Chapter 24
Blossoming Star
Hey, guys! It's me, your awesome, handsome, and just coolest, chilling Narrator of all times! So, if you don't remember the last chapter, our hero, Yu Akira aka Codebreaker as his VRAINS AV, was whooped by some mysterious VRAINS avatar named "Dark Knight" with his mysterious, and somewhat OP Phantom Knights, including the new Xyz Monster, Phantom Mist Purple Dragon. This time, it will be…different and when I mean by different, we're going to see someone else's story, but enough with me blabbering on. Why don't we just see it for our self? So, let's go into the VRAINS!
Several hours before the infiltration of the SOL Tech's data vault, before Yu Akira or Yusaku invades it, it was like any other normal school day for everyone, including our heroes. However, the school we see was somewhere different.
The building was different as it looked more castle-like and huge white walls surrounding the area. The students who were coming in through the opened gate were only young female in cute, simple design for their uniform.
The uniform was consisted of light brown coat with clean, white shirt with necktie of choice, and skirt with same color as the coat, except in checkered style with some black and white colors.
One of the female students (who is the heroine of this little chapter story) wore pink eyeglasses, her lime green hair neat and tied in a bun style with a green ribbon. Her body was average, and her chest was flat.
Sakura shot a look at yours truly as I backed away a bit.
"Good morning, Sakura!" The girl turned around to see the two other students who one of them called her name.
One of the girls had a short orange hair and light red eyes, and other one was a bit taller, dark gray eyes, and long, straight black hair. Both girls, unlike Sakura, did look attractive, both in look and body to some extents.
"Hey, Nami and Robbin," Sakura greeted kindly.
Wait a second…where have I heard that name before? I think it was from a certain anime, about a pirate or treasure or something. Hmmmmm...
Nami and Robbin walked side by side with Sakura in the middle. Nami yawned. "Man, I feel tired. All the studying and everything. When we would ever have a break?"
Robbin chuckled. "Oh, Nami, you know that this is very delicate time for everyone here. Our midterm is coming up soon."
"I know how it is important, Robbin," Nami hissed. "But, still…"
"A-At least there will be 3-day holiday after the midterm's over," Sakura stated.
"True, but you have something more important after that, right, Sakura?" Nami said.
"Ah yes, you have the special prep exam during the holiday, right?" Robbin asked.
"Yeah. It is for the college that I, well, my parents are planning for me to go to," she explained. "It's very important."
"You're very studious, Sakura, but you got to have some fun in your life, alright," Nami snorted before a bulb of idea flashed above her. "Especially, hanging out with some cute guys at the neighboring school!"
"You mean, Den Academy? You only just want to see Yu Akira, don't you?" Robbin teased.
"Hey! I know you want to see him, too, Robbin!" Nami replied. "It isn't fair that they have someone famous who goes to their school and we don't have any here!"
The girls laughed, but Sakura sighed mentally.
Later that day, after school was over, Sakura went straight to home, after saying goodbye to her friends. She was eating dinner with her parents, which were sort of rare event since both her parents are very busy people. Her father ran a company while her mother was a manager of private club. She also has an older brother, but he worked late as one of the security staff members at SOL Tech. They lived at a manor, which was in the same street where Tom and Yu lived, too. In fact, they were practically neighbor!
"I heard that your midterm is coming up soon, my dear, Sakura," said her father. "I hope you're studying well."
Sakura's father, Victor Aoba, was a tall man with good build for his body. He had a gray beard and half gray hair for bottom layer while brown for the top layer. He was in his middle age.
"Yes, father. I am," she replied. Her dad had a high expectation on her.
"Now, now, Hun. Don't make our daughter nervous," said the mother. "Of course, you are fine in your studying, right, dear?"
Her mother, Hana Aoba, was a pretty woman who looked in her thirty, 20 years younger than her spouse. She had long, lime green hair, which was where Sakura's hair color came from. Her eyes were bright yellow, and her light skin looked silky and beautiful, making her look younger than she appeared to be. Some people may mistook her to be 18 years old.
"Yes, mother. I'm doing well in my studying," she replied.
"Of course, she is! She is our daughter after all, and she is my next heir to the family business!" exclaimed the father. "Of course, once Sakura succeeds me, she will be the first daughter in our family heritage to be the President of the Aoba Enterprise."
The mother giggled. "Ho, ho, ho! Oh, honey, don't get too excited. Of course, our daughter will succeed you. Maybe even better."
The father chuckled back. "Ha, ha! Indeed, but I'm still running the company and well alive, so praise me a bit, will you?"
They joked and laughed together, enjoying tonight's dinner. Just then, Sakura looked over to the clock on the wall. It was 7:45 pm, and she needed to leave.
"Father, mother." They turned their attention to her. "May I excuse from the table? I…I must go and sleep early."
"Well, certainly, my little flower," father accepted. "You should rest early and be well for tomorrow."
"Thank you, father, and goodnight," she said as she bowed to him and her mother. "Goodnight to you, too, mother."
"Goodnight, dear," she replied as she smiled lightly back.
Sakura exited as their butlers opened the door for her. She walked upstairs to the second floor, and straight to her bedroom.
"I better not to be late." She talked to herself as the maids stopped and bowed to her while she passed by them.
Once she entered her room, she put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on her doorknob. Then, she took out a small key and used it to open one of her cabinets under her desk. Inside it, a green modern duel disk presented.
She took it out and strapped it around her left arm near the wrist.
"Into the VRAINS!" A data swirled around her as she was surrounded inside a blue sphere. Her outfit changed to more "mature" look. Her outfit changed to sleeveless green dress, showing an opened chest and her chest was now bigger. Her eyes were now bright emerald color, and her hair was longer, long enough to reach her buttock, and with one bang shaped of upside-down W over her forehead. Her buttock was more revealing, and her shoes were now high green heels with vines and flower design on each pair. Green vines twirled around her left arm, where she wears her Duel Disk.
She logged in to DA125NW, which stands for "Duel Arena". The arena was modelled after the Roman Coliseum, and it was already packed with spectators aka VR users.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" The MC announced. "Here we are, the duel we've been waiting for so long! This duel will determine our challenger to take on the title of the Top 10 Charisma Duelist! Welcome to the Rank Master Duel Final!"
Everyone cheered.
"Yamamoto-senpai, it's going to start soon," said the pigeon.
"Don't call my real name!" The frog scolded. "But, you're right. This job, although not as exciting as filming a scoop on Playmaker, is as important as that! Either the challenger will become the new Top 10th Charisma Duelist, or the current tenth remains in the position."
"Who's the challenger, anyway?" The pigeon thought aloud.
"I heard it's up and coming new rookie duelist, who showed quite an impressive feat," said Frog. "But, one thing for sure is we got to film it, so be prepared!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" Pigeon saluted.
Meanwhile, Claire and her cameraman were logged-in, too. "Even though I usually filmed about Codebreaker, this is still a job, and I know we're going to see something exciting. You better have that camera ready this time, and make sure that we don't get hacked like last time!"
"Yes, maim!" The cameraman complied as he remembered what happened last time, which I still find it very funny.
Yup. Good time, good time.
"Will our current tenth keep his title? The one and only, the master machinery technician, Doctor Gear!" The MC presented an elderly man with half mechanical body and one mechanical lens for his left eye. Several gears moved constantly by their self on his backside.
"And today's challenger is an up and coming rookie who showed quite an impressive feat to get her. She is both strong and pretty, and potentially be the next idol after Blue Angel, but with a bit of…um, interesting appearance, please welcome our challenger….Blllooosssssoooom Stttaaaaaaaarrrr!"
The crowds cheered as Blossom Star aka Sakura made it in time, logging in and appearing in the arena just at the nick of time.
"Woah! Holly mamma! She looks hot!" Pigeon gasped.
"She's too young for you!" Frog scolded.
"So, that's Blossom Star, huh?" Claire thought. "She definitely has an…interesting look just as the MC claims."
Blossom Star walked up but stayed few feet distance between herself and her opponent.
Doctor Gear looked at her and smirked mischievously. "Ah, so you're my next subject, I see."
"Next subject?" Blossom Star thought as she looked a bit disgusted. "What does he mean by that?"
"Very well!" Doctor Gear spoke aloud. "I'll play with you, Missy. Let's see what you got."
"Um, you're on, Doctor Gear! I will defeat you!" She replied courageously as her chest bounced a bit when she twisted her body to point at him.
DUEL!
Blossom Star (5h): 4000 LP
Doctor Gear (5h): 4000 LP
"As a gentleman, I'll let you go first, my dear," he said.
"Why, thank you," she replied.
"How naïve of her…" He thought, smirking a little.
"First, I normal summon Naturia Antjaw!" A little black ant with leaves for wings appeared as it carried a sunflower seed that was giving a workout as it sweated.
"Then, I set a card and end my turn." Two face-down cards appeared briefly before they disappeared.
Blossom Star (4h): 4000
"Is that all?" Doctor Gear said. "My last subject did more than what you did for his first turn."
Blossom Star glared at him. "Well, whatever then. Everyone makes a mistake, which is why we are all human…except for me! I draw!"
Doctor Gear (5h + 1 = 6h): 4000
"First, I play the Spell Card, Terraforming, which allows me to add a Field Spell from my Deck to my hand." He played the card and immediately added a new one. "The Field Spell I chose was Geartown and I activate it!"
Suddenly, the arena of the colosseum turned into the Field Spell. Giant gears appeared everywhere as the ground shook like an earthquake in the real world. The entire area turned into a town of gears and machinery.
"Wow!" Blossom Star was amazed.
"Impressive, isn't it, but wait till you see what I have for you, my dear subject," Doctor Gear said. "When Geartown is face-up on the field, both players can Normal Summon Ancient Gear monsters with 1 less Tribute. Next, I play the Spell Card, Double Summon, which allows me to Normal Summon twice this turn, and then summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound from my hand!"
A mechanical beast with glowing red eyes appeared as it roared, scaring Antjaw, which made it drop the sunflower seed.
Great, and here I thought I would never see this monster ever again after Arc-V was over! I bet this guy has more…
"Since Hunting Hound is Normal Summoned, it inflicts 600 points of damage to you!" Hunting Hound roared as it fired a flamethrower at her.
"Grrrrrgh!" She cried as she got burned, but of course, it didn't really hurt her, but it did scare her.
Blossom Star: 4000 – 600 = 3400 LP
"Then, I tribute my Hunting Hound to summon my almighty, Ancient Gear Golem!" Hunting Hound disappeared flashily to be replaced by a giant made up of gears and with single glowing, red eye.
"Eeeeeeeh! There it is! It's Ancient Gear Golem!" Pigeon gasped.
"That's right," Frog nodded. "Doctor Gear's ace monster!"
"Incredible, folks! Don't change your channel! Doctor Gear, the current Top #10 summoned his ace monster, Ancient Gear Golem!" Claire exclaimed. "What would the new challenger do?"
"Battle! Ancient Gear Golem shall attack your puny Antjaw! Ultimate Pound!" The Golem roared as it first moved its arm up slowly, gripped into a fist, and then threw a very fast, powerful punch.
"I won't let you!" Blossom Star shouted. "Trap Card, Waboku!"
"What!?" Doctor Gear gasped.
"With this, I don't take battle damage and my Antjaw isn't destroyed by battle this turn!" She stated as an invisible force shield protected Antjaw, sighing in relief as it wiped its sweat.
"Hmph! So, you do have some fighting spirit," Doctor Gear snorted. "Very well. I set a card and end my turn."
Doctor Gear (1h): 4000 LP
"That was too close. I researched beforehand that he uses Ancient Gear monster, but still, he's tough when you actually dueling him," she thought. "I got to be careful."
"I draw!" A new card added in front of her. "I summon Naturia Cherries!"
A monster consisted of two red cherries appeared next to Antjaw.
"I end my turn," she said.
"You really make mistakes very often, aren't you?" Doctor Gear said straightforwardly.
"I know what I'm doing, Doc," she replied. "And, you're the one who made mistake for attacking and not expecting me to counter it."
"Oooooooooooo! Burn!" Both Pigeon and Frog exclaimed. The crowds thought the same thing.
"Why you little…!" Doctor Gear growled. "No one have ever mock me like that, and I won't let you get away with it, so I will stop playing around and actually become more serious!"
Doctor Gear added a card to his hand. "I activate my set Spell, Mythical Space Typhoon!"
"Oh, my! I think Doctor Gear is blowing off some steam now!" Claire commented.
"I use it to destroy my Field Spell, Geartown!" A strong gust of winds destroyed the gear before it turned back to the normal arena.
"What!? Why would you destroy your own card?" Blossom Star asked.
"Ho, ho, foolish girl, but since you asked, I shall explain!" He replied. "When Geartown is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one Ancient Gear monster from my hand, Deck, or Graveyard! I Special Summon my second Ancient Gear Golem straight from my Deck!"
A second copy appeared, standing beside the first one.
"At this point, Antjaw's effect activates!" She declared. "When my opponent Special Summon a monster, I get to Special a Level 3 or lower Naturia monster from my Deck. I Special Summon Level 3 Naturia Stinkbug in defense position!"
A green stinkbug with fuzzy, yellow hair around its neck appeared on her side.
"It doesn't matter how many monsters you summon! Whatever you do, nothing will stop me!" Doctor Gear exclaimed. "I play the Spell, Monster Reborn, to resurrect Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!"
The mechanical dog roared in cheering tone for being returned alive. "Then, I activate its additional effect! Once per turn, I can use monsters in my hand or field for Fusion!"
"Fusion!?" Pigeon and Frog said simultaneously.
"Fusion?" Claire repeated.
"Here it comes," Blossom Star said to herself.
"I fuse my two Ancient Gear Golem on the field, and my third and last Ancient Gear Golem in my hand!" The three Golems broke up and their gears, and other components swirled around like any other fusion swirl.
"Gear spins, and it spins to run, to run, to make power! Rise the almighty mass weapon of destruction! Fusion Summon! Rise! Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!"
An upgraded form of Ancient Gear Golem that looked like a giant, mechanical centaur roared as it stomped strongly in front of Blossom Star. It stood so tall, taller than even the colosseum.
"It's…It's so huge, Yamamoto-senpai!" Pigeon cried.
"I told you not to call my real name, but yes, IT IS!" Frog yelled.
"Are you getting this?" Claire asked to her cameraman.
"I am, but it's too tall that I can't see its face!" The cameraman replied.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Doctor Gear laughed manically. "Usually, I would summon this monster as my last resort, but since you mock my name, I just can't let you go unpunished even if I defeat you! Now, Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, destroy her and end this! Ultra-Ultimate Pound!"
The Fusion Ancient Gear roared strongly as it pulled up its claw arm and brought it down to smash her monster.
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem inflicts piercing damage when it attacks a DEF positioned monster! Your Stinkbug has 500 DEF points and my Golem has 4400 ATK, just more than enough to deplete your miserable Life Points!" Doctor Gear claimed.
The claw got closer and closer until…
"I won't lose here! I worked so hard to get here, and I won't go down that easily" Blossom Star thought as she pressed something on her screen.
The claw arm pounded the ground so hard, it shook the ground, causing a short quake.
"Aaaaaayyyyyyeee!" Pigeon screamed.
"Hey, be focus!" Frog scolded.
"Is Blossom Star alright?" Claire asked with a genuine concern.
Everyone was silent except Doctor Gear, who was laughing.
"That should teach you a lesson!" He exclaimed.
The smokes cleared away, and she was still standing.
"What!? How!?" Doctor Gear gasped as the audiences cheered for her still standing.
"I activated the effect of Synchro Barrier Resonator!" A monster that looked similar like Dark Resonator, except it had green Synchro ring on the back smiled cheekily before it disappeared.
"If I were to take more than 3000 damages, by sending this card from my hand to the Graveyard, I can negate that damage and use my monsters on the field to perform Synchro Summon!" Out of the smokes, Antjaw and Stinkbug flew up high into the air.
Antjaw transformed into two white spheres while Stinkbug turned into three green rings for the spheres to pass through.
"Synchro Summon! Appear, Level 5! Naturia Beast!" A green tiger with branches and barks of trees for forearms and forelegs appeared as it roared for battles.
"No way!" Doctor Gear gasped before he regained his composure. "Bu-But, that doesn't matter! I still have a stronger monster than yours!"
"You're right, but unlike you, Doctor Gear, I believe in my Deck and I know that it would give me the courage and hope to win this duel," she said.
"Courage? Hope? Ha!" Doctor Gear snorted. "You believe in that whole crap about the heart of the Deck? That's just fairytale! Look at the reality you're in, Ms. Dreamer. What you are facing cannot be changed!"
Blossom Girl gulped. "Don't worry, Sakura. Just believe your heart and your Deck's heart."
"My turn!" She drew her final card. "Now…I'll prove you wrong, Doctor Gear!"
"What?" He said.
"I play the Spell Card, Naturia Miracle!" The Spell showed a giant tree of rainbow color, with many Naturia monsters, including Beast gathering around it.
"With this card, I target your Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem to reduce its ATK to zero this turn and add half of that reduced amount to Beast's ATK!" Golem glowed in blue while Beast glowed in rainbow aura, just like the Spell's artwork.
"What!? No, my Golem!" Doctor Gear cried as Beast's ATK increased to 6800 ATK.
"Now, here is the real finale!" Blossom Star smiled and winked. "Beast, attack his Golem!"
Naturia Beast roared as it ran up onto the Golem's arm and then jumped off from its head. It got its claw out and strike down on the Golem in half.
Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem crumpled into pieces as its gears and component fell over on its master.
"No, no, noooooooooooooooooo!" Doctor Gear screamed as the gears hit over him.
Doctor Gear: 0 LP
Blossom Star WINS
"And we got a winner! The duel is over, and the new Top #10 Charisma Duelist is Blossom Star!" MC announced proudly.
All the audience cheered and applauded the new star duelist. Blossom Star felt very surprised for herself, but she cheered and waved back to the audiences with a bit of tear of joy in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Doctor Gear laid down in defeat, but still able to look up and talk. "You…Blossom Star…will pay for this…." He fainted and logged out immediately.
When this happened, mysterious people watched the entire duel. They were watching from a private chat room in the same server as their respective avatar.
One that looked like wearing a jester's hat laughed with a biggest smile. "Fu, hu, hu! Well, well, it looks like the old doctor is out of the house. We got our self a new tenth!"
"Another young duelist joins our rank…" commented another figure, who wore a long black cape.
"Quite impressive, but I think she was just lucky," said a figure who was a female due to her voice.
A fourth figure stayed silent and didn't say anything.
The figure in the middle, sitting on a couch watched and then stood back up. "I congratulate her victory, but this was just utterly boring duel. I'm out."
The figure logged out.
"Hmmmm, it seems Number 1 didn't have fun. Oh, well," said the figure with the jester hat before he logged out, too.
The other three also logged out. And, just around this time, our heroes, Playmaker and Codebreaker were fighting in the SOL Tech's private core network as they were reaching to the data vault.
New Cards Cheat Sheet
Synchro Barrier Resonator-Level: 1, DARK, Fiend/Tuner, Effect: If you would take more than 3000 damages; by sending this card to your Graveyard, negate it and then use the monsters on your side of the field as a material for Synchro Summon as long as the listed materials are correct.
Naturia Miracle-Type: Normal Spell, Effect: Target 1 monster that your opponent controls in the Extra Monster Zone; Naturia monster you control in your Extra Monster Zone gains ATK equal to that targeted monster's ATK while the targeted monster's ATK reduces to zero until the end of this turn. During the End Phase, all Naturia Monster from the field is sent to the Graveyard.
Hey, guys! This is another quick update for the story. How lucky you guys are, but I love writing this story and I'm happy that it's becoming very successful, probably more than my other Yu-Gi-Oh stories. With the finale of the first season for the anime coming to a close, I am working on this story to finish and end its first season with a bang (depending on how the anime progresses).
Today, as part of the progression and development for this story, I introduce you a brand new character, Sakura Aoba or her VR alias, Blossom Star! In the real world, she is a studious and not so pretty looking young girl who goes to private all-girl high school. In Link VRAINS, she is Blossom Star, up and coming, busty Charisma Duelist who uses Naturia Deck and dreams to become the number 1 Duelist in Link VRAINS. She will be playing a big role from here and out, but she won't overshadow any other characters at all, so don't feel worry about that. I just thought that maybe we can have someone else who kind of rival Blue Angel and act as a female rival duelist for Codebreaker, specifically.
There will be ton of more new characters coming in the future chapters very soon. BTW, Sakura Aoba's name and Archetype are credited by johannvanguard, my good friend. Thank you very much, friend!
With all that said, here is a preview for the next chapter (which will come by the end of this month for my birthday)!
The mysterious Cyber Treasure Hunter who fears since the beginning days of Link VRAINS, Dark Knight corners Codebreaker with his powerful Phantom Deck! Finally, Dark Knight's true power, his ace monster has revealed its true form, but will our hero be ready for it?
Rossy: Master, Master! According to my calculation, his ace monster is incalculable for power!
Codebreaker: Must be Dark Knight's programming! Just who the heck is he?
Dark Knight: Are you done with rambling? It's time to end this, Codebreaker! See if you can survive this!
Next time in Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Codes of Secrets, Beast of the Phantom Mist!
Playmaker & Codebreaker: INTO THE VRAINS!