Brinolovania Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Galaxy Queen? That's not gonna be easy for him to summon... But another awesome chapter. And now the death by card games happens =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Another good chapter, as always. However, I must have noticed at least two Passive Voice sentences throughout the entire chapter that really deteriorated from the emphasis of the story. Like I keep saying, sometimes you don't even know you're writing in Passive Voice until someone corrects it. And it's one of the easiest mistakes to make. "She was sat" completely butchers the meaning of the sentence. Simply say "She sat...". We can still understand the sentence even though we took one word out of it. I did not expect Garvan to have a silly Number Monster like Galaxy Queen. I would have actually thought that he would have something like White Knight Illuminator or whatever it is. Even White Night Illuminator is better than Galaxy Queen in terms of playability, even thought it still sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1330484601' post='5847199'] Galaxy Queen? That's not gonna be easy for him to summon... But another awesome chapter. And now the death by card games happens =D [/quote] No it isn't that natural. Neither is Leviathan, for Garvan's deck anyway. In Chapter 12 there's a scene where Garvan edits his deck to better accomodate them (massive spoilers there) once he fully experiences how powerful they are. At that point I've got at least four level one monsters in his deck, and good ones for bringing her out. Glad you enjoyed. And yes, shiz might be ramping up at this odd occurance. [quote name='~~Xiahou Dun~~' timestamp='1330485675' post='5847220'] Another good chapter, as always. However, I must have noticed at least two Passive Voice sentences throughout the entire chapter that really deteriorated from the emphasis of the story. Like I keep saying, sometimes you don't even know you're writing in Passive Voice until someone corrects it. And it's one of the easiest mistakes to make. "She was sat" completely butchers the meaning of the sentence. Simply say "She sat...". We can still understand the sentence even though we took one word out of it. I did not expect Garvan to have a silly Number Monster like Galaxy Queen. I would have actually thought that he would have something like White Knight Illuminator or whatever it is. Even White Night Illuminator is better than Galaxy Queen in terms of playability, even thought it still sucks. [/quote] I can never remember the existant of Passive Voice until you mention it (blissfully ignornant writer) Right, will try to keep it in check. Galaxy Queen is not a silly Number! She is wonderful. She's just a bit... er... difficult. You do realise, in a fanfic environment where everyone can god-draw anyway, how utterly pointless Illuminator is? It doesn't even discard, so it doesn't even make you a plus in Fabled or Dark World for which I originally pencilled it in. I am really starting to run short of Numbers now. I have more confirmed for Arc 3 (five of the current lot) than I do for Arc 2 (four, actually including Illuminator in a Goldrat equivalent role.) Need to find a few more good ones released, and soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceDorago Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Illumiknight would have still made so much more sense considering how easily Garvan can get three Level 4s, no matter how s*** it is. Galaxy Queen doesn't really seem to work with his deck. Guess Leviath will appear more often than Galaxy Queen, since two Lv. 3's would be easier to gather than 3 Level 1s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Um, not to be rude, but I would love to know exactly how people suggest Garvan would have actually gone on and won this duel with Illuminator... Really, it and Goldrat are just horrible. Besides, it not fitting so naturally summoning wise (despite it being a spellcaster in a spellcaster deck) is something that is deliberately going to happen a few times. Working with the (rapidly decreasing) Numbers I've got. Going to start scripting Garvan's next duel tomorrow (provided I don't feel quite so ill). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 [quote name='Verz Bahamut' timestamp='1330579298' post='5849340'] Um, not to be rude, but I would love to know exactly how people suggest Garvan would have actually gone on and won this duel with Illuminator... [/quote] RE-WRITING! [quote]Really, it and Goldrat are just horrible. Besides, it not fitting so naturally summoning wise (despite it being a spellcaster in a spellcaster deck) is something that is deliberately going to happen a few times. Working with the (rapidly decreasing) Numbers I've got.[/quote] Coming from the Fan-Fiction writer. Seriously, you just contradicted yourself there. [quote]Going to start scripting Garvan's next duel tomorrow (provided I don't feel quite so ill). [/quote] This is the part where I scream in frustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sage Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Yay, new chapter! (As if the fact that I liked it days ago didn't indicate that I had seen it before now. Oh darn, that's confusing.) Great work with the duel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceDorago Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 You'd obviously script the duel differently. Yes, Illuminator is terrible. But the thing is that a person's original number should go with their deck and Illuminator fits in because it's triple level 4. Don't get me wrong, the way you ended it was great, but it's just the fact that Galaxy Queen doesn't really go with his deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I'm... just bewildered... frankly. Galaxy Queen does go. Guys, it's not a random any old Rank 4 spam deck! It's first and foremost a Spellcaster deck! The boss Xyz monsters before Numbers are Shine Elf and Magi Magi Girl. It just has Tinplate Archduke as well on the basis that it was one of only two non-archtype dedicated Rank 4s available at the time, and just happens to have had the right effect for the duels its been in. And I would like to still use 'The Duke' now and again. Galaxy Queen has a potentially match winning effect in gifting piercing. It has a defensive ability like Hope in that it gives battle protection. Illuminator.... lets you draw a card... for no gain and with no chance to trigger anything (except Lightserpent). So as good as does nothing. It's not even like Garvan needs a beatstick either, what with having the easier to summon and more powerful Leviath Dragon now. In short Illuminator doesn't have any sort of match winning capability, it doesn't have any protective ability aside from Numbers battle immunity, and has nothing remotely interesting about it what-so-ever. "I summon WHITE KNIGHT ILLUMINATOR!" ..... yay? The only reason anyone is mentioning Illuminator is because its Rank 4, and Hope and Shock Ruler have already been used. I don't see why that should be the only deciding factor in who gets what. Obviously you guys don't agree, but I like the idea that Garvan's shortly going to think 'Hang on. These Numbers are powerful, and they protect me from harm when I summon them through said power. Therefore I need to alter my deck to make it easier to summon them and adapt to them.' Maybe that's just me. Sigh, depressed now. Chapter 10 will be up tomorrow or very early hours of Saturday morning (for I'm assumingly mostly American reader-base). Featuring... [sub]whisper it quietly... one of my favourite duels out of all the ones I've written. Ever.[/sub] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sage Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Never said anything. I liked Galaxy Queen's appearance here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 [quote name='Dragon Sage Ω' timestamp='1330612484' post='5849691'] Never said anything. I liked Galaxy Queen's appearance here. [/quote] Sorry, lost your comment in the middle of the other two. I should have quoted. Thanks for the likes and for commenting. I don't mean to come across as some arrogant douche or act like I'm talking down to anyone in that above post, but I just honestly don't understand the comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Right, think we'll get away from this. And in what better way than with a new chapter? Wave of new characters alert. Also a duel, including Lex's favourite archtype. I'm sure he'd love it if he was still here... (In loving memorial of Lexadin) [spoiler=Chapter 5:2] At the front doors of the Metropolitan Police Building, and at the base of Toshima Halls, the national press waited. Groups of presenters, recorders, sound technicians and the rest stood around in small groups, muttering to each other, and jumping on any official foolish enough to come amongst their midst. Despite their barrage of questions, all they questioned about the rumours and reports that they were trying to bring to the attention of the nation were denied flat. After another unsuccessful attempt to interrogate a young government person who had looked most terrified to be leapt on by the swarm of journalists armed with microphones and cameras, a tall blonde woman returned to her crew in a most foul mood. They couldn’t all know nothing at all. Something was up, and it was her responsibility as a reporter to find out the truth and tell it to the nation. Ruffling her mane of hair, she prepared to address the nation. “Good afternoon, this is Haita Tamiko reporting to you live from Toshima Halls on JFN available on the D-Gazer network. Government officials are refusing to address reports of a nationwide series of traumas suffered by users of the popular VDS world. It has been bought to our attention by concerned hospital officials that there have been hundreds of cases across the country of young men and women collapsing whilst playing duel monsters in the virtual world produced by Real Duel Ltd. The VDS has been seen as a perfectly safe environment since its inception nearly fifty years ago, but now the company could be facing a scandal unlike any they have faced before if these incidents continue. We have yet to receive any official statement from the company, the police or the government alike, but the numbers of young people administered to hospital tells its own story, and doctors are concerned with the lack of progress the comatose victims are making. This reporter advises all listeners... um... This is Haita Tamiko reporting.” Report finished, Tamiko removed her D-Gazer and bit her lip. She wanted to tell listeners to avoid using the VDS, but she’d bottled it. Real Duel had a history of not taking kindly to allegations made against them once proved false, and they were always proved false, and she would not be the first reporter to have her career buried by them for making such a report. Of course she only knew of the ruined journalists as they were former peers, or friends, who had been quietly eased out of their office by the editor shortly after such kinds of reporting. In the eye of the general population, Real Duel was so virtuous and great that there might as well be a giant halo above their tower in the north. A question from her recorder, a young Korean man called Su-Yeng, snapped her out of her thoughts. “What do you want to do now Tami?” He looked uneasy, for which she couldn’t blame him. It made her pause before answering, but it wasn’t enough to make her waver. “We go to the RDL Building, and find the truth from them.” ...13:32:02... Sitting outside an arcade, Shibo watched a report similar to Tamiko’s on the computer of another classmate. The two had reacted completely differently to the news. The classmate, a lanky young chap with thick glasses, seemed most frightened by the news. But then again Shibo thought, that was probably because he was a terrible duelist. He was one of those who far overestimated his ability, and put all his many losses down to opponents getting lucky or cheating or using overpowered cards. In his opinion Shibo didn’t see a threat, he saw a challenge. It was obvious what was happening. Real Duel was issuing some special event, a publicity stunt, and was really raking up the stakes for it and the duels these guys had obviously not been skilled enough to win. The coma victims would come to in a few hours, they always did before. Excited, Shibo turned to the arcade. Then he stopped, and a wicked smile overcame him as an idea struck him. This challenge, whatever it was, would be tough. He would need to get some practise in first. And if duelling was being made more serious to bring out the best and expose the weak as he thought, then what better opportunity to expose the weak when it was finishing work in the next couple of hours, and really torment it. ...13:32:15... It wasn’t just the Japanese news teams that the police and government had to keep at bay. Now the world media was starting to get wind of what was going on from their reporters in the country, and were starting to put the story about hundreds of people being rushed to hospitals across the country in the same unresponsive state, all having been logged into the virtual system that was the envy of the rest of the world, out on their news channels. Their reports were sparse of information, as was everyone’s, but they all ran a similar angle; that there were growing reports of a potential ‘virtual crisis’ in Japan that by causes unknown was sweeping across the countries youth. Stankuny, a small mountain town in the far north of Poland near the border what was now Great Baltia – the unification of what was once Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in a strong trading state – was the most remote place you could hope for. Isolated from the rest of the world, the simple and quiet country life was dull for most, but lured a few who wanted to get away from it all in retirement. That was exactly why an old man who had just shuffled into the living room of his house set a little way out of town, holding a plate of beans on toast, had come here. For some peace. For some escape. The old man sat himself down in his comfy armchair and switched on his television. It was one of this old plasma models, a relative antique, but he didn’t wish for the fancy new holographic things. He wanted nothing of modern technology anymore. But he still could not resist fulfilling his thirst for information every now and again. There were only so many quiz shows he could know all the answers to, and so many cookery shows he could attempt to spend his time replicating the culinary delights he saw. As the news channel came on, a man was reporting live from Japan. He was standing in a hospital in Tokyo, and was talking about... The plate of toast fell from the old man’s shaking hand and landed on the floor with a crash. The day he’d feared for over six years had come. ...13:33:26... “Paz, attack directly. Crush him.” With a screech, the opposing duelist that had come in the form of a black angel vanished in a cloud of mist, leaving the victor standing alone with his fists raised in triumph. He was a young man of formidable size, his bulk enhanced by the hard spike covered armour he was dressed in, shield attached to one gauntlet and D-Disk to the other. The armour did not come with a helmet, leaving his face exposed for the world to see; a square face with a wide jaw, black hair flattened with gel and deep cobalt eyes. A face that people should know and respect. Standing alone in the [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Canyon"]Canyon[/url] area of the VDS, the victorious young man continued to celebrate. “Take that demon. Send your friends after me and I will crush them as well. No-one can stand against the might of the West Asian champion. The Tsar of Stone. The Master Melder. Vladimir. Kanchev.” Vladimir struck a grand pose, armoured fists clenched and raised and head tilted back, as he revelled in his own title. He was indeed who he said he was, and was more than happy to let people know it. Why shouldn’t he show off his success? Just over a year ago, when he was eighteen, Vladimir had become the grand champion of all of the western countries. It had been the pinnacle of everything he had ever dreamed of accomplishing, and he had never looked back since. He had never lost since. Not to the strongest duelists who tried to dethrone him, not to those who didn’t respect him, and certainly not to some silly character parading as an angel in black (despite his own extreme costume). After he started playing duel monsters ten years ago, he had instantly picked up a knack for building strong decks and identifying the cards to make it stronger. Now there was nothing this game could throw at him that he couldn’t overpower. Power was everything. Vladimir’s father had been an international judo champion, who would counter any move his opponent used by overpowering them before they could execute it, and it was this style that Vladimir had vowed to follow in his memory. His father’s death five years ago was ill-fated; killed in a bank robbery after he confronted the men, and although it took Vladimir a long time to recover, he vowed to be a champion like his father, using his father’s power. He had his own success in judo, but it was duel monsters where he excelled on first the national, and then international stage. Ending his victory pose, Vladimir noticed that an object was lying on the ground where the duelist he had just beaten had stood. He approached it without caution, and upon seeing it was a card reached for it. As soon as his plated fingers extended towards the card, it raised itself of the ground and floated into his grasp. That surprised him, as did the pulse sensation that coursed through him as soon as contact was made. Vladimir gasped, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came, and he shrugged it off. The card itself depicted a monster that he had seen briefly at the end of the battle, one that his ‘Pitfall of Hades’ had quickly disposed of and left the duelist helpless. For that reason he hadn’t really seen what it was or what it did, although he knew he hadn’t seen anything like it before. He read the effect to himself, noticing the number in the card name. “Cannot be destroyed by battle, except by another Number? Never seen a card like this before. But it’s very powerful... maybe I can find space for it somewhere.” Removing a card from his extra deck to replace his new find with, Vladimir turned to leave the area and find someone else to duel. He didn’t have to wait very long, as right behind him were two figures to choose from. ...13:35:40... With much heaving, the two Somalian mercenaries dumped Bozu’s body in a corner of the underground car park underneath the Real Duel building. Clarissa had insisted the body be taken somewhere far away from their other captives were being held, which was understandable, but for some reason she didn’t want the body dispensed with in the same fashion of President Shinawatra’s earlier in the day but be left where it could be found later. The two men found this odd, but did not question. Decided that the body was too heavy to make the effort to take too far, the men simply carried him into the lift that ran through the heart of the building, descended to the bottom to the tunnelling roadways where they had come in, and deposited the man against a wall in a corner half out of sight and left. A steady drip from a loose pipe splashed down on his limp fingers. Slowly, Bozu’s body slid to one side under its dead weight, ending in an awkward heap. ...13:36:11... Vladimir stood perfectly still, taking in the sudden appearance of these two figures. They were the only two people he could see in the entire rocky canyon which was unusual; for an area to be so empty. Both figures were dressed in white cloaks with hoods covering most of their faces, leaving only their mouths and jaw exposed. One of the figures was tall and thin, although he was still a head shorter than Vladimir. He was clearly a he as he had a long greying beard that stretched from his thin face to about his belt. The other figure was very small, barely coming up to the taller figure’s waist, and there were just not enough features visible to determine anything else about them. The two cloaked figures were standing side by side with their arms folded in their flowing sleeves, looking straight at him. Vladimir waited, before realising he would have to make the first move. “Ha, matching costumes for granddad and grandkid. How cute. So, you want something?” The bearded man slowly stirred into a reply. His voice was grave, despite having a flowing and almost mystical tone to it. A voice that echoed with a great blend of emotions, although sadness prevailed in the chorus. “Yes, we want something concerning you, proud warrior. We want you to listen to us. The card you obtained from that drone just now is a card of immense power; greater than simply attack and effect. Your possession of it puts you in great danger, both from soldiers like the one you defeated and yourself. We would ask you to protect yourself, and relinquish the card to us.” There was a moment’s pause, before Vladimir burst out into booming laughter. “What? You are kidding right?” The silent response indicated they weren’t kidding. “Look granddad, I appreciate you are probably new to this after being invited in by the little one over there, but those creatures are no match for me. Why should I give you my prize?” He was surprised somewhat that the bearded figure took his turn to laugh, a soft floating chortle. “I have more experience with this game than you realise. Perhaps the drones are no match for you, but there are others who certainly are and more, and if you keep that card, they will hunt you down, and stop at nothing to destroy you for it. There are events unfolding here that we do not wish for more to be caught up in than necessary. Please, release the Number to us.” “Hey, don’t you know who I am old man?” The suggestion the bearded figure had made incensed him. “I’m the West Asian Champion, Vla...” “Vladimir Kanchev” the bearded man finished for him, cutting him off. “Yes, we know who you are. We know of your many and notable accomplishments. We know that you are strong, but reckless and proud. Such qualities could easily be manipulated by those who mean to use the Numbers for ill, which is if the Number didn’t eat away at you and destroy you first. We are trying to help you. Now for the last time, for your own safety.” The old man extended a knotted, withered hand from inside the folds of robe, the skin covered in small rune marks. “Give it up.” Vladimir didn’t move for a moment as he took it all in. He couldn’t see how this insulting request was helpful. Who was this old man to have the gall to ask him to just give him a card that he had just won? To talk down to a great champion? As his stung pride began to blind his judgement, his fists shook in anger. At that moment, the symbols of the number appeared on his chest plate. The smaller figure nudged the taller one, leading him to bend down so it could whisper something to him. He straightened and smiled. “You might be right. If you refuse to give up your Number willingly, you leave me with no choice but to defeat you for it. Prepare yourself Vladimir, for you are about to enter a nightmare for which you are unprepared to face.” Vladimir’s didn’t know quite how to react to the finality of the man’s challenge. It felt like he was giving him no choice in the matter. He was usually happy to accept all challenges anyway, but suddenly not having a chance to run made him uneasy. “I can face anything. I’ll show you why I’m the champion.” The old man let out a long heavy breath, as from seemingly nowhere a swirling mist started to enshroud his body. The white robes changed to the darkest shade of blue. On his right arm appeared a round D-Disk surely too heavy for a frail man to support, gold around the edge, with several orbs producing from it and with the card slots dug into the centre of the shield. Perturbing as this was, Vladimir set himself. [i]‘ARV established. Duel commencing.’[/i] “Duel!” “I’ll smash you for trying to fool me” Vladimir drew forcefully. “I activate [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Fusion"]Gemknight Fusion[/url]." Fusion summoning had become a mostly forgotten method with the popularity of Synchro and then Xyz monsters, which had led to the creation of the Gemknights in an attempt to bring the element back to the fore. By uniting the power of different monsters in various places aside from his field with cards like Gemknight Fusion, Vladimir could quickly bring out powerful monsters to beat the enemy into submission. “Observe. By sending [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Garnet"]Gemknight Ganet[/url] and [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Sapphire"]Gemknight Sapphia[/url] from my hand to the cemetery, I can fusion summon a monster that lists them as fusion material. Namely [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Aquamarine"]Gemknight Aquamarine[/url]." From the swirling vortex of gemstones emerged a stone warrior in the finest sapphire plate, wielding a round shield with a perfect gem at its centre, and a long spike weapon (Lv6, DEF 2600). “I place one card face down and end my turn. Let’s see what you can do.” “Very well” the bearded man sighed as he drew. “Let us begin. Normal summon, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gishki_Chain"]Ritua Chain[/url]." An aquatic based snake like creature appeared before the bearded man, brandishing a long chain in its webbed hands (Lv4, ATK 1800). “When this creature is normal summoned, I can look at the top three cards of my deck, and if a ritual monster or magic card is amongst them, I can add it to my hand.” The man took the top three cards in his withered hand, smiled, and returned two. “I add a ritual monster to my hand, which I will now summon. I activate the ritual magic of [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gishki_Aquamirror"]Ceremonial Water Mirror of Ritua[/url]." If fusion summoning was old fashioned, ritual summoning was frankly Jurassic. The method was far too inconsistent and took too many resources to work outside of a few very specific, dedicated deck types; with the ritual monsters needing to be drawn rather than existing in the extra deck, and having to need the monster, the necessary spell, and enough other monsters to tribute for the monster in your hand to end up with something that was often weaker than other monsters of its level. The Ritua had been created to bring rituals back into some popularity, addressing the problems with the mechanic by being able to keep their hand and field resources stocked, and slowly whittle away the opponents. “By the effect of Ceremonial Water Mirror” the bearded man continued. “I release my Chain on the field and the [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gishki_Ariel"]Ritua Erial[/url] in my hand, to summon a monster whose level is equal to their combined total. Come forth from the darkest abyss, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Evigishki_Soul_Ogre"]Eviritua Soul Ogre[/url]!" A monstrous creature of the deep rose before him. Towering over the knight, a muscular half fish, half dragon horror with webbed claws and a powerful tail that could flatten a small building with one sweep if it so chose. Rows of teeth lined the creature’s beak like jaws, and two white eyes glared down from on high. In the middle of its chest sprouted a symbol that matched the man’s D-Disk (Lv8, ATK 2800). “I activate Soul Ogre’s effect. By discarding a Ritua monster in my hand, I can return Aquamarine to your deck.” The sapphire plated warrior vanished, leaving nothing between Vladimir and the snarling behemoth. “Now he shall attack you directly!” “You think it would be that easy to get to me? Trap activate; [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Defense_Draw"]Guard Block[/url]" Vladimir countered. “This negates the battle damage, and lets me draw one card.” Vladimir vanished as he was bathed him in a shockwave of water, striking with the force of the most devastating tidal wave and obliterated it. Although he was unharmed, he still found the force of the blast unsettling. “Very good” the old man said stoically. “I did not expect you to go down without a fight. I end my turn with a face down.” Was that an attempt to flatter the card out of him, or was he trying to mess with his mind? Vladimir didn’t bother to work it out. “Time to show you the true power of a champion. I summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Alexandrite"]Gemknight Alexand[/url] A silver plated knight with several different gems appeared before him (Lv4, ATK 1800). “By releasing Alexand, I can summon a normal Gemknight monster from my deck in its stead. I chose my second Ganet. Then I activate the effect of Gemknight Fusion in my cemetery. By banishing Alexand; I can add it back to my hand and use it once more. I summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Ruby"]Gemknight Ruby[/url]!" The red plated knight disappeared into the swirling portal of gemstones behind it, followed by a dark plated warrior from Vladimir’s hand. In their place emerged a warrior in scarlet plate, wielding a long scythe weapon with both hands (Lv6, ATK 2500). This however did not seem to trouble the old man in the slightest. “I see. The other card you used for the fusion summon was [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Obsidian"]Gemknight_Obsidia[/url]. What you plan to do is revive Ganet with its effect, and then you will release it to activate the effect of Ruby, increasing its attack to forty three hundred, well above my monster. A simple strategy, but very effective.” Vladimir snorted in reply. “Bout time you realised how powerful I am. I... hey wait a minute?” Just as the scythe wielding knight was about to fully emerge from the portal, Vladimir watched in disbelief as the dusty rocky field between the three people was suddenly covered in a layer of thick gleaming ice, onto which the knight landed... and promptly fell over. “What trickery is this?” “This is the effect of the trap [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Eisbahn"]Eisbahn[/url]" the old man seemed to chuckle as the permanent trap card pulled back and revealed itself, while he, and the small figure that had raised their hands to their mouth to stifle a laugh, watched the knight wobble to try and stand upright. “When I control a water monster and a monster of any other attribute is summoned, it is changed into defence. Another simple yet effective strategy of my own.” “How dare you laugh at me!” Vladimir shouted, helpless to aid his warrior that has leaning shakily on its weapon (DEF 1300). “Regardless, the effect of Obsidia does revive Ganet to my field.” The smaller, unarmed warrior rose up and also slid into a defensive stance (Lv4, DEF 0). “I then place one card face down and end my turn.” “Interesting. That could change things” the old man mused. “But regardless, on the attack I shall press. I summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gishki_Beast"]Ritua Beast[/url]." A snarling lion like creature of the deep with green skin and a seaweed tangled mane appeared (Lv4, ATK 1500). “When normal summoned, my beast revives the Ritua Erial in my cemetery.” A small girl in black robes and armed with a short stave appeared momentarily, before the two creatures bodies turned to sparks and rose in a spiral. “Xyz summon. I overlay my level four monsters to summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Evigishki_Merrowgeist"]Eviritua Merrowgeist[/url]!" A merman appeared beside the towering sea dragon, holding a stave bearing the familiar symbol of the Ritua (Rk4, ATK 2100). “Soul Ogre attacks Ruby, and Merrowgeist attacks Ganet.” The forces of the monsters strikes pushed Vladimir back a step, even if he remained unharmed. “Now Merrowgeist activates his effect. By detaching the overlaid Beast, the monster he destroyed goes back into your deck instead of the cemetery, bleeding you dry of your resources. On that note I will end my turn.” Vladimir: LP 4000, Hand 1, Field of a face down ????: LP 4000, Hand 1, Field of Soul Ogre, Merrowgeist and Eisbahn Frustrated, Vladimir cursed. He was not used to being in this position, and being in it against an opponent who didn’t seem to even be trying that hard was utterly deplorable. “Don’t think I’m beaten yet old man. If you have any idea of who you are facing, you know I can still turn this around.” The bearded man’s tone stiffened a little. “I don’t doubt your ability Vladimir, but it pales in comparison to mine. I could perhaps ask you your own question; if you have any idea of what you are facing, but it would be pointless. Very few know of me, and even fewer can hope to match someone like me or my friend here. I admire that you have confounded my attacks so far, and that will fight until the very end, but that end will ultimately be your defeat.” The finality of the statement was somewhat unnerving. “We’ll... we’ll see. I draw. Then immediately I activate the [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Reckless_Greed"]Reckless Greed[/url] trap card. By sacrificing my next two draw phases, I can draw twice up front.” Vladimir glanced at his cards, and a plan began to form in his mind. Not one of his own devising. Something else was taking over, burrowing at his hurt pride and desperation to retain his stature as the greatest, and presenting him with an answer. The force on his mind started to ache, and spread to his limbs. Consciously catching up to the strategy, realising his path to victory, Vladimir let whatever it was do what it wanted. As long as he won, that was all that mattered. Against this unnerving stranger, who had insulted his pride, who he suddenly... felt very afraid of... he had to defeat him. “I banish Obsidia from my cemetery, to add Gemknight Fusion back to my hand.” “So, you have gone from one card to five. Very good I must say” the bearded man said in his unwavering serious tone. “Now to put them to use. I use Gemknight Fusion to fuse Gemknights [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Tourmaline"]Rumarin[/url] and [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Emerald"]Emerald[/url] in my hand to fusion summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gem-Knight_Topaz"]Gemknight Paz[/url]. Then I activate the magic card [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Monster_Reborn"]Raise Dead[/url], to summon Ruby back to the field.” The scythe bearing warrior returned, alongside a knight in luminous amber plate, bearing two spiked gauntlets (Lv6, Def 1800). “Now I overlay level six!” The numbers on Vladimir’s chest plate shone brighter as the two monsters spirits shot into the swirling vortex before him. From the stream of energy a square shaped box rose up, rotating slowly, before it started to open up and reveal its true form. Taking the shape of a giant camera with several attachments sticking out from it, hovering high over the field. The number 25 appeared underneath the front lens that acted as the focal point of a formidable attack, however restricted by Eisbahn (Rk6, DEF 2400). “Xyz Summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_25%3A_Fullmetal_Photoglide_-_Focus_Force"]Number 25: Full Metal Photoglide - Focus Force[/url]!" “So, the Number appears” the bearded man muttered. By his side, the smaller figure looked up at the giant camera shaped weapon, their expression obscured. “Already the effect it has had on your mind and body is too much for you to handle. It is best I end this quickly now, and since you have no more cards left to play, I will do just that. Draw.” “First, you are not the only one who can activate cards in the cemetery to replenish their hand. By returning Ceremonial Water Mirror to my deck, I can add the ritual monster I discarded earlier, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Evigishki_Mind_Angus"]Eviritua Mind Ogress[/url], back to my hand. Then I activate Soul Ogre’s effect, discarding it to return the Number to your deck.” “Old fool” Vladimir scoffed. “The effect of Focus Force activates in response to Soul Ogre, negating its effect for this turn.” A flash from the camera dazzled the dragon, leaving it unable to use its devastating effect. All part of the plan that had constructed itself in his head, and had told him of the monsters ability. [i]‘Focus Force has the same attack strength as Soul Ogre. On my next turn I can put it in attack mode and ram it into that oversized lizard. Usually a tie would destroy both monsters, but not a Number. I’m back in this.’[/i] “I’m impressed once again Vladimir” said the old man, in a slightly more powerful tone now. “However I am fully aware of Number 25’s power. I am aware it can negate a monsters effect, but only the monsters of level five or high can be affected by it.” Vladimir blinked as the old man continued his turn. “Since Eisbahn is now past its use, I activate [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Planter"]Magic Planter[/url] to send it to the cemetery and draw two cards. Then I normal summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gishki_Diviner"]Ritua Diviner[/url]." A frog like creature in robes similar to the other Ritua appeared, sitting before a mirror (Lv3, ATK 1200). “Then I activate the effect of Diviner. It lets me name a card, then look at the top card of my deck. If the top card is the one I predict it to be, I can add it to my hand.” “You going to guess the top card of your deck?!” Vladimir blurted. “You have to be insane. Your chances are less than one in thirty. You can’t possibly expect to think you know what that card is.” “You don’t understand Vladimir” the man said calmly. “It has nothing to do with what card I think is on the top of my deck. It is what card I believe is on the top of my deck. Right now, in this situation, only one card in my deck can help me, which would be [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Aqua_Spirit"]Water Spirit Aqueria[/url]. Even if I thought something else was the top card and ‘guessed’ it correctly, it would be irrelevant, as it wouldn’t help me defeat the Number. So I have to believe in what I need, and that my deck, as an extension of my being, will provide me with what I need.” “You’re mad!” Vladimir started, before the question arose in his dulled mind for the first time. “Who are you people?” “I have seen true madness Vladimir, and can say with relief that I am far from it” the old man replied. When he spoke now, fear gripped the Russian’s soul, and increased with every word. Increasing the pressure the something was putting him under. “As for whom we are, we are the watchers and guardians of this virtual world, ever present and all knowing. We nurture and govern this world, and we will protect it from those who threaten it, and who will use the Numbers for their own ambitions. I declare Water Spirit Aqueria.” A ghostly image of a card, depicting a fairy of the water, rose from the creatures mirror as the old man drew his card, and revealed its matching contents. “Now, by banishing Ritua Chain from my cemetery, I can special summon her to the field. Then I activate the magic card [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Downward_Current"]Downward Current[/url] to make her level three.” The small maiden’s appearance beside the other creatures was brief (Lv3, ATK 1600), before it and the frog turned to sparks and spiralled into the opening vortex. “I overlay level three Diviner and Aqueria.” A pair of wings emerged from the vortex, followed by the tip of a spear. Then a long body covered in the darkest plate armour, stretching down to another pair of fin like wings (Rk3, ATK 2100). “Xyz summon! Come, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Ray_Lancer"]Black Ray Lancer[/url]!" A cold sense of dread, of panic, overcame Vladimir as the monster rose beside the others, just in front of the cloaked man whose voice had magnified to a crescendo of fury and supremacy. “You have duelled magnificently Vladimir, but this is the end as it was always inevitable. I activate the effect of Black Ray Lancer, detaching an overlay unit to negate all of Number 25’s effects until the end phase, including its battle immunity.” Focus Force started to sink through the air slightly, Vladimir’s last hopes sinking with it. “Now Soul Ogre, destroy it.” With a furious roar the shockwave was unleashed once more, blowing the giant camera monster to bits. Vladimir was alone, fear clutching tightly around his throat, paralyzed under the gaze of the two monsters waiting to strike. The old man thrust his gnarled hand out and gave the command. “Eviritua Merrowgeist. Black Ray Lancer. Direct attack.” The pain of the simultaneous attacks was intense, but brief (LP 0). Vladimir was thrown a few feet across the ground, landing heavily on his front. For a few seconds, he could make the blurry outline of the two cloaked figures, before he passed out. ... As the three monsters faded away with the ARV, the old man’s robes returned to their prior whiteness. He remained unmoved as a card rose from Vladimir’s D-Disk and floated towards him, reaching out to take it from the air once in reach. The smaller figure stood by his side, to which he passed the Focus Force card to. “This belongs to you miss.” “Thank you.” The small figure took the card and placed it somewhere in her long sleeves. “You duelled well sensei. You could have kept it if you wanted.” “Your praise is high miss” the old man said whilst bowing slightly. “It was a good battle, a shame the circumstances did not allow me to enjoy it as much as I usually would. But please, the one Number you have granted me the power of carrying is enough.” The two figures turned in silence, and looked at the still body of the large teenager as if they had forgotten he was still there. “He should wake shortly. He had a Number to protect him from the tampering of the system, whereas I did not use mine.” “It would be best if we removed from this world, for his safety. Something about it unsettled me. I can’t understand why Focus Force made him react like that. It’s not one of the more troublesome Numbers.” The old man paused, then gave a shrug. “I guess each Number will affect each duelist it encounters differently, as their personalities merge or collide. They have never experienced being around any other duelists before. I would not be troubled by it for now miss.” The old man then approached the fallen Vladimir, crouched and placed his hands either side of his head, and muttered something. A few second passed, before the duelist vanished and the old man stood once more. “He is out safely, and will awake wherever he logged in from unharmed. How he will react we cannot affect, but I hope he realises that he‘d be safer not coming back here today, and have the sense to aid the efforts of the outside world. They must be aware of the situation that faces us now. By the way, what of the one you sensed?” The girl shook her head. “He has not entered the system yet, but he might soon. It is strange, but I think he will be important. What of your friend?” “I will meet her soon; I imagine she’ll want a proper explanation by now. You should go back to our home while I am away, and keep yourself hidden. If you were discovered we would not be prepared, not strong enough, to fight right now. There are deadly forces inside and out of this world now that are gathering their strength, and we must do the same. Go on my child, to home and be safe with you. I will return soon.” The small figure nodded and gave the old man a wave, before she disappeared; warping instantly to another location of the VDS. The old man paused to think for a few minutes, before he too warped away from the canyon, leaving no trace of what had just taken place there. 13:59:58... 13:59:59... 14:00:00...[/spoiler] PS: Arc One ends next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sage Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Oh wow, people are slow on noticing. Chapter was great, interesting duel, (wow, this is horrible commentary). Apologies. You got me very interested for the next chapter though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Dramatic old guy! All stories become better with the insertion of a dramatic old guy. I mean, can you imagine LotR without Gandalf? So yeah, epic chapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinforce Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Agreed about that, that old guy is epic, and so is his deck. Good chapter too and I liked the duel. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of he duel and seeing who that smaller person is, as I'm guessing the old guy is the same one we saw at the start of the chapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 [quote name='Dragon Sage Ω' timestamp='1330717829' post='5852246'] Oh wow, people are slow on noticing. Chapter was great, interesting duel, (wow, this is horrible commentary). Apologies. You got me very interested for the next chapter though... [/quote] They notice, there's just only four people who comment *hint nudge wink* Didn't really did much promo for Chapter 11, since the events and characters in this one are kind of seperate from the rest (for the moment). Unless you just mean generally pumped. There's some stuff going on in Chapter 11 which... was interesting to write to say the least, something I'm sure doesn't happen very often in stories on this site. *teasers* [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1330745739' post='5853327'] Dramatic old guy! All stories become better with the insertion of a dramatic old guy. I mean, can you imagine LotR without Gandalf? So yeah, epic chapter. [/quote] Thanks, I was much happier with this one than others, so glad others thought it was good. [quote name='Simdoggy' timestamp='1330765929' post='5853726'] Agreed about that, that old guy is epic, and so is his deck. Good chapter too and I liked the duel. I'm looking forward to the conclusion of he duel and seeing who that smaller person is, as I'm guessing the old guy is the same one we saw at the start of the chapter. [/quote] Correct the above statement, five commentors. I enjoy playing Ritua. Like I said one of my fav duels I've done, although I did have to make a last minute change subbing Guard Block in for Doublet Fusion (which was fine by me, didn't want to debut that card there anyway). Slight inexperience with Gemknights. The duel did conclude though. Vladimir got attacked directly by Black Ray and Merrowgeist. Speaking of 'The Master Melder' etc, he's one of my favourite characters at the minute, simply just because in a plot which has been pretty much set in stone for a while and been very fixed to write too; his role has grown and grown so much after being originally pencilled in as just a jobber and shoehorning in Gemknights. He'll return in a few chapters. The old duelist is in fact... not the other old man. He would have had to have got to and loaded his computer, logged on, found his partner, and found Vladimir pretty bloody sharpish for it to be so Genuinely two (different) of many new characters in that chapter. [color=#ffffff]However only one comment on the smaller person, who we have seen before.[/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinforce Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Sorry, I did see the conclusion of the duel, I actually meant to say the conclusion of the arc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 So, um... next chapter is up guys. Posting it now before going to bed. IMPORTANT: This chapter contains themes from the start concerning abuse of female characters, that may upset some readers. There is no extreme sexual content, but some may be offended by even going into this territory. Discretion is advised. [spoiler=Chapter 6:1] [b]The following takes place between 2PM and 3PM.[/b] “Hey boss. Look what I found.” Unable to hear the person he was talking to over his D-Gazer, Hasif disconnected the call and turned to the source of the commotion coming towards him. In between guarding the employees of the company that couldn’t duel, escorting replacements for the defeated drones to the operations room and carrying away the fallen ones; he, Gadsby, and the rest of their men were regularly patrolling the entire building and making sure it was secure, and that there was no-one hiding away who had somehow escaped the initial raid. The shouting that had made his call so difficult already told him what one of said people had found. A young soldier under his command appeared from around the corner of a side corridor, and was dragging a woman by the hair along with him; pointing his rifle at her neck and forcing her to walk along on her knees, the bare skin below her short skirt scraped along the floor as he marched her awkwardly along. The woman appeared in her early thirties, of small height making the soldier stoop slightly to grab a fistful of her short auburn hair. She would have probably been very attractive had she not been red in the face, streaming with tears, her desperate screaming and begging making the soldier smirk. As the pair stopped before Hasif, the soldier had to kick the woman hard in the side to reduce her screaming to a quiet whimper before he spoke. “This one was hiding in a storage cupboard in the corridor back there, where the cleaning robot for this floor was stored. I was going to take her to the operations room since that was closer than holding bay, but she keeps protesting that she doesn’t know how to duel. She doesn’t have a D-Gazer either. What do you want to do with her?” “She still has to be detained with everyone else” Hasif shrugged. “Why would you think anything different?” The smirk of the young soldier broadened as he holstered his gun. “Well she’d be of no use to her, and there really is no need for all of us to be patrolling this building now it’s fully secure and there’s no threat. And since she’s such a nice woman...” The soldier trailed off as he ran his free hand down the woman’s trembling neck, continuing down her body to her shapely chest. The woman choked slightly as his hand stopped, before uttering a series of mumbled words the men didn’t understand as she realised what the soldier was suggesting. Hasif grunted out of indifference. “I’m not interested in these Japanese women. Not when she could call me at any moment for something or other.” The soldier did not seem to put off. “And the rest of us...?” To the captive woman staring helplessly up at this giant man, the pause seemed to last an eternity. He was staring back down at her, she could determine nothing in his dark eyes what his decision might be. Icy tendrils gripped her heart as the man shrugged, and walked off. “I expect to see you on patrol when I come back in an hour, and I expect not to see her.” The soldier nodded to the departing commander, before turning his attention back to the captive. She was perfectly still now, with the numb helpless look of someone who’d received the most devastating news of their life. Looking just down the corridor, there was a ladies public toilets. Perfect. As he picked her up again and pushed her towards the toilets she awoke from her stunned state, to an increased level of screaming and struggling. Against him she had no chance of course, which made her struggle all the more amusing. Pushing her into the toilets, into the far corner by the sinks, the woman continued to hit him anywhere she could land something until he grew frustrated enough to pull his rifle back out and point it at her again. He didn’t speak Japanese, but this language was universal. “I found you, I get you first. Keep struggling and I shoot you.” Still the stupid woman protested, albeit muted now as her eyes fixed on the laser rifle, with just a weak shake of the head and feeble push at the hand working inside her shirt. Well that would do he guessed. “You should thank me; I’m saving you from a much worse fate. Now then...” The man let go off her and started to undo his trousers. BANG ... “You find any potential leads yet?” “On a first name alone, what do you expect?” Yuri approached the operative as he flicked from screen to screen that was positioned around his little booth. Each one had lists of names, photographs, records, maps, and so on. With a wave of the control in his hand the man scrolled down the list of names, bringing up a new set of screens with each one. “These are all the Clarissa’s on the records of various European countries that I’ve managed to establish the aid of who have a history of cyber crime. Thankfully it’s not a long list due to being an unusual name.” Most crime was in some way computer related nowadays. “I’ve also cross referenced these names with airline lists to see if there were any matches, but the chances this lady was careless enough to use her real ID to get here are probably nought. Clarissa might be a fake name itself.” “Okay. Keep searching and let me know if you find anything.” Yuri proceeded past another couple of operatives searching through reams of security footage and other records to where Keylan was sat pouring over another list. “How are you getting on?” “Fine Ono-san. I keep trying to break into Real Duel’s servers, but they block me every time. I wasn’t expecting to get through, but it was never part of their conditions so it was worth a try. If I’d got through I might have found something.” Keylan rubbed his eyes for a moment. “But other efforts have been more productive. I got hold of the owner of the warehouse and sent a team to pay him a visit. They intercepted him at the airport about to take an extended holiday to Spain with a large payment he received the day before. Through him we got details of a Swiss bank account where his money was transferred from. The account has since been closed, but Swiss agents are looking for any other accounts that any ransom might be transferred to.” “Good work. Hopefully once they contact us again we’ll have it a bit easier.” ...14:04:11... The woman was silent as the soldier blinked, his eyes going slightly out of focus. He made a slight gasping sound, a hollow noise, before he slowly slumped sideways into the wall, falling to the floor as she backed out of the way. In the back of his head was the small burn mark of a laser round. The woman sank to the floor as well. She wanted nothing more than to distance herself from the dead man, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t do anything except whimper. Standing in the middle of the bathroom was another woman, dressed in an all black combat outfit, pointing a handgun and staring thunderously at where the man had been. She seemed to need a moment to clam herself down before she moved towards the cowering woman, her heels clicking across the tiled floor before she knelt beside her and put her hand against her face. “It’s okay. You’re safe now” Clarissa said in the calmest tone she could manage. “What is your name?” The woman was surprised, but it stopped her crying. “A...Sami. Kato... Asami.” “Asami” Clarissa repeated. “My name is Clarissa. What is it you do here Asami?” Trying to engage in a normal conversation in a calm manner seemed to work. Asami needed several deep breaths before continuing, but she managed. “I’m... I’m a personnel manager for Real Duel Ltd. I do recruitment and personal training work, but I don’t play myself... What do you want with me?” “For now Asami, I want you to relax, and come with me.” Clarissa stood and extended a hand to pull Asami up. She was reluctant at first, but given the amount of weaponry Clarissa carried with her, she had no ability to refuse the offer. The dead mercenary came back into view as she stood, the sight made her double over into the nearest sink and heave, but nothing would come up. “He almost... he was going to... Who are you people? What are you going to do with me?” “Asami, listen to me. These men work for me, but...” Asami yelped and recoiled into the corner, and it took Clarissa several attempts to calm her down again. “I’m sorry. I don’t condone what he was going to do. Not for one second. The men had their orders and that wasn’t one of them. I’d never allow that.” “The...” Asami began feebly. “His boss... some big man... he went to him first to offer me to him. He allowed him to use me...” Clarissa’s expression changed for a brief second at this. Asami was too busy trying to be sick to notice what her emotions were, but by the time she recovered she seemed to have regained composure “Really now? Okay Asami, I will deal with him. Just come with me for now, so I can make sure no-one else hurts you.” Asami nodded, taking a moment to sort herself out and re-straighten her clothes before taking Clarissa’s hand and allowing her to lead her outside into the corridor. As they went, Clarissa put her D-Gazer on and called someone. “Hasif. Could you come to the operations centre right away? Thank you.” ...14:06:15... Clutching at its ribs from its crouching position, the snarling black angel glared at the duelist across the field from him. The duel as a contest was over; having run out of cards and almost out of life points (LP 100). The opponent was just toying with him now. Punishing him for coming here, to this area of the canyon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ravine"]Dragon Ravine[/url], where they were now facing off in one of the large nesting caves used by the brutish creatures that were standing across the field and ready to pounce. Three dragons; one born out of flame (Lv4, ATK 1000), one with a body of shimmering gold (Lv4, ATK 1900) and now they had been joined by a small purple scaled dragon with black armour protecting its body and wings (Lv4, ATK 1300). An attack from any one of them would finish him off, but the duelist stood across the cave commanding these beasts didn’t seem through. With a disdainful grimace, Murtagh reached for his extra deck. “You should have fled from here when you had the chance. Now I will completely destroy you for your invasion of my solitude. [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_Dragon_Apocralyph"]God Dragon Apocalypse[/url]. [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Starbright_Dragon"]Starbright Dragon[/url]. [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Dragorado"]Dragorado[/url]. Overlay level four.” The creature’s bodies turned to sparks and spiralled up together. “Xyz Summon!” Murtagh reached into his extra deck, and flicked through the cards. He frowned, and looked through them again. Then again. All his usual cards appeared there as always. But the one he wanted to actually summon, the one he could summon right now, was suddenly gone. He scowled as his three dragons reappeared in a tangled heap in front of him, at the stare the probably confused demon was giving him. “Oh whatever. Just you three destroy him then.” The demonic duelist screamed as it was engulfed in three jets of multicoloured flame and evaporated in a cloud of black vapour. Work done, Murtagh’s dragons disappeared, leaving him to wander towards the mouth of the cave and sit himself down at the entrance, dangling his boots over the edge of the rock-face stretching far below him. Slowly his unique D-Disk faded away, along with the other effects of the Dragon Soul mode, and he was able to indulge in his thoughts as he overlooked the world passing by. [i]‘So, the Number has chosen to return to its rightful keeper for now. I can imagine what her first reaction will be when she sees it. But I wonder what she’ll decide to do thereafter. Will she seek revenge? Feel some sense of duty? Or will she still feel so helpless that she’ll never return. Hmm...’[/i] Murtagh stretched and laid back to bask in the afternoon sun overhead. ...14:08:42... Sakura was lying across her mother’s lap, staring at her boyfriend lying in the bed in front of her. The families of those laying in these beds either side of the large room had been allowed in a while ago, and the room was now full of grave looking parents, siblings and partners each surrounding the bed of someone they loved, unmoving and silent. The deathly silence that hung over the room was awful, broken only occasionally by the sound of another trolley being wheeled in as yet another young VDS user joined the ranks of the lifeless sleepers. On the other side of the bed were Yudai’s parents. Mr and Mrs Morita were both in high level management; the kind who managed to resolve every problem and overcome every obstacle they’d ever faced. Now they were sat there, unmoved, helplessly looking down at their only child. Yudai looked like he was in great pain. His expression made Sakura think he was still fighting those terrible creatures even now, that he was still locked in a heated battle against them and suffering the effects of wave after wave of attacks. Sakura wondered if he was replaying the duel in his subconscious, and was still trying to protect her from danger. The thought made her feel even more to blame. Mai sat in silence, stroking her daughter’s hair without thought. She understood as little of the VDS and duel monsters as her ex-husband did, but she was aware of Yudai’s passion for it and success. She also knew how deeply he cared about Sakura, and in turn she had come to care deeply about him as well, as the prodigal son-in-law, just as his parents did about Sakura. Seeing him lying there, having sacrificed himself to protect her, she felt as if she had lost a son as much as his parents. And all the other grave and tearful faces surrounding her; they were all victims to some extremist group, used as sacrifices for whatever they were after. They didn’t know it yet, neither did the Morita’s; only she and Sakura knew. That made the feeling even worse. Mai reached for a bottle of water to calm herself. “Sakura?” The girl stirred, to see her mother staring at something on the floor. The Morita’s had noticed to and were looking at Mai, but they could not see what she was looking at. Following her mother’s gaze, Sakura looked down. Her bag was lying there, and from inside the folds of the pockets, a soft light was glowing, trying to break out. Sakura took the bag and sat up, turning away from the others to peek inside. Doing so however allowed more light to escape, and several heads from surrounding bedsides turned to stare at her. Somewhere far in the distance behind her, Mrs Morita said something. She had no idea what, as her senses were drawn entirely by what was happening. By what couldn’t be happening... “I... I have to use the bathroom...” Ignoring the protests and harsh glares, Sakura walked as quickly as she could to the ward doors and closed them, before running to the bathroom, pushing past several very startled people in the way. Thankfully the ladies was unoccupied, but still she checked there was no-one around before sealing herself in a cubicle, taking a deep breath, and opening the bag. As soon as she did so, the world seemed to disappear in a blaze of light. Blindly reaching forward, she grabbed at where she thought the source was. Her fingers touched something, something small, and a pulse immediately ran down her arm and through her entire body. The feeling shook her to the core. Slowly the light began to fade, and she was able to see what she was holding. A sense of dread crept in where the numbness had been as she realised what she was holding, before the light faded away to confirm her fear. “No... God no... Not you!” [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_16%3A_Ruler_of_Color_-_Shock_Ruler"]Number 16: Ruler of Colour - Shock Ruler[/url]. ...14:16:51... Lightning split the sky overhead, almost close enough for the dark angel Sammael to touch as he stood at the top of the [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Karakuri_Showdown_Castle"]Storming Mechanical Castle[/url]. The steady drumbeat of the rain and the occasional peal of thunder did not shy him away, nor did the drops of rain bear any feeling on his stone like body or distract from his gaze. Lying at his feet was the figure of a middle aged man garbed in pale armour; flat on his back with a look of horror permanently locked on his face. He had been a particularly useless duelist, despite the appearance that had suggested some level of competency that might have gifted him the Numbers power. The angel had only a limited concept of anger, but he had mown down dozens upon dozens of these duelists now, and still he hadn’t found a Number for his mistress. He was failing his mission, his one purpose. That was the only thought in his mind. Now the D-Anchor had released with the duels end, the angel entitled Sammael was free to fly away, which he would be advised to do so before the ARV dissipated and exposed him to a potentially large amount of people who were also atop the temple all at once. But the ARV was being slow to fade for some reason, so the angel stood there and continued to stare at the beaten man. He felt no remorse or satisfaction for what had happened, but still he stood there. The only thing on his mind was his mission. Find the Numbers, defeat the duelists that have them, and bring them to the mistress. That was his one function, which he would follow absolutely. [i]“Rise, Unmai.”[/i] The dark angel snapped to attention. The voice he had heard was from no-one around him. It had sounded in his head, of that he was sure. This cold, dragging, ominous voice had invaded his head. Shaking it furiously, the angel took off with a beat of wings, trying to ignore the voice and continue his mission, which was... Which was to hunt for Numbers, and take them to... take them to the mistress. [i]“Rise, Unmai.”[/i] There it was again. The angel snarled and clutched at his head in midair above the temple, ignoring the rain and the thunder. “Who are you?” Sammael shouted aloud. “What do you want?” There was another rumble of thunder, louder the previous, as it reverberated around Sammael’s mind, blocking out everything else until the voice spoke again with increasing presence. “[i]You are not meant to be here Unmai. You are not meant to be some meaningless pawn in this game like the others. You are destined for much greater things.”[/i] “Who is Unmai?” the angel cried. “I’m not Unmai. I’m...” the angel had to check his own profile to confirm his identity. Nothing appeared. “Bah, it doesn’t matter. I’m just a servant, I don’t need a name. I have no destiny; I just have my one mission.” A rumble echoed around his head, as if the voice was amused. [i]“Which is?”[/i] “Which is to...” the angel stopped, and tried again. “Which is to... to hunt... and... to find for...” He stopped and turned to face the sky. Looking up, a small gap had appeared among the heavy thunderclouds, letting through a small beam of light. [i]“Look down.”[/i] Helplessly the angel looked down, following the beam of light. The column ended on the roof of the temple far below, allowing him to see the duelist who he just defeated, still lying on the ground with a look of fear cast in stone. A wave of other faces washed over the angel, visions of the others he had beaten until they had collapsed crowding in his mind until he clawed and scratched at his half mask. A strange sensation overcame him, something he couldn’t remember having before. Then he began to realise he had felt this before, this... this was fear. “What... did I do to them?” [i]“You were forced to duel them, and the damage you inflicted in those duels had such an impact on those people’s minds that they collapsed. They are still locked in deep comas as we speak”[/i] the voice explained calmly. The angel immediately felt himself wretch in horror and continue to tear at himself. No, he didn’t have the ability to feel horror. He couldn’t feel sick. He just had one mission, which was to... to... He couldn’t remember. [i]“Do not dwell on the past Unmai” [/i]the voice continued, quieter now than it was[i]. “You must look to the future, and use your powers to fix this world. It is your destiny to help me end this. Now, rise...”[/i] ... The next sensation he felt next was of pulling his head out of basin of thick oily water, as the darkness pulled away and a rush of dulled senses reformed all of once. Gasping with surprising fatigue, Unmai blinked several times to readjust to the sudden change in light and grasp where he was. He was at his desk in the main operations centre, the same as always, and had just been logged into the VDS for some reason or another. He couldn’t quite recall why, but he knew he felt ill. He could do with some air. Before he stood up, Unmai noticed the first odd thing. The operations centre seemed more crowded than normal. On the row of desks in front and flanking either side of him were fellow employees, all sat staring at their computers with a hypnotised look, all seemingly absorbed by the VDS. In fact looking ahead, the room seemed to be full to capacity. And slowly looking up beyond the rows of computers, men were walking around the perimeter. Men carrying guns. Unmai froze at the sight, which along with the sheer number of people surrounding him was probably why he hadn’t been spotted by the guards. Before he could take it all in, a pair of double doors burst open, and in marched this raven haired woman, looking furious enough to make the most wild of beasts cower, and dragging what looked like the personnel manager behind her. Unmai watched her storm along the central aisle towards the top podium and the men stood there, and felt his senses return. [i]‘Oh god, I remember now. That’s the leader of the extremist group who stormed us and bought everyone in here. She made us all log into the VDS and then, er...’[/i] Unmai strained to remember. His sense of time was gone, but the clock on his computer said it was now 14:20:21. So he’d been in the VDS for over five hours, he must have been doing something horrible on her behalf, given the sick feeling in his stomach. [i]‘I remember duelling a lot, and fighting people for something. Numbers? Why does that sound familiar? Oh forget it, I’m awake now. I’ve got to do something to help everyone; I’ve got to call for help.’[/i] ... “Hasif!” Clarissa shouted across the room from halfway down the aisle. The mercenary leader was stood on the platform waiting for her. He bit his lip when he saw the woman being pulled along by the leader. Her shout had also summoned Wilhelm from their base, driving himself into the doorway of the office the technicians inhabited, and Doctor Evos, who emerged from another office stuffing his D-Gazer into one of his coat pockets and whose expression briefly turned to one of surprise for the first time. Clarissa reached the platform and stood toe to toe with the towering African. He did not physically react to her doing so, but inside he must have been sweating as she said one word in a deathly whisper. “Explain.” Hasif grunted haughtily. “Explain what? I’m trying to do my job without being called here to answer...” “Hasif, Asami” Clarissa interrupted. “Asami, Hasif. I’m lead to believe you’ve already met albeit less formally, when you permitted one of your men to rape her. Now what I want you to explain to me is how you can allow the men under your command to do such a thing, and to explain how difficult it can be for you and your men to follow one simple instruction. Which is...?” Hasif sighed, reluctant to answer. “Not to harm any Real Duel employees unless absolutely necessary.” “Oh you do remember? Well maybe you should remind your men, or do I need to do that?” While Clarissa and Hasif continued their furious face-off, one of the technicians tapped Wilhelm on the shoulder and started whispering frantically in his ear. What Wilhelm heard seemed to concern him, prompting a hushed discussion, before the technician waved over one of the soldiers from the edge of the room and passed him a scrap of paper. The soldier saluted and disappeared into the rows of desks, allowing Wilhelm to dismiss the technician and wheel over to his sister and the commander. “This is all well and good... but who is she and what are we going to do with her?” Clarissa realised that thought hadn’t really occurred to her, but she kept her composure. “I haven’t decided yet. Maybe just lock her up in one of the other offices in isolation.” “Are you sure that’s wise?” “I am not making her join those others, if that’s what you want me to do. She doesn’t have the ability to help us with that, but I’m not putting her in regardless. Not now.” Clarissa turned to the doctor watching proceedings from a little way off. “What do you think?” “Me?” The doctor paused to think. “You don’t need me to advise you on a matter that you personally feel so strongly about. I can’t see her doing us any harm if she’s locked away.” “Huh... since when did you care about people’s feelings?” Wilhelm scoffed. “And what were you doing next door anyway?” The doctor sighed, and started rummaging into the pockets of his coat. From them he produced a pack of large cigars and an ornate silver lighter; the sight of which made Wilhelm cringe. “I went next door for a smoke, rather than traipse all the way downstairs for one. I know you can’t stand the smell of my cigars.” “Ma’am.” The soldiers return prevented further discussion. The group watched as he marched between the rows of desks, ushering a frail looking man in front of him at gunpoint. The pair made their way up onto the stage, where the soldier made the man kneel with his hands on his head. His thin frame made his shivering more pronounced. The soldier threw the man’s D-Gazer to the floor in front of him, as well as a D-Disk. “The computer brains discovered this guy woke up from their control and logged out of the VDS somehow. He’s called Hakai Unmai, and is a low level system operator for the VDS or something. He was about to call the national army when I got to him.” “I see. Dismissed.” The soldier saluted Clarissa and left the platform, leaving the young man with the personnel manager and the respective leaders of the extremist group. Clarissa pushed Asami into the arms of the stunned doctor, allowing her to grab the man by the hair so he was forced to look at her, and at the gun she was pressing into the centre of his forehead. “Well now, you must be very clever to do that now mustn’t you Unmai? Might I ask how you managed it?” “I... I don’t know” Unmai replied, trying to keep calm. “Oh come now, you must know how you got out. Don’t worry dear, you can tell me. If you do, I promise I won’t hurt you.” “Please, I really don’t know” he repeated, a little more frantically as he felt the barrel of the gun press harder against his head. “I just remember you telling us all to log into the VDS, and then me waking up again just now. Nothing in between, I swear. Please don’t kill me. I don’t know anything.” “Oh really? Well isn’t that all the more incentive for me to stop wasting my time and shoot you, if you’re not important and don’t know anything?” The reverse psychology resulted in silence from the young man. He looked almost resigned to being shot now. So he was truly ignorant of his own escape. But still he had escaped, knowingly or not, and not just from the VDS but from the grip of the control that he had transformed him into a duel drone. That was worry enough. Clarissa sighed and withdrew, leaving Unmai to breathe again. Circling the group, she chose her words slowly and carefully. “I have to appear before the government of this country with our demands in half an hour. I cannot be late or be seen to be troubled; else we will not look like we are in complete control. Control is everything, and right now I have a problems sprouting up which are threatening it. You Unmai, you appear a bit of a mystery. I could cut your head of right now, and looking at my brother I think he’d like me to do that, but that would mean ignoring a problem rather than solving it. I need to find out how you got free. So what should I do with you?” “I could duel him... see what he’s got” Wilhelm rolled forward. Clarissa stepped across to stop him. “No Wilhelm. I see your idea, but I’m not risking you on this one.” Her gaze turned to the other three in turn; to the doctor, to the poor woman shaking before him, and to the giant African pirate. They all looked desperate not to be picked, as she toyed with each idea that came to mind. “You” she declared, pointing at the stunned looking Hasif. “You duel him.” “But... ma’am, I am not... I do not...” Hasif started too late, as one of Gadsby’s men marched over to Clarissa at her command, carrying a D-Disk and D-Gazer with him and passing them to Wilhelm. He started doing something with them, and as he did Evos walked over to where Unmai was kneeling and starting doing something similar. When both men had finished, Evos forced Unmai upright and put the devices on him, while Clarissa took the other set to the big man and forced them into his arms. “Well then you had better learn quickly hadn’t you, and remember not to disobey me in future” she said venomously, before she walked with the others to the side. “The system that simulates damage used by D-Gazers for real world duelling is not operated on a blanket system like the VDS, instead each has their own adjustable level depending on the model. Your two models have had the nerve suppressors disabled to an extent, increasing the pain you will be inflicting on each other, but not to the extent that you will fall unconscious because of it. However I cannot guarantee against any... [i]unknown[/i] factors that might do so...” She shot Unmai a suspicious look as she said that. Resigned to their fate the two men faced each other, both exchanging a worried glance at the other, both of them facing the unknown and under the watchful eyes of the group’s leaders making way for their contest. Both men wondered the same thing as they drew their cards; [i]‘What happens if I lose? [/i][i]What happens if I win?’[/i] [i]‘ARV established. Duel commencing.’[/i] "Duel!"[/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I think this topic now officially needs a PG-13 tag. The chapter was interesting, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1331073275' post='5860015'] I think this topic now officially needs a PG-13 tag. The chapter was interesting, though. [/quote] Oh s*** sorry. I forgot I was supposed to put one up before the chapter. I was kinda depressed yesterday and literally just posted the chapter early and went to bed, and forgot. Will put it in now though. Reminder that arc one finishes on Friday, and I'm trying to keep working on writing arc two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Really? The Arc ended that quickly? Usually when an Arc ends, there is some significant event or, in this case, Duel, that might take place to show that the Arc ended. Are we going to be surprised, Matt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 [quote name='~~Xiahou Dun~~' timestamp='1331074093' post='5860038'] Really? The Arc ended that quickly? Usually when an Arc ends, there is some significant event or, in this case, Duel, that might take place to show that the Arc ended. Are we going to be surprised, Matt? [/quote] Maybe we got wires crossed somewhere. There is one more chapter before the arc ends (after six hours). First half catches up with what everyone is doing at the mo, second half is duel and Clarissa's moves from there. There's not going to be shed loads of fireworks, but hey its only arc one. Three more to do. (And its the chapter that I got stuck on for FOUR weeks!!! I'm still not thrilled with it, but there just has to be a line y'know) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 First post in about 3 days... Anyway, Chapter twelve, closing the sixth hour and indeed ending the first arc. Has a duel (including the first use of anime cards, although in my defence this was written before GAOV was confirmed), and also updates on all the main figures we know so far. Not overwelhemed by this myself, but I don't want to stay bogged down by it. Comments on this chapter, the arc as a whole, the progression of the story or anything at all greatly appreciated. [spoiler=Chapter 6:2] With a resigned sigh, the old man shut down his computer and shuffled upstairs. Everything he had been a part of was about to turn on them, and with great rage that would devastate millions of lives. His life’s work, everything he had worked on to progress humanity, had been corrupted and was about to be misused for something that it should never have been. His work could do exactly the opposite for what he always intended. For six years he had tried to tell himself that things wouldn’t come to pass like he feared, tried to fool himself that he could rest easy with his conscious clear. As he continued up the stairs, he thought briefly of how he had retired to his homeland to try and get away from his nagging fears, but there was no escape from them. Just as there was no escape for all those in Japan suffering, in part because of him. It was too much to bear. Reaching his bedroom, the man reached out a trembling hand to the bottom drawer of his bedside cabinet. In among the folds of rarely worn clothes, his fingers wrapped around a small wooden box. Taking it from the drawer, the old man opened the box, took the gun inside in hand, and straightened up. He could see the snow outside his bedroom window. Snow white and pure. His finger squeezed the trigger ever so slightly. May God forgive him. Then he stopped. There was a long wait as the old man teetered on the precipice, trying to will himself over the edge. Still with each passing second, the more the urge ebbed away. This wasn’t the solution. If he truly felt responsible for what was happening, then he shouldn’t do this. He should try in some way to help those people. Putting the gun down very delicately, the old man hastily packed a light bag, and shuffled as fast as he could back downstairs and out of the house. ... Sakura had sat frozen in her little cubicle for the best part of fifteen minutes, paralyzed by the card she held in front of her. She was only very vaguely aware of people who had come and gone in that time. Her mother had knocked on the door a few minutes ago to check she was alright, to which she lied without a second’s consideration. She might still be waiting outside now, she couldn’t be sure. Right now, her world was a six by three foot cubicle, just her and this card. The card that embodied one of the monsters who those duelists and their mistress were searching for. That wielded such terrible power. The monster that had put Yudai in his coma. She had gone through enough grief. Now she was angry. This monster, the word just didn’t seem strong enough, was responsible for everything. It had ruined her life. It had possibly taken Yudai’s. It had possibly destroyed many before them, families like the Morita’s torn apart by its evil, and if it hadn’t appeared to her now it could well have gone on to destroy many more. Now it had come back to her, as if to haunt her. Her anger continued to build as she sat there staring at the creatures stone face. Well now she had the chance to stop it hurting anyone else, and have revenge. Now she would destroy it. Sakura turned and lifted the toilet seat to send the accursed monster to a watery death. She ignored that she was shaking, and went to drop it. Her fingers wouldn’t respond. Too angry to think about it, Sakura took the card in both hands. She would rip it to pieces then. Tears streaming down her face she pulled at the card, but her body stopped just as she felt the piece of card reach a breaking point. Her muscles no longer seemed to acknowledge her commands. She tried to throw it into the water again, lashing out wildly, but her fingers refused at the last second to release it and caused her to choke. How could she not do it? Every time the card was in danger, something seemed to stop her. Did this card have some sort of hold on her? Screaming in frustration, Sakura flopped against the side of the cubicle wall. There was a banging noise on the door. “Sakura, what’s wrong?” So her mother had waited outside. “Just... stuff mom. Be out in a minute.” Fuming, Sakura sat down and looked at the card again; its stone face looked emptily back at her. Looking at it again, its expression seemed incredibly sad. As if it felt guilty for what it had done, unless it was attempting that puppy dog look of innocence... No, that was stupid. How could a card depicting a duel monster carry feelings? So it looked sad, because someone had just drawn it that way. Big deal. This thing was a weapon for blind destruction. Trying to keep calm, Sakura made another attempt to tear the card in half. She failed, but by now she half expected to. As she sat, memories of her final moments in the VDS drifted across her aching mind. The mysterious Murtagh, her saviour, came into view and his words echoed in her ears. [i]‘...you won the duel. Therefore this now rightfully belongs to you. I would understand if you didn’t want to take it, but as the victor, it passes itself on to you now...’[/i] Was that why this card had appeared to her now; because it saw her as the rightful successor to its power, or even its rightful master? That some magic rule forced them together, and that because of some bond created by this she couldn’t throw it away? Or did it actually want to be with her? Again Sakura shook the ridiculous thoughts of this monster having a will and feelings out of her head. Well the why was irrelevant, what she needed to work out was what to do now. What was she supposed to do now? Mai was knocking on the door again, so she would have to work it out later. Slipping the card into her bag, Sakura let herself out. [i]‘Seems like I’m stuck with this thing. What am I supposed to do?’[/i] ... Jin and his supervisor Mr Kashiwa were about to take their lunch break. Jin was going to finish shortly, but he still delayed his break until now so he could take it with his colleagues who still had a long day ahead. Walking towards the canteen, Jin stopped at his locker to pick up a drink he had left inside. He was stunned to see half of a letter sticking out of the top of the locker, like someone had attempted to force it inside. Mr Kashiwa made some comment about the security of the store, but Jin ignored him as he opened the note. It was hastily scribbled and straight to the point. [i]Hey runt[/i] [i]Know you finish work soon. So as soon as you do, you get over to the nearest arcade and see if you can challenge me to a duel. There’s something I want to try out, and after I embarrassed you earlier I thought you might like a shot at some payback. Unless you’re a wimp of course, which wouldn’t bear well for you at school. I’ll be waiting in the Necrovalley area for a couple of hours for you. See you soon.[/i] [i]Shibo[/i] “What is it?” the old man asked. Jin took a while to respond, before throwing the paper away. “It’s nothing.” ... With a screech of pain, the angel vanished in a cloud of black smoke, leaving Garvan free to collapse on the steps leading up to a great sword at the end of a massive hall, the [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Saber_Vault"]Saber Vault[/url], and attempt to recover from his latest duel. No matter where he had gone he had kept getting chased after by these entirely black angel figures and forced to fight them. That was the fourth of the demonic duelists he had faced inside the VDS now, and although neither of the latest challengers had pushed him as close to defeat as the first one or carried a Number, the constant battling was taking its toll on him. He guessed that whoever these duelists reported to had got wind of him and his possession of two of the Number cards, and they were hunting him down for them. Well, there wasn’t much he could do about that, other than somehow get out of the system. But whoever was controlling these things had made sure escape would be difficult. So until that changed, if he wanted to keep surviving their attacks, he would have to do something. That meant change up his strategy. He had managed to summon Number 17: Leviath Dragon again in the second duel and win with its strength. When it was on the field, he had also noticed that the effect of a card that inflicted burn damage to him seemed lessened. Oppositely, he hadn’t managed to summon either of the Numbers in this last match and had suffered for it, having to scrape to the win somewhat with Cho-Len and his ever trusty Gagaga Magician. His deck was most suited for summoning level four monsters like them. But there was no getting away from the fact that the Numbers seemed to be the most powerful force in the VDS right now; both in terms of decimating opponents and protecting their duelists. He would have to make his deck more versatile, and make it easier for him to summon them. That was if he got a moment’s respite to do it in, because at that moment, another demonic creature had appeared before him, and he had to avoid the D-Anchor that was thrown towards him and warp to another area. ... Frustration was starting to settle in. Daiki had been roaming the VDS on his virtual D-Runner (a model similar to his real bike and bought and customised for many points) for a while now since his duel with Natsumi, having given up on attempts to get out of the system. He had been looking for anything else suspicious that could give him another direction to go in, even if that was just seeing more evidence of Numbers that were supposedly the cause of this, but his luck seemed to be out. He hadn’t encountered anything yet like Natsumi had spoken about. There were plenty of duelists running around as always, perhaps more than usual were visible in his free roaming of the world that were not presently engaged in duelling. He warned who he saw about the danger, and asked about for anyone who had experienced any changes in the system, but he got nothing of additional use. Most he met were aware of the increase in battle damage from their duels and had failed to escape since, which was why they were trying to avoid duelling, but nobody seemed to want to talk to him once they realised he was police. [i]‘They’ve probably beaten someone unknowing of what would happen and think they’ll get charged for it’ [/i]he thought, as one scared little boy warped to a different area mid-conversation. [i]‘This is weird that I can’t find anything though. I know I’m looking for only a hundred monsters in a system that millions across Asia use, but there are those duelists that are attacking people that she mentioned as well, that I’m yet to encounter. I should have seen something by now. What am I missing?’[/i] Trying to persevere, Daiki pressed on with the search. ... Natsumi couldn’t help but feel uneasy even now, as she approached the old man sitting cross-legged on the small shrine before her. This was their regular meeting place; a small area dominated by the ruins of a haunting temple and half covered by murky waters. The area didn’t have a name; a place that as far as Natsumi knew didn’t exist as a playable card from the game and instead merely as an area referenced to in story-lines, but the place creeped her out. The derelict grey pillars that crumbled into pools of dark water, the heavy mist shrouding the air, the occasional sound of something with four legs scuttling along in the darkness. Still, Natsumi approached the old man who was calmly waiting for her with his white hood covering his face, and knelt once she was within distance. “Methuselah-sensei, I successfully made contact with the duelist I suggested. He is in the VDS now, and has received the necessary information about Numbers and the hazards of this world in order to face them.” The old man nodded, seemingly satisfied. “I see. You are sure he is truly someone who can help us, rather than someone who your past feelings urged you to protect?” “I don’t have feelings for him anymore” Natsumi scowled. “Surely if I did, I would have urged him to stay far away from this place. I contacted Dai because he is a good duelist, because I thought I could trust him, and because if anyone could get a Numbers in the police it was probably him. I was right, on two counts.” “You have done well. We need all the support we can get, and any powerful duelists who might be able to aid us are always appreciated.” The old man took a deep breath and was silent. Natsumi couldn’t tell from the hood, but he seemed to have blanked out for a moment, seemingly some place far away. Methuselah returned after a moment. “So what are you planning to do now?” “That’s simple. While everyone’s running around in panic, this is the perfect chance for me to get into Real Duel’s private information stores, and find out what the company is trying to hide. I know they keep much of their most secure information deep within their vaults in here, and this is my best chance to find out what they have been hiding and bring the company down. But I need your help to get in. Unless you have other immediate need of me.” A chuckle told her that wasn’t what he had hoped for. “You are that bent on revenge against Real Duel, you can only see them and nothing else around you? You want to do nothing but destroy them for trying to destroy you?” Natsumi blinked, trying to strengthen her argument and convince him to help. “Well, there will be a connection to what is going on now resting in those archives, I know it. I could find something to help stop our enemies while I’m there.” Her argument did not do well against the old duelist. “And what if I wanted to put you to service finding and recovering more Numbers?” “... I would accept your orders.” “Good. We must gather as many Numbers as possible for the fight ahead; before they fall into our enemies hands, and stand the best chance of defeating them. You are my arm for this task.” The old man raised a gnarled hand to stop her arguing. “If you are successful, and you are still adamant about the path you wish to go down, then I will help you get into Real Duel’s secure areas. So get to it.” “... Yes sensei.” Natsumi bowed again, this time to hide her face from the old man who would no doubt not like her true reaction. But still, there was no questioning his orders. There was no way she could get to Real Duel without the old man’s help. She would have to play along for now. She would crush anyone who fought against her for a while, and bring the Numbers she won back to him. In return she would have to trust he would keep his word, and soon. ... Back at the Real Duel Building, Clarissa watched on as Hasif and Unmai drew their opening hands. Hopefully this duel would serve her with several uses; such as putting Hasif in his place with a reminder of her authority, and discovering who this Unmai was and what power had forced him free of her control and out of the VDS. Not to mention one of the technicians she had summoned to her side and was holding a small recording device. Also watching the duel either side of her were Wilhelm, who kept glancing suspiciously between Unmai and the woman Clarissa had rescued from Hasif’s soldier, Asami. She was standing in a guarded stance besides Doctor Evos, who was also closely watching proceedings for anything, as the green light stopped on the disk of the giant mercenary, giving him the first move. Taking his sixth card, Hasif struggled to work out what to do. He knew a little of how the game worked and the basic rules from watching Wilhelm and Evos duel, but not enough to be confident of victory against this guy and whatever was aiding him. But he had to win, otherwise how would Clarissa react? Hopefully the deck he had just been given would be good. His opening hand contained many powerful monsters, but how to use them effectively. Presumably this would do something. “Magic activate; [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Polymerization"]Fusion[/url]. By sending monsters in my hand to the cemetery, I can summon an appropriate Fusion monster from the extra deck. I fuse three copies of [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Cyber_Dragon"]Cyber Dragon[/url], in order to summon this mighty creature. The [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Cyber_End_Dragon"]Cyber End Dragon[/url]!" Unmai blinked as the gigantic mechanical dragon appeared before him, its three silver plated heads snapping and staring straight down at him (Lv10, ATK 4000). “Bit of a reckless start to summon that so quickly isn’t it? You know you can’t attack first turn right?” “You are just scared” Hasif replied, although he didn’t sound much better. “Cyber End Dragon is a monster of enormous power. Why not summon a powerful monster when you have the chance? You won’t be able to defeat this thing so easy, or protect yourself from it either. I end my turn with this.” “Interesting start. This puts him under a lot of pressure from the start” Clarissa smiled as she watched Unmai draw. “Let’s see what he summons to get out of this situation.” She noted Asami awestruck look at the mighty dragon, and Wilhelm’s unsurprising reaction to Hasif’s move, simply muttering to himself ‘Idiot’. Trying to slow his ragged breathing, Unmai took his sixth card. [i]‘Okay, it’s clear this guy doesn’t really know what he’s doing. Not that it’s stopped him summoning a powerful monster. I just have to keep calm and manipulate his inexperience to get past him without too much trouble. What worries me more right now is what’s going to happen to me if I win? In this situation, can I actually win?’[/i] Unmai didn’t know what to do. What would Clarissa do to him if he won? This was supposed to be a test of his capabilities, but he had nothing special to show her. If he did no doubt she would look to use him, but he probably didn’t have what she wanted, and that wouldn’t go down well. Desperately trying to figure his way out the young man froze on the spot, much to Hasif’s amusement, and Clarissa’s annoyance. “If you could kindly hurry it up please dear. I have other important business to attend to.” The laser gun pointed at him was a lot less kind about the request. “A-A-Alright, I set a monster in defence mode, and place 2 cards face down. Turn end.” “Is that all? They won’t be much use against the might of this monster. Draw.” Hasif smirked as he drew his next card. This game seemed quite simple now really, just summon the strongest monster you could and win quickly. With the effect of this cyber monster, that should be straightforward enough. “Cyber End Dragon attacks your face down monster, and its effect applies. When it battles a monster in defence, you take damage equal to the difference in their strength.” A ball of crackling light began to form in each of the dragons three open jaws, before each laser fired down on the reverse card. At the last second it flipped to reveal a large stone golem, its thick arms crossed in defence and eyes shut in brace of impact. As the laser rounds fired into and through its body, Unmai shouted and fell backwards. The tampering Evos had made to his D-Disk had had a dramatic effect, the deflected shots that struck him each hit with the force of a giant hammer, his mind scrambled with shock. This was the effect of a deflected attack, Lord only knew how it would have been if he had taken a bigger hit (LP 2700). Clarissa and her group of spectators exchanged surprised looks. Even Hasif was shocked by this, for two reasons. “But, how did you take such little damage?” “Because of simple maths” Unmai replied. “The monster you destroyed was the hero known as [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Defender"]Destiny Hero Defend Guy[/url], which has the highest defence of any regular level four monster (LV4, DEF 2700). Now because he’s been destroyed, I can activate the trap card [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_Signal"]Destiny Signal[/url] to summon another of my band of heroes of the night. [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Diamond_Dude"]Destiny Hero Diamond Guy[/url]." Where the golem had once been appeared a thin man in a blue suit and wrapped in ragged emerald cape. From all over his body sprouted hundreds of large spikes of crystal, reflecting the little light to create a strange aura about it (LV4, ATK 1400). These were the Destiny Heroes, a group of dark warriors based on various vigilantes of British comic culture, as opposed to the cartoon heroes that inspired their rivals in the Elemental Heroes. They were a very old archtype, but Unmai was always drawn to them as a ‘classic’ deck compared to the Xyz monsters everyone else used. Hasif blinked, before placing a card face down. “That monster is weak; it will not last long before Cyber End Dragon. The same will be said for you. You are one of the weakest examples of a human I’ve ever seen. Turn end.” “My turn.” Unmai barely registered his hand was shaking as he drew. “So you still don’t get it then.” “Get what?” “That appearances can be deceptive. My heroes and I might look weak, but underneath the surface lurks fierce power. Time to show you that, and turn this around. First I activate the effect of Diamond Guy. I can reveal the top card of my deck, and if it’s a magic card, I can send it to the cemetery.” Unmai looked at the card, before feeding it into the cemetery slot. “Next I summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Armageddon_Knight"]Knight of the End[/url]." A warrior encased in rusty black armour and holding a long broadsword rose next to Diamond Guy, its face hidden by a long red scarf and mask (LV4, ATK 1400). “When Knight of the End is summoned, I can send a dark attribute monster from my deck to the cemetery. The card I’m sending is [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Malicious"]Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy[/url], whose effect then activates. By removing this one from play, I can special summon the second one from my deck.” A savage beast with horns and long wings rose on the other side of the two warriors (Lv6, ATK 800). Now Hasif was starting to feel nervous. He knew nothing of these cards and could only see their weak forms that were standing before him, but surely this guy had to be planning to do something with them. Numbers possibly? What could he do if he was faced by a Numbers? Unmai continued. “Now the stage is set. I can release my three monsters to special summon one of the mightiest Destiny Heroes.” This was a surprise to everyone, as the three monsters sank and were swallowed by the black pits that opened beneath them. Although not a proper Advance summon, where one or more monsters were sacrificed to summon stronger monsters, this special summon was done in the same style as one. Still this sort of summon for a boss monster was harder and riskier to make than Xyz or Synchro summons. In the place of the three warriors descended a tall demon with black wings, protected by crude armour and wrapped in chains, and wielding a long sword producing from its gauntlet (Lv8, ATK 3400). Hasif blinked as he saw the stats appear on the ARV display. “All that sacrificing for a monster that is still weaker than Cyber End Dragon.” “Not for long he won’t be. I activate the magic card [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Smashing_Ground"]Earth Crush[/url]. This card immediately destroys whichever monster you control that has the highest defence. Since you only control one monster, your dragon would be it.” In possibly the most underwhelming way possible, Hasif watched in disbelief as his mighty dragon sank into the fissure beneath it, the three heads snapping and screeching as they went. “You punk coward! Is that the only way you can take down my monster, with that pathetic little trick?” “It’s all I needed” Unmai replied, trying to ignore the looks the spectators were giving him. “After all it was simple, and it worked. Sorry to disappoint you if it wasn’t spectacular enough, but maybe this will make up. I activate the ‘Trap Stun’ card, to seal your face down for the rest of this turn. Now [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Dogma"]Destiny Hero Dogma Guy[/url], sweep in for a direct attack.” As the demon charged, Hasif cast around in panic. He had just seen Unmai take a moderate amount of damage quite badly. He had first presumed it to be due to his sickly and weak body, but now he wanted to avoid this attack at all costs. His face down however was useless. Unless he had something in his hand he could activate. “From my hand, I activate an effect. By sending the face down [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_Reflect_Slime"]Metal Reflect Slime[/url] to the cemetery, I can special summon [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Snow_Plow_Engine_Hustle_Russel"]Snow Plow Engine Hustle Russel[/url] from my hand to protect me.” A large train like machine appeared from the side, lunging across the field into the path of Dogma (Lv10, DEF 3000). The demon’s sword sliced through it easily enough, causing the engine to explode, but Hasif remained unharmed. The same was not to be said for Unmai, as the mercenary was quick to point out. “Oh also, for every card sent to the cemetery by the effect of Hustle Russell, you take two hundred points of damage.” Unmai cringed, but after the earlier blow was not dramatically affected (LP 2500). “I place one card face down. Turn end.” Hasif: LP 4000, Hand 1, Field empty Unmai: LP 2500, Hand empty, Field of Dogma Guy and a face down “Hasif is putting up more of a fight than I expected” Evos turned to Clarissa with an unfathomable expression. “What do you make of him so far?” “Hmm...” “It is my turn” Hasif shouted, his anger and desperation were apparent as the odds stacked against him. “So now Dogma’s effect activates” Unmai interrupted, and the demon floated down to right in front of the African, close enough for them to breathe on each other. “During the Standby Phase after he was summoned, your life points are cut in half.” Before he could react, Dogma grabbed Hasif’s head with its free hand, and immediately a draining sensation overcame the big Somalian. A strange sensation, as if the weight of an ocean was pressing down on him, dragging him into a deep unconsciousness. His mind felt weary, sight dimming as he swayed, unable to speak. The feeling of helplessness was alien to him. When he had grown up on the mean streets of Mogadishu, he had been used to intimidating others and taking whatever he wanted from them. He was always the top man, not little people like this guy. It was this dull feeling that enraged him, and stirred him back into action as Dogma withdrew (LP 2000). “I will not be beaten by a scrawny, pathetic worm like you. Men like me are not the prey of weaklings like you.” “Then prove it Hasif.” The big man gulped as Clarissa snapped at him. “You talk big, starting acting it.” Indeed that was his problem. Hasif had no idea how to go through with his words, not yet. He only had two cards left, not a lot to initiate a reversal with, unless they were very powerful. Sweat blurred his vision as he studied them, the large demon floating eerily above him, Clarissa staring at him from a little distance away, his men who he commanded the respect of watching from the edge of the room, their expressions hidden by the darkness. Do salvage anything from this; his respect, his pay cheque, he had to win, somehow. “I special summon a monster. By removing the four light attribute machines from my cemetery, I can bring out [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Cyber_Eltanin"]Cyber Eltanin[/url]!" A monstrous silver creature floated through the portal opening above him. Looking like a strange UFO, at the centre of its body was the large toothy maw of a dragon, and gravitating around this heart were four more cyber dragon heads, like little moons orbiting a mighty Saturn (Lv10, ATK 2000). “When Cyber Eltanin is summoned, it gains five hundred attack and defence for each monster removed by its effect. Then when it hits the field, all other face up monsters go to the cemetery.” A chill ran through Unmai. He had set everything up to win with Dogma. He hadn’t anticipated this, as the draconic machine opened its jaws to unleash its main weapon. Unmai baulked as his mighty demon warrior was struck by a blinding flash of light straight in the chest plate. Its death sounded agonizing; he could only dread how he would end up now without it. Across the field, Hasif continued. “I activate the magic card [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Special_Schedule"]Special Schedule[/url]. This resurrects a level eight or higher machine from the cemetery in defence mode. My only choice is Snow Plow Engine Hustle Russell.” As the machine rose from the beyond, both men realised what was set up at the same time. [i]‘Wait, this is the fourth monster I’ve been presented with of this level. That must mean this deck is geared to summon an Xyz monster.’[/i] “I overlay level ten, Cyber Eltanin and Hustle Russell. Xyz Summon.” From the vortex rose something like a tank on wheels, heavily armoured and equipped with a huge cannon that was pointing straight at the quaking young man (Rk10, ATK 3000). "[url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Dreadnought_Cannon_Express_Gustaph_Max"]Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max[/url]!" “That bungler managed to summon it then....” The other spectators turned to Wilhelm, whose grim expression had changed to one of condescending interest. “If this doesn’t drag what he is hiding out...” Unmai felt so numb looking at the cannon lowering towards him; he barely heard Hasif’s voice far in the distance. “By detaching an overlay unit from Gustaph Max, you take two thousand points of damage.” He screamed as the fires of a volcano incinerated him as the cannon fired, tearing his limbs away from his body that was locked in that space. His chest was being crushed by the force, his ribcage was about to collapse. His overworked brain was starting to shut down, his heart and lungs were at bursting point. The world around him was disappearing as senses failed, leaving only the inferno. The agony seemed to go on forever, until it all vanished just as suddenly as it came, leaving him free to fall sideways and try desperately to recover oxygen (LP 500). Somewhere, he had no idea where, Hasif was watching and no doubt enjoying this. “Now, finish this with a direct attack.” The cannon lowered towards its fallen target, and fired once again. Again the inferno swept over Unmai. “Trap activate, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Defense_Draw"]Guard Block[/url]. This reduces the battle damage to zero, and lets me draw a card.” Hasif grunted in annoyance. “In that case, I end my turn.” With a great effort, Unmai managed to push himself upright. Guard Block had done little to do anything other than prolong his suffering, having given him only [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Blade_Master"]Destiny Hero Dagger Guy[/url] as a not ideal pick. Now he just wanted it to end. He couldn’t achieve anything by this. Even if he won, what was the point? Yet somehow he felt there was a point, and that he just didn’t know it yet. Something made him pick up his next card anyway, even if it was grim resignation, even if it was just to beat this smug bastard. It would be a small victory, but a victory against Clarissa nonetheless; anything that could put a dent in her plans would be an achievement. If he could achieve anything more, to put more dents in her for what she was doing, then he gladly try for them however unrealistic and ultimately pointless. “First I’m activating an effect from my cemetery. During the turn after I sent a magic card there by the effect of Diamond Guy, I can activate it. The card in question is called [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Over_Destiny"]Over Destiny[/url], which lets me summon a hero from my deck whose level is half that of another monster in the cemetery. I choose [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Captain_Tenacious"]Destiny Hero Die Hard Guy[/url]." A bare-chested warrior carrying two large shields appeared before Unmai (Lv3, ATK 800) before he played his next card. “Next I activate [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Pot_of_Avarice"]Jar of Avarice[/url], returning the five monsters in my cemetery back to my deck in order to draw two cards.” His arms protested, but he forced them to operate. Clutching the two cards tightly, he turned them over slowly, to reveal a magic, and... “I summon Dagger Guy to the field. Then I activate the magic of [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Fiend%27s_Sanctuary"]Devil Sanctuary[/url] to summon a metal fiend token to the field alongside it.” A suited warrior and small gargoyle of liquid metal appeared either side of the other warrior. Despite his new wave of strength, he could see Hasif continue to look unafraid. The fool. “Now I release my three monsters to summon the strongest Destiny Hero, and your worst nightmare.” The three monsters sank into a portal of black and red, their bodies melting into the pool below them with looks of agony. Hasif must have been slow, because although he looked a little nervous now, he was still trying to cling to some ridiculous idea that he’d be okay. Could he not gather that he was about to suffer what he had suffered tenfold Unmai thought, as a claw rose from the bloody portal. “Rise, [url="http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Plasma"]Destiny Hero Bloo-D[/url]!" As the creature rose, Hasif safely knew he had never seen anything so frightening in his life. Floating on ragged and torn wings, a tall demon creature was staring down at him. Covered in scale like crimson and cobalt armour with three long spikes arching over its head, the creature pointed one of the long skeletal fingers of its left hand at him. Instead of a right hand was a crab like pincer, lined with blood covered teeth (Lv8, ATK 1900). “Whilst Bloo-D is on the field, the effects of all other monsters are negated.” Unmai’s voice was empty of emotion. “But that’s an irrelevance compared to his other ability. Once per turn, Bloo-D can use its effect to take one monster you control and consume its power for its own. Then it gains attack equal to the monster it’s seized. Goodbye.” In slow motion, the armoured train was pulled towards the demon, before vanishing as the tip of the bloody claw touched it (ATK 3400). With its strength increased, the attack was most horrible. By the end of it, Hasif was lying on his back, horrified look given way to a stunned daze (LP 0). The attack had made him scream to an extent that Unmai would probably never be able to shake the sound from his head, if he had felt remotely guilty about it. He didn’t. “So, what do you think?” Unmai turned slowly, unable to manage much free movement, to see Evos speaking to Clarissa. They, Wilhelm, and another man in their service were ignoring the fallen Hasif and were looking at him, stooped and battered, with hard expressions. The other man tapped Clarissa on the shoulder and said something about needing a decision. With a deep breath, Clarissa came to it. “He is nothing special, and doesn’t have any special cards that could have aided his escape. He must have had someone else in the VDS rescue him like the others. Put him back in the system with the others and monitor him, to see if they try to free him again.” “No.” Sudden revulsion came over Unmai as he sensed what was about to happen, that he was about to be made to do something dreadful in her name again. Two pairs of burly arms wrapped around his weak form and pulled him towards the others as Clarissa and the others turned away. His struggling was pointless, but he struggled anyway. “I won’t do it. I won’t serve you.” Clarissa ignored him; she was instead speaking to the technician as Wilhelm rolled into one of the offices, whilst Evos escorted their captive Asami into another room further along. He continued to wrestle the two masked men, vaguely registering one of them hitting him in the back of the head as his world spun, before he was forced into an empty seat at the front. Still he tried to fight them off as they forced his D-Gazer on and logged him in. The world was starting to slip away, and the virtual one took over... A surge of energy exploded through the side of his head, and he sagged forward. The feeling went immediately, leaving a numb light-headedness and a slight buzzing noise, as the virtual world that had half enveloped him started to fade again. But the real world was no more focused. Somehow Unmai managed to turn his head towards the front as it thudded against the desk. There he could see Clarissa running back out to the platform, and could just make out Hasif as well. He was holding his gun, and had a strange expression on his face. Then both worlds went black, and were gone. ... Clarissa took one glance at the scene out in the main room. The two guards had backed away from Unmai, who was collapsed against his desk and eyes closed, before turning to see Hasif was just sat there, gun lowered and looking away towards the dying man. Somewhere to her right Evos was watching proceedings, as was someone behind her. Before anyone could say or do anything else, she took two strides towards Hasif, drew a weapon and shot him. He collapsed as the first shot buried itself in his temple, another two thudding into him for good measure. The guards placed around the room under his command sparked into movement at this, drawing their own weapons, as did Gadsby’s men in turn, but Clarissa fired into the air before anyone could start a real fire fight. “Stop. Everyone stop. How many times do I have to repeat myself? Do not harm them, and do not question my orders. Got it?” The question was rhetorical. Ignoring the clamour of mutterings, Clarissa stormed back towards the main office, stopping only to order the guards standing helplessly beside Unmai to dispose of the bodies and for them and the others to wait for further orders to be issued shortly. Back in the head office, the technicians seemed gobsmacked as she marched inside and sat herself down at the end of the table; her head resting delicately on her fingers, eyes shut, and taking deep, ragged breaths. “They are gathered and ready for your call... and the recording is ready...” Wilhelm rolled up alongside her. “If you’re not ready... we can continue to keep them in the dark like we have been...” Clarissa couldn’t remember the last time Wilhelm had spoken to her in that tone. She took a moment to consider, before placing her hand on his and replying with a graceful smile. “No. I am ready.” ... The tension was so intense it was tangible. The weight of it certainly bore on the shoulders of the seven people inside the main boardroom of Toshima Halls. Inside this room were the prime minister, Fujita Kenji, Tanaka Rokuro and Maeda Izura, all pacing around or sat waiting around a round table and fidgeting in their own ways. A member of Yuri’s team had been sent over from the special unit of the Met Police and was sat typing at a computer, and two other ministers were also sat in waiting for the call that they had gathered here to receive. One was the minister for health and welfare Yukimura Minori; a small and dumpy women with an airy demeanour and irritable scowl. The other was Ohayashi Ryuunosuke, the minister for internal affairs, Hideo’s right hand man and the oldest and most experienced of his cabinet. A fierce old man with long white hair in a ponytail and a fine beard, Ryuunosuke sat patiently, the furrows of his brow predominant in his expression. There was a small buzzing sound, before an image rose up from a projector pointing up out of the centre of the table. Three images appeared in a triangular formation, so everyone around the room could see the speaker clearly. “Good afternoon ministers. My name is Clarissa, and I am the leader of the group that has seized control of Real Duel Ltd, and has taken all of the two thousand members of personnel inside the building, as well as the tens of millions of people currently logged into the VDS from across Japan and the rest of Asia, as hostages. Listen carefully and do not interrupt, for I am about to issue my demands to you.” The screens changed, to a recording of images of a duel being contested by a large African man and frail young Japanese. The two competitors were obviously in horrendous pain as they exchanged blows, before eventually the African did not get up from the knockout move applied by the large demonic warrior. “This is what every person currently locked inside the virtual world is experiencing” Clarissa continued over the footage, before the film ended and returned to her. “As you are aware, many people have fallen into comas as a result of our control of the virtual world. This is what happens with only a small change to the VDS, as a warning that I am serious and I am in control. If my demands are not met, then the damage control and safety buffers of the VDS will be removed completely, and things will be much worse for all those people inside. I have already made it clear to the enforcers of the law not to come near the building, and I will make it clear to you that if you attempt to send agents here, or if you do not meet my demands, there will be severe consequences felt by those I hold the lives of in my hands. People recover from comas in time. They tend to not recover from fatalities.” Hideo went to say something, but Clarissa interrupted him. “Now if you would kindly pay attention, these are my demands. I am a patient woman and am in no rush, so you should prepare yourselves for a long day. I may contact you at any time if I need the powers of your office to accomplish something for me or if things change, but some things will remain absolute and you will no doubt need time to arrange. Your first assignment prime minister; is to call a live press conference within the next thirty minutes. You will address the people, and you are to inform your people that they are under terrorist attack. You are not to disclose the nature of the threat, or mention the VDS or Real Duel in anyway. You will take no questions.” “I don’t understand how my making such a statement would help you” Hideo asked. “I think we can all imagine the reaction of the population if they become aware of a terrorist threat on them. The media are picking up on the coma cases and trying to warn people off the VDS, but I have enough hostages already to make my point. “And after that?” “There will be the usual financial compensation, of course. I will inform you as to how much and how the money is to be transferred to me at a later stage, but I shouldn’t imagine it will be difficult for you to free it up from somewhere. But my other major demand you need to prepare for is something you should be more worried about. That is, I want you to contact every major broadcasting company in Japan, for every form of popular media, and prepare them to be able to broadcast a live address, to the people of their country, by me.” “When I am ready to address them, I will contact you to make the time I want to go on the air known. I want my face to be seen on every giant screen on the side of every building in every city. I want my voice to be heard in shop, office, factory and home, live and uninterrupted, to say what I want to say. This and all my other instructions are non-negotiable. Failure to comply will have dire consequences for a significant percentage of the population of Japan and its neighbours, most of which I don’t need to remind you are the bright new and innocent generation of children.” “You’re insane!” Kenji made the outburst before he could stop himself. Clarissa thankfully seemed unruffled. “You think that because you are an ignorant puppet. But don’t worry, you won’t be for long. But for now, I have other matters to attend to rather than trading insults, as do you. You have to get ready for your press conference prime minister. I look forward to watching it most closely. Bye for now.” The transmission ended, leaving the boardroom in total silence. 14:59:58... 14:59:59... 15:00:00... [/spoiler] Going to have two weeks off from posting to get ahead again, going to try and write chapters 18-20 in that time before Arc 2 begins. Character bios and an extra chapter will be up in the meantime. So, yeah, thanks all for reading and enjoying... and commenting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 10, 2012 Report Share Posted March 10, 2012 Unmai can't actually be dead! He's too awesome to die! Plus he's a main character probably and such... Anyways, those weeks of hardship payed off. Great chapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Four weeks work for 1 comment and 1 rep I know I've made a big deal about this being an Xyz generation fic with all the new (yet to feature) Xyz archtypes from the OCG and DT. Unmai is sort of the throwback classic card character, and DHeros are my favourite ever archtype theme wise, plus they have lots of support like D-Fortune and whatnot, and he gets a lot of the older support. It will probably come as a non-spoiler that he will return. Was gonna try to finish writing Chapter 17 today. Seriously any comments? On anything regarding the entire story so far/to come? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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