Yugioh: Forsaken Legends [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

[Krein]

Lyall’s teammates had done well in flushing out the backrow Glaeris had set; if there was one thing he hated dealing with, it was backrow. Now, however, he had nothing to worry about, even after Glaeris had managed to draw a sheet ton of cards and gain a sheet ton of lifepoints along with them. Akira’s sportsmen managed to cut his lifepoints down to half, and judging by how all their attacks and effects were going through, none of the cards in his hand were of any concern.

 

Akira ended, and it was now his turn, prompting Lyall to draw a card and begin another one of his cold and robotic turns.

“Come, Evilswarm Castor,” he said as he placed the respective monster card on his duel disk. A gray, armored warrior with a single glowing eye shimmered into existence before them, brandishing a dual bladed weapon as the lswarm crest on its leg glowed brightly.

 

“Once summoned, Castor’s beacon draws another of its brethren to the field, allowing me to summon a second lswarm monster. That monster shall be Steelswarm Girastag.”

 

Lyall flashed the card towards Glaeris, revealing it to be a level 7 monster.

 

“All it takes for my Girastag to be Tribute Summoned is one Steelswarm monster,” Lyall continued, “So I sacrifice my Steelswarm Caller to do this.”

 

As the slim insect began to break into pieces, it began to rapidly beat its wings, emitting some kind of signal that alternated between low and high pitches. Buzzing and chattering could be heard in some undefined distance as Girastag appeared on the battlefield. It wasted no time in stretching out its right hand towards Glaeris’s synchro monster, enveloping the dragon in an orange energy field. Girastag clenched its fist, shattering the monster to pieces which floated towards Lyall’s body.

 

“I’ll grace you with an explanation. Whenever Girastag is summoned with a Steelswarm tribute, I can send one monster my opponent controls to the Graveyard. As per duelist terminology, ‘sending’ does not equate to destruction, meaning that little contraption you had hooked on to it was useless in stopping the effect.”

 

Lyall’s lifepoints had gone up by 1000 as he spoke.

 

“Oh yes, a small amount of your monster’s power gets added to my lifepoints when Girastag’s effect resolves. Now… it seems Caller’s reinforcement has arrived.”

 

And just like he said, a different Steelswarm had suddenly flown in and landed alongside its comrades, this one ant like in appearance.

 

“Steelswarm Tunneler. As Caller’s name implies, whenever it’s tributed for the summon of a Steelswarm monster, it will call forth another of its swarm, Special Summoning a level 4 or lower Steelswarm of my choice to the field.”

 

Lyall did a quick survey of the field before smiling coldly. It looks like he wouldn’t need to drag this on any longer, the monsters he had on board right now were more than enough to take Glaeris’s lifepoints below zero.

 

“Battle phase. With Girastag at 2600, Castor at 1750, and Tunneler at 1750 as well, you’re done for. You three, attack, and end this inconvenience.”

 

Steelswarm Girastag was the first of his monsters to attack, powering up the cannon on its left arm to send a blast of rust colored energy towards the opponent. After that attack had connected, Castor followed up on the assault, charging towards Glaeris before thrusting its weapon towards his body. With his lifepoints now at 1150, Glaeris could not hope to survive Tunneler’s attack, which now sped towards him on all six legs before leaping upwards and clamping its jaws upon his neck.

[senorchavez]

When asked if he knew of any places that would considered forbidden for him to enter Eizar thought about places like the teachers lounge and headmaster's office, places where students typically wouldn't go without permission, but he didn't believe those places would've worked. It had to be somewhere more secluded,a place that didn't have a lot of traffic, like-

 

"Now that I think on it, I do remember him trying to tell me something about an abandoned area of the school. I admittedly didn't take much stock in it at the time, thinking it was traditional 'kid gossip'."

 

“Yeah, before the Academia was made this area was the campus for an older school. It was built about 70 years ago, 40 before this newer school. The people apparently wanted to keep the older school building around so as to preserve a piece of history, so they decided to build the Academia around it instead, specifically the Slifer dorms.” To think he didn't think about that building first is beyond him. The students and staff were not normally allowed to enter the building itself except for group charged with maintaining it. “They apparently took students on guided tours around the place every now and then, but they stopped a year back due to vandalism. There have been rumors of people going missing around it during the night, so all the students have been avoiding it like the plague.”

[King K. Azo]

Glaeris cried out as Tunneler's attack, falling to a knee and panting as his lifepoints hit zero. The bubble of shadows began to dissipate, leaving the group in the alleyway. 

"No... no... this... was bullshit! That... fucking magician...," He growled through gritted teeth as he looked up at Daichi. "Fine, if that's the way we're going to---," His rant was cut short as the shadow sphere began to reform... around Glaeris. "A-Avatar, what are you doing?" Glaeris's voice was filled with panic as the shadow engulfed him. "Dangerous...? You mean these are those card holders...? ...Good," 
 
With a sadistic grin, he held out his hand, shadow tentacles whipping out and reaching into Daichi's, Akira's, and Lyall's decks, taking with them the blank cards, along with Daichi's Gagaga Magician Girl, Akira's Blockbacker, and Lyall's Evilswarm Ophion. "I'll be taking those!" He cackled before the shadows engulfed him completely, leaving no trace of him behind.

"s***!" Phantom Falcon cursed as he dashed to where Glaeris was. "We lost him...," He clicked his tongue a bit before standing up. "We can't replace those blank cards either... we're in for a time...,"
 

 
Yugo looked around, his heart pounding. That was a Wicked God? Why was it here, right now? He then noticed something... in the next lane over, a woman sighing as she looked at a card, putting it away and climbing into a red sports car, it driving off with a squeal of the tires.

"I think I found them!" Yugo stated as he jumped on his D-Wheel. "Let's go!" He yelled before driving off at full speed. Maggie got on her D-Wheel as well. 

"C'mon Yuria!" She stated as she revved up her cycle. When Yuria climbed on, she took off, speeding off to catch up with Yugo. "Yugo, what's going on?"

"That car!" Yugo stated, pointing to it. "I think that person has the card!"

"It's the next lane over! How are you---?" Before Maggie could finish her question, Yugo sped up, swaying his bike back and forth before driving over the ledge of the lane, catching air. "You... IDIOT!" Maggie called out as Yugo leapt over a gap that lead all the way to the bottom level of Turbo, over five hundred feet below. After a few heart pounding seconds, Yugo managed to land in the next lane and give chase after the car. "We are not doing that...," Maggie muttered as she drove off even faster to try to get to the merging point of the two lanes. 
 

---

 
Dread Knight accepted the rain coat given to him, slipping it over himself. He was in for some trouble now, as he had mostly Level 3s in his hand. His next card would determine if he could make it or not, but... he wasn't sure if he would.
 
Back with Tycho and Helena, the secret passageway was slowly being blocked by the generator moving back into place. Sadly, though, the generator was moving slowly enough that Saori would see it closing as she walked in. 

The passageway itself was just a long hallway leading down to a room... where a ominous blue glow was coming from. If the two went down the hall, they would see what appeared to be a blue portal beginning to close, and the large machine that was creating the portal. A control panel was against the far wall, with the message "TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL" displayed in bold lettering.
 

---

 
"Now that I think on it, I do remember him trying to tell me something about an abandoned area of the school. I admittedly didn't take much stock in it at the time, thinking it was traditional 'kid gossip'."
 
“Yeah, before the Academia was made this area was the campus for an older school. It was built about 70 years ago, 40 before this newer school. The people apparently wanted to keep the older school building around so as to preserve a piece of history, so they decided to build the Academia around it instead, specifically the Slifer dorms. They apparently took students on guided tours around the place every now and then, but they stopped a year back due to vandalism. There have been rumors of people going missing around it during the night, so all the students have been avoiding it like the plague.”

 

Blues nodded as he took in this information. That seemed like a perfect place to go. "Alright... lead the way. It seems to be our best lead right now...," The bell had just rung, and the students were rushing out of their classrooms. Would the wave of students separate them all?

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Just as Saori dealt with the Pandaborg with ease, she descended down the hallway and randomly picked up an explorer's hat from a hook that was along the way... only to see that the generator was starting to make back over to block her path, which it would do if she didn't get a move on. She declared one more thing.
 
"Finally, I activate an Equip Spell Card called Snazzy Indiana Jones Hat," of course, there was no such card that ever had that name, and Saori merely placed the explorer's hat that she'd found on her head as she said this, "This card is equipped directly to me, and lets me activate a Continuous Spell Card called Epic Indiana Jones Theme Song straight from my Deck... assuming I can find it of course. I'm sure I'd have the card somewhere along... Ah! Here it is! And then..."
 
She had actually scrolled through a list of songs that were on an app on her Duel Disk, finding one that was very specific. She pressed play, before bolting towards the passage.
 
"♪♫Aaas long as IIIIII,♫♪"
"♪♫Siiing aloooooong,♫♪"
"♪♫III should make iiiiiit,♫♪"
"♪♫Through. Any. Thing. But.♫♪"
"♪♫III must hurryyyyyy,♫♪"
"♪♫So. If yooouuu,♫♪"

 

Here, she began to slide, the hat that she was wearing having clipped the generator as it was shutting. But Saori herself made it through without incident.

 

"♪♫Will. Excuuuse me.♫♪"
"♪♫I'll sliiide in.♫♪"
"♪♫And fiiit through.♫♪"
"♪♫This gaaap just.♫♪"
"♪♫In time.♫♪"

 

Saori collected the explorer's hat as the generator was shutting, bringing it out before her hand would be squashed and fitting it snugly on her head just as it closed the passage off. Confident that the duo was now defeated, she removed the cards in the Graveyard slot of her Duel Disk and off the Disk itself, shuffling them all back in her Deck.

 

"I won't need these any more," she said as she did so, "But I'm keeping the hat. It actually looks kinda good on me,"

 

With that, Saori continued to follow the duo towards the end of the hallway, where they would see that a blue portal was beginning to close. A control panel of sorts was against the wall, with bold letters across it stating that a transfer of some kind had been completed.

 

"Oh! So that's why you guys where in such a hurry," Saori noted in a tone that feigned interest, before that expression quickly turned cold, "You should have told me that you wanted to come here. It could've explained so many awkward moments. Like locking the door on me; that was sooooo rude!"

 

 

Suddenly, Yugo took off, pursuing what looked to be a red Ferarri 458 Italia in his Duel Runner. Personally, Yuria didn't think he could catch up, but would have to commend him for trying. As she climbed up again, Yuria hang on as Maggie accelerated forward again.

 

"Yugo, what's going on?!"

"That car! I think that person has the card!"

"It's the next lane over! How are you...?!"

 

Of course, Maggie would find out the hard way that Yugo was planning to jump the lanes this whole time, Yuria watching in awe as he was just barely able to stick the landing and continue the pursuit. Doing this right now, Yuria could understand. But back when Yugo and Kyouji first separated? Was that even normal for him? Yuria would hope not, and was suddenly glad she spared Furiko the harsh ride, unbeknownst to her or otherwise. In any case...

 

"We're not doing that," Maggie decided, adamantly charging forth on the lane she was on.

 

"But we might have to!" Yuria protested, despite knowing nothing about the layout of this freeway, "How do you know these lanes will even merge?!"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Domino City-

 

Daichi threw a fist into the air, seeing that the combined efforts of this group stopped Glaeris in his tracks. "Heh, looks like it was the curtain call after all!" he smiled, taking a small bow.

 

A-Amazing! I can't believe that such power was displayed by not just you...but those gathered here. Haruto said, giving Daichi a thumbs up. Kudos to you, Dai.

 

"Nothing to it, Haruto!" Daichi smirked, giving the Gagaga Magician Duel Spirit a thumbs up as well. However, his gaze slowly returned towards Glaeris, whose eyes locked with his.

 

"No... no... this... was bullshit! That... fucking magician...!"

 

Daichi only smiled, shrugging. "Ebon Illusion and his many tricks..." he spoke. "Its one of the many things that the audiences roaring whenever I summon him!" Truth be told, he was happy. Not only did he and this team stop a potential threat, but he knew that he helped with this the most. And it was all due to him trusting his deck. But, the young Entertainment Duelist soon noticed something was up with their opponent.

 

"A-Avatar, what are you doing? Dangerous...? You mean these are those card holders...? ...Good.."

 

-BGM-

 

Daichi watched the opposing Duelist raise up his hand...and to his surprise, shadow tentacles/tendrils/whatever swiftly came towards the group.

 

DAICHI! MOVE!!

 

However, Haruto's warning came in too late. Daichi watched as the tentacle latched itself onto his Duel Disk and began to rummage through his deck. "W-What?! What the heck is going on?!" he shouted, trying to pull away, but the tentacles kept going...only leaving when it had two cards: his blank card and Gagaga Girl. "W-What are you doing?!"

 

His shouts went in vain as the tentacles returned to their master, apparently after grabbing cards from everyone else...including their own blank cards. They made it back to Glaeris, who only gave off a sadistic grin.

 

"I'll be taking those!"

 

The eyes of the Entertainment Duelist widened as he heard this man cackle. Gagaga Girl, he could add a new one in the deck no problem...but the blank card? That was something completely different. On instinct, Daichi left his position and ran towards Glaeris.

 

D-Daichi! Daichi don't!! It's too dangerous!! Haruto shouted, not moving from his spot. He knew that this man...this Duelist held one of those that Blues mentioned. It was obvious by this sheer pressure and atmosphere of the Duel. But even still...he hated watching his Duelist partner even attempt.

 

"Stop!!" Daichi shouted, running towards Glaeris with all his might. And at the moment he thought he'd reach him...the shadows engulfed him and with that...he vanished from the alleyway. He finally stopped, just standing there where Glaeris stood, his hand outstretched towards the nothingness that stood before him. "...." Daichi was silent. And for the first time that he could remember, his smile faded from his face.

 

They had won...but the victory...the victory was of little consequence. Not with the fact that they lost their blank cards...

 

 

-Taccon City-

 

Jet's Side

Jet grumbled some, as he drew his next card, before assessing the situation. That trap...he’s going to constantly screw me over on this...unless I can get rid of it...however… he thought, before reaching for a card. It was something that would help him definitely.

 

“I activate Twin Twisters!” Jet said, quickly discarding one card, this one being Crystron Sulphafnir. “With it...I’ll be able to destroy two of your Spells or Traps. I know the perfect two. I’m removing your Attribute Chameleon...and your Clear World!!”

 

“That would actually destroy three,” Kuria said flatly and calmly, appearing to have anticipated such a move.

 

“Precisely...” Jet nodded. Suddenly, two holographic twisters came racing in behind Jet as it immediately ravaged at Kuria’s Attribute Chameleon and even the Field Spell.

 

And both the green Chameleon that had been once by Kuria’s side disappeared, followed by the large jewel above shattering to pieces, returning the view of the surrounding area to normal. The light blue gem that seemed to surround the Clear Soul Dragon faded, reverting back to a transparent jewel as hard to see as its charge.

 

Now things were working better for him, however, what else could he do? Jet ran through the options and one kept coming back to him...that card. He held his arm at just the thought of even doing this. No...NO! I won’t use that card...I won’t… he thought, before finally getting an idea.

 

“Alright. I activate, from the grave, Sulphafnir’s ability!” Jet said, speeding in front of Kuria, as he discarded a Crystron Trystvern. “Now...Sulphafnir comes to the field...but at the cost of Quon.” As he said this, Quon disappeared and Sulphafnir appeared on the field.

 

“Then, I activate Salvage!” Jet said, as two cards exited his graveyard. “I select Prasirator and Quon. And then, I normal summon Quon!” Now Quon returned to the field beside Sulphafnir. “And now...I’ll tune my two monsters!!”

 

Jet started speeding past Kuria once more, before Sulphafnir took to the skies, while Quon disappeared and brought forth a Synchro ring.

 

“I Synchro Summon...Coral Dragon!!”

 

At this, the two monsters became one and a strange dragon appeared above Jet, descending as it roared at Kuria and his dragon, the latter returning a roar of its own.

 

“And now...I activate Coral Dragon’s effect...” Jet said, discarding Prasirator and pointing at Kuria’s dragon. “I send your dragon to its death!” Coral Dragon roared and sent forth a mighty wingbeat, summoning forth a watery vortex at the enemy dragon, enveloping it and therefore destroying it after.

 

Jet only smirked, as he revved up once more. “Now...battle!! I’ll have Coral Dragon attack you directly!!”

 

Coral Dragon roared once more, before flying towards Kuria and striking him down with another watery vortex.

 

Kuria was on one knee strangely after impact, his left hand covering his mechanical left eye and his right mechanical arm shaking noticeably, but not wildly. To his credit, he had not shouted in pain.

 

Kuria’s LP: 7500 -> 5100

 

“And that will end my turn.”

 

.:Jet Hoshimi:.
LP: 7000

Hand: 1

Field: Coral Dragon (ATK Mode | 2400)

Graveyard: One-for-One, Crystron Prasirator, Crystron Quon, Crystron Sulphafnir, Twin Twisters, Crystron Trystvern, Salvage

 

Kuria's Side

Taking a moment to regain himself, Kuria stood back up, the feedback from the cybernetics that were part of him starting to take its toll. “I draw,” he spoke, a tiny shake to his voice before looking at his new card, then looking at the monster in front of him. “First of all, I activate the effect of Clear Whelp. Since you have a monster that is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I can Special Summon it to my field.”

 

Rising through the ground, the little spectral dragon from earlier on re-emerged before starting a growl towards the Coral Dragon...then appearing to think twice and actually managed an ‘eep!’ “I now Normal Summon Clear Vicious Knight in Attack Position, and since you have a monster in your control, I only need to tribute one monster to summon him.” The Whelp turned its head towards Kuria, looking at him as if he was nuts before being given a subtle smile in apology as it appeared to vanish, transforming into a menacing knight surrounded by the faint white gem.

 

“Now, I activate the Raigeki in my hand, taking that watery dragon off the field,” he said with a slight snarl as he slid the Spell into one of the appropriate slots. With a snap, black clouds formed around them before a bright flash of light in the form of a thunderbolt came crashing down upon the aquatic dragon. “Go ahead and draw. It will not save you from another direct strike. Clear Vicious Knight, Corrosion Slash!”

 

The jewel around the blackened knight faded as he raised his head towards the foe, drawing his sword before rushing towards the opponent, the blade flaring with a corrosive black energy before slashing it through both the foe and his ride. After the swing, he disappeared before re-emerging next to Kuria’s side, re-sheathing his blade and returning to its resting state underneath the gem’s shield.

 

Jet’s LP: 4800 -> 2500

 

“With that is your turn.” Kuria’s eyes were narrowed behind his glasses, position shifted as if he was getting ready to throw down in a very-different way as he spoke with a firm but deepened voice.

 

~Kuria Bijorn~

Hand Size: 0

Field Spell: None

Monsters: Clear Vicious Knight

Spells/Traps: None

Graveyard: Clear Whelp, Clear Rage Golem, Clear World, Clear Soul Dragon, Clear Wall, Attribute Chameleon, Raigeki

LP: 5100

[Alaina]

Furiko clutched her chest as she felt the pain course through her body. Trying to catch her breath, with sweat starting to form on her brow. The pain itself wasn't actually all that terrible, however, the raw shock and surprise from this kind of pain even happening made it feel far worse than it normally would have. She had always been skeptical about things like duel spirits. She never had seen one herself and always figured that it was more of an attachment thing with duelists the themselves then it was an actual thing. Nevertheless, she was willing to believe that they existed in some way, shape or form and could even accept the fact that a card had picked her to go on a quest. She did not, however, believe that people could inherently make monsters more than just solid vision themselves ever existed. Sure, rumors of these psychic duelists had always been flowing around and there had been some odd incidents in the past that people pinned on them, but even then, she figured they were nothing more than witches. Not real but still blamed.

 

Steadying herself, she looked to the man before her, wondering if this had been some kind of trick that he was doing with the solid vision or if he was real. Trying to just shake her thoughts away from it and convince herself it didn't matter, the usual calm on her face was slightly shaken. Nevertheless, the girl continued by drawing the card off of her deck saying, "my turn!"Not really paying much heed to the card that she drew, Furiko instead went straight into the rest of her turn. 

"First, I set my now open scale with the Scale 8, Dragonpit Magician." As she placed the card in the free slot, a man with in sage robes with a crown across his head resembling a dragon's maw formed on the side opposite to Dharma-Eye, encased in a pillar of light with a large number "8" underneath it. "Next, I active dragonpit's effect. When I control another "Magician" card in my pendulum zone, I can discard one card and destroy 1 Spell or Trap card my opponent controls." Taking the card she just drew from her hand she declared, "I discard Stargazer Magician and destroy the set card on the right." As the card went to the graveyard, Dragonpit's staff began to glow, causing the man to send a bolt of arcane energy at the card that was destroyed. 

 

"Oh? That one eh?" After mocking surprise, the man's sinister nature resurfaced. "Rebound's effect activates. This card activates when its destroyed and lets me draw a card... Too bad."

 

Gritting her teeth as the man had still managed to have the effect of his trap trigger against her. Though, that might've been a good one to get rid of for later. With that done, she then shouted,"now with my scale 8 and scale 2, I pendulum summon my level 7 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon from my Extra Deck. Come on back to the stage!" With that, Odd-Eyes had reappeared as a streak from a large hole opening in the sky, crashing onto the field and letting out a roar. Pointing towards the lizard of Hibiki's, she shouted, "now then, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks your Reptilliane Euryale. Spiral Strike Burst!" With that, a black and crimson energy gathering its mouth,the dragon released it in a stream of flame directed straight at the lizard.

 

A wide and predatory smile crossed Hibiki's face. "YOU FELL FOR IT! Reveal Trap! Attack Guidance Armor! Thiis card lets me send an attack any way I want. Odd-Eyes' effect doubles any battle damage it inflicts when it battles with a monster." Furiko was taken aback as a fiendish armor encased itself over Timesword Magician. As it did, Odd-Eyes's mouth felt a magnetic like tug towards it, causing it to turn over to the magician and the flame strike them. "You thought you were so smart with your little Pendulum Summon. Guess what, girlie?" His eyes went wider in glee as his smile only grew in both joy and maliciousness. "You're nothing compared to me. Odd-Eyes, Reaction Force!" With that, the flames of Odd-Eyes destroyed Timesword Magician and causing a large shock to resound through the field. 

 

(Furiko LP 6600 ---> 4400)

 

With the shock hitting her at full force, the girl was knocked off her feet and landed onto her back across the floor. Letting out the some kind of odd combination of a restrained scream and a cough, as though one were just punched full force in the gut, Furiko felt the pain flow throughout her entire body. This whole situation didn't make much sense to her. The worst she had ever felt from an attack was a strong gust, but this went far beyond that. Even compared to the first attack, the force behind this damage was on a different level than that. Picking herself up, the girl seemed to start breathing harder, as if fatigued and the sweat across her brow was only growing, due to both fatigue and nerves. Taking one of the two cards left in her hand, she simply said,"I set one card face-down and end my turn."She could already tell this next turn was going to be painful. 

 

[spoiler=Furiko Game State]

LP: 4400

Hand: 1 Card

Field:

Monsters; 

-Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon (Level 7, 2500/200)

 

Spell/Trap:

-Dragonpit Magician (Scale 8, Pendulum Zone)

-Dharma-Eye Magician (Scale 2, Pendulum Zone) 

-1 Set Card 

 

Graveyard: 

-Stargazer Magician 

 

Face Up Extra Deck:

-Timesword Magician

 

 

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

"Alright... lead the way. It seems to be our best lead right now..." Miero lifted his head towards the school itself upon hearing the bell ring loudly throughout the area.

"...ooh, boy," he muttered as the flood of students, some eager to get out of some classes, others not as much, began to emerge into view. "This might get interesting."

Nearby, a few random students around them would look at Miero in recognition before whispering to other students he would assume to be friends, catching snippets like "Isn't that the Reffo librarian?", "Where's his kid?", "Ain't he early?" and a few other things that he wasn't sure he could hear clearly. He could have sworn he heard the name "Kaiba" as well as a few "whoa!"s that he could only assume was attributed to the Blue Eyes White Dragon Jet nearby.

"Welp, time to get moving."

Releasing a fair number of "excuse me"s, "coming through"s, "pardon me"s, as well as a few "sorry"s thrown in when he accidentally clocked someone with his elbows, Miero weaved his way through the webbing of students to get closer to the abandoned area mentioned before...

~Jet's POV~

Damnit...DAMNIT!! Jet thought, looking at the current situation. One card in his hand, down to 2500 Life Points and having an empty field. Was he going to have to summon that monster?

“I-I draw...” Jet spoke, drawing his next card, before seeing a new possible avenue rearing its head.

“You guys don’t fail...I activate Moray of Greed!” Jet declared, as a quick show of a fish with an unsightly head appeared to be swimming around Jet’s D-Wheel. “I choose two Water monsters and add them back to the deck from the grave...and then draw three!” He moved slightly, taking both Coral Dragon and Crystron Prasirator to their respective decks before drawing three new cards.

“There.” he simply said before placing a new card on the field, and discarding a Mermail - Abysspike. “I discard Abysspike for the ability of the Mermail Abyssteus in my hand. And now...I special summon him!” Beside Jet’s D-Wheel, a strange fish man in armor appeared.
“And now...I summon Crystron Citri!” Jet said, as a small feminine crystal creature appeared on the other side of Jet’s D-Wheel. “Then...I tune both Citri and Abyssteus for a Level 9!!”

The two new monsters nodded, taking to the air as Citri faded and brought forth two Synchro Rings that Abyssteus went through. Then, a bright light entered the field.

“I Synchro Summon...come forth, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!!” Jet shouted, as a three headed, icy dragon descended from the heavens, roaring at Kuria. “And now...I activate his ability! When it’s Synchro Summoned, I can banish one card from your hand, field, and graveyard! However...your hand is zero. But I still have two other places!” He lifted his hand and pointed at Clear Vicious Knight. “Your knight is banished...and from your grave...I remove your Clear Whelp!!”

His targets were declared, and Trishula’s two heads roared in unison as they let loose a resounding shockwave towards Kuria, which removed both the knight and the whelp from the game.

“But I’m not done! Battle!!” Jet revved his D-Wheel’s engines again as he sped towards Kuria. “Trishula shall attack you directly!!”

Trishula roared loudly, flying towards Kuria as all three of its heads unleashed an icy attack that struck down at the opposing Duelist.

Kuria’s LP: 5100 -> 2400

“I end my turn...” Jet spoke as he skidded a ways away from Kuria, watching the man get up from the lifelike holographic attack, whom had fallen over onto his back in clear pain after impact while shutting his left eye tightly while gripping tight the right shoulder with his hand.

.:Jet Hoshimi:.
LP: 2500
Hand: 1
Field: Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (ATK Mode | 2700)
Graveyard: One-for-One, Crystron Quon, Crystron Sulphafnir, Twin Twisters, Crystron Trystvern, Salvage, Moray of Greed, Mermail - Abysspike, Mermail Abyssteus, Crystron Citri

~Kuria's POV~

This time, however, it actually took him several seconds before Kuria could actually start to stand back up, taking advantage of the fact that he didn’t have any cards drawn to use both of his hands to stand back up. Left eye still closed, Kuria was now only looking at his foe with the non-mechanical eye…

...and he looked strangely calm, almost zen-like. “Do not assume that, just because my board, hand and field are empty, I cannot still win this. I draw.” Keeping the one eye on the foe, Kuria drew the last card he knew he would for this duel before bringing it into his vision.

“...I activate Pot of Greed.” Once done, Kuria drew two more cards…

...and he was having an impossible time keeping the grin off his face, though he did manage to succeed in doing that. “First, I play Clear Sacrifice, and reveal the Clear Vice Dragon in my hand as the target.” Kuria did indeed show the same-named card to the foe with this declaration. “I banish from my graveyard Clear Rage Golem and Clear Soul Dragon in exchange to Normal Summon it without tribute.”

The area appeared to darken for a moment after he played the card onto his duel disk as a black jewel, a huge jewel, appeared before Kuria. The darkness of the gem faded to become more transparent, revealing the largest of the dragons he has summoned so far, and the darkest in color.

“...you have lost,” he stated despite having summoned a 0/0 monster. “Clear Vice Dragon, Shattering Reflections!”

The black jewel faded from around it as the blackened dragon stretched out its wings, its eyes falling upon Trishula. An impossible toothy grin fell upon its muzzle before it appeared to change its form, becoming a much-darker version of the Ice Barrier dragon...with twice the attack power.

Clear Vice Dragon: 0 ATK -> 5400 ATK

Just like the original, shards of ice were sent towards the lighter duplicate, piercing and destroying it before continuing on to the foe and striking through him to take away the last of his life points.

Jet’s LP: 2500 -> -200

“Now that you’ve had an opportunity to vent, mind sharing why you’re so hot at him?” Now that the duel was over, emotion had mostly returned to Kuria, and he looked slightly concerned. “You looked ready to kill...and that’s never good.”

~Kuria Bijorn~
Hand Size: 0
Field Spell: None
Monsters: Clear Vice Dragon
Spells/Traps: None
Graveyard: Clear World, Clear Wall, Attribute Chameleon, Raigeki, Clear Sacrifice
Banished: Clear Whelp, Clear Vicious Knight, Clear Rage Golem, Clear Soul Dragon
LP: 2400

[Wind Rider]

As they moved through the dark hallway, helena looked at her duel disc to see that her pandaborg had been beaten. She could use pandaborg's effect, but she couldn't risk making her headache worse, plus it didnt seem like it was destroyed so she couldn't activate it anyway. Down the hall, a blue light could be seen and a type of whirring sound.

 

As the two entered the room, a portal could be seen closing with a terminal saying some kind of transfer was complete. "Ummm... If this is the portal... We may need to start it up again..." helena could be stating the complete obvious, but she wasn't in the mood for a more knowledgeable statement.

 

"Oh! So that's why you guys where in such a hurry, You should have told me that you wanted to come here. It could've so many awkward moments. Like locking the door on me; that was sooooo rude!" helena turned to see that the psychic girl had made her way past the secret passage, she was determined helena gave her that.

 

"Ooohhh... Why won't you just leave us alone?! We're trying to find a way to save the souls of so many people and your after me like i'm something special?"" helena was getting irritated at this point, with this mysterious girl and Helena's headaches getting worse, she could barely keep control. "Why dont you just please... Leave us be?!" the green glow under her eyepatch was getting brighter as she spoke.

[Dova]

---

"No... no... this... was bullshit! That... fucking magician...!"

Akira grinned at the sight of their opposition falling to his knees, Lyall’s attack having ended the duel before this so-called Glaeris could make use of those cards and Life Points he had obtained so easily, but his heart wasn’t in it. Despite their victory, if Glaeris had his turn, thanks to Akira they would’ve had a hard time recovering from such a big advantage on the other side.

Shaking his head to attempt to focus again, he caught sight of the opposing Duelist acting a little strange. Akira squinted towards him and cocked his head slightly, in order to try and pick up what he assumed were just mutterings.

"A-Avatar, what are you doing? Dangerous...? You mean these are those card holders...? ...Good.."

Akira tried to make sense of what he was saying, but suddenly caught sight of some black tentacles suddenly whipping towards him from the area around Glaeris. He wanted to respond, to get out of the way, but the sheer unexpectedness of the scenario threw him into shock, and he could only watch helplessly as the tentacles latched onto his Duel Disk and extricated a card from it.

"I'll be taking those!"

Akira watched the appendage pull back towards its now grinning creator, even more distraught than before, but noticed that it was not the only one that was returning. Glancing to either side, he caught sight of Daichi who was similarly distressed but not kept from running after the stolen card. Seeing his determination finally broke through Akira’s dampening melancholy mood, and he too was filled with energy to snatch back what was taken from them.

However, it was too late.

Daichi only managed to grasp at dissipating shadows as he reached the place where their opponent had been mere moments before, his hand outstretched. Akira started rummaging through his Duel Disk, but it didn’t take long to determine what had been stolen from them. The blank card he had just recieved was no longer there.

“funk!”

The depressing cloud over Akira’s thoughts had now completely dissipated, only to be replaced by fury. He swore again and punched a nearby wall, the pain now shooting up his arm not exactly calming him but giving him something to vent against, now that Glaeris had vanished to who knows where.

"We can't replace those blank cards either... we're in for a time...,"

Clutching his sore hand, Akira looked back up to where Daichi stood, now accompanied by Phantom Falcon. He walked over to join them, and slumped against the wall he had just punched. After leaning there for a few seconds, Akira commented, if not a bit unnecessarily, “He just funking stole our cards! Right after he just got smashed!” He took a deep breath, then sighed. “I can’t...what on earth is the plan now?”

 

---

[Krein]

"No... no... this... was bullshit! That... fucking magician..."

 

The duel disk on Lyall's arm powered down and retracted its card arm as Glaeris dropped to his knees, seething in anger due to his loss. 

 

"I've heard about bravado causing people to do reckless things," Lyall said as he haughtily crossed his arms, "But you were just a special kind of stupid for believing you'd be able to take on FOUR duelists at once!"

 

With the shadow sphere gone, the team was ready to move on... until the shadows began to surround the area again. This time, however, they seemed to "want" Glaeris, swirling around his body as he pleaded with some unseen entity.

 

"A-Avatar, what are you doing?" 

 

 "Dangerous...? You mean these are those card holders...? ...Good." 

 

"What are you rambling ab-"

 

"I'll be taking those!"

 

Glaeris's shout and a subsequent whip of shadowy tendrils cut Lyall off. He instinctively reacted by jumping out of the way, but was a little to slow to avoid the appendages. The shadow latched itself onto his duel disk, rummaging through his deck in less than a second before snatching four particular cards from it. Evilswarm Ophion, and his single blank card. Lyall's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed just as quickly in anger as he made for Glaeris.

 

"Give those BACK!!!"

 

But with his outstretched hand just inches away from grabbing Glaeris's collar, the man was completely obscured by the shadows, vanishing into thin air. Well... if there was anything that was bullshit about this entire ordeal, it was this.

 

 

"What..." Lyall looked back towards his teammates. It seems Glaeris had snatched some certain cards of theirs as well, judging by their bewildered and angry faces and words. 

 

"We can't replace those blank cards either... we're in for a time..."

 

 “I can’t...what on earth is the plan now?”

 

Lyall sighed, assessing their words and situations, before speaking up. No use in staying standing around in shock, they had to move on.

 

"The plan is still the same," Lyall said as he looked to Phantom Falcon for confirmation. "I heard Gayris or whatever the funk mention 'Avatar', as if he were speaking to it. Blues said that 'The Wicked Avatar' was one of the three Wicked Gods, monsters which apparently have a cult formed around them. Judging by what we just experienced, it's safe to say he's one of Avatar's followers. So, if we continue on our course of investigation, we'll inevitably run into... something at least." 

 

Hopefully. On top of getting to the bottom of this mystery, Lyall now had the task of getting back one some of his cards. Evilswarm Ophion, in particular, was one of his most prized and valuable cards, making him equally saddened as he was pissed that it got disgracefully taken from him. 

 

"Falcon, just what exactly are those blank cards supposed to be or do again? Also, considering what he took from me and you others, is it possible that this Wicked God cult has known about us beforehand?"

[senorchavez]

“Oh no, the others are switching periods. It'd be best to try to go around--”

 

"Welp, time to get moving."

 

“Wait--what?” was all that Eizar was able to say before Miero decided to go barrelling into the crowd, earning him a few objections in the form of 'Hey’s and the like. Rather than try to get Miero's attention he turned to Blues and Lee.

 

“We should go around the crowd, or at least where there's less activity, that way we could catch up to him without running into too much resistance.”

 

A second after Eizar proposed his plan a silver-haired boy walked up to the trio, waving with a smile.

 

“Hey Eizar, where have you been,” he inquired. “Didn't see you at homeroom this morning.” He then looked at the other two, Blues in particular and cocked an eyebrow. “Erm,” he began while pointing at the Kaiba before continuing. “Why is Kaiba here?”

 

“I'll explain later Armani, but right now I have to hurry and get somewhere.” Eizar stated swiftly, not wanting to offend a friend.

 

The recently-named Armani frowned at Eizar, eyeing him with suspicion before closing his eyes and sighing in slight exasperation. “And we were supposed to duel today.” He then looked his classmate in the eye. “I don't know what's so important that you can't tell me, but fine." Hid smile returned. "Just make sure to get me an autograph.” He then proceeded to walk past the group and into the shifting masses.

 

“We better hurry, that put us behind Miero a decent amount.”

 

And with that, he ran off for the Slifer dorms.

[~Faytl~]

Tycho ran up to the machine, trying to take it all in. What was this? Could the SPirit World really be a reality? And they intended to go there? It made his head spin.

 

"Okay," he said, almost to himself, looking at the closing portal. "Transfer succesful... Someone's been here before us. Maybe we should wait, they could be on the other side still-"

 

Saori's voice sounded out behind him. Tycho whipped around, eyes widening to see the woman (for some reason wearing a ridiculous hat) coming at them from down the hallway. He looked at Helena. He looked at Saori. He looked at the portal. 

 

"You'll have to make do without me," he said solemnly, before grabbing Helena by the collar, the large man yelling with effort as he lifted her one-armed, turning and hurling her at the closing portal. With a flash of light, Helena made contact with the blue light, only a startled cry managing to briefly escape her before she disappeared, the blue light winking out.

 

"I'm sorry," Tycho whispered. "I'll be there as soon as I can..." He turned back to Saori, his expression morphing into a standoffish sort of confidence, guarded, but with a sly smile quirking up the corner of his lip. 

 

"I see you followed us," he said, taking a few steps to place himself between Saori and the control panel. "Well, I have to say, what we do with our time is none of your business... And I think it's YOU who's been rather rude. Chasing us with giant monsters as your threats... So uncivilized, don't you think?"

 

He held up his Duel Disk, the blade erupting into life in a blaze of golden light. "Now, how about you dispense with these brutish threats... face me like a duelist, eh? You'll have to get past me somehow," he went on, pointing behind him at the panel, "If you want to go after Helena... If you just attack me with your monsters, you might damage the gate..." 

 

He spread his arms in a welcoming gesture, shrugging. "Come on... why not have a go at it?"

 

- - - - - - -

 

"It's my turn! DRAW!"

 

Hibiki placed his drawn card into his Duel Disk. "I play a card face-down. Battle! Euryale, attack Odd-Eyes now!"

 

Hibiki's Reptilliane slithered forward again, nimbly dodging the stomping feet of Odd-Eyes before lashing out and winding her body around the dragon, sinking her fangs into his upper leg. The dragon roared, the loud shriek quickly dwindling into a piteous cry.

 

"Euryale reduces the attack power of your monster to zero, and stops it from being destroyed by this battle," Hibiki said, grin splitting his face in two. "Reptilliane Curse activates! Take 400 points of damage!"

 

Red snakes flew up from the ground around Furiko, biting into her arms and tightening from their tethers in the ground, pulling with surprising force and yanking her down onto her knees as her entire body glowed with a crimson aura that burned and sizzled across her skin. 

 

"And now, take Euryale's attack!" Euryale slithered across Odd-Eyes, the dragon falling limply to the ground as she circled around Furiko, predatory gaze fixed on her. She suddenly pounced, wrapping around Furiko as she once again sunk her fangs into her neck, the other side, this time.

 

"Euryale's effect ends, returning Odd-Eyes attack to normal. Turn end," Hibiki chuckled as Euryale slithered back to his side of the field. He was having fun with this. This girl hadn't even touched his Life Points, and here she was at only 3000! He smirked, raising his voice to catcall at Kyoji.

 

"Hope you're taking notes, Kyouji," he called, throwing his voice over the crate. "You'll need it when I start to play with you, when I finish your girlfriend off here."

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 
"Why won't you just leave us alone?! We're trying to find a way to save the souls of so many people, and you're after me like I'm something special?! Why won't you just, please... leave us be?!" Saori rolled her eyes at first, but took the girl's words a bit more seriously the moment she saw a bright green glow coming from under that eye-patch. Was this girl trying to use her psychic powers? And did she even have any control of them? Now that she thought of it, this reminded Saori of the time she lost control of her own powers. Unfortunately, while Saori was busy reminiscing, the loud and abrasive man had somehow managed to somehow shove the girl into the portal just before it closed. That was apparently what Soari got for hesitating. And then the man spoke.
 
"Now, how about you dispense with these brutish threats... face me like a duelist, eh? You'll have to get past me somehow. If you want to go after Helena... if you just attack me with your monsters, you might damage the gate. Come on... why not have a go at it?"

 

"Do you... actually have a death-wish or something?" Saori asked the man, "I have men that can repair any damage done to the gate at my disposal. But even if I willed it myself, we can't revive you in the very likely event that you hit the ground lifeless, and you don't look like the type that can handle a Psychic Duel."

 

As she left the man to ponder the consequences of going ahead with the duel, Saori whipped out her phone to see if she could get any kind of signal down underground where she was. She had nothing at first, but as she moved to one corner of the room, a single bar popped up on the screen. It would have to do...

 

...

 

"My turn; I draw," Mushanokoji stated, "And once again, I activate Train Signal Yellow's Pendulum Effect. This time, I'm targeting the card closest to the Stormlet Cell. Next I activate Special Schedule. This card allows me to Special Summon an EARTH Machine-type monster from my Graveyard, and I choose Night Express Knight. I then Normal Summon Ruffian Railcar in Attack Position, and activate a second Centralized Traffic Control."

 

With two more monsters at his side, Mushanokoji drew another three cards from his deck, and once again sent one to the bottom of his deck as per the effect of his card. However, he had exactly what he needed; something that would get rid of the other set card. A smirk came across his face.

 

"I activate...!" before he could play his card, however, a faint ringing could be heard from Mushanokoji's pocket, which caused him to sigh as he withdrew his phone, which was evidently the source, and flicked it open, "Forgive me; I must take this..."

 

With that, he pressed the "accept call" button.

 

"Greetings," he said nonchalantly.

 

"Oh hi, Mushano," thankfully, neither Dread Knight nor the other girl would be able to hear Saori's voice through Mushanokoji's phone, but Mushanokoji would have to take care how he reacted towards Saori from this point on, "Glad you're having fun while I'm stuck here in a basement with a blithering idiot!"

 

"Oh yeah... sure," Mushanokoji wasn't sure how to react, but winged it, "How did you even...?"

 

"Get a signal? I don't know either," Saori intervened, "But never mind that, I might need you to get a hold of our... "tech support". Looks like the only way out of here is through this gate I found that leads to the Spirit World, and it's gonna need to be reactivated before anyone can actually go through it."

 

"So you found it, then?" Mushanokoji asked, not even mentioning the word "gate" in case the others were to eavesdrop on him.

 

"Naaawww, I lost that one too," Saori's sarcasm was a bit rich there, but in any case...

 

"Uh-huh. I'll let them know."

 

"So how's the duel going, out of curiosity?"

 

"It's going well thus far."

 

"Did Takuro reveal that dragon yet?"

 

"Not yet, no,"

 

"That's a shame. Anyway, we still need to see if that seal's still holding up. Then we can worry about finding the other three."

 

"Agreed. I'll report back to base then," with that, Mushanokoji hung up, returning his phone to his pocket and addressing the other two, "As much as I'd love to continue, something has cropped up that requires my immediate attention. So I'm afraid I must forfeit the duel."

 

Laying one hand over his deck to officially signify a surrender, Mushanokoji collected his cards with the other, their respective holograms fading as he collected each one and returned them to the Deck Slot. The blade of the Duel Disk faded just as he lifted the final card off of it.

 

"I suggest you take this time to recuperate your strength for the trial ahead of you," he turned to Dread Knight as he said this, before his eyes narrowed, "We will meet again Takuro, with or without the girl. And this next time you won't be let off so lightly."

 

As he said his piece, Mushanokoji turned away, climbed into the SUV that the pair arrived in and left the scene.

 

...

 

Back near the gate to the Spirit World, Saori too returned her phone to her pocket, outright turning it off in order to save the battery. She then walked out from the corner of the room and towards the console, completely ignoring the other man in the room.

 

"Let's see what we have here then," she mused to herself aloud, keenly observing the screen and having her fingers ready on any buttons.

[Yui]

---

"I activate...! Forgive me; I must take this..."

 

"Yer kiddin' me, right?" Aika muttered. The psychic watched in disbelief as her opponent - rather than keeping to the duel at hand - talked on the phone with somebody. His Neo Arcadia buddies, maybe?

 

"As much as I'd love to continue, something has cropped up that requires my immediate attention. So I'm afraid I must forfeit the duel. I suggest you take this time to recuperate your strength for the trial ahead of you. We will meet again Takuro, with or without the girl. And this next time you won't be let off so lightly."

 

Definitely his Neo Arcadia buddies. Mushanokuji left the scene of the duel with his warning issued. Aika had to take a moment to process what precisely had just gone down. She was ready to duel and everything and this guy just gets a phone call more important than speaking with either of these two. How dare he. "Got geared up fer nuthin'," the girl angrily muttered, deactivating her own Duel Disk and returning all the cards to their proper place. With her cards put away, Aika extended her free hand toward her dueling partner.

 

"I'll be takin' that raincoat back now," she said. No point in removing her own gear this soon, though. It was just a gut feeling, but Aika was sure there was more dueling to be had today.

[King K. Azo]

“He just f***ing stole our cards! Right after he just got smashed!” Akira took a deep breath, then sighed. Phantom Falcon could agree. This was very frustrating. “I can’t...what on earth is the plan now?”
 
"The plan is still the same," Lyall said as he looked to Phantom Falcon for confirmation. "I heard Gayris or whatever the f*** mention 'Avatar', as if he were speaking to it. Blues said that 'The Wicked Avatar' was one of the three Wicked Gods, monsters which apparently have a cult formed around them. Judging by what we just experienced, it's safe to say he's one of Avatar's followers. So, if we continue on our course of investigation, we'll inevitably run into... something at least." 

Falcon was impressed. It seemed Lyall was actually paying attention. That was good, and it seemed he was a natural leader, although now that he thought about it, it made a lot of sense, considering his position and all.
 
"Falcon, just what exactly are those blank cards supposed to be or do again? Also, considering what he took from me and you others, is it possible that this Wicked God cult has known about us beforehand?" Falcon rubbed his chin, thinking to himself.
 
"Remember how we said Duel Spirits exist? My guess is that the Wicked Avatar sensed the spirits in your blank cards and decided to make a preemptive strike. We'll have to tell Blues about this... but first, we'll have to replace the cards you lost... follow me,"

With a flush of his cape, the bird vigilante ran down the street, looking like a superhero that took the form of a winged mammal. He soon came to a stop in front of a quiet card shop at the corner of the road. On it displayed a closed sign, but the Falcon opened the door easily.

But by the time the three chosen were able to go through the door, all there was a sole worker behind the counter, his long blue hair tied back into a ponytail, his green eyes looking up at the group. There was no sign Phantom Falcon even came in...

"Hello, welcome to the High Corner Game Shop. How can I help you?" He asked with a smile.
 

---

 
"But we might have to! How do you know these lanes will even merge?!" Maggie grumbled to herself before swerving towards the gap.

"Okay, here we go!" She called out as her D-Wheel took to the air, leaping over the gap. Unlike Yugo, however, she began to mess with her controls, and the sides of her D-Wheel reconfigured, making wings. "Black Bird Mark III, take flight!" The engines of her D-Wheel roared as they flew over the gap, time seeming to slow down before the vehicle landed on the other side. Yugo looked back and chuckled before going back to focusing on chasing the car. He was getting so close...

 

When suddenly the car braked, catching Yugo by surprise and causing him to overshoot them. "Crap! Maggie!" Yugo called out as he drove down the road. He could turn around now, even he knew it was too dangerous to go against the flow of traffic in Turbo.

"I got you!" Maggie stated as she followed the car down the exit ramp it went down. "Catch up with us later!" She called out to Yugo before turning to Yuria. "Do you have any fancy tricks to stopping the car? Like, psychic powers and the like?"

 

---

 

"As much as I'd love to continue, something has cropped up that requires my immediate attention. So I'm afraid I must forfeit the duel. I suggest you take this time to recuperate your strength for the trial ahead of you.We will meet again Takuro, with or without the girl. And this next time you won't be let off so lightly."

 

"Don't call me that name," Dread Knight snapped. "I'm not your slave, I'm not Takuro. I am a protector of the weak. I am Dread Knight," He sighed as he watched the SUV drive away. That was too close. Perhaps he should have went all out in the beginning instead of stalling.

 

"I'll be takin' that raincoat back now," his partner stated. Dread Knight nodded and took off his borrowed raincoat, tossing it to Aika.

 

"Let's go... the tracker I placed on Helena has... stopped working it seems. We should go," He rushed off to the stadium, going to the last place his tracker had shown him Helena was.

Meanwhile as Saori looked over the console, she could see the words "RECHARGING" flashing on the screen. It seemed it needed another five minutes to go back to full power. It must have been drawing power from all the generators that created the Action Duels in order to recharge so fast. It seemed there was nothing she could do for now.

 

Helena would see she was in a tunnel of colors, which swirled around it. It was hard to tell what was up and what was the ground. Thankfully, it didn't last too long. She was thrown into the ground... in what looked like the middle of a destroyed town... well, not so much a town, but a village, like out of a fantasy. Most of the homes were in ruins, however, with smoldering fires dying down. 

"Well, what's this...?" a voice stated. Standing in front of Helena was a a tall man in full body armor, with a massive sword on his back.

 

---

 

After some pushing through the crowds, the group met in front of the abandoned dorm. It was locked with heavy chains... for all the good that would do. The door was in such disrepair that it was door was off its frame, leaving a wide opening easy to climb through.

Inside was a dorm in extremely bad condition. There were holes in the ceiling, in the floors, and in some of the walls. Everything was covered in dust, and all that were left behind in the two story dorm was the heavy furniture, like couches and bookcases.

"Alright, let's look around...," Blues muttered as he walked carefully through the dorm.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Domino City-

 

“He just f***ing stole our cards! Right after he just got smashed! I can’t...what on earth is the plan now?”

"The plan is still the same. I heard Gayris or whatever the f*** mention 'Avatar', as if he were speaking to it. Blues said that 'The Wicked Avatar' was one of the three Wicked Gods, monsters which apparently have a cult formed around them. Judging by what we just experienced, it's safe to say he's one of Avatar's followers. So, if we continue on our course of investigation, we'll inevitably run into... something at least."

 

Daichi was still in shock over this. Their blank cards and even those from their decks, taken by a cultist servant. He wasn't expecting this...especially not facing a literal holder of a Wicked God. He ran his hand through his hair some, shaking it. I done screwed up... he thought, looking back at Haruto who slowly floated up beside him.

 

Don't be so down on yourself Dai... Haruto sighed. For what its worth, you showed him that your a force not to be reckoned with. We'll get those cards back, don't worry.

 

Daichi only chuckled, shaking his head slightly. Don't know how you can say that though, Haruto. But...thanks...

 

"Falcon, just what exactly are those blank cards supposed to be or do again? Also, considering what he took from me and you others, is it possible that this Wicked God cult has known about us beforehand?"

"Remember how we said Duel Spirits exist? My guess is that the Wicked Avatar sensed the spirits in your blank cards and decided to make a preemptive strike. We'll have to tell Blues about this... but first, we'll have to replace the cards you lost... follow me!"

 

Replacing cards? Daichi didn't exactly have a problem with this, since his bag was still with him. As an Entertainment Duelist, he learned to always be prepared and to bring spares and extras whenever it was necessary. But before he could say anything...the Falcon had rushed down the street. "Wow...he's pretty fast when he wants to be..." he said, letting out a small chuckle.

 

Indeed...however, we might as well follow him. Haruto said. It would give us a place for you to slide the spare in.

 

With a nod, Daichi followed after Falcon without so much as a hesitation...only to find himself a small card shop at the corner of the road. The High Corner Game Shop...it seemed like a quaint little shop and there was only one employee there standing behind the counter.

 

"Hello, welcome to the High Corner Game Shop. How can I help you?"

 

"Hey..." Daichi spoke, as he moved over near a small table and put his bag up on it. Rummaging through it, he pulled out his spare Gagaga Girl and quickly put it in his deck, before shuffling it a bit. That's done...but...I better wait until everyone else is finished. he thought, before putting his deck in the deck box and his back over his shoulder.

 

He took this opportunity to browse around the card shop. It had been a long time since he'd been in a shop, well namely in Domino City. Nevertheless, Daichi started looking around, whilst Haruto was chatting a bit with some of the Duel Spirits that was residing here in the shop. That's when something caught Daichi's eyes...

 

In one of the cases, this one having Xyz cards, a certain card made Daichi stop. Norito the Moral Leader was its name. A Spellcaster Rank 6 Xyz monster with 2700 ATK and 2000 DEF. The more Daichi looked at it...

 

 

-BGM-

 

"Time for a new show stopper!" Daichi laughed, quickly shifting his stance before drawing. "I summon Gagaga Sister! And now, I add to my hand by her effect, Gagagarevenge!"

 

A little girl magician appeared on the field, before having a silhouette of a card appear in the air, showing Gagagarevenge before it rocketed over to Daichi's hand.

 

"Now, I activate Gagagarevenge...I call forth from the grave, Gagaga Magician!" Daichi said, watching a coffin materialize and Gagaga Magician bursting forth from it. "Gagaga Sister's ability activates. I combine her level and my Magician's level...and she becomes its total until the end of this turn. So now...my Gagaga Sister is a Level 6! And now...Gagaga Magician, with your ability, become Level 6 as well!!"

 

Both his monsters were Level 6 and now...it was time.

 

"I construct the Overlay Network with the help of Gagaga Sister and Gagaga Magician! My two Level 6 monsters...go!" Daichi smiled, as he watched both Magician and Sister dive into the spiraling vortex.

 

"The newest act of the show...appear and give this Duel direction!! XYZ SUMMON!! The spotlight is on you, Rank 6...Norito the Moral Leader!!"

 

 

Daichi must've stood there and stared at the card in the case for a good long while, before finally snapping out of the little vision-esque scene he had playing in his head. It wasn't a specific magician card or even a Gagaga...but...

 

It's effect...it plays off my style of control deck. Daichi thought, before finally looking over and waving at the card shop worker. "Excuse me. But...this card here..." he asked, pointing at Norito. "How much is this and how many copies do you have currently??"

 

 

 

-Taccon City-

 

Jet couldn't believe it...he was literally floored. And as his D-Wheel literally blew its smoke to initiate that he had lost, he was just lost...how could he have lost?! And if this wasn't even Blues...was he seriously under matched?

 

“Now that you’ve had an opportunity to vent, mind sharing why you’re so hot at him? You looked ready to kill...and that’s never good.”

 

He looked over at Kuria, just staring at him. Before he could say anything, he immediately got a transmission.

 

"Jet! Jet do you copy?!"

 

-BGM-

 

The Turbo Duelist remained silent, just staring at Kuria more, before slowly removing his helmet and silencing his end of the radio feed. As he removed his helmet, Kuria could see that this Duelist had brown hair and his eyes did have the look to kill...but also of those who have been tortured....

 

Finally, the Duelist spoke...

 

"This situation has nothing no concern to you." he spoke, holding his right arm some. "But you are correct. M-My mission was to eliminate the Kaiba heir...not only for my superiors..." Jet stopped and gripped his arm tightly. "But...for everything the Kaibas have put me through...THEY put me through this hell I find myself in..."

 

He looked away from Kuria, before grabbing his helmet again. "I have to remove Blues from the picture...otherwise..."

[Wind Rider]

"Huh? W-wait, Tycho what are you..." before Helena could react, Tycho had gone and tossed her into the portal as it was closing. Helena only caught a glimpse of Tycho turning to face the psychic duelist, before the portal closed completely.

 

Everything was an assortment of bright swirling lights, it almost made Helena sick to her stomach. A moment passed and Helena soon found herself falling flat on her back. "Owww... *gasp* Tycho!" she sat up to realize she wasn't in the generator room, or even in the city anymore. It seemed like a very decrepit village, almost as if it had been ransacked or destroyed.

 

"Well, what's this...?" Helena looked up in front of her to see an imposing figure in armor and a dangerously large sword. "Ahhh!" helena squirmed backward trying to catch her footing in an attempt to get up but she remained on the ground. She soon realized that the armored figure looked... Familiar to her... Like he was...

 

"W-wait... Y-you... You look an awful lot like... Buster Blader... B-but... Your talking to me? Wait!? Did that portal work!? Am i really in the Spirit World!? Alone..." Helena realized the gravity of her situation, and the stress to her head was getting worse and. "No... No... Keep calm... Keep calm... Remember what your brother told you..."

 

Helena took out a little pouch from her pocket and took a little candy out of it, her secret stash... Just a means of calming her nerves. She popped the candy into her mouth and put the pouch back in her pocket. "Ok... Ok... I'm calm.... I'm calm..." the glow under her eyepatch remained as bright as when she was back in her own world, but she seemed to be calming down for the most part. "I'm sorry... Things have been... Hectic... Coming here..." she said to the armored figure.

[Alaina]

After Odd-Eyes had been struck by the lizard's attack, Furiko felt the pain resounding through her body. Sweat starting to become more visible as her breath started to get heavier, she could start to feel her legs wobble from both pain and exhaustion caused by the duel. Looking at her opponent, him still having full life points and looking down on her with that predatory smile of his, she started to feel some sense of anger well up, gritting her teeth in frustration. As if to answer this anger of hers, Odd-Eyes glared to the white haired man as it let out a ferocious roar towards him. Taking the next card from her deck she yelled out, "draw!" and went to her turn. 
 
Looking at the new card in her hand, a small smile crossed her face. "First, let me refill the field once again with my monsters . So once again, from my extra deck I summon Timesword Magician and next to the field I summon Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon." With that, the familiar bladed magician reappeared alongside a red-violet dragon. "Next, I activate the Field Spell, Sky Iris." Slamming the card onto her disk, a giant hole of rainbow light opened in the sky, not unlike what was seen when she pendulum summoned. "With this on the field I can destroy one face up card of mine and add one Odd-Eyes card from my deck to my hand. So, by destroying Odd-Eyes Persona Dragon, I add Odd-Eyes Fusion to my hand." With that, the hole shot down a beam of light that struck the dragon, causing it to explode, with the debris then swirling over to her hand and forming a card. 
 
"Now, I activate the spell Odd-Eyes Fusion and fuse my Timesword Magician with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon." Slamming the card into her duel disk, the two monsters turned into ball of purple energy and started to swirl around combining. "Dragon of dichotomic eyes and breaker of time, merge together to bring forth a mighty tempest. Fusion Summon! Storm forth, Level 7, Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon." After the fusion finished, a dual color eyed dragon in green plate had taken to the stage, wind swirling around it. Letting out a roar, quite like Odd-Eyes had been, this one seemed to carry a similar anger in its cry. As there seemed to be a constant air flow in the room now, causing everyone's hair and clothing to start flowing around as if constantly affected by wind, Furiko continued with her turn. 
 
With a smirk crossing her face now she said, "now then, when Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon is summoned I can target one monster you control and send it back to your hand, and since you only have one monster, it's obvious what's getting sent back." Pointing towards Euryale, the wind started to gather around the reptile as she shouted, "Sweeping Gale." After the ability name was shouted, the wind started to gather into a large twister enveloping the reptile and sending it back to the hand of Hibiki. 
 
Hibiki had seemed intrigued by her method of summoning, yet ultimately unfazed by the whole thing. Even as his card was returned to his hand, he didn't seem all that bothered by it. Regardless, Furiko had went on to continue with her turn. 
 
"Now with your field open, Odd-Eyes Vortex will attack you directly. Spiral Vortex Stream!" The dragon then seemed to gather the surrounding winds into its mouth as it looked to attack the white haired man. 
 
As the dragons attack begun, the man's predatory smile was back once again as if waiting for this moment. Revealing one of his set cards, Shadow Spell, it was intended to lock down the dragon's attack and likely open up Furiko for a lost in next turn. However, "Odd-Eyes Vortex has another effect," Furiko declared. "When you activate a monster effect, spell or trap card I can return one face up pendulum monster from my extra deck." Taking Odd-Eyes Persona from the extra deck she then put it back into her deck, the deck then shuffling itself. "Then, I get to negate and destroy your trap card. Vortex Shield!" With the chains trying to wrap around Vortex Dragon, a sphere of wind covered the dragon's body, causing the chains to shatter on impact with it. "Now then, Vortex, let's carry on with the attack." The dragon then let loose the torrent of wind it had built up, striking the white haired man directly.
 

Hibiki 8000--->5500

 

"With that, I end my turn."
 
[spoiler=Game State]



LP: 3000
Hand: 0 Card
Field:
Monsters; 
-Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon (Level 7, 2500/3000)
 
Spell/Trap:
-Dragonpit Magician (Scale 8, Pendulum Zone)
-Dharma-Eye Magician (Scale 2, Pendulum Zone) 
-Sky Iris (Field Spell)
-1 Set Card 
 
Graveyard: 
-Stargazer Magician 
-Odd-Eyes Fusion
 
Face Up Extra Deck:
-Timesword Magician
-Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon

---

 

 

The bell had rung. The day was over. The students had been leaving, flooding out the doors as fast as they could. Wanting to get back to their dorms or hang out with others as quickly as they could. The day had been going on the same as it had been any other. And so, wading their way through the crowd, the girl made her way to leave. She was oddly dressed, not adhering to the normal dress color coding for the students, and seemed like she was on her way to some kind of formal event. Of course, this attire on this day was no different than the bored and slightly perturbed look on her face. Class was, as always, boring. She wasn't even sure what she really gained from going to them anymore, and they hadn't even had any kind of practical exam today, making the whole thing feel more like a waste of time than anything else. Continuing to force her way through the people, not really paying attention to what they were doing, something out of the ordinary had caught her eye. 
 
A man, one who seemed to be rather formally dressed was making his way through the crowd as well. It was not odd to see someone dressed up like that, as teachers tended to dress sharp for the day, but she knew the teachers here. And he was not one of them. Following that, there was someone else who was trailing after him who was a lot more familiar. She had never seen him in person herself, as she was sure that he didn't even live in this country, of if he did it was only a recent thing, but walking alongside that man was none other than the current head of Kaiba Korps. Hanae couldn't believe her eyes for a moment, wondering why he was here at their school. Normally something like a bigwig of a business coming was often made as a public event and the students were very much encouraged to learn about their benefactors. This, though, seemed completely random. 
 
Curious, she followed them to see what it was they were going to do. After all, something like this didn't happen everyday. It wasn't long before the group had ended up at an old abandoned building, one that was subject to all kinds of myths. While it had piqued her curiosity greatly, she had never actually stepped foot in the area before, so now seemed like the perfect time to check it out. However, more so than just the building, the people investigating it were definitely just as interesting. And so, walking in not too long behind them, with a slightly amused expression on her face she called out to the group saying, "you know places like this are off limits right?"

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

"Alright, let's look around..."

Things were quiet in here, too quiet, Miero thought to himself as he approached one of the aged bookshelves to see at the least the book titles on the spines. However, something broke the silence before he could get a good look at any of them.

"You know places like this are off limits, right?"

Turning his head towards the source of the voice after realizing immediately that it wasn't his friend talking, Miero frowned upon the sight. He didn't know if this was a student or not, and he wasn't willing to make the assumption.

"Sometimes wisdom comes with knowing when you should and should not break the rules," Miero cryptically stated before taking great care in removing one of the aged books from one of the bookshelves, not wishing to have it fall apart in his hands.

It's not like it's the first time he's handled books with astounding ages, either.

~Kuria's POV~

"This situation has nothing no concern to you," Kuria was told by his opposition before he began to grip his right arm, prompting the mechanical eye to focus on it while keeping the living eye on the person as a whole. His face wove into a frown of disappointment at the statement, though it softened after the foe continued. "But you are correct. M-My mission was to eliminate the Kaiba heir..." Kuria rose an eyebrow at this statement.

"...not only for my superiors..."

The other eyebrow went up as a thought crossed his mind at the same time his opponent gripped his arm tightly.

"But...for everything the Kaibas have put me through...THEY put me through this hell I find myself in..."

"I have to remove Blues from the picture...otherwise..."

"What's wrong with your arm," Kuria immediately asked after the last word, clearing the cards off of the duel disk and shuffling the deck before putting it back in its pouch on his belt. As he hooked the duel disk back to his belt as well then undid the magnetics that held it in place on his metallic arm, Kuria carefully but firmly gripped the wrist with the cybernetic arm while trying to undo the wrappings on the arm with the hand of flesh, ready to re-wrap it again with new bandages that he had in a strangely-matching pouch normally designed for decks right next to the one he just put his deck in. The grip would not be easily escaped.

"And for the record," Kuria started before looking Jet in the eyes, making the cybernetic eye fully-visible after brushing his hair to the side with his left hand. "if what you're involved in happens to be related to my friend's gotten himself involved in, then yes it does concern me. Also, why do your superiors want him dead, because it's already sounding like you're being tricked into placing blame on a person that may not deserve your rage."

 

"...I could always be wrong on that, though. Wouldn't be the first time."

[senorchavez]

Finally making it into the building, Eizar got a good look around, saddened that the faculty and staff let the building reach such a decrepit state. ‘Such an important piece of history in ruins…’ He sighed before he heard somebody speak out.

 

“You know this place is off-limits, right?”

 

“Yes we do, but--” Wait, that wasn’t anybody here knew. He turned around to see a girl in what he could only describe as something out of a detective show, what with her fedora and blazer. He's seen her around here and there but that's beside the point, she wasn't supposed to be here. With that in mind he grabbed Blues by his coat's collar, pulling him to the opposite side of the room and started whispering to him.

 

“Crap, what do we do? Nobody was supposed to follow is here,” Eizar stated in a nervous tone.

 

"Calm down," Blues responded placidly. “Just tell her we're investigating the rumors. I am technically owner of the school, after all."

 

"Alright, that explains you but what about us?" Eizar questioned further.

 

"Well, I need a student to show me around and a man as a consulting expert," Blues replied, his tone not changing.

 

"What of she refuses to leave?" Eizar asked one last time.

 

"Then we keep working. We can't let someone slow us down.” Blues said with finality.

 

“Right, we have to keep going,” Eizar conceded. He turned around and walked to Hanae, obviously on edge. Might not have been that big on lying to others, but he convinced himself that it was for the best that he did. Besides, he wouldn't be lying more than he was telling half-truths.

 

“Well, you see…” Eizar began, trying and failing to put up a calm front. “We're just investigating the disappearances--erm--rumors of people disappearing.”

[Alaina]

Detective Girl BGM

As Hanae had made her accusation, knowing that the Kaiba Corps heir could probably go anywhere he pleased in this school, she felt this was the fastest way to understand what was going on. While the first of the three people here had responded, he did so in an overly cryptic tone. She looked at him slightly confused, not sure if he was trying to sound like some old wise man you were more likely to find in movies; ones that lived by themselves, in isolation and on mountain tops. "You're one of those hermit types, aren'tcha?" Regardless of what he said, the fact that they were looking for some kind of knowledge in specific, and not just examining an old dusty building, was all that really mattered from his words. 

 

Her gaze then shifted to a person who seemed to be discussing something in private with the Kaiba man. She raised an eyebrow at this, tapping her foot almost impatiently as she knew what was coming next. After their discussion had finished, the boy walked over to her and as he started talking her expression only went more stern. After a bit of fumbling around with his words, the girl's stern expression changed into one with a smile. "Is that so?" She mused. "Well the rumors have been the talk of campus right now, and it only makes sense that a certain someone wouldn't want this problem to escalate any further." It was then that a rather forceful look appeared in her eyes, her smile remaining but carrying a more intimidating feel behind it now. As her gaze was one filled with pressure, she continued to keep it on the nervous boy as she said, "and if that's the case, you wouldn't mind if I just stayed around to help you all look would you?" There was, honestly, nothing better for her to do for the rest of the day. So why not have a bit of fun elsewhere? 

[~Faytl~]

Hibiki's eyes widened as Euryale was sent back to his hand. This girl could use Fusion? As well as Pendulum? She had even countered his Trap! He was thrown from his thoughts as the attack struck him, and he grunted, more from surprise, throwing up an arm over his face as he was pushed back across the floor, dust kicking up around him in his wake. 

 

He lowered his arm as he slid to a stop, face screwed up in an enraged glare, eyes centered on Furiko. "You think you can all of a sudden start using competent dueling?" he snarled. "I was sent here to take out the goddamn DUEL KING, jabroni!" he roared, raising his Duel Disk.

 

"Hibiki. What the hell is going on?" Hibiki flinched at the sound of the voice in his helmet earpiece after not hearing it for so long. "Is Kyouji secured?"

 

"I'm WORKIN' ON IT, STEVE!" he shouted, turning his head away from Furiko to shout into his helmet. "Shut up and let me work, jabroni!"

 

"It's taking a while, Hibiki," the man on the other end replied flatly. "We just wanted a progress report-"

 

"Shut UP!" he yelled, ripping off his helmet and throwing it with all his might into a dark corner of the warehouse. The sound of his visor breaking could be heard echoing through the warehouse as he turned back on Furiko, his predatory gaze no longer dulled by the glass of the visor. "You've got a lot of nerve, and now you'll see how much of a wimp you really are!" he yelled, placing a hand on his Duel Disk. "DRAW!"

 

"Activate Magic card: Snake Rain!" sending a card in his hand to the graveyard, Hibiki placed his hand over his deck, pulling several cards free and tossing them in the air, the cards falling into a violet portal that opened at his feet. "Now, by sending Reptilliane Stheno from my hand to the graveyard, I send four MORE Reptiles from my deck!" He leered at Furiko. "Go on... negate it! Activate the effect of Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon!"

 

"What?" asked Furiko, taken aback. "Why do you want me to..." She blinked, frowning. No... He WANTS me to do it... I can only negate one effect each turn. He's baiting me!

 

Hibiki sneered viciously. "I didn't think so. I send Reptilliane Gorgon, Reptilliane Viper, Oshaleon, and another Reptilliane Stheno!" A dark pool opened up at the feet of Furiko's dragon, and a giant, sinuous body slithered out, wrapping around Vortex's legs. Brass claws latched in as another gorgon showed her face, hissing at Furiko.

 

"What the hell?!" Furiko asked, moving a hand to activate Odd-Eyes' effect on reflex. 

 

"Reptilliane Stheno can reduce the attack power of a monster to 0 and prevent it from being destroyed by battle by removing itself from the graveyard," Hibiki explained as his monster bit into Vortex's leg, the beast roaring in pain. "Of course, you can negate that effect as well, I suppose..."

 

Furiko bit her lip with worry, looking down at the red crcle she stood in. If I don't stop this effect, I'll take the effect of Reptilliane Curse, she thought. And then, he can get as good as a direct attack in against me! Her hand balled into a fist. But he has anoher Stheno in his graveyard...it doesn't matter if I negate his effect!

 

"I choose not to use Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon's effect!" she yelled, bracing herself for what she knew was coming as Hibiki's face split into his grin again.

 

"Take Reptilliane Curse's effect!" Furiko cried out as she was beset upon yet again by snakes biting into her, draining her of her life. "I summon Reptilliane Scylla!" A four-legged beast with a zombie's body up top and a giant, seeping maw appeared, hissing as it charged at Furiko's monster. "Attack her Odd-Eyes!"

 

Reptilliane Scylla

Level 4, DARK, 1800/1200

 

Vortex was knocked back, its flaying tail striking Furiko by mistake, knocking her to the ground. Hibiki laughed at this, throwing one more card into his Duel Disk. "I play one card face-down, TURN END!"

 

His eyes fell to his face-down card, sneering. Her Life is a mere 800. Next turn, she'll Pendulum Summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon again, then this will force her to return TImesword Magician to her Extra Deck, just to stay alive! Then, I have the effects of Stheno AND Euryale at my disposal! She won't be able to stop them both! Her Life WILL. BE. ZERO!

 

Hibiki- 5500

Field- Scylla (1800), 1 set card, Reptillaine Curse

 

- - - - - - -

 

Tycho curled a hand into a fist as Saori spoke. He really didn't like being spoken to like this. It was a tone he had heard a lot in his many years: The done of derision, of someone speaking to something they considered an annoyance.

 

The faces of the many hoodlums of Hearthome who had used that towards him ran through his mind. It had been constant, day in, day out. It had been in Lyall's voice that day, at Kaibacorp. And he was damned if he was going to let this woman use it with him now.

 

His hand slammed into the cover of the console, slamming it shut over the buttons. "LISTEN TO ME!" he bellowed, taking full advantage of the size he had on Saori by grabbing her Duel Disk arm in a large hand, pulling upward, Soari's feet rising a few inches off the ground as Tycho looked her in the eyes with thunderous rage. "You think you have the right to threaten us, and have us just stay out of your way?!"

 

He swung his arm, tossing Saori away from him, once again standing in front of the control panel, this time determined not to move for anything. "I've seen your kind before, and I don't care if you're a psychic duelist, or just some punk off the street!" he roared. "You're so indignant that we won't do things your way, help you out... What about OUR indignance?! Try facing us by OUR way, the way that will save the cesspit that my home has become! Face me in a duel if you want to use this machine..." He quieted down, breething deeply as he closed his eyes. "Face me, and prove you're more than a bully, who'll hurt anyone to get what they want..." He spread his arms, wearily gazing into Saori's eyes. "Do that... and I tell you everything. You will have my full cooperation. Wether you win or not."

[King K. Azo]

Glaeris groaned to himself as the shadows dropped him in a different alleyway on the opposite side of the city. The villain picked himself up and dusted himself off, groaning to himself. 
 
"That damned magician. Making a fool of me. I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do...," He looked at his hand, seeing the three cards he stole from the group, Gagaga Magician Girl, U.A. Blockbacker, and Evilswarm Ophion. "At least it's not a total waste," He threw the three cards into the air, shadow tentacles whipping out and phasing into the cards, before dragging out the spirits of the cards, wrapping around the three monsters' waists. The mighty Evilswarm Dragon struggled, but it could not break free of its bonds.

"You may kill us," Blockbacker called out, causing Glaeris to look at him. "But I know Akira has the strength to overcome you..."

"Yes," Gagaga Girl stated. "Daichi will beat you! He'll... he'll save us!" Glaeris glared at the female monster before a tentacle whipped out and wrapped around her throat, causing her to gasp for air. He pulled the girl close, looking her in the eyes. 
 
Evil Prevails
 
"No he won't,"  he stated simply. "He's too weak. And why would he save you? He doesn't care about you. He doesn't even know you exist. You're just a replaceable piece of cardboard in his deck," His smirked widened as he began to tighten the tentacle's grip. "No, Gagaga Magician is the only one he cares about. You. Are. Worthless," He began to cackle as he saw tears forming in the magician's eyes. He loved crushing the duel monster's spirits before absorbing them. "And now. I'll bid you farewell," 

Gagaga let out a scream as her legs started to vanish, her body disappearing rapidly until the tentacles were holding nothing. Glaeris chuckled and looked at Blockbacker. "Take one for the team, will you?" He stated before repeating the process to him, leaving only Glaeris and the dragon. Glaeris smirked at the dragon. "As for you, take some joy in the fact you'll contribute to an evil far greater than the Lswarm virus," The dragon roared in anger, which was quickly replaced by pain as it to was erased. 

Glaeris chuckled, dusting off his shirt before looking at the three blank cards. "So, Avatar, what do we do about these 'oh-so-scary' cards?" The shadows began to group together, swirling and taking the shape of a short girl with white hair and in a black dress.

"I don't know. Even at my full power, I doubt I could absorb these spirits...," She stated in a timid voice as she sat on Glaeris's shoulder. Glaeris clicked his tongue before finding a trash can. He tossed the three cards in before reaching into his pocket, grabbing a matchbox. He lit a match and set it on fire, tossing it into the garbage, the flames beginning to eat away at the trash.

"Problem solved," He said before walking away. 

---

 
Furiko reached for her deck, her hand shaking a bit. 800 lifepoints was not a lot to work with... what if she failed here? She reached for card, when suddenly, a computerized voice interrupted her.

"Intrusion Penalty, 4000 Lifepoints,"
 
The Arrvial of the King
 
"You did well, Furiko," The Pendulum user looked over to her left, and saw Kyouji standing tall and proud next to her, not reacting to the sparks of electricity that drained his lifepoints. Kyouji didn't have his smile, but his tone was soft and kind. "Fear not. I am here,"

"NANI?!" Hibiki called out, rage in his voice. "How did you get out?" Kyouji just smirked. 

"Psychics aren't the only ones that can receive help from their monsters," Kyouji stated as he reached for his card. "And now they'll help me again. My turn, DRAW!!" He called out as he drew his card. He looked at his hand and smirked. "Because I control no monsters, I can Special Summon the level four Monster Dinozhar Tri-Defender from my hand in Defense Position!!" 

From his hand, a large yellow triceratops appeared on the field, the head piece looking like a shield. (DEF: 2100) "And now I Normal Summon the level four monster, Raptor Hunter in attack position!" Next to his monster appeared a small red velociraptor, which growled at Hibiki. (ATK: 1500) "When this monster is summoned, I can special summon a level three or lower monster from my hand! I Special Summon Tunerasaurs  from my hand!" 

A small dinosaur with an eggshell popped on the field, looking around curiously. "I now activate Tunerasaurs's effect! Once per turn, I can negate one monster's effect and reduce its level by two! I target... Raptor Hunter!" The tiny dinosaur cheered as it danced in place, small vines creeping up Raptor Hunter's legs and anchoring him in place. "Finally, using my level two tuner Tunerasaurs, my level four Tri-Defender, and my now level two Raptor Hunter, I Synchro Summon!"
 
The three monsters leapt into the air, the egg wearing dinosaur becoming two rings while the other dinosaurs turned into six stars that flew through the rings.

"Ancient King of the consuming flames, shake the world with your all mighty roar! Synchro Summon, the flames of my very soul, Dinozhar Infernal Tyranno!!" An eruption of flames shot of out the synchro rings, crashing into the ground, and kicking up dusting, obscuring everyone's view. When the dust died down, the group could see a large red Tyrannosaurs, flames expelling from between its teeth every time it took a breath. (ATK: 3000)

"Infernal Tyranno," Hibiki muttered to himself. He could feel something in his gut... was it fear? No, no! He wasn't afraid! "You wimps! Needing to team up to beat me?" Kyouji only chuckled in response to Hibiki's insult.

"Don't try to hide it," He stated simply. "A predator can sense its prey's fear," He then threw his hand forwards. "Infernal Tyranno's effect activates! When it is Synchro Summoned, I can choose monsters up to the amount of non-tuner monsters used to summon him and destroy them, inflicting their attack as damage! I choose Reptiliane Scylla! Absolute Roar of Power!" 

The dinosaur nodded before it inhaled and released a mighty roar that shook the room, destroying Hibiki's monster and forcing the psychic to cover his ears and watch his lifepoints drop. 

Hibiki: 3700
 
"And now, Infernal Tyranno attacks you directly! Hellfire Inferno!" Kyouji threw his hand forward as the Tyrannosaurs fired a jet of black flames at Hibiki. Hibiki, however, grin sadistically as he held his hand out.

"I activate my Trap Card, Rippling Mirror Force!" Hibiki cackled. "When you declare a direct attack, I can shuffle all your Attack Position monsters back into your deck! Guess you were the prey the whole time, Duel King!" 

"I wouldn't be too sure," Kyouji stated before looking at Furiko. She nodded quickly before calling out,
 
"I activate Vortex Dragon's effect!" The dragon began to glow as she kept talking. "I can shuffle Timesword from my Extra Deck to my Main Deck to negate your Trap Card!" Hibiki's card shattered into pieces before he was engulfed by the black flames, the psychic crying out in pain.
 
Hibiki: 700

"And with that, I end my turn," Kyouji stated. 
 

---

 
"W-wait... Y-you... You look an awful lot like... Buster Blader... B-but... Your talking to me? Wait!? Did that portal work!? Am i really in the Spirit World!? Alone..." Buster Blader looked down at the young girl in pity. Was she a human? They were rare in the Spirit World. His small, white dragon companion Buster Whelp began to sniff her feet curiously. The small human began to eat food from a pouch. "Ok... Ok... I'm calm.... I'm calm..." the glow under her eyepatch remained as bright as when she was back in her own world, but she seemed to be calming down for the most part. "I'm sorry... Things have been... Hectic... Coming here..." Buster Whelp looked up at he and began to paw her leg, looking at her pouch. 

"Lyrroth, leave her alone," Buster Blader said to his dragon, who nodded and proudly walked over to Buster Blader, sitting next to him. "As you can see, things have been 'hectic' here to. It seems the rumors were true... humans coming freely to the Spirit World... come, we need to get you to safety. The dragons will probably attack again," He stated as he stood up and walked away. Lyrroth sprung to his feet and followed Buster Blader.

---

Lee had headed upstairs, looking around the dusty place. What exactly where they looking for? He began to open doors to the rooms, but all he could find were dusty bed frames. This was so frustrating!! He needed a duel to calm his nerves...
 
"Is that so? Well the rumors have been the talk of campus right now, and it only makes sense that a certain someone wouldn't want this problem to escalate any furthe. And if that's the case, you wouldn't mind if I just stayed around to help you all look would you?"  Blues shook his head before looking at her. 

"That is fine," He stated. "We could use the extra help," 

Meanwhile, if Miero looked closely at the books, he would realize something. While the entire place was dusty... the bookshelf was considerably less so. On top of that, four of the books looked as if they had been moved recently, as determined by them having even less dust. They were four encyclopedias, the volumes 1, 6, 8, and 10. 

Perhaps if they looked around more, they could find more clues to this puzzle.

[Dova]

---

"Falcon, just what exactly are those blank cards supposed to be or do again? Also, considering what he took from me and you others, is it possible that this Wicked God cult has known about us beforehand?"

Akira was still shaken by aftermath of the duel, but the question managed to bring his focus back from the theft and back onto the rest of the group. That certainly was a good question to ask, and Akira was silently fuming that he hadn’t recovered quickly enough to ask it first.

"Remember how we said Duel Spirits exist? My guess is that the Wicked Avatar sensed the spirits in your blank cards and decided to make a preemptive strike. We'll have to tell Blues about this... but first, we'll have to replace the cards you lost... follow me!"

Akira barely had time to register that sentence before the Phantom Falcon rushed off. Pushing himself off from the wall, he quickly set off in pursuit. He wasn’t going to be left behind this time, not if he could help it. He was still pissed from the whole affair, but had to admit that the man running ahead of the group did look kind of cool with his cape billowing out from behind him.

Managing to keep a little ahead of the others, Akira looked around at the city around him, hoping for some sign of that Glaeris guy or just something important in general. It had barely been an hour and already the others had done more than him. He was determined to keep ahead in the action. Taking a deep breath, he looked back ahead and...

...managed to completely lose track of where the bird duelist leading them had gone. Akira slowed down, scanning the general surroundings for a clue, and got overtaken by Daichi. He sighed and continued running forward, now aiming for a nearby card corner store which Daichi was just entering. Obviously he had been paying more attention to their lead, but the shop itself didn’t seem to be anything special, which was why Akira hadn’t picked it out as their target.

He entered the store just after Daichi, and was greeted by the creaking of the door and the cheerful smile of a shop worker No Phantom Falcon in site. Akira quickly glanced up and down the store. Daichi was there, but no sign of the guy who led the way. Odd.

"Hello, welcome to the High Corner Game Shop. How can I help you?"

“Not with anything at the moment.” Akira gave a weak smile, but even that took a lot of effort. A clenched fist behind his back managed to stave off most of the anger still present in his thoughts. “I’ll call you if I need you. Sorry, I mean-” He sighed, released his fist, and continued in a weaker voice. “Thanks, but I’m just browsing for now.”

Akira turned away quickly and started to look up and down the shelves. There didn’t seem to be much in the way of powerful monsters, but it did have your basics. It was a shame that Akira wasn’t in any need of staples, but he might as well buy something simple to fill in the gap.

 
His gaze froze upon catching sight of what lay in the next aisle. A whole bunch of single warriors, and near the top were some shiny U.A. cards, their covers gleaming in the soft light given by the store’s bulb. Despite no obvious movement on their static profiles, they seemed to beckon him towards them.

Akira rushed over, eager to see if Domino City had received any new support for the sporting archetype, and was not disappointed. Right in the middle of the collection was a card with a glimmering title reading…

U.A. Ancient Coach.

Fabulous.

Akira’s face fell as he looked briefly at the art and the effect. It was by no means a bad card, but just seemed so...out of place. It did fit with the theme of the sportsmen, and it did have a U.A. boosting effect, but it was defensive. Incredibly defensive. A style Akira did not normally attempt. He suddenly winced as his recent misadventure came to mind again. Perhaps it was a style he would have to try, and it couldn’t hurt, after all.

He picked up the card and walked up the counter, where Daichi was busy inquiring about a different card. Akira waited until he was finished, perhaps not as patiently as he could have, then slid the card forward.

“How much would this be?” he asked, then, after confirming the purchase, turned to Daichi. A little conversation wouldn’t hurt, and being able to do so with a fellow Cradle City resident during this whole affair certainly was something. “So, yeah, Daichi, you do much entertainment Dueling?”

---

[Wind Rider]

Helena looked down at her feet to see a little, white creature pawing at her legs. At first she was frozen with fear because of the appearance of the creature, but on closer inspection it seemed more cute and friendly than dangerous, it seemed to be interested in her pouch of sweets.

 

"Lyrroth, leave her alone," the little creature was a friend of Buster Blader's apparently and went back over to him, leaving Helena alone. "As you can see, things have been 'hectic' here to. It seems the rumors were true... humans coming freely to the Spirit World... come, we need to get you to safety. The dragons will probably attack again," Dragons? Helena didn't like the sound of that. And other humans he said, could the others have found their way here too? So she wasn't entirely alone then.

 

In any case, it seemed much safer to stick with Buster Blader for the time being. Helena let out a quiet sigh and followed behind the swordsman and his monster friend. "O-oh... L-lyrroth is it?" she tried to get the little monster's attention. She took a little candy out of the pouch and knelt down with it in the palm of her hand. "H-here... I have plenty to share..." she said with a small smile.