Yu-Gi-Oh! - Dead Zone [FINISHED]

[Vector Nightmare]

UPDATE: The story is now complete. You can use the hyperlinks in this post to navigate through chapters.

============================

Index:

Arc I: Cybernetic Revolution

> Chapter 1: Death Petal Countdown
> Chapter 2: Arrival of Darkness
> Chapter 3: Fight Instinct
> Chapter 4: Royal Magical Library
> Chapter 5: Devil's Sanctuary
> Chapter 6: Force Release
> Chapter 7: Malfunction
> Chapter 8: Intercept
> Chapter 9: Bait Doll
> Chapter 10: Chaos Burst
> Chapter 11: Dark Piercing Light
> Chapter 12: Beginning of the End

> Interlude: Heroes' Guild

Arc II: Raging Battle

> Chapter 13: Twin Breaker
> Chapter 14: Blazes of Demise
> Chapter 15: Dragon Canyon
> Chapter 16: Crevice to the Different Dimension
> Chapter 17: Justice World
> Chapter 18: Contact
> Chapter 19: Magician's Cross
> Chapter 20: Shapesnatch
> Chapter 21: Altar of the Sun
> Chapter 22: Dual Spark
> Chapter 23: Burning Blood
> Chapter 24: Falling Down

> Interlude: Last March

Arc III: Crimson Crisis

> Chapter 25: Spiritual Forest
> Chapter 26: Ancient Sunshine
> Chapter 27: Torture Chamber of Nightmare
> Chapter 28: Mad Demon
> Chapter 29: Red Nova
> Chapter 30: Synchro Prominence
> Chapter 31: Black Whirlwind
> Chapter 32: Time Seal
> Chapter 33: Invasive Ripples
> Chapter 34: Surging Resonance
> Chapter 35: Buster Mode
> Chapter 36: Over Dead Line

> Interlude: Future Visions

Arc IV: Crossroads of Chaos

> Chapter 37: Fear from the Dark
> Chapter 38: Despair from the Dark
> Chapter 39: Chaos Sorcerer
> Chapter 40: Power Bond
> Chapter 41: Dark Arena
> Chapter 42: Mind Monster
> Chapter 43: Inferno
> Chapter 44: Thorn of Hatred
> Chapter 45: Subspatial Battle
> Chapter 46: Contract with the Abyss
> Chapter 47: Light of Hope
> Chapter 48: Countdown to the End

Arc V: Rise of Destiny

> Chapter 49: Trust Guardian
> Chapter 50: Black Hole
> Chapter 51: Hidden Soldiers
> Chapter 52: Flame Ruler
> Chapter 53: Death Chorus
> Chapter 54: Grand Cross
> Chapter 55: Guardian of Order
> Chapter 56: Fake Hero
> Chapter 57: Swing of Memories
> Chapter 58: Baptism through Light and Darkness
> Chapter 59: End of the World
> Chapter 60: Indestructible True Strength

> Interlude: Starlight Road

Arc VI: Shadow of Infinity

> Chapter 61: Blow from the Blind Spot
> Chapter 62: Fulfillment of the Contract
> Chapter 63: Reversal World
> Chapter 64: Twist of Fate
> Chapter 65: Ultimate Last Stand
> Chapter 66: Trigger of Tragedy
> Chapter 67: Inherited Power
> Chapter 68: Awakening
> Chapter 69: Destiny Signal
> Chapter 70: Over Limit
> Chapter 71: Altar of Tribute
> Chapter 72: Allure of Darkness

Arc VII: Order of Chaos

> Chapter 73: Purgatory of Nothingness
> Chapter 74: Chaos Infinity
> Chapter 75: Convening of Light
> Chapter 76: Dragonic Force
> Chapter 77: Ally Mind
> Chapter 78: Parallel World Fusion
> Chapter 79: Macrocosmos
> Chapter 80: Last Turn
> Aftermath: Gateway to Dark World

> Epilogue: Bright Future
 
Bonus Arc: The Duelist Genesis

> Extra Chapter 1: Paradise Lost
> Extra Chapter 2: Mirage Dragon
> Extra Chapter 3: Stardust Shimmer
> Extra Chapter 4: High Ruler's Conquest
> Extra Chapter 5: Elemental Burst
> Extra Chapter 6: Ice Queen
> Extra Chapter 7: Earthquake
> Extra Chapter 8: Great Storm
> Extra Chapter 9: Huge Revolution
> Extra Chapter 10: Unprecedented Wind
> Extra Chapter 11: Primal Seed
> Extra Chapter 12: Chaos Zone
 
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Tell me what you think!

[spoiler=Legend]
Italics indicate thoughts.
Centered text indicates Duel Terminal messages.
Spoilers indicate card descriptions.
[/spoiler]

EDIT: First chapter moved to second post, just below.

[Umbra]

And this is why you're still the best. Your style of writing just draws me in and doesn't let me go.

The duel was well-paced, clearly showing the difference in skill between ZONE and Kiishiro - although assuming that ZONE uses a Plant deck, not to mention Black Rose, seems like bit of a stretch. You'll probably cover that in a future chapter, though, so I look forward to that.

As for the other characters, I think you could have elaborated a bit on Yuusuke and Maya. (Then again, that might be an issue for future chapters.)

Separate tip: You could use a different font ([font="Courier New"]Courier New[/font], for instance) for the Terminal-generated messages, to distinguish them a bit more appropriately.

Overall, I'm incredibly pleased with reading this, and looking forward to seeing the next chapter.

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=ZONE]just used a Signer deck.[/spoiler]

Seriously, I was just noticing LotT resurfacing earlier and I was like wut, did the top brass of YCM's fanfic section suddenly all decide to drop back in? We need some SGY in here.

Advice concerning the font seems sound, I'll probably do that.

Next chapter will be focused on Yuusuke, actually, and to a lesser degree Maya as well. Their introduction was necessary in the first chapter, but until I get the main cast down, at least, I'd like to keep the focus on one character per chapter (or so).

You know me, updates will probably come out often early on (can't promise much, since I have quite the workload for christmas), and then slow down =/. Anyway, it honors me that the first person to comment on this was you, Umbra. Feels nice to be back in the loop with some familiar faces around.

EDIT: First chapter moved here, because editting the first post with so much text was becoming a pain.

[spoiler=Chapter 1]
[center][b][u]Chapter 1:[/b] Death Petal Countdown[/u][/center]

[center][b][i]Duel Concluded[/b]
[b]Result:[/b] Win
[b]Duel Points Awarded:[/b] 157
Thank you for Playing![/i][/center]

Satisfied, Sanjou Kiishiro pulled the D-Tacher off his head and leaned back on the chair in front of the Duel Terminal's screen. The rewards from victories in <Despair Mode> really were worth the effort - he would have to spend hours to gather up so many Duel Points in <Easy Mode>. The teenager looked around the noisy arcade store, slightly disoriented. The Real System implemented in Duel Terminals through the D-Tacher, a helmet that stimulated the brain's nerves directly, emulated a Duel in an environment known as <Duel Field>, which was an imaginary space away from reality, requiring complete shutdown of external signals. Therefore, being abruptly tossed in the midst of so many sources of noise and light could be disconcerting, even after several experiences with the Real System.

Like many other people these days, especially in Japan, Kiishiro's main hobby was Duel Monsters. The introduction of the Real System into the market, and the vast improvements in the Duel Terminal booths that followed, were more than enough to turn the game into a phenomenon of unparalleled popularity. Users of Duel Terminals were given a <Duelist Card> which they used as an identifier. Starting with an original number of Duel Points, enough to build a moderately competitive deck, they would then have to duel their way through either the artificial intelligence of the system, or other randomly selected players - the acquisition of Duel Points via friendly matches was disabled for obvious reasons - in order to earn more points and buy new cards and features for their account. Of course, all of this was virtual - dueling with real cards had been obsolete for at least two decades.

Kiishiro pressed a button on the Terminal's screen, and his profile statistics appeared. He couldn't help but chuckle mentally each time he saw his avatar. Being given freedom to design their avatars as they wished, most players opted for an appearance completely different than their own. The imposing, tall virtual figure of "Thunderbolt Knight" starkly contrasted Kiishiro's short, slightly plump frame. The image didn't even approach realism - the man's blazing green eyes, short, spiky black hair, and elegant clothing - Kiishiro had currently selected <White Knight Regalia> as an attire, appropriate for the Duel Field <Castle of Roses> he was dueling in - were more like something out of a fantasy novel than the mundane everyday world. Kiishiro had been so absorbed in the duel he caught himself trying to straighten his hair - but unlike his virtual persona's, his light brown hair would simply fly haphazardly towards all directions if he let them lengthen too much, so he kept them cropped short.

What was more important in this picture was the statistics display, including the Duel Point count. With the recent addition, Kiishiro's card was now charged with 732 Duel Points. The card he was seeking to buy, "Holy Barrier - Mirror Force", was one of the more expensive cards around, since its powerful effect would destroy all of an opponent's attacking monsters. Therefore, its price stood at 800 Duel Points. Unfortunately, Kiishiro had no more time today, so he'd just have to wait until tomorrow to -

"Still hanging around here? Man, you sure are slow."

These words, spoken lightly, still stung as an insult to Kiishiro, who slowly turned away from the screen of his Duel Terminal to confront the two people who had just approached. A boy with messy black hair, a sturdy frame and slightly taller than Kiishiro, whose bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle playfully as they sought Kiishiro's hazel ones. A girl, short and petite, with long black hair which she allowed to freely fall on her back, seemed content with letting her companion take the lead, as she stood back and occasionally cast an indifference glance at Kiishiro. Her black eyes seemed more bored than anything else, as if they refused to even acknowledge the boy sitting on the terminal's chair. The two were much of an age with Kiishiro himself, and both, similar to Kiishiro, were wearing their school uniforms.

The young man, Aizawa Yuusuke, and the girl, Kirizaki Maya, were attending the same class as Kiishiro. Yuusuke and Maya had been friends for a long time, apparently, and for some odd reason, Yuusuke had tried to include Kiishiro into their clique. However, Kiishiro did not care for Yuusuke's brazen, sarcastic attitude, and Maya never concealed her dislike for him, so the situation generally resulted in the ever-persistent Yuusuke taunting and challenging Kiishiro, seemingly thinking of it as entertainment. Kiishiro disagreed, but he tried to at least be courteous towards them.

"Aizawa-kun, Kirizaki-san." He inclined his head politely. Yuusuke laughed out loud.

"You talk like you just walked out of a business meeting - or better yet, some cosplay convention!" He shouted, drawing the attention of several nearby attendants of the arcade. "Lighten up, man. No need to be so stiff." Several people laughed, while Kiishiro felt his cheeks blush.

"But what is this?" Yuusuke suddenly leaned forward. Kiishiro gave a start, and attempted to shut down the forgotten Duel Terminal, but it was too late. "Hey guys, check this out." Yuusuke said, mockingly serious. "This Thunderbolt Knight here" the nickname raised another round of uproarious laughter "lost three times, and I repeat, three times... in <Easy Mode>."

Kiishiro shook his head as their audience threw mocking comments and snide remarks. True, <Easy Mode> was simply meant for either testing a deck, or easy, but slow, accumulation of Duel Points. It was considered almost impossible for a duelist to lose to an artificial intelligence set on Easy level, but when Kiishiro had activated his account, he had little notion of how to play, and thus his first few games had been, to say the least, quite embarrassing.

"Yuusuke." Maya said abruptly. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat now." Yuusuke shrugged, still half-smirking, and straightened himself.

"Try to get some practice in, Thunderbolt Knight." He waved at Kiishiro, as he began to walk away behind his friend. "You almost make me feel ashamed, having you as a friend."

Despite himself, Kiishiro smiled slightly. Now that the source of the commotion was gone, the attention quickly dissipated, and everyone returned to their own games and companies. Kiishiro prepared to shut down the Duel Terminal, when a flashing green message on the bottom of the screen caught his attention.

[center]
[i][b]You have been challenged by Duelist:[/b][/i] <ZONE>
[i][b]Duel Mode:[/b] Standard
[b]Duel Field:[/b] Blossom Garden
[/i][b]Accept[/b] || [b]Decline[/b]
[/center]

Kiishiro leaned forward, forgetting about leaving. A personal challenge could only be issued by someone who knew his potential opponent's username. Kiishiro could not recall ever having met anyone in the online interface known as ZONE, and since he was not currently queued in any of the matchmaking systems, he could only assume he was either located via the <PlayerFinder> network. But, a person who just wanted to duel another would simply use the automated matchmaking. A personal challenge meant that the challenger had specifically targeted him.

Intrigued, Kiishiro clicked on ZONE's profile. His statistics fields were blank, of course, since he wasn't in Kiishiro's <Friend List>, as was his avatar, indicating that Kiishiro had, indeed, never met him. But even when all other information was hidden, there was one field which was visible to all, and that was the Duelist's estimated ranking. A number from one to one hundred, automatically calculated by the system depending on statistics and various other information, handled via complicated algorithms. The developers promised an accuracy of over 92%, meaning that, in a hundred Duels between randomly selected Duelists, the higher ranked Duelists would prevail ninety two times over their lower-ranked opponents, with the percentage increasing as the gap grew wider, but narrowing as it closed down to a few points. And then a violent shock hit Kiishiro. ZONE'S ranking was eighty-seven points! Kiishiro had never dueled anyone, no, never met anyone with a ranking in the eighties! Such a rank was exclusive to major league participants and champions, or so he had heard. Kiishiro's own rank was pitiful by comparison, a mere thirty-four.

As the indicator hovered over the Decline option, Kiishiro considered the scenario. He would lose, most definitely lose, if he was paired up with such a person. But on the other hand, with such a large difference he was sure to earn Duel Points even if defeated. And how often did one get the chance to duel a person whose skill level was the equivalent of a champion-level duelist? Kiishiro decided he wasn't in such a hurry after all. He reconnected the D-Tacher and loaded the virtual reality modules, accepting the challenge.

Immediately he was transferred to a place he knew well. Rather than transportation, there was no feeling of actually moving - it was more akin to one's surroundings suddenly changing. Nevertheless, he was well familiar with the beautiful garden he was standing in. Paved by cobblestone of intricate designs, and spanning a large area around them, it was filled with flowerbeds and patches of grass where trees grew, bearing countless pink cherry blossoms. The Duel Field, Blossom Garden, was a place of beauty unlike any that could exist in the real world. Though the garden was surrounded by a tall black fence of European architecture, this wasn't what prevented the duelists from wandering off in this space - moving was disabled, and taking a step would be the same as pacing on the same spot. This was because the region was dynamically structured based on the duelist's position - to conserve hardware resources, they simply built an 'image' of the area that would be seen as perfect from the two duelist's point of view, but if one proceeded to move, its coherency would break as it either tried to readjust to the new position, or simply crumbled apart to reveal its imperfections. However, actual body motions were not restricted, and Kiishiro noted the Duel Disk in his arm, a standard white-and-silver model, already loaded with his cards. A flash of light indicated the arrival of his opponent.

Upon seeing what ZONE's avatar looked like, Kiishiro exclaimed loudly, and would have stumbled backwards had the motion lock system not been in place. There were certain limits on avatar design - one of them was that the virtual self must decidedly and obviously be human in appearance. Whatever this thing was, it certainly wasn't human. A mechanical object like a giant unicycle with a segment protruding from the top giving it the shape of the number six, mostly white in color, was floating in mid-air, eerily still. It seemed to be mounted by a figure, though if it was man or woman, or even human at all, Kiishiro could not say, as it was concealed by black robot-like armor and a long white helmet. Before he could react, a message appeared in mid-air between the two duelists.

[center][i][b]Duel Commencing[/b][/i][/center]

A short panel materialized in front of Kiishiro, which prompted him to either randomize the starting turn order, or cede the right of the decision to the opponent. Though ZONE made no move he could see, soon his options were replaced with another pair, allowing him to choose whether he wanted to start first or second, which indicated ZONE had relinquished the choice to him. Hesitantly, Kiishiro pressed with his finger the option of starting first.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]ZONE[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

As much as he puzzled over it, Kiishiro couldn't figure out the oddities behind this duel. The strange machine could be explained away as one of the advanced features, available only to high-level players. Even the fact that he could navigate the panels without moving his hands could be attributed to some high-end technology, reserved only for the elite. But why on earth had such a person picked him as his opponent, and with so random timing?

"My turn. Draw." He said, his voice a tad unsteady. It wasn't necessary to call out your moves in Duel Terminals, as the interface explained each move even if they weren't obvious to the opponent, but most people did it anyway. "I set one monster in Defense Position. Turn end." Starting with only 4000 Life Points, rather than the usual 8000 in <Endurance Mode>, the outcome of Standard Duels could be decided in a single turn, and a duelist had to be careful about what he played. But Kiishiro was confident his defense could protect him effectively.

"Turn start. Draw." Kiishiro jumped. The voice wasn't human - it was a mechanized voice, produced solely by computer waves. That much was obvious - yet even in the Real System, Kiishiro's voice sounded just like his real one, and it would sound that way to the opponent as well, with only slight deforms. Even the artificial intelligence systems had proper voices. At a loss, Kiishiro decided to just attribute the new oddity to yet another quirky gimmick of the Duel Terminal system, available to those who wished to pretend they were robots. There were certainly stranger things around. No hand supported the cards ZONE was supposed to be holding, but there were five hovering in front of him with their backs turned to Kiishiro, and a sixth one was soon added.

"Summon, Night-Rose Knight. Attack Position." That last was unnecessary - summoning monsters in defense position was barred, as per the rules, in all except <Speed Mode> duels. As one of the cards in front of ZONE vanished, a realistic hologram of a black-clad warrior of small stature, brandishing a silver sword, materialized on the field in front of the bizarre vehicle. At the same time, the interface display hovering between the two duelists, far enough above the ground not to obscure the scene, but easily available to either of them to scan, changed to display an image of the card, along with its relevant statistics.

[spoiler=Night-Rose Knight][b]Night-Rose Knight[/b]
EARTH / Warrior / Tuner
Level 3
1000/1000
Your opponent cannot select a Plant-Type monster as an attack target. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Plant-Type monster from your hand.[/spoiler]

"Plant-Type?!" Kiishiro exclaimed. "Furthermore, this effect..."

"Night-Rose Knight's effect, activate." ZONE continued. "Special Summon from the hand, Lord Poision." An aquatic creature of a serpentine design, armed with claws protruding from its hands as well as its torso, materialized next to the little knight, and the display shifted accordingly.

[spoiler=Lord Poison][b]Lord Poison[/b]
WATER / Plant
Level 4
1500/1000
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard, except "Lord Poison".[/spoiler]

"Tuning Level 4, Lord Poison to Level 3, Night-Rose Knight." The two monsters shattered into light, the Tuner warrior monster forming three green circles that hovered in the air, creating a pathway for the four glowing stars, born from the dissipating form of Lord Poison, to pass through, resulting in an intense flash. To Kiishiro's surprise, the wind suddenly pick up - the weather conditions were not random in the Duel Fields, but pre-programmed, and Blossom Garden had none set unless a unique setting was activated. Yet now the wind twirled around the converging light, gathering hundreds of the cherry blossoms lying on the ground and concealing the Synchro Summon in a cascade of petals. But the uproar lasted only a few seconds, and from within a monster Kiishiro had never before seen emerged.

"Synchro Summon, Black Rose Dragon." ZONE's words heralded the presence of the beast. Massive, the upper half of its body a brilliant red of roses, the lower half black as midnight, its very body seemed like a blossoming rose - but Kiishiro did not miss the thorns that were half-hidden beneath that deceptive beauty. Yet its appearance wasn't the problem now. What was this monster? Kiishiro had never seen it, or heard anything about it, before. The display revealed its statistics:

[spoiler=Black Rose Dragon][b]Black Rose Dragon[/b]
FIRE / Dragon / Synchro
Level 7
2400/1800
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy all cards on the field. Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard to change 1 Defense Position monster your opponent controls to face-up Attack Position, and reduce its ATK to 0 until the End Phase.[/spoiler]

"No way... what is it with this duel?" Kiishiro asked out loud, as Black Rose Dragon roared ferociously, sending forth an array of petals. "Where did you get this monster?" He demanded at ZONE. Leaving aside features such as new Duel Fields or special effects that could be unlocked as a player progressed through the ranks, there was a single ironclad law, and that was that all cards, regardless of their rarity or power, would be available to all players from the start, provided they had the Duel Points to buy them. Kiishiro had done his fair share of research on Synchro monsters in general, and especially one like this would never have escaped his attention. But ZONE did not respond.

"Black Rose Dragon's effect, activate. Remove Lord Poison in the Graveyard from play." A ghastly image of Lord Poison appeared in front of Black Rose Dragon's open jaws, which viciously shut down, evaporating the holographic creature. "Target, face-down monster." Cringing, Kiishiro watched his concealed card flipping up, revealing a pair of tiny creatures dressed in green and blue prison clothes, with tomatoes instead of heads.

[spoiler=Petit Tomabo][b]Petit Tomabo[/b]
DARK / Plant / Tuner
Level 2
700/400
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Tomabo" monsters from your Deck. The monster(s) Special Summoned by this effect cannot be used as Synchro Material Monsters this turn.[/spoiler]

Kiishiro also used a Plant-Type deck, and Black Rose Dragon would definitely have been on top of his "to acquire" list, had he known about the monster's existence. But now he was confronted by it, and his monster, pathetically inferior, had not only been changed to attack mode, but all of its attack points had been removed.

"Battle." ZONE said in the same monotonous voice. "Black Rose Dragon, attack Petit Tomabo." A stream of rose-colored fire was flung from the behemoth's mouth, wrapping the field in its destructive wake. Kiishiro cringed as his Life Points fell to 1600.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 1600[/i]
[i][b]ZONE[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

"Still, Petit Tomabo's effect activates!" He announced. "When it is destroyed by battle, I can summon two more Tomabo monsters from my Deck! Come, Tomabo and Petit Tomabo, both in Def - huh?"

His surprise was justified, as by the time his two monsters appeared, the aftermath of the attack had cleared out as well. The ground between Black Rose Dragon and Kiishiro's side was scorched and torn to shreds, a wild contrast to the tranquility of the rest of the garden. The Real System was not supposed to do that! Yet the Duel Terminal seemed to be accepting the state just fine, switching to display Kiishiro's new monster.

[spoiler=Tomabo][b]Tomabo[/b]
DARK / Plant
Level 3
1400/800
When 1 other face-up Plant-Type monster is targeted by the effect of a Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls, you can Tribute this card to draw 2 cards.[/spoiler]

"Enter Main Phase 2. Activate Spell card, Fragrance Storm." ZONE continued, unperturbed. Kiishiro's head jerked to the display to confirm the effect of a card he already knew - and used.

[spoiler=Fragrance Storm][b]Fragrance Storm[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Destroy 1 face-up Plant-Type monster on the field and draw 1 card. If that card is a Plant-Type monster, you can reveal it to your opponent and draw 1 more card.[/spoiler]

"Target, Petit Tomabo." ZONE said. Even if the activated card was ZONE's, it allowed the user to destroy virtually any Plant on the field, even his opponent's, which, in such a match-up, was definitely a huge advantage. "Draw card. Card drawn, Revival Rose. Draw one more card. Set, two cards face-down. Turn end."

"M - my turn." Kiishiro stuttered. Then, he looked at the card he had drawn, and sighed in relief. It seemed his luck had not abandoned him yet.

"I activate the Spell card Foolish Burial! It lets me search out a monster in my Deck and send it directly to the Graveyard." Rather than skim through his deck, a small virtual interface appeared in front of him, and he just pressed the desired option. "I send Dandylion to the Graveyard! Dandylion's effect activates, Summoning two Fluff Tokens to my side of the field!" The on-screen display switched to demonstrate the use of the new cards.

[spoiler=Foolish Burial][b]Foolish Burial[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Send 1 Monster Card from your Deck to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Dandylion][b]Dandylion[/b]
EARTH / Plant
Level 3
300/300
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fluff Tokens" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position. These Tokens cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon during the turn they are Special Summoned.[/spoiler]

"Next, I summon the Tuner monster, Grow-Up Bulb!" He continued.

[spoiler=Grow-Up Bulb][b]Grow-Up Bulb[/b]
EARTH / Plant / Tuner
Level 1
100/100
You can send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard and Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. Each player can only use the effect of "Grow-Up Bulb" once per Duel.[/spoiler]

If ZONE could Synchro Summon, so could Kiishiro. Let's see if Black Rose Dragon would survive this. "I tune my Level 3 Tomabo and my 2 Level 1 Fluff Tokens to my Level 1 Grow-Up Bulb!" The four Plant-type monsters dissolved into a stream of five stars that flowed through a single circle, glowing with green-colored energy. "Synchro Summon! Appear, Splendid Rose!"

A female wrapped in tight green clothing, surrounded by thorn branches, similar to those of a rose whose flowers blossomed from the monster's feet, appeared on the field. A cascade of petals fluttered around her. Its 2200 points of attack might have seemed a poor match for Black Rose Dragon, but -

[spoiler=Splendid Rose][b]Splendid Rose[/b]
WIND / Plant / Synchro
Level 6
2200/2000
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster in your Graveyard to halve the ATK of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, until the End Phase of this turn. If this card attacks, during the same Battle Phase you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster in your Graveyard to halve the ATK of this card (until the End Phase) and attack once again.[/spoiler]

"The effect of Splendid Rose activates by removing Tomabo in my Graveyard from play! The attack of Black Rose Dragon is halved!" The vines protruding from the monster's body extended to wrap around the considerably larger wyrm. As they did, the thorns stabbed into the crimson-and-ebon skin of the dragon, causing it to writhe in pain. Its attack score fell to 1200.

"Battle! Splendid Rose, attack Black Rose Dragon!" Splendid Rose retrieved her vines, preparing to lash out for another attack, when suddenly a reverse card behind Black Rose Dragon was revealed.

"That is - !!" Kiishiro exclaimed, recognizing the card on sight without the need for the system's feedback.

[spoiler=Dimensional Imprisonment][b]Dimensional Imprisonment[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Activate only when your opponent declares an attack. Remove from play the attacking monster.[/spoiler]

Dimensional Imprisonment, one of the most powerful attack-stopping cards. Not only did it render an attack useless, but it also removed the opponent's monster from play, rendering its retrieval extremely difficult for all but a few decks. Splendid Rose's attack was interrupted by a portal between dimensions which opened between the two monsters. With a scream, the creature was sucked inside the vortex, disappearing from play. Grunting, Kiishiro placed the card in a different slot in his duel disk. Breathing slowly, he examined his hand.

The game was not lost yet. He picked out one card in particular, Threatening Roar. This card would block all enemy attacks for one turn, so his Life Points would be safe. If he could just make it through this turn, next turn he could bring Grow-Up Bulb back with its own effect, and perform a different Synchro Summon.

"I place one card face-down. Turn -" He started, but ZONE interrupted him.

"At the End Phase, Instant Magic card, Cyclone. One Spell or Trap card on the field is destroyed." The Threatening Roar that had just been set by Kiishiro burst into shreds. He had no time to react, though, before another card appeared before ZONE, indicating the start of his turn.

[spoiler=Cyclone][b]Cyclone[/b]
SPELL / Quick-Play
Select 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field. Destroy it.[/spoiler]

"Battle. Black Rose Dragon, direct attack." Kiishiro sighed - this duel had seemed extremely weird, and it was, in its way, a unique experience. He regretted not having been able to inflict even one point of damage upon his overwhelming foe, but it was to be expected, with such a massive difference in levels. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the defeat indicator.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 0[/i]
[i][b]ZONE[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

And then he screamed, as excruciating pain struck him from all directions, real thorns the side of arms stabbing into his body, tearing his flesh to shreds. The last thing that crossed his eyes before darkness took him was an image of Black Rose Dragon disappearing into a cascade of petals, and ZONE's strange machine - funny, that he could still think coherently enough to blink in disbelief - unbound by the movement prevention system, moving towards him.
[/spoiler]

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=Chapter 2]
[center][b][u]Chapter 2:[/b] Arrival of Darkness[/u][/center]

"What did you say?!"

The tone, very unlike what one might expect from a person addressing a police officer, betrayed Aizawa Yuusuke's agitation. Beside him, Kirizaki Maya stood stiffly, disapproval obvious in her glance.

"We already answered all your questions." She said, barely suppressing her hostility. When the man had approached them with questions concerning Sanjou Kiishiro's whereabouts, they could not even begin to guess where exactly that conversation would lead. "We don't know anything else. Please leave us alone."

The officer cleared his throat. He was a middle-aged fellow, who seemed to have taken on some weight lately. His black hair was neat and combed to the side, and his brown eyes seemed quite weary. He looked uncomfortable, being forced to interrogate two students in the middle of the school's front yard, with quite a crowd gathered around them. "Rest assured, you are not being blamed for anything. But you are the last people to have had any contact with Sanjou Kiishiro before he fell unconscious, and perhaps the only ones who can help us get a lead on the circumstances behind the accident."

Yuusuke shook his head. The accident? That was too light. The man had fallen into a coma after a Duel Terminal match? And noone had any clue as to what exactly had happened in there? When all Duel Terminals were closely monitored twenty-four hours a day? That was unbelievable. Most likely, they refused to tell him. But he'd find out.

"How is he now?" He asked, ignoring Maya's displeasure. She did her best to ignore Kiishiro's existence, but now was not the time for that kind of attitude.

"He has been hospitalized." The policeman said reluctantly. "Further information is confidential, however his condition is stable. We believe he will be making a recovery... shortly."

"Yuusuke, we have nothing more to do with this." Maya insisted, tugging at his sleeve. "Let's go."

"Hold on a second, Maya." Yuusuke said. "Officer, I'm sure you already know, but my father is an employee for Duel International." The man nodded. Yuusuke's father had been working for the company monitoring the Duel Terminal system and maintaining the servers for eight years now. "If we can help in the investigation in any way, please let us know. Kiishiro is a friend of mine."

"I'll keep that in mind." The officer sighed. He looked distracted. "This case is keeping us on our toes... be careful, kids. We tried to shut down the Duel Terminals, at least until we can investigate into the matter more, but they refused to even consider it on such a secluded incident." Then he snapped back, cast a firm glance and a curt nod at the pair. "Regardless, avoid those things for now... we don't know what could be at fault." And with that, he left.

Yuusuke waited for a while, until the engine of the police vehicle could no longer be heard, Maya standing still as a statue by his side. Then he turned, not towards the still packed school where they had two more hours of classes, but out, towards the gates.

"Where are we going, Yuusuke?" Maya demanded, close behind him.

"Back to my place." He responded. "There's something I need to check."

Yuusuke's father, Taihito, was a brilliant mind, to be sure, as evidenced by his recent promotion, but he was rather aloof, and tended not to pay attention to important details. Thus, Yuusuke had no trouble finding out all the information he needed, all the while booting up the Duel Terminal booth he kept in his room. He could almost sense Maya's displeased glare boring into his back. She did not like it when Yuusuke did things she deemed unnecessary, but Yuusuke was too stubborn.

"[i]Thunderbolt Knight, you said? Yeah... that's the account of the kid who had the accident yesterday. Let's see, his opponent... ah, yes. We believe there might be a bug with the control systems, but... we could not find out whom he was supposed to be dueling. He had entered the area in <Duel Mode>, not <Observer Mode>, so the system must have matched him with an opponent, but...[/i]"

"Where was he dueling?" Yuusuke asked, entering his account information with quick, practiced motions. The terminal logged him in, displaying on its screen the figure of his avatar, Galahad. As one of the first few thousand of players to create an account in the new Duel Terminal network, he had had the privilege to select the name he wished, without having to compromise in its syntax or form to avoid duplicates. Galahad was not modelled much differently to Yuusuke himself. They had about the same height and stature, and even the same eye color, the central difference being the digitalized avatar's bright golden hair, flowing artistically behind him in a manner that was not quite reproducable in real life.

"[i]Where? Hmm, that would be... Blossom Garden. Wait, this information is supposed to be classified! Yuusuke, what - [/i]"

"Thanks, dad." The teenager interrupted, shutting down the phone. Decidedly, he put on the D-Tacher, and set his status to <Observer Mode> allowing him to freely roam the Duel Fields.

"Yuusuke." Maya said behind him. "I should warn you, if you do anything reckless - "

"Don't worry." He said. "I'm just going to check something." Just to make certain, he quickly browsed through his decks, and selected a specific one, a personal favorite, to carry along for the occasion. Not that he expected much to happen, but...

The outside world shut off around him, the all-too-familiar surroundings of his bedroom fading off into nothingness, smoothly replaced by the beautiful landscape of the Duel Field, <Blossom Garden>. It was unchanged as ever, its static charm unable to be altered. Testingly, Yuusuke tried moving. As he had expected, the motion lock was in place. Nothing seemed different from the last time he had been there. Really, he did not even specifically know why he was at this place. Every time a Duelist entered a Duel Field, a new instance of the area was generated, the only common link between the place Kiishiro should have stood on yesterday and the one Yuusuke was standing on today would probably be the fact that they were supported by the same server. Still, something had drawn him here, and he wasn't about to give up without finding out at least what.

"Yuusuke? Yuusuke!" A voice suddenly resounded through the area. "What's going on? Why did you enter here? And why on earth are you in <Duel Mode>?"

Yuusuke was startled, though not by the fact that his father was speaking to him in this normally isolated space. As an administrator, he had freedom to intervene with the system in such ways. But indeed, as Aizawa Taihito had pointed out, a duel disk was attached to his arm - his custom-designed, blue-and-silver model - with his deck loaded into it. But just the fact that he was in the Duel Field without an opponent, human or otherwise, proved that he should be in <Observer Mode>, and thus his duel disk shouldn't be on his arm unless he himself placed it there.

"Yuusuke!" But the boy did not need the warning to notice the sound of someone else entering the area. He looked towards the direction where his opponent would stand, had this been a duel, and was not entirely taken aback by the fact that a person was just materializing there. His eyes immediately flew to the panel, which would analyze the name of the intruder. And that was the first shock.

Oddly enough, perhaps, as the system was designed in Japan, all player usernames consisted of only English characters. Numbers or other symbols were barred, though a single empty space was allowed, for those like Kiishiro who wanted to separate their username into two. Most certainly, foreign characters were not an option. However this player's name consisted only of strange symbols in a language he did not know. And then the second shock - opposed to Yuusuke's own, formidable <Duel Rank> of fifty-five, where the ranking of his opponent should have been written, a pair of question marks stood.

"Yuusuke, there's something wrong with this. Disconnect immediately!" The voice of his father urged him. However, a creaking noise followed, the sound of a short static, and then silence fell. Somehow, Yuusuke knew that communication had been cut off, the same as he knew that he couldn't disconnect now even had he wanted to. He did not lose his cool, though. He calmly regarded the new arrival, not once losing his calm stance. Where his clothing consisted of a deep maroon shirt accompanied by matching blue trousers, and a richly-embroidered dark crimson coat etched with golden designs, the <Nobility Attire> he had acquired for upwards of a thousand Duel Points, the other "player" that had entered the field was dressed in skin-tight black robes that reached down to his feet, a cloak draped onto them that wrapped nearly his entire body. A hood concealed half of his face, and beneath it, a sinister smile crossed pale white skin. The <Assassin's Garb>, unless Yuusuke was way off the mark, though the last time he had seen that attire, it featured shorter sleeves, and no hood. More intriguing was the duel disk, which was black with green emeralds, a model unlike any Yuusuke had ever seen.

While it was true that, as one grew through the ranks, he could unlock new features, including duel disk models, Duel Fields, and attires, or even other, more exotic features, and that most people only found out about their existence at the time they unlocked them, you could find information on everything included in the Duel Terminal system, if you searched hard enough. Yuusuke had done his fair share of research, and he knew an irregularity when he saw it. There was no way to have your username changed to contain strange symbols other than English language letters. There was no way to conceal your Duel Rank. There was no way to force a duel on someone in <Observer Mode>. And there most definitely was no way to cut someone off from disconnecting at will, much less prevent an administrator from interfering with the Duel Terminal's system. Of course, all this applied to those bound by the 'rules', limited to the norm.

There was always the other side. What Yuusuke was right now facing was, most likely, a hacker's invention. Hackers existed everywhere, even in a system as technologically advanced as the Duel Terminals. Most people didn't even consider the possibility, but Duel International had a special anti-hacker department. Most likely his father would have already contacted the regulators about this issue.

That, in itself, was no reason to be worried. Most hackers did not intend to harm others. They simply meant to challenge the system, see how far they could get away with 'cheating'. Sure, there were cases of people being defeated by cards that didn't exist or were supposed to be banned from use, duels where a player's Life Points wouldn't decrease, or something as innocuous as someone sporting a unique outfit or appearance. But those events were quite isolated, and they caused no real damage to the players themselves, although the company responsible for system maintainance might have different views. Certainly nothing like what had happened to Kiishiro the other day sounded like the work of a hacker. But he'd be a fool not to connect the two incidents.

"I will assume I'm talking to a person here." He addressed his black-clad opponent. "Who are you, and what do you know about Sanjou Kiishiro? Something happened to him in this Field yesterday, and he fell into a coma. His avatar was called Thunderbolt Knight."

But the fellow did not speak, and instead raised his arm and activated his Duel Disk. Yuusuke sighed. It was never easy with those guys. He mimicked his opponent's motions.

[center][i][b]Duel Commencing[/b][/i][/center]

The turn order decision panel appeared in front of him, and he pressed the randomizer option. His opponent apparently did the same, and a miniature screen appeared before him, quickly shifting between the numbers one and two. After a couple of seconds, it settled on one before vanishing. Now that he had the option of choosing who would take the first turn, Yuusuke opted to start things off himself, the Life Point counters were set.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

Intrigued, he noticed that, though the username screen was able to depict the strange symbols, the wide display which held the duel's status, hanging over their heads in the middle of the field like an immaterial scoreboard, could not apparently resolve the font correctly. He made a note to mention that to his father, before focusing on the duel. He drew five cards, then, once his opponent had done the same, added a sixth one to his left hand.

[i]I do not know what tricks this fellow is using, but unless he has hacked the card database, he will be hard-pressed to win against this deck.[/i] Of all the hacking reports, the most common ones concerned fake or hacked cards, or Forbidden cards being used. However, most of those reports were also fake, caused by either sore losers who gambled on a chance at revenge, or by simply ignorant people. Hacking the card database was the most challenging threshold to achieve. Because of the structure, each card was not only drawn from a specific database which had only one route connecting it to the main system, and that was closely monitored, but was also double-checked along the way through numerous other databases, and even received scans upon being entered into a deck, being brought into a Duel Field, and of course being used in a duel. Hacking the system on so many levels would take a long time, much longer than it would usually take for an administrator to notice and correct the issue. Comparatively, it was much easier to 'stack' your deck or make yourself invincible - although, admittedly, less fun as well.

"I summon Lightlord Magician Leila!" Yuusuke declared. In an instant, a pillar of light burst out of the ground, and from within, a woman clad in white-and-gold robes akin to those of a priest, her foreheard adorned with a diadem and her hands wielding a shining gold scepter, appeared on the field. Instantly the display demonstrated her stats and abilities.

[spoiler=Lightlord Magician Leila][b]Lightlord Magician Leila[/b]
LIGHT / Spellcaster
Level 4
1700/200
You can change this card from face-up Attack Position to face-up Defense Position and destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card your opponent controls. If you activate this effect, this card's battle position cannot be changed until the end of your next turn, except with a card effect. During each of your End Phases, send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"I'll place two cards face-down. Turn end." As he proceeded to end his turn, Yuusuke picked up the uppermost three cards lying on his deck, examined them briefly, and placed them in the Graveyard slot. His opponent could check them if he wished through the available options, so he was not obliged to demonstrate them to him.

Lightlords. When it came to winning, there were two ways to go about it: one was the slow, methodical style. The other was the fast, dynamic style. Lightlords were one of the fastest decks around. Their main point was to send cards from the deck to the Graveyard, as fast as possible, in order to use their powerful effects and mightiest monsters. You could win in a few quick turns, if you pushed hard enough. Get the wrong hand, or make one wrong decision, or just have bad luck and mill cards that should be in your hand while drawing cards that should be in your Graveyard, and you would lose just as fast. For that power, that speed, that risk - even though Yuusuke had built over ten decks, and the Lightlords had been by far the hardest to construct, mainly due to how many Duel Points some of the key cards cost, they were still his favorite.

"My turn. Draw." Yuusuke's unnamed opponent said. His voice brought shivers down Yuusuke's spine. This was certainly no ordinary human's voice. It was low-pitched, yet clear as crystal water. Yuusuke could feel the cruelty that was apparent on the figure's half-hidden smile in that tone. Pleasure almost radiated from it, yet it was sinister pleasure, born from wicked things. If, even for a moment, he had thought the situation to be simple, that single instant changed his mind completely. Whatever the thing he was fighting against was, it was [i]wrong[/i], something that shouldn't be. Unconsciously he edged back a little, as far as the system allowed.

"I summon Ally of Justice Core-Destroy." The cold words were accompanied by the presence of a strange creature. It seemed quadrupedal, its appearance somewhat akin to a dog, but its main body was lean and smooth like a serpent. It was obviously mechanical, and though its body was colored in dark and light shades of blue, its tail was golden, and its four feet were light crimson.

"Ally of Justice Core-Destroy, attack Lightlord Magician Leila." The enemy announced, and the monster leapt forth.

"What?!" Yuusuke said, taken aback. He had noticed the monster's attack points, and they only stood at 1200, nowhere near enough to take down Leila at 1700. Inadvertently, his eyes shifted back to the display overhead, and -

[spoiler=Ally of Justice Core-Destroy][b]Ally of Justice Core-Destroy[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 3
1200/200
If this card attacks or is attacked by a LIGHT monster, destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step (without damage calculation).[/spoiler]

In an instant, the robotic dog smashed into Leila's body, shattering it to pieces. Yuusuke recoiled from the impact.

"I place two cards face-down, turn end."

Ally of Justice. Yuusuke tried to gather his focus, as he drew his next card. He had never heard that name before. And if it was a single card, that was fine. But he had the terrible feeling that there were more. And what was worse, they seemed geared to destroy his Light-attribute Lightlords. What had he gotten himself into? Thankfully, the card he had just drawn was a good one.

"I activate Solar Exchange!" He proclaimed. He held a card in his hand for a few seconds. Lightlord Beast Wolf was a powerful monster, but it could not be Summoned regularly from the hand, so he would just use it as exchange material for his Spell card. "By discarding a Lightlord monster, I can draw two cards, then send the top two cards of my deck to the Graveyard." He did the appropriate exchanges, keeping mental notes of the cards he sent to the grave. Thankfully, combined with his reverse card, he now held what was needed to get rid of that Ally of Justice monster.

[spoiler=Solar Exchange][b]Solar Exchange[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Discard 1 "Lightlord" monster. Draw 2 cards, then send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"I activate my reverse Illusion of Flashing Light!" He said, revealing his Trap card. The focus shifted to demonstrate the newly activated card. "It allows me to revive Leila from the Graveyard!"

[spoiler=Illusion of Flashing Light][b]Illusion of Flashing Light[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Select 1 "Lightlord" monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it in Attack Position. During each of your End Phases, send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. When this card is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is removed from the field, destroy this card.[/spoiler]

"Next I release Leila to Advance Summon Lightlord Angel Cherubim!" Leila united her hands in a praying stance, disappearing into a column of light. From the illuminated sky above one of the mightiest monsters amongst the Lightlords, Cherubim descended. It took the form of a winged female with deep blue hair, in an armor that looked smooth as white silk, and armed with a stave that ended in a brilliant circle of pure light.

[spoiler=Lightlord Angel Cherubim][b]Lightlord Angel Cherubim[/b]
LIGHT / Fairy
Level 5
2300/200
When you Tribute Summon this card by Tributing a "Lightsworn" monster, you can send the top 4 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard to destroy up to 2 cards your opponent controls.[/spoiler]

"Cherubim's effect activates! When she is Summoned by releasing a Lightlord monster, by sending the top four cards of my deck to the Graveyard, I can destroy two cards you control!" Yuusuke said, sending the appropriate cards to the grave. No matter its immunity to battle with Light monsters, if he took down Core-Destroy with an effect -

"Trap activate, Pitfall of Hades." Came a swift response. Yuusuke was well-versed in the workings of the deadly Trap card, even without the visual aid.

[spoiler=Pitfall of Hades][b]Pitfall of Hades[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Activate only when your opponent Summons a monster(s) with 1500 or more ATK. Destroy and remove from play the monster(s).[/spoiler]

"The permanent Trap card, Proclamation of the Royal Palace!" One of the most lethal dangers to Yuusuke's Lightlord deck were Trap cards, such as Pitfall of Hades, which could utterly cripple his plays. Thankfully, the continuous effect of Proclamation of the Royal Palace would negate the effects of all Trap cards on the field, rendering his monsters safe. But -

"Instant magic, Cyclone." The mysterious duelist countered instantly, and the dark iron gates that suddenly formed on the field were swept away by a mighty tornado. A bottomless hole opened underneath the feet of Cherubim, swallowing her whole. The display was now demonstrating the effects of the two cards used in succession.

[spoiler=Proclamation of the Royal Palace][b]Proclamation of the Royal Palace[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Negate the effects of all other Trap Cards on the field.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Cyclone][b]Cyclone[/b]
SPELL / Quick-Play
Select 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field. Destroy it.[/spoiler]

"Regardless, Pitfall of Hades activates after Cherubim is summoned." Yuusuke said. "So its effect still destroys your monster." Core-Destroy was enveloped in a burst of light, disappearing completely.

Darkly, Yuusuke looked over his cards. He had nothing more he could summon, and no cards to protect him. He had to rely on luck for at least the next round. "I end my turn." He said.

"Draw." The dark figure said without pause. "I activate the Spell card Allure of Darkness. It lets me draw 2 cards, but then I have to remove a Dark monster in my hand from play." He held out a single card, its back turned to Yuusuke. "But now I use the Equipment spell, Different Dimension Revival. I only have to discard one card, and the monster I removed is Special Summoned."

[spoiler=Allure of Darkness][b]Allure of Darkness[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Draw 2 cards, then remove from play 1 DARK monster from your hand. If you don't have any DARK monsters in your hand to remove, send all cards in your hand to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Different Dimension Revival][b]Different Dimension Revival[/b]
SPELL / Equip
Discard 1 card. Select 1 of your removed from play monsters, Special Summon it in Attack Position, and equip it with this card. When this card is removed from the field, destroy the equipped monster.[/spoiler]

Yuusuke was still absorbed in the mechanics of the two cards that had just been used, when abruptly a roar like thunder struck the field. Before the opponent now stood a giant robot, similar to a bulldozer but with many arms protruding from its body, each armed with a different kind of weaponry.

"Ally of Justice Lethal Weapon." Yuusuke's enemy explained, though it was unnecessary as Yuusuke was already scanning the panel for the relevant information.

[spoiler=Ally of Justice Lethal Weapon][b]Ally of Justice Lethal Weapon[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 5
2200/800
When this card destroys a LIGHT monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, draw 1 card. If that card is a Level 4 or lower DARK monster, you can reveal that card to Special Summon it.[/spoiler]

[i]As I thought, an anti-Light deck...[/i] Yuusuke gritted his teeth. If this went on...

"Next I Normal Summon the Tuner monster, Black Bomber. Its effect will Special Summon a Level 4 Dark Machine-Type monster in my Graveyard." A black round object that looked, for all intents and purposes, except with large sinister eyes and a wide laughing mouth in the front, appeared on the field. Its fuse on it was lit. "The target is, of course, the monster discarded for the cost of Different Dimension Revival. Come, Ally of Justice Garadholg." When the fuse on Black Bomber reached the breaking point, it exploded, revealing a new monster from within, apparently an android of sorts covered in bright red armor. Frantically, Yuusuke read the information of the new arrivals.

[spoiler=Black Bomber][b]Black Bomber[/b]
DARK / Machine / Tuner
Level 3
1200/200
If this card attacks or is attacked by a LIGHT monster, destroy that monster at the start of the Damage Step (without damage calculation).[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Ally of Justice Garadholg][b]Ally of Justice Garadholg[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 4
1600/400
If this card battles a LIGHT monster, it gains 200 ATK during the Damage Step only.[/spoiler]

"Do not bother." His opponent taunted him. Yuusuke jerked his head - it was the first time he had addressed him directly, speaking to him outside of announcing his moves. "They won't stay. I tune the Level 5 Ally of Justice Lethal Weapon to the Level 3 Black Bomber." Black Bomber exploded, creating three dark green circles that floated in the middle of the field. Omni Weapon also burst into a black blaze, splitting into five stars that flowed into these circles. Synchro Summon. Yuusuke was worried something like this would come, but...

"Behold, your demise. Synchro Summon, Ally of Justice Light Gazer!"

- but even if he said that, even if the panel overhead clearly displayed the statistics for the new Ally of Justice monster, Yuusuke could not locate it with his eyes.

[spoiler=Ally of Justice Light Gazer][b]Ally of Justice Light Gazer[/b]
DARK / Machine / Synchro
Level 8
2400/400
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
This card gains 200 ATK for each LIGHT monster in your opponent's Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"Look farther above." The enemy mocked. Yuusuke did - and screamed out loud.

A massive black ring was floating in mid air, a good five hundred meters overhead or more, and in its midst stood - that was not the correct word, the great dark beast seemed to not be supported by anything visible, it simply hovered there, like a monstrosity of metal in a vaguely humanoid shape. Lights flowed from the creature's two arms, as well as several projectors attached to the support ring. One of them focused on Yuusuke, forcing him to avert his eyes.

"What... is this monster...?" He grunted, shielding his face from the intense light rays, all of which were converging on him now.

"Ally of Justice Light Gazer, effect activate." The opponent said in a more neutral expression. "This monster gains 200 attack points for each Light monster in your Graveyard... currently, you have Lightlord Beast Wolf, Lightlord Magician Leila, and Lightlord Druid Aurkus. For three monsters, Light Gazer will gain 600 attack points, for a total of 3000!" Indeed, silhouettes of Yuusuke's three Lightlords appeared in front of him, looking at him regretfully as they were scanned by those rays of light. The great machine's attack rose instantly.

"It's over. Ally of Justice Garadholg, direct attack!" The robot sped towards him, slashing at him with its claw. Yuusuke granted as his Life counter fell to 2400.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 2400[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

"And now, to finish it... Light Gazer, annihilate him!" Energy charged in the giant machine's arm, preparing to be unleashed in a destructive torrent. If that thing struck him, Yuusuke somehow knew that he would end up in a state such as Kiishiro's, or maybe worse.
[/spoiler]

So yeah, like I said, fast updates for now =/. Let's see how long I can keep it up.

[Vector Nightmare]

EDIT: Third chapter suspended until I can figure out what is wrong with spoilers >_<.

[Umbra]

[i] [/i]I could tell [b]that[/b], I just don't see [b]how.[/b] (Later chapters, I guess.)
[quote name='~ Epic Hero - Saber ~' timestamp='1293060235' post='4874839']
EDIT: Third chapter suspended until I can figure out what is wrong with spoilers >_<.
[/quote]

They seem to be working just fine.

Chapter 2's almost as good as Chapter 1, if not as good. The characters are building up, steadily. If anything, I'd say the plot's moving forward a bit too quickly; it's only been two chapters and we've already met two separate villains.

[Vector Nightmare]

[quote name='Umbra' timestamp='1293078569' post='4875653']
[i] [/i]I could tell [b]that[/b], I just don't see [b]how.[/b] (Later chapters, I guess.)


They seem to be working just fine.

Chapter 2's almost as good as Chapter 1, if not as good. The characters are building up, steadily. If anything, I'd say the plot's moving forward a bit too quickly; it's only been two chapters and we've already met two separate villains.
[/quote]

On new posts I make, spoilers are not applied - they appear as code, but do not function. I'll wait for these issues to be resolved as chapters look [i]really[/i] ugly without spoilers. I'll have to think this through when I post this on ff.net. Anyway, gives me more time to work on the 4th chapter.

And oh, that. I thought you meant why he used a Plant / Black Rose deck in general, as in, it doesn't fit him etc. But yeah, can't go about revealing that this early.

Two separate villains? Hmm, that's not entirely correct. Originally chapters 2 & 3 were meant to be one, but due to length I decided to split them even if it meant cutting the duel in half, which I am not fond of doing, for obvious reasons. When you read the end of the third chapter, you'll probably see what I mean.

But on a related note, perhaps I am / will be moving a little fast. That's actually intentional. The problem I most often face in my stories is that I expand too far, and things get chaotic, and I cannot find either the time or devotion to keep up with every plot thread I open. So this time I'll keep things more constrained, the pace more dynamic, and work actively towards achieving a definite ending. I believe that's the best recipe to get a story done.

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=Chapter 3]
[center][b][u]Chapter 3:[/b] Fight Instinct[/u][/center]

Maya stood anxiously beside the chair Yuusuke was sitting on, connected to the Duel Terminal. It had already been close to ten minutes since he entered the Terminal. He had been motionless since, immersed into the illusory world. Maya had no idea what was happening to him right now, but she couldn't put her worries at ease.

So abruptly that she nearly jumped, the phone beside her, abandoned by Yuusuke after he had dismissed his father, rang. Settling down, Maya picked it up - and immediately held it away from her ear, perfectly able to hear the screaming on the other side of the line even from a distance.

"[i]Yuusuke? Yuusuke? Are you there? Answer me![/i]"

"Aizawa-san, calm down. It's me, Maya." The girl spoke into the receiver.

"[i]Maya-chan?! Thank god you are there! I swear, that boy - can you tell me what happened to Yuusuke?[/i]"

"He's been connected to the terminal ever since he hung up with you." Maya responded. "I tried to tell him it was a bad idea, but..."

"[i]I know, that boy never listens.[/i]" Yuusuke's father sighed. "[i]Listen, I was able to track him down, but something snapped the connection. I have the entire department up-and-running to fix this, but I can't just stand here and wait. I think there's something wrong, and Yuusuke is involved in it![/i]"

"What do we do?" Maya stood up immediately.

"[i]Listen, there's a second booth downstairs, in the storage room near the kitchen. Go there, and do what I tell you...[/i]"

Less than five minutes later, as per Aizawa Taihito's instructions, Maya had set up a secondary network between the two booths in the house. As Taihito claimed, this sub-network, using direct access, would allow him to bypass the hacked code that blocked the rest of the system from the Duel Field Yuusuke was in.

"[i]Maya-chan, the Duel Terminal's screen should now have visual on Yuusuke's location.[/i]" Taihito spoke. "[i]In a few seconds it should... aah.[/i]"

And they both remained speechless, watching, terrified, as Yuusuke was about to receive a devastating attack from one of the most horrifying monsters they had ever seen.

---

Certainly, if that attack connected, Yuusuke would be done with. But -

"The effect of Necro Gardna in my Graveyard activates!" Yuusuke exclaimed. By removing it from play, I can negate one attack towards me!" Though the hologram of the monster, sent to the Graveyard by the effect of Leila during his first turn, appeared in front of him to shield him, Yuusuke still tried to back away from the purging beam that erupted from Light Gazer's arm, pointed directly at him. He could not move, of course, and could only thank his luck that he had managed to get Dead Gardna to the Graveyard before this occured.

[spoiler=Necro Gardna][b]Necro Gardna[/b]
DARK / Warrior
Level 3
600/1300
Remove from play this card in your Graveyard to negate 1 attack this turn from a monster your opponent controls.[/spoiler]

"You escaped this one. But it will be the end of the line for you next turn." His opponent threatened.

Yuusuke tried to maintain his composure, but he was very much afraid his enemy had accurately summed his predicament. In his hand lay nothing more than a Jar of Avarice, which was useless without more monsters in the Graveyard, Lightlord Warrior Garos, who could only go as far as defeating Garadholg, and -

"Yuusuke!!"

Truly startled this time, Yuusuke looked around. The voice seemed to be coming from somewhere really close, but there was noone else to be seen. Yet he could have sworn that voice was -

"Yuusuke!!"

Yuusuke was certain he had heard Maya's and his father's voice. But how could this be? Maya was supposed to be at his place, and, as there was no interference with the Duel Field, he did not think his dad had been able to resolve the problem.

"Guys?" He asked hesitantly. Nothing in his opponent's demeanor changed, but...

"Yuusuke! Thank god you are alright!" His father shouted. "We just managed to recover visual contact, but then that monster attacked and I thought..."

"Aizawa-san, these monsters..." Maya sounded anxious. "Ally of Justice... illegal monsters, and they are all designed to beat Light monsters! Aizawa-san, Yuusuke is fighting with his Lightlord deck!"

"Oh, dear... this is quite a mess..." Aizawa Taihito sounded quite pained. "The company's gonna have my head on a plate for this... and just wait until your mother hears about - "

"Aizawa-san, we have no time!" Maya urged.

"That's right, that's right. Just hold on tight, my boy, I'll get you out of there..." But Yuusuke threw his head back and laughed.

"What are you laughing about, Yuusuke?" Maya demanded.

"For a moment there, I thought I was just about to lose." Yuusuke explained, gathering his composure. Though his opponent had not moved an inch, Yuusuke could still feel his sudden uncertainty, and displeasure at this interference. "I don't know why, but... Maya, I just don't feel like losing with you watching me." He shook his head - he was not making much sense, he knew it, but it didn't matter right now. "Let's go!" Yuusuke turned back to his opponent, drawing his card. [i]Perfect[/i]. "I activate Reinforcements of Light! With this I can discard three cards from the top of my deck, to add one Lightlord monster to my hand!" He picked out three cards and tossed the two away, but he held up one. "My second Wolf will be Special Summoned, if he is directly sent to the Graveyard from my deck!" A man with the head of a wolf, armored in bright white armor and brandishing a stave in one hand and a set of extended, sharp nails on the other, appeared on the field, releasing a loud roar.

[spoiler=Reinforcements of Light][b]Reinforcements of Light[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. Add 1 Level 4 or lower "Lightsworn" monster from your Deck to your hand.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Lightlord Beast Wolf][b]Lightlord Beast Wolf[/b]
LIGHT / Beast
Level 4
2100/300
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. When this card is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard, Special Summon it.[/spoiler]

"Yes, but another one of your cards was Lightlord Hunter Raikou, and with another Light monster in the Graveyard, Ally of Justice Light Gazer gains an additional 200 points!" His enemy said.

"It doesn't matter now." Yuusuke waved him off. "I add to my hand, Lightlord Paladin Jean! And now I will Summon Lightlord Warrior Garos!" A ferocious warrior with bulging muscles barely suppressed by his silver armor, brandishing a spear, appeared on the field.

[spoiler=Lightlord Warrior Garos][b]Lightlord Warrior Garos[/b]
LIGHT / Warrior
Level 4
1850/1200
Each time a card(s) is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard by the effect of a "Lightlord" monster you control, except "Lightlord Warrior Garos", send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. Then, draw 1 card for each "Lightlord" monster sent to the Graveyard by this effect.[/spoiler]

And now the Spell card, Lightning Tune!" Yuusuke continued. "I will change a Level 4 Light monster, namely my Lightlord Warrior Garos into a Tuner monster!"

[spoiler=Lightning Tune][b]Lightning Tune[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Select 1 Level 4 LIGHT monster you control. It is treated as a Tuner monster while it is face-up on the field.[/spoiler]

"Now watch! I tune my Level 4 Lightlord Beast Wolf, to my Level 4, now Tuner, Lightlord Warrior Garos!" A massive pillar of pure golden light exploded in the middle, and around it, four brilliant white circles formed, and four stars passed between them, opening the pathway for the union of the two monsters. "Synchro Summon! Come, Light End Dragon!!"

"This monster - !" His opponent growled as the heavenly creature descended from the sky. A massive serpentine body framed by a set of white feathered wings, its proud head surrounded by a golden halo, shining like a beacon of light in the middle of the duel field. Instantly the display demonstrated the new monster's power.

[spoiler=Light End Dragon][b]Light End Dragon[/b]
LIGHT / Dragon / Synchro
Level 8
2600/2100
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner LIGHT monsters
When this monster battles, you can activate this card's effect at attack declaration. If you do, this card loses 500 ATK and DEF (permanently), and the monster it is battling loses 1500 ATK and DEF until the End Phase.[/spoiler]

"But, realize that you won't defeat me with your Light monsters!" Yuusuke's foe taunted as the great wyrm settled behind its summoner. "Now that you've sent two more Light monsters to the Graveyard, Light Gazer gains an additional four hundred points! Even with Light End Dragon's effect, all you'll manage is to cause them to destroy each other!"

"Is that so? But, my deck doesn't entirely consist of Light monsters." Yuusuke said, as two cards were ejected from the Graveyard. He held them out. "From the effect of Reinforcements of Light and Solar Exchange, these two cards have been sent to the Grave - Zombie Carrier, and Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy. Diabolic Guy's effect activates, removing itself from play to call forth another one from my Deck!" He placed the card into the removed from play zone, and caught another one as it was ejected from his deck, summoning it to the field. "And Zombie Carrier can be Special Summoned from the Graveyard by returning a card from my hand to the top of my Deck." He held up Jean. On the field, a dark-skinned feral man with patches of fur and demonic wings, as well as a two-pronged tail, and a fat purple creature with horribly deformed features, its undead skin rotting away, materialized on either side of the holy dragon.

[spoiler=Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy][b]Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy[/b]
DARK / Warrior
Level 6
800/800
You can remove this card in your Graveyard from play to Special Summon 1 "Destiny Hero - Diabolic Guy" from your Deck.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Zombie Carrier][b]Zombie Carrier[/b]
DARK / Zombie / Tuner
Level 2
400/200
You can return 1 card from your hand to the top of the Deck to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.[/spoiler]

"It's time I showed you the true power of my Deck! I tune my Level 6 Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy to my Level 2 Zombie Carrier!" Similar to before, the two monsters evaporated, but instead of white light an ominous shadow shrouded the field. "Synchro Summon!" Yuusuke declared, as from within that darkness, another dragon emerged. "Come, Dark End Dragon!!" The monster that materialized had nothing in common with Light End. Its body was more akin to the traditional European dragon than the oriental one, except that it had a wicked face etched across its chest. It was fully black, and roared menacingly as it hovered beside its counterpart, completing a formidable duo.

[spoiler=Dark End Dragon][b]Dark End Dragon[/b]
DARK / Dragon / Synchro
Level 8
2600/2100
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner DARK monsters
Once per turn, you can have this card lose 500 ATK and DEF, and send 1 monster your opponent controls to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"These monsters..." The black-clad duelist stared in disbelief. "Impossible! Under those conditions, how did you manage to pull off two Synchro Summons - !?"

"Dark End Dragon's effect activates!" Yuusuke raised his arm, and the dark wyrm glided upwards into the sky. "By reducing Dark End's attack by 500 points, one monster of yours is sent to the Graveyard! So much for your trump card!" Dark End Dragon unleashed a horrid breath of pure shadow that enveloped the gigantic machine. One by one, its lights went out, and the structure began collapsing from the sky, dissipating into particles before it fell.

"And now, battle! Light End Dragon, take down Ally of Justice Garadholg! At this moment, Light End Dragon's effect activates, reducing its attack points by 500 in exchange for lowering its target's attack by 1500 points!" A halo of restricting light exploded outwards from Light End Dragon, passing through the robotic creature. The two monsters' attack scores dropped accordingly, before Light End unleashed a beam of light from its mouth, annihilating its foe and cutting down the unknown opponent's Life Points by half.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 2400[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 2000[/i][/center]

"It's over! Dark End Dragon, direct - eh?!" Yuusuke was cut off in mid-sentence, as black stormclouds assembled above his foe.

"Nothing is over!" He screamed. "When I take damage while I control no cards, this monster can be Special Summoned from my hand! Descend, Messenger of Hades - Gors!!" A black-dressed, masked warrior with flaring red hair and a tattered crimson cloak appeared in front of the duelist. Yuusuke tried not to yell out, as the appearance of another unknown monster of overwhelming power spelled nothing good for him. His heart beating fast, he checked the panel.

[spoiler=Messenger of Hades - Gors][b]Messenger of Hades - Gors[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 7
2700/2500
When you take damage from a card your opponent controls while you control no cards, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Then activate the appropriate effect, based on the type of damage:
• Battle Damage: Special Summon 1 "Messenger of Hades Token" (Fairy-Type/LIGHT/Level 7/ATK ?/DEF ?). Its ATK and DEF are each equal to the amount of battle damage you took.
• Effect Damage: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the damage you took.[/spoiler]

Attack power of 2700. Next to Gors, a creature of equal size and shape, but translucent, as if made out of ether, appeared, its score settling on 2000 for both attack and defense. He could do nothing about Gors, but he could still get rid of the token. Dark End Dragon destroyed the thing with a breath of darkness.

"Yuusuke!" Maya called out to him. He steadied his breathing, exhaling. He looked at Jar of Avarice in his hand. The conditions were right to use it now. Maybe he should - but he had only one shot, since he already knew that the uppermost card of his deck, Luminous, wouldn't be of help right now, and using Jar of Avarice in this situation would upset his whole strategy. [i]Calm down. Think this through.[/i] His opponent had no cards in his hand, and Gors could only defeat Dark End Dragon in his next turn. He should be able to last until the next one, when the conditions would be more favorable for using the Spell card.

"Turn end." He muttered. A wild fire lit in his opponent's eyes.

"My turn." He said silently. Yuusuke [i]felt[/i] the air freeze around him. However, all that the enemy did with the card he had drawn was place it face-down on his monster card zone.

"Gors, wipe out his Dark End Dragon." He commanded coldly. The warrior swiftly rose to match the black wyrm, slashing it down in an instant. Yuusuke's Life Points dropped to 1800.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 1800[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 2000[/i][/center]

"My turn. Draw!" Yuusuke said swiftly. "I summon Lightlord Paladin Jean!" A knight in silver armor with a red cape flowing behind him, wielding a sword and shield of matching color scheme, materialized before Yuusuke.

[spoiler=Lightlord Paladin Jean][b]Lightlord Paladin Jean[/b]
LIGHT / Warrior
Level 4
1800/1200
If this card attacks an opponent's monster, it gains 300 ATK during the Damage Step only. During each of your End Phases, send the top 2 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"Battle! Light End Dragon, attack Messenger of Hades - Gors!" Though with lower attack points, the golden dragon prepared to unleash a torrent of holy flame upon its foe. "The effect of Light End Dragon! By reducing its attack power by 500 points, the attack of Gors falls down to 1200!" Indeed, the tables were turned, and Gors was instantly annihilated by the enormous flare.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 1800[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 1600[/i][/center]

"And now Jain, attack his face-down monster!" Yuusuke continued. Jain struck with his sword, to reveal a small round three-eyed fiendish creature. Yuusuke recognized the thing.

[spoiler=Critter][b]Critter[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 3
1000/600
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.[/spoiler]

Without much fanfare, a card was plucked out of the dark duelist's deck, which he proceeded to add to his hand. Yuusuke quickly switched to the display which would inform him what card had been chosen.

[i]That card?! This isn't good...[/i] Yuusuke thought as he saw the displayed image of another Ally of Justice Core-Destroy. His hand once again hovered over the Jar of Avarice. No, it wasn't the time yet. Core-Destroy could annihilate one of his monsters without retribution - but he wouldn't deal any damage that way, so Yuusuke was likely safe for the turn. Still - he just couldn't shake off the feeling of uneasiness. His logic told him to go ahead and end his turn. His instinct told him otherwise.

"I activate Jar of Avarice." He announced.

[spoiler=Jar of Avarice][b]Jar of Avarice[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Select 5 Monster Cards in your Graveyard. Return those cards to the Deck, then draw 2 cards.
[/spoiler]

"I'll return..." Yuusuke looked at his options. He had a lot of Lightlord monsters in the Graveyard. He also had one Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy, and his Dark End Dragon. Once more, his mind told him to return Dark End Dragon to the Extra Deck, and Diabolic Guy, since he had no more use for them in the Graveyard. But...

"I will return Leila, Garos, Raikou, Aurkus and one Wolf to my Deck." He said finally, plucking out five cards.

"Yuusuke, what are you doing?" Maya's voice demanded. "If you do that, you won't have enough Lightlords in the Graveyard to - "

"Trust me, I know what I'm about." Yuusuke said. He wished he were as certain as he tried to sound. With this, he only had a single Wolf and Lightlord Monk Eileen in the Graveyard. If something went wrong - no, best not to think about that. He watched as his deck was shuffled, and prepared the next step of his erratic strategy.

"During the End Phase, Jean sends the top two cards of my deck to the Graveyard." Yuusuke picked out two cards and cast them away. All that could be done was done. He could only hope now.

"My turn. Draw." Inexplicably, the display switched to demonstate the contents of the cloaked duelist's graveyard. As he watched the listing, which included the Ally of Justice monsters Core-Destroy, Garadholg, Lethal Weapon, and Light Gazer, as well as Black Bomber, Gors, and Critter, he wondered what this was about. Then his eyes widened.

"No - !!" He shouted, yet his enemy was already smirking.

"With five or more Dark monsters in the Graveyard, I can Special Summon the Dark Creator!" He declared, placing a card on his disk. The world exploded in darkness. A winged demon, its body consisting of black metal plates, materialized with a roar of thunder. Yuusuke cursed mentally. Of all the things to have appeared now...

[spoiler=Dark Creator][b]Dark Creator[/b]
DARK / Thunder
Level 8
2300/3000
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned, by having 5 or more DARK monsters in your Graveyard while you control no monsters. Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard to Special Summon 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"The Dark Creator's effect!" His opponent continued mercilessly. "I remove from play Ally of Justice Garadholg to Special Summon, from my Graveyard, Ally of Justice - Light Gazer!" Yuusuke's greatest fear was materialized, as a giant shadow covered the sky, the black fog splitting apart to reveal the alien construct once more.

"You were wise to reduce the number of Light monsters in your Graveyard earlier." The opponent taunted. "But Light Gazer still gains a bonus 400 points! And now I summon my second Ally of Justice Core-Destroy!" The mechanical wardog Yuusuke was already familiar with materialized again. "Battle! Ally of Justice Core-Destroy, wipe out Light End Dragon!" The creature slammed into Light End, who dissipated into quickly vanishing particles of light.

"And now, Light Gazer attacks Lightlord Paladin Jean!" The light-bound warrior leapt bravely, but before he could even come close to the circular base, dozens of light rays converged on him, destroying him in an instant. Yuusuke screamed as his Life Points dropped to 800.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 800[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 1600[/i][/center]

"Time to end things! Dark Creator, direct attack!" The demonic beast leapt across the field, but just before its claws reached him, Yuusuke held out a single card.

"Battle Fader's effect activates! When I would receive a direct attack, I can Special Summon this monster from my hand, and end the Battle Phase!" Dark Creator was stopped by a pulsing wave, as a tiny monster reminiscent of a pendulum appeared hovering in the sky between it and its target.

[spoiler=Battle Fader][b]Battle Fader[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 1
0/0
When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack, you can Special Summon this card from your hand and end the Battle Phase. If this card is Special Summoned with this effect, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.[/spoiler]

"Yuusuke!!" Both his father and Maya yelled.

"I'm alright." Yuusuke said hurriedly, wobbling on his feet. What was it with the impact of the last attack? He still felt the aftermath of that instantaneous stab of pain. But, if either of his unseen observers saw him falter -

"Brave front, but you can't last much longer." His opponent wasn't pursuaded as easily. "Turn end."

"That's not good..." Aizawa Taihito sounded strangled. "Even though Yuusuke has four Lightlords in the Graveyard again, his Life Points are too low."

"He can still win!" Maya urged. "Yuusuke, don't lose hope!"

"Right..." Yuusuke muttered, but his hand hovered over his deck. What could he do? In his hand lay Lightlord Dragon Gragonis, a monster that could be Summoned if he released Battle Fader, but would do him little good. As his father had mentioned, even if he drew his trump card in this situation, it still wouldn't be enough to win the game. At best, it could buy him a turn. But what then?

"It's about time." The enemy said suddenly, causing Yuusuke's head to jerk towards him. At the same time, Aizawa Taihito let out a pained yelp.

"What happened, dad?!" Yuusuke asked urgently.

"I... I just received the report compiled by the security department for the malfunction." His voice was filled with despair. "Yuusuke, this thing you are facing... it's a bot. An artificial intelligence, and an extremely advanced one! The thing is... whatever hacked him in the system, we can't face it. A massive piece of code has been rewritten into some strange symbolic language, and it's impossible for us to decipher. And that's not even the worst part..."

"What is it?" Yuusuke asked, certain he did not wish to know. His opponent then laughed, a cruel, merciless laughter.

"This entire server node is on a self-destruct timer!" He said. "If you can't unlock it, this virtual reality will collapse, and you'll go along with it!"

"It's bad..." Taihito groaned. "Yuusuke, your brain won't survive the massive stimulation of shock! We have to get you out of there, now!"

Yuusuke felt cold sweat drench him all over. He'd die. Just like that, in this virtual space, with this cruel piece of code and only the disembodied voices of his father and Maya to sing on his deathbed. He fell on his knees. This was -

"Aizawa-san!" Maya said abruptly. "Listen! I made a screening and... well, I'll just transmit it to you via the terminal! I think I found the key to deciphering the hacked code!"

"Ah, Maya-chan - " His father started, but gasped as he apparently received something on his own screen. A few long seconds of silence later, he exclaimed loudly. "That's it! Maya-chan, you are a genius! Thank god for the direct network! The key's trace was so well-hidden server-side that we would never find it, but from a subsidiary connection..."

"What is it, dad?" Yuusuke interrupted. Knowing his father, he could well keep rambling about it till it was too late.

"That guy, the key is encrypted within his Life Point counter!" Taihito announced triumphantly. "Defeat him, and we'll be able to unlock the code and fix the system!" Then suddenly he fell silent, realizing what he had just said. The chances of Yuusuke were already slim. His opponent had not said anything during this exchange. He merely stood there, his usual smirk twisting his features.

Winning. Usually you knew what you had to draw to win, the problem was just drawing it. But Yuusuke... however hard he thought about it, he could not think of a single card in his deck that could reverse this situation. Everything he had was insufficient. He needed a decisive way to turn things around. If he still had 'that' monster, then... but no, that was done and over with.

Well, regardless. Yuusuke placed his hand on top of his deck. He was in control again. And as long as it was up to you, there was always something to be done!

"Draw!!" Yuusuke forcefully pulled out a card. It was now or never. With the corner of his eye, he sneaked a peak at it. This - !!

His shoulders slumped. He could not see it - victory, with this card, did not exist. Spiritual Operation, a powerful Spell card that took control of one opposing monster for a single turn. However, that monster could not attack or serve as a tribute. The only reason Yuusuke had it in this deck was to clear the field of a monster, or to use it as Synchro material. But he had no Tuners available, and his opponent's field had three monsters. Getting rid of one wouldn't do any good.

"Yuusuke!" Maya suddenly yelled at him. He looked up, anxiety filling his face. If he died now, she -

"Find it, Yuusuke!" Maya ordered. "The way to win - !"

And it clicked. The strange premonition. His unorthodox way of using Jar of Avarice, based on a simple hunch. And now the chance - !!

"I release Battle Fader to Advance Summon Lightlord Dragon Gragonis!" He proclaimed. Less of a dragon and more of a giant winged horse, featuring a glorious gilded armor and a golden mane, appeared on the field, replacing the pendulum that had saved his life during the last turn. "Gragonis gains 300 attack points for each Lightlord in my Graveyard, and there are four!" The majestic dragon was illuminated by four converging lights, increasing its power to a formidable 3200.

[spoiler=Lightlord Dragon Gragonis][b]Lightlord Dragon Gragonis[/b]
LIGHT / Dragon
Level 6
2000/1600
This card gains 300 ATK and DEF for each "Lightlord" monster with a different name in your Graveyard. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. During each of your End Phases, send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"So what?" His opponent taunted. "Even if you destroy Dark Creator, you won't deal enough damage to win, and as long as Core-Destroy is here, I will finish you off next turn!"

"Who said I'm targeting your Dark Creator?" Yuusuke responded, earning a surprised reflex from his foe - really, the first actual emotion barring cruelty he had sene him express. "I activate the Spell card, Spiritual Operation! I will take control of Dark Creator!!"

[spoiler=Spiritual Operation][b]Spiritual Operation[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Take control of 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field until the End Phase. This monster cannot declare an attack or be Tributed.[/spoiler]

"What?" The response was one of shock. "That is useless to you - what are you planning?!"

"Let's see." Yuusuke said as the fiend was dragged, unwillingly, by invisible chains to his side. "I cannot attack with him, and I could not have tributed him. But I can still do this! I activate Dark Creator's effect! By removing from play a Dark monster in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon another one!"

"You are bluffing! In a Lightlord deck, there are no Dark monsters in your Graveyard strong enough to - " He stepped backwards, confirming Yuusuke's suspicion that the motion suspension system had no hold on him. Half his face was still covered by the hood, but the widened mouth and blanched skin, hands frozen in mid-motion, was all Yuusuke needed to see that his opponent had caught on.

"I remove from play Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy, to revive Dark End Dragon!!" Dark Creator raised its arms, conjuring stormclouds of black thunder. A fading image of Diabolic Guy materialized, rising high to vanish into those clouds. Lightning screeched, and the black dragon made its return, roaring fiercely.

"Dark End Dragon's effect! Once again, I give up 500 of its attack points, to get rid of Light Gazer!" Similar to before, Dark End Dragon released a wave of pure black energy that enveloped the massive structure overhead, corroding it to nothingness.

"You - you bastard!" The bot lunged forward, its hood falling back in the process. Yuusuke felt the urge to vomit. The upper part of his - no, the creature's - head was barely reminiscent of a human's, however, the skin was sliced apart and stitched together, and sharp rusty nails protruded from the head. Whoever had designed this thing had a gory imagination. But the dangers it presented were real, here.

"Dark End Dragon, attack Ally of Justice Core-Destroy!" He squeaked, trying to run - but unlike his foe, the lock was still in place for him, and he could not even take a single step back. Dark End flew between him and his adversary, giving the artificial intelligence pause as, unbarred from Core-Destroy's effect that instantly wiped out Light monsters, destroyed its target, delivering 900 points of damage to the black-clad duelist program.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 800[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 700[/i][/center]

But now that the battle was out of the way, the hacked bot was on him again, reaching out with its fingers, which extended into claws. "Gragonis!" Yuusuke commanded, trying to stay as further away as the system allowed. "Direct attack!"

And fractions of a second before the claws tore into his flesh, from behind, the holy dragon unleashed a mighty roar, and a stream of white energy flew forward, enveloping his enemy, enveloping everything. For a second, he could still see the afterimage of the wicked virtual construct, smirking wildly at him, its lips forming the words 'too late' before it disappeared.

[center][i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 800[/i]
[i][b]__[/b] - LP: 0[/i][/center]

"You won!!" Taihito yelped, his voice unable to contain his relief. "You did it!"

"Aizawa-san, the code!" Maya said frantically. "We have no time!"

But before any response could come, the world began crumbling.
[/spoiler]

Problem fixed. So yeah, I see section's still as bad as always when it comes to feedback. Gotten used to it by now, so I'll just keep writing.

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=Chapter 4]
[center][b][u]Chapter 4:[/b] Royal Magical Library[/u][/center]

Darkness. Nothing disturbed this pitch-black world. The infinite void spreading out in either direction. And in its midst, the man, waiting for the end of eternity.

[i] - ke - [/i]

Noise. There is no sound in the void. No sound, no light, no feeling. Only the sensation of emptiness.

[i] - ake up - [/i]

Yet, something disturbs him. Some unidentified source of noise shakes him from his trance. What could they want? He shut them off. There was only the dark world.

And all of a sudden, a light breaks into existence, where no light should reach. Shielding his face from the ferocious luster, the man does not see the figure of the one who calls at him.

[i]Yuusuke, wake up.[/i]

-

"Yuusuke!!"

With a loud gasp, Yuusuke sat up. It took him a few seconds to register his location. He was in his room, formerly lying on his bed. With a groan of exhaustion, he collapsed back onto the mattress, unable to summon the strength to keep himself in a sitting position.

"Yuusuke, are you alright?" Aizawa Hikari, his mother, asked anxiously, checking his forehead. Yuusuke scanned the room. Both his parents were hovering over his bed, panic and relief conflicting in their faces. Maya was standing just a bit back, still as a statue - but Yuusuke could sense her tension.

What had happened? Yuusuke could distinctly remember his adventure in the Duel Field, <Blossom Garden>, where he dueled against an artificial intelligence bot crafted by a hacker. He also remembered the conclusion of the fight, his narrow victory. And then... nothing.

"How are you feeling, Yuusuke?" Taihito asked, fiddling with his fingers nervously. "You've been unconscious... for more than six hours now. We were starting to fear - ah, nevermind that. But when you went into violent convulsions just now, we were afraid - "

"Taihito, don't upset him! He still needs rest!" His mother said sternly.

"I'm fine." Yuusuke lied. He felt as if every bone in his body was molten lead. "What... what exactly happened?"

"After that... duel was over, the system started collapsing." Taihito began explaining. "The very reality of the virtual field started altering. Needless to say, a human so deeply immersed into it as you were through the Duel Terminal would suffer severe consequences... much like that poor Sanjou kid... truth be told, it's a miracle that - " He interrupted himself, coughing discreetly.

"Did you figure out the source of the... problem?" Yuusuke asked wearily.

"Everyone in the department - hell, the whole company - has been on it." His father said. "It's because of their hard work, I think, that we were able to pull you out of there fast enough... anyway, we have pulled out some information on the cause, but nothing conclusive yet. We are getting reports by the minute."

"What have you learned so far?"

Taihito started to speak, but suddenly his wife broke in. "Taihito, do not say any more to him. Yuusuke, you need to understand the situation here." She looked at him sternly. "You were in grave danger. From what Maya told me, you were concerned about your friend. It seems you two were the last ones to meet him before that accident happened. I do not know if you are doing this out of guilt, but I will not allow you to continue endangering yourself. Your father's company as well as the police are already on the case, and that boy's condition is stable. You will stay out of this."

Yuusuke felt too weak to even protest. His father was kind-hearted, but neither stubborn nor persistent enough for Yuusuke not to be able to push him around with some effort. His mother was the opposite. Head of Japan's pharmaceutical union, and renowned world-wide for her achievements in the medical field, she would not fall for whatever manipulation Yuusuke tried.

But maybe she had a point. He had almost gotten himself killed out there, if what they had told him was anything to go by. He himself felt nothing except exhaustion, but he still quite vividly remembered the details of that duel. The feeling whenever he was about to lose, before he was saved by a hair-thin thread of luck, was that of a terrible despair, of mortal danger.

"How are you feeling?" His mother demanded, scrutinizing him closely. Something of his inner turmoil must have shown on his face. "There's nothing wrong with you physically - at least, there [i]shouldn't[/i] be - but I want you to tell us if something seems off."

"I'm fine. I just need some rest." Yuusuke said, rubbing his forehead. Hikari watched him for a few more moments, before finally nodding.

"Very well. I'll be in the house, so just give a shout if you need something. Your father needs to go back to the office. Needless to say, you won't be going anywhere near a Duel Terminal for a long while. Go to sleep." And with that, all three of them left, his father muttering something about how much work he would have to pull off, and how his superiors would be mad at him for leaving his post in the middle of the crisis. Yuusuke felt like smiling. The last thing he heard before the door shut firmly behind them was his mother offering for her husband to drive Maya to return home on his way to the company.

[i]I need to get up.[/i] He thought. [i]I need to - [/i] But even his thoughts seemed murky. All sense of purpose vanished, and he could not even remember why he wanted to get up. Slowly, he fell back into a deep sleep, full of dreams about giant robots in the sky attacking him, and translucent white figures in the middle of absolute darkness calling out to him.

---

"Aizawa-san, please tell me what you've learned this far concerning the situation Yuusuke was in." Maya said. She was sitting on the front seat of the old Mercedes-Benz S300. Aizawa Taihito, on the driver's seat, looked increasingly nervous.

"Look, Maya-chan, I'm not supposed to say anything about this, you know, all confidential, corporate policy." He blabbered, like he was reciting a poem. "Besides, Hikari is right. You shouldn't get involved in this, not after... what happened." He sighed.

"Still." She pressed. "Yuusuke will not leave it like this. As soon as he's well enough to move around, he'll keep poking his nose in this, and might end up in a similar situation - or worse. I could at least dissuade him from such reckless actions. But I will need information."

"Ah well, I suppose it can't be helped." Taihito replied. "It's not like we know anything conclusive... we have traced the hacking initiation to somewhere in Germany, but that's likely a proxy set up to distract us. We located and shut down the breaches to the database and shut down the Blossom Garden for now, but it seems the damage was repaired through the server's back-up files rather fast... honestly, it is shameful, that all that damage created so much havoc, yet in the end it was just this hastily constructed... it looks more like someone has been toying with us. In fact, it makes me wonder..."

"...if the whole thing wasn't orchestrated to lure someone into a trap?" Maya finished the sentence. "Yesterday that Sanjou boy falls into a coma while dueling in there. I know no specific action was taken, but you must have checked, right? Am I right in assuming there were no other attempts to access the Blossom Garden, the server where the data of that fact was archived?"

"Of course there weren't!" Taihito said heatedly. "Just a few moments after that incident, we shut down the server, thoroughly looking through the files in order to detect any abnormalities. In fact, it was only opened tentatively, only like half an hour before Yuusuke called... many of us objected to it, since we hadn't found anything conclusive yet, but..."

"Half an hour..." Maya pondered. Her eyes widened, as a new spectrum of possibilities opened in her mind.

"Huh, Maya-chan? Is something wrong?" Taihito asked.

"Nothing important." She said. "Aizawa-san, I can get back on foot from here. Please return to your post. You need to resolve these issues quickly, before incidents like this get out of control."

"Ah... right." The man parked the car near the edge of the street, and without wasting any time, Maya jumped out. Not sparing any time for pleasantries, she began walking as fast as possible without seeming to run. As soon as the white Mercedes was out of sight, she changed directions, turning into a back corner.

[i]They shut down the server, then half an hour, just a bit after we met up with that policeman and Yuusuke made up his mind they re-open it? Just for Yuusuke to enter and be confronted with such a situation? Don't joke. There's something fishy here.[/i]

There were many Duel Terminal booths scattered over Japan. Though most people preferred to play in arcade stores, a booth could be found almost anywhere. Due to the framework of the Duel Terminal net, there was little maintainance involved barring server-side remote procedures. As long as a booth remained connected and undamaged, it should be functional. Maya walked into an alleyway, and climbed down through a rusty staircase into what used to be a parking lot, abandoned for over ten years. For whatever reason, someone had purchased and install a Duel Terminal during that time. Maya assumed it had been setup as part of underground entertainment - she knew the place used to be a popular spot for obscure teenager parties - but whatever the reason, it had been left here, forgotten. Maya, who had discovered it accidentally as she explored the area after moving in her current residence five years ago, made sure it remained in decent condition, and used it occasionally when she wanted to play undisturbed.

She knew that Duel International, the corporation which handled the Duel Terminal system, was working to the best of its abilities to resolve the issue. She also knew that they had shut down access to all Duel Fields. But Maya also knew, that there was one last thing she should be able to do.

Separate from the Duel Fields, there was one more 'area' in the Duel Terminal system that could be accessed. That area, the <Vision Cathedral>, was a massive library of records storing all the events happening in the Duel Fields, in compressed data form. A user who wanted to research a specific event, Duel, or the actions of another user which occured within the boundary of the Duel Terminal system could accomplish this within the Cathedral. Because the administrators had access to server-side data, they, of course, would not even bother verifying it. But, Maya's observations earlier that day had proven that a surprising amount of information could be accessed via a theoretically inferior means, if said means had a more direct access to the source. And what better way to circumvent the information concealment that was clouding the 'outside' world's sight, than to use a method provided by the system from the 'inside'.

Was Maya the only one who had thought of utilizing the <Cathedral> like that? Quite possibly. Most people wouldn't even think of searching out Duel data inside the Cathedral. To begin with, normally such data could be accessed directly via the network's database, where they were kept for security purposes, but were open to the public. The difference was that the data were presented as a recorded stream via huge screens, sort of like a television. That was the bonus the Cathedral provided. But even if they actually did follow Maya's trail of thought and arrived to the same conclusion, they still would not be able to use the Vision Cathedral. The reason was simple: most did not even know about its existence, much less have access to it. And that was because the Cathedral was a hidden area, a feature only available to those users who surpassed the prestigious rank of 90.

First, Maya retrieved a card from the front pocket of her school uniform, which consisted of a plain blue skirt and a white blouse. An actual card to be seen was rare in this time, but this one was not used for dueling. The Duel Terminal had a slot for scanning cards - if you could obtain a card in real life, you were entitled to possess it in the virtual system as well, so a single card could be scanned once to provide the account's user the privilege of acquiring it in the game. Of course, that was rarely practiced, as actual cards were long out of production, and most of the existing ones were found inside fanatics' collections, and the few that were still traded around could reach prices in the hundreds of thousands of yen. Maya's card did something different. If scanned, it acted as a proxy between the user who would then input their data and the system. Though allowing access freely, it would distort the information logged, making it seem as if another, previously designated account, was logging in in their place. The concealment was complete - even the avatar's appearance would change when the data was reviewed, and any possible changes in statistics would be applied to the proxy account. The only way to confirm the fraud would be to verify card data - but even though each card was unique, if the user paid attention not to carry or use any cards not owned under the other account, noone would think to double-check the 'serial numbers' that guaranteed said uniqueness. And, the truth could be unveiled in the Vision Cathedral. But those were the only flaws that tool had, as far as Maya knew.

Possession of it allowed her to log in with her real account while still making it seem like she was using her alternate account. Another severe violation of the rules, and the very law in this case, Maya had used a fake identity to obtain her second account. But, since she was careful enough not to abuse that ability, she had thus far managed to maintain both her virtual personas, and still maintain the illusion that Stiyel Crystal, ranked 92 and former European champion, had vanished without a trace.

Mechanically, she entered her information. Stiyel Crystal, her avatar, was an impressive sight. Her figure was tall and imperious, garbed in the black-and-white robe that was the <Night Queen's Regalia>, obtained from acquiring first place in the European championship. She was not carrying a Duel Disk. Rather, her equipment for dueling was a scepter, the <Rod of Dominion>, which allowed her to duel while giving the impression that she was controlling her cards with sorcery. Piercing blue eyes glanced back at Maya through the Terminal's panel, while silver hair flowed all the way down to her waist. As Maya had thought, all Duel-related options, even local computer matches, had been disabled. However, when she entered her options, <Roam Mode> was still enabled, which meant the Cathedral was accessible. Another accessory, the <Velvet Grimoire>, allowed her to, rather than bring one deck at a time, carry as many of her archived decks as she wished, allowing her to choose between them even directly before entering a duel. Equipping herself as appropriate, she entered the Vision Cathedral.

She immediately found herself before a large structure made of pure white marble. Despite the name, it hardly resembled the Roman-Catholic churches in Europe. It was more like a small palace, framed symetrically by elaborate columns. It blazed white under the brilliant sun that seemed to be shining overhead. Entry to the building was granted by two great oaken doors, their peaks forming a massive archway.

Vision Cathedral was unlike any other Duel Field. Because only a bare minimum of people were meant to access it, it was a continuous instance and not a virtual structure that was renewed every time someone accessed it, and thus there was no need to cater for resources upon design. Every bit of it was perfectly designed, an accurate replica of reality. There was no need for a motion prevention system here. Maya was a little wary that she might encounter another player in this instanced world, but considering that it was late in the afternoon in Japan, it was hardly likely that someone who would personally recognize her avatar, in the Night Queen's Regalia that she had not once worn in any public display, before she could quickly log out, would be able to identify her. If they did... or even if they didn't, but thought to alert the administrators... well, it was a risk coming here. Maya wasn't unique - all the Duelists ranked in the uppermost ten bracket of skill, measured in the fingers of one hand, were peculiar folk, and a meeting with any of them could prove quite eventful. But, she needed answers.

The gates opened at her touch into a corridor, covered by a thick red carpet. On either side, along the black-and-white walls forming chess-like patterns, stood statues of the avatars of those crowned champions. There were twelve of them, six on either side. Maya quickly spotted her, a spitting image of the form she had currently assumed, barring the attire. The statue was gigantic, reaching halfway to the domed ceiling which loomed overhead. The girl shook her head - the only ones who would be able to see these statues would have had one built in their honor as well, as whoever reached a skill rank of 90 or higher was good enough to be crowned champion in at least one of the major leagues.

The corridor led to three rooms. To the left there was a door which led to the <Halls of Reflection>, a chamber which archived past data. It was one of the largest virtual databases in the entire world, containing immense amounts of data. To the right, a similar door led to the <Aeroscopium>, whose function was exactly the same, except it observed events that were currently underway. And the door straight ahead, far more meticulously designed than any of the previous - that one, Maya had not unlocked, neither did she know anyone who had ventured beyond it.

Though the area she was interested in were the Halls of Reflection, she quickly opened the door to the Aeroscopium and verified noone was inside. That was a simple task - though the room was vast, with huge libraries that could host thousands of records to be watched at any given moment, and ten tables in the middle where duels could be observed via monitors, currently there were no records in those shelves, as the system had been disabled, and Maya could easily scan the length of the room with her eyes, ensuring noone was occupying it. Without wasting any more time, she entered the Halls of Reflection.

If the Aeroscopium was spacious, it was a candle before a bonfire compared to the massive Halls of Reflection. The far edges of the room would not have been visible even had there not been libraries similar to the ones in the Aeroscopium to obstruct sight. Yet these libraries reached much higher, with giant staircases to enable access to the records located higher. Checking for someone's presence here was not as easy a task - people could wander about for hours in this room and still not meet up with each other through this maze of furniture.

However, the central area, with about twenty tables meant for observation, was largely the same as in the Aeroscopium. Maya quickly moved to one of the tables - movement was slightly accelerated here, and she had the strange sensation of gliding along an invisible automatic staircase that moved under her feet - and opened up the computer in front of her, while situating herself onto the gilded armchair. The computer in question was nothing but a touchpad, the screen being projected in front of her like a hologram. She quickly clicked on the correct options. Through some weird impulse, she first decided to check up yesterday's events. Entering the username 'Thunderbolt Knight', which, according to Yuusuke, belonged to that Kiishiro, and yesterday's date, she found a list of the duels he had participated in. Scanning through the listing of the half a dozen entries, she discovered, to her dismay, that the latest duel he had been recorded to participate in was before the time Yuusuke and Maya had entered the store. She frowned. So there wasn't anything to be figured out about that incident here. But what about Yuusuke's duel? Quickly, she reset the form and entered different information.

[i]There.[/i] The results clearly displayed the truth. The record of his duel existed. Almost frantic, Maya clicked on it to view the detailed information panel, and -

She blinked, twice, to make sure she wasn't mistaken. It was all there. Yuusuke's opponent, with a name that was the same as the array of symbols she had memorized earlier. His rank, ??. The duel was fully recorded, with information up to the last turn and Yuusuke's victory. She clicked on the enemy's profile. As she thought, it was empty, just like an artificial bot's profile would be. She looked through the cards that had been used. All of the 'Ally of Justice' monsters seemed fully integrated into the database, yet Maya was certain those cards had never been released. After a scan for relevant entries, she even found information on [i]other[/i] monsters of that archetype, apart from the ones she had seen in action. Her eyes pausing on a Synchro monster for a second, she shivered - what could have happened if he had managed to bring out [i]that[/i]? - but she quickly regained her sense of purpose. She could not share any of this with Yuusuke's father, of course, who would likely not even know of the existence of the Cathedral - as Maya had been told, much as it was with the duelist community, it was a secret even within the company, known only to the higher-level administrators who were responsible for its maintainance, and Maya did not, naturally, want to disclose her true identity. But there were ways to leave information anonymously. With what was recorded here, they could extract valuable hints and delve deeper into the situation. But first, she had her own research to do. She clicked the button that showed her the exact coordinates of the record.

Maya stood up, searching for library number 18954, record number 1059872. When she had first learned about this place, she had asked the administrator acting as her guide why they couldn't just open the desired records via the menu. The answer was reasonable - however powerful the computers in the room were, there was no way they could keep so much data stored for quick access, therefore it was necessary to only store a 'key' to the location, from where it could be retrieved. When she had asked, annoyed, why not create an automatic system that produces the records upon request, eliminating the need for such a massive chamber, he had shrugged and said that then, the whole point of the Cathedral would be defeated. Perhaps he had been right - Maya did not care. But the fact that the libraries and records were not stored chronologically, rather under a variety of parameters, made things more difficult for her. Yuusuke's duel against that thing should have been the very last one to have occured, as the systems were shut down quickly thereafter, so if there was a definite library that held the 'latest' records, that's where Maya could find it. But there wasn't, and so Maya had to look around carefully to pinpoint the direction of the designated library - thankfully the room was well-organized - and skim to it, then use the stairs to access an upper shelf of records, where the disk which had recorded today's highly improbable events. She picked it up, and quickly returned to the table she had been situated in.

A man was sitting there.

Her first reaction was to back away swiftly, hoping to leave unnoticed. But that was replaced by a pulse of shock, when that person turned around to look at her. He was old, his balding hair almost completely grey, and quite a few wrinkles marred his face. He was wearing rectangular glasses with a white bone frame. His clothing could almost be said casual - a white shirt tucked into a pair of blue trousers, accompanied by a matching blue tie. On the back of the chair a jacket was draped. He was reading something printed on the computer screen, before turning around to look at Maya.

The man was Cornelius Klein, president of Duel International's branch in Europe, and one of the richest and most important men in the world - and a man Maya hated with all her might.
[/spoiler]

So, chapter 4. This is the first chapter of the story that contains no duel. Also, someone. Comment!

[xNightshadex]

Nice fan-fic. A great concept if you ask me. I never played a Duel Terminal and I don't know much about them, but I'm guessing you made up this virtual word?

Like I said, the concept, in my opinion, is probably one of the best I've seen. The characters are nice too, but I'm not sure who the central character of the story is yet.

I'm really interested to see what happens with the Duel Terminals and why the bug/hacker is in there. And I want to know why ZONE had a Signer Deck.

Quick question before I go, but these are Japanese names for the cards, right? I noticed some of the effects, but not the names, so I thought it might be the Japanese names.

Anyway, you defiantely have a follower in me. I'll be looking forward to more chapters.

[Vector Nightmare]

[quote name='xNightshadex' timestamp='1293611696' post='4892189']Nice fan-fic. A great concept if you ask me. I never played a Duel Terminal and I don't know much about them, but I'm guessing you made up this virtual word?[/quote]

No, Duel Terminals in Japan function exactly as I described [/bad attempt at humour]

[quote name='xNightshadex' timestamp='1293611696' post='4892189']Like I said, the concept, in my opinion, is probably one of the best I've seen. The characters are nice too, but I'm not sure who the central character of the story is yet.[/quote]

Thanks a lot. Nah, don't think about 'central characters' and stuff. Everyone is important in their own way, and the main character status is, I guess, shared between the three.

[quote name='xNightshadex' timestamp='1293611696' post='4892189']I'm really interested to see what happens with the Duel Terminals and why the bug/hacker is in there. And I want to know why ZONE had a Signer Deck.

Quick question before I go, but these are Japanese names for the cards, right? I noticed some of the effects, but not the names, so I thought it might be the Japanese names.[/quote]

Yeah, as I think I have mentioned somewhere, I'm using OCG names for all cards. Since I have a description right underneath where each card is used, and I'm only using TCG/OCG cards this far, I think it's pretty easy to figure out what's what.

[quote name='xNightshadex' timestamp='1293611696' post='4892189']Anyway, you defiantely have a follower in me. I'll be looking forward to more chapters.[/quote]

Thanks a lot - it is heartening to know that someone actually finds what you write worth their time to read. I'm already halfway through chapter 6, I'm just spacing out the posting a bit.

[xNightshadex]

Like I said, I have no knowledge of Duel Terminals and it sounded like something you would find in a sci-fi movie, so I just guessed you made it up.

That's what I do a lot, have each character in the story be a major character. I don't like spending time writing about a character just for him to have nothing to do with the plot.

I thought it was the OCG names, but just wanted to make sure.

Yes, I know how it feels when someone likes your work which you spent a lot of time on. It, for me, gives you motivation to keep moving forward with the work.

[Vector Nightmare]

[spoiler=Chapter 5]
[center][b][u]Chapter 5:[/b] Devil's Sanctuary[/u][/center]

At a loss, Maya could only stare at the man. Cornelius Klein. What was he doing here? Maya needed time to think.

"Do not look so frightened, miss Stiyel Crystal." He said in English, a language Maya knew well. "I'd like to say that, but if I were to verify it now, the person who I am speaking to at this moment could be none other than the inconspicuous Sinclair, not at all related to the legendary Lady Crystal, whose statue stands outside these very doors, right?"

"What are you doing here?" Maya said, gritting her teeth. When she disliked a person, be they a classmate or one of the head executives of the biggest company in the world, she made sure they knew that.

"Is that a question you should be asking me?" Cornelius asked in return, more serious now. "Fool girl, do you believe none of us would discover your fraud? Especially at this time, we kept everything under constant scan. When I saw a duelist in the 30s entering the Vision Cathedral, I couldn't believe my eyes. But that explains it all."

"Whatever you want to do with me, I'll have no part in it." Maya held up a hand. Whatever she could find out, [i]nothing[/i] was worth negotiations with Cornelius Klein.

"I wouldn't disconnect if I were you." Cornelius said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "If you were to do that, you wouldn't be able to listen to what I have to say, and that would upset me. Who knows? A fake identity, even if created for such an innocuous reason as creating a secondary account in a game - I wonder, was it just for that? - is a serious offense. A few calls to the right people, and you'll be running away from the police ten minutes from now."

As much as she hated to admit it, Maya saw Cornelius had a point. She had blundered her way into his hands, and now she was going to have to dance out of his clutches. Silent, she sat on a chair opposite to him. "I'm listening." She said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"That's a good girl. Now, where should I start? I believe you came here looking for some answers. Though I can extrapolate them, I have not yet heard your questions." Cornelius replied smoothly.

"What happened to Sanjou Kiishiro yesterday, when he was thrown into a coma during a duel he wasn't supposed to be having?" Maya snapped. "What happened to Aizawa Yuusuke earlier today, when he was trapped into a Duel Field and forced to fight against a hacked bot using illegal cards? And how are these two connected?" Despite her outburst, Duel International's president nodded, as if her questions had matched his expectations letter-for-letter.

"Concerning what happened to young Kiishiro, the answer is... nothing." He raised a preemptive finger against Maya's protest. "And by that, I mean that nothing has been recorded to have happened. We checked - and we have far more reliable methods of finding out the truth than even what lies within this Cathedral - but all that happened was that the boy entered a Duel Field, inexplicably in Duel mode even without a determined opponent, and then he received some shock of unidentified origin, sending him into a coma. You might be surprised, but this is not the first time we've been confronted with such an incident. During the testing period, such accidents were... rather common. The fact that he was in Duel mode might have been a bug."

"Convenient." Maya replied sarcastically. She understood that Cornelius was taunting her, but she also sensed that in this case, he had told her no less than what they knew themselves. It seemed that that damned boy's fate was equally unclear to everyone. "And about Yuusuke?" At that point, the man's slight grin widened.

"What would you like to know about that event?" He had the gall to ask.

"Everything." Maya said. "For starters, who was his opponent? Why was he forced into a duel against his will?"

"As I said earlier, being switched to <Duel Mode> automatically can sometimes occur. It is a recent bug, and one that we haven't been able to address. As for his opponent, it was an experimental bot that was matched up with Yuusuke, thanks to the aforementioned issue. The system received a flawed stream of input data, and performed a match-making according to what it had received. The unidentifiable ranking and irregular username are both recently implemented features."

Maya could not believe her ears. Was this man taking her for a complete idiot, or was he provoking her with such absurd lies? "Yuusuke couldn't disconnect from the server." She said finally.

"I'm afraid this question stems from a misunderstanding." Cornelius sighed. "You said that disconnecting was disabled during that Duel. I will ask you this - are you certain? Did Yuusuke try, in front of your eyes, to disconnect and failed?"

"What are you talking about!" Maya snapped incredulously. "Yuusuke's father is an executive in your damn company! They tried to get him out, but they couldn't! Not until the duel was finished! And they all discovered traces of hacking!" Cornelius simply observed her outburst.

"Japanese people always jump at straws." He said finally. "We were just updating the Japanese servers with the new data, and due to the circumstances, and the fact that noone was paying enough attention to notice, they interpreted it as hacking. It really doesn't say much for the quality of our employees in Japan. And they were supposed to be the main branch, too... as for why they couldn't disconnect him. Why they couldn't even locate him, for that matter, at least not via the usual routes. It's simple. Yuusuke had, for some reason, connected to the European servers. We had no idea, of course, and if someone had thought to inform us, it would have been easy to resolve. But, that's how it was. Yuusuke connected to the European servers, falling prey to an annoying, but troublesome bug. Due to the circumstances, he felt that trying to disconnect would be pointless, and instead attempted to resolve the issue server-side, which was, of course, impossible from Japan without authorization. Since noone thought to check for irregularities like that, everyone went into an uproar, and they misinterpreted the transfer of data as a hacking attempt."

"Then why did the server start collapsing once the duel was over?" Maya demanded. But it seemed nothing would faze Cornelius.

"That was our own anti-hacker measure activating." He replied smoothly. "In a scenario such as this, with an illegal intrusion into the servers coupled with the mayhem caused by the reaction of the Japanese branch, our systems were forced to activate their self-defense mechanisms. The portion of the server that was thought to have been corrupted was deleted, and backed-up shortly thereafter."

[i]And that's that[/i], it was as if she was being told, as if this was all some story she could easily believe. This string of circumstances might have been enough to satisfy an outside observer, perhaps, but Maya knew better.

"This is insane." She managed to say. "You [i]cannot[/i] believe this was all some coincidence. These two events must be connected somehow!"

"Whether you believe me or not is entirely up to you." Cornelius rose. "I do not care about that. The issue has been resolved, all misunderstandings have been cleared up, and the Duel Terminal system has been restored to its full function once more in Japan. But, Stiyel Crystal, you have caused me quite a bit of trouble. You've been thrown accusations here and there, but as far as I can see, you are responsible for the most serious offenses here. You created a duplicate account and exploited an illegal tool to conceal that information, all the while in full knowledge that your actions violated the rules of the game. You cannot go unpunished for this."

"And, what are you going to do about it?" Whatever Cornelius thought, Maya was not as careless as not to have prepared a back-up. If she was forced to bargain, she held some very powerful cards.

"I am not heartless enough to not give you a chance to redeem yourself." Cornelius surprised her. "This is the Duel Terminal system, after all, so it's fair if your punishment is determined by a duel. If you win, I'll let you be."

"And if I lose?" Maya asked tentatively.

"For starters, we'll delete your account - both of them. Then, we'll inform the police of your double identity fraud." Cornelius smiled unpleasantly. "But, last time I checked, you were still the European champion. You should have no problem beating down an old man like me."

"I will be dueling [i]you[/i]?" Maya asked incredulously.

"Why yes, it would be pretty bad if we let word of this issue fall into the wrong ears, no?" Cornelius replied, still smiling. Reluctantly, Maya nodded. She had no choice but to accept those terms for now - and she still ought to learn as much of the truth as possible.

"I accept your conditions." She said. "Let's get on with this."

"Then, follow me." Cornelius Klein stood up, and, walking at a leisurely pace, walked out of the Halls of Reflection. Maya followed him close behind. She wondered what he had in mind, since there was no provision for dueling inside the Cathedral. Would they go to some other virtual area? But then Cornelius turned to the left, heading towards the locked door. Maya tried to suppress her curiosity. And then, the gates, forged out of ornate black steel, opened. Despite herself, Maya let out what sounded very much like a shriek of terror.

That locked room was a circle, like an arena, with spectator seats placed amphitheatrically around. But the white marbles were stained crimson with fresh blood. And the ones that populated the seats - clad exactly like the entity that had fought Yuusuke earlier this morning, except their hoods were drawn down, and instead of heads, they had bleeding stumps. Maya fought the urge to vomit. This was all a hologram... wasn't it? But then she looked around. Placed symetrically around the arena, with only a single one missing for the entrance, were pikes, and atop each a head was nailed, blood still flowing from its severed neck, its frozen expression depicting various degrees of horror and pain. Maya did not have to count to realize that they were the heads of the people whose corpses now watched from the seats, waiting for a new victim to join their ranks.

"What... is this...?" Maya was too frightened to move. Without realizing it, though, she was already one step away from the circular ground of the arena, and the doors had shut down tightly behind her. No matter what... Maya just [i]felt[/i] that this was more than an illusory projection.

"This is the final battlefield of the Duel Terminal game, the last stage, if you will." Cornelius stepped ahead, taking his place in the arena. "Don't worry. Everything you see is just for decor. I admit it's a little outdated, but it does its job. Now come. We have a battle to compete in, and we do not want to keep our audience waiting." Unwilling, Maya's feet carried her to the designated position in the arena. When she looked, Cornelius Klein was gone, and in its stead stood a black-clad creature, taller than the old man had been. Its cloak covered its arms and legs completely, concealing even the hands. Its hood was draped over its back. And instead of a head, a skull sat on top of the cloak, glaring at her with its empty sockets. As usual when a duel would start, the panel overhead displayed the statistics for the two opponents. Numbly, Maya glanced at the opponent's information. Name, King of Dead. Rank, one hundred.

"Welcome, Stiyel Crystal." The voice that belonged to Cornelius Klein reached her ears, distorted, more reminiscent of the grinding of metal against metal than any sound a human could produce. "Welcome to the Dead Zone."

---

When Sanjou Kiishiro opened his eyes, he halfway expected to see nothing but his bedroom, to find himself in the familiar confines of his bed. But he had no such fortune. All around him was white. A quick glance between heavy eyelids confirmed that he was in a cylindrical room, whose roof was so far ahead Kiishiro couldn't yet discern it. With a start, as he caught sight of himself, he realized that he wasn't 'Sanjou Kiishiro'. His body had taken the form of his virtual persona, Thunderbolt Knight, instead. "What... is going on?" He asked noone in particular. His head throbbed, and his muscles felt strained, as if he hadn't moved for a long while. Had he ever felt pain while connected to the Duel Terminal? No - was it even possible to fall asleep here? What the hell had happened to him?

Then abruptly, it dawned to him. The events of that day. Visiting the arcade. Winning a few games. The encounter with Aizawa Yuusuke and Kirizaki Maya. And then - the strange duel request from a high-ranked duelist called ZONE. And then -

Kiishiro screamed, as he remembered the horror of having his flesh pierced, torn, and ravaged by the attack of the creature that should have existed only as a projection. He shivered incontrollably - he felt as if he had died in that attack, he [i]should[/i] have died. But wasn't that an illusion too? Had that pain been an illusion?

"Rise, Thunderbolt Knight."

Kiishiro leapt to his feet, turning to face the direction of the voice. He had been alone till now, he was certain, but now he was faced by the very same person, if it could even be called that, who had sent that Black Rose Dragon onto him.

"Zone!" He yelled, anger and fear fighting in his voice. "What have you done to me? Where am I?" Then he noticed that ZONE's voice was that of a regular human. Deeper and with a strange hue to it, as if something you'd hear over a slightly malfunctional telephone line, but still decidedly human.

"You are inside the Duel Terminal network. This is a subspace, a private virtual world to which I hold the keys. I have brought you here because I need your help."

"What are you talking about?" Kiishiro laughed bitterly. "I swear, if this is some weird quest or event of the game..."

"This is reality." ZONE interrupted him, his tone so serious that Kiishiro was forced to focus his attention. "You, and many others, are in grave danger thanks to the network known as the Duel Terminal. I brought you here because I need you to help me prevent that danger from being realized."

"The only danger I've seen is when that crazy monster of yours slashed me down!" Kiishiro yelled, losing his patience.

"That was necessary. I had to bring you here, and I needed a shock strong enough to sever the part of your brain that handled the Duel Terminal's signals from your consciousness. That was the only way I could fully integrate you into this reality. Rest assured, your body lies comatose, but healthy and safe. It is here where the true peril lies."

"You are insane." Kiishiro concluded. "You are... you must be some bug right? Some corrupted code, some... you are a hacker, right?"

"I was once a savior." ZONE said. Kiishiro felt bitterness in those words. "A savior, and a destroyer. I have paid the price for my sins, and I can save nothing any more. That is why I need you, and others, who will act as my will and hand. I have long now forsaken all claims to the right of existence, but for you, for others - for humanity - you need to listen to me, and fight."

And so, Kiishiro listened.

---

[center][i][b]Duel Commencing[/b][/i][/center]

Despite her opponent's frightening appearance, the duel procedures commenced as normal. Before Maya could make any choice regarding the turn order, Cornelius - if that creature was even him - surrendered the choice to her. Maya hesitated. The deck she had selected for this duel - there were no duel disks or decks to be seen for either player here, but the system had already registered all the information normally - would benefit more if she began second. But did she dare let him take the first move. Grinding her teeth, she clicked the option to forfeit the first turn. She couldn't allow herself to be dragged out of her game.

"So be it." Cornelius said, though it was more of a snarl. Five enlarged holographic cards, their backs turned to their respective opponents, appeared before both Maya and Cornelius. For the latter, a sixth one soon materialized next to the others.

[center][i][b]King of Dead[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Stiyel Crystal[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

"I will place one monster in Defense mode." Cornelius said. One of the cards floating in front of him vanished, to set itself horizontally on the field. "Then I activate the magic card, Golden Chest of Sealing. It removes from play a card in my Deck, and two turns later, brings it to my hand. Another card materialized out of thin air, but a golden sarcophagus with a strange eye-like symbol carved on it appeared, opening its lid and hiding it within its depths. The sarcophagus dissolved into mist.

[spoiler=Golden Chest of Sealing][b]Golden Chest of Sealing[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Select and remove from play 1 card in your Deck. During your second Standby Phase after this card's activation, add the removed card to your hand.[/spoiler]

[i]What was that about?[/i] Maya wondered. She tried to check the panel for the data of the card Cornelius had just removed. With the Golden Chest of Sealing, that should be possible, but for some reason all she saw was a white card with blank data.

"Don't be in such a rush, my dear." Cornelius said, the skeletal smirk that widened on the skull he had for a head looking all the more frightening. "You'll find out everything... soon enough. For now, three cards face-down. Turn end."

"My turn, draw!" Maya raised the Rod of Dominion, materializing another card in front of her. "When my opponent controls a monster but I control none, I can Special Summon Priest of the Sun from my hand." A man clad like a shaman of native American origin, carrying a scepter and bearing the emblem of a red sun on the front of his shirt, appeared on the field, holding his rod in front of him in a defensive stance.

[spoiler=Priest of the Sun][b]Priest of the Sun[/b]
LIGHT / Spellcaster
Level 5
1000/2000
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can add to your hand 1 "Fire Ant Ascator" or 1 "Supay" from your Deck.[/spoiler]

"And now I Summon Red Ant Ascator!" Maya continued. A crawling black-and-red insect appeared next to the priest.

[spoiler=Red Ant Ascator][b]Red Ant Ascator[/b]
EARTH / Insect / Tuner
Level 3
700/1300
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can select and Special Summon 1 Level 5 monster from your Graveyard. Its effect(s) is negated, and it is sent to the Graveyard during the End Phase of this turn.[/spoiler]

"I tune my Level 5 Priest of the Sun to my Level 3 Red Ant Ascator." Maya raised her free hand, and a burst of red light exploded upwards. "Synchro Summon!" Both monsters were consumed in that light, forming three circles and five red stars that passed between them. "Descend, Sun Dragon Inti!"

[spoiler=Sun Dragon Inti][b]Sun Dragon Inti[/b]
LIGHT / Dragon / Synchro
Level 8
3000/2800
"Red Ant Ascator" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, destroy the monster that destroyed this card, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to half that monster's ATK. If this card on the field is destroyed, during the Standby Phase of the next turn, you can Special Summon 1 "Moon Dragon Quilla" from your Graveyard.[/spoiler]

A creature materialized under a blinding light, similar to no other dragon monster in the game. It resembled a miniature sun, as depicted in ancient paintings, personified like a human face. And from its back, four heads attached to elongated necks, each bearing semblance to an oriental dragon, floated around the sphere.

"Ooh, as expected from the champion of Europe." Cornelius laughed. "A Synchro monster with 3000 attack on your first turn, impressive."

"Battle! Sun Dragon Inti, attack his face-down monster!" Maya ordered. The four dragonheads converged onto the concealed card, each enveloped in a blazing red light.

"...I'd like to say that, but you are only helping me with that maneouver! My face-down monster is Dandylion!" Cornelius said as the sunflower creature was revealed, bravely standing its ground against the overwhelming power of the Sun Dragon, before it was completely annihilated. "When it is destroyed, two tokens are Special Summoned in Defense Position."

[spoiler=Dandylion][b]Dandylion[/b]
EARTH / Plant
Level 3
300/300
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fluff Tokens" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position. These Tokens cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon during the turn they are Special Summoned.[/spoiler]

"Be that as it may, I place two cards face-down." Maya said. Dandylion? It was somewhat hard to believe, that in such a ridiculous environment, a card as... ordinary as that was the fellow's opening move. What was his goal? Maya was very much afraid it would not take long for her to find out. "Turn - "

"Before that, I'd like to activate my Trap card." Cornelius interrupted. "It's called Truth Reinforce, and it will Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck. Come, Hero Kids! And when this monster is Summoned from the deck, it calls forth all monsters with the same name!" True enough, three children in futuristic superhero suits, their heads covered by glass tubes, appeared on the field, next to the two miniature tokens.

[spoiler=Truth Reinforce][b]Truth Reinforce[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Warrior-Type monster from your Deck. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Hero Kids][b]Hero Kids[/b]
EARTH / Warrior
Level 2
300/600
When this card is Special Summoned, you can Special Summon any number of "Hero Kids" from your Deck.[/spoiler]

Hero Kids? This was too much. What kind of crazy deck was this guy playing? But it did not escape Maya's attention that he had built an overwhelming field presence with just two cards. Did he intend to Synchro something? But, surely there were more efficient ways to do it than [i]this[/i], for a person who had access to, presumably, every single card in the game?

"I'll take it from here, if you don't mind." Maya nodded, and another card was added in front of Cornelius' hand. At least Maya had to move her scepter to maintain the illusion of telekinesis - there was no motion she could be on the gruesome hologram's part.

"You should not forget that this Standby Phase brings me one turn closer to obtaining the card sealed within the golden chest." Cornelius said. The lid atop the sarcophagus slid with an audible sound, and an intense light emerged from within - but it was still half-shut. "Now, I activate the permanent magic, Treasure of Dark World. Its effect states that, when I release two or more monsters for a tribute summon, I am entitled to draw two cards."

[spoiler=Treasure of Dark World][b]Treasure of Dark World[/b]
SPELL / Continuous
When you successfully Tribute Summon or Set a monster that required 2 or more Tributes, draw 2 cards from your Deck.[/spoiler]

"Tribute summon?" Maya frowned in disbelief. It was true that certain decks exploited it very well, but Tribute summoning was considered quite lackluster compared to Synchro, or even Fusion summon, mainly due to the lack of speed and necessity to expend card resources. A deck focused around summoning monsters with two releases...

"Let me tell you a story, Stiyel Crystal." Cornelius said, the skull's empty sockets glaring directly at her face, as if seeking to bore into her skull. "The foremost rule our company followed when designing the Duel Terminal system... all cards would be available to all players equally. It did not matter if one was ranked in the tens and another in the nineties, they'd both have access to the same card pool, and need the same amount of Duel Points to acquire them. Thanks to that system, there wasn't much discrepancy in the time needed to accumulate Duel Points between different ranks. Therefore, you could say the playing field was even. Not quite, though." Cornelius smirked briefly with his deformed features, causing a shiver to run down Maya's spine. "Most people don't remember this now, but the game we are playing, Duel Monsters, was originally part of a television show. In that series, there were rare and powerful cards that occasionally acted as important plot elements. When we recreated the game, we did not place those 'unique' cards in the database. We thought of two possibilities: one, that they would become so widespread due to their fame that every second duelist would be using them, and two, they would be rather hard to use and not quite competitive compared to other, faster options, that noone would use them and they'd be soon forgotten. Needless to say, we wanted neither of these to happen."

A single card in the middle of the row that represented his hand began glowing gold. Maya unconsciously stepped back. Cornelius smiled. "Only one of each cards was made, and none of them were ever available to the public. What I said before - depending on how you look at it, however unique or strong they might be, the requirements for their summoning and use generally make decks based around them weaker than you might think. However, there is one undeniable factor. In the right environment, under the right circumstances - the mere visage of one of these cards can be a life-changing experience." The singled-out card burst into shreds. "I offer my three Hero Kids as sacrifices!" The three identical child heroes squirmed and shrieked in agony, clutching their necks. Black stormclouds amassed overhead, shrouding the light shed by Maya's Sun Dragon. Suddenly the offered monsters exploded into pixels, and red streams of particles flowed from their shattered bodies towards the clouds.

"Come, THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT!!"

Maya screamed. The earth erupted, and from within emerged the most horrifying creature she had ever laid eyes on. A giant demon carved out of bone and black flesh, towering almost to the roof of the already gigantic arena, unleashed an unearthly roar. That monster was terrible, and what was more, it was [i]real[/i], she understood that, in a way that couldn't be described by thoughts, that this monster existed beyond the boundaries of this virtual world.

[spoiler=THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT][b]THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 10
4000/4000
This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set except by Tributing 3 monsters. Halve the ATK and DEF of all monsters on the field, except this card.[/spoiler]

"Thanks to my permanent magic, I draw twice." Cornelius continued, reveling in Maya's fear. "And now, DREAD-ROOT's effect. All monsters on the field have their attack points halved!" Even the mighty Sun Dragon squirmed before the pressure released by DREAD-ROOT's presence alone. Maya found it hard to breathe. She could only watch as the menacing devil unleashed a pulse of dark energy, diminishing Inti's attack points to a mere 1500.

"Battle!" Cornelius commanded, triumphantly. "THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT, attack Sun Dragon Inti!" DREAD-ROOT raised its clawed arm, and a shockwave was flung towards Maya's monster.

"Not so fast!" Maya regained her senses fast enough to retaliate. "Reverse card, open! Holy Barrier - Mirror Force!" A motion of her staff revealed the infamous cards that would destroy all opposing attack position monsters upon attack declaration.

"Counter Trap, Dark Shrine Bribery!" Cornelius said immediately. "The activation and effect of your Trap is negated, but in exchange, you can draw one card."

[spoiler=Holy Barrier - Mirror Force][b]Holy Barrier - Mirror Force[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Dark Shrine Bribery][b]Dark Shrine Bribery[/b]
TRAP / Counter
Negate the activation of an opponent's Spell or Trap Card and destroy it. Your opponent draws 1 card.[/spoiler]

[i]Oh, no.[/i] Maya hardly even noticed as a new card was added to her hand. The only thing within her line of sight was the stream of destruction that enveloped her monster. And then pain. She was beyond screaming - her whole body felt like it was being torn apart, frozen and boiled, swallowed whole and battered down to dust.

As soon as it had began, it was over. Maya was on her knees - when had she collapsed? - the Rod of Dominion laying beside her. This was... unreal. She knew it. This was the Devil's power. In the blink of an eye, she was a bit over halfway to death.

[center][i][b]King of Dead[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Stiyel Crystal[/b] - LP: 1500[/i][/center]

"Down so soon?" The skeletal King mocked. "Don't disappoint me, my dear Stiyel. A duelist of your caliber must have something more in store, no?"

"To hell with you!" Maya stood up on trembling feet, raising her scepter and pointing at the giant figure towering over the field. "Sun Dragon Inti's effect! When destroyed by battle, it will destroy the monster responsible and inflict damage to you equal to half that monster's attack strength!" An illusory vision of the Sun Dragon materialized in front of her, the necks extending until the dragonheads reached the DREAD-ROOT.

"Not good enough! I activate Sub-Space Matter Transfer Device! It removes THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT from the game until the End Phase, avoiding destruction!" Just before the Sun Dragon's counter attack struck, the fiendish creature vanished in an alternate space, reappearing only a few seconds later.

[spoiler=Sub-Space Matter Transfer Device][b]Sub-Space Matter Transfer Device[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Select 1 face-up monster you control and remove it from play until the End Phase of this turn.[/spoiler]

"I think I'll end my turn with a face-down card. Retaliate, if you can, Stiyel Crystal. Show me your resolve in the devil's face!!"
[/spoiler]

C-C-C-Combo Breaker, since I finished chapter 6 today, I'm putting 5 up, with some exciting developments! This story is starting to shape up.

There [i]are[/i] Duel Terminals in Japan, and function as arcades for playing simulated duels against AI opponents (IMO, they really suck). I just envisioned a futuristic world, where they have a whole 'world' built in, with simulated virtual reality, dedicated exclusively to playing card games! (well, technology is supposed to be advanced in this story, though that hasn't been showcased yet, therefore the effort and resources needed to construct that system wouldn't be that high, making it a logical investment. Especially since it pays off like crazy).

[xNightshadex]

This chapter ruined all my speculations for the story.

So, ZONE isn't the villain? Or is he just lying? I'll guess we'll find this out in later chapters. This Cornelius character might be a person to keep a eye on, he seems a little suspicious. Your right, this story is starting to shape up. I can't wait for future updates.

Question. I was reading about Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's yesterday, and I saw someone named ZONE. Did you get ZONE from the show? Anyway, can't wait for Chapter 6.

[Vector Nightmare]

Happy new years everyone (or at least those of you that read this, XD). Well, when I'm writing something, few things are what they seem to be in the beginning. That includes how good or evil ZONE might turn out to be. And yes, ZONE is supposed to be / appear like he's the same guy / robot from 5Ds. You'll see how that turns out, in due time of course. Starting, in fact, from this very next chapter:

[spoiler=Chapter 6]
[center][b][u]Chapter 6:[/b] Force Release[/u][/center]

"A [i]bug[/i]?! Seriously, that's all the explanation they gave you?"

Yuusuke, fully awake, was sitting on his bed, his laptop atop his crossed legs. His father was sitting on a stool opposite to him, looking nervous. And weary. Yuusuke was confirming his incredulous story by Duel International's continuous press releases.

"Our superiors seemed to accept the explanation." Taihito shrugged. "It was not our position to question anything, as long as they provided suitable evidence. But... I'm not that certain."

Yuusuke didn't know what to think. What was this? Some sort of conspiracy? Could it actually have been some sort of freaky accident - no. He had been there, he had felt [i]that[/i]. This wasn't something that could be merely attributed to some fraud, or some highly improbable series of accidental events. And Yuusuke would bet everything he had that that company had something to do with it, and was trying to cover up the truth.

"At any rate, they've restored the system to full function." Taihito continued. "Needless to say, we got a lot of heat from the European branch for this mess. They're worried about how it will affect the profits in Japan - and even abroad, if the story gets out. But some say, there's no such thing as bad publicity." He laughed, though there was no mirth in it.

"The Duel Terminals are restored, you say? That's too dangerous!" Yuusuke exclaimed. "If something strange happens - no, because of what has happened, people might actually start [i]looking[/i] for strange things! This is bad..."

"I know, but what can we do?" Taihito sighed. "Many of us tried to push for a downtime, with the pretense that it was to verify everything was clear after the data transfer, but they would have none of it. We patched up everything as well as we could, and relaunched the servers."

"And what about Maya?" Yuusuke asked impatiently. Something had to be done, and Maya was the first person he would turn to for help.

"I dropped her off near her place about three hours ago." Taihito shrugged. "She should be home by now." But as Yuusuke reached for the phone to call her, it suddenly rang.

"Hello?" Taihito replied. Then his face became a mask of despair. "[i]What happened?[/i]"

---

"It... it's my turn." Maya's staff glowed white, another card adding itself to her hand. Both her and her opponent possessed a single concealed card. But, on Cornelius' side, there was, barring that continuous magic that allowed him to replenish his hand, THE DEVIL'S DREAD-ROOT, the single most frightening monster Maya had ever faced. She breathed deeply. Frightening did not mean powerful. DREAD-ROOT did not have immunity to card effects, just an absurdly high attack and an effect that reduced other monster's attack. This meant that as long as its controller could not protect it, it would fall easily to one of her card effects, and Cornelius had said there was only one of its kind. The problem was, her current hand had no cards which could be used for such a purpose. But maybe -

"Trap card, open! Limit Rebirth!" She announced decisively. "This card will Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard, provided it has less than 1000 points of attack. Return, Priest of the Sun!"

[spoiler=Limit Rebirth][b]Limit Rebirth[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Select 1 monster with 1000 or less ATK from your Graveyard, and Special Summon it in Attack Position. If that monster is changed to Defense Position, destroy it and this card. When this card is removed from the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card.[/spoiler]

"Now, Limit Rebirth becomes attached to my Sun Priest, meaning that when either is destroyed, the other goes as well, and I must maintain my Priest in attack mode. But that won't matter, because I summon the tuner monster, Supay!" A dark round creature, looking as if it wore a sinister mask, appeared on the field.

[spoiler=Supay][b]Supay[/b]
EARTH / Fiend / Tuner
Level 1
300/100
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard by a card effect, you can Special Summon 1 "Oracle of the Sun" from your Deck. The ATK of that monster is doubled, and it returns to the owner's hand during the End Phase of that turn.[/spoiler]

"I tune my Level 5 Priest of the Sun to my Level 1 Supay." Maya declared. "Though the sun has fallen - behold, the moon! Synchro Summon! Arise, Moon Dragon Quilla!"

[spoiler=Moon Dragon Quilla][b]Moon Dragon Quilla[/b]
DARK / Dragon / Synchro
Level 6
2500/2000
"Supay" + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is selected as an attack target, gain Life Points equal to half the attacking monster's ATK. If this card on the field is destroyed, you can Special Summon 1 "Sun Dragon Inti" from your Graveyard.[/spoiler]

From the clouds overhead, a mass of silver and blue descended. It was not unlike the vanquished Sun Dragon, though of directly opposite colorations, and it shone with an eerie purple light.

"Defense mode, huh?" Cornelius mocked. "So you aim to restore your Life Points with Moon Dragon's effect, and recycle your two Synchro monsters? I wonder if that will work out as well as you hope."

"We'll see. For now, the magic card, Magic Planter. By sending the now useless continuous trap card, Limit Rebirth, to the graveyard, I can draw two cards." The still revealed Limit Rebirth dissolved into particles, and two more cards added themselves to Maya's repository.

[spoiler=Magic Planter][b]Magic Planter[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Send 1 face-up Continuous Trap Card you control to the Graveyard. Draw 2 cards.[/spoiler]

Maya smiled inwardly. It looked like her luck was slowly shifting. "I place three cards face-down." She said finally, leaving only one last card in her hand. Regardless, she had the means on the field to rid herself of that Devil God, and even if that didn't work, Cornelius would certainly expend a lot of resources to protect his monsters. Then, if he attacked, he'd be vulnerable against the effects of the Moon and Sun Dragons. "Turn end."

"Aren't you confident." Cornelius mocked. "Draw. During this turn's Standby Phase, the card I tucked away earlier comes to my hand." Maya's head snapped to the direction of the sarcophagus, which was slowly opening fully. A card moved, its back always turned on Maya, floating down in front of Cornelius. "I activate Devil's Sanctuary, Special Summoning a single token to my side of the field." A figure resembling a training dummy, only out of seemingly liquid metal, appeared near the DREAD-ROOT's feet, looking miniscule by comparison even if it reached up to Cornelius' waist.

[spoiler=Devil Sanctuary][b]Devil Sanctuary[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Special Summon 1 "Metal Fiend Token" (Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0). It cannot attack. When this Token battles, the opponent takes any Battle Damage its controller would have taken. Pay 1000 Life Points during each of your Standby Phases. If you do not, destroy the "Metal Fiend Token".[/spoiler]

"You understand, right?" Cornelius asked. Another card started glowing. No - this couldn't be!!

"I sacrifice all three of my tokens!" Cornelius yelled. Another storm brewed over their heads, the tokens annihilated in an instant as they were drawn into the eye of the tornado. "Stiyel Crystal, you faced the first of the Devil Gods - now meet the second one!" The earth and the sky trembled, as another mighty creature appeared, this time not born from the exploding earth, but converging from the shattered sky. It was a dragon, colored dark gold, with jagged wings and sharp claws and fangs, and a body that ended in a long serpentine tail. It screamed, and its high-pitched yell seemed to bore into Maya's very soul.

"Behold, THE DEVIL'S ERASER." Cornelius said proudly. Descending next to the DREAD-ROOT, Maya could only watch in horror as its attack points rose to match those of its earthbound counterpart.

[spoiler=THE DEVIL'S ERASER][b]THE DEVIL'S ERASER[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 10
?/?
This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set except by Tributing 3 monsters. The ATK and DEF of this card are each equal to the number of cards your opponent controls x 1000. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, destroy all cards on the field. During your Main Phase, you can destroy this card.[/spoiler]

"ERASER's attack will always be equal to the number of cards you control, 1000 times. Since it does not have an attack, but its attack constantly changes to match that number, DREAD-ROOT's effect does not influence its power. And, not forgetting Treasure of Dark World's effect - I can draw another pair of cards."

Maya waited on edge as Cornelius planned out his next move. It was an obvious predicament. Maya's two monsters, the Sun Dragon Inti and the Moon Dragon Quilla, could Special Summon each other when destroyed. However, Inti's effect activated only during her next Standby Phase. Which meant that, with two monsters on the field, if Cornelius attacked with one, Inti would be Special Summoned, and if he continued his attack, then the opposing monster would be destroyed by Inti's effect, and Quilla would be Special Summoned next turn. So he either had to produce more than two monsters to attack directly, or find another way to clear the field. But all that skeletal face did was smile, not seeming to care about such mundane dillemas.

"Battle. THE DEVIL'S ERASER, attack Moon Dragon Quilla." He ordered. The behemoth opened its mouth, unleashing a stream of gold-and-black flame upon the miniature, by comparison, monster that represented the moon. But Maya was prepared.

"As your monster attacks, Quilla's effect activates! I recover Life Points equal to half your monster's attack!" A blessedly warm sensation filled her, opposite to the shock she had received from the attack. Her life counter rose to 3500. "And now I pay 1000 Life Points to activate the permanent Trap, Skill Drain! It negates the effects of all face-up monsters on the field!"

[spoiler=Skill Drain][b]Skill Drain[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Pay 1000 Life Points. The effects of all face-up Effect Monsters are negated.[/spoiler]

[center][i][b]King of Dead[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Stiyel Crystal[/b] - LP: 2500[/i][/center]

The implications were obvious - without its effect, ERASER would lose the entirety of its attack power, and the battle plan would only serve to backfire. But -

"From my hand, instant magic, Cyclone!" Cornelius said. "Skill Drain is destroyed, and though ERASER's attack will become only 3000, it is still enough to wipe out your Moon Dragon!"

[spoiler=Cyclone][b]Cyclone[/b]
SPELL / Quick-Play
Select 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field. Destroy it.[/spoiler]

Maya [i]felt[/i] the impact with her monster - blessedly, it was in Defense, so she did not receive the shock from battle damage. "Regardless, Quilla's effect will revive Sun Dragon Inti from my Graveyard!" She said. Indeed, as the lunar creature sank into the earth, the solar dragon rose to replace it. It was also in Defense mode.

"I don't think so!" Cornelius retaliated. "Permanent trap, Oppression of the Royal Palace!" Maya gasped - that card was one of the worst enemies she could face right now. "By paying 800 Life Points, I can negate the Special Summon of your monster and destroy it!"

[spoiler=Oppression of the Royal Palace][b]Oppression of the Royal Palace[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Pay 800 Life Points to negate a Special Summon of a monster and/or the effect of a card that Special Summons a monster and destroy it. Both you and your opponent can use this effect as long as this card remains face-up on the field.[/spoiler]

[center][i][b]King of Dead[/b] - LP: 3200[/i]
[i][b]Stiyel Crystal[/b] - LP: 2500[/i][/center]

"You are not the only one who can use Cyclone, though!" Maya responded with her own copy of the card, wiping out the summon-negating trap. Regularly, destroying an activated trap wouldn't be enough to negate its effect, but that was not so with continuous trap cards. The revival of the Sun Dragon was uninterrupted, and Cornelius was left with no means to push the offensive.

"One card face-down. Turn end." He said finally.

[i]We are at a standstill.[/i] Maya realized. [i]He relies so much on his monster's offensive ability, and has such need to protect them from indirect destruction, that he has no other way to get rid of my monsters, which actually benefit from being destroyed by battle. But the same goes for me. I rely on my monster's effects to destroy the enemy monsters, but with his impenetrable defense, I can't touch them. Even his ERASER, with an attack of 2000, is beyond my weakened Sun Dragon. What should I do?[/i]

"My turn." She said out loud. If Inti was attacked next turn, even if it retaliated against Cornelius' Devil God, Quilla would not be summoned until the next turn, leaving Maya open for a direct attack. That could not be allowed. "Draw!" She smiled. Her deck had never let her down.

"By removing from play the Light monster, Priest of the Sun, and the Dark monster, Moon Dragon Quilla in my Graveyard from play, I Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer." A dark-clad magician wearing a wicked grin appeared on the field, twin bolts of chaotic black energy cackling in his hands.

[spoiler=Chaos Sorcerer][b]Chaos Sorcerer[/b]
DARK / Spellcaster
Level 6
2300/2000
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard from play. Once per turn, you can remove 1 face-up monster on the field from play. If you activate this effect, this card cannot attack during this turn.[/spoiler]

"Going all-out, eh?" Cornelius taunted. "Let's see if his effect will do you any good."

"I won't be using his effect." Maya said, earning her a shocked glance from her opponent. Chaos Sorcerer only had 1150 attack points, and with his appearance, the power of the ERASER had risen to 3000 again. Not pressing the advantage made no sense. However... "I call another copy of Supay to the field." Maya continued. "And now, I tune my Level 6 Chaos Sorcerer to my Level 1 Supay! Synchro Summon!" The skull-headed creature's eyes narrowed as it beheld the advent of another Synchro monster. An entity cloaked in a strange blue garb, wielding a luminescent staff, materialized from within the light of the Synchro Summon. "Come! Arcanite Magician!"

[spoiler=Arcanite Magician][b]Arcanite Magician[/b]
LIGHT / Spellcaster / Synchro
Level 7
400/1800
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Spellcaster-Type monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, place 2 Spell Counters on it. This card gains 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on it. You can remove 1 Spell Counter from a card you control to destroy 1 card your opponent controls.[/spoiler]

"He will not help you any more than your Chaos Sorcerer." Cornelius observed.

"We'll see. Arcanite Magician's effect!" Maya declared. "By removing two Spell Counters from it, I can destroy both your Devil Gods!"

"Foolish attempt." Cornelius retorted. "Counter Trap, Phantom of Darkness! When a Dark monster is targeted by an effect, I can negate and destroy it!" The magician raised his stave, preparing a dark-blue shockwave to annihilate the opposing creatures, but suddenly a dark mist wrapped around him, enveloping him entirely and leaving nothing but a piercing scream behind.

[spoiler=Phantom of Darkness][b]Phantom of Darkness[/b]
TRAP / Counter
Negate the activation of a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect that targets a face-up DARK monster, and destroy that card.[/spoiler]

"Your efforts mean nothing." Cornelius said. "Soon, your head will join the rest." He indicated the speared heads lying atop the pikes in the stadium's perimeter with a broad motion of his sleeved arm.

"Not just yet." Maya said. "Do you understand why I chose to forfeit using Chaos Sorcerer's effect? It is because I knew you would destroy whatever card I used to target your monsters. Now you have no protection left - and I still have one play to make. Reverse card, open! Miracle Synchro Fusion!!"

[spoiler=Miracle Synchro Fusion][b]Miracle Synchro Fusion[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Remove from play, from your side of the field or your Graveyard, the Fusion Material Monsters listed on a Fusion Monster Card that lists a Synchro Monster as a Fusion Material Monster, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) If this Set card is destroyed by an opponent's card effect and sent to the Graveyard, draw 1 card.[/spoiler]

"Miracle... Synchro... " Cornelius stuttered, watching in disbelief as the card rose to the sky, creating a massive vortex of energy.

"I remove from play Arcanite Magician and Chaos Sorcerer in my Graveyard." Maya declared. The Rod of Dominion shone with the light of the sun, and the intense luster dispelled the shadows, causing the headless ghastly figures observing the duel to shriek in agony, as they were purged from existence. "Fusion Summon! Descend, Arcanite Magician, the Supreme Wizard!!"

[spoiler=Arcanite Magician, the Supreme Wizard][b]Arcanite Magician, the Supreme Wizard[/b]
LIGHT / Spellcaster / Fusion
Level 10
1400/2800
1 Spellcaster-Type Synchro Monster + 1 Spellcaster-Type monster
This monster can only be Special Summoned by Fusion Summon (from the Extra Deck). When this card is Fusion Summoned, place 2 Spell Counters on it. This card gains 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on it. Once per turn, you can remove 1 Spell Counter from your side of the field to activate one of the following effects: • Select 1 card on the field, and destroy it. • Draw 1 card.[/spoiler]

The new monster loooked much like the original Arcanite Magician, except its armor was dark blue and black, and rather than a staff, it wielded a glowing magical lance.

"Similar to Arcanite Magician, the Supreme Wizard gains two Spell counters, which I will now remove to destroy both of your monsters!" Maya said.

"No... way..." Cornelius moved backwards, as the two Devil Gods exploded in twin bursts of light, the aftermatch of their destruction covering the entire arena in terrible energy pulses. Maya shielded her face, but the radiant energy seemed too enormous to be contained in the virtual reality field. "NO!!" She heard shouting. "If I lose... IF I LOSE - !!"

"I switch Sun Dragon Inti to attack mode!" She shouted to be heard above the noise. "And now - !!"

There was something wrong. The quietness was eerie. The energy pulses died down, the lightning quieted. The arena had been annihilated, the dreadful, but meticulously designed Dead Zone now in ruins. And her vision was clear. There were no monsters on the field - both the Devil Gods, and Maya's Sun Dragon and Arcanite Magician had vanished.

"The effect of THE DEVIL'S ERASER." Cornelius said. His voice sounded... different now. Less inhuman. More... exhausted. "When it is destroyed, all cards on the field are destroyed."

"N - no..." Maya shuddered. In her haste, she had forgotten the effect of ERASER. Notwithstanding that there was nothing else she could have done, it was -

"It's alright. They won't let me continue now, anyway." Maya blinked - was it her mind going crazy, or were those words filled with... relief?

There was a crack of thunder, and an explosion of darkness. An otherwordly scream blanketed away her hearing, and her sight was filled with a pulsing black mass. As soon as it had began, it was over. Cornelius, or whoever she had fought, was not there any more. Maya sank to her knees. Everything was still now. Somehow, it was all over.

Something drew her attention. On unsteady feet, she walked towards the center of the arena. There, lying unceremoniously on the ground, she found three cards, their backs turned on her. With a sinking feeling in her heart, she realized what they must be. However, as she extended her hand to touch them, they disappeared in a flash of black light. Sighing, she pushed herself back up, and turned around to leave.

On top of a spear, in a prominent position near the center of the stadium, only inches away from her face, the bloodied face of Cornelius Klein, the real one, was impaled. Its eyes had been gouged out, but its lips had been drawn to an ecstatic smile.

Maya fainted.

---

"We once thought that travelling back in time could fix things. We were wrong." ZONE said in his monotonous voice. Kiishiro was filled with wonder as he traversed corridors too ancient to fit with the technology involved in the virtual world. On the walls around him depictions of Duel Monsters were carved, otherworldly yet at the same time quite familiar. According to ZONE, who was floating beside him in his unidentifiable vehicle, they were in one of the more obscure parts of the Duel Terminal network, an ancient temple.

"There are many timelines." ZONE continued. "Each choice we make branches out into a separate timeline than the one that continues, as if we had opted for another choice. There are infinite worlds, infinite possibilities. Going back in time only branches out into another timeline. But everything is not disconnected. There are... meeting points, convergences, among timelines. A single one of them, a Nexus, as they are called, holds unimaginable power. But they are difficult to locate, almost impossible to tap into, and most certainly impossible to control."

"When this network was created, it touched a Nexus. A Nexus has no will - it simply exist, and the energy that flows around it influences every timeline in its vicinity. Timelines interconnect, they may even merge. Paradoxes happen. Reality fluctuates, and whole worlds may disappear in the blink of an eye. That is the power of the Nexus. It can be called, in short, an unstoppable destiny that guides existence. And that guidance may well be the path to annihilation."

"So you are saying our timeline is affected by a Nexus?" Kiishiro asked.

"No, not yet." ZONE said. "But it's drawing closer. This virtual world is a beacon to the influence of the Nexus. Already reality here is distorting due to it. It won't be long until it expands into your reality as well. Everything converges into the Nexus - it is quite possible the virtual reality and the reality you know will become one and the same. But the real danger does not lie there."

They passed through a doorway into a large chamber. Walls, floor and ceiling were covered in gold. In its middle stood a pyramid, a strange eye carved in its midst. Three creatures, whose identities Kiishiro did not know, were painted on a triangle around the eye. "Conceptual energy. A belief can turn illusion into reality. Concepts can be strengthened, ideas realized, if people believe in them. That is what we call God."

"Are you telling me that if enough people believe in something, it will happen?" Kiishiro asked doubtfully.

"No." Came the reply. "Nothing will happen, that has not already happened. But, as I said, timelines shift, pulsate, interconnect. Power and belief attract each other like magnets. In this case, a strong enough concept can shift between timelines. It is 'crystallization of miracles', literally, things that are thought to be impossible occuring, but they are only 'drawn' here from a different world."

"I do not understand such philosophy." Kiishiro complained. They had stopped in front of the giant pyramid, both studying its intricate designs. "What are you driving at?"

"There is great power vaulted in this virtual dimension." ZONE said seriously. "Power that surpasses what exists in your reality. A mirage strong enough to dwarf the truth - and people are aware of this. Cards have been designed that are not just virtual tools - they are conduits for miracles, the will of god. They exist beyond our reality, beyond realities - transcendent concepts that have crossed into our world."

"Like Black Rose Dragon?" Kiishiro asked bitterly.

"It is an example." ZONE allowed. "Others are stronger still. Misused, they will cause destruction beyond what we can foresee." Kiishiro sensed ZONE's attention linger on the carvings on the pyramid. Without another word, he began floating again, Kiishiro close behind, into a new chamber. This one had no ceiling that Kiishiro could see, only a black, violently stormy sky that loomed overhead. And just ahead, an enormous staircase that led up to unfathomable heights. Atop that altar, or whatever it was, a crimson light beaconed.

"Sometimes we draw miracles to us, and sometimes we draw disasters. The answers to questions that have been asked several timelines away, several hundred years ago, Sanjou Kiishiro - no, Thunderbolt Knight, will you seek them out with me? Will you follow me into the heart of the Nexus?"

"It's not like I have a choice." Kiishiro sighed, eyeing the red light above. For some reason, he felt drawn to it, and began to ascend the long staircase.

"We all have a choice, young knight." ZONE said, too softly to be heard. "We all have a choice, even when we wished we had none. Even when it would have been better to have none."

---

"Uugh..." Groggily, Maya opened her eyes. A sound had awaShe was... where? One glance around was enough to confirm her location. The abandoned parking lot with the Duel Terminal. She was lying on the ground, next to the upturned chair in front of the booth. Her experience inside the Duel Terminal world, inside the <Dead Zone>, slowly returned to her. But before she could focus enough to panic, she had to identify the sound. Ah. Her cell phone. Someone was calling. Mechanically, she pulled it out of her pocket. It was Yuusuke. She pressed the receiver, and tried to speak, but all that came out was a grunt.

"[i]Maya? Maya! Is that you?[/i]" Yuusuke seemed agitated. Yuusuke was rarely this anxious. Had something happened? Maya felt worried.

"It's me." She managed, although her voice was unsteady. "I'm listening."

"[i]I have bad news.[/i]" Yuusuke said. "[i]We need to meet up. Where are you? Are you home?[/i]"

"I'm getting there in ten minutes." Maya said. She felt like she would need ten minutes just to get her body to stand up. "What happened? If it's about the Duel Terminals being restored to function, I already know - "

"[i]It's not about that.[/i]" Yuusuke cut her off. "[i]Listen, you know the president of Duel International's European branch? Cornelius Klein, or something?[/i]" He pronounced the English name with difficulty. "[i]He died.[/i]"

Maya felt a creeping dread clench her heart. Icy cold flooded into her veins. She felt like vomiting. "Oh." Was all she could manage. "It... just happened, didn't it? I mean, some time ago..." She let the sentence hang vaguely, as she looked at the phone's clock. Surprisingly little time had passed since she logged in.

"[i]Uh, no. He was found dead this morning in his apartment. Murdered.[/i]" Yuusuke said. Maya's cell phone fell on the floor. "[i]Maya? Maya![/i]"

The only response was an audible thump.
[/spoiler]

BELIEVE IN NEXUUUUUUS.

[The Borg]

One of the most amazing fan fictions I have read, keep up the good work. I now have to ponder who killed Klein, and why.

[Vector Nightmare]

Woot, another reader. Thanks for your kind words. I hope you'll continue enjoying this.

Moving on to the seventh chapter. We temporarily move away from our main cast in Japan, as Riding Duels are now introduced into the playing field, and other exciting stuff happens.

[spoiler=Chapter 7]
[center][b][u]Chapter 7:[/b] Malfunction[/u][/center]

Duel International had three main branches. The first one operated in Japan, where the original idea of the game known as Duel Monsters had originated. The second one was stationed in Europe, and was responsible for the coordination and synchronization of the three. And the final one was located in America. Each one had its own subsidiaries, and full teams of expert personnel to supervise the cutting-edge technology employed. Because of this, there was quite a competition between the branches, and information being withheld was common. And now, the American branch was about to break a boundary the other two had not even dreamed of reaching.

Riding Duel. An evolved duel that is performed while driving engines known as D-Wheels. This kind of new duel's emulation had been under testing for months now. The amount of immersion required to accurately perform the complex art of driving, even if simplified greatly, and also the amount of buffers needed to reduce the shock caused by accidents, called for technology much beyond what had been previously thought possible. And it had been achieved. Today would be the final test, before the project finally went live. One more duel, and a revolution in the virtual reality system of Duel International would strike.

"Are you ready, Mike?" Howard Rowen, the lead technician of the team responsible for the project, asked Mike Nicholson, who was currently in the virtual stadium, Riding Field <Red Circuit>, atop his D-Wheel. The motorcycle, <Thunder Hawk> was blazing silver with crimson stripes, lean and narrow so as to allow for faster acceleration. Mike, his virtual avatar's name being CrossWing, was one of the most skilled D-Wheelers yet. He would be perfect for demonstrating the capacity of the new system, without causing any unfortunate accidents. Gregory Dunkan, the CEO of the whole American branch, was in the testing room with the rest of the team, watching. Currently, his attention was not focused on the widescreen display of the virtual arena, but on the body of young Nicholson lying on a chair, connected to the Terminal. Everything had to be perfect. Mike nodded - he could see the Howard's projection through the screen of his D-Wheel, which was structured to display all sorts of useful information.

Next to Mike, his opponent was also stationed atop his engine, his hands already on the handles of the D-Wheel. This was an artificial bot designed specifically for Riding Duels. Its skill level had been set to 25, which, with Mike's level of 38, should be easy enough to handle. Howard might have picked something higher for this final demonstration, if Mike was confident, but there were still some bugs with the interaction of the bots and the new rules. Those would have to be ironed out, or hidden well by the final release. Nervously, he clicked his fingers. It would have to go well, otherwise... a massive time and money investment had gone into the project. Expectations and pressure were already slipping past what Howard could control. It had to go well.

"Then, let's start." Howard set the signal. In that instant, the Duel Field's simulation system kicked in, and the Riding Duel began.

"Speed World 2, activate!" Both D-Wheelers said, and on each machine, the special Field Spell that was the defining feature of Riding Duels was launched.

[spoiler=Speed World 2][b]Speed World 2[/b]
SPELL / Field
If you activate a non-"Speed Spell" Spell Card, take 2000 damage. During each player's Standby Phase, place 1 Speed Counter on this card (max. 12). You can remove any number of Speed Counters from this card to activate an appropriate effect:
• 4: Inflict 800 damage to your opponent for each "Speed Spell" Spell Card in your hand.
• 7: Draw 1 card.
• 10: Select and destroy 1 card on the field.[/spoiler]

[center][i][b]Riding Duel - Acceleration![/b][/i][/center]

And in the blink of an eye, the two vehicles pushed all the fuel out of the tank, speeding up to reach the first corner. The rules stated that whoever crossed the first turning point would be the one to begin, although that feature could be disabled for more conventional methods. The bot's D-Wheel was easily able to keep up with Mike's, though as was planned, Mike would still cross first by a slight margin. The two engines closed into the turn -

"Ah!!" A shout from an on-duty technician distracted Howard. He turned, annoyed. What could have happened now? He soon had his answer. The display had gone blank, waves of static replacing the feed from the duel. Three operators were trying to reboot it, but to no avail. Cold sweat ran down Howard's neck. If this failed now...

"Wh - what should we do, director?" One of the men asked. "We have lost all contact with the Duel Field. We do not know what caused the damage - it will take time to restore." He cast a pained glance at the immobile body of the young duelist. "Should we... disconnect him?" Rumors of strange events, including people falling into a coma and server-side access to the system being disabled, had reached them from the other branches. Howard wanted to cry. Something like this could mean demotion for all of them - no, it could get everyone fired! He had to make a decision, but...

"Let's wait a little." Gregory Dunkan said suddenly. Howard turned to him, hope and despair fighting in his expression. "It might be nothing serious, and I trust your team can handle the technical damage." His smile spoke for itself - Howard's team had better handle the technical damage, or it wouldn't be Howard's, and it wouldn't be a team, and Howard wouldn't even [i]be[/i] any longer.

"All personnel, work on restoring visual. Bring back-up equipment. Attempt direct route." Howard growled. Why, Murphy's law applied everywhere, it seemed. But he [i]would[/i] see this thing done. His employees quickly left the room, following his orders. In the meantime, Howard, with his back turned to his superior, failed to notice the executive's small smirk as he leaned back on a comfortable armchair, staring at the blank screen.

---

[i]Alright, all systems seem in perfect condition.[/i] Mike was satisfied - the exhiliration of driving at such high speeds was not dampened at all by the fact that this was all virtual reality. He had been big into both motorcycles and dueling since he was a kid. This Riding Duel system was like a dream come true for him. He pushed the accelerators, speeding into the corner.

"Wha - ?!" He remained speechless as, in a blur of speed, the bot that was scheduled to lag behind him passed him, taking the turn inconceivably fast. Before Mike's D-Wheel even went into the corner, the system had already announced the beginning of the match.

[center][i][b]Riding Bot A25[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]CrossWing[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

"My turn. Draw." The bot said. Mike shivered. He had fought against bots many times before. It was the first time the voice of one of them had sounded so... malignent. "I summon Wise Core in defense mode. Three reverse cards. Turn end." An object like an egg which split in the middle to reveal a light blue orb inside, crisscrossed by strange lines, appeared on the field.

[spoiler=Wise Core][b]Wise Core[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
0/0
((When this card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the Graveyard, destroy all monsters you control. Then, Special Summon 1 "Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity", "Wisel Top", "Wisel Attack", "Wisel Guard", and "Wisel Carrier" from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard.))[/spoiler]

Riding Duels allowed for monsters to be summoned face-up in defense mode, but that was not what surprised Mike. Wise Core. A card he had never seen before. And furthermore, even if the info panel on his D-Wheel, which was supposed to replace the display feed of regular Duel Fields, demonstrated the basic information of the monster, the effect was blanketed out. After the director had gone to such lengths to insist that everything must go according to plan - how could something like this have happened? Then, Mike smiled reassuringly to himself. Whatever that Howard guy had said, if everything was according to a schedule, it wouldn't be much of a test, rather, it would simply be a cheap demonstration. So Mike should not be shaken if those guys had left quite a few surprises in store for him. He'd just break through them, and reap the generous rewards of being a beta tester finalist.

"My turn, draw!" He declared. The indication on his D-Wheel demonstrated the accumulation of Speed Counters.

[center][i][b]Riding Bot A25[/b] - SPC: 1[/i]
[i][b]CrossWing[/b] - SPC: 1[/i][/center]

"I place two cards face-down." He said. "Then, when my opponent controls a monster and I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Vice Dragon from my hand! If I do, however, its attack and defense scores are halved." A dark purple dragon materialized on the field, speeding along with Mike's D-Wheel.

[spoiler=Vice Dragon][b]Vice Dragon[/b]
DARK / Dragon
Level 5
2000/2400
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. If you do, its original ATK and DEF are halved.[/spoiler]

"Now, I'll remove Vice Dragon from play, to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!" Vice Dragon roared as it was sucked into a dimensional hole, and from within the rift, a much larger behemoth, fully black and cloaked in metal scales, soared into the sky.

[spoiler=Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon][b]Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon[/b]
DARK / Dragon
Level 10
2800/2400
You can remove from play 1 Dragon-Type monster you control to Special Summon this card. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster, except "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", from your hand or Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"The effect of Red-Eyes activates, letting me Special Summon Prime Material Dragon from my hand!" Mike continued mercilessly. Yet another dragon appeared, a golden beast with three wings on either side of its sleek body.

[spoiler=Prime Material Dragon][b]Prime Material Dragon[/b]
LIGHT / Dragon
Level 6
2400/2000
Any effect that would inflict damage to a player instead increases their Life Points by the same amount. When a card's effect to destroy a monster(s) on the field is activated, you can send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate its activation and destroy the card.[/spoiler]

"And finally, this!" Mike raised the last card in his hand. "I summon Delta Fly in attack mode!" Much smaller compared to the two behemoths, a dragonfly that looked like a halfway-evolved dragon with gold-and-white wings, materialized between them. "Delta Fly's effect activates! Once per turn, I can increase the Level of a monster I control by one! And I choose my Prime Material Dragon." The indicator switched to match the change.

[spoiler=Delta Fly][b]Delta Fly[/b]
WIND / Dragon / Tuner
Level 3
1500/900
Once per turn, you can select 1 other face-up monster you control and increase its Level by 1.[/spoiler]

"Now I tune my, now Level 7, Prime Material Dragon to my Level 3 Delta Fly!" Mike stomped on the accelerators, while pressing the handles for even greater speed. He pushed past his opponent as his monsters vanished in a blaze of light, illuminating the entire stadium. Delta Fly split into three green circles, floating beside him as he run, while the great golden creature dissolved into a row of bright stars, passing through the circles, converging into a massive spectacle. "Synchro Summon!" As he thought, dueling really felt different when performed while riding. It was as if he was one with the engine, one with the air. There was only the speed. "Come, Trident Dragion!!"

[spoiler=Trident Dragion][b]Trident Dragion[/b]
FIRE / Dragon / Synchro
Level 10
3000/3000
1 Dragon-Type Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Dragon-Type monsters
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Synchro Summon. When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy up to 2 cards you control. If you do, for each card destroyed by this effect, this card gains 1 additional attack this turn.[/spoiler]

The monster that appeared was unlike any other Mike had summoned. With not merely one head, but three, each roaring and spouting wildly blossoming flames, it was an imposing sight. Mike felt its giant shadow cover him from above. For a brief moment, he wondered if the artificial intelligence he was facing was programmed to be confronted with emotions such as fear. He spun his D-Wheel around, causing his two monsters to change directions as well, driving on reverse.

"Trident Dragion's effect activates. By destroying my two set cards, Trident Dragion can attack up to thrice during this Battle Phase!" His eyes lingered onto the bot's reverse cards. He wondered if he should have maintained his resources, played more conservatively. But he couldn't have held back, not in this world of acceleration. His face-down cards vanished in a burst of fire. What was important was demonstrating the full beauty of a Riding Duel. Winning or losing didn't matter. All that mattered was the exhileration, the excitement. The glory.

"Battle!" He commanded. "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, strike down his Wise Core!" The metallic dragon leaned forward, unleashing a black stream of flames from its jaws.

"Trap, activate. Twin Vortex." The bot retorted. A pulse of black light appeared between the two monsters, interrupting the dragon's attack. Twin lances of lightning shot to either direction, blasting apart both the dragon and the machine.

[spoiler=Twin Vortex][b]Twin Vortex[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Activate only when your opponent's monster declares an attack. Select 1 monster you control and 1 monster your opponent controls. Destroy those monsters.[/spoiler]

"Eh?" Mike wondered. Why hadn't it destroyed Trident Dragion? Was the artificial intelligence set on a lower level, then? "Then, I attack directly with - "

"Wise Core's effect activates." The riding bot interrupted. Now that it had closed in again, Mike could see it was wearing a malicious smile. He suddenly felt nervous. No - not just nervous. Afraid. "When Wise Core is destroyed by a card effect, all remaining monsters I control are destroyed, and I can Special Summon, from my hand, Deck, or Graveyard, Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity, Wisel Top, Wisel Attack, Wisel Guard, and Wisel Carrier."

[spoiler=Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity][b]Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
0/0
((Monsters you control besides this monster cannot attack. This card gains ATK and DEF equal to the total ATK and DEF of all "Wisel", "Skiel" and "Grannel" monsters you control, except "Machine Emperor" monsters. Once per turn, you can equip a Synchro Monster your opponent controls as an Equip Card to this card. This card gains ATK equal to the ATK of the equipped monster. When this card is destroyed, destroy all other monsters you control.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Top][b]Wisel Top[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
500/0
((If you do not control a face-up "Machine Emperor" monster, destroy this card.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Attack][b]Wisel Attack[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
1200/0
((If you do not control a face-up "Machine Emperor" monster, destroy this card.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Guard][b]Wisel Guard[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
0/1200
((If you do not control a face-up "Machine Emperor" monster, destroy this card. When another monster you control is selected as an attack target, you can switch the target to this card instead.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Carrier][b]Wisel Carrier[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 1
800/600
((Destroy this card if you do not control an "Infinity" monster. This card cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects.))[/spoiler]

"F - five monsters, just like that..." Mike stuttered, unable to believe his eyes. In an instant, five white creatures that looked like parts of a robot had materialized, and just like the Core, he could see none of their effects!

"It's not done yet!" The bot continued. "Activate the effect of Wisel Infinity! Combine, Machine Emperor Wisel!" The Machine Emperor piece, which seemed to represent the creature's chest, floated up, as the Top part, a strange narrow helmet-like object with a red symbol in the front, grew a neck and attached itself atop it. The Attack and Guard parts, extending to resemble arm-like appendages, the first armed with claws, the second with a buckler-like attachment, floated to the left and right side of the machine respectively, fitting into the two slots. Finally, the Carrier part's base diverged into two legs, and combined underneath the rest, creating the image of a humanoid robot.

"Fusion Summon?!" Mike asked. "No..." He observed the display. The five monsters were still there. Which meant that this was simply a visual effect. But...

"Machine Emperor Wisel gains the attack and defense points of all the pieces." The bot explained as the robot's power increased to 2500 and 1800 for attack and defense respectively.

"For blowing out this much steam, you haven't impressed me yet!" Mike laughed. "My monster is still much stronger!"

"Well then, let me rectify that." The bot smirked. "Trap card, open! Wise G-3! By releasing Wisel Guard, I can Special Summon Wisel Guard 3 from my Deck!" The robot's right arm disengaged from the main body and shattered to shreds, replaced by a new arm with a larger shield as protection.

[spoiler=Wise G-3][b]Wise G-3[/b]
TRAP / Normal
((Send 1 "Wisel Guard" you control to the Graveyard. Special Summon 1 "Wisel Guard 3" from your hand, Deck or Graveyard.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Guard 3][b]Wisel Guard 3[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 3
0/2000
((When an opponent's monster declares an attack, you can switch the attack target to this card instead. Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle.))[/spoiler]

"And now, another Trap - Wise G-5! I release Wisel Guard 3, Special Summoning Wisel Guard 5!" It continued, the robot undergoing the same motions, while the new arm's shield extended to a rectangular energy barrier.

[spoiler=Wise G-5][b]Wise G-5[/b]
TRAP / Normal
((Send 1 "Wisel Guard 3" you control to the Graveyard. Special Summon 1 "Wisel Guard 5" from your hand, Deck or Graveyard.))[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wisel Guard 5][b]Wisel Guard 5[/b]
DARK / Machine
Level 5
0/2600
((When an opponent's monster declares an attack, you can switch the attack target to this card instead. Once per turn, this card cannot be destroyed by battle. Once per turn, when this monster is attacked, destroy the attacking monster after damage calculation.))[/spoiler]

"Of course, with the new upgrades, my Machine Emperor's power is upgraded." The combined form's defense rose to 3200. "None of those parts has any influence to my monster's attack points, so feel free to attack it with your three-headed beast." The bot smirked. "But, Wisel Guard 5 will redirect all attacks to itself, and, not only negate its destruction by battle once per turn, but also destroy the monster it battles with!"

"Ugh..." Mike growled. What was this situation? What kind of crazy deck was this bot using? Had those guys at the company played him for a fool? "Turn end." He said bitterly. There was nothing he could do.

"My turn. Draw." The bot said. Both contestant's speed counters rose.

[center][i][b]Riding Bot A25[/b] - SPC: 2[/i]
[i][b]CrossWing[/b] - SPC: 2[/i][/center]

It felt as if there was a moment's pause. And then -

"Wisel Infinity's effect activates. Once per turn, a Synchro monster of my opponent is absorbed and taken as an equipment card."

"[i]What?![/i]" Mike shouted, but it was too late - tentacles formed out of raw energy exploded from the Machine Emperor's chest, lunging at Trident Dragion. The great creture struggled but, even though much larger than the entire robot, failed to resist its ability. It soon vanished within the black cavity of its chest, which pulsed with the infinity symbol.

"Wisel Infinity also gains the attack of Synchro monsters that are absorbed by it." The Machine Emperor's power rose to a ridiculous 5500. "Battle. Machine Emperor Wisel, direct attack."

[i]I'll die.[/i] That stupid thought filled Mike's head as he fully pushed on the accelerators, not caring if the bike was dangerously hovering at the limit of the speed that could be controlled. Whatever the cost, he needed to dodge that attack. But as he dared glance back, the bot was riding up right behind him, keeping up casually with Mike's uppermost acceleration, the cruel smirk ever-present on its face. The robot raised its left arm, and it was enveloped in a blaze as a visage of Trident Dragion's three heads appeared around it. Mike screamed, but it was too late. A massive explosion shrouded everything, and the world was torn apart around him.

---

"Wh - what should we do now, president...?" Howard Rowen, collapsed on his knees, squeaked, staring at the lifeless body of young Mike Nicholson. The situation had quickly escalated into a disaster that was beyond him, that threatened the entire company. He turned his eyes blankly at Gregory Dunkan, who was standing still as a statue next to him, observing the corpse. According to the medical report that was quickly compiled in utmost secrecy, the boy had fallen into a coma akin to that caused by a cardiac arrest, seemingly caused by overstimulation of the brain by the system's artificial signals, and seconds later, before any help could be provided, he had perished. They had not managed to restore visual contact with the Duel Field, so they had no idea what could have happened in there. But, all the same, it was an unprecedented catastrophe.

"What to do, indeed..." Dunkan mused. Howard couldn't help but admire him for being able to stay so calm in this situation. "Well, accidents can happen, I suppose." He suddenly snatch the report on Mike's condition and retrieved a lighter from the pocket of his suit, setting it on fire. He did not let go until there was almost nothing left, letting it fall to the ground and evaporate. "Accidents happen on the road, too... young Mike drives a motorcycle, right? He would be exhurbant, careless, after a glorious victory. He might drive too fast... spin a little out of control... it would be a great shame if the accident was so bad, the corpse was unrecognizable... don't you think so too, my friend?" He patted Howard to the back. "A few calls and it could be arranged... no lawsuits, no cancellations, no loss."

"A - are you joking, mister Dunkan?" Howard attempted to smile, though he could only make a grimace. "You aren't suggesting we... hide the truth about this, right?" The man stared at him blankly. Howard nervously looked at the six employees, including the doctor who had formed the report, that were responsible for this testing along with him. They glanced back at him, not knowing what to say or do. If this became public, they were all done for. No - it couldn't be that the president was actually offering them a way to save themselves? What was done was done, this was an isolated incident. There would be hardcore testing and improvements until the final release date. Surely such a disaster wouldn't repeat itself when the system went public. This was just an unfortunate, single incident.

"I... of course, mister Dunkan." He said finally, wiping the sweat away from his face on his suit's sleeve. "Yes. Accidents can happen..."

"I'm glad we're on the same page." Dunkan gave him a smile that made Howard writhe as if stung by a scorpion. He was commiting evil here. Whatever the repercussions about Mike's death, they would be nothing compared to what he would have to face for concealing the truth. But... he couldn't just let his life be destroyed like that.

"Finalize the plans for release." Dunkan said, turning to leave. Howard turned to him - he couldn't have heard right. "I want the system public by the day after tomorrow. Have a nice day, gentlemen."

---

Maya reached her place on unsteady feet. She noticed the car parked in the front. Maya lived in an apartment block, in the third floor. She was not surprised to see Yuusuke and his father waiting for her at the front door.

"Where have you been?" Yuusuke demanded, racing towards her and snatching her hands as soon as he saw her. "You sounded like a ghost on the phone! And when we came here and you weren't home..."

"I'm alright." Maya shrugged off his concerns. She tried to steady her voice. In truth, she was still not over her shock. Cornelius Klein had been dead before she entered the Terminal. Then, who, or what, had she faced? An impersonator? But Maya had known the president of Duel International's European branch personally. Could it have been an artificial bot designed to act exactly like him? But...

The possibilities were endless, and each one more ominous than the last. Something evil was adrift. She shuddered. Should she tell Yuusuke the whole truth? She trusted him with her life, but she knew him to be reckless. What if what she revealed caused him to endanger himself? That could not be allowed. No, she had to proceed alone. And carefully.

"Let's go." Maya took out the keys to her apartment as they walked out of the elevator, unlocking the door. "We have to discuss what to do from now on."

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=A few notes concerning this chapter]
This is the first time in this story that, concerning cards, I am deviating from the TCG / OCG effects. For the Machine Emperor monsters, I'm using the anime effects, and I also will be making some additional cards (upgrades for parts, since I'm using the anime versions). That's because the anime Emperors were quite cool, in contrast to the flat TCG ones. This won't, generally, be a rule - I'll be sticking to the effects we are all used to. However, the Riding Duels also follow the anime scheme. Apart from the standard 4000 LP deviation, there's also the face-up defense position summoning, and the Speed Spells. If you haven't watched the 5Ds anime and are feeling a bit lost, it would be a good idea to check the wiki section on Riding Duels, although most information is also presented in the story itself.
[/spoiler]

[Hellequin]

Interesting fanfic. I've read chapters 1 and 2. Probably will read some more tomorrow or something. Anyways, hopefully more people read this and comment, because this is one of the better if not the best fanfic I've seen on here.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Have read (over the course of two sittings) up to Chapter 4.

Comfortably the best thing I've read on here. Action packed and hard to stop reading.

The characters are still vague enough to be intriguing and mysterious.

The second duel was incredible.

I find the chapters a tad long, but that's because I have the attention-span of a goldfish.

Loved it and look forward to more. (Rep).

[xNightshadex]

Just got caught up, and this story is getting more awesome by the chapter. It now seems like the presidents are the "bad guys" so to say. This story is pretty much a mystery to me, unlike some where I know what's going on right from the start. Awesome story again. Can't wait for more updates.

[Vector Nightmare]

Thanks for the comments guys! I'm glad you think the story is so good. If you start thinking about characters in terms of good and evil, you'll be in for serious surprises. I always like to paint gray worlds, and just as nothing is completely evil, nothing is completely good either, and one of the favorite moral dilemmas I like to push my characters in is the pursuit of 'greater good', and whether you have the will to let others pay the price for it. But, it's too early for that yet.

Also, what is the attention span of a goldfish? =/

Anyways, here be chapter 8. I'm currently 3/4 into chapter 10, which gives me quite a bit of leeway with my posting schedule. I hope you guys will enjoy the return of a familiar face.

[spoiler=Chapter 8]
[center][b][u]Chapter 8:[/b] Intercept[/u][/center]

Kiishiro sat perched atop his D-Wheel, observing the street underneath. ZONE had provided him with a way to operate and perform transactions inside the Duel Terminal servers without being detected by the system - as Sanjou Kiishiro was supposed to be in a coma, Thunderbolt Knight could not appear in the virtual world. With the abundance of Duel Points he had acquired during the week of intense training he had underwent, Kiishiro had been able to purchase virtually all the cards he needed, as well as a new outfit known as <Sin Armor>, a white metallic riding suit with black armguards and leggings, and the state-of-the-art D-Wheel model <Glass Stream>, an aluminium vehicle that looked like liquid silver under the sunlight.

The introduction of Riding Duels had caused the virtual world to plummet into chaos. Where Kiishiro was stationed right now was the <Battle Circuit>, a sort of freeway arena for Riding Duels.

Kiishiro knew what would happen. It had happened far too many times already. Always covertly, always well-hidden, but it happened, and ZONE had the means to predict it. 'Random' accidents, bots gone berserk, duels being forced onto unsuspecting duelists. As Kiishiro watched the young teenager idly speeding by, he could tell the sings himself. That sinking feeling of 'wrongness', of something amiss. And soon, he could hear the sound of another D-Wheel, approaching fast.

"What?! Who are you?!" The kid demanded as the D-Wheeler closed in on him, reaching uncomfortable distance. The duelist tried to shake him off, but it was a fruitless attempt. But Kiishiro had already begun making his move. Before the malignent bot could force the other player into a <Riding Duel>, he charged between them, ramming his own D-Wheel into that of the artificial intelligence, knocking it away and disrupting its move.

"If you know what's good for you, disconnect if you can. If you can't, just run away and avoid everyone you see, until you can." Kiishiro shouted back at the teen, without waiting to see if his instructions were obeyed. He sped up again, catching up to his target, who had regained his balance and was now turning to face him. "Your opponent will be me!" He shouted.

"Fine. You or that brat, it doesn't make a difference!" His enemy shouted.

"Speed World 2, activate!" They said in unison, initiating the Riding Duel.

[spoiler=Speed World 2][b]Speed World 2[/b]
SPELL / Field
If you activate a non-"Speed Spell" Spell Card, take 2000 damage. During each player's Standby Phase, place 1 Speed Counter on this card (max. 12). You can remove any number of Speed Counters from this card to activate an appropriate effect:
• 4: Inflict 800 damage to your opponent for each "Speed Spell" Spell Card in your hand.
• 7: Draw 1 card.
• 10: Select and destroy 1 card on the field.[/spoiler]

[center][i][b]Riding Duel - Acceleration![/b][/i][/center]

The first corner was right ahead. The bot was fast, but Kiishiro had powered-up his engine. He engaged the <Overdrive System>, pumping up his speed even further, to the point where it allowed him to narrowly pass through the corner first.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

Kiishiro looked at his D-Wheel's panel. Those bots had a name now. Ghost. How fitting. Their levels were still hidden, but that was something he had learned to expect.

"My turn. Draw!" He said, snatching a card from the top of his deck. Skillfully driving with one hand, he set his cards to the appropriate slot on his D-Wheel, examining his options. He smiled - fortune favored him today.

"I summon Card Gunner in defense position!" He said. A miniature machine, like a toy robot, armed with two cannon-like arms and tracks instead of wheels, appeared on the field, tinted blue to represent its defensive stance, rolling right beside Kiishiro. "Card Gunner's effect activates, allowing me to discard up to three cards from the top of my deck, and for every card, it powers up by five hundred points." He picked up the uppermost three cards of his deck, and sent them all to the Graveyard.

[spoiler=Card Gunner][b]Card Gunner[/b]
EARTH / Machine
Level 3
400/400
Once per turn, you can send up to 3 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard. This card gains 500 ATK for each card sent to the Graveyard, until the End Phase. When this card you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, draw 1 card.[/spoiler]

"The effect of Dandylion activates! When it is sent to the Graveyard, it Special Summons two tokens!"

[spoiler=Dandylion][b]Dandylion[/b]
EARTH / Plant
Level 3
300/300
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon 2 "Fluff Tokens" (Plant-Type/WIND/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) in Defense Position. These Tokens cannot be Tributed for a Tribute Summon during the turn they are Special Summoned.[/spoiler]

"Furthermore, Grow-Up Bulb in my Graveyard activates! By sending the top card of my deck to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon it!"

[spoiler=Grow-Up Bulb][b]Grow-Up Bulb[/b]
EARTH / Plant / Tuner
Level 1
100/100
You can send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard and Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. Each player can only use the effect of "Grow-Up Bulb" once per Duel.[/spoiler]

"Let's go! I tune my Level 3 Card Gunner and my two Level 1 Fluff tokens to my Level 1 Grow-Up Bulb!" He raised his hand, initiating the tuning process. "Synchro Summon! Appear, Hell Bramble!" A beautiful female clad in a dress of pink roses materialized in front of Kiishiro - however, appearances were deceptive, and her looks could not distract from the giant man-eater plants that replaced her lower arms.

[spoiler=Hell Bramble][b]Hell Bramble[/b]
LIGHT / Plant / Synchro
Level 6
2200/1800
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Plant-Type monsters
Each player must pay 1000 Life Points to Normal or Special Summon a non-Plant-Type monster from their hand.[/spoiler]

"Hell Bramble will deal a thousand damage to either of us, if we Summon anything but a Plant type monster from our hands." Kiishiro explained. Hell Bramble worked especially well, since in Riding Duels, setting monsters was forbidden. "Two cards face-down, turn end."

"My turn. Draw!" Ghost said. During the Standby Phase, Speed Counters increased appropriately.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 1[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 1[/i][/center]

"I... summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense mode." He growled. Obviously he wasn't pleased with Kiishiro's move, which indicated he might have preferred to use a swarm tactic, which would be turned into a suicide by Hell Bramble. And he certainly wasn't pleased that he would have to suffer the effect damage penalty for summoning a monster. A giant turtle with a golden pyramid instead of a shell appeared between the two duelists.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 3000[/i][/center]

[spoiler=Pyramid Turtle][b]Pyramid Turtle[/b]
DARK / Zombie
Level 4
1200/1400
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 Zombie-Type monster with 2000 or less DEF from your Deck.[/spoiler]

"Two cards face-down, turn end."

[i]A zombie deck, eh? Haven't seen one of those in a while. Should be interesting.[/i] Kiishiro thought. At least none of the three 'Ghosts', including this one, that he had faced so far seemed to use any abnormal or hacked cards. "My turn." He said out loud, drawing a card, and keeping note of the increase in Speed Counters. Thanks to the integral function of the Field Spell, Speed World 2, the more Speed Counters that were accumulated, the farther the D-Wheel's speed could be pushed. Kiishiro already felt the negative effects of the <Overdrive System>, which allowed for a temporary speed boost in exchange for lowered acceleration power later. Granted, in regular <Riding Duels>, unlike <Race Duels>, speed did not have any visible effect apart from deciding the first turn, but there was something unnerving about being unable to keep up with your opponent.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 2[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 2[/i][/center]

"I activate the Trap card Call of the Living Dead. It will revive a monster in my Graveyard - and I choose Evil Thorn." A flower with a black blossom full of thorns was revived from Kiishiro's grave.

[spoiler=Call of the Living Dead][b]Call of the Living Dead[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Select 1 monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When this card is removed from the field, destroy the monster. When the monster is destroyed, destroy this card.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Evil Thorn][b]Evil Thorn[/b]
DARK / Plant
Level 1
100/300
You can Tribute this card to inflict 300 damage to your opponent and Special Summon up to 2 "Evil Thorns" from your Deck in face-up Attack Position. Those monsters' effects cannot be activated.[/spoiler]

"Next, I activate Evil Thorn's effect. I can release it to deal 300 damage to you, as well as Special Summon two more from my Deck!" Ghost grunted as it was struck by a barrage of thorns from the little plant, which disappeared to be replaced by two copies of itself.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 2700[/i][/center]

"I'm not done yet! I summon Lonefire Blossom in defense mode!" Yet another plant appeared, this time a sunflower with a golden trunk and petals, and purple leaves. "Lonefire Blossom's effect activates! I tribute one of my Evil Thorns to Special Summon another Lonefire Blossom from my Deck! And the second Lonefire Blossom also activates, tributing my final Evil Thorn, to Special Summon Camellia Princess Tytannial from my Deck!" The last of his malicious flowers disappeared, replaced by a woman with rich green hair, whose body, perched atop a giant plant, seemed like a massive blooming rose flower.

[spoiler=Lonefire Blossom][b]Lonefire Blossom[/b]
FIRE / Plant
Level 3
500/1400
Once per turn, you can Tribute 1 face-up Plant-Type monster to Special Summon 1 Plant-Type monster from your Deck.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Camellia Princess Tytannial][b]Camellia Princess Tytannial[/b]
WIND / Plant
Level 8
2800/2600
You can Tribute 1 face-up Plant-Type monster you control to negate the activation of a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster's effect that targets a card(s) on the field and destroy it.[/spoiler]

"Battle!" Kiishiro commanded. He was surprised himself at the ease with which he had set up a full field. "Hell Bramble, destroy Pyramid Turtle!" Without hesitation, the thorn queen launched her tentacles at the undead creature, annihilating it instantly.

"Pyramid Turtle's effect allows me to Special Summon another one from my deck!" Ghost said. A creature similar to the previous one appared, but Kiishiro had more in store.

"Tytannial, attack Pyramid Turtle!" His strongest monster struck with a spray of flowers, wiping out the second zombie turtle.

"Again, I will use my monster's effect, Special Summoning this from my Deck." Ghost snarled, a feral smirk distorting his face. "Come, Mezuki! Attack position!" A demonic beast standing on two legs, but with the head of a horse, and armed with a giant axe, appeared on Ghost's field.

[spoiler=Mezuki][b]Mezuki[/b]
DARK / Zombie
Level 4
1700/800
You can remove from play this card from your Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Zombie-Type monster from your Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"And then I activate Call of the Living Dead myself, bringing back one of my Pyramid Turtles." Ghost said. Kiishiro sighed - it seemed he had not managed to harm his opponent's strategy much. Regardless, he had a strong field presence. "I end my turn." He said.

"Then I'll take it from here. Draw."

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 3[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 3[/i][/center]

Ghost began cackling maniacally. Kiishiro wondered what kind of hellish programming those things had undergone. "You may have thought you had the advantage there, but I will teach you where you stand! When my Speed Counters are two or more, I can activate the Speed Spell - Angel Baton from my hand! I draw twice, then discard Zombie Carrier to the Graveyard! Then, by returning a card in my hand to the top of my Deck, I can Special Summon Zombie Carrier!" A detestable deformed undead creature appeared next to Ghost's two zombies. It looked like Ghost had found a way to play around Kiishiro's Hell Bramble.

[spoiler=Speed Spell - Angel Baton][b]Speed Spell - Angel Baton[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Activate while you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards. Afterwards, send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Zombie Carrier][b]Zombie Carrier[/b]
DARK / Zombie / Tuner
Level 2
400/200
You can return 1 card from your hand to the top of the Deck to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.[/spoiler]

"It's time. I tune my Level 4 Pyramid Turtle to my Level 2 Zombie Carrier!" Both monsters disappeared in flashes of black light. "Synchro Summon! Be reborn, Revived Dark Ruler Ha Des!" From a dark sky, an unearthly monster descended. It was massive and black, barely humanoid, its tattered robes unaffected by the raging wind caused by the acceleration of the two D-Wheels. A terrible skull emblem, which looked not unlike the creature's own head, stood on its chest.

[spoiler=Revived Dark Ruler Ha Des][b]Revived Dark Ruler Ha Des[/b]
DARK / Zombie / Synchro
Level 6
2450/0
"Zombie Carrier" + 1 or more non-Tuner Zombie-Type monsters.
Negate the effects of Effect Monsters destroyed by battle with Zombie-Type monsters you control.[/spoiler]

"Oh dear..." Kiishiro muttered. It seemed things were getting rather serious.

"Battle! Ha Des, destroy that Hell Bramble!" Ghost ordered.

"Too naive!" Kiishiro countered. "Trap card, open! Thorn Wall! When a Plant type monster of mine is attacked, all attacking monsters of yours will be wiped out!"

"Trap card, open." Ghost said, without missing a beat. "The permanent trap, Proclamation of the Royal Palace. The effects of all Trap cards on the field are negated - therefore, Thorn Wall is now invalid." The barrier of thorns that had appeared before Hell Bramble disappeared, allowing it to be annihilated by Dark King Ha Des' shadow blast attack.

[spoiler=Thorn Wall][b]Thorn Wall[/b]
TRAP / Normal
Activate only when a face-up Plant-Type monster you control is selected as an attack target. Destroy all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Proclamation of the Royal Palace][b]Proclamation of the Royal Palace[/b]
TRAP / Continuous
Negate the effects of all other Trap Cards on the field.[/spoiler]

A well thought-out strategy indeed, Kiishiro thought as his Life Point counter dropped. Speed World 2 prohibited the use of regular Spell cards, limiting duelists to using only the Riding Duel-specific Speed Spells, most of which had generic effects that did not further their individual strategy. With the addition of Proclamation of the Royal Palace, they were now limited to just monster effects to carry them through. And though, as it happened, both Zombies and Plants were suited well for this kind of play, which one would emerge victorious?

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 3750[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 2700[/i][/center]

"Mezuki will also attack one of your Lonefire Blossoms!" Ghost instructed. The brutish axeman wasted no time in tearing the small flower apart. "Without the effect of Hell Bramble, I can freely summon this card in defense position. Come, Soul-Erasing Spirit!" A small purple-cloaked spectre with a skull for a head, wielding a sickle, appeared next to the revived demon king and the horse-headed beast. "Turn end."

[spoiler=Soul-Erasing Spirit][b]Soul-Erasing Spirit[/b]
DARK / Zombie
Level 3
300/200
This card cannot be destroyed by battle. Destroy this card when it is targeted by the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster. If this card successfully attacks directly, your opponent randomly discards 1 card.[/spoiler]

"Not bad, but I'm not out yet. Draw!" Kiishiro said.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 4[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 4[/i][/center]

"Lonefire Blossom's effect activates! I release it to Special Summon Gigaplant from my deck!" The wildflower disappeared, and in its place, a much larger carnivorous plant, towering over Kiishiro's D-Wheel, several scythe-like appendages protruding from its massive body, materialized on the field. "While Gigaplant is on the field, it can be Dual Summoned to acquire its effect!" Like all Dual Monsters, Gigaplant was treated as a Normal monster while on the field or in the Graveyard, and required a Dual Summon, which was the equivalent of the once-per-turn normal summon, to use its effect. In exchange, those effects were usually quite overwhelming. "Once per turn, I can Special Summon a Plant or Insect monster from my hand or Graveyard! Be reborn, Hell Bramble!"

[spoiler=Gigaplant][b]Gigaplant[/b]
EARTH / Plant / Dual
Level 6
2400/1200
This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it be treated as an Effect Monster with this effect:
• Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 Insect-Type or Plant-Type monster from your hand or Graveyard.[/spoiler]

"But, Soul-Erasing Spirit cannot be destroyed by battle!" Ghost gloated.

"That may be so, but your other monsters are not safe!" Kiishiro said. "Battle! Tytannial, eliminate Revived Dark Ruler, Hades! Gigaplant, take out Mezuki!" Tytannial unleashed a barrage of blossoms, destroying the Synchro Zombie monster, while Gigaplant's sickle-like tentacles slashed down Mezuki, which tried in vain to resist with its axe.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 3750[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 1650[/i][/center]

"Furthermore, the effect of Speed World 2!" Kiishiro continued. "By removing 4 of my Speed Counters, I deal damage to you equal to 800 times the number of Speed Spells I have in hand. I currently hold the Speed Spell - Overspeed! So you take 800 points of damage!" Kiishiro flipped his bike into reverse, facing his opponent directly. He held out the card, and from the D-Wheel's sharp-edged head an energy blast exploded, enveloping Ghost and reducing his Life down to 850.

[spoiler=Speed Spell - Overspeed][b]Speed Spell - Overspeed[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Activate only while you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Reduce your Speed Counters to 0 to add 1 Level 3 or lower Monster Card and 1 Spell/Trap Card from your Graveyard to your hand. You cannot gain Speed Counters for the next 3 turns after this card's activation.[/spoiler]

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 0[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 4[/i][/center]

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 3750[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 850[/i][/center]

"Now you don't have enough Life Points to summon anything from the hand." Kiishiro turned his D-Wheel around, surging forward despite the reduced speed. "Turn end."

"My turn. Draw!" Ghost snarled, adding a card to his hand.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 1[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 5[/i][/center]

"I activate the Speed Spell - Half Seize!" Ghost proclaimed. When I have 3 or more Speed Counters, I can target a monster on the field and reduce its attack points by half, and then increase my Life Points by that amount. My target is Camellia Princess Tytannial!"

[spoiler=Speed Spell - Half Seize][b]Speed Spell - Half Seize[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Activate only while you have 3 or more Speed Counters. Select 1 face-up monster on the field. Halve that monster's ATK, and gain an equal amount of Life Points.[/spoiler]

"I won't let you!" Kiishiro retaliated. "Tytannial's effect activates! I tribute Gigaplant, and negate the effect of your Speed Spell!" Kiishiro regretted the need to lose his monster, which could be used to further boost his field, but he needed to keep Ghost under lockdown.

"Then, Mezuki's effect in my Graveyard activates!" Ghost said, unfazed. "By removing Mezuki from play, I Special Summon Revived Dark Ruler Ha Des from the Graveyard!" The bot exchanged its cards, causing Kiishiro to jerk his head towards him in dismay. So the Speed Spell was only a ruse - !

"Battle! Revived Dark Ruler Ha Des, destroy Hell Bramble once more!" Again, the dark king released a bolt of energy that struck down Kiishiro's monster.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 3500[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 2700[/i][/center]

"And with that obstacle gone, I release Soul-Erasing Spirit to advance summon Wicked Emperor Gaius!" A hulking humanoid beast, entirely black, only a pair of red eyes visible underneath a horned vizor, once more changed the tide of battle.

[spoiler=Wicked Emperor Gaius][b]Wicked Emperor Gaius[/b]
DARK / Fiend
Level 6
2400/1000
When this card is Tribute Summoned, remove from play 1 card on the field. If it was a DARK Monster Card, inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.[/spoiler]

"Upon being advance summoned, Gaius removes from play a card on the field! Naturally, my target is Tytannial!" Ghost said.

"Tytannial's effect activates, releasing herself!" Kiishiro countered. "Wicked Emperor Gaius' effect is negated, and he is detroyed."

"But now you have no monsters." Ghost smirked, an unpleasant sight. "Turn end."

"My turn." Indeed, Kiishiro held no cards that could reverse the situation on the zombie creature. A week ago, he would have given up at this moment. But now he was different. He believed in himself, and he had acquired the strength and resolve necessary to continue the battle, until the very end. "Draw!"

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - SPC: 2[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - SPC: 6[/i][/center]

"It's over, Ghost!" He said, earning him a shocked glance from his opponent. "I summon the Tuner monster, Debris Dragon!" A small silver-and-blue dragon, with sharp horns, claws and wings and red glowing orbs attached to its torso, appeared on the
field.

[spoiler=Debris Dragon][b]Debris Dragon[/b]
WIND / Dragon / Tuner
Level 4
1000/2000
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 monster with 500 or less ATK from your Graveyard in Attack Position. That monster's effect(s) is negated. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a Dragon-Type Synchro Monster. The other Synchro Material Monster(s) cannot be Level 4.[/spoiler]

"Tuner monster?!" Ghost growled. "But you have no other monsters to use as materials!"

"My monster's effect will correct that. When Debris Dragon is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon any monster from my Graveyard, if its attack points do not exceed 500. My target is Dandylion!"

"And now watch as I tune my Level 3 Dandylion to my Level 4 Debris Dragon!" The white dragon shattered, forming four green circles that flew forth in a straight line beside Kiishiro.

"A Level 7, Dragon Synchro monster?!" Ghost shouted, quickly pressing some buttons on his panel. "Explode Wing Dragon?! But, Dandylion is a Plant type!"

Kiishiro shook his head. That monster wouldn't be found on the database. Dandylion dissolved into three stars that crossed the pathway formed by Debris Dragon. "Synchro Summon! Appear, Black Rose Dragon!!" The massive red-and-black creature was born within an array of blossoms, casting its shadow onto the arena as it glided gracefully through the air, next to Kiishiro.

[spoiler=Black Rose Dragon][b]Black Rose Dragon[/b]
FIRE / Dragon / Synchro
Level 7
2400/1800
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy all cards on the field. Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard to change 1 Defense Position monster your opponent controls to face-up Attack Position, and reduce its ATK to 0 until the End Phase.[/spoiler]

"Wh - what is this monster..." Ghost muttered as he saw the birth of Kiishiro's new Synchro monster, the weapon provided by ZONE. "But, it's not enough!" He regained his composure. "2400 attack points won't beat Hades!"

"The effects of Dandylion and Black Rose Dragon activate!" Kiishiro declared. "Black Rose Dragon's effect resolves first, destroying all cards on the field!" Black Rose spread its wings, unleashing a maelstrom of petals that shrouded the entire arena, wiping out everything. Ghost screamed as the intense wind threatened to throw him off the track. This was beyond the capacity of the <Real System>. Looking at Black Rose Dragon's visage while it vanished in that storm of blossoms, Kiishiro could almost believe what ZONE had said. Crystallization of miracles. An otherwordly mirage beyond the boundaries of reality.

"Next, Dandylion's effect will call forth two tokens on the now empty field." Kiishiro could almost sense the fear in Ghost's driving stance. Was it really fear, or simply an expression of emotion coded into his system, programmed to activate during a difficult situation? It was hard to say how advanced this technology was, when so much about it was kept hidden. "Next, the effect of Spore in my Graveyard, sent there during my first turn by the effect of Grow-Up Bulb, activates. By removing Dandylion in my Graveyard from play, I can Special Summon it!" A white fluffy ball with big round eyes appeared, closely resembling the two tokens it stood between.

[spoiler=Spore][b]Spore[/b]
WIND / Plant / Tuner
Level 1
400/800
If this card is in your Graveyard, you can remove from play 1 other Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard to Special Summon this card from your Graveyard, and increase its Level by the Level of the monster removed from play to activate this effect. Each player can only use the effect of "Spore" once per Duel.[/spoiler]

"Spore's effect will increase its level by the level of the monster removed in order to Special Summon it. Dandylion's level was 3, so Spore's level now becomes 4. I tune my two Level 1 Fluff tokens to my, now Level 4, Spore!" It was fine if he relied on the card ZONE had given him. But Kiishiro had become strong himself, and he would demonstrate his abilities right there. "Synchro Summon! Come, Splendid Rose!" Kiishiro's original Synchro monster, one that he had relied on long before his Duel with ZONE, materialized on the field, facing Ghost with an austere gaze.

[spoiler=Splendid Rose][b]Splendid Rose[/b]
WIND / Plant / Synchro
Level 6
2200/2000
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster in your Graveyard to halve the ATK of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, until the End Phase of this turn. If this card attacks, during the same Battle Phase you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster in your Graveyard to halve the ATK of this card (until the End Phase) and attack once again.[/spoiler]

"Attack him directly, Splendid Rose." Kiishiro commanded. The monster rose her arm, bombarding the opponent's D-Wheel with a flurry of flowers. When the attack's effect dissipated, there was nothing there. Just as his name implied, Ghost had vanished - along with the rest of his Life Points.

[center][i][b]Thunderbolt Knight[/b] - LP: 3500[/i]
[i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 0[/i][/center]

Kiishiro sighed. He paused for a moment, long enough for Duel Mode to disengage, then once more sped away into the distance. He had barely started accelerating, though, when another form became visible on his D-Wheel's display, closing in on him fast. Surprised, he pulled up. Was it another one of those Ghosts? Someone who happened to be in this area? The speed of the D-Wheel indicated quite an advanced model. Unlike cards, D-Wheels and their parts were available depending on the duelist's rank, so a powerful engine would at least imply that a skilled duelist was on top of it.

As they moved closer to Kiishiro, he was able to admire the model of the D-Wheel. Pure white, with what looked like precious gems of varying attached on its frame, and without a single speck of imperfection or flaw, its sides extended to wing-like appendages that gave it an aerodynamic feel. What surprised him more, though, was the fact that the person riding it was most definitely female. She stopped her D-Wheel close to Kiishiro's, and pulled out her helmet. Her platinum hair flowed freely onto her back, and a crystal-clear green gaze locked onto Kiishiro's eyes. By her face, she was a child, certainly quite younger than Kiishiro. Then he remembered this was a virtual reality, and that he himself, in here, looked quite older than he truly was. Something about her eyes, and the way she handled her D-Wheel, certainly implied more years than she showed.

"Who are you?" He asked. She did not look like one of those anomalies that plagued the Duel Terminal world lately, but she did not seem to be an ordinary duelist either.

"My name is Ivory." She spoke in a soft, yet at the same time steady and determined, tone. "But that is not important. You must listen to me, because you are making a huge mistake. You cannot trust the entity that calls itself ZONE."

"And should I trust you instead? Why?" Kiishiro demanded. He did not completely trust ZONE, of course, but what the man, or whatever he was, had told him did make sense, and he had been proven correct in his predictions so far.

"You don't have to trust me. Just listen to me, and decide for yourself what you want to believe." Ivory said firmly. "That dragon you are using holds a power beyond what ZONE can control. He is using you, just as he will use others like you, as pawns to serve his purposes. And those goals of his - never rest assured that you have figured him out. He was once responsible for the annihilation of many timelines. He has not changed since then."

"I know that." Kiishiro said irritably. ZONE had been honest with him, as far as he could tell. At least, he had not tried to conceal his own past misdeeds, which Kiishiro took as a sign of goodwill. But... "From what I see here, all we are doing is protect the people from the dangers of this cyberspace. If you want to find villains, there are plenty without having to make up accusations."

"Just watch out." The girl sighed, replacing her helmet. "You may think you were chosen at random, or by some sort of fate, but you have something, an ability ZONE needs. The fact that you possess that specific Dragon is also no happenstance. Soon, others will join you. And if ZONE decides you are not suited for his purpose... you may not know it yourself, but you have darkness within you, and your enemies, even those you think of as allies, will try to use it against you. Find your darkness, Thunderbolt Knight, find it and face it, before it destroys you."

"And how do I do that?" Kiishiro asked, curious despite himself.

"The answer lies in the crimson mark." Though the words seemed cryptic, Kiishiro gasped.

"The crimson mark?! Do you mean - "

"Hush." Ivory interrupted him. "There are ears everywhere. Remember that. I'm sure you'll work it out for yourself, when the time is right." And without another word, she sped away, leaving behind a blazing trail of white pulse - and a young man, deep in thought.

Kiishiro pulled out a card and held it up, opening a gateway, a portal through the virtual reality. A single step, and the <Battle Circuit> was gone. Kiishiro now stood atop the Citadel of God, ZONE's private castle, the <Arc Cradle>.

Sooner or later, he'd have to hunt for answers.
[/spoiler]

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

It is a well documented, but slightly misconcived fact, that a goldfish only has a memory of three seconds, and similar attention-span. It was a bad analogy on my part.

I think it's because my writing style is very direct and to the point. I mean I've just started writing my own fanfic (about to start the 4th chapter, but my limited knowledge of recent cards is hampering my characters decks and duels at present) and I'm starting to get paranoid that my chapters are too short, given the fantastic level of depth you go into. I'm actively trying to keep mine punchy and on a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter, but I just have the feeling I'm going to be told it's too short.

I was constantly nagged for being too to-the point with coursework, I could never understand the problem. Why say something in 20 words when I can say it in six?

Anyway back on-topic. Admittedly some of the technological stuff goes over my head, but I can still get through it alright. But really this is a really good concept. Kinda reminds me of the HACK series on PS2 if you ever played that. Like the idea of moral dilemmas, always good for a story.

Will read Chapters 5-8 tomorrow as I have other issues now. But looking forward to it.

[Vector Nightmare]

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294174449' post='4911563']
It is a well documented, but slightly misconcived fact, that a goldfish only has a memory of three seconds, and similar attention-span. It was a bad analogy on my part. [/quote]

Really?

I should get a goldfish, that gives me some interesting ideas to try out. [/animal cruelty ftw]

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294174449' post='4911563']I think it's because my writing style is very direct and to the point. I mean I've just started writing my own fanfic (about to start the 4th chapter, but my limited knowledge of recent cards is hampering my characters decks and duels at present) and I'm starting to get paranoid that my chapters are too short, given the fantastic level of depth you go into. I'm actively trying to keep mine punchy and on a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter, but I just have the feeling I'm going to be told it's too short.[/quote]

'Direct and to the point' is fine when there is a point to be made. However, when there is a story to be told, when there are characters that are experiencing things and you want your readers to feel like they are in those character's shoes, it needs something more. If you were asked to analyze a day of your life, you could probably sum it up in something like 'Woke up. Had breakfast. Brushed my teeth. Went to school. Attended classes. Returned home. Done homework. Spent some time on the PC. Went to sleep.' and the other person would get the point. But try to reflect on that sequence. If that was all your day consisted of, wouldn't you be leading an extremely boring life? Don't you think the thoughts you may have had, your interactions with other people, every little detail that might not seem worth mentioning at first, is actually a pretty important part of your everyday life? And keep in mind, you are - hopefully - not just talking about everyday people having everyday lives, but something a bit more exciting. Wouldn't it require a similar amount of expansion?

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294174449' post='4911563']I was constantly nagged for being too to-the point with coursework, I could never understand the problem. Why say something in 20 words when I can say it in six? [/quote]

[quote]
Jack started his turn. "Draw!" He said. He sacrificed Kuriboh and Black Magician Girl to summon Black Magician. He attacked with Black Magician, dealt 2500 damage, and won.
[/quote]

[quote]
Jack placed his hand atop his deck. He could feel it. The pulse of his cards, calling out to him. This was about to be the final...

"Draw!!" He exclaimed, forcefully pulling a card out of the deck slot. He caught its visage with the corner of his eye. [i]Here goes.[/i]

"I release Kuriboh and Black Magician Girl!" He said. Both his monsters vanished in pillars of black light. His opponent looked afraid - with no monsters to protect him, he would be vulnerable to whatever Jack had in store. "Behold, the ace of my deck! Come, Black Magician!" A purple-clad spellcaster with a green lance-like stave materialized in place of the sacrificed creatures.

"Black Magician, direct attack!" Jack wasted no time in unleashing his monster's power, and his enemy soon found himself keeling before the absolute force of the fearsome sorcerer. His Life Points were cut down to zero, and he groaned in pain as he collapsed, overwhelmed by the twenty-five hundred points of direct damage.
[/quote]

I timed myself writing these (after deciding what I wanted to write). The first block took about 10 seconds. The second block took roughly two minutes. Now, both say pretty much the same thing. But, obviously, the first one isn't the type of writing you'd want to see in a story. It would tell you pretty much nothing, except what happened. You want to know how it happened, why, how the characters involved felt about it. You want to see it as if you were there (or as good as, anyway). Yes, a lot of people are more direct. They want to say something, and they want to say it as objectively and succinctly as possible. That's fine, too. But those people aren't authors. As a writer, your words are your weapons. If you had the option of going into war carrying six grenades, and carrying twenty, wouldn't you rather have twenty? (well, weight issues aside). The same concept applies here. Leave 'cutting down words' for when you must fit a manuscript quota without exceeding its limits. For now, let your words flow.

I'd love to read your story. Perhaps I could give you some more useful criticism then.

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294174449' post='4911563']Anyway back on-topic. Admittedly some of the technological stuff goes over my head, but I can still get through it alright. But really this is a really good concept. Kinda reminds me of the HACK series on PS2 if you ever played that. Like the idea of moral dilemmas, always good for a story.

Will read Chapters 5-8 tomorrow as I have other issues now. But looking forward to it.
[/quote]

I do not generally spend much time or focus on the technological aspects of the system. I just mention them as needed. I'm writing a story about card games, not a sci-fi novel. As long as you get the general idea, it's fine. You can still ask for explanations though - if something is too obscure, the fault is probably on my side, and I'll want to correct it when I get down to fixing up the story (after I - hopefully - finish it).

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Some excellent advise there.

Thank you, I shall keep all that in mind.

Additional added comment: Reading onwards through chapters 5-6, loving the plot twists and the vague threats of doom.

Yes for completely over-the-top gore and horror. Loved it.

I actually physically cheered and punched the air when she played Miracle Synchro Fusion!!! All the proof you need of writing an involving, pulsating story.

More additional comments: Just finished Chapters 7-8. Good stuff, but something seems contradictory about using a dueling ride system in a virtual world. There has been much made of the body lock a character goes into while connected to Duel Terminal, yet on Duel riders you're in a driving simulator? Or is it just all mind controlled driving. Eh regardless good addition just feels like the mechanics contradict.

Epic duels again. I was like WTF when the machine absorbed the Synchro Monster (I'm trying not to read spoilers and discover effects as the characters do ). All the tense bits really well drawn out.

Final note: We're not having 5 characters working for ZONE with 5 signer dragons are we? If so, Boo!

[Vector Nightmare]

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294224435' post='4913111']Some excellent advise there.

Thank you, I shall keep all that in mind.

Additional added comment: Reading onwards through chapters 5-6, loving the plot twists and the vague threats of doom.

Yes for completely over-the-top gore and horror. Loved it.

I actually physically cheered and punched the air when she played Miracle Synchro Fusion!!! All the proof you need of writing an involving, pulsating story.[/quote]

Haha, thanks. I do feel that was a rather good scene.

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294224435' post='4913111']More additional comments: Just finished Chapters 7-8. Good stuff, but something seems contradictory about using a dueling ride system in a virtual world. There has been much made of the body lock a character goes into while connected to Duel Terminal, yet on Duel riders you're in a driving simulator? Or is it just all mind controlled driving. Eh regardless good addition just feels like the mechanics contradict.[/quote]

This is exactly why Riding Duels hadn't been implemented for so long (remember this is actually quite a few years in the future), and why it was such a great breakthrough. Also why they need special circuits to perform them, rather than use the standard fields. Remember that Duel Fields have the motion lock in place because they are 'imperfect', in the sense that they are constructed so that they appear complete only from certain angles. Ever played a big MMORPG like WoW? Now the technology has improved, but a few years back, if you would approach one of the big cities in WoW from certain camera angles (mostly things you wouldn't normally do, via bugs or exploits), it would appear 'broken'. The concept is the same, and enforced due to the need for preservation of hardware resources, and reducing lag (of course, that's the 'official' explanation, in my story at least. Who knows what the truth is? I was also trying to make a point with Yuusuke that the motion lock prevented players from avoiding incoming attacks physically - whatever that can mean). I didn't spend much time on it because I didn't think it was necessary, but you are right, I should expand on the differences more.

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294224435' post='4913111']Epic duels again. I was like WTF when the machine absorbed the Synchro Monster (I'm trying not to read spoilers and discover effects as the characters do ). All the tense bits really well drawn out.[/quote]

The Machine Emperors actually appear fully in the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. It wasn't meant as a big surprise for those who watch the anime, but I guess I caught you off-guard. =/

[quote name='Bahamut ZERO' timestamp='1294224435' post='4913111']Final note: We're not having 5 characters working for ZONE with 5 signer dragons are we? If so, Boo![/quote]

Well, I wonder. Assuming Ivory and/or ZONE are not lying, it would be rather incredibly convenient if ZONE could recruit all those people who are entitled to use the Signer Dragons. Then again, ZONE has his methods. And, though he has access to at least one of the Signer Dragons, and another important card whose owner Kiishiro is supposed to find, does he have all five? Are the five Signer Dragons even the important pieces here, or is there a different puzzle to solve? Questions, questions... but before answering any of those, here is the next chapter.

[spoiler=Chapter 9]
[center][b][u]Chapter 9:[/b] Bait Doll[/u][/center]

"You are troubled." ZONE observed. Kiishiro and his mysterious companion - 'employer' might be a more fitting description - stood in the room that was the heart of the Arc Cradle. Well, ZONE was floating on his unicycle, or whatever that thing was. Kiishiro had not bothered to ask, and now was not the time. The Arc Cradle was a massive fortress floating in the sky - though in this space, there was nothing to be seen underneath, so the structure just seemed suspended in the middle of nowhere. Its shape was that of a spiral, with its nose pointing down. Down the underside an entire city seemed to be hanging, though all its structures were in ruins. Kiishiro had observed this through the various panels inside the fortress. On the upper floor, a multi-colored circuit ran around a central location, which was concealed by a solid-looking barrier of light. Kiishiro had freely wandered the Arc Cradle, but in spite of its extraordinary design, he had found nothing too intriguing to spark his interest, besides what ZONE had already shown him. So far it seemed like a giant factory of sorts - yet there were many areas that were out-of-bounds for Kiishiro.

Deep within the bowels of the Arc Cradle there were training chambers for duels, almost similar to a Duel Terminal system themselves. Kiishiro had been practicing nonstop against bots of ZONE's creation these past days. He had almost gotten used to the virtual reality world, and had accepted the fact that he would be staying here for a while, at least until the entire mess was cleaned up. Convinced of the dangers everyone was confronted with if the situation escalated out of hand, he had resolved to see it through to the end. However, his meeting with the girl who called herself Ivory had shaken that resolution.

"I think it's high time you told me." Kiishiro said. "Who are we dealing with here? Who is controlling the Ghosts? And who else is involved? How many factions are there, actually, in this messed-up situation?"

"If you are talking about factions, dozens." ZONE replied seriously. "But, they can be split into three general categories. The first would be the people who, knowingly or unknowingly, are interfering with the Nexus and are slowly manipulating its influence on the timelines. If they are left to their own devices, inevitably, the Nexus will 'overload' with outside interference. There is no telling what will happen now. However, they are not unified. In fact, as far as I know, they are split into numerous groups, and a lot of them are even operating alone. It is hard to believe that all of them have the full picture - most would be struggling with tidbits of information, trying to snatch what they believe to be an advantage. The others - the ones that are responsible for starting this in the first place, and the ones controlling the Ghosts - they are the real threats. The second faction would be us, who are trying to stop that interference and restore the Nexus."

"And the third?" Kiishiro asked tentatively.

"Generally, uninvolved people, who are either not adequately informed, or misguided. Their purposes may coincide with ours, to some extent, but they either do not know enough, or do not trust enough, to join forces with us. There are a lot of them, but for the most part, their meddling is inconsequential. However, a few of them - they are special. I would not limit it to such a restrictive concept as 'destiny', but they possess extraordinary influence on the course of events, and they may not even realize it. In their own way, they can be the most dangerous of all, thanks to their ignorance. I seek to bring them into our fold, but that will take time."

Kiishiro sighed. He had to suppress the urge to tell ZONE about the girl he had met. He didn't know why, but ZONE inspired... not trust, not exactly. But Kiishiro thought he was truthful to him, and he was quite forthcoming. However... the crimson mark, and the 'darkness' inside him... what could that girl mean? And what was the connection between Ivory and ZONE?

Suddenly, an alarm sounded, causing both of them to turn their heads towards the main screen. Kiishiro had been carefully educated in the structure of the Duel Terminal system to instantly recognize the place depicted as the Duel Field, <Falcon Ridge>. Situated atop two narrow passes between mountains, with a beautiful view of a lush ravine underneath, and the imposing mountaintops overhead, it was one of the most recent additions. It doubled both as a Duel Field and a Riding Field. D-Wheelers would circle the mountain as they raced to the top, while a regular duel could be played, where each opponent would stand on opposite sides of the ravine, with a deep chasm between them.

"There's noone there." Kiishiro observed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Not yet." Kiishiro blinked in disbelief. For the first time since their first meeting, some emotion seemed to have entered ZONE's cool, expressionless tone. Anyone else, and Kiishiro would have said they sounded excited. "But, they are coming. Kiishiro, I need you to go there immediately. This is important. Take this." He tossed a card at him, which Kiishiro caught in mid-air.

"This is - ?!" He exclaimed, but a portal to the Falcon Ridge had already opened, right in the middle of the room. Another sign of urgency - ZONE always had Kiishiro go through the warp portals in the upper chambers, rather than opening a gateway wherever it was convenient. That consistency was necessary to keep this place hidden, he had claimed. "I understand." He said finally. He could feel the pulse of that card, counterbeat to his Black Rose Dragon.

"Kiishiro..." ZONE said. The boy started - ZONE rarely addressed him with his real name. "These cards... they are crucial to stabilizing the Nexus. But, if misused, they may bring us all to ruin. Be careful."

"I will." Kiishiro said simply. As he stepped into the ridge, summoning his D-Wheel <Glass Stream> and equipping the <Sin Armor>, though, he was not certain. The portal closed behind him. The darkness within. Just how much did he know, and more importantly, how much was going on that he had no idea of?

---

"Are you alright, Yuusuke? You seem a little down lately."

Yuusuke started, as he was surprised by someone standing right beside him. The sun had risen to its full peak, and classes had ended a quarter of an hour ago. Yet, Yuusuke had not moved from his desk, absent-mindedly watching the yard outside the window. Several people were idly wasting some time before returning to their homes, or preparing for club activities.

"I'm fine, Shugo." He sighed, talking to his friend. Nakazawa Shugo was one of the few people Yuusuke had enjoyed hanging out with, except Maya, and Yuusuke, when he could get him out of his shell. Just the memory of the boy still shut in the hospital further dampened his mood. It had been a week - a week! - since those events, and there had been no development. His parents had both insisted he stayed away from everything Duel Terminal-related, and surprisingly, Maya had adopted their stance as well, firmly telling him that they would stay out of this. Her drastic change had been a mystery to Yuusuke, yet Maya was never one to not be hiding a few secrets. "Just a little bummed out."

"Oh, that's right. Your parents must have their hands full, right?" Shugo said sympathetically.

That was an understatement. Yuusuke had barely caught a glimpse of either his father or his mother this past week. The accidents that kept happening had been taking up both of their time. Yuusuke's father was trying to find out and fix what was causing them. His mother was trying to figure out what was wrong with the people who had fallen into catatonic states during a Duel Terminal session. And Yuusuke had to sit there, doing nothing.

That was what irked him the most. He was fine with not using the Duel Terminals - after his last experience, he was wise enough to want to stay away, at least. But he couldn't just stand and watch as people fell one after the other, because of who-knows-what was happening inside that virtual world! There was something wrong there. And that damnable Duel International had not shifted their stance even slightly. [i]These accidents have nothing to do with the system itself. The same precautionary measures are advised as usual.[/i] They listed a number of medical conditions that should deter people from using the Real System, and claimed that those who experienced symptoms of any such sort should not be using the Terminals. As if all the hundred-or-something people that had gone down this week - many more than the reported cases throughout the nearly twenty years the system was in place - would be suffering from medical conditions. And yet, the obscurity of Japanese law, with the absolute secrecy regarding confidential matters, or corporate interests, ensured they remained untouched, and the Duel Terminals remained operational. No official warnings, nothing. And most people didn't have any idea of this. And even if they did, that hardly stopped them from playing. Since accounts couldn't be revoked or suspended, and did not require the use of a card or other identifier, it was almost impossible for parents to control their curious kids, who foolishly logged in, seeking excitement. And so the number of victims grew.

Abroad, there was no way this whole issue would have been just glossed over. But the Japanese people were strange like that. They tended to take things in stride - if something was like that, it was, and there was no use arguing it. If a few people collapsed while playing a game, and the company claimed it was because of their medical records, then it must be so. If the hospitals didn't issue an official warning, then it was alright to continue using the Terminals haphazardly. The only ones who would really feel the consequences would be the families and close acquaintances of those people. With things going at this rate, it was only a matter of time before something truly serious happened. And then it might be too late to try and control everything.

Wait. Abroad? That clicked on something. What was it his father had said? That he had been logged into the European servers? There was definitely something suspicious about that. He had mulled it over his head a hundred times. So why now? Why, when he thought about how foreigners might handle such a situation, did it feel like he had finally grasped at something solid? Something must have shown in his expression, because Shugo looked at him worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

"Perhaps." Yuusuke rose. He stood a little taller than Shugo. His classmate had hazel eyes and short, chestnut brown-colored hair, slightly spiky. He had never been an avid player of Duel Monsters, but he, like almost everyone, had an account somewhere in the tens. Rank fifteen to twenty, which could be reached after a month or two of casual play, was where most players who weren't really into it would start getting bored and drop it. But almost every teenager at Yuusuke's age had gone at least that far. "When was the last time you logged into a Duel Terminal? What is your level now?"

"Uh... it was about two months ago, I think. I was thirteen or something." Yuusuke nodded.

"I need to experiment with something. Can you come with me to the arcade?" He asked.

"You... you don't want us to log in, do you?" Shugo asked, a bit nervous. "I don't know... it's creepy, with all these accidents going on."

"Don't worry, we won't use the Real System." Yuusuke said. "I just want to check up on some things." Shugo nodded, and soon, the pair was on their way.

"So, what are we doing?" Shugo asked. He was standing behind Yuusuke, discreetly hiding him from any curious eyes as he had used a series of commands to activate <Operator Mode> on the terminal. Granted, without the actual privileges of an administrator, there was little Yuusuke could do, at least not without alerting the company's anti-hacker department. But he had picked up a few useful tidbits of knowledge from his dad. At the very least, he knew how to redirect the target gateway server without falling over himself.

"I'll see if we can get into the European servers." Yuusuke whispered. "There! See if you can log in!" Hesitantly, Shugo pressed his palm against the terminal's identifier. The Duel Terminal system had two levels of entry - one, simply logging in with your account, which was done via handprint identification, or, in certain cases, inputting a unique passkey. And two, activating the Real System through the D-Tacher, and entering the virtual world. That second was something Yuusuke had to avoid, for now.

"It's working." Shugo said in disbelief. Indeed, the modified sign-in form had accepted Shugo's profile easily. "Are we really in a European server? Everything looks the same... it's even in Japanese..."

"The language settings are settled from your account." Yuusuke said. "And I suppose it should look the same. The servers are all streamlined - there should be no discrepancies between what is available in the American, European, and Japanese servers."

"So, what now?" Shugo asked, watching his avatar, "Doveren", in the profile screen. Shugo had modelled his virtual persona as an oriental man in his thirties, with stern features and short-cropped black hair. In the <Hardleather Garb>, he looked like a ronin samurai. Even if the attire was pretty plain - only after rank 20 did someone start getting access to more prestigious features - he seemed imposing enough.

"What?!" Shugo shouted, loud enough for several others to turn their heads to him. The way he was leaning over Yuusuke, staring wide-eyed at the screen, would certainly blow away all the secrecy, but Shugo seemed not to care. And Yuusuke soon found out why. "A... message from the administrators..." Shugo whispered. "I told you this was a bad idea..." Without responding, Yuusuke opened the message that had just arrived. They both read it silently.

"There seems to be a problem with your login procedure." Yuusuke said flatly, reciting the essence of the message. "Please engage the Real System, so that the issue can be identified and resolved. So basically, they're telling you to login. How convenient."

"It's your fault!" Shugo growled. "What if I get accused for hacking? How am I going to clear this up? I could get into serious trouble for this!"

"Calm down, you did nothing wrong." Yuusuke said absently, re-reading the message. "It is the Duel Terminal that was rigged, not your account. They can't do anything to you, and with any luck, I should also get out of this without an issue. What is important right now - Shugo, you can't login. It's too risky." But his panic-stricken classmate had already grabbed the D-Tacher, and was pushing Yuusuke off the seat.

"I can't! Do you know what fines that company imposes to those who mess with them? My father is a lawyer, I should know! All those people who were accused, even if it was something minor, and took the legal course ended up paying, and paying badly. I'll just follow their instructions, and tell them I had nothing to do with this!" Yuusuke tried to stop him, but Shugo had already engaged the Real System, and quickly submerged into the trance that was the telltale sign of being immersed into the virtual reality.

[i]Now what?[/i] Yuusuke gritted his teeth. He was not very concerned about the repercussions they might face. All that had been detected was probably a foreign account logging into the servers. In fact, it was hardly likely that an actual administrator had noticed this and sent the message. More than likely, it was the auto-correction system, and it would simply perform a routine scan, disconnect Shugo and fix the Terminal's routing via remote processing, adjusting it to the correct network.

It would be fine if that was all there was. But what if it wasn't? What if Yuusuke's suspicions had been right? It might seem logical to have to verify your account via the Real System in order to properly identify the issue, server-side. But it was also a deathtrap. Once into that virtual world, Shugo was as good as helpless against whatever was happening inside. And if it was like what had happened with Yuusuke... he glanced at Shugo's immobile body. Less than a minute had passed since he had logged in via the D-Tacher. How much time would fixing such a problem normally take? How much time could he afford to wait?

Cursing, Yuusuke bolted to the nearby terminal. Ignoring the ruckus they had caused, he quickly reset the system to also target the European servers. In less than fifteen seconds, he was logged in. He hesitated before putting on the D-Tacher. It had been a week, yet the last incident - the terror of the world literally melting around him, the terrible visage of his opponent reaching out to him - was as fresh as ever. He could log in, and not be able to contact Shugo at all. He sent an <Add Friend> message to "Doveren". The request remained unanswered - if Shugo was inside the system, he should immediately see the request and be promted to respond to it. Yuusuke waited another fifteen seconds. No change. He could log in, and find nothing. Worse, he could log in, and fall into trouble himself, while failing to assist Shugo in any way. Or he could sit here and wait, and have to claim responsibility for whatever happened to his friend.

Yuusuke forcefully put on the D-Tacher. Upon engaging the Real System, you could either preemptively choose your target location via a menu, or find yourself in the <Duelist Home>, a place one could personalize according to their desires. From there, you could warp yourself to any desireable location. Yuusuke's room was a big futuristic space with glass walls, a view to a nonexistent outside expanse of greenery and patches of woods. Inside, a checker board marble floor along with walls in light shades of blue, and a domed ceiling, formed a spacious area where a table with a computer, a couch, two armchairs, and a library holding Yuusuke's purchased Duel Disks and accessories, as well as a wardrobe to keep his outfits, were located. This was the virtual version of the Duel Terminal menu, essentially, and a nice touch to interact with the world a little more, even though most duelists simply set up their options beforehand.

Yuusuke quickly walked to his computer, starting it up. He was immediately presented with advertisements for the new Riding Duels - prominent was the offer to buy a garage, as well as a D-Wheel. Yuusuke already had enough Duel Points to purchase any from a suitable selection of D-Wheels, but he was not interested in that. He quickly browsed to the portal window. The <Store> was there, as well as a list of Duel Fields and, another recent addition, Riding Fields. If Shugo was going to be anywhere, it was the <Technical Support Room>. Yuusuke hesitated before accessing that. Meant for people who were experiencing issues with the Real System, as far as Yuusuke knew, it wasn't instanced like the Duel Fields, but each request was handled separately. There was little to no chance he would meet up with Shugo there, even if he was inside at this very moment. He should -

He froze. A message had arrived. The sender - no! It was an array of strange symbols, similar to the bot Yuusuke had dueled! Without wasting any time, he opened it.

[i]We have him, and now we'll come for you. Come to the <Revenant Spire>, if you dare.[/i]

There was no question, of course. Yuusuke dashed to his wardrobe, selecting the, fitting for the occasion, <Black Imperial Armor>. He chose his trusted Lightlord deck, and warped into the Revenant Spire.

Immediately he stood on top of a tower. The small space he was located on was a circular area, covered from above by only a thatch roof. The upper level of a medieval tower. If you looked over the precipice, barred by a fence, you would see nothing but stormclouds below. Overhead, the endless black of the night was interrupted only by random, jagged bolts of lightning. One of the most atmospheric Duel Fields in design, the Revenant Spire was breathtaking. But Yuusuke was not there to enjoy the view. Only a few seconds later, as expected, his opponent materialized. Yuusuke could have sworn it looked just like the bot he had faced a week ago.

"What have you done to Shugo?" He demanded.

"Patience." The bot said, with that eerie smirk that seemed an integral part of their design. "For now, you should be more worried about yourself. You have already meddled in matters you should not have touched, and we will get rid of you before you can become a threat." He raised his Duel Disk and activated it. Yuusuke followed his lead.

[center][i][b]Duel Commencing[/b][/i][/center]

Both left the turn order up to the randomizer, which assigned the first move to the unidentifiable opponent. "If I win, will you release Shugo?" Yuusuke asked.

"Your friend is of no consequence." His opponent shrugged. "As I said, you should be more concerned about yourself. Do you know why people fall into a coma here?"

"Why?" Yuusuke snarled.

"Extreme brain stimulation." The smirk never left the ebony-clad creature's face. "If you experience a tremendous shock, say, the shock of death, your brain will be unable to cope with the extreme influx of signals, both internal and external, and will collapse. It's what people call, 'brain death'. All those who are in a coma - they may seem fine, physically. But they will never recover. They are already dead."

Yuusuke felt despair gripping him like an iron chain. Was that true? Had everyone's fate been sealed, just like that? Had over a hundred people just died like this, in a world that wasn't even real, all because of someone's twisted game?

"We've rigged this Duel Field." His foe said suddenly. "Lose, and your side of the tower will collapse, and you will plummet all the way down to the bottom. If there is one." His smirk widened. "I'd say that's pretty guaranteed to kill you. Win, and you will return safely. Along with your friend. Your options are pretty clear, no?"

Yuusuke gathered his resolve. If it was as he had said - he'd certainly reach the bottom of this. And there was no danger, nothing, that would stop him. "Then, go." He said, venom dripping from his voice. He glanced at the Duel profile panel. To his surprise, a name had been assigned to the opponent this time, a strange that fit eerily with the atmosphere of this Duel Field, and with the situation at hand.

[center][i][b]Ghost[/b] - LP: 4000[/i]
[i][b]Galahad[/b] - LP: 4000[/i][/center]

"My turn. Draw!" Ghost said. "I Summon Royal Magical Library!" A large towering structure was erected in front of Ghost, though the front part was faded away, allowing Yuusuke to see a massive collection of shelved books, along with three floating globes somewhere near the middle.

[spoiler=Royal Magical Library][b]Royal Magical Library[/b]
LIGHT / Spellcaster
Level 4
0/2000
Each time a Spell Card is activated, place 1 Spell Counter on this card (max 3). You can remove 3 Spell Counters from this card to draw 1 card.[/spoiler]

"Next I activate Mana Seize! It places one Spell Counter on Royal Magical Library, and also allows me to add another Mana Seize from my Deck to my hand - however, it cannot be used this turn. And since a Spell card was activated, Royal Magical Library gains an extra Spell Counter!" Two of the faded globes inside the library lit up.

[spoiler=Mana Seize][b]Mana Seize[/b]
SPELL / Normal
Place 1 Spell Counter on a face-up card that you can place a Spell Counter on. Then you can add 1 "Mana Seize" from your Deck to your hand. You can only activate 1 "Mana Seize" per turn.[/spoiler]

"What is your strategy..." Yuusuke muttered. Then his eyes shot wide open, as he recognized the pattern. "It can't be - Exodia?!" Ghost's smirk widened further, until it seemed to cover the entire lower part of his face.

"Yes, Exodia." Ghost admitted. "A fitting monster for your last duel."
[/spoiler]