Hello dear readers. I am finally up with yet another Vrains chapter. Just know this is longer than usual and Crissy does not have much p.o.v. in this. Instead, she is perceived by others mostly. A new avatar is also mentioned. Wonder if you can figure out who this is lol 😉. Please comment on what you think. Would love feedback. I would like to give my friendJessicaMGarcia4 a shoutout. Without her I was not sure how to write this. So, thanks. Have fun reading.

Normal p.o.v.

All around on the locate net or Tv Playmaker's duel against the knight of the Hanoi was present. All which made the whole world watch. Including Sol tech and the knights of Hanoi. All wondering why Playmaker was in possession of the dark Ignis. At the courtyard, Kolter and Yusaku's classmate Shima, along with the civilians of Den City watching the duel as well.

"Wait, is Playmaker surfing the wind?" Shima questioned bewildered.

"Sure, does look like it" Kolter commented.

He was just as surprised as Shima. Sure, he had heard about data storms, but it was something entirely different when you saw them in person. The other spectators were in awe as well. Some were concerned for the duelists safety while others were hyped to get out there and try dueling like that too. Kolter was not sure what to feel. He was of course worried about Yusaku's wellbeing, but he also knew the importance of defeating the Knights of Hanoi.

"Win this Yusaku" he thought to himself.

Yusaku's p.o.v.

Knight of the Hanoi: 4000 Lp's.

Yusaku/Playmaker: 4000 Lp's.

Yusaku was staring down the knight with pure determination. He was not going to lose this. He just couldn't. He already had to must at stake to stop. He was fighting for justice. For the people who got hurt doing the incident and most of all himself. He could not give up on his mission for vengeance. That was why he knew Crissy deserved someone else to be with. Someone who was better than he was. Sure, she knew his true identity, but that meant nothing. He knew he could trust Crissy with his secret. She would not tell anybody...

"Alright. I will make the first move" he could then hear the knight proclaim.

Not that Yusaku had anything against that. Speed duel was still new to him, so by observing his opponent he could learn their strategies and later on counter their moves. The knight started off his move by special summoning "Hack worm" to the field in att mode. It was a level 1 monster with 400 att points and 0 def points. Apparently it could be special summoned since his opponent alias him, didn't have any monsters on the field. It was no wonder the knight wanted to go first.

"I see it only has 400 att points. That must mean you are up to something" Yusaku proclaimed. All which made the knight laugh.

"That's right, because I am having another hack worm in my hand" The knight explained gleefully and special summoned the said monster to the field.

Now he was having 2 monsters. Which he used as tribute to summon his level 8 monster called "Cracking dragon". Yusaku narrowed his eyes at that. It had been the dragon he had used earlier to almost crisp Burglar Cat and Blue angel with. With its 3000 att points it was no laughing matter. Yusaku however was set on taking it down.

"Playmaker, I told you that you should never have challenged me" The knight stated in a confident tone.

"Ah glitch. That's the worst option of all" he could hear the eyeball utter.

Yusaku could only agree. He already has a monster with 3000 att points. What can I do? He was staring down the 4 cards in this hand as he was trying to come up with a strategy.

"Um Playmaker?" the black eyeball squeaked to Yusaku's annoyance.

"Not now!" Yusaku bit it off with.

"Oh, so you want to crash?" the A.I. questioned bewildered.

Yusaku looked up only to find himself about to crash into a giant building inside link Vrains. With quick reflexes Yusaku turned his board around and followed a different path in the data storm. The knight of Hanoi did the same thing and soon they were parallel with each other on two different lanes. His monster however didn't really care and instead slammed himself into the building, reducing it to millions of digital bites.

"You got to stay alert!" The A.I. lectured him "In a speed duel, the duel itself is only part of the challenge. If you crash and burn in this virtual world, you will actually suffer in the real world too. Your mind might never recover".

"Well, that's a risk I am willing to take, because I have to win this duel no matter what the cost!" Yusaku told it in a firm tone.

"Oh, gutsy, but good luck beating that" the A.I. program proclaimed. Yusaku didn't show it, but he was actually agreeing. It all came down to this draw.

"It is my turn, I draw!" Yusaku/Playmaker said with conviction. The strip in his body suit glowed up as he did, and soon he was holding a monster card in his hand.

"This is perfect" Yusaku mused to himself. ¨

"Oh, what did you get? What did you get?" The A.I. quirked up.

"Quiet down" was Yusaku's only responds to that.

He started off his turn by placing two cards face down. Then he normal summoned "Cyberse Wizard" to the field in att mode. It was a level 4 monster with 1800 att and 800 def. What was most surprising was the type of his monster called Cyberse. Yusaku as Playmaker found a lead that the knights of Hanoi were after this specific architype deck on the net, and of course ruining their plans were what Playmaker was best at. Him, Kolter and Asteria witch managed to snatch this deck before the knights of Hanoi could destroy them all. It was one of the reasons Playmaker was using this archetype. To rub salt in the wounds and remind the organization of their own failure.

"Well, aren't you full of surprises" The knight huffed annoyed. "Big deal. Your monster is already much weaker than my Cracking dragon, and I will make it even weaker".

To Yusaku's surprise the knight now activated his monster's special effect. Since he apparently only had one normal or special summoned monster on the field, it could reduce Yusaku's wizard's att points by 200 times its level. Since Cyberse Wizard was a level 4, that meant it lost 800 att points. That, however, was not all. The dragon could also deal Playmaker damage equal to the att points his monster just lost. Which meant he got slammed by 800 points of damage. Yusaku groaned annoyed as his life points went from 4000 to 3200 now.

"Sure, you may have greatly weakened my monster, but my Cyberse Wizard has other tricks. He can switch your dragon from att to defense. Cyberse algorithm!" Yusaku told the knight and made his monster switch to def. "It may be strong offensively, but it has no defense". What was even more important was that his wizard could make any Cyberse monster deal piercing damage.

"Ha! Big deal" The knight stated, which confused Yusaku a bit, but he still attacked with his wizard and dealt the knight 1000 points of damage. When the smoke cleared however, the dragon was still alive and kicking.

"You fool. Only a monster with a higher level can destroy my dragon" The knight then told him and chuckled darkly.

"What? I didn't know that. Maybe my programming has some runtime error" The A.I. hummed thoughtfully. Not that Yusaku really cared.

"Fascinating" He instead mused thoughtfully.

"You don't seem so shocked" the eyeball stated surprised.

"I am not. When I activated Cyberse Wizard's effect he didn't look worried, and I knew then that something was up" Yusaku explained.

"Look worried? How can you tell? Half his face is covered up" the A.I questioned.

"Yeah, and that's why you are just a program" Yusaku shut him off with and ended his turn. As he did, his wizard regained all its att points again. It was now the knight of Hanoi's turn.

"Well, it is my turn" the knight stated and chuckled darkly "Since we are battling in a speed duel, I am now allowed to activate my skill".

"Wait, a skill?" Yusaku pondered confused.

"Oh yeah, I would have told you if you weren't so rude" The A.I. commented.

"For an A.I. who is self-aware, you don't seem to be aware that I can erase you any time I want" Yusaku growled threatened. All which made the A.I. growl annoyed.

"Okay fine. Doing a speed duel, you are allowed to use a special ability called a skill once per duel" The A.I. responded with "Some skills give you cards. Others raise your life points. There is as many types of skills as there is transistors on a microchip, but I know them all".

"I activate my skill, 'double draw' to draw two cards" the knight then proclaimed and drew two cards from his deck instead of one.

"...Besides that, skill. The Hanoi must have created it" The A.I. chipped in surprised. Yusaku sent it a doubtful look now. He so didn't believe him. Not that it helped anyway. Yusaku still had to deal with the knight's next move.

"If your chances were slim before, with these two cards you have no chance at all" The knight said gleefully.

He activated the spell "DDoS Attack". With this card, by targeting a machine type monster like his dragon, he could send any number of that said spell card from his deck to the grave, to inflict damage to his opponent equal to the number of DDoS Attack, times the level of the targeted monster times a 100. Meaning Playmaker was taking 1600 points of damage now. (3200-1600 Lp's) Yusaku let out a surprised painful growl as he felt the board slipping underneath his feet, and before he knew it he was falling down towards the hard asphalt.

"Ah! We are falling! Do something!" The creature in his duel disk squeaked. Yusaku hissed annoyed. Could that creature not just shut of for a second?! He was thinking!

"Geez you really know how to surprise a woman you know?" A voice then chimed beside him, and he found Asteria Witch beside him sitting on what looked like a colorful duel board. It took Yusaku a few seconds to realize that he was no longer falling but now floating in midair.

"Hope you don't mind but I took deliberately of copying your duel board to suit my own needs. After all I did save your life" The little witch ling then said and sent him a cheeky smile. An uproar was coming from the creature, however.

"How Dare You! I created that board especially for Playmaker!" it yelled furiously.

"Sure, take what you need" Yusaku responded with and cut the A.I. of in its hissy fit "Care to sent me back up again?". The witch chuckled at that.

"Sure. Just know you owe me Playmaker" The witch singsong with a grin "I will be cashing in by Unknown tonight. That is for sure".

Yusaku didn't say anything to that, but he was having a silent prayer that she wouldn't tax Kolter too much for this. He had a low pay rate as a hotdog vendor, not to mention the money he was giving in for his little brother at the mental institution.

And before Yusaku knew it he was up again standing on the duel board and were once again facing the knight of Hanoi. He did however make a silent agreement to himself not to do that ever again.

"Seesh that Witch is one rude customer. Is she a friend of yours?" The A.I. then asked rather annoyed "Not that I am complaining, since she saved our life and everything, but why did you let her copy your board? Sure, this is virtual reality...".

"Then why are you complaining?!" Yusaku cut it off with in a sneer.

"Lucky break punk" The knight hissed "You might have that little witch ling on your side, but she won't be able to save you from this!". To prove his point, the knight now pointed at a huge pile of data that was whirling around in what looked like a giant data typhoon.

"What in the world is that?" Yusaku asked very to perplex.

"That is the eye of the data storm" the A.I. informed him with "And boy can it rip us to bits and bytes".

"So, you are saying we should avoid it?" Yusaku questioned.

"Well maybe".

But Yusaku was not really listening to the A.I. any longer because the knight of Hanoi had begun his move. He had placed a card face down and switched his dragon from defense to attack mode. Then he activated the spell "Air Cracking Storm" and equipped it onto his dragon. Now, when his dragon destroyed the opponent's monster in battle, it could attack again.

"If he destroys your wizard, the second attack will eliminate the rest of your life points" the eyeball told him fearfully.

"I know that" Yusaku snort out. Luckily, he had a trap ready for such an occasion. He activated his trap "Three strikes barrier". It had three different effects, but Yusaku chose the one that prevented his monster from being destroyed in battle.

"But it doesn't protect you from damage" the knight stated as his dragon attacked and dealt Playmaker 1200 points of damage. He was only having 400 Lp's remaining.

"Switch to the other wave" the A.I. encouraged and Yusaku instantly complied. He was now once again riding paralleled with the knight,

"And with that the duel is over" The knight stated which confused Yusaku a lot.

"You are wrong. I still have life points left" Yusaku proclaimed fiercely.

"Ha! Your life points don't matter. Not in this speed duel" the knight said.

Yusaku looked perplexed at him. What did he mean by that? That until he could hear a whirling whistling sound. All which made Yusaku turn surprised around and saw the data storm heading right for him. He tried to escape it, but the wind was blowing way to strong for him to do any move at all and before he knew it he was swallowed up by the data storm.

Everything was whirling around in chaos inside the data storm. Yusaku was holding on for dear life on his duel board as he was tossed and turned with the data. He could see how this pile of data hit a building and turned it into bits and bytes. He hoped that was not the case with him soon. His gaze flickered to the A.I. at his duel disk.

"You lead me into this data storm on purpose, didn't you?" he asked it.

"Yep" the creature agreed with.

"But why? You said this storm would rip us up" Yusaku questioned bewildered.

"No, I said can, not will. There is a big difference" the creature complied. "But I have a good reason why".

"And what is that?" Yusaku asked it with.

"There are special monsters that only live inside the data storm" the creature said.

"What do you mean special monsters?" Yusaku asked and clings to his board.

"It is monsters that you and only you can summon with your unique skill" The A.I. explained in a firm tone "The more intense the storm the stronger the monster which you need if you want to beat that annoying knight. You see, your skill allows you to draw one random card in the data storm, when you have 1000 or less life points. Go on try it. Just remember to seize the wind Playmaker".

Yusaku nodded. More to himself than at the creature on his wrist. This was it. It was due or die really. All he knew was that he couldn't give up now. He had to try. The strip in his clothes were once again glowing and Yusaku alias Playmaker stretched out his hand towards the whirling data storm. As he did his hand lit up too and created a whirlwind of data too. Only difference was that it was whirling in the opposite direction of the data storm. In some way to allow Playmaker's hand to collide with the data storm and grab the monster card hiding inside. However, it was easier set than done.

"Ah come on. Don't break down. You have to show them you are in charge, or it doesn't work" The A.I. growled at him when Yusaku had to grab around his right wrist in order to keep his hand steady. "I don't know about you, and I don't really care, but I don't want to be digitized to color bits".

"Just calm yourself. I have three reasons for why I cannot and will not be defeated" Yusaku growled back at the creature "1. I must uncover the truth about my past. 2. I must protect those who are still inflicted by the things we had to endure...".

At that moment Yusaku alias Playmaker was having a silent thought to both Jin, Kolter's brother and his beloved caring friend Crissy. Both who was still affected by their past in the real world and were the people he swore to protect no matter the cost.

"And 3. I must absolutely save the one who saved me!" he finished with and recalled the event of a soothing voice calling out to him when he was on a brink of despair.

Without that voice he was sure he would never have managed this far in life, let alone be able to confront his own demons and fight against the knights of Hanoi. With that determination alone, a card began forming in his hand now.

"You did it!" The A.I. shouted encouraging. "Now you just need to say...".

"Storm access!" Yusaku shouted before the A.I. could even finish the sentence.

It had been the right thing to say. His link sense had been tingling and the monster in his hand had complied. Maybe even told him how to obtain the card. Yusaku was not sure. All he knew was that he had obtained the card, and when he did, the monster who had once been living in there, created a rift in the data storm which allowed Playmaker to escape. To everyone's surprise. Including the knight.

"What? No one has ever escaped from the eye of the data storm" he yelled.

"There is a first time for everything" Yusaku replied with and placed his new monster inside his extra deck. He could win this now.

"It is my turn!" Yusaku stated and drew.

He started off his move by using his wizard's effect and switched Cracking dragon to defense, and just like before a Cyberse monster now could deal piercing damage doing battle this turn. Sadly, the knight was ready with his trap "Pulse mines". With this he could change his opponents' monsters to defense and for the rest of this turn if his opponent normal or special summons they are switched to defense too. Not that Yusaku cared much. Instead, he normal summoned his "Stack Reviver" (100/600) which of course were also switched to defense.

"Summoning that monster has sealed your fate your fool" the knight bragged.

He intended to use Cracking dragon's effect to lower his monster's att points and deal 400 points of damage, which was all he had left. Or so he thought. Since his stack reviver was only having 100 att points, he only lost 100 life points instead.

"No way you are alive?" the knight uttered puzzled.

"Of course. Seems like I know more about your cracking dragon's effect than you do" Playmaker lectured and explained the reason for why he was still there.

"Ha, but you still won't win because you are only focusing on defense" the knight said, which only made Yusaku smirk.

"You should properly stop making assumptions" he stated.

He continued his move by using the spell "Effect Cowl" which prevented him from taking effect damage this turn since he controls a Cyberse type monster. Since he did take damage earlier, he could now activate his trap called "Cyberse Beacon" which enabled him to add a level 4 or lower monster from his deck to his hand. Like his lv 3"Backup Secretary". (1200/800) Since he controls another Cyberse monster, he can special summon Backup Secretary in def position from his hand via its own effect.

"Now with Backup secretary I have three monsters" Yusaku told the knight.

"Three would be greater than one, if mine wasn't so much more powerful than all of your monsters" The knight mocked.

"In that case I will have my monsters unite and fight" Yusaku stated, and sparks were created at the tip of his fingers "I will create the ultimate circle!".

As he did that the energy in his hand sparked upwards and created a circuit platform holding several arrows that the edges. He sent his Wizard, stack reviver and backup secretary in the 3 out of 8 link arrows on the field. That being the ↑ upwards arrow towards the opponent's field and the ↙↘ arrows of the bottom edges towards his own field. Together they formed the link monster "Decode Talker" who was a link 3 monster with 2300 att points.

"I promise that this link monster is unlike any creature you have ever seen in your life" Yusaku said in a firm tone.

"But... how, how can this be?" the knight uttered shocked.

"Wow, you mastered storm access and link summoning already. Not bad for a fleshy meat bag" The A.I. commented.

Not that Yusaku really cared about his opinion. He instead began explaining how Link monsters had no level and couldn't be placed in def mode. All meaning the trap pulse mines had no effect on decode talker. Then he used Stack reviver's effect in the grave. Since it was used to link summon with, Yusaku could target a level 4 or lower Cyberse monster in his grave and special summon it. Like his Cyberse Wizard which he placed in the bottom-left monster card zone near Decode Talker. One of his arrows pointed to that zone. Decode Talker's effect activated. It gains 500 att points for each monster it points to. Since Yusaku had deliberately placed Decode talker near Cracking dragon too, his monster now gained 1000 att points (2300-3300). It was more than enough to defeat the dragon. Yusaku makes Decode Talker attack and deal piercing damage since it was a Cyberse type monster and before the knight knew what hit him, he was defeated.

"A thug like you has no place in link Vrains" Playmaker said as the knight's life points hit 0.

Playmaker hit the roof top soon after his speed duel. It was that place he had sent the knight of Hanoi flying. He needed information into who was leading the knight of Hanoi. Sadly, the knight was not cooperative and instead triggered a detonator and intended to blow up Playmaker and his own avatar in the process. Surprisingly, the A.I. in his duel disk came to his rescue. It turned into a huge dark monster that grabbed this avatar of the knight and swallowed him in one big bite.

"That hit the spot" the creature proclaimed as it returned to the duel disk.

"You ate his avatar?" Yusaku questioned bewildered.

"Ah, you are welcome" The creature snort back at him "If it wasn't for me your digital data bytes of an avatar would be spread across the net like an ink block test. Two words, thank you. Is that so hard?".

Not that Yusaku had any time to answer, not that he would, before The Gore appeared before him and wanted answers. Blue angel was not far behind. They wanted to know why he crashed the tournament.

"And why would you expect me to answer you?" Playmaker questioned, before he jumped up on his duel board and hightailed it out of here. As soon as he was out of sight, he logged himself out of link Vrains.

Yusaku gasped as he found himself back in Kolter's truck in the secret room they were having. He felt completely drained as he tried to stand up.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone's batteries are drained" The A.I. commented.

"Yeah, I do need rest, but I'll rather analyze your code line by line" Yusaku said and looked at the little eyeball creature in his duel disk.

"Oh joy" The A.I. proclaimed sarcastically.

Normal p.o.v.

Inside the network everyone in Sol tech was in uproar to find Playmaker because he now was in possession of the dark ignis. Inside the private server of the knight of Hanoi, things weren't that much different.

"So, Playmaker escaped with the Ignis" the leader of the Hanoi Varis muttered to himself before calling for Specter. The guy replied instantly and appeared beside his leader dutifully.

"Master Varis, We tried tracking him again, but even with my help and expertise we are no closer than before to learn who he is in the real world" Specter told him.

"On the contrary Specter. I believe we are homing in on Playmaker and there are three reasons why I am certain it is only a matter of time" Varis stated and were soon holding up three fingers up in the air "1. Only a selected few duelists play Cyberse type cards so we can narrow our search. 2. We are improving our search algorithm daily, if not hourly, and 3. If all else fails he will come to me. To duel the hated leader of the knights of Hanoi".

"Quite observant sir" Specter claimed with a respectful bow.

"And I guarantee our first meeting will also be his last" Varis stated with an evil smirk before turning towards his subordinate "Which reminds me, where is Mary Marie? She has not yet entered the knight's data base".

"Well, you see sire, she chose to have a day off" Specter mused out in a faint voice.

"What?!" Varis hissed out in a cold tone "We are in a pursuit of a noble cause in destroying the Ignis! We do Not permit time off!".

"Yes of course sir. I know how you feel, but she had a very compelling argument when I called earlier" Specter hurried out as an answer.

"Really? Oh, this is getting good" Varis snort out coldly.

"Yeah um" Specter coughed slightly before continuing "She believes she is entitled to, since you broke parts of the deal you made with her. She will presume work tomorrow. Just as planned...". Varis hissed annoyed as he clenched his fist.

"Agh, that good for nothing unpredictable woman. If she wasn't such a great hacker, I would have kicked her out of the organization a long time ago" He huffed before disappearing to who knows where.

Yusaku's p.o.v.

Back to Yusaku and Kolter a bit later.

"This is some wild stuff" Kolter said with wonder in his voice "We can use the card data you captured in your duel to recreate an actual card. I wonder what other monsters there inside of these data storms. Maybe you should plan a return trip". He was staring at the data that was getting assembled inside this program he was using.

"Yeah, straight to the paparazzi" the creature in the duel disk snorted back and showed them tons of paparazzi flocking inside link Vrains in their own weird, designed avatar.

It came to no surprise to Yusaku that the Paparazzi wanted to talk to him. He was already a sensational news, considering that he brought back the data storms and dueled one of the knights of Hanoi. Still, it annoyed Yusaku that this A.I. had pulled footage up on the computer screen where he was hacking. All to distract him from hacking into its source code.

"You got your pic plastered all over the net" The creature continued "You may have erased your login information. Smart, smart for a human, but you can't dodge screen caps Bob". All which made Yusaku growl annoyed at it.

"Oh, so you are an expert then, are you?!" He sneered back at him.

"Oh, I know a thing or two. When you hide out in the net for as long as I did, you learn a lot of things" The creature bragged confidently.

"Like who are leading the knights of Hanoi?" Yusaku then asked into.

"Maybe, maybe not" The creature said in a teasing voice "But I believe I will think better if you let me out of here". Yusaku huffed at that.

"I doubt it" he replied with and grabbed the duel disk "If you don't want to share, might as well try plan B".

"Plan B. What is plan B? 'Flattery? Bribery? Snacks? Please say snacks" the creature squealed out curiously. Yusaku placed him in a special case, which cut the eyeball off from the network itself, but still enabled him to access his hacking tool and programs.

"I am hacking right into your source code now" Yusaku then responded with.

"Huh?! But if you poke at the wrong portal, I might end up dumber than a calculator. Or worse, dumber than you!" The creature yelled up along with several stupid insults at both Yusaku and Kolter.

"Um Kolter, can you find a way to mute it?" Yusaku asked his partner in crime. Kolter complied instantly and soon they were free from the creatures annoying and lame insults.

"Just an idea, but maybe we should give It a name" Kolter then pointed out "You know so you won't confused it with other its".

"No" Yusaku cut him off with. It was not a good idea to get too attached to the prisoner. Even though it was only a program.

"Okay, but I am not as smart as you. Do it for me, or what about Crissy? I am sure she would love to give it a name" Kolter tried persuading.

It made Yusaku stop up for a second. He did love Crissy to the moon and back, but she had a weird habit of naming animals and A.I's with a cute and sugary name. Like his A.I. cleaning robot Roboppi at home. If it wasn't for Crissy being extremely happy about it, he would have changed its name in the settings a long time ago.

"Okay, since it is an A.I. lets call it Ai" Yusaku then complied with. It was simple yet elegant enough that Crissy would find it cute. Or so he believed.

"Hey not bad. It is an eyeball after all" Kolter joked with a smile and sat down at the computer to help him hack into Ai's source code.

Or that was at least what he intended to do. The reality was completely different since his phone suddenly began vibrating in the pocket of his pants. Yusaku frowned suspiciously. He had only 3 important contacts installed in his phone. Kolter and Crissy being two of them. The third...

"Yes, it is Yusaku Fujiki speaking" He said as soon as he had clicked on the speaker. A weird static sound followed that had Yusaku rose to his feet in an instant.

"Crissy? Crissy calm down! Take a deep breath. Is this another panic attack or...?".

His eyes wandered to the clock on the computer screen. It was barely past 9 in the evening. It was too early for her to have any night terrors at least. Sounds of hickuped sobs could be heard at the other end along with something rustling in the background. That sent several alarm bells off inside his head.

"Crissy, did you run away from home?" he asked and turned his gaze to Kolter who instantly began clicking on the keyboard to find her phone signal and current location. Crissy let out another painful cry that just explained everything.

"Shh, it is going to be alright. Stay where you are..." He grabbed his duel disk from the cage. He needed its GPS signal since his phone was currently occupied. That and Kolter could contact him if needed.

"Stay where you are, and I will come get you Crissy" Yusaku reassured and ran out of the truck with a very annoyed and complaining Ai by his side.

Time skip.

"The signal is within 100 meter" Kolter told him "I think she is...".

"In the park. Yeah, I figured as much" Yusaku mused as he wandered inside the wood looking for her "I will call you if anything comes up".

"Rodger that" Kolter responded and the connection between them got disconnected.

"Wow that must be some girl, if you are intending to go through all this trouble in the middle of the night" Ai commented from the duel disk "Is this Crissy girl, what was it your humans call it, your intended mate or something?".

"No" Yusaku said in a cold tone.

"Oh really? Because I watched humans mingle over the years and you are behave...".

"Crissy! Crissy! Are you here?" Yusaku instead shouted.

He was not going to have this kind of conversation with this weird A.I. That, and Crissy's wellbeing was much more important than anything. There was no answer. Yusaku let out a little sigh. Crissy always spoke to him if they were alone. Something bad must really have happened for her to be silent. She had not spoken a word to him on the phone either. Sure, the shout earlier might have been pointless, since he knew she would not answer, but he wanted Crissy to know he was here since he didn't want her to frighten her even more. Then he closed his eyes and let the sense of the network itself roam around him. He was able to link himself with the network itself for a short amount of time. It was an ability he had picked up after the lost incident and interestingly enough Crissy had a similar ability. Kolter had named it Link sense, which was what Yusaku was trying to sense right now. Crissy's link sense.

"Crissy..." he walked some steps.

Took a curve to the right and soon found Crissy crying softly on a bench hidden from sight by some bushes. Her phone, which was still connected to Yusaku's, were lying on the bench, and lightening up the spot a bit.

"Crissy... " Yusaku said in a soft tone and made Crissy look up at him with tear filled and a bit distant eyes.

She looked a complete mess, dressed in a warm white pullover and blue jeans. Then she recognized him, jumped into his embrace, and let out a tear-filled cry. Yusaku let her. He patted her back a little for comfort.

"Crissy, what happened?" he then asked after she had finally calmed down. Crissy was reluctant to look him in the eyes now. It was like she was ashamed.

"Well according to my scanning, she seems to have been in a fight" Ai concluded.

"What?!" Yusaku let out rather surprised.

"Well, the evidence does not lie. She has bruises on her knee, her hand has a nasty cut and that face print on her cheek...".

Yusaku instantly lifted his phone up to view the damage himself and even though Crissy was trying to hide the fingerprint on her cheek with her hand, Yusaku could still see it. Rage ran through him in an instant. He could not believe what he was seeing here. Someone, he had already a good idea who, had hit his Crissy! They were so going to pay. But then he noticed Crissy's scared expression and decided to calm down for the time being. It wouldn't help any if he lost his temper right now. Instead, he ended up asking:

"Did Kristina hit you? Is that the reason you ran away Crissy?". Seconds passed, before Crissy ended up nodding a 'Yes'. All which made Yusaku hiss angrily inside.

"Let's go. Kolter is worried about us" He was holding his hand towards her. "There you can tell us everything that happened". And soon their hands locked together.

Crissy's p.o.v.

"You will feel a tiny sting" Kolter warned me before spraying my hand with the sanitizer bottle he was having in his first aid kit.

Then he placed a band aid there too. Just like he did on my cheek with the lingering fingerprint. The events from evening still lingered in my mind, but I still didn't feel like talking about it. To be fair I knew my sister regretted her actions the minute the deed was done. It had been in a spur of the moment. I could still remember how we were eating dinner. That went okay. She was jabbing on and on with her work and her stupid coworkers. I had nothing to say to the subject really. Then we had desert. I was eating my pudding with joy while Missy brought us both tea after clearing the table. My sister was doing some quick work from Sol tech by looking over some papers and signing some contracts. Everything was well, until she asked me about my day. When I went for the signs in my backpack, she grabbed my arm and wanted me to use my words. I panicked and wanted to run away, but since she was holding my arm that was impossible. I struggled. My hand hitting the tea cup, breaking it in the process and...

"Your ungrateful brat!" my sister had shouted with anger fuming out of her, and her hand hit my cheek with rapid speed. The pain still eminent in my mind. Now that I look back, I think I accidentally sprayed all her important papers with tea.

"Crissy, I...I am sorry I... didn't..." Kristina had uttered in pure shock and of course let go of me.

But the damage was already done, and I instantly went for the exit. Barely able to get shoes and my jacket with me. What did surprise me was Missy holding a bag towards me before I rushed out of the door. It had all the important things like clothes, phone charger and my duel disk. At that time, I didn't think much of it since I just had to get away, but now thinking back, where did the robot have the time to pack this?

"Have Crissy written down the accident yet?" I could hear Yusaku growl annoyed.

Right now, he was at the computers at Kolter's truck and trying to hack this A.I. they had apparently acquired in link Vrains. Yusaku had named him Ai. I found it cute.

"Not yet. Just focus on typing Yusaku" Kolter replied in a firm tone "Oh and try not to destroy my keyboard. I can't afford a new one".

Yusaku let out an annoyed groan, before letting off the pressure on the keyboard. Just a tiny bit. Kolter had made him hack into Ai's source code as a distraction. He could be very single minded, but as Kolter stated, him going over to maim my sister would only make him get arrested. Especially, since none of them knew the true story yet. But it was kind of sweet of Yusaku to have my back in this.

"Just take your time. There is no pressure. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the van. Hotdogs on the house" Kolter then reassured with a little smile, before turning his gaze to Yusaku "Now if you will excuse me, I need to help my employee with hacking this source code".

I nodded eagerly, before wrapping myself up in the blanket both boys had given me. They were so kind.

Time skip.

"Dude, I am ready to pack it in and call it a night" Kolter proclaimed defeated and leaned back in the chair "Whoever programed our little friend here was not messing around. If you ask me, Ai's memory is totally un-hackable".

"Expect for the part I am hacking right now" Yusaku said and got both of our attention.

I had been sitting on this folding chair they were having and been writing down the events for today, when Yusaku said this. Curiously, I came closer to the computer screen together with Kolter and we were both staring at his screen now.

"There is a bunch of code that I still have to piece together, but I am almost there" Yusaku admitted and showed us his work.

"Wow, you amaze me guy. It is like you and this code has a mystical connection or it could just be that you know how to type faster than me" Kolter mused out.

"Yeah..." was Yusaku's only responds.

He was staring intensely at the code now. My eyes followed the encryption too. As he just told us, he needed a tiny bit more codding, but it seemed to be a bit difficult. I wanted to help him somehow, but the only thing coming to mind was to reassure him. Reassure him and encourage him to do his best. Sadly, when I intended to touch his hand and let him know all of that, Yusaku moved it, and I instead hit the keyboard by mistake. A weird buzzing feeling ran through my body now. The letters in the encryption moved and suddenly a link to a video feed was present on the screen to everyone's surprise.

"Huh? How did you... it went so fast" Kolter uttered and blinked several times. It took me a second to realize that I just had clicked on the keyboard and fixed the codding Yusaku was having trouble with. How, I had no clue.

"It's a video file" Yusaku then spoke. He didn't seem that surprised by this, but then again Yusaku knew of my connect to the network. Just like he was.

"Let me up the resolution" Yusaku continued, and we were soon staring at this weird video file. A weird tower inside the network were suddenly shown, but everything was in ruin. The dragon the knight of Hanoi was using was attacking.

"Hey that it the knights of Hanoi's cracking dragon" Kolter concluded as well.

"Yes, it seems like Ai has faced the knights of Hanoi before" Yusaku stated thoughtfully "The dragon is apparently attacking this world, but what is this place?".

I shuttered slightly at the thought. This was inside the network somewhere. I just knew it. What was even more weird was that I had this longing feeling inside of me. It was like I had been there before or something like that.

"Wait, who is that?!" Kolter then uttered as a male dressed in white and red clothes appeared in the video feed.

It didn't look like one of the regular knights at all. However, then everything went haywire. Shocks and sparks of electricity was all around us in the van. It was like the creature was trying to warn us. A weird sensation ran through me now. Something, or someone was approaching.

"Kolter, shut down the power quick!" Yusaku then shouted and made Kolter rush over and do just that.

All electricity went off in the van and only red emergency light was lighting up this place. Yusaku however, rushed out of the van to scout the premises for any intruders. Or the net really with his link sense. I followed him outside.

"Yusaku..." I managed to get out, before Yusaku grabbed me and were now protecting me against this cheer wind pressure that hit us both.

Our link sense was entangled with each other, and I could soon see what he sees. A huge dragon, only visible in a green, black silhouette, was flying above us inside the network. The wind pressure from its flapping wings were almost sending us both backwards. Even though this was virtual reality, it felt very real to us. At the top of the head of the dragon was this man. This guy we had seen in Ai's memories. All which means he had used the video feed from Ai to track us down. This was how close he had been, had it not been for Kolter shutting down the power. Luckily, Yusaku had acted quick enough or this knight, or whatever he was, might have found our location. Instead, the dragon flew past us to who knows where.

"Are you two, okay?" Kolter then asked and jumped out of the truck as well.

"We saw him" Yusaku said for both of us now. "The guy we saw in Ai's memories".

"Oh, so you think he is like tracking us down or something" Kolter questioned.

"Seemed so" Yusaku mused thoughtfully before he let go of me. Our hands did intervene, before we went back to the truck.

Time skip.

After an interrogation of Ai, where he told us this guy in his apparently lacking memories was Varis, the alpha dog of the knights of Hanoi. Apparently, this guy named Varis attacked him. Ai escaped but lost a lot of memories in the process. I was not sure if I should trust him or not. However, after all that Kolter called this a night and decided to drive us both home. Or in this case Yusaku's home. Kolter had suggested Crissy could sleep at his place, until we had settled things with my sister, but Yusaku instantly rejected and stated that I had to stay at his place instead. He was very firm at that since he believed he could protect me better than Kolter. Not that I minded any of their places really, but I did feel safer with Yusaku than any, so Yusaku's place it was. He was living in a rundown apartment complex at the cheep end of the city. It was nothing in comparison to the penthouse I was living in, but even so, I felt more at home here than at home with Kristina.

"Crissy, do you have 5 minutes" Kolter then said and stopped me from entering the building with Yusaku. Not that it was any problem, I knew where he lived.

"I need you to write down your phone number to your sister. I think I will have a little chat with her tomorrow to hear what's really going on. Hope you don't mind" Kolter continued explaining.

I nodded instantly and took the pen and paper Kolter was holding towards me. I wrote down our number, but when I wanted to return the paper, Kolter leaned forward and whispered in my ear:

"You did great today little witchling. I can't thank you enough from saving Yusaku from that fall inside link Vrains" his hand shook mine as coins were given to me. I could hear Kolter chuckle a little at that "Now take good care of Yusaku for me. He needs you, Asteria Witch. Just as you need him".

A,N: And Cut. That was that chapter. It is a bit longer and different than any of my others. Vrains should hopefully be different written as any of my other stories. Or so I hope. But yep, Kolter knows who she really is. Lol. But Yusaku doesn't so this is getting interesting lol. The next chapter is an extra chapter on how her asteria witch account actually got created and how she found out Yusaku was playmaker. That along with Crissy's own background. Or some of it. She and her family have a lot of secrets lol. I will skip over Playmaker vs The gore though. Just going to mention it and jump to the blue angel act. It is a bit more important. Hope you understand.