AN: And I am back. For now, with another chapter. Sorry for the wait you guys. Have issues with getting motivated. It is not so easy to write when you feel life is meaningless. Not sure if it is a depression or if it is just life in general. It is hard to get out of bed in the mornings, but what can you do? Hope you can forgive me. But have fun reading.

Yusaku's p.o.v

Yusaku hissed annoyed. Confined in his bindings he couldn't do much. Only to watch which was frustrating. Yes, he had never really watched eye-to-eye with Asteria Witch. He barely knew anything about her, but Kolter did vouch for her, and that was good enough for him, for now. Standing here, tied up and everything, watching how Varis the leader of the knights of Hanoi was trying to coerce Asteria Witch to join his organization burned him up. Yes, Asteria Witch had no importance to him besides business transgressions, but this was the knights of Hanoi! They didn't need Asteria witch. They were only taunting him surely and it frustrated Yusaku beyond belief. He would show them if he just could get out of this trap! Ironically, the room had turned silent ever since Varis uttered his proposal. Akira Zaizen and Ghost Girl stood there, waiting for Asteria Witch's reply. Even Ai was quiet which was quite the feed, since the A.I. loved to talk.

"Oh, that is quite the proposal you are coming with," Asteria Witch said. She sounded nonchalant. She chuckled. "But, why not?! I am always looking for ways to destroy your organization from inside out. Because that is all you will be getting from me, big guy. Get it?! I will never join the knights of Hanoi!" For some reason, Yusaku let out a happy relieved sigh.

"Oh, so hostile. It makes me wonder if you have a vendetta against us for some reason," Varis chuckled. "But no matter. You are not the only one claiming to destroy our organization. You remind me of someone. She was hostile too, but ultimately, she joined our cause. I don't see why that cannot happen with you."

"Is that some sort of threat?!" Asteria Witch challenged.

"More like an observation," Varis countered, smirking.

"And you just think I will just stand by and do nothing?!" Akira suddenly shouted, getting everyone's attention. "How dare you try to force people to join your evil organization!"

Yusaku lifted eyebrows at that. Considering how Akira had accused him and Asteria Witch a minute ago, it was fun to see how quickly this Sol Tech employee could change his mind.

"That is exactly right," Varis said. "If you want to save Blue Angel. After all, it was our card that infected her with the virus."

"It... it was?" Akira questioned surprised.

"Yes, but I am in possession of an anti-virus that can revive her. If it is not too late that is," Varis replied stoically. It made Yusaku glare at him even more. What was Varis' end goal? Why had he shown up and suddenly saved them? What did he want?!

"Why? Why did you do this?!" Akira demanded to know.

"Why? Why did I affect Blue Angel with the Virus?" Varis asked and chuckled. "Heh, why not? I could have chosen to affect anyone at all really, but this target was much too good to pass up. When she challenged Playmaker, all it took was a simple slip of a card and look at the results. I couldn't have asked for more. You went and gift-wrapped Playmaker for me." Varis chuckled again.

"Not to mention lured Asteria Witch out of hiding." Varis's gaze lingered on Asteria Witch for a second before he turned to Yusaku. Determination was radiating in his eyes. Not that Yusaku was backing away one bit.

"I am challenging Playmaker to a duel, and you will do nothing but stand there like a useless statue and like it. If Playmaker wins, I will give him the anti-virus to cure Blue Angel," Varis continued. "But if I win..."

"...You will take Playmaker's Ignis from him," Asteria Witch suddenly said. She was studying her nails. "I know the drill by now. After all, you sent that Knight of Hanoi after Playmaker once. It is not hard to put two and two together."

"You forgot to mention that Blue Angel will never wake up again!" Varis added with dramatic effect. He was sending Asteria Witch that confident smirk.

"Oh, my bad," Asteria Witch replied nonchalantly. "It is just those evil villain speeches are so cliché."

Yusaku looked from one to the other with confusion written on his face. Was there something going on between Varis and Asteria Witch that he didn't know about?

"That means Playmaker controls her fate?! But I do not trust Playmaker," Akira sneered angrily. Not that it would change anything.

"You think you have a choice," Varis huffed back and turned towards Akira. "You do not. You never did. You are not in control of this situation."

And for a while, nothing seemed to be happening. Varis and Akira were having this stare-off, which in terms, did decide Yusaku alias Playmaker's fate. Not that Yusaku didn't know the outcome. As Varis said, he was clearly in control.

"Do not let me regret this later," Akira hissed as he released Playmaker from his bindings.

Yusaku couldn't say that he was grateful. Akira had after all been the one capturing him in the first place, but considering the circumstances with Varis, he was at least happy he could move, and duel.

"Let's never do that again, okay?" Ai commented annoyed.

"Heh, I will be waiting," Varis said, smirked, and summoned a data storm to transport him anywhere he liked.

Yusaku figured it was outside the church, where their movements for speed dueling weren't that restricted. Though Yusaku did ponder on the last words that Varis had spoken. Had it been to him, Playmaker, and their duel, or had the message been to Asteria Witch? She had declined Varis's offer, which Yusaku was grateful for, but then again Varis did seem confident that she would come around. Would she? Right now, Asteria Witch didn't seem bothered the slightest by the event, but then again, she was not the one who was about to face the leader of the Hanoi.

"You know you are allowed to say no to all of this, right?" Ai commented.

"Varis must answer for what he has done," Yusaku huffed back to the AI.

With fast steps, Yusaku rushed towards the exit. The giant hole in the church wall, which he had a good idea Varis created earlier. But that was not going to stop him...

"Playmaker..." But apparently, Akira's voice could. "I... I don't know what to say. You are going to duel him to save my sister. Even after everything I put you through. I refused to believe anything that you said, but you will still fight to help me when you really should despise me..."

"I forgive you," Yusaku said, stopping the man from rambling. "But I will never forgive the knights of Hanoi!"

Varis's p.o.v.

Varis smirked evilly as Playmaker and the Dark Ignis were taking the bait. Not that he believed he wouldn't. After gaining data on his enemy, gathered by Asteria Witch which wasn't much, he knew Playmaker had a high moral complex. That and that he hated the knights of Hanoi for some reason. Not that Varis cared. Those threats were given to him on a daily basis being a hacker and all. Besides, this world was fiction anyway. Varis could never understand why people were so hung up over something that wasn't real, to begin with. As predicted, Playmaker was following him on his duel board. It made Varis smirk again. Everything was going according to plan.

"So, Playmaker, remember that if I win, I gain control over your AI," Varis said.

"I know. But losing it to you is a risk that I am willing to take," Playmaker sneered back. He looked edgy. "After everything you have done to ruin mine, no, all of our lives, when I defeat you Varis, the knights of Hanoi would never threaten anyone ever again."

It made Varis hum. Was Playmaker talking from personal experience? Not that it mattered. Yes, seen from others' perspective the knights of Hanoi weren't saints, but who was in this unrealistic fantasy world of link Vrains? If Playmaker wanted vengeance against them, Varis had no problems with that. He would defeat him soon anyway.

"You seem quite certain that you will emerge victorious Playmaker. But, in the end, you will fail like all that had opposed me," Varis replied confidently. "It is not an opinion. It is a fact. And for some who see us as a threat, why do you harbor an Ignis, the greatest threat to mankind?"

"What do you mean?" Playmaker questioned. Varis lifted eyebrows at that.

"Are you truly unaware of what you have in your possession?" he asked.

"And are you unaware that it is impolite to answer a question with a question?" the ignis countered. "Which I also did, true, but I can explain. I am rather more dramatic than mathematically..." Varis huffed back in annoyance.

"Enough. You don't need to give me extra reasons to delete you." The ignis huffed.

"Grr, Playmaker, glitch this guy!" It made Varis smirk.

"So much contempt for such a tiny AI," Varis commented stoically.

"What did you say?!" the ignis shouted. "Come at me, bro! You act like I have deleted your bank account or something. Which gives me an idea..."

"Your very existence is the problem" Varis sneered back. "AIs are not to be trusted. I don't even include one in my duel disk. You programs. In fact, this whole network world is an illusion that will lead to the end of humanity, and my mission is to stop that. People must wake up before it is too late."

It was a belief system Varis agreed on wholeheartedly. Everyone who came in between was taken down. That was how he rolled and Playmaker and the dark Ignis was no different.

"Eh, exaggerate much?!" the ignis uttered. "And what kind of hacker hates programs? Especially, when they are as awesome as me!" Again, Varis huffed.

"I will destroy the Ignis to save the world, and if that means destroying you as well Playmaker, so be it!" he said and smirked. "I promise you the last duel you will ever fight will be a memorable one."

And to prove his determination he hacked his way into the Link Vrains system and made lava erupt everywhere. On the streets. On the buildings. Even on the data storms brewing in the back. Of course, he was not foolish enough to hack the data storm they were riding on, but the world needed to understand his power. Maybe then, people would stop fighting and let him finish his mission of destroying the ignis.

"Playmaker, this is where you will crash and burn!" Varis said and chuckled.

"I think not," Playmaker countered stoically.

"Yes, if he wants a firefight, that's what he will get," the ignis added in.

"Let's speed duel!" they shouted in unison.

Crissy's p.o.v.

I was staring in awe as Varis had just hacked the whole system of Link Vrains. Or as Akira saw it. Link Vrains was up in flames. Talk about impressive. Not to mention he was inside Link Vrains while doing it. Kolter, as well as any other hacker I knew had to hack this world from the outside. From the real world. How was Varis able to do this? Not that it mattered much right now, considering the circumstances. I couldn't do anything about it. All I could do was watch Yusaku's speed duel against Varis.

"Do you think Playmaker can defeat Varis?" Akira asked.

"You better hope so if you ever want to see your sister up and about again," Ghost Girl responded.

She wasn't wrong. Who knew what would happen if the Knights of Hanoi won? That thought scared me. It was not for my safety but for Yusaku's.

"I am going in for a closer look," I could hear Ghost Girl say.

"Okay. Please keep me apprised," Akira said before Ghost Girl left the building to access her duel board as well.

That had alarm bells ring inside my head. I cannot explain why. Maybe it was because I saw Ghost Girl as a danger. Maybe as a rival or perhaps she was just getting way too close with Yusaku. I mean what if she found out his real identity while filming? No! I couldn't let that happen. With fast steps, I rushed out of the church and summoned my duel board. I gained speed enough to catch up to Ghost Girl. She looked surprised to see me.

"What's this love? You follow me?" she sounded almost flattered.

"Follow you?! Of course not. I just happen to be going in the same direction," I countered. It had Ghost Girl laugh.

"Oh, of course you do. Straight to the heart of Playmaker, am I right?" Ghost girl chuckled again. "Does he know how you feel?"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" I dismissed quickly.

"Oh, come now. No one would be that determined to help someone else if you aren't gaining anything. Or someone. You are crushing hard on Playmaker!" Ghost girl singsong. "Is that why you are helping him with this revenge scheme?"

"None of your business!" I sneered at her. "Let's just find Playmaker and Varis!"

"Sure thing, love. Sure thing" she replied. But she was having that annoying knowingly look on her face. This was going to be a long drive.

Normal p.o.v.

Outside Link Vrains everything was chaos as well. Every online news feed was down causing everyone to question what was happening inside Link Vrains. Inside the closed hotdog truck was Kolter frantically trying to get a feed installed so he could see what was going on with Yusaku and Crissy. As luck so happens, Ghost Girl had just activated her cameras, which allowed for a video feed to be shown.

"It is Ghost Girl's camera... and Crissy?" Kolter questioned bewildered. "Why is she with Ghost Girl? Not that I am complaining."

He went silent for a bit, taking in the feed that he was watching. Apparently, Yusaku was about to duel the leader of the Knights of Hanoi. That could not be a good thing, but then again if Yusaku won, they were one step closer to finding out the truth about the lost incident and shut down this organization for good.

"Be careful Yusaku," Kolter said.

Yusaku's p.o.v.

Varis: 4000 Lp.

Playmaker: 4000 Lp.

Yusaku was staring down Varis. Hatred was content in his eyes. After everything the knights of Hanoi had done, this was his time of retribution. It was not going to be easy, but Yusaku already knew that. If Varis were as good as he claimed, it wouldn't surprise him given that he was the leader of Hanoi, his strategies might be difficult.

"With what little data we have on Varis, each nugget got to come in handy," Ai said.

"Yeah, let's analyze what we know," Yusaku replied thoughtfully. "When I dueled the knights of Hanoi, he summoned a powerful 'Cracking Dragon.' But since Varis is the leader of the Hanoi, he must have even more powerful monsters in his deck."

"Ah, geez. Cracking Dragon was one tough nut to crack, and you are telling me this is going to be worse?!" Ai uttered. He sounded scared.

"Don't tell me you are scared?" Yusaku called out.

"Not as long as I go to my Zen place. Om," Ai said jokingly. "Oh, wait I don't have a Zen place. But it is fine! Because no meat bag in the universe has the processing power to out-duel me!"

"Not to mention has his modesty" Yusaku commented to himself.

Not that he cared much about Ai to begin with. No, his mind was solely focusing on Varis now. "This is it. Ever since I laid eyes on him, I knew this moment would come. The moment to fight for Crissy and avenge our pasts!"

"I am going to go first in this duel!" Varis declared and made Yusaku return to reality.

With quick moves, he started off this speed duel by sacrificing 1000 of his life points. By doing so, he could activate his continuous spell "Dragonoid Generator" from his hand. Now, he was able to summon a Dragonoid token twice per turn during his main phase. The only drawback is that he cannot special summon from his extra deck for the rest of this turn. Varis of course summoned those two tokens to the field in att mode. (300 att/300 def) Yusaku's eyes narrowed at this move.

"He already has two monsters!" Ai commented scared.

"We've seen this strategy before," Yusaku shuts him off with. The knight of Hanoi who he battled in a speed duel in the past, used the same tactics.

"I follow that up by tributing my two Dragonoid tokens which allows me to summon, your old friend, Cracking Dragon!" Varis shouted and summoned the monster to his field in att mode. With its 3000 Att points, it was quite a menace.

"Not Cracking Dragon! That thing still gives me nightmares!" Ai uttered. Yusaku ignored him as usual.

"Now that my turn is done, Dragonoid Generator's effect summons a pair of Dragonoid tokens to your field to match the two that I had summoned," Varis told them. Yusaku huffed suspiciously.

"Ah, sweet!" Ai said happily which did not help the situation. "Unless there is a catch." There was. Yusaku had already picked up on that.

"Naturally, has there ever been a time when it wasn't a catch?" Yusaku asked.

"First time for everything?" Ai questioned, jokingly.

"This isn't one of them!" Yusaku cut him off. "Varis will use their summoning against us."

Because of the Cracking Dragons effect, Yusaku's monsters would lose Att points equal to their level times 200 and deal the difference as damage. Both Dragonoid tokens lost 200 att points, so Yusaku took 400 points of damage.

Varis: 3000 Lp's.

Playmaker: 3600 Lp's.

"Nothing gets past you, now does it Playmaker?" Varis taunted and smirked.

"But you still left us with two tokens to work with," Ai countered. "Which is plenty enough for us to Link summon."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Yusaku replied and drew. He started his turn by using a Dragonoid token to link summon "Link Spider." to the extra monster zone. It had 1000 att, was a Link 1 monster, and had one link arrow pointing downwards.

"Since Link monsters don't have levels, your cracking dragon effect cannot activate to hurt us" Ai commented to Varis.

But it was not like Varis cared. Yusaku didn't. He instead continued his move, by activating his spider's effect. He could summon an LV 4 or lower normal monster from his hand to his spider's arrow. Like etc. his Bitron. The only drawback was that Bitron had a level, being level 1 and it lost all its attack points. Yusaku lost 200 life points. But he was not done yet. Since he controlled a Cyberse monster, Yusaku could special summon "Backup secretary" from his hand by its effect. (1200 att/800 def.) A replay occurs because of Cracking Dragon's effect. Backup secretary is an LV 3 monster, so it loses 600 Att points, and Yusaku is dealt that as damage. He had 2800 Life points now.

"I may have taken damage, but I can now link summon again," Yusaku explained, which was exactly what he did. This time he used his Backup secretary and Bitron to link summon his "Honeybot" to the Zone where Link Spider's arrow points. (1900/LINK-2/←→)

"But why stop there, when I can use Honey Bot to link summon again," Yusaku uttered determinedly. "This link summon acquires at least two effect monsters. My Link Spider and Honeybot would fit the bill perfectly. So, I am setting them in the link arrows. Link the circuit. I link summon Link 3 Decode Talker!"

Decode Talker rose from the circuit board in all its might. With its 2300 att points and 3 arrowheads, ↙↑↘, it was quite the monster. Though it wasn't strong enough to take down Cracking Dragon. At least not yet. Because of the Dragonoid token, which was in one of Decode Talker's arrowheads, Decode Talker gained 500 Att points. It was now having 2800, which was still not enough to take down the cracking dragon.

"If only Varis had placed his Cracking dragon one space to the left, Decode talker would have gained 500 more Att points making our monster stronger than his. I cannot believe he got so lucky!" Ai uttered annoyed.

"That is one wrong way of looking at it," Yusaku mused coldly. "More like Varis anticipated my tactics."

"That's right. You are so utterly predictable that I had a counter-strategy ready," Varis replied with a smirk.

"You are not the only one!" Yusaku countered stoically.

He tributed his remaining Dragonoid token to tribute summon his level 5 "Capacitor stalker" to the field in att mode. It was placed at the downward pointed arrow, so Decode Talker still had 2800 Att points. Since Capacitor stalker was normal summoned, Yusaku could use its effect. He could energize a Cyberse monster like Decode talker and raise its attack points by 800. (2800-3600) It was now stronger than Cracking Dragon.

"Decode Talker now has more than enough power to crack your dragon in half," Yusaku told Varis.

"But your move shall not go unpunished. Cracking Dragon, zap away 1000 att points from Capacitor stalker and deal them to Playmaker's life points!" Varis uttered, and his monster did just that.

Yusaku was hit with 1000 points of damage. (2800-1800 Lp's.) Not that Yusaku was faced with that. Not one bit!

"That won't slow me down!" he declared and placed one card face down. He made his monster attack. "Now, Decode Talker, attack Cracking Dragon with Decode destruction!"

Crissy/Asteria witch p.o.v.

A bit earlier.

I was staring in awe as Yusaku Link summoned three times in a row. Not that it hadn't happened before. He used similar tactics against The Gore. The difference here is that he was losing a lot of life points to do so. Yes, Varis was losing life points too, but right now the duel was still anybody's game. I could not help but be worried. Yusaku was my best friend. He meant a lot to me. Sometimes I even wished that my dueling skills were at his level. I knew I would lose to Varis the moment we dueled. Yes, I was able to pick up my deck and duel with no problem, but when it came to winning things were a bit different. Maybe it was the fear of The Lost incident about being jolted again, or maybe I just lost my belief that I could win. Hesitation was a bad thing when dueling. Especially, speed dueling considering you had to always keep your eyes and ears open for anything or you might crash. Yusaku showed me that several times. But standing here on my duel board watching Yusaku have the duel of his life, I did wish I could duel in his place and defeat Varis once and for all.

"Playmaker link summoned three whole times just so he could get Decode talker? Why go through all that sweat when cracking dragon is still stronger?" I could hear Ghost Girl muse to herself. I rolled my eyes at that question.

"It is because it is Playmaker's ace of course," I huffed.

So much for being one of the best info Brokers on the dark web. If she couldn't even figure that out.

"That might well be hon, but it is still weaker than cracking dragon," Ghost girl countered. Not that I was faced with it.

"That will change very soon," I said and hoped Yusaku wouldn't make me a liar.

As luck so happens, Yusaku came through for me. With a combination of Decode Talker's ability and Capacitor stalker, Decode Talker was now stronger than Varis's monster. With one fell swoop, he defeated the dragon, dealing Varis 600 points of damage. He had 2400 Lp's remaining.

Varis: 2400 Lp's.

Yusaku: 1800 Lp's.

"Oho, Playmaker improved his game. Cracking dragon no longer poses a challenge. Nicely done," Ghost Girl complimented.

"See! What did I tell you? Playmaker had everything under control," I replied stoically. Inside, however, I was sighing in relief. Like Ghost Girl said, Playmaker had upped his game. He could defeat Cracking Dragon on a single turn.

"Well, well, that was too easy for you. But I do have much more powerful monsters waiting in my deck," Varis replied confidently and smirked.

That had me see red flags all over the place. What kind of monster was he talking about? Was Yusaku going to be, okay? I squeezed my right arm in worry. You can do this Yusaku!

"Then maybe you should have summoned them," Yusaku surprisingly countered and made his Capacitor Stalker attack Varis directly. (2400-1400 Lp's)

And with that, Yusaku ended his turn. Since Cracking Dragon was no longer on the field, Capacitor Stalker gained all its attack points back. (1000-2000 att) It was Varis's turn now.

"I am ready to face whatever you got," Yusaku said as he prepared himself for the worst. That at least gave me some hope that Yusaku could win this.

"Yep, but it won't be anything special," Ai commented. "I mean look at his field. It is emptier than a school on a Saturday during a heatwave in Antarctica. He is out of resources to summon anything to make it even scarier than you."

That had me sweat drop. Ai's metaphorical analytics did make me wonder why he was saying it like that, being an AI. What had that to do with anything? Yes, they had made Varis use some of his resources to summon Cracking Dragon, but the rest of Ai's dribble made no sense at all. And he called himself an AI?

"Don't be so sure," Yusaku countered. His cold gaze lingered on Varis as he analyzed his opponent. "I don't sense any fear or insecurity from him. Even some as stoic as Varis wouldn't be this calm if he thought he was in trouble. This fight has only just begun." I nodded in agreement. Like Yusaku said, Varis was as cool as a cucumber.

"I don't know..." Ai mused. "Maybe his avatar is keeping it cool, but the real Varis is in Sweat City. Or maybe he is hoping you will slip off your board and get de-cubed."

"Or maybe you need to maintain your focus!" Yusaku cut the Ai off with. Once again, I was rolling my eyes at the two. Ai and Yusaku were as different as day and night.

"Well, if you are trying to hurt my feelings you succeeded," Ai huffed back, at first. "I mean you didn't, but I am trying to make you feel bad." I blinked in surprise. Ai was indeed one of a kind. What kind of AI, would act like this?

"Though it may appear as if you have the lead, everything is proceeding as I had hoped," Varis then suddenly said and got all our attention.

It was a due-or-die situation for Varis, but if he was this confident, I would agree with Yusaku. Varis had something planned. Something big.

"That's what they all say before they lose," Ai taunted with a chuckle. It did not help in the current situation.

"Watch and learn!" Varis claimed and drew.

He placed one card face down in his spell and trap card zone. Since Yusaku controlled a Link Monster, Varis was allowed to special summon his "Gateway Dragon" from his hand via its effect. Varis triggered its other effect. He was now allowed to special summon an LV 4 or lower dark-type monster from his hand. Like his "Sniffer Dragon." It triggered its effect. Since Sniffer Dragon was special summoned, Varis could add another copy of that card from his deck to his hand. All which he normal summons to the field.

"Never forget Playmaker, you are not the only one who can Link summon," Varis told us. "I require to have 2 level 4 or lower dragons to fulfill the summoning conditions. Therefore, I set my sniffer Dragon and Gateway Dragon in the link Arrows. Link the circuit. I link summon, Link 2 Twin Triangle Dragon!" (1200 Att/LINK-2/↓→).

I was staring in awe as Varis summoned his dragon to the Extra Monster zone. This was not good. This was not good at all.

"Next, I pay 500 life points to activate my dragon's effect," Varis explained. "I can resurrect a monster from my graveyard to summon it next to Twin Triangle Dragon's link with one drawback. That monster is not allowed to attack this turn, but such is the way of things, isn't it Playmaker?" And once again I was staring in awe as Varis brought back Cracking Dragon from his graveyard.

"It is all falling into place," he said confidently.

"Huh? Why would he...?" I pondered confused.

Why would he sacrifice 500 life points to summon a monster that couldn't attack? He couldn't even use Cracking Dragon's effect to deal life points to Yusaku. His earlier actions caused its ability to be negated, so why had he brought it back? To protect his life points? I was not the only one wondering about that. I could hear Ai comment on the same thing.

"It is time. I am activating my skill," Varis said and smirked. "One that you may be familiar with Playmaker." That had alarm bells ring inside my head.

"He didn't care about his monster. He just wants to lose life points," Yusaku concluded. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

"But what's his skill?" Ai pondered. "There is a billion of them. Which one requires you to be sweeping by on life points? I mean other than yours that is..."

It daunted me as quickly as it did Yusaku. Because of course, Varis had the same skill as Playmaker. Why wouldn't he when he could control the data storms at the palm of his hand? He could gain any card imaginable. My eyes lingered on my own hand and duel disk. Yes, I was a duelist, but besides copying from Playmaker's duel board, I hadn't exactly prepared myself for speed dueling. I was only there to aid Yusaku if he ever needed it. Now, however... I never really picked a skill for speed dueling when creating Asteria Witch. It was a mistake. I knew that now. But what skill should I pick? As Ai had said, there were a billion of them.

"No one ever said that two duelists can't have the same skill," I could hear Yusaku say. It caused Ai to mope because he had given Yusaku that skill. It was not for Varis.

"As you already know I wield the incredible power of the data storm in the palm of my hand," Varis said and made the winds roar. The data storms in here were shifting.

"There winds rage for me and me alone," Varis continued and summoned a tsunami-shaped wave of data. It was headed right towards us.

"This wave is much too modest! I demand more!" Varis shouted and summoned even more data. It was raised to this gigantic wave, that I was sure would drown us all. If it wasn't for Varis's skill that is.

"This is what a real storm looks like Playmaker!" Varis claimed and let himself get drowned by the wave.

All so he could get the monsters who were living inside. I still remember the words Ai had told us about the data storms. The bigger the storms of data, the bigger the monster receding inside. It meant that whatever monster Varis would get, would have huge consequences on this duel.

"I don't want to digital drown!" I could hear Ai utter.

With fast steps, I did manage to dodge the wave, but it was one bumpy ride. It did not help that Varis burst through the wave like it was nothing. He had used Storm access. There was no doubt about it. I just hoped Yusaku was ready because whatever monster Varis had gotten, it was going to be very powerful.

"Hey! Storm access is my thing! Get your own thing your poser!" Ai complained loudly. It had Varis chuckle evilly.

"Ah, but I would be the only one left using this skill. After I delete you from this world with my new link monster!" Varis claimed stoically.

He continued his move by using his cracking dragon, Twin Triangle Dragon, and Sniffer Dragon to link summon. Four link arrows were glowing in the circuit. Was it true? Was Varis about to summon a Link 4 monster to the dueling field? I could not believe it!

"I never seen a link that high!" Ai uttered scared. I was as well.

"I link summon...!" Varis shouted and as he did an energy shockwave flew toward us. I was hanging on for dear life on the duel board. How powerful was this monster?

"Behold the power of Link 4 'Topologic Bomber Dragon'!" Varis shouted and showed off his new monster.

It was impressive. It was big and red and had 3000 Att points. Not to mention 4 arrowheads. (↑↙↓↘). I was just glad I did not have to face it. But of course, I was worried about Yusaku.

"You got a plan, right Playmaker? Tell me you got a plan!" Ai uttered scared and pretty much said everything I felt at that moment. Yusaku had to have a plan!

"Would that be fear and desperation I hear in your voice?" Varis taunted.

"Eh, maybe?!" Ai exclaimed fearfully.

"He is just trying to intimidate us. Decode Talker still has more attack points than his bomber dragon," Yusaku tried to reassure. It did not give me the hope I needed.

"Yes, but only temporarily," Varis countered and activated his Dragonoid generator spell card.

He could special summon a Dragonoid token to a zone where his bomber dragon points. Since he did, it triggered his bomber dragon's effect...

"When a monster is summoned next to its link, Topologic Bomber Dragon destroys all monsters in both our main monster zones. Annihilate them!" Varis shouted and did just that.

Yusaku was staring in horror as all his monsters on the field, besides Decode talker were destroyed. Both Varis's Dragonoid token and Yusaku's capacitor stalker were destroyed. Since no monsters were linked, and Capacitor stalker was no longer on the field to power Decode talker up, its Att points dropped down to 2300 again.

"It is not so tough anymore, huh, Playmaker," Varis replied with a smirk.

"But you still pay a price for destroying Capacitor Stalker!" Yusaku countered. "When a special effect destroys that monster, we both instantly take 800 points of damage!" My eyes widened as both Playmaker and Varis took damage.

Varis: 100 Lp's.

Playmaker: 1000 Lp's.

It was the only time I ever had seen Varis worried. However, as the damage had stopped raining down upon them, Varis was still alive with 100 life points remaining.

"Ha! You were short by 100 points, and that small difference will cost you this game," Varis replied.

He was once again smirking. He of course made his dragon attack Decode Talker with its Malicious Mayhem attack. It caused the monster to be destroyed and Yusaku lost 700 life points. He was only having 300 life points remaining. However, Varis was out of monsters. He could not win this duel this turn, which meant Yusaku still had a chance even though it was very slim. Or so I thought.

"Did you think that was the end of your assault on you?" Varis countered. "Topologic Bomber Dragon activates another ability! You take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points!"

I looked in horror as Yusaku and Ai were about to get hit by 2300 points of damage. If they didn't do something it was curtains for them.

AN: Dun, dun, dun. The end. For now. The next chapter will reveal what will happen afterward. So, I hope you look forward to it. Have no clue when I will update, but when I do, it will continue the duel with Playmaker and Varis. This is not over. Not by a long shot. What will happen? You must read that to find out. But can reveal, Asteria Witch will do some interesting things in the next chapter. So, stay tuned.