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

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

And it was the lack of dust he noticed upon putting Volume 1 back due to his white gloves. A sideways frown forming in thought, he pulled back his green trenchcoat and reached into an inner pocket, pulling out what looked like a green flashlight...

...but flat.

Pressing down upon the sliver of white near the middle, the strange flashlight lit up with a decent illumination, seeing the differences in the amount of dust on each of the books. "Letting books deteriorate like this is just shameful," he muttered to himself before allowing the light of the device to roam across the area as he looked elsewhere for anything else distinctly lacking in just, careful not to accidentally hit anyone in the face with it.

"This place has seen recent use, look out for anything with less dust than usual," he stated with a volume that the others would be sure to hear, not that he would have to be very loud to be heard in such a deadly-quiet place.

[Alaina]

Furiko had been tired. She was in pain, coursing throughout her entire body. She could barely keep herself standing, and her vision was going blurry. Her breath was getting longer, more exaggerated, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle this. She wasn't sure if she was able to do this herself, but thankfully, in the eleventh hour, Kyouji had seemed to be able to aid her in this duel. While he had things covered, she had managed to stop the last trap from Hibiki, leaving his field open for one last attack. Looking towards him, a feeling of anger and vengeance welling up within her, she knew that in this instant she was about to deliver the same kind of pain that he had put onto her. Vortex Dragon, as well, felt this way as it glared down the white haired duelist, eyes looking as though it wished to tear the person apart. "My turn, draw!" Not even paying attention to the card that she just drew, she then pointed at her opponent and said,  "now, Odd-Eyes Vortex, attack him directly." Letting out a thunderous roar, winds seemed to pick up all around, creating a large gale in the dragon's mouth. "Spiral Vortex Stream!" With one mighty breath, the dragon let loose a torrent of swirling, pressurized air that struck Hibiki's body directly, ending the duel. 

 

Hibiki LP 700 ---> 0

 

---

 

 

As she was pressuring the younger person before her, she heard another voice call out from beyond him. Looking over to see that it was the Kaiba man himself, saying that she was able to go and search here as well, she clapped her hands together and had a triumphant expression across her face. "Wonderful. Happy to help." Not really paying any mind to the person who was talking to her before, she then went on her way to start looking for things. What was she looking for? f*** if she knew. All that she was able to figure out was that they were here trying to look for something in regards to the disappearances of the students. With that in mind, the girl started making her way around looking for anything that seemed suspicious. The first thing she thought to do was check and see if there was anything suspicious about the area they couldn't immediately see. And so with that, she went to look at the holes in the floor of the building. Upon closer inspection, looking down, one would be able to see that there was indeed a room below them, but not one that she could make much out of. After hearing the statement from Hermit-san, she then added her own discovery on top of it. "Also, it looks like there's probably a basement to this building, so be on the lookout for any doors or something that lead there." This day was already turning out better than she expected. 

[Yui]

---

"Let's go... the tracker I placed on Helena has... stopped working it seems. We should go."

 

"You got it," Aika responded, stuffing the returned coat back into her bag where it belonged before following Dread Knight. Into the stadium, then.

For Leona, it was just another day. Initially, she'd just left her apartment to get more bug spray - the roaches were getting a little too comfortable - but her little shopping trip turned into a mini-adventure when she helped a lost child find her parents, who in turn asked if she could help deal with some shady debt collectors. Once the loan sharks were dealt with, Leona found a scratch-off ticket one of them had dropped, and turning it in gave her a nice lump of cash. No fortune by any means, but easily enough for a fun day out. And so, that was Leona's plans for today; a nice meal, perhaps a movie, and whatever else she wanted to do, all away from her usual haunting ground. In her one hand was a bottle of flavored vitamin water, and in the other, the last vestige of a bar of white chocolate.

 

What a stroke of luck too, because she was in just the right place at just the right time. The scene before Leona was quite the spectacle. A girl had appeared and sat atop the man's shoulder, and the man in turn tossed some cards into the trash before lighting it all on fire. He then ran off. Leona shoved the last of her chocolate into her mouth, swallowing and washing it down with a quick swig of water before making her way to the trash can. The fire was still small. Good. Leona reached into the trash can, and picked up the three cards the man had tossed into them, quickly pulling her hand back out and pouring just a bit of her water on the corners of the three that had caught a bit of the fire. The cards were a bit singed, but still usable. Or they would be, if they weren't blank. What was with that? No matter. Leona then wiped her water off the cards with her finger, before tucking them into her pocket.

 

"Problem solved," Leona said contently to herself. She then started in the direction the pyromaniac had come from. No doubt whoever these cards belonged to were that way. That in mind, Leona put one foot in front of the other, and started forward.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 
"Do you have any fancy tricks to stopping the car? Like, psychic powers and the like?"
 
"I... what do I look like?! One of those psycho duelists or whatever they are?!" Yuria immediately protested, but then before she could add to that...
 
"Psychic duelist, I believe was the term you were looking for!" Neobis corrected Yuria, once again having to yell over the roaring engine of the Duel Runner, "And just try summoning us anyway! Put one of us in Attack Mode or something! I'm sure one of us can do something in corporeal form!"
 
"Alright fine, I'll try getting Palpigrad out there!" fishing out Palpigrad's card from her deck as she said this, Yuria flicked her Duel Disk arm to activate the device in question, and slapped the card down on the crimson blade that had appeared, "I summon Xicserata Palpigrad in Attack Mode!"
 
Palpigrad arrived into Terra Firma, dropping from the sky and landing on Maggie's helmet. Now was the moment of truth; was Palpigrad's body in an actually tangible state? To test that, Yuria reached over to pick Palpigrad up by the tail, which she'd accomplished to her surprised, and blankly stared at his as he flailed.
 
"Hey, hey, HEY!!" Palpigrad yelled as he swing his legs and claws in all the directions he could think of, "The hell do ya think you're doing?!"
 
"You're going for a little flying lesson!" Yuria replied, now wielding a smirk across her face, "It's the only way we can stop that car from losing us! Also revenge."
 
"R-Revenge?!" Palpigrad asked fearfully, "W-we can talk ab-bout thiiiiiyyyyyyyAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!"
 
In an instant, Yuria hurled Palpigrad over towards the Ferrari, using her good throwing arm and all her might. Thankfully this was enough for him to actually reach the Ferrari that was ahead of them, and catch the spoiler in time so he didn't go splat. Hanging on for dear life, he awaited for further instructions.
 
"K, now what?!" he asked.
 
"Go over to one of those rear tires and try to puncture it!" Neobis called over.
 
"Aight," and so Palpigrad scurried his way over to the left rear tire, but before he made a move, "Wait; how do we know this'll work?! It could be a front-wheel drive!"
 
"IT'S A FERRARI, YA DUMBASS!!" Neobis bellowed, "What kind of Ferrari has front-wheel drive?!"
 
"I'm sure there was a front-wheel drive Ferrari! Or maybe it was an all-wheel drive one!" Palpigrad shook his head, supposing he should focus on the task at hand, "Alright then, here goes nothing! KAAAAAAMMMEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH(!!)...
 
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(!!)...
 
MMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH(!!)...
 
I mean, uh... FELL NEEDLE!!"
 
With that, Palpigrad brought his claws down hard on the tire, hoping that would be enough to penetrate the rubber walls and have the air stream out to deflate it.


 
'Hhrrrrmmmmmmm(!)" Saori groaned, realizing that there was nothing she could do to speed up the device's ability to recharge. Because of that, she'd have to wait for another whole five minutes. She crossed her arms, wondering what the hell she was meant to... 

"LISTEN TO ME!!" ...it was a good thing Saori thought to move her fingers off of the buttons, or else they'd have been crushed by that accursed neanderthal having slammed the cover over them; though that didn't stop him from heaving the poor girl up off her feet, "You think you have the right to threaten us, and have us just stay out of your way?! I've seen your kind before, and I don't care if you're a psychic duelist, or just some punk off the street!"
 
"Oh yeah? And I don't particularly care for neanderthals such as yourself. Now unhand me this instance..." it was at this point that Saori's left eye illuminated a bright golden color, and her voice was beginning to distort into something more sinister, "...before you regret everything!"

 

She was just about to use her psychic powers to teach this fool a lesson for messing with her, but before she could, he threw her away and slammed her against the wall. Her anger was building, as she recovered from the throw and stared down at the insolent man. But something he'd said had stopped her from just offing him right then and there, extinguishing her drive to kill completely, and causing the glow to diminish as well.

 

"Face me in a duel if you want to use this machine..." ...no, it was something further along than that; not that Saori would be able to operate the machine in its current state anyway, "Do that... and I tell you everything. You will have my full cooperation. Whether you win or not."

 

"...that's the smartest thing you said all day," Saori had to admit, and with that she flicked her Duel Disk arm to activate it, a golden blade forming from it as it was activated, "Fine then, you'll have your duel with me... but only because this is apparently the only way in which you realize your place."

[senorchavez]

After giving his explanation the new girl “requested” to be allowed to assist the group, while deciding to take on a more threatening posture, which only served to irk Eizar. He was all for more hands on searching for the missing people but the tone that she used made it seem as though she was threatening him. His eye twitched as he opened his mouth to begrudge her permission to search the building along with them, but was cut off by a certain Kaiba admitting her instead.

 

With that out of the way he went to help Miero and Blues in their search, when the old man spoke.

 

"This place has seen recent use, look out for anything with less dust than usual.”

 

‘Alright, there's got to be other places that they must have used,’ Eizar mused. 'I should check out the kitchen.’ He stepped out of the miniature library into the hallway when the abrasive girl’s voice rang out.

 

"Also, it looks like there's probably a basement to this building, so be on the lookout for any doors or something that lead there."

 

'A basement, huh? If I were to take a guess, I'd say it's be near the kitchen or dining room.’ Eizar pondered. Of course, the only place that supported such a claim was the inn but that's his best bet for now. He started walking in the direction of the kitchen before pausing near the blond. “You never really gave us your name,” he inquired. “Mine’s Eizar Lutio. Thanks for deciding to help us,” he continued with a more neutral tone. He waited a bit, hoping she would respond in kind and continued into the place he was most familiar with. “Now then, to see if there's any way into the basement…”

[King K. Azo]

Henry waited for his new customers to ask him a question. He began to whistle to himself, thinking they might take a bit, but it seemed one had a question already. "Excuse me. But...this card here..." he asked, pointing at Norito. "How much is this and how many copies do you have currently??" Henry looked over at it before humming to himself. 

"If memory serves me correctly, we have two, prices at 2 dollars each," he stated, right before the other one began to speak.

“How much would this be?” Henry looked over the card, stroking his chin.

"That's a rarer card. I'll have to say at least 5 dollars," He stated before he turned to Lyall. "Anything I can help you with, sir?"
 
Meanwhile, as Leona walked down the street, she could find multiple people to ask, but the answer was always the same. No one would claim those cards. Perhaps if she went to card shops, she could get a better answer.

---

 
Maggie watched as Yuria picked up what looked like a duel monster and threw it at the car. She chuckled as it happened. "You sure you and Yugo aren't dating?" She joked. "His family seems to have a thing about psychics," The wheel began to deflate, and the car began to wobble out of control.  It began to skid before it swerved out of the road and smashed against the guard rail.

Meanwhile in the warehouse, Hibiki was knocked over from the force of Vortex Dragon. The Duel King looked over the defeated Hibiki and shook his head.

"We're not after the cronies of the Wicked Gods. We're after the heads," He said before looking at Furiko. "You did a good job. You holding up okay? He wasn't an easy opponent...," With a sigh, he shook his head. "Let's get out of here and back to Domino. I got some information while you were dueling," With that, he turned to leave the warehouse, but not before adding, "You got some real potential, Furiko,"
 

---

 
Dread Knight head down the stairs before screeching to a halt. The room was a dead end, with nothing but generators filling the room. "What the hell?" He asked as he looked around. "They're somewhere beyond this room... but... I can't see where they could have gone...,"
 

---

 
 "H-here... I have plenty to share..." she said with a small smile. Lyrroth nodded, and nibbled the candy out of her hand. With a purr, something apparently fluffy dragons could do, the whelp rubbed his face against her hand before licking her face. It then trotted off, headed to Buster Blader, but looking back at her expectantly. Helena needed to catch up after all.

"You're spoiled rotten, Lyrroth," Buster Blader stated, although Helena could hear him chuckle as he said that. It was a quiet walk across a peaceful, grassy field.but she could see in the distance there was a large citadel, one, that if she knew her cards, she would recognize as the Magical Citadel of Endymion. It seemed to be a far way off, however, easily a few hours at best. "Apparently, Dark Magician has found other humans and has requested others to bring them there. He wants to try to send you all home," Buster Blader explained as Lyrroth nodded, flapping its feathery wings and flying up to the massive man's shoulder. 
 

---

 
"Also, it looks like there's probably a basement to this building, so be on the lookout for any doors or something that lead there."
 
'A basement, huh? If I were to take a guess, I'd say it's be near the kitchen or dining room.’ Blues nodded in response. 

"Alright, I'll check out the dining room then," Blues said as he walked off.

 

Inside of the kitchen there was a fine layer of dust on the sink, tables, and refrigerator. However... on the refrigerator was a note. If they inspected it, they would notice it read, "Third comes the dragon, which after growing from a small baby, has the power to destroy all monsters, for a price,"

In the dining room, Blues noticed another note taped to the table. That seemed promising. He took a step... however, the floor underneath him was much weaker than he first expected. The broken wood gave out under him, and with a cry of surprise, the CEO fell into the basement, landing with a painful sounding crash. 
 

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Domino City-

 

"If memory serves me correctly, we have two, prices at 2 dollars each."

 

Two copies? That wasn't good...but then again, Daichi figured he could find a way to get a third copy later. Shifting a bit, he got out his wallet out and paid out the cash for the two copies of Norito. "Not bad prices for a couple of Xyz monsters." he chuckled. That's about the time that Daichi heard Akira speak.

 

“So, yeah, Daichi, you do much Entertainment Dueling?”

 

Daichi smiled with a quick nod. "Well, I wouldn't be much of a resident of Cradle if I didn't." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Though me physically isn't a big name in the Entertainment Dueling community. It's more so my little entertainment persona...the Moonlit Magician."

 

The Entertainment Duelist gave Akira his answer before turning around and seeing something else that caught his eyes: Magician's Robe. Wait...that's a support monster...for the Dark Magician! he thought, before chuckling some. Leave it to Domino to hold some specific cards regarding their one home town legend... Daichi waved his hand over at the shop owner and pointed at Magician's Robe. "How about t-"

 

AHHH!!!

 

-BGM-

 

Daichi paused suddenly, immediately turning towards Haruto, who was holding his head greatly. "O-One sec..." he quickly said to the shop owner before rushing over to where Haruto was. "Haruto...Haruto what's wrong?"

 

Haruto kept holding his head, shaking it some before looking directly at Daichi. I-I heard it... he started, saying every word with a small hint of fear and remorse. I heard...her screams...

 

"Her screams? Whose screams?" Daichi asked anxiously.

 

Gagaga Girl's...there was a spirit in the card Glaeris stole... Haruto spoke solemnly.

 

This caused Daichi to be taken back greatly. There was another Duel Spirit that was within his deck?! One he never knew about... "That card had...had...Haruto!! Why didn't you tell me?!" he said, raising his voice greatly.

 

I would've if I knew, Daichi!! Haruto responded. I didn't even know...had I known...

 

Daichi ran his hands through his hair, shaking it slightly. W-Why...why didn't she make herself known? Why...? he thought, before fumbling to open his deck box and pull out his cards. For that matter...what else has a spirit that I'm unaware of...? Right now Daichi felt terrible. Without even knowing it, he threw away a card with a Duel Spirit in it...and he just simply replaced it with another copy.

 

Thinking about this, his grip on the deck tightened. No...I'm not going to make that mistake again. Every one of you...your precious to me. I'm going to treat you all with the respect you all deserve...the way she might've wanted to be treated. Daichi shook his head and put his deck back, before returning towards the card he was previously looking at. "Magician's Robe...how much is it and how many copies, sir?"

 

 

-Taccon City-

 

"What's wrong with your arm?"

 

Jet quickly looked at Kuria and was about to pull his arm away, but he was already feeling the grip of Kuria's hand on his wrist. He tried to pull away, but it was obvious this guy had quite the grip. But he only watched as the man started undoing the bandages on his right forearm.

 

"H-Hey! Stop that!!" Jet shouted, only to be met with the stare from Kuria's cybernetic eye.

 

"And for the record, 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."

 

Jet looked at Kuria, gritting his teeth before looking away quickly. He could feel the bandages slowly being unwrapped, one by one. "That...that's classified." he said, only hiding the real truth. This guy...he couldn't possibly understand what they wanted...

 

Finally, Jet felt the last bandage around his right forearm finally be unwrapped as he slowly looked back at Kuria, possibly prompting a surprised reaction from him. Upon his forearm, Kuria could now see a strange marking on his forearm. Letting out a defeated sigh, he looked away again. "Surprised? Would make sense..."

[Alaina]

Even as Odd-Eyes had struck the opponent, she was still feeling a bit of anger in her. She had started to lose her cool against her opponent, which wasn't something that happened often. Having been caught off guard she wasn't able to recover from it across the entire duel, and to make matters worse the victory had felt hollow. She wasn't able to come back from it on her own, nor did she feel like she even dueled that great to begin with. And had it not been for Kyouji's intervention, who knows what would have happened. Overall, it wasn't something that she felt good about, but she tried to hide those feelings of dismay as Kyouji had tried to congratulate and console her. It wasn't all that hard between the fatigue and injuries she had sustained, looking a bit haggard already. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just, well as far as duelists goes, psychic is definitely a first for me. Just a bit shocking, that's all." After trying to reassure him, the two then began to make their way out of the warehouse. 

 

Taking a deep breath and trying to reset herself, the girl started to walk behind the large man, albeit with a bit of a limp, before hearing his compliment towards her. With a faint grin across her face she said, "thanks, but it looks like I've still got a long way to go." With a bit of joking tone in her voice she added, "especially if I'm going to become the next duel king." Continuing on behind him, she decided they needed to get back to business and decided to wonder about their expedition so far. "So, what did you end up finding there?"

 

 

---

After Hanae had noticed the apparent basement, two of the others had decided to start looking elsewhere. When asked her name, she didn't take her eyes off the holes in the floor and acting as if it was an almost automatic response. "Hanae Hanazawa." Looking to the couch next, thinking it would be another good place to hunt for clues, she then heard him thank her for her services. As she had been more focused on other things, he voice carried neither sincerity nor sarcasm as she said, "the pleasure is all mine."  It wasn't a lie. She had never done detective work before, though she was always intrigued by mysteries. While it was a bit odd that she didn't really care about the people here essentially being strangers to her and almost instantly joining in on the crime solving, so to speak, she had already figured they were fine enough, and that it was likely more odd for them to not really care about her then her to them. 

 

Thinking that the only other noticeable thing of furniture here was of note, she was about to go do it, motioning to the older person saying, "yo, Hermit-san, help me out he-" when she was cut off by a loud crash. Turning her head, more curious then shocked, she made her way briskly over to the dining room area. The most prominent thing in the room was of course, the giant gaping hole near a table. That was likely the source of the crashing noise. While that was pretty interesting, she noticed a loose sheet of paper that was just hanging around the table. That was definitely something odd to just be hanging around in a supposedly abandoned building. Carefully traversing her way over to it, she grabbed the note to see what it had said. 

 

"Fourth comes the tiny magician that harms her owner and helps her enemy."

 

Well, that was cryptic. She wasn't entirely sure what it meant by itself, but something about it felt pretty familiar to her. Regardless, it was useless to her on its own, seeing as there were likely three other notes, and so she simply pocketed it before beginning to move on. Wait. She was missing something. Right. The hole. Someone had fallen down it. Looking at it, she bent down trying to see through it before calling down, "yo, anything down there." Then as an afterthought, "oh and are you still alive?" 

[Wind Rider]

The little creature was adorable to say the least, it happily accepted the piece of candy helena offered and even licked her face as thanks. It was strange, never in her life did duel monsters seem... Real to helena. She felt a connection sure but, never something like this.

 

Realizing she was falling behind, helena put the pouch of candy back in her pocket and hurried after Buster Blader and Lyrroth. Soon they were traveling through a beautiful looking plain and soon came up to a large city, but not just any city, a very familiar looking city. "The field spell Magical Citadel of Endymion... It's an actual city here...." Helena was filled with amazement at the sight of the large citadel.

 

"Apparently, Dark Magician has found other humans and has requested others to bring them there. He wants to try to send you all home," Dark Magician too?! All this time... Duel Spirits were real... So... What did that mean for Helena's monsters? Especially the card her brother gave her, and that blank card too.

 

Helena shook the thought out of her head for now and turned to Buster Blader. "He's... Sending humans back? W-wait... No! Me and a bunch of other duelists were trying to find a way here. We can't leave, not with those Wicked Gods out there! We're trying to stop them." Maybe Buster Blader would understand what she's saying... But without her allies to back her up, Buster Blader would just think of her as another lost, delusional human.

[Krein]

With the others finally broken out of their stupor of confusion, the Phantom Falcon urged them to follow him to a place where they would be able to replace their stolen cards. He didn't know how the others felt about this, but the idea certainly bothered Lyall. Evilswarm Ophion was a rare card, and one that he had a fond attachment to due to all the help it has given him in duels past.

 

"I'm not sure that my cards can be-"

 

Once again, Lyall was interrupted, this time by Falcon dashing off in the direction of a nearby card shop.

 

"-replaced that easily." Lyall grunted and took off after the man, the hard soles of his shoes clicking with every step. He too silently acknowledged that the former duel king's attire looked pretty flashy billowing in the wind. Phantom Falcon had now stopped in front of their destination, and with one final flourish, he ushered the duelists end... then disappeared without a trace.

 

"... Why the hell is everyone starting to teleport all of a sudden?" Lyall thought to himself. He shook his head, then went on to browse the cards in the shop for the hell of it, thinking as he did so. Even he had to admit that despite all that had happened in the last few hours, he was certainly taking it well, almost as if nothing fazed him. In some respects, this was true; his position required him to remain levelheaded at all times, regardless of what might happen. With his involvement in Hearthome, this trait had surely been bolstered to another degree. On the other hand, Lyall supposed that the reality he was now facing, the existence of duel spirit, magic, different dimensions, and what have you, they were ultimately all things he figured had existed, even if he held some skepticism. Being exposed to them outright was certainly still surprising, but not something that completely blindsided him.

 

Evilswarm Ophion is dead.

 

"What?!" Lyall said audibly with surprise in his voice, Kerykeion's voice harshly breaking him out of his thoughts.

 

The others taken with the dragon have died too.

 

The way the spirit's voice relayed this information so nonchalantly was slightly creepy, but Lyall didn't think much of it. No need to try and make a spectacle out of such things.

 

"I see," Lyall replied silently. "What of the blank card that was stolen from me?"

 

The man attempted to destroy it, likely alongside the others, but yours, at least, has been rescued. You should expect to meet someone new soon... 

 

For a few brief moments, Kerykeion appeared in front of Lyall, flashing him an image of a white haired girl within the Gishki Mirror Staff it possessed. The spirit vanished again after that. Lyall blinked a few times. Kerykeion had NEVER shown itself to him like this, nor had it ever been as vocal as it had been today. Such a change in the way the two communicated was likely linked to Lyall's perception and belief in the spiritual, which as of today, had been confirmed and solidified, perhaps given the spirit the assurance that its words and visible presence would not be dismissed. Lyall nodded.

 

"Anything I can help you with, sir?"

 

"Hm?" Lyall turned to the shop keeper. "Oh... no, I think I have everything I need... sort of."

 

Lyall removed a small, thin, metallic container from the inside of his coat, opening it. In it were extra lswarm cards, a kind of unofficial side deck for rare cases in which he would want to make slight modifications to his deck. He selected three extra deck cards from it; a second copy of Evilswarm Magagore, one of Evilswarm Exciton Knight, and another random card Lyall didn't really look at. He slotted them into his duel disk, then turned to the others of his group. This would be the first time he would actually speak to them, but at least for now, it wouldn't be to make small talk, as a couple of them were starting to do.

 

 

"Are you all done? It's fine for now if not, but be on the lookout for a..."

 

Lyall hesitated some. Would this information really be of any value? It was vague, so how would the others receive it? He decided to tell them anyway.

 

"White haired girl. She'll be dressed rather strangely. That's it for now."

[King K. Azo]

"Hm?"Henry raised an eyebrow at Lyall's answer. "Oh... no, I think I have everything I need... sort of."

"If you think you're sort of ready, then that's fine," Henry shook his head as the phone started to ring. He was about to go get it when Daichi spoke up.
 
"Magician's Robe...how much is it and how many copies, sir?" The Entertainment Duelist asked. Henry thought about it quickly. 

"It is about a dollar each, and I have at least 10 copies," He answered. At that time, the answering machine caught the phone call, and the recorded message was played out loud.

"Hey Dad, it's Shun. So, Ruri and I noticed that Blues, you know, the CEO of Kaiba Corp, was here at Academia... any idea what that's about? Well, I guess even if you did, you really couldn't tell us. ... Well, Ruri wanted to say that she missed you... and I might to... Anyways... Love you, and good luck with the card shop," the answering machine clicked and Henry had to smile a bit. Well, it was good to hear his kids were doing fine. 

 

---

 

As Sasori and Tycho got geared up to start their duel, the machine suddenly began to blare an alarm. 

"WARNING, WARNING, PORTAL OPERATIONAL. STAND CLEAR," The wind started to pick up as the blue portal opened up and out of it came... a massive hand. A large purple dragon-like monster began to pull itself out of the portal. The monster was huge, filling up most of the room, and if the two were card savvy, they would recognize it as Van'dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord. However, something was wrong with it... the red markings were replaced by black, and it seemed as if his body was covered in black vines. It let out a massive roar that shook the entire stadium before looking down at the two. 

"MESSATSU!"  It roared as it raised it fist over its head, intent on smashing the two into paste.

---

 "He's... Sending humans back? W-wait... No! Me and a bunch of other duelists were trying to find a way here. We can't leave, not with those Wicked Gods out there! We're trying to stop them." Buster Blader and Buster Whelp looked at her, not saying much. What could they say? 

"You should talk about it with Dark Magician. I'm not really... good, with the magic, so I don't have much of a say in it," Buster Blader admitted. They kept walking, but the citadel was still super far away from them. Buster Blader had no problem walking this, but he wasn't sure the frail looking human could make it.

Thankfully, he heard the sounds of a horse coming their way. However, he heard the voice of the rider and sighed to himself a bit.

"Yo! BB!" If Helena turned to looked, she'd see a man in armor riding up on a horse wearing similar armor. "Fancy meeting you here," Buster Blader sighed again.

"I told you not to call me that, Gaia," Buster Blader stated as Lyrroth made a happy sounding noise and flew over, landing and resting on Gaia's head. 

"I could just call you by your real name instead, bro," Gaia chuckled, before looking over at Helena. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you before... who are you?"

"She's a human. Do you mind giving her a ride?" Buster Blader asked. Gaia tilted his head.

"A human, huh? Well, that's cool!" he stated as he held out his hand for Helena. "Need a lift?"

[Krein]

"If you think you're sort of ready, then that's fine."

 

"Heh. Well, in that case... would you happen to have any 'lswarm' related cards? I've plenty of them myself, but let's see if you'll surprise me by having a few rare ones that have escaped me."

 

Lyall smiled, then pricked his ears up to listen to what the answering machine was recording. Apparently, this shopkeeper had ties to Blues Kaiba, something Lyall found surprising. This card shop was relatively small compared to the dozens of other huge ones scattered throughout Domino. KaibaCorp was the main supplier of Duel Monsters cards, so stores had to be hooked up to them in some way regardless, but being directly involved with the CEO was a different matter. Could this man know about their mission? Maybe Falcon had planned to lead them here all along before Glaeris had shown up. Perhaps now was a good time to be forward.

 

"You must either be, or at least were, someone of some significance if you know Blues Kaiba. Tell me, do you know who we are and what we're doing?"

[Wind Rider]

"You should talk about it with Dark Magician. I'm not really... good, with the magic, so I don't have much of a say in it," Helena nodded, hopefully Dark Magician could understand what she was here for.

 

She turned her head to the sound of horse hoofs to see another familiar monster, Gaia, of course whether it was Swift or normal Gaia was beyond her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you before... who are you?" Gaia spoke to her in a calm manner, not what she expected for someone called the fierce knight. Buster Blader explained that she was a human and asked Gaia to give her a lift.

 

"A human, huh? Well, that's cool! Need a lift?" Gaia held his hand out for Helena. "T-thank you... I appreciate the help..." she took Gaia's hand and hopped onto his horse. "M-my name is Helena by the way..." she stated for both Gaia and Buster Blader.

[Tesability Black]

~Kuria's POV~

That looks way too clean to be a tattoo, Kuria noted in his head as he reached for the other deck-pouch on his belt, the one right next to the one that he put his deck into, and pulled out what looked like a roll of medical bandages. "Also, is that classified because you yourself do not know or it's classified because you do know but are not allowed to share such info?"

Not once letting go of Jet's wrist with the cybernetic arm, he began re-wrapping the forearm to cover it back up in case it wasn't fully healed. However, upon stopping for a moment to scratch an itch close enough to the living eye to need to close it, Kuria stopped for a moment to find himself staring at it with only the false eye.

Do I need this eye re-calibrated, or is that a super-faint glow?

At the parts where the red of the tattoo met the white wrappings, there was a certain degree of red over the white. Now, due to the nature of the bandages he was wrapping this up with, he would have expected going through, not over...

"...why is that glowing with either a faint UV or IR signature," he muttered to himself, figuring he wasn't gonna get a direct answer from his current captive.

~Miero's POV~

Miero flipped quickly through the books while ignoring the newcomer to the search, holding them in turn with one hand while flipping through the pages and holding the flashlight with the other. He was able to easily skin thorugh all the pages with ease as he looked for anything that seemed odd or out of place.

Then he saw a line strangely underlined.

"First comes the dragon of ice, that can rid the field of pesky things, for a price," the librarian repeated to himself with a question in his tone. Closing the book after skimming through the rest, he was about to reach for another near-dustless one...

...when the sound of a crash and a sudden cry echoed through the place, making it hard for him to point out where it was from.

"What the hell?" Flashlight aimed ahead of himself, Miero looked around the room with it, soon realizing one thing. Blues was nowhere in sight, which mean that cry was likely from him. Swearing in his head, he began running towards the direction he thought that scream came from, soon finding a hole in the floor of the dining room and the newcomer looking down into it. "Oh, and are you still alive?"

Holding his tongue for the moment at the question that was obviously an afterthought, he also began to walk towards it, though he slowed his steps upon hearing the creaking. Wish I has my quarterstaff, he thought to himself before seeing the remains of a broom handle nearby. "That will work for now," he muttered to himself before grabbing it, using it to press against the ground before stepping on it and winding up opposite of the girl. He aimed the light into the hole to see Blues down there...and obviously looking like the man had quite the inelegant fall.

At this moment, Miero put the impromptu staff down beside him before using the same hand to reach back into his trenchcoat, pulling out another of the same type of flashlight, but blue, and tossing it towards the girl while making sure it reach the other side of the hole. "I'll take care of Mr. Kaiba, you continue searching. That flashlight should help."

With that, he slid down into the hole on purpose, braced for the landing to come with broomstick and flashlight in hands, and landed next to the CEO to potentially help him up onto his feet.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 

"ABANDON SSSSSSSHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!" Palpigrad dived off the Ferrari just as its driver was beginning to lose control of it. Thankfully he'd jumped far away enough so that he wouldn't be squashed by Maggie's Duel Runner in an ironic twist of fate. In any case, Palpigrad breathed a sigh of relief as the Ferrari finally careened into the guard rail, while Yuria pumped a fist in celebration of the accomplishment at hand.

 

"Huh! We got it good!" Neobis exclaimed in excitement.

 

"Damn right we did!" Yuria stated, "We better over there though, before he runs out on us again."

 

With that, Maggie stopped the Duel Runner so Yuria could safely get off it, and while she was there, Yuria took off her helmet as well. However...

 

"You sure you and Yugo aren't dating?" Maggie asked out of the blue, getting a reaction of evident embarrassment, "His family seems to have a thing about physics."

 

"Could you get off that, please? We kind of have justice to exact right now," shaking it off, Yuria put on a more serious face as she approached the totaled Ferrari, arming her Duel Disk as she did so, "Alright jabroni, the jig is up! Come on out and face me like a man."
 

 

Saori looked over at the console one last time after she'd drawn her five cards for the start of the duel with the abrasive man... only to catch a glimpse of the screen reading that the portal was operational, along with an advisory to stay clear for it.

 

"OK, bullshit; it was supposed to take five whole minutes to recharge," Saori would soon eat her words when a black hand shot its way through the portal that had formed, as a dragonic behemoth that was very familiar Saori at least had forced its way through it, "Soooooon oooooof aaaaaaa jabroni..."
 

Already able to tell that there was something very wrong with the Van'Dalgyon that stood before her through observation alone, Saori instinctively pulled the abrasive man behind her, realizing that she may have to try and fight it off. This required more space. Access to the stadium above would work, but Saori needed a solution to get there, and she needed to act fast. Her mind was racing through all the possible actions that she could take... but they all had the same problem.

 

"Damn it, everything I can think of risks damaging that gate. Guess I'll have to go big or go home, then," she stated, "I'll start by activating Hand Destruction! This allows me to draw two cards, but first I'll have to send Shaddolls Falco and Hedgehog to the Graveyard, which in turn activates their effects. Falco can Special Summon itself to the field in face-down Defense Position. Whilst Hedgehog allows me to add Shaddoll Globule from my Deck to my hand, which I'll immediately Normal Summon! Next, I activate Instant Fusion. This allows me to Fusion Summon any Level 5 or lower Fusion Monster straight from my Extra Deck, as long as I pay 1000 Life points for its activation. And I know just the one I want to Summon. El Shaddoll Winda, come on out!"

 

Saori effortlessly brought out a whopping three monsters, but she wasn't done yet, and she couldn't exactly afford to be. After all, none of them were able to stand up to the mighty Van'Dalgyon, which was still approaching the two of them in a menacing manner.

 

"Now... I tune my Level 5 Winda with my Level 1 Globule. I Synchro Summon! Nephe Shaddoll Faris, in Attack Position!" A knight-like monster appeared for the briefest of seconds, "Oh, but I'm still not done yet. I activate El Shaddoll Fusion, allowing me to fuse the Faris I control and the Shaddoll Hound in my hand in order to Fusion Summon El Shaddoll Construct in Attack Position. On top of that, Hound allows me to flip over the Falco that I had face-down when it's sent to the Graveyard, and Faris allows me to Special Summon a Shaddoll monster straight from my Deck in face-up Attack Position. And I choose Shaddoll Construct!"

 

Two new monsters appeared that looked very similar to each other. The abrasive man would potentially recognize the darker of the two as one of the monsters Saori used to block everyone's path, but would also notice that this one was much less... complete looking, with gaps in between what one would think be the creature's individual body parts, and singular strings holding each of them in place. Saori made one last move, just as Van'Dalgyon reared its fist back.

 

"Finally, I Synchro Summon again, this time tuning my Level 8 Shaddoll Construct with my Level 2 Falco. I Synchro Summon, in Attack Position! Nephe Shaddoll Almidfaeia!" just then, a mighty mechanical creature hovered above Saori and the abrasive man, easily taking over the other half of the room they were in on its own; Saori heaved herself on the back of this hovering creature, before giving her orders, "El Shaddoll, hold back that Van'Dalgyon while Almidfaeia charges up. And Almidfaeia, blow a hole through the ceiling of this accursed basement. I'm counting on you to get us above ground."

 

Of course, Almidfaeia took its time to draw enough electricity from all over the place as the El Shaddoll stood her ground against the Van'Dalgyon in its place. After several seconds, it had gathered enough to fire a brilliant blue beam of pure plasma just above the behemoth's position. Perhaps the debris falling from the inevitable hole in the roof would help damage the creature. But the more important thing was that it could breach through the underground structure...

[Dova]

---

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a resident of Cradle if I didn't. Though me physically isn't a big name in the Entertainment Dueling community. It's more so my little entertainment persona...the Moonlit Magician."

The name struck a bell with Akira, but he couldn’t quite place it. Obviously this guy’s public face was someone worth knowing if it seemed familiar to Akira.

“I do some myself, but I’m rather new to the whole affair. Wasn’t always a player, sadly.” He grimaced, then, as Daichi turned back to the counter to ask about another card, raised the card he had just obtained. It hadn’t changed at all since he had bought it, but then again, he wasn’t expecting it to have become any difference. Sure, it was an addition to his deck, but it didn’t fit with his style at all. He would just have to wait and see.

"Are you all done? It's fine for now if not, but be on the lookout for a...white haired girl. She'll be dressed rather strangely. That's it for now.”

Akira looked up and caught sight of Lyall, duel disk out. He had an odd expression on his face that Akira couldn’t quite place, despite having a touch of awkwardness, but the out-of-place information threw him more.

“And why are you telling us this?” Akira turned to face Lyall, a hard look on his face, then continued. “You don’t have to act so mysteriously, especially after what happened with our cards.”

Akira’s inquiries were cut short by the answering machine on the counter suddenly spurting what seemed to be a recorded message. However, he wasn’t really listening until Blues Kaiba was mentioned, seemingly off-handedly, by the “Shun” on the other end of the line. It was a rather coincidental event, considering they had been sent off by the KaibaCorp CEO himself a few hours ago and were now waiting on what to do from a team leader who had vanished into thin air.

"You must either be, or at least were, someone of some significance if you know Blues Kaiba. Tell me, do you know who we are and what we're doing?"

Akira sighed and leaned back against the wall. Lyall had asked the right question once again before anyone else. Might as well wait and see what the shop owner said in response.

---

[~Faytl~]

Tycho readied his duel disk, glaring at Saori. She's strong... and a psychic duelist on top of that. I'll have to be careful, he thought to himself, holding up the cards in his hand. His eyes widened as he saw that one of the cards he held was nothing but a blank, white one. The blank card! he thought, his hand straying towards it. If I can use this... maybe I can...

 

"PORTAL OPERATIONAL." Tycho's head whipped towards the control panel as the room started to shake, a massive hand reaching through the portal. 

 

"What?!" he cried out, backing up against the wall as the giant dragon came through the portal, bellowing with a might that shook the walls. Tycho gritted his teeth as he looked down at the blank card, hand wavering. If only he was a psychic duelist! Soari had already taken steps to take down this strange beast. Think what she could have done with a card holding the potential to take down the Wicked Gods!

 

He briefly considered it. He could give the card to Saori. She was clearly more equipped to defeat this thing than he was. Maybe she could unlock the card. The thought cycled through his head several times before he grimly placed his cards back in his deck. 

 

"No..." he said under his breath, taking a deep breath. "This card is mine... I need it to save..." He looked over at the portal. "Save... Helena... I need to save Helena." He looked over at the door he had come through, face grim."First Helena... Then Hearthome."

 

He raised his arms over his head, pelting towards the still-open portal. He shouted at the top of his lung as he tried to weave out of the way of the giant dragon, and shoot past it into the portal.

[King K. Azo]

"You must either be, or at least were, someone of some significance if you know Blues Kaiba. Tell me, do you know who we are and what we're doing?" Lyall asked. Henry just kept ringing up the orders as Akira looked at the store worker.

 

“Yeah, I know Blues,” he said plainly as he finished ringing it up. “Good kid, going through a lot at the moment. And yeah, I know what you three are doing. What, you think Phantom Falcon brought you to a random store? My brother might be dramatic, but stupid, he’s not,” He then smiled and pointed at the register. “Cash or credit?”

 

---

 

Kyouji climbed onto his D-Wheel, waiting for Furiko to climb on. “Well, it seems these Wicked God cronies have a plan. They want to enter the Fortune Cup, summon Wicked God there, and beat yours truly. Then they can become the new King, sow fear in the masses and make them easy pickin’s all in one swoop,” He said as he started up the vehicle. He placed his helmet and began to scan the channels. “Hey, don’t tell Yugo I said this, but you got some real potential,” He told the duelist behind him as he drove off. “Would ya like to become my apprentice?”

 

Maggie pulled up to the totaled car and stopped, looking over it. “I think we may have just killed someone today,” Before she could get off her D-Wheel, Yugo drove up from behind, screeching to a halt behind the two women.

 

“Whoa, what the heck did you two do?” he asked as he got off his D-Wheel. He began to walk up to it, carefully navigating around the broken glass and took a look through a window… only to find it empty. “Wait, what?!” He called out as he tried to dig through. “There’s no one there!”

 

Maggie walked to the wreckage as well, looking through it. “No way… how can that be…?” Yugo growled and smashed his fist into the side of the car.

 

“Dammit! I bet Grandpa wouldn’t have lost them! Son of a---,” Yugo perked up as a voice came in over his helmet.

 

“Hey, Yugo, it’s me, Kyouji. We’re headed back to Domino. Don’t forgot Yuria in Turbo, okay?” The voice stated before hanging up. Yugo sighed and turned to head back to his bike. Maggie sighed and sat down on her D-Wheel.

 

 

“Sorry Yuria,” The sanier driver told the blank card wielder. “I have to go get my brother Rook, so I’m not headed back with you guys. But hey, at least Yugo is kinda pissed. He’s a sanier driver when he is,”

 

---

 

“Pathetic Shadoll! Perish!!” Van’dalgyon roared as it went to punch the construct. This did give ample time for Almidfaeia to fire its plasma beam into the ceiling, creating a large hole and shaking the building.

 

Dread Knight felt the building rumble, causing him to almost fall. As he caught himself, the walls around them crumbled, allowing Aika and Dread Knight to see the massive dragon and the monsters Saori had summoned along with Tycho leaping into a portal a machine was making… and the ceiling rubble falling towards said machine. Dread Knight quickly grabbed his prized card from his Extra Deck.

 

He took a running dash towards the machine. “Aika! Either in the machine or fight the monster! Your choice, but choose quickly!” He stated as he slid to a halt in front of the machine.

 

---

 

“M-My name is Helena, by the way,” the human girl managed to say.

 

”Hey, think nothing of it,” Gaia said, smiling under his helmet, Buster Whelp sitting comfortably on it. ”My name’s Gaia, and that’s my older brother Zalama, aka Zally, aka Buster Blader,” Gaia chuckled, until Buster Blader smack the back of his head with the hilt of his massive blade.

 

”I told you not to call me Zally,” Buster Blader stated sharply. He then looked up to the sky, his blade beginning to glow with an awesome power. ”Those dragons are closing in. Be prepared,” Gaia nodded, clicking his tongue, to which is horse responded to by galloping off full at the Citadel.

 

---

 

Tycho would experience the same swirl of colors as he was transported… however… unlike Helena, he would find he was high in the sky, in the middle of a ferocious battle between dragons! He was falling a little too fast to really see what was going on, but he could feel a pair of hands carefully grabbing him from the air, stopping his descent.

 

“I got you human!” A voice called up. If Tycho looked up, he could see he was in the hands of Stardust Dragon, flying next to Red Dragon Archfiend and Red Eyes Black Dragon.

 

”Good catch. Now get that weak human out of here!” Red Dragon Archfield roared, right before being blasted in the face by a Blue Eyes White Dragon. However… this dragon had the same black vines covering its body, almost making it a puppet.

 

”But what about you two?” Stardust called out.

 

”We’ll be here, having fun,” Red Dragon responded. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a LONG time!” With that, the Signer Dragon proceeded to sucker punch Blue Eyes across the face. Red Eyes seemed to be fighting another dragon, but the flurry of black feathers made it hard for Tycho to make out its form.

 

Stardust simply turned and flew away… however, if Aika had chose to go through the portal, she would find herself landing on Stardust’s back.

 

---

 

"I'll take care of Mr. Kaiba, you continue searching. That flashlight should help." Blues heard Miero climb down into the basement. Dammit, how embarrassing. Using Miero as support, Blues got back to his feet, discarding his cracked sunglasses. However, before anyone could take a peek underneath, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a matching pair, slipping them over his eyes.

 

“What do we got so far?” He asked Miero as he dusted himself off, hissing a bit from the pain.

 

“Hey guys!” Lee called from upstairs. “I found something!” He walked down the stairs, holding a note. Seeing Hanae in the dining room, he walked over. “It’s a note that reads…,” the boy cleared his throat before reading, “If you can’t figure this out after the other three notes, then quit. We don’t need someone as stupid as you in the organization,” He looked up, mystified. “What does it mean…?”

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-Domino City-

 

"It is about a dollar each, and I have at least 10 copies."

 

Ten copies? And a dollar each? It must've been Daichi's lucky day...if only. Once more Daichi grabbed his wallet out again and tossed out two dollars. "I'll take two copies if you don't mind sir." he said with a small smile.

 

First the copies of Norito and now the copies of Magician's Robe. He was going to make his deck better...he was going to make sure he didn't lose anything or anyone else like that again. Not only that...it'll show a wonderful and magical show.

 

Still, after all that he forgot to return to Akira, who was originally talking to him.

 

“I do some myself, but I’m rather new to the whole affair. Wasn’t always a player, sadly.”

 

"Ahhh, I see." Daichi said with a small smile. "Well maybe sometime I'll be able to show you how a real Entertainment Duel is meant to go. Also wouldn't mind giving you a few pointers!"

 

Hmph...you act as though your a pro at Action Duels... Haruto scoffed slightly with a chuckle.

 

"H-Hey...! I've never heard you complain!" Daichi retorted, rolling his eyes at Haruto.

 

That's about time the duo heard Henry, the guy behind the register, speak once more, in regards to Lyall's question.

 

“Yeah, I know Blues. Good kid, going through a lot at the moment. And yeah, I know what you three are doing. What, you think Phantom Falcon brought you to a random store? My brother might be dramatic, but stupid, he’s not. Cash or credit?”

 

Daichi was dumbfounded as his jaw slowly dropped. "Falcon is your brother?! Wooooooooooah...." he said, before chuckling. "That must be, the most amazing thing ever!"

 

 

-Taccon City-

 

"Is that classified because you yourself do not know or it's classified because you do know but are not allowed to share such info?"

 

Jet looked at Kuria as he asked this question. It was a strange question to even be asked...but something told him, just by looking at this Clear World Duelist, that he had been through the wringer. "Classified...as I do know..." he said slowly.

 

"...why is that glowing with either a faint UV or IR signature?"

 

-BGM-

 

He only sighed, before pulled his arm away from Kuria. The Duelist had let some slack happen appear between his hand and Jet's arm. He looked at the newly bandaged arm, before sighing. It was obvious that this man had seen some stuff...and was prodding him for information to his mission. Jet looked at his helmet again, before remembering the line between him and his superiors was cut. This meant...

 

"The bandages...they aren't to help a healing process." Jet spoke once more. "Its to hide this brand...this reminder that I was lied to by them and forced to do their work." he said, before shaking his head.

 

"Firstly...my name is Jet. Jet Hoshimi..." he finally spoke his name to the Duelist. "I...I was sent by the Turbo City Branch of a certain company. They...they saved me from my life as an orphan in a terrible Turbo City orphanage. And in return...I got to play guinea pig..."

 

Jet paused before looking at his arm. "I was the main test subject for something known as Project Crimson. What that currently is...I myself don't know. All I know is that they put it into motion... From there, I was given this mark...and a Synchro monster. One I refuse to play to this day...not after the pain I felt when I first played it..."

 

Lowering his arm, his gaze returned towards Kuria. "Escaping was out of the question...I more or less belong to them now because of their promise to take me from that hell-hole..." he ran his hands through his hair some before sighing. "You understand now...why i have to do this? It's the only way I'll survive... And the only reason I told you...well, you seem like you have been through the same, if not more messed up sheet than I have. Surely someone as yourself would understand my reasoning and pain."

[Alaina]

 

Walking alongside the current duel king, Furiko couldn't help but be surprised at the man's findings. It was certainly an ambitious plan that the enemy had, but a terrifying one to think about. She didn't know much about what was going on with all of the Wicked Gods, yet if they were able to wreak all the havoc they wished then she knew that meant more people were going to start disappearing. And it would likely not just end with the Fortune Cup, and if that were to happen, it would only be a matter of time before everyone in the world disappeared. While she thought that the enemy definitely had its work cut out for them, the crux of it relying on defeating the duel king in his environment. Yet, as the plan relied so heavily on that, she couldn't help but a brief bit of worry for what they might have had in store. Nevertheless, she passed those worries out of her head as she had faith that the current duel king would not go down so easily to these people. 
 
As they got back onto the d-wheel, the duo sped off, en route to Central Domino. She listened carefully to what the man had to say, telling her not to tell the Yugo boy about what he was about to say. Feeling flattered at him complimenting on her potential, once again, Furiko was not expecting what was coming next. Her eyes briefly widened as her expression had a momentary shift of surprise cross it. Days before she had merely been back in Cradle, doing her usual practice for action dueling and doing her best to become a duelist that would live up to the style of Kings past. "Apprentice? You're sure?" She said, slightly bemused by the offer. It was almost definitely a once in a life time offer, one that would likely aid her tremendously. And yet. "Kyouji I'm flattered really, but, it is something I'll have to decline. I want to become a duel king, just as you are today, and I think training under you is probably the best way to do it...but." If she trained under him, there was the chance she would get lost in his shadow, and as such her own dueling get lost. "But I want to be able to get there with my own dueling so I'll have to decline." 
 
 

 

As Hanae looked down the hole, she continued to wonder whether or not the man was still alive, yet Hermit-san came over to go check himself. Catching the flashlight, the weird looking thing it was, Hanae gave a slight wave as Hermit-san made his way down the hole. With that done, she got back up on her feet, figuring that they had things covered down there for the most part. Going back to hunt for more clues, she thought over the one she had found and decided to go hunting for clues like it. First, though, she had decided on checking with the others on this hunt. "Oi, Eizar," she called out. As she made her way to where he was, she then asked, "have you found anything of note here?" After she was shown the clue he had found by the fridge, she furrowed her brow thinking on the meaning behind these notes. She was starting to understand the meaning behind these clues and knew that they were missing something very key to solving the mystery of this place. 
 
As Lee, someone she recognized from also being in her dorms, she raised her eyebrow as the boy recounted what he had found. As he seemed befuddled by the message, her face became far less amused as she said, "you're a special kind of person, you know that." Given that they had the numbers three and four, the girl knew there was likely one last clue they needed to find and what to input her answer into in order to figure out the whole of the mystery. Remembering that Hermit-san had been looking around the bookcases for the whole of the time they were there, he probably found something. Looking at the books, she figured that it'd probably be a bit of time for her to find it herself, and so she walked back to the hole before yelling down it. "Yo, Hermit-san, did you find anything while you were up here?" 

[Tesability Black]

~Miero's POV~

How many of those shades does he have, Miero found himself wondering as he saw Blues discard what looked like a cracked pair and immediately swapped it out for another pair without allowing his eyes to be seen.

Up until this point, he hadn't thought about the fact that Mr. Kaiba was wearing sunshades in such a dark area, but now, he was curious. He also, for the moment, decided to hold his tongue on the subject.

“What do we got so far,” the librarian was asked Blues he tried to dust himself off, Miero helping to do so with the spots he couldn't see or reach.

"Well, I do not yet know from the others, but I found a quartet of recently-disturbed books upstairs, one of them with a strange phrase written into it." Clearing his throat of the dust he had breathed in upon his landing, Miero continued on. "First comes the dragon of ice, that can rid the field of pesky things, for a pr---"

“Hey guys! I found something,” Miero heard shouted within the silence, prompting him to look up. “It’s a note that reads… 'If you can’t figure this out after the other three notes, then quit. We don’t need someone as stupid as you in the organization.'"

"Other three notes? Hm..." Aiming the flat flashlight into their surrounding areas, Miero tried to get a good look at where they were...as well as possibly find a way back up.

~Kuria's POV~

"The bandages...they aren't to help a healing process," his former opponent spoke in response to the bandages Kuria had wrapped around his arm. "It's to hide this brand...this reminder that I was lied to by them and forced to do their work," he said, before shaking his head, which prompted an eyebrow raise from Kuria.

"Firstly...my name is Jet. Jet Hoshimi..." he finally gave, giving Kuria a name to work with. "I...I was sent by the Turbo City Branch of a certain company. They...they saved me from my life as an orphan in a terrible Turbo City orphanage. And in return...I got to play guinea pig..."

Kuria frowned as he found himself thinking back to when he first got his cybernetic eye and arm, after hearing from the Turbo City branch of Kaiba Corp that they were both admittedly experimental and that he would be the first to have them. As Jet looked down towards his own bandaged arm, Kuria crossed both of his own in front of himself. "I was the main test subject for something known as Project Crimson. What that currently is...I myself don't know. All I know is that they put it into motion... From there, I was given this mark...and a Synchro monster. One I refuse to play to this day...not after the pain I felt when I first played it..."

"I guess we were both test dummies for one reason or another," Kuria muttered under his breath, trying not to interrupt.

Lowering his arm, Jet's gaze returned towards Kuria. "Escaping was out of the question...I more or less belong to them now because of their promise to take me from that hell-hole..." he ran his hands through his hair some before sighing. "You understand now...why i have to do this? It's the only way I'll survive... And the only reason I told you...well, you seem like you have been through the same, if not more messed up sh!t than I have. Surely someone as yourself would understand my reasoning and pain."

"One, you just made me glad that what hit Hearthome to kingdom come didn't render myself or my friend orphaned or we'd both be probably part of that same madness," Kuria admitted. "And while I admittedly never been through anything exactly like that, I do know what it's like to be a 'guinea pig' of sorts." At this point, Kuria unbuttoned the top of his shirt more before pulling the collar over his right shoulder, revealing how his arm was attached to the rest of him.

Looking at it was actually painful, like it was obvious that it was the first to successfully be implanted onto a human. "You think this looks bad, I had to be awake and off any form of pain killers when they implanted my eye to make sure it worked." Finding himself looking away, though the cybernetic eye stayed on Jet, Kuria found himself lost in thought, though he remained on guard for other surprises. "I lost my right arm and my left eye in a nasty crash on a delivery run once. They had only started working on functional prosthetic body parts that were better than the original parts and used the fact that I paid quite decently on my insurance and my situation to use me as a test dummy." Quickly re-buttoning the shirt back up with one hand, his left hand, the hand of flesh, he soon offered it to Jet. "The name's Kuria Bijorn. And while you may not like the idea of it, there's a chance I just stopped you from offing the one person that can help you get out of your situation. Come with me, I gotta make sure that my friend doesn't get himself into even more trouble while trying to find his son."

[Wind Rider]

Helena giggled a bit after hearing Gaia and Buster Blader's little chat. Zally? That is an embarrassing name to refer to a dragon slaying warrior as. Though her attention was immediately fixated at Blader's sword glowing with power, that only meant one thing.

 

”Those dragons are closing in. Be prepared,” Helena could sense something heading towards their area, and it didn't feel safe. Gaia immediately took off on his horse, she knew that Gaia's horse was fast, but she had to hold onto Gaia's waist as the horse took off towards the Citadel.

 

The thought crossed her mind again, if these duel spirits were real, actual living things, could Paladin of the Dark Descent be real, or Pandaborg, or even Kuriboh? She was getting a headache just thinking about it.

[Yui]

---

"What the hell? They're somewhere beyond this room... but... I can't see where they could have gone..."

 

Indeed. Aika had followed Dread Knight deeper into the stadium, to this room, but the others were nowhere to be found. It was a dead-end too. If the trackers stopped working, and they'd been here, but got past the dead-end room...some city-folk trickery was afoot. The room was loaded with generators too. Big ol' machines that gave stuff power, last she'd heard. Maybe they were hiding in one? Only one way to find out. Keeping her Duel Disk at the ready, Aika did what she thought was best. Which involved systematically knocking on each generator like some kind of door-to-door salesman.

 

"Yer the city folk 'ere, not me. How's all this junk work anyway?"

 

It was then that the building rumbled, throwing Aika's balance off. Not much later, the walls and floor around them collapsed, revealing just below them...and one nasty-looking dragon. No way was Aika getting tangled up with that thing.

 

“Aika! Either in the machine or fight the monster! Your choice, but choose quickly!”

 

"Y'all fight that thing; I'll take the portal!" Without wasting a second, Aika - like a yellow-clad blur - made for the portal, stepping through with eyes shut for what may come next. What came next was the feeling of landing on something, and the wind in her hair. Opening her eyes and glancing below her, Aika was on...another dragon!? This one, however, she recognized. She was on the back of Stardust Dragon? What was the meaning of this? And looking behind Stardust Dragon revealed other dragons duking it out!? What the hell was going on?

 

Exploring her new landing spot a bit, Aika peeked over the dragon's shoulder to see - in its claws - none other than Tycho. "Fancy meeting y'all here," the girl nodded. "Mind 'splainin' just what the hell's goin' on round 'ere?"

---

So many people, so many questions. So many "never seen those before" answers every time Leona inquired about the cards she picked up. Part of her just considered putting up some sort of notice online that she'd found these mysterious blank cards and whoever owned them better come get them, but her gut told her that was a bad idea. As she pondered how to proceed with her search, she came across a card shop. That works, she told herself. If anyone can identify a card, it's a card shop guy. Without further delay, Leona stepped into the card shop.

 

However, it seemed the guy at the register was already dealing with some other customers. She'd have to wait a bit then. While she was here, though...

 

I think I've earned a little treat for myself today. Leona took to glancing around at the store's inventory. She mostly seemed to focus in on the fusion monsters, until she caught a glimpse of a card that had been eluding her for some time. Ooooh, they've got Lunalight Lio Dancer. I like this place.

---

[senorchavez]

After ensuring that Blues was alright, Eizar went back to the kitchen to check on the note again. 'First comes the dragon, which after growing from a small baby, has the power to destroy all monsters, for a price…’ Dragon-Types monsters weren't really in his field of knowledge, so it was only natural that the longer he pondered it the more frustrated he got. ‘The ‘baby’ part would imply that it starts out at a low level. The first thing that comes to mind is Thousand Dragon, but it's a Normal monster, so it alone didn't have an effect in the first place.’ He put his hand under his chin, pacing back and forth around the kitchen. ‘It can’t be the Red or White Stones either because they Summon monsters, not destroy them, which leaves…’ He stopped back in front of the note, snapping his fingers with a smile on his face. ‘Armed Dragon! It starts off at a low level then grows into a Level 10 powerhouse with the ability to wipe the front row!'

 

The boy's inner celebration was cut off by Hanae asking him about the clue, of which he responded accordingly and went back to looking for a way to the basement. Such a task didn't take long, now that his mind want preoccupied with figuring out the clue and checking on Blues, finding a door that stood between the pantry and the oven. Wizard grabbed the doorknob before attempting to turn it, meeting zero resistance, and pushed the door open to find a set of stairs that led into the dank room that Miero and Blues occupied. “I found the way or for you guys,” he called out to the two.

[Krein]

“Yeah, I know Blues,” he said plainly as he finished ringing it up. “Good kid, going through a lot at the moment. And yeah, I know what you three are doing. What, you think Phantom Falcon brought you to a random store? My brother might be dramatic, but stupid, he’s not.”

 

Seems like Lyall's hunch was correct. Good. That meant they were still on the right track and that Falcon hadn't completely abandoned them. It also meant Lyall didn't have to worry about coming up with excuses and half-assed explanations about why he'd want to know more about the man and his relation to Blues.

 

"I figured Falcon brought us here for a reason," he replied. "Even former duel kings don't just visit any random card shop. Either way, it pays to make sure considering our circumstances."

 

 

He then smiled and pointed at the register. “Cash or credit?”

 

Lyall shook his head.

 

"Neither, I'm not buying anything. I've decided I have everything I need for now, and if I don't, I'll make do. I trust you have information for us, however. Anything relevant you could tell us?... Something that Blues didn't already tell us in his briefing?"

 

After a short pause, Lyall looked back to Akira, who was still giving him a stony look about his providing of vague information. Who could blame him?

 

"I'm told you what I did because I feel it's information that will be needed by us soon. How I know to give-"

 

This time, Lyall cut himself off when he saw an odd girl dressed almost completely in white enter the store. That was her, the girl the monster's spirit had mentioned. Surely enough, he could feel a... "familiar" presence emanating from her, that of his blank card. He didn't even notice he was missing its presence, but he could certainly feel it now. Lyall motioned to Leona, who was currently browsing a card display.

 

"That's her. One of you should go and talk to her while I finish talking with Falcon's brother here."