The B Blocked was won by a rather peculiar man who calls himself the Masked J. His LBX, Masquerade J, finished its opponents in quite a beautiful manner. As if they were dancing.

In the C Block, Jin had a small smile as he watched Ban's Team finish off their first opponents. That wasn't a surprise to her, seeing how he's exactly what they came here for. At this point, Evangeline was convinced that Jin didn't care all that much about the Platinum Capsule anymore. He just wanted to fight Ban with no interruptions. Soon, it was the finals for their block and as they hoped, Ban's Team won.

For the D Block, The outcome was rather surprising. Despite Sendou's efforts, going as far as to sacrifice his own teammates, he lost to a strange boy in a bird costume. He entered under the name Yujin, but he now calls himself OtaRed.

The E Block was by far the most surprising for them all. When Hannibal Han, the player most voted to win the tournament, was defeated by Haibara Yuuya, a boy who had no official battle records, they were able to confirm it. It wasn't a coincidence.

The finalists were announced and loud cheers filled the arena. However, Evangeline's thoughts were elsewhere. I know I've seen him somewhere before... Somewhere... Maybe... The lab...? Her eyes widened when the thought crossed her mind. "Jin, I think-"

"I know." He interrupted her with a nod. "Stay in the waiting room until I get back." She agreed and he walked out from the high balcony.

~~~~~

To say she was bored was an understatement, but she couldn't go against his orders. She sat by the corner of the room, twirling her CCM on the table like a top. Her eyes glanced around the room, mainly trying to ignore Yujin's grunts as he posed. Her eyes met with Masked J's and surprisingly he sent her a smile. It was a little strange, but she returned it with a small wave.

They might be on opposing teams, but she wasn't raised to have no manners.

Then, her eyes landed on Ban's group. "Ah-" The brunette's eyes widened when she caught him staring. "S-Sorry... You're with Kaidou Jin, aren't you?"

She raised an eyebrow at this. Had he been spacing out for the entire tournament? "Pretty much. He's the one you'll be battling with in the finals though."

"For a member of the Innovators, you don't look all that evil." Kazuya remarked.

She blinked at that. "Evil? What are you talking about? We're trying to take back the Eternal Cycler that you stole."

The three exchanged glances before turning back to her. "Wait, you don't know?" Ami asked.

"Know what-"

The door opened and Jin came in. "Evangeline, we're going."

Any confusion from the previous conversation seemed to have left her mind as she went straight to him. She went out the door without so much as a glance to the people she was just talking to. Jin eyed them, a serious expression on his face. Quiet as ever, he left without so much as a word to them.

He closed the door behind him and they made their way to the arena ahead of time. The blonde girl glanced at him with a questioning look. "So, did you find anything?"

He nodded. "The other two kids with him had a case from Kamiya Craft with them. He's most likely being used as a test subject. But what for..."

She sighed at that. "So he really might've been in the lab a few times... I thought I knew his face from somewhere."

They stopped at the end of the hallway, gazing out at the number of people chatting excitedly about the finals. His eyes darted towards her for a second, before staring back out. "Evangeline."

"Hm?"

"Whatever Yamano Ban said to you... don't think about it too much."

She blinked at that. "Hm? Did they say anything strange?"

That made him confused. "Weren't you talking to them earlier? They must've said some things..."

To his surprise, she shook her head. "I just waved at Masked J and that's about it. Ban and his friends were talking between themselves." She took out her CCM to check the time. "It's almost time for the finals. We should get down there."

He watched as she made her way down first, his head still trying to wrap around what she said. Did her memory just erase itself? Worry began to settle in, but he pushed the thought away. He had to focus on what's ahead of him. Answers can come later.

~~~~

"We've finally arrived at the climax!" The emcee yelled for everyone to hear. "The Artemis final stage will decide the number one LBX player in the world! Here are the finalists who have come out as the strongest in the fight!" He introduced those who would be participating in the final match.

The platform they stood on rose and they called their LBXs to the large, volcanic diorama. The mystery boy, Haibara Yuuya held his hands up before parting them, making a holographic screen appear out of thin air.

"Battle Start!"

With that, all players switched their focus to the battle ahead. Achilles and Emperor M2 went straight for each other, while Bibinbird-X used its guns and shot at Judge. The latter dodged the bullets, while the former switched his targets to the first two. Emperor M2 dodged, letting Achilles take the hit. From there, it went into an all-out free-for-all.

The holographic screen suddenly enlarged and a robotic voice, much like one from a CCM, spoke up. "Psycho Scanning Mode." Yuuya's hair turned white as his LBX glowed.

Its movements changed and its reaction time seemed to be processing even faster than before. Both Bibinbird-X and Emperor M2 were attacking Judge, but the latter didn't seem to be fazed. All the while, Achilles and Masquerade J had their own battle on the side.

Jin grit his teeth when Emperor M2 nearly fell into the lava. Just what did they do?!

"Attack Function, Power Slash."

The two LBXs attacking it went out of the way. The attack went straight for the other two who were fighting, but in the last minute, though Evangeline thought she didn't see it correctly, Masquerade J pushed Achilles out of the way, taking the hit itself. Masked J left the stadium afterwards.

Ban was distracted by his actions and Jin noticed. "Yamano Ban!" He took the chance to attack.

Just as they were about to engage in their own battle, Yuuya began to scream. Evangeline tensed up at the sight of him. When he stopped, he turned back to the screen with a horrific grin. At that moment, Judge began to attack Bibinbird-X mercilessly. It grabbed the bird LBX by the head and repeatedly slammed it to the pillars and mountains in the area. As he began to laugh, Judge ripped of his opponent's head. But it didn't stop there.

Judge continued to use its sword on the already broken LBX. OtaRed tried to get him to stop, but ran away in fear when their eyes met.

"Don't leave me alone..." Jin's eyes widened when he heard, but it was cut short when the boy began to laugh harder and continued his slaughter. "Don't leave me alone..." The other two behind him turned to each other before leaving the stadium. "Alone..." He began to yell and Judge trashed about. He ripped off one of his shoulder caps, revealing a scar. "Don't... leave me alone..."

Jin's eyes widened as the pieces clicked in his head.

He was four years old at the time. It had only been a day or two since the incident. He watched from the side as the nurses surrounded a boy sitting on a bed beside his. They were wrapping bandages all around his body as he stared blankly ahead. The boy had a very noticeable scar on his shoulder.

Later that night, he woke up to the sound of crying. It came from the boy on the other side of the curtain. "Dad... Mom..." The boy said through sobs. "Don't leave me alone..."

"It's him." Jin finally brought himself to speak. We were in the same hospital room... He thought back to the case, stamped with Kamiya Craft's logo, being wheeled into a room by the two boys who were with him. Kamiya Craft... Was my grandfather responsible for taking him away? What did they do to Haibara Yuuya?

Tears began to fall from his eyes. "Don't leave me alone..." The boy repeated. Judge began to trash even more, destroying its surroundings.

The control system's gone haywire and it's affecting him! And Evangeline seemed to have the same thought in mind. She turned to him with a serious expression. "You're gonna have to destroy his LBX."

"Got it." He turned to the brunette beside him. "Yamano Ban, we'll stop him together." Achilles' owner turned to him in surprise at his sudden decision. "That suit's control system's gone haywire. If we don't destroy that LBX, his mind will fall apart. No, in the worst case, he'll die."

"But that can't-"

"Just do it!"

Ban cast a glance at their common enemy and narrowed his eyes. "Alright." He activated Achilles' V-Mode.

Jin turned to him once again. "Got it? We're destroying his LBX. Follow me."

"We can save him that way, right?"

"Yeah." Both LBX began to make their way towards Judge. "We can't read Judge's movement since the control system's gone haywire. We'll finish it in one close-range hit." Ban nodded at his plan.

Their first attempt was blocked and Judge managed to swat both Achilles and Emperor M2 away. They went for it a second time, but Judge managed to hold out. The two LBX regained their balance on the side as the players lament on what to do. When Judge began to trash about, Jin took the chance and launched missiles at it.

It was a direct hit and a cloud of dust surrounded their enemy. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

They jumped to launch an attack from above, but Judge's trashing made the cloud disappear faster than they thought. It used its finishing function at the two in the air. Thinking fast, the two LBX bounced off of each other to dodge the attack and the hit pushed Judge back into a wall.

"Now!"

"Attack Function, Impact Kaiser."

"Attack Function, Lightning Lance."

Under the impact of both finishing functions, Judge was successfully destroyed.

"In order to provide relief for the contestant, the tournament will be taking a momentary intermission." A voice came from the speakers. The staff brought Yuuya away in a stretcher as the remaining players watched.

Ban's gaze turned to the black and white haired boy. "Do you know Haibara Yuuya?"

Jin gave him a rather determined stare in return. "Let's settle the score, Yamano Ban." He seemed surprised, but had to comply as the emcee announced for the match to resume.

Both LBXs went for a full clash at the center. For several minutes, they both kept on going just like that, neither one of them giving in. They traded blows repeatedly before Emperor M2 was finally able to push Achilles back and launched its missiles at it. Achilles dodged with a jump and aimed for an aerial attack, but Emperor M2 avoided it at the last second. It was back to a head-on clash between the two; Emperor M2 was on the offense, while Achilles was managing with its shield. Achilles was nearly sent falling into the lava pit, but it managed to swipe under Emperor M2's legs, catching the latter off guard. And then it was Jin's turn to be pushed back.

He grits his teeth and got Emperor M2 to jump out of the way, but even then, Achilles still landed a hit. After gaining some distance, he aimed his missiles again, but Ban countered it with Lightning Lance. Knowing that Ban was going to use the smoke screen to hide his attack, Jin let his true power be known and Emperor M2 began moving in a much higher speed. Once again, he has the upper hand against Ban.

After launching his missiles again, Emperor M2 got into its stance. "Burn to smithereens!" The diorama began to shake violently.

"Attack Function, Impact Kaiser."

Achilles stood its ground. "I won't lose!"

"Attack Function, Super Plasma Burst."

Achilles jumped out of the way and landed its finishing function from above. However, by whatever miracle, Emperor M2 had managed to defend itself. Most of its armor was damaged, but it was still able to function as much as it needed. Ban, still caught off guard, reacted slowly to the attacks Jin was landing. Achilles' shield was knocked into the lava pit behind it, making the LBX cornered with no way to properly defend itself. However, it knocked away Emperor M2's war hammer as it was taking aim and jumped out of the way. Jin readjusted his aim and launched at Achilles once again, but the attack was dodged as Achilles used its lance to jump over the missiles. It charged forward and attacked, stabbing Emperor M2 right on its chest plate.

"It's over! Emperor M2, break over!" The crowd cheered as the emcee makes his loud announcements. "The winner of the third LBX world tournament, Artemis, is Yamano Ban and Achilles!"

Ami and Kazuya both congratulated him. Jin gave a small smile as he watched them. I've lost. "I guess we just have to train harder for next time, Evangeline."

"Virus Program, activate. CCM control, initiate."

His eyes widened and he turned around, only to find her in some kind of trance. Her eyes were glowing and so was the bracelet she was wearing.

Emperor M2's eyes went red and it grabbed Achilles. "What?!" Jin's focus went to his CCM, trying to regain control over his LBX. "I can't control it! It's moving on its own!"

Ban and his friends turned to him, confused about his sudden panicked voice. "What's wrong, Jin?"

"Destroy." Evangeline and his CCM spoke at the same time.

"Destroy?!" His reaction invoked the panic of the other three. "Get down!"

An explosion engulfed the entire diorama and the lights in the stadium went out. Jin whipped his head around to check on his friend, but she was no longer there. An LBX, Jin recognized it as a Deqoo Mod, then came along and stole the Platinum Capsule from the remains of Achilles.

Kazuya approached him in the midst of his confusion. "Jin, you coward! I can't believe you used such a dirty trick! I knew you were with Kaidou and the Innovators!"

Ami went to back him up. "Yeah! This is what you were planning from the start!"

"No, I didn't know anything about this." Though, he sure wished he did. He'd very much like to have a word with whoever messed with his friend's mind.

"You liar!" Kazuya continued to accuse. "Don't give us any of that bullcrap!"

"I really didn't know anything!" He snapped without meaning to. He turned away, forcing himself to calm down. "Excuse me." And he left the stage.