Prologue: S. Revolt: The Return of the Society

The room is low-lighted, wide, and in the center lies a huge Oval-shaped Table where 10 men are sitting discussing the future over the City.

"I just don't understand why we even care for these imbeciles when we could just let them kill each other " said one man as he spoke aloud. "Quiet Donovan, as I recall you grew up in this City and are who you are because of it and the people around you." said another man scolding Donovan.

"Ugh, don't patronize me about my past, Lance." said Donovan, "You know full well that I left this City a long time ago, as well as it's residents."

"Let's stop bickering and get to the matter at hand here gentlemen." said one man at the North end of the table. "So, as we were discussing, what will become of this City?" he said as he overlooked every man in the room.

Another man stood up and faced the other men at the table, "Fellow gentlemen, I am Morrison, one of the 6 Arch Lords of the Society." said Morrison, "I have come to this meeting to say that our fearless leader, Lord ******* has so kindly, with open arms, re-shaped this City to what it is now and has vowed to make it return to its former glory, and maintain peace."

Donovan spoke up "The Society?! I thought they disappeared long ago and were never heard from again? What is the meaning of this?" said Donovan.

"Now now Donovan" said Lance, "You really didn't believe that the Society just up and left now did you? Surely you are smart enough to know that this man is a spy sent here to influence us into giving the Society the City."

Morrison walked from his chair and started to circle the men in the room. "Now as you were discussing, yes the City has fallen into shadows and Chaos has taken over the hearts of the people residing in it, I for one don't intend to let this continue, so by letting the Society take control over this City you will be doing the World a great deal of help and speaking of the World I-"

As Morrison talked he saw another man, far at the South end of the table, moving his lips as if talking to someone...

"Ah! you there, at the far end, do you have something to say on the matter?" said Morrison.

The man stood up and started to speak.

"*Yawn*You know that this isn't fooling anyone, we all know full and well that the Society should never be allowed to take back this City...the fact that we are even allowing you to speak is confusing to me." said the mysterious man, he wore a hooded cloak that only revealed his lips to others who laid eyes on him. "If you ask me, we could settle this another way...a Duel actually." he said raising his arm and revealing a Duel Disk.

"Y-you! How did you manage to sneak in a Duel Disk past the guards?! Those are strictly forbidden in here! Men, seize him!" said Donovan.

"WAIT!" yelled Lance, "Let's see what this man has to propose here." Lance called off the guards and sat back down in his chair with his hands folded onto the table.

"Now then, Mr?" said Lance.
"...my name is of no importance to you." said the Mysterious man.
"Oh come now, we can be civilized here can't we?" Lance said as he uncrossed his hands.
"I would like to finish what I was saying if you don't mind." the Mysterious man rebutted.
"Hmm, well if the Gentlemen here don't have anything to reply on the matter then you may resume." asked Lance.

No one objected...

The mysterious man then spoke in a calm tone, "Now as I was saying, I propose a Duel, if you win then these gentlemen here will have no choice but to hand over this City to you, however, if I should happen to win then the Society will never set foot in this City ever again." he said as he chuckled in the end.

Morrison, who was still shocked that this man had gone to such lengths to keep the City away from the Society closed his eyes and said; "You can take off that cloak now, Resistance member, I already know that you sneaked in here to stop the Society from having this City." Morrison opened his eyes and replied "I accept your challenge, on behalf of Lord ******, you will be vanquished."

The other men in the room cleared the table away and managed to get Morrison a Duel Disk.
The mysterious man removed his cloak and his Identity was revealed.

"My name is Saiou, I am a spy for the Resistance, our leader knew you men would give into the Society and let them take control yet again, we believe in a free City where no strict code of conduct is enforced, where people are free to do whatever they please in a reasonable manner and live in harmony with one another." Saiou continued but was cut off by Morrison's maniacal laughter.

"Ahahahahahahaha!!" laughed Morrison, "You really think that this City would be better off without the Society?! Foolish Saiou, where would this City be without the Society?" said Morrison, "In ruins, that's where, this City needs the Society which is why I will not lose this Duel."

"We shall see then Morrison, I for one will not let the Resistance down and let you or the Society take this City!" yelled Saiou as his Duel Disk activated.

Morrison raised his Duel Disk and the Duel for the City began.

"DUEL!" they both shouted in unison.


Saiou 4000 Life Points
Morrison 4000 Life Points


A duel deciding the fate of the City began and this is where our story begins...

Tabor gave a yawn as he sat in his seat. Since the society had quieted down, it meant there wasn't too much for him to do. Though he was still busy with life, the resistance had chewed up most of his free time.

Not that the place was completely empty. Even though there were some changes about, there were still numerous people in it, some still interested in keeping watch for any remnants of the society, and others simply having nowhere else to go.

However, in Tabor's case, it was simply a lingering interest. There didn't seem to be any sign of the society left over, but his place in the resistance was more or less stable. There didn't seem to be any reason for him to leave, and he had been seen often enough that his connections to the resistance would be difficult to break anyways.

It meant that he had plenty of time left for whatever reason. He quietly flicked through his deck as he leaned back. He wondered if he would need it again, or if it could actually be used in a normal game from then on.

"No reason to stop playing, though..."

The Resistance Headquarters had become quiet, since the Society had left suddenly.

James had developed quite a skilled sense of responsibility ever since his days battling the Society. He and Tabor have recently been bored out of their minds since the Leader of the Resistance hasn't given them any missions.


Down the hall James was running to get to where Tabor was.
"*pant pant* Man this hall always gave me a physical workout." said James as he was running. "I hope Tabor didn't pass out from being bored...we finally get a Mission after all this time *pant pant*"

As James was running he could sense that this Mission was going to be very exciting, he hasn't worked with Tabor in a very long while and was eager to have some fun.

James arrived to his destination "*pant pant pant* Aha! I found you, no please don't get up I'm fine haha." said James sounding sarcastic, "Here take a look at this, it's a Mission and we're the ones on it."

He handed the paper to Tabor.

Jame let out a smile as Tabor read the Paper. "It states that a Society hideout sprang up out of nowhere and we have to do some undercover work and see why it's there." he said.

"So, what do you think?" asked James.

The setting is the Resistance central operations room. There are many computers and lots of high tech machinery all around. In the center of the room there is a large half circle desk with a small computer screen and numerous buttons. Around the desk there are 10 other smaller desks all facing a large screen on the wall in front of them. At one of the desks there is a man typing away.

Hmm? According to today's rumors in our lore database....?! No, it can't be?! The man exclaimed with a shocked expression on his face. 10 years after all this time after all our hard work the Society might be coming back?!

The man pressed a large red button on his desk and a stiletto of a man appeared on the large screen in front of the desks. "You called agent Creed?" said a voice which came out from several speakers in the room.

Yes I did. Have you checked the lore database for today Commander? It appears that there might be some Society movement happening in the south district of **** city/town/ect.

"Ahh yes, reported by Scout Kisuke. He's in his private quarters on the first floor. I'll put the coordinates in your COM-Link. I advise you to ask him about the means of this and then report back to me immediatly."

Yes Commander! said Creed saluting the screen. According to the map in my COM-Link the elevator is the fastest way to his private quarters. Creed entered the elevator and went to the first floor. Kisuke's room was 2 rooms away from the elevator so he did not have to walk the mass of hallways of the resistance HQ. *Knock Knock* The door slides open.

"Captain Creed Sir?! What are you doing here?" The young scout look confused as Creed walked into his quarters and sat down onto a chair.

I have some questions to ask you about the incident today. What did you see exactly? Please give me all the information you have on this topic.

"Well, i saw alot of people i've never seen before which was odd considering i've been scouting that area for 2 years now. I decided to move in for a closer look. I heard some phrase such as "Now is the time, the society will rise, we must act now" I'm sorry, that's all i picked up."

Allright, thank you for your co-operation. Creed went back into the hall and his COM-Link went off with a message from the commander "I heard everything through your COM, I want you to go to Tabor and James and aid them in their mission of investagating the downtown area where the rumor supposedly happend" Commander~

"It's been a while, hasn't it." Tabor quietly put his deck away with his other hand as he glanced over the paper. "Doesn't look like anything too difficult, but I suppose I'm a bit of out practice anyways."

He stood up, his eyes still on the sheet. "Hm... Not that far from here, too. We'd better head out fast. If the info's accurate, I'd rather not allow them to have too long before we get a good look. I'll see if I can put together a quick disguise. Do you have everything that you'll need?"

"I've got all I need, I think." uttered James as he patted himself down for all the necessary items he might need for this Mission. "Hmm, Deck, COM-Link, and a Universal Pocket Knife." said James, "I think that's all I could possibly need, although I would need a disguise too...uhh I can come up with something."

*Beep Beep Beep* James' COM-Link went off "James, you and Tabor are going to be joined on this Mission with another Member. His name is Creed and he is soley there for backup, remember to not take any unnecessary actions until told otherwise." the message ended abruptly.

"Well guess we have a third person joining us here." said James, "Hopefully this guy wont get in our way."

James started heading out the door of Tabor's room, "So, are you ready to go?"

As Creed neared the end of the hallways he spotted two men at a desk one sitting and one standing in front of him, they looked as if they were getting ready for a mission. Creed realized they those were the two he is suppossed to meet up with and accompany on their mission. He walked up to them and stood firm and gave a salute.

"Central Operations Officer Creed! I am assigned to mission 01X and am to accompany two persons a Tabor Laren and a James Pearson. May you be those two people?" Creed said with a serious look

Voices could be heard outside of the room, one of which sounded boomingly and uneededly annoying.

"Must be Creed....why is he so loud..." Souji said as he leaned up from his bed and yawned. Sure it was the middle of the day, but he took naps sporadicly and didn't exactly have a strict sleep schedule, "Man...I was hoping to stay asleep another hour or so...oh well..."

He yawned again as he put on his glasses and sat up in his bed. He quickly got dressed in his normal outfit and put on his shoes. His favorite outfit, as well as one that he had multiple copies of, made him look like he was wearing a school uniform, dark blue jacket and slacks with a white undershirt. He finally decided to leave his room and find out what was going on out there.

As he opened his door, he saw Creed talking to two other people he wasn't sure he'd seen before, "Hey Creed...what's going on?"

Ahh Souij, I'm looking for James Pearson and Tabor Lauren, but these aren't the two I was looking for. The commander is sending me on a mission to investegate the possibility of the Society acting up again.
The area where the supposed rumor is located is in the south district of Domino City, the slums. I have no clue why the society would chose there to make trouble first but I'm sure we'll find out.

Hmm, since i cannot find Tabor and James would you like to accompany me instead? All I would have to do is notify the commander of the change in mission applicants and you're on the team. Creed said holding his COM-Link ready to send the commander a message. That part of the city is very dangerous so I ask you to think hard before you make your descision.

"Well...it's not like I've got anything better to do. Sleep can wait." Souji said as he smirked. He needed to get out of the HQ once in a while, even if it was just for a mission. He went back to his room for his belt which had his deck and his spare cards in it and put it on.

"Alright, ready whenever you are."

Allright, let me notify the commander of the change in the team. Creed sent a message using his COM-Link "I am now assigning Souji Seta to mission 01X0 please take James and Tabor off and assign them a new mission. Creed~"

Allright, if you would be so kind as to follow me to the hangar. We'll take my car. Creed and Souji walked into the resistance hangar. Where there were many cars owned by the members of the Resistance. The two walked to the very back of the room and there was a jet black sports car.

Well, here it is now hop in. Creed and Souji got into the car, opened the hangar gate and started driving towards the exit.

Now, I have some very important things to tell you about the Resistance regarding the end of the last revolt. Are you ready to listen closely?

Well, as you can imagine there were spies for both sides during the revolt. The spies who had given us information during the revolt we have now incorperated into the resistance. Up until a few weeks ago several of the former spies have gone missing and we haven't a trace of where they went. The commander is worried that they might have deflected back to the society during the chaos especially with the recent rumors of them popping back up all of a sudden.

I'm sorry I haven't been completly honest with you regarding today's mission, but our true purpose as of now is to find any number of the missing spies. Beacuse we have no evidence on where they've went central command has decided to send members to locations with the highest levels of possible society activity. Out of the slums there are two sub areas where we can search the underground duel arena or the Chug A Lug Bar where there are information sellers. Where would you like to search?

Meanwhile, back at the Facility where the meeting to decide the fate of the City was being held, Morrison and Saiou resume their duel.

Morrison 4000

Saiou 4000


"Challenger's Honors." said Morrison with a smirk.
"Alright then, my turn, Draw!" exclaimed Saiou.


Saiou drew a card and added it to his hand, determining what his first move will be. "Hmm I probably should make my first couple of moves relatively simple to try and draw out what his Deck's strategy is." thought Saiou. "Alright then, I'll just set one Monster in face-down defense position, and then set 2 cards face-down." Saiou's Duel Disk projected the cards and they were aligned as he set them. "I end my turn." said Saiou.


Morrison looked unfazed as he drew a card from his deck to start his turn...

Souji thought for a moment to himself. Both areas sounded somewhat boring but the information sellers would most likely be there for a while.

"Well, I'd say the dueling arena would sound like the best place to start. We could look around there and if we don't find anything then we go to the bar. I don't really like giving those guys our money anyways." Souji explained.

He wasn't sure if this was the right way of going about things but he assumed this would be the best ways of doing things.

As you say. Creed started driving to the underground dueling arena. As he was driving he turned to souji and started to explain something to him. This arena is still quite active, this being the slums you can expect some powerful yet primitive duelests down here. We must conceal the fact that we are resistance members or things can get dangerous for us. You see we haven't allways supported this area of the city. With the chaos that there is now, it's become untamable and things here are a little out of hand. In fact this dueling arena is one of the only things that brings peace to the people here, it can distract them from the world and the state it's in.

Well, were here. Creed parked his car in an abandoned old building and got out of it. He directed souji to a steel wall where many noises could be heard from behind it and said. This is the entrance to the arena, through this gate there are many duels going on. The crowd here is unrowdy much like the crowd of an ancient roman collessuiem, they demand for bloodshed. I'd hide your deck if I were you, if it is seen it can cause a bit of trouble, you may be pulled into an unwanted duel. Creed concealed his duel disk and deck in his jacket. Shall we enter?

"*sigh* I guess so..." Souji unhooked his deck box from his belt and attached it to the inside of his jacket. Luckily his duel disk was fairly concealable and could condense itself to fit into his pocket somewhat.

"Alright, let's get going. Maybe we'll find something interesting." Souji said as he got out of the car and shut the door behind him, following Creed.

Creed pressed a hidden button opening the steel wall. Inside there were thousands of screaming fans and a duel going on, which looked about to be over. Creed took souji into the stands and they found two seats to sit in.

LP: 2000 - LP 500

"It's my go! Draw! Heh, looks like your luck ran out! I summon my Volcanic Slicer! A large flaming beast materialized from holographic flames. His effect lets me deal 500 damage per turn! Burn him slicer!" The beast shot flames at the other player.

"I won't lose yet! The other player activated a trap card Pikeru's Circle of Enchantment! It stops all effect damage for one turn." The player who used volcanic slicer's effect shouted " I'll chain to your trap card! Dark Shrine Bribe! It negats a magic or trap of my opponent and they get to draw a card. I'm sorry but you lose! The second player was hit by the fire of volcanic slicer and his LP dropped to 0

LP: 2000 - LP 0

Everyone in the crowd started screaming and a charismatic voice came over the speakers in the stadium. "Another amazing round for Ai and his volcanic deck! Do we have any other challengers in the stands that think they can beat our top contender today?! He's 4-0 and it doesn't look like he's ready to be beaten yet!

Huh? Creed snapped back into reality. That voice sounds familliar, I can't tell who it is yet but I can deffinatly say I recognize it from somewhere. Souji, I'll be back stay here and don't make yourself noticable. Creed said with a serious look.

Oh great, there goes Creed. He's probably going to get himself in trouble again...oh well, I'll have to bail him out when the time comes.

"Just hurry it up, Creed. Try and stay out of trouble?"

Souji sighed again, he wasn't sure why but he hoped someone would hurry up and take this guys challenge. He was bored and watching a duel would be a surefire way from keeping him from falling asleep. Last time he fell asleep on a mission, he got chewed out like there was no tomorrow. He really didn't feel like hearing the chief yell at him again.

The voice from the speakers spoke again. "ALLRIGHT FOLKES! WE have our next challenger for our top conteder of the day! He refused to give our judges his name and wears a black cloak so we know absolutly nothing about him!" The crowed roared awaiting the mysterious challenger to enter the duel field. "Here he is!" The cloaked man walked into the center of the duel field where Ai the top contender was waiting to give him a handshake. The man walked right past him and took his spot on the field. Ai said "Someon's a bit grumpy today. Heh, i'll make quick work out of this chump! You're challenging me so i'll let you go first!" The voice on the speakers yelled "WOAH things are already getting hot down there! 3! 2! 1! DUEL!"

Both duelists drew their opening hand. The cloaked man drew for his turn. "Hmm, he plays a burn deck so i have to finish him quick and play carefully." I'll summon my Fallen One - Hunter! A dark being covered in chains and leather with demon wings appeared through a hole on the ground. Fallen One - Hunter Dark Lv 4 Fairy 1800/1000 When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, destroy one monster on the field gain 500 life points. I'll set 2 facedowns and end my turn."

Ai drew for his turn. "Only 3 cards ey? I'll burn him up a little bit first! "I summon my Volcanic Slicer and activate his effect to deal 500 direct damage!" The Volcanic Slicer shot a fireball from it's mouth aimed at the cloaked man.

"Well then, I'll activate my trap card! Darkness Grip!"A large hand made of darkness formed under his Fallen One - Hunter and crushed it. Now I activate my hunters effect to destroy your Slicer!" A shadow in the form of Fallen One - Hunter formed behind the Volcanic SLicer and stuck a claw through it destroying it. "I also gain 500 LP so your fireball is cancelled out!" Darkness Grip - Normal Trap - Destroy a Dark fairy on your side of the field, it is treated as being destroyed by battle.

"Tch...this guy isin't so bad, but he won't escape the burn this turn!" "I activate Okazi! It inflicts 800 points of direct damage to my opponents LP and then i'll end my turn." A larger fireball went soaring towards the man and struck him directly.

LP:4000 LP:3200

The cloaked man began his turn and drew a card. "This duel is nothing more than child's play, I can't waste my time fooling around here anymore." "I'll be ending this no if you don't mind." The cloaked man said with a chilling look. "It really is a shame that i have to show you one of the most powerful monsters in my deck so early but, it cannot be helped. I summon my Fallen One - TwinBlader!" A dark being with two katana's appeared from a dark hole in the ground. Fallen One - TwinBlader Dark Lv 4 Fairy 2000/1000 When this card is destroyed by battle, special summon it to your field and increase it's atk by 200 during your next standby phase. When it is special summoned by this effect and removed from the field it is removed from play

"That's one of your strongest monsters?! Hahaha don't make me laugh. I got plenty of stronger ones in my deck!"

"You seem to be mistaken, I only need him as a sacrifice for my strongest monster. Allow me to show you, by discarding one Fallen One monster from my hand, Tributing a Fallen One monster on my field and by removing a Fallen One monster from my grave I can bring out! Fallen One - Cerberus! I'll discard my Fallen One - Descender, Tribute my Fallen One TwinBlader and remove from my grave Fallen One - Hunter. Now Arise from your slumber CERBERUS!"

The man let out a shout and the man's field was covered in darkness. A large three-headed beast fiercely broke through the darkness and stood infront of the cloaked man. "Now I activate my trap card! Call of the Haunted to bring back my TwinBlader!" A headstone appeared on the man's field with the name "Fallen One TwinBlader" on it and out came the monster from the headstone. "Now I'll activate my cerberus' effect, I can tribute one Fallen One monster and it gains half of the attack of the tributed monster!" Now my Cerberus has 4000 ATK prepare for defeat! ENDLESS DARKNESS! The beast shot a blast of darkness from all three of it's heads directly at Ai. The blast was so intense that whole crowd was covered in a thick sheet of darkness.

Fallen One - Cerberus Dark Lv 8 Fairy 3000/0 This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by discarding one "Fallen One" Monster, tributing one "Fallen One" monster and removing from game one "Fallen One" monster from your graveyard. Once per turn you may tribute a "Fallen One" monster to gain half of it's ATK.


LP:0 LP:3200

When the darkness cleared, all that remained on the duel field was a fading shadow image of Cerberus and Ai laying unconcious. The crowd was in a roar and nobody had known where the man had went. A new voice came from over the loud speakers. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience folks, the previous announcer will be busy for a little bit. Will the next two duelist step into the duel arena?"

Creed sent a message to Souji on his COM-Link "Come to the announcer booth, hurry up and take the stairs on the left near the entrance. Creed~"

Morrison placed the drawn card into his hand. "Alright, I summon to my side of the field Bloodsucking Koala!" shouted Morrison.

Bloodsucking Koala
Level 4/EARTH/Beast/Effect
1800 atk/1000 def
When this card destroys an opponent's monster and inflicts Battle Damage, gain Life Points equal to the damage inflicted.

"Go my Koala attack his face-down Monster now!!"

Morrison's Monster approached Saiou's Monster with great haste..it smashed the Monster with ease.


"Heh, you just destroyed my Peten the Dark Clown, now my Monster's effect activates." said Saiou "Whenever it's sent to the Graveyard I can remove it to Special Summon another copy of Peten to the field."

Saiou placed his monster into his pocket and then searched his Deck for another copy, "So here he is again, Peten the Dark Clown!!"

Peten the Dark Clown
Level 3/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect
ATK/ 500 DEF/ 1200
When this card is sent to your Graveyard, you can remove this card from the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Peten the Dark Clown" from your hand or Deck.


"You think I'm afraid of Clowns, Saiou? Well think again." said Morrison, "I'll just place this card face-down and then end my turn from here."

Morrison placed his card in the appropriate zone and ended his turn.

"Not bad, here goes, draw!" Saiou drew his next card. "Now I activate my face-down Trap Card, Pitch Black Power Stone!"

Pitch Black Power Stone
Trap/Continuous
After activation, put 3 Spell Counters on this card. During each of your turns you can move 1 of this card's Spell Counters to another face-up card on the field that you can put a Spell Counter on. When there are no Spell Counters on this card, this card is destroyed.

Three glowing specs appeared on the Stone.

"Next, I tribute my Peten the Dark Clown to summon my Puppet of Magic!"

Puppet of Magic
Level 5/DARK/Spellcaster/Effect
2000 atk/ 1000 def
Each time you or your opponent activates 1 Spell Card, put 1 Spell Counter on this card. Increase the ATK of this card by 200 points for each Spell Counter on this card. Also, remove 2 Spell Counters from this card to destroy 1 monster on the field.

"Unfortunately my Peten's effect wont trigger this time but that's alright, now I play this Mystical Space Typhoon." said Saiou, "This handy card destroys one spell or trap on the field."

Morrison's face-down Draining Shield was destroyed by Saiou's Spell..

Mystical Space Typhoon
Quick-play Spell
Destroy one spell or trap card on the field.

"Now my Puppet's effect activates giving it one counter and 200 attack points."

Puppet of Magic
1 Counter
2000 > 2200

"Next I'll activate Pitch-Black Stone's effect and place one of it's counters on my Puppet."

Pitch-Black Power Stone
3 counters > 2counters

Puppet of Magic
2 counters
2200 > 2400

"Now Puppet, attack his Bloodsucking Koala!! Go Power Surge!"

Morrison's monster was obliterated in an instant and reduced his life points.

Morrison
4000 > 3400

Saiou 4000

"I end my turn. Now Morrison why dont we stop playing this charade and get serious?" said Saiou with a grin.

"Agreed." said Morrison, "My move then..."

As Morrison drew his next card the air around the two men got really intense...

Souji looked down at his COM-Link when it went off to see the message Creed had sent. Oh boy...here we go...

He quickly got up from his seat and proceeded toward the announcer booth via Creed's instructions. The people in the stands didn't really notice him moving around too much, luckily for him.

As souji entered the room Creed was standing behind a tied up man with a nervous look. I think it's about time we leave before anyone notices something going on. The man you see here is one of the former spies. We'll take him back to resistance headquarters and have him interrogated. There should be a back door to this booth so we can exit it and enter my car from there. Now give me some help in carrying this one.

Tabor gave his COM-Link another glance as he passed over the thing, laying back on his bed. "Two cancellations, two re-assignments... And then just when I'm ready, another one. Why can't they just make up their minds..."

He yawned as he browsed through the information that was still in it. "Spying, spying... You'd think they'd figure out something else for us to do. You can only use one person as a spy so many times before people figure it out."

He quietly tapped a short message to James. "Still a deadlock for you as well? Seems like we've got time to burn... Mind heading out for a few new cards at the moment? Haven't really updated my deck recently."

He pocketed the device before picking up the case for his deck, checking it for cracks as he walked out of his room.

James answered Tabor's Message "Yeah something must have happened with the Mission set up, sure we can go to the Card Shop and while we're there might as well get some info from Charlie the store owner about recent activity in the City." he said as he talked into his COM-Link.

James got his Deck box and Duel Disk and went back to Tabor's location to rendezvous and go to the Card Shop. As he was walking he wondered why his Mission was delayed and what he was going to do at the end of the day when he goes and turns in his Daily Mission report.

"Hmmm, I guess it can't be helped then." said James as he crumbled up his Mission Report and threw it away. "Looks like I get a free day today." he said grinning.

James met up with Tabor and they headed off to the Card Shop.


As they were leaving the Resistance Headquarters James turned back as if he noticed something behind him, he didn't see anything and they continued on unaware that they were being followed...

Tabor glazed around the street as he followed James out of the base. Despite the number of problems around the city, it always felt oddly quiet to him whenever he walked out. "Dunno why they still have so much security... You'd think anything big would've happened by now." He quietly thumbed over a few spare cards he kept around. "I mean, it's been ages. How long are we going to have to keep on guard? I know the resistance still has some other jobs to take care of, but do we really need to have the same drills? Shouldn't we be helping to take care of everything that's going on now? The city's hardly in good condition."

He signed as he turned the corner. "I'll admit, it's odd that so many members disappeared at once. It didn't really seem good that we lost a lot of members, too. But still, if they're gone, we shouldn't have to worry until they return, right?"

"Yeah I heard a lot of our members decided to take off in pursuit of the Society when they vanished, and the rest of us stood behind and kept watch over the city." said James as the Card Shop came into view.

James and Tabor walked into the Shop, upon entering a bell rang which was only done when the door was swung open. *chinging*

"The place sure looks empty today." said James as he glazed around the shop. "Hey James! Tabor! long time no see buddies." said Charlie the store owner.

Charlie was a middle-aged man about 5'9'' dark feathery hair and hazel eyes, he wore glasses to keep from looking dumb when he read card texts. He was wearing his usual uniform, a yellow checkered flannel with black slacks and black shoes.

"What can I do for you two today? Here for some cards? I just got a new shipment today and am dying to see what they are." Charlie said ecstatically "You still using those old Demon Roar Gods James? Haha those things are old news if you ask me." he chuckled.

"Yes, still using my Demon Roars Charlie, although they have been modified since the last time I used them." said James. "My friend here Tabor is looking for some cards actually so we're just going to look around for now."

Charlie replied "Oh sure no problem just holler if you need me, I'll be unloading the new shipment, oh by the way James...I've been getting these strange vibes from regular customers recently."

"What do you mean?" said James.

"Well you see, here let's go in back and discuss more, even walls can talk now a days." Charlie uttered.

"Sure, hey Tabor why don't you look around for some of those cards you wanted and I'll be right back, also try to keep a look out for anything suspicious." said James nervously.

James and Charlie went into the storage room.

"Alright Charlie what's up?" James said.

"Well lately the rumors of the Society coming back are starting to flourish, I've been seeing people sporting Society Uniform and using powerful Decks that only High-Classed citizens can afford." said Charlie.

"Hmm is that so?" said James.

"Yes and that's not even the worst part, a couple days ago I got word from a reliable source that a Society base sprang up and started recruiting members. Naturally I was curious so I went to check it out and it was true." Charlie said as he leaned against the wall.

"I never expected the Society to move so fast after a long absence." thought James. "Well Charlie, thanks a lot for this information, I'm sure we could use all we can."

Charlie suddenly said "The Society is a lot stronger than you remember James, be extra careful.."

James replied with a smile "Don't worry Charlie, we always get the job done." said James "I have to tell this to Tabor as soon as possible." thought James, "Well if that's all then I better go check on my friend."