order to Special Summon Defcon Bird!" He continued, taking another card from the hand and threw it down on the blade.
A blue portal appeared, and Defon Bird emerged from it with the portal disappearing.
Defcon Bird DEF: 1700/ Level: 3.
"And Dotscaper's special ability allows it to resurrect itself from my graveyard!" Playmaker added, a black portal appearing beside Defcon Bird with Dotscaper flying out of it with its head spinning.
Dotscaper ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
Playmaker threw his right hand forward. "I now have exactly what I need to create my circuit!" The Cyberse Duelist cried out, the Link portal appearing above them all. "The Summoning conditions requires 1 Level 1 monster!" Playmaker stated, Dotscaper transforming into a blue whirlwind of energy that ascended and entered the bottom arrow, resulting in it gleaming a bright red.
"I Link Summon! Link 1! Linkuriboh!" Playmaker cried out as Linkuriboh emerged from the portal and gave a cute wink with its left eye. 'Kuri kuri kuri!' Linkuriboh cried out cutely from Playmaker's left Extra Monster Zone.
Linkuriboh ATK: 300/ Link-1/ Link Arrows: Buttom.
"Go get 'em, Linky!" Ai cried out in encouragement, holding his left fist up and right hand right beside his face. Linkuriboh turned around to look at its creator with an overjoyed face with both eyes closed. 'Kuri kuuu!' Linkuriboh cried out cheerfully, happy to finally get a chance to be used by Playmaker.
Speaking of Playmaker; the Cyberse Duelist threw his right hand out once more. "At this moment, Firewall Flasher's Pendulum Ability activates!" He announced, slightly turning to look up at his Pendulum Monster.
Firewall Flasher gazed directly down at its duelist, before giving a small cry as it breathed out yellow stardust energy that rained down Playmaker. "Whenever we successfully Link Summon a Cyberse Link Monster, Firewall Flasher lets us draw a new card!" Ai explained on behalf of his partner, while Playmaker drew another card in a dramatic way. The yellow stardust energy raining down on Playmaker disappeared the moment he drew his card.
Playmaker looked at what he drew through his right eye's corner, before holding the card up in between his right hand's index and middle fingers. "Next I Summon Rebuildeer! Ha!" He declared, throwing his right hand back before moving it over the Duel Disk blade and placing it down beside Defcon Bird's card.
A blue portal appeared and a new monster materialized from it. It was a cybernetic black and green reindeer with green glowing horns. Rebuildeer let out a cry upon materializing fully.
Rebuildeer ATK: 1800/ Level: 4.
"This allows me... to Link Summon again!" Playmaker cried out, throwing his right hand out with a wave of blue energy briefly appearing out of it. The Link portal appeared once more above Playmaker and his monsters. "The Summoning conditions require 2 Cyberse Monsters!" The Cyberse Duelist stated, both Defcon Bird and Rebuildeer transforming into two blue whirlwinds of energy that ascended to the Link portal.
They struck the Left and Right arrows, causing them to light up in a red colour. "I Link Summon! Link-2! Code Talker Inverted!" Playmaker cried out as the Link Monster emerged from the Link portal.
It was a small Talker monster, around the same height as Code Talker. It had silver armor over its black skin, yellow eyes and small round spheres around its body. And the weapon it had was a spear or trident. Code Talker Inverted masterfully spun its weapon around in its hands, before giving a cry and pointed it forward with the right hand.
Code Talker Inverted ATK: 1300/ Link-2/ Link Arrows: Left, Right.
"Two abilities now activate!" Playmaker exclaimed, thrusting his right hand out with the index and middle fingers up. "First since I Linked Summon a Cyberse Link Monster, Firewall Flasher allows me to draw one more card!" The Cyberse Duelist explained, moving his right hand to the deck and drew the top card.
Playmaker brought the card to his face and looked, before looking past it to his opponent. "Now Code Talker Inverted's special ability activates! When this monster is successfully Link Summoned, I can now Special Summon a Cyberse-Type Monster at a zone its Link Arrows point to!" The Cyberse Duelist explained, before flipping the card around. "I Summon Storm Cipher!" Playmaker declared, before placing the card down on the Duel Disk's blade.
Another portal appeared and Storm Cipher emerged from within it, its cape blowing from the wind.
Storm Cipher ATK: 2400/ Level: 4.
"If only Storm Cipher's ability didn't keep it from attacking directly, we could have taken this guy out in one first!" Ai remarked with a frown, punching the air with his fists like shadow boxing. "It's fine. We still have moves left to make". Playmaker said, a serious expression still married to his face.
Both Playmaker and Ai raised their right hands to the air, looking perfectly in sync. "I Link Summon once more!" The Cyberse Duelist declared, a bright light erupting out of his right hand.
The Link portal appeared in the sky above Playmaker, Ai and the three Cyberse Monsters. "Link Arrows authorized! The Summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters! I set Cide Talker Inverted and Storm Cipher in the Link Arrows!" Playmaker exclaimed as Code Talker Inverted transformed into two blue whirlwinds of energy while Storm Cipher became a single one.
The whirlwinds ascended into the strike and struck the Top, Left and Right Link arrows, causing them all to light up. "Link the circuit! I Link Summon! Link-3! Excode Talker!" Playmaker cried out as Excode Talker emerged from the Link portal, letting out a battle cry as he took the Monster Zone that Linkuriboh's Link Arrow was pointing to.
Excode Talker ATK: 2300/ Link-3/ Link Arrows: Left, Top, Right.
"Once more, two abilities activate!" Ai exclaimed, swiping his right hand out to the side. "Firewall Flasher lets me draw once more!" Playmaker stated, drawing the top card of his deck once more.
"And when Excode Talker is Link Summoned when there's a monster in the Extra Deck Monster Zone, one of your Monster Zones will be rendered useless! Grasp Zone!" Ai cried out, pointing forward with his right hand's index finger. A Speed Duel format appeared underneath and in between Playmaker and his opponent, showing their cards.
The glowing man's face-down cards were placed in the left and right Spell/Trap Zonez. A large red cross appeared over his right Monster Zone, crossing it out for now. The format then quickly disappeared from sight.
"Excode Talker's effect isn't over just yet! Every monster that he points to gains 500 ATK and cannot be destroyed by card effects! And Linky's in his Link Arrow!" Ai explained on behalf of his partner, right as Linkuriboh gave a determined look as it powered up.
Linkuriboh ATK: 300 + 500 = 800.
"I'll place one card-face down!" Playmaker said, inserting the card he drew into his Duel Disk. A face-down card appeared in front of Playmaker before quickly disappearing with the Cyberse Duelist pointing forward with his right hand.
"Battle! Excode Talker, attack him directly!" The Cyberse Duelist commanded, one that Excode Talker obeyed. The Link Monster's arm shields activated with the claws coming out as it lifted both hands up.
"Closing Chaos!" Playmaker cried out as Excode Talker leaped into the air. It swung both claws in a spin as it dived down to the unknown Duelist and landed a direct hit as it passed through, crossing both arms in a cross.
? Life Points: 4000 - 2300 = 1700.
The unknown glowing man grunted in pain from the attack.
Excode Talker leaped into the air once more, before returning to Playmaker's field right behind Linkuriboh. "We're not done just yet! Let 'em have it, Linky!" Ai exclaimed with a serious frown, both he and Playmaker moving in perfect sync as they pointed forward with their right hands. "Linkuribog attacks directly!" Playmaker declared, not letting up on his assualt.
'Kuri kuuu!' Linkuriboh cried out with a determined look, charging forward and headbutted the glowing man on the head, forcing him to take a step back.
? Life Points: 1700 - 800 = 900.
(Music end)
"Nice work, Playmaker! It's our first turn and he's already down to 900 Life Points! This duel's gonna be like taking candy from a baby!" Ai praised his partner, turning to look up at Playmaker with a proud expression on his face.
"We can't let our guard down just yet, Ai. He still has Life Points left, I've used up 3 of the 6 monsters from the Extra Deck and I have only 2 cards in hand". The Cyberse Duelist stated, lifting his hand up to look at the cards he still has.
"I get what you're saying, but relax a little. Even if he Summons a monster stronger than Excode Talker, Linky's ability will reduce its ATK and make the guy cancel his attack. We've got this in the bag". Ai said with utter confidence, arms crossed when he began speaking.
"We'll see about that soon. I end my turn!" Playmaker declared his turn over, eyes locked on the glowing man a few feet away.
? Life Points: 900/ Number of cards in hand: 2.
A little bit away from the Speed Duel between Playmaker and the human glow stick; Black Joker watched the duel atop her D-Board through a holographic screen above her Duel Disk. She's kept to her word about keeping an eye out for any more bounty hunters, but she has also been watching Playmaker's duel through a network feed that someone is doing right now of the match.
The Infernity Duelist had a flushed face with a rather hypnotized smile on her face as she gazed directly at Playmaker's image. "... I'm gonna marry him one day, I swear it". She said with certainty, mentally making a promise on her words. Black Joker didn't know it, but her words caused a shiver to go down Playmaker's spine with him having no clue where that came from.
Back to the Spee Duel; the glowing man was about to begin his turn. "It's my turn!" The glowing man called out, holding up his left arm to his chest right as a red circle appeared above it with a Duel Monster's card. He drew the card in a dramatic fashion himself by throwing his right hand out with the card and circle disappearing.
"I activate the Spell card; Pot of Greed!" The unknown Duelist declared, Pot of Greed's card materializing in front of him once he finished speaking. "With this card, I draw 2 new cards". He explained the Spell card's effect, right before the card shattered and he drew 2 more cards from his deck.
Both cards dematerialized and the human glow stick continued his turn. "Since I control no monsters in the Main Monster Zones, I can Special Summon Hydradrive Booster!" He declared, moving his right hand up with a Monster card materializing in front of him. A sort of dragonfly monster of sorts with a mask appeared with its wings making a buzzing sound, just like a bug.
Hydradrive Booster ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
Playmaker widen both eyes in surprise, Ai frowned in thought and Black Joker blinked at the monster just Summoned. "That monster... It's a Cyberse monster!" Playmaker called out in realization, thanks to his six sense with the Cyberse he could tell this Hydradrive monster was the same type as his monsters.
"But how is that possible? I didn't create that monster and I'm certain neither did Azure or the others, so how was that Cyberse Monster created?" Ai questioned, taking a thinking stance with his right hand on the chin. "I don't know. But it doesn't change that we have to defeat him". The Cyberse Duelist remarked, eyes narrowing a little once he finished speaking.
"I agree with you on that. And when we beat this mystery man or whoever he is, I'm taking his card data to find out what created that Cyberse Monster of his! For all we know, this guy could have played a part in the destruction of my home!" Ai exclaimed, gripping his right hand into a fist and held it up. After 3 months of dead leads on who's responsible for his Cyberse World's destruction, he had no intention of letting this lead get away.
"I have no intention of letting him get away either, Ai". Playmaker told his Ignis partner, glancing down at Ai. "Good to hear, partner. Now let's get to giving this guy a thrashing!" The Dark Ignis exclaimed, pointing at their opponent with his right hand's index finger. "That's what I intend to do!" Playmaker called out in response, directing his gaze back to the mystery man they're facing.
"I activate the Trap Hydradrive Generator!" The mystery man exclaimed, throwing his right hand out with a Trap card materializing in front of him. "If I successfully Normal or Special Summon a monster while my Life Points are lower than yours, this Trap allows me to Summon a Hydradrive Token!" He explained the Trap card's effect, before a blue portal appeared beside Hydradrive Booster and out came a sort of small bug monster with the same mask.
Hydradrive Token DEF: 0/ Level: 1.
"Next, I generate my circuit!" He cried out, bringing both hands together before holding the left one out with a wave of energy briefly erupting from it. From up above, the Link portal appeared only on the mystery man's side this time.
"The Summoning conditions is 1 Hydradrive monster". The mystery man said, Hydradrive Booster transforming into a blue whirlwind of energy that flew up and struck the bottom Link Arrow, causing it to turn red. "I Link Summon! Link-1! Flow Hydradrive!" He exclaimed as the Link Monster emerged. It was a sort of green dragon with wings for arms and had the mask Hydradrive Booster had on its chest.
Flow Hydradrive flew around, before crying out as it took the mystery man's left Extra Monster Zone.
Flow Hydradrive ATK: 1000/ Link-1/ Link Arrows: Bottom.
Ai narrowed his eyes at the sight of Flow Hydradrive. "A Cyberse Link Monster... This isn't the work of an amateur, that's for sure". The Dark Ignis remarked, knowing from experience that Cyberse Link Monsters are more difficult to create than normal Cyberse monsters.
The mystery man reared his left hand in. "Next, I activate the Field Spell Castle Link!" He exclaimed, throwing his left hand out with a Spell card appearing right in front of it. "It allows me to move a Link Monster to a Main Monster Zone in the direction it points to". The mystery man explained the Field Spell's effect, right before a Speed Duel format appeared once more.
Flow Hydradrive's card moved from the Extra Monster Zone to the Monster Zone its bottom Link Arrow was pointing to, before the format disappeared. "Uhh, why would he do that?" Ai questioned, looking up at his partner for an answer. Playmaker wouldn't get a chance to answer as his opponent threw both arms into the air.
"Next since I have fewer Life Points than I started with in this duel, I'm allowed to use my Skill; Marker's Portal!" He exclaimed, throwing both hands forward with the left hand over the right one.
From her side; Black Joker blinked in curiosity. This was her first time seeing a Speed Duel and now, she's gonna see how these Skills work. 'Ash told me there's a lot of different skills. I wonder what this chump's skill is'. She thought to herself, confident that Playmaker could handle whatever this guy throws his way.
"My Skill allows me to activate a Link Spell". The mystery man explained, dropping the right hand and held up the left one. What he said caught Playmaker, Ai and Black Joker by surprise.
"A Link Spell?" Playmaker questioned in confusion, while Ai frowned. "I never heard of that". The Dark Ignis stated, no clue what this "Link Spell" is. He doubted even Azure had an idea what it is.
(Play #19 yugioh VRAINS SOUND DUEL 3 - Bohman)
"I can only have one Link Spell on my field at a time and it must be placed next to a Link Monster's Link! I activate the Link Spell Judgement Arrow!" The mystery man exclaimed, throwing his left hand out right before a Spell card appeared in front of him. It was a different Spell card since it actually had Link Arrows just like a Link Monster.
Judgement Arrows Link Arrows: Top-left, Top, Top-right.
"And like all other Link Spells, this one cannot be negated or destroyed by your effects. I generate my circuit for a second time this turn!" The mystery man exclaimed, throwing his right hand into the air once more. The Link portal appeared in the sky once more at the mystery man's words.
"The Summoning conditions is 1 Hydradrive Monster! I set the Hydradrive Token in the Link Arrows!" Mystery man exclaimed as the Hydradrive Token transformed into a blue whirlwind of energy that flew up and struck the bottom Link Arrow, causing it to turn red. "I Link Summon! Link-1! Burn Hydradrive!" He exclaimed as his new Link Monster appeared.
It was a red and orange segmented mechanical dragon that let out a roar, taking the center Monster Zone.
Burn Hydradrive ATK: 1000/ Link-1/ Link Arrows: Bottom.
Ai held his left fist up and pointed at Burn Hydradrive with his right hand's index finger. "Hey, you cheating cheater, you can't Summon to that spot! There's no Link Arrow pointing to it!" The Dark Ignis exclaimed, but Playmaker had something to say to that. "You're wrong. There is an Arrow". Playmaker stated, catching Ai's attention as he looked at his partner.
"The one pointing through his Link Spell". The Cyberse Duelist explained to Ai, much to his comical shock at hearing this as he threw both arms up. "What!? Link Arrows have links?! Well, I guess it's in the name". Ai joked, one that Playmaker didn't find amusing in the least bit.
The mystery man reared his right fist up, before throwing his left hand into the air. "I generate my circuit for a third time this turn!" He exclaimed, hand releasing a wave of energy for a brief moment with the Link portal appearing in the sky above.
"The Summoning conditions is 2 Hydradrive Link Monsters! I set Burn Hydradrive and Flow Hydradrive in the Link Arrows!" The mystery man exclaimed as both Burn and Flow Hydradrive transformed into two blue whirlwinds of energy that ascended to the Link portal.
They struck the Left and Right arrows, causing them to light up in a red colour. "Link the circuit! I Link Summon! Link-2! Twin Hydradrive Knight!" He exclaimed as the new monster emerged from the Link portal.
It was a silver and gold armoured warrior wielding a pair of twin swords in both hands. Twin Hydradrive Knight masterfully wielded its swords as it took the center Monster Zone, right where Judgement Arrow's Top-Left arrow was pointing to.
Twin Hydradrive Knight ATK: 1800/ Link-2/ Link Arrows: Left, Right.
"Now it's a Link-2 Cyberse Monster". Ai remarked with a frown, while Playmaker remained silent as he stared at Twin Hydradrive Knight. Despite being a Link-2 Monster, it could still be dangerous, he had cards that were proof of that.
"I activate Hydradrive Twin Knight's special ability! When this card is successfully Link Summoned, I can target two "Hydradrive" Link Monsters used as Link Material and grant their attributes to Twin Hydradrive Knight". The glowing man explained, throwing his right hand out when he began speaking.
Playmaker blinked in surprise at what he heard just now. "Granting it more than 1 Attribute?" He questioned, no recollection of ever encountering a monster like this one before. "Well, there's something you don't see every day". Ai remarked as a brown, green and red aura appeared around Twin Hydradrive Knight.
Twin Hydradrive Knight Attribute: Earth/ Wind/ Fire.
"Twin Hydradrive Knight's second ability activates! So long as this card remains on the field, all monsters that are on your field with the same attribute have their abilities negated!" The Hydradrive Duelist explained his Link Monster's ability, much to the surprise of Playmaker, Ai and Black Joker at hearing this.
"Say what!?" Ai exclaimed with a wide-eyed expression on his face. "That's a powerful ability!" Playmaker stated with a frown, gazing down to his Duel Disk directly towards Excode Talker's card.
Speaking of Excode Talker, the Link Monster's green armor suddenly began losing its colour, a sign that its ability was gone. Not to mention the Speed Duel format reappeared with the red cross on the Hydradrive Duelist's field disappearing.
Linkuriboh ATK: 800 - 500 = 300.
"We're still in control here! If he tries to attack Linky, we'll use his ability to stop him!" Ai said with a serious frown displayed on his face. "He hasn't declared an attack yet, so he must still have some cards left to play". Playmaker spoke up, much to Ai's alarm as he turned to look up at his partner.
The glowing man held his right hand to the left side of his face before throwing it forward. "I activate the special ability of Hydradrive Mutation from my hand!" He declared, a monster card materializing in front of his hand and began gleaming.
"By returning Hydradrive Generator to my hand..." The Hydradrive Duelist began to explain, the Trap appearing in front of him before dematerializing. "I can now Special Summon Hydradrive Mutation from my hand!" He continued explaining as a white worm monster appeared on his field.
Hydradrive Mutation ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
"Then I set 1 Continuous Trap from my hand!" The Hydradrive Duelist finished right as a face-down card appeared in front of him before dematerializing. "That has to be his Hydradrive Generator Trap from before". Ai remarked, certain that set card was the same one that the glowing man returned to his hand.
Playmaker said nothing in response and kept watching his opponent with focused eyes. "I generate my circuit once more!" The Hydradrive Duelist cried out, bringing both hands together before holding the left one out with a wave of energy briefly erupting from it. From up above, the Link portal appeared only on the mystery man's side this time.
"The Summoning conditions is 1 Hydradrive monster". The mystery man said, Hydradrive Mutation transforming into a blue whirlwind of energy that flew up and struck the bottom Link Arrow, causing it to turn red. "I Link Summon! Link-1! Flow Hydradrive!" He exclaimed as another Flow Hydradrive Link Monster appeared, letting out a roar as it took the left Monster Zone where Judgement Arrow's Top Link Arrow was pointing to.
Flow Hydradrive ATK: 1000/ Link-1/ Link Arrows: Bottom.
"Another Flow Hydradrive? Just what is he up to?" Ai questioned, holding his own chin with the right hand and the left hand holding his right elbow. "We're about to find out". Playmaker stated, mentally bracing himself for what's about to come his way.
And he was right because his opponent's counterattack was about to start. "I now activate the Continuous Trap Property Spray!" The Hydradrive Duelist exclaimed, throwing his right hand forward. A Trap card materialized in front of his hand and began gleaming a bright light.
"That must have been the other face-down card he set on his last turn". Ai commented, frowning at the Trap card since he's never heard of it before. "Ai, brace yourself". Playmaker told the Ignis, mentally preparing himself.
"Property Spray's effect! I release my Flow Hydradrive to gain Life Points equal to its ATK!" The Hydradrive Duelist explained, keeping his right hand out even as Flow Hydradrive burst into sparkles. A gold aura appeared over him, increasing his Life Points.
? Life Points: 900 + 1000 = 1900.
"And lastly; all your monsters' attributes become the same Attribute as the Tributed monster!" The glowing man finished explaining, much to the alarm of Playmaker and Ai at hearing this.
"Say what!?" The Dark Ignis exclaimed with a wide-eyed expression of shock. "So that's what he was after... Changing Linkuriboh's attribute...!" Playmaker remarked, before he grit his teeth as Linkuriboh suddenly gained a green aura around itself.
Linkuriboh Attribute: Dark = Wind.
"Now that Linky is a Wind Attribute monster, he can't use his special ability! Meaning he can now attack without anything to stand in his way!" Ai exclaimed in alarm, both hands cupping his cheeks like in the famed "Scream" photo.
"Twin Hydradrive Knight attacks Excode Talker!" The Hydradrive Duelist declared, throwing his right hand out dramatically. Playmaker and Ai widened their eyes in surprise at what they heard.
"He's targeting Excode Talker and not Linky!? Does he have a glitch in his brain or something?!" The Dark Ignis questioned with a small frown, no understanding why he was targeting Excode Talker instead of Linkuriboh.
"At this moment, Judgement Arrows' effect activates! All Link Monsters that this Link Spell points to have their ATK doubled!" The Hydradrive Duelist exclaimed, revealing the effect of Judgement Arrows. Twin Hydradrive Knight powered up big time.
Twin Hydradrive Knight ATK: 1800 X 2 = 3600.
"And there's your answer, Ai". Playmaker stated, no emotion on his face while Ai's one had complete shock on it. Twin Hydradrive Knight charged forward and sliced Excode Talker into 4 pieces with both its swords, causing the pieces to explode with a powerful shockwave released that hit Playmaker and Ai, yet the Cyberse Duelist remained standing. (3600 - 2300 = 1300.)
Playmaker Life Points: 4000 - 1300 = 2700.
Twin Hydradrive Knight ATK: 3600 - 1800 = 1800.
(Music end)
Ai let out a grunt, before turning his head to look up at Playmaker. "Why'd he attack Excode Talker instead of Linkuriboh? If he attacked Linky, we would have lost 3300 Life Points". The Dark Ignis said with confusion, no idea why Excode Talker was targeted for the attack.
Playmaker slightly tilted his head to look at Ai. "Because if he did, we'd have everything to use Storm Access". The Cyberse Duelist told Ai, getting the Ignis to blink in realization. "Oh yeah. Storm Access always gives us a Link Monster that'll be the perfect counter for the situations we're in. He must be trying to keep us from using our Skill". Ai said with a small nod of the head, a general idea what their opponent's strategy is.
"He has to be going for a one-turn kill, lowering our Life Points for a final attack to decide the duel". Playmaker said to Ai, lifting his left arm to be face-to-face with the Dark Ignis. "It'll be difficult to stop him from doing that with that Link Spell of his. We can't even destroy Judgement Arrows thanks to that guy's Skill". Ai replied to his partner, sitting down with both legs crossed and arms crossed as well.
"That may be, but there are other ways to handle this situation. And I have just the plan in mind". Playmaker stated, lifting his head to gaze directly at the glowing man as he held his right hand up. "With that, I end my turn". The Hydradrive Duelist announced, no move left to make.
Playmaker Life Points: 2700/ Number of cards in hand: 2.
"It's my turn now! I draw!" Playmaker exclaimed, drawing in a dramatic fashion by throwing his right hand out to the side. He took a moment to look, before holding the card out and revealed what it was. "I activate the Cynet Mining Spell card!" The Cyberse Duelist declared, his Spell card beginning to gleam once he finished speaking.
"This Spell lets us discard a card to add a Level 4 or higher Cyberse monster from the deck to our hand! But in exchange, we cannot Link Summon a Link-3 or higher Link Monsters!" Ai explained Cynet Mining's effect as Playmaker discarded the card to the Graveyard.
Playmaker took a card from his hand and held it up, revealing it to be Bitron. "I discard Bitron from my hand!" The Cyberse Duelist called out, sending Bitron's card to the Graveyard. Playmaker's deck began shuffling for 3 seconds before stopping, followed by a card slotting out.
Playmaker took hold of the card with his right hand's index and middle fingers, before holding it up. "I add Firewall Guardian!" He announced, flipping the card over to reveal it was a Monster Card. "And I Summon it!" Playmaker added, swiping his right hand out to the side before placing it down on the Monster Zone.
A blue portal materialized beside him, before Firewall Guardian emerged from within it. The Cyberse-Type monster roared with spirit.
Firewall Guardian ATK: 100/ Level 4.
Both Playmaker and Ai raised their right hands to the air, perfectly in sync. "With this, I create the ultimate circuit!" The Cyberse Duelist declared, a bright light erupting out of his right hand.
A link portal appeared in the sky above Playmaker's side of the field. "The Summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse monsters! I set Link-1 Linkuriboh and Firewall Guardian in the Link Arrows!" Playmaker cried out to the heavens, both Linkuriboh and Firewall Dragon crying out as they transformed into blue whirlwinds of energy that ascended into the air.
They struck the Link portal's Bottom-Left and Bottom arrows, causing them to turn red with the portal powering up with energy. "Link the circuit! I Link Summon! Link-2! Cyberse Witch!" Playmaker cried out as Cyberse Witch emerged from the Link portal. She spun around and gave a wink, taking her usual pose from Playmaker's right Extra Monster Zone.
Cyberse Witch ATK: 800/ Link-2/ Link Arrows: Bottom-Left, Bottom.
The Hydradrive Duelist seemed to flinch at seeing Cyberse Witch, but didn't speak. "Now, the special abilities of Firewall Guardian and Firewall Flasher activate!" Ai cried out, holding his right hand out dramatically as he spoke. "Followed by the Trap card; Cynet Regression!" Playmaker exclaimed, right before a Trap card appeared in front of him and began gleaming.
"First since I successfully Special Summoned a Link Monster, Cynet Regression targets 1 card on the field, destroys it and allows me to draw a card!" Playmaker explained the Trap card's effect, before pointing forward with his right hand's index finger.
"So say goodbye to your Property Spray Trap card!" The Cyberse Duelist cried out, right before a bright blue beam shot out of Cynet Regression's card. Property Spray's card materialized in front of its owner, before the bright blue beam struck and destroyed it.
Playmaker drew the top card of his deck, took a quick moment to look before adding it to his hand. "Next, Firewall Flasher allows me to draw a new card!" Playmaker informed his opponent, drawing another card from his deck.
He took a quick moment to look at what he drew, before adding it to his hand. "And finally; Firewall Guardian Special Summons itself from the Graveyard when it's used to Link Summon!" The Cyberse Duelist called out as a black portal appeared in front of him and Firewall Guardian floated out of it.
Firewall Guardian ATK: 100/ Level 4.
Playmaker and Ai both threw their right hands out in sync once more. "Since a Monster was Special Summoned to a Zone that Cyberse Witch points to..." Ai began to explain as the format reappeared, showing Firewall Guardian in the center Monster Zone where Cyberse Witch's Bottom-Left Link Arrow was pointing to.
"We can banish a Spell card from the Graveyard to add Cynet Ritual and a Cyberse Ritual Monster from our deck to the hand!" The Dark Ignis finished explaining, gazing down at Playmaker's Duel Disk. Cynet Mining's card slotted out of the Graveyard Zone, before Playmaker took hold of the card with his right hand and held it up.
"I banish Cynet Mining for Cyberse Witch's effect!" Playmaker declared, the Spell card dematerializing before he looked down at his deck. The deck shuffled for 4 seconds before stopping, followed by 2 cards slotting out.
Playmaker took both cards with his right hand and held them up in front of his face. "I add Cynet Ritual and Paladin of Storm Dragon!" The Cyberse Duelist declared, adding both cards to his hand, making it a total of five.
"And we're not done yet! Cyberse Witch has another effect!" Ai called out, pointing forward with the right hand's index finger. Cyberse Witch gave a wink of the eye, before holding up her staff. "If we successfully activated her first effect, Cyberse Witch can now Summon a Cyberse Monster from the graveyard!" Playmaker explained the Link Monster's effect, right before Cyberse Witch's staff's gem began gleaming a bright green light.
A black portal appeared right behind Cyberse Witch. "So, welcome back Rebuideer!" Ai cheerfully announced as Rebuideer floated out of the black portal and gave a cry.
Rebuideer ATK: 1800/ Level: 4.
Ai then somehow had a brown wizard hat on his head, a jar in front of him that was releasing a purple ooze from it and was mixing it around with a wooden stick. He had a sly look on his face as he mixed the substance in the jar. "Yesss! Playmaker's brewing up trouble!" The Dark Ignis said in a playfully spooky voice as he knew what his partner was up to now.
Playmaker held his right hand out towards his opponent. "Now, time to mix things up!" The Cyberse Duelist stated, moving his right hand to his cards in his left hand and took one of them. "I activate the Cynet Ritual Spell card!" Playmaker declared, bringing the card up into the air with it gleaming a bright white light.
Black Joker grew a grin upon seeing this from her view of the duel. 'I'm so gonna enjoy this'. The Infernity Duelist thought to herself, having always enjoyed this world's version of how Ritual Summoning is done.
"I must tribute monsters from my hand or my field, who's total Level equals, or exceeds the monster I intend to Summon!" Playmaker explained, before looking directly at the back of Firewall Guardian. "I release Firewall Guardian for the tribute, and since it was Summoned by its effect, Firewall Guardian is banished!" The Cyberse Duelist informed his opponent, taking Firewall Guardian's card with the right hand.
A blue and silver magic circle appeared on the ground in front of Playmaker. Four blue flames were lit along the edges of the circle, before Firewall Guardian broke apart into particles of blue energy and gathered into the center of the circle. A pillar of blue light erupted from the circle.
"This one soul offers their essence to break the barriers of reality and call forth the warrior of storms! Ritual Summon! Descend, Paladin of Storm Dragon!" Playmaker cried out to the heavens as a new monster emerged from the pillar of light.
Like other paladin monsters, it was a white, blue and yellow armored knight with a white cape riding atop a dragon, one that looked incredibly like Firewall Dragon. Only it was much smaller than the real one.
Paladin of Storm Dragon's dragon let out a fierce roar, the Ritual Monster taking Playmaker's right Monster Zone that Cyberse Witch's Bottom Link Arrow was pointing towards.
Paladin of Storm Dragon ATK: 1900/ Level: 4.
(Music end)
Playmaker's three monsters lined up together, all of them facing Twin Hydradrive Knight. Playmaker and Ai were looking directly at the Hydradrive Duelist, ready to begin their counterattack and get back what he stole from Jin.
All of LINK VRAINS was watching this Speed Duel between Playmaker and the glowing man, but unknown to everyone was that two more mysterious people were watching as well.
Standing at the edge of one of the floating islands were two teenage males around the same height and age. One of them was standing up with his arms crossed, while the other was sitting down on the edge with his right knee up and right arm draped over it.
The one that was sitting down is wearing a red and black jump suit with black gloves, a full on dark blue cape red over his shoulder. He's got black stripe boots and a blue fire emblem on his chest. Finally, he has a red and black Blue Spirit mask much like the one from Avatar the last Airbender on his face. The hair underneath the mask is pure dark red. As for the Duel Disk, it was a new model Duel Disk from SOL Tech that was in the form of a red and blue wristband with a black orb.
The other male that was standing up; his appearance was much different. His eyes were gold, hair was a little long and had angular center bangs. The upper layer of his hair is turquoise, while the bottom layer and his eyebrows both are blue and prominent. His bangs were red; the framing bangs are shot through with orange, while the central bang is orange.
For clothing; he is wearing a grey jumpsuit patterned with orange flames licking the limbs, red rib sections, and a yellow arrowhead shape running down his chest with a triangular aquamarine gem in the center. He has red shoulder-pads, greaves, and a gauntlet on his left hand and an elbow-guard on his right arm, which is bare to the wrist.
He is wearing gloves with a similar basic design; the one on his right hand is a fingerless red glove with orange knuckles and a square-shaped section missing from the back of the hand, and the one on his left is black, with red knuckles and a red patch on the back of his hand. He's also wearing red boots with grey, orange-lined tongues and orange soles. And for added effects, he's wearing an unusual red scarf around his neck that appears to "flicker".
Finally, equipped to his left wrist is older model Duel Disk similar to Playmaker's except with a purple orb outlined by a yellow circle with a sharp protrusion and a red body. It has an orange side as well. But the most attention-grabbing detail was that there was an Ignis eye in the old model Duel Disk. The lines are red and the iris is yellow.
"Wow... Looks like Playmaker is making his comeback attack, Soul Burner. I wonder what that new Ritual Monster of his can do". The avatar with the mask said with an eager voice, turning to look at his friend once he finished speaking.
The named "Soul Burner" gave a small chuckle in response. "Don't ask me. I'm not the Ritual expert, Blaze Emperor. I didn't even know that Ritual Monsters existed until a month and a half ago". Soul Burner replied, revealing the name of his companion to be Blaze Emperor, earning a chuckle from the masked duelist.
Out of nowhere; a feminine voice spoke directly in the minds of the two duelists. 'Why not ask our friend in Soul Burner's Duel Disk? Maybe he should know since he's, in his words, an unparalleled Ignis that has no limitations'. The voice said with an amused voice, resulting in the two duelists chuckling and the Ignis eye to let out a gulp.
Soul Burner looked down at the Ignis in his Duel Disk with a smug face. 'Well Flame? Got anything to say?" He questioned with an eager and teasing voice, before letting out a sly chuckle.
The Ignis named "Flame" gave no response for the next 7 seconds. Eventually; he spoke with a stutter. "T-there's no need to e-explain about Ritual Monsters. S-surely they'll tell us all about it once we met up with them in the real world, so why waste time on something completely unnecessary". Flame answered with forced certainty, something that was easily detected.
'Call it whatever you want, hot head. You just can't admit you don't know crap about Ritual Monsters'. Blaze Emperor thought to himself, turning away to let out a low chuckle at the Ignis. 'Say whatever helps you sleep at night, Mr. Hotshot! You guys just get ready to jump in if the situation calls for it!' The feminine voice told them all, which Soul Burner gave a nod of the head.
"Got it, Aelita. And you stay frosty as well". Soul Burner replied, before he and Blaze Emperor turning back to the Speed Duel between Playmaker and the mysterious glowing man.
Soon; they will make their own first appearances to LINK VRAINS' general public. Not as random guys looking for fame, but allies to Playmaker and the masked heroes of LINK VRAINS. Very soon.
(Not too long ago with White Dragon Mask)
White Dragon Mask flew atop his D-Board in a random direction, all the while Shepard could do nothing as his D-Board followed after the Dragon-Type Duelist. And Azure was sitting down on White Dragon Mask's Duel Disk's orb with the right leg over his left, arms crossed, wings folded in and tail lying down.
White Dragon Mask had just split from Playmaker and Black Joker, taking Shepard with him as he went thanks to that program that took control of Shepard's D-Board. 30 seconds have passed since the Dragon-Type Duelist split from his friends, getting a good distance from them.
Azure looked directly up at his partner's masked face with a serious face. "We should now be a good distance from the others. Let's deal with the cowboy bounty hunter". The White Dragon Ignis said to his partner, receiving a nod from White Dragon Mask since he agreed completely.
White Dragon Mask slightly turned to look at the bounty hunter a few feet away. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly Shepard held up his right prosthetic arm and fired a yellow beam from it at the masked duelist.
White Dragon Mask blinked in surprise, before leaning slightly back and dodged the yellow beam. He looked in the direction that beam went off to, before gazing back at Shepard. "Funny way of saying "howdy there", cowboy". White Dragon Mask joked with a small grin, receiving an unamused face from Shepard.
"Enjoy your jokes while you can, White Dragon Mask. I'm the one that's gonna have the last laugh once I take your Ignis from you". Shepard said with a serious voice, right before firing 3 more shots from his arm at White Dragon Mask.
The Dragon-Type Duelist narrowed both eyes, before spreading both wings out. He closed both wings in front of himself, forming a shield right before the shots struck one at a time. They all burst on contact, and White Dragon Mask's wings remained strong through it all.
Once the barrage was done, White Dragon Mask open both wings and folded them in. "You're welcome to keep trying to shoot me, but it's not gonna work. These wings of mine aren't just for show!" The Dragon-Type Duelist said with a smirk on his face, giving the hand sign "bring it" with his right hand.
Shepard gave no response to that, instead lowered his right hand. "I can see that. Your avatar's design is unique, but it won't matter in the end". The bounty hunter said without a hint of emotion, lifting his left arm once he finished speaking. It was an unspoken challenge to a duel that Shepard issued to White Dragon Mask and he had every intention to accept.
"Why don't you put your cards where your mouth is". White Dragon Mask responded, bringing his left arm in front of his face. Azure submerged into the orb and returned to eye form, right before the Duel Disk activated with the blade appearing.
White Dragon Mask threw his left arm out to the side, jacket slightly blowing from the momentum. "Let's Speed Duel!" White Dragon Mask and Shepard cried out at the same time, officially starting a Speed Duel between them.
White Dragon Mask Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
The Shepard Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
White Dragon Mask brought his left hand in front of himself and drew the top four cards with the right hand. He took a quick moment to look at them, before adding all four cards to his left hand.
"I've looked up information on Shepard. He's one of the most famous bounty hunters, no one has ever escaped him before. And he has a tendency of tricking his opponents". Azure informed his partner, multiple screens appearing over his eye that had data of Shepard.
White Dragon Mask gazed down at his partner, before facing forward. "Thanks for the heads up. He's welcome to try any trick he's got, but it won't matter in the end because I'm gonna win this duel!" The Dragon-Type Duelist declared, taking a single card from his hand and held it up.
(Play Yugioh 5ds OST 18 Yuusei Battle)
"The first move is mine! And I start with the Graceful Charity Spell card!" The White Dragon Mask declared, inserting the card into his Duel Disk. A large copy of Graceful Charity's card materialized in front White Dragon Mask behind his D-Board and began gleaming.
"Graceful Charity allows us to draw 3 new cards, but then discard 2 from the hand". Azure explained on behalf of his partner as White Dragon Mask drew 3 new cards from his deck. He looked at the three, before adding them to the hand. He then took two cards and held them up.
"I discard Stardust Synchron and White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon!" White Dragon Mask declared, before discarding both cards to the Graveyard Zone of his Duel Disk.
(White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon/ Attribute: LIGHT/ Level: 2/ Type: Dragon/ Effect/ ATK: 500/ DEF: 250/ Effect: If this card is sent to the GY by an effect; you can banish this card and select one Level 4 or lower monster in your deck, either add it to your hand or send it to the GY. If a monster you control is banished, you can Special Summon this card in DEF Position.)
"At this moment; Teleporting Feydragon's special ability activates!" White Dragon Mask declared, throwing his right hand out as the small white feydragon with clear blue eyes and multi coloured wings appeared in front of him.
"When this card is sent to the Graveyard by an effect, I can banish it..." The Dragon-Type Duelist began, a black portal appearing underneath Teleporting Feydragon before it flew into the portal with it closing. "And in exchange, I can choose a Level 4 or lower monster in my deck and either add or discard it!" White Dragon Mask finished explaining, gazing down at his deck.
The deck shuffled for 3 seconds before stopping, a single card slotting out. White Dragon Mask took hold of it with his right hand's index and middle fingers before holding the card up. "I select White Dragon - Reflector and send it to the Graveyard!" The Dragon-Type Duelist declared, sending the card to his Graveyard.
White Dragon Mask took another card from his hand and held it up. "Next, I Summon Stardust Wurm!" He cried out, throwing the card down on a Monster Zone. A blue portal appeared beside him and Stardust Wurm emerged from it, letting out a small cry.
Stardust Wurm ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
"Now since I control a Dragon-Type Monster, I can activate White Dragon - Reflector's special ability and Special Summon it from the Graveyard!" The masked duelist explained, a black portal appearing in front of him once more and White Dragon Reflector emerged from within it.
White Dragon - Reflector ATK: 1900/ Level: 4.
White Dragon Mask then threw his right hand into the air. "Next up, I call forth my circuit!" He cried out to the heavens, a bright light suddenly appearing from the palm of his hand.
A bright Link portal appeared in the sky above White Dragon Mask's side. "Link Arrows authorized! The Summoning conditions are one Level 1 Light monster! I set Stardust Wurm in the Link Arrows!" White Dragon Mask cried out as Stardust Wurm transformed into a white whirlwind of energy that ascended into the air.
It struck the Bottom-Left Link Arrow, causing it to glow a bright red colour with the Link portal gleaming with energy. "I Link Summon! Link-1! White Dragon - Sage of Light!" White Dragon Mask cried out to the heavens, right before his new monster emerged from the Link portal.
It was a humanoid male half breed dragon and human hybrid. It had the appearance of a 14-year-old boy with pure short white hair, gleaming white eyes that seemed to be glowing a pale skin. Instead of hands, he had white claws, scales that reached halfway to the elbows. He had a short white tail with the end in the shape of a sword and two dragon themed feet. On the back were two short dragon wings and two horns on the head. And last of all, Sage of Light had long white track pants.
White Dragon - Sage of Light lifted the left hand up and reared his right one back, before crying out as he thrust it out, taking White Dragon Mask's right Extra Monster Zone.
(White Dragon - Sage of Light/ Link-1/ Attribute: Light/ Type: Effect/ Link/ Cyberse/ Link Arrows: Bottom-Left/ ATK: 300/ Requirements: 1 Level 1 Light Monster/ Effect: This card is also treated as a Dragon-Type Monster always. If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 "Dimension of Light" from your Deck to your hand. If this card is sent to the GY as material for a Light Attribute Link Monster: You can Special Summon this card, but banish it when it leaves the field.)
Azure emerged from the Duel Disk's arm with arms crossed, wings folded in and tail swaying side to side. "Ah, perfect. One of the new cards I created for you. Time to see how well it does". The White Dragon Ignis said with an eager voice, thinking back to how he created this Cyberse monster after White Dragon Mask's Tag Duel with Playmaker against Varis and Black Dragon Mask.
"Hehe". White Dragon Mask chuckled, before throwing his right hand down and held it out. "Sage of Light's special ability activates when it is successfully Link Summoned!" He cried out as Sage of Light's eyes gleamed brighter than before. "It allows us to add a "Dimension of Light" from the deck to our hand!" Azure finished explaining, right before White Dragon Mask's deck began shuffling again.
After 4 seconds, it stopped shuffling and a single card slotted out. White Dragon Mask took the card with his right hand and held it out. It was a Spell card with the card's image showing a bright yellow light sky with Honest, Firewall Dragon and Cyberse Dragon Core all flying right beside one another. "Through Sage of Light's effect, Dimension of Light is added to my hand!" White Dragon Mask stated, while Shepard frowned at the card.
(Dimension of Light/ Type: Field Spell/ Effect: During your Main Phase, you can: Immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 Light Attribute monster, also you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn, except monsters with the same type as the Summoned Monster (even if this card leaves the field). If you successfully Link Summon a Light Attribute Link Monster, you can select 1 Light Attribute monster in your GY and Special Summon it to a zone your Link Monster points to. You can only use each effect of "Dimension of Light" once per turn.)
"Next, I'll activate it!" White Dragon Mask declared, Dimension of Light's card dematerializing from his hand with a bigger copy materializing in front of him before quickly disappearing. "You'll find out what this card does later, but for now, the Link Summoning action continues!" The masked Duelist exclaimed, throwing his right hand up to the air once more.
The Link portal appeared once more above White Dragon Mask's side of the field. "The Summoning conditions are two Dragon-Type monsters! I set White Dragon - Sage of Light and White Dragon - Reflector in the Link Arrows!" White Dragon Mask called out as both monsters transformed into white whirlwinds of energy.
The two whirlwinds ascended and entered the Top and Left Link Arrows, resulting in them gleaming. "...!" Shepard widen both eyes at seeing this, having never seen White Dragon Mask play a Link Monster with Link Arrows like those before.
"Link the Circuit! I Link Summon! Link-2! White Dragon - Angel of Dragons!" The White Dragon Duelist cried out, his newest Link Monster slowly emerging from the link portal.
It was a female human dragon hybrid Halfbreed with the appearance of a young woman. She had long beautiful silver hair that reached the back of her waist, snow white skin and crystal blue eyes. For clothing; she's wearing a blue, skimpy one-piece suit revealing her arms and legs, which is open on the front and the back, exposing most of her belly, wide cleavage and upper back too. She also had long silver gloves that reach her elbows with claws for fingers. And silver long stockings without any footwear.
Sprouted out of her back were white wings that were a mix of a dragon's wings and an angel's wings. The wing parts belonged to a dragon, but they also had silver feathers like an angel's. Angel of Dragons also had a white long tail without any spikes or the end taking any form, simply just a normal tail of a dragon. There were white scales around the visible parts of her arms and legs and finally, she wielded a whip made out of white energy with her right hand.
White Dragon - Angel of Dragons grew a beautiful smile as she twirled around with her tail out, before suddenly stopping and took a pose with her left hand out, taking White Dragon Mask's right Extra Monster Zone.
(White Dragon - Angel of Dragons/ Attribute: Light/ Type: Cyberse/ Effect/ Link/ Link Arrows: Top, Left/ ATK: 2000/ Requirements: Two Light Monsters/ Effect: If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s): Inflict 200 damage to your opponent. If this card is co-linked with a Light Attribute monster, double any effect damage this card inflicts to your opponent. Depending on what monsters you use as material for this card, activate these effects.
● If a Dragon-Type Monster was used as material for this card, it is treated as a Dragon-Type Monster.
● If a Fairy-Type Monster was used as material for this card, it is treated as both a Fairy-Type and "Trickstar" monster.)
Shepard spent 2 moments looking at Angel of Dragons before returning his gaze to White Dragon Mask. "So, how do you like Angel of Dragons? Does it remind you of Blue Angel just like how I created it to be?" Azure asked his partner with a teasing voice, which White Dragon Mask gave a low grumble in response.
This Cyberse Monster was Azure's creation out of his own free will to remind White Dragon Mask of LINK VRAINS' idol. Not to mention tease him about the Trickstar Duelist. At first White Dragon Mask was embarrassed at Azure's actions, but he quickly appreciated his partner's new creation since it did greatly remind him of Skye/Blue Angel whenever he plays her now.
White Dragon Mask shook his head sideways to snap himself out of those thoughts and focus on the duel at hand. "Since White Dragon - Reflector was Summoned through its effect and has left the field, it's now banished instead of going to the Graveyard". The masked duelist informed Shepard, holding up Reflector's card with his right hand before the card dematerialized.
"And now I activate the special ability of White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon! If a card I control is banished, I can Special Summon my little friend in DEF Position!" White Dragon Mask explained as Teleporting Feydragon's card materialized in his right hand. He then placed it down on the Duel Disk's blade.
A blue portal appeared behind Angel of Dragons, before White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon emerged from within it in a defensive stance.
White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon DEF: 250/ Level: 2.
"And by the way, since we used a Dragon-Type monster as material for Angel of Dragons, she's treated as one". Azure informed Shepard on behalf of his partner, before gazing up at White Dragon Mask right as he held his right hand up again. "One last time, I call upon the circuit that brings light to darkness!" White Dragon Mask exclaimed, throwing his right hand into the air.
The Link portal appeared once more above White Dragon Mask's side of the field. "Link Arrows authorized! The Summoning conditions are two Effect monsters! I set White Dragon - Angel of Dragons and White Dragon - Teleporting Feydragon in the Link Arrows!" The masked duelist called out, throwing his right hand down in front of himself.
Teleporting Feydragon transformed into a single white whirlwind of energy, while Angel of Dragons turned into two. All three whirlwinds ascended and entered the Left, Bottom and Right Link Arrows, resulting in them all gleaming a bright red colour with the Link portal bursting with energy.
"Circuit combine! I Link Summon! Link-3! Decode Talker - White Dragon!" White Dragon Mask cried out to the heavens as his new monster emerged from the Link portal. It was Decode Talker, but he had undergone some changes.
The Cyberse's previous blue and gold armor had changes colours to white and light blue. The purple lines of its black skin underneath the armor and orbs were now a silver colour as well. The purple eyes were silver now and had dragon-like pupils.
The armor on the back was gone and now he had two large white dragon-like wings with sword tips at the talons. Decode Talker - White Dragon also had a white large tail sprouted out of its tailbone with blue lines in a cross formation. The fingers of this new Decode Talker were sharp claws like that of a dragon's as well. Finally; Decode Talker's sword was in its right hand with white flames surging around it.
Decode Talker - White Dragon reared its arms and wings it, before throwing them all out, releasing a cry that's a mix of its usual cry and a dragon's roar, taking the right Extra Monster Zone.
(Decode Talker - White Dragon/ Attribute: LIGHT/ Type: Cyberse/ Link/ Effect/ Link Arrows: Left, Bottom, Right/ Link-3/ ATK: 2300/ 2 + Effect monsters/ Effect: This card is also treated as a Dragon-Type Monster always. Monsters this card points to gain 1000 ATK when they declare an attack and are unaffected by the opponent's card effects. If this card is used as Link Material for a Dragon or Cyberse-Type monster, it gains 1000 ATK and is unaffected by the opponent's card effects.)
(Music end. Now play #17 yugioh VRAINS SOUND DUEL 3 - BONDS)
This time Shepard let out a gasp at seeing White Dragon Mask's Link Monster. "Decode Talker?! But that's Playmaker's card!" The bounty hunter exclaimed, having seen the data that SOL Tech has about Playmaker and the cards he uses. So, seeing White Dragon Mask with a "Decode Talker" monster, even if it was a new one, was surprising to say the least.
White Dragon Mask simply gave a chuckle as he and Azure stared at the back of Decode Talker - White Dragon. This was a Cyberse Monster that Azure and Ai had created together to represent the bond that not just them shared, but Ash and Yusaku as well. Decode Talker was the first monster Playmaker and Ai acquired from the Data Storm, so it only made sense that it was would be a Code Talker monster that the two Ignis would create. Two copies for both duelists.
"Decode Talker - White Dragon is looking good. This is the first time it's being used in a duel and everything appears to be working well. I'd say it's a successful creation". Azure commented with a pleased voice, giving a nod of approval to the Link Monster. "Glad to hear it! I've been waiting to try this card out". White Dragon Mask said with an excited grin, before throwing his right hand up.
"I activate Dimension of Light's effect!" He declared, the Field Spell reappearing in front of him and began gleaming. "Once a turn when we successfully Link Summon a Light Attribute Link Monster, Dimension of Light allows us to Summon another Light Attribute monster to a Monster Zone that our Link Monster points to!" Azure explained on behalf of his partner, right before White Dragon - Angel of Dragons' card slotted out of the Graveyard Zone of the Duel Disk.
White Dragon Mask took the card with his right hand's index and middle fingers, before holding it up. "Through Dimension of Light's effect, White Dragon - Angel of Dragons takes to the field once more!" He stated, before placing the card down on his Duel Disk.
A portal appeared behind Decode Talker - White Dragon, before White Dragon - Angel of Dragons emerged from it, taking White Dragon Mask's right Monster Zone where Decode Talker - White Dragon's Bottom Link Arrow pointed to.
White Dragon - Angel of Dragons ATK: 2000/ Link-2/ Link Arrows: Top, Left.
White Dragon Mask brought up his hand of 3 cards and took a single one from them and held it up. "I've been too hard on you this turn, so I think I'll throw this face-down and end my turn". The Dragon-Type Duelist stated, inserting the card into his Duel Disk. A face-down card appeared in front of White Dragon Mask and behind his D-Board, before quickly disappearing.
Shepard Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 4.
"A good first turn, if I have to say so myself. You've set up a good field with two powerful monsters, a Field Spell that'll help with Summoning more monsters and a face-down card. The new cards I made worked perfectly". Azure said with a pleased voice, giving a short nod of approval. "I agree wholeheartedly with you. These new cards are very nice". White Dragon Mask said with an impressed grin, greatly liking these Cyberse cards that his partner created for him.
(Music end)
"It's my turn now". Shepard stated, moving his right hand to his wristband Duel Disk right before a green data ring with a card appeared around it. "I draw!" He exclaimed, drawing the card in a dramatic fashion by throwing his right hand out to the side.
The card dematerialized and the green ring disappeared. Shepard waved his right hand in front of himself, followed by 5 cards materializing in front of him. He wordlessly stared at the 5 cards, before they suddenly dematerialized.
"I set 3 cards face-down!" Shepard declared, 3 face-down cards appearing in front of him before they all disappeared. "Then I end my turn here". The bounty hunter added, something that took White Dragon Mask a bit by surprise as he raised an eyebrow.
White Dragon Mask Life Points: 4000/ Number of cards in hand: 2.
"He's clearly baiting us to activate a Trap card. We can't afford to be intimidated by those face-down cards though". Azure remarked, returning to the Duel Disk's orb and turning back into eye form. "You're right about that. And I have no intention of being scared! I draw!" White Dragon Mask cried out, drawing the top card of his deck and throwing his right hand out to the side.
He brought the card up to see what it was. It was a Monster card that was best suited to keep in the hand for now. White Dragon Mask turned his head to the other two cards he's holding, both were Spells that he can't use right now. He added the new card to his hand, before throwing the right hand out.
"I activate my Trap card White Dragon Tyrant Wing Burst!" White Dragon Mask declared, the face-down card reappearing before lifting itself up. It was a Trap card with the image showing Stardust Dragon flying in the air with streams of energy erupting out of his wings, going down and bursting the card forms of Mirror Force and Dragon Capture Jaw apart.
(White Dragon Tyrant Wing Burst/ Type: Trap/ Effect: If you control a "White Dragon" or "Stardust" monster(s), you can select 1 Spell/Trap card your opponent controls and destroy one of them for each "White Dragon" or "Stardust" monster you control. For every card destroyed by this effect, you can draw 1 card from your deck.)
"For every "White Dragon" or "Stardust" monster I control, one of your Spell/Trap cards is going straight to the Graveyard!" White Dragon Mask explained the Trap card's effect, before Azure took over explaining for him. "Since we control two White Dragon monsters, we can destroy two of your face-down cards". The White Dragon Ignis informed Shepard, but he had something to say in response to that.
(Play Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Enemy Attack)
"I don't think so". Shepard stated, before throwing his right hand out. "I activate my Trap card Wiretap!" The bounty hunter declared, before Wiretap's card materialized in front of him and began glowing.
"Oh, great". White Dragon Mask uttered to himself with a small frown, fully aware of what that Trap card does. "So he had a defense set up for our move to get rid of those face-down cards". Azure uttered to himself, his eye narrowing dangerously.
"Wiretap not only negates the activation of your Trap card, but it also returns it to your deck and shuffles it. And until you draw the card, you cannot activate cards with the same name". Shepard explained the Trap card's effect, before Wiretap's card disappeared. Sparks of electricity appeared around White Dragon Tyrant Wing Burst's card, before it burst into sparkles.
White Dragon Mask took the Trap's card and slotted it into his deck, before it shuffled for a good 4 seconds. "What's your plan now? Go straight to attacking him?" Azure questioned his partner, turning to gaze up at the masked duelist.
White Dragon Mask gave a nod in response to Azure's question. "That's what I intend to do!" He answered, before throwing his right hand forward. "Battle! Decode Talker - White Dragon, attack Shepard directly!" The masked duelist commanded his Link Monster, an order it obeyed right away.
Decode Talker - White Dragon took its sword into both hands, intending to charge and attack Shepard. But the bounty hunter had something to say to that. "When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I can activate this Trap card". Shepard said, before throwing his left hand out once he finished speaking. "Storming Mirror Force!" The bounty hunter exclaimed, a Trap card materializing in front of his left hand and started glowing.
White Dragon Mask widen both eyes in surprise, while Azure grew an annoyed face. "A Mirror Force card... Typical..." The White Dragon Ignis remarked, not the least bit impressed with this move. Varis had Mirror Force and he didn't want another opponent that uses a different version of it.
"This Trap returns all your attack position monsters to your hand and since all you control are Link Monsters, they'll go back to the Extra Deck". Shepard explained to the White Dragon Emperor, before a yellow beam shot out of Storming Mirror Force's card.
White Dragon Mask narrowed his eyes at Shepard's move. "I can't do anything for my Decode Talker, but the same can't be said for Angel of Dragons!" The masked duelist exclaimed, before pointing directly at Decode Talker - White Dragon with his right hand's index finger. "Monsters that Decode Talker points to are unaffected by your card effects!" White Dragon Mask called out, much to Shepard's surprise at hearing this.
"What!?" The bounty hunter exclaimed in surprise. Decode Talker - White Dragon spread both wings out fully, acting as a shield for Angel of Dragons. The yellow beam Decode Talker right in the chest, causing the Cyberse Monster to transform into a yellow orb.
The yellow orb flew over and entered the orb of White Dragon Mask's Duel Disk. "With your Mirror Force card used up, there's nothing to protect you from Angel of Dragons' attack! Get 'em!" White Dragon Mask cried out, rearing his right hand in before throwing it out once more.
"Ha!" White Dragon - Angel of Dragons cried out, spreading her wings and flew forward to Shepard. Once she was close enough, Angel of Dragons reared her right hand in before she swung her rapier to the side, landing a direct hit. Shepard grunted, taking a step back from the attack he just took.
Shepard Life Points: 4000 - 2000 = 2000.
With her attack done, Angel of Dragons flew back to her Duelist's side. Shepard let out a low growl as he looked directly at White Dragon Mask, who was grinning at him with confidence. "I end my turn here. Your move, cowboy". The masked duelist told his opponent, no move left to make now.
Shepard Life Points: 2000/ Number of cards in hand: 2.
(Music end)
"We were really lucky that Decode Talker - White Dragon protected Angel of Dragons. If they had both returned to the Extra Deck, we'd have been opened for direct attacks". Azure remarked, emerging from his partner's Duel Disk halfway with both arms crossed and wings tucked in. White Dragon Mask remained silent, but there was a confident smirk on his face at Azure's words.
With Shepard, the bounty hunter was staring directly at his opponent and the Link Monster. "Impressive, I have to admit. Your new Cyberse card are interesting, but they won't save you in the end. I prepared my deck just for this duel! I draw!" Shepard exclaimed, drawing a card from the green data ring around his wristband Duel Disk.
(Play #09 yugioh VRAINS SOUND DUEL 3 - All Out Attack)
Shepard brought the card up to see what it was, before flipping the card over, revealing it's a Spell card. "I activate the Card of Adversity Spell card!" The bounty hunter cried out, the card dematerializing with a larger copy appearing in front of him.
"That Spell card allows him to draw 2 cards if he controls no monster and we control a Special Summoned Monster". Azure explained Shepard's card to his partner as Shepard drew two more cards. "Thanks for the explanation, but I already knew what it does. Kite has a copy of that Spell card". White Dragon Mask told his Ignis partner, receiving a scoff from Azure.
Shepard held his two new cards up, before they both dematerialized. "I set one card face-down..." The bounty hunter began, a face-down card materializing in front of him before disappearing. "Next, by showing you three copies of a Machine-Type in my hand..." Shepard continued, three cards appearing in front of him with all of them the exact same card.
"A Machine-Type Duelist!?" White Dragon Mask called out in surprise, honestly expecting Shepard's deck to be something else. "I really don't see why that's surprising". Azure commented with an uninterested look, having had no expectations on what Shepard's deck would be.
"...I can activate the Trap card, 3D Bio Scanner!" Shepard exclaimed, throwing his right hand out as a Trap card materialized on his field and began gleaming. "This card allows me to Summon a none-Machine monster from my deck, but its effects are negated, it cannot attack and returns to my deck at the End Phase". The bounty hunter finished explaining the Trap's effect, much to White Dragon Mask's curiosity.
"All that for one monster?" White Dragon Mask questioned, wondering just what kind of monster Shepard would Summon with such a huge drawback. "Prepare yourself, partner". Azure told his partner, watching with narrowed eyes and arms crossed.
"I choose... Buster Blader!" Shepard declared, throwing his right hand out as a black portal appeared in front of him. And from that portal emerged the legendary Buster Blader with the Warrior-Type flying through the air.
Buster Blader ATK: 2600/ Level: 7.
White Dragon Mask and Azure widen their eyes in surprise at the monster Shepard Summoned. "Buster Blader!?" The masked duelist exclaimed in surprise, having never though Shepard would have that card. "A monster that's the perfect counter for Dragon-Types. At least its ability is sealed off". Azure uttered to himself with a frown, keeping his cool at the sight of the perfect countermeasure for dragons.
White Dragon Mask shook his head to regain his focus and glare at Shepard. He reared his right hand in, before throwing it out. "White Dragon - Angel of Dragon's special ability now activates!" White Dragon Mask declared, much to Shepard's surprise at hearing this.
White Dragon - Angel of Dragons held her rapier up right in front of herself. She closed both eyes with a light coloured aura appearing over her body. "When our opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster, Angel of Dragons deals 200 points of damage!" Azure explained on behalf of his partner, before throwing his right hand forward. "Chew on this!" He cried out dramatically with both eyes narrowed.
Angel of Dragons opened both eyes to reveal a sharp look in them. Quick as a flash, she swung her blade forward with the aura gathering at the rapier's tip. A second later, she fired a single yellow energy shot at Shepard, grazing him by the left shoulder barely, earning a small grunt.
Shepard Life Points: 2000 - 200 = 1800.
Shepard let out a small growl, before throwing his right hand out to the side. "Next I Normal Summon Duplicate Drone!" The bounty hunter cried out, a portal appearing beside Buster Blader before a small drone-like monster emerged from it.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
"Another 200 points lost for you!" Azure stated, right before Angel of Dragons fired another energy shot at Shepard, landing another hit on the chest this time.
Shepard Life Points: 1800 - 200 = 1600.
"Now I activate Duplicate Drone's special ability! I can target one none-Machine monster I control and set it in the Spell and Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell!" Shepard explained, before throwing his right hand forward once more. "I move Buster Blader to my Spell and Trap Zone!" The bounty hunter declared, right before Buster Blader burst into sparkles.
A Speed Duel format appeared underneath the two opponents. White Dragon Mask's White Dragon - Angel of Dragons was in the right Monster Zone with Dimension of Light in the Field Spell Zone. Shepard's Duplicate Drone was in the center Monster Zone and Buster Blader's card now in the center Spell/Trap Zone.
White Dragon Mask raised an eyebrow at Shepard's move. "I don't understand. Why would he move Buster Blader to the Spell/Trap Zone? Granted that it won't return to the deck now, but I still don't understand". The masked duelist stated, no clear understanding of Shepard's move. "Stay on guard". Azure told White Dragon Mask, wings slightly opening as he spoke.
Shepard waved his right hand in front of himself, two copies of Duplicate Drone materializing in front of him. "If I control 1 face-up "Duplicate Drone", I can Special Summon the two in my hand". The Machine-Type Duelist explained, both cards dematerializing before two more Duplicate Drones appeared beside the one already out.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1.
"Since you Summoned two monsters, that's 400 points this time!" Azure called out, throwing his right hand out to the side. Angel of Dragons fired two separate energy shots at the bounty hunter. Both hit Shepard, this time forcing him to take a step back.
Shepard Life Points: 1600 - 400 = 1200.
"Is he going for a Link Summon?" White Dragon Mask questioned with a frown, only to receive his answer straight away. "I activate all three Duplicate Drones' special abilities!" Shepard declared, throwing his right hand out. All three Machine-Type monsters began glowing, before they proceeded to transform.
"Since the previous effect was activated, I'm allowed to target 1 face-up monster that is treated as a Continous Spell in my Spell/Trap Zone and all Duplicate Drones become that monster in name, Type, Attribute, Level and ATK/DEF!" Shepard explained, much to the surprise of White Dragon Mask and Azure at hearing this.
"What!?" The two partners cried out as the three glowing Machine-Type Monsters' transformation ended with three Buster Bladers in their places.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1 = Buster Blader ATK: 2600/ Level: 7.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1 = Buster Blader ATK: 2600/ Level: 7.
Duplicate Drone ATK: 0/ Level: 1 = Buster Blader ATK: 2600/ Level: 7.
The three Buster Bladers all bared their swords at White Dragon - Angel of Dragons with murderous intent, outnumbering and outgunning her completely. White Dragon Mask narrowed his eyes dangerously at the three Warrior-Type Monsters.
'They didn't inherit Buster Blader's ability, but the number makes up for it. He has enough to Link Summon a Link Monster, or Xyz Summon if he had Xyz Monsters. This Shepard really is dangerous'. The White Dragon Duelist thought to himself, taking a mental note to never underestimate this man.
The new in LINK VRAINS 2.0 has just begun and already, things were heating up for the heroes of LINK VRAINS. Not just with their mysterious new enemy, but with their old foe SOL Technologies. One thing was certain; this battle will be more difficult than the one against the Knights of Hanoi.
(Ending song; Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Endless Dream)
"Realize your dream with your strongest cards."
A patch of grass was flowing in the wind with a ladybug resting on a single blade of grass. The insert spread its wings out and flew up with the camera following it. It quickly revealed Den Park with a view of SOL Technologies' HQ building in the distance with Ash lying down on the solid ground, hands folded behind his head, Duel Disk on his left forearm and taking a nap. The ladybug flew by his face and disappeared from view.
"Your endless dream of shining duels!"
The camera zoomed in on the young adult's sleeping face, showing the content smile he had and hair slightly blowing from the breeze. Even a few tall bits of grass were flowing close to him, as if nature itself was looking after him as he dreams.
The world blurred all of a suddenly, before it changed into a black world. Suddenly three rows of face-down cards appeared in the world, blocking out the black background. Then comical chibi versions of White Dragon Mask, Blue Angel, Blaze Emperor, Playmaker, Soul Burner, Black Joker, Azure, Ai, Flame and Linkuriboh all appeared with the humans having their Duel Disks equipped, Ignis halfway in their complete forms and Link Monster floating up above.
White Dragon Mask, Blue Angel, Blaze Emperor and Azure were standing on the right side, while Playmaker, Soul Burner, Black Joker, Ai and Flame were on the left with all of them facing the screen.
"A marvelous drama ignited by courage."
White Dragon Mask and Playmaker suddenly turned to look at one another, while everyone else blinked as they looked at one another. The two comrades brought up their left arms as their Duel Disks activated, a sign that they were about to duel. Azure and Ai turned to face each other, while Linkuriboh disappeared and everyone else ran out of view to stay out of the duel.
Starting their duel, Chibi Playmaker held his right hand up as the top second left card in the background flipped over to reveal Cyberse Wizard. Playmaker lowered his hand, ending his turn with White Dragon Mask beginning his turn.
"Without an end."
"Turn adversity into opportunity."
White Dragon Mask threw his right hand out, the first middle right card turning over to reveal itself to be White Dragon – Skylight. The top far right card flipped over with it revealed to be White Dragon - Lightning Bringer. Chibi Playmaker gasped as the cards of White Dragon - Skylight and White Dragon - Lightning Bringer both gleamed bright green, before it died down to reveal White Dragon - Mistress of Dragons' card in Skylight's place.
Chibi White Dragon Mask pointed Playmaker, Mistress of Dragons' card gleaming a bright white light followed by Cyberse Wizard's card bursting into tiny pieces. Playmaker brought his left forearm up as the shockwaves hit him, while Ai brought both forearms up to his face. Chibi Playmaker and Ai quickly recovered with the human throwing his right hand out, the first bottom left card flipping over to reveal it was Miracle's Wake.
White Dragon Mask narrowed both eyes as Cyberse Wizard's card reappeared exactly where it was and Miracle's Wake card disappeared, but Playmaker wasn't done yet. Chibi Playmaker threw his right hand to the side as the first left middle card flipped over to reveal it was Cynet Backdoor. Cyberse Magician's card disappeared in a flash, followed by Cynet Backdoor's card disappearing as well.
Both duelists held up their left forearms as the old rows of cards were replaced by a new row, yet the face-up cards remained.
"You can do it."
Cyberse Wizard's card reappeared in the same spot as before. Playmaker threw his left arm out this time, the top second left card flipping over to reveal it was Clock Wyvern. White Dragon Mask widened his eyes, while a Clock Token's card appeared over the top right card, followed by the middle first left card flipping over to reveal it was Micro Coder.
The cards of Clock Wyvern, Cyberse Magician and Micro Coder all gleamed bright blue, before they died down to reveal Decode Talker's card in Cyberse Magician's place. The top first card on the left flipped over to reveal it was Cynet Regression.
Immediately, the card of White Dragon - Mistress of Dragons burst apart into piece. White Dragon Mask and Azure held up their left arms to protect themselves from the shockwaves. Once the shockwaves died down, Chibi White Dragon Mask and Azure lowered their arms and looked at Chibi Playmaker and Ai just in time to see the Cyberse Duelist bring up his right fist.
Playmaker threw his right hand out to the side as both cards of Decode Talker and Clock Token began gleaming bright blue.
"Cross the rainbow bridge
grasp the truth."
The world changed to the real one, to a random rooftop in LINK VRAINS 2.0, right before a bright light appeared from above. Flying down from above was Firewall Dragon with it landing on both feet, before letting out a fierce roar with its wings out and claws slightly up.
And standing close to the dragon on its right was Playmaker holding up his left arm and Duel Disk with Ai halfway complete in the device's arm with both arms crossed. Playmaker had a passive face, while Ai had a sly expression on his face.
Across the Cyberse Duelist was White Dragon Mask and Azure standing fully on his partner's Duel Disk. The Dragon-Type Duelist gave a grin at his comrade while Azure grew a confident face. Suddenly, a bright light from above appeared from the partners' right, catching White Dragon Mask and Azure by surprise as they blinked before turning to the source.
"Together they fight!"
"The dark shadow standing
on the other side of the door."
Trickstar Bella Madonna flew down from above and hovered just above the ground. The Fairy-Type Monster took her scythe into both hands and held it up. Blue Angel stood in front of her Link Monster, her own Duel Disk on and activated. Blue Angel looked over to White Dragon Mask and gave him a wink with her left eye.
Another bright light appeared out of nowhere, this time on White Dragon Mask's left, grabbing the attention of him and Azure as they looked over. It was another bright light from above, which quickly cleared, and Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames appeared with her eyes narrowed. Blaze Emperor stood in front of his ace monster with his own Duel Disk activated. The masked duelist looked over to White Dragon Mask and Azure, before giving the thumbs up with his right hand.
"Burn it with crimson flames!"
A bright light from above appeared on Playmaker's right, getting him to look over to it with wide eyes of surprise while Ai had comically bowling ball size eyes. A bright greenish light appeared on Playmaker's left side this time, catching the attention of him and Ai with them both turning to look at it.
The camera zoomed out to show Soul Burner standing on Playmaker's right with both him and Flame standing with their arms crossed, while Black Joker stood at the left with her standing a little close to Playmaker with both hands folded behind her back.
And behind the two were their ace monsters; Salamangreat Heatleo and Infernity Doom Dragon with the two in front of Firewall Dragon, who was blinking at the two. As for Playmaker and Ai, the two were still stunned by this unexpected turn of events as they turned back to Soul Burner, then at Black Joker.
Linkuriboh reappeared in the sky above and sweat dropped at seeing this rather out of control situation.
"Realise your dream with your strongest cards."
The world changed back to the one with the chibi versions, only now Chibi Blue Angel and Blaze Emperor were standing beside White Dragon Mask on his left and right while Soul Burner and Black Joker were at Playmaker's sides with their Duel Disks activated, all 6 duelists and 3 Ignis facing each other. Not only that, but the cards of Trickstar Bella Madonna, Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames, Salamangreat Heatleo and Infernity Doom Dragon were now among the cards in the row of cards in the background. Even a panicking Chibi Linkuribon was there.
The Cyberse-Type quickly disappeared, right before the five cards all began bursting into pieces one at a time with their duelists standing tall the destruction's shockwaves hitting them. The six Duelists and three Ignis all recovered with the row of cards background moving to White Dragon Mask's side before stopping.
"Your endless dream of shining duels!"
White Dragon Mask, Blue Angel and Blaze Emperor all threw their right hands into the air as the row of cards all flipped over to show their cards such as Fire King Avatar Garunix, Trickstar Light Stage, Legendary Fire King Ponix, Fire King Avatar Kirin, Arrive in Light, Fire King Sky Burn, White Dragon - Razor Whip, Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings, Star Power, Trickstar Festival, Fire King High Avatar Garunix, White Dragon - Eon Jet Dragon, Trickstar Holly Angel, Trickstar Black Catbat, Fire King High Avatar Kirin, White Dragon – Ascalon, Angel of Blue Tears and Stardust Synchron.
Playmaker, Soul Burner, Black Joker and Ai all flinched at seeing their opponent's arsenal, while White Dragon Mask, Bue Angel, Blaze Emperor and Azure turned to face them with grins. The background shifted to the left this time, showing a new row of face-down cards.
Playmaker, Soul Burner, Black Joker and Ai rose up to the challenge as they threw their right hands out, the row of face-down cards in the background flipping over. The cards were Void Ogre Dragon, Salamangreat Gazelle, Infernity Inferno, Salamangreat Claw, Transcode Talker, Infernity Reflector, Salamangreat Sanctuary, Encode Talker, Infernity Doom Archfiend, Cynet Conflic, Infernity Destroyer, Cynet Codec, Link Slayer, Recoded Alive, Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix, Beelzeus of the Diabolic Dragons, Infernity Archer and Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf.
"Even in the toughest of times."
The background moved to halfwave of both sides with the cards displayed being Fire King Avatar Garunix, Trickstar Light Stage, Legendary Fire King Ponix, White Dragon - Razor Whip, Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings, Trickstar Black Catbat, Fire King High Avatar Kirin and White Dragon – Ascalon on the right side and Void Ogre Dragon, Salamangreat Gazelle, Infernity Inferno, Infernity Reflector, Salamangreat Sanctuary, Encode Talker, Link Slayer, Recoded Alive and Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix on the left side.
The duel resumed as the cards began bursting into pieces starting with Link Slayer, Salamangreat Sanctuary, Infernity Inferno, Trickstar Black Catbat, Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings, Fire King Avatar Garunix, Legendary Fire King Ponix and Void Ogre Dragon with all the six chibi duelists all crying out or protecting themselves from the shockwaves.
All of a sudden, the remaining cards in the background started glowing white, catching everyone's attention as they looked, before shutting their eyes and covered them with their arms when the glowing grew so bright that it blinded the whole screen.
"Hold onto the smiles of your trusted friends."
The bright glow died down to show Ash's peacefully sleeping face in the real world. Suddenly two shadows blocked out the sun from Ash's face, disturbing his slumber as he opened both eyes to see who it was.
In front of him were his friends and comrades in LINK VRAINS; Yusaku, Kolter, the white-haired male, red-haired male, dark blue-haired female, Lulu, Celina, Rin, Zuzu, Rose, Maleficent and Saya with Ai, Flame, Raven, Carla, Wendy Yuna, Blaze and Velvet standing fully atop their partner's Duel Disks.
Lulu, Zuzu and Saya were either kneeling down or crouching down in front of Ash while everyone else were standing up with all of them smiling down at the White Dragon Emperor.
Ash blinked in surprise at seeing them all, before he gave a smile and sat up from the ground, placing his right hand over the knee. Azure emerged from his partner's Duel Disk in complete Ignis form, gazing up at Ash with arms crossed, wings folded in and tail lying down on the ground.
The screen changed back to that same patch of grass from the beginning with the ladybug flying in and resting on the same blade as before. The camera moved upwards past the patch of grass to show the gang all facing the same direction with Ash, Lulu and Zuzu and Saya all sitting down on the ground with the girls sitting on their knees.
Yusaku, Kolter, the white-haired male, red-haired male, dark blue-haired female, Celina, Rin, Maleficent and Rose were all standing up with the red-haired male having both arms crossed, all with SOL Tech's HQ building in the distance. All the Ignis partners were also holding their left arms up, allowing Azure, Ai, Flame, Raven, Carla, Yuna, Wendy, Blaze and Velvet to look out across the distance as well.
Ash climbed up to his feet fully, right before the world flashed for a brief moment and cleared to reveal LINK VRAINS. Kolter and the blue-haired were gone, while White Dragon Mask, Playmaker, Black Joker, Soul Burner and Blaze Emperor in the places of Ash, Yusaku, Maleficent, the white-haired male and red-haired boy. As for Lulu, Zuzu, Celina, Rin, Rose and Saya, shadow covered figures were in their places. As for the Ignis, they were still atop their partners' Duel Disks.
The heroes of LINK VRAINS were all besides each other at the edge of a random building, facing forward, together as a team that'll protect LINK VRAINS.
(Music end)
And with that, I'm done! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, even if it was a little bit. I'm sorry for not revealing the new avatars of Lulu, Celina, Zuzu, Rin, Saya and Rose, but I want it to be a surprise when the time comes.
I had a lot of help with Soul Burner's friends and Maleficent's VRAINS avatar from Dragon king156. Credit for their names and appearances goes to him, just to let you know. Also I apologize if my progress is slow nowadays, but I'm not going back to how I used to do things since I've got more free time for myself now. I used to feel suffocated when I updated 2 times a month, but now I feel like I can breath more freely.
Anyway, I've been thinking of making next year's story work be mostly me rewriting chapters of this story. I especially want to rewrite the Blue Angel V.S Specter duel and make it all in one chapter instead of 3. It'll be a one-on-one duel in the rewrite and I've got it planned how Blue Angel will win. Look forward to it, but first I need to quickly rewrite chapter 2, then 3 since I promised someone to redo the Speed Duel between White Dragon Mask and Blue Angel.
For December, I want to update my Dynasty Warriors story since I haven't done it in a while, plus I'm feel influenced by Dynasty Warriors Origins to do it. I have no idea if it'll be long or not, but I intend to do my best.
Finally on January of 2025, I intend to release the first chapter of my new crossover story. Some of you that have read my Injustice story might now what I'm talking about. It'll be my Re:Zero and That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime crossover story.
If any of you guys are fans of the two series, please be patient because this crossover story will be unlike any of the other Re:Zero and That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime crossover stories. That, I promise you.
That's all I have to say for now. Wish me luck in rewriting this story's chapters, it'll take awhile and a lot of hard work. I'm gonna need the support for it. See ya later for now.