Chapter Text
Chapter 1, Part 1: Playmaker
(Ten years ago)
White walls.
Six kids.
One, in particular, hears a voice.
“Three. Three things. Think of three things to stay alive.”
A child with blue and pink hair slung across a white floor looks up, the words fueling him like a small fire yet to burn bright.
“Who are you?” The child asks. “Let me save you!”
The silence comes next and then, in a passage of time quite timeless, the men from the outside world take him away.
~~~
(Five years ago)
A tower stands amongst crumbling ruins, a lake of lava burning with harsh, angry colors around its structure. Magma laps against a shore of forgotten stone as a lone figure raises up a hand. A man of a glass mask bares his teeth and lets his demon-like gold eyes settle upon the sky. Above him, two black dragons with green spheres embedded in their body hover silently, their masters’ orders yet to be determined. In front of them, lingering in the sky of green clouds, lies a red magic circle. Several beings captured in ovals of reddish light struggle, screaming as they try to flee.
“How dare you attack our home!” A yellow being shouts.
“We don’t deserve this,” a blue being agrees, its golden eyes piercing and yet somehow weak in effect.
The man with the glass mask flashes his gaze to her and curls his lips. “You don’t deserve to live, either,” he spits. “You’re a nuisance, a pest, a parasite. You will serve as humanity’s downfall if I let you live.”
“But we have no intentions of harming humanity!” a green being snarls.
“Nor do we wish to bring mischief upon your world,” a red one adds.
“We only want to help humanity, not destroy it!” a orange humanoid whimpers, struggling against the effects of the circle.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have toyed with us to the point of murder. Your kind is an abomination and you’ve threatened humanity quite enough. Had you not followed your folly, we would not be doing this today. Is that not right, Ignises of the Cyberse?”
The beings – the Ignises – fall silent, agreement an unspoken word. The man shakes his head, nearly laughing. “So you know very well why we have to eliminate you. Very well then, Cracking Dragon! Devour them!”
The dragons roar, the approval of their master spurring them forward. They launch themselves out and open their mouths, revealing large sets of teeth which the man has no doubt are ready to kill. He smiles, eager to be relieved of the burden he has put upon himself, when a bright flash sends his dragons cowering.
In a moment’s time, a monstrous creature forms from the shadows of the green-painted sky. A black form with markings of glowing purple and an eye of illuminated gold manifests, its form grand and ominous as it unravels.
“…The last Ignis,” the man says, beholding it with a form of awe. He regains himself quickly and sweeps out a hand. “Destroy it.”
The creature screams, six wings flaring from its side as the Cracking Dragons try to attack it. The black Ignis fights against them, screeching and yowling as it bites at the dragons which threaten to devour it.
At first, the man in the glass mask worries it won’t be enough. The creature fends off the attacks of the dragons without worry, biting and chewing into the creatures as if they were an easy meal. However, in due time, it becomes apparent that the Ignis was just as weak as he’d imagined, faltering in its attacks until slowly, ever so slowly, it becomes driven back.
With an otherworldly screech, the thing rises and flees into the sky, darting past clouds of murky green to escape into the universe above.
The man sweeps out his arm. “Don’t let it escape!”
Heeding their master’s command, the dragons make haste, pursuing after the creature without hesitation. They open their mouths, eager to land a bite, and are restricted by an invisible force field manifested into place.
“Damned Ignis!” The man shouts. To an invisible person, he screams: “Break it down!”
The force field wavers in no more than five seconds and vanishes in more than ten. The Cracking Dragons, wasting no time, vanish from the world. The man holds up an arm and, from the device around his wrist, a screen appears to read before him a scene almost unbelievable.
The black Ignis shrinks down into a humanoid form, pausing for a moment to squeeze the world before him into a single piece.
The man, scowling, disappears from the world and reappears in another, a room of black and green lines awaiting him. His screen hovers before him and he relishes in the sight: his Cracking Dragons reaching up to devour the Ignis.
In one moment, he thinks the whole thing is done and over. He breathes a sigh, relieved.
“At long last,” he says, “it’s over. Humanity is saved.”
In the next, he replays the footage and realizes that he’s wrong, that the Ignis has escaped. A lone eyeball floats up from the mouth of the creature that has devoured it’s body, the widening of its pupil suggesting its liveliness before it sinks into the flow of data fragments and disintegrates.
He raises a hand. Immediately, a horde of figures manifests before him, silent as they kneel to their knees and await their orders.
“Find it!” He shouts. “Find the Ignis! I want it gone.”
The servants flee from sight, disappearing in blurs of white.
The man balls his hands into fists, nails tearing into skin. He hisses, wincing at the impact as a spectral man appears by his side. The newcomer bows, a frown worn upon his face as he says:
“Master Revolver, your father wishes to see you.”
The man, Revolver, tenses. Golden eyes close and then open, a sigh following the movement.
“I see,” he says. “Thank you, Spectre.”
And he turns into the darkness, stepping into a portal of distorted ripples to pass through the veil of a virtual world.
“Father’s not going to be happy.”
~~~~
(Five Years Ago)
The Data Storms vanish.
Shoichi Kusanagi first takes notice when the news fuels itself into an uproar. He doesn’t know how it first starts or why, but the internet is filled with nothing but gossip page after page. Clips of accidents in Link VRAINS - the VR version of the Duel Monsters card game – proliferate throughout the Internet like a cat video gone viral. Shoichi can barely go one minute without seeing videos of horrific accidents. He can barely go without seeing pictures of kids on hoverboards crashing to the ground and of traumatized parents demanding to speak to those in charge. He can barely go on five minutes without seeing pictures of “before” and “after”, of purple streams of energy threading through parts of the VRAINS only to see those very same areas deprived of such a natural phenomenon later. Shoichi has to wince when he sees the photos of broken necks and awkwardly splayed bodies, of kids who will never wake up again and those who will with great anguish, and of a Link VRAINS now devoid of the purple streams which once made up a great majority of its mystery...
Mass hysteria overtakes Den City in less than ten hours and already the need for a riot is made evident within less than five. SOL Technologies, founder of Link VRAINS, has already taken to protect their corporation, eager to arm themselves as their representative, a woman known as Queen, takes the stage to explain her side of the story.
“Due to the exploits of a group of hackers known as the Knights of Hanoi,” she tells the crowd ready for appeasement waiting inside a plaza, “Link VRAINS has been temporarily shut down. SOL is currently facing many difficulties due to Hanoi’s exploits and are working as fast as possible to fix the error in our systems. My heartfelt apologies go to anyone whose son or daughter has been lost due to our negligence. We plan to compensate families of this disaster as quick as we can and are working on a solution.”
Without fail, the word “Hanoi?” ripples through, hushed murmurs of concern and confusion beckoning attention away from that of SOL. Shoichi isn’t quite sure what “Hanoi” is or even what it means. All he knows is that the word sends a shiver down his spine, a shudder of forebode which threatens to haunt his well-being without reason. Queen watches from her pedestal, sunglasses obscuring her eyes as she frowns and peers at them all.
Shoichi observes the woman as she does so, his gaze trained on her posture and words. Queen, he first thinks, is a very good liar. Despite the way the crowd eats out of the palm of her hands, gobbling up her fear-mongering nonsense about “Hanoi”, there is something awfully wrong about her. She’s persuasive, that he can admit, and her words do provide a valid explanation to the problem at hand, but it’s the way she goes about telling it that has Shoichi concerned.
For one, her voice is too monotonous, too passive. She speaks with little emotion, her tone nearly uncaring although its cleverly masked behind her serious and grave attitude. Then, her answers are good, too good , almost as if she was well-aware of her company’s position and how to push the blame on her company off on some foreign entity. The sunglasses obscuring her eyes don’t help her imae either, shielding the woman’s true expression in a way that Shoichi very much doubts is an unintentional choice.
SOL Tech is somehow involved with the incident…Shoichi dares to think, watching as Queen addresses the complaints of news reporters with flawless practice.
Still, Shoichi’s not sure if he’s one to judge. Despite his rather cynical view, he’s also not sure if his clouded thoughts are to be declared true, either. He knows what it’s like to lose someone, to lose family, and to see the way the Data Stream Incident (as it would be called, later) tore families asunder made him want to rake his nails across the fabric of reality.
It was bad enough to know that his brother was forever gone from him, but it was another to see the lives of children he might never know taken from their parents as well. Whether SOL was behind the sudden disappearances of the Data Storms, Shoichi did not know. What he did know, however, was that he needed a scapegoat, any scapegoat, if only to place the blame on the tragedy of such an event.
“Hanoi,” he muses, “SOL Tech…”
He tosses the two words in his mouth, biting into a mound of ashes. Neither name tastes like candy on his tongue yet neither name resonates with the bitter anger inside him.
“Children…killed…hurt…”
He thinks of a boy tucked into a hospital room and curls his hands into fists. He tries to clear his head and, failing to, asks himself a question to distract away his angry thoughts:
“Why did the Data Storms disappear…?”
~~~~
(Two Years Ago)
VRAINS_Life: I’m telling u!! I rly saw him!! Playmaker!!
Ghost Girl: You know he’s just a myth, right?
VRAINS_Life: No I swear >o< He was in the newbie area, right next to the bridge!! He was fighting a Hanoi dude!!
Ghost Girl: No way O.o
Blood Shepherd: He’s lying. I’ve looked into him before for a client and he doesn’t exist.
Ghost Girl: Same here. Well, I haven’t looked into him very closely, but he doesn’t exist in SOL’s database as far as I know :Oc
VRAINS_Life: I s2g he does exist tho!! I even got a picture of him while in VRAINS!! See!! Look:::
(VRAINS_Life added an image: lookathisguysomg.jpg)
Ghost Girl: …
Blood Shepherd: …
VRAINS_Life: What…What’s going on…
(Error: This File Does Not Exist)
~~~
(Two Years Ago)
The news has been, lately, abuzz with tales which thread through the network like strings of a spider web. Urban legends mock the forums of online gaming, tales of easter eggs and mystic heroes intertwining until, ultimately, a fable is created.
It starts, of course, with the Knights of Hanoi. Hanoi (as was the easier nickname to spout), was an organization of hackers that had, since the Data Stream Incident, become more prevalent in the net. Of course, their presence was a well-known concern. Many feared the appearance of white-hooded avatars or of the leaders who were said to pull the strings from the shadows. No one knew why they appeared, or what they wanted, but when they were encountered there was only one consensus that was agreed upon by players throughout the world of Link VRAINS:
Run.
The Knights of Hanoi were ruthless, merciless. Though they were a bunch of hackers who claimed to follow some noble purpose, they were no better than a bunch of criminals armed with virtual knives. If anyone crossed their paths or refused to make peace with their demands, one would simply find their player account deceased or, worse yet, as the rumors foretold, their bank account depleted of money and their identity confiscated. The Knights of Hanoi were no lowly threat and nor were they treated like one either. They were considered some of the worst people of the century, earning a reputation so horrendous that the world quavered at their very mention.
SOL Technologies, founder and head company of Link VRAINS, had labeled Hanoi officially as terrorists. After a series of crimes (namely: hacking, threatening a government official, and countless other offenses) that had accumulated into a bounty for any information on Hanoi , it became well-established that Hanoi was to be feared.
Still, such horrors did little to dissuade the citizens of Den City to continue using Link VRAINS. Many entered the virtual world with knowledge of such threats and many neglected their fears to partake in the wonders of a world built around card-games and online friendships.
And, perhaps, there was a reason why the citizens of Den City acted the way they did.
Because of him.
Playmaker.
The mysterious hero whose name haunted Link VRAINS.
Two years after the Data Stream Incident and the beginning of Hanoi’s arrival came the rumors of a mysterious player who fought on the behalf of the public to counter their evil deeds.
“Playmaker”, the rumors called him, alleging to the supposed username glimpsed by a collective few, was a special kind of duelist. There were never any true sightings of him, and the username didn’t exist in the official Link VRAINS registry (however, nor could it be used by any player, as everyone soon found out). Many a whisper of him came from secretive hacker forums on the net, tall tales being told as the rumor grew in popularity and the need for a make-believe hero became all the more evident.
Yet, as the Knights appeared more frequently across the web, so too did the sightings of Playmaker. It was almost as if there was a correlation between Hanoi’s treacherous deeds and the presence of the only one said to be able to fight them. Many other duelists had tried to combat the nuisance that was Hanoi (including, of course, Bounty Hunters, Charisma Duelists, and a fair amount of do-gooders) but few had actually succeeded in the task.
Perhaps, in hindsight, that was why so many flocked to the idea of Playmaker. Urban legend or not, his mythical presence was a boon of hope to all those terrorized by Hanoi’s endeavors. It mattered little whether or not Playmaker actually existed. For some, he was an icon of hope, a competent figure of protection who would seek to forever rid the world of evil. For others, he was a clever scheme, one spun by SOL to enrich their wealth, drawing in new players curious to sight him for themselves. Little knew if he was real and little cared because, as far as rumors went, he was a tourist attraction meant to entice visitors worldwide to participate in the saga of his mystery.
After all, so long as legends are passed down throughout time and space, they cease to exist as fake.
For, while the Playmaker they knew was of nothing more than a visceral image, his existence touched the hearts of many.
Hope.
Courage.
A way to counter the fear that Hanoi spread in the network.
If they clung on to him, to that ideology, then perhaps…
But, then again, perhaps not.
After all, the hero of this story also fights against the people he’s supposed to protect.
~~~
(Present Time)
White.
A world of white.
He’s younger.
Far younger.
The boy hears the sound of wind, feels it tug at him. He presses into it, feeling it like a mother’s touch. The world around him is made of faded colors that spill onto a blank canvas, multiple colors spread out like paint far too diluted by water. It’s almost nostalgic to stand in this world, to see the bushes that form from faded pastel green and the gray skyscrapers which reach up far past his view. White paints a majority of his picture, biting into bits and pieces in the form of an eventual gradient. He smiles dreamily at such a view, reaching out little hands for the moments of a time long since passed.
“Three…”
A voice, young and immature, manifests in the boy’s ears.
“Think of three things…”
The white picture of the boy’s vision bleeds dry of any colors. A figure of black appears in front of him, a near replica of a human child as its white-pupiled blue eyes look up at him. He reaches for it, his eyes wide and the beginnings of tears shared in both corners of his eyes, and bends down to inspect the silver shackles which bind to its wrists.
“Who did this to you? Where are you? Let me help you!”
The figure collapses to the ground, white bleeding from its wrists and eyes. It opens a silver mouth, screaming:
“No!”
~~~
Yusaku Fujiki opens his eyes.
The world before him manifests in a classroom full of empty seats and a TV screen that flickers with images of an elaborate math equation. He looks over the equation, squints at its blurriness, and then sidles back in his seat to cover an emerging yawn.
“Woah!” a voice shouts and Yusaku has to keep from wincing as it attacks his ears. “I didn’t think you were awake!”
“I am now,” Yusaku offers flatly, peering at his unwelcome conversation partner with drowsy eyes. “Who are you again?”
A plump boy with green hair meets his gaze, eyes wide with a kind of energy that eludes Yusaku. “Naoki! Naoki Shima!” The boy pulls back, frowning. “You’re telling me you haven’t memorized the names of your classmates yet?”
“No,” he admits with a shrug. “But, I haven’t needed to pay attention to names either.”
The boy – Naoki – contemplates the answer with a haughty grin almost sarcastic in nature. “That’s kind of sad. You must not have any friends.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for asking,” Yusaku leans back, blinking his eyes free of sleep.
Naoki flashes Yusaku a grin and, after an awkward moment’s pause, continues to bare his wrist in Yusaku’s sight of vision.
“Do you know what this is?” The boy asks, gesturing to the device strapped watch around the boy’s wrist.
“A watch,” Yusaku offers in monotone.
“Wrong!” Naoki gestures frantically to the device. “Don’t you recognize what this is?”
He offers it a glance. “Oh,” Yusaku muffles a yawn, “that. Isn’t it one of the new Duel Disks developed by SOL Technologies?”
“Indeed!” The boy pulls back, grinning with wide-eyed approval. “This little thing is one of the first models of its kind. I was gifted one by a member of the dueling club as a freebie but these things are expensive! They go for four hundred thousand yen a pop, you know?”
“Huh. I see.”
The boy flashes off his object yet again, oblivious to Yusaku’s half-lidded expression. “Hey,” he asks, “have you been in Link VRAINS before? ”
Yusaku’s gaze shifts to something more alert. “Why would I want to go to Link VRAINS?”
The boy nearly clutches at his heart, astonished at such a proclamation. “W-Why…” He takes in a deep breath. “Link VRAINS is the best! You can duel online, in real-time and show off your skills as a duelist! It’s every normal person’s dream!
“Well, not everyone likes dueling either,” Yusaku mutters, his gaze drawn to the floor.
“What was that?”
The blue-haired boy shakes his head. “Never mind. It’s nothing. Rather…is it possible you duel in Link VRAINS?”
A horrified look grows on Naoki’s face and the boy shakes his head vehemently. He takes a step back, gaping. “Me? No way! Only the best of the best can go into Link VRAINS! All the pros are there! Charisma Duelists, Top Ranked Fighters, and all kinds of other duelists who are the cream of the crop! Even the Bronze duelists are far ahead of me!”
“I see,” Yusaku stands up, pushing aside his chair.
“There’s so many great players there I can’t possibly match up to them,” Naoki continues, heedless of the tired glance Yusaku gives him, “I mean, there’s Blue Angel and Golden Light and even those nasty cyber-hackers, the Knights of Hanoi!”
Yusaku pauses in a mid-yawn to peer at Naoki. “The Knights of Hanoi?”
“Yeah, they’re a crazy bunch of people that everyone’s scared of. Of course, I’m not scared of them but I’m also not stupid enough either to go into Link VRAINS anyways.” Yusaku raises an eyebrow but, if Naoki sees it, he doesn’t comment on it. “But, well, you shouldn’t have to worry if you ever do decide to go to Link VRAINS!”
“And why is that?”
“Because of Playmaker!” Naoki’s voice jumps up a note higher and stars shine in his eyes. “He’s the coolest and most mysterious duelist out there! He’s the only one brave enough to stand up to the Knights of Hanoi and win according to what I’ve heard! Some say he’s an urban legend though but I don’t believe that at all.”
The boy’s eyes narrow. “Do you…have any proof that Playmaker exists?”
Naoki stumbles, staring at Yusaku as if his question was unwarranted. “No?” He says. “The guy’s a mysterious duelist for a reason. No one’s gotten a shot of him yet but there’s also a lot of people claiming they’ve seen him!”
“If I were you, I would disregard those people,” the blue-haired boy speaks, his voice monotonous but with a hint of something wary. “He’s probably called an urban legend for a reason. Because, after all, what kind of duelist can handle the Knights of Hanoi on their own if they’re as scary as you say they are?”
Naoki quiets for a second, taking in that insight with a frown before he stubbornly shakes his head. “Come on, Fujiki!” He exclaims, disbelief pinched in his voice. “Playmaker does exist, I’m sure he does! Even if I’ve never seen him and have no proof, there’s no way you can tell me he doesn’t exist!”
Yusaku holds up a hand. Naoki watches in puzzlement, squinting at the shape of three fingers that manifest before him.
“As much as I want to say that you are right and that Playmaker exists, I have three reasons why I believe that this legendary duelist isn’t actually real.”
One finger ticks down.
“First: Despite having been claimed to have been seen by many people beforehand, there has been absolutely no concrete evidence presented to prove that Playmaker exists.”
A second finger folds.
“Second: If Playmaker really did exist, SOL would likely have his account name and password on file as all players of Link VRAINS are required to have those two things to log in. However, according to local sources and even from SOL themselves, no such information exists.”
The last finger falls down into Yusaku’s palm and the boy drops his hand.
“Third: If Playmaker truly was capable of handling the Knights of Hanoi all by himself, then why are the Knights of Hanoi still around? If one player can manage to defeat a mass group of skilled hackers, then why hasn’t the threat of Hanoi been eliminated yet? It makes no sense.
“Therefore, under these three reasons, it is more reasonable to assume that Playmaker is nothing more than an urban legend than an actual player.”
Yusaku finishes his conclusion with a frown and watches as Naoki stares at him, wide-eyed.
“However,” Yusaku continues without hesitating, not seeking a reaction, “believing in Playmaker isn’t such a bad thing either.”
The boy holds up three fingers yet again, counting down one by one.
“First: Playmaker’s existence seems to give people hope that the Knights of Hanoi are not as infallible as they seem. If people believe that the Knights of Hanoi can be defeated in a duel, it gives them more a sense of safety about being in Link VRAINS.
“Second: Playmaker’s existence is harming no one. In fact, all the rumors about him seem to be helping Link VRAINS remain as one of the most popular VRMMOS as well as to boost the revenue it is earning. The only real downside of Playmaker seems to be the fact that, despite the claims of him being real, he does not exist.
“And, third: Your belief in Playmaker shows that you appreciate him as a role model and what he represents. You seem to be lacking skills in dueling, or at least the courage to enter into Link VRAINS, but your insistence on Playmaker’s existence shows that you aren’t so easily swayed by others either. Regardless of the fact that he does not exist, your faith in him shows that you are a good person.”
Naoki’s jaw, at this point, has dropped to the floor. The green-haired boy stares at him, flabbergasted, and then stomps his foot on the floor and huffs.
“Whatever!” He says, throwing his hands up in the air. “Your three reasons don’t mean anything to me! Playmaker does exist, I’m sure of it, and nothing you say can convince me otherwise!”
He leaves the room in a flurry, hands curled into fists and shoulders raised as he disappears outside the classroom walls. Yusaku watches him go with a yawn, picking up his bag while readying to leave for-
And then something stabs him in the heart and his eyes widen, panic racing through him. Adrenaline sweeps through his body and he stands, alert, his bag dropping back to the ground.
Yusaku blinks, and the world he sees before him collects into pixels. A world of skyscrapers hangs over him, large and massive as he flees through their midst.
The boy is running, ceaselessly running, carrying himself down a pipeline which seems stupendously large compared to his feet. He hears beeping noises behind him, feels the rush of nausea that runs through him and the annoyance that pricks at his skin…
And then he blinks yet again and the image disappears. The feelings dissipate from his body, the stress and panic evaporating as he shakes his head and picks up his bag. Yusaku makes a move to exit the classroom but, before he escapes, his eyes slide back to the security camera that hovers at the ceiling, his gaze guarded.
“Again,” he says, his words hanging in the air. “I felt it again.”
~~~
Extra Super Hot News!!!
SOL Technologies is holding an extra special event tonight in Link VRAINS. Watch as the best duelists in all of Den City take on each other in a week long competition known as the Charisma Cup! The Charisma Cup will start off with an exhibition match between Blue Angel, the idol of Link VRAINS, and Go Onizuka, an up-and-coming duelist whose skills as a duelist have earned him potential eyes from sponsors! Look forward to seeing it this afternoon 6:30 pm!
[This post was approved by SOL Technologies]
~~~
A breath of air. A stiffly-fixed tie. Blue and cyan hair combed neatly. A polished blue suit and a white shirt underneath. Blue pants and shining shoes.
Akira Zaizen steps into an endlessly long chamber, darkness clinging to him like a mist. He strides across a platform, stopping at the edge of it to watch as the room shifts and warps. Underneath his feet, the platform turns into a chessboard, checkered tiles of black and white spreading all around him. Five giant holograms in the form of chess pieces await his presence and he bows before them.
“Zaizen,” one of the chess pieces – a rook – shines with blue light, “we’ve heard you’ve located the Ignis?”
“I have,” the man says with an affirmative nod. “My team pinpointed an Ignises’ manipulation in the system just one hour prior. We are now looking into the possibility of using a security scan to lure it out of hiding.”
“A security scan is dangerous,” a second chess piece – a knight – chides with disapproval low in its voice. “We’d be making ourselves easy targets for Hanoi if we do that.”
“And I realize that,” Akira states, “but while that’s an almost certainty, the longer we wait to relocate the Ignis, the more amount of time Hanoi has to find it. It is likely that they’ve already realized much like we have that the Ignis is in Link VRAINS. If we don’t act now, they might find it before we do.”
“I see your point,” Rook states. “Still, doing so will cause some upset with our player base.”
“But losing the Ignis might cost us even more,” Knight adds. “The Ignis and its technology could help repair Link VRAINS. After all, ever since that incident five years ago the network has slowly been falling under Hanoi’s control. We should try Zaizen’s idea. With the Ignis, we can finally fight back.”
“But…even so…”
“I understand your plight, Rook. We have much to lose from a security sweep, but we also have much to gain. It won’t be easy, though. Hanoi has hackers on their side, and they far outnumber us.” Knight pauses. “But, we also have access to bounty hunters. If we offer them a prize, we can easily put them under our control.”
“That’s true.” Rook makes a sound of choked agreement. “Zaizen, we will give you permission to perform the security check. However, in return, I want you to stir up the idea that this Ignis, if in the right hands, can easily be negotiated with by money. If we can sway the bounty hunters to do our work for us then perhaps we can ward off Hanoi’s advances.”
“That can be arranged,” Akira nods his head. “I can call someone more than capable of that.”
“Good,” Knight speaks with a voice that would assume a nod of reciprocation. “Perform the security scan two hours from now, but be wary of Hanoi’s advances. They will not be easily avoided and it is doubtless they’ll appear when we are at our weakest. Prepare for them as best you can.”
“Understood.”
“Then you are dismissed,” Rook says.
Akira gives another nod and then watches as the room fades back into a long corridor with an empty hallway. He pauses, his gaze flicking over the darkness before he turns around and exits the room.
He’s got a job to do.
~~~
BlueAngel_WEEB: Gosh, can’t wait to see Blue Angel up there on the stage again >o< Hope she pummels this newbie into the ground tonight!!
DuelistsLOL: U talking ‘bout the Charisma Cup?
BlueAngel_Weeb: What else could I be talking about??? Unless you know something about Blue Angel that I don’t???
DuelistsLOL: nah, bro. I was just making sure
I_love_to_watch_the_world_burn: Who is this Go Onizuka anyways? I know he’s BA’s opponent but, like, who is he?
DuelistsLOL: some guy who won the opportunity to fight BA in the exhibition match, I guess. LOL tho bc I don’t think he’s any good at dueling. I mean, have you seen his deck? His cards seem pretty useless tbh
BlueAngel_Weeb: It doesn’t matter how good his cards are :/ Blue Angel’s gonna OHKO him Round 1 guaranteed
I_love_to_watch_the_world_burn: lmao, ain’t that the truth
BlueAngel_Weeb: Go Go Blue Angel!!! \>o</
~~~
A dark room filled with green and white lights sits. A screen of white hovers, watched by a man with gray hair and a white lab coat on his person.
Revolver appears from a portal of molten silver, stepping out of a ripple-like entrance to set foot in the new room. He approaches the man with tentative unease, settling by his side as he observes the screen.
“Is SOL making their move?” He asks, watching as drones of white and black sweep over the city from the view on the screen.
“It would seem so.”
“A security check?”
“That’s what I believe,” the man turns to meet Revolver’s gaze, golden eyes reflecting those of pure yellow. “It seems that SOL received the same signal we did. I imagine they’re trying to act as fast as possible to ensure we don’t get the Ignis first.”
“Then we need to get to it before they do,” Revolver flicks a hand and opens up a screen of his own. “I’ll give a message to everyone online right now that this is a mission of top priority.”
Revolver taps a few buttons and, after a minute, the message sends.
“There, it is done.”
“Thank you, Revolver.”
The boy nods. After a few seconds of silence, a phantom figure with platinum-blond hair appears by Revolver’s side, bowing to him with an arm clasped to his chest. The boy’s face is shadowed, blue eyes glittering in the darkness of the room as he utters his words:
“Master Revolver, there is a recent issue brought to my attention that I would like to address.”
“What is it?”
“Some of our members are becoming tired of Playmaker’s pestilent presence in Link VRAINS. They’re asking for you to remove him entirely or do anything that can prevent him from interfering in their missions. It seems many of our players are becoming fed up with Playmaker’s ever-continuing interference. I would suggest we address the problem in some way, if only to soothe our members from lashing out against us.”
“That is an interesting concern,” the boy speaks, “but I’m afraid I’ll have to address it after this mission is done. Tell those dissatisfied that I will be working on a solution when the Ignis is ours, Spectre.”
“Yes, Master Revolver.”
The man – Spectre – bows and then disappears in an instant.
“Playmaker, huh?”
Revolver looks over at the other person left in the room, watching as the older man cups his chin and stares at the screen before him.
“Is that name familiar to you?” He inquires.
“No, I just find it to be an odd name.” The man responds with a lilt of curiosity in his voice. “For an independent player, Playmaker is sure a bizarre word to choose. He doesn’t seem concerned with playing in a team or bringing people on to his side. He only seems to care about defeating us, though the reasons for that are something I cannot myself fathom.”
“We’ve made many enemies,” Revolver states quietly, the hush of the room threatening to swallow him whole.
“That we have. Perhaps he’s a special agent of SOL then. A puppet of theirs, if you will.”
“They’d make more of an effort to publicize him if that was true,” Revolver states.
“Perhaps. Perhaps SOL is also changing tactics. Remember, they want the Ignis as much as we do.”
The boy’s calm face twists with remembrance, malforming into something dark and heavy.
“That they do.”
“Enough of that, however,” the gray-haired man waves a hand and the giant screen that illuminates the room disappears. “I think it’s about time I go. I can’t stay here much longer.”
“Understood. Take as much time as you need.”
“I will. I trust you to take care of the Ignis, Revolver.”
The boy holds a hand to his chest and nods. “You can count on me.”
“Indeed I can.”
The man disappears and, alone, Revolver reopens the screen and flicks his hands to peer at the insides of Link VRAINS.
“Fate is on our side.”
~~~
Ghost Girl: Hey, have you heard? Apparently SOL Technologies is offering up a secret bounty rn!!
Daddy Long Legs: A bounty? For what?
Blood Shepherd: Another rogue player perhaps?
VRAINS_Life: Ooo yeah that might be it.
Ghost Girl: Nope! You’re both wrong! This time, they’re after an AI!
Blood Shepherd: An...AI…?
VRAINS_Life: That sounds so stupid tbh. What a letdown kind of bounty!!
Daddy Long Legs: What’s so special about this AI anyways? Did it go haywire or something?
Ghost Girl: Can’t talk much about it, but let’s just say that it has a mind of its own and that the bounty is near priceless to SOL.
VRAINS_Life: Does that mean that SOL will pay us as much as we want for it?
Daddy Long Legs: Nah, it’s probably within reason.
Ghost Girl: I’d say they’d pay a rather handsome fix for the thing. It seems to be a pricey bargaining chip in their eyes. Maybe five billion yen would suffice in return for that AI?
VRAINS_Life: Ooooo I definitely want to get my hands on it then *o*
VRAINS_Life: Imagine all that dough…gosh I could do so much with it!!
Blood Shepherd: Not if I get to it first.
Ghost Girl: Or me ;3c
Blood Shepherd: Yeah right.
Ghost Girl: Aww you have no faith in me >:’O
~~~
The city plaza of Den City is filled with people by the time Yusaku arrives at 6 pm. The sun has already began to sink beneath the tips of the skyscrapers, painting the sky with gold and orange hues that begin to fade into red. Basked in its dying light, the people of the city murmur, their voices melted into a subtle babble that fills much of Yusaku’s ears. The boy peers around as he meanders through the crowd, his briefcase on his shoulder, green eyes taking in the sight of mothers, children, teenagers, and elders who continue on their paths in life. His gaze softens at such a sight, emotions swimming in his eyes as he moves forward to approach a hot dog stand.
“Hey, Yusaku!”
The boy turns his gaze to a man leaning out of the hot dog wagon, waving generously as he hands off a hotdog to a woman with pink hair. The woman glances at Yusaku, her gaze holding Yusaku’s before she looks away and continues on her path. Yusaku watches her go and then, after a moment of silence, approaches the beige hotdog stand that awaits his presence.
“How was school?” The man asks.
“I talked to someone,” the boy responds, navigating around the wagon to a side-door. He steps inside and takes a seat.
“Oh? That’s new,” the man says, brushing his hands on the white apron hanging from his neck. “Made a new friend at long last?”
There’s an exasperated sigh. “You know I wouldn’t do that, Shoichi,” Yusaku sets his briefcase down. “I have more important things to think about.”
“Ah,” the man’s teasing tone fades off. “That’s right. You do.”
He looks at his companion. “Any news on Hanoi’s activity?”
“The hacker forums haven’t said anything about them, but…”
“But?”
“There’s been news on SOL changing their behavior. Apparently, there’s a security check going on in Link VRAINS tonight. The whole system will be weakened for an hour’s time.”
“Are they tracking down another game-breaking glitch?”
“No, it’s something different this time. Not a bug or a system failure or anything like that.”
Yusaku raises an eyebrow. “What else could it be?”
The words Shoichi speaks send a shiver down Yusaku’s spine. “An AI.”
Yusaku blinks and the world warps before him.
There’s wind in his face, the sound of several million alarms chasing behind him, and then the noise fades away to disappear into the abyss…
Yusaku blinks again, holding his head. A wave of nausea overtakes him and he clutches at his stomach, leaning over himself as Shoichi sweeps to his side.
“Hey, hey,” the purple-haired man says, softly, a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright, Yusaku?”
There’s a brief moment of panic overtaking his heart and then it settles away, dissipating like steam. The boy peers up and gives his partner a nod.
“I am now,” he manages.
“Another one of your visions?”
“Yes.”
Shoichi’s panicked gaze crumples into one of worry. “What happened?”
“I didn’t see much this time. I only heard the sound of alarms.”
“It sounds like SOL must be beginning their security scan then. I’ll start up the cameras.”
“That’d be great, thank you,” Yusaku closes the window to the hotdog wagon, apologizing curtly to a woman as he turns to Shoichi. “But, are you sure? Of all things, an AI?”
“That’s what the rumors say,” Shoichi shrugs. “And it’s from one a trustworthy source, too.”
“What source is that?”
“Ever heard of Ghost Girl?”
“No.”
“Figures. She’s not as well known outside the dark net.” Shoichi laughs. “Well, anyways, according to her SOL has begun to set its sights on the thing for a pretty bounty.”
Yusaku huffs in disbelief. “And so what’s special about this AI to the point that a massive company such as SOL is desperate enough to set up a bounty to find it?”
“There wasn’t much discussed about it, only that SOL has been looking for this specific AI for a long time now. That, and it’s apparently been running rogue for a bit, unable to be put under any one person’s control.”
Yusaku frowns. “You mean to tell me that this AI has a mind of its own?”
“So it seems,” Shoichi gives a shrug. “Honestly, I’m not quite so sure myself. All I know is that Ghost Girl alluded its value to SOL as being near priceless and that it seems that the bounty hunters of the dark web are taking an interest in it.”
“…Alright. Sounds interesting.”
Shoichi takes a seat at a counter with three glass cabinets. Yusaku follows his example, sitting in a padded chair as Shoichi presses a button. The glass windows light up and then fade away into nine individual screens, each showing specially named files and several screens depicting an internet history in regards to news articles on “Hanoi”. The man then pulls up a screen that he shares between them showing a live channel known properly as Eagle News.
“It seems they’re starting,” Shoichi says.
Yusaku nods. On the screen, he watches as a storm of blue pulsates over a large city of virtual skyscrapers, sweeping past like tidal waves of energy. The city darkens, storm clouds gathering overhead before the camera flickers and an alarm sounds off in the background.
“All residents of Link VRAINS,” an intercom states, “except those of the news media, Charisma Cup participants, and invited guests should evacuate Link VRAINS in an attempt to avoid potential account corruption. Link VRAINS is experiencing game-breaking bugs and SOL Technologies needs to correct them immediately. Again, if you are in Link VRAINS right now and not under the protected classes, please log out before your account is affected.”
The camera flicks down to a crowd of people hastily murmuring among themselves before disappearing in flashes of blue. Yusaku, in a moment of clear thought, opens up the official Link VRAINS forums to take a glance.
Already, a series of conversations has begun. Yusaku browses through a few, scrolling from message to message until one fact becomes clear: SOL Technologies has reacted without the consent of its player base.
“It seems SOL Technologies is desperate,” Shoichi speaks, voicing the boy’s thoughts within an instant. “Whatever they’re searching for, they want it now.”
“The AI?”
“That would be my best guess. Can you track it right now?”
Yusaku scowls. “You know my sixth sense doesn’t work like that.”
“I know, I know. Still,” Shoichi frowns at the screen, “at this point the best bet we have is to hack into SOL Technologies to see if we can find the location of the AI at the same time they do. You up for that?”
“Might as well. I know you can’t be caught.”
Shoichi grins, pulling out a keyboard to swipe his fingers across. “I’ll take that as praise.”
“Take it however you want,” Yusaku snorts. “Meanwhile, I can-ugh!”
A flash of white-hot pain bursts through his mind and Yusaku keels over, fingers clutching at his head. He hears Shoichi shouting, he feels the man’s hands on his shoulder, but despite Yusaku’s best efforts to resist, his vision fades into a blurry image of the hot dog truck and then becomes replaced entirely.
Run.
Run.
Run.
He must run. He can never stop running. He’s sick of running. He’s sick of fleeing, of being made a hunted animal. He’s sick of it all, but there’s nothing he can do.
He’s lost it all. He’s lost it all. How can he keep running like this? How can he bare to keep moving, to keep going?
He’s desperate.
The hunters are upon him.
He’s desperate.
Everyone’s coming for him.
He’s desperate.
There’s only one thing left to do.
He’s desperate.
He has to do the one thing he thought he never must.
He’s desperate.
“Yusaku!”
Shoichi’s voice brings Yusaku back into the present. The boy startles, green eyes sweeping up to meet silver. Shoichi’s gaze softens and the man inquires: “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” he nods. “I just had another vision.”
“What of?”
“I didn’t see anything this time. I just felt scared and alone,” Yusaku thinks of a young kid with remarking similarity to himself and gives a bitter smile. “Sounds a bit similar to someone I once knew.”
“That it does,” Shoichi says, quietly.
“That said, these visions are beginning to concern me. This is the third one I’ve had today,” Yusaku holds up a hand as Shoichi opens up his mouth and then continues. “Earlier, at school, I saw the world of Link VRAINS while standing on a pipeline. I felt the same feeling of fear as I did in my last two visions.”
“What do you think they mean?”
“Something is calling for my help.” Yusaku says.
“Your help?”
“It’s the best explanation I have right now,” Yusaku muses, coming to a conclusion. “I think I can track down the source of all this chaos,” he states firmly, pulling his keyboard close. “Shoichi, can you assist me in capturing it?”
“You know where this thing is?”
“Well, my sixth sense gave me a hunch.”
“That’s…not helpful.”
Yusaku merely offers the man a smile. “I know. But it’s the only thing we have.”
Shoichi pulls his keyboard forward, offering back a nod. “Right. Let’s do this.”
Yusaku only smiles.
~~~
The TV screen rolls.
A girl with blue hair and in an outfit reminiscent of a child in love with angels waves to the screen. A device sparkles on her left wrist, shining brilliantly in the sunlight of a summer afternoon. She stands atop the roofs of white buildings fitted with orange tiles, standing fearlessly on the shingles as she faces her opponent.
“This is it! This is the moment everyone’s been waiting for! The exhibition match of SOL’s brand new Charisma Cup!”
A wave of cheers sounds up from a wave of people standing on the buildings all around the girl, blue and white merch in her image making a frequent appearance. Outside the TV screen, an even bigger crowd gathers around every TV screen, making a show of protest with screams that would deafen an entire nation.
“Today, Blue Angel will make her mark by showing us yet again just how good her Tricksters are! Today, her unlucky opponent will be Go Onizuka, a man making his debut after winning the right to battle her in the exhibition match lottery! His deck focuses on Gouki monsters - a deck that has no right to challenge our queen!”
The blue-haired girl, Blue Angel, blows a kiss to a camera that strides by her, indulging her audience with a wink and a flirtatious laugh.
“Thank you all for supporting me!” She calls, her high-pitched voice ringing throughout the area.
Her opponent, a dark-skinned man seemingly shaped from muscles, eyes her with an evident sense of distaste. He readies the item on his left wrist, ignoring the crowds of people who boo at his one simple action before he says: “We should start the duel now.”
Blue Angel offers him a pout before nodding her head. “Alright! I like your attitude.” She puts her left arm out in front of her. “Ready, and…”
The man - Go Onizuka - offers back a nod.
“Duel!”
~~~
Yusaku can feel it. Can feel the network running through his veins, the pulse of energy racing through him like a spark. There was a wiggling urge inside of him to reach his hands into it, however impossible that was, and he found the world blurring between reality and fantasy, pixels spreading across his keyboard and the walls of the hot-dog wagon. His own hands, which worked furiously on his keyboard, began to blacken, lost to his vision as the throbbing in his chest nudged him onwards. He was close, so close , to reaching the thing he longed for, to come closest to the sense of “home” he’s felt in a long time and-
The world around him shatters into glass fragments and a dragon rears over him, black in color with glowing green spheres embedded into its body. On top of it stands a hooded individual wrapped in a white robe and wearing a metal mask streaked with yellow and embedded with two red crystal “eyes”. The individual points to him, words muddled, before the dragon opens its mouth to unleash a stream of fire upon him that nearly burns him to a crisp. He hears the screams of people all around him, of players stuck in the system and yet struck by the blaze raining down upon them.
Yusaku recoils away from the threat of danger and then he blinks and pulls himself back into the present, watching as the computer screens depict the very same man he’d seen seconds earlier riding atop a dragon identical to the one in his vision.
“A Knight of Hanoi!” Shoichi’s distraught cry makes Yusaku fit together the pieces all at once. He stiffens, shaking his head and turning to his partner.
“What’s the situation?” He asks.
The man is quick to answer. “It seems a Knight of Hanoi’s broken through SOL’s security system at the site of the Charisma Cup. He’s currently on a rampage right now deleting people’s accounts with his dragon. That, and he seems to be searching for something.”
“The AI?” Yusaku pauses, reflecting for a moment’s glance on the scene he’d witnessed previously. “Then I think I might know where it is.”
Shoichi nods, turning to him with the questions in his eyes doused by a kind of trusting knowing. “Where?”
“Here,” Yusaku points at a spot on a separate screen, locating the end of a long alleyway with no place to escape from. “It’s trapped here.”
“Think we can grab it before Hanoi can?”
Yusaku offers up a determined smile. “I think we can. If we work together, we can do this.”
“Right.”
The sound of keyboard clicking fills the air and it doesn’t take long for the both of them to code a program that will allow them to guide the AI in question to safety. The only issue is manipulating the thing into doing so. Yusaku can sense its presence in the network, can sense the way an animate being hovers in the corner of the alleyway and gives off signals of distress that reveal its location to him. And, as he watches the Knight of Hanoi close in on the location, he realizes he has no time to test the strength of the program he and Shoichi have created. If he doesn’t act now, he’ll easily lose his bargaining chip. And, he has no patience for that.
“Kusanagi, I’m activating the program.”
His partner offers him a short line of protest but, taking note of the situation at hand and coming to the same conclusion, gives him his permission.
Yusaku activates the program and watches as a silver pipeline appears in Link VRAINS to intercept the hooded man’s path. The Knight of Hanoi reels back, shouting something unintelligible in confusion before something small, round and black slips through the pipeline.
The blue-haired boy wastes no time. He flies from his seat to a corner of the hot-dog wagon, picking his way through a shelf-full of items to retrieve a relic from a time nearly before him: A card-insertion Duel Disk. The device is small, and he has to tug with the wrist band to conform it properly to his wrist, but it easily slides on and allows him to transport it to a series of cords located under the hot dog wagon’s computer screens. A plugs a cord into a port, watching as the white words “ Installing… ” flash into place before a “ Installation Complete ” scrolls across the screen right as the electricity in the hotdog wagon flickers and dies.
“A power outage?” Shoichi asks, peering outside his windows to watch as the entire city floods into darkness.
Yusaku closes his eyes, sensing something ominous fall down upon him, a presence wiggling closer as they sit in the confusion of the night. “No. Something’s coming.”
The Duel Disk on his arm flares to life, becoming the only beacon of light inside the wagon. Shoichi immediately shuts the windows and runs to his side, watching with furrowed eyebrows as the blank purple interface of Yusaku’s Duel Disk twists and distorts.
The bright purple color first fades to black, a ring of white light on the duel disk’s perimeter providing the only indication of its presence. Then, purple lines form across the screen in an odd pattern, giving Yusaku the faint suggestion of something otherworldly. Lastly, the purple lines part to reveal an orange eye with a lavender and white pupil - the eye of a monster peering back at them.
“Oh!” the thing says, speaking in a voice so high-pitched that it distorts the eerie presence of its image. “Hello there! Good afternoon to you both!”
Shoichi frowns. “Is this…?”
“...the AI?” Yusaku finishes, an eyebrow raised.
“Why yes I am!” the thing chirps. “I mean, well, I’m an AI anyways! I’m not sure I’m the AI because I sure as heck don’t recognize you strange people. What do you want with me anyways? How’d you even find me? Also: why am I trapped in here? ”
“It’s because of a special program we made,” Yusaku says. “It means you’re now our hostage.”
“Oh, I see, that makes sen-...Hey! You can’t just go around making people hostages like this! That’s illegal!”
“There are no laws in Den City against making an AI your hostage,” Shoichi points out.
“Yeah, but you can’t just take a young and cool AI like me and imprison them for life! I mean, come on, I’ve got a long life ahead of me and I can’t be living it as a prisoner!”
“It talks a lot,” Yusaku notes.
“Too much,” Shoichi agrees. “What should we do with it?”
Yusaku watches as the power flickers back on and the computer screens show the hooded man wreaking havoc on the citizens of another world.
“We should put him to the test,” Yusaku says, holding up the duel disk with a nod at the creature inside. “Let’s see if we can reach negotiations with Hanoi.”
“That’s a dangerous idea,” Shoichi’s gaze softens as he looks over the boy. “Do you think it will work?”
“It’s worth a shot.”
The man offers a nod.
“Then good luck.”
Yusaku nods back, his silence all that’s needed to establish that gratitude that stems from those words. The boy brushes past Shoichi, moving like a phantom down the hotdog wagon until he reaches a door previously ignored. He puts his hand on the handle, pushes down, and then maneuvers into it with his Duel Disk raised.
Steadying his voice he yells: “Into the VRAINS!”
~~~
The world darkens and then lights up with streamers of blue that push alongside him like a wave of water, guiding white luminance all across his body. Before him, in this space, his body is transformed. His school’s uniform - a standard black and white outfit with a blue tie - dissipates into a body suit of black and green with golden lines flaring across his person. A silver belt clasps to his waist while a collar touching the highest part of the back of his neck ascends. His hands become covered in the fabric of the wetsuit while his hair transforms from its blue and pink state to one of amber, pink and gold.
Pixels flood Yusaku’s vision as he makes the transformation into his VR avatar and it is only when they filter out from his view does he realize he’s been pushed out the VR portal and into the world of Link VRAINS.
He free-falls from roughly 100 feet up in the air, wind pressing against his face like it would in the real world before his feet land elegantly on brick tiles.
Thanks to the world’s stabilizing log-in functions, he is able to maintain all safety of his body even with the severity of his fall.
When he looks up, the world has changed from a landscape of skyscrapers to that of white buildings with orange-shingled roofs. Glaring sunlight forces him a moment to readjust, but it doesn’t take long to see the havoc caused by the Knight of Hanoi. Fire licks the buildings behind him, smoke pouring all around the city to blot together in the process of darkening the sky. Houses once beautiful to the eye had crumpled down into ruins, destruction sowing ugliness in the form of houses burnt beyond repair and buildings nearly unrecognizable as anything but rubble.
Yusaku takes in a sharp breath, steadying the pounding in his heart as he takes in the sight before him with a sharp sense of duty biting into him.
“Not a pretty view,” a voice speaks beside him, nearly serious in its childish voice. “Wowzers, sure seems like Hanoi did a number there.”
Yusaku pulls up his Duel Disk and watches as the eye embedded within it turns to stare at him.
“Hey buddy!” It chimes. “How’s it going?”
“Be quiet,” he snaps in response.
“Ooo, harsh.” It rolls its eye. “But I think you have bigger problems than me being quiet.”
A scream sounds up from just up ahead and Yusaku watches as a girl with blue hair and wings floating alongside her back scrambles around a corner. She hops over a fallen pillar, her gait hurried as she flees. Fire follows in her footsteps, burning a black trail across the concrete road which leads her ahead. Yusaku doesn’t have to look far to see what she’s running from. A black dragon looms into sight, glowing green spheres rivaling that of the sun’s plastered into its body. The massive creature moves smoothly through the air, gliding without wings as its master beckons it forward.
The boy acts without thinking, running closer to the scene of action while avoiding the eyes of the knight. He weaves his way through the buildings, running his hands along the sides of virtual structures to keep a grip on his senses. He can keep track of the knight and his location easily enough by the sight of the dragon. The girl, however, he has a hard time following. She’s fast on her feet - much faster than he would have anticipated given the way he has to struggle to keep up with her. She’s little more than a blur, but her fast pace fails to negate the dragon’s gain on her.
“There!”
The AI inside his Duel Disk speaks without warning, its gaze pushed in the direction of a long corridor that seemed to stretch down into a road adjacent to the one he was working towards.
“If you want to help her,” it says, “go through that hallway!”
He stares at it for a second’s glance, before nodding his head and following its directions. He’s a bit unnerved it can read him and his wants so easily, and he’s nearly amazed at how sophisticated the mind reading technology must be.
Yusaku peels through the mentioned corridor, feet hitting against the hard bricks as until he reaches the end of the hallway and slides against the wall, staring out from the shadows as the girl heads his way.
He wants to make this nice and simple. He wants to accomplish two things: To put the girl out of danger, and to get the Hanoi Knight alone with him. So, he makes a plan - albeit a sloppy one. He’ll pull the girl into the alleyway and forcibly log her out, giving her the ten seconds time she needs to disappear before approaching the knight. Doing so will allow her safety without the revelation of his identity.
He’s not going to risk letting his identity being known. Not when the girl could easily confirm the rumors he’s worked so hard to destroy.
However, as he watches the girl approach and the dragon’s mouth opens with fire burning inside it, he finds he has no choice in the matter. It’s inevitable, Yusaku thinks with a sigh, leaping forward from his hiding place to grab the girl by her waist and yank her forward just before she’s hit by a blast of fire.
“What-?” The girl’s sharp intake of breath forces him to meet her gaze. Purple eyes bewitched with confusion and fear contort into senseless apprehension and caution. “Who are you?
A shadow looms over Yusaku and he peers upwards, ignoring the girl’s question. The Knight of Hanoi glares down at him from atop their beast, offering Yusaku a leer as he hovers over the boy. Fire crackles from the dragon’s mouth, sparking with the omen of impending disaster.
“The Ignis!” The Knight snarls, gaze seemingly latching onto Yusaku’s duel disk from behind his mask before flicking up to him. “You! Who are you?”
He takes a breath in and steels himself as the threat of burning to a crisp escalates.
“My name is Playmaker,” he states, and feels a hundred eyes bearing down upon him as the cameras of the news channels manifest to take note of him. Ignoring the knowing attention he now has on him, he bares his Duel Disk for the Knight to see. “And I have the AI you’ve been searching for.”
A moment of silence stretched on long and ominous. The whole world holds its breath, only for it to be broken by the voice of disbelief that sounds from beside “Playmaker”.
“You are…?” The voice of the girl makes him wince. “But that was just a…”
The Knight of Hanoi offers up a cackle that disintegrates the mood of awe embraced by the silence of the world. Playmaker holds firm as the Knight looks down upon him with curled lips.
“Playmaker? You , the legendary Playmaker that I’ve heard so much about? Pathetic. I’ll crush your sorry ass for trying to be someone you’re not. I’m not a fool - using the name of Playmaker won’t scare me.”
He grits his teeth. “If you destroy me, you won’t get this…‘Ignis’ you all so crave. It’s trapped hostage in my duel disk and the only way out is either for me to lose in a duel or for me to hand it over. Therefore, I want to negotiate: bring me to your leader and I’ll provide him the Ignis if I’m satisfied with what I’ve learnt. You can talk to your superiors, can’t you?”
“...Or I could simply beat you to a pulp,” the Knight scoffs. “My superior isn’t concerned with the likes of children trying to think they’re heroes. Still, that said, I can’t leave empty-handed. That Ignis can only be won if you lose in a duel, correct?”
“Correct.”
“Then let’s duel for it,” the man holds his left arm up and Playmaker watches as a green ring flares to life around his wrist. “You can duel, can’t you?”
“Oi, oi, oi! I never agreed to any of this!” A voice pipes up from Playmaker’s wrist. “I’m an AI with a wife and four kids! I don’t deserve to be lowered down to nothing more than some guy’s personal bargaining chip!”
“Shut it,” Playmaker snaps.
“Ooo, ouch! My feelings! I thought we were supposed to be buddies here! You know, the kind of buddy who lets his friends go free from-!”
“I can duel,” Playmaker states firmly, meeting the man’s gaze with a frown.
The Knight sneers. “Then let’s go.”
A storm howls. Gray clouds filter across the sky, streaked with lightning.
From the duel disk on his wrist, Playmaker hears a voice:
“Come, Data Storm!”