Yu-Gi-Oh! Soul of Silicon
Hello. It's Tuesday, February 26th, and it's 39 degrees.
Welcome to my latest, and final fanfic.
I know I wasn’t going to start this until April, but the preparation is all done, and I’ll get too far ahead of myself if I wait another month.
Some words:
This fic follows the rules of the TCG and OCG to the letter, with the exception that some cards which are illegal in today’s game are legal in this world. The most broken cards are still illegal. (For instance, Pot of Greed is legal. Raigeki is not.)
Second, the Spell Card which players in the anime use to allow each player to draw until their hands consist of six cards will be referred to as “Coins from Heaven” (which is actually the Japanese name for “Card of Sanctity”) From now on, Card of Sanctity will have its true effect, if I ever need to use it. Keep in mind that I’ll try my hardest not to use this card at all unless I must. That card has always been a cop-out.
This fic will use American names in most cases. I emphasize the word most. If I feel that the translation truly went too far and gave a card a name that robbed it of its dignity (the Destiny Heroes are an example of this), I’ll use the Japanese name. Most of the time, however, I’ll use American names, due to the fact that I am American.
As always, when I use an OCG-only card, an anime-only card, or a card of my own design, the vital stats for it will appear at the end of the chapter, along with notes as to where it originally appeared.
With that in mind, I would like to make a statement, if I may. If I use an anime-only card, and you find a source that says I got the effect wrong, especially if the source in question happens to be Yu-Gi-Oh Wikia, please keep your information to yourself, because my source is most likely better. Wikia is not a very reliable source. Wikia does not actually read the Japanese text on the cards in the original version, as my source does. I will not even bother responding to people who believe I got effects wrong due to what Wikia says.
One other thing. I’ve decided to put a stop to my practice of using card images. I realize that the screen takes a long time to load for some people because of this, and they were unnecessary anyway.
This fic is a sequel to “Yu-Gi-Oh! The Legend of the Sorcerer Kings”. That story took place in July of 2053. This one takes place two months later, in September of the same year.
Also, this fic was partially inspired by the original anime’s Virtual Nightmare arc and partially by Code Lyoko (a cartoon that can’t rightfully be called an anime, since it is produced in Europe, but was made in the tradition of one). Fans of that show will see references that will seem familiar. A very important name in this story borrows a name from “Garage Kids”, that show’s trailer. (No, this is not a crossover, if that’s what you are thinking. I simply was inspired.)
The action of this story mostly takes place in a realm that is reachable only from Domino City. A few chapters actually take place in Domino itself. Thus, the characters, whether native to Japan or not, are speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted.
One final thing. I do not own any rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TGC, OCG, anime, or Manga, which are registered trademarks of Konami. I am an independent author not affiliated with Konami, and am not an employee or representative of them.
All I can say at this point is, please Read and Review.
So… It begins…
The beginning of the following story was discovered in a musty old tome in the libraries belonging to the Pharaoh Atemu, shortly after he ordered his sages to search its volumes, after his alchemist attempted to take the life of a favored slave.
The rest was recently added:
In the beginning, and even before, before the birth of mortals, the terms Good and Evil were not yet defined. The opposing forces that defined the universe were Law and Chaos.
From the Chaos in which the universe was created came the demons, the living embodiments of Chaos. Hideous beings of pure madness, they were terrible, ravenous creatures.
The Archlords, divine beings who acted as intermediaries between the Almighty and the rest of Heaven, saw the demons as threats to their grand plan, their plan to create mortal life, and bring the universe to a perfect state. So they formed an army of Law to oppose the hordes of Chaos.
At the head of this great Army of Law was the mighty seraphim who would one day be known as Lucifer. His true name is forgotten, as it was eventually purged from the records of Heaven. In better times, he was one of the strongest, wisest, and most beautiful angels in the celestial realms, with eight glorious wings and skin of pure gold. His voice was a dictum that no lesser being could ignore.
Along with other dedicated generals, such as Dispater, Mephistopheles, and others whose names are lost to antiquity, he bravely marched into battle against the demonic army, showing no quarter and expecting none in return. Time and again, the armies of Chaos fell under his mighty sword, and were sent fleeing back to the Abyss.
But these battles slowly started to take their toll…
The demons kept advancing, suggesting that their numbers were infinite. Lucifer and his army suffered wounds with each battle, and each one slowly started to poison them with a strange essence that they had not experienced before. It was not Chaos. Chaos had no way of infecting one so dedicated to Law. This strange toxin that Lucifer and his army was succumbing to was something else entirely.
Eventually, Lucifer became violent and fearsome, a strange reflection of the enemies he was fighting. Anger started to cloud his judgment in the heat of battle, and his flawless form became marred.
Finally, the great general decided that he would rather rule than serve. He rebelled against Heaven, and a war erupted on its sanctified fields.
Lucifer’s army and the defenders of the divine realm clashed. And Lucifer was defeated. The Archlords were forced to admit to a truth that they had suspected for a long time: Law and Chaos were not the only defining forces in the universe. Good and Evil were natural forces as well. The demons were beings not just of Chaos, but of Evil. And the prolonged exposure had created Evil in Law.
Having no choice, they banished the rebellious angels to an uninhabited realm that was then called Baator. Ages later, mortals would refer to it as Hell. There, Lucifer would increase the ranks of his fallen army by seducing mortals to the side of Evil that he was now as much a cause of as the demons.
In order to cope, Heaven formed new armies. They experimented with allies from the Elemental Planes, creatures whom were experts at survival and adapting. Using recruits, they formed new soldiers of Law. These elemental warriors, who formed groups like the powerful Wind Dukes of Aaqa, could safely battle the demons without succumbing to the Evil venom that had befouled Lucifer and his men, as they could quickly develop a spiritual vaccine to the foul energies of the Abyss.
As Lucifer’s power grew in Hell, so did his ambitions. He was now an enemy of Heaven, but even more so, he was still an enemy of the Abyss. As armies of devils began to form, the new Lord of Hell put Heaven secondary, and set about defeating the fiends of Chaos first. The Blood War began, a war of genocide… Evil against Evil…
The Blood War has predated the birth of the first mortal… Some say it will last until after the last one breathes his final breath…
But deep in a foreboding layer of the Abyss, one ancient demon has other plans…
His followers are few, but his might is great. If the Great Helm can be constructed and used at a certain aligning of the stars, he can enact the Grand Rebirth, a terrible ritual that will revert the universe back to the Chaos that it once was, and make it again as one where Law does not exist. The Blood War would end, and Chaos would be victorious…
But there is a flaw in his plan…
A prophesy states that when this happens, he will be opposed by a young mortal woman, with fair skin and golden hair.
He identified his foe long ago… After his first attempt to capture her soul failed, he kept careful track of her, every time she died and her life started again… He knew that she would be given a new life until the time came for their battle…
His second attempt at capture failed…
But in this universe, things often come in threes…
Now, there is a curiosity about the Blood War. Most sages believe that the demons are infinite in number, seeing as Chaos spawns more of them with each passing second. The devils, who follow strict laws, are certainly finite in number. And yet, the demons have not won the war after eons of trying. One would think then, that their incompetence is also infinite.
Well, many demons are incompetent, if not mindless, but some are incredibly clever…
And when the times change, they change along with the times…
Chaotic doesn’t mean stupid.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Soul of Silicon
A fanfic by Brian “Dark Sage” Corvello
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm unbeatable!
Walking down this road of life,
My Disk and my friends beside me,
Never give in, we'll never rest…
Heading for the ultimate test!
From the earth, the land, the sea, and sky,
Every challenge that comes, we’ll get by!
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm unbeatable!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm undefeatable!
It began in dark of the ancient past,
We can be sure that it will last!
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm unbeatable!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm undefeatable!
You think you're tough,
But soon you'll see,
You have to be tougher to beat me!
I'm undefeatable!
He once was living deep inside me,
Once he was there to guide me,
He was in my heart and in my soul,
He pointed me to my ultimate goal.
Before he left, he knew not what would be…
But he did say,
He did have trust in me.
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm unbeatable!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yeah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
I'm undefeatable!
Every move
You attack and choose,
I’ll take you on and I won’t lose!
Yeah-ah-ah!
I'm unbeatable!
Prologue
Thunder rumbled over Domino City. Rain came down in sheets.
It was Saturday, September 13th.
Actually, that would only be the case for one more hour, since it was eleven PM.
It was just over two months since Yumi Mouto’s victory in Duelatopia, and the Pharaoh’s departure.
Most folks were asleep, trying to find warmth from the dreary weather, but in the high-tech computer lab in KaibaCorp’s subbasement, the host of that tournament was hard at work.
She sat at a screen, looking at what appeared to be a landscape. She studied it intensely, looking at a Renaissance village with a palace on a hill.
As she typed, five Duel Monster cards were superimposed over the screen: Dark Magician Girl, Crescent Moon Queen, Vampire Genesis, Dark Ruler Ha Des, and Toy Emperor.
“Coffee,” she said to a woman on the other side of the room.
“Look at you, Ms. Arachne,” said the aide, coming up to her. “You should take a break. You have bags under the bags under the bags under your eyes!”
“And I’ll get bags under them too if I have to!” shouted Sheena, taking the coffee. “The last dry run is almost complete… Soon we’ll be ready to test KaibaCorp’s grandest project with real people…”
The aide sighed.
“I swear,” she said. “I’ve been your assistant for as long as I can remember… You’re the CEO of this company, and yet you work late more than any other employee. I can’t remember the last time you took a vacation.”
“If I took a vacation, I’d only be bored,” mumbled Sheena. “Bored and worried about how this place was doing without me.”
She leaned back on her chair.
“Noriko,” she said. “Question… How is KaibaCorp different than Disney?”
“Uhm…” replied Noriko. “One is a movie studio, and one is a gaming company?”
Sheena nodded. She sipped the coffee. It tasted terrible, but at least it had caffeine.
“True,” she said. “But they have more in common than one might think.
“Both are companies that are worth billions. Both deal with entertainment…
“And both companies run a chain of theme parks worldwide.
“Unfortunately, ever since the first Kaibaland opened, we’ve been second to the Happiest Place on Earth… Despite the fact that we’re not as pricy.
“But not for long…
“I know Disney’s plans. They’re planning to build a new ride in Anaheim called Space Mountain – Light Speed. The greatest roller coaster in the world, for those with a sense of adventure and a strong stomach – and willingness to wait in line for hours, most likely. Disneyland was built on a strange principle… Tearing down California’s real mountains, building fake ones, and charging admission to see them.”
She chuckled.
“Once duelists around the world learn what the newest attraction will be at each and every Kaibaland, they’ll consider Disney’s new ride just another roller coaster…
“Even better… With my attraction, unlike Space Mountain, the lines will move very quickly…”
A message beeped on her screen.
“What the heck?” she said. “Are we logged on to the internet?”
A question appeared on the screen.
What has four wheels and flies?
“Is someone trying to hack into my system?” shouted Sheena. “Who would dare…”
She started to input the security code, but before she finished, the message vanished.
“Noriko, scan the whole system for intrusions!” ordered Sheena.
“On it, boss,” said Noriko.
“We’re on the verge of the greatest contribution to dueling since the invention of the Disk,” said Sheena. “There will be no-one to stop us this time!”
* * * * * * * * * *
Two hours later.
Yumi Mouto was dreaming…
She dreamed she was dressed in futuristic armor that was covered with circuitry. And she was driving a vehicle resembling a cross between a motorcycle and a golf cart at high-speed across a landscape that looked like a digital grid…
…and two similar vehicles were hot on her tail.
She changed gears, and shot ahead. She was about to lose them…
Then she saw that another enemy was heading straight for her. She was about to crash…
She woke up with a gasp.
She held her chest. She sighed and got up.
“Note to self…” she thought, “never watch Tron right before going to bed…”
She walked into the kitchen and opened the door to the refrigerator.
“That is the last time I let Ren pick the movie…”
She poured a glass of milk.
“Evil computer programs threatening the world… As if my family doesn’t already get enough of that…”
She looked in the mirror in her room.
She had changed since Duelatopia. She had lost the fat she had put on from the vacation, and had put on some muscle after using the local gymnasium and switching to a better diet. She figured that when the time finally came to face Shogarr, as the prophecy said she would, she’d best be in top physical condition.
Her hairstyle had changed too. Her long hair was now tied in a long braid, worn down her back in a ponytail.
She sighed.
She looked at her Duel Disk on the bureau, along with her deck of cards.
It had changed a little, and she had learned to duel alone, something she needed to do now that he was gone. She hoped he had finally found peace…
She was now worried about the future. Unus had been defeated, but Shogarr was still watching, most likely. The prophesy stated that she would oppose him when his plan of Armageddon was initiated. He was determined that his plan would go off without a hitch, and had made two attempts to capture her soul – one in this life, and one in a previous life.
Yumi had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t give up…
* * * * * * * * * *
Ten AM the next morning.
The rain continued to pour. It was a good day to stay inside.
In Yumi’s room, Princess Peach walloped Yoshi with a tennis racket. Yumi grinned and Chelsea frowned.
Most of the money that Yumi had won in the Duelatopia tournament had been put in a trust fund. But her parents had allowed her to use some of it, within reason. She had recently spent some of it on a special modem for her Nintendo Quasar that allowed access to the Nintendo Classics Downloads on the internet.
“So, Yumi…” muttered Chelsea, working at the controls. “Just how many games can you get with this thing?”
“Hundreds,” replied Yumi. “Anything from Gamecube to the previous system. Super Smash Bros Brawl is just a sample.”
Peach butt-slammed Yoshi, knocking him down.
“Ha, ha!” laughed Yumi. “What every good warrior needs is a decent set of buttocks.”
“Oh yeah?” said Chelsea. “Well, Peach’s big behind gives her a big disadvantage… The bigger it is, the easier it is to kick!”
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, Ren and his little sister Connie were watching television.
KaibaCorp TV was showing footage of Kaibaland, were a duel was about to begin. One of the duelists was a typical male teenager. The other was a teenager girl who was clearly Native American from the look of her features.
“She’s beautiful,” said Connie.
Strange… thought Ren. I never saw her at Kaibaland before…
“So… Sahkyo, was it?” said the male duelist. “It seems a crime to muss up something so pretty…”
The Disks activated and they drew their first hands.
“Don’t be so sure,” said Sahkyo. “I predict this duel will end before I reach my second turn.”
“How?” asked her opponent. “You’re going first, and you can’t attack on your first turn.”
“You’ll see,” said Sahkyo, quietly, making her first draw.
She played three cards.
“I play a facedown card, a Monster in Defense Mode, and the Field Spell, Canyon.”
Two facedown cards appeared, one vertical and one horizontal, and then the whole room changed. Kaibaland faded away, and the slopes of the Grand Canyon rose around the two duelists.
“I end my turn.”
Then watch out!” said her opponent.
He drew, and then played a card.
“I summon Gene-Warped Warwolf,” he said.
He played a card, and the four-armed Beast-Warrior appeared with a roar. (2,000/100)
“Next,” he said. “I play the Spell Card, Ancient Rules. Now I get to Special Summon a high-level Normal Monster. Like my Frostosaurus!”
With a roar, a huge Dinosaur made entirely of ice appeared, looming behind him. (2,600/1,700)
“You think that’s big? It’ll be small compared to what I’ve got next. I play a second Ancient Rules to summon Gogiga Gagagigo!”
He played the card, and another huge Monster appeared. It suggested Godzilla with scaly, dull, red skin, and sharp horns jutting from each joint, towering twenty feet high. (2,950/2,800)
“Oh, she’s done for…” said Ren.
“I know what your Field Spell does, by the way,” said the duelist. “If I attack a Rock Monster in Defense Mode, and I can’t beat its Defense, the damage I take is doubled…
“But seriously… No Monster you could have set with no sacrifice could have a stronger Defense than 2,600!
“Frostosaurus… Attack with glacial rampage!”
Frostosaurus roared, and prepared to attack…
Stone Statue of the Aztecs appeared on the facedown card. (300/2,000)
“Not even close!” laughed the duelist.
“Activate Trap,” said Sahkyo, quietly. “Fairy Box.”
Her facedown card lifted, and a loony contraption that looked like a whack-a-mole appeared next to her.
“Listen closely,” she said, holding up a coin. “I toss this coin and call it. If I call it right, your Frostosaurus’s Attack Score falls to zero.”
“WHAT?” shouted the duelist. “But… I’d lose… 4,000 Life Points!”
“No…” said Sahkyo. “You’d lose 8,000. The damage is doubled by my Field Spell, and doubled again by my Monster’s effect.
“Heads.”
She tossed the coin. Everyone gasped as the camera zoomed in on it.
The coin fell the ground and spun. It came to a rest…
It was heads.
Frostosaurus’s attack hit the Statue, and the duelist screamed as the incredible backlash hit him, and his Life Points fell to nothing.
Ren’s eyes opened wide.
“Uh, big brother?” said Connie. “Did she win?”
Ren didn’t answer. He was too amazed. He had never seen a defensive OTK before.
And she had been so calm… So calm for someone who would have been facing two powerful direct attacks if that coin flip had failed.
They would have to keep an eye out for this Sahkyo. It seemed they had competition…
* * * * * * * * * *
Somewhere else in Domino…
An elf maiden dressed in a halter and a brief tunic, with red and blue lines painted on her face, bent over an ancient chest.
She hesitated. She muttered some strange words, and some strange clicks came from the mechanisms.
She smiled. Her spell had disabled the trap on the chest.
She slowly lifted the lid of the chest, and gasped in delight at the glowing, golden treasure inside…
Then she frowned. A shadow fell over her.
She turned her head, and saw a hulking man dressed in furs and chain mail, holding a battle axe.
“Step away from that chest, or face my wrath, puny elf!” he shouted.
She frowned at him.
Then a volley of lightning bolts flew from her hands, and the warrior was thrown backwards.
Erik sighed as he watched the scene on his computer. Sam was watching over his shoulder.
“I dunno, Sam,” he said. “Maybe I’m just more intimidating at Duel Monsters than I am at interactive online RPGs.”
His girlfriend giggled.
“It would help if that barbarian of yours learned how to say ‘please’,” she said.
She looked at the screen.
“And he’s going to need to learn how to say ‘I surrender’ in a minute, if you don’t do something!”
“Speaking of interactive,” said Erik, starting to type, “what is this computer thing that your mother is working on that she wants us for?”
“All she’ll say is,” said Sam, “it will put Kaibaland ahead of Disney in popularity.”
“A bold claim…” said Erik. “I’m certainly looking forward to it…”
* * * * * * * * * *
At six AM the next morning, the start of a new week, Yumi woke up as her radio alarm went off.
“Good morning Domino!” said the voice of the female DJ. “This is Live Wire, and to all you teenagers out there, this is your wake-up call!”
Yumi yawned and stretched.
“Seriously,” said Live Wire’s voice, “I know it’s all a drag for you kids… Summer is over, school has started, but what are you gonna do, huh?
“Well, as you’re wiping the sleep dust out of your eyes, let’s all listen to the latest single by America’s newest sensation…
“Here’s White Rain!”
Music on the radio started to play:
Woo-hoo!
Got all of my friends, a teacher, okay,
But why do we really have to study all day?
Well see, I’m on to your scam, and I’ll tell you how
We ended up with a Fall that we know of now.
A time was invented to keep the kids in the hall,
They gave it a name and we now know it as Fall.
The line of the story that I have presented:
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented.
Though some things in Fall are just too good to pass,
Jumping in leaves, and Halloween is a gas,
But I’d rather see to it that the truth be told,
So I better do it now, before I grow old.
They wanted a break after the summer disarray,
To rest up, then handle the stress of Christmas day,
So the grown-ups got together and made up the rule,
That kids shouldn’t be playing,
No, they should be in school!
A time was invented to keep the kids in the hall,
They gave it a name and we now know it as Fall.
The line of the story that I have presented:
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented.
Kick it!
A time was invented to keep the kids in the hall,
They gave it a name and we now know it as Fall.
The line of the story that I have presented:
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented.
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented,
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented,
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented,
Fall is just something that grown-ups invented!
The radio shut off as Yumi’s shoe hit it.
“Not the song I wanted to hear, Live Wire,” she grumbled. “I hear you duel… Well, if you’re ever at Kaibaland when I’m there… I’ll show you no mercy…”
* * * * * * * * * *
After getting through trigonometry, literature, and chemistry, Yumi made her way to the library.
Ren and Chelsea were sitting underneath a large screen used to send messages (the loudspeaker had long since grown obsolete), and since she had some time before her next class, she guessed she’d ask them what was up.
“You look happy,” she said to Ren, who obviously wasn’t very happy.
“Ugh…” said Ren. “I had the worst nightmare last night. I dreamed that Japan was struck by a deadly, crippling epidemic that was spread though tomatoes, making it impossible to get pizza or pasta with marinara sauce.”
“You have crazy dreams,” said Chelsea.
“Hey, we’re duelists,” said Yumi. “When a tomato can be one of the most dangerous Dark Monsters in the game, I’m not surprised.”
She looked at them. They had changed too. Both of them had put on as much muscle as she had, if not more. Chelsea had changed her hair to a pigtail style, while Ren had simply let his grow a little longer.
“By the way,” said Chelsea, “steer clear of Haruhi. Word is that her most recent omiai was a disaster.”
“Let me guess,” said Ren. “He went to kiss her, but he got lost in the cigarette smoke and missed?”
The three laughed. The fact that the principal was a chain-smoker was the worst-kept secret in the school.
At that moment, the screen flashed, and the woman in question’s face appeared on it.
“Attention,” she said in a stern tone. “Would Yumi Mouto, Chelsea Ramset, and Ren Marris please report to my office on the double?”
The three teenagers gulped.
“That is all,” said the principal. Her face vanished.
“Did we do something wrong?” asked Chelsea.
“I swear,” said Ren, “The cook offered me that extra rice cake at lunch on Friday!”
Yumi looked at the blank screen.
Being sent to the office was every students’ nightmare…
Being called to the office was little better. You never knew what to expect…
* * * * * * * * * *
Principal Haruhi was smoking her third cigarette since making that announcement. She was nervous. And the guidance counselor standing next to her was downright angry.
“You cannot let them do this!” he said with a scowl. “I do not see any educational value in this whatsoever!”
Haruhi crushed out the cigarette.
“Fine!” she said to him. “Fine… When she calls back, you can tell her that we don’t approve!
“Are you willing to do that?”
The counselor was silent.
“That’s what I figured,” she said. “We’re a public school, my friend, one that’s steadily losing more and more students each year to private schools, including the one that this woman’s company owns. When we want more money, we have to make a request to the taxpayers, and they usually turn it down.
“When we actually convince them that it’s for the best and they don’t turn it down, we have to pray that the quality of this school improves by at least three-hundred percent, or they won’t even listen to our next five requests.
“Compare that to this woman, whose resources are practically infinite. Most of the members of the school board work for companies that ultimately answer to her, I should remind you, just like half of this crazy city does.
“I don’t like it any more than you do. But we can’t afford to make someone with this much power angry. If we make her mad, she can make our lives miserable.
“So, no matter what she says, and no matter what these students say, you do nothing but smile and nod. That’s an order…”
She hit a button, and then placed the ashtray in her drawer.
“Send them in,” she said into the speaker.
Yumi, Ren, and Chelsea walked into the office.
“Good day, ma’am,” said Yumi. “Uhm… Are we allowed one phone call?”
“Just sit down…” ordered the principal.
As they did, she stood up.
“As you three know,” she said, “you are all in your third year. You were on the honor roll last year.
“Your graduation seems imminent… I trust you are all looking into college?”
“We’ve sent in some applications,” said Yumi. “No responses yet, but we guess that’s normal.”
The principal nodded.
“I trust you’re also looking into possible student internships?” she asked.
“Yeah, we’re looking,” said Chelsea. “We…”
“Stop looking,” said the principal.
“Huh?” said Ren.
She sighed.
“It isn’t often that the CEO of a company comes to me offering internships for my students,” she said. “But one did this morning…
“And she requested you three specifically…”
A light flashed under a screen on the wall.
“That would be her now…”
A familiar face appeared on the wall.
“SHEENA?” shouted Yumi, Ren, and Chelsea at once.
They’re on a first-name basis with her, thought the principal. Terrific…
She wanted to light up more than ever now, but she didn’t dare do so when three students were right in front of her.
“Hello, children,” said Sheena. “Gosh, we haven’t seen each other since…”
“Last week,” answered Yumi.
“Yes, yes…” said Sheena. “I lose track of time.
“Anyway, I have an offer for you three… One that I don’t think you’ll say no to…”
* * * * * * * * * *
The rest of the day passed without much incident.
At six PM, Yumi sat at the bar in a local sushi restaurant. As she spread wasabi on her mirugai, she heard two familiar voices.
“Yumi!” shouted Ren.
“Guys,” said Yumi, and he and Chelsea came up to her, “can’t you see I’m eating? You two don’t have to follow me everywhere… We aren’t joined at the hip, you know.”
“Did you get your parents to sign those papers?” asked Ren, disregarding the comment.
“They’re still in my backpack,” said Yumi. “And my parents are away until tomorrow night. Besides, I’m not sure if I want to do it.”
“WHAT?” said Chelsea.
“Yumi,” said Ren. “What teenager in the entire world would not kill for the opportunity Sheena is giving us?
“We get to miss half of school, three days a week. We’re excused from monthly exams. And she pays us fifteen-hundred yen an hour!
“And what do we have to do in return? We have to playtest her new video game! Sure we have to work with Sam and Erik, but this job is Shangri-La!”
Chelsea chuckled.
“It must have been agonizing for Haruhi to give her approval,” she said. “She once called Duel Monsters, and I quote, ‘the biggest waste of technology since the 8-track cassette player’.”
“She’s a coward,” said Ren. “She’s afraid to say no to Sheena. Course, I wouldn’t blame her…”
Yumi sighed.
“Yeah,” she said. “Who would say no to Domino’s most powerful resident?
“Guys, listen… I know it sounds like a dream job.
“But one, it isn’t a ‘video game’, quote-unquote. It’s KaibaCorp’s new virtual world.
“And in the past, when you add the word ‘virtual’ and the word ‘KaibaCorp’, it equals the word ‘trouble’!”
She shoved a piece of sushi into her mouth and chewed.
Chelsea looked at her.
“Okay, point taken,” she said. “But who are you worried about? The Big Five? Noah? Gozaburo?”
She sat down next to Yumi and put her arm around her.
“Yumi… For almost six decades, ever since Gozaburo’s virtual world self-destructed, both KaibaCorp’s computers and government computers have kept an eye out for them on the off-chance that they survived. Search engines are run through the worldwide web every year looking for them. Every time a card that one of them used is played by anyone, an automatic program kicks in to check it out. An alarm would sound if the duelist were identified as one of them.
“In all that time, nothing. You should face facts… They’re all dead.”
Yumi sighed.
“I’ll think about it,” she said. “Now let me finish dinner. I’m meeting with someone in an hour.”
Chelsea giggled as she and Ren walked away.
“Yumi seems to have a thing these days for British bad boys,” she said. “Maybe we should rent some old 007 movies…”
* * * * * * * * * *
As this was happening, Sam was riding an elevator down to a subbasement of the KaibaCorp building.
Sam had already graduated from high school last year, as did Erik. She had already enlisted in a major college in the States. But she wouldn’t be starting until next Fall. She had debated about spending a year backpacking across Europe, until her mother offered her this job as a beta tester for this strange project.
She exited the elevator, and saluted to two armed guards as she passed.
She approached an iron door.
”Voice identification, please,” said a computerized voice.
“Samantha Arachne,” she said.
”Confirmed,” said the voice. ”Hand print identification, please.”
Sam put her hand on a panel on the wall. It glowed.
”Confirmed,” said the voice. ”Retina scan identification, please.”
Sam looked closely at another screen. A soft, green light scanned her eyes.
”Confirmed,” said the voice.
The door swung open.
“Whatever mom’s working on,” muttered Sam, walking in, “it’s something big…”
The room beyond housed not one supercomputer, but a set of them, linked together. Sheena was working on them with a team of technicians. She was currently looking over some figures on a clipboard.
“No…” she said to a technician. “I don’t think Fortress Whale is a blue whale… I think it might be a sperm whale…
“Well, I might be wrong… Why don’t we go back to that later…”
“No problem,” he replied.
“What can I do for you honey?” she said, as Sam walked in.
“I was just wondering,” muttered Sam. “Just what is this Dueltasia thing I’ve been hearing so much about?”
Sheena looked at her.
“Okay, Sam,” she said. “Here’s what I’m willing to say.
“Dueltasia is a fantasy world, where everyone is a duelist. Like your standard MMORPG, it’s full of locations, characters, and the like. But it’s a virtual world.
“Humans will be able to enter Dueltasia from Kaibaland…
“However, while Kaibaland has many locations, there will only be one Dueltasia. It will be accessible from each of Kaibaland’s locations across the globe.
“You progress in this… game via dueling, of course, meeting new challenges, and gaining access to better locations. You can duel both the natives of Dueltasia, and your fellow players. Duelists can meet each other from opposite sides of the globe! And the game remembers you if you leave and come back, so there’s no need to start over if you get tired and have to go home.”
Sam thought for a minute.
“Is Princess Edina still the ruler?” she asked.
Sheena smirked.
“She’s Queen Edina now, and she’s grown up,” said Sheena. “She’s a duelist herself, one of the most skilled in Dueltasia. Of course, she won’t duel just anyone. A guest has to prove herself worthy for her to accept a challenge. And that will take a good deal of dedication to the game.”
“What’s the reward for beating her?” asked Sam.
“Ah, that’s a secret,” said Sheena.
“Anyway, glad you’re here. It came, and it’s official. Of course, it won’t be available to the public for two more months…”
She handed Sam a card.
Sam looked at the card with wild eyes. She had been waiting for this since Duelatopia…
She was speechless. She could be the Consort of Ha Des more than ever with this card…
“Ms Arachne!” shouted a technician. “Come look at this!”
“Huh?” said Sheena.
She ran to a screen he was looking at.
A message was on the screen:
What time is it when the clock strikes thirteen?
The message vanished again.
“Another one?” shouted Sheena. “Find out who’s sending these!”
“On it…” said the technician.
* * * * * * * * * *
Underneath the towering KaibaCorp offices, a sixteen-year-old with definite Western features was waiting.
He was nervous. He had been expecting Yumi to dump him all these two months. He wouldn’t blame her if she had changed her mind and decided to take back her forgiveness. He had never held her to it.
He felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Huh?” he said, turning around.
As he turned around, Yumi grabbed him and planted a deep kiss on his lips.
Nicholas didn’t resist. He put his arms around her, and the kiss lasted for a minute or two.
Yumi backed away a bit, and smiled.
“Whoa,” said Nicholas. “This means you’re serious, right?”
She nodded.
“So, I hear that Domino City has a new Samurai Master,” said Yumi. “Jade would be jealous.”
Nicholas chuckled.
“Yeah, the deck is working out well,” said Nicholas, “I try to go to Kaibaland as often as I can.
“So what happened to the Puzzle?”
“Huh?” said Yumi. “Oh, that… Well, I stashed it somewhere. I don’t really need it any more. Now that he’s gone, the Millennium Items are powerless. They aren’t worth the gold they’re made of.”
She giggled.
“Say,” said Nicholas. “Olga says she wants to try a two-on-two duel one of these days. Would you and Sam be interested?”
“Well…” said Yumi, “I’ll ask her, but we’re both probably going to be busy.”
She looked up at KaibaCorp.
This wasn’t the original KaibaCorp building. Jaden Yuki had once thought that his most dangerous enemy was the Light of Ruin. But after it had been defeated, Nightshroud decided to prove that Darkness could be just as bad. Nightshroud’s invasion made its beachhead on Domino, and while he was ultimately defeated, the KaibaCorp building was destroyed in the process.
You couldn’t keep Seto Kaiba down, of course. He rebuilt. KaibaCorp had a new structure to replace the old one. And maybe he couldn’t help but think that Darkness had done him a favor. After all, with the destruction of the old building, along with Alcatraz Tower that he himself destroyed in the first Battle City, nothing more remained to remind him of his stepfather.
Yumi sighed.
Chelsea was right. Gozaburo had been a snake with no morals. When this company was a military firm, it thrived on suffering and bloodshed. Where people saw tragedy, Gozaburo saw business opportunities.
When a war broke out in a foreign land, his company would use intermediaries to sell armaments to both sides of the conflict. It would mean more profit for him, and he didn’t care who won, so long as each of them kept paying for weapons until one of them did. Only the winning side would learn who their supplier ultimately was, and the winning side never found out that he had also supplied their enemies.
This evil strategy would have remained a secret if Dartz hadn’t revealed it to Alister, a victim of one of these conflicts. Unfortunately, Alister blamed Seto Kaiba for what his stepfather had done, even though it was something that Seto was completely innocent of.
Oh course, even though this revelation was new to Seto, he wasn’t surprised. He knew his stepfather was a creep. That’s why he seized control of KaibaCorp in the first place, and disassembled it in order to remake it, changing it from a military firm that caused death to a gaming company that caused joy.
Yumi sighed.
Maybe she would accept Sheena’s offer…
It was time to forge ahead…
…and leave Gozaburo buried.
“Nicholas,” she said, “my parents are out of town until tomorrow night, and my homework is done. How daring are you?”
“Uh… What did you have in mind?” he asked.
She put her arm around his shoulder, and they started to walk away from the building.
* * * * * * * * * *
Eight PM
Sheena sighed. She was tired.
“Ma’am,” said an aid, “you really should get some sleep.”
“Maybe you’re right,” said Sheena, as she started to type. “I’ll just complete the last log entry.”
She started to type in the password.
She hit enter.
The computer buzzed.
“ACCESS DENIED,” said the message.
Sheena sat up straight.
“What the Hell?” she said.
She typed in the password again.
“ACCESS DENIED,” it said.
“Denied access to my own system?” she said, angrily, standing up.
“Ma’am!” shouted a technician. “I can’t access my console either! Something’s happening!”
“Override it!” shouted Sheena.
Then a new message flashed on the screen:
What sort of salute does an overachieving U.S. President get?
Then the lights went out…
And all over Domino City, the lights went out…
Blackout.
Coming up next:
Your appetite has been whetted. What strange force has cut the power to Domino, as well as hijacked KaibaCorp’s computers? A force that can bypass this company’s security is surely a force to be reckoned with. Terrorists perhaps? Or something that defies definition?
More revealed soon, in Chapter One, “City Under Siege”. Don’t miss it.
