Machine Wars - Chapter 5 added (Contains strong language)

[TomsVWXYZ]

[b]*Please note that there may be a while before any duels take place; this is more about story than duels, but enjoy all the same. Please note that there may also be swearing in this fan-fiction.*[/b]

“Align the genetic input,” a scientist said. His name was Max. He was about forty years of age, with rapidly greying hair. Max had line across his face which showed that maybe he was far older than he appeared. He worked in a laboratory which was open to the public, so that visitors can see how science can improve life.
The laboratory he was in was tall and coloured white, which brought out the harsh cleanliness of the room. The fact that the room was also bathed in white light fought against the white walls. The light was so bright it could’ve been thought by people entering into the lab that the light was there to pin down bacteria. At one end of the lab, there were two large tanks, which were currently filling with a turquoise coloured liquid. It was about two thirds full and large bubbles rose to the top of the liquid. At the base of the two tanks – which were connected by what appeared to be a venting pipe made of Kevlar and wire - were two computers. They gave out some information about the current situation of the filling process.
“Are you going to tell the volunteers about what is ultimately going to happen?” asked the other scientist working with Max.
“Not at all. They already know the gist of the injection. They know that it is the world’s ultimate vaccine. It will help to cure viruses, kill bacteria, and prevent other diseases such as HIV and even cancer either returning or ever showing up,” Max replied. “We have one volunteer coming in tomorrow morning at around about eleven o’clock. Make sure the vaccine is ready.”
“This volunteer is one of how many?”
“There are only two volunteers. We’ve got the second one coming in next week. We may have a scandal on our hands if they both disappear at the same time,” Max said calmly. “Watch the input!”
A message had appeared on both of the computers, signalling that the input was moving too rapidly for the system to cope with. Max’s partner dashed to the Machine and clicked one of the options that was there; SEAL VALVE: Y/N. The man clicked the Y and a faint hissing was heard for a moment as the valves began to close slowly.
“I’m leaving the project in your hands for tonight considering you said that you would be staying at here all night to watch the tanks filling. I am leaving. Do not fail me and get the first of the injections ready tonight. I shall see you in the morning,” Max hissed slightly agitated by the system overload a moment ago. His partner nodded as Max turned, picked up his coat and then marched down the lab back towards the main entrance.

Peter walked into the volunteer’s entrance of the laboratory. He was twenty-five years of age, and slightly nerdy. He was always the kind of person who still managed to go to parties despite what people thought about him. He walked up to the reception desk where a young nurse, possibly about his age was sitting typing details into the computer. Peter coughed just enough to gain the attention of the nurse.
She looked up at him and almost didn’t register him, and then she gasped.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I have an appointment for the vaccine,” Peter replied. “Eleven o’clock? Peter Jones”
The nurse typed away at the keyboard raucously for a few moments and then indicated the set of comfy chairs as far away from her as possible. Peter looked over his shoulder at where the chairs where, looked back at the nurse and smiled in thanks, then went and sat on a black cushioned chair.
He picked up a magazine after a few minutes of absent-mindedly playing with his thumbs. It was a magazine for people interested in the latest gadgets or scientific breakthroughs. Peter thumbed through it and stopped when he heard a cough above him. Peter lowered the magazine and looked at the man standing in front of him.
“Good morning!” the man said brightly. “My name’s Max. You’re here for the vaccination, right?” Peter nodded in response. “Follow me then and we can begin.”
Peter rose from his chair and followed the man called Max past the reception desk and through some doors which led into a section of the building which looked far too much like a hospital ward.
Max held open one of the wooden doors and then let Peter go in front of him. This room resembled a hospital A&E room. There was a bed directly opposite the door and posters lining the walls about health issues and where to find help. Max however asked Peter to sit in one of the chairs.
“Before we begin, I’d like to know if you have filled out the consent form in which you agree not to tell the press about this vaccination or sell the idea of it to another pharmaceutical company,” Max asked.
“I have done. Can I ask some questions before we begin?” Peter responded. Max nodded in approval. “How long is this entire process going to take?”
“Well you have to have three injections, one every hour so roughly three hours you should be here. Before you ask, there no side effects as we know, so you should be fine when you leave here. I shall return with the vaccine.”
Peter moved from the chair to the bed and then took off his jumper and then rolled up his sleeve. Peter spent a few moments looking at the posters on the wall. The door creaked open again and Max entered with the injection.
“I see that you already know the procedure,” Max said half smiling. After that, he moved on and performed the procedure.

An hour later, Peter still lay on the bed. He hadn’t expected to be completely sedated by this vaccine, but maybe for the last fifteen to twenty minutes he could feel a large throbbing in his back. There were four individual pains all up and down his body. At one point he swore to himself that he could feel something growing out of his back. Peter didn’t dare move his hand around to feel what the pain was. However when he heard the material of his shirt rip, he realised that something was amiss and Peter dared to move his hand to where the rip had occurred from. His eyes widened as he felt a jointed limb. There was a sharp pain from the opposite side of his back and he didn’t want to examine this pain.
Peter flung himself across the bed and fell to the floor. He squirmed and thrashed about in agony, his arms smashing into the bed making it move. He rolled over onto his front and crawled onto his knees. Peter screwed up his eyes and tried to stand. He opened them and he had a bizarre image. He had more than one lens. He saw multiple images of the same room. For the last time Peter heard the rest of his clothes rip off. At the same time, Peter produced a high-pitched roar and then turned to face the door. He charged through the door and disappeared out of the clinic never to be seen again.


[center][u]Viral Discharge[/u][/center]

The bus pulled up to the museum. The students rose up from their seats and either bent down or reached up for their bags. The teacher in charge of the trip stood quickly and told the students to wait a moment.
Paul rolled his eyes when he heard this. What was the point of waiting when they were here? Everybody who was supposed to be was here.
Paul was fourteen turning fifteen years old. He was of an average height for his age, with short hair which appeared to be layered with gel, but also tried to stand up as well. Paul wasn’t thin but neither was he fat; he was actually somewhere in between.
“Doing anything after this trip, Cam?” Paul asked another boy sitting beside him who was looking out of the window. The boy called Cam made no response. “Cam?” Paul added tapping Cam a few times on the shoulder twice. Cam turned round, appearing half asleep.
He was taller than Paul, with long hair which fell down to his shoulders. It was brown and his eyes were bright, yet pale at the same time and blue. He was exceptionally thin; his arms in particular were thin. He was older than Paul; aged fifteen.
Cam blinked a few times as though making sure that his eyes were working properly.
“You ok, man?” Paul asked.
“Yeah, sorry have I been asleep?” Cam said trying to stifle a yawn. Paul nodded in return. “Right. What did you just ask anyway?”
“I said, you doing anything after the trip?” Paul asked again.
“I don’t think so. Why you ask?”
“Well I’m not doing anything so was wondering if you wanted a duel or something later.”
“Yeah sure!” Cam said excitedly, yet still holding onto the sound of grogginess.
There was some commotion by the two boys as other students were moving forwards to the front of the bus. As usual as with a bus full of boys, there was a lot of pushing and shoving and one of them fell on to Paul. Paul gave a shove back slightly irritated by the other boy landing on him.
From the seat behind them, their other friend, Tom was being pushed against the window in the commotion. There was a small squeal from what sounded like Tom. The boy who was half squashing, half suffocating Tom suddenly manage to stand up and move on. Tom peeled himself away from the window and looked at his two friends who were looking over the back of their seats at the riot.
Tom, due to the current mess, had a red mark down his face which he noticed had started to sting a little bit. He had hair which wasn’t short but wasn’t long either and it was brown. His eyes were a very bright blue. He was a few days younger than Cam so was still older than Paul. Tom was shorter than Cam but slightly taller than Paul.
“You ok?” Cam and Paul said as Tom rubbed his cheek which had been slammed into the window.
“Yeah,” Tom squeaked. “I mean yeah,” he added in a lower pitch.
The three friends waited a moment for everybody else to pile out of the bus before decided to get up themselves and disembark the bus. As was usual for a school trip organised by Pensby High School for Boys, the teacher stood there attempting to crowd the students around, whilst also trying to find at the same time the place where they are meant to be going.
As Cam, Paul and Tom stepped of the bus, a shoe appeared from nowhere and hit Paul on the head. After being knocked by the unexpected object, Paul staggered into the side of the bus holding his head. There was a small laugh from the other side of their teacher.
“Sorry Byrneout!” the boy said. Byrneout was what most people called Paul, Byrne being his surname.
“You better be Iain!” Paul shouted back, trying to stand up on his own again.
Iain was shorter than Cam but taller than Tom and Byrneout. His hair was like Tom’s but straightened. Iain looked thin, but deep down, he had more meat than he let most people let on about.
Iain came over and retrieved his shoe and put it back on his foot, then pulled Byrneout back onto his feet.
“Paul Byrne?” The teacher shouted. Paul rolled his eyes.

They’d been inside the museum for quite some time. At first the museum had appeared interesting, considering that it was also a working laboratory, but after a few hours of wandering with a guide, round a building which seemed to share the same decoration the entire way around was beginning to be a bit of a drag on everyone including the teacher.
The guide’s name was Harry. He was youngish, aged about twenty-eight and was incredibly enthusiastic about what he was doing at the lab. Harry had black hair which was quite long, falling to a length just below his shoulder blades. It was also tied into a ponytail. His eyes were also very dark, but still they seemed to shine.
The students had gone through all sorts of new experiments to test certain aspects of the scientific world. In one room there were trans-dimensional travel experiments taking place, another lab there were experiments for long distance space-travel. There were experiments on all sorts of things across the whole agenda of science.

“Here we have the final stop on the tour,” Harry said happily. “This is the experiment that I have been working on.” He gestured to the large tanks at the end of the room which filled up every single square inch of the far wall.
These two tanks were filled with a green liquid; not a grass green or something that a person would find on their plate, but it was a sort of dark murky green. It wasn’t easy to tell how thick this liquid was, but bubbles floated up through the substance. The colour of the liquid clashed against the sterile white of the wall. At the base of the tanks were two computers one for each tank. There was a pipe connecting the two tanks and at the very bottom there was what appeared to be some sort of valve.
“This is the world’s…”Harry began.
“I’ll talk to them Harry,” another man said smiling slightly as he came down from by one of the computers. He was older than Harry, with rapidly greying hair. “My name is Max and I am in charge of this experiment. This is all about making planet Earth a healthier place. I present to you the world’s greatest vaccine and cure for all!”
There was a silence as the class did not know how to react to this. The teacher coughed momentarily.
“It comes in the form of an injection. We have had some people who tried the original vaccine and it was a complete success. The original vaccine was three injections over three hours; so one every hour. However we managed to bring this down to just one injection. Now would anybody like to be inoculated against everything on God’s Earth?”
Whilst Max had been talking, Byrneout and Iain had begun a small and rather immature fight over something. Nobody had raised their hand at Max’s offer, but Iain knocked into Tom. Tom fell forwards, his bag splitting as he fell. All of his books fell out across the floor as did his lunch. Cam helped him up, Tom looking back over both of their shoulders at Byrneout and Iain who were still having their fight.
“Ah, a volunteer!” Max exclaimed happily grabbing Tom by the upper arm and dragging him up to the computer. Tom was stammering a refusal but Max didn’t seem to notice anyway. He rolled up Tom’s sleeve and picked up the injection which had been already before anybody had arrived here.
“This isn’t going to hurt,” Max said kindly.

Tom stepped off the bus rubbing his arm. Byrneout jumped off after him, and hit him playfully on the injected arm. Tom glared back at him.
“See you later man!” Byrneout said happily. Tom said nothing in reply as his friend walked off down the road. Tom just glared after him, incredibly angrily as his arm gave up a new wave of pain. They had left the laboratory an hour ago and his arm had only just started to hurt since the bus began to pull into the school car park. There was a sudden sharp pain down his left arm and he clasped a hand to it tightly. The skin wasn’t bending like it normally would. Tom’s eyes widened in fright as Cam came up to him.
“You up for a duel tonight?” Cam asked.
“I can’t. Got some work to do. See you tomorrow Cam.”

Tom had run all the way home, clutching his arm as he went. He leaned against his front door still clutching his arm. It had been causing him serious pain all the way home, until he had cried out in agony and then fell over in the street. There was a bad cut on his head. He stood up crying, wondering why there was this intense pain from not only his arm but also now his head. A line of blood trickled down his head from the cut, but Tom got up, ignored the blood and continued running down his road.
Whimpering and crying slightly still, he gingerly put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his key. Opening the door, he dropped his bag, slammed the door and ran up to his bedroom.


[center][u]Mechanics[/u][/center]

It wasn’t a very eventful morning. Well not for Cam, Byrneout and Iain. Tom had woken up to find that his arm had become plated all over his left shoulder. It sounded as though it was hollow but he couldn’t tell. As normal, Tom got changed for school, walked down the road and found his friends in the school yard.
There was a bench in the yard and Tom went straight to it, ignoring all of his friends. He sat down very mechanically, moving so rigidly, people may as well have believed that he was a robot.
“Hey Tom!” Cam shouted as he approached. Tom made no response. “You ok?” There was still no response. Something was up and the others noticed it also. However the bell for registration rang at that moment before they could find anything out.

Over the next few hours, nothing was amiss. Tom was back to normal and wasn’t moving so mechanically anymore. When Byrneout asked about why he was acting like that earlier, Tom replied that he didn’t know. It seemed that Tom had had some blank spots in his memories.
However the next thing that became a problem was during lunch time. It was in the queue for the self service queue. A boy who was older than Cam, Paul, and Tom shoved his way through the queue with his smaller friends. Byrneout was ready to punch the guy, but Cam held him back. Tom however was pushed into the large yellow board head first. There was a small bang from the connection between his head and the wood. The large boy just continued through the queue as though nothing happened. Tom however turned around with glare that looked as though he was ready to murder somebody. Cam looked him straight in the eye and nothing seemed to register within Tom’s head.
Tom pushed past Cam in a non-violent way and strode straight into the crowd. Catching up to the larger boy, Tom grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him. What was said next did not sound like Tom in the slightest; if anything it sounded more like a Machine from the future or something of the same thing. His voice could still be recognised, but it sounded artificial, with the addition of slight distortion somewhere.
“Who do you think you are?” Tom asked mechanically and angrily at the same time. The boy scoffed that somebody younger and smaller than him was trying to argue with him. Nobody argued with him, because he usually fought them and won.
“Me?” he replied. “You’re worst nightmare when you stand up to me, that’s who I am.”
“Too bad,” Tom said in a tone which matched the last one. “I don’t have nightmares.”
Tom lifted up the boy by the throat with his left arm. He then slammed the older and taller boy into the wall behind him and like before there was a sick crunch.
“Get him,” the boy said as he was being choked. One of the boys’ friends stepped up to Tom and punched him in the arm that was holding up their friend. He automatically recoiled his hand and shouted in pain. The other boy tried the other arm, but Tom simply swung round their leader and threw him into the others. Tom walked forwards and stood over their leader.
“You go to the back of the queue.” The boy just looked at him lost for words. “NOW!” Tom barked still speaking with the mechanical voice. Looking at Tom’s eyes made the boy move. Tom’s left eye was glowing a bizarre orange, contrasting incredibly noticeably with his remaining blue eye. The boy stood up quickly ran past Tom and ran out of the canteen completely. Tom just stood there and watched, glaring after the boy he had just lifted with one hand.
Close to the end of lunch, Byrneout, Cam and Tom along with Iain who had been sitting at one of the tables, they sat in the library which was not far away from all of their registration rooms. They spent the last twenty or so minutes just talking. Then with five minutes to go before the bell for registration would ring, everybody on computers began moaning.
“What’s going on?” one student asked as he slammed the palm of his hand into the side of the monitor. Looking around, all of the computers in the room had started flickering onto different software programs, or opening new programs. It seemed to be breaking through the firewalls and blocks on the school’s security system.
Nobody could do anything about it all. They computers wouldn’t turn off, not even when their power plugs were turned off.
Through it all, Tom sat staring at the television screen which was mounted on the wall near to the door to the library. The television was changing channels slowly and each time it changed, it appeared to change every time he blinked.
The bell rang and the commotion quietened down just a for a moment, then rose again as the general din of students making their way to registration after lunch filled the air. The only three who had been aware of Tom’s state now watched him as he walked out of the library.

That afternoon, it suddenly became chilly, despite it being a midsummer’s day near to the end of the school year. It was slightly windy and the trees bent over in the wind. The students leaving the school and those leaving the school for girls next door began to notice that the weather was slowly getting worse as the wind picked up. Nobody had forecast this weather, and therefore was becoming frozen by the cold wind.
Walking down his home road with Cam, Tom seemed to be completely unaffected by the wind. That’s not to say that Cam wasn’t either; it just seemed that everybody around them was having trouble.
Cam stopped at the end of Tom’s drive way.
“You doing anything later? I’m in the mood for a duel. What d’ya say?” Cam asked to Tom whose back was turned. “Tom?” Tom slowly turned, one eye seeming to glow again.
“I don’t want to duel,” replied, his voice identical to how it had been at lunch time. “Leave me alone. I never want to talk to you ever again!” Tom entered his front door and slammed the door leaving Cam stood speechless as his friend disappeared behind his door. Cam glowered slightly in response, half hoping that Tom would see it and half hoping he wouldn’t. Cam turned and continued his way home.


[center][u]The War[/u][/center]

A few weeks had passed and something was up now. Nobody had seen Tom since the incident at school, concerning the library and canteen. The school had rung up; Cam, Iain and Byrneout had called round only to find Tom’s dad saying that he had no idea where his son was.
When a month had come and gone, posters were hung up with his picture and contact information. The police had asked was he likely to run away with somebody; the response was no. Tom had literally disappeared off the face of the Earth.
The search was called off as they came. Three months after Tom’s disappearance, the Machines came, and they were not pleasant. It became headline stories across the nation as the war Machines struck down into towns and cities and anywhere populated. Military barracks and airfields fought and fought, but they were crumpled. The armed forces massed at one base in Gloustershire, and somehow the Machines left them alone. They began making their way north pounding into every town they came across and almost flattened it. The news was somehow still covering the Machines’ deadly approach. Great Britain was under siege, and then soon, so was the rest of Europe. The whole world began to fall as these Machines destroyed their way across the planet.

It was close to Christmas, when Cam noticed that something was wrong, even more wrong than the disappearance of his friend. The Machines which had been reported for causing destruction hadn’t up until now arrived on the Wirral or even in Merseyside. However they had come now on the twenty-first of December in the hours of when people were starting to get out of bed. Cam had come downstairs, looked out of his front window after opening his blinds. He blinked a few times at what he saw. Lumbering into the cul-de-sac that Cam lived on were about ten Machines. There was infantry – or what appeared to be infantry; there were humanoid Machines standing there either with no weapons or armed with bazookas – and there was artillery.
Cam stared at them blankly for a moment, then picked up on what he was looking at. He was staring at Duel Monsters’ monsters. He stood there stunned for a moment. From somewhere down along the street there was a large explosion. Cam could see it. Machines poured into the house suddenly; through the double glazed window Cam could hear screams from the family as they were being dragged out by the Machines, whilst they were being burnt alive. Cam gulped as he saw their bodies burning brightly in the morning light. This savage attack broke Cam out of his stunned state. He ran out of the room and back up the stairs as his mum came down the stairs.
“Cameron? What was the explosion?” she asked unaware of the situation around her.
“The Machines,” he gasped back as he spun around the banister at the top of his staircase.
“What?”
“The Machines are in the street!” Cam shouted from his room angrily. He had good reason to be angry though. He was scared; there were Machines, which he only ever played against; they’d just blown up a house down the street and could possibly destroy more houses. “We need to get out now. Away from the Machines. Anywhere!”
Cam walked out of his bedroom a moment later wearing a black hooded top, a denim jacket underneath, and some jeans. As he came out he strapped his duel disk to his left arm; it remained in standby mode. The pulled his deck out of a pouch on his waist and slid it into the deck slot on the gadget on his arm. He looked at his mum and sighed and then brushed past her.
Downstairs he picked up the house phone and punched in a number quickly.

“Hello?” Byrneout said quickly. “Cam, what’s up?” Byrneout was already running through a wood dressed in a long coat with his duel disk strapped to his left arm and his phone in his right arm. “I’m aware! I can’t really talk…kinda being chased at the moment. I’m on my way to yours though!”
Byrneout slipped his phone back into his long trench coat and continued running as behind the nimble Machine charged through undergrowth.

In Moreton, on the Wirral, a phone vibrated across from the bed. There was a grunt from under the duvet. There was another vibration and then a heavy rock song broke out of the phone. There was yet another groan as the person under the duvet heard the song break out.
Iain’s hand flung out over the edge of his cabin bed aimlessly trying to reach the phone, before realising that he’d have to get out of bed to get it. Half-asleep Iain climbed down the ladder missing the last one and landing on the floor with a loud bang. He reached across a pile of manga for his phone and answered groggily.
“Have the Machines come near you yet?” Cam asked speaking on the phone.
“No Cam. I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Iain replied slurring his words sleepily. “There’s no sodding Machines here Cam. Apart from a microwave and some other things I can’t be bothered to think of.”
There was an explosion and amongst the bang, there was a faint scream. There was a buzz as Machine voices floated up through the commotion.
This situation woke Iain up from his sleepy state immediately.
“Get your cards, your duel disk, some food and a bag and head towards mine,” Cam said strongly before hanging up. Iain had already thrown down his phone by this point and began searching for his box containing the two decks he had built. Pulling open a wardrobe which was brimming with items – the items falling out as Iain opened it – Iain pushed them all back into the wardrobe, whilst he was also pulling random items out to look for the gadget known as a duel disk. He threw it next to his bag and began to get dressed. Once dressed quickly, he crammed his stuff into his bag and then reached for a coat.
A Machine edged into Iain’s room, beeping openly. Iain heard this and turned around.
“Oh s***!” Iain cried loudly. He grabbed his coat and pushed the Machine quickly before running down the stairs. His living room was on fire. There were Machines infiltrating the building, securing the fact if there were any more remaining people. Iain’s eyes widened at the sight of one thing; he could see his mother on the floor staring up at the ceiling. Anger boiled in Iain instantly. If he stayed however Iain knew that he’d end up the same way. He charged out of the house only to be met by more Machines. Iain skidded to a halt, slightly paralysed with fear. He came back to his senses and then ran to the left as fast as he could. One of the Machines turned and shot at Iain. Iain heard the shot land in the wall just above him.
Along this side road, there were more Machines; however they were slow to react to Iain running past them. As soon as Iain reached the main road he turned left and continued running. He was determined not to let the Machines get hold of him.

The war was not finished. Despite the Machines controlling most land masses on the planet; the USA managed to hold them off for a while. The nuclear codes were released to all countries who owned nuclear weapons, however control was mostly handed to the Americans as the other countries who could use them had fallen to the Machines. There was one difficulty that the Americans came across; it appeared that the Machines had the capability to override the function for the launch of the nuclear missiles. It made this whole war twice as difficult as it had before. Before long the Americans fell.
Two months after the Machines had taken control of the world, they appeared to fall back a bit. Mankind seemed to think that somebody was drawing the Machines away and destroying them. However there was a completely different reason.
All across the world there were other mass armies trying to dominate; there were warriors from a medieval time; insects which looked as though they had been involved in some kind of genetic mix-up. The insects were larger than any insect that existed on earth. Finally one other one appeared. It seemed to be the least active as to where conflicts were concerned. However this was a different colony than the others. This fourth and final one was a combination of Machines and humans, just as the world today operated. However despite having the one battle with the Machine – which was narrowly won by the Machines – this fourth and final kingdom was not seen again. Nobody knew where its base was or anything like that.
About six months later, the military forces of the planet attempted to gain one last upper hand against the Machines by surprising the masses. However as was expected by those communities who still existed, the allied forces of Mankind failed to win against the Machines. In five long, hard-fought hours, Mankind had lost. All hope for Mankind was lost. What would happen next however was unexpected.

Cam woke up with the sun shining in his eyes. Automatically he squinted to attempt at blocking out the sun’s glare; however it seemed to make it worse for some reason. He turned over to his left and raised himself onto his arms, bringing his knees up to kneel on the soft ground. Cam straightened up sniffing loudly in the clean air. He looked over to his right when he heard a loud snore erupt from Byrneout’s throat. Cam looked at him as though he thought Byrneout was being lazy considering the current situation. Standing he turned and checked his surroundings. He noticed that Iain had gone.
Cam took two steps and shook Byrneout awake. Byrneout groaned and scrunched his eyes up.
“Byrneout, wake up!” Cam shouted. “Iain’s gone!” Cam punched Byrneout in the back. This snapped Byrneout awake. “Come on! Let’s find Iain!”
Byrneout reached over for where he left his glasses and slipped them onto his nose. “Are you sure he hasn’t gone to get some food?” Byrneout asked.
“I don’t know,” Cam replied. “Even so we’ve got to go look for him. We’re all we have.” Byrneout grabbed his duel disk as he stood and clamped it onto his wrist following Cam slowly.
It was now February; the Machines had reached the Wirral jus before Christmas. Because of that, it was probably the worst Christmas ever, but remained probably to be one of the most eventful. After meeting Iain who had run straight between every Machine squad that there had been, the three boys had taken to finding a suitable hiding place. In the end they chose a wood close to where Byrneout lived. There wasn’t much space but they also managed to use the fields at the other end of the wood. Occasionally they would sleep in the wood so as the Machines would find it harder to find anybody. But most of the time they stayed outside on the field; even though it was colder out on the field. There wasn’t much for them to sleep on. They had taken bags with them with food and some essentials but nothing to sleep on. The solution – the only solution – that had been concluded was to sleep inside their own coats. At first Iain had argued against this seeing as he’d rather have a couch; but Cam had soon pointed out that there was no couch available as there would be Machines swarming any area near a building.
They had stayed in the open air for two months. Each day they took it in turns to walk into the village and loot the shops for food. They couldn’t take all of it at once; seeing that they had to live off chocolate bars and similar items of food from the local shops. They stashed it away in a secret area of the woods which they had hidden with various areas of the surrounding shrubbery.
Checking that the road was clear Cam dashed out and up along the road. Byrneout emerged from the path a moment later looking both directions to see where Cam had gone. Looking to his left Byrneout saw Cam’s coat flicker around a corner. Byrneout sighed and then ran after him glancing over his shoulder every so often to reassure himself that there were no Machines behind him.

It took Byrneout and Cam five minutes or so to reach the outskirts of the village. There were small infantry Machines roaming around making a barricade across the road. However they didn’t seem to be facing out of the town which was curious. Byrneout and Cam eyed them carefully as they moved quickly and quietly from shop to shop looking inside to see if Iain was inside.
They even looked inside the pub at the end of the road just in case Iain had taken refuge inside there. Looking inside all of the rooms they did not find Iain but they did find a young man and women cowering behind the bar. The two people were incredibly jumpy and shouted out in surprise when they saw Cam and Byrneout walk past. Byrneout turned around and saw them under the bar. He told them to stay quiet. Cam went through into the other rooms of the pub but could not find Iain.
Cam and Byrneout left the pub and then ran behind a wall as a Machine lumbered past. They each rose enough to look over the edge of the wall. Across the road they saw Iain running across the road opposite. Byrneout was about to call out when Cam pulled back under the safety of the wall.
“Don’t!” Cam hissed as another Machine walked past. However listening out they both heard the Machine stop just next to them on the other side of the wall. They could hear it buzzing slightly as it turned. They really hoped that it did not pick them up. Cam and Byrneout waited holding their breath for roughly two minutes.
Eventually the Machine moved away. Byrneout and Cam looked out over the wall. They saw Iain dart from one shadow into another. They looked at each and nodded.
Running as fast as they could they ran across the road, remaining in the shadows following Iain. Eventually Iain stopped.
Cam placed a hand on Iain’s shoulder which sparked Iain to turn around and knock Cam’s away and punch him in the stomach. Winded, Cam bent over holding where he was hit.
“Iain!” Byrneout hissed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Well you know, there are Machines wandering around. I don’t know what you make of it but I think I had a good reason to lash out then.” Byrneout furled his lips down and made an expression which highlighted that Iain had made a fair point. A shadow cast over where they were hiding. Cam was still doubled over as the Machine stood with its back to them facing into the road.
“Oh great now what do we do?” Byrneout hissed. Iain looked around as though slightly dazed.
“Why are you looking at me?” Iain asked innocently.
“You’re not winded.”
“Oh in that case then; I have no idea. That good enough for you?” Iain replied.
“Not really.”
It was quiet suddenly. However in the distance explosions could be heard with the sound of engines. Cam who had managed to regain some breath heard it first. One-by-one they each heard the sound of approaching engines and explosions.
“What the hell is that?” Iain hissed. Both Cam and Byrneout shrugged with no idea. A few moments later a Machine was thrown backwards into the village. There was no apparent reason as to why the Machine had fallen backwards until the convoy of tanks rolled into the village. There had been no news from the military for some time; it was quite a reassurance to see the military.
The fire-fight lasted only a few minutes before the Machines were subdued. It was only lucky for the military that this unit of Machines was only a small unit. The two main vehicles drove next to each other. The commanders from each one opened the hatches to the Machines they sat in and turned to face each other.
“How many more Machine units are there?” one soldier asked his comrade.
“There are still hundreds of them just on this peninsula alone. There isn’t much back-up. I’ve received word from central command that every military unit is to pull out of here. There’s going to be an air strike. Every part of this peninsula is going to be destroyed. God help the souls of those who don’t know and don’t make it.”
“Have I heard correctly that the Machines are looking for something?”
“I’ve heard that as well. I have no idea what they could be looking for but I have heard that it isn’t something ordinary. It’s like a toy or something. Got no idea what the Machines could want with a children’s toy. Anyway, head from town to town and inform the other units to pull out. The air strike is going to happen two days from now. Good luck soldier.” Following this information stream both soldiers dropped back into their respective vehicles closed the hatch and drove off.
Cam, Iain and Byrneout had heard every word of this. They had looked at each other as soon as they had heard the news about the air strike. The other piece of news made them wonder silently to themselves. It was a truthful thought; what would the Machines want with a children’s toy. Surely there wouldn’t be some strange power lurking in one of them. Even so they still had to move away.
“Guys,” Cam said slowly. Iain and Byrneout turned around. “We have got to go to Tom’s. I think I know what they may be after. Let’s go to Tom’s.”

It took them less than a half hour to reach Tom’s house. They had gone through the woods they had been staying in and then out into the field at the back. Following a hedge line they reached a hidden path which lead onto a housing estate. They each edged out one-by-one. Then they ran straight down the centre of the road. It was very eerie. There were no Machines, and there was no activity from anybody. There were no birds tweeting, no cats sitting and staring at you; there was only silence.
Following the long road, the three friends turned right along a separate road and then turned down an alley way. Navigating through a series of small streets where it was incredibly built up, they found themselves on another field; one nowhere as big as the one they had been staying in as this one was a public park. They had to stop for a moment to make sure that there were no Machines lurking around the edges or in the woods at the other end of the field. Cautiously entering the small wood, they spent less than five minutes passing through. Right on the other side of the wood was Tom’s house.
In short, the house was a mess. The windows had been smashed and the front door was hanging off its hinges. There had evidently some kind of struggle here; between who was a different matter but it was clear that the one person who had been involved had been Tom’s dad.
Feeling slightly sickened that they were walking into a demolished building where there could be a dead person, the three entered slowly looking around. They looked inside the living room; the furniture had been blown across the whole room the furniture topsy-turvy to what it used to be. From underneath a sofa a pair of legs could be seen. It was clear whose legs they would belong to; Tom’s dad.
They looked away in disgust and then looked up towards the ceiling. Cam made his way upstairs first. In comparison to the living room the rest of the building seemed to be in good condition. At the top of the stairs there was a door right in front of them. Cam stopped and stared at the door for a moment and then slowly his hand reached towards the door knob. Cam twisted it slowly and entered. Tom’s room had been trashed. Cam simply stood there in the hope that they were not too late. The mirror at the end of the room had fallen out its guidance rails and smashed whilst lying at an insane angle.
“Let’s search the room,” Cam said quietly not wanting to make a disturbance however big or small.
Quietly they each began to search the room looking through all of the draws. After managing to put the bed down on the correct side they looked inside the draws on the bottom of the bed. After carefully moving the already smashed mirror they looked inside the open wardrobe which the mirror usually conceals. In the middle there were a set of shelves full of school work and books; and most importantly Tom’s cards. Cam searched the set of cards. He placed them back in the box carefully slightly disappointed. He had taken out some cards, those of which reminded him of his friend. Then as he turned away he saw something. Just inside the left hand corner of the wardrobe there was a hole in the floorboards. Cam knelt down and lowered his hand into the dark space between the two floors.
Cam’s hand was under the floorboards for less than thirty seconds when he retracted his hand holding a box whose dimensions were a few inches for each measurement. It was a red box and was full. Slowly Cam opened the box. He pulled out the top card. He had found what he was looking for; and evidently what the Machines were looking for. Cam had found Tom’s deck, which contained some of the Machines that were taking over; most importantly to Cam, Byrneout and Iain, the box contained the VWXYZ monsters, the symbol of Tom’s entire duelling life and their symbol of hope for their friend.


[center][u]Lance Steele[/u][/center]

After hearing about the air strike, Cam, Byrneout and Iain made their way south east which would lead them away from where they lived. Close to the county border, the environment became more rural. However that did not mean that the Machines would be lacking in presence.
Just as they had heard, the following day the air strike hit. Fighter jets and bombers flew overhead and artillery rained down upon the entire peninsula. The three friends had seen the fighters fly over head incredibly quickly. They followed the flight path with their eyes and watched as the first few missiles left the safety of the bays which stored the explosives. The whole of the peninsula came under heavy bombardment. Some of the missiles came within range of burning into the landscape only a few hundred metres away. The ground rose up as the missiles detonated upon the surface. Earth exploded and rained down upon the boys. Using natural instincts they all threw themselves onto the floor as another missile smashed into the ground, the earth then covering them. One of the trees was set on fire as another missile spiralled out of control and hit one of the upper branches. Slowly standing, they turned back to face where the missiles had struck. The nearest town, which was still some distance away, could be seen alit in the darkness. Cam, Iain and Byrneout watched the town burn for a few minutes absent-mindedly then one-by-one they turned and continued on their journey away from their home. The road ahead was long and nobody knew when it would end.

Their county had been destroyed over two months ago. Each of their hair had grown longer and they were incredibly dirty, having not the ability to shower anymore. In those two months they had managed to travel south to Kent. It was a long journey and they noticed that there was no escape from the Machines. As always they had to stay off road or away from towns as best as possible. There could be no entering a village unless they were desperate or were definitely sure that the town contained no Machines.
After a few days of trudging through the Garden of England, they reached the coast. The day was sunny as they slugged themselves through the unharvested fields. The fields all started to slope down in towards a gulley. They camped one last night in a field and then made the final push into the port town of Dover.
The clock tower had been demolished and lay in pieces on the ground. All around there were bodies; some were charred, others just laden with bullets. In some cases only people’s shoes remained behind. The usual white or pastel coloured buildings were now black. The Machines had cleaned through this town and wiped it of all its civilians. Not knowing where else they could go they headed to the port.

During the previous two months travelling they had picked up on an important factor. Whilst having a duel to simply pass the time one evening; they noticed that when they summoned a monster it remained after the duel until the owner dismissed it. For some reason they were real. They did not want an explanation but would be glad when the situation arose that they were real. It was a curious discovery and they hoped that it would not mean the end of them.

The port was a wreck. Most of the enclosed docks were dry, the boats that were in them half submerged in the glistening sludge at the bottom of the dock. They passed through the check-in desk. Cars were everywhere here; people hanging out of the seats and windows in grotesque positions, the path of dried blood which had trickled down the side of their heads.
There was what appeared to be a family - consisting of the two parents and their three children – speared onto a flagpole much like a kebab. Where, as the top of the flagpole had once been white up to about three feet below the lowest body, was now a dark red. More curiously to Cam, Iain and Byrneout, lying a short distance away from the pole was a jointed exoskeletal leg. Near what appeared to be the equivalent of the thigh there were thin barbs and these barbs were repeated on the shin side of the leg. It looked a lot like an insect’s leg; but as far as the boys knew the nearest insect colony was miles away. Unless of course they had managed to find a way across water, which was quite likely.
However using their new found knowledge of that fact that their cards’ powers were now real to some extent, they realised that they could travel across water. One of the cards Cam had chosen was a monster called Skull Mariner. It looked a lot like a pirate galleon, and it was their way across the English Channel. Quite why they had to go to France was unknown but maybe it would be a different scenario in France.
Cam held the card up out towards the sea. Suddenly and for no reason it became misty. Cam read the card; Skull Mariner came out of the mists and sunk other ships in its way. Through the mist a silhouette was seen of a large galley. There was a few cannon blasts which echoed far too loudly which landed into a half sunken ship anyway. Suddenly another thought came across to the three boys; the dock was dry and the Skull Mariner needed water in order to get around.
As it came into the dock area they realised that maybe this was not the case. Despite the dock being dried up, this seemed not to affect Skull Mariner. It glided into the harbour and turned and lowered a gang plank to allow Cam, Byrneout and Iain on board. It was bizarre as they crossed the thin plank of wood aboard the large red and black vessel which was about ten metres above the bottom of the dock. As soon as Iain stepped aboard the vessel the gangplank snapped in and a section of the hull folded across. At the same time the vessel swung away toward the water. The bizarre thing was that the vessel did not change height level yet seemed to sink back into the water.

Sixty metres below the water a tripwire was tripped. A red light was seen through the murkiness. Slowly a Machine began to rise toward the surface heading toward its target.

Skull Mariner sped pleasantly across the English Channel or La Manche as it was called by the French. There didn’t seem to be any wind which was quite abnormal as the Skull Mariner was an old galleon. However it was a duel monsters card, and so it seemed to avoid the laws of science. Cam sat down close to the central mast, feeling slightly tired. Over to one side of the vessel Iain was helping Byrneout. Byrneout was green and looked as though he was about to vomit. Byrneout ran to the side of the vessel with his hand over his mouth. Reaching the side he leant out far over the side, retching. Iain calmly walked towards next to him. There was more retching.
“Who’d have thought it that you were sea sick,” Iain said cheerily, slapping Byrneout on the back. Byrneout rose up with saliva hanging down from his mouth. He gave Iain a look of loathing for the comment and the slap on the back, however the feeling was soon washed away with a fresh wave of vomit.
This time Cam rose and walked over to help them. However Skull Mariner rocked over and Cam had to lean over to the mast again as it moved violently. There was a more violent retch from Byrneout at the side. Looking wildly around Iain noticed a large splash at the rear of the ship.
“Cam! We may be in trouble!”
“I know,” Cam said forcing his words out. “I wonder what it is.”
“We may find out in a moment, Cam.”
“What do you…” Cam began, but Iain pointed out over the side. Cam approached attempting to keep himself steady as Skull Mariner rocked. Cam grasped the side on the other side of Byrneout who was still vomiting slightly. Under the surface of the water there was a deep red coloured object under the water.
It broke free of the water and revealed itself. It had an unoccupied cockpit and what looked like two mechanical arms extending from the main body. If you were to look at it straight on it would appear to be in the shape of a Y. On its back there appeared to be 2 tanks of some kind. They may have served as a floating aid.
“Amphibious Bugroth MK-2,” Cam muttered. “1500 attack points off the back with the ability to attack directly if Umi is face-up on the field. We’ve got to blow this thing up before it sinks us! I summon Dark Magician!” The dark robed magician leapt out from somewhere and raised his staff in the attempt to destroy the offensive Machine. However the Bugroth had other ideas; it submerged itself below the water once more, evading Dark Magician’s attack. “Damn…” Cam cursed quietly.
“Armed Dragon LV5!” Iain shouted. Behind them there was a large thud as a large red and black dragon hit the deck literally. There were spikes all over the dragon and its lower jaw jutted out in a menacing way.
Paul managed to draw something from his duel disk: “Go Malicious Edge!” As Evil Hero Malicious Edge leapt up to the edge of the boat he instantly jumped out of the way to avoid a missile fired from below the water. Simultaneously Armed Dragon LV5 and Dark Magician leapt into attack as Malicious Edge regained his balance upon landing.
Neither attacks from Dark Magician or Armed Dragon LV5 met their target; Amphibious Bugroth seemed to have moved away. The three friends had to think of a method in which to stop this Machine from sinking them. Cam set one card on the field (as it were) and then told the others to wait and not to attack when the Bugroth next appeared.
It was a few minutes, or what felt like a few minutes, before the Bugroth returned to the surface. Cam reacted quickly, activating his face-down; Spellbinding Circle. Instantly a large green circle encased the Machine and it failed to move. It only kept moving forwards. The power from the circle restricted it from attacking as well.
Dark Magician, Armed Dragon LV5 and Evil Hero Malicious Edge moved forwards to attack instantly. Bugroth emitted a sound of an incredible pitch. Armed Dragon LV5 was the only monster affected by it, but it shook the sound from its head and continued to attack. Evil Hero Malicious Edge sunk his claws into cockpit area, then Dark Magician raised his staff and shattered the cockpit glass; finally Armed Dragon LV5 after its momentary affliction roared and unleashed waves of green fire and energy. Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 crumpled under the pressure of the three high powered attacks. It disappeared back into the water and the Spellbinding Circle disappeared. Skull Mariner, apparently unaware of the actual battle, continued onwards towards France.
After their momentary aberration, they slumped down on the floor, Byrneout still feeling slightly nauseous. They breathed heavily, most of all Iain, who was asthmatic. They fell asleep without any reason.
They woke about two hours later and noticed that they’d arrived in Calais. Iain woke groggily at first and looked around. Edgily, he looked out over the edge of the ship. There were no Machines. Moments later he heard Byrneout moan as he sat up.
“You ok?” Iain asked.
“Yeah, just fine,” Byrneout muttered. Iain nodded and turned back around. “What do we do now?”
“You’re asking the wrong person, Byrneout. Ask Cam.”
“He’s not awake,” Byrneout said.
“Wake him then,” Iain replied, rolling his eyes. Byrneout sighed in being asked to do something.
Byrneout shook Cam, slightly and then again harder. “Hey, pal. Wake up, we’re in France. C’mon we need to go. Cam?” At the second mention of his name, Cam woke suddenly. He looked around and ready to draw cards from his disk.
“Hey, we’re ok. We’re in France,” Paul explained. Cam fell back again awake and laying his arms either side of his body.
“Anything happened since?” Cam asked. Paul shrugged.
“I don’t know, I’ve only just got up and so has Iain I think.” Cam nodded then managed to get to his feet.
Skull Mariner had already lowered the gang plank, presumably as soon as it had arrived in Calais. Cam called back the monster and slipped it into his bag and then moved off. The place they made themselves stop at the service area, where people used to sit and wait until their boat arrived. Inside there was a café, and a shop. There wasn’t much on offer for food and drink that was in date, but they all managed to grab a coffee and a frozen croissant each. Then they went into the toilets to get washed as best as they could. They realised that this was really the first time that they had been able to actually see themselves in a mirror. There was grime on each of their faces and they did look older and a lot wiser. Using the soap that was expected in this kind of place, they walked out looking cleaner than they had when they walked in. They entered the shop and grabbed some essentials. There wasn’t much in the shop to offer to essentials as this was the kind of place that sold only toys, cigarettes and alcohol. With much disapproval of leaving the port without getting any supplies from Paul, who was all for taking some of the alcohol and cigarettes, they left, Paul managing to persuade Iain and Cam to take some cigarettes for his consumption. Iain and Cam made sure that they had the cigarettes so as to control Paul, so that he couldn’t be as relaxed if the Machines came calling.
As they entered the main town, they entered the local supermarket where there was a lot more choice. Picking up larger bags which were on sale, they filled them with essential items such as a camping cooker with gas, some coffee, food that was good for cooking, washing items; they would have bought a magazine, except that it was in French (Paul complained at this, stating that they usually from time to time put multi-lingual things on sale). They left with larger bags than before which slowed them down slightly.
They decided to head straight to Paris, in the hope that there would be someone still alive there, though they knew full well that there wouldn’t really. France wasn’t much different from Britain in the fact that they could travel long distances without meeting any resistance. Unfortunately they had to remain closer to the roads throughout France, which also meant closer encounters with the Machines.
Whenever they could, they managed to break into a house; it was less of a break in, than a walk in. They would spend the night in the beds and get showered and take refuge in general. They entered one village where the Machine had apparently left alone, other than march through. There was a little girl who was sitting in the middle of the road on her own. When she noticed the three friends she ran inside her house. A man appeared at the doorway and watched them walk through the town; they decided not to stay in this village in case they were attacked for being strangers.

It took them no more than a week to reach the outskirts of Paris. They made their way to the centre, but they did not expect to see what they did. The Eiffel Tower had been snapped and the top of it lay in the middle of the Seine River. The Notre Dame cathedral had all of its windows smashed and the large doors to its entrance had been torn off and lay in the middle of the road. The three friends hurried on.
They entered a small and thankfully deserted square which had a number of cafes and restaurants. Paul entered the nearest one, having run out of coffee; he felt he needed one as well as a cigarette. Iain and Cam followed, being a little more considerate and cautious to Byrneout. Byrneout had entered the kitchen and then returned having lit a cigarette.
They helped themselves to food and drinks and sat there talking, about random things which they found they could be doing, hadn’t the Machines made an entrance. For once they felt the most at ease. There was no one to stop them talking and nothing for them to be afraid of.
Until they heard the voices.
One was a man, American, whereas the other was British and female. They were talking in a loud whisper, as though they were looking for something or someone. However one keyword said by the man threw them off. The man had said ‘They’ve got to be around here, we followed them on the cameras.’
At this Iain snatched the lamp and turned it off, however it may have been too late, as a torch beam swept into the room.
“Nice try, guys, but I think you’ve been rumbled,” the man said shining the torch into the room. Cam, Iain and Byrneout stood shielding their eyes from the powerful glare. They could only see the silhouettes of the man and the woman. The man was tall, with large sticking up hair and the woman was almost as tall.
The man lowered the light. He was handsome, with a pointed chin. His hair was black and there was a fringe which fell down just above his eyes, and some parts rose back to face the rear of his head. However there was a large section where it stood up all across his head, as though he hadn’t combed his hair. He wore a blue jacket, a plain red t-shirt underneath. He also wore black skin-tight jeans and what looked like Converse All Stars.
The girl however wore a flowing dress and her hair was long and sleek as though she looked after herself. She also wore trainers and a pink top and yellow jumper.
“Hi there,” the man said in friendly tone. “The name’s Lance. Lance Steele,” he added smiling. There was a stunned silence, and then a quick scrabble as Cam, Iain and Paul tried to make the escape through the back.
“Get away from us!” Iain shouted. “You’re with the Machines otherwise you wouldn’t have been looking for us!”
“We’re not with the Machines...” Lance began to try and explain, however Iain cut him.
“You can’t prove that! Duel me and we’ll fine out!” Iain demanded after noticing that Lance and the girl carried duel disks. Lance rolled his eyes. Then the girl spoke for the first time.
“I told you that they’d want to duel us; you forget they haven’t really spoken to anyone for months. It’s right for them to be suspicious around anybody else,” she said.
“I know Mikala, but I want to see what these three are made of, and as to why the Machines, and for that matter why the Resistance are interested in these three alone,” Lance whispered to the girl, supposedly called Mikala. “Fine then. I tell you now, that I’m good at what I do,” Lance added to Iain activating his duel disk. “Who’s taking the first move?”

[center][i][u]Duel![/u][/i] – Iain Johnston Vs Lance Steele[/center]

Iain thought for a moment and then drew his five cards and then drew one more.
“I’ll begin with an Armed Dragon LV3 (1200/900)!” Iain called, the monster materialising, looking like it wore small boxing gloves with a large square chin. Iain also set one card and passed his turn to Lance. Lance had made a smile as soon as he had seen all of Iain’s move.

“Draw,” Lance said calmly. “I’ll summon Cyber Dragon (2100/1600) by means of his special ability; when you control a monster and I don’t, I can Special Summon this monster from my hand. Then I can summon the Union monster, Armoured Cybern (0/2000), which I’ll equip to Cyber Dragon.”
The large silver mechanical dragon lowered its head and allowed the dual-cannoned Machine to attach itself to its head.
“As an equip spell, Armoured Cybern allows me to reduce Cyber Dragon’s attack points by 1000 to 1100 so that I can destroy one card you control; like that Armed Dragon LV3.” As Lance explained, the Cyber Dragon screeched in apparent pain as the cannon mounted to his head fired a beam of energy straight towards the Armed Dragon. “Cyber Dragon, attack directly!” Lance commanded. Iain smiled and Lance noticed this and did not understand fully.
“I’ll activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted; it allows me to Special Summon a monster in my Graveyard in attack mode. Armed Dragon LV3 return!” Iain said happily. Lance immediately stopped his attack upon the dragon as it had one hundred more attack points. Lance set three cards and then ended his turn. Iain thought that this was a little easy considering the warning he had received before hand.

Iain never got a chance to say anything else as he drew his card as Lance was playing something.
“Activate the trap card, Slip Up. I discard my entire hand during your Standby Phase whilst I control the same number of monsters as you; then you must go straight to the End Phase,” Lance said smiling.
“You what?!” Iain cried. “Ah f***.”
“You do get a gift however; you gain 3000 Life Points,” Lance said, appearing to Cam and Paul to be a little patronising. Iain muttered something. “Didn’t quite catch that,” Lance said laughing at Iain. Iain did nothing more than stick two fingers up at him. Iain’s Life Points had gone up to 11,000 where as Lance’s remained on 8000.

“My move!” Lance announced. “First of all, it’s time to take out your Armed Dragon once more through the effect of Armoured Cybern.” As before there was a harsh screech and then a bright bolt of white energy destroying Armed Dragon LV3 for the second time. Iain cursed at this annoyed that he wasn’t allowed to have made a move last turn.
“I can reveal one of my set cards; the Machine Duplication spell card. I can activate this card when there is a Machine on my side of the field with less than 500 attack points and then I can Special Summon two Machines of the same name from my deck. I’ll Special Summon myself two more Cyber Dragon’s with their attack points complete. Now, I’ll use the effect of Armoured Cybern to Special Summon itself in attack mode.” There was a silver glow either side of the original Cyber Dragon and two similar looking dragons swam into vision. Iain frowned thinking of a way in which he can take them all down. However Lance seemed to have a plan, revealing another face-down; Polymerisation. Iain moaned as he usually did when Polymerisation was played.
The three dragons combined together into one large body with three heads; Cyber End Dragon (4000/2800), by far one of the strongest Machines and one of the strongest cards in the game bearing 4000 attack points and the ability to inflict damage even if the monster is in defence. Iain’s eyes widened as Lance called “Super Strident Blaze!” Iain had a good reason to cower as 4000 points worth of monsters attacked him. Immediately after the attack, Iain looked at his Life Points; 7000! Iain was furious and knew he had to step up his game. Lance was not joking when he said he was good at what he does.
“Your move,” Lance said softly.

Iain drew more vigorously than had intended.
“I’ll set a card and then play the spell card, Level Repo. I can Special Summon 1 LV monster in my Graveyard but it cannot declare an attack during this turn. However if the monster is sent to my Graveyard to Special Summon a monster of the same name, but of a higher level, the levelled up monster gains 800 attack points, until the next End Phase. I’ll revive Armed Dragon LV3.” Iain sighed at this, wondering if he could actually pull off the move.
“Activate the spell card, Level Up! I can forcibly make my monster stronger! Armed Dragon LV5 (2400/1700)!” Iain said happily as he watched his dragon grow larger and more powerful. “My dragon gains 800 attack points due to the effect of Level Repo.” Lance laughed.
“It’s all fine, but your monster still doesn’t hold anything against my Cyber End Dragon. Armed Dragon LV5 only has 3200 attack points.”
“I know, but who said that Cyber End was the target of my attack right now. I’ll activate a continuous spell card known as Levels Unlimited. When a LV monster is successfully levelled up, the Special Summoned monster gains half of the attack of the previous monster. Armed Dragon LV5, attack that Armoured Cybern!” Iain called. The dragon reared back just as it had done when facing Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 and unleashed the same power. Lance actually screamed with the damage and watched his Life Point counter drop considerably. Lance was surprised by this play. Iain then announced that during the End Phase that when Armed Dragon LV5 destroyed a monster through battle, he was allowed to level it up to Armed Dragon LV7 (2800/1000). Then because of the effect of Levels Unlimited Armed Dragon LV7 gained half of Armed Dragon LV5’s attack points, taking LV7 from 2800 to 4400.

Lance drew and activated a continuous spell of his own; Penalty. Lance explained that if Iain drew a card outside of his Draw Phase, Lance could activate one of two effects. He can either inflict 700 points of damage for each card drawn, or reduce a monsters attack by 700 for each card drawn; Lance chooses to activate the second effect. Lance followed this card up by playing another spell, the Pot of Sincerity. Lance said that he could draw up to three cards, but Iain had to draw the same number plus an extra one. Lance drew three cards, meaning that Iain drew four, and then said that it triggers the effect of Penalty to weaken Armed Dragon LV7 by 2800 points, Iain being forced to draw four cards.
“Cyber End Dragon, attack the Armed Dragon LV7!” commanded Lance. Iain gasped as the monster reared back to unleash its wave of fury, then it turned into a smile.
“Activate the trap card, Bond of Friend and Level. I can activate this card when you declare an attack on a LV monster with a level equal to or greater than the target; I can remove from play one LV monster in my Graveyard to increase my monsters attack by the attack of the removed monster, so I’ll remove Armed Dragon LV5 to make our monsters equal in attack strength!” Iain explained. Lance was momentarily stunned as he watched the mechanical and legitimate dragon destroy each other and then came back to his senses.
“I’ll set one card and end my turn,” concluded Lance.

“During your End Phase I take damage to equal to half of the removed monsters attack,” Iain regrettably, but still playing fair. “I’ll begin my turn by activating Card Trader. Then I’ll activate the quick-play spell, Reality Spec. By discarding Magical Mallet, I can select 2 face-up spell cards that you and I control. The effects of those cards switch controllers for the turn. The cards I pick are my Card Trader and your Penalty.”
“I’ll activate the spell card Level Modulation, which first of all makes you draw two cards. Importantly I can revive one LV monster in my Graveyard, ignoring summoning conditions. However my monster cannot attack or implement its effect. Draw two Lance.”
Lance realised what it was that Iain had done as he watched Iain re-summon his Armed Dragon LV7. He drew two cards knowing what was next. Iain declared the activation of the first effect of Penalty, to inflict 700 points of damage for each card drawn reducing Lance’s Life Points by 1400 to 3400. Lance felt it.
“It gets worse, Lance. I’ll Tribute my Armed Dragon LV7 to upgrade it to the maximum level; the Armed Dragon LV10 (3000/2000)!!” Iain said proudly. He continued to explain that Levels Unlimited raised LV10’s attack points by half of LV7’s; Armed Dragon LV10 had 4400 attack points.
“Armed Dragon LV10 attack directly; Inferno Nova Storm!” Iain called. Lance looked up at the large dragon’s face. It threw its arms back and energy razor blades and a harsh wind ripped through the café, literally overturning chairs and tables. Lance looked confident, yet focused.
The attack from the large dragon had never found its target. There was a large pinkish barrier blocking the way and the attack ricocheted around Lance and rebounded into the walls.
“That was the trap card, Negate Attack, negating that attack and the rest of the Battle Phase,” Lance said more focused than he had been. Iain cursed again.
“So if you’re not with Machines, how come you’re using a Machine deck?” Iain asked.
“Before all of this started - with the Cyborg King and the Machines – I was a professional duellist back home in the States, one of the best. I’ve always used this deck. But tell me; have you seen the Machine legions containing a Cyber Dragon or any of its counterparts?” Lance said. Iain thought for a moment, and whilst he waited, Lance looked over at Cam and Byrneout who shook their heads. When he looked back at Iain, Iain had a response.
“Ok you have a point. So if you’re not with the Machines, who are you with?”
“We’re from the Resistance, an underground group which has now formed an international standing. It began as groups of people calling out to the world for assistance on secret wavelengths. Then the leaders of each one met and decided to form the Resistance, and the Resistance is here to help Mankind, not only from the Machines, but these other Kingdoms as well,” Lance said calmly. “If you come with us we can show you.
“My move!” Lance decided not to pay the 600 points required to keep Penalty in play, but played another spell card called System Crash.
System Crash - Pay 2000 LP. Destroy all face-up cards on the field and inflict 400 points of damage to your opponent for each of their cards destroyed. It is now the End Phase of the turn.
Lance paid 2000 of his own points to activate it, then watched as all of the cards which were face-up on the field folded in on themselves and were destroyed, but watched as Iain’s LP were reduced by 1200. Lance regretted playing this card, explaining bitterly that he cannot Summon any monsters nor activate or set any cards. Lance ended his turn, hoping that Iain couldn’t defeat him on this next turn.
There was a beep being emitted from somewhere. Iain had his hand on his deck, knowing that if he drew the right monster with the right amount of attack points, he would win. There was only one problem. The beeping sound.

[u]Duel Result[/u]: Unresolved
Iain: 3400
Lance: 1400

“Lance,” Mikala whispered.
“I know,” Lance replied. “Guys, we’ve gotta move now! The Machines are surrounding us. We gotta finish this some other time!” Iain looked as though he was about to explode with what Lance just said; ‘…finish this some other time!’ This did not impress Iain. Cam and Byrneout followed Lance and Mikala out into the square, followed by Iain slowly.
There was no sound coming from any where and all five people looked around, Lance with his duel disk still active as was Iain’s. Mikala activated hers, and she encouraged Cam and Byrneout to do the same. The beeping was getting louder and the time between individual beeps were becoming more frequent until it was a constant tone. Lance turned off the sound on his disk, which was where the beep seemed to be emanating from.
There was a large shockwave spread through the floor which smashed what glass remained in the windows. Three more shot through the square and unbalanced Cam, Iain and Byrneout, but Lance and Mikala remained strong standing on their feet. The first clue that something was out to get them was a large hand slamming down into the middle of square. Lance and Mikala leapt back, whereas the other three fell to the ground under the shock. The regained themselves and saw that Lance had summoned his Cyber Dragon again, whereas Mikala had summoned some kind of bizarre fairy. The large hand was connected to something which appeared to be made of gears and rusted metal. Cam frowned at the sight of it; it was an Ancient Gear Golem, an incredibly strong monster. There was a flash and the Cyber Dragon had been replaced by the Cyber End Dragon.
The Ancient Gear Golem was not alone however. Soon enough many other smaller Machines found their way into the square shooting at them all.
“I suggest you summon some monsters!” Lance shouted as the Machines poured into the square quicker. Cyber End Dragon each found a target with its three heads and then disintegrated any of the Machines which came too near. Cam summoned Dark Magician, his always trusted monster, and his Buster Blader, another trusted monster. Immediately they leapt into action, Buster Blader running across the square swinging his large sword through every Machine that he ran past. There was a brief flash, and another monster appeared near to Paul. It had two large wings and a red and black flame costume; Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer; Iain drew a card and looked at it then rolled his eyes. Iain proceeded to summon his Masked Dragon. Cyber End Dragon had deviated from shooting the smaller Machines and had turned its full attention to the large Ancient Gear Golem climbing – rather walking through – the buildings on one side. There were too many Machines. Other large Machines smashed their way through the buildings around them, determined to capture some Humans.
Lance looked around in desperation. He saw the amount of Machine pouring themselves into the square. He looked around at Cam, Byrneout and Iain. He ran over to Cam who had flung his arm out in order his Dark Magician to attack when Lance grabbed his shoulders and spun him around.
“Do you have any method of transport?” Lance asked a little too aggressively even for Lance’s liking. Cam stammered. “Hurry, do you have anything? We need it now!”
“I suppose there’s Overdrive,” Cam stammered shocked by this approach.
“The old normal Machine?” Lance asked. Cam simply nodded. Lance made him summon the all-terrain vehicle, which was mounted with a gatling gun which somehow also stored unlimited ammunition supply.
There was a roar of engine, and driving off the edge of one the closest flat-roofed buildings was a small Machine with a small gatling gun. There was a flash from the Machine-gun and then the Machine bounced down onto the ground, making sure to also run down a few infantry. It skidded to a halt in front of Cam and Lance.
“Guys! Get in!” Lance shouted at Byrneout and Iain. He turned around and shouted over to Mikala who also followed them. Lance input some coordinates into the Machine and then on command Overdrive skidded off through the hordes of Machines, weaving between the largers’ legs and running over the smaller ones.
Some of the larger Machines followed Overdrive with everything they had, smashing through buildings or making already demolished buildings look worse than they had done. Nobody was steering Overdrive; it seemed to be driving itself. Ultimately Overdrive skidded into a tunnel, and the Machines tripped over as they met the entrance to the tunnel. Overdrive screeched in sideways into a dead end. Then unbeknownst to Cam, Iain and Byrneout, Lance pressed a button on his duel disk and they descended into the ground.


[center][u]The Resistance[/u][/center]

Lance got out of Overdrive and Mikala followed his lead. Cam, Iain and Byrneout, didn’t have a clue as to why they were getting out into a tunnel which was being hammered upon by the Machines.
“Where the hell are you going?” Iain asked rudely his head emerging from the Machine.
“We’re safe here,” Lance answered, not even taking the time to look back at Iain.
“So where’s here?” Cam asked silencing Iain. Lance looked over his shoulder at Cam. The large silver door just beyond Lance opened.
“Boys; welcome to the Resistance!” Lance said.

Lance and Mikala disappeared into the corridor beyond the door and Cam, Iain and Byrneout had no reason not to follow. The corridor led down and funnelled into a small room. Lance and Mikala were already talking into an intercom, and they heard a French voice replying to them.
“Lance, do you think it wise to allow these children into the base?” the voice asked.
“I believe so. As I’m the only person to have the fought the Cyborg King personally, I know his combat technique. My Cyber Dragon’s could just about hold them, but we need that little but extra fire power; I believe that these kids have the necessary power.”
There was a sigh at the other end of the intercom followed by a brief pause.
“Have it your way Lance. If we are killed because of these kids I’ll hold you responsible. Come in!”
The other door slid open to reveal a large lobby with doors leading off in all directions. There was a desk with a man and a woman behind, sitting in front of computers. There was a set of vending Machines. However, Cam, Iain and Byrneout weren’t accustomed to the light in here; the entire lobby was white, a sterile white, and there were large fluorescent lights in the ceiling providing a large amount or light. There were no shadows.
Lance led the three boys past all of the other corridors until the last one on the right which lead to a single door, also white. Lance knocked on the door and there was a brief ‘enter’. This room wasn’t as bright as the lobby, as it was more of a silver colour. Everything seemed to be steel or at least plated with steel. Behind the steel desk was a man looking at his computer monitor. He was middle-aged with balding hair and a face that showed the start of wrinkles. There were three chairs set out, as though they had been expected.
“Hello boys,” the man said; it was evident that this was the man who had spoken to Lance on the intercom. Despite the French accent when he spoke, his English was perfect. “My name is Jéan,” he added gesturing towards the chairs in front of him. Cam, Iain and Byrneout sat in one and Lance stood by the door.
“I hear that Lance has told you the basics of who we are and what we’re aiming to do,” Jéan said. It wasn’t exactly a question. “The Resistance is an international group of people, much like you, who have had no authority in the past. However as governments fell, the people of the world thought it worthwhile to set up the Resistance. It’s made up of, like I just said, ordinary people like you; anyone from teachers to soldiers. We’ve all banded together in order to restore the planet to its former look, and to rebuild society so that it was better for everybody.”
“There is also something else; you may or may not have noticed that you were fighting were Machines appearing from Duel Monsters, which is why most of the personnel in all sectors of the Resistance now know how to duel. We’ve even managed to save Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of the game, and he now resides here with us, creating new cards to help overcome the Machines, as well as the entire card collection sitting here; or almost entire card collection anyway.”
There was a dead silence and Jéan did not continue. Instead it was Lance who continued.
“Konami was broken into when the Machines began their take over. At first nobody knew what they were looking for, but eventually, it became clear what they were looking for,” Lance said. The others had turned around in their seats and where now looking at Lance blankly. “They were looking for one particular archetype; the VWXYZ monsters and anything related that might help them, so naturally, Different Dimension based cards. However, the Cyborg King attempted to snatch a kid’s deck, which used these cards. Nobody knows whether he managed to steal these cards or not.” Cam, Iain and Byrneout looked at each other at this point, as though they had missed something.
“Anyway,” this time it was Jéan speaking. “If you’re to be entered into the Resistance, you’re going to need new clothes, new equipment, some training, and a new duel disk each.”
“What’s wrong with ours?” Cam asked.
”Absolutely nothing,” Lance said placing a hand on his shoulder. “But surely you’ve seen what mine and Mikala’s can do? You’ll get one like ours. Plus the communicator is able to bypass the Machine’s bugging system.”
They all looked puzzled by this.
“The Cyborg King has placed bugs everywhere, in every town, in every street, in every house, and down every telephone. Plus it’s rumoured that he can hack into almost any computer and gain control of it so that he can get information. Basically, he thinks that Mankind cannot formulate a plan without him knowing. Well he’s been fooled.” Cam, Iain and Byrneout digested this information.
“Anyway,” Jéan continued. “I think that you may well be useful to us in the Resistance. Far more use to Mankind as apart of the Resistance than if you were out wandering in the wilderness.”
“Are you making us join you?” Byrneout asked. Lance and Jéan glanced at each other.
“No, we’re not,” Lance said slowly. “It’s completely optional if you want to join, but having seen Iain duel alone, I’m pretty sure that you two can duel just as well. You’re duelling capabilities will come in handy with us at the Resistance.” They thought for a moment.
“We only want to find our friend,” Cam said.
“We know,” Lance said. “We can help you, and it’ll be quicker if the whole of the Resistance is looking for him, don’t you think. Plus if you stay here you get new clothes a shower, a bed, plenty of free food and drink, as well as a chance to defeat the Machines along side us. Sound good to you?” Cam nodded and Iain and Byrneout nodded just afterwards.
“That’s settled then,” Jéan said happily, clapping his hands. “Lance, find them some rooms, let them get cleaned up, feed them and then kit them up. And as for the clothes, give them the special combats; it should protect them a bit more.” Lance nodded and opened the door for them and then followed them out as they left.

Soon after their first meeting with Jéan they were enrolled into the Resistance to serve the common cause of taking the Machines down. They were given new clothes which were the Resistance’s ‘uniform’.
The special combats apparently could protect them from radar, and the Machine’s identifier. They were also black and had multiple pockets; useful for them as well there was a deck pouch included on the combat pants.
As was promised their duel disks were upgraded to the Resistance’s model which included radar for Machine activity, a communicator to allow communications with the base and other duel disks, as well as the regular use for a duel disk; to duel with.
After being enrolled they began going on patrols for the Resistance and combating Machine legions. When they weren’t out patrolling they stayed with Lance and Mikala for most of the time, being just about the only people that they knew within the organization.
Lance all challenged them to duels, but only Cam ever came close to beating him. Only once he managed to beat him, and even then it appeared to be by some miracle. At that time, Cam wasn’t even sure what had happened himself, but Lance was beaten.
Lance’s abilities were as good as he said. They knew he was a professional or at least a former professional. One thing that Cam was happy about was that he was not like the regular tournament players who used horrible destruction cards; but instead used his style of cards which help him and no one else alone can use as well as him.
Mikala duelled from time to time as well, though not as effectively as Lance did. It seems that she was relatively new to the game.
Day-to-day life of the Resistance turned out to be rather boring. Each day there was a patrol, duels – which weren’t dull, but added excitement to the day – eating and sleeping. Nobody else seemed to be bothered by the slow Resistance day. It was as though everybody else had a decent job to do, but they didn’t.

However things picked up one day when all of the scanners went blank and nothing responded. The entire base was put on to high alert. Had the Machines discovered where they were hiding?
There was an almighty quake as the base physically shook and a deep rumbled echoed through the base. Everybody it appeared had assembled in the lobby, and they stood incredibly still.
Lance emerged from a staircase followed by a few scientists, his duel disk active. He looked sharply over towards Cam, Iain and Byrneout, and then moved through the other members.
“What’s going on?” he asked, to nobody in particular.
“Didn’t you feel it?” Iain asked.
“Feel what?” Lance responded, looking confused. Cam explained as much as he could, as quickly as he could, but that was about all he could say as he was interrupted.
Behind them there was another large door which led to an underground reservoir. There was a large bang on it which was what had interrupted Cam. The door visibly shook under the force. Everybody moved back away from it as another large bang emanated from the door. A large crack appeared after the second bash. Several people close to the door moved back as a large metallic arm smashed through and then folded so that it pull open the crack in the door. As the door tore away – the actual motion itself resembled somebody tearing up tin foil – smaller Machines began pouring into the room firing weapons or else stealing some from the Resistance members.
In response instantly there was a large surge of other monsters appearing in the large lobby to help combat the Machines. There were explosions and through the midst of it was a distinct screech from Cyber Dragon, followed by a large white light which was fired from the same Machine.
Byrneout and Iain were already in the mix summoning their stronger monsters quickly, but Cam hesitated for a moment. He had drawn some cards of Tom’s. Feeling a strong sense of trust in his friend, he summoned a Machine against their Machine enemy.
In a burst of light, a Machine with no legs – instead a large spiked ball at the base – with large cannons emerged from the light which faded. X-Head Cannon immediately blasted a passing Cyber Raider who had been holding a Resistance weapon.
Regardless of the amount of Machines that were destroyed, more entered the battle from the reservoir massively overwhelming the Resistance. Machines were everywhere, and it was fought for five minutes up until someone had shouted retreat.
‘Retreat to where?’ was something that had crossed Cam’s mind. In answer, Byrneout appeared at his shoulder, nodding for him to follow. Byrneout led Cam over to Iain and Lance who were making their way along the side down to another corridor which was thankfully empty. Nobody had shown the three friends this corridor, and it was another wonder; why had they been taken down a completely different exit than everyone else.
“Lance?” Cam asked, but never got any further in his quest for answers as Lance quickly shushed him.

Stopping at another security door, Lance entered a code into the wall and they passed through the door…into almost darkness. Given a moment and strong phosphorescent lights flicked into action, momentarily blinding the four people standing there.
Again Lance silently ushered them along, but as they moved off, the security door behind them slammed. Instantly, all four turned around with their duel disks raised in the expectation of another Machine onslaught; instead it was Mikala.
Mikala looked terrified.
“I was cornered but somebody managed to fend off this Machine,” she explained, breathing heavily. “I’d noticed that you four had come down here, and I followed.”
“You weren’t followed by the Machines were you?” Lance asked suddenly sternly. “If you have, you’ve compromised this escape. You know what these four mean to the world!” This put another question into Cam’s head.
“I know, Lance. As far as I know, I haven’t, but their technology grows by the day. They’ve already got better equipment than us! If they find us, it’ll be more down to them completing a scan, than simply following me!” Lance glared at his best friend for a moment, then nodded thin-lipped.
The five companions ran off down a ramp. In an alcove to both sides there were vehicles of all shapes and sizes and models and makes. The Resistance it seemed had had taken as many cars as possible and put them into use. It was a garage. Lance had led them to a garage.
Still running, Lance pushed a button on a small key fob which beeped quietly. In response to the beep, an engine sounded and a single strong headlight beam flashed out across the garage.
Skidding next to a deep electric blue motorbike which was strangely relaxed, Lance pulled up the seat at the back and pulled out two helmets. His one was pointed at the top for aerodynamics and was the same colour as his bike with a sharp white stripe down the flank. It had a light blue visor which went as low as Lance’s eyes. The other helmet was for Mikala. Reaching forward to the centre, Lance held out his duel disk arm and snapped it onto the dash board of the bike and cool female voice accepted the duel disk.
Lance held out the other helmet – which was identical - for his friend as he prepared the bike for departure. Except Mikala never took the helmet; instead there was a high-pitched scream and a large explosion as part of the wall from the corridor the companions had emerged from literally fell to pieces as a large indiscernible Machine smashed through, reached down and snatched up Mikala in one swift manoeuvre, before smashing through the next wall.
“Mikala!!!” Lance shouted as his friend was grabbed. Running up to the hole Lance, he shouted her name once more, receiving no response. Returning to his bike and dropping the spare helmet, he mounted the bike and started it properly.
Byrneout, Cam and Iain were stunned. Was Lance about to leave them and go search for Mikala?
“Get that Overdrive again,” Lance ordered pointedly without even turning to look at the boys.
“What about-?” Iain asked.
“Get Overdrive!” Lance ordered sternly. Immediately obeying his command, Cam summoned Overdrive, and on command it skidded down from the other side of the garage. Stopping next to the boys, it opened its hatch once more and they dived in.
In a whirl of dust Lance skidded off through the hole, followed by Overdrive who hadn’t even closed the door. It seemed that the tunnel the Machine had created was a steady slope back to the surface.
The screen inside Overdrive flickered into life showing Lance’s helmeted face. Evidently the picture was coming from Lance’s dashboard.
“It’s going to so much tougher until we can escape the Machines. I hope you’re ready,” was all that Lance said, and then cut the image.
Byrneout, Cam and Iain now pondered as Overdrive followed the motorbike in front of them, who was this man who they had entrusted their lives to. How would they find their friend and save Earth from this Cyborg King? Somehow they were connected to the solution, though how, they couldn’t think of an answer. Maybe they’d find out soon enough.

[Umbra]

Put all your chapters in the same thread.

[TomsVWXYZ]

Wish I could, but it's not finished and better for suspense like this...in my opinion anyway

[Umbra]

No, I mean, post your chapters in the same thread. Don't do individual threads for each chapter, like you've done for this one. It clutters up the forum.

[TomsVWXYZ]

Oh I get you now...not totally awake haha

[TomsVWXYZ]

How many people are actually coming back and reading the update? And how many people are actually enjoying it?