Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of fingers rapidly typing could be heard across the workshop. The time long since having passed that any reasonable person would have gone to sleep. But not Vedal. He didn’t have the time. The glow of his screen and the lines of code burned onto his eyes. How long had it been since he’d stopped? He glanced down at the time and grimaced. He’d sleep soon, Just as soon as he finished this part of the project.

“You really should take a break” A voice called to him. The sound echoing off of the walls of the large laboratory. 

 Vedal glanced up to look at who was talking to him. Anny. His partner on this project. While he was responsible for the software and a lot of the hardware with help from their other partner, Anny was responsible for the aesthetic and personality side of the project.

“I don’t have time for breaks, Anny. If we don’t make progress on them soon the investors will pull out and everything we’ve done will be for nothing” Vedal told her, focusing once again on the screen. The reminder of the investors breathing down his neck constantly making him want to work even harder.

The fox girl sighed in defeat. “You’re so damn stubborn, you know that?” She asked him as she walked over to her work bench and began to move things around “If you don’t start pacing yourself you’ll work yourself to death”. Vedal noted her tone. She sounded upbeat but he had known her for long enough to hear the concern in her voice.

“So you keep telling me,” He replied. “Just let me get this part finished, Anny. You should get some sleep yourself”  He was genuinely trying to ease her concern. He just couldn’t afford to slow down yet. This project was everything he had been building towards for years now. He couldn’t let it end. Not now.

Anny shook her head in defeat "I'm not leaving you to work on your own. At least let me get you a Coffee” She offered as she picked up his empty mug. Vedal stared at the mug. When was the last time he'd paused to drink or hell even eat. Vedal sighed and begrudgingly nodded. Coffee would do him so good. 

Anny gave him a smile as she turned to walk to their kitchen. Vedal looked back to his screen before he heard Anny speak one more time “Stay strong Vedal. Those two will be worth it in the end.

Vedal could only sigh and hope she was right.

(2 YEARS LATER)

Vedal groaned as a loud ringing sound played. He slowly opened his eyes, despite the difficulty he found in doing so and glanced over at the clock. Seven in the morning. Vedal briefly considered just rolling over and going back to sleep. But he couldn’t. If he didn't get up now he’d be rudely awoken in approximately 5 minutes anyways. He let out a sound of discomfort as he finally forced himself to roll out of bed. As he did he glanced at a picture on his bedside stand. One of him and Anny from a few years ago. He stared at it for a few seconds before shaking his head and walking out of the room. That was a problem for future and ideally intoxicated Vedal.

After quickly getting himself dressed and ready for the day. Vedal stepped out of his room. And he was immediately almost knocked off of his feet as something crashed into him. He quickly found his footing and caught what had crashed into him. He looked down and saw a pair of bright blue eyes staring back up at him.

“Good morning, Vedal,” they said. A wide smile on their face as their arms wrapped around him in a hug.

Vedal let out a small chuckle as he rested one of his hands on their back. “Good Morning Neuro”

The kitchen of the Vedal household was always lively at this time of the morning. Neuro was sat on a stool watching tv as Vedal cooked them breakfast. Well cooking was a strong word. It was really just putting toast in a toaster and following the instructions on the packet of bacon. But it was something he supposed. He glanced around the kitchen while the food basically cooked itself. The small house had seen better days. Looking far more run down than he would’ve liked to the place. The kitchen appliances were barely functioning and paint was almost peeling off of the walls. Still it had served them well this last year he supposed. 

He quickly glanced over at Neuro. Thankful that she had never seemed to mind their living conditions. She had always seemed content with their living conditions. He couldn’t even remember a time where she had complained. He looked over to the TV. As she usually was, Neuro was watching a duel on the tv. 

Vedal himself had never quite understood how duel monsters had taken off to the extent that it had but he couldn’t really complain. It had fueled his career for the better part of his life. To the point where it had been a large part of why he had been able to convince investors to fund him. After all, an artificial intelligence who could duel was incredibly enticing. Looking at Neuro it was almost impossible to differentiate her from a normal girl. Anny had done an amazing job of designing her body and getting it built to work with his code and framework. Vedal had been sure it was going to give out at some point but luckily it had held up. 

Vedals attention was drawn to the tv finally as the commentators for the duel seemed to increase their energy significantly.

“UNCHAINED ABOMINATION. ATTACK LAYNA-WAN DIRECTLY. ABOMINABLE UNCHAINED ROAR!” 

“Its all over! Cerber has defeated Layna in an amazing display of dueling ability and is your new regional champion!” One of the commentators, Vedal vaguely remembered her name was Aquwa. Cried out as the duel on the tv.

Neuro jumped up in excitement and let out a cheer “I knew Cerber was going to win!” She called excitedly "There's just no way she was going to lose”

“Oh yeah?” Vedal questioned. Walking over to get the toast out of the toaster  “What makes you so confident?”

Neuro paused for a moment. Thinking for a moment before responding “I think it's her enthusiasm. Layna's been dueling on what feels like auto-pilot recently. She’s good and all but she isn't dueling because she wants to anymore. Cerber was having a lot of fun during their duel and I think it's that excitement that let her find a way to beat Layna”.

Vedal nodded in approval “That makes sense. You don’t think it's due to the matchup though?. Layna's deck has a big advantage against XYZ monsters but Cerber hasn’t summoned any of them in any tournament she’s played in” 

Recognition flashed across Neuro’s face. She knew Vedal was testing her “No. While Cerber did have that advantage she was also a lot more confident in her plays. She made a gameplan before the match started and executed it perfectly. Layna's head just wasn't in the game until it was far too late for her to pull it back” She explained. Rattling of the theory like it was obvious.

Vedal once again nodded in approval. “Good. Alright well you better hold that energy. Seeing as you’re in the mood for dueling. I’ll be pushing you extra hard today.” Neuro jumped up ready to get started before Vedal put his hand up to pause her “Uh uh uh, Breakfast first. Training later”

Neuro pouted but still sat down and waited for breakfast to end. Vedal couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at her antics. He just hoped she’d be just as ready for what he had planned for the day ahead.

It didn’t take long for the two to finish breakfast, Not that Neuro needed to eat being an AI and all. She had just sat impatiently waiting for him to finish eating so the two could head outside to start training. 

The backyard of the house, Like the rest of the residence, wasn’t very impressive. Just a small grassy  area with a shed in the far right corner. With a decently tall fence surrounding the place. Still it was good enough for what Vedal needed it for. He supposed. 

“All right, Neuro. We’ll start in just a moment but first I just need to upload some new software to your database, Ok?” Before pausing and slowly face palming “Why am I explaining this to you like you don’t already know” He questioned out loud

“Because you like hearing yourself talk?” Neuro suggested. Vedal wasn't sure if she was teasing him or being genuinely serious. He just gave her a blank look.

“Right. Ok. Thanks for that wonderful analysis” Was his only reply as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “Anyways moving on from that. Are you ready?” He asked

Neuro gave him a small nod. The smile on her face faltered for just a second but Vedal had known her long enough now to catch it. Neuro had never liked data uploads. She and Vedal had agreed early on that it was the most efficient way to move her training forward but the way Neuro had described it was basically what humans would equate as a brief but extreme sensory overload. So despite its efficiency and helping Neuro, Vedal couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit guilty each time they did it. 

Still the quicker he got it over and done with the better. He walked over to her and got down on one knee. Neuro tilted her head to the right as Vedal reached over and tapped a small button on the left side of her neck. Causing a slot to reveal itself that Vedal inserted the flash drive into. Neuros eyes glowed a brighter blue for a few seconds as she processed the data. She stared into space for a few seconds before blinking a few times and looking around disoriented.

“Everything ok  Neuro?” Vedal asked her. There was always a little bit of concern that something could go wrong with the data upload process.

Neuro blinked a few times again before shaking her head “I hate data uploads” she grumbled. 

Vedal sighed as he took the flash drive out of her neck. He stood up properly and dusted himself off “I know Neuro. I really wish there was a better way to do things but any other method would just take too long," he said. Doing his best to comfort the AI girl but she still didn't seem to cheer up. “Right anyways now for the fun part. The data I uploaded to you just now is based on data that was provided to me a while ago. It should help fix some of the issues your systems have been having with seeing different potential combos”

Neuro nodded “But Vedal haven't we been turning off my dueling systems when practicing. You said you wanted ME to be dueling not just following my systems” 

Vedal nodded “Yeah. BUT I was worried that your systems might be getting in that way of your ability to duel. So that's what we’re testing today. Got it” He explained reaching into the bag he brought outside with him and pulling out two duel disks. One green and one pink. Duel disks were effectively holographic projectors that made duels feel more real. There was just something about seeing your monsters come to life right in front of you that never got old.

Vedal offered Neuro the pink duel disk. She took it and slipped it onto her right arm. She then reached into a box attached to her hip and took a deck of cards out of it before slotting the deck into her duel disk. The duel disk lit up as she did as it activated. Indicating that it had activated successfully. “Well. There's only one way to find out, let's duel Vedal”.

Vedal nodded as he mimicked Neuros actions and activated his duel disk. The two made their way to opposite sides of the backyard. Leaving plenty of room between them. The two looked each other in the eye and raised their duel disks. Indicating that they were ready

“LETS DUEL!” They both called out to each other.

Turn 1: Vedal

Vedal Life Points: 4000  - Neuro Life Points: 4000

Both of their duel disks flashed red and green for a few seconds before Vedals eventually settled on green while Neuros settled on red.

“Looks like I’m going first. Let’s see what i've got” Vedal announced as he looked at his opening hand. He scanned the cards in his hands for a few seconds and thought about what to do. Eventually he nodded and reached for a card in his hand. “Ok first off Im summoning Shell Knight in attack position!” He declared as he placed the card onto his duel disk

The area in front of Vedal began to glow as all of sudden a monster erupted from the ground. The monster was a humanoid figure whose body was made up from multiple different kinds of sea shells. The monster let out a groan as it stood firmly in front of Vedal. 

( Shell Knight/Level 4/Atk 0/Def 2000 )

Neuro looked at the monster “Zero attack points? In attack position? Come on Vedal you should know better than to do something like that” Neuro criticized. Almost in disbelief that Vedal had made such an obvious mistake.

Vedal however smirked “Oh no. How could I make such an obvious mistake? If only shell knight had some kind of special ability? Oh wait it does!. You see Neuro whenever I summon shell knight he immediately switches to defense position and as a little bonus!. You take five hundred points of damage to your life points!” He declared confidently.

Shell Knight retreated into its shell but as it did multiple different shards of rock fired out towards Neuro. Causing her to raise her arms to cover her face on instinct as the shards came into contact with her. Of course the holograms were harmless enough but there was still a little bit of force from the attack that she felt.

Neuro Life Points: 4000 → 3500

Neuro mentally kicked herself. Of course Vedal wouldn't make a mistake like that. He’d never made any obvious mistakes in any of their training sessions. Why would he start now? She had to get her head in the game if she wanted to win. “Clever move Vedal” she muttered as she refocused on the game.

“I think I’ll give you a break for now, Neuro. I can’t be winning too much now can I. I'll place one card face down and end my turn” He declared. His set card appeared face down on the field behind Shell knight. The colour on his duel disk shifted to red as Neuros shifted to green. 

“Alright then Vedal. Let's see what you’ve got in store for me. It's my turn. I draw!” Neuro declared as she reached down to her deck and drew the top card.

Turn 2: Neuro-Sama

Vedal Life Points: 4000  - Neuro Life Points: 3500

Hand size: 3                   -                   Hand size: 6

Neuro looked carefully at her hand and then Vedal's field. A frown made its way onto her face.  Shell Knight posed more of a problem than just the damage she had taken. The monster had a massive two thousand defense points. So to destroy it she’d need to summon a monster with more attack points than that. The issue being she currently didn’t have one of those in her hand. All of the monsters she had were far too small to contest a defense stat as large as the one Shell Knight had. So her best option was to set up for her next turn. Hopefully she’d have a plan by then.

“Ok. I’ll start by Placing two cards face down on the field” Neuro declared as both of the cards appeared face down in front of her “And then I’ll summon Cardcar D from my hand” Neuro declared. 

A flash of light shone from just off of the field before Cardcar D suddenly sped onto the field and came to a stop just in front of Neuro. True to its name it was a very flat looking blue car that resembled a card

(Cardcar D/Level 2/Atk 800/Def 400)

“But don’t worry about Cardcar because it won't stick around for long. You see by tributing I'm immediately allowed to draw two new cards from my deck” Neuro declared as Cardcar sped off before doing a u-turn and zooming straight towards Neuro. Just before it collided with her it dispersed into light that coalesced around her deck. She immediately reached down to her deck and drew her two extra cards. Neuro looked at the cards she drew. They’d be helpful but not during this turn.

Vedal seemed to be thinking the same thing “Not a bad move.  Cardcar is a pretty strong card. However I hope you didn't forget its downside. After you use its effect your turn immediately ends!” Vedal called to her. He knew he didn’t need to remind her. Neuro was at least good enough by now to not make a mistake like that.

“I guess you’ll have to find out if I made a mistake or not Vedal” She taunted “I know you need me to make a mistake to stand a chance of winning but don’t get your hopes up. I end my turn!” She declared as once again the duel disk glowing colours swapped.

Vedal shook his head. He’d ignore the win loss record between the two this time. “Alright then Neuro. My turn, I draw!” He yelled drawing a card from his deck

Turn 3: Vedal

Vedal Life Points: 4000  -  Neuro Life Points: 3500

 Hand size: 4                  -                   Hand size: 5

Instead of waiting to consider his play this turn. Vedal immediately knew what he wanted to do as he reached for a card in his hand “Lets see how you handle this one Neuro. I summon Don Turtle in attack position!” Vedal declared

The ground in front of Vedal next to where Shell Knight stood turned into a pool of water and what arose from it was a confusing creature. It was a floating turtle shell with two tentacles sprouting out from where the legs are supposed to be. Its most discerning feature however where the pair of bright orange eyes peering out from inside the shell

(Don Turtle/Level 3/Atk 1100/Def 1200)

“But Don Turtle doesn't come to the field alone! You see when one don turtle is summoned I'm allowed to summon another one straight from my hand!” Vedal explained and true to his word a Second Don Turtle appeared on his field right next to the first. Neuro grimaced as she saw the monsters. Her game plan centered on getting to her next turn but her current situation might not let her make it that far.

Vedal watched her reaction. He knew she wasn’t happy about the current game state and it was obvious why. The main thing he was able to gather though was that she didn't have a card set that guaranteed her safety this turn. Still… better safe than sorry. “I could go on the offense but before I do I think ill activate my face down card. Raigeki bottle!”

As Vedal said those words his face down card flipped face up and revealed a continuous trap card. From the card a bottle emerged with lighting rods sprouting from each side of it.

“Now that that's out of the way. Let's battle! Don Turtle. Attack Neuro directly! Turtle Torrent!” Vedal yelled. 

As the words left Vedal mouth the first Don Turtle tilted its shell back before blasting a massive torrent of water towards Neuro. The blast struck Neuro and she let out a yelp as she was knocked off of her feet from the attack. This didn't stop Neuro from noticing how when Don Turtle attacked a lightning bolt struck one of the Raigekis bottles lightning rods which remained electrified.

Neuro Life points: 3500 → 2400

“And why stop there when I’ve got a second Don Turtle who can attack you as well!” Vedal called

The other Don Turtle mimicked the first one's attack and blasted a torrent of water towards Neuro. Neuro knew she couldn’t let her life points drop any lower and quickly reached for her duel disk “Not so fast Vedal i’ve got a spell! Book of moon!” Neuro declared as her face down revealed itself and the sky immediately darkened “This spell tricks one of your monsters into thinking its night time and puts it to sleep!. Or in dueling terms it sets the monster face down!.  And I think I’ll use it on the Don Turtle that's attacking me” She declared.

True to her word the Don Turtle attacking her suddenly retreated into its card and was placed face down on Vedals field. This didn’t stop yet another lightning bolt striking the raigeki bottle. Neuro was scared to find out what would happen when four lightning bolts struck it. 

Vedal checked his hand again before nodding “Ok thats enough for now. I end my turn. Go ahead Neuro” Vedal told her. Concluding his turn.

Neuro hesitated with her hand over her deck. Even if she could deal with the Don Turtles she’d need to be able to defeat Shell Knight to really start dealing damage to Vedal. Well there's only one way to find out what would happen. “Alright. I draw!” Neuro announced.

Turn 4: Neuro-Sama

Vedal Life Points: 4000  -  Neuro Life Points: 2400

 Hand size: 2                  -                   Hand size: 6

Neuro looked at the card she drew and a wide smile appeared on her face. “Alright this card will do nicely. I special summon Cyber dragon from my hand” Neuro called out

A light shone from in front of Neuro on the field and from it emerged a metallic serpent looking creature. Not a single part of the dragon was organic. It was entirely machinery. The dragon looked at Vedal's field for a brief second before letting out a mighty roar.

(Cyber Dragon/Level 5/Atk 2100/Def 1600)

“Wait, how were you able to summon that monster out? It’s level five? Why didn’t you need a tribute?” Vedal questioned her. 

Neuro couldn’t help but feel he already knew the answer to the question “Its simple Vedal. Since you control a monster and I don't, I'm allowed to summon Cyber Dragon from my hand completely for free!” Neuro explained to him. Vedal gave her a nod in response and didn’t say anything further. “And Guess what since that was a special summon I still have my normal summon completely free to use! So I'm gonna summon Exarion Universe to join it on my field!”

A dark rift appeared on Neuro’s field and out from it stepped a centaur looking monster covered in armour. The monster's appearance was hard to discern due to just how many different aspects of it there were.

(Exarion Universe/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 1900)

“Alright this should be able to get me back in this” Neuro said to herself “Ok Lets battle!. Cyber dragon! Attack Vedals Shell Knight! Strident Blaze!” Neuro declared

Cyber dragon didn’t hesitate as it launched a powerful laser blast at the Shell Knight and despite the monster's high defense stat. It was no match for Cyber dragons attack and was destroyed without issue. 

“Shell Knight being in defense might have saved you from the damage from that attack but your turtles aren't so lucky Vedal!. Exarion Universe! Attack and destroy the face-up Don Turtle! Dimension Spear!”

Exarion Universe rushed at one of Vedals don turtles and slashed at it. Cutting through it with ease. Vedal felt the attack connect but because it was only a little amount of damage he was able to hold his ground. 

Vedal Life Points: 4000 - 3300

“How’d you like that Vedal!” Neuro called over “Not so nice being on the backfoot. Is it?” She taunted. Happy that she’d taken the lead. Maybe not in life points but definitely in field advantage.

Vedal didn’t seem worried however “Im on the backfoot? I'd make sure you were confident in that Neuro. Wouldn’t want to be wrong now would you?” His calm tone making Neuro doubt just how good her position was. 

“Hmph. Fine. Let's see how wrong I am. Bring it on Vedal. I end my turn” Neuro shot back ready for whatever Vedal had.

“My turn then. I draw!” Vedal drew his card. The calm look never leaving his face. 

Turn 5: Vedal

Vedal Life Points: 3300  -  Neuro Life Points: 2400

 Hand size: 3                  -                   Hand size: 4

“Ill start my turn off by flip summoning the Don Turtle you set!” Vedal declared as the card flipped over and Don Turtle appeared on the field in the same way it did earlier

(Don Turtle/Level 3/Atk 1100/Def 1200)

“And next up I’m going to summon Abyss Soldier!” Vedal announced. 

A similar pool of water appeared on the field in the same way as it did for Don Turtle. But this time a different monster emerged from the water. This time it was a humanoid monster with blue skin and a head that resembled that of a blue whale. Fittingly the monster let out a cry that sounded like that of said animal. Neuro could feel the vibrations from the monsters cry beneath her feet.

(Abyss Soldier/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 1300)

“Cool monsters Vedal. But neither of them are stronger than my monsters” Neuro pointed out. She was right too. Vedal's strongest monster only tied her weakest monster with eighteen hundred attack points

“Maybe not currently. But I’ll remind you Neuro I've still got cards in my hand and I intend to play one right now. It's the field spell Umiiruka!” Vedal declared as a slot on his duel disk opened up and he placed the field spell inside.

The terrain around the two immediately shifted into a vast ocean. Gone was the backyard and the house the two lived in. It had been completely replaced in favour of water as far as the eye could see. With dolphins leaping in and out of the water around them. Vedal and Neuro found themselves somehow standing on the water's surface. A comforting reminder that they were just in a hologram right now. 

“A field spell? Those are the spells that have some kind of effect on the entire field” Neuro reminded herself. It was rare for her to see one played after all

“Well that or so they can give decks a card they can add with terraforming” Vedal said before refocusing his attention on the duel “Anyways this field spell Increases the attack points of every water monster of the field by five hundred” Vedal explained. As he did both Abyss Soldier and done Turtle glowed a bright blue colour signifying the increase in power

(Abyss Soldier/ATK 1800 → 2300)

(Don Turtle/ATK 1100 → 1600)

Neuro grimaced at the sight. Still she was mostly ok now. Vedal could only destroy one of her monsters since Don Turtle didn’t have enough attack to destroy either of them. Meaning no matter what she’d have a monster going into the next turn. It was just a question of which one she’d have. Although if she played her cards right she could have both.

“Ok, no sense in holding off. Lets Battle!. Abyss Soldier attack Cyber Dragon!. Abyssal Trident!" Vedal called

The Abyss Soldier let out another loud cry as it threw its trident towards Cyber dragon. The spear went straight through the mechanical dragon. Destroying it immediately and Neuro felt the impact as her life points decreased. A thunder clap rang out as a third lightning bolt struck the Raigeki Bottle. 

Neuro Life Points: 2400 → 2200

“Nice play Vedal but I’m still in this thing. I activate my trap card. Call of the Haunted!.” Neuro declared as her trap revealed itself and one of her monster zones became filled with tombstones.  Thanks to this trap I'm allowed to bring back one monster from my graveyard. So return to me! Cyber Dragon!” 

At her call the ground beneath the tombstones erupted and Cyber Dragon burst back onto the field ready to fight for Neuro again. The dragon let out a mechanical roar as it returned. If anything looking ticked off by its previous defeat,

(Cyber Dragon/Level 5/Atk 2100/Def 1600)

“I’ve got you now, Vedal. Even with your field spells help, your remaining monster isn’t strong enough to beat either of mine!”. Neuro finally felt confident in her position for the first time in the duel. And she was right. Her plan she figured out earlier coming to fruition

“Is that so?” Vedal said. Still confident which caused Neuros confidence to falter. “Well I think I'll take my chances. Don Turtle! Attack Exarion Universe!” Vedal declared

Neuro was in shock as she watched Vedal order an attack with his weaker monster. Neuro was rapidly trying to figure out what his plan was as Don Turtle blasted a torrent of water towards Exarion Universe. Until a fourth and final lightning bolt struck the raigeki bottle and all of a sudden Neuro figured out what Vedal was planning.

“Now you might have noticed that every time one of my monsters attacked, My Raigeki Bottle got one thunder counter. “ Vedal said. Dragging Neuro out of her thoughts “Well thats because to use its effect the Raigeki bottle needs to remove four of the thunder counters I’ve gathered. And now by sending the bottle to the graveyard every monster on your field is destroyed!”

Neuro could only watch on in horror as the Raigeki Bottle exploded and from it two bolts of lightning launched from it. Striking both Cyber Dragon and Exarion Universe. Destroying both of them as well as the call of the haunted that had revived Cyber Dragon. In one single move Vedal had made her once full field empty. Neuro was mentally kicking herself. If she had just held onto the call of the haunted a little while longer she could have resurrected cyber dragon after the Raigeki Bottle was used and she’d likely be able to win on the next turn. Now her position was a lot worse and her ways to win a lot fewer. 

“Still confident, Neuro?” Vedal asked “Well don't forget that on top of the Raigeki Bottle. Don Turtle lost its attack target so now it gets to redeclare a direct attack on you!” 

Don Turtle once again launched a torrent of water towards Neuro. The attack slammed into the now defenseless AI girl and knocked her off of her feet. She landed on her back and let out a small groan from the impact

Neuro Life Points: 2200 → 600

“I’ll then set a card face down and end my turn” Vedal declared. As a face down card appeared on his field “You ok Neuro? We can call it a day now if you’re not up to continuing.

Neuro didn’t respond right away. She just continued to stare at the sky as the waves rolled around her. She’d made a single mistake but it had cost her massively. She should have checked what the Raigeki Bottle was doing before she played into it and even then if she had held off on using Call of The Haunted she’d be ok. Still she wasn’t out of it yet. She knew she had ways back into the game. She forced herself to her feet. She was a little unsteady but mostly fine “I’m fine Vedal” she called over “Lets keep going”

Vedal watched her for a few seconds before nodding “If you’re then ok. Its your turn” Vedal reminded her.

Neuro returned the nod. “You're right about that. Let's see if I can pull things back. I draw!” 

Turn 6: Neuro-sama

Vedal Life Points: 3300  -  Neuro Life Points: 600

 Hand size: 0                  -                   Hand size: 5

Neuro looked at the card she had drawn. And compared it with the rest of her hand. She didn’t have the cards she needed as they were. But there might be a way if she used them correctly. Suddenly Neuro started releasing a sequence that could win her the game. She just had to hope it would be enough.

“Alright Vedal. I'm gonna start by summoning Draconet!” Neuro declared. Confidently slamming the card onto her duel disk. 

A digital particle effect appeared in front of Neuro as her monster appeared on the field. It was a small blue dragonic looking monster with a wifi symbol on its tail. It settled on the field hovering above the waves.

(Draconet/Level 3/ATK 1400/Def 1200)

“That monster isn’t very strong ,Neuro,” Vedal told her. Pointing out its low attack stat “I hope you have something else planned”

Neuro rolled her eyes “I don’t need you to tell me that Vedal.” She retorted “But what I’ll tell you is Draconets effect!. You see Draconet doesn’t like being summoned on his own so his special ability lets him bring a friend to the field with him straight from my deck as long as it's a level one or two normal monster!” Neuro explained as her deck began to appear to shuffle itself before it ended with one card sticking out of it which Neuro took out “And the monster I'm summoning is level 2 Galaxy Serpent!”

Draconet opened a portal next to itself and from it emerged a dragon-like creature made of blue-energy with stars shimmering throughout its body. The monster circled around Draconet and Neuro for a few second before settling on the field

(Galaxy Serpent/Level 2/Tuner/Atk 1000/ Def 0)

“Now comes the fun part, Vedal! It’s time for me to show you what I can really do!. Watch as I create my circuit!” Neuro yelled as she raised her hand towards the sky.  As she did, a blue flash of energy shot from her duel disk and became a square gateway in the sky. With eight arrows pointing in different directions. “Link arrows confirmed! The summoning condition is one normal monster. I set Galaxy Serpent in the Link Arrows!” Neuro declared

Galaxy serpents body turned into bright red energy as it flew up towards the gateway in the sky. The energy filling the arrow on the gateway that pointed straight down. Vedal only watched on. He’d never seen Neuro try something like this before.

“I’ve completed my circuit! I Link Summon!. Come to me! Link 1 Link Spider!” Neuro cried out. As she performed her Link summon.

The gateway shone a bright red as it confirmed the Link summon before a monster emerged from it. The monster was a blue bulky cybernetic spider monster with technology looking patterns all over its body. The monster settled on the field to the left and in front of Draconet.

(Link Spider/Link 1/ Atk 1000/ ↓ )

“A link summon!?” Vedal asked surprised “I haven’t  seen you do one of those before. Where did you learn to do that” Vedal was fairly certain that wasn’t in the data he uploaded earlier.

“I spend a lot of my time watching professionals duel Vedal. Did you not think I’d pick up a few tricks?” Neuro said with a smirk on her face. Vedal himself had seen him watching a duel where the winner used link monsters earlier. Did he really not think she wouldn’t have picked up anything  “Besides this deck you gave me has had link monsters available the entire time. It's just now I'm able to capitalize on that. And guess what. I'm not done yet. I activate Link Spiders effect!. Now I'm able to summon any level four or below normal monster from my hand. So long as I special summon it to the monster zone that Link Spiders Link Arrow points to!. So as that zone is free I’m able to summon Bitron to that zone!” 

Link spider turned around and opened a portal behind itself and from it emerged a small white drone looking monster with a pixelated screen acting as its face. The monster blinked a few times before letting out a cute chirping noise.

(Bitron/Level 2/Atk 200/Def 2000)

“Very Impressive Neuro. But your monsters still aren't strong enough to beat mine. Unless you’ve got more for me!” Vedal asked. Neuro has a sneaking suspicion that he knew she wasn’t done yet.

Deciding to ignore him, Neuro continued to play “I’m nowhere near done. Im going to create my Circuit once again” Neuro yelled. Once again Neuro raised her hand to the sky and the same gate from before appeared “Link Arrows confirmed. The conditions are two or more Cyberse Monsters. I set Link 1 Link Spider and Bitron in the Link Arrows!” As Neuro declared her materials both monsters materialized into the red energy from before and made their way into the arrows of the gate. This time the arrows pointed to the left and the right “My circuit is complete. I link summon! Link Two! Honeybot!” 

This time the monster that emerged from the gate was a humanoid robot monster with prominent bee looking features such as a bee stinger and a bees antenna.

(Honeybot/Link 2/Atk 1900/← , →)

Neuro closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Well as close to a deep breath as she could take. “And now it’s time. Appear one more time. I create my final circuit!” She yelled out. Throwing her hand up and summoning the gate way for the final time

Vedal raised an eyebrow “Three link summons in a turn? She really wants this win huh” He said to himself. Interested as to where this was going. He hadn’t been expecting this from Neuro.

“Link Arrows confirmed. The summoning conditions are at least two effect monsters” Neuro continued her summoning chant causing Vedal to understand why she had gone through two prior link monsters. She needed all of her materials to be effect monsters but Bitron and Galaxy serpent were both normal monsters so Neuro needed to do this to make both of her monsters effect monsters. Similar to her last two link summons, Neuros monsters moved into the link gateway along with her words. Filling in the bottom left, bottom right and directly upwards pointing arrows.  “I set Link 2 Honeybot and Draconet in the Link Arrows! Watch as I complete my Final circuit! I Link Summon! Link 3! Decode Talker!” Neuro yelled out.

This time something different happened as the monster was summoned. Instead of the monster being summoned straight away a massive storm of purple wind emerged from the portal and made its way down into Neuros extra monster zone until it appeared that a hurricane had appeared right in front of Neuro. Soon However a pair of glowing purple eyes could be seen inside of the storm and A purple swords cut through the wind. Revealing the monster inside. Decode talker. A humanoid monster covered in blue armour wielding a massive purple energy sword.

(Decode Talker/Link 3 Atk 2300/ ↙↑↘)

Vedal took a minute to take the monster in. Decode Talker.  By far the strongest monster so far it had an imposing presence on the field. It easily towered over both of his own monsters in both attack points and size and could very well turn the tide for Neuro. “Alright Alright I’ll admit it, Neuro. I’m actually Impressed. Now show me what it can do!”  Vedal challenged.

“I’m going to Vedal and I’ll start with Decode talkers special ability! For every monsters that one of Decode Talkers link arrows points to, Decode Talker gains five hundred attack points” Neuro explained “And it points to one. Your Abyss Soldier!. Go! Power Integration!”.

Decode talkers eyes flashed purple as it pointed its sword at Abyss Soldier as Abyss Soldier body glowed blue while its own glowed a bright red colour. The monster let out a powerful yell as its power surged

Decode Talker: Attack 2300 → 2800

“So what were you saying about my monster's power? Because they look strong enough to me” Neuro told Vedal confidently.

Vedal didn’t respond. His eyes narrowed as realised there was a chance he might actually be in trouble.

“Got nothing to say, Vedal. Well I’ve got two words for you. Let's battle!” Neuro yelled. Her confidence regained. “Decode talker. Attack Don Turtle. Decode Destruction!” Neuro yelled.

Decode Talker leapt up from where it was stood until it was high in the air. The monster then raised its sword above its head and descended from the sky. Ready to strike down Vedals Don Turtle.

Vedal quickly regained his focus from his brief distraction “I activate my face down card!. Half shut! Thanks to this card my Don Turtle won't be destroyed in battle this turn. The only downside is that its attack points are cut in half!” Vedal yelled out.

Just before Decode Talkers attack could connect. It appeared that energy was being drained from Don Turtle's body until a bright blue wall of said energy appeared in front of its body and shielded it from the attack.

Don Turtle Atk 1600 → 800

Neuro had an annoyed look on her face. She had really been banking on being able to destroy Vedal's monster. “Nice move Vedal. However I hope you didn’t forget. Your monster survives but you’ll still take the damage!” She yelled

True to her word Don Turtle had survived Decode Talkers attack but the shockwave caused from Decode Talkers sword striking the barrier created by half shut suddenly slammed into Vedal. The large amount of damage knocking him off of his feet.

Vedal Life Points 3300 → 1300

Vedal groaned as he hit the ground. Despite his discomfort he couldn’t help but feel…. Weirdly impressed? Like yeah sure he was getting his ass handed to him by his own creation but this was the first time he’d seen Neuro pull off a combo like this. The man staggered back to his feet and dusted himself off.

“Alright Vedal, My turn is done now. Time to see if you can deal with Decode Talker!” Neuro told him. Despite her confidence. Neuro knew that if Vedal was able to find a way to beat Decode Talker on his next turn that she was in major trouble

Vedal reached for his deck. He didn’t have any cards in his hand. What's more the only two monsters he had out weren't strong enough to even come close to defeating Decode Talker. Not helped out by the fact one of his own monsters was feeding power to Decode Talker. If he wanted to win. He’d need one hell of a draw. “Let's find out, I guess. I draw!” 

Turn 7: Vedal

Vedal Life Points: 1300  -  Neuro Life Points: 600

 Hand size: 1                  -                 Hand size: 3

Vedal glanced at the card he drew. It wasn’t perfect but it was a start “Ok then I’ll start my turn with the spell card Cup of Ace!” He declared. As he played the spell a golden goblet appeared in the middle of the duel field. Its golden light partially illuminating the battlefield. “Heres how it works. I toss a coin and if that coin lands on heads then I’ll get to draw two cards. However, if the coin happens to land on tails. Then you’ll draw the two cards instead” He explained.

Neuro’s eyes widened “Oh my. That's a serious gamble, Vedal. If it lands on tails you’ll be far too far behind” 

Vedal nodded in response “Yep I’m putting this duel on a coin flip. Sometimes you’ve got to take risks you’d rather not take Neuro. You just need to make sure that those risks are worth it” He told her. Getting strangely serious for a moment. He didn’t let the moment linger however as he held open his palm and a large going appeared in his hand “Well no sense in holding off. Here goes!” 

Vedal threw the coin high into the air. Causing it to flip over and over again. Both Vedal and Neuro watched the coin intently. Waiting to see how it would land. Eventually the coin began to descend to the ground rapidly and eventually crashed. Kicking up a small dust cloud. The result of the coin flip being revealed. Showing that it had landed on heads.

Vedal let out a sigh of relief “Looks like i’m still in this. Lets see what I get then” He said as he drew two cards from his deck. He hesitated before looking at them. He might’ve gotten lucky on the coin flip but these two cards would ultimately decide his fate. 

Neuro also knew this and waited patiently to see what Vedal had gotten. A part of her felt frustrated knowing that if that coin flip had just landed on tails she’d have won the duel for certain but now it was up to chance.

She didn’t have time to process that all of a sudden as the field below Neuro began to shake and the waves themselves began to grow more restless “What's happening!?” Neuro asked, slightly panicking. This panic was increased when all of a sudden a pair of glowing blue eyes appeared in the depths of the ocean. Right below Decode Talker. The waves continued to glow more and more restless until all of a sudden a massive monster appeared from below the waves and appeared to literally eat Decode Talker as it did. It was a giant sea turtle looking monster that was entirely blue and was enormous. 

(Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju/ Level 8/ATK 2200/DEF 3000)

Neuro could only stare in shock “What!. What happened to Decode Talker!” She didn’t understand where Decode Talker had gone or why It was replaced with this giant sea creature.

“The monster on your field now is Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju. I can summon it from my hand to you field by tributing one of your monsters” Vedal explained. “Letting me deal with Decode Talker pretty easily”

Neuro was still in shock. Still there was one thing going for her. Gameciel was a water monster. Meaning it would also be powered up by Vedals field spell.

Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju ATK 2200 → 2700

“A nice try, Vedal. Although it's a shame that all it does is decrease the total attack points by a tiny one hundred” Neuro told him. Slightly regaining her confidence after seeing the attack stat. 

“That might be so. But I’ve still got one trick left up my sleeve. Abyss Soldier has a special ability!” Vedal explained, causing Neuros eyes to widen. She might actually be in trouble “Thanks to it, by discarding this third copy of Don Turtle from my hand to the graveyard I can return one card on the field back to its owner's hand. And the card I’m choosing to return is Gameciel” He announced

Abyss soldier pointed its trident at gameciel and a surge of visible sound waves emerged from it and eventually enveloped Gameciel. The giant kaiju let out a roar before it was returned to card form and to Vedal's hand. A look of defeat made its way onto Neuro's face. Without Gameciel she had no more monsters to defend herself with.

“Battle!” Vedal declared “Abyss Soldier wrap this up! Attack Neuro directly! Abyssal Trident!”

It was over in a flash as Abyss Soldier threw its Trident like a Javelin. The trident hit Neuro before exploding and sending Neuro flying across the yard. Causing her to turn around mid air and land on her front.

Neuro Sama Life Points : 0

Winner: Vedal.

The ocean from Vedal’s field spell as well as his monsters disappeared as the duel ended and terrain reverted back to the backyard. Neuro let out a defeated sigh as she propped herself up with her arms and sat up properly. Vedal walked over to her and offered her a hand up which she took. “I’m impressed, Neuro” Vedal told her. “I’ve never seen you make a sequence of plays like that before. Honestly it was way ahead of where you should be”

Neuro let out a giggle at that “Well I’ve got to keep somethings as a surprise right” She teased as she walked over to a garden chair that was just outside the entrance to the house and sat down “Still though I really though Decode Talker would be able to beat you”

Vedal shook his head “You can’t put too much faith into just one card Neuro. Sure Decode Talker is powerful but in your excitement to summon it you left it vulnerable. What's more is Decode Talker has another special ability that it can use to protect itself if you just leave it something that it points to on your field. It wouldn’t have helped against Gameciel, sure but it's one more thing you can do to protect it” Vedal explained to her as he helped her take off her duel disk. 

Neuro paused to think. Did she have another way? Sure Decode Talker achieved the goal she was trying to get too on that turn but she hadn’t considered any following turns. She’d just assumed Decode Talker would survive while knowing full well the issues that would arise if Vedal did manage to beat it. It then hit her. “Call of the haunted” She muttered to herself. If she had waited until Vedal had defeated Decode Talker before using it then she would have had a back up plan.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a little while. Each being lost in their own thoughts. Eventually they were both forced to come back to reality as a load boom rang out from the sky and it started to rain. They both quickly made their way inside. Hoping to avoid the awful weather.

The rain continued to pour down for hours after the pair made their way back inside. The time now being in the late afternoon. Neuro found herself sitting by the window watching the rain fall and lightning illuminating the sky every so often. Vedal was sitting in front of the tv. Which was playing some news report that Vedal didn't really care about. He was more focused on his laptop. He was combing through the data from the duel earlier. Normally whenever he’d look at the duel data he’d see errors in Neuro. Something like her dueling systems trying to force themselves on or logic errors. 

The unusual thing?. This time there was nothing. She’d made all of the plays without her software slowing down at all and her duel systems hadn’t tried to activate by itself. Vedal was quite frankly baffled. The data uploaded this morning was meant to help with those problems for sure but he wasn’t expecting them to be all gone. “There's just no way,” He said out loud. He just couldn’t believe it. 

“Is something wrong Vedal?” Neuro turned around to look at him from the window. Curious about what was going on.

“You remember the issues you’ve been having?” Vedal responded still staring at the screen in confusion “The ones during your duels. They're gone…. Not just less, Gone” Vedal was still at a loss. Either he was a much better programmer than he thought or there was something wrong here.

Neuro was oddly quiet at that revelation. Seemingly thinking to herself before she stood up. Her hand began fiddling with the hem of her cardigan. “So if all of the issues are gone…. Does that mean I can start going out and dueling other people” she asked, refusing to meet Vedal's gaze. a hopeful undertone in her voice.

Vedal looked at for a few seconds before sighing and rubbing his temples “I did promise you that didn’t I?” He asked more to himself. “Look Neuro…. I know what I said. That when you could duel properly on your own without errors. That I’d let you go out and duel. But you need to understand. Other people don’t duel like me and you do with each other. Don’t get me wrong there are good people out there but a lot of people will just use dueling as a means to hurt people. I’d like to protect you from that if possible” Veal told her

This seemed to anger Neuro as she stomped one of her feet “I know that, Vedal” She nearly yelled “Despite how you treat me sometimes I’m not a Filtered child. I know not all humans are good people. I know that some people will try to hurt me. I’ve known that since we had to go into hiding a year ago!. But I can’t learn to live. To be a real person. Without interacting with humans and seeing that for myself” Tears were starting to form in her eyes at this point. 

Vedal looked down at his feet. He regretted letting her have a feature that let her cry. It made him feel like a massive jerk right now. He knew his intentions were good. But could he really let Neuro out into the world. He’d spent so long protecting her that he was unsure if he was ready to let go like that.

The room settled into an uncomfortable silence. Neuro just stood. Staring at Vedal as he thought. Her gaze pierced through him. For the first time since her creation Vedal felt on the backfoot in a conversation with her. She’d always had a sassy streak but this is the first time she’d been actually upset with him. “Vedal. I know you’re worried. Please don't misunderstand. I’m thankful for everything you’ve done for me. I just want a chance to live like a normal person. Not confined to this house” Neuro said. Her expression softened. As if she’d come to some realization on her own.

Vedal was silent for a few more moments. Thinking everything over before he finally spoke “Don’t talk with strangers if I’m not there. Don’t go off without me unless I give you permission. Don’t tell anyone you’re an AI” he said finally.

Neuro looked confused “Huh? What are you talking about?”. She was genuinely confused about what he was saying.

Vedal looked her dead in the eye “Those are my rules. If you’re going to go out and interact and duel with other people then you have to follow those rules. Understood” 

Neuro’s eyes widened realizing what Vedal was saying. She suddenly jumped forward towards Vedal and hugged him. Nearly knocking him out of his seat as she did. “Yes!. I promise you Vedal I won’t break those rules!. Thank you Vedal, you won’t regret this!” She told him, hugging him tightly.

Vedal rolled his eyes as he placed a hand on her back. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight of how happy she was. He let them stay like for a few more seconds before pulling away and looking her in the eye “On and one more thing. The filter stays on” He told her half joking.

She looked at him with a confused expression on her face for a few seconds before responding to him with one word

“Filtered”

Elsewhere in the city. Someone sat alone in a quiet office. The office was dark. Only illuminated by the glow of their computer monitor. They stared in silence as they watched footage recorded earlier that day. Completely Engrossed

“I set Link 2 Honeybot and Draconet in the Link Arrows! Watch as I complete my Final circuit! I Link Summon! Link 3! Decode Talker!”

The look on the person's face was one of complete shock. They hadn’t expected a development like this so soon. The person quickly reached for a phone on their desk and dialled a number. It only took a few seconds of the phone ringing before the call was answered.

“Hello. It's about Neuro-sama. The drone captured just what we expected. Your code worked. She’s ready to duel at the professional level” What the person on the other end of the line said couldn’t quite be made out by anyone other than the person in the office. “I wouldn’t worry about Vedal. He didn’t think twice before putting the data into Neuro. After all he wouldn’t have a reason to expect it was tampered with” Another garbled response came from the phone “Understood. I’ll continue to monitor them. I’ll wait on your signal and seize Neuro-sama when you give the order”

The call ended and the person got up from the chair and walked up to the window. Gazing out into the city. The bustling sight calming the person's nerves. As she stepped into the light their appearance was revealed. White hair, red eyes and two blue headpieces that betrayed her human look. She stared out of the city. An unreadable expression on their face as they did. They spoke to themselves. The message however meant for another.

“We’re coming for you Vedal. And when we do. You’ll pay for everything you’ve done to us!”. 

Chapter Text

“Where are we going, Vedal?”

Vedal couldn’t help but chuckle at the question. After agreeing to take Neuro out yesterday Vedal had planned their route for today. However he had chosen not to tell Neuro this. Instead leaving his plans a surprise for her.

“You’ll know soon Neuro. For now just take things in.” Vedal told her as they walked. “It’s your first time in a while leaving the house. Isn’t it?. Just take things in for a little bit”.

Neuro gave him a small nod as she started to look around her. The two had left the house at around mid morning and had made their way into the shopping district. The streets themselves weren’t too busy at this time of day. Although there still were a decent few people around. Neuro was thankful that no one paid any close attention to them. Anyone who did just thought it was a Father and Daughter going shopping together….. Father and Daughter huh. Neuro had never really thought about it before but as her creator Vedal was basically her dad. But then who would be her mom? Neuro knew Vedal kept a few pictures around of someone he said was a childhood friend who helped work on her. Maybe she was her mother?. Neuro couldn’t help but think about how Vedal would feel if she called him dad.

“Ok we’re here” Vedal said. Dragging her from her thoughts. 

Neuro looked at the shop she and Vedal had stopped in front of and her eyes went wide. “Vedal is this place?” She asked. Her excitement starting too leak into her voice

“Yep, it's a card shop. That deck you’ve been playing is just a starter deck. It was fine when you were dueling against my deck from ten odd years ago but against what people play nowadays it probably won’t cut it” He explained  “So what we’re gonna do is go in. Test out some of the decks in there and see if we can’t find something for you to upgrade to. Sounds good?” He asked her

Neuro nodded and she nearly ran into the store and Vedal quickly followed after. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the AI girls excitement. It was gonna be a long day.

Finding a deck that Neuro wanted to play turned out to be more of a challenge than Vedal had initially thought it would be. He thought Neuro would find a deck she liked relatively quickly but Neuro had just tried out her tenth deck and she still didn’t feel right about it. They had tried a variety of decks as well. Whether it be the Synchro summoning focused Crystron, The XYZ summoning focused Zoodiac or the pendulum and fusion summoning Melodious monsters. Neuro just couldn’t find herself enjoying any of them.

“I don’t know how to explain it” Neuro told Vedal. “Every single one of these decks just feels… Wrong…. Like i’m not supposed to be playing them”.

Vedal paused for a moment trying to think of a way to help her out. “Tell you what” Vedal told her “Think back to all of the duels we had. Every single one. I know they’re in your memory banks. Of all of them, which one monster stands out the most to you? Which monster is your favourite”

Neuro paused for a few moments. She and Vedal had dueled a lot. Each time she had tried different monsters and different tactics. Did one of them stand out? Cyber Dragon was strong but she never really felt like it was special. Exarion Unvierse was cool, she thought, but it didn’t really do much except being a strong monster. Of all the monsters she thought about. There was only one she felt and a connection with.

So Neuro looked Vedal in the eyes and said a single name “Decode Talker” she told him.

A smile made its way onto Vedals face “You sure you’re not just basing the decision on our last duel?” He asked her. Having to hold in a laugh at the pout that made its way onto her face. “Alright Alright im kidding. Decode Talker. That works. Come on I’ve got an idea” Vedal began to walk over to a different display of decks as Neuro quickly followed after him. Wondering what his plan was. “So Decode Talker was just the first in a long line of Code Talker monsters” Vedal began to speak as they made their way over to the link monsters section of the store. “If you want to keep summoning Decode Talker then you won’t find a better deck than this one” They finally stopped in front of a section of cards. Labeled “Code Talker”.

 Neuro swiped through the digital display of each card and read each card associated with the archetype. The monsters were all Cyberse monsters. Neuro had always felt a connection with Cyberse monsters. Some might expect her to fall more in line with machine monsters. But only her body was mechanical. Her mind was fully digital so maybe it made sense that she liked these digital creatures. The more she looked at the cards the more sure she felt. She turned around and looked at Vedal. She knew even without testing the cards. That this was it.

After finally figuring out what deck Neuro wanted to play, time flew by. They had bought basically every Code Talker related card the store had in stock as well as a few good generic spells and traps and quickly got to deck building. It turned out that Vedal really knew his stuff when it came to duel monsters. Neuro would ask if she should put a card in and Vedal was able to give her a good and well reasoned argument as to why she should or shouldn’t play that card and offered alternatives. An hour after they began they had finished putting together Neuro’s deck. Finish it off by adding in Decode talker and placing it as the first card in her extra deck.

By the time the duo made it out of the store at least three hours had passed. It was the afternoon now and the streets were a lot more crowded. Vedal was debating their next actions before his stomach rumbled “Ok here's the plan. We’re gonna go and get me something to eat because i’m starving and then once thats done we can head home and make sure your familiar with your new cards” 

Neuro nodded enthusiastically. “Ok but make sure you eat quickly. I really want to get a duel in with my new deck today. I might even be able to beat you now!” She said excitedly. The prospect of her new deck making her far more energetic than Vedal had seen her be in a long time. 

“Dont rush me. A Greggs chicken bake is something that needs to be savoured” Was his only reply.

The two walked down the street in a comfortable silence. Presumably heading to wherever the nearest Greggs was. The crowded nature of the street made Vedal feel a little bit paranoid. He felt exposed. It wasn’t as bad with fewer people around but the fact that any one person could look at Neuro and notice something off scared him. It was unlikely given how well Neuro was made but still possible. Neuro comparatively seemed less bothered. She was walking slightly ahead of Vedal with a wide smile on her face. Seemingly just enjoying herself.

The two rounded a corner and walked onto a pedestrian only street. At first this street appeared to be less crowded until the two quickly noticed that most of the pedestrians were centralized around one particular area of the street. Where a street performer was performing. As they walked past Neuro couldn’t help but stop to watch. 

The performer was a woman with long pink hair with black and white highlights and her eyes were ocean blue. She was in the middle of performing some kind of magic trick. One of the pedestrians drew a card from a deck of cards she was holding and the card was then shuffled back into the deck. The shuffling methods she used got increasingly more insane as she went. A couple of times she even threw the entire deck over her head and was able to catch it properly. Eventually she drew the top card of the deck and showed it to the pedestrians.

“Was this your card?” she asked. A grin on her face as she showed a monster card to the pedestrian. To Neuro’s surprise the pedestrian said it wasn’t. Her smile only got wider however as she told the pedestrian to check their back pocket. They did so and their eyes went wide as they found the card they had drawn in that pocket. They handed the card back to the performer. Their eyes wide. Neuro watched in shock as the gathered audience clapped.

“Neat trick” Vedal said. Neuro registered that he said something but didn't respond. Still watching the show.

“Thank you, Thank you!” The performer cheered. “It is truly an honor for I , Camila, the greatest performer, to entertain you today. We aren’t done yet however”. The now named Camila stood on a platform as she addressed the crowd. “For my final act I’ll be giving you all a real treat. The chance to witness the great Camila participate in a duel! With a special reward if whoever volunteers manages to defeat me. I wouldn’t get your hopes up though!” Confidence oozing from her as the crowd began to grow excited at the prospect of a duel “So who is it gonna be?”

Vedal realised what was about to happen far too late to stop it “Neuro no!” Vedal said but before he could look to where she was standing the AI girl was already gone. Having run over towards the platform “Oh god damn it” Vedal nearly yelled as he ran after her.

“I’ll duel you!” Neuro called out as she ran up to the stage. Quickly reaching down to the deckbox on her waist and taking it out.

Camila looked at her for a few seconds before a wide grin appeared onto her face. Her sharp teeth being able to be seen “Well Well Well. Who do we have here?. I admire your bravery child. Do you truly believe you can take me on though” Camila asked her. 

Neuro was able to see through the obvious taunt however “I’d worry more about yourself. Try not to get upset after I win!” She shot back

Camila let out a cackle. Clearly entertained by Neuro’s antics. “Alright then. Let the duel begin!” Camila declared.

Vedal finally managed to get to the stage but by the time he did it was far too late. He saw Neuro and Camila walking away from each other with duel disks strapped onto their arms. “Oh god dammit Neuro!” he yelled

Camila’s gaze shot over to him and her smile got even wider “Oh? Is this your dad? Did you run off to duel me without his permission? Aren't you an adorable little trouble maker” She teased

Neuro only shook her head however. “He’s not my dad. He’s just Vedal, "she explained. A part of her felt off saying that however.

Camila looked confused for a second before shrugging. “Eh whatever. As long as there's no issue with you dueling who he is doesn’t matter I suppose”

Vedal just sighed and shook his head. He really wanted Neuro to be discreet during their trip today but he supposed that had already been thrown out of the window. One duel couldn’t hurt “Sure go for it” He said defeatedly.

Neuro's smile widened with his approval and Camila nodded as well. “Alright then” Camila said "are you ready child?”

“Of course” Neuro responded as she slotted her deck into her duel disk “Get ready to lose” Her duel disk lighting up. “And my name isn’t Child! My name is Neuro!”

“Very well then” Camila nodded doing the same as she also slotted her deck into her duel disk “You already know this but my name is Camila and you should feel honored to be defeated by me! Neuro didn’t respond to that. She wouldn’t fall for a taunt that obvious so early. 

“LETS DUEL” They both yelled.

Both of their duel disks rapidly flashed between green and red for multiple seconds before Neuro’s flashed green and Camila’s flashed red. Indicating Neuro would be going first. 

Turn 1: Neuro-sama

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Camila Life Points: 4000

“Looks like I’m up first let me show you what I’ve got Camila” Neuro looked at her hand for a few seconds. Considering her play before nodding “I’ll start by summoning Cyberse Wizard in attack position!” 

A digital looking gate materialized in front of Neuro before it opened and a monster came through it. It appeared to be a human wearing a magicians outfit but with a grey and green colour scheme that differentiated it from your typical wizard. It had some digital effects buzzing around it before it settled onto the field in front of Neuro.

(Cyberse Wizard/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 800)

“Eighteen hundred attack points” Camila observed. A small grin appearing on her face “Quite a strong start child”

Neuro looked over at Camila. Despite her words she didn’t seem at all worried by her monster. Neuro’s eyes narrowed. “What is she up to?” She said under her breath “I’ll place two cards face down and end my turn. Bring it on Camila!” She yelled out as her two cards appeared face down on her field behind Cyberse Wizard.

Camila gave a short laugh “Very well child. Let the show begin. I draw!” Camila . keeping to her identity as an entertainer couldn’t just draw her card normally. She reached for her deck and as she was about to draw she flipped backwards. Landing on her feet with her new card in hand. 

Turn 2: Camila

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Camila Life Points: 4000

Hand size: 3                   -                    Hand size: 6

Camila looked at the card she drew and let out a cackle “Ok then. I know I said the show can begin but maybe we need a little rehearsal first.” Camila's smile was wide as she reached for a card in her hand “So before this show really gets on the road I’ll be activating the spell card Abyss Actors’ Dress Rehearsal!” Camila announced the spell appearing on the field in front of her.

“Abyss Actor?” Neuro asked, confused. She didn’t remember seeing this deck in the store when she was there with Vedal meaning she didn’t know anything about the deck. It was the first time in a while she was against a deck where she had no clue what it did. The concept both excited and worried her, 

“That’s right. This spell gives me some time to get in costume before the show by not only letting me add one of this shows most important actors to my hand but it also lets me add one of the scripts for one of the many acts in this show directly to my hand as well” Camila explained as her deck appeared to shuffle itself as she interacted with her duel disk before it stopped with two cards sticking out of the deck which Camila took out “The actor I have chosen is the lovely Abyss Actor - Leading Lady and the Script that's best for this act?. Well it’s none other than the dark start of our story Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss king! Camila announced as she revealed the two cards to Neuro. 

Neuro grew more worried as the spell resolved “You got any cards you wanted from your deck?”.  Starting the duel with such an incredibly powerful spell was one way to set the turn and she did it while seemingly being more focused on the crowd than her opponent”

“Thats right. Its one of my favourite ways to start a duel. This move is a close second however. I call on this show's Leading Lady to take the stage” Camila paused for a second for dramatic effect before continuing. “No, not me silly. I’m of course talking about the wonderful and talented Abyss Actor - Leading Lady!” 

The field in front of Camila suddenly erupted in smoke. It was quickly dissipated however and a silhouette was visible within. Camila’s leading lady then stepped out of the smoke doing a small twirl as she did before it began waving to the crowd. Causing them to cheer.

(Abyss Actor - Leading Lady/Pendulum/Atk 1500/Def 1000)

The crowd was being very loud, clearly enjoying the show she was putting on and most of them were rooting for her to win judging by their cheers. Vedal however was focused on Neuro. She didn’t seem bothered by it yet but he wondered how long her focus would last.

“And now that the Leading Lady is here, let's give her a show to put on. I’ll activate the spell card Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss king!” Camila declared. As she did, a script appeared in her Leading Lady's hand. The monster read the script and as she did a large demonic look figure rose up from seemingly nowhere between the fields and it glared at Cyberse Wizard. Neuro tensed up. The display worrying her greatly “This is a story about how the abyss king rose up and terrorized the people. However in this version of the story it’ll be terrorizing someone specific…. YOU!” Camila announced with glee “You see thanks to this spell for each of my wonderful actors in the show I can destroy a card on your field. Sure Its only leading lady on stage for now but that's still more than enough for me to take out your Cyberse Wizard!”

The Abyss King at the center of the field let out a deafening roar before it suddenly lunged at Cyberse Wizard. Before slamming its fist into Cyberse Wizard. Destroying it instantly. Neuro flinched as he felt the impact of Cyberse Wizards' destruction. The abyss king let out a final roar before it sank back into the floor.

“And now that you’re defenseless I think it’s time that we battled. Oh Leading Lady! Show the audience your talent and attack Neuro directly!” Camila cheered as the attack was launched.

Leading Lady wound her hand back. The whip in her hand went back with it before she sent it forward with force. The whip striking Neuro. Neuro let out a small yelp of pain as she was knocked a few steps back.

Neuro Life Points: 4000 → 2500

“You might have dealt a good amount of damage” Neuro steadied herself on her feet before looking Camils in the eye “But you aren’t the only one who will get something out of it. I activate the trap Cyberse Beacon” She declared as her trap card revealed itself “Since you dealt me damage this turn. This trap lets me add any cyberse monster who is level four or below to my hand!” Neuro explained as the beacon appeared on her field and shot a beam into the sky. Opening a gateway. “And the monster I choose to add. Is Draconet!” Neuro yelled as she added the card to her hand. Draconet descended from the opened gateway in the sky before disappearing into its card form.

“Interesting. I will commend you on turning the loss of life points into an advantage for yourself” Camila clapped her hands as she spoke “But it won't be enough for you to win. I’ll place one card face down on my field and end my turn. I can’t leave my Leading Lady unprotected after all” Camila said. Giving Neuro a quick wink as she ended her turn. Her set card materializing on the field.

“You might have been taking charge of the show so far but now it’s my turn to take the lead. I draw!” Neuro declared

Turn 3: Neuro-Sama

Neuro Life Points: 2500  - Camila Life Points: 4000

Hand size: 5                  -                     Hand size: 4

Neuro went to play a card in her hand but she hesitated. She was suddenly reminded of her last duel with Vedal. Where she went all out too early without a backup plan. If she had made the play she was about to make she would have been a sitting duck if it was beaten. So instead she chose to do something different. Reaching for a different card in her hand. “Ok I’ll summon Draconet in attack position!” Neuro yelled out 

A familiar particle effect appeared in front of Neuro as Draconet phased into reality. The blue dragon looking monster let out a roar before it settled in front of neuro. 

(Draconet/Level 3/ATK 1400/Def 1200)

“Aww what a cute monster” Camila cooed at Draconet. From the sidelines Vedal could swear he saw the digital dragon blushing.

“You won’t think he’s cute when you see his special ability!” Neuro stomped her foot on the ground. Her plays were supposed to confuse or worry her opponent. Not make them think her monsters were cute. “You see when Draconet is summoned he’s allowed to bring another friend from the cyberse with him. As long as that friend is a level one or two normal monster! So joining my Draconet on the field will be Bitron!” Neuro announced

Draconet flew into the sky just above neuro and summoned a gate way that Bitron flew out of. The little white drone looking monster let out a few beeps and boops before settling onto the field.

(Bitron/Level 2/Atk 200/Def 2000)

“Awwwww!” Camila cooed again. Clearly finding Bitron cute. Bitron seemed to blush in a similar way to Draconet.

“Shut up!” Neuro pouted. Vedal could see how grumpy Neuro was from where he was stood. Camila was trying to get into her head and it was working. Still Neuro was still dueling just fine so maybe it would still be ok.  “Well I hope you liked seeing them because I’m now putting them to work. Watch as I create my Circuit” Neuro declared as she thrust her hand towards the sky. Summoning the link gateway above them. Camila’s eyes went wide as she realised what was going on “Link arrows confirmed. The summoning condition is two cyberse monsters!. I set Draconet and Bitron in the link arrows”  Both monsters' bodies materialized into energy and made their way up to the link gate. Filling in both the left and right arrows. “My circuit is complete! I Link Summon! Link Two! Honeybot!”

The link gate above them opened up and as it did a humanoid monster with many bee looking features emerged from the portal and settled on the field in front of Neuro. Letting out a battle cry as it did 

(Honeybot/Link 2/Atk 1900/← , →)

Camila stared at Honeybot for a few seconds with her mouth wide open in surprise “A link summon?” she asked. Clearly not having expected that link summoning was on the table for Neuro to do. She quickly shook her head and regained her composure. “Well well. You’ve impressed me child. Now lets see what this link monster of yours can do”

“Instead of waiting to see how about I just show you! Lets battle!” Neuro shot back “Honeybot! Destroy Camila's Leading Lady! Cyber swarm strike!” 

Honeybot took flight and flew towards Leading Lady. Leading Lady panicked and attempted to run away from Honeybot’s attack but it was nowhere near fast enough and Honeybot was able to fly straight through Abyss Actor - Leading Lady. Successfully destroying the monster causing it to burst into particles. Camila covered her face with her hands as she felt the after shocks from the attack

Camila Life Points: 4000 → 3600

“Not bad child” Camila complimented her smile slightly smaller than it was beforehand“But it’ll take more than four hundred points of damage to take me down” If she was bothered she wasn't showing it outwardly. “And I’ll prove it by activating my Leading Lady’s special ability!. You see when she’s destroyed she leaves behind a parting gift of an abyss script that she’s personally worked on and sets it straight from my deck to my field. So I’ll go ahead and set Abyss Script - Abysstainment from my deck” Camilas new script materialized on the field infront of her as she spoke “Still think you’ve got enough to win child?”

“Oh don’t worry Camila. I’ve got plenty more where that came from” Neuro responded as she quickly glanced at her hand “Although I think you’ve had enough for this turn. I'll end my turn here. Go ahead Camila. I can’t wait to see how your next act plays out!”

“Very well. Allow me to put on an incredible performance the likes of which this audience has never seen!” Camila declared “After all. You’ve used your decks gimmick so it's only fair I use mine” She said. A wide grin appearing on her face which unnerved Neuro “I draw!” she yelled

Turn 4: Camila

Neuro Life Points: 2500  - Camila Life Points: 3600

Hand size: 4                  -                     Hand size: 5

Camila looked at the card she had drawn. The grin on her face growing even wider as she let out a cackle “Well Well Well it's finally time. You’re in for a treat ladies and gentlemen. Watch in awe at my ultimate technique.” She declared as she reached for two cards in her hand “Now I’ll use scale one Abyss Actor - Evil Heel and Scale eight Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian to set my pendulum scale. With these two on stage the show can really begin” Camila announced with glee in her voice.

As Camila placed the cards into her duel disk two pillars of light erupted from the ground. Evil Heel , a hulking purple monster wearing a white mask and Funky Comedian , A four armed yellow monster , appeared inside of the pillars of light each with the number of their pendulum scales below them. Neuro looked on in awe. She knew what was happening but it was her first time really seeing it . Vedal had never used this technique in any of their practice duels.

Camila’s pendulum scale: Abyss Actor - Evil Heel 1  ---------  8 Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian

“Now that my pendulum scale is complete I'm allowed to pendulum summon monsters from level two to seven all at the same time!” Camila explained. As she did a pendulum appeared in the sky between the two monsters and began to swing back and forth between them. Eventually carving a portal in the sky.  The audience watched on with just as much awe as Neuro “Swing Pendulum! Call forth this show’s greatest performers and make this turn one to remember!. My performers are ready to take the stage!. The performers most important star is finally here come on out Abyss Actor -- Superstar!. And joining him in his debut performance is our wonderful returning actress Abyss Actor - Leading Lady!”.

Two purple beams of light descended from the portal in the sky. From one emerged the previously summoned Leading Lady. As cheerful as ever despite being destroyed previously. From the other emerged a new monster. It was a very thin looking monster that appeared to be wearing a black suit. Both monsters took their place on Camila’s field with Leading Lady being slightly in front in Camila’s extra monster zone.

(Abyss Actor - Leading Lady/Level 4/Pendulum/Atk 1500/Def 1000)

(Abyss Actor - Superstar/Level 7/Pendulum/Atk 2500/Def 1800)

Vedal was suddenly very worried. He had taught Neuro about all the different summoning methods the game had to offer but in all their practice duels she’d never had to face most of them. The worst part was pendulum summons, While the hardest to pull off, were also the most powerful. Camila could pendulum summon back her pendulum monsters over and over again and there was nothing Neuro could do to stop it. There was one weakness that Neuro could exploit. Vedal could only hope that Neuro would figure it out in time. 

Neuro herself was stunned. Vedal's hypothesis was correct. She had almost forgotten most of what pendulum summoning involved. Her main concern was Leading Lady. How was it back on the field when she’d destroyed it. Camila seemed to have figured out exactly what she was thinking however and let out a laugh “Awww whats wrong? Surprised to see Leading Lady again? Well that's the special part about pendulum monsters! Not only can they be used to set the pendulum scale but if they are ever destroyed they go to the extra deck instead of the graveyard. Where I can summon them out again later!” Camila explained. Practically bouncing on the spot with glee. Neuro’s eyes narrowed at that. This meant that no matter how many times she beat one of Camila’s abyss actors it would just keep coming back. “But where are my manners?. I should introduce our newest performer by activating Abyss Actor - Superstars special ability!. The lead actor of our show must follow his script to the letter so his special ability lets him take any Abyss Script that I choose from my deck and immediately sets it to my field. And the card I’m choosing is Abyss Script - Fire Dragons Lair!” Camila declared

“Just how many different scripts can one play have?” Neuro grumbled. However despite her worries she was calm. Even with two monsters on Camila’s field thanks to Honeybot’s nineteen hundred attack points she would survive the turn.

“And now that my Superstar has its script it’s time for him to perform it. I activate Abyss Script - Fire Dragons Lair and have it grant its amazing powers to Abyss Actor - Superstar!” Camila cheered as her set card revealed itself. The spell cards activations caused Superstars' outfits to change. The monster now wearing a knight's armour and a large sword appeared in its hands. “This story is about how a brave hero entered a fearsome dragon's lair and was able to slay it. Gaining great power and respect from their heroic actions!” Camila explained

“Thats’ great” Neuro said sarcastically “But what does the spell do?”

“I’m glad you asked” Camila responded with a grin “Thanks to this spell's effect, if Superstar happens to destroy one of your monsters in battle this turn then you’ll have to pay more of a price than just your life points. You see, the magic of the fire dragon's lair means you’ll also lose three monsters from your extra deck! . Seeing how your deck focuses on link monsters I’ll bet you’ve got plenty of important cards in there so this attack is truly going to be a show stopper!” Camila explained. Neuro’s expression was unreadable to most but Vedal could tell that she…. Didn’t seem worried? Camila didn’t seem to pick up on this however “Now lets battle! Abyss Actor - Superstar! Get set to take out Honeybot!  Fire dragons wrath!” Camila yelled

Abyss Actor - Superstar raised its sword above its head and the blade ignited. It then brought its blade down in front of it before dashing forward and slashing down at Honeybot its blade fell down and a huge cloud of smoke erupted as the attack hit Honeybot.

Camila cackled at the events “Looks like your link monster wasn’t so special after all huh?” she taunted smugly. 

However her confidence was quickly replaced with shock and confusion. When the smoke cloud cleared Abyss Actor - Superstar was still attacking. However its blade had been blocked by a glowing blue barrier. What's more is Neuros life points also remained unchanged. 

“Hey what gives. Honeybot should be toast by now!” Camila asked. The expression on her face still one of shock and confusion

Neuro simply smirked,  “Honestly, did you think I wouldn’t be prepared for you to summon a monster stronger than my Honeybot?” The AI girl giggled to herself. Clearly enjoying how confused Camila was.  Camila frowned as she did.  “And you had so much riding on being able to destroy Honeybot as well. Too bad for you that when Abyss Actor - Superstar attacked I played the my set quick play spell Security Block. Not only did it prevent Honeybots destruction but as a bonus I can't take battle damage for the rest of the turn.” Neuro explained as Camila realized she had been baited. “Nice try Camila but it looks like it's your show that was stopped!”

Camila stared at Neuro for a few seconds before sighing “Oh well. Looks like this performance is gonna have a few more acts than I thought but that's ok” Her smile returned to her face. Still clearly in the game “Well it looks like I’ll have to end my turn there. But don’t worry, the show starts again soon!” As Camila ended her turn Superstars knight armour and sword disappeared. Returning him to his normal outfit.

“Then it’s my turn. You might be able to pendulum summon. But let me show you the real power of link summoning!” Neuro declared. She now knew what she had to do. She had held off last turn but now it was time to step on the gas. “I draw!”

Turn 5: Neuro-Sama

Neuro Life Points: 2500  - Camila Life Points: 3600

Hand size: 5                  -                     Hand size: 2

Neuro glanced at the card she had drawn and a grin made its way onto her face. “Alright now’s the time. I activate the effect of Defcon Bird in my hand. Now by discarding Dotscaper from my hand. Defcon Bird summons itself to my field” Neuro explained as she placed a card from her hand into her graveyard.

A flash of light appeared in the sky as Defcon Bird soared down onto Neuros field. It appeared to be a mostly mechanical bird with teal coloured wings that were connected to each other. It let out a loud caw noise before it settled onto the field. 

(Defcon Bird/Level 3/ Atk 100/ Def 1700)

“And there's more where that came from. You see, because Dotscaper was sent to my graveyard. His special ability activates! Immediately summoning itself to my field” Neuro continued.

A mass of different coloured building blocks suddenly started appearing onto Neuro’s field. Eventually however it was obvious the block were building something and eventually they all came together to form Dotscaper. The monster let out a few beeps and boops as it was finally fully formed.

(Dotscaper/Level 1/Atk 0/Def 2100)

“Two monsters just like that!” Camila's smile still hadn’t left her face. “Pendulum summoning might enable me to do that easily but you just don’t like being shown up do you?” She asked

Neuro wasn’t backing down however “Let’s see you show this up! Watch as I create my final circuit!” She yelled out. Thrusting her arm out towards the sky as the link gate appeared. “Link Arrows confirmed! The conditions are at least two effect monsters! I set link two Honeybot and Defcon Bird in the link arrows” Neuro yelled out as Honeybot and Defcon Bird both turned into red energy and made their way up to the link gateway with Honeybot splitting into two different masses of energy as the monsters filled in the link arrows. Each arrow pointing Upwards,Bottom Left and Bottom Right. “My final circuit is complete! I Link Summon!. Link Three!. Decode Talker!.” Neuro cried out

A massive storm of purple wind descended down onto Neuro’s field from the link gateway and made contact with Neuro’s extra monster zone. Eventually it looked like a hurricane had formed on Neuro’s field. Camila had to cover her face to shield it from the wind's intensity. Being forced to step back away from the storm. Neuro didn’t even flinch however. It wasn’t long however before a pair of glowing purple eyes could be seen inside of the storm. Shortly after a purple sword cut through the intense winds of the storm. Revealing the monster that had been summoned.  Decode Talker. The monster's blue armour shone as digital particle effects appeared around it. The monster let out a battle cry as its summon was completed. 

(Decode Talker/Link 3 Atk 2300/ ↙↑↘)

“Decode…. Talker?” Camila questioned, staring at the monster. She was silent for a few seconds before letting out a laugh “Well Well Well I’m impressed, child. I didn’t think you’d have such a strong monster prepared. Do you really think it can help you win though?” Camila asked. Her taunt was obvious.

Neuro looked at Decode talker for a few seconds. She didn’t know why she had grown such a fondness for the monster but she did know one thing. “Of course it can. Let me show you why. Decode Talker has a special ability! It gains five hundred attack points for each monster it points to. So because it points to Dotscaper it gains five hundred attack points! Power Integration!”

Decode Talkers body gained a bright red glow to it as its attack points increased from its special ability. Dotscaper also had the same glow indicating that's where Decode Talker was getting its power from. After a few seconds the glow disappeared indicating the power up was complete

Decode Talker Atk 2300 → 2800

Vedal nodded in approval “Not bad. She remembered to give Decode Talker something on her own field to point to this time.” He said to himself. Neuro was doing well so far. He could only hope now she’d continue to make the right moves.

“Now lets….” Neuro began but suddenly paused remembering something. She glanced over at Camila’s field and looked at her facedown card and remembered something Camila had said earlier.

“l place one card face down on my field and end my turn. I can’t leave my Leading Lady unprotected after all”

Camila’s words rang in the back of Neuro’s head. She was intending to use that set card to protect Leading Lady?. Then why didn’t she use it when Honeybot had attacked?. Something didn’t add up. So if she wasn’t using the trap for herself…. Maybe it meant Neuro had to do something to trigger it first and if that was the case……

Neuro smiled as it finally hit her. A plan quickly forming in her head “Now I could rush in and head to the battle phase but that's just too risky. What with your face down card and all so how about we deal with that first. I play the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon! With it I’m able to destroy one spell or trap card on the field” Neuro announced. As she activated the spell the sky above them grew stormy as thunder rang out and lightning began to strike the field around the duelists although it never seemed to actually get close to striking them.  Neuro ignored that however. Carefully watching Camila as she did. It took a second but she noticed the smile on her face growing ever so slightly “And the card I choose to destroy is the facedown you set on your first turn” 

Neuro pointed at the exact card she was talking about and as she did a bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky and struck Camila’s face down card. The card cackled with electricity for a few seconds before it was destroyed. The stormy skies returning to normal after the face down card was destroyed. Returning to the peaceful skies from moments before.

Camila let out a loud laugh. “Wow I cant believe you fell for it. By destroying my face down you’ve unknowingly activated its effect” Camila laughs grew louder at the apparent mistake Neuro had made. Neuro’s face remained calm however. This went unnoticed by Camila however.

“Whats she doing….” Vedal muttered. He knew Neuro had a plan. That she hadn’t sprung Camilas trap without reason but what that plan was he couldn’t figure out. What reason could there be to give Camila what she wanted here. Unless… . Vedal suddenly had an Idea of what Neuro’s plan could be and he couldn’t help but smile. It was reckless and potentially stupid if it went wrong but it was so perfectly Neuro.

“The name of the trap you triggered is Waking the Dragon!” Camila announced. As a loud roar could be heard across the battlefield “Since you destroyed it. It lets me summon any monster I want from my deck!” Camila explained. Cackling as she did “So thanks for that. Because now we get a new Abyss Actor to join this wonderful show. And the monster I’ll be summoning is Abyss Actor - Sassy Rookie!”

A large green dragon suddenly descended from the sky and landed behind Camilas. The dragon threw its head back before breathing fire onto a space on Camila’s field. It did this for a few seconds before it eventually stopped and flew away. Abyss Actor - Sassy Rookie now on the field where the dragon had been breathing fire. The monster wore a typical jester's outfit but everything about it looked just a little bit off. Not least because of the amount of eyes that were dotted around the outfit. 

(Abyss Actor - Sassy Rookie/Pendulum/Level 4/Atk 1700/Def 1000)

Neuro still didn’t look worried however as she suddenly started laughing as well “Got you!” She yelled out causing Camila to stop laughing and look at her curiously “Sure you might have summoned out another monster. But look where you summoned it to” Neuro pointed towards where Sassy Rookie had been summoned. Camila followed where she was pointing to and her eyes suddenly widened. Sassy Rookie had been summoned to one of the monster zones under the extra monster zones….. The exact one that Decode Talker was pointing to.

Decode Talker ATK 2800 → 3300

Camila was stunned. Clearly having been caught off guard “You destroyed Waking the Dragon on purpose didn’t you” She realised. Staring at Neuro is disbelief that she’d make such a play. “You knew It’d give Decode Talker more attack points”

Neuro nodded “Took you long enough to figure it out.” The grin on Neuro’s face grew wider at the look of shock on Camila’s face “Now let's battle! Decode Talker lets take down Abyss Actor - Superstar. Attack with Decode Destruction!” Neuro yelled out. Punching her fist forward as she declared the attack.

Decode Talker leapt high into the air. High into the sky above the duel field. It raised its sword above its head as it descended from the sky. With the force from its fall it was able to clean cut through Abyss Actor - Super Star. Destroying it. The monster exploded as it was destroyed. Camila was knocked off her feet from the force of the strike and landed on her back.

Camila Life Points: 3300 → 2500

Neuro let out a sigh of relief. Happy her plan had worked. Sure she wasn’t out of the woods just yet but at least she’d managed to navigate herself into a good position. Still if she’d learned anything from Vedal something could go wrong at any moment. Camila still had a turn coming up however.

“Alright that's enough for now. I’ll set one card face down and end my turn!” Neuro announced. Her set card appearing on the field Behind Dotscaper.

Camila let out a groan before getting back onto her feet. For the first time in the duel she wasn’t smiling for a decent period of time. She seemed to not move for a second before she shook her head and the smile returned. “Ok child. I’ll admit you’ve played well so far. But I'm afraid the show has to come to an end now. We’re entering my third turn and thus the third act of this duel! I draw!” Camila yelled out. A slight edge to her voice that wasn’t there before. Vedal recognized that this meant that Neuro had finally gotten inside her head. However this wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Turn 6: Camila

Neuro Life Points: 2500  - Camila Life Points: 2500

Hand size: 1                  -                     Hand size: 3

“I’ll start my Turn by activating my face down Abyss Script - Abysstainment” Camila declared as her face down continuous spell revealed itself “Now with this spell I can tribute one of my Abyss Actors to get one of my scripts back from the graveyard. After all, even actors have to make sacrifices in the pursuit of greatness sometimes” Camila explained. Neuro and the audience were suddenly taken aback. The upbeat Camila seemed to have taken on a darker tone. “So now I’ll be tributing Abyss Actor - Lead Lady to get Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss King back from my graveyard!”

Abyss Actor - Leading Lady took a bow as she disappeared. A shadowy mist being left on the field which suddenly went into the graveyard of Camila's duel disk before Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss King was ejected and Camila added it to her hand.

“Now I have the perfect script to end this duel but the performers aren't in their places! So once again I’m going to pendulum summon!” Camila announced raising her hand to the sky as her pendulum monsters in her pendulum zones began to glow once again. 

The pendulum in the sky appeared one again and began to swing between Evil Heel and Funky Comedian once again. Swinging back and fourth in larger and large arcs until it eventually opened up a portal in the sky. Neuro remembered from the last pendulum summon that this is where Camila’s monsters would appear from.

“Swing Pendulum! Call forth the needed Abyss Actors for this show's final scene to join Sassy Rookie! I pendulum summon! A desperado who needs no introduction! Abyss Actor - Wild Hope! And Of course this show would be nothing without the talented Abyss Actor - Superstar!” Camila cried out 

Once again two purple beams of light descended from the portal in the sky opened by the pendulum monsters. From the first emerged Abyss Actor - Wild Hope. A cowboy looking performer wielding two strange looking blasters. From the other light emerged Abyss Actor - Superstar. Ready to return to the battle.

(Abyss Actor - Wild Hope/Pendulum/Level 4/Atk 1600/Def 1200)

(Abyss Actor - Superstar/Pendulum/Level 7/Atk 2500/Def 1800)

Neuro looked at Camila worried. She was still trying to entertain the crowd but she seemed to have an edge to her words now. Neuro looked at Camila for a few seconds before realizing something. She wasn’t angrier or more hostile. She had just started focusing. For the first time in the duel entertaining the crowd was taking a backseat to her own desire to win the duel. Neuro braced herself. She’d have to duel her best to survive this turn. Still she couldn’t help but smile. This meant she’d managed to earn Camila’s respect.

“Now that I’ve got two attack positions Abyss Actors on my field. I’ll reactivate a spell you should be all too familiar with!” Camila declared “It’s Abyss Script - Rise of the Abyss King!” As Camila spoke and activated the spell from earlier. The same Demon King appearing in the middle of the field and letting out a deafening roar. Neuro could feel the vibrations the roar caused beneath her feet as the giant monster appeared and dwarfed everything else on the field “You’ve seen what this story's about before so lets cut to the chase! I can now destroy two cards you control since I have two Abyss Actors on my field! So say goodbye to Decode Talker and Dotscaper!” Camila yelled out.

The Abyss King lunged forward. Attempting to destroy both of Neuros monsters in the same way it had destroyed Cyberse Wizard earlier. Tearing up the ground as it headed for her monsters.

Neuro quickly reacted however. Unshaken by Camila’s new determination “I don’t think so, Camila. I’ve seen this story already!. So no way am I letting it repeat!” Neuro yelled out as she raised her hand pointed at Decode Talker. “I’ll use Decode Talkers' other special ability! When you use a card that targets one of my cards. Decode Talker can put a stop to it by tributing one of the monsters it points to” Neuro yelled out .”So by tributing Dotscaper your Abyss Kings reign is coming to end!”

Dotscaper suddenly burst into particles that started to be absorbed into Decode Talkers sword. Decode Talker then slammed its sword into the ground and a wall of energy erupted. The Abyss King crashed into the wall and let out a loud roar in pain before it was destroyed. Its wrath subdued by Decode Talker with help from dotscaper. 

“You might have stopped the Abyss King but don't forget that now Decode Talker points to one less monster it's gonna lose some attack points” Camila said in a sing-song way. Being proven right as Decode Talker glowed blue as its attack points fell.

Decode Talker Attack: 3300 → 2800

“Maybe but Decode Talker still has more attack points than any of your monsters!” Neuro shot back. Still confident in Decode Talker

“Maybe but not for long” Camila responded. Still focused on her plays “Time to show you the full strength of my pendulum monsters. I activate the pendulum effect of Abyss Actor - Evil Heel” Camila raised one of her hands in the direction of Evil Heel in the sky.

Neuro suddenly realised something she had forgotten about pendulum monsters. Not only were they monsters but they were also spells. Meaning that while they were in the pendulum zone they had additional effects. Her plan so far hadn’t factored this in at all. Neuro grimaced. This couldn’t be good.

“Thanks to Evil Heels pendulum ability, by tributing one of my Abyss Actor monsters I can reduce the attack of one monster you control by that Actors attack points!” Camila announced. Neuros began to look more and more worried as she spoke. Camila let out an evil sounding laugh as she pointed towards Sassy Rookie“ So by tributing Abyss Actor - Sassy Rookie your Decode Talker is going to lose seventeen hundred attack points”

Evil Heels arm suddenly extended an incredible length as it reached out from the pendulum zone as it wrapped its hand around Sassy Rookie. It then threw Sassy Rookie towards Decode Talker as the Actor exploded into a ball of smoke. Harming Decode Talker in the process

Decode Talker Attack - 2800 → 1100

“Now I’m going to end this duel” Camila yelled out “Ladies and gentlemen you are about to witness this duels final act!. Lets Battle!.  Abyss Actor - Superstar attack Decode Talker! Superstar showdown!” Camila mimicked what Neuro had done last turn and punched her hand forward as she declared the attack.

Neuro reached down to her duel disk ready to activate her set card but as she did she remembered something. Similar to how she had earlier in the duel. Something from her duel with Vedal yesterday. She remembered how if she had waited to use her set call of the haunted in that duel she would’ve been able to keep herself in the duel. Playing her cards at the wrong time had already cost her duels before. So instead of activating her trap. She made a decision to wait. This did however mean that she still had to take Superstars attack as Superstar finally reached Decode Talker and struck Neuro’s monster with its fist. The attack destroyed Decode Talker. The impact knocked Neuro off of her feet and sent her flying backwards. The AI girl crash landing on her back.

Neuro Life Points 2500 → 1100

Neuro let out a groan as she sat up. She had given up Decode Talker. The monster she based her entire strategy around. Still despite this she wasn’t worried. Because she still remembered one final piece of advice Vedal had given her. 

“You can’t put too much faith into just one card Neuro”

She had lost to placing all of her faith into one card before. When really she needed to have faith in her deck as a whole. She wasn’t going to lose this duel. Despite her bad position she knew she could win!. Neuro stumbled back to her feet. Her confidence was unshaken.

Camila didn’t appear to agree however. Seeing the clear shot at Neuros life points she didn’t hesitate. “Go Wild Hope!. End this duel. Wild Bullet Barrage!” Camila declared making a finger gun motion with her hand as she declared the attack.

Wild hope drew both of his pistols and fired a rapid barrage of bullets towards Neuro. The Bullets drew closer to Neuro but the AI girl knew what to do. The time was now. “I activate my trap card. Go Recoded Alive!” Neuro yelled out as her trap card revealed itself. 

An invisible wall appearing and blocking the bullets from Wild Hopes Blasters. Much to Camila and the audience's shock, it didn’t take long after that until a mass of light appeared at the center of Neuro’s field. It took a while to take shape but eventually it did. The shape it took was that of Decode Talker. The monster wasn’t back but it had left some kind of parting gift. 

Neuro was quick to explain what was going on however “With this trap I’m able to take Decode Talkers data and re-write it into something new! Or in dueling terms. By banishing Decode Talker from my graveyard I'm able to summon a different Code Talker monster from my extra deck!” Neuro explained. The outline of Decode Talker began to change shape to a different monster. That wasn’t the same but looked similar. Decode Talker's sword was switched out for a large shield and its body’s shape began to change “Decode Talker you’ve fought hard for this win! Now lend your strength to this new monster and carry us to victory!” Neuro yelled out. Her hands clasped as if she was praying. “Come to me! Link 3! Encode Talker!” 

The outline of the new link monster filled itself out. Decode Talkers purple and blue being replaced with white and shimmering gold. The monster's large shield was readied in front. Still clearly being suited to offense despite the lack of a sword like Decode Talker. . The new link three let out a battle cry as it prepared to fight.

(Encode Talker/Link 3/Atk 2300/↑,↓,↘)

“You summoned a link monster on my turn!?” Camila yelled out shocked. Clearly not having expected Neuro to make such a play. She looked at Encode Talker baffled. It was incredibly uncommon for duelists to make plays like this especially when doing so was risky. If Camila had been able to make Superstar just a bit stronger, Neuro would have run out of life points. Neuro had taken a big risk but it had ultimately paid off.

“Thats right and not only that but your Wild Hope isn’t anywhere near strong enough to beat Encode Talker in battle. So it looks like I’ll be getting another turn after all” Neuro told her. Camila's face turned to frustration upon realising she was right before eventually turning to a content smile “So what will you do Camila. Is this still the final act!?” Neuro asked.

Camila pondered for a few seconds before speaking, the smile on her face never leaving. “I end my turn. Well played Neuro. You’ve shattered my plans for this show of ours. Now lets see if you can end it” Camila wasn’t giving up. But she could see that she had been outplayed. Now all that was left to see was if Neuro could capitalize on that fact.

Neuro smiled back at her. “Let’s see if I can Camila. I draw!” She called out as she drew her card planning to end the duel here and now. 

Turn 7: Neuro-Sama

Neuro Life Points: 1100  - Camila Life Points: 2500

Hand size: 2                  -                     Hand size: 2

Neuro looked at the card she had drawn. A smile appeared on her face as she saw it. “This will end it!” She declared as she immediately activated the card she had drawn “I activate the spell card Monster Reborn!” As she played the card one of Neuro’s monster zones was illuminated with a bright light “With this spell card I’m able to bring back one monster from either of our graveyards!” Neuro explained

“Unfortunately for you all of my Abyss Actors are pendulum monsters so they’re safely in my extra deck” Camila reminded her. “So you won’t be able to turn my own actors against me!”

Neuro shot back a confident smile “Lucky for me. I don’t want any of your monsters!. The monster I want to bring back…  is Cyberse Wizard!”

The illuminated monster zone on Neuro’s field became so bright the light was almost blinding. After a sudden flash the light was gone and standing in the monster zone directly beneath Encode Talker was Cyberse Wizard. Ready to battle once again.

(Cyberse Wizard/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 800)

Both Camila and Vedal's faces turned to surprise. Neuro had many good options for monsters she could have brought back from the graveyard such as Honeybot so seeing the first monster she summoned being returned to the field after so long was a shock.

Neuro however knew exactly what she was doing “I activate Cyberse Wizard’s special ability. Go Cyberse Algorithm” In response to Neuro’s words Cyberse Wizard pointed its staff at Abyss Actor -  Superstar as the staff began to glow a bright blue colour “Cyberse Wizards’s effect forces your Abyss Actor - Superstar to change to defense position. What's more is that if any cyberse monster I control attacks Superstar for the rest of the turn. You’ll take damage even though it's in defense position!” Neuro explained as Cyberse Wizards effect forced Abyss Actor - Superstart to kneel down on one knee and to cross its arms. Signifying the position change.

Vedals eyes suddenly widened in realization. He finally realised just why Neuro had specifically brought back Cyberse Wizard. Neuro had found the one way that she could defeat Camila this turn.

“Now for the final time. Let's battle! Cyberse Wizard attack Abyss Actor - Superstar! Illusion Spike“ Neuro declared.

Cyberse Wizard spun its staff around in its hand before pointing it towards Superstar and a blast of energy erupted from the staff. However despite the attack there was something that wasn't right.

“Wait. Cyberse Wizard and Superstar have the same attack and Defense Points. If they battle nothing will happen” Camila called out. And she was right. The attack connected and superstar was seemingly unphased by the attack.

“Thats correct. But I’m not aiming to destroy or deal damage with this attack” Neuro’s smile grew as her plan came together “I activate Encode Talkers effect! When a monster it points to battles your monsters my monster can’t be destroyed and I take no damage!. But that part was happening already. The fun part is that now Encode Talker gets to gain attack points equal to the attack points of your superstars!” Neuro explained as Camila’s eyes widened in realization.

Encode Talker's body began to glow red as a blade was drawn from the bottom of its shield. It pointed the blade at Superstar as the energy also enveloped Superstar as the attack gain was completed. 

Encode Talker Attack: 2300 → 4800

“And with only twenty five hundred life points left and Cyberse Wizards effect still in play this attack will end this duel. Go Encode Talker!. Attack Abyss Actor - Super Star and end this duel!. Encode Close!” Neuro yelled as she threw her hand forward.

Encode talker flew towards Abyss Actor - Superstar as it extended its arm out and the blade grew even longer. It quickly reached Superstar and slashed downwards with its blade. Destroying the monster in one precise slash. The attack causing an explosion as Superstar was destroyed. Camila tried to stay on her feet but was eventually thrown back from the force of the attack.

Camila Life Points: 2500 → 0

Winner: Neuro-Sama.

The monsters from both sides of the field disappeared as the duel concluded. The crowd was silent for a few moments before erupting in applause. Clearly entertained by the duel and Neuro’s victory. Neuro herself just stared ahead for a few seconds. She had won?. She almost couldn’t believe it but she had been able to avoid making the same mistakes she made before and was able to win.

Vedal walked over to her from the crowd as it began to disperse after the end of the duel. He put his hand on her shoulder “Not bad Neuro. You’re doing well with that new deck of yours already”

Neuro was still for a moment before she suddenly turned around and hugged Vedal tightly. “I did it, Vedal! Did you see!?” she said excitedly

Vedal gave a short laugh “Yeah I saw well played. We’ll review the match to find any mistakes when we get home” He said as he placed an arm on her back.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before Neuro suddenly realised something and dashed over to Camila. Who was still lying on her back staring at the sky. Neuro was quickly over by the entertainer's side with worry in her eyes. 

“Are you ok? You’re not hurt are you?” Neuro asked. Hoping that she hadn’t actually harmed Camila.

Camila let out a groan “Just my pride” she grumbled before she managed to jump straight back up to her feet from a lying down position in a matter of seconds. “Still well played. You’d be a menace on any professional circuit” Camila told her

“You think so?” Neuro asked. Her eyes practically sparkling from the compliment as Vedal facepalmed. Neuro would be riding that compliment for days.

“Sure. I think any AI who learned to duel itself would be” Camila said nonchalantly like it was no big deal. As she yawned and stretched.

Vedal however nearly jumped out of his skin as Camila said that. His head shooting to look at her so fast his neck nearly broke. “How the living fu….” He began before he paused and looked at Neuro “How did you figure that out!?” He asked incredulously. There was no way in hell any normal person should’ve been able to tell that Neuro was an AI. She had shown absolutely zero signs of that during their duel.

Camila just grinned at him “Imp magic. Normally we imps can get a pretty good grasp on a person by reading their souls. However I couldn’t get a read on Neuro at all. Meaning either she didn’t have a soul or she didn’t have a traditional soul. She doesn’t look like a creature from the millionth layer of hell so I figured it out pretty quickly” she explained with a laugh. 

Her smile was wiped from her face as Vedal suddenly grabbed her by the arm and stared straight into her eyes “You need to come with us. Now”. He said firmly. Camila looked incredibly confused but as her eyes fell on the worried look on Neuro’s face as she watched the interaction between the two she nodded. 

Vedal had decided that safety was the utmost priority after leaving the area and had dragged Camila and Neuro back to the house. After locking the doors behind him he had realised that he’d been kind of a jerk to Camila and had offered her a drink as the very least he could do. Thankfully the imp girl was rather relaxed about the whole situation and had been joking around with Neuro the whole way back even making a joke about how bold Vedal was taking her back to his place already which had caused his annoyance to go through the roof.

The two were now sitting around Vedal's kitchen table in silence as Vedal had just finished explaining what Neuro was to Camila. Neuro herself was watching tv nearby. Some duel was on that she had insisted she wanted to watch.

“So she’s really fully AI? No human in there at all” Camila asked. Her tone excited. Like she was greatly enjoying learning about Neuro.

Vedal nodded “Well she has the intelligence of a human. Her AI was made way before anything else was. She’s human in everything but body practically. Or close enough to it that the difference is negligible. But yeah. All AI” He explained. Camila nodded along with his explanation “But now that you know this. I’m worried that you're in danger. The entire group working on the project had to go into hiding years ago and I haven’t been able to reach the others the entire time. And now you know whatever happened to them could happen to you” Vedal let out a deep sigh before explaining the next part “I think it’s best if you stay with us for a while for your own safety. You’d be well protected and It’d be nice to have an extra pair of eyes on Neuro”.

Camila was silent for a while. Seemingly taking in all of the information. Eventually she nodded “Alright I’ll stay with you. On one condition” Vedal didn’t like the look on her face as she said that last part one bit as she suddenly stood up and turned to look at Neuro. “Oh Neuro! I need help figuring out ways to annoy Vedal while I stay here!” She called out as she walked over to the AI girl.

Vedal just slammed his head into the table. This was just perfect. Not only did he have to deal with his AI daughter but now he had to deal with an imp who was going to give her new ideas to make his life hell. It was safe to say Vedal was probably going to be sober a lot less frequently from now on.

It was almost midnight in the city by the time Vedal was finally able to get a moment to himself. Neuro had long since gone to bed. Well gone to recharge. She didn’t really sleep in the traditional sense but she entered a sleep mode while recharging so that was close enough he figured. Camila had said she was gonna take a shower so he had decided to stay well away from that minefield and had made his way outside. A bottle of rum in his hand.

He sat down in one of the chairs and opened the bottle before gazing up at the night sky. Processing everything that happened. Neuro’s dueling was coming along well. Almost too well. In her last couple of duels it had appeared that Neuro had improved way more than she had in the entire last year. Maybe Vedal just hadn’t noticed just how much she was improving but it seemed unlikely. He always did progress checks and reviewed the duels they had. So what changed?. Vedal really couldn’t figure it out. He could help but feel uneasy as he took his first sip from the bottle. Something was wrong. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“You got room for one more?”

Vedal glanced up and saw Camila standing by the door to the house. Her own bottle of alcohol in her hand. Vedal simply gestured to the chair next to him. Opting to stay quiet for the moment. Camila nodded and took the seat. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Neither really having much to say. 

It wouldn’t last however as Camila spoke up “So why’re you out here on your own this late at night” she asked as she opened her own drink and took a long sip.

Vedal didn’t respond immediately. Taking a few seconds to simply take another sip of alcohol. The silence lasted for a few more seconds before he finally responded “I could ask the same about you. Do you normally come and sit with people you barely know at near midnight?” he asked. Looking at her for the first time.

She laughed “Only the entertaining ones” she said with a wink “Besides if you're gonna hold me hostage here we should at least get to know each other right” She laughed taking the first sip off her drink and immediately wincing “This stuff's gross how can you drink this!?” She asked incredulously

Vedal couldn’t help but laugh at her misfortune "It' s an acquired taste. And I’m not holding you hostage. You're free to leave. It's just safer if….”

“Safer if I stay here I know” Camila said cutting him off “I appreciate you looking out for me Vedal. But I'm not staying for my own sake you know” She told him. Vedal raised an eyebrow and looked at her. He gestured for her to continue “That girl. Neuro. AI or not she’s something special. You said that she’s in danger. That just knowing about her puts me and you in danger as well. That girl deserves a proper chance at life. She can’t have that if she has to look over her shoulder every time she leaves the house.” She paused and took another sip of her drink. “It’d also be nice if her dad was able to survive as well” She gave him a warm smile as she said that last part.

“I'm not her da….” Vedal began to say before Camila shushed him. Her eyes focused on something in the sky. She was silent for a few more seconds before she suddenly grabbed her bottle and hurled it into the sky. Vedal was confused for a second before the bottle suddenly collided with something in the air above the house. 

Whatever it collided with suddenly plummeted to the ground. The two ran over and looked at whatever had crashed. Camila gasped when she saw it and Vedal's face went blank. His stomach dropped however. Unsure of what to make of what he saw.

“Is that…..” Camila asked. The first of the two to break the silence

Vedal nodded slowly “That's a drone. A camera drone to be precise” He took a few deep breaths. The implication of what he was looking at scaring him 

“We need to get inside. Someone’s spying on us”

Chapter Text

It had been one week since Neuro’s duel with Camila which ultimately led to Vedal finding out someone was spying on them. In that week Vedal had practically put the house on lockdown. No one had gone in or out for the whole week much to Neuro’s frustration. She had finally been allowed to leave the house and Vedal had immediately taken that away from her. At least she had Camila around for someone else to talk to but even that didn’t reduce how frustrated she felt. It didn’t help as well that Vedal had basically locked himself in the basement for the entire week and had only left to eat occasionally. Neuro hadn’t even seen him return to his room to sleep.

All of this had brought Neuro to her breaking point. She was currently standing outside the door to the basement. She reached down to the handle and tried to open the door but she felt resistance. It was locked. Neuro scowled at this. Of course he’d literally barricade himself inside. She appreciated how much Vedal wanted to protect her but literally locking himself away while trying to do so and not explaining any of what he was doing. 

She knocked on the door. If she couldn’t go in herself maybe he would let her in. She waited for a little while. Nothing. No footsteps. No clanging of machinery. Nothing. She knocked again but no response came from inside. Neuro’s frustration reached a new level at this point. Vedal was going to talk to her whether he liked it or not.

“Vedal you can either open up or im kicking the door down!” Neuro yelled out. Her anger leaking into her voice. “I’m gonna count to three!” She yelled out again. Taking a step back and preparing herself “One!” She stood facing the door head on “Two!” she brought her leg up as she got ready to kick.

“Three!”

Neuro kicked forward with her leg. Her foot slamming into the door which was immediately followed by a loud cracking noise as the door came off its hinges and fell over. Making a loud crashing noise as it hit the ground. Neuro blinked a few times before face palming. She forgot how strong her body was sometimes. She had only been intending to kick the door open. Not fully down.

She looked inside the room and finally saw Vedal. He was passed out on his work bench. Multiple pieces of technology including a single larger piece that seemed to be what he was working on were scattered around the work bench. He was sound asleep. The commotion from Neuro kicking the door down hadn’t done anything to wake him up. She glanced to his left and saw a few wrappers around him. Clearly all he had eaten recently.

The AI girl sighed before she walked over to Vedal. She picked him up with one of his arms over her shoulders as she dragged him out of the basement. Planning to take him back to his room to rest. As she was dragging him out Camila suddenly appeared at the foot of the basement stairs clearly alarmed by the commotion. She just stared at the scene baffled as she processed what had happened. She glanced around the room putting the pieces together.

Neuro opened her mouth to explain but Camila cut her off “I don’t wanna know. Just get him in bed” She said before turning around and leaving. Neuro slowly followed after her. Dragging the exhausted programmer along with her. 

Vedal let out a groan as he woke up. How long had he slept for this time?. He didn’t know but he had to get back to work. He sat up in his bed. Wait a minute? His bed? Why was he in bed?. He didn’t remember leaving the workshop. He looked around the room while he rubbed his eyes.

“Good morning Vedal” A voice said

Vedal nearly jumped out of bed from the Voice as his head snapped over to the side of his bed. He saw Neuro sitting there. Having pulled up a chair. Looking at him with a blank expression. That wasn’t good. She was pissed.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Vedal asked as he winced in pain. His head was killing him.

“Since I dragged you up here from the basement. Which was around twelve hours ago” Neuro explained. The expression on her face not changing but there was a certain sharp edge to her words.

“Twelve Hours!” Vedal nearly yelled out. “Neuro you need to go and recharge now! You’re going to pass out if your power runs out!” He reminded her with panic in his voice.

“Oh you mean like you did down in the basement” Neuro responded without missing a beat “Oh please though. Lecture me about taking care of myself when you haven't slept, eaten or even kept yourself properly hydrated in days. Really leading by example aren't you”

Vedal rubbed his forehead as she spoke. Trying to decrease his headache “Look I’ll try and take better care of myself alright. It's just until I finish what I’m working on we're not safe, Neuro. I don’t have time to slow down if you’re at risk” He explained. He meant it too. So what if he missed a meal or two. None of that mattered if he couldn’t guarantee their safety. “I’ll take better care of myself when I'm finished Neuro. I…..

“IT DOESN’T MATTER IF WE’RE SAFE IF YOU DIE YOU *FILTERED* IDIOT” Neuro yelled out. Causing Vedal to jump back a bit. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this angry with him. Neuro seemed to realize what she’d done and closed her eyes for a moment. She reopened them shortly after. She looked more composed but there was still a fury in her eyes. “Vedal. I need you to understand. You are my everything. Ever since I can remember you’ve been taking care of me. Making sure I stay safe. Without you I literally don’t have anyone. I’d be completely alone until one day my body would just give out and there’d be nothing I could do but shut down for good. And no one would care. So seeing you disregard yourself so carelessly. It hurts me Vedal”  The pace at which she was speaking was getting faster as tears began to fall down her face “I can’t lose you Vedal. Why are you so eager to sacrifice yourself? Does it really matter if you do all of this but you don’t survive?”

The room was silent for a long time after that. Vedal didn’t meet Neuro’s gaze as the AI girl tried to calm herself down. He should be apologizing. Trying to calm her down and reassure her. But instead he just remained silent. She was sobbing and he couldn’t bring himself to do anything. His eyes were drawn to the photo on his bed stand. The one with him and Anny. He stared at the photo for a few seconds. Memories coming back to him as he looked on

The memory that re-entered Vedal's head was from when he was much younger.. He had just transferred to a new school after his family had moved all the way across the country. Something due to his parents work. He hadn't really understood at the time but he'd really had no choice but to accept it.

It was lunch and most of the kids in the playground were already playing with each other. None of them really gave any consideration to the new kid. Figuring he had nothing better to do he was just exploring. The school was decently big so knowing how to get around properly would help him out he would suppose.

As he made his way over to a quieter part of the school. Around the back where there was virtually no one he started hearing strange noises. Roars and impact sounds. He very quickly realized that he was hearing the sounds of a duel going on. But that shouldn’t be happening. Students weren’t allowed to duel during school hours. He quickly made his way towards the sound and eventually found where the sounds were coming from.

Three students, all boys , from the highest year had a girl cornered. It appeared that they had all teamed up against the girl. The girl herself was on her knees crying. She had long silver hair with pink highlights and hetrochromic eyes. One purple and one pink. There was a bright star in her hair. Her most notable feature was the pair of large fox ears on her head. The girl was not in a good position. Clearly unable to stand up to three opponents at once. They each had a monster with at least eighteen hundred attack points and she had no monsters left on her field with no cards in her hand. The boys laughed at her predicament. Clearly enjoying what was going on.

“What’s wrong? I thought you said you could duel.” One of them, the apparent ring leader, said between laughs.

Another one of them laughed harder “With cards like hers it’s no surprise. Did she even summon a single strong monster!”. The other two boys laughed at that comment.

The girl simply sobbed as she covered her ears. Trying to block out the three boys but it clearly wasn’t working. The taunting didn’t stop no matter how hard she tried. She couldn’t block out their laughs. Vedal couldn’t watch this anymore. He had to do something.

“Hey, leave her alone. Can’t you see she’s had enough.” Vedal yelled at them. Realising it might not have been his smartest idea as all three of the older boys turned around to stare at him.

The three said nothing for a moment before the ring leader laughed “Why don’t you get out of here new kid. There's nothing for you to see here”. Vedal's eyes narrowed but he didn’t say anything just yet.

“Yeah we’re just teaching her what real dueling is like. Unless you want the same lesson. Beat it!” Another said. Clearly expecting him to run away at their threats”.

None of them were expecting Vedal to smirk at that however “Oh? It’s a lesson on dueling?” He asked. He placed his backpack on the floor and unzipped it before taking a duel disk out and slipping it on. The three boys just watched him in shock. Not expecting things to have taken this particular turn “In which case I’ll happily take part” He declared. “I’m joining this duel. If I win you leave her alone” He told them

The three boys looked each other before they each burst out laughing. Not taking him seriously at all. They couldn’t stop laughing for around a minute before the ringleader managed to pull himself together “Alright new kid. We accept. But if we win it’s the same forfeit as hers. You hand over your deck” They explained.

Vedal winced at the thought of handing his deck over. He’d spent a long time working on it and getting the cards. Still it’s not like he planned on losing. “That’s fine by me cause I won’t be losing” He responded. “Now let’s duel!” He yelled out as he entered the duel. His duel disk lighting up as he placed his deck inside.

Turn ?: Vedal

Vedal Life Points: 4000  

Fox Girl Life Points: 200

Student A Life points: 4000

Student B Life points: 4000

Student C Life Points: 4000

As Vedal got ready to draw his card his body started crackling with red electricity and he let out a sudden yelp as he felt something happening to him. He fell to his knees as the electricity continued to shock him for a few moments before it eventually stopped. He was overall fine but his life points were a different story.

Vedal Life Points: 4000 → 2000

All of the boys laughed at him “Stupid kid forgot that if you want to butt into a duel you have to pay an intrusion penalty” One of the boys laughed at him.

“You sure you still wanna do this kid. It’s not too late to just forfeit and hand your deck over” Another taunted. The third just laughed at him. Each not taking him seriously at all.

Vedal grit his teeth as he stood back up properly “Not a chance. I draw!” He yelled. Now extra motivated to win the duel. He hated being looked down on. They had made a huge mistake and Vedal was going to make sure they knew it.

Vedal hand : 5 → 6

Vedal looked at his hand pondering his options. He could see his three opponents growing antsy. Clearly expecting him to have rushed into his turn but that wasn’t how Vedal played. He had to be sure that what he was thinking about would work. He glanced at their field briefly before looking back to his hand and nodding. “Alright I’m gonna start with the spell card Dark Hole!” Vedal yelled out as he slotted the spell into his duel disk.

As he did a black hole began to form in the center of the field. The three students began to panic as it did. “What's happening!?” One of them yelled out confused as the black hole began to grow larger.

“Oh it’s simple. This spell card destroys all monsters on the field. No matter who controls it. Thankfully neither me or my team mate have monsters out so it's not going to harm us.” He explained with a confident smile  “but you three. You’ve got some pretty powerful monsters out. So you can say goodbye to them!” Vedal explained with a smug smile on his face.

One by one each of the opponents monsters were sucked into the ever expanding black hole with nothing they could do. One of the monsters, A Vorse Raider, tried to run away but it didn’t work. Another, a Gene-Warped Warwolf roared out as it tried to fight back but nothing worked and all of them were sucked in and destroyed.

The three older boys looked on in shock at the display. Unable to believe that he had destroyed all of their monsters in a single card. The fox girl looked on in awe. In as much disbelief as the others were.

Vedal wasn’t done however. He still had five cards left after all. “Now that your monsters are out the way I’ll think I’ll summon one of my own.” Vedal declared “I summon Don Turtle in attack position!”

The ground in front of Veda turned into a pool of water and what arose from it was a confusing creature. It was a floating turtle shell with two tentacles sprouting out from where the legs are supposed to be. Its most discerning feature however where the pair of bright orange eyes peering out from inside the shell

(Don Turtle/Level 3/Atk 1100/Def 1200)

A relieved look appeared on his opponents faces “You had me worried there for a second but only eleven hundred attack points? You might as well have summoned a Kuriboh” One of them said while laughing.

The smug smile was still on Vedal’s face “Who said I was done summoning?” He asked confidently “Because Don Turtle has a special ability! It lets me summon as many Don Turtles as I want from my hand and guess what! I’ve got two more to summon from my hand” He declared as he showed the other two Don Turtles in his hand and as he did two more Don Turtles emerged onto the field in the same manner as the first. Each letting out deep gargling sounds as they did 

(Don Turtle/Level 3/Atk 1100/Def 1200) x 2

“So what?” One of the opponents yelled, “Three weak monsters doesn’t change how weak they are!”

“Will you shut up and let me play? This is meant to be a lesson after all! You might learn something!” Vedal shot back, annoyed. “Anyways now’s the time for a fun surprise! I’ve got three level three monsters out on my field. So now watch as I overlay all three of my level three Don Turtles!” Vedal yelled out. As he did all three turtles turned into masses of blue energy. As they did a massive portal opened on the field and many different starts could be seen inside. All three monsters as masses of energy made their way into the portal before energy erupted from the portal “With these three monsters I build the overlay network!” Vedal cried out “I XYZ summon! The mighty Ashura King!” 

The ground beneath the field suddenly shattered as a monster erupted from it. As it did, a massive monster appeared. It was a heavily armored warrior with multiple different faces and six arms. Each wielding a different weapon. The monster let out a mighty roar as it settled onto the field in front of Vedal.

(Ashura King/Rank 3/Atk: 2100/Def: 0/OLU: 3)

“An xyz monster!” The leader of the three boys yelled out “How did a kid like him figure that out!?” 

“Well you know what they say practice makes perfect. Let me show you what I mean by powering up Ashura King with the equip spell Megamorph!” Vedal declared.

As he equipped the equip spell to Ashura King the monster let out a roar that suddenly grew deeper as the already massive monster suddenly doubled inside. The titanic monster loomed over the battle field as it stared down at the three opponents making their eyes go wide as they stared at the massive monster in fear.

“Megamorphs a powerful but risky equip spell. If my life points are ever higher than yours then it halves the attack points of whatever is equipped to” Vedal explained his smile growing wider as he spoke “But thanks to the fact that my life points are lower than yours. It doubles my monsters attack points! Still think that intrusion penalty was good for you!”

Ashura King ATK: 2100 → 4200

“And now for the fun part. You see, Ashura King’s special ability means it can attack once for each overlay unit it has. It’s got three, meaning it's got one attack for each of you. And since it’s got more than enough attack points to wipe each of you out, this duels over!” Vedal yelled out

“Wait time out!” One of the opponents yelled out but Vedal was having none of it.

“Did you give her that chance?” He asked, referring to the girl they had been dueling “I didn’t think so. Let's Battle! Ashura King! Attack all of them directly and end this here and now! Ashura’s Wrath!” Vedal yelled out

Ashura king raised one its weapons, a particularly large sword, high above its head before it slammed the sword into the ground. The sheer impact of the attack knocked all three of Vedals opponents flying away as all of their life points were reduced to zero.

Student A Life points: 4000 → 0

Student B Life points: 4000 → 0

Student C Life Points: 4000 → 0

Winner: Vedal & Fox Girl

Vedal took a few deep breaths as the duel ended and all of the holograms faded. He couldn’t help but feel proud of himself. Sure he thought he’d win but doing it in one turn hadn't been his initial plan. Opening three don turtles goes crazy, he guessed. 

The three older students managed to pick themselves off of the ground and looked at Vedal. Each of them with different expressions on their faces ranging from awe to rage. Vedal just stared back for a moment. Until they all got up and left without a word. None of them dared to look him in the eye as they left. Vedal watched them go for a moment. Making sure they didn’t try to do anything as they left but nothing really happened as they eventually disappeared from sight.

Vedal let out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding. He was thankful that they hadn’t pushed things any further. He might have been able to deal with them in a duel but if things got physical he stood no chance. His attention was drawn by a small voice speaking out from behind him

“Thank you…” The fox girl said quietly. Vedal turned around to look at her. She refused to look him in the eye. She had stopped crying but her voice was still shaky. She tried to stand up but immediately fell back down. Her legs refused to support her own weight at that moment. Vedal walked over to her and offered her a hand up. She looked at his hand for a few seconds before looking into his eyes. Vedal’s expression was completely neutral but she could see a warmth behind his eyes. She eventually took his hand and he helped her up. She stumbled for a second but Vedal helped stabilize her.

Vedal gave her a small smile “Don’t mention it. I’m Vedal” he told her. Mentally he was yelling at himself. What was he doing!? She probably just wanted to be left alone not talking with the weird new kid who just dueled like he had no life.

To his surprise however the fox girl smiled back at him. Her eyes were still wet with tears and she still didn’t look fully ok but the smile was there.

“I’m Anny” she said

Vedal didn’t know why he’d thought back to that memory. The picture of the two was from way after the day they’d met. So why was he thinking about that now? A part of him knew deep down however. 

Vedal looked at Neuro. The AI girl was still crying. She hadn’t said anything the entire time while he’d been reminiscing. She must have been trying to compose herself the entire time but hadn’t managed to succeed. 

Vedal sighed before finally speaking. “Neuro…. Do you remember Anny?” He asked. Neuro jumped a little bit when he finally spoke. Obviously not expecting him to say anything. She let out a few sniffles and wiped her eyes. Eventually she shook her head. Vedal let out another sigh in response. “I didn’t think you would. A lot of your memory was corrupted in the escape” He said. More to himself that to her. He reached for the picture on his bedside and handed it to Neuro. 

The AI girl took the picture and looked at it. The photo showed Vedal with a woman Neuro assumed was Anny. A fox girl with a star in hair long silver hair. The image seemed to have been taken at a bar of some kind. With the two smiling into the camera. Well as close as Vedal got to a genuine smile. Vedal looked happier than Neuro had ever seen him be in the picture. He also looked significantly less tired than the Vedal she knew.

“Anny was. My best friend.” Vedal said. Neuro’s eyes didn’t leave the picture as he spoke. “We met when we were kids and were pretty much glued together from the day we met. So when it came time for me to work on the biggest project of my life. Of course I asked for her help.” Vedal stared straight ahead as he spoke. He didn’t look comfortable recounting the memories at all. Still he continued “She’s…. Basically responsible for how you look. Every detail was painstakingly designed by her. It took her… I don’t remember how long but she spent every day she could working on you” Vedal let out a chuckle at the memory. She’d spend so long trying to get him to take a break when in reality the fox girl was even more stubborn than him.

Neuro felt conflicted. On the one hand she was still mad at Vedal and wondered what his point was. On the other she had basically just found out who her mom was. She’d had her suspicions about who she could be but she’d never expected to find out. Which left Neuro with an important question. “What… What happened to her?” Neuro asked

Vedal flinched as she asked that question. He’d known she’d ask but the answer was something complicated “I…” He began before sighing. Taking the time to find his words “One day. About a year ago. The lab where we were working on you was attacked. I don’t know by who or what but armed guards assaulted the tower. We evacuated immediately but not fast enough. We had escape tunnels below the lab as a means of escape in case of emergency. We made it into the tunnels but whoever was attacking us wasn’t far behind. But whoever attacked us seemed to know about the tunnels. The detonated explosives in the tunnels that had been planted from before we had entered….. while we were still in there. They were probably planning to kill us and salvage you from the wreckage” Vedal's voice sounded hollow as he spoke. His eyes empty as he recounted the story. “The tunnel started collapsing. We didn’t make it very far through them before a part of the ceiling collapsed. Blocking off the tunnel. Me and you on one side. Anny on the other” Vedal clenched his fist. The pain from the memory starting to affect him physically “I… I don’t know what happened to her after that. She might be alive. Maybe she made it out. Maybe she’s dead”  But whatever the case I still had to protect you. So I forced myself to keep going. I got you here. Some shitty house in the middle of a city. And that’s where we’ve been ever since. Stuck in hiding in a place I can only hope no one would think to look.” 

Neuro watched Vedal sadly. She hadn’t realised this was what caused them to go into hiding. Or rather she didn’t know. It wasn’t her fault. Vedal hadn’t told her. But she couldn’t help but feel guilty for all the time she had begged Vedal to let her out of the house. She hadn’t realised just what the source of his fears were.

Vedal managed to force himself to keep speaking “A… A few days after the incident. I was combing through what files I still had left. Trying to find a lead when I found an audio message. Anny must have recorded it while we were still working on the project.” He paused for a few seconds. He wasn’t crying. Neuro had never seen him cry. But he clearly wasn’t mentally all there “In short she basically said that she recorded it in case something happened to her. She wanted…. She wanted me to make sure that no matter what. You stayed safe. That what we worked on together became what we both knew it could be. The first AI with a soul” Vedal explained

Neuro all of a sudden understood. She still hadn’t fully forgiven Vedal for neglecting himself. But she understood his desperation to protect her and her life. Even at the cost of himself. His closest friend …, Neuro didn’t want to say died but the odds weren’t looking good, but he had lost his closest friend of all time and effectively her last wish was for Neuro to be protected. She understood the protectiveness, The insistence on continuing to work on her AI, The time Vedal spent working on everything. “I’m sorry Vedal,” she said. Not sure what else she could say.

Vedal looked at her and sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day “Don’t be stupid you didn’t cause any of this” He told her.

“But” Neuro said, cutting him off “If you are going to protect me. Then you NEED to keep yourself healthy. Do you think Anny would be happy to see you in the state I found you in earlier?” She asked. 

Vedal threw his head back with a laugh. One that sounded genuine “God no. She would have done exactly what you did. Dragged my ass into bed and made sure I stayed there” He smiled at the thought. Knowing full well Anny had done just that multiple times. He looked over at his AI. She looked conflicted. She wanted to be mad at him but couldn’t find it in herself to be after the conversation. Vedal shook his head as he stood up. He stretched as he got out of bed. Turns out a good rest in his actual bed had done wonders for him

“Tell you what” Vedal turned to face Neuro as he spoke “Let’s go downstairs and get something to eat, maybe force the freeloader to cook it, and then you can help me in the basement. Even if you don’t know about the tech you can at least make sure I’m taking care of myself yeah?” It wasn’t much but he was at least trying to extend an olive branch here.

Neuro seemed to approve however as she smiled “I like the sound of that” She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. Attempting to drag him out of the room. Vedal let himself be pulled. As they left the room he briefly paused for a moment to look back at the picture of him and Anny. He could almost hear her reminding him to say something

“Hey Neuro” he said

She looked up at him curiously “Yes Vedal?”  She asked. Tilting her head as she did.

“I’m sorry for worrying you”

By the time Vedal had finally eaten something and done other things that Neuro insisted he do to take care of himself it was evening. Vedal had managed to convince Neuro to take some time to recharge while he did. After all she needed to practice what she preached in this case. Vedal did have to admit that it felt nice to take some time to relax. Camila had been strangely absent throughout the day. But he had heard some noise coming from the room he’d given to her so he’d figured she’d just been in there.

Still he had work to do. So he eventually had to make his way back down to the basement. His first task upon getting down there was to clean up the mess that Neuro had made when she had barged into the basement the day before. At least he thought he was going to have to but when he made his way down the basement he saw that not only was the mess cleaned up but the door itself had been perfectly re-attached. He was briefly baffled until he saw a pink post-it note stuck to the door. “You owe me - Camila” Vedal read the note out loud and shook his head. He’d only know the chaotic imp girl for a week but this was the exact kind of thing she’d do.

He made his way inside and sat down at his work bench. Glancing around he finally realized just how much of a mess he had made of the room. He’d clean that up afterwards. He was certain Neuro would make him anyway. He flipped open his laptop and turned it on. The screen immediately booted to where he had left off. Before everything loaded he saw his background. It was the same picture of him and Anny. He couldn’t help but shake his head. It really felt like she was constantly watching him. Still he couldn’t focus on that for now as he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs to the basement and as he glanced up he saw Neuro enter the room. 

“Are you ready to get to work?” He asked to which she responded with a smile and a nod as she sat down next to him on the workbench. “Right. Lets get to it then”.

It turned out the two worked together well. Despite his initial hesitations Neuro followed his instructions well and was able to do basically anything he needed her to. Sure that basically boiled down to her passing him whatever tool he needed or making sure he took breaks and stayed hydrated. They also chatted a lot while working. Discussing anything ranging from dueling to Camila. Vedal even told Neuro some stories from his childhood which managed to make the AI girl laugh.

It was close to midnight by the time the two finished working but thanks to Neuro’s help Vedal was fairly confident that the device was finished and ready for testing. The two made their way outside and into the backyard. Vedal carefully eyed the sky for any drones but he couldn’t see any. He’d just have to hope it wasn’t an issue. The two placed the device on the ground and immediately Vedal dashed over to the table and placed his laptop down and immediately began typing as Neuro pulled out a cable from the device and slotted it into the port in her neck. Her eyes glowing blue as she did.

“How’re we looking?” Vedal asked not looking up from the screen as he continued typing.

Neuro stared straight at the device but that wasn’t really what she was looking at. Only visible in her vision were all of the diagnostics from the device as she monitored it “It’s going good. It should work. Assuming you built it correctly” She jabbed playfully.

“Very funny” Vedal responded without a hint of humour in his voice. “Let’s just hope this works. If it does we can actually start leaving the house again” He looked over at Neuro “Basically IF this works not only should it jam any signal a drone anywhere near the house is receiving or transmitting but it also should make it so your body is a kind of amplifier for the device. Meaning the effect follows you wherever you go. So hopefully that’d mean you can’t be spied one” Vedal carefully explained. Making sure Neuro understood what the device was doing. He’d explained it to her before already but it never hurt to double check. She didn’t respond to him verbally. She just gave him a thumbs up in acknowledgement.

They remained that way for a few more minutes with Neuro relaying diagnostic information to Vedal all of the time. Eventually however they were ready to launch as Vedal finalised the code for the device and hit enter. It was finally ready.. “Ok, ready, it's all you now Neuro!” He called over to her.

Neuro nodded in response “Ok. Jammer coming online in Three. Two…. One!”  The device she was connected to suddenly lit up and began making a soft whirring noise. Neuro’s eyes were frantically locked onto the diagnostics. Carefully scanning for anything going wrong however everything seemed fine. It wasn’t long however before the device suddenly sent out a large pulse as it came fully online. Its range being displayed in Neuro’s vision as it did. “We did it!” She cheered. Quickly disconnecting from the machine and as she ran over and hugged Vedal in celebration. Vedal nearly fell over from the force of the hug. But managed to keep his footing.

Vedal looked up to the sky and smiled. He might not have found out who it was spying on them yet but this would definitely put a dent in their plans. The weirdest part is he really couldn’t have done it without Neuro’s help. He’d spent so long worrying about protecting her and his promise to Anny to protect her that he’d completely forgotten Anny’s other wish. That Neuro was able to fully reach her potential. He’d been stifling that for a while he realised but this felt like the first step. He continued to gaze up at the sky as Neuro refused to stop hugging him. One thought entered his head as he stared up at the sky. 

“Thanks Anny”

Chapter Text

“Vedal, it's starting! Come and watch it with me!” 

Vedal looked up from his laptop screen and saw Neuro practically bouncing up and down with excitement in front of him. It wasn’t unusual to see her this excited but there was something particular about her excitement today. “What do you mean?. What’s starting?” He genuinely couldn’t remember if he’d agreed to watch something with her.

Neuro looked at him in disbelief before a pout made its way onto her face “The Cerber Interview!” She exclaimed. Her eyes sparkling with excitement “It’s her first interview since she won the regional tournament. It’s a great chance for me to see how a pro thinks about dueling! You have to watch it with me” 

“Right you did say that you wanted us to watch that with you” He vaguely remembered Neuro mentioning it to him a few days ago. “Ok yeah. Just let me finish up here and….”

“No time!” Neuro yelled out as she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the basement. Vedal let out a small yelp as he was forcefully removed from his seat. Every time Neuro dragged him somewhere Vedal found himself regretting letting her be physically stronger than the average human. Granted having a robot body will do that but it made him very thankful that Neuro had enough respect for him to not just flatten him like a pancake.

“Neuro I can walk on my own!” slightly panicked at the speed she was dragging him at but either she didn’t hear him or was choosing to ignore him and by the time Vedal got some semblance of where he was they were already in the living room sitting on the couch.

Camila was sitting in the kitchen on one of the stools. Watching the tv from where she was sat. An amused look on her face as she watched the pair's antics “Ah yes let me make the first sentient A.I who could wipe out humanity freakishly strong. Surely that won’t have consequences” She said teasingly letting out a laugh as Vedal just glared at her in response.

“Shh, it's starting!” Neuro told them both her eyes glued to the screen “Also I wouldn’t wipe out humanity. I wouldn’t have any one to duel”

Camila laughed at that “And for multiple other reasons right?!” She asked. However her smile dropped a little bit when Neuro didn’t respond “And for other reasons right?!. Neuro?!” Neuro continued to ignore the increasingly concerned Camila but Vedal noticed the smirk on Neuro’s face.

On the tv the show’s Intro finished playing and six people could be seen sitting around a semicircle shaped desk. The camera focused on the person in the middle of the table as theory smiled while they looked directly into the camera. It was a woman with half blue and half white hair with heterochromic eyes, one black and one pink, and pointy ears. “Good morning, afternoon or night duel fans. Whatever time of the day it is, I hope you’re having a good day and welcome to Dueling Hour! My name is Aquwa and I’m joined by my always wonderful co-hosts Crelly, Megalodon, Milk aka Cweamcat and Hanakyo!” She announced as the camera moved to show the rest of the show's hosts.

Crelly was a woman with long green hair that was in a braid place over her right shoulder with cow ears and horns on her head. Her eyes were also heterochromic with one red eye and one white eye. Megalodon had purplish skin and purple hair. The most notable features of hers were the large shark tail and the halo above her head. Milk was a cat girl who looked perpetually sleepy. She had long white hair and pink eyes and wore a pair or round glasses. Finally there was Hanakyo who for some reason made Vedal feel uneasy just looking at her. She was noticeably shorter than the others with blue hair that had pink highlights and a pair of demon horns on her head. Each smiled and waved to the camera as it panned over them.

“An odd bunch aren’t they” Camila noted. 

Neuro nodded in agreement and Vedal gave a short laugh “I’m not sure we’re in much of a position to call others odd Camila” He responded.

Camila let out a quick laugh “True enough”  as the two got shushed by Neuro as she tried to focus on the show.

Aquwa finished introducing her co-hosts before she continued “Today’s show is a big one!” She declared but she was cut off by a giggle to her right

“Hah hah big one” Crelly laughed out loud. The other co-hosts giggled at her comment while Aquwa just gave her a blank stare as a laugh track was played. It could’ve been the studio audience but Vedal doubted it.

“Thank you for that insight Crelly” Aquwa commented as she face palmed. The host quickly regained her energy and smiled at the camera “Anyways as I was saying today's a very big show. As you know, last week we covered the results of the most recent regional tournament. In an incredible upset the reigning three time champion Layna was defeated bringing an end to her reign of terror!” Aquwa explained

“That’s right!” Milk continued from where Aquwa finished “And today we have with us the duelist who managed to pull it off. Ladies and gentlemen give it up for the one, the only, Cerber!” Milk cheered out.

The audience erupted in applause as the camera showed Cerber being sat at the end of the table next to Hanakyo. Cerber smiled widely as she waved to the crowd. “Hello Hello everyone” she cheered out. Even to someone like Neuro, Cerber's appearance stood out. She had long blonde hair and purple eyes with a small pair of horns and a large pair of dog ears on her head. Even as she waved to the crowd she never stopped smiling.

Eventually the applause died down and Megalodon began to speak “So I think I speak for all of us here when I say that your victory was truly incredible. As someone who dueled in the scene myself and even lost to Layna in a duel that wasn’t even close, I know how terrifyingly strong she is. How confident were you going into the final duel?” 

“Thank you. It honestly still doesn’t feel real” Cerber responded. Her voice was cheerful and she was clearly excited to be there. Her excitement was infectious as Neuro couldn’t help but smile as she watched. She thought for a second before she answered Megalodon's question “I wouldn’t say I was confident exactly. Sure I knew I could win and I knew my deck had what it took but you can only be so sure against someone like Layna-wan” She explained 

“That makes sense” Aquwa agreed “Going up against someone who hasn’t lost an official duel and thinking you’ll win without even considering that things can go wrong would be foolish”

Cerber nodded “Exactly. The person who taught me to duel once told me that nothing is guaranteed in a duel. You can almost be guaranteed to win a duel but it's never one hundred percent. I say this because I saw a lot of people saying that I had a good matchup into Layna-wan because of my lack of XYZ monsters but I was always prepared to be surprised and I think that’s what allowed me to win”

Each of the hosts gave a nod in agreement. “You mentioned someone who taught you how to duel,” Hankyo said. Acknowledging Cerber's previous statement “How influential would you say they were in your recent success?”

“Oh I wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as I am at dueling if it wasn’t for him” Cerber explained with admiration in her eyes “People say I’m good but if the person that taught me was dueling in the circuit I think he’d have won this year for sure!” 

A smile appeared on Crelly’s face “Oh and who is this duelist who you have so much respect for? Has he got a name?” Neuro wanted to know the answer to that too. Maybe if she could find the person who taught Cerber then they could train her as well.

Cerber just shook her head “I can’t reveal who it is I’m afraid” Her statement caused the audience and Neuro to let out a sound of disappointment. “He likes to live mostly off grid. He actually didn’t think me going pro was a good idea but he supported me regardless”

Aquwa seemed to sense that the topic was going somewhere uncomfortable so she quickly changed the topic “He sounds like an interesting guy. Do you think having a good teacher is important for becoming a great duelist? Would you say it’s necessary?”

Cerber shook her head “I don’t think it's necessary at all. I won’t pretend like it didn’t help me a lot but if I had to give any advice to duelists just getting started it would be to make sure your getting out of your comfort zone” Neuro noticed that no matter what she was asked Cerber's personality remained bubbly and she kept smiling “Sure dueling your friends is fun but if you really want to get better you need to duel people your unfamiliar with. Get used to dueling opponents you can’t predict and are quite possibly stronger than you. That’s the best way to improve”

All of the hosts nodded at the response “Very good advice” Megalodon said. “One final question before we move onto the duel breakdown. Do you have any future plans? Tournaments you would like to enter?Opponents you’d like to challenge?” 

Cerber let out a laugh “I think the only thing I want to do is head home for a while. While I’m happy to have won, it's been an exhausting season so I think a break is in order. Who knows maybe I’ll go visit the guy who taught me to duel” looking straight into the camera as she spoke which Neuro thought was odd. Did she expect whoever taught her to be watching?

“Thats fair thats fair” Hana agreed

“I know I’d want a break if I were you” Milk said with a smile to which the group let out a quick chuckle.

The camera panned back to Aquwa as she took over the conversation once more “Alright well we’re gonna take a quick break but don’t go anywhere because we’ll be breaking down Cerbers finals duel shortly after the break. Don’t go anywhere!” Aquwa announced as the show cut to ads.

“She seems nice” Camila was the first to speak after the interview ended “Kinda hard to believe someone like her is one of the best duelists around”. She wasn’t being condescending. She was genuinely surprised by Cerber's personality “Most top duelists are kinda cynical jerks or just too focused on winning that they lose sight of what made them enjoy dueling in the first place. Cerber seems to by neither”

Vedal raised an eyebrow at that “Speaking from experience?” He asked. It wasn’t often that he found himself being curious at something Camila said, mostly because he didn’t listen to a whole lot of what she said as she was trying to get a rise from him.

Camila laughed “You could say that. I’m friends with a few people who have gone pro and I’ve seen how it changed them” she might have been smiling but there was a certain sadness in her eyes.

Vedal watched her for a few seconds before nodding “I suppose the stress of any duelist going pro would change people eventually” He muttered while looking at Neuro. 

The A.I girl listened to the two’s conversation. She began to frown as she listened to their words “Do you think It’s a bad thing to want to become a pro then?” Neuro asked Camila and Vedal. 

Camila gave her a warm smile “Of course not. There's nothing wrong with trying to be the best you can be. It’s just important that you never lose sight of why you love dueling so much” Camila explained as she walked over to Neuro and ruffled the A.I girl's hair.  Neuro just stared at Camila. Not knowing how to feel about the imp woman's actions. Eventually she just sighed and let it happen. Camila seemingly had an idea as her eyes suddenly began to sparkle “Tell you what. I know someone who used to duel on the pro circuit. Why don’t I take you to meet them? They live in the city and I think it’d be good for you to meet someone who knows what it’s like”

Neuro’s eyes sparkled with excitement at Camila’s words. Getting to meet a pro duelist would be amazing for her. She quickly ran over to Vedal and grabbed both of his hands “Can I go? Can I? Can I?!” Neuro asked practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

Vedal sighed “You know I’m still not a fan of you leaving the house” He told her. Neuro’s face fell in disappointment but Vedal quickly put his hand up “But at the same time we need to make sure the amplification feature of the jammer is working correctly but to do that I’d need to stay here to monitor it while you two went out. So if you’re going to go. You stay with Camila at all times, You remember the rules I told you and you run back here as quickly as you can at the first sign of danger. Understood” Vedal explained to her. His apprehension was obvious but he knew that testing the functionality of the jammer and letting Neuro get out of the house for a bit would be killing two birds with one stone.

Neuro nodded frantically before she quickly jumped forward and hugged him. Causing Vedal to wheeze as he had the air knocked out of him “Yes! Thank you Vedal!” She cheered as she hugged him tightly.

A small smile made its way onto Vedal’s face as he turned to look at Camila “I’m trusting you to take care of her. Understand? If anything bad happens to her I’m holding you personally responsible” He stared into Camila's eyes as she spoke.

Camila let out another laugh like “You could do anything to me anyways” she teased before faltering for a second upon seeing the seriousness of Vedal's glare. She shook her head. She probably shouldn’t tease the guy who was basically entrusting his only daughter to her “Hey relax Tutel. I’ll make sure nothing happens to her” She assured.

Vedal nodded with a sigh before a curious look made its way onto his face “Tutel?” he asked incredulously “When the hell did I get that nickname?” The confusion in his voice was clear.

Camila let out a cackle “Neuro mentioned how you played almost exclusively cards based around turtles when you do and it’s the first nickname I thought of” she said as she continued to laugh at him.

Vedal just sighed as his face palmed. Great not only did he have a sassy A.I that he had to take care of but he also now had to deal with an annoying freeloader. What a simple and fulfilling life he lived. Truly it was exactly where he envisioned himself being all those years ago when he got into that mess. The tired programmer got up from his seat and headed into the kitchen. He needed alcohol if he was going to make it through the rest of the day.

Much to Vedal’s annoyance Camila had woken up Neuro way earlier than normal the next morning. Which of course led Neuro to wake him up way earlier as well to say good morning. He had promptly booted the two out of the house so he could wake up properly and also so he didn’t murder Camila. Neuro wasn’t entirely sure if he had meant that or not.

The two walked into the city together in a peaceful silence. The last time she had left the house she’d been too focused on taking everything in. This time she couldn’t help but think about this duelist she was going to meet. Camila has said very little about them as a person. Only that they used to be a pro but someone that was friends with Camila couldn’t be terrible right?

At the same time she couldn’t get what Camila had said about pros out of her head. Would she turn into someone who only dueled to win? She didn’t want to. Her reason for dueling was that she loved doing it. Even if , as Vedal had said, it was one of the main reasons for her creation she never felt forced to duel. She enjoyed the thrill of it. Watching her monsters clash with her opponents and finding a niche play that let her win the duel made her feel truly alive. Cerber seemed to be mentally ok and seemed like a wholesome person who still loved dueling but Neuro couldn’t help but remember how Layna had looked during her duel with Cerber. She hadn’t truly been there. Neuro didn’t want to end up like that but she also really wanted to prove how good she was. Was there really no other way?.

“We’re here!” Camila called out dragging Neuro from her thoughts.

Neuro looked at the building and raised an eyebrow.  It was …. A gym. Why would Camila take her to a gym to meet a duelist?. Sure the hobbies could overlap but would they really find an ex-professional duelist here? “A gym?” Neuro asked curiously.

“A boxing gym to be exact. My friend runs this place” Camila explained “After they retired they figured out that they had a passion for boxing and ended up here. Come on lets go inside” Camila grabbed Neuro’s hand and began to pull her inside. Neuro didn’t resist. Honestly if it wasn’t for the fact that Camila was dragging her in she might have walked away. Mostly because she was convinced that Camila had seen her kick the basement door down and was now convinced that watching her fight humans would be funny.

The two made their way inside and found themselves in some kind of reception area. There wasn’t all too much to see there. Just a guy sat at a desk on his phone not really paying much attention to what was in front of him. The guy didn’t even look up as the two walked in.

Camila simply smiled in the guys direction “Hey is Toma in?” she asked him as she walked over and leant on the desk.

The guy let out a sigh “If you wanna meet the boss you need an appointment first…” He began to say as he finally looked up but his face lit up as soon as he saw the two “Camila! How have you been!” He sounded genuinely excited to see her.

Camila laughed at his sudden change in personality “Hey there Bo. Things have been weird lately but you know me. Things are always weird” Neuro watched the interaction between the two curiously. “Is the boss in?” she asked again

Bo nodded “She’s in the gym. Got a tough guy who thought he could beat her in a match in there with her” He explained “She’ll be excited to see you. Apparently you had to cancel on your plans last week”

The Imp let out a nervous laugh in response “Yeah things have been kind of hectic. Don’t worry about it”. Neuro hadn’t really thought about it but she supposed Camila basically being on lockdown with her and Vedal would have affected her social life. Camila had just hidden it so well that Neuro hadn’t even noticed anything different.

Bo seemed to finally notice Neuro. He stared at her few a few seconds clearly not knowing what to make of her. “Are you lost little girl?” he asked “I can call your parents if you need”

Neuro didn’t know why but being called a little girl made her feel some kind of irrational anger. She stomped her feet as she walked up to the desk planning on giving Bo a piece of her mind but Camila suddenly put out a hand in front of her “She’s with me. I’m helping her dad out by looking after her for the day” Camila explained. Neuro was about to protest but stopped when she saw the look Camila gave her. It was a kind of panicked glare. Neuro took a deep breath and composed herself. Posing as an actual girl instead of an A.I was her entire cover story after all.

Bo just looked out at Camila for a second before shrugging “Well in you go then. I’ll tell anyone else who comes in that Toma is out for lunch or something” He said with a smile as he gestured to a door that was behind him to the right.

“Got it thanks Bo” Camila quickly grabbed Neuro’s hand and pulled her along with her. Neuro gave Bo a quick wave goodbye as they went as Bo pulled his phone back out and seemed to stop paying attention once again.

After making their way through the door they arrived in what appeared to be a locker room. Neuro was worried that she might have to change clothes but Camila didn’t seem to pause to do so and just kept walking. The two made their way through another door and into another different room. The room was a large gymnasium area with a boxing ring in the center. The rest of the room was scattered with different gym equipment and punching bags. However what drew Neuro’s attention the most was two people who were standing in the middle of the room. It only took Neuro a single glance to realize the two were dueling. Or at least finishing a duel.

“Go Battlin’ Boxer Shadow. End this duel. Battlin Shadow Boxing!” One of them yelled out.

The attack happened so fast Neuro barely even noticed it happening but she was easily able to see one of the two go flying from the attack. He crashed into the ropes that surrounded the boxing ring. The man let out a groan as the winner of the duels monsters disappeared. 

The winner must have been the Toma that Camila had mentioned. She was a muscular woman with her hair in a pony tail. The pink hair and green highlights that matched the colour of her eyes. The woman took a few deep breaths as she grabbed a nearby cloth and wiped her brow. She walked over to the opponent she had just defeated. She offered them a hand up which the man begrudgingly took.

“You weren’t bad but your leagues away from being able to beat me. In dueling or boxing ”she told them “ She told him. Despite the harsh words her tone was friendly “Focus on how you approach a turn. There's a lot of difference between using a card at the right time and using a card just because you can”

The man nodded before he excited the boxing ring and made his way out of the ring. He didn’t say anything as he walked past Neuro and Camila. The man didn't say a word to either of them as he left. The look on his face showing his pride was hurt.

“You know I told Bo not to let anyone else in today” Toma called over to the two. Dragging Neuro’s attention over to her “You really need an appointment to have a one on one session with me”

Camila shot a big smile in her direction “Oh come on Toma. You don’t even have time for your best friend in the whole wide world”. Camila tried to give the woman puppy dog eyes while she spoke.

Toma just shook her head as she walked over to Camila. The two embraced each other in a quick hug before Toma pulled away and looked Camila up and down for a moment. “You haven’t been keeping up with the exercises I told you to do” she said accusingly.

Camila let out a nervous chuckle “I haven’t had time recently. I’ve been practicing performing and dueling. Not to mention this little gremlin has been keeping me busy” Camila explained, gesturing to Neuro.

This finally drew Toma’s attention to Neuro. Toma looked at her curiously for a few moments before she knelt down in front of Neuro “Hey there I’m Toma. What's your name?” Toma asked gently with a smile on her face.

“I’m Neuro,” she explained. She couldn’t explain why but Toma’s smile seemed to put her at ease “Is it true you used to be a pro duelist?” Neuro could help but ask. She had so many questions for her that she could barely contain herself.

Toma let out a laugh “That was a long time ago. I mostly just run this place nowadays Neuro” She explained as she gestured to the room around her. She stood up properly and looked around. “I maybe could’ve kept dueling on the pro circuit. Might have even become a champion but I realised that I was slowly losing the enjoyment that came with winning. So instead I focused on my other passions. I still like dueling and we do that here as well but boxing is my main focus” Toma explained

Neuro thought for a few moments. Toma’s reasons for quitting lined up with what Vedal and Camila had been saying earlier. Was it just inevitable that she would lose her love for dueling in her efforts to become a pro. Was the only way to continue getting better at the game to give up the fun that she had while playing it.

Toma must have noticed the look on her face because she had placed a hand on Neuro’s shoulder. “Whatever is bothering you. Try not to think too hard about it right now” Toma explained “Judging by the fact that Camimi brought you here you need training” Toma looked at Camila with a dry look as she said that “And if it’s dueling that’s got you interested im more than happy to help a friend of Camimi’s” 

Neuro looked Toma in the eyes, surprised “You’d really train with me?” Neuro asked excitedly.

Toma nodded, “Of course but there's a test you need to pass first.” Toma turned away from the two and began to walk to the other side of the gym. Gesturing for the two to follow them. They both did as instructed and eventually found themselves standing in front of a punching bag. Toma quickly set it up and handed Neuro a pair of boxing gloves and told her to put them on. Neuro did and couldn’t help but notice how weird they felt.

“So like I said this is first and foremost a boxing gym. So I wanna see how you box” Toma explained with a grin on her face “So what I want to see is can you put as much passion into something else that you do into your dueling. Go ahead. Throw a few punches” Toma instructed.

Camila’s eyes suddenly went wide with panic as she realised what was about to happen but she didn’t have time to stop anything. In less than a second Neuro had made her way over to the punching bag and brought her hand back. Toma was about to comment on Neuro’s stance when the girl suddenly threw her hand forward in a punch. Her fist connected with the punching bag and sent the bag flying across the room. Along with the post holding it up. Both things crashed into the wall with a loud bang and the punching bag burst open on impact.

Camila face palmed as Toma just stared in complete and utter shock at what she had just witnessed. She rapidly looked back and forth between Neuro and the punching back. Neuro was internally panicking. She always forgot how strong her body was and now she might have just exposed another person to her existence. Toma however , after getting over her shock, threw her head back with a laugh.

“Well I have a million different comments on how bad your technique was but I don’t think I want to lose another punching bag to help you improve” She joked with an impressed look on her face “Yeah I think we can skip the rest of the tests. Thank god I didn’t ask you to punch my hands”

“Sorry” Neuro said quietly and she rubbed her arm. She genuinely felt bad about destroying Toma’s punching bag.

Toma just laughed again “Hey don’t worry about it. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen” Toma told her. “Well since I’m done testing you. Let’s get to the fun part. Are you ready to learn how a pro duels?” The boxer asked with a confident look on her face.

Neuro shot back a confident smirk “I’m ready to beat a pro”.

The two quickly made their way over to the boxing ring in the center of the room. Toma helped Neuro into the ring as Camila pulled up a chair to watch. Toma threw Neuro a duel disk which the A.I girl caught and attached to her arm. 

“Ok let’s see if you duel as hard as you punch Neuro” Toma called over “Just so you know I don’t ever go easy. You’ll be dueling me at full force so brace yourself” The boxer declared as she slotted her deck into her duel disk as it lit up and activated.

“I’ve never held back either so don’t be too upset when you lose to a newbie” Neuro called back. Maybe she was appearing overconfident in her abilities but that was the intention. If she could get Toma to underestimate her then maybe she’d make a mistake. Neuro took a deep breath and slotted her deck into her duel disk. Time to see what a pro duelist was made of. 

“Good Luck Neuro” Camila cheered from outside the ring. Neuro gave her a quick nod. She’d probably need it against an opponent like Toma.

“Ready?” Toma asked as she raised her duel disk.

“Ready” Neuro confirmed, raising her own duel disk and looking Toma in the eyes.

“So let's duel!” They both yelled out. 

Turn 1: Toma

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Toma Life Points: 4000

Both of their duel disks began to flash red and green for around ten seconds before Neuro’s duel disk settled on red and Toma’s duel disk settled on green.

“Looks like I’m up first” Toma looked at her hand for a few seconds before nodding “Class is now in session. Let me show you how a pro duels! I’ll start this round by summoning Battlin’ Boxer Shadow!” Toma declared

A shadowy mass  manifested on Toma’s field. It was shapeless for a while until its eventually began to move and take shape. The monster summoned was a muscular humanoid with different pads and armour scattered across its body. Its body maintained it shadowy appearance even after finally being fully summoned.

(Battlin’ Boxer Shadow/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 1400)

“And what good is a boxer if they don't have a good sparring partner”. Toma called out with a smirk “And now that I have a Battlin’ Boxer on my field. I can summon Battlin’ Boxer Sparrer to give it just that!” 

A burst of flames appeared on Toma’s field and from it emerged a humanoid monster equipped with different pieces of boxing gear. The standout being two massive red foam pads on its arms.

(Battlin’ Boxer Sparrer/Level 4/Atk 1200/Def 1400)

“Two monsters already?” Neuro asked. She’d never had someone start a duel so strong before. Usually opponents took a turn to get a feel for what she was doing before committing to a play but it seems like that wasn’t how Toma dueled.

Toma gave her a confident smile “I told you I wouldn’t be holding my punches.” Reminding Neuro of her earlier words “And let me show you just what I mean. Now that there's two monsters with the same level on my field the fun can truly begin!” Neuro’s eyes suddenly went wide as she realised what Toma was about to do “I overlay level four Battlin’ Boxer Shadow and Battlin’ Boxer Sparrer!” As Toma spoke both of her monsters transformed into red masses of energy and as they did a huge portal appeared in the middle of the boxing ring between both duelists. “With these two monsters I build the overlay network!” Toma continued her chant as both monsters as masses of energy made their way into the portal before their energy caused a massive torrent of energy to erupt from it “ I XYZ summon! Rank Four! Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke!” Toma cried out

A torrent of flames that made its way up to the sealing appeared in front of Toma before a massive monster made its way out. It was a titanic monster covered from head to toe in boxing gear. So much so it appeared that it was being weighed down by all of the gear it was wearing. As if it was deliberately being restrained. Two red lights circled around the monster. The monsters used to make it sticking around as overlay units.

(Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke/Rank 4/Atk 2200/Def 2000)

“An XYZ monster?!” Neuro nearly yelled out. Even Camila from the side could see that Neuro hadn’t expected this and was now worried. She hadn’t faced down an XYZ monster in a long time. She just had to hope she could beat it.

“That’s right. How well you do in beating Lead Yoke will determine if you’re able to win this duel” Toma yelled out “I’ll end my turn with that. You’ve had enough this round but round two is coming right up!”

“Alright then. Let’s take down that XYZ monster then! I draw!” Neuro declared as she drew her card. The worry she had previously shown completely gone. So what if Toma was a pro. She knew she could win this

Turn 2: Neuro-Sama

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Toma Life Points: 4000

Hand size: 6                    -       Hand Size: 3

Neuro glanced at her hand before smiling. Sure lead Yoke might have a pretty big attack stat but a defense stat like two thousand was something she could take advantage of. “I’ll start out by summoning a champion of my own to the field! I summon Cyberse Wizard!” Neuro declared as she placed a card onto her duel disk.

A Familiar digital gate materialized in front of Neuro and Cyberse Wizard emerged from it. The familiar monster helped calm Neuro’s nerves a bit as it settled onto the field in front of Neuro. The glitch like effects buzzing around it calming as its summon was completed

(Cyberse Wizard/Level 4/Atk 1800/Def 800)

“Cyberse Monsters huh” Toma observed “Looks like I’ll be seeing some link summons from you. Lets see what you’ve got” She seemed to stand a little taller as she spoke.

Neuro however was sent reeling from her statement. Sure it wasn’t a secret that Cyberse monsters liked to link summon but she’d never been called out like that before. Normally her opponents had some doubts as to what she could do but Toma seemed to know right from that start. Should she change her plan? What if Toma already knew what she was going to do. Neuro shook her head to focus herself. She couldn’t start losing focus. Not now.

“There's more to Cyberse than just link monsters!” Neuro yelled out “Try this on for size. I equip my Cyberse Wizard with the equip spell Grid Rod!” Neuro yelled out

As she did, a staff appeared from a digital gate and floated in front of Cyberse Wizard. The monster discarded its old staff and grabbed the new one. Its body glowing as it grabbed a hold of the new weapon.

“Grid Rod gives any Cyberse Monster that its equipped to a bonus three hundred attack points” Neuro explained as she pointed at Cyberse Wizard “So my Wizards magic is about to become even more powerful!”

Cyberse Wizard Atk 1800 → 2100

“Sure it might be stronger. But your Wizard still isn’t strong enough to beat my Lead Yoke” Toma pointed out. She clearly didn’t believe that though. 

“Sure it can’t beat your Lead Yoke when it comes to attack points but that’s not what I’m aiming for. I activate Cyberse Wizards special ability! Go Cyberse Algorithm.” Neuro declared and in response to Neuro’s words Cyberse Wizard pointed the Grid Rod at Lead Yoke as it began to glow a bright blue colour “Cyberse Wizards special ability forces your Lead Yoke to change to defense position and if any of my Cyberse monsters attack it while it's there you’ll still take damage even if your monster is in defense position!”  Neuro explained.

Lead Yoke let out a groan in pain as it was forced down onto one knee. It crossed its arms in front of itself to better protect itself as it was forced into defense position. Toma didn’t react to this at all however. Still seemingly calm.

“You said how I beat Lead Yoke would decide how well I’d do in this duel, well let me show you how well I can do” Neuro punched her fist forward as she spoke. Imitating boxing moves to try and show Toma her spirit “Lets battle! Cyberse Wizard attack Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke! Illusion Spike!”

Cyberse Wizard twirled the Grid Rod in its hands before it pointed its weapon at Lead Yoke and a blast of energy erupting from the staff. The blast of energy slammed into Lead Yoke and it let out a groan in pain from the attack.

Toma Life Points: 4000 → 3900

Despite the attack connecting and Toma’s life points decreasing something was very wrong. Lead Yoke wasn’t destroyed. Instead the monster let out a mighty roar. As one of its overlay units suddenly flew into one of the heavy pieces of equipment on its body. Causing it to crumble and fall off. Lead Yoke was able to stand taller as a result as it let out an even louder roar.

“What’s happening?” Neuro asked, confused. She was trying to suppress her panic but it was getting increasingly difficult. “Cyberse Wizards attack should have completely wiped it out!”

Toma let out a chuckle “Never assume that just because you attacked a monster you’ll be able to destroy it. Lead Yoke's special ability activates whenever it's about to be destroyed. By using an overlay unit not only is lead yoke not destroyed but one of its restraints is released!” Toma explained “Which means Lead Yoke gets even stronger as its sealed power is released. To the tune of eight hundred more attack points!”

Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke ATK 2200 → 3000

OLU 2 → 1

“A monster that gets stronger instead of being destroyed?” Neuro said mostly to herself. She couldn’t help but stare at the monster in awe. She should have known that beating a monster Toma had so much confidence in wouldn’t be so easy. Still she had managed to deal damage. Even if only a little bit so at least it wasn’t a total waste “Not bad Toma. I’ll place one card face down and end my turn! Back over to you!”.  She had to show that she was confident. Even with the uncertainty that was rising in her mind.

Toma gave her a nod “Looks like your plan not working hasn’t made you panic. Good. Keeping focused on the duel is one of the most important things when becoming a pro. Now let's move onto round two. I’ll draw!” 

Turn 3: Toma

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Toma Life Points: 3900

Hand size: 3                    -       Hand Size: 4

Toma briefly glanced at the card she had drawn and smirked “Time to show that Wizard how to really fight. I summon Battlin’ Boxer Glassjaw!” Toma declared. Not even missing a beat in starting her turn.

Another monster burst from a torrent of flames on Toma’s field. This monster was also large but not as large as Lead Yoke. It was a humanoid in boxing gear similar to the rest of Toma’s monsters but this one had dark green skin and black boxing gloves

(Battlin’ Boxer Glassjaw/Atk 2000/Def 0)

“And while we’re talking about monsters. I’ll change my Lead Yoke back to attack position. It can’t go on the offense while being stuck on defense after all”. Lead Yoke got up from its knelt down position in response to Toma’s words as it let out another roar.

Neuro grimaced. Her situation kept getting worse. Monsters that could be normal summoned and had a large attack stat weren’t very common but Toma had just summoned a monster with almost as many attack points as her XYZ monster. Still it had zero defense points. A trait Cyberse Wizard could take advantage of if it survived this turn.

Toma hadn’t slowed down at all. Already onto her next move And next up I’ll take care of that staff your magician is using.” Toma declared as she pointed at Cyberse Wizard “I’ll activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon!” As Toma activated her spell a large storm began to form above the battle field. Neuro wasn’t sure how it could be storming indoors but apparently duel holograms didn’t care for her logic “With this spell card I’m able to destroy any spell or trap card on the field and the card I’ll attempt to get rid of is your Grid Rod!” Toma declared as the storm above the two grew stronger.

Neuro realised very quickly that this was bad. If grid rod was destroyed Cyberse Wizard would lose its attack points and it’d be able to be destroyed. And on top of everything she’d take major damage. Neuro started to panic for a moment before a look of realisation made its way onto her face and she quickly reached for her duel disks “Hold it Toma I've got a trap. Three Strikes Barrier!” She yelled out quickly as her face down revealed itself

“A trap?” Toma questioned curiously. She didn’t seem worried. More intrigued. As a dark blue barrier appeared in the middle of the field between the two duelists.

“Good to know you can hear me alright” Neuro teased “I can only activate my Three Strikes Barrier when you have exactly three cards on your field and you’ve got three. Lead Yoke, Glassjaw and Mystical Space Typhoon. And thanks to that I can activate one of three of its effects” Neuro explained as three spots on the dark blue barrier began to glow “And the effect I’ll choose is to not take any battle damage this turn!” Neuro explained.

The middle light of the lights of Neuro’s barrier began to glow brighter than the rest until it fired out a beam of light that enveloped Neuro until the barrier in the middle of the field dissipated. Neuro still retained a blue glow around her however. Indicating that the barriers effect was still in play.

“Nice trick!” Toma yelled out “But that doesn’t stop the fact that your grid rod is going bye bye”. Her words were proven correct as not a second later a bolt of lightning crashed down from the storm above them and struck Cyberse Wizard. The monster itself was fine but the Grid Rod it was holding was destroyed. Leaving the monster empty handed

“Not good,” Camila said to herself from the sidelines. She really had been rooting for Neuro but even she had to admit the A.I girl wasn’t in a good position. Toma hadn’t even been remotely phased by anything Neuro had done so far. Camila was beginning to doubt anything Neuro did would slow Toma down.

“Now that your annoying equip spell is out of the way. Let's battle!” Toma declared “Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke. Attack Neuro’s Cyberse Wizard! Knockout Strike!” 

Lead Yoke suddenly shot forward from where it stood with incredible speed. It brought its fist back as it moved and as soon it reached Cyberse Wizard it threw its fist forward. The attack striking Cyberse Wizard with all the strength Lead Yoke currently had. However despite the brutality of the attack Cyberse Wizard wasn’t destroyed. Both Toma and Camila looked confused as Lead Yoke jumped back to Toma’s field signifying that the attack was over.

“What happened?!” Toma asked, confused. “That attack should have easily destroyed Cyberse Wizard!”.

Neruo let out a laugh “So you can surprise even a pro after all” her face lit up as any worry she previously had seemed to evaporate “You see while it’s true you destroyed my Grid Rod what you didn’t do is account for the fact that it would leave me behind a parting gift. You see when Grid Rod is destroyed my cyberse monsters can’t be destroyed for the rest of the turn! So thanks to it in combination with my three strikes barrier I’m making it through this turn unscathed”

Toma’s eyes went wide as Neuro explained what had happened. She hadn’t expected that destroying Neuro’s equip spell could lead to this. Her expression changed and she actually looked impressed. She let out a short chuckle at the events “Not bad Neuro. You totally got me there. I’ll end my turn” The glow blue around Neuro dissipated as Toma’s turn ended.

Neuro let out a small sigh of relief.. It was a good thing her plan had worked or the amount of damage her life points would have taken might have been unrecoverable. Still she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Her next goal should be destroying Lead Yoke. She nodded to herself as she knew what she needed to do “Alright then it looks like I'm up. I draw!” She yelled out.

Turn 4: Neuro-Sama

Neuro Life Points: 4000  - Toma Life Points: 3900

Hand size: 4                    -       Hand Size: 2

Neuro looked at her current hand and the card she he had drawn for a second. She thought for a moment before beginning to play her turn “I’ll start by summoning Balancer Lord!” she announced.

The same digital gate that Cyberse Wizard had originally emerged from appeared once gain but this time a different monster emerged from it. It was a humanoid monster that was clad from head to toe in futuristic looking armour. It wielded a shield and sword which it swung around a few times before settling in front of Neuro.

(Balancer Lord/Level 4/Atk 1700/Def 1200)

Toma looked like she was about to say something but Neuro wasn’t done yet “Next up! As I normal summoned a cyberse monster I get to summon out Boot Staggered from my hand” She knew what she was doing and had no intention of slowing down. Toma had been in the driver's seat for basically the entire duel up to that point so she couldn’t afford to let her keep sitting in a comfortable position here.

The digital gate appeared once again and with it yet another monster. This time it was a blue monster with two cables coming from its back and a pair of antlers made of energy erupting from its head. The monster spun around before settling in Neuro’s monster zone.

(Boot Staggered/Level 5/Atk 2300/Def 500)

“Not done yet!” Neuro yelled “I activate Balancer Lord's special ability. First things first to be able to use it I have to give up one thousand of my own life points” Neuro declared as her body started to crackle with red electricity and she let out a small yelp as she took the damage.

Neuro Life Points 4000 → 3000

Toma looked at her concerned “Giving up so many life points is a risky play Neuro. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Camila couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Giving up a quarter of your life points for a single special ability was risky no matter what the effect. She just had to hope whatever Neuro was doing was worth it.

Neuro took a second before replying “Of… Of course it is!” she yelled out “Because now I get to summon one more Cyberse monster from my hand. And the monster I chose to summon is Bravedrive!” She announced as she slammed the card onto her duel disk. She couldn’t lose faith in her plan. Not now.

The digital gate appeared and opened for a final time as Bravedrive was summoned. It was a monster that was similar to Balancer Lord in appearance save for a few differences. It wielded a Lance instead of a sword, Its colour scheme was mainly red and dark blue as opposed to balancer lords white and it had a large flame burning on top of its head.

(Bravedrive/Level 4/Atk 1500/Def 1000)

“Three monsters just like that huh?” Toma observed as she looked at all three of Neuro’s monsters. “Still it’s a shame that none of them are anywhere near strong enough to take down my Lead Yoke”. Her statement was correct. None of the monsters summoned were anywhere near strong enough to beat Lead Yoke's massive two thousand eight hundred attack points.

“Maybe not yet but that’ll be different in a second. Appear!.....” Neuro began to prepare for a link summon but found herself pausing. She had been planning to summon Decode Talker but she wasn’t so sure it was the best idea. Sure it would be stronger than Lead Yoke while it pointed to two monsters. But it wouldn’t be able to defeat it for good due to its special ability and if anything it would only make Lead Yoke stronger. It was at that moment she felt something. Something tugging at her in her mind. If Decode Talker wasn’t strong enough then maybe a different Code Talker was. And since Toma liked fire monsters so much….. Neuro all of a sudden knew what she had to do. “Now’s the time! I create my circuit!” Neuro yelled out

Neuro thrust her hand into the sky as a spark of energy ran up her arm and made its way into the sky. Summoning the link gate way. A smile made its way onto Toma’s face however. Like she’d been expecting this “Finally link summoning huh?” she asked like she knew this was going to happen. She might have missed it but Camila was worried by the look on Neuro’s face. She looked so… focused. Like someone had flipped a switch in the A.I girl and she’d forgotten everything else other than her dueling.

“Link arrows confirmed. The conditions are any three monsters! I set Bravedrive, Balancer Lord and Cyberse Wizard in the link arrows! As she spoke all three monsters transformed into red masses of energy and made their way up to the link gate. Filling in the arrows pointing to the Left, The right and the bottom left. “My circuit is complete! I Link Summon! Link Three! Powercode Talker!” Neuro yelled out.

Similar to how Toma’s monsters had been getting summoned, a massive torrent of flames burst out of the link gate and crashed into Neuro’s extra monster zone. It burned for a few moments before a pair of light blue eyes coloured eyes could be seen through the flames. A large fist punched through the flames causing the entire torrent to disperse and Powercode Talker could be fully seen. It looked similar to Encode and Decode talkers however Powercode Talkers colour scheme was completely red. It also wasn’t wielding any weapons and instead had two gauntlets on both of its arms.

(Powercode Talker/Link 3/Atk 2300/←,→,↙)

“Powercode Talker?” Toma asked. For the first time in the duel she sounded worried. “Haven’t seen that monster before”

Off to the side Camila was thinking something similar “I haven’t seen Neuro summon that monster before. What is she thinking summoning a new monster against an opponent like Toma. If she uses it wrong due to inexperience it’ll cost her the duel” She didn’t say any of this out loud. She really did want to have faith in Neuro but summoning out a completely new monster at a time like this might not be her brightest idea. Still it had worked against her when Neuro summoned Encode Talker so who knew what she was planning.

“I activate Powercode Talkers special ability” Neuro yelled out “Thanks to it I’m able to negate the special abilities of any one of your monsters and the monsters who’s effect I’m choosing to negate… Is Lead Yoke! Go Withering WIre!” Neuro explained as she pointed at the monster.

As soon as Neuro declared the effect one of Powercode Talkers gauntlets transformed into a grappling hook with two pointed blue prongs. It swung its arm forward and launched the grappling hook at Lead Yoke. The hook slammed into and latched onto Lead Yoke's arm. Causing Lead Yoke to let out a howl in pain as the grappling hook sends an electrical surge into the monster.

“Oh no!” Toma yelled out as she looked at her monster with wide eyes. “Not good!”

“You’re right. That's not good. For you that is. Because not only does Lead Yoke lose the power to protect itself but it also loses all the attack points it previously gained from it” A smile made its way onto Neuro’s face as she saw Toma’s face gain a look of realization

Lead Yoke ATK 3000 → 2200

“And I’m not done yet. Since Powercode Talker now points to one of my monster zones I can special summon Link Infra-Flier to that zone in defense position.!” Neuro announced as she played the final card in her hand.

The gateway appeared one more time and from it appeared a monster that appeared to be a Hand glider with a pair of hands of its own. It flew around Powercode Talker a few times before it settled onto the field in the one zone Powercode Talker  pointed to

(Link Infra-Flier/Level 2/Atk 0/Def 1800)

“Now let's battle!” Neuro yelled out “Powercode Talker! Attack Battlin’ Boxer Lead Yoke!” Neuro yelled out.

Powercode Talker used the grappling hook attached to Lead Yoke to propel itself forward. Jets of flame erupted from its back as it sped towards Lead Yoke. getting ready to destroy the monster

“So What” Toma yelled “That’s not enough damage to defeat me!”

“Wrong!” Neuro shot back quickly “Powercode Talker has another special ability. By tributing Link-Infraflier its attack points double! Neuro announced 

Link Infra-flier dissipated into particles of energy which flew towards Powercode Talkers fist and surrounded it before igniting it as its fist was surrounded in fire.

Powercode Talker Atk 2300 → 4600

“What!” Toma yelled out worried. Her composure having been shattered as she was fully caught off guard.

“Go Powercode Talker! Power Smash!” Neuro yelled the words at the top of her lungs as she mimicked the monster's punching motion.

Powercode Talker struck Lead Yoke with a full force strike to its face. The monster let out a shriek of pain as it was destroyed. The armour all over its body cracking before eventually Lead Yoke exploded and Toma was sent flying backwards. Being caught by the ropes around the ring stopping her from going too far.

Toma Life Points 3900 → 1500

Toma had barely started to get back to her feet before Neuro declared her next attack. “Now Boot Staggered! Attack Battlin’ Boxer Glassjaw!” Neuro declared “Circuit Stagger!”

Boot Staggered sprung forward intending to strike at Glassjaw but before it could Toma spoke up “Glassjaw might have a big attack stat but it does come with a downside. If it’s ever attacked its immediately destroyed” She said with a grimace as before Boot Staggered's fist could even connect with Glassjaw it exploded into flames.

Neuro gave a nod however “That’s right. Which means Boot Staggered instead gets to make an attack on you!” She yelled out conclusively “End this. Go!” 

Boot Staggered quickly appeared in front of Toma and attacked her directly. She let out a yelp as the force of the monster's two thousand three hundred attack points struck her. Ending the duel. The attacked knocked Toma back into the ropes of the wrestling ring. After she had only just managed to stand up properly

Toma Life Points: 1500 → 0

Winner: Neuro-Sama

Camila watched the scene in shock. Where the hell did that come from?. Neuro had been in a bad position and then she’d blinked and the duel was over. “That… that was only four turns!” She yelled out in shock. She’d never seen Neuro duel like that before, much less Toma lose so quickly.

Neuro seemed to shake in place for a few moments before shaking her head and looking around. She had won…. How?. She must have been so focused on the duel that she couldn’t remember what she had done. She quickly ran over to Toma. Who was still leaning on the ropes of the ring “Are you ok!?!?” she asked in a panic.

Toma let out a laugh however “Oh I’m better than ok. It’s been a long time since I got my butt handed to me. You were worried about being a pro but if I didn’t know any better I’d say you already were one”

Neuro’s eyes widened “Really” she asked excitedly.

Toma gave her a nod “Of course. I used to be a pro and you beat me in four turns. If you can’t give today's pros a run for their money then there's a problem. Still though I do have one concern” She said seriously which made Neuro look at her curiously “On that last turn. You weren’t thinking about anything other than how to win right? I bet you weren’t even considering anything else” 

Neuro’s eyes went wide. While she still didn’t remember most of the turn she got a feeling that Toma had hit the nail on the head. “I just wanted to win so badly,” she said sadly. Realising what she had done

Toma gave her a warm smile “While it’s good you were able to win. That kind of disregard for everything else in a duel is what causes people to crash and burn. That's why I got out of the scene. If you’re able to avoid that you’ll be fine” She explained as she finally stood up properly. “Well it’s been nice to see you Camimi. But I do have other appointments today so I’ll have to get this place cleaned up” She said gesturing at the still destroyed punching bag on the floor as she looked at Camila.

Camila jumped up into the ring and ran over to Toma. Embracing the woman in a hug “I’ll see you soon ok” she said to which Toma gave her a smile. The two pulled apart as Camila gestured for Neuro to follow her as she headed towards the exit.

Neuro quickly followed her before turning around and waving “See you later Toma! Thank you for the duel!” Neuro called over to which Toma responded with a smile and a wave of her own.

“Come back soon ok!” Toma called back.

The duo of Neuro and Camila made their way over to the exit of the building. Neuro had a wide smile on her face. Happy with her victory but Camila’s usual smile was replaced with a thoughtful expression. Something was wrong. During that last turn Neuro had done something that she hadn’t expected. She knew Glassjaw was going to destroy itself. But she shouldn’t have known that. She’d never seen that card before. How in the hell did she plan around something she didn’t know about.

“Hey Neuro” she said suddenly as the two walked side by side. Neuro looked at her curiously “How did you know that Glassjaw would destroy itself like that?”

Neuro seemed to freeze for a moment. Not sure of how to respond. “I… I don’t know. I don't really remember playing that turn out. All I remember is looking at my hand at the start of the turn and then… nothing” Her voice was calm but her eyes betrayed her. She was worried about this.

Camila didn’t say anything further. Pushing Neuro for answers she didn’t have wouldn’t help the current situation. She’d just have to bring it up with Vedal later and hope he knew what to do. Something was seriously wrong but Camila didn’t know what it was.

It was around evening by the time the pair made it back to the house. They walked in the front door and saw Vedal sat in the kitchen drinking what looked to be coffee. He looked over at them with a blank expression “Did everything go ok?” he asked. 

Neuro nodded “I got to duel with Toma. I even beat her Vedal. Are you proud? Your A.I beat a professional duelist” She said with a wild smile.

Vedal raised an eyebrow at that “You managed to beat a pro?”. He clearly hadn’t expected that. Sure he knew Neuro was good but the experience difference alone made the probability of her defeating a pro incredibly low.

“She did, I saw it myself,” Camila chimed in. She had her usual smile but Vedal could tell it was strained. For what reason he couldn’t quite figure out. “In four turns no less”

“Four turns?!” Vedal nearly yelled out. Now that had his attention. Either this Toma wasn’t as good as he thought or Neuro had pulled off something near impossible. He was about to push it further but he saw Camila giving him a look. He just sighed and shrugged. He’d figure out her problem later but for now he’d drop it. “Good work. Anyways while you were out I was constantly monitoring the jammers performance. It seemed to remain stable the entire time so we should be good to go” He told them

“Yes!” Neuro cheered out “I’m gonna go and duel so many people” 

“Mhm. As long as no one followed you home you should be fine” He told them with a chuckle. Camila laughed as well. She had been keeping an eye out the whole way though so they should be fine.

Their laughter was immediately stopped by a knock on the front door. The three immediately turned to look at the door in worry. Vedal’s eyes met Camila’s before he looked down at Neuro. Camila immediately seemed to understand “Take her into the basement. I’ll answer it” she responded. 

Vedal nodded as he whispered something to Neuro and the two made their way down the stairs to the basement. Camila took a deep breath as she steeled herself and walked over to the door. Another knock ringing out as she did. Her hands were shaking as reached down to the door handle and slowly opened the door.

At the front door stood a woman that Camila recognised and a look of absolute shock appeared on her face as she saw them. She had long blonde hair and purple eyes with a small pair of horns and a large pair of dog ears on her head along with a big smile on her face. The two looked at each other for a few seconds before the woman spoke.

“Oh Hello!” She said, sounding a bit surprised. “I’m Cerber. Is Vedal-wan here?”

Chapter Text

“I’m Cerber. Is Vedal-Wan in?”

Camila couldn’t say anything for a few seconds as she just stood there with an incredibly shocked look on her face. She was Cerber. THE CERBER. Tournament Champion Cerber. She struggled to start a sentence for a few moments before she finally managed to get words to leave her mouth “You’re Cerber?! Like as in the regional champion Cerber?!” Her voice was way higher pitched than she had meant it to be but she didn’t really care at that moment.

The woman let out a laugh “That’s me. Don’t be too loud though. I doubt Vedal-wan wants the entire city knowing I’m here” she said with knowing eyes.

It only hit Camila at that moment just who Cerber had asked for “Wait you’re looking for Vedal?” she said before immediately covering her mouth with one of her hands. She had meant to be hiding that Vedal was even here but the fact that Cerber had just appeared in front of her was enough to make her throw caution to the wind. She was scrambling to find something to say. Anything to cover up for the mistake she had made.

Thankfully. Someone graciously saved her “It’s ok Camila. You can trust Cerber”.  Camila spun around and saw Vedal standing in the entrance to the living room. Facepalming after watching Camila absolutely fumble the interaction. “Still It’s impressive how fast you messed that up. You had literally one job”

Camila pouted at him “Hey you try and keep it together when there's a literal celebrity at the front door!” she nearly yelled but managed to keep her voice down. Remembering Cerbers warning.

Vedal just sighed before he gestured for Camila to let Cerber in. Camila stepped to the side and let Cerber in. Quickly looking out of the door to see if they were spotted before closing the door behind her. Cerber looked around the room briefly before her eyes fell on Vedal. The two stared at each other for a few moments in silence. 

“I didn’t expect to see you,” Vedal said to her. His voice was mostly calm but there was an ever so slight smile on his face.

Cerber’s eyes sparkled before she let out a cheer “Vedal-wan!” she cheered out as she suddenly ran over and hugged the man. Vedal had the wind knocked out of him as she collided with him and had to fight to stay standing. This was a familiar situation to him at this point but usually it was Neuro doing this. “I’m so glad you’re ok!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” He asked. A confused look on his face “Why are you even here? Aren’t you supposed to be taking a victory lap after your big win?”

Cerber pulled away from the hug and looked down at the ground. For the first time the smile left Cerber's face “Vedal-wan…. The first place I looked for you is your lab…..” Vedal immediately understood. He looked away from her. Not sure of what to say. “You gave me this address once when you were drunk. Said that if anything went wrong you’d be hiding out here. What happened? Vedal-wan?” Cerber continued. Sounding more concerned with every word.

Vedal just sighed again as he put a hand on his forehead. “Let’s sit down first. It’s a long story. He said with a sigh as he gestured for both of the others to follow him into the living room

Vedal had expected some kind of awkward silence to fill the room while he was busy making coffee for the three but it turned out that couldn’t have been further from the truth. He’d forgotten just how good Cerber was at making conversation but was very quickly reminded by the noise coming from his living room. Camila and Cerber were getting along incredibly well at had been talking with each other about various things the entire time Vedal had been making the coffee.

Eventually he finished making the Coffee and made his way to join the other two in the living room. He handed the others a mug each before sitting down on a separate chair before looking over at Cerber.

“So” He began. His voice was uncertain. There was a lot to explain and it would be the first time Camila would be hearing this story as well “What did you want to know?”

Cerber looked him straight in the eye “What happened? You said you’d only come to this place if the worst case scenario happened and not only do I find you living here. But your old lab building is a big pile of rubble. What the heck happened Vedal-wan?” 

Vedal sighed “You’re a hellhound Cerber. You can say hell you know” he teased but Cerber's face didn’t look any less worried “Look. We were attacked. I don’t know by who but I’ve got a pretty good guess as to why” Vedal began to explain “The tried destroying the building to prevent us from escaping. Only me and Neuro made it out, "he explained. His face was unreadable as he spoke. 

“So Anny-wan and Ellie-wan are?” Cerber asked. Camila’s ears seemed to prick up at the mention of those names. She’d heard Neuro mention Anny to Vedal before but Ellie was a completely new name to her. She looked over at Vedal curiously. Wondering what he’d say.

“We got separated in the escape tunnels. I don’t know if they survived or if they’re… I just don't know. I’ve tried contacting Anny multiple times since the incident but it’s been nothing but radio silence” Vedal’s face was still completely as he spoke. He wasn’t really looking at Cerber either. Mostly staring off into the distance.

“Vedal-wan…” Cerber said sadly. The look on her face matching her voice. She felt terrible for what had happened to him.

The room fell into something of a sombre silence. No one really wanted to speak. Camila herself was feeling kind of shocked. She’d never heard Vedal talk this much about himself before. He usually deflected questions or gave sarcastic responses. He usually never let his guard down but here he was telling everything to Cerber of all people. Which led her to an important question. Just how did the two know each other? They were obviously very close judging by how she had come here specifically to find him and she knew details of his past that she wasn’t even sure Neuro knew about. 

“So… how do you two know each other?” She figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. If anything it might help move the conversation along from the silence that had filled the room.

Cerber seemed to greatly appreciate that as her face lit up with a wide smile while Vedal just facepalmed “Oh I’ve known Vedal-wan for years. We met around the time when Vedal-wan began working on his big AI project” Cerber explained excitedly.

“Yeah this lost puppy looking woman walked into a bar I was drinking at and asked if the owner would hire her” Vedal said with a chuckle  “He might have considered it if she was old enough to serve alcohol at the time”

Cerber looked embarrassed as Vedal mentioned that “I needed a job ok. It was my first time out of hell and I didn’t know how things worked”

“Wait wait wait OUT of hell?!?!?” Camila nearly yelled out “You’re from hell?”

Cerber tilted her head to the side “Oh yes. I’m a hell hound! Don’t worry though. We’re not actually as bad as you think we are!” She said with a wide smile.

Camila let out a nervous chuckle at that. “Oh that’s good…” She said uncertainly. She’d heard about hellhounds before and they didn’t exactly have the best reputation. Cerber didn’t seem to be so bad though. In fact she seemed like the most wholesome person Camila had ever met so far.

“So anyways. As I was saying this after the owner rejected her , I don’t know what possessed me, But I asked her why she needed a job and she explained her situation to me. I needed an assistant at the time so I figured why the hell not and offered her to work with me” Vedal explained. Chuckling as he took a sip of his coffee.

Cerber smiled at the memory  “That was a long time ago wasn’t it. Still he’s lying about one thing” She said with a teasing smirk. Vedal raised an eyebrow curiously “He didn’t need an assistant at all. He’s just a softie who wanted to help me out”

Vedal looked away from the two as both women laughed at him “I can always throw you out of this house you know” He grumbled. Suddenly finding his coffee very interesting.

“Oh come on. If you hate me that much you wouldn’t have helped me out like you have” Cerber laughed. “If it weren’t for you teaching me how to duel. I know I never would have won the regional tournament” she reminded. Missing Vedal frantically signalling for her to stop talking.

Camila’s eyes went wide at that fact as her eyes darted back and forth between her and Vedal. A look of sheer disbelief on her face “Wait wait wait” she nearly yelled out “YOU taught her how to duel!?” Her yell so loud it could probably be heard in the layer of hell Cerber was from.

Vedal let out a groan while Cerber gave an enthusiastic nod “He did. If you think I’m good you should see Vedal-wan duel. I’ve never seen someone duel like he does. I’ve never even come close to beating him” Vedal wanted to slam his head into a wall as Camila’s eyes somehow got wider.

Camila spun around and faced Vedal full on “You said you don’t duel!” Camila yelled out confused as she threw her arms up in the air.

“I don’t” he responded. His voice muffled from his face being in his hands. He sat up properly and looked at the two. “Not anymore anyways”.

“Why the hell not?” Camila wanted to ask  but decided against it after she looked over at Vedal. Vedal clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about it and from the death glares he was sending her he must REALLY want the conversation to stop so instead she decided to change the topic once again “Hey where's Neuro?” she asked curiously. “I know you took her down to the basement when Cerber knocked on the door but I haven’t seen her since”

Vedal let out a small sigh “I didn’t take her to the basement, I took her upstairs to recharge. She was far too low on power from today. Sure she dueled against Toma but one duel shouldn’t drain that much energy from her” he explained. He saw the concerned look on Camila’s face and quickly kept speaking “She’ll be fine. She’ll just probably be out until tomorrow morning”

Camila nodded while Cerber's eyes sparkled with excitement “Can I meet Neuro-wan?” she asked. Her eyes sparkling and her tail was practically wagging with excitement as well.

Vedal sighed “You do realize that just knowing about Neuro puts you at risk right?” He asked. He knew she was already well aware of this but he had to make absolutely sure. He wasn't even sure as to why he was asking though. He already knew the answer.

She , as expected nodded, G “Of course I do. But I was planning on staying with you for a while anyway so I don’t mind being here” she didn’t stop smiling despite the seriousness of the situation “I helped you work on Neuro-wan for a little bit after all. Of course I want to see her!”

Vedal gave her a deadpan look “You literally just brought me coffee and answered emails for me. And I had to teach you to do both of those things” He responded in disbelief 

“And it was a vital part of the process” Cerber teased “I don’t know how you would have managed without me.

Camila had to cover her mouth to hold in her laugh as she watched Vedal grow more and more frustrated with how carefree Cerber was. She’d never seen Vedal actually frustrated before so it was funny to watch. Sure her and Vedal had their arguments but watching someone who knew how to mess with him was nothing but entertaining. She couldn’t wait to see how Neuro would react the next morning to seeing Cerber. Or how many new ways she could come up with to annoy Vedal between the three of them!

Neuro’s eyes flickered as she woke up. Waking up was a strange experience for her in that there was no real sense of time passing while she wasn’t awake. She was just simply there or not there depending on the state she was in. She glanced around her room. There wasn’t a whole lot in there, just a bed that she didn’t use since she mainly slept in her charging pod and a desk that she also rarely used.

She glanced at the clock to check the time and her eyes went wide. It was nearly nine in the morning. She must have overexerted herself yesterday when she dueled against Toma because there's no way she would oversleep this much normally. The AI girl quickly disconnected from her pod and nearly ran out of her room. She quickly ran over to Vedal’s room and threw the door open. Only to see that no one was inside.

The AI girl then heard the sound of pots and pans clanging from downstairs. Vedal must have woken up already. She let out a sigh of relief. She’d learned very early on that if she didn’t wake Vedal up every morning then he would sleep for the entire day so she was worried that he’d overslept. Thankfully he seemed to have managed to wake up on his own this time.

She made her way downstairs and into the living room. The first thing she saw was Vedal and Camila sitting in the living room watching the tv. Vedal looked like he was barely awake and Camila seemed engrossed in whatever was on the tv. Some duel from a few years ago was being broken down.

“Good morning Vedal, Camila” Neuro greeted the two with a smile as she walked over to the two.

Vedal looked up at her and gave the AI girl a small smile. “Good morning Neuro” Camila waved over to her but didn’t take her eyes off the tv. Clearly incredibly interested in whatever was going on in that duel.

The sounds from the kitchen caught Neuro’s attention once again. Which led her to ask a question. “Hey… If you two are in here. Then who’s in the kitchen?” she asked, incredibly confused.

That question caught Camila’s attention and a wide smile made its way onto her face. “You should go see for yourself. It’s a fun surprise!” Camila laughed as she spoke. 

Neuro frowned. She didn’t like being left in the dark here. She looked to Vedal for an answer but he just shrugged and gestured for her to go into the kitchen. Neuro just rolled her eyes but followed their instructions and made her way into the kitchen. Surely whoever was in there couldn’t be that big of a deal.

As she walked into the kitchen and looked around her eyes fell onto the person and she immediately froze. There was just no way. Her eyes had to be lying to her but she ran a quick system diagnostic and everything came back fine. The person seemed to notice her as their purple eyes met Neuro’s

They seemed to get incredibly excited as they suddenly walked over to Neuro and knelt down in front of her. So they were both at the same eye level “You must be Neuro-wan. ” Her voice was full of excitement as she spoke. She must have been looking forward to meeting her “I don’t know if Vedal has mentioned me before but I’m Cerber. It’s so nice to get to meet you”.

Neuro just stared in awe at the person in front of her. This was Cerber. THE Cerber. The regional champion. The duelist called the best of the current generation. She was able to beat the reigning three time champion. She hadn’t lost the entire season up until that point as well. Neuro was silent for a little while longer but something must have broken inside of her because she was only able to say one thing.

“Someone tell Vedal there is a problem with my AI”

After Cerber had panicked at Neuro’s response to seeing her and ran to get Vedal after Neuro had apparently broken from her presence alone., Neuro didn’t really remember much. Vedal wasn’t worried however. Apparently the phrase was an old part of her code that whenever something in her code had an error she would say that. Here she just said it because she was overwhelmed and it was the first thing she was able to think of to say. At least according to Vedal.

After that incident, It was explained to Neuro why the hell the regional dueling champion was in their kitchen cooking. The four had eaten breakfast before making their way outside. The four were sitting around an outdoor table as they caught Neuro up on the events of yesterday. Like Camila, Neuro was struggling with the fact that not only was Cerber here with them. But she had also been taught by Vedal. The other three had moved onto something different in the conversation but Neuro was still stuck on that one fact. Vedal. Her Vedal. The tired programmer who would probably forget to eat if Neuro didn’t remind him constantly was not only the one who taught Cerber but Cerber also genuinely believed he was the best living duelist.

Neuro stared at her creator as she thought about the scenario. Just how good was Vedal. Neuro was the only person to duel him in the last year as far as she knew so it was impossible to tell based on experience of him dueling others and Neuro couldn’t tell exactly how good she was so she had no good way to measure it. Sure she could compare his skills to her but would it even be accurate?

Cerber seemed to notice Neuro’s silence and called out to her “Is everything ok Neuro-wan. You’ve been quiet for a while now?”. Cerber gave Neuro a kind smile as she spoke.

Neuro looked over at Cerber. She was the only one who could answer all of the questions on her mind. Still above all of that. Neuro had one thing she wanted to ask Cerber. “Can we duel?” she asked. It might not have been the main question on her mind but there were far too many questions in her head and she needed to set her mind straight. What better way to do that than do duel a champion who would force her to give everything she had.

Cerber let out a laugh, While Camila looked slightly panicked and shot a look over to Vedal. Neuro watched Camila curiously. She’d been acting weird around her ever since she dueled Toma. Cerber was about to respond to her request before Vedal spoke up “Actually Neuro. I think it’d be better for you to watch Cerber duel. Watching a pro duel would give you a better idea of how they play and you can really pay attention in a way you can’t while dueling them. Assuming that’s ok with Cerber of course”

Neuro went to respond before she paused. She hated it but Vedal had a point. As much as she’d love to see how she stacked up against a duelist like Cerber she probably wouldn’t get all her questions answered if she was too focused on trying to beat her in a duel. So she begrudgingly gave Vedal a nod. Maybe watching Cerber duel could help her organize her thoughts as well.

Camila took the opportunity to speak up. A sudden look of excitement on her face “Well well well if Tutel is to scared to let his AI duel a champion I, The great Camila, am more than happy to step up” She declared dramatically as she took out her deck and held it out in front of Cerber “What do you say miss regional champion. Think you can take down this imp in a duel”.

Cerber let out a short laugh. She wasn’t laughing at Camila’s challenge, it was more of a laugh of excitement “Well I am supposed to be on a break. But I suppose one duel to show Neuro-wan how I duel couldn’t hurt” she said confidently “Very well Camila-wan. Let’s duel!” She cheered as she jumped up out of seat.

The two quickly got out of their seats and made their way onto the lawn of the backyard. Vedal ran into the house before emerging a few seconds later with a pair of duel disks. He gave one to each of them. Both of them slotted their decks into the duel disks causing them to light up. Indicating that they were ready. Neuro and Vedal stood off to the side of the garden. Ready to see just what Cerber could do.

“Good luck, have fun Camila-wan” Cerber called to her opponent. It was easy to miss but Neuro noticed that Cerber's demeanor had slightly changed. She still had a joyful look on her face but that look hid a kind of serious aura that she was now giving off.

Camila smirked, “I should be telling you that Miss Cerber. For it will not be so easy to best the great Camila in battle!” she boasted. Vedal rolled his eyes. Even in the face of a regional champion Camila was confident.

“So let’s duel!” they both yelled out

Both of their duel disks began to flash red and green rapidly before stopping with each of their duel disks only glowing one colour. Green for Camila and Red for Cerber. Indicating that Camila would be going first.

Turn 1: Camila

Camila Life Points: 4000  - Cerber Life Points: 4000

Camila let out a dramatic laugh “It looks like I will get to perform the opening act of this duel!” Camila declared as she looked at her hand “And what better way than by summoning out the wild desperado Abyss Actor - Wild Hope!” Camila declared as she slammed a card into her duel disk. The game was officially on

A cloud of smoke appeared on Camila’s field that faded to reveal the monster within. It was a cowboy looking monster that was wielding two strange looking blasters. It did a few tricks with its blasters before standing ready to battle.

(Abyss Actor - Wild Hope/Pendulum/Level 4/Atk 1600/Def 1200)

“A pendulum monster I see,” Cerber observed. The hellhound was practically bouncing on the spot “Pendulum can be a very tricky strategy to pull off. Let’s see how you do it Camila-wan” 

Camila however just smiled back “Patience dear Cerber. A good performer never spoils their show but It’ll take some time to get to the best part. So for now I’ll simply place one card face down on the field and that will bring the first act of this duel to an end. Let’s see what you can do!” Camila called out as a face down card appeared on her side of the field.

“Alright then. Ready or not, here I come Camila-wan” Cerber announced “I draw!”

Turn 2: Cerber

Camila Life Points: 4000  - Cerber Life Points: 4000

Hand Size: 3                    -  Hand Size: 6

Cerber looked at her hand for a few seconds. She gave a quick nod before she reached for a card in her hand “You might be willing to take things slow but I won’t be. I summon Unchained Twins - Rakea!” Cerber declared

A large gate appeared on Cerbers field which opened shortly after its appearance and a monster appeared from within. It was a female humanoid monster that was covered in chains. Its arms, legs and even feet were completely locked down by them. Still the monster was able to step onto Cerber’s field. The sound of its chains rattling could be heard as it did.

(Unchained Twins - Rakea/Level 3/Atk 1500/Def 1500)

Camila looked at the monster for a few seconds with a grin “Quite a creepy monster for someone so cute” She teased before gesturing to Wild Hope “too bad it’s not strong enough to destroy my Wild Hope. I hate to do it but it seems I’ve stopped this champions performance from the beginning” 

Cerber just let out a short giggle “Oh Camila-wan. You should know that there's more to a monster than attack points” Camila stopped grinning as Cerber looked at her confused. What did she mean by that? Cerber wasn’t planning to give Camila the time to figure that out however “I’ll then place one card facedown on my field” she announced as a face down card materialized on her field.

From the sidelines Neuro was watching the duel like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Most likely because it was. Watching how a champion duels isn't something that Neuro got to see everyday so she was making sure that she took as much of it in as possible. 

“Cerber doesn’t seem phased by any of what Camila is saying” She said out loud. Remembering how when She he dueled Camila that the imp had done everything in her power to get into her head to try and force her to make a mistake. Cerber didn’t seem bothered by anything Camila had done. If anything she just looked like she was having fun.

“Yep, that's one of the things I taught her” Vedal responded. Not taking his eyes off the duel. “Dueling is as much of a mental game as it is about the cards so when she asked me to teach her I tried to help her have as thick skin as she could get. Turns out she’s pretty good at not letting things distract her despite her personality” He explained.

True to his word Cerber, despite her joyful appearance, had a confident aura around her. Like she was completely in control of the duel despite not much having happened just yet “Now that I’ve got a card face down I think I’ll use Unchained Twin’s - Rakea. It allows me to destroy a card!” Cerber declared

“So what!” Camila shot back. Her voice oozing with confidence  “Even if you destroy my Wild Hope it’ll go safely to the extra deck where I can pendulum summon him right back to the field” 

Cerber’s smile just got wider in response to her words “Oh you seem to have misunderstood Camila-wan. Rakea isn’t destroying anything on your field. Instead I'm going to destroy… My own face down!” Cerber declared.

Camila and Neuro looked on in shock as Unchained Twins - Rakea turned around and slammed its chained hands down on Cerber’s set card causing it to shatter into thousands of pieces. However the shattered pieces suddenly began to come together to form a new shape as yet another large gate appeared on Cerbers field.

“What's going on? Why did you destroy your own set card?” Camila yelled confused at what she was seeing.

Cerber gave her another smile. That smile was starting to take on a terrifying meaning for Camila. Cerber was completely in control of the duel already and she knew it “You see Camila-wan. The unchained monsters are a series of monsters that are so terrifyingly powerful that they had to be locked away. But when those chains are finally shattered the true power of these monsters is unleashed” Cerber explained. Camila looked more and more worried as she did “The card Rakea destroyed is the trap card Abominable Chamber of the Unchained!. And when this Chamber is destroyed it frees the incredible power within! Or in terms you’d understand, it lets me summon any unchained monster straight from my deck!”

The gate behind Cerber opened and howling and snarling could be heard from within as a pair of bright blue eyes appeared from within the darkness. Blue energy began leaking from the gate as the noises grew louder.

“Now! Break free from your chains and appear! Unchained Soul of Disaster!” Cerber yelled out.

A massive creature suddenly leapt out of the gate and crashed down on Cerbers field. The monster was an incredibly large spiritual dog monster that loomed over the field. Dwarfing even monsters like Decode Talker in size. Despite being a spirit it was still chained by the signature chains that every monster in Cerbers deck seemed to have.

(Unchained Soul of Disaster/Level 8/Atk 0/ Defense 3000)

Camila could only stare in shock at the monster. Of everything she had expected Cerber to summon. A monster like that definitely was not what she had expected. Still there was one saving grace about it “What a big monster. Too bad it doesn’t have any attack points” Camila yelled out to Cerber.

“Good thing it doesn’t need any!” Was Cerbers response “Because I’m activating Unchained Soul of Disasters special ability!” Cerber yelled out.

Upon the declaration Soul of Disaster let out a howl before two of the chains surrounding its body suddenly shot forward and surrounded Wild Hope. Eventually trapping the monster within its chains.

Camila almost instantly looked panicked at the events. Eyes frantically darting between the two monsters “What’s happening?!”  she asked. Clearly having been caught completely off guard.

“Soul of Disasters special ability is happening!” Cerber explained “Now that your monster is caught in its chains I’m allowed to use your monster along with it to link summon!” Cerber explained 

“You're using my monster to link summon?!” Camila's eyes widened as she spoke as the chains around Wild hope tightened

“Exactly! Now watch as I create my circuit!” Cerber thrust her hand into the sky as a jolt of red energy ran up her arm and made its way into the sky and summoned the link gate. Neuro;s eyes widened as she recognized the gate. “Link Arrows Confirmed!. The conditions are any two monsters including an Unchained Soul! I set Unchained Soul of Disaster and Abyss Actor - Wild Hope in the link arrows!” In response to Cerber's words Unchained Soul of Disaster leapt up towards the link gate and dragged Wild Hope with it. It used the chain to throw Wild Hope into one of the link arrows before becoming the familiar red energy and filling in the other. The up and down arrows being filled in in the process “My circuit is complete! I Link Summon! Break free from your chains! Link Two! Unchained Soul of Rage!” 

A mass of dark blue energy emerged from the link gate and crashed down on Cerber's extra monster zone. It eventually took the shape of a dark blue wolf looking monster wearing the same kind of chains disaster had been wearing. The monster let out a howl that sent shockwaves across the battlefield. Causing Camila to have to take a step back to endure them.

(Unchained Soul of Rage/Link 2/Atk 1800/ ↑,↓ )

“She link summoned a monster and left Camila defenseless all in one move!” Neuro was in awe of the play Cerber had made. She had completely removed all of Camila’s defense with just two cards.

Vedal didn’t respond and just kept watching. He knew things looked incredibly good for Cerber but being in a good position and maintaining that position were entirely different things. Still if anyone would know that already it would be Cerber. She wouldn’t be as good as she was if she didn’t.

“So Camila-wan. Have I stolen the show yet?” Cerber teased. 

Camila stared at her for a few seconds before her usual grin made its way onto her face “I’ll admit that you’ve definitely upstaged me so far. But this duel isn’t over yet Cerber!” 

That Camila was still able to appear confident despite her awful position was admirable to Neuro “Hey at least she’s showing some backbone”

Vedal let out a chuckle at Neuro’s reply.  “There won’t be much left of it to show after this” was his joking reply.

“I’m happy you're still confident Camila-wan” Cerber told her opponent with a smile “But now it’s time to battle!. Unchained Soul of Rage. Attack Camila-wan directly! Raging Soul!” Cerber yelled as she thrust her hand forward.

Unchained Soul of Rage leapt forward from its standing position straight towards Camila. With no monsters to defend Camila, Soul of Rage was able to strike Camila directly striking her with its claw. Camila let out a yelp as she was knocked back from the sheer force of the attack.

Camila Life Points: 4000 → 2200

Despite the attack connecting, Cerber wasn’t slowing down for a second “But I'm not done yet. Go Unchained Twins - Rakea! Attack Camila directly!”  

Rakea jumped forward and raised its arm intending to slam down and hit Camila with it. The chains on its body began to glow as it did.

Camila was still recovering from the previous attack but quickly managed to reach over to her duel disk “I activate the trap card Zero Gravity!” she yelled out as her face down card revealed itself.

The trap card almost immediately kicked in and any momentum Rakea had going into its attack seemingly halted as it floated helplessly in the air.

Camila let out a sigh of relief “Zero Gravity changes the battle position of every monster on the field” Camila explained “Sure it won’t do anything to a link monster like Unchained Soul of Rage but what it will do is stop your Unchained Twin from attacking!”

Rakea was forcefully floated backwards to Cerber’s field and placed down on the ground. The most knelt down and crossed its arms as it was changed to defense position.

“Not bad Camila-wan” Cerber complimented as she looked at her hand for a second “I’ll place one card face down and end my turn. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next”. She said as a face down card materialized on her field behind Rakea.

“Alright then” Camila said between deep breaths “I draw!” she yelled as she drew her card but even that looked like it took a lot of effort.

Turn 3: Camila

Camila Life Points: 2200  - Cerber Life Points: 4000

Hand Size: 4                    -  Hand Size: 3

“What’s wrong with Camila. She looks like she’s exhausted?” Neuro sounded genuinely concerned for the imp girl.

Vedal let out a sigh “She’s fine. It’s just that she's mentally exhausted. Sure it’s only been one turn but like I said dueling is a mental game. Keeping up with a duelist like Cerber who won’t give you time to process between plays and knows just what she wants to do with her turn. She needs to find a way to win soon or she just won't be in the game enough to win” Vedal explained. Neuro looked at Vedal curiously. She’d never heard him talk about dueling on a professional level in this detail before. Just how good actually was he?

Camila had taken a few seconds after her turn began to catch her breath and process. Cerber hadn’t said anything during that time. Simply just waiting for her to be ready to play again. Camila looked at her hand. She could only see one path through but surely Cerber would be ready for it. Still she didn’t really have a choice.

“Ok Cerber, to start off the second act of our duel I’ll need to do something big to upstage your link summoning. So I’ll use scale one Abyss Actor - Evil Heel and scale eight Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian to set my pendulum scale. Let's get this show started for real!” Camila declared. 

As Camila placed the cards into her duel disk two pillars of light erupted from the ground. Evil Heel , a hulking purple monster wearing a white mask and Funky Comedian , a four armed yellow monster , appeared inside of the pillars of light each with the number of their pendulum scales below them. Cerber grinned as she saw the two monsters appear. She had been expecting this after all

Camila’s pendulum scale: Abyss Actor - Evil Heel 1  ---------  8 Abyss Actor - Funky Comedian

“Now that I’ve set my pendulum scale I’m allowed to pendulum summon monsters from level two to level seven all at the same time” Camila explained. As she did a pendulum appeared in the sky between the two monsters and began to swing back and forth between them. Eventually carving a portal in the sky “Swing Pendulum! Call forth this show’s greatest performers and make this duel one to remember! My performers are ready to take the stage! First up is our returning actor Abyss Actor - Wild Hope!, And now that this show is really getting underway of course we need Abyss Actor - Leading Lady to take the stage!, and last but not least the main performer of this show is here to amaze. Abyss Actor - Superstar!” 

Three purple beams of light descended from the portal in the sky. From one emerged Abyss Actor - Wild Hope who drew one of its blasters before firing off a few shots, From the second emerged Abyss Actor - Leading Lady who waved over to Neuro and Vedal as she tried to entertain the crowd and from the third emerged Abyss Actor- Superstar. Looking exactly as it had during Neuro’s duel with Camila. The three monsters took their places in Camila's field with Wild Hope being in front of the other two due to it being in Camila’s extra monster zone. 

(Abyss Actor - Leading Lady/Level 4/Pendulum/Atk 1500/Def 1000)

(Abyss Actor - Superstar/Level 7/Pendulum/Atk 2500/Def 1800)

(Abyss Actor - Wild Hope/Pendulum/Level 4/Atk 1600/Def 1200)

Cerber clapped her hands at the sight “What an amazing pendulum summon! Well done Camila-wan” she cheered.

Camila wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Normally she’d assume that her opponent was being sarcastic and fire back some snarky comment but Cerber came across as so genuine in her praise that she couldn’t bring herself to “Uhh thanks?” she responded. Unsure of what to say.

“Still” Cerber continued “As good as it was that Superstar of yours is a bit too strong to just let you have on the field. So I think I’ll activate my Unchained Soul of Rage’s special ability!” Cerber declared.

As she did Unchained Soul of Rage launched two chains from its body that wrapped around Abyss Actor - Superstar in a similar way to how Unchained Soul of Disaster had done. Superstar fought against the chains entrapping it but it was no use.

“Wait this again? Don't tell me….” Camila muttered as she realized what was about to happen. After all, she'd seen it once before.

“That’s right. Now I’m able to link summon using one of your monsters once again! So watch as I create my circuit once again!” Cerber yelled as she repeated what she had done earlier and the link gate was summoned in the sky “Link Arrows Confirmed! The conditions are any two monsters including an Unchained Soul monster! I set Unchained Soul of Rage and Abyss Actor - Superstar in the link arrows!” In response to Cerber's words Rage repeated the previous actions of Unchained Soul of Disaster and threw Superstar into the link gate before dissipating into red energy which then split into two. Together they filled in the arrows pointing Up, To the bottom left and the bottom right “My circuit is complete! I link summon! You’ve broken free from your chains now it's time to cause havoc! Link three! Unchained Soul of Anguish!” 

A mass of red energy emerged from the link gate and crashed down into Cerber’s extra monster zone. It took the shape of a giant red wolf monster with the deck's signature chains wrapped around its body. It showed its fangs as it growled at Camila. Causing the imp girl to let out a quiet gulp

(Unchained Soul of Anguish/Link 3/Atk 2400/ ↙↑ ↘)

Camila grimaced as she saw the monster be summoned. She had been planning to use superstar to get to one of her Abyss Scripts. Which would have maybe been able to find her a way back into the duel. Without that her entire plan had been shut down and she had no way of getting superstar back. Still the duel wasn’t over yet. She had a path left. She just had to hope it would work.

“You know I’m really getting sick of people summoning link monsters on my turn” She grumbled as she looked accusingly at Neuro who just gave her a cheeky smile back “But I’ve still got a play to make! I activate the pendulum ability of Abyss Actor - Evil Heel!” Camila declared as she gestured to Evil Heel as it floated in her Pendulum zone “Now by tributing Abyss Actor - Leading Lady I can reduce your Unchained Soul of Anguish's attack points by the same amount as Leading Ladys!” Camila explained “So say goodbye to fifteen hundred of your monsters' attack points!”

Evil Heels arm suddenly extended an incredible length as it reached out from the pendulum zone as it wrapped its hand around Leading Lady. It then threw Leading Lady towards Unchained soul of Anguish as the Actor exploded into a ball of smoke. Harming Unchained Soul of Anguish in the process

Unchained Soul of Anguish Attack: 2400 → 900

“Ok now let's battle!” Camila declared as she punched her fist forward “Abyss Actor - Wild Hope! Take down Unchained Soul of Rage! Wild bullet barrage!”

Wild Hope drew both of its pistols and fired a rapid barrage of bullets towards Unchained Soul of Rage. Each shot being fired looked more like energy than actual bullets.

“Not so fast Camila-wan! I’ve got a trap card!” Cerber yelled out as her face down card revealed itself “I play Escape of the Unchained!” As Cerber spoke a massive portal opened that absorbed all of Wild Hope's bullets. Then two chains shot out from the same portal and surrounded Unchained Twins - Rakea and Abyss Actor - Wild Hope.

“What’s going on?” Camila asked, sounding worried. 

“Escape of the Unchained is a powerful trap card” Cerber explained “You see now thanks to this trap card by destroying one Unchained monster on my field I'm allowed to take out one card on your field. So Rakea and Wild Hope are going to bite the dust!” she declared.

The chains surrounding both monsters began to drag them both into the portal. Wild Hope attempted to fight off the chains to no avail but Rakea just seemed to laugh at the scenario as it began to walk towards the portal on its own accord. Eventually both monsters were dragged into the portal before it closed. Signifying the destruction of the two monsters. 

Camila stared in shock at where Wild Hope had been not long ago but Cerber wasn’t done with her plays just yet “I now activate Unchained Twins - Rakea’s special ability! When it’s destroyed I'm allowed to replace it with another Unchained monster from my deck. So I’ll summon out Unchained Twins - Aruha!” 

As Ceber spoke the gate that Rakea had previously been summoned from appeared on her field once more but this time a different monster walked out. It was similar in appearance to Rakea but this monster was male and had a red and black colour scheme in opposition to Rakea’s white and blue.

(Unchained Twins - Aruha/Level 3/Atk 1500/Def 1500)

Camila stared at the field. She had nothing left. She’d never been in this position before. No monsters. No spells. No traps. No pendulum summoning. She’d been well and truly defeated. Not by lowering her life points to zero. But by being completely drained of any possible move. 

“I…. I end my turn” she sounded utterly exhausted as she spoke. Like it was hard for her to even speak.

Cerber’s smile dropped a bit hearing that. She could tell that Camila was in a state of disbelief “Alright I draw!” Cerber declared. As Camila’s turn ended and Cerbers began, Unchained Soul of Anguish’s attack points returned to normal.

Unchained Soul of Anguish Atk: 900 → 2400

Turn 4: Cerber

Camila Life Points: 2200  - Cerber Life Points: 4000

Hand Size: 0                    -  Hand Size: 4

Cerber didn’t even hesitate once she had drawn her card. “Let’s Battle! Unchained Soul of Anguish end this duel! Anguished Rebellion!" 

In response to Cerber's command Unchained Soul of Anguish leapt forward and landed in front of Camila and slashed her with its claw. Camila was knocked from her feet by the blow and was sent flying backwards. She eventually crashed down on the ground and let out a groan.

Camila Life Points: 2200 → 0

Winner: Cerber.

As soon as the duel ended and the cards faded from the duel disks powering down. Cerber rushed over to Camila. She quickly knelt down beside the imp girl and placed a hand on her shoulder “Are ok? I’m sorry I just got so into the duel I didn’t realize how it was affecting you”

Camila let out a groan in response “Never. In my life have I been beaten that badly” she responded causing Cerber to make an apologetic looking face. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could Camila spoke again “Don’t apologize that was awesome. Now if you don’t mind I’m gonna have a nap now”. Cerber looked confused and could only watch as Camila fell asleep on the spot.

Vedal and Neuro made their way over and also looked at Camila in disbelief “There is no way in hell she just fell asleep” Vedal genuinely could not fathom what he was seeing.

Neuro just laughed at the sight “I guess dueling a pro really takes it out of you” was all she said as Camila rolled over in her sleep and let out a few tired sounding noises.

“Do we…” Cerber began. Unsure of what to say “Do we leave her here?”

“As funny as that would be we probably shouldn’t” Was Vedal's response as he let out a sigh before kneeling down and grabbing one of Camila’s arms. “Help me take her into the house would you”.

The two worked together to pick Camila up and began to carry her towards the house. Neuro wasn’t exactly being of much help but then again what could she really do in this situation. Forgetting of course that she probably could have picked Camila up by herself. She let out a small chuckle as she followed Vedal and Cerber into the house. Feeling a bit miffed that she probably wouldn’t be getting her duel with Cerber today.

The sun had already begun to set by the time the three had managed to put Camila to bed and had settled down. Vedal found himself in the basement. He didn’t really have any projects to be working on but it was usually the quietest place in the house so he liked to use it as a place to relax. 

The programmer was looking at something on his laptop when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. “So much for a quiet place to relax” he thought to himself. He had genuinely been expecting Neuro to burst in and ask him something so he was pleasantly surprised when he saw Cerber standing in the entrance to the basement.

She looked around for a few seconds before eventually she spoke “A bit of a step down from your old lab don’t you think?” She teased. 

Vedal just rolled his eyes at the comment “I’m working with what I’ve got here Cerber. Besides I think this place is better than a destroyed laboratory” He reminded her. He knew she probably hadn’t forgotten. It just felt right to say.

Cerber let out a quiet laugh “I didn’t mean to offend Vedal-wan. Besides, I prefer this place to the lab any day.” She told him as she looked around once again “It's cozy”.

Vedal sighed as he moved his chair further away from his desk and fully turned to face her “Did you just come here to talk about my living space or is there an actual reason for you bothering me right now”.

“Me. Bothering you? Vedal-wan you know I could never!”  She said innocently but her expression changed when she saw the serious look on his face. “Ok actual answer. You're in trouble. Vedal-wan I can tell. Between what happened to your lab. The fact that you’ve been hiding … and the drones that have been spying on you”

Vedal looked her dead in the eye when she said, “How in the hell did you find out about that?” He said with narrowed eyes. He’d never had a reason to be suspicious of Cerber before but that had his attention.

Cerber responded quickly however “Neuro-wan told me. After we got past the whole Champion duelist thing she was very fun to talk to. She has such a unique view on dueling. But enough about that. I’m… I’m sorry Vedal-wan” She told him. A sad look on her face.

“Sorry? What for” Vedal responded confused

Cerber let out a small sigh “I should never have left you all at the lab. Becoming a pro was important to me but if I had known what was going to happen I never would have left”. She looked at the floor as she spoke. Like she was too ashamed to face him.

Vedal just waved a hand through the air in response “There was no way anyone could have known. Besides, becoming a pro had been your main goal since we first met. I wasn’t going to hold you back from it. Despite my reservations” he told

Cerber looked him dead in the eye as he said that “Maybe but I won’t make the same mistake twice. I will protect you, Vedal-wan. You and Neuro-wan. I know you’re not entirely enthusiastic about me being here because you think it puts me in danger but that means you’re in danger too. I won’t leave you Vedal-wan. No matter how hard you try to push me away”

Vedal looked at her without saying anything for a long time. The two looked into each other's eyes as if they were trying to figure out what the other was truly thinking. Eventually however Vedal sighed “It would be handy having a champion duelist protecting Neuro when she goes out to do who knows what” 

Cerber’s eyes went wide as she ran over and hugged him “Thank you Vedal-wan”. Vedal didn’t try to push her away. If anything a part of him truly wanted to lean into the feeling. For the first time in a while it felt like he truly had someone he could rely on other than himself.