Northern Sage Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1331413968' post='5864980'] 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. [/quote] It was never stated that he died. He was just put back as a mindless drone. Sorry, great chapter and duel. I really liked both duelists' decks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2012 Well, he was kinda shot in the head and blacked out... Hasif's deck was why this chapter took so freaking long. The duel for this chapter changed from Unmai vs .... about three times, each choice getting slightly less stupid before we got to Hasif. Then I ran out of Xyz archtypes and didn't want two old decks going at it when I promised Wind Ups, Inzecktors, Holy Carved, etc. So it was Gustaph Max deck... or Barbaros Gadgets culminating in Landia the Goldfang. Deck itself would have been nice but lack of impact in Xyz. So it's a Tuesday, and that usually means new chapter time.... ... but not this week Two week break for me to get some serious writing done on Arc Two, and for several people to catch up. Those who are please feel free to comment on anything at anytime. In those two weeks character bios and an extra 'flashback' challenge will be posted at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Character Bio's, in case anyone out there still cares. Must try and bully myself into getting back on the wagon with this. [spoiler=[b]Tokyo Metropolitan Police[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Masuro, Daiki[/b]]Otherwise Known: Dai Age: 25 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Garvan, S.I. Ryokan, Keylan, Yuri, Natsumi Body Type: 6ft, semi-Athletic Hair: Dark, scruffy Eyes: Green Clothing: (Both real world and VDS): Tanned jacket, shirt and jeans. Standard D-Disk. Bio: Daiki may act like a calm, carefree and respected officer, but he is a troubled young man who seems scarred by events in his life that he cannot recall. According to hints from Garvan and Natsumi he can be at times moody, distant, and perhaps even violent. It is possible that seeking some order and discipline in his life was why he joined the police force, although events before that point in his life are a mystery. Daiki uses duelling as a method of fun and relaxation, having found a natural talent for the game. After receiving a cryptic message from the wanted hacker Firefly, Daiki entered the VDS as ordered, and was immediately trapped there. He has since discovered the Numbers, but he does not know what to believe or what to do now, other than he must stop people from being harmed. Duel Decks: Instead of an archtype, Daiki plays an Instant Xyz Deck that revolves around the swarming of mostly level three warrior type monsters to summon key monsters. Many of his cards can manipulate their own or other monsters levels, or can special summon their allies to combine their might. Numbers: 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope (appeared at end of duel against Garvan) [spoiler=Ground Deck] Dol Dora, Howling Warrior, Key Warrior Keyman, Shine Knight, Speed Bird, Trident Warrior, Jar of Avarice, Surging Resonance, Unprecedented Wind, Guard Block, Truth Reinforce, Xyz Reflect[/spoiler] [spoiler=Riding Deck]Dol Dora, Evil Shinobi, Howling Warrior, Key Warrior Keyman, Shine Knight, Trident Warrior, High Speed Crash, Silver Contrail, Vision Wind, Guard Block, Holy Barrier – Mirror Force, Truth Reinforce[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck (shared)]Grenosaurus, Kachi Kochi Dragon, Number 39: Aspiring Emperor - Hope Solid Frozen Gantetsu[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Zielinski, Garvan[/b]]Age: 27 Country of Origin: Poland (moved to Japan aged 7) Family: Unknown Associates: Daiki, S.I. Ryokan, Keylan, Yuri, Scag Body Type: 6ft 3, broader build, semi-athletic Hair: Black, shorter, neatly combed back Eyes: Green Clothing: (Both real world and VDS): Casual smart shirt and trousers, with biker jacket for riding. Standard D-Disk. Bio: Garvan joined the police at the same time as Daiki, the pair meeting at boot camp and rising through the ranks together. Like Daiki he enjoys duelling, but his approach is much more methodical and he is perhaps more adaptable to change. He is very dedicated to his work, and very good at it. Garvan entered the VDS to search for clues that might provide answers to the strange events taking place after several leads took him there. Once inside he was faced by one of the Duel Drones and had to fight tooth and nail to survive, discovering and acquiring Numbers in the process. This seems to have made him a marked man, and he is being chased by the drones. Duel Decks: Garvan plays a similar Instant Xyz Deck to Daiki, swarming the field with spellcaster type monsters that are mostly level four. Garvan relies on cunning strategy and attack strength to overcome opponents, but after obtaining two Numbers, he is considering changing his deck. Numbers: 83: Galaxy Queen (appeared at end of duel against Daiki), 17: Leviath Dragon (won from duel drone) [spoiler=Ground Deck]Battle Fader, Gagaga Magician, Jester Confit, Predicting Monk Cho-Len, Summon Priest, Bound Wand, Giant Shadow of Egotism, Magic Blast, Cry of the Living Dead, Xyz Reborn[/spoiler] [spoiler=Riding Deck]Full Elf, Gagaga Magician, Predicting Monk Cho-Len, Summon Priest, High Speed Crash, Zero Reverse, Cry of the Living Dead, Gagaga Guard, Hidden Soldiers[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck (shared)]Number 17: Leviath Dragon, Number 83: Galaxy Queen, Shine Elf, Tinplate Archduke[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Superintendant General Ryokan, Shigeo[/b]]Age: 48 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Daiki, Garvan, Keylan, Yuri Body Type: 5ft 8, broad shouldered Hair: Grey crew cut Eyes: Grey Clothing: Smart shirt without tie Bio: The head honcho in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Shigeo is a tough boss to work for. He demands results and those results had better be good; no excuses. At first he is very sceptical about the signs of trouble as he has little understanding of the influence of Real Duel Ltd and how many people connected to it. Only when the police are contacted directly by Clarissa’s group does he respond to action, although the demands placed upon them are limiting progress. Duel Decks: Shigeo does not duel, and has no interest in duelling or the VDS phenomena whatsoever.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Deymura, Keylan[/b]]Age: 23 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Daiki, Garvan, Yuri Body Type: 5ft 9, slight, lanky Hair: Dark, smartly flattened Eyes: Dark Blue Clothing: Smart shirt and blazer for office wear Bio: Whereas Daiki and Garvan probably made their jobs by outstanding work in the field, Keylan rose to the top by his smarts behind the scenes. However today has been a bad day for him overall so far; first assigned the fruitless task of trying to locate the hacker Firefly, and then trying to find an identity to the heads of the extremist group controlling Real Duel and stops the situation from worsening. He was the first to be alerted to the level of the threat, and is continuing to work harder at containing it. Duel Decks: It is not known whether Keylan duels or not.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Ono, Yuri[/b]]Age: 30 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Daiki, Garvan, Keylan Body Type: 5ft 8, average Hair: Tight bob, brown Eyes: Light green. Wears glasses Clothing: Smart business suit and trousers Bio: Yuri works in the top office of the Metropolitan Police close to Keylan and Shigeo. She does not operate in the field, but does co-ordination work for field agents on missions and some computer based work, as well as relaying information across the office. She is harsh and speaks her mind, but she does have a soft side as well, however rarely it emerges. She is working hard to get the terror threat under control. Duel Decks: Yuri does not duel, and sees the game as ‘pointless’.[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Clarissa’s Extremist Group[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Clarissa Haines-Wilshire[/b]]Age: 26 Country of Origin: England Family: Wilhelm (brother) Associates: Evos, Gadsby Body Type: 5ft 10, slim, curved figure Hair: Long black Eyes: Dark brown Clothing: Black combat outfit with gloves and heeled boots, and many gun holsters. Bio: The leader of the extremist group that took control of Real Duel, Clarissa seems to have been waiting for this day for a long time. Seizing the company, she has held all in workers hostage and forced them to do her bidding, sending them into the VDS to hunt. She is a very precise and strict leader, and she does not tolerate deviation from her orders. She also seemed unfazed by most problems, of which there have been many during her operation so far, until she got extremely angry about the treatment of captive Asami Kato, enough to shoot one of her men and punish his commanding officer Hasif for harming her. She has made her demands clear to the government, as well as what she is prepared to do in order to see them met. Duel Decks: It is so far unconfirmed if Clarissa actually duels herself, or whether she leaves it for Wilhelm to play enforcer for the most part. Numbers: Unknown, but confirmed that her duel drones have obtained just over twenty.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Wilhelm Haines-Wilshire[/b]]Age: 21 Country of Origin: England Family: Clarissa (sister) Associates: Evos, Gadsby Body Type: 5ft 3 while sat in wheelchair, frail, thin Hair: Grey, long and unkempt Eyes: Green and purple Clothing: Plain grey shirt and smart trousers. Sits permanently in a motorized wheelchair that has a special D-Disk arm. Bio: Clarissa’s computer genius and personal enforcer, Wilhelm was a key part in getting into the mainframe of the VDS and tampering with the system; increasing the powerful effects on the minds of players when they took damage. Since then he has kept monitoring the chaos unfolding in the virtual playing space. It is not yet known exactly what the illness that leaves him wheelchair bound and struggling to breath and talk is, but he seems to have had it for a long time if not life. Whereas Clarissa seems mostly indifferent to people, Wilhelm seems to take pleasure in other peoples pain. Duel Decks: Wilhelm uses an OTK deck that focuses on multiple direct attacks using Daigusta Phoenix and Brionac. This OTK is easy to set up, as it only requires Future Fusion and any level four tuner monster in hand to set it off. Numbers: Unknown [spoiler=Ground Deck]Cyber Dragon, Bolt Hedgehog x3, Mist Valley Soldier, (plus at least 3 more Machine type monsters) Future Fusion[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Chimeratech Overdragon, Dragon of the Ice Barrier Brionac, Daigusta Phoenix x2[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Doctor Hank Evos[/b]]Age: 35 Country of Origin: USA Family: Unknown Associates: Clarissa, Wilhelm, Gadsby Body Type: 6ft 4, tall and broad build Hair: Wavy brown hair, and some stubble makes him quite rugged Eyes: Dark green. Wears glasses Clothing: Traditional scientist coat over smart jumper and trousers Bio: As a former employee of Real Duel, fired for corrupting and stealing files, Evos was possibly hired for his inside knowledge of the company and how to infiltrate the building, as well as the work on creating the program that has turned the company employees into Clarissa’s army. He seems to take everything with mild interest but does not get emotional about anything, as if everything is quite trivial or ordinary to him. Along with Wilhelm, he is monitoring the progress of efforts made in the VDS. Duel Decks: It is hinted that Evos does duel, but it is yet unknown what his deck contains or what Numbers (if any) he has.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Commander Hasif Myakolo[/b]]Age: 42 Country of Origin: Somalia Family: Unknown Associates: Clarissa, Gadsby Body Type: 6ft 6, powerful figure Hair: Dark, short curly, black Eyes: Dark brown Clothing: All black camo gear Bio: The leader of the band of mercenaries hired by Clarissa to aid in the capture and control of the Real Duel Building, Hasif was given the position of Commander; reporting directly to Clarissa although considered just below Gadsby. Like most mercenaries, power and money seemed to be his two main drives behind his allegiance. He was forced into a duel against Unmai as punishment for being unable to control his men, and for Clarissa to test the mysterious escapee without risking her key men. He shot Unmai in anger at his loss, and was consequently killed by Clarissa. Duel Decks: Hasif used a borrowed deck for his duel against Unmai. The deck focused around summoning high level machine type monsters in order to bring out the boss, Gustaph Max. [spoiler=Ground Deck]Cyber Dragon x3, Cyber Eltanin, Snow Plow Engine Hustle Russell, Fusion, Special Schedule, Metal Reflect Slime[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Super Dreadnought Cannon Express Gustaph Max[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Commander Charles Gadsby[/b]]Age: 46 Country of Origin: England Family: Unknown Associates: Clarissa, Wilhelm, Hasif Body Type: 5ft 9, athletic navy trained body Hair: Blond, neat Eyes: Green Clothing: All black camo gear, with military beret to signify rank Bio: A former Navy officer, Gadsby is a battle hardened veteran and is one of Clarissa’s most trusted associates. He has the utmost respect for Clarissa and follows her orders precisely and efficiently. Duel Decks: It is not known if Gadsby duels or not.[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Real Duel Ltd Employees[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Hon. President Shinawatra, Taiyo[/b]]Age: 70 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Real Duel Board of Directors and higher employees Body Type: 5ft 9, reasonable build despite age Hair: Greyish brown, bushy moustache Eyes: Light brown Clothing: Personally tailored executive suit Bio: The people’s president, Shinawatra tried to stand up to Clarissa and her men, but in the end proved only a signal of defeat when he was crushed by Wilhelm. Seeing his still body after his defeat made his employees lose hope and give into her, before she killed him. Clarissa seemed to especially hate him for some reason, and it was only in the final moments of his life that he became truly afraid. Duel Decks: Shinawatra used what seemed to be a basic Instant Xyz Deck, using a mixture of different cards to summon from a range of different Xyz. Numbers: None [spoiler=Ground Deck]Gravekeeper’s Spy x2, Book of Sun, Holy Barrier – Mirror Force, Trap Stun[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Gemknight Pearl[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Hakia, Unmai[/b]]Age: 22 Country of Origin: South Korea Family: Unknown Associates: Bozu Body Type: 5ft 10, thin and lanky Hair: Short scruffy black mess Eyes: Grey Clothing: Loose, ill-fitting suit Bio: Unmai worked for Real Duel for just a year in the main operations department of Real Duel, monitoring and correcting any problems with the VDS. He was made into a duel drone by Clarissa along with many others and blindly attacked duelists on her behalf. He seemed to defeat many opponents, remorselessly putting them in comas but with little success, until he was awakened by a strange voice. Back in the real world, Unmai tried to send a distress signal but was caught. Clarissa forced him to duel Hasif, to determine how he managed to escape, but the contest revealed no special power in him. As he was being inserted back into the VDS, Unmai was shot by Hasif and died, but if the voice that awakened him was anything to go by, that end surely cannot be his destiny... Duel Decks: Unmai uses an archtype called the Destiny Heroes; a group of vigilantes based on various villains and anti-heroes of British culture. An old fashioned archtype that relies on Advance and Fusion summoning to call on its boss monsters, D-Heroes still have swarm power and many tricky strategies. Numbers: None [spoiler=Ground Deck]Destiny Hero Bloo-D, Destiny Hero Dagger Guy, Destiny Hero Defend Guy, Destiny Hero Diabolic Guy x2, Destiny Hero Diamond Guy, Destiny Hero Die Hard Guy, Destiny Hero Dogma Guy, Knight of the End, Devil Sanctuary, Earth Crush, Jar of Avarice, Over Destiny, Destiny Signal, Guard Block, Trap Stun[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Umimoto, Bozu[/b]]Otherwise Known as: Duel Drone Kesef Age: 31 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Unmai Height: 5ft 7 Body Type: Quite stout Hair: Flat, dark brown Eyes: Dark blue Clothing: Suit Bio: A supervisor in the operations centre for Real Duel Ltd, Bozu was responsible for overseeing the work of several staff, including Unmai, in maintaining the smooth running of the virtual world. He served in Clarissa’s army as a Duel Drone, viciously attacking duelists who might possess Numbers cards. He successfully acquired one, but then lost it to Garvan in a duel that, for reasons that Clarissa and her group cannot understand, also cost him his life. Duel Decks: Bozu uses a deck known as Banishark; a series of Fish, Aqua and Sea-Serpent monsters that revolve around removing themselves from play to trigger several effects. Numbers: [i]17: Leviath Dragon (lost to Garvan)[/i] [spoiler=Ground Deck]Big Jaws, Spiked Sunfish, Uminotarus, Wingtortoise, Aqua Jet, Poseidon Wave, Shock!, Trap Stun[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Kato, Asami[/b]]Age: 32 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: President Shinawatra Body Type: 5ft 7, quite curved Hair: Shoulder length, auburn Eyes: Dark Clothing: Shirt and skirt combination Bio: A personnel and training manager for Real Duel Ltd, Asami is employed by the company to run the recruitment, training and welfare of staff. During the capture of the Real Duel Building she was able to hide herself away in a storage cupboard, but was eventually found by Hasif’s men. Her hiding almost cost her dearly, had it not been for the fortuitous rescue by the woman who had started the trouble to begin with, Clarissa. Clarissa was appalled by the soldier’s intentions for Asami and decided to keep her safe and out of the VDS, instead locking her in another office. Duel Decks: Despite her position with Real Duel, Asami has never got into the game herself.[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Government of Japan[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Prime Minister Nakashima, Hideo[/b]]Age: 48 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Mai (ex-partner), Sakura (daughter) Associates: Government cabinet, Yudai Body Type: 5ft 7, stout, unfit Hair: Balding, grey Eyes: Brown Clothing: Business suit Bio: In the final six months of his term before re-election, the unpopular prime minister struggled against his other ministers to move on the crisis early on while the extremists moved in the shadows, until he become embroiled on a personnel level when his daughter Sakura and her boyfriend Yudai are caught inside the system. Sakura manages to escape, but Yudai has now been in a coma for nearly four hours. Unable to warn the population with sparking a reaction, he and the other ministers have received contact with Clarissa concerning her demands. Duel Decks: Hideo does not duel.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Fujita, Kenji[/b]]Age: 29 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Government cabinet Body Type: 5ft 10, tall and thin Hair: Brown, neat mop top Eyes: Green, wears glasses Clothing: Business suit Bio: Only recently promoted to the cabinet as minister for finance, Kenji has been thrown into the situation at the deep end. He is totally unsure of what to do for, but will try to help anyone he can. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Kenji duels or not.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Maeda, Izura[/b]]Age: 28 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Riku (daughter) Associates: Government cabinet Body Type: 5ft 9, dainty, cute Hair: Light, quite short Eyes: Blue Clothing: Women’s suit Bio: Izura has been with the prime minister throughout his term. In charge of his publicity and image, she and Rokuro advised against a general warning during the early signs of trouble in the VDS, as a false alarm would bury his government once and for all. Now the crisis is confirmed, she is working hard with the others in any way she can. Her young daughter Riku is in the same hospital as Yudai. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Izura duels or not.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Tanaka, Rokuro[/b]]Age: 35 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Government cabinet Body Type: 6ft 3, broad build Hair: Blonde, wavy Eyes: Blue Clothing: Smart black suit Bio: The minister for defence, Rokuro seems to have a laid back personality, having insisted on not using honorary terms with Izura. Once she alerts him to the potential threat, he is extremely worried from the off, but advised the prime minister on remaining discreet until more information was known. He has since been working with the country’s forces, and was with the others when Clarissa gave her demands. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Rokuro duels or not.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Ohayashi, Ryuunosuke[/b]]Age: 67 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Government cabinet Body Type: 5ft 8, quite thin and slightly hunched Hair: Long white hair and moustache Eyes: Dark green Clothing: Brown suit Bio: Ryuunosuke was only briefly seen at the end of the arc, having received Clarissa’s message with the others. He is the minister for internal affairs, and leads in Hideo’s absence. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Ryuunosuke duels or not.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Yukimura, Minori[/b]]Age: 35 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Government cabinet Body Type: 5ft 6, plump woman Hair: Brown, tied in a bun Eyes: Hazel Clothing: Suit Bio: Minori was only briefly seen at the end of the arc, having received Clarissa’s message with the others. She is the minister for health. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Minori duels or not.[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Known VDS Duelists[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Hotaru, Natsumi[/b]]Otherwise Known as: The Firefly Age: 21 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Daiki, Methuselah Body Type: 5ft 8, slim Hair: Brown, spiky with pigtails Eyes: Red Clothing: Tight grey and red riding suit that matches her bike. Bio: A former employee of Real Duel Ltd, Natsumi has spent the last year on the run from the law and the ‘mafia like’ business she says is out to cast her to the wolves to cover their own crimes. This seems to have included upping and leaving Daiki, to whom she was obviously once close to, although their relationship seems to have soured for various reasons. Natsumi lured Daiki into the VDS for reasons that she did not make entirely clear, seemingly deliberately leaving a trail of mixed messages and motives for her actions. She appears to have an association with Methuselah; she wants him to aid her get into Real Duel Ltd’s most secret archives for her own aims. In return he has his demands for her to accomplish; to hunt Numbers as his arm. Hot tempered and cold to the feelings of others, Natsumi makes no apologies about her being out for herself. Duel Decks: Natsumi uses a Laval deck, which focuses on sending various members of the fiery clan straight to the cemetery to activate various effects. The archtype uses both Synchro and Xyz monsters, and she wields the fury of her Number in order to destroy her foes with burn damage. Numbers: 61: Volcasaurus (obtaining unknown) [spoiler=Ground Deck]Laval Burner, Laval Gunner, Laval Lady of the Burning Lake, Laval Phlogis, Poke Dra x3, Tender of Laval Volcano, Berserk Scales, Dual Summon, Compensation of Blood, Cry of the Living Dead, Firewall[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Lavalval Dragon, Lavalval Ignis, Number 61: Volcasaurus[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Morita, Yudai[/b]]Age: 18 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Lives with parents (yet to be introduced) Associates: Sakura (girlfriend), Hideo, Mai Body Type: 5ft 9, athletic Hair: Blonde, spiked up mane Eyes: Green Clothing: (In real world): Casual teenage wear. (In VDS): White tunic and cape with gold gauntlets and armour. White D-Disk Bio: A model student, school soccer captain, dating a beautiful girl, and Duel Monsters Champion of East Asia. Yudai is the all round star and a nice guy to boot. Working on the assumption that by sharing the experience of the VDS he and Sakura would become closer; Yudai set up an account for her and coaxed her into exploring the virtual world with him. As soon as they were inside they were faced by Clarissa’s duel drones, who believed as champion he would possess a Numbers. Unable to defeat these foes, Yudai sacrificed himself to try to keep Sakura safe, and has been in a coma ever since. Duel Decks: Yudai plays a Vairon deck, which focuses on summoning powerful Synchro and Xyz monsters and powering them up with various equip spells. The deck has OTK potential, and Yudai has edited it for tag team use with cards like Standing Before a Worthy Opponent. Numbers: None [spoiler=Ground Deck]Summon Priest, Vairon Hapt, Vairon Ohm, Vairon Prism, Raise Dead, Vairon Material, Vairon Segment, Standing Before a Worthy Opponent[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Vairon Disigma, Vairon Epsilon[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Nakashima, Sakura[/b]]Age: 17 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Hideo (father), Mai (mother) Associates: Yudai (boyfriend), Murtagh Body Type: 5ft 6, petite, slim Hair: Brunette, braided ponytail Eyes: Blue Clothing: (In real world) blouse and jean shorts. (In VDS) female tunic and armour similar to Yudai Bio: Daughter of the Prime Minister, Sakura enjoys all the same things as ordinary teenage girls. Primary among which is spending time with her boyfriend Yudai. Spending that time in a virtual world playing Duel Monsters is not her idea of how to do this, but on this day she decides to give it a try. Unfortunately she picked a bad day. The pair are instantly sprung upon by a pair of dark angels that serve Clarissa and attacked, exploiting Sakura’s lack of skill to take the upper hand. She watched as Yudai was defeated by Number 16, and was only herself saved by the intervention of Murtagh. She has since spent the hours in the hospital by Yudai’s side, hoping that he would soon wake and end her nightmare. However, thanks to the reappearance of the Number that put him in his coma, Sakura’s nightmare has only just begun. Duel Decks: To start her on her way on her VDS adventure, Yudai made Sakura a deck based on a light attribute race that were the successors to the Vairon; the Sacred. These fabled warriors have many swarming and level manipulating tactics to bring out their many powerful Xyz monsters. Numbers: 16: Ruler of Colour: Shock Ruler (won from duel drones) [spoiler=Ground Deck]Effect Veiler, Sacred Dabaran, Sacred Gredi, Sacred Pollux, Sacred Sheratan, Magic Planter, Star Sign of the Sacred, Cry of the Living Dead, Holy Barrier – Mirror Force, Photonize[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Number 16: Ruler of Colour: Shock Ruler, Sacred Beehive, Sacred Hyades[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Vladimir Kanchev[/b]]Otherwise Known as: The Tsar of Stone, The Master Melder Age: 19 Country of Origin: Russia Family: Unknown Associates: Unknown Body Type: 6ft 3, broad shouldered Hair: Slick flat black Eyes: Dark blue Clothing: (In VDS) Suit of stone armour, with attached D-Disk Bio: A proud and confident young man who became the Duel Monsters champion of West Asia a year ago, Vladimir has been on a hot streak ever since. That was until he encountered two mysterious figures dressed in white robes, who tried to warn him against the dangers of the Numbers card he had come into the possession of. Not trusting the mysterious characters motives, Vladimir got involved in a duel against the older one. Crushed in absolute fashion despite summoning the Number, Vladimir was knocked out by the strength of the finishing attacks. According to Methuselah as later discovered, he should wake up fairly soon as he had not summoned his own Number to beat the Russian. Methuselah used his power to log Vladimir out of the VDS, but nothing more about his status is known. Duel Decks: Vladimir uses a series of monsters called Gemkinghts, an archtype focused on Fusion summoning. Able to keep a wide range of options and able to recycle the magic ‘Gemknight Fusion’ easily, the deck is more consistent than other fusion decks. Vladimir relies on power to prevail. Numbers: [i]25: Focus Force (won from duel drone, but lost to Methuselah)[/i] [spoiler=Ground Deck]Gemknight Alexand, Gemknight Emerald, Gemknight Ganet, Gemknight Obsidia, Gemknight Rumarin, Gemknight Sapphia, Gemknight Fusion, Raise Dead, Guard Block, Pitfall of Hades, Reckless Greed[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Gemknight Aquamarine, Gemknight Paz, Gemknight Ruby[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Methuselah[/b]]Age: Unknown Country of Origin: Unknown Family: Unknown Associates: Natsumi, an unnamed ally Body Type: 5ft 9, tall and thin Hair: Cannot be seen for hood, but has long grey beard Eyes: Cannot be seen for hood Clothing: Long white hooded robe. This becomes blue when in Duel Mode. Has a D-Disk in the shape of Ceremonial Water Mirror of Ritua Bio: Appearing as a mysterious old man in white along with his younger associate, Methuselah claimed he was trying to save Vladimir from danger by taking away his Number. Unsurprisingly the young champion did not believe him, so Methuselah had to take the Number the ‘old fashioned’ way. What Methuselah is or what he plans to do is not clear, other than he seems to be a most powerful duelist, knows a lot about the VDS and the Numbers, and has the utmost respect for his little companion, who he presents the Number too. He has since been seen meeting Natsumi, ordering her to hunt Numbers in order to get him to aid her. Duel Decks: Methuselah plays a Ritua deck. There are various ways to play this archtype, by either using a turbo deck with cards to keep your reserves topped up, or a deck to whittle away your opponents. Against Vladimir, he used an adapted version of the former, with Xyz power to combat the Numbers. Numbers: Unknown, but possesses at least one [spoiler=Ground Deck]Aqua Spirit Aqueria, Eviritua Mind Ogress, Eviritua Soul Ogre, Ritua Beast, Ritua Chain, Ritua Diviner, Ritua Erial, Ceremonial Water Mirror, Downward Current, Eisbahn[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Black Ray Lancer, Eviritua Merrowgeist[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Murtagh[/b]]Age: Unknown, but thought by Sakura to be mid to late twenties Country of Origin: Unknown Family: Unknown Associates: Sakura Body Type: 5ft 11, athletic and muscular Hair: White, long spikes Eyes: Deep green. When in Duel Mode change to lizard like style; one blue and white, one red and black Clothing: Long black coat, fine clothes with gauntlets and ornate belt, heavy boots. Bronze D-Disk shaped like a dragon wing. Bio: Very little is known about the duelist known as Murtagh. He first appeared in the Sanctuary of the Sky, saving Sakura from the duel drones using a manner of abilities that seemed to contradict the laws of the VDS created by Real Duel, as well as bypassing the barriers created by Wilhelm and Evos. If nothing else, he is clearly a very powerful duelist, and seems very knowledgeable in terms of the situation inside the VDS and of the Numbers. Duel Decks: From the little that is currently known, Murtagh seems to have an affinity for dragons, and uses a Chaos variation of a dragon deck, with many powerful high level monsters. He even undergoes a personal transformation whilst duelling, making himself resemble something dragon like. Numbers: Unknown, but possesses at least one [spoiler=Ground Deck]Blue Eyes White Dragon, Darkstorm Dragon, Dragorado, God Dragon Apocalypse, Phantom Dragon, Star Bright Dragon, Forbidden Chalice, Monster Gate, Raise Dead, Trade In[/spoiler] [spoiler=Extra Deck]Thunder End Dragon[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Other Characters (unknown VDS duelists)[/b]] [spoiler=[b]Sakamoto, Jinrei[/b]]Age: 14 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Ms Sakamoto Associates: Unknown Body Type: 5ft 3, small, wiry Hair: Black spikes with a blue streak Eyes: Hazel Clothing: Scruffy jeans and black rock band endorsed t-shirt Bio: A young boy from a poor background, Jin is working during the school holiday to help his mother financially. He is antagonised by one of classmates Shibo, and has been challenged by him to a duel in the VDS, unaware of the peril that awaits. Duel Decks: Jin is known to duel, but it is unknown what he uses.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Jaku, Shibo[/b]]Age: 14 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Unknown Body Type: 5ft 7, chubby Hair: Black Eyes: Green Clothing: Shirt and jeans Bio: A classmate of Jin, Shibo is a bully who uses his size to antagonise other students. He makes fun of Jin because of his poor background and the handicaps and isolation that entails. He sees himself as a skilful duelist, and possibly has a record to back it up. He has either entered or about to enter the VDS to challenge Jin, having not taken the threats of the VDS seriously. Duel Decks: Shibo is known to duel, but it is unknown what he uses.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Nakashima, Mai[/b]]Age: 46 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Hideo (ex partner), Sakura (daughter) Associates: Izura, Yudai Body Type: 5ft 8, average Hair: Brunette, long Eyes: Blue Clothing: Business suit and skirt combination Bio: Former member of government and wife to Hideo, Mai left the prime minister seemingly due to a lack of connection between them and their daughter. She now works in fashion. Since she received contact from a distressed Sakura, she has been in hospital comforting her and hoping for Yudai’s recovery. She is blunt with her opinions, but has a kind heart. Duel Decks: Mai does not appear to duel.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Hayegawa, Naru[/b]]Otherwise Known as: Scag Age: 22 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Garvan Body Type: 5ft 8, thin Hair: Dark grey Eyes: Green Clothing: Loose fitting shirt and trousers, scruffy Bio: A known thief and drug user who Garvan has kept out of prison by using as an informant. Scag bought the appearance of the terrorists to Garvan’s attention, as well as the existence of Numbers, one of which he picked up after it was thrown away by a terrified young boy. Duel Decks: Scag is known by Garvan to duel, using a patched up deck of cards he’s ‘found’. Numbers: Unknown, but possesses one.[/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Haita, Tamiko[/b]]Age: 30 Country of Origin: Japan Family: Unknown Associates: Lei Su-Yeng Body Type: Average Hair: Blonde Eyes: Green Clothing: Suit and skirt combination Bio: A news reporter for JFN, Tamiko was originally dispatched to Toshima Halls to try and get answers from government officials about the spate of collapses of VDS users. Unable to get answers from them, she and her camera man are making their way to Real Duel headquarters. She wants the truth more than as scoop, given how young lives appear to be in danger, but fears for her career by going up against the company like her predecessors. Duel Decks: It is unknown if Tamiko duels or not.[/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler=[b]Duel Drones[/b]] The Duel Drones are Clarissa's army, made up of members of RDL staff who have been forced into the system and subjected to some form of virus that has affected them via the link between computer and brain used by the ARV. Clarissa has given them orders to hunt the VDS for Numbers, and take them from the duelists who possess them by force by use of D-Anchors to snare their prey. They can still recognise and sometimes seem to display emotion, but they no longer have a sense or understanding of what emotions are. Azreal A faceless member of Clarissa’s army, Azreal challenged Yudai and Sakura to a duel in the Sanctuary of the Sky temple, believing that the champion of East Asia would be a likely candidate for a Number. He disappeared after he was struck and defeated by Murtagh’s Thunder End Dragon, and it is not known what happened to him or her. Numbers: [i]16: Ruler of Colour - Shock Ruler (lost to Sakura[/i]) [spoiler=Ground Deck]Android Psycho Shocker, Battery Man Single Four Type x3, My Body as a Shield, Photon Veil, Compensation of Blood, Psychic Shockwave[/spoiler] Metatron A faceless member of Clarissa’s army, Metatron was summoned by Azreal to aid in his fight against Yudai and Sakura. He was defeated by Sakura, and it is not known what happened to him or her. [spoiler=Ground Deck]Giant Bomber AIRRAID, Magic Reactor AID, Summon Reactor AI, Trap Reactor RR, Spiritual Operation, Fake Explosion[/spoiler] Kesef See Unimoto, Bozu Sammael See Hakia, Unmai[/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 I care! And other people do too, they're just too lazy to post...I'm guessing you know what that's like. Also, write more fasterer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinforce Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 I care, I'm just lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1331859214' post='5872458'] I care! And other people do too, they're just too lazy to post...I'm guessing you know what that's like. Also, write more fasterer. [/quote] I know you care, you're one of the only three who I know reads this still and comments on every chapter. The most frustrating thing about it is the sheer weight of people who commented on the first chapter, said 'OMG this is amazing'... and have since posted nothing since and thus comments have declined each chapter. Dunno whether they suddenly stopped reading or are just silently keeping up with this, but y'know, you can't not get down about that especially with me... being me... Yeah I'm... mentally fragile... *must not railroad thread with pitiful rant of self loathing... must not railroad thread with pitiful rant of self loathing...* [quote name='Simdoggy' timestamp='1331864130' post='5872589'] I care, I'm just lazy. [/quote] Stop being lazy then Anyway, having had a stressful week at work and home that has just totally drained me, started writing chapter 18 today and actually making some progress with it. Yay. The chapters prior to it need a lot of editing though, as some of it... ain't good. Hoping by Monday that Chapter 13-18 will be entirely done, fixed and edited. Along with an extra chapter to post from six years earlier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 There could be a number of things as to why they don't want to post. It could be because of the fact that everything has been said already, and repeating what one has already said is kind of pointless and not needed. It could also be a form of embarrassment, and no one likes being embarrassed, especially in public. But anyways, don't be discouraged about the lack of comments, because, really, the Fan-Fiction isn't quite that active anymore, but it's all the more reason that this is a marvelous piece of work. I did read up from Chapter 5:2 to 6:2 just now, so I am proud to say that I am all caught up with the reading, and might even go back later on in the day to do some more reading from the beginning just because I'm bored and the story is just that awesome. Keep up the good work, mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 [quote name='~~Xiahou Dun~~' timestamp='1332088876' post='5876622'] There could be a number of things as to why they don't want to post. It could be because of the fact that everything has been said already, and repeating what one has already said is kind of pointless and not needed. It could also be a form of embarrassment, and no one likes being embarrassed, especially in public. But anyways, don't be discouraged about the lack of comments, because, really, the Fan-Fiction isn't quite that active anymore, but it's all the more reason that this is a marvelous piece of work. I did read up from Chapter 5:2 to 6:2 just now, so I am proud to say that I am all caught up with the reading, and might even go back later on in the day to do some more reading from the beginning just because I'm bored and the story is just that awesome. Keep up the good work, mate. [/quote] I actually physically jumped at the sign of a new post there. Look guys, I've got to apologise for a number of things. I'm sorry I keep whining about the lack of comments. Just looked back and seen Armageddon had 26 pages worth. This is a quarter of the way through and has seven pages worth and this is a shorter story, so do the maths and its not bad. I'm sure more people will pick this up. I just really don't know how I'm doing at times, I don't know what bits or characters or storylines people prefer or what needs to be improved (there are definately things). I'm sorry for the constant rants in the status bar about how s*** my life is at the minute. Finding the depression... just finding it returning after so long of being okay I think is what scares me most. Got problems at work and home the last few weeks and I've just had nowhere else to let it out. Sorry again I haven't got my work rota for the next few weeks yet, but I (supposedly) have a few days holiday this week and if I do and depending on how much will try to 1) finish editing and proofchecking chapters 13-17, 2) start and finish writing chapters 18-19, 3) plan out the rest of the arc. Will also post one, maybe two, extra chapters over the week as well to build up the return. Originally the return would be next Tuesday (6 weeks of posts, 2 off, etc), but depending on the above it might be an extra week. I know thats frustrating for you guys who are still reading this and waiting for updates, but I would rather do this right than do this fast. Hopefully extra chapters will placate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Well, I'm back! I'm in the middle of catch-up right now, and up to halfway through 3:2, so expect some stuff soon! Sakura is already my fav, and those angel dudes were pretty darn cool. Daiki seems weird. Garvans cool. Not much else to say for the moment being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 [quote name='Dworkin' timestamp='1332360509' post='5882487'] Well, I'm back! I'm in the middle of catch-up right now, and up to halfway through 3:2, so expect some stuff soon! Sakura is already my fav, and those angel dudes were pretty darn cool. Daiki seems weird. Garvans cool. Not much else to say for the moment being. [/quote] Yes, bribery works! :evilsmiley: Just glad to have someone else back on board. Means a lot you know. Don't blink. Whatever you do, DON'T BLINK! Dai gets a lot more exposition into why in 4:1 and 2, so bear with it. I've tried to make him more flawed from the beginning than most lead characters, and divide duties a bit more. Currently those goals are having mixed results. Oh, speaking of Dai and Garvan, the first mid arc bonus chapter is up in the below spoiler, as promised. As for the start of arc two, well I'm hoping to finish Chapter 19 sometime tomorrow and make a severe dent in 20 over the rest of the week, depending on the duel script and if I feel like doing a second extra chapter (more on that below). So depending on that, arc two should commence soon. [spoiler=Extra Chapter 1][b]Six years earlier...[/b] Paying the taxi driver his fare, Daiki turned to face the gates standing between him and what apparently would be his new home. The words ‘Police Training Camp’ were shaped into the arching frame of the metal gates through which many young recruits were passing, up the pathway and beyond to the training areas. Those around him seemed cheerful or excited; surely they must be as nervous underneath as Daiki was? Everyone was coming in by themselves having waved off parents or partners at the gates. Did they not feel as out of place as he did at all? The camp seemed a fine place, quite lavish in its styling with beautiful gardens and buildings he supposed were to be enjoyed during the trainee’s downtime. In the distance he could see gym buildings, which would be full of state of the art equipment of course, and outdoor obstacle courses and other training areas. Pulling his small suitcase behind him, Daiki followed the masses towards the main registration centre, where he would hand in his documents and be assigned his quarters for the next year. ... Training began that afternoon, and was tough from the off. The group of fresh recruits for this term, a number of around two hundred, found themselves assembling in different sports halls across the centre and thrown straight into intense fitness tests. First was the dreaded bleep test; with groups of ten running back and forth across the hall at an increasingly quickened pace, having to beat the beep that was getting quicker and quicker. If anyone failed to achieve level nine, then the entire group would have to do it again. Daiki was already feeling the strain in a bad way as the instructor announced “Level Seven.” He knew he would be playing catch up due to an enforced length of time of no physical activity, but he didn’t realise how out of shape he had become as he was already starting to lag. He gulped as he realised he had fallen short of the beep on the first pass of the level, and thus lost the first of his three lives. If he fell short twice more... “Come on mate, you can make it. You know what happens if you don’t.” Daiki glanced at the speaker beside him. A man probably only a year or two older than him with a hint of tan to his skin and short black hair that was starting to flatten and stick with sweat had addressed him. He didn’t look Japanese, as he seemed a good bit taller and broader in the shoulders than the others in the group. His face was strained with effort. “Yeah I know” Daiki gasped in reply as they reached the far wall and started back. Level seven seemed to last forever, but the encouragement gave him a temporary second wind. The instructor read out level eight, and Daiki didn’t adjust the increase in pace and missed the bleep again, putting him on his last life. Again the guy next to him said something, and he redoubled his efforts. Mercifully the instructor finally read out “Level nine”, and the group had escaped punishment. Two guys dropped out immediately at that point, and Daiki was inclined to join them. However he caught the eye of the tanned guy next to him. He was still running, albeit a little more laboriously than some of the others, but he was looking at him too. He seemed to have to have read his mind, and smirked at his assumption. It was that look that, instead of dropping, made him turn and keep going. This seemed to please the guy who had thought he was about to give up. Regardless, Daiki didn’t last too many more lengths. However at least he went out because he could no longer keep up with the bleep and ran out of lives, and was forced to stop by one of the instructors when he feel short for the third time. Stopping seemed to make the feeling of the effort worse. Watching from his half collapsed position on the side, the tanned guy made it until the start of level ten before he dropped out with several others, also now unable to make the shrinking time gap. Exhausted, he flopped down next to Daiki. “Didn’t think you were going to last at one point.” “Neither did I. But I definitely didn’t want to do it again, or make anyone else do so.” “Yeah, the rest of the group would have beaten you up later if you’d have made them run again.” Daiki choked on his water as the man smirked at him. “Well, you did know that was what I was referring to when I said ‘you know what happens if you don’t’?” Dai’s shake of the head seemed to amuse him. Once the final three had finished and the next group of ten lined up to start, another tougher looking instructor approached the group. He was not best pleased. “Now listen up rookies! You might think you’re off the hook because you all reached the minimum level. But thanks to these guys who think they’re clever trying to coast through with the no effort,” he barked, indicated the two had immediately dropped out at the start of level nine without falling short of the bleep, “you’re all now going next door for an extra circuit training. If you want to serve, you will do so until you physically cannot carry on anymore, not when you feel like stopping! Fitness we can train into you, and I’m going to make it my damned business to drill laziness out of you!” ... One long and very painful circuit later and Daiki found himself in the rather uncomfortable position of being on his knees in the changing rooms, head down the toilet and being uncontrollably sick. There was a knock on the door behind him. “Occupied!” “Don’t worry, I’d rather not come in” what sounded like the tanned man replied. “Just checking you are just being sick and nothing more alarming is all.” Another heave of vomit prevented Daiki from answering immediately. “I didn’t say earlier, but thanks for the encouragement. Appreciated it.” “No big deal.” There was a pause interrupted by more vomit, although it was mostly empty stomach induced choking on air than anything. “My name’s Garvan by the way.” “...Daiki.” ... Many more hours of rigorous training and one well-earned and hearty dinner in the halls later, and Daiki and Garvan were lying on the respective bottom and top bunks of their private dorm. The new intake of recruits was in a building in the eastern block; somewhat built like university halls of residence with two man rooms and facilities shared by those living on each floor. Both men were happy with the coincidental arrangement of them sharing sleeping quarters, as they had stuck together through much of the training that day and were quickly developing a comradeship. Their dorm was a basic but comfortable living space. Garvan was reading a magazine, whilst somewhere below Daiki was just lying there, staring into the wood frame of the above bed like he was in a trance. “I imagine most people throw up on their first day. I wouldn’t have picked you on first glance to be one of them, but don’t worry about it.” Daiki didn’t seem to realise he was being spoken, prompting Garvan to stick his head over the side. “Or is something else on your mind?” “Uh? Oh, nothing. I just wasn’t in shape was all. I was meant to start at the last intake but couldn’t, and I haven’t been able to train my body before coming here.” “Really? Why’s that?” “Because up until a month or so ago, I was laid up in hospital...” Garvan’s head reappeared over the side. Daiki appeared to be calm, although there was definitely a hollow tone in his voice. “I only got released a few weeks ago, but even when I realised I was starting here, I still had to be slow with rehabilitation work.” “Seriously? What happened to you?” “Bike crash.” Daiki pulled up the legs of his tracksuit for a moment, to reveal a great length of lasting scars all along his lower legs. He then proceeded to show off several other scars on his upper body. “Apparently I was found among the mountains having lost control of my bike. The accident broke both my legs and did all sorts to my insides, but what was most worrying was I also took a few severe head injuries. I was in a coma for five months because of it. The doctors thought I wouldn’t make it.” Garvan’s expression became more grave with every word. “Man that’s unreal. I’m a biker myself; you’re putting the frighteners on me. Do you... do you remember the crash?” Daiki shook his head. “The only thing I remember about the crash was a load of bright lights. I told that to the police and they had suspicions about a lorry forcing me off the road, but they came to nothing. But that’s not the only thing I can’t remember..., the... the accident...” “In your own time mate. Whenever you’re ready.” “Thanks.” Daiki needed a minute to calm himself before speaking again. “Well, I have amnesia. Ever since the accident, there are huge holes in my life which I can’t remember. The only things I know for certain are what the doctors, neighbours, and the couple of friends who came to see me and managed my affairs whilst I was unconscious told me. That’s how they kept my name in with the academy with my application and stuff. Other than that, nothing.” Garvan’s face disappeared for a moment. “Damn man, I’m sorry.” A few minutes passed in awkward silence, as the two came to terms with what Daiki had said. He himself felt a surprising sense of relief to vent like this. He was about to thank Garvan, when he appeared in his vision again. “Hey wait. How come friends were doing all that for you? Couldn’t your parents? Didn’t they visit you and help with your amnesia?” “No. They’re both dead. They died on holiday abroad a few years ago. I visited their graves as soon as I got out of hospital. Don’t look so sorry man” he interrupted Garvan’s condolences before they began. “I can’t mourn people I can’t remember, and I must have done enough of that at the time. I would have been seventeen then, but they left me plenty of things to remember them by like photos and things, as well as our house in the suburbs and my dad’s bike so I was able to support myself afterward. But it’s frustrating more than anything. I’m an only child as well, so it definitely hasn’t helped. Being here and kept busy doing something... and under supervision, hopefully that will help.” “Not with amnesia it won’t.” “My memory will come back when it’s ready. But at least here I won’t go mad like I would sitting at home alone. Anyway, enough depressing stuff about me. What about you? You’re not Japanese. What’s your story?” “No, I’m Polish since you asked.” Garvan got down and went over to make himself a cup of tea, before sitting opposite Daiki. “We came here when I was six due to my father’s work, so I’m fairly well exposed to your countries influence, but clearly some of my roots remain in my look and accent” he chuckled. “My parents recently moved back to our homeland, but I stayed here to do this. I don’t remember much of home. Well, I guess Japan is my home.” “What did your dad do?” “Yea....umm... he works with computers. Very complicated design and development of new technology, that sort of thing.” Daiki shrugged, and reached into his suitcase by the side of bunk. A moment’s rummaging later, and he extracted, to Garvan’s surprise, a small stack of cards and began shuffling through them in earnest. “You play duel monsters?” Daiki shrugged again. “I don’t know if I did. I saw a couple of the kids and other teenagers around town playing with them with those D-Gazer things. They allowed me to look and see what they were doing, and when I saw all their monsters so lifelike and doing battle, it all looked pretty exciting. Then I saw all these packs in the shops and felt inclined to buy them. So I think I must have done at some point in my youth.” Daiki continued to rummage through the cards, discarding some and studying others at length. “I like these two” he said, revealing Howling Warrior and Speed Bird to the stunned Garvan. “What, do you think I’m silly to like a card game as well?” “No, not at all. Whatever makes you happy. I just wouldn’t have expected it from another trainee here was all. So, um...” Sheepishly, Garvan picked up his own suitcase and started looking for something. He eventually extracted his own deck of cards. “I actually play too. Wasn’t expecting any competition, but I bought it with me just in case.” Daiki’s face lit up. “Nice. Well you’ll have to let me get a few more cards, but I’ll definitely take you on.” Not much later, one of the site wardens came round to issue the order for lights out. The next day the training would be much harder, as it would be for the next year and beyond until both Daiki and Garvan successfully graduated into the police.[/spoiler] Ps: Contemplating an extra chapter focusing on Jin. Not going to be much, just something to give him build up before he starts to make his path in arc two. Got a duel prepped if its needed, yay or nay peeps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sage Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Wait... In that case... I may have a hunch on who the old man from an earlier chapter was. Great work. Jin extra is a yay from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 You should get going on that Arc 2 there, Matt. We're all waiting patiently. EDIT: Never mind, I saw the tag saying "Arc 2 coming soonish". =| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 [quote name='Dragon Sage Ω' timestamp='1332363618' post='5882588'] Wait... In that case... I may have a hunch on who the old man from an earlier chapter was. Great work. Jin extra is a yay from me. [/quote] Yes, the pieces are starting to fall into place. Jin extra chapter is... something I [i]should[/i] do, to give him some build up before he debuts early in this arc. It's just summoning the botherment to do it, but given that 9/10s of said chapter will be duelling it shouldn't take too long. Other detracting factor is being the way I am I'd have to come up with exactly two extra chapters per arc now. Long had ideas for ones after arcs 2 and 3, now I have to think of two more. But given how many characters can be potentially explored, shouldn't be a major issue. Will see what I can do tomorrow. [quote name='~~Xiahou Dun~~' timestamp='1332364043' post='5882607'] You should get going on that Arc 2 there, Matt. We're all waiting patiently. EDIT: Never mind, I saw the tag saying "Arc 2 coming soonish". =| [/quote] Can I really be begrudged a two week break? Still, Chapter 19 is almost done now, will try to get 20 and 21 done in the next 7-10 days. It's just 22 is the bugger at the minute, struggling for a Number to use in the duel there (I have three left to choose from as it stands, and they're not good ones). A lot is being wedged into those last three /four chapters, so I don't want to leave a large section out too last minute and end having one giant chapter and screwing the timeline. Ah, we'll see. I'm hoping eps 51-60 of Zexal will debut at least five new Numbers to start choosing from *fingers crossed* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanvitch Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 I really enjoy reading this. I like how you haven't ignored other card types (Rituals' and Fusions), becuase, well it gets boring when they get ignored when some of them are just awesome and Destiny Hero's were a nice addition. Looking forward to the next chapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I finally got around to reading the extra chapter! It's cool. Daiki's backstory wasn't explained earlier, right? Or am I just forgetting? Either way, I will now assume that Daiki is actually Ushio because he's a card games on motorcycles police guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 [quote name='Sanvitch' timestamp='1332457609' post='5884246'] I really enjoy reading this. I like how you haven't ignored other card types (Rituals' and Fusions), becuase, well it gets boring when they get ignored when some of them are just awesome and Destiny Hero's were a nice addition. Looking forward to the next chapter. [/quote] Wow, a response from a new member. Thanks for the positive note. Would be silly to play archtypes with those monsters and not use them. Especially given how good some of those cards are. As has been said, a lot of this fic is to use the new archtypes as well as new spells traps and other cards where can. D Heroes are where 'the classic' cards go. Plus they are awesome. Welcome to YCM and enjoy your stay. [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1332464879' post='5884484'] I finally got around to reading the extra chapter! It's cool. Daiki's backstory wasn't explained earlier, right? Or am I just forgetting? Either way, I will now assume that Daiki is actually Ushio because he's a card games on motorcycles police guy. [/quote] Wasn't explained at length in the story proper at any time, just hinted at that he has spaced out moments and angry moments (and so on). Now you all know why in part. I was more expecting that comparison for Garvan tbh. But yeah, lol Anyway, as it was asked for (by 1 person) and because I feel I should give the subject some build up, will try to get another extra chapter up tomorrow or Monday. Rest of the week will be writing Chapters 20 and 21. Want to get those done because the last three chapters are kind of hard to work out how much is happening end arc two/start arc three, if you know what I mean. Also want to give a bit more time to the six or seven people I've been told are still catching up (guys you know who you are, let me know how far you've got ) I'm not just stalling for more Numbers to be released, really . So yeah, extra chapter soon, story proper returns [b]Tuesday 3rd April[/b]. So now if I stick to that timeframe I'll always start a new arc at the start of each month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 OK! About halfway there! Reading 5:2 now! Whooo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 ATTENTION: Yu-Gi-Oh! 24 will return with Arc 2 next week. In the meantime, build up for characters making thier debuts proper in the story from Arc 2. [spoiler=Extra Chapter 1:2] [b]Three years earlier...[/b] The first day at a new school is never a highly anticipated event for most twelve year olds. It’s not so bad for the older students returning after a summer holiday, with some excitement to catch up with friends not seen for a while and get back into the routine. It might not be so bad for some of the new starters that are starting with many of their friends, on a great new adventure together. But for those who were coming in without knowing many people, the prospect of entering this large new school ranged from mildly uncomfortable to absolutely terrifying. The front gates and the courtyard beyond was a hive of activity. Groups of teenage girls chatting here and there, an impromptu game of keepie-ups with a football produced by the older boys, some students rushing around to get to class early, just another Monday morning for them. And just a few of the newbie’s shrinking into the corners, trying to stay out of sight of the vultures that might be circling. One such boy walked through the front gates definitely trying to avoid such attention. He was small even for his age, certainly a good head shorter than many of his would be class men. Already he was dreading this, as the whispers were already starting to reach him. [i]‘Who is he? What’s with his uniform? What’s with that haircut? What a scruff. He looks a real loser.’ [/i] His uniform and backpack were both scruffy hand me downs that his mother had managed to acquire on the cheap from the mother of a boy who was a few years older than him, and the messy mane of black hair was the best she’d managed with it. Shuffling away from the group the whispers seemed to be coming from, the young boy made a direct path for the front doors. Get straight to the classroom, get straight to the back, head down, and you’re safe. That was the plan, but he was so busy looking down and worrying about getting into trouble, he didn’t notice a large boy step in front of him to retrieve a wayward football, and promptly walked straight into the back of him with a small ‘oof’. “Hey, watch it!” the boy turned to snarl at him. “Sorry” the small boy mumbled, and tried to pass. The boy didn’t seem to accept that and blocked him off, a cruel smirk having become his features having looked down at what had stumbled into him. “Yo runt. What the hell garbage yard did you crawl from him?” By now a pack of other boys and girls had surrounded them, sniggering at the lowbrow gibe. The small boy didn’t look up into their faces, instead paying more attention to the boy’s shoes (they looked an expensive brand). He tried to step around them, but the bullish boy with the nice shoes stepped across him again, upset that he hadn’t got an answer. “You deaf runt, or just stupid?” he asked more forcefully, grabbing the small boy with a large hand and forcing him to look at him; his dark slicked back hair, darting piggy eyes and a thick set jaw. “Hey, break it up already.” Before the situation could get serious, a group of seniors had spotted the confrontation, and under one of their lead a trio of boys were moving in to break it up. The large boy’s entourage dispersed with a few dark mutterings, before the leader dropped the small boy with a huff. “Whatever. Be seeing ya runt.” Two of the three older boys left it there with the potential fight diffused and returned to their group. However one continued to approach the rather shaken boy. “Hey kid, you ok?” the lead boy, an athletic lad with a shock of spiky blonde hair asked, having to crouch slightly to get on his eye level. “Yeah... thanks...” The older boy looked far from convinced, but did not press the issue. “Well, if you are sure. I can’t stand that sort of thing, first day is hard enough. We’ve all been there. Hey, my name’s Yudai. What’s yours?” “Jin...” “Cool. Pleased to meet you.” Yudai shook the boy’s hand with great enthusiasm, even though Jin didn’t share it. “Let me know if you have any more trouble with him or anything here yeah.” Again Jin was slow to take him up on the offer, but Yudai’s persistence won through and got him a forced smile of appreciation just before the first bell rang. ... Three hours of introductions, assemblies, and being gently broken into high school and the lessons later, and Jin was to be found in the upper echelons of a stand inside the school’s main sports hall. The hall contained four courts for basketball, badminton or indoor football; the floor easily changed to each different arena with its own underlying lighting system (the lighting was also excellent for judging the ball going out of play). However right now all the courts were lit up to mark out a different kind of field; a duel monsters field, each containing players facing each other in a duel that was being projected by cameras around the hall. Jin couldn’t see anything of these matches, as he didn’t have a D-Gazer that would allow him to watch, but he was just enjoying the atmosphere as he studied the guide book that came with the cards in his lap, that he’d managed to finally save up enough to buy the day before. Duelling like that seemed very exciting. Hopefully he would be good enough to duel out there one day. “Vairon Sigma, direct attack!” A crowd of girls at the front went wild, making him sit up. On the field directly in front of him, he noticed Yudai was commanding a monster invisible to him to attack a scared looking opponent. From the way the opponent crumbled glumly before approaching the beaming Yudai to shake his hand, the match was over in his favour. Shame he couldn’t have seen it. Yudai must be a good duelist to have a fan club though. Turning to face the crowd, he spotted him high up at the back on his own and waved to him. “You gotta be kidding me? What are you doing here runt?” Oh great. The large boy he had since found out was called Shibo and two of his friends were here too, climbing the stairs towards him. They were all in his class, and having discovered this they now seemed to be following him everywhere. They all had D-Gazers, as well as the metallic armguards people used for these duels called D-Disks, each bearing the logo of the company who made them. Yudai had spotted the group and was making his way up after them, but Shibo and hangers-on were already on him. “Yo Jin. Is that deck a shabby hand me down like your uniform?” Shibo asked. There was no reply. There had been smart cracks all day about his size and his now fully known poor background. “What you thinking; you want to get out there? Think you can be like your hotshot hero? Well hate to break it to ya, but there’s no point in you doing so. You need two things to be good at duel monsters; money and skill, and you’ve got neither.” “You again? What’s your problem jerk?” Yudai had finally caught up and was amongst them. “Lay off it. Jin can do whatever he wants to do, and nothing’s going to stop him. Isn’t that right?” Jin just kept his head down and shrugged. The two cohorts backed off at the sight of a senior, but Shibo didn’t waver. “Whatever hotshot. You shouldn’t fill his head with nonsense that isn’t true. You shouldn’t tell someone they can do something when they blatantly can’t. That’s really cruel.” “Look, if you’ve got an issue, then there’s an empty court down there. I’d bet your all talk, and even a new player like Jin could wipe the field with you.” Jin gulped. Oh no, he wasn’t really suggesting... Shibo was smirking and already making his way down to the field. Jin protested furiously, but Yudai insisted and was already pushing him down the stairs. “Come on, stick up for yourself man. I believe you can beat this guy. If you do then I’m certain he’ll leave you alone.” Jin told him he had no experience; Yudai told him it would be fine now he’d read the guide. He said he hadn’t got any gear; Yudai told him to borrow his and forced his disk and gazer into his arms. He was on the duel field, Shibo was on the other side, and tons of students were gathering to see how on earth two freshmen had managed to get onto the arena on their first day. Their watching eyes paralyzed him, helpless to get out of this as Yudai cheerfully set him up, totally oblivious to him and the reactions of his own bemused classmates, whilst across the field Shibo was ready and grinning maliciously at him. The air seemed to shimmer as Yudai put the D-Gazer on him. [i]‘This is a really bad idea...’[/i] [i]‘ARV link established. Duel commencing.’[/i] “Duel!” “I guess I’d better go first then, seeing as you are new and all” Shibo offered in a mocking tone. “See, I start by drawing a card. Then I’ll summon one monster in face down defence position.” Jin blinked at the sight of a reverse card appearing before his eyes. “That’s all. Wouldn’t want to cram your tiny brain with too much too fast now. Think you can handle your turn?” “Don’t worry Jin, you got this. Just do as you’ve read” Yudai unhelpfully offered with a thumbs up. [i]‘You’re kidding right? Well, can’t turn back now I guess.’ [/i]Looking over the cards his basic theme starter deck had provided very carefully, he tried to work out what he should do. Well, he had one normal summon, guess that’s a start. “I’ll... start by summoning ‘Sound Warrior Piano’.” To his amazement, before him appeared a small keyboard, but with small fists and legs (Lv3, ATK 900). It was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen, although Shibo had reacted to its appearance by bursting into laughter. “You... you bought THAT starter deck?” he managed to get out. “Oh god this will be easy.” The crowd seemed to share in his assessment. However Yudai was still urging him on. “L... Laugh while you can. Next I activate the ‘Magnet Circle Lv2’ spell card. This special summons a low level machine from my hand. I summon ‘Sound Warrior Bassist’.” A bass guitar with similar humanoid features appeared next to the keyboard (Lv1, ATK 600). Good, now he had two monsters. Now if he just concentrated and did like he’d read, he might be able to do it. “I set one card, then I activate Bassist’s effect. This increases the level of a Sound Warrior by the number of cards in my hand, so now its level is equal to Piano. So now I can Xyz summon!” The sight of the two monsters souls spiralling upwards and crashing into a giant vortex that opened in front of him was hard to take in. A murmur went around the crowd, and Jin began to buzz, taking over his fear. They thought it was a good move. The excitement of doing this on a stage watched by loads of students was as much as he’d imagined. “Yes, I did it right. I Xyz summon ‘Brass Devil Mellow Melody’!” A small green haired girl with horns appeared from the fading vortex, riding a floating tuba (Rk3, ATK 1400). In a rush of excitement, Jin started to feel some confidence. [i]‘He’s got no trap cards to protect him. I can do some major damage.’[/i] “Alright, now I activate her effect. By detaching an overlay unit, Melody can attack twice this turn. Prepare to take some damage. Attack!” The little girl demon launched its attack at the reverse card, which flipped to reveal a large machine with a heavy roller on the front. Jin gulped as the things defence points flashed up on the display above the sneering Shibo (Lv4, DEF 2100). The attack bounced off the machine harmlessly, having no effect except cost him his own points (LP 3300). “What? I didn’t think...” “Obviously. You honestly thought that weak thing would just take down my Heavy Machinery like that? Pl-ease, it should have been obvious that my monster would have high defence if I left it on its own. Now the effect of ‘Grading Heavy Machinery Road Roller’ activates; flipping the monster that attacked it face down.” The devil girl disappeared, leaving the stunned Jin looking on as Shibo drew his card. “Now my turn. I summon ‘Drilling Heavy Machinery Drill Jumbo’!” A large twin arm drill machine crashed onto the field, looming high over him (Lv4, ATK 1800). “When Drill Jumbo is summoned, all my machine monsters go up one level. Next I’ll equip it with ‘7 Card’, to boost its attack by seven hundred.” Jin looked from the upgrading machine (Lv5, ATK 2500) to Yudai for advice. He was telling him to keep calm, trying to get him to ignore the noise from the crowd. “Next I’ll activate ‘Cyclone’ and destroy your face down.” Having not experienced it before, Jin couldn’t help but throw his hands over in head in surprise as the face down card exploded. Now there were jeers from the crowd, but they weren’t all because of his comedic reaction. “Hey, what’s with the huge misplay? Does this kid even know what’s he doing?” “What? What did I do wrong?” Looking at Yudai, he seemed to be cringing, slightly alarmed and embarrassed. “Er... now I know you feel under pressure being watched, but you let him use Cyclone on ‘Emissaries of Harmony’. You could have activated it in reaction to Cyclone and its effect would activate successfully. You did know you could do that, right?” Jin’s shake of the head produced a worried reaction. “Ah. Maybe you didn’t get that far in the book yet... Don’t worry, it’s just an experience thing, it’s an easy mistake to make at this stage...” “Or maybe he just doesn’t have it in him to play this game” Shibo interrupted. “Now since you messed up your chance, I can now freely do damage. Which thanks to Drill Jumbo, not even your defending monster can stop, as it applies piercing damage. I switch Road Roller into attack for this part. Now Drill Jumbo attacks Mellow Melody.” Seeing the huge drilling thing advancing on his now revealed and terrified Xyz monster stunned him (DEF 1600). Feeling the electric pulse for the first time, however small, jolted him back into movement with a jump (LP 2400). Cue more laughs from the crowd. Shibo followed up with a direct attack from Road Roller (ATK 600). Again the damage was small, but seeing the flattening roller advance on him was just so frightening. “What’s the matter? I was expecting you to fight me properly after everything, like you might want to show yourself to be someone worthwhile. I guess not. Anyway, once its attacked, Drill Jumbo is forced into defence position. I’ll end my turn with a face down. What you gonna do runt? Call it quits yet?” “Come on Jin. Focus. Show him you’re made of stronger stuff than him.” Yudai’s encouragement was not that helpful. “I... can’t... I’m not...” “Nonsense, you just need a good draw and you could totally get something to turn this.” Half resigned to his fate, Jin drew. The card seemed powerful, but it couldn’t take down both of Shibo’s monsters. He had to get another Xyz out somehow. To do that he had a good magic card, but his only monster was level two, so he couldn’t summon them. It was already over. “Come on Jin, think. Use all the resources you have, any card you can. Find the strengths of each card, how they work together, to work out a path to victory.” All his resources? Cards working together? That was all well and good for someone like Yudai to say, but he didn’t have the foggiest idea what that meant. Well, for a start he had to take down something. “I... I summon ‘Sound Warrior Drums’.” A self playing drum kit brandishing its drum sticks like daggers appeared before him to the chorus of more groans (Lv2, ATK 700). “Now because I control a machine type, I can activate ‘Iron Call’ and special summon back Piano in defence.” For some reason, Yudai got very excited about this. “Jin, use Bassist’s effect! Go for it!” “Bassist? What the... but it’s in...” Looking at the card, Jin suddenly realised what Yudai was getting at. [i]‘Oh right, with this I can do massive damage.’[/i] “I activate the effect of Bassist. By banishing it from the cemetery, its effect can be applied to another Sound Warrior on the field. So Drums level increases by the one card in my hand. Now I Xyz summon using my two monsters. Appear ‘String Devil Muzumuzu Rhythm!” A black cat in an oversized coat and hat appeared before him, holding a double necked guitar in its paws (Rk3, ATK 1500). Again, the rush of excitement clouded better judgement. “Now my monster attacks, and when he does, I can detach an overlay unit to double its attack until the end phase. So now Road Roller is going to take massive damage.” “Ha, so naive” was Shibo’s only reply, as his trap opened. “I activate the trap ‘Power Frame’. This negates an attack on my monster. Then it equips to my monster, and raises its attack to equal the monster that just attacked it.” As the attack failed, Jin sank to his knees and waited for the inevitable. His face down would only serve to delay the inevitable fate he was about to receive in front of all these people. Already with two monsters outmatching the guitar player, Shibo mercilessly drew his card. “I summon ‘Excavation Heavy Machinery Strong Shovel (Lv3, ATK 1800).” The appearance of the third monster confirmed defeat, now Shibo was just going to show off. “Then I’ll activate the spell ‘Resonance Device’, which brings it level up to five along with Drill Jumbo and Road Roller. So now I overlay my three level five monsters. Tear the weak to shreds! ‘Heavy Machinery King Daboku Zaku’!” Crashing up through the gym floor came an enormous machine, with two whirring flywheels extending forwards that would tear through anything (Rk5, ATK 3200). Initially it scared the hell out of Jin, but still, Shibo had misplayed this time in his overconfidence, now he might survive. “Daboku Zaku’s effect activates. By detaching an overlay unit, it sends the top three cards of your deck to the cemetery.” The images of the three cards appeared before them, depicting various other music related monsters. “Now for each monster sent to the cemetery by this effect, a card you control is destroyed! Leaving me with a clear field to attack!” Muzumuzu was torn to shreds by one flywheel in horrific fashion. His face down, ‘Reactive Armour’, was obliterated. Leaving nothing standing between him and the destructive machine advancing towards him with those enormous wrecking blades. “Alright alright I quit I quit!” Smirking, Shibo called off the monster and left. He said something, but Jin didn’t hear it. The crowd were passing their own comments, which also seemed strangely muted. Yudai was at his side, encouraging him, telling him not to worry, but he was just making muffled noise. Jin was left terrified and humiliated. It would be a long time before Jin ever picked up his cards again. It was only through the persistence of Yudai, who felt guilty for what had happened, to help him get back into it and show him how joyful duelling could be and help him get better. Progress was slow, but gradually the enthusiasm would return, especially when Yudai introduced him to the VDS. Eventually the taunting got boring for some, although Shibo would never let it go, always looking for any opportunity to establish his position as top dog the easy way by picking on him. This would be Jin’s high school life for three years.[/spoiler] Note: Yeah, had to nerf Iron Call a little bit for plot reasons. Kinda struggled to get passionate about this chapter, which may well show, but I felt I had to give these guys some build up. Hopefully it hasn't done the opposite and damaged them. I dunno, not that confident now about how this will go down. Anyway, Arc two, next Tuesday. Hopefully by that time should have overcome a few niggly difficulties and get the rest of the arc sorted so it can continue smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 The chapter was good, although maybe not as good as the others. I like Jin now though... In the end, he's gonna beat Clarissa and save everyone. Calling it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Umbra Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Alright, I've finished reading the first twelve chapters, and it is time for some conclusive opinions on the arc as a whole. I remember reading the first chapters of Armageddon and waiting for the story to kick off properly, as it didn't really draw me in at first. I assure you, that is not the case here. It kicks off right from the start with the mysterious death of a young girl - an event that will most certainly have repercussions in the future. (If my suspicions are correct, it already has) We are then quickly thrown into the main storyline, after a short historical backdrop explaining the situation, with Real Duel being seized by Clarissa's team. Here we stumble upon the first "flaw" I could find in the story, and something I think you handled better in Armageddon: pacing. We are introduced to the main villain - or so it would seem - at the very start of the story, and as the chapters unravel we learn more and more about their internal workings. This takes very much away from the mystery of the situation; we know exactly what's happening in the VDS at all times, while the characters do not. The moment you introduce us to your villains, you start a progressive demystifying of the conflict. As you seem to have placed near-equal focus on both heroes and villains - and a few shady characters in between, such as Methuselah and Natsumi - you disconnect us from the protagonists. Speaking of the protagonists, that would be the only other major flaw I could think of. Even now, twelve chapters in, I'm not entirely sure if there is a central protagonist. I understand the need to keep a large cast in a story this immense, but I think you need someone that sticks out a bit more. You have your Fellowship in the making: what you need now is a Frodo and/or an Aragorn. (Daiki certainly comes across as Aragorn material, but he's not there yet.) As the arc progresses, we learn more and more about the plague-like condition that spreads throughout the country. Sakura's connection to the Prime Minister was a nice touch, and not something I had seen coming. As a matter of fact, major kudos to you for even including politics in the story. Even if you haven't explicitly assigned Hideo to any political ideology, it still gives the story that real-world flavor that so many fanfics lack. I suspect the government will go into high gear now that the threat has been confirmed, not to mention the press going wild. If I were to speculate, I would say a nation-wide shutdown of VDS terminals to minimize collateral damage is in order, if that's even possible. To sum things up: much, much better than Armageddon on almost all levels. There are a few points to improve upon, as always, but don't let that get you down. This is the best story on this site right now, and definitely on the top-five of all time. As someone who has been on the site long enough to remember when Fanfics (Creative Writing now, a change very welcomed) only had two pages, I think you can take my word for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 [quote name='Pacmanexus' timestamp='1332887575' post='5891531'] The chapter was good, although maybe not as good as the others. I like Jin now though... In the end, he's gonna beat Clarissa and save everyone. Calling it. [/quote] Sorry for late reply man, was kinda hoping to catch a few at once. To be honest this extra chapter felt... and this is again something Saber has noted at points.... like something I needed to do rather than wanted to do. Which was obviously noticable. Still, your comment is heartfelt and makes it worthwhile. Thank you. Jin gets into the action early in Arc 2, which is why I had to give him build up. Although obviously he will have a new deck by then... [quote name='Umbra' timestamp='1333111665' post='5894862'] Alright, I've finished reading the first twelve chapters, and it is time for some conclusive opinions on the arc as a whole. I remember reading the first chapters of Armageddon and waiting for the story to kick off properly, as it didn't really draw me in at first. I assure you, that is not the case here. It kicks off right from the start with the mysterious death of a young girl - an event that will most certainly have repercussions in the future. (If my suspicions are correct, it already has) We are then quickly thrown into the main storyline, after a short historical backdrop explaining the situation, with Real Duel being seized by Clarissa's team. Here we stumble upon the first "flaw" I could find in the story, and something I think you handled better in Armageddon: pacing. We are introduced to the main villain - or so it would seem - at the very start of the story, and as the chapters unravel we learn more and more about their internal workings. This takes very much away from the mystery of the situation; we know exactly what's happening in the VDS at all times, while the characters do not. The moment you introduce us to your villains, you start a progressive demystifying of the conflict. As you seem to have placed near-equal focus on both heroes and villains - and a few shady characters in between, such as Methuselah and Natsumi - you disconnect us from the protagonists. Speaking of the protagonists, that would be the only other major flaw I could think of. Even now, twelve chapters in, I'm not entirely sure if there is a central protagonist. I understand the need to keep a large cast in a story this immense, but I think you need someone that sticks out a bit more. You have your Fellowship in the making: what you need now is a Frodo and/or an Aragorn. (Daiki certainly comes across as Aragorn material, but he's not there yet.) As the arc progresses, we learn more and more about the plague-like condition that spreads throughout the country. Sakura's connection to the Prime Minister was a nice touch, and not something I had seen coming. As a matter of fact, major kudos to you for even including politics in the story. Even if you haven't explicitly assigned Hideo to any political ideology, it still gives the story that real-world flavor that so many fanfics lack. I suspect the government will go into high gear now that the threat has been confirmed, not to mention the press going wild. If I were to speculate, I would say a nation-wide shutdown of VDS terminals to minimize collateral damage is in order, if that's even possible. To sum things up: much, much better than Armageddon on almost all levels. There are a few points to improve upon, as always, but don't let that get you down. This is the best story on this site right now, and definitely on the top-five of all time. As someone who has been on the site long enough to remember when Fanfics (Creative Writing now, a change very welcomed) only had two pages, I think you can take my word for that. [/quote] You read it all already? Wow, thank you so much for the feedback. I don't just say that because its mostly positive, I say that because its really in depth on both pluses and minuses. Yeah, I remember a lot of critism was Armageddon was too slow and cliche in first 3-4 chapters, so thought I'd try something different. I understand where that leads to your first point though. Oddly, writing arc two (which has gone swimmingly well the last two weeks, more on that later) Saber thinks there are aspects that are getting too mysterious on a 'wtf' with a lot of shadiness going on, so prepare for much of that y'all. As for the other point, funny you should mention a 'fellowship'. That is an interesting thing to think about that I hadn't done previously. Daiki is supposed to be the 'lead lead'. In fact most characters have roles similar to the usual YGO recipe that has worked for four shows, but getting equal exposure was something, after Juruo hogged the limelight so much in Armageddon (and having to endure endless amounts of Yuma in Zexal) I was keen to avoid. Annoyingly all the stuff I was keen to make points on I've overemphazied and gone too far along to the other side of the seesaw. Infuriating. I'm not big on politics or computers (where again massive credit to Saber here), but it kinda felt important to show what was being done to help. I never imagined Hideo and company would get as bigger role as they do, but I do seem to write a lot about them. Thank you so much for all your praise. It's... wow... Anyway, reminder, Arc Two begins on [b]Tuesday 3rd April[/b]. And by that I mean very early hours of Tuesday morning BST/late afternoon American times. Progression has been good the last few weeks, should have chapters 20 and 21 finished by Sunday and start working on the bits after it. The countdown begins again.... laters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted April 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 We're... back... Hope everyone's caught up and ready now. Hope everyones enjoyed what they've read so far. Well now its time to start upping the ante a bit. Over the next six weeks, there will be many more battles to face, many more obstacles to overcome, many more of the Numbers to fight, and things will of course not be getting any better for our heroes anytime soon. But first, a quick summary; [b]Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh! 24[/b] In the entertainment capital of the world, Tokyo city, the game of Duel Monsters has become the most popular pastime of the generation, thanks to [b]Real Duel Ltd[/b]’s D-Disks and VDS system. The company running this virtual reality play space has been seized by an extremist group lead by [b]Clarissa Haines-Wilshire[/b], who is using the systems millions of trapped players as hostages in order to achieve her goals. Those trapped in the system are forced to face Clarissa’s army of brainwashed Real Duel employees, called the [b]Duel Drones[/b], in high stake duels, where the pressure of taking damage has extreme consequences. These stakes have been amplified by the appearance of the [b]Numbers[/b]; one hundred powerful monsters whose presence has various effects on duelists and the world around them. Clarissa is searching for them as part of her plans, the force of which has been felt by young duelists such as [b]Yudai Morita[/b], who fell into a coma when protecting his girlfriend [b]Sakura Nakashima[/b] from the drones. The Metropolitan Police is working to get the threat under control. Detective [b]Garvan Zielinski[/b] entered the VDS; having followed a trail that lead him there concerning strange occurrences and threats to the public, as did his colleague and friend [b]Daiki Masuro[/b]. Daiki entered the system at the request of a hacker wanted by the police and former employee of Real Duel, who turned out to be his ex [b]Natsumi Hotaru[/b], who has a vendetta against the company she believes exploited and framed her. The government is trying its best to keep the nation from a mass panic. At the end of the last arc, Prime Minister [b]Hideo Nakashima[/b] and his closest colleagues received contact from Clarissa, who made some of her demands clear to them. The next arc covers the next six hours of the story, starting from this point. [spoiler=Chapter 7:1] [b]The following takes place between 3PM and 4PM.[/b] Evos loomed over the group of technicians, studying their actions as they continued to work away on their separate tasks. Maintaining the lock in on the VDS that was keeping millions hostage in the system, keeping surveillance tabs, or working on more expansive projects. They were all working as if their lives depended on it, not just the large sums of money they were promised, although none of them could help themselves from glancing at their leader occasionally. She was sat at the end of the table, having just ended her communication with the government of Japan. She had handled herself well, keeping controlled and clear about her demands and her leverage. Wilhelm was by her side, the pair sat in silence together, lost in the moment. As if they had an endless amount of time just to sit there. Clarissa eventually broke from her train of thought. “Are we ready to move onto stage two?” “We should be soon ma’am” Evos replied, beginning to walk around the computers to his left and check on each individual. All seemed to making satisfactory progress. “We’re making significant inroads into the operations systems we need to. We’ll be able to begin within the hour, whenever we get the command.” “Good.” The news seemed to revitalise the siblings. Clarissa was on her feet and throwing herself back into action, and Wilhelm was back at his computer working away. “That should really shake up those suited fools. Wilhelm, are we making any progress with the VDS?” “We’ve gathered a few more Numbers. No sign of anything else though.” “Don’t worry, she’ll appear eventually. You, have we had any more unseen problems with people getting out or anything that needs attention?” “No ma’am. Just the three we already know about.” “Three?” The technician gulped under the glare she shot him. “Well, about an hour ago, someone else was logged out in similar fashion to Nakashima Sakura earlier, from a server in Russia. We picked it up but you’ve been kept busy until now.” Clarissa and Evos approached the technician as he bought up the player’s profile. “The West Asian champion, Vladimir Kanchev, was logged out of the VDS at exactly one minute to two o’clock. We have no record of what he was doing prior to logging out, other than he was in the Canyon area. Then he just seems to have vanished.” “Okay. I don’t think he’ll be too much problem all the way over there. Tell me immediately if anyone else gets out though, and carry on with your other work. Gadsby,” Clarissa turned to the ex-navy commander who had just walked in and saluted her, closely followed by another African mercenary. “Report on our own status. How secure is the building if we were retaliated against by force?” “The building is ideally located and built for holding with only small numbers. With all the heavy defence we’ve bought in and put around it since capture we are more than well manned enough to deal with any attack. But we’re not going to be attacked unless the prime minister or their forces make a very foolish mistake. Not if you made our position clear to them... unless things did not go as expected ma’am?” “I did make our position clear, but we have to expect something and be ready to deal with it. They’re not just going to lie down and give into our demands so easily. They know where we are and could muster an assault at any moment. I do not expect Nakashima to give such a command when he knows it would jeopardise millions of lives, but someone might make the decision for him. Just be prepared. And who is this guy?” “Didier Kazenga ma’am” Gadsby introduced the slightly built African next to him. Kazenga smiled, exposing dirty and many missing teeth and rolling a pick to one corner of his mouth. “He was Hasif’s second in command and will assume his duties from here on.” “Right. Well then Kazenga, carry on assuming duties.” The man’s smile broadened. “Certainly. I take it you made contact with the government and gave them our price we hold out for.” “I will give them more specifics on that later. You’ll get your money.” Clarissa waved him away dismissively, but he didn’t move. “Look I have other things I need to attend to right now, as do they. We’re not leaving this building any time soon, so get ready to do what I’m paying you to do and defend it.” The new commander still seemed reluctant to leave, but under the insistence of Gadsby he made his bow, still with that malicious grin as he went. Clarissa watched him go with a disgusted look before turning to her other commander. “What of our other captive?” “She’s not uncomfortable. She’s not able to do much in the office we’ve put her in; we shouldn’t have any trouble off of her.” “Good. Carry on.” Dismissing Gadsby, Clarissa threw herself back into work with the other men using the array of laptops to do their work. Next to her Wilhelm bought up a screen bearing the logo of Japan’s main rail company, along with various programs, whilst on her own she came up with one bearing the mark of JFN. Clarissa may have employed some of the most renowned hackers in the world into her team, but she too had become well trained in computers herself, and she needed to busy herself with something. Stage two would begin shortly. ...15:04:30... The six ministers had sat in near silence since the communication had ended, broken only by the agent calling the head police department from across the room. Hideo had a pale look of shock on his face, sat stiffly in his chair staring at an invisible menace in front of him, as did Kenji. Izura was obviously upset, whilst Rokuro was sat with an awkward expression, lost in his own little world far away from the others. Minori looked blank. Only the Internal Affairs minister, Ohayashi Ryuunosuke, seemed physically unaffected by what had transpired, and stood to leave. “I shall contact the metropolitan police and our secret service at once regarding strike teams seizing the Real Duel building.” “Sit down Ohayashi-san.” The old man blinked at the order he had given him. Everyone else was equally surprised as they faced the prime minister, who looked to have surprised himself a little, although his initial wave of fear had dissipated to be replaced by a rather calmer expression. “Maeda-san, could you arrange the reporters waiting outside to gather in the press room. I will address them in twenty minutes...” “You’re going to do what she said!?” The health minister Yukimura Minori blurted, as Ryuunosuke made a spluttering noise of indignation. “Sir, you are surely not going to cave into this woman’s demands? We do not negotiate with terrorists.” “I am well aware of our stance on terrorism” Hideo replied, wringing his hands together as he spoke. “And I intend to stick to our principles. However there are many lives in danger and those numbers could rapidly increase if we don’t act, and we do not have a lot of time. I will hopefully be able to hold out for some by making this press conference and addressing the people.” “Sir, if you do that then you will give this woman an immediate hold on you and this country” Ryuunosuke spluttered. “As soon as you give into this one demand, she will receive the green light to do whatever she wants. We must use force against her as soon as we can, not just do as she tells us and beg to be left alone like little cubs.” “Well I don’t have much choice do I?” Hideo was on his feet as well now, coming face to face with the furious minister whose hard eyes were drilling through him, quivering in anger, flecks of spit mangling with his beard. Yet he remained firm. “Their location is so exposed; we have no chance to send in strike teams undetected and risk those people. At least this will placate her for now while we work out how to deal with the situation and hopefully diffuse it without loss. It will also give me a chance to stop the press and the public coming to wild conclusions and keep them calm.” “It’s a horrible gamble sir” Izura said. “If you make one wrong word, people could start to panic. That might be what Clarissa wants.” “It is exactly what she wants” Minori angrily rode over her. “You must contain the truth, the people won’t respond with calm to your advice. They won’t have faith in your leadership in a crisis. We must keep this quiet from them and contain the press’ information.” “I have faith in the people. The press already think we are hiding the facts on a crisis from them. If anything would generate panic, lying and withholding such knowledge will cause it to be much more widespread. As long as I am calm and strong, the people will follow suit.” Hideo sighed and turned to the two ministers who had been silent so far. “What do you think?” “I think you should do everything you can to keep people safe sir” Kenji replied. Rokuro didn’t seem to realise he was being spoken to for a moment. “...oh, certainly sir. Whatever you think is most likely to keep the people trapped in the VDS safe.” “Right, then it appears I have the majority in my favour.” Hideo took a deep breath to compose himself, trying to remain unflustered by the furious looks of the other two. “Maeda-san, once you’ve contacted the press I will need help planning my speech. Tanaka-san, contact the secret service and tell them to be cautious with their work. Minori-san, an update on the numbers of VDS users admitted to hospital in these comas, and anything else you can find out. When each of you are done with those duties, and the rest of you, see what’s happening around the city and how you can use your influence to help.” Ryuunosuke shot him a furious glare, before marching out of the room. One by one the other ministers filed after him, not as united as Hideo had hoped. ...15:07:44... Inside the VDS, the quiet was getting more and more unnerving. Daiki was now riding through the ‘Tomb of the Dead Emperor’ area, which probably didn’t help his sense of apprehension as he continued through the dead lands surrounding the massive holy burial site of ancient kings, but the oppressive eeriness was increasing with every passing minute. Usually filled by the sound of duelists everywhere, the place seemed abandoned, although Daiki knew it couldn’t be. As massive as the VDS was, other people had to be here somewhere, as did the monsters of which Natsumi briefly spoke. Perhaps one group was hiding from the other. The occasional break in the silence made him jump and search for a source, but he found none. [i]‘Why can’t I find anything? There has to be something I’m missing.’[/i] Approaching the edge of the volcano like crater that the burial grounds were built within; each monument made up of great stone pillars flanking a giant bowl of fire, Daiki tried his duelist menu again. Still couldn’t log out. Still couldn’t make outside contact. Whoever was responsible for this had really tied his hands. He just needed to make contact with someone; who he could get some more solid answers off, and a perspective on what to do now. There had to be something he could do. Unable to get anywhere, Daiki stopped at the edge of the crater and looked across the sacred tombs. Down by the first monument to him, about thirty feet below him in the crater and further into the distance, he could just make out a pair of figures, facing off in front of the great torch where one king had been cremated. They were far away, but something about them, in this environment, unsettled him. Dreading what he would see, Daiki zoomed in with his D-Gazer for a better look. Clearly the two had just finished a duel, and the result was apparent. One of the duelists, he guessed an older boy, was lying face down on the plinth, covered in scars of battle. Across the field from him stood the duelist that Natsumi had mentioned; an entirely black creature with long awkward wings and savage features half hidden by a broken mask, claws outstretched towards the young boy. From the D-Disk of the duelist a small object of light rose and floated over to the sinister creature. Daiki watched as the victorious creature took what had to be a Number in its card form, and it disappeared. Then he looked down the stone stairs that led up to the monument, and his breathing stopped. Another young duelist, a girl of maybe fourteen, was climbing the stairs towards the creature, completely unsuspecting of what was up there. Snapping into action, Daiki’s runner took off, crashing down the side of the crater towards the monument. The mountainside was steep and full of boulders that forced him to swerve left and right, desperately trying to get to the monument first as the girl was had maybe forty steps to go. There was a loud smash and pain shot up his leg, causing him to swear loudly as his leg was crushed between bike and rock. The simulated feeling left his leg quickly but left his brain dulled and sloppy, but still he charged down. The girl had twenty steps to go, but now he was on the flat and was speeding up. The distance from here to the base of the towering steps was short but just refused to lessen as he charged forth. The girl had maybe ten steps to go, and sensing she was almost there she started to run, excited to reach the top just as Daiki hit the bottom of the stairs and hurtled up. His D-Disk was ready and deck shuffled for battle. Moments later and the bike took off, launched off the steps and looping through the air. Daiki twisted in his seat, shouting some challenge to fight the creature that jumped into his vision off to his left. His eyes caught the dark angels. There was no surprise or hate or anything there, they were just empty as it turned to look at him. The angel only held its gaze at him for a moment, before diverting its attention away as if he was irrelevant, making him follow. Follow the black rope like object that was stretching from its D-Disk, into another model worn on the arm of the young girl he had flown past. She was looking at him as he landed and looked back. In all his service, he could not remember anyone look as scared as that young girl did then. The eye contact was held for a moment, before both the girl and the creature vanished behind the wall of the ARV and were gone. ...15:14:02... “Discretion is a must General.” Rokuro added, the image of his face wavering and flickering slightly on the screen. “I have already contacted the secret service but you need to be kept in the loop as well. Co-ordinate with any agents they send and give them all the information as they need. I appreciate it is sparse at this time, but we have a time limit looming over us and we can’t be sure when Clarissa will contact us again or what else she might demand of us.” “I understand minister. Thank you for keeping us updated.” The call ended, and the Superintendant General Ryokan Shigeo was able to bustle out of his office to get the word out to his troops. In his long service at the top he had never experienced a crisis on this scale, although he had done long ago as a regular agent. Strong leadership was called for at times like this. Hopefully that bungler Nakashima could handle it, but he severely doubted his skills. He passed Yuri at the bottom of the stairs. “An agent from the secret service is on the way here. Compile everything we have for him.” “Yes sir.” “Have you made any progress with our European contacts as to finding out who we are fighting against?” “Keylan is working on that now sir.” “Right, well I have good news for him. The minister for defence sent a visual and audio recording of the woman’s address to my computer. Smug b'tch was none too worried about hiding her identity any longer and I will make it cost her. Transfer the data to Keylan so he can pass it onto the other countries agents and reference it against their database. That will bring us some information.” “Yes sir.” Dismissing Yuri, Shigeo continued along and found Keylan talking to another man in the department, his son Beniko. A field agent like Daiki and Garvan, he was a young man who had come straight into the department due to his high ranking position in the service, but that was because he had the makings of an excellent agent to work in the field. “Deymura, I’ve had some updates sent to your computer for you to use getting information on these people. Have we managed to make any contact with Masuro or Zielinski yet?” “Not a thing sir, they’ve got all communication in and out of the VDS shut down” Keylan replied. “Damn, we need to know what is happening to them. They are still well and conscious right?” “As far as we can tell. We’ve got in contact with the owner of the arcade where Garvan is logged in; he will keep us up to date with his progress. He said he seems strained, but conscious. Daiki is logged into the system from his own computer, so we know he’s fine and still there.” “Alright, keep trying. Ben, why are you still here? I thought I’d told Yuri to get a scout team out to the RDL Building?” “I’ve had no such order from her. I doubt she thinks it’s a good idea given their demands.” Shigeo made a mental note to reprimand Yuri for ignoring his orders. “Well now I’m telling you. I want you to lead a scout team to the Real Duel building and have a look around. See what their defences are like and if there is any chance we can get in.” The young man nodded, but Keylan was less than happy with this suggestion. “Sir if they saw a scout team anywhere near the building then it would endanger all the hostages they have. You know that.” “They aren’t going to be spotted. I want the entire area mapped out to a three mile radius, I’ll get someone here to get plans of the building and send them to you. Deymura, you get back to your station and make contact with our European allies, and keep an ear out for Masuro and Zielinski. Don’t argue, do it now.” Keylan wanted to argue, but under the glare of his boss he just couldn’t. Hopefully Beniko would be cautious and not be spotted. He saluted and left for his station, as did the young man before he went off to gather his troops. ...15:17:23... Stunned by what he had seen, Daiki was unable to move. He had just seen a young man, butchered by some demon and whose still body was still lying face down near to him, and then a small girl was mostly likely going to meet the same fate. Except now that creature definitely had a Number, and she almost certainly didn’t. From what Natsumi had suggested, from what he had experienced, her fate would be worse. A sick feeling was welling up inside him. They were still there, right in front of him, but he had no way to reach them. Furious for being unable to intervene, he punched the dash of his runner. So caught up in his anger, it didn’t immediately register that something in the space in front of him was opening up. A round portal from another area, through which a player could immediately pass through from place to place as they wished. Daiki didn’t care who it was who was coming. He expected a foe, possibly another one of those creatures, and his anger increased as he braced for whatever or whoever came. From the portal emerged the battered figure of Garvan. He was breathing heavily, and bore many battle scars. Realising who it was with surprise, Daiki felt inclined to abandon his runner and support his comrade as he staggered towards him, something which he was not too appreciative of. “Hey, I can stand fine on my own. Just need a breather.” “What are you doing in here?” Daiki asked as Garvan leaned on the front of his bike. “And what the hell happened to you?” “Been fighting for my life for the last two hours is what. Ever since I got here I’ve been under constant attack by these damned black angel characters. As soon as I defeat one, another is not far behind. They’re fighting everyone in here, challenging people for possession of these cards. You know; the ones we got this morning? They’re called Numbers, and seem to have some sort of special power. They’re after them and attacking anyone who has them, and those they defeat fall into comas.” “Yeah, I know Garvan. Natsumi explained it to me.” Garvan blinked at this. “Natsumi knows what’s going on as well? “Well, she gave me a version of events as she sees it.” Daiki quickly explained what Natsumi had said about what had happened since she left, about the changes inside the VDS and how she believed Real Duel was responsible, about the Numbers, and how they had fought against each other, leading to the unveiling of his card. Showing Garvan the card of Number 39, his colleague seemed impressed, before holding up two of his own in reply. “This one appeared at the same time as yours, and the other I got off the first drone I fought. This must have pissed someone off, because they’ve been after me relentlessly since. I see you’ve managed to get lucky and avoid them so far.” “Yeah... yeah I’ve only just seen them.” The eyes of the young girl swam into his mind again, but Daiki couldn’t quite bear the thought of retelling it in speech. “So these black angels are the army of someone from Real Duel?” Garvan shook his head. “No, that’s why I wanted to get find you, to trade information. Before I arrived here, I got in contact with an informant of mine. He reported to me sightings of a heavily armed group of soldiers coming into the city, as well as about the VDS. I reported it to head office and they sent out strike teams to the location I gave them, but since I came to investigate what was happening in here I haven’t been able to get in touch for an update. Anyway, I think it’s more likely this group somehow took over Real Duel and is controlling what is happening.” “Right, then what we need to do is get out of here and back into contact with our guys.” Daiki left his bike just as Garvan was going through the process of bringing his own to the area, then checked the young man lying beside them, just in case he might respond. Of course he didn’t, so he was forced to return to the runner and start it, just as Garvan mounted the one that appeared beside him. ...15:23:02... There was a nervous clamour in the press room as members of the national press crowded inside. Roughly thirty television reporters, sound and cameramen, newspaper reporters, internet news site reporters and the like sat or stood around, nervously whispering to each other and training their live feeds on the lady standing behind the lectern that was laden with many microphones at the end of the room. Izura looked strained by the people looking at her, even though she had been in this position hundreds of times. But never before this sort of address. Across the city of Tokyo, the giant screens on the sides of the skyscrapers displayed the live pictures of Izura behind the lectern, people stopping in the street to look up at the words emergency statement by Nakashima Hideo scrolling underneath the picture. The internet population was tuned into their own feeds. In the top office of the police department, Shigeo and Yuri were watching the scene on the main boardroom screen. And in the top offices of the Real Duel Building, Clarissa bought up the live feed on her own laptop and watched as Izura addressed the gathering. “Ladies and gentleman, thank you for your patience this morning. I know you have all come here because of certain events across the country this morning which you have many questions regarding. The prime minister has asked you to gather here to listen to a brief statement regarding these events, and to give you critical information to pass onto the general public. We will not be taking any questions at the end of his statement. Prime minister...” Izura stepped aside, allowing Hideo to take the stage. There was another wave of nervous muttering, which Hideo subsided with a raised hand for silence. “Thank you for coming and allowing me to address the people of Japan at this time. I have something important to say, and you need to listen to me very carefully. You are all no doubt aware by now of the numerous cases throughout the morning of large numbers of people being administered to hospitals in comas all across the country. We are unfortunately not able to confirm at this time what is causing them to have fallen into these states...” Clarissa smirked to herself at Hideo wanting to dodge the VDS issue so quickly and how much he obviously hated doing it, as he reluctantly held up his hand again to quell the barrage of questions. Typing something into her computer, she sat back and watched him continue. “But I am able to confirm as to why. Just half an hour ago, we confirmed that...” Hideo took a deep breath. He had hoped when he took his position years ago that he would never have to face such a crisis during his reign, just like his predecessors. Japan had never been under this sort of threat since its rapid growth, and how the people would react was a complete unknown. They would have no idea how the powers that be would handle the threat either. But alas, hopefully he was doing the right thing and hopefully would get the reaction desired by him and not Clarissa. Hope was all he had right now. “I feel it is my duty to be honest and transparent towards my people, and therefore I want to confirm that our country is currently under attack by a hostile group who are responsible for the conditions of our people, and who are threatening us with terrorist demands.” Another surge of voices filled the room, a series of whispers and questions that was echoed across the streets and through the homes of the country as millions watched the prime minister look to Izura. Between them they managed to regain the gathered crowd to be calm. “Please settle down and I will explain this clearly; to you, and those people who might also be watching this. Most of you know that we, like all the other international superpowers, have a non-negotiation policy on terrorism. I want to assure you all that we will be sticking to this policy. We will not run away from those who threaten us, and will not be broken by those who wish to break us. Instead we will stand together and fight those who wish to fulfil their ambitions at the expense of our virtues and our livelihoods. Now we are working with all our security departments and all the resources we have to diffuse the threat...” “Heh... the resources you had” Wilhelm scoffed from where he was sat beside his sister, typing into his own computer like the surrounding group. “We’re all ready.” “One minute Wilhelm, I’m just about ready” Clarissa replied, watching her computer finish what she was doing whilst Hideo continued speaking to the press. “Now prime minister, you can attempt to fight me all you want. But I will get what I want, and you are not going to stop me. Now I will take it from here...” ... “People of the nation, I cannot say much more, but I must ask you all to remain calm. In times such as these, we must remain strong and united if we are to triumph over such threats. We will make it through this, together, as swiftly and as effectively as possible. My constitution will not bow down to threats against us, and...” “Hey, what’s up with my camera?” Hideo recoiled at the interruption of one of the news site reporters who was frantically working at his computer. The small web cam honed on the prime minister had lost its picture that it was broadcasting live, and had turned to a black screen. The cameramen throughout the room were having the same problem, as their images of what they were recording suddenly turned to black as well. A small noise from Izura attracted the minister’s attention. She looked suddenly afraid as she turned to him, and as she mouthed her fearful thoughts to him, he understood why. ... All across the country, the people who were watching the address on their own televisions or computers, or on the big screens in the streets, watched as the screens went black one by one. As did the feeds that the police were watching, and those being watched by the other ministers in other parts of the government building. The whole country stood still and waited with baited breath. On every screen, a red glow started to emerge. Just an outline, faint at first, slowly glowing with greater strength as it took form. The outline seemed to depict a blood red symbol, resembling a kind of a shield shape with spikes producing from it. Underneath the insignia were just a few words. "Hell hath no fury..." [/spoiler] So yeah, short and sweet one to get back into it. Hope this goes down well, and people are looking forward to what's instore. [spoiler=...]Stay tuned for Friday's episode... when stage two sweeps the nation, and when the first duel of the arc breaks out. Featuring the second (and most likely last) pre-5D's/Xyz archtype. But its a special one.[/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catterjune Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 [quote]So yeah, short and sweet one[/quote] Chapter is neither short nor sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted April 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 [quote name='Hatcher' timestamp='1333409515' post='5899415'] Chapter is neither short nor sweet. [/quote] Lol. You were quick on the uptake. Well, shorter comparitively speaking. Why are you still here? You don't like the story, why are you still reading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brinolovania Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 So this is where s*** gets real outside of the VDS, huh? Cool. Also, calling Crystal Beasts as the pre-5Ds archetype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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