In truth there was quite a lot that she needed to do. Most certainly more than a single person could even handle, much to her dismay of course.
The one that she's focusing on, and quite possibly the most pressing with what it implied and the quite arguably short deadline that it had, was of course the Numbers Hunt. With the Word Duel Carnival, most likely the main part and climax of this whole 'event' looming shortly on the horizon in just a few days.
It was why she, again much to her dismay, had accepted Anna and the other's offer for help, even if it might put them in danger (think of this as a trial run. You know that the real danger still looms over you, you've only set that man's plans behind schedule after all).
With the cards spread most likely all across Heartland City, there was virtually no way for her to search every nook and cranny and challenge every duelist that she thinks has them on hand. Especially since she didn't have a handy dandy Numbers locator in her possession in the form of an invisible floating ghost from another dimension.
Though now thinking about it, she herself fits one of those criteria didn't she? She did come from a whole other dimension after all.
Ignoring that line of thought, there was also the fact that with the Numbers Hunt going on and people being possessed by them running about, there was without a doubt that those rats would take notice.
Though the competence of their ability always lingered in her mind (for goodness sake who thought that Ancient Gears of all deck would be a good choice to mass produce!), she at least knew that something this large would catch their eye, especially with how it's taking place right as the World Duel Carnival is being held.
An event that no doubt the Academia spies would be watching closely. It will basically show them what the strongest of the XYZ Dimension was capable of after all.
Those are the main two problems (not the only main problems, she misses home, she misses her family) with some others still needing to be solved like changing the 'local' dueling 'meta' in an attempt to counter the strategy of using floodgates that she had accidentally though the Fusion Dimension of, helping her new friends become stronger duelists, and improving her own deck.
So while Anna and the trio was out in the city doing whatever they thought was best, here she was in an attempt to try and solve all of these problems and juggling all of them at once, here she was, touring all of Heartland City's famous card shops in hopes of finding someone who's being possessed by a Number, or if anyone have heard rumours about anything similar, and if they've seen anything else shifty going around.
And selling staples in bulk for a cheap price, well, relatively cheap by her standards. In an attempt to help the average Heartland duelist to deal with the invasion that would no doubt come, even if it dried her virtual wallet more than it would normally if she did an auction or sell them in singles.
"Maybe I should have done this sooner." She mumbled as she went out of the shop, a hand on the rim of her hat, pulling it down to obscure her features as the owner of the shop bid her goodbye with a smile on his face and a pile of cards in front of him, all staples that would most certainly bring him profit.
Or as close as 'staples' that she could sell really, as much as she 'farms' DP on her Duel World every night, she still wasn't rich enough to buy handtraps and actual meta staples, but she did other cards that's less 'important' that she could sell. Twin Twisters, Raigeki, Torrential Tributes, extra copies of Terraforming and whatnot.
Though a small part of her still was quite baffled at how no one, and by that she meant no one seemed to even give Cosmic Cyclone a glance after they heard of its cost. It's just 1000 Life Points! So what if they're playing in a 4000 LP format! It was a staple in Duel Links for goodness sake!
A sigh escaped her once again, a relative occurrence these days as she lifted her duel disk up and tapped its screen. Within a few seconds as she accessed its menu, a map then appeared on the screen, highlighting the several card shops that she intended to visit today.
Along with the many dodgy back alleys that she'd need to pass to get there, one that no doubt was the haunts of some of the shadier card dealers, card dealers who may or may not have the information that she wanted.
She was going to put her legs through hell since she was basically touring the entire city on foot, but for once, the harsh PE lessons which was most certainly child soldier training from the Academia came in handy.
She continued her travel with a sense of purpose reignited. In hopes of finding something, anything, relating to the Numbers Hunt of the Academia snakes who were lying in wait to strike.
-
"Please! I-I don't know anything about-"
"Well that's too bad then." She said in a calm, cold voice as she let go of the quivering back alley duelist who saw her as a quick way to get DP. "Go. Before I change my mind." And he didn't need to be told twice as the teen scampered off as if the devil was hot on his tail.
She resisted the urge to click her tongue, and the urge to sigh as well as she simply glanced to the cloudy sky. "The fifth one and they didn't have anything useful… both cards and information at that."
Now she wasn't a person who would steal cards from other people, the mere thought sent shiver down her spine as someone who had gone to locals and seen some cards disappear after a short bathroom break from her life Before, she knew how such a thing would affect someone, especially in the world where she lived in now, but she was quite close to reaching that point in her crusade against the Academia.
All for the simple sake of its effectiveness, because at this point of time, her wallet was drying ever so slowly, and even with the cards that she sold in the last few shops, she wasn't gaining back her revenue.
Now it wasn't like she was going to lose all of her DP anytime soon, though the possibility of such a thing happening always existed should she lose a duel. The thought of just stealing the cards of her opponent who clearly didn't deserve them, Number possessed being the exception, was… quite strong.
Well, it would be strong if they had any cards that were worth stealing really.
"Honestly. Gagagigo the Risen off all things." She mumbled as she shook her head, adjusting the rim of her cap as she turned and headed down the path opposite to where her opponent led, going further down the alley with no good information gained from her venture.
"GAAAAAGH!" Only for another teen to fell right in front of her, being thrown right towards her feet as the cards that were holstered by his duel disk flew off of its deck case.
Now that was quite honestly not that much of a rare occurrence at all. If you were somehow connected with the supernatural or had the ratings of your duel disk's solid vision projector set to its highest settings, which she doubts these back alley duelists would even have thought of.
The result of how a 'normal' duel supposed to end was just the normal jingle of the loser's Life Points reaching zero, or maybe them falling to their behind at most. Getting thrown like this however? Was out of the norm.
Or so she heard from Myu. A random throwaway comment that she gave after seeing how absurd her duels usually ended up along with the duels of any Number possessed duelist. And another show of how different the Fusion Dimension is compared to the others from its basics.
So of course, her focus turned from the unconscious duelist who lost and towards the winner who had bested him.
Light blue-grey eyes met purplish silver. An immediate sense of recognition passed between both of them.
"Oh. It's just you huh." She said with a slight hint of disappointment in her tone, her unknowingly tense posture disappearing all the while. She had hoped that it would have been one of the Academia goons running around in secret, but it seems that wasn't the case.
The blond stayed silent, instead eyeing her warily with a dangerous glint in his eye. Trying to discern why and how she was even here.
She ignored him, and instead glanced down to the teen with averagely average features below her. "So. Guessing that this guy here is possessed by a Number huh." She crouched and picked up the most eye-catching card that was dropped in the duel's aftermath, with Kaito tensing as he saw her pick it up.
Number 7: Lucky Straight.
A snort actually came from her at seeing the jank card now in her hand. And imagining it being used by the unconscious teen in any serious setting brought forth a giggle from her. "Seriously? Lucky Straight of all things." Out of all 7 non-rank-up Rank 7 Number monsters that he could've gotten, he'd gotten this one.
She didn't know if that was lucky, or unlucky for the passed out teen in front of her.
"Return it." She heard the teen across her say, and she turned her head to see the glare that he gave as he saw her with the card in hand. "I defeated him, so the card is mine. Return it to me."
"Hee~ is that so." She said with a small smirk, feeling a short bout of childish playfulness to vent her stress as she played with the card as she held it between her middle and index finger. "And? Are you going to take it from me with force?"
The dark trench coat wearing teen tensed even further, his left hand twitching as he seemed to almost raise his duel disk up, the thoughts of whether or not he wanted to duel up in the air.
She dashed the thought out immediately as she held both hands up. "A joke, a joke. It was a joke jeez." She said with a small playful smile, flicking the card over to Kaito who deftly caught it in a flash, checking it briefly before slotting it in his duel disk's card compartment.
Okay that cannot be the same slot that he puts all his Extra Deck cards with how it can only hold 15. Did his duel disk have an added compartment for all the Number cards that he 'acquired'? Because she knew for sure that this dimension's duel disk didn't have that much space, though then again, his is a specially made variant, so it was still up in the air.
"So, you're out here hunting for the Numbers huh." She held her tongue from saying 'too', knowing full well that the Numbers Hunter wouldn't like it if he knew he had competition from what little tidbits she remembered.
"And what if I am." He said with a challenging tone, possibly expecting for her to duel him in an attempt to take all of the Number cards that he had.
Which, to be fair, she would most likely do at some point in time considering that her own Mission needed her to basically do the same as him. But if possible she'd like to ask for them nicely after he or whoever it is that he worked with used them for whatever purposes they needed them for. That way she wouldn't have to actually take them by force.
But knowing her luck with 'plot' relevant things like this, it would most likely end with a duel. Like everything in this world really.
"Oh nothing, if anything I'm here to give you my blessing… well not really." She said as her smirk fell, closing her eyes for a brief second before she stared into his eyes. "No, in fact, you could say that I'm after… a different kind of prey."
Kaito's interest was piqued, clear by how his eyebrow raised ever so slightly, yet he hadn't let his guard down as he kept silent, urging for her to continue.
To which she did. "Let's say that there might be some… rats, in this city of yours. Unrelated to the ones that you're handling right now, of course. And they're the reason why I came to this city in the first place."
All of which were vague statements filled with half truths, of course. The existence of the Academia in this city was assured as she had seen that darned spy and the group that had ambushed her to aid his escape. And the matters of the Academia were unrelated to the Numbers Hunt which had already begun.
And while that man was the reason why she had ended up in this place, it wasn't that she had wanted to end up in this city specifically. It could all really just be one big coincidence really.
Though if she had ever found any form of advertisements about the World Duel Carnival, which were many ranging from flying holographic billboards behind blimps of all things,l and of the existence of Heartland itself, she would've made it her destination in a heartbeat.
"Then you won't be involved in my… hunt?" The blond teenager asked her, and she answered back with a well practised smile.
"Well, if I ever see someone randomly be possessed by an evil spirit that resided in an alien card then it's only right that I, as a concerned citizen, were to help them, no?" She said, never even moving from her spot as she tilted her head slightly.
Before she could even see Kaito's shock or any other reaction he had towards her choice of words, she slowly stood up and patted the dust off of her skirt. "But, since you seem to need them more than I do, I guess I'll be willing to part with any and all alien cards."
And as she faced him with her full height, completely missing any reactions that she had garnered from him with that comment, she raised her right hand and linked her thumb and index finger in a familiar gesture. "For a price of course."
"..." Kaito stood in silence for a good few seconds before he nodded slowly. "Fine then. As long as you don't interfere with my hunt. But." He said, lowering his head as he then quickly took out a card from his duel disk, placing it between his middle and index finger, its art clear for her to see.
And what else could that card be, but the card that she had oh so graciously given to him for free on their prior meeting.
"How did you get these… Fake Numbers." He demanded, his tone and intent clear as his piercing blue-grey eyes narrowed, honing in on her with hostility.
And yet she was calm, unperturbed by the blond's gaze as she leaned on a wall with a smile, internally digesting the whole situation. "Fake Numbers… that's an apt way to describe them." She mused.
From her perspective, the cards that she had were the real Numbers, considering that they didn't have the Numbers Clause that this world's version seemed to possess, along with her own personal bias, what with already being more familiar with them in her life Before.
But of course for him, and others that were working with him, she remembered there being some other people who were also Numbers Hunters like Kaito, the Number cards that she had on hand, without their Numbers Clause, were clearly fake degraded versions that she had somehow gotten her hands on.
And that clearly warranted suspicions. As it should.
She's already spun a tall tale on the existence of spirits and what not to Anna and the others, all she had to do now was something similar yet completely different in context for why she had these 'Fake Numbers' on her and why she'd have even more.
'Now how was she going to spin this one?' So she thought with a small smile as she hid the beads of sweat that fell on her face as she faced the serious blond duelist before her.
-
It was clear from the start, that this Red Hat was suspicious.
The first bit of information that they had gathered regarding them was… strange, or so was the admittance of his fa-by Dr. Faker.
"It doesn't make sense!" The blond scientist roared as he slammed his hands on the large console, but his strike did no damage to the state of the art giant computer in front of him.
The metal double doors opened with a light hiss, and he stepped into the most futuristic laboratory of Heartland.
"Oto-Dr. Faker." He cut himself off, addressing the man by the name that he chose to take on in their shared endeavour, and walked near the blond man, having heard his frustrated scream from outside of his laboratory.
The man before him was tall, being a head taller than himself, and sharing his blonde hair which curled up into three points that resembled a widow's peak, or it should be if it wasn't so dishevelled and unkempt.
The same could be said for his clothing. The usual goggles that he had was gone, having been thrown somewhere and disappearing into the ether, the white coat which he prided on keeping pristine was scuffed and marked with soot and dirt. And the seat that he had sat on was left cluttered on the floor.
The man before him was nothing like the father that he had known in his whole life, like the father that he had for the last month.
But he wasn't the same either was he?
The dishevelled blonde turned to look back towards him, black bags ran under his tired eyes as his mouth twitched, the doctor not even forcing a smile as he met him. "Ah, it's you Kai… no, Number's Hunter."
He turned and glanced upwards, looking towards the gigantic screen with multiple windows of images opened and the thin line of his mouth turned downwards. "It's… no, it not nothing. Come, look." The man said, urging him to come closer as his hand glided over the console, the gigantic screen flashing briefly.
He followed the doctor's instructions, and walked closer to the giant screen before him, and his eyes slightly widened as he saw.
For in the screen it showed the image of the person who had defeated him just the night prior, taken from multiple angles which were no doubt taken from the many security cameras and the cleaner drones that were across the city, all of them showing the red garbed figure.
"That's-"
"Yes, the 'Red Hat' as they've impeccably named themselves." The doctor gruffed, a frown firmly etched on his face, his hand hovered over the console once more, and the image on the screen was enlarged to show the duelist's cap hidden features.
"Even with all of the connections that I have, I have found nothing regarding this Red Hat, not even records of their entry on Heartland." The man beside him said, the frown on his face going down even further as frustration became clear on his face.
The man's comment made him pause, and he turned to see the man with disbelief clear on his face. Dr. Faker was an incredibly powerful and influential figure in Heartland, it was the perks that came of being the scientific backbone of the futuristic city.
And it was with those connections, power, and technological knowhow that had allowed them to gain as much Numbers as they had now, using the many security robots all over the city along with the access of the communication lines that the police had.
Saying that this laboratory that the doctor had placed himself in was one of, if not the most futuristic laboratory in the world, would not be an exaggeration. It was simply a show on how bright the doctor's mind was, along with how much financial backing he had to throw in this endeavour of theirs.
So for someone like him to say that he had nothing on the figure that was clearly seen on the screen? It was more than worrying.
"Nothing? Nothing at all?" He asked, brows creased. "But you managed to find where they're staying didn't you?" It was how he had managed to find them in their last encounter, with one of the robots that the doctor had in his control managing to see Red Hat leaving the premises, and they immediately decided to strike, thinking that it was only the case of the usual Number's possession.
Only to find themselves facing with a whole new set of problems.
The doctor shook his head, the rage on his face subsiding as it was changed by something else. "No… even with that, and the information of the apartment that they rented, there was still nothing. Digging the name that they used for it achieved nothing, no papers, no history, nothing at all. It's as if they didn't exist before they somehow was found in the city."
He gave a self deprecating laugh, a sardonic smile growing on his face. "To think that the system that I had set up myself that allowed anyone to gain independence like that would backfire on me…"
"Otou-san…" He trailed off as he saw the man slightly hunch, knowing full well what he meant. The man no doubt was thinking that it was his fault, the futuristic city that he idealised was most likely the reason why someone with virtually no history like the Red Hat had easily gotten themselves a base of operations like this after all.
He lifted his hand to reach out for him, only for the man to straighten his back and raise his head again. "You said that you had found them before all of… 'this' began, yes?" the doctor asked him, his eyes still fixated on the screen before him.
He snapped his hand back before he could notice, quickly hiding it behind his back. "Yes. If I remembered correctly it was a few weeks earlier. Almost a month now." He said, remembering their first encounter in a time that felt so long ago.
"A month ago?" He asked, an eyebrow raised, then his eyes narrowed. "Could it be… no, the timing doesn't… or does it?" The doctor's hand once again seemingly glides across the console, his hand moving quickly and precisely as the man worked, with him only understanding a handful of the things that flashed briefly on the screen.
His hands stopped very briefly as he shook his head. "No, this could be done later. Come." He said, urging him to follow as he turned and walked away from the large computer and its console, and he followed suit.
They went deeper into the laboratory, and soon enough they saw a large contraption, and Dr. Faker moved his hand towards the centre of the machine, a glass container connected to cables and other futuristic machinery.
After the man pressed several buttons on the machine's controls, a loud hiss could be heard as the glass container slowly opened, and its contents was laid open for the blonde man to take.
"As we suspected, that Red Hat may be connected to this incident, but whatever they're using… it isn't the Numbers." The man said, the frown never leaving his face as he inspected the card that was now in his hand.
"This… Fake Numbers, let us call them, might not release as strong of an energy as the Numbers do, but it doesn't mean they aren't as strong." He said, raising the card in his hand. "No, perhaps calling them fake would be an insult. To create a card like this would be even beyond current Heartland's capabilities."
"E-even beyond Heartland…?" He said, with no amount of shock as he saw the card that was in the doctor's hand.
He had known that the Numbers themselves were abnormal cards. He's seen it first hand with the many cases that he had now solved, with their ability being borderline supernatural, and breaking even the limits of what they thought the solid vision system could do.
And yet these Fake Numbers were the same? Someone had managed to craft downgraded copies with capabilities that were even beyond that of the most futuristic city in the world.
"The current Heartland, yes. But given a few years…" The man then shook his head once again, a hand placed on his head as he sighed. "No, I have to focus, I… Ka-Number's Hunter, I have another mission for you."
The calling of his moniker made his back straightened, and the man turned towards him with his tired yet determined eyes focused all on him. He extended his hand, and the card in it, towards him. "You are to find the Red Hat, and find as much information as you could regarding them."
The person before him simply didn't make sense. In every sense of the word. A person with no records, no history, nothing about their existence beforehand.
It was as if they didn't exist right until their meeting in that back water alleyway.
He'd suggested that they might be someone who was connected to the darker side of the world, someone connected to underground dueling or the dueling mafia, and the fact that the doctor didn't dismiss the thought instantly was enough to consider that possibility being the truth.
Dr. Faker assured him that he'll pull as much connections as he could to gather information regarding the connections that the Red Hat has with the darker side of the world, and ignoring the implications for that he had simply nodded his head and left to hunt.
And yet here he was, fraternising with someone who may or may not be an enemy, or at the very least an obstacle to their goal, with capabilities that are unknown.
But he was here to gather information, and so for the sake of their goal he'll use anything that he could to achieve it. And if the one in front of him was going to give it freely, right after declaring that they were his allies, then he'll let them believe that he trusts them.
He would do anything for the sake of his goal.
Even if it meant to temporarily create an alliance with the red hat wearing girl in front of him.
He'll listen to what she has to say
"Do you believe in spirits?"
"..." He stood silent,
That was most certainly not how he thought this would begin.
-
"So you're ready then? For the World Duel Carnival?" He asked, glancing sideways to his black and purple haired friend, and Yuto merely chuckled, scratching the back of his head with an uneasy smile.
"Haha, well…" The black and white jacket wearing teen beside him trailed off, his eyes not meeting his own as he let out a soft laugh. "I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be I guess. I can't imagine the kind of duelists that we're going to be facing in the tournament." He said, tilting his head upwards.
And he followed suit, and saw the large blimp fly high above them in the sky, the eccentric Mr. Heartland being shown advertising the world tournament in question.
"I mean, this is the first time that we're going to be competing in one right? The World Duel Carnival." Yuto continued, head inclining down as he looked at his own hands, briefly closing his eyes.
"Everyone, every duelist all over the world is going to come here, to determine who is the best." He let out a soft laugh once more as he shook his head. "I don't think that even if I had another decade that'd I'd be able to confidently say that I'm ready."
"Ha! Is that so?" He laughed healthily at his friend's honest comment, even after taking the whole week to train after his most recent defeat against Kaito, and no doubt getting even stronger than before as a duelist, Yuto still wasn't confident in himself.
Really, although that part of him was no doubt the part that had drawn both Ruri and himself to him, he could use more confidence in himself. Out of all the both of them, the one who had shown the most growth in the past week was, after all, him.
Though that thought made a twisting feeling on his stomach, he squashed it down as he stepped closer to his friend, and wrapped his hand around him, causing the smaller teen to stumble with a yelp.
"There's no need to worry about it!" He said with a grin as his friend turned his head towards him with an annoyed glare. He looked upwards towards the flying blimp in the sky. "You've done your best to prepare, and you'll definitely give your all in the tournament. Whatever happens then, the future you will handle it, yeah?"
Yuto once more gave him an exasperated look before he let out a tired sigh, though he could see the corners of his mouth slightly turning into a smile. "Well when you put it like that, I guess I've really just been worried over nothing huh? I guess I'll just leave it to the future me to deal with that problem."
"Now that's more like it!" He replied back with a grin. "Now why don't we go somewhere nice? Tou-san gave me some extra change, so I can treat you to something today."
"You really don't need to, Shun. If you keep doing that, then I'll never be able to pay you back." The purple and black haired teen said with a wavering smile. Even with how advanced the society of Heartland was and how its laws happily supported any and all orphans like Yuto, it doesn't mean that they'd get the luxury for expensive treats every day.
Instead he scoffed as he shook his head. "And how many times do I have to say that you don't have to pay me or Ruri back. We're just treating our friend with some good food!"
Then the smile on his face turned slightly mischievous. "Or maybe you could take this as a bribe to spend some more time with us? How about that?"
Yuto's response was immediate as his head snapped towards him with a look of mixed emotions. "Shun! I don't need anything like that!" He shouted, getting some heads to turn towards them.
The bashful look on his face was certainly something to see, something that Ruri and her new friends would certainly tease to hell and back as Yuto hastened his pace to leave the crowd, all while he continued to glare at him as he followed.
"Shun. I don't need you or Ruri to pay expensive things for me for us to stay friends. You should know that." He said, almost whispered even as they slowly went to the less crowded area of the district.
Seeing how serious his friend was, he couldn't help but sigh as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I know. I was just teasing you, but I guess I went a bit too far. Sorry." He apologised, lowering his head to the smaller boy.
And Yuto gave a small smile as he nodded his head. "Apology accepted." He said, and motioned ahead with his head. "Now come on, if you're really thinking of getting something to eat, then I know a good place around here that's relatively cheap. I'm sure we can get something for you to take home for Ruri and your parents too."
And to that, he could only respond with a wide smile. "And of course you'd think about giving her some too. Well alright then, I guess I'll have to just get everyone a treat huh?" Then the two went and walked to the shop that Yuto recommended to get a quick treat, and buy some extras for his family.
Or at least, that was how it should have happened.
Instead the two were startled to a halt when they heard the sound of something loud resounding somewhere nearby, causing them to stop in their tracks as their heads turned to try and find what exactly it was that they heard.
"What was that?" He asked, glancing towards his friend.
"I don't know…" and the situation became even more mysterious and potentially dangerous when they heard a scream soon followed. "But I think we should check it out. Come on!" Yuto answered as he ran towards the source of the noise, and he followed behind him.
They drifted through an alleyway, and he kept looking around them. He'd never been around this district of the city much, even though it was near Yuto's orphanage, and almost stumbled as the teen in front of him came to a stop. "Yuto? What's wrong?" He asked as he focused back and turned to see what his friend was looking at.
They had ended up in a clearing of some sort, for what reason it existed in this city, he didn't know, but he saw what had made his friend stop in his tracks in the middle of that clearing.
For there stood Kaito, his friend's usual casual clothes replaced by a black trench coat with a high collar over a grey shirt and white pants with black boots. But what stunned him more was the disappearance of the perpetual encouraging smile on his face, one that was changed into a neutral flat look which almost turned into a scowl.
And the boy who laid unconscious in front of him, as the blond picked a card that was scattered from the aftermath of what he could only assume was a duel.
As his head tries and fails to put whatever it was that had happened together, Yuto immediately rushed forwards towards the blond duelist. "Kaito! What are-" Only for him to stop as someone appeared and seemed to block his path towards him.
Dressed in a red jacket and a red hat, the feminine figure turned towards Kaito. "A friend of yours?" She asked, yet received nothing but unnerving silence from the black garbed duelist. "I'll take that as a yes then." She said as she raised both hands up, as if in a mock surrender, and walked closer to Kaito, leaving Yuto alone as his eyes widened as he seemed to have recognized her.
Or rather, to the unconscious teen in front of him, and hefted him over her shoulder like a sack of rice. "Well, I'll be taking this one. As much as it was a marvel to see some security robots do it, I'll take this one as an excuse to leave."
Again, she received no response from Kaito, and she simply sighed and shook her head before walking off to the opposite way which they came from.
It was at this point that he had managed to snap himself together, and saw the conflicted look on his friend's face, torn between going after the girl in red and the unnerving change that Kaito had gone through.
So he made a decision, and shouted. "Yuto! Go! I'll take care of things here!" The shout managed to startle the purple and black haired teen to turn towards him, and he gave him an assuring nod.
Yuto threw a glance back towards Kaito, and then towards the rapidly retreating red hat wearing figure, and gave him a nod. "Alright! I'm counting on you, Shun!" He shouted back as he ran off towards to catch up on the girl who carried the unconscious boy, leaving him alone in the clearing with none other than Kaito.
"Kaito… what happened here." He slowly asked as he walked towards him, keeping his distance from the blond as he eyed him warily.
Kaito simply slowly stood up straight, his eyes leaving the card in his hand as he placed it onto a slot in his duel disk before meeting his own, the soft light blue eyes that he had was nowhere to be seen as he was met by a sharp glare.
"It is none of your business, Shun. Leave. And forget this ever happened." The blond simply said as he started to turn around, the intention to leave clear for anyone to see.
So he stopped him. "Wait! You really think that I could do that!?" He shouted as he ran up towards him, reaching out to grab his shoulder, only for Kaito to immediately turn and slap his hand away.
"Leave. Kurosaki. This is your last warning." The blond sent a glare his way. One that he chose to respond with one of his own.
"I'm not leaving without answers Kaito." He said, unwavering in his resolve. He wanted, needed to know what exactly happened here. And what exactly happened to the friend in front of him.
"And you're not getting them." Was the short reply that he got.
With a deep breath, he strapped his duel disk on his left hand, and hefted it in front of him. "Then maybe I'll just have to force it out of you."
He saw a brief twitch flicker on the corner of the blond's mouth. As if he was holding back a smirk. "Acting like a common thug, are you Kurosaki?"
"And you're saying that that unconscious boy wasn't your doing, Kaito." He responded back, and Kaito simply stayed silent.
But soon enough he replied back. "Do you think that you can defeat me, Kurosaki? Even though I've beaten you many times. And even beaten Yuto?" The threat wasn't missed to him, and he knew the reason why the blond referred to his friend last in that.
His fist unknowingly tightened as he grit his teeth. "I won't know until I try!" He shouted aloud, and his opponent responded in kind.
"Fine then. Then The Number's Hunter will strike you down. Here and now." Kaito said as he raised his own duel disk, and it's crescent duel blade manifested as he hefted it forwards.
And the duel began.
""DUEL!!""
Kurosaki Shun: 4000LP
Number's Hunter: 4000LP
"Just what are you doing Kaito!?" He shouted at his friend, looking towards him with a mixture of concern and anger. "What's your relation with that person! And that-what did you just do to that boy!"
He was of course, referring to both the unconscious boy that the other unknown hat wearing person carried, having run away and left the two of them while Yuto continued to chase them, in search for answers.
Something that he was not getting from the blond in front of him, as Kaito merely stayed silent, choosing not to answer any of his questions. A choice that simply stoked his anger even further.
"Fine then! If you won't answer, then I will just make you! I will be taking first, my turn!" Shun roared aloud, brandishing his duel blade towards his opponent as he took out a card from his five card hand. "From my hand, I will normal summon Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius!"
With a swift move of his hand, the card was placed on his blue glowing duel blade, and the green coloured mechanical Winged Beast then graced the field as it spread its wings wide with a cry as it was summoned.
Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1300/1600
"Then I will activate its effect!" The teal haired duelist shouted, waving his right hand forwards towards his monster. "Once per turn, during my Main Phase, if Vanishing Lanius was normal or special summoned this turn, I can special summon one Level 4 or lower 'Raidraptor' monster from my hand!"
Done with explaining his monster's effect, he then revealed another monster in his hand that he would summon. "I will special summon Raidraptor - Sharp Lanius from my hand!" He declared, and placed the card on his duel blade.
The dark blue and orange winged mechanical Winged Beast then appeared on the field, flying with both its wings and the pair of rudders that it possessed as it positioned itself right next to Vanishing Lanius.
Raidraptor - Sharp Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1700/1000
And he wasted no time to continue, for as soon as he summoned the monster, the teal haired duelist raised his right hand. "I will take the Level 4 Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius, and the Level 4 Raidraptor - Sharp Lanius, and overlay them!"
He shouted as he raised his right hand upwards, the two Winged Beast bellowing their respective cries as they glowed dark purple, their forms turning into dark pillars that twisted with one another as a large gold and black vortex appeared between them.
"XYZ Summon!" He called out, the two purple lines criss crossing one another as they entered the chaotix vortex, and exploded into a blinding pillar of light. "Appear, Raidraptor - Force Strix!"
And the first XYZ Monster of the game then appeared on Shun's side of the field, the owl-like mechanical Winged Beast then graced the field, spreading its brown segmented wings wide as it glided in front of its summoner protectively in defence position, two glowing purple orbs orbiting it.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 100/2000 OV: 2
"Now Force Strix's effect! Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card to add one Level 4 Dark Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand!" The teal haired duelist said in quick succession, immediately activating his XYZ Monster's effect as soon as it was summoned.
Said brown owl-like Winged Beast merely let out a cry as it spread its wings wide, taking in one of its two orbiting materials to pay as cost to activate the effect.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 100/2000 OV: 1
And with it resolving, Shun then took out a card from his deck to add to his hand. "I will add Raidraptor - Pain Lanius from my deck to my hand!" So the dark haired duelist declared, showing the card to his opponent as he added it to his repertoire of cards.
"Now I will special summon Raidraptor - Singing Lanius from my hand!" Shun continued on, playing another card from his hand and summoning yet another monster. He white and golden winged Winged Beast gracing the field with its presence.
Raidraptor - Singing Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 100/100
"Singing Lanius can be special summoned from my hand if I control a face-up XYZ Monster." He explained as the Winged Beast flew down slowly to float beside his other monsters. "And since another Winged Beast is on the field, Force Stix's attack and defence increases by 500 points!"
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 600/2500 OV: 1
"Now from my hand, I will activate the effects of Raidraptor - Pain Lanius!" The dark haired duelist shouted aloud, revealing once more the card that he had added earlier with his XYZ Monster's effect.
"If this card is in my hand, I can target one 'Raidraptor' monster I control that has a Level, and I will take damage equal to its attack or defence. If I do, I can then special summon this card and have its Level become the current Level of the targeted monster!"
Then he thrust his right hand forward towards the monster that he had just summoned moments earlier. "I will target Raidraptor - Singing Lanius!" He declared aloud, and the monster in question let out a chirp as it spread its mechanical wings.
With no response, the monster's effect resolves.With Shun taking damage equal to the targeted monster's attack, small sparks of electricity danced through his duel disk as he ignored it with sheer grit.
Kurosaki Shun: 3900LP
"I will summon Pain Lanius in defence position!" He said as he placed the card on his duel blade, and the round green and white mechanical Winged Beast then made its way onto the field, being summoned in defence position.
Raidraptor - Pain Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/100
The newly summoned Winged Beast then glowed, spreading its small wings as it chirped, its Level changing to match that of the target for its effect.
Raidraptor - Pain Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 100/100
A similar glow enveloped his own XYZ Monster, as another Winged Beast had made its way onto the field, and so both its attack and defence increased once more by 500 points.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
"But that's not all! I will activate the effect of Raidraptor - Avenge Vulture in my hand!" The dark haired duelist shouted loudly, revealing one of the last two cards in his hand to his opponent.
"If I take damage, I can special summon this card from my hand!" So he shouted, and then placed the monster onto his duel blade. "I will summon Raidraptor - Avenge Vulture in attack position!" The skeletal-like Winged Beast then appeared onto the field, and all five monster zones for Shun's side of the field were slowly but surely being filled with monsters.
Raidraptor - Avenge Vulture - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 1700/100
Again the attack and defence of his XYZ Monster rose, with three other Winged Beast being on the field, its stats became quite formidable.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1600/3500 OV: 1
"And I will construct the overlay network again! I'll overlay both my Level 4 Raidraptor - Singing Lanius and my Level 4 Raidraptor - Pain Lanius!" Shun declared once more, not wasting any time as he raised his right hand up as the two monsters let out their respective cries, turning into glowing purple pillars of light.
"XYZ Summon! Appear once more! Raidraptor - Force Strix!" And taking flight onto the field was a second copy of the XYZ Monster, the same monster that was summoned also in defence position.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 100/2000 OV: 2
"With two of them on the field, both of their attacks and defence will only increase by 500 each." The teal haired duelist explained as he kept his glare steady on his opponent, both the attack and defence of the first Force Strix lowering while the second one's rises.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 2
"Then I will activate the effect of my newly summoned Force Strix!" The dark haired duelist declared again, his eyes never leaving his opponent as he continued to glare at him. "I will detach one material, to add another 'Raidraptor' monster from my deck to my hand!"
The second copy of the XYZ Monster let out a cry as it spread its wings wide, absorbing one of its two overlay materials to activate its effect.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
For the second time of the turn, Shun took out and revealed a Raidraptor monster that he would add from his deck to his hand. "I will add Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius from my deck to my hand!" He declared, adding the monster card to his hand.
"And I will activate its effects!" Then he immediately used its effects. "If I control a 'Raidraptor' monster other than Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius, I can special summon this card from my hand!" He said, explaining the monster's effect.
And once again, without any interruptions from his opponent, it resolves.
Placing the monster card onto his duel blade, the purple Winged Beast with blue highlights graced the field with its cry. Wings spread wide before it floated down next to the XYZ Monster on the same side of the field.
Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius - Dark/Winged Beast/Level 4/Effect: 500/1500
"Then since I control another Winged Beast, both Force Strixs that I control gain an additional 500 points of attack and defence!" The teal haired duelist declared as a dark purple aura surrounded the owl-like XYZ Monster, its attack increasing as its brethren swarmed the field alongside it.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1600/3500 OV: 1
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1600/3500 OV: 1
"And for the third time, I will construct the overlay network! I will overlay the Level 4 Raidraptor - Avenge Vulture and the Level 4 Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius!" Both the skeletal Winged Beast and the dark purple mechanical Winged Beast let out their respective cries as for the third time in the same turn, Shun performed another XYZ Summon.
The two monsters turned into glowing purple lights as they entered the galactical vortex that appeared once more. "XYZ Summon! Appear once more! Raidraptor - Force Strix!" And taking flight onto the field was a third and final copy of the XYZ Monster, the same monster that was summoned also in defence position like the two others before it.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 100/2000 OV: 2
With the appearance of the third XYZ Monster, all copies of Force Strix then glowed, their attack and defence changing as the number of Winged Beasts on the field shifted with its summon.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 2
"And once more, I will activate Force Strix's effect." Shun declared once more, this time the words left him more calmly as his boiling rage simmered, the teal haired duelist harnessing his anger as he continued with his line of combo, and the second overlay material of the XYZ Monster was detached for its effect.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/3000 OV: 1
"I will detach one material, to add Raidraptor - Booster Strix from my deck to my hand." He said, and added the monster card to his hand. Two cards now in his hand.
"I will also activate the other effect of Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius!" He shouted, waving his hand outwards. "If this card is sent to the graveyard, I can add another copy of 'Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius' from my deck to my hand!"
Activating the effect of the monster he had sent by detaching it from his XYZ Monster, he added the monster card to his hand, and shuffled his now three card hand.
"I will set one card face-down. And end my turn." Then he continued by setting the last unknown card in his hand, and ending his turn. Passing to his opponent with a board filled with three of the same XYZ Monsters with 3000 defence, two known monster cards left in his hand, and a singular card set on his spell and trap zone.
"Hmph, then it's my turn then." Said his blond opponent nonchalantly, the look on his face not even changing as he faced his friend. The thought made Shun ball his fist tighter. "I will draw."
With six cards now in his starting hand, the crescent duel blade wielding duelist then began his turn, not wasting a single breath as he immediately played a card from his hand. "I will special summon Photon Thrasher from my hand."
The card was placed on his yellow glowing duel blade, and the b;ade wielding warrior then came to be in front of the blond duelist. With its body glowing an ethereal blue as it wielded its weapon with a single hand, facing the army of XYZ Monsters head on.
Photon Thrasher - Light/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 2100/0
The sight of the monster that Kaito summoned briefly stumped the dark green haired duelist however, as for a moment he was left simply staring at the monster that his opponent had brought out.
"Photon… Thrasher?" He called out the monster's name, showing how he was clearly unfamiliar with it, more used to the Machine monsters that Kaito uses-or used to use. "That's not a Cipher, what-"
"And as a 'Photon' monster is on the field, I can special summon Photon Advancer from my hand." Yet his opponent paid no heed to Shun's internal crisis, as he continued to special summon another monster from his hand, and a similar white armoured Warrior monster then graced the field.
Photon Advancer - Light/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1000/1000
"Another one-! You-you changed decks!" The Raidraptor duelist said with wide eyes, quite unsure on how to take this recent development. After all, changing decks wasn't something that anyone could easily do, especially for someone who was already incredibly familiar and successful with a deck like Kaito.
Changing decks meant that he had to have started again back from zero, to understand the new deck that he now had. And it meant that he had to have let go of a deck with which he's formed unforgettable memories and bonds with. A deck that he had put his heart and soul into.
Yet his opponent did not react to his heated words, his face impassive and cool as he raised his right hand towards his monsters. "I will take the Level 4 Photon Thrasher and the Level 4 Photon Advancer, and overlay them."
The two warriors of light let out their war cries as they shone, becoming beams of light that shot out upwards and spiralling one another as a gigantic vortex once more appeared in the middle of the two duelists.
"With these two monsters I will build an overlay network. XYZ Summon." And as the pillars of light entered the galactical vortex, an explosion of light bloomed, and from it Kaito's XYZ Monster was born.
"Appear, Starliege Lord Galaxion." And with two glowing yellow orbs orbiting the monster, the twin energy blade wielding XYZ Monster then appeared, the armoured galactical warrior stood in front of its summoner, ready to face against the horde of XYZ Monster that he had on his side of the field.
Starliege Lord Galaxion - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2100 OV: 2
"Galaxion… I never thought I'd see the day that you of all people would summon a Rank 4 XYZ." The midnight green haired duelist said, a wry smile on his face as all the plans that he had seemingly fell apart.
He had thought that Kaito would summon his signature monster, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon in an attempt to break his board, it was essentially why he had used all his resources to summon a whole wall of monsters in the form of his Force Strixs, knowing that he would at least have one left on his field since he had added Booster Strix earlier with one of their effects.
But these Photon cards however? He had no clue whatsoever on what they could do, and what Kaito could do with them. He was essentially playing against a whole different person with no information to draw on.
Yet his musings were cut off as his opponent continued on. "Starliege Lord Galaxion's effect." The blond duelist declared, waving his right hand towards his XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one or two XYZ Materials from this card and apply one of its effects."
Placing a hand on his duel blade, he took two of the cards that were nestled underneath his XYZ Monster and continued. "I will detach two XYZ Materials from Starliege Lord Galaxion, to special summon one 'Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon' from my deck!"
"Galaxy-Eyes!?" Shun said with wide eyes as the two glowing orbs orbiting around the XYZ Monster were absorbed into its blades, the blade wielding warrior then raising his weapons as energy poured out of them.
Starliege Lord Galaxion - Light/XYZ/Warrior/Rank 4/Effect: 2000/2100 OV: 0
From those dissipating energy came a red trident, one with a large gem embedded in its centre. Kaito hefted it easily with one hand, twirling it, and throwing it upwards towards the sky.
The thrown trident then glowed brightly, hanging in mid air as it released galactical particles all around it, slowly taking form. "The galaxy that shines in the darkness. Become the light of hope and my very servant. The incarnation of light, descend here!"
With his right hand outstretched upwards, Kaito shouted his monster's name. "Appear now, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" And before him materialised a fierce dragon, one whose eyes was like the galaxy itself, standing taller than all of his XYZ Monsters, spreading both its bright blue wings of energy as it let out a roar that reverberated throughout the area around them.
Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Effect: 3000/2500
"That's… a main deck Galaxy-Eyes?" He wondered in amazement, looking up towards the looming dragon with awe, before shaking his head as his eyes narrowed towards his opponent, thinking of what he was planning to do.
"I don't know what effects that monster has, but if anything he's managed to get a Level 8 monster onto the field." He muttered to himself, assessing the current board state. "Which means that he's probably going to-"
"Since I control a 'Photon' or 'Galaxy' monster, I can normal summon Galaxy Knight from my hand." So the blond haired duelist said, taking out another card in his three card hand, and placing it onto his crescent duel blade, the armoured blade wielding warrior appearing onto the field.
Galaxy Knight - Light/Warrior/Level 8/Effect: 2800/2600
"However if it is summoned this way Galaxy Knight loses 1000 attack." Kaito clarifies as a wave of energy seemed to sap away from the blade wielding monster, and its attack was reduced.
Galaxy Knight - Light/Warrior/Level 8/Effect: 1800/2600
"But that doesn't really matter, does it." He said with a slight scowl as he saw his opponent managed to assemble two Level 8 monsters on his side of the field, no doubt preparing them to summon his signature Extra Deck monster.
Sure enough, the blond haired duelist raised his right hand, and shouted. "I will overlay the Level 8 Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and the Level 8 Galaxy Knight!" And with the galactical dragon roaring, and the armoured knight raised its blade with a cry as both glowed, their forms glowing and turning into glowing pillars of light.
"With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network!" Kaito shouted as the two pillars of light crisscrossed one another, once again entering the galactical vortex that appeared right in the middle of the field.
"O galaxy that shines in the darkness! Become my servant to achieve my goals!" The blond duelist chanted as the whirlpool of power exploded with golden lights. "XYZ Summon! Descend! Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon!"
As the chant concluded, his signature XYZ Monster then descended from the skies, both of its eyes shining as if they were the galaxy itself as it unfurled its large wings which shined with its rainbow cipher-like pattern, the dragon letting out a roar that shook the whole stadium as it appeared.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 2
"And now, I will activate Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect!" Kaito declared as he extended his arms forward towards his second XYZ monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one Overlay Material from it, then I can target one face-up monster you control and take control of it until the end of the turn!"
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 1
And with a loud roar, the dragon unfurled its wings to their full size as it absorbed one of the two Overlay units that it has, and rained down light towards one of the three targets that was on Shun's side of the field "I will target your first Raidraptor - Force Strix! Cipher Projection!"
With that, the leftmost Winged Beast XYZ Monster chirped out weakly as its body dispersed into light. "While this effect is applied, Raidraptor - Force Strix will have its effects negated, its attack will become 3000, and it will also have its name changed to become 'Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon'." Kaito explained further, the dispersed light once more forming into a ghastly double of Kaito's own dragonic XYZ Monster.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Dark/Winged Beast/XYZ/Rank 4/Effect: 3000/2000 OV: 1
And with one of his Winged Beast monsters having left his side of the field, the attack and defence of the two other Force Strixs that he had on field weakened, a dark aura enveloping them as their strength left them.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/2500 OV: 1
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/2500 OV: 1
"Tch, but it's still going as I expected." The midnight green haired duelist muttered, "I could still survive to the next turn with at least one Force Strix and-"
"Now I will take my first Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and I will overlay it once more." Kaito raised his right hand, the galactical dragon roaring loud as a black and gold vortex appeared under it, and the dragon slowly lowered itself into it.
"Wha-?!"
"With this monster, I will once more reconstruct the overlay network!" He shouted, and from the black and golden galaxy-like vortex, another explosion of light formed. "Rank Up! XYZ Change!"
And in front of him a large glowing blade formed, one with a red hilt and a glowing blue blade dotted with star-like white dots. "O galaxy shining in the darkness, with the savagery of a supernova, bring on a cosmic cataclysm that vaporises everything in your path!"
Grabbing the weapon in front of him, he swiftly threw it into the air, and like before it exploded into particles of light, slowly taking a fierce and menacing form. "Come forth, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon!"
Said form was similar to his second XYZ Monster, a giant dragon with rainbow-like ciphered wings, its eyes shining as if it was the galaxy itself. From its arms came long fierce blades, both shining with cipher lines like its gigantic wings, with its head sporting long golden horns.
Letting a loud screeching roar, the XYZ Monster made its presence clear on the field, standing next to Kaito's other two XYZ Monsters. Two glowing yellow orbs orbiting the monster.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 3200/2800 OV: 2
"Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon can be XYZ Summoned using a Rank 8 'Galaxy-Eyes' XYZ monster that I control as material" Kaito explained, and the monster let out another roar.
"C-Cipher Blade!?" He shouted with surprise for the second time, clicking his tongue as the scowl on his face went down even further. "And it was a rank up without needing a Rank-Up-Magic! So you even had something like this-"
"And I will activate its effect." The blond Galaxy-Eyes duelist cut him off once more, waving his hand to the newly evolved XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target one card on the field and destroy it. Cipher Sidewinder."
With a roar, the bladed giant dragon swung its appendage and sliced through one of its XYZ Material, paying for the cost of its effect activation.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 3200/2800 OV: 1
Kaito then pointed towards his targets, one of the two Raidraptor - Force Strixs that was still on his side of his field. "I will target your second Force Strix, and destroy it!" So he said, and the blade on the giant dragon's forearm swung, releasing a blade of light that slashed through the Winged Beast, destroying it and turning it into particles of light.
"Kuh!" He grunted as he held his hands above his head, the gust created by his monster's destruction making him need to do so. And with losing his second to last monster, his one remaining Force Strix then grew weaker.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1100/2000 OV: 1
"Now battle." His opponent said simply, and with a wave of his hand, sent his monster to battle. "Go, Cipher Blade Dragon. Cipher Stream of Destruction." So he declared, and the bladed monster roared, gathering energy in its maw and shooting a beam of destructive energy towards his last remaining monster.
It was a given that should the attack go through, should Shun's last monster be destroyed by this attack, then the game would be over with the overwhelming advantage that Kaito had brought himself.
But the teal haired duelist still had a trick up his sleeve. "Then I will activate my set card! The Quick-Play Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Battle Up Force!" Shun responded to the attack with a shout, flipping up the set card in front of him and revealing the Quick-Play Spell in question, one that shone as it was activated.
"When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I can target one 'Raidraptor' XYZ Monster that I control, and special summon from my Extra Deck one 'Raidraptor' XYZ Monster that is two Ranks higher than that target, by using that target as the XYZ Material!"
With a wave of his hand, the teal haired duelist then pointed towards his last remaining monster to use the card's effect on. "I will target my Rank 4, Raidraptor - Force Strix!" With a loud chirp and a ruffling of its mechanical wings, the Dark XYZ Monster shone as it turned into a pillar of light, entering the galactical vortex that appeared in front of it.
"With this monster I will once more reconstruct the overlay network!" He shouted as a pillar of light then appeared ahead of him, and he continued the summoning chant. "O' prideful falcon! Spread your wings high in the air, dyed in the blood of heroes, and charge through the path of bright revolution!"
With that, he grasped his right hand in front of him and completed the chant. "Rank Up Xyz Change! Appear! Rank 6! Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Air Raid!" And before him appeared a whole new XYZ Monster, one a sleeker body and wider mechanical wings.
Its body coloured black and metal blue while its wings held hints of gold. The monster let out a loud cry as it flew onto the field in defence position. Two glowing purple materials orbiting around the monster.
Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Air Raid - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 6/Effect: 2000/3000 OV: 2
"An XYZ Summon-no, a Rank Up on the opponent's turn…!" Kaito noted, glancing towards the newly summoned monster that was on Shun's side of the field. His own pair of dragons glowered at it while his other XYZ Monster eyed it warily.
"And its effects will activate!" Shun shouted aloud, waving his hand forward. "If this card is XYZ Summoned, I can target one monster that you control, and destroy it! Then if it was face-up on the field, I can inflict damage to you equal to the attack it had on the field! Revolutional Blitz Strike!"
With the explanation done, the Raidraptor duelist swiftly swung his right hand outwards to point towards the large bladed XYZ Monster. "I will target your Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon, destroy it, and deal damage to you equal to its attack!"
"Tch! I will activate the Quick-Play Spell, Photon Prevent!" Kaito said, playing one of the cards that he had left in his hand, the Spell's holographic projection appearing in front of him, shining brightly.
"When I would take damage from a card effect, if I control a 'Photon' or 'Galaxy-Eyes' monster, I take no damage from that effect!" He shouted out, explaining the effects of the card that he chained.
"But that doesn't prevent your monster from being destroyed!" Shun shouted back, and the chain of effects resolved. Though his opponent wouldn't take damage from the second clause of his XYZ Monster's on summon effect.
With a loud strangled cry, the winged beast spread its mechanical wings wide, flying high into the air as it flew higher than the bladed dragon, and proceeded to drop explosives from its heightened position down towards it.
And with a loud roar that was drowned by explosions, Kaito's gigantic XYZ Monster was destroyed. Leaving only golden particles floating where the dragonic monster once had stood.
"Tch!" Kaito grunted as he held his hands above his head, and waved his hand out to clear the smoke that the holographic projection had created. "What an annoyance! Then the effect of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon will activate!" He shouted back.
"If Cipher Blade Dragon that is XYZ Summoned is destroyed by battle with an opponent's attacking monster, or destroyed by an opponent's card effect and sent to the graveyard, I can target one 'Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon' in my graveyard and special summon it!" He shouted, explaining the monster's effect as it was destroyed.
"I will special summon back Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon in attack position!" Taking the card back from his graveyard slot, Kaito placed it back onto his yellow crescent-like duel blade, and the galaxy eyed dragon once more made its return.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 3000/2500 OV: 0
"So it returns again!" He growled as he watched the monster making its return onto the field. "But still, with none of his monsters having higher attack than Revolution Falcon - Air Raid's defence, I should be fine." So Shun said, muttering to himself.
A few seconds of quiet silence was what he was met with, and eventually his stoic opponent clicked his tongue, pressing the screen of his duel disk and passing from the Battle Phase to the second Main Phase.
He withheld a sigh of relief as he saw Kaito still continue, playing the last card that was in his hand. "I will activate the Spell, Galaxy Trance." The blond duelist said, placing the Spell Card that was his last card and placing it onto his duel blade.
"Galaxy Trance allows me to pay 2000 Life Points, then target one 'Photon' monster in my graveyard, special summon both it and one 'Galaxy' monster from my deck with the same Level, both in defence position, and if I do both monster's attack become 2000 and their effects are negated."
Done with explaining the Spell card's lengthy effect, Kaito paid the cost for its activation, sparks of electricity dancing around his specially made duel disk as his Life Points was drained, essentially halving his entire Life Pointst. Yet said duelist didn't react more than a mere grunt.
Number's Hunter: 2000LP
"I will target Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon in my graveyard, and special summon it from there and a copy of Galaxy Tyranno from my deck! Return! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" So he said as the Spell card's effect resolved, he took the two monster cards, one from his grave and one from his deck, and placed them on his duel blade.
The gigantic galaxy eyed dragon then once more made its return, along with another pale blue tyrannosaurus that shared the same galactical eyes. Both monsters let out loud roars as they appeared onto the field, filling all of his monster zones, with their attacks changed to 2000 per the Spell Card's effect.
Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon - Light/Dragon/Level 8/Effect: 2000/2500
Galaxy Tyranno - Light/Dinosaur/Level 8/Effect: 2000/0
"Then I will take these two monsters, and overlay them!" Kaito immediately shouted, raising his right hand outwards and, for the third time of his turn, motioned for an XYZ Summon. And the summoned Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy Tyranno both roared as they turned into golden pillars of light.
"With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network!" And the two golden pillars crossed one another as they entered the galactical vortex of black and gold, creating a large explosion of light as a new monster emerged.
"Appear! Galactic Warrior of Light! Number 90!" What appeared was a gigantic dark blue cocoon, with a stylized red numeral 90 on it. "Darkness and light wandering in the universe. Sorrowful warriors who sleep in the interstice, gather your powers and open the door of the truth! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord!"
And slowly the 'cocoon' unformed itself, revealing it to be a shield and pieces of armour, the armoured warrior then taking its full form with a large blade of blue energy in one hand, and a towering shield in the other, standing menacingly alongside the other XYZ Monsters on the side of his field in defence position with two glowing materials orbiting around the monster.
Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 2500/3000 OV: 2
"Num…ber?" Shun muttered, staring at the monster with amazement and confusion, before settling on a deeper scowl. "You really were holding out with all of these new cards weren't you…"
"I will end my turn." And with all of his cards spent, Kaito then proceeded to end his turn. "And the Raidraptor - Force Strix that I took control with the effect of Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon will return."
Just as he said, the ghostly figure of the dragonic XYZ Monster then unformed, becoming particles of light that reformed on Shun's side of the field. Taking the form of the dark winged beast that it had once been. One whose defence was increased as its effects was then no longer negated.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1600/2500 OV: 1
So Kaito's turn then ended, with his field filled with three different XYZ Monsters. A Rank 4 that was Starliege Galaxion and Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, both without any XYZ Materials to speak of, and the newly summoned Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord. No cards remained in his hand in his failed effort to break Shun's board.
"Then it's my turn once more! I'll draw!" The midnight green haired duelist shouted, drawing a card at the start of his turn, getting up to three cards in his hand.
"Then I will activate the effect of Photon Lord." His opponent declared right as he had drawn a card for his turn, waving his hand forwards towards the shield bearing monster. "During my opponent's turn, as a Quick Effect, I can take one 'Photon' or 'Galaxy' card from my deck and either add it to my hand or attach it to this card as material. Photon Recruit."
The effect's description brought a frown to his face. "Adding any 'Photon' or 'Galaxy' card to your hand or attaching it to that monster? To have an effect like that be activated during the opponent's turn…"
Whether he did not hear or whether he was ignoring his mutterings, the monster's effect resolved, and Kaito then revealed a card that he would add to his hand. "I will add the Quick-Play Spell, Photon Stream of Destruction from my deck to my hand."
Saying so, the blond duelist did just that. Adding the Quick-Play Spell straight from his deck to his hand, having not decided to attach it onto his XYZ Monster to increase the materials that it has.
An effect like that was incredibly strong, if anything it was as strong if not stronger than his own Force Strix's ability to search any Winged Beast from his deck. Though both weren't quite comparable considering that he had activated that search effect three times earlier on his previous turn.
The control then once more switched to Shun, who quickly moved from the Standby Phase and towards his first Main Phase of the turn. "I will activate the effect of Force Strix! Detaching its last XYZ material to add a Winged Beast from my deck to my hand!"
Once more explaining the returned XYZ Monster's effect quickly, the winged monster spread its wings as it took its last material onto itself, using it to activate its effect.
Raidraptor - Force Strix - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 4/Effect: 1600/2500 OV: 0
"Hmph, then I will activate the other effect of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord!" His opponent shouted out, waving his hand outwards in response to his own XYZ Monster activating its effect.
"A second effect?!" Shun shouted with wide eyes as he eyed the gigantic warrior of light on Kaito's side of the field.
"When an opponent's monster activates its effect, as a Quick Effect, I can detach one material from this card, and negate its effect!" The blond explained. "And if the detached material was a 'Galaxy' card, I can destroy that card!" He continued on, further explaining the added stipulation of the effect.
"What?!" He shouted in shock as the giant warrior of light lifted its gigantic energy blade, raising it as one of its two glowing overlay materials then allowed itself to be absorbed by the large broadsword, using it for its effect.
Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord - Light/Warrior/XYZ/Rank 8/Effect: 2500/3000 OV: 1
And without any cards on his hand to stop the effect of Kaito's monster, the chain soon resolved, and the hefted energy sword was swung, releasing a blast of energy towards his returned XYZ Monster, negating its effects and destroying as both of Photon Lord's materials were Galaxy cards.
"Tch!" He clicked his tongue, glancing down at the two cards that he had on his hand and hurriedly thinking of a way for him to turn this situation to his favour, glancing briefly at Kaito's full board of monsters.
He glanced at the three cards that he had in his hand, it was of course the Raidraptor - Booster Strix which he had added before hand and the second copy of Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius, along with the newly drawn Trap card, Raidraptor - Readiness.
It was not the best hand, certainly not in this situation, and there were certainly far better draws than the Trap that he had just drawn for turn.
Had it been any of the many Level 4 monsters he possessed that could special summon itself, barring the third and last copy of Fuzzy Lanius that is of course, then he could have possibly won the game here and now.
After all, if he had 3 Level 4 monsters on the field then he could go and summon his go to XYZ, Raidraptor - Rise Falcon, and easily close the game with its effect to gain attack and its own continuous effect that allows it to attack all of Kaito's monsters.
And had he drawn any of his Rank-Up Magic Spells then it would most certainly end with a different outcome as well.
But he had to face reality, with the cards he had, at most he could only summon another Rank 4 monster that required two Level 4 Monsters, and with him already having used all three copies of Force Strix already, the only one that he had left in his incredibly tight Extra Deck was none other than Raidraptor - Blade Runner Falcon, and that card certainly would not help in this situation.
He glanced back towards Kaito's field of monsters, Starliege Lord Galaxion, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord. He certainly had no ways of currently beating the cards that Kaito had on his field, not even by battle.
The reason he had added Raidraptor - Booster Strix to his hand was because of its effect. It could banish itself from his hand so as to destroy an opponent's monster, but only when a Raidraptor monster that he controlled is targeted for an attack, and only destroy that attacking monster as well.
Meaning that it could only be used defensively, not offensively.
He could have used it on one of the attacks earlier, but if he was honest, he was too surprised by Kaito's unusual cards and him having stolen one of his monsters, he could have potentially destroyed two monsters instead of just one in the previous turn.
He shook his head, taking those thoughts out of his head. There was no use crying over the missplays that he did earlier, he should focus on winning the game right now and getting answers from Kaito.
And he only saw one possible way he could get out of this situation and turn the game around.
"I will change Revolution Falcon - Air Raid to attack position!" He shouted, and the gigantic flying Winged Beast spread its mechanical wings wide as the two overlay materials continued to orbit the monster.
Kaito clearly noticed that he was up to something, as he narrowed his eyes at the monster. It was clear that Shun had managed to survive the previous turn unharmed thanks to Air Raid's large defence, so why was he changing the monster to attack position now of all times?
"Now battle!" The teal haired duelist shouted with a wave of his hand. "I will attack Starliege Lord Galaxion with Revolution Falcon - Air Raid! Blitz Revolutional Air Raid!"
The Winged Beast XYZ Monster let out a cry as it flew, and the sound of latches opening could be heard as compartments opened in its skeletal mechanical wings, with all sorts of explosives starting to rain down towards the targeted monster.
The galactical warrior was soon engulfed in a deafening explosion, its whole body hidden in the large black smoke that the explosive created.
But from the smoke a projectile was launched, Starliege Lord Galaxion's blade flew in high speed towards the flying Winged Beast and struck true, managing to pierce the Air Raid's body as it let out a strangled cry, before it too, exploded.
The battle ended with both sides losing their battling monsters, yet that was the exact intention of why the battle had even been conducted in the first place.
"Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Air Raid's effect activates!" Shun declared aloud, waving his right hand outwards towards his now empty field. "If this card in my possession is destroyed by an opponent's card and sent to my graveyard, I can special summon one 'Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon' from my Extra Deck!"
"So that's why you destroyed your own monster-!"
And Kaito then watched as his opponent raised his hand up towards the darkening sky, as a bolt of thunder struck down as Shun chanted once more. "O' prideful falcon! Spread your wings high in the air once more, dyed in the blood of heroes, and charge through the path of revolution! Appear! Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon!"
And once more the large Dark Winged Beast XYZ Monster graced the field, reborn with merely minute cosmetic difference from its earlier counterpart. Spreadings its wings wide in front of its summoner in defence position to protect him from any incoming attacks.
Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 6/Effect: 2000/3000 OV: 0
"And if I do, I can then attach Air Raid to Revolution Falcon as an XYZ Material." So the teal haired duelist continued, and a burning ghostly figure of the XYZ Monster briefly appeared before it was seemingly absorbed by the newly summoned Revolution Falcon, turning into a singular material which started to orbit the improperly summoned XYZ Monster.
Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Dark/XYZ/Winged Beast/Rank 6/Effect: 2000/3000 OV: 1
But as he had summoned the monster in defence position, Shun could no longer continue to declare attacks in this Battle Phase. Thus he moved past it, moving towards his second Main Phase of the turn.
"Then I will activate the effect of Revolution Falcon!" He declared, continuous without even missing a beat. "If this card has a 'Raidraptor' XYZ Monster as an XYZ Material, Revolution Falcon gains an additional effect!"
Kaito narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember the specifics of Shun's card, though with the amount of XYZ Monsters that he possessed in his repertoire, it was hard to remember all of them even if they've duelled one another so many times. "Additional effect? That's-"
"Once per turn, I can target one monster that my opponent controls, destroy it, and if I do, I can inflict damage to you equal to half of the attack that that monster had on the field!" The teal haired duelist explained aloud, and Kaito's eyes went wide.
Shun then motioned his hand towards his target, that being the one monster that currently stood as the largest obstacle at his chance of victory. "I will target Number 90: Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord, and destroy it! Revolutional Blitz Strike!"
Once again, the Dark Winged Beast let out its cry, spreading its wings wide as it flew into the air, releasing a wave of purple energy from its beak and launching it towards the shield-bearing warrior, intending to tear through its shield and destroy it.
Yet Kaito stood firm, in fact, a small smirk formed on his face.
And that immediately put Shun on edge.
The effect resolved, and he saw the galactic warrior heft its shield to defend itself from the attack. The waves of purple blast hit it directly, resulting in an explosion that covered the monster in a black cloud of smoke.
"I will admit, I didn't think that I could be pushed this far, Shun." Kaito said, finally starting a conversation with his opponent for the first time of this duel, immediately grasping the teal haired duelist's attention.
But before he could get a word in, the blond haired duelist continued. "I will admit, this was a… test run of sorts. Yes. I had truly only intended to test this deck on my… targets so to say, but this duel has shown me what I needed to know. What I needed to improve on."
"What are you-"
And in front of his eyes he saw the cloud of smoke disappear, revealing the looming figure of the galactic knight still standing strong, not a single scratch in sight as its one material orbited around it.
"What?!" He shouted aloud in surprise, eyes going wide as he saw the monster still standing. "But Revolution Falcon's effect-"
"If Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord has a 'Photon' card as material, it cannot be destroyed by card effects." Kaito answered his question, the smirk that he had having disappeared and replaced by an impassive look once more. "It would seem that the card that I had detached for its effect did matter in the end."
With gritted teeth Shun tapped on his duel disk and perused his opponent's graveyard, and saw that the latest card to have entered it barring Starliege Lord Galaxion which he destroyed by battle was Galaxy Tyranno.
Meaning that the last material that the Number XYZ Monster possessed was, in fact, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, a 'Photon' card that granted the monster its inability to be destroyed by card effects.
Shun gritted his teeth as he saw his last plan foiled, having intended to take out that Number Monster which stood as his greatest foil in a plan to stall and repeatedly use Revolution Falcon's effect over the next few turns, knowing that he would at least be able to survive an attack with Booster Strix in hand.
But now that wouldn't work, as Photon Lord could simply negate such an effect. But he could still survive for the upcoming turn.
"I will set a card face-down. And end my turn." So he said with a sour look. Ending his turn with an XYZ Monster in defence position, two cards in hand being Raidraptor - Booster Strix and Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius, along with the card that he had drawn, Raidraptor - Readiness, set on the field.
"Then it is my turn. I will draw." The blond duelist declared as he drew a card for turn, now having two cards in his hands, with one of them being a card that he had added with the effect of Photon Lord on the previous turn.
"Hmph, then I will start by activating the Spell, Photon Stream of Destruction!" The dark coat wearing teen declared aloud, activating the card that he added with the effect of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord.
"If I control a 'Galaxy-Eyes' monster, I can target one card on the field, and banish that target!" Kaito declared aloud, and then pointed towards the card which he would target. "I will target your set card, and banish it!"
"Tch! Then I will chain the Trap, Raidraptor - Readiness!" Shun declared, flipping said targeted set card and chaining its effect, the card that depicted the image of the valley which his monsters resided shone as it was activated.
"This turn, 'Raidraptor' monsters that I control cannot be destroyed by battle!" Though the effect was quite strong, it wasn't what he had intended to use. No, what Shun had wanted to activate wasn't its on field effect, but it's graveyard effect, one that would prevent him from taking any damage this turn at the cost of banishing the Trap from his graveyard, and with the easily fulfilled condition of having a 'Raidraptor' monster in his graveyard.
But it apparently wasn't meant to be as the chain began to resolve backwards, with the effect of Readiness resolving as began to linger on his side of the field, a brief glow encompassing his XYZ Monster, before said Trap card was then banished from the field, making him unable to use its graveyard effect.
"Hm, so your Revolution Falcon is now indestructible by battle then? But that doesn't matter." Kaito said as he raised his right arm once more, and shouted. "I will take my Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon, and I will overlay it once more!"
"That's! A second one?!" Shun shouted with wide eyes, having already seen Kaito perform this exact same play a single turn earlier.
"With this monster, I will once more reconstruct the overlay network!" He shouted, and from the black and golden galaxy-like vortex, another explosion of light formed. "Rank Up! XYZ Change!"
And once more, in front of him a large glowing blade was reformed, its red hilt and galactical blade shining under the sun. "O galaxy shining in the darkness, with the savagery of a supernova, bring on a cosmic cataclysm that vaporises everything in your path!"
Grabbing the weapon in front of him, Kaito swiftly threw it into the air, and like before it exploded into particles of light, slowly taking a fierce and menacing form. "Come forth once more, Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon!"
And with that, the second cop of the evolved XYZ Monster descended onto the field, a roar leaving its terrifying maw as it bared its weapon against its opponent.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 3200/2800 OV: 1
"And I will activate its effect!" The blond Galaxy-Eyes duelist continued, waving his hand to the newly evolved XYZ Monster. "Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, then target one card on the field and destroy it. I will target your Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon. Cipher Sidewinder."
With a roar, the bladed giant dragon swung its appendage and sliced through one of its XYZ Material, paying for the cost of its effect activation.
Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Blade Dragon - Light/Dragon/XYZ/Rank 9/Effect: 3200/2800 OV: 0
And it then swung. The gigantic arm blades release a wave of destruction that sliced through his last remaining monster, destroying it and leaving a wave of destruction in its wake.
"Kuh!" He grunted as he held steady at his XYZ Monster's destruction, with the smoke soon parting and leaving his field barren and empty, without any single card remaining on his field with Kaito having wiped his board clean.
"I will change Galaxy-Eyes Photon Lord to attack. Battle." Kaito said, no hint of emotion shown as he gave his last order of the duel. "Go. Cipher Blade. Photon Lord. Attack directly."
The gigantic dragon let out its roar once again, arching its head backwards and throwing it down as it let out a torrent of power, followed suit by the galactic warrior which swung its blade towards him, and he could do nothing as all of their attacks landed.
"KUAAAAAAH!" He screamed as the resulting attack threw him back, pain assaulted his body as he landed on the ground, groaning as his Life Points counter reached zero.
Kurosaki Shun: 0LP
As his vision started to fade from the pain, he saw Kaito slowly walk closer towards him. "I will tell you this, Shun. for you and everyone else as well." He heard him say.
"Stay out of my way. Or else… I will have to hunt them down."
And then everything went black.