To my friend, pokemonking0924: I hope you a safe travel to Italy and enjoy your summer vacation. This is a small gift for you. See ya later when you come back.

Chapter 14

The Heart of Hero

Cyber Man, possessed by the Hanoi's virus, roared as dark aura erupted through his body.

"What's the heck is up with him!?" Codebreaker asked, looking confused and little bit terrified.

"The card he played, it is infected with Hanoi's virus," Playmaker admitted.

"Wh-Whaaatt!?" He gasped.

"And if we don't stop him, he may well be forever infected and who know what damage he would cause!" AI stated.

"That's crazy!" Codebreaker said.

"Grrrr! In the name of justice, I won't give up until all villainous Cyberse User are gone!" Cyber Man roared. "The effect of Dark Heroman activates!

The card he revealed was a heroic figure, wearing a dark colored mask, armor costume, gloves, and boots. The mask was sharp for the outward parts, only revealing two red eyes and two red horns attached on either side. The armor costume was a mix of black and dark purple colors, with matching colored pants, boots, and gloves.

Dark Heroman-Level 8, DARK, Warrior/Effect, 0 ATK, 0 DEF.

"All monsters without HERO in their name are destroyed and sent to the Graveyard!" He exclaimed. "Dark Justice!"

Suddenly, a powerful dark wind swept through the field, destroying every monster on the field (except for his own).

"Oh! He destroyed Codebreaker's monsters!" AI shouted.

"I have to admit. That effect is strong," Playmaker said.

"I end my turn here," Cyber Man finished. "Since it ended, both my monster's ATK is returned to normal."

"Even though you destroyed all of my monsters on the field, I can summon one right now through effect!" Codebreaker revealed. "I activate C# Ghost Driver from my graveyard. When a Cyberse-Type monster is sent to the Graveyard from my hand, I can Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. Ghost Recovery!"

The dark C# monster drove out through the graveyard portal, laughing in joy as his flaming skull burned brightly.

"Very well, but you won't last forever. I have two powerful HERO as my ally. There is nothing you can do to stop me!" said possessed Cyber Man.

"He's totally under the control of Hanoi virus! The only way to stop the virus is to defeat him," AI said.

"Then, that is what I will do!" Codebreaker stated. "I accepted the duel in the first place, so I will end this and save Cyber Man!"

"No…" Playmaker said, surprising Codebreaker.

"Huh? Why?" He asked.

"There are three reasons," he said. "One: This duel just became too dangerous for you to handle. Two: I am more experienced in fighting the Hanoi than you. You only had fought them twice, but I fought many more than you did. And three: It is more job to stop Hanoi at any and all times!"

Codebreaker looked at him, thinking for a moment before he speaks again. "Yeah, but this is my duel, so I'm the one who should end…"

"I will duel you now!" Playmaker shouted, ignoring Codebreaker as he activated his Duel Disk.

"Penalty Intrusion. 2000 LP damage!" The duel disk gave him a shock of electricity, making him to cringe in pain before it subsided.

"Zzzzrgh! What the heck was that for!?" AI complained.

"To answer your question, when a duelist outside of the duel joins in, the duelist gain 2000 points of damage for penalty," Rosey explained.

"I-I knew that!" AI said. "I just want to say it's unfair, that's all! Anyway, now that you joined in the duel, Playmaker-sama, this will be a tag speed duel now. Do you know the rules?"

"Make it brief," Playmaker said.

"The rule of…." AI said until he got interrupted.

"The rule of tag speed duel is both players share the field, but due to those two players are tagged, the number of Main Monster Zones and Spell/Trap Zones are increased, using a total of five now. The rule of normal speed duel still applies, and Extra Monster Zones are still two zones," Rosey explained briefly.

"Hey! I was about to say all that!" AI nagged.

"I don't care who explain it, but thanks for that," Playmaker acknowledged. "I draw!"

"I summon Draconnet." A blue winged creature appeared. "I activate its effect. When it is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Normal Monster from my hand or Deck in defense position. I Special Summon Bitron!"

A cute robot-like monster with three sharp blades, acting as its wings appeared, making a cute sound when it summoned.

"Biiitron!" It cried.

"Appear now, the circuit that leads to the future!" He shouted as the arrowhead portal appeared above in the sky.

He and his monsters flew into the portal, and then looked down at it.

"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is one Normal Monster. I set Bitron in the Link Marker!" He chanted as his monster turned into a streak of red energy, and sucked into one of the arrows. "Circuit combines! Link Summon! Link Spider!"

A dark blue spider came out of the portal, along with its master.

"I activate Link Spider's effect!" He declared. "Once per turn, I can Special Summon Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from my hand to a zone this card points to. I Special Summon Bitron!"

A second one appeared just behind Link Spider.

"Then, I play the Spell Card, Cyberse Draw!" The said Spell Card showed a cyberspace with some cards flying around, with one revealed to be Decode Talker's. "I get to draw a number of cards equal to the number of face-up Cyberse-Type monster on the field. There are three right now, which mean I draw three cards!"

He drew three cards and looked over them briefly. "Now, appear again, the circuit to the future!"

Another arrowhead portal appeared, and he flew into it with his monsters.

"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is at least two Effect Monsters. I set my three Link Materials; Link 1 Link Spider, Draconnet, and Bitron to the Link Markers. Circuit combines!"

His three said monsters turned into streaks of red and white energies.

"Link Summon! Appear! Link 3! Decode Talker!" His ace monster appeared.

"Sweet! You summoned your ace monster, Decode Talker! Man, I wish I have it in my deck…" Codebreaker awed as he imagined himself dueling along with Decode Talker on his side.

"I equip Link Shield and Link Slayer to Decode Talker." He continued. The first card showed a shield with several arrows, which looked similar to the Link Arrows that Link Monster has. The second card showed a sword with interesting shape for its blade. It was curved inward at the tip of the blade, and hilt was glowing in blue color.

Decode Talker equipped the said shield and sword, replacing the one it carry.

"What are you planning to do?" Cyber Man asked.

"You will see," Playmaker replied. "Link Shield's effect activates! When a Link Monster equipped with this card, it gain one extra Link Arrow of the owner's choosing. I choose Decode Talker to have an arrow pointing to the left!"

As he said, the left arrow on the shield (to our eyes, the right side) glowed in red.

"I Special Summon Backup Secretary from my hand!" Then, woman with a cape and visor appeared. "She can be Special Summoned from my hand when I control a Cyberse monster on the field."

"Now, Decode Talker's effect activates! It gains 500 ATK for each card it points. Currently, it is pointing to my Backup Secretary and your Cipher HERO Modusa!"

"Ah ha! So that was your plan for equipping your Link Monster with that Link Shield card!" Cyber Man realized.

"Oh, I get it! By giving an extra Link Arrow to Decode Talker by equipping it with Link Shield, he can use his monster's effect to increase its ATK even more," Codebreaker analyzed.

"That's right, Master," Rosey nodded. "And a total ATK Decode Talker gain is 1000!"

"Yeah! Go for it, Playmaker!" AI exclaimed.

"Now, it's battle! Decode Talker, use Decode End!" He declared.

Decode Talker jumped high into the air before it swooshed the equipped sword on Modusa.

"Not so fast, villain! Have you not notice or remember my HERO Unity's effect? As long as I have at least two HERO monsters, my monsters such as Modusa cannot be destroyed nor I take damage for it!" Cyber Man reminded them.

"And that is why Decode Talker has Link Slayer equipped to it!" Playmaker responded.

"What!?" He gasped.

"When a Link Monster equipped with Link Slayer attacks a Link Monster, that monster is sent to the Graveyard and you take damage equal to half of that monster's ATK!" He revealed.

"Eureka! Way to go, Playmaker! That way, he can't use HERO Unity's effect to protect his Life Points!" Codebreaker said.

"Not on my watch! I activate my Skill!" Cyber Man countered, surprising everyone.

"Oh crap! I forgot that we use Skill in Speed Duel!" Codebreaker remembered.

"And it appears that he's been saving it until now!" Rosey pointed out.

"This is not good…" AI said.

"I can increase the ATK of one Cipher HERO monster by 1000 points. I choose my Gigavolt. Power-Up!" His ace monster performed a fist-pump up to the sky, when suddenly, a lighting struck at him.

"What's the point of that?" AI asked.

"He must be…!" Playmaker realized it.

"Now, I activate my ace's true effect!" He continued. "When its ATK is different from its original ATK, I can destroy 1 monster on the field and I choose your Decode Talker! Gigabyte Volt!"

His ace monster struck a lightning at Decode Talker, shocking it before it exploded.

"Oh man," Codebreaker moaned. "You got him so close, dude."

"I will never let anyone defeat, ever! As I, Cyber Man, is much stronger than what I am in real life! I am no longer the weak, pathetic, useless…Thomas Gate!"

There was a moment of silence until Codebreaker looked and gasped.

"Say whhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt!" He said shockingly. "Are you…Tom!?"

"Tom…that means Cyber Man is…" Playmaker said.

"Ho, ho. I see. Now it makes everything sense," AI said as he realized it. "The identity of the masked hero is Tom, Yu's best friend!"

"Tom, is that you? Why are you doing all of this?" Codebreaker asked.

"What are you talking about? …Then again, why does that name sound so familiar? …Grgh, uunnnn…my head…." He disgruntled.

"Ah! Hey, Codebreaker!" AI shouted. "You better beat him now, or else, he will forget everything!"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" He questioned.

"The Hanoi Virus is eating his memory! If you don't defeat him now, he will no longer be the person you know! The real Tom will be gone…forever!" AI warned.

"Then, I won't let that happen! I don't know how he got that Hanoi virus, but right now, I must save him! I draw!" Yu drew his card determinedly, starting his turn.

He looked at the card he drew and nodded. "Eureka! This will do. I play the Spell Card, Double-Sided Deal!"

The said Spell Card showed a man making a deal with a mysterious hooded figure at dark alley. The hooded figure only revealed green hands and big smile with dark blue lips. The figure showed to the man holding different item on each hand. The left hand showed a card and if you looked closely, it was a Dark Magician Girl. The other hand revealed a bottle of poison.

"When this card is activated, I get to draw up to three cards this turn, but I have to pay 300 Life Points for each card I draw. I decide to draw three, so I play 900 LP," he explained as he did just that.

Codebreaker: 600 LP

"Then, I play the Spell Card Monster Reborn to resurrect C# Download Knight!" His regular monster reappeared. "C# Download Knight's effect activates! When it's normal or Special Summoned, I can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower from my hand or Graveyard. I Special Summon C# Webkumo from my hand!"

"He's planning for a Link Summon!" AI pointed out.

"Now, appear, I input the code to the magical circuit!" He summoned the arrowhead portal in the sky and he surfed into it with his monsters.

"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is four Effect Monsters. I set my C# Ghost Driver, C# Download Knight, and C# Webkumo to four Link Markers. C# Webkumo's effect allows it to treat itself as two Link Materials. Circuit combines!"

His monsters turned into yellow streaks of energy.

"Link Summon! Help me to save Tom! Link 4! Cyber Magician Girl!"

Codebreaker's ace monster appeared. She twirled as if she was doing a battle roll before she posed, completing her summon.

"Cyber Magician Girl's effect activates!" He didn't stop. "Once per turn, I can take control of one Special Summoned monster on my opponent's field and place it to one of my Link zones. I choose your only Cipher HERO Gigavolt. CTRL Execute!"

Cyber Magician Girl transformed her wand into a whip and twirled it at Gigavolt, tying him and trapping him.

"Alright! With Gigavolt under Cyber Magician Girl's control, he is defenseless and do declare attack!" AI pointed out.

"Ah!" Cyber Man realized, regaining focus in the duel. "I activate Dark Heroman's effect!"

"What!? An effect activating from a graveyard!" AI gasped.

"When a HERO monster is targeted by opponent's card effect, I banish one HERO monster in my Graveyard to negate that effect!" Gigavolt got loose of the whip, breaking it completely.

"Oh no!" They cried.

"Justice will always win! The hero will win! I am the WINNER, nothing less!" Cyber Man exclaimed.

"Listen Tom, stop being like this! This is not…really you!" Codebreaker shouted.

"I am not who you think I am! I am the hero of Link VRAINS! When I am just a person outside of Link VRAINS, I was weak and people treated me like so. Everyone else admired other person who is stronger, smarter, and cooler than me. Those bullies, from my school…they treated me badly and others as well. A weak person like me can't do anything, but as Cyber Man, I can do anything! I can protect everyone from bullies and help everyone to be stronger. By defeating you two, I will be the strongest Duelist in all of Link VRAINS and the world, and I won't let anything or anyone get in my way!"

The dark aura intensified around his body.

"He's losing it! Do something!" AI yelled.

"Can't you do something?" Playmaker said.

"If we beat him now, I can just eat the virus, but we can't do it if we're still dueling!" AI stated.

"Tom…" Codebreaker said quietly to himself. "I…didn't know you felt that way, and I didn't recognize it sooner."

Suddenly, a huge data storm crashed through and appeared right before them.

"What the!?" They gasped.

Cyber Man and Playmaker managed to escape from it, but Codebreaker got suck in, not reacting in time.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" He screamed.

"Kyyyaaaaaaah!" Rosey screamed.

"Codebreaker!" AI shouted.

"Yu!" Playmaker yelled.

While spinning in the data storm, Yu was thinking in his mind, looking sad.

"What can I do? How can I reach Tom? I know he is a bit scruny, but he is not weak. He is strong! He's the strongest guy I know…, but how do I say that to him?" He thought.

"..Don't give up…" He heard a voice.

"Huh? Who said that?" He asked.

It's not me.

"Use it…use your Skill….to summon me." A mysterious voice said. He looked at Cyber Magician Girl, who was floating by his side all this time.

They looked each other into the eye before something sparked in his eye.

"A Skill….right!" He nodded. "Rosey, reactivate the D-Board program!"

"Kyaaaah! Yyyyees, Master Yu!" Rosey screamed as she transformed back into the D-Board form.

He reached for his D-Board while being spun around in the data storm. He got back on the D-Board, and focused his balance.

"To save Tom, I got to summon something new!" He stated. "I activate the Skill! When I have 1000 or lower Life Points, I can draw a random card in the data storm!"

He stretched his arm out with his hand opened. The data gathered into his palm as he held his arm straight, so his arm wouldn't get blown away.

"I will save Tom! I will get him back! I swear to it…to my heart!" He exclaimed as he saw a silhouette of humanoid figure that looked similar to Cyber Magician Girl, but with wings.

"Storm Access!" He shouted as the data materialized successfully and became a card. He and his monster got out of the data storm safely.

"He's back! He's back!" AI cheered.

"I thought you will be done by the data storm," Cyber Man disgruntled.

"Never, Cyber Man…no, Tom. I understand how you feel, but you are not weak or useless. You are the strongest person I know, and I will prove it to by doing this!" He said. "Appear again, circuit to my heart of hope!"

"He's going to Link Summon again!?" AI gasped.

"He must have obtained a new card!" Playmaker pointed out.

"Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning condition is 3 or more Effect Monsters. I set my Link 4, Cyber Magician Girl to the Link Markers! Circuit combines!"

His ace monster transformed into four streaks of light energy, making four arrows (Left, Right, Bottom-Left, and Bottom-Right) glow.

"Beautiful, angelic magician who travels through the world of cyberspace, please aid me in this fight and wash all doubt in everyone's heart and turn despair into hope! Link Summon! Appear! Link 4, Cyber Heart Magician Girl!"

The new monster looked similar to Cyber Magician Girl, except she had real human skin. Her eyes were bright blue with three golden strands of hair outward to the front, and long bang out behind her head while wearing a pointy hat, like her original form. Her clothes were like other magician girl's clothes, but with shoulder pads and four buttons shaped of heart, each in different color (red, blue, yellow, and green in that order) with a gold neck bracelet and pink heart attached to it. The most unique feature is the white wings attached on her backside, like an angel. The wand she carried was much longer, with a pink heart and wings for the top part. The color of her clothes was primarily white with pink edges, and for minor detail, her belly and small area of the chest revealed.

Cyber Heart Magician Girl-Link 4, LIGHT, Spellcaster/Link/Effect, 2000 ATK. Link Arrow: Left, Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right.

"Wh-What is this!?" Cyber Man asked, confused.

AI blew a whistle when guy sees an attractive woman. "Woo! I like what I am looking at!"

How can an AI be very perverted?

Cyber Heart Magician Girl winked at AI and Playmaker, making AI blushed and steamed while it didn't affect Yusaku much, but made him scratch his face, looking a bit surprised.

"So you summoned an exact same monster with just wings attached to it. So, what's the difference!? It's not strong enough to defeat my Cipher HERO Gigavolt!" Cyber Man growled.

"You will see it now!" He called. "I activate Cyber Heart Magician Girl's effect! Once per turn, I can target one monster on the field to change its ATK or DEF back to its original point. Heart Resound!"

Her wand shined, making the heart on it glowed and shot a ray of hearts. The ray hit Gigavolt, causing it to feel infatuated and its ATK going back to its original point (2500).

"What!? Noooo!" Cyber Man cried.

"Not only that, but if I used Cyber Magician Girl as the only Link Material to summon this card, her ATK is increased by the ATK of a monster she is currently pointing to. Right now, her Link Arrow is pointing to your Cipher HERO Gigavolt. Therefore, she gains a total ATK of 2500!"

She casted a spell on herself, making her wings spread in glorious yellow light. Her ATK was now 4500.

"That…is so strong. Stronger than my Cipher HERO!" Cyber Man gasped, looking very afraid.

"Now! Cyber Heart Magician Girl, banish that bad virus out of Tom's heart! Heart Pulse!" Cyber Heart Magician Girl gathered all her might and energy, and shot a powerful ball of energy that was a shape of heart, and shot it at Gigavolt.

The Cipher HERO tried to push it back, but he was absorbed into the attack, being destroyed by it.

"Am I…not strong?" Tom asked as his Life Points dwindled to zero.

Cyber Man: 0 LP

Codebreaker WINS!

After the duel was over, Cyber Man fell off his D-Board.

"Tom!" Codebreaker shouted.

Luckily, Playmaker caught him. They stopped at a roof.

"Tom, are you OK!?" Playmaker got off from his D-Board and ran over to his friend's side.

"Don't worry, I will eat that virus!" AI said as he stretched out of the duel disk he's imprisoned in and turned into a hideous monster form. He absorbed the virus program out of Tom's body.

"Tom, wake up, man. Tom, wake up!" He said, but he wasn't waking up. "Why are you not waking up?"

"Were we…too late?" Playmaker said.

"No…this can't be….Tom….TTTOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!" Codebreaker shouted aloud.

Meanwhile, Revolver and Specter saw everything.

"It seems that the test virus was successful, Revolver-sama," Specter chuckled.

"Indeed," Revolver nodded. "The test subject was successful. Now, we can use it on some fool and drag Playmaker into our trap. Although…I never expected him to appear here, but no matter what, this is all just a beginning."

"Yes, Revolver-sama," Specter bowed. "But, what shall we do about Codebreaker or rather, Yu Akira?"

"Gemma can't be used. Call…her instead and make her deal with Codebreaker," Revolver ordered.

"Yes, sir. And thank you again," Specter said before he disappeared.

"Playmaker….and Codebreaker, both of you will fully experience what true nightmare is!" Revolver said.

"I heard that the test virus worked, and you will be planning to use the real thing," said a voice. He turned around and saw an old man in a lab coat appeared.

"Father…" Revolver greeted.

"Dealing with two Cyberse users is a nuisance, but it is necessary. I am here to tell you about Codebreaker," he said.

"What is it, father?" The leader of Hanoi asked.

"It appears to be he is related to someone I knew long time 's a long story, but..."

New Cards Cheat Sheet

Dark Heroman-Level 8, DARK, Warrior/Effect, 0 ATK, 0 DEF. Effect: By revealing this card and send to the Graveyard, destroy all monsters without "HERO" in their name on the field.

Cyberse Draw-Type: Normal Spell, Effect: Draw a number of card equals to the number of face-up Cyberse-Type monster on the field.

Link Shield-Type: Equip Spell, Effect: You can only equip this card to a Link Monster you control. When equipped, give it one extra Link Arrow of your choosing.

Link Slayer-Type: Equip Spell, Effect: You can only equip this card to a Link Monster you control. When it is equipped with this card, if it attacks on a Link Monster, that monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. Then, your opponent gains damage equal to half of that destroyed monster's ATK.

Double-Sided Deal-Type: Normal Spell, Effect: Draw up to 3 cards, but you have to pay 300 Life Points for each card you draw.

Cyber Heart Magician Girl-Link 4, LIGHT, Spellcaster/Link/Effect, 2000 ATK. Link Arrow: Left, Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right. Effect: 3+ Effect Monsters. Once per turn (Quick Effect): Target 1 monster on the field and return that monster's ATK or DEF back to its original point. If this card is Link Summoned using "Cyber Magician Girl" as the only material, this card gains ATK equals to the ATK of a monster it points to (If it is pointing multiple monsters, you get to choose).

Yo, what's up guys! This is NewComer1, and another new chapter update for Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS! I decided to write this because I really wanted to write about it, so here ya go. I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Yu obtained a new ace monster in his arsenal, and it is another form of his ace monster, Cyber Magician Girl! Meet Cyber Heart Magician Girl! She is basically equivalent to Encode Talker, and how Yu obtains her is similar to how Yusaku got Encode Talker when he dueled against Blue Angel.

Here is the QOTC: What do you think of the latest episode of VRAINS? If you haven't watch it, this is a SPOILER for what I will say next, so be warned:

I think it was a good episode. It was more of a filler episode and the plot really didn't progress to something big or anything like previous episode. It was basically a refresher to what had happened in the past episodes since the anime began. It was still enjoyable to watch as we get to see more of Ghost Girl, and apparently we will learn more about her, and something else revealed in the preview of the next episode.

Also, here is a second QOTC (and it is three-parts): Do you want a chapter that goes over what happened in the past, basing on the latest episode 13? Also, how do you think you want to Ghost Girl to play in this story and do you want to see a new character who is a Cyber Treasure Hunter?

With all that said, here is a preview for the next chapter and I will see you all next time:

Preview for Chapter 15

We see sad Yu at hospital, standing besides unconscious Tom when Emoti-chan arrived.

A hero has fallen, and evil wins the day. Yu feel grief and thirst for vengeance on the ones whose responsible for his friend's coma state!

Yu: Knights of Hanoi, I will find you and defeat you! You mess with my friend, now I will mess you all!

Despites Emoti's concern and Yusaku's warning, Yu jumped into Link VRAINS and search for the Knights of Hanoi when he meets their member...

Codebreaker: Knight of Hanoi, you will pay for what you did!

Next time in Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Codes of Secrets, Vengeful Mind and Honorable Knight!

Playmaker & Codebreaker: INTO THE VRAINS!