"This is it.... If I don't draw the right card now, i'll lose the duel and this A.I!" Gale Rider said as the duel came to its most crucial moment. This was the turn that would decide everything. He drew his card and held it before his eyes, growing a smirk as he revealed it. "I drew my spell, "Rebirth of Wyvern!" Now I can bring back all the Wyvern monsters you destroyed during the previous turn in defense mode!" Gale Rider explained as his Flying Wyvern-Rathalos and Rathian returned to his side of the field. 

"Big deal. Neither of them are strong enough to take down my Cracking Dragon!" The Knight of Hanoi bragged but Gale Rider only chuckled at his remarks. 

"You say that now, but my turn is far from over! When Flying Wyvern-Rathalos is normal or special summoned, I can add a copy of Flying Wyvern-Rathian to my hand. And thanks to Rathian's effect, I can special summon it in defense mode so long as I have a Rathalos on my field." Gale Rider told the Hanoi as a second Rathian appeared on the field, filling all of the monster zones on his side of the field.

"You may have 3 monsters, but i'm still not afraid of you, Gale Rider! Now hurry up and end your turn!" The Hanoi demanded but Gale Rider was still far from finished. 

"Just you wait, because what I do next will ensure my victory! Now, I set all 3 of my monsters, and cyclone my circuit!" Gale Rider chanted as a square with 8 different directional arrows appeared. His monsters were tributed, highlighting three specific arrows in the square, the ones pointing up, the top left, and down. "Forge the winds that bring new life! I Link Summon! Link-3: Elder Dragon-Kushala Daora!" Gale Rider roared as, from the Link circuit, a huge dragon of silver emerged, unleashing a mighty roar. 

"A Link summon!? I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that, but your monster still isn't powerful enough to topple my dragon! And thanks to its effect, it'll lower your monsters attack and you'll take damage  equal to how much it loses! I win!" The Hanoi said as he went to activate his Cracking Dragon's effect, but it didn't work on Gale Rider's new monster. 

"Joke's on you! Your dragon can only affect monsters with levels, but Link monsters don't have levels! Now, I activate the effect of my monster! For every monster its link arrows point to, it gains 600 ATK points!" Gale Rider told the Hanoi as his monster was currently linked to the Cracking Dragon, meaning Gale Rider's monster rose to 3100 ATK points.

"Oh no, it's stronger than my dragon!" The Hanoi shouted in disbelief. 

"That's right, which means, I can finally blow that thing to pieces!" Gale Rider replied as the Hanoi's worry quickly went away. 

"But perhaps the joke's really on you! I activate my trap, Pulse Mines! It allows me to switch one of your monsters from Atk mode to Def mode! So your attack will be negated for this turn!" The Hanoi explained, but Gale Rider only laughed at his attempt to stop him. 

"Seems you don't know how Link monsters work! They can't be put in Def mode, so your trap is wasted! Now go, Elder Dragon-Kushala Daora, destroy his Cracking Dragon! Whirling Twister!" Gale Rider roared as his dragon unleashed a huge blast of wind from its mouth which annihilated the Hanoi's Cracking Dragon, dropping his life points down to 3300. "But i'm still not done yet! When my monster destroys one of yours, you take damage equal to half your monsters base Atk points!" Gale Rider said as the Hanoi now lost 1500 more life points, dropping him to 1800. 

"Just end your turn already!" The Hanoi demanded, but Gale Rider's smirk said otherwise. 

"No way, because I have one move left! I now activate the third and final effect of my monster! By returning its Atk to normal, it can attack for a second time!" Gale Rider explained as the Hanoi looked stunned. He had nothing to defend himself. No monsters, no spells or traps, and nothing in his hand. "This duel's over! Elder Dragon-Kushala Daora, attack his life points directly!" Gale Rider called out as his dragon blasted the Hanoi with another huge flurry of wind. He was blown off his board and turned into blue data before vanishing. The duel was indeed over. Gale Rider wins!

"Well-Well-Well-Well-Well, that was quite impressive, Gale Rider, especially for a human." Windy said as Gale Rider hopped off his duel board, landing on a nearby rooftop. 

"Thanks. What about you? You doing alright?" Gale Rider asked. 

"I'm fine-fine-fine thanks to you, good sir! And seeing as you can take on the Hanoi and defeat them so thoroughly, perhaps it's in my-my-my best interest to stay by you, what do you think-think-think?" Windy suggested as Gale Rider gave him a nod. 

"You don't really have a choice, but thanks." Gale Rider said as someone suddenly landed behind him. He quickly turned, but sighed in relief when he saw it was Playmaker. 

"So you were successful as well in defeating a knight of Hanoi. Tell me, was your situation similar to mine? A speed duel on a data storm?" Playmaker asked as Gale Rider gave him a nod.

"Yeah, and what's crazy is we can use skills during our duel. Mine allowed me to enter this huge tornado of data and retrieve a new extra deck monster. Here, take a look." Gale Rider told him as he pulled out his new monster. Playmaker did the same, revealing he had acquired a new monster, and a Link-3, just like Gale Rider. His was called "Decode Talker."

"So then it appears we both possess the same skill, Storm Access. I'm sure it will be useful later on in our battles against the Hanoi." Playmaker said. 

"You guys just painted a huge target on your backs, taking on the Hanoi like that. And we're both stuck in your duel disks, we can't flee if you two get coded by them." Playmaker's A.I complained. 

"Yes, but these two were still able to take down a Hanoi single-handedly. That's no-no-no-no-no easy task. I think it's best we stay with our new human companions here." Windy stated as Playmaker's A.I just sighed and rolled its eye at it. However, as the four continued to discuss, they were interrupted by the arrival of more people. 

"Hey! You guys got some nerve, crashing our duel and taking the spotlight!" StormBreaker complained as he, Go, Blue Angel, and Warrior Witch all came onto the scene, surrounding the pair and their A.I's.

"Hey, take it easy, guys, they saved our lives back there." Blue Angel said but Go and StormBreaker were having none of it. 

"Saved us? Please, we could've handled those Hanoi without their help. They ruined everything for us, and now, i'm hearing that the World Championships are gonna be cancelled until the Hanoi threat is taken care of. If me or StormBreaker here had shown we can take down the Hanoi, then that wouldn't have had to happen!" Go explained as he and StormBreaker marched over to Gale Rider and Playmaker. 

"Who are you guys, anyway?" Warrior Witch asked but the answer they all got wasn't what they wanted. 

"As if we'd tell you that." Playmaker said as he and Gale Rider logged off Link V.R.A.I.N.S and reemerged in the real world, back within Colter's food truck. They came out of their pods, both looking exhausted and beaten up. After all, what happens to your avatar in Link V.R.A.I.N.S also has the same effects on your real self as well.

"Man, the two of you really went through the ringer today. But still, you two looked amazing out there, especially in your speed duels!" Colter said as he helped the two to stand on their own feet, and brought them over to some chairs where they could sit and analyze the A.I they'd acquired. 

"And it would appear these A.I were the cause of the Data storms. And maybe even the reason why we both acquired Link monsters from said storms." Gale Rider said as the two put their duel disks down onto the table in front of them and plugged them into a computer. 

"Oh yes-yes-yes-yes, we caused the storms, but even now while we're not in Link V.R.A.I.N.S, the storms will continue to rage on. We can start them, but they can't stop. Don't worry, they shouldn't cause much harm to the people. But I guess-guess-guess this is like a new-new-new era for V.R.A.I.N.S now!" Windy spoke as Playmaker's A.I just, well, rolled its eye. 

"Hey, Windy, any chance you wanna trade disks? This Playmaker guy's a real jerk." The other A.I said. 

"Well-well-well-well-well now that you say that, I really don't think I will swap with you, AI(Pronounced "Eye"). If he's such a jerk, then that makes Gale Rider here an angel compared to who you're stuck-stuck-stuck with!" Windy replied as they went on to analyze the complex coding of these highly unique A.I.

But elsewhere, both within Link V.R.A.I.N.S and in the real world, word was getting out quickly about Gale Rider and Playmaker. In SolTECH, chief of security, Akira Zaizen, was one of many who had watched the recent duels against the Hanoi. 

"Those two again? We'll have to widen our search within the Vrains; find out who Gale Rider and Playmaker really are!"  Zaizen ordered as all his workers began to do another scan of the grid. 

But elsewhere, the Knights of Hanoi, hidden deep within the dark web of Link V.R.A.I.N.S, were certainly taking notice of their new issue. 

"So, those two have acquired the Ignis we failed to capture. Spectre." The Leader of the Hanoi, Revolver, spoke as one of his minions appeared next to him. 

"Unfortunately, Master Revolver, our efforts to uncover who those two mysterious duelists are haven't gotten us anywhere. The coding they've used to hide their accounts and information is quite impressive, even by our standards. I'm not confident we'll be able to figure out who they are at all, actually." Spectre replied as Revolver let out a sigh. 

"And what of Quantra? Where has she gone?" Revolver asked. 

"Ah yes, I do believe she informed me she was going out to hunt for this Gale Rider and Playmaker. And, she wishes to study and learn how to participate in this new form of dueling. Speed Duels. Shall I assume you will be doing the same?" Spectre asked as Revolver turned and walked past him. 

"Naturally. If we can't find those two, then it's just a matter of time before they find us. After all, that's what they're after. To defeat the leaders of the Hanoi." Revolver said as he logged out of the dark web and into the main sector of Link V.R.A.I.N.S. 

-The Next Day-

As Sukio, Yusaku, and Colter went on to study the A.I's through the night, the entire world soon learned of Gale Rider and Playmaker's accomplishments, and the two were becoming the next big celebrities. But with that development unfolding, others weren't very pleased. Go Onizuka, current world champ was practicing his duel board skills, trying to learn how to ride one for when he'd eventually challenge either Gale Rider or Playmaker to steal back his spotlight. And StormBreaker was doing the exact same thing. Both had returned to the real world to rest and plan out strategies they could use against these two new duelists. But StormBreaker had other plans. He began to make a call to someone, with the person on the other end soon answering. 

"What is it, StormBreaker? I'm kinda busy, ya know. Look, if you're calling to rematch for the title of champ, then there's really no point. Everyone's got their eyes on Playmaker and Gale Rider now, no one would be watching us duel. So just put it to rest and wait till the tournament next year, alright?" Go Onizuka spoke on the other end as he was about to hang up. 

"Hold it, Go." StormBreaker said as Go didn't quite hang up yet so he could listen in. 

"I'm not calling about the world championship. I'm calling because i'm sure we both want the same thing, right? To take down the people who stole our spotlight, correct? We both want to take out Gale Rider and Playmaker. But the thing is, when Gale Rider showed up, he said neither of us were prepared to take on the Hanoi. How's about we put that to rest and find out which of the two of us is really worthy of taking them and the Hanoi on?" StormBreaker suggested as Go went silent on the other end for a moment. 

"So, you're saying we have a private duel, and the winner is the one who gets to take on Gale Rider or Playmaker?" Go asked. 

"Precisely." StormBreaker replied. 

"Alright, i'm in. I needed a bit of practice before taking on those chumps anyway. Meet me in Link V.R.A.I.N.S at these coordinates." Go said as he sent StormBreaker his location. Soon, StormBreaker linked into Link V.R.A.I.N.S and found Go already at the location. 

"Even though no one's gonna see this, we were meant to duel anyways, so how's about we make this our own private world championship final? No one else will know but us, but that's all who needs to know, right?" Go said as StormBreaker gave him a nod. 

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now then, shall we begin?" StormBreaker said as a data wind began to pick up, with their duel boards soon appearing. 

"Yeah, let's do this!" Go replied as the two hopped on their boards and began to ride along the winds. 

"Duel!" The two both spoke as their life point meters went up to 4000. 

"Since I issued this challenge, you can decide whether to go first or second." StormBreaker said as Go gave him a nod. 

"Then i'll go first. So get ready!" Go said as he examined his hand. "First up, I summon Gouki Suprex in attack mode!(1800 ATK). Then, thanks to its effect, I can special summon another Gouki monster from my hand. And I choose Gouki Twistcobra in attack mode!(1600 ATK). And, since the only monsters on my field are Gouki monsters, I can summon Gouki Riscorpio from my hand in attack mode!(2300 ATK) That ends my turn, StormBreaker. Now, let's see what you got!"

"Very well; I draw!" StormBreaker replied as he drew a card from his deck. In his hand, he held 'Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts,' 'Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts,' 'Nordic Relic Draupnir,' 'Nordic Relic Megingjord,' 'Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir,' and 'Tyr of the Nordic Champions.' 

"First, I place 2 cards face down. Next, I summon Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts in Attack mode!" StormBreaker said as he played his monster. 

"That ends my turn, Go. Your move." StormBreaker said as Go drew his card. 

"Let's make this quick, I attack your lame goat with my Gouki Riscorpio!" Go ordered as his monster went in for the attack. 

"I activate my trap, Nordic Relic Megingjord! I can double the ATK/DEF of one of my monsters for the rest of this turn, and I choose my Tanngrisnir. So it's attack rises to 2400!" StormBreaker spoke as Riscorpio continued its attack, but was destroyed due to StormBreaker's monster having 100 more attack points than it, dealing Go 100 points of damage. 

Go Onizuka: 4000->3900

"Not bad, kid, but my attack's not over yet! I activate my Twistcobra's effect! Now by tributing one of my monsters, I can choose another monster on my field and it gains the attack points of the monster I just tributed until the end of the turn. I tribute my Twistcobra to give my Gouki Suprex 1600 attack points, raising it to 3400! Then, since my Twistcobra was sent to the Graveyard, I can add one Gouki card from my deck to my hand." Go explained as he drew his card. 

"Now, Gouki Suprex, attack Tanngrisnir!" Go ordered as his monster destroyed StormBreaker's, dealing him 1000 damage. 

StormBreaker: 4000->3000

"That ends my turn. And now, Suprex's attack points drop back down to 1800. You're up, kid." Go said as StormBreaker drew his card, pulling out 'Divine Relic Mjollnir.'

"First, I activate the effect of my Tanngrisnir! When it's destroyed by battle and sent to the grave, I can special summon 2 Nordic Beast tokens to my field!(Nordic Beast Token Lvl:3 0ATK/0DEF) And with those now on my field, I summon the tuner monster, Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beasts!" 

"A Tuner monster? That can only mean-" Go tried to say but StormBreaker interrupted him. 

"That's right! I'm about to summon the monster I was mere moments away from playing before our previously duel was interrupted! Now, my level 4 Guldfaxe, tune with the two level 3 Nordic Beast tokens! I forge together a beast without equal! One that rules the very heavens! I Synchro Summon! Thor, Lord of the Aesir!"(3500 ATK) StormBreaker chanted as his mightiest monster appeared on the field. 

"Holy crap, that monster's huge! It's like a skyscraper!" Go said in disbelief as the towering behemoth of a monster before him caused data thunder to strike down everywhere around them.

"This is no monster, Go, it's a god! And I am its chosen duelist!" StormBreaker spoke as the Nordic rune symbol of Thorn appeared in his right eye. "And now, I play the spell, Nordic Relic Draupnir from my hand and equip it to Thor!" 

"Now my God receives 800 ATK points, raising him to 4300! And now, Thor, destroy his monster with your mighty hammer! Attack!" StormBreaker ordered as Thor swung the gigantic hammer in his hands and absolutely crushed Go's monster, dealing him 2500 points of damage. 

Go Onizuka: 3900->1400

"I now place one card face down on my field and end my turn. Your move, Go, if you can make one." StormBreaker said as Go drew his next card. 

"Oh, I can! I now activate my skill, Fighting Spirit! Now, I can return any Gouki's destroyed during the previous turn to my field, so my Gouki Suprex come back to fight!" Go explained as his monster reappeared on the field. And then, I play my spell, Gouki Re-Match! With this, I can special summon 2 Gouki's with different levels from my grave. So I bring back Twistcobra and Riscorpio!" Go told as his other 2 monsters returned. 

"Now, i'll use all 3 to mash together my circuit! The summoning conditions are at least 2 Gouki monsters, so let's do this! I Link summon! Link-3: Gouki the Great Ogre!"(2600 ATK) Go called out as his toughest monster emerged on the field. 

"Now, i'll use my Gouki's effect and lower your monsters attack by its base DEF points! So your monster loses 2800 ATK, dropping it down from 4300 to 1500!" Go explained as StormBreaker's monster was weak enough now to destroy. 

"Damn, and none of my face downs can help me stop Thor's destruction!" StormBreaker said to himself as Go called out his next move. 

"But before I attack, I've got one more move to make. I now activate my spell, Gouki Finishing Move! With this, my Great Ogre will gain 1000 ATK points for every link arrow it has, so my monster gains 3000 ATK, raising it to 5600 ATK points! And now, Gouki the Great Ogre, attack Thor, Lord of the Aesir and end this duel!" Go called out as his monster went in to finish StormBreaker off. If the attack connected, he'd deal 4100 damage, more than enough to take out the rest of StormBreaker's life points. Gouki the Great Ogre attacked and destroyed Thor, but StormBreaker had a secret ace up his sleeve. 

"I now activate my own skill, Divine Blessing! Whenever I would take an attack that would deal me 1000 or more damage, I can halve the damage i'd take for that one attack! So your 4100 damage is now cut down to 2050, meaning i'm still very much in this duel!" StormBreaker said as Go ended his turn. 

StormBreaker: 3000->950

"Ya got lucky, kid. But everyone's luck runs out sooner or later. You've got no monsters on your field now, and even though my spells effect wears off and drops my Great Ogre's attack back to 2600, i'm still in a far better position than you'll ever be in! Seems I would've been the winner of the actual World Championship after all! I keep my title as the champ!" Go bragged as StormBreaker let out a brief chuckle. "What's so funny, kid?"

"You. Thinking you've already won is hilarious, because I'm standing here with nothing to worry about. And here's why! During the end phase of either of our turns, I can banish a Nordic Beast Tuner monster from my grave to re-summon Thor back to my field! So return to battle, Thor, Lord of the Aesir!" StormBreaker spoke as his mighty monster reemerged onto his field. "And thank to Thor's effect, when he's re-summoned this way, he deals you 800 points of damage!"

Go Onizuka: 1400->600

"That thing's harder to get rid of than I thought, but thanks to my Great Ogre's effect, Thor's about to lose another huge chunk of his attack points!" Go said but StormBreaker stopped him before he activated the effect. 

"Not so fast, Go, because I activate Thor's effect! I can negate the effect of one of your monsters, and then, for the rest of the turn, Thor can use that effect as if it were its own! However, since Link monsters don't have any DEF points, I can't lower Gouki the Great Ogre's attack at all, but its effect is still negated, meaning Thor keeps all his attack points!" StormBreaker explained as Go looked shocked at this revelation. 

"Oh no! But that means-" Go began to say as StormBreaker interrupted again. 

"Yes, Go, it means we're done here! Thor, Lord of the Aesir, attack Gouki the Great Ogre! Heavens Thundering Hammer!" StormBreaker ordered as Thor brought down his gigantic hammer and annihilated Go's monster, dealing 900 points of damage and ending the duel. 

Go Onizuka: 600->0

StormBreaker Wins!!

Go fell off his Duel board and vanished as he turned to blue data and was forcefully logged off. StormBreaker then hopped off his board, landing safely on the ground as the data wind subsided, and his monster, Thor, disappeared. 

"It seems I would've been crowned champion after all if we'd finished our fight previously. This is the fate of anyone who faces the mighty gods of the Aesir though, the mightiest beings in all creation. And once I have all 3 of the Nordic Gods, I'll be unstoppable. But before that, I have a score to settle. Time to show Gale Rider i'm more than worthy to take on such an enemy as the Knights of Hanoi. After all, I was already chosen as worthy to wield the mighty Thor. So defeating a pest such as Gale Rider or Playmaker should be as simple as stepping on mere insects." StormBreaker spoke as he soon logged off from Link V.R.A.I.N.S. And soon, he, Playmaker, and Gale Rider will clash in a duel that will shake Link V.R.A.I.N.S.