S. Revolt Act I: The Darkness Within

James let out a sigh of relief as he saw Souji exit from his room all prepared.

"Hey there Souji, yeah I'm ready, let's go see Reeve about our co-op Mission."

James and Souji walked down the hall fairly slow mostly because James was still sore from walking to Souji's room to begin with.

Souji looked a little pre-occupied, like he had something on his mind before hand. James just looked at him and then looked away and focused on the long narrow hallway they had to walk through in order to get to the Central Control room where Reeve was at.

Finally James was getting annoyed with the silence and asked..

"So Souji, what happened between you and that little kid? I never got to see the outcome of that interesting duel."

"Ah yes...well I barely won. That kid has some real skills. I was sweating for a little while. Luckily I drew into my favorite trap and turned my battle damage to him and that won me the duel. The kid passed out afterward. I WAS gonna go see him but then I got that message..." Souji sighed. He was a little upset that he had a mission now of all times.

"So, are you feeling any better? I heard you kind of passed out yourself..." Souji asked, politely as they continued their venture down the hall to where Reeve was.

"Yeah I feel fine now, just a bit tired as usual." said James chuckling as they continued walking.


"I guess I just got really light-headed and passed out from lack of physical exercise or something." James said covering up his real story.

"Well anyway, that's about all that happened with me, there was quite the commotion when I was asleep wasn't there? a Bombing in the city, Tabor dueling a Society Member, You dueling that boy..It just seemed like I long day yesterday."


James and Souji finally entered the Central Control Room, looking around, they see Reeve sitting in his usual spot in the Center taking his un-usual nap and having everyone else worry about the rest.

James said kind of loud as if to get attention, "Huh, I guess since Reeve is asleep, we can just forget about that Mission we had to get to huh Souji?"

"Don't even think about it." Reeve suddenly said. Sitting back up, he stretched his limbs and gave a loud yawn before he turned his attention back towards the two agents. "I've got an assignment for all of ya. Maybe y'all have heard of it already, but every month we pay a man named of Jeffory. Jeffory is a broker who deals with pretty much everything and will deal with just about anyone. We've gotten a ton of info and supplies through him, however he also is willing to give info to the Society as well. That's why every month we give him cash to keep his lips shut about our most important secrets such as the location of this base, but this month he's asking for two duelists instead. Dunno why or what he's gonna do with ya both, but I want the two of you ter be on ya guards, understand?"

Reeve turned his attention to James. "Now I know yer just got out of the hospital, so don't push yourself TOO much, but I still expect ya to put in SOME effort, ya got that? And Souji's there ter make sure you don't slack off either. Now, I had Freddy upload the location where yer suppose to meet Jeffory into yer COM-Links. Now go and have a nice mission, kay?"

James looked at Souji with a confirming look then looked back at Reeve.

"All right then chief I guess we'll be off." said James giving a sigh.

James had hardly been on a co-op mission in a long time, he disliked them because he had to actually -do- his part of the Mission, otherwise when it's time to put in the report about the mission, James wont look like a lazy agent. This was actually the 3rd mission he and Souji had been on together. Souji and James aren't exactly best buddies but when it comes down to it they can work well together.

As James and Souji were walking down the hall leaving the Central Control Room, James noticed the Girl from the Lobby walking around the halls not really paying attention to anyone else and leaving herself open to suspicion. "Hmm? her again...I wonder what's her deal anyway, she looked really nervous when I left the Medical Ward earlier." thought James as he was about to pass her by.

"Bleh this mission is going to be such a bother." James thought as he looked to Souji, who was again silent as if his mind was somewhere else.

Echo finally reached an intersection where he would have to choose 1 of 3 paths.

He stopped, looking down each path. They all looked the same to him.

"Huh?.." He looked down the left path, hearing noises.

He began sneaking as quietly as he could. Considering that he had almost gotten Souji, he figured that he was pretty good at it.

'Voices..' he thought to himself as he slowly got closer and closer, the voices becoming louder.

His heart was pounding as he was finally next to the door. He heard them perfectly.

'Mission?..' He thought to himself. He listened closely, his heart jumping when he heard Souji's name, he didn't know why.

He heard James say that they would be on their way and quickly hid around the corner of the wall that led to another hallway, peaking out to see them.

He felt calm when he saw Souji, slowly leaning back against the wall and letting himself slide down until he was sitting. 'What now?..' He thought.

Meanwhile, in the Confinement room, Alilith was breathing heavily due to practice dueling with her cards and thought to herself, "This should be enough training for today on this deck," and she put away her deck in a deck box in her pocket. She continued thinking, "Maybe, I need some more training with this deck before I go out and actually duel," as she opened a portal to the mysterious man's throne room.

After she closed the portal behind her, she was completely shocked. Around the throne were unlocked shackles with chains surrounding the back of the throne. Alilith ask, "Master, are you there?"

He responds, "Never again will I wait. What I've observed is far pathetic and they can't extract revenge for me. These miserable mortals will regret twice double crossing me," as echoing laughter echoed throughout the room. Alilith walked up to him and asked, "What is all this, sir?"

He responds, "The time has come for me to walk the Light Realm once again, to extract revenge against the Society as I see fit."

She nodded and replied, "Alright, my liege. Let us get going then." He snapped his finger, opening a portal to what looks like a rooftop to a building. Both Alilith and him stepped through the portal. As the portal closed concealing everything into darkness, you can hear the mysterious man's laughter echoing throughout the room, dimming out until the laughter can no longer be heard.

"Wonder how long i was out for?" Said Ryuho rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Guess i should go and see if Reeve has any missions for me today my COM-Link is empty. I should check if James is ok too."

Quickly throwing on his clothes and picking up his deck and duel disk James exited his private quarters making his way for Reeve's office navigating through the many hallways of the HQ. After a long walk Ryuho had made it to the Central Command Center.

"Pant, pant. These hallways need to be shorter! Hey Reeve got anything for me to do today? It's my second day so i haven't th slightest bit of a clue what im suppossed to do around here.

After her little practice session Jisha was off in her own happy little world. She barely registered passing James and Souji in the hall, no longer concerned with being found out.

Rounding the corner, she danced to the side to avoid tripping over the person sitting against the wall, and this was enough to penetrate her revelry. Looking back at the person, she realized something:

"Hey I know you! You were with Souji outside!"

The building that Jeffory was in wasn't that far away from the resistance hideout. It only took about 15 minutes or so to reach it with almost any transportation. It wasn't exactly secure, but it was only an occasional meeting spot.

There were a few furnishings in the room, but they could hardly be called minimal. A few bookshelves, desks, chairs, and the like were around, but even the abandoned-looking room had a few paintings and ornaments. Nothing organic was around, but it was decorated well just the same.

Jeffory sat in a smaller, rather comfortable chair as he watched the door. He was nearly straight up, his suit on firmly as he sat there. He quietly looked around before watching the door for a minute. It took him a moment before he glanced over all of the papers.

He pulled out a pocketwatch, opening it quietly and glancing at the hands on it before sighing.

It was an inconvenience in his dealings. Very few were willing to meet him directly out of risk, so he usually had to go through a few various channels of communication to get a message through. Direct requests were also followed up by subordinates, and it was difficult to get an exact message in. He had gotten used to them by now, but it still irritated him.

"They're late today." Jeffory pocketed his watch, making sure the chain of it was still attached properly before turning down to his papers for a moment.

It took James and Souji about 20 minutes to get to the meeting location since it was marked surprisingly close to the Resistance Hideout.

As James opened the door leading inside he took a breath and prepared for anything that could possible happen, a trap, a casual "Hi", or even a bed that he could sleep in for a while. James opened the door to see a semi-formally dressed man sitting down in a chair looking over papers. The room they were in looked alright for just meeting purposes but it wasn't decorated accordingly for any Casual Get-Togethers.

"So I take it you're Jeffory?" said James in a calm tone to the man sitting in the chair, "I'm James and this is Souji, we're from the Resistance and have under orders from our Commander, Reeve."

James and Souji took a seat across from Jeffory, there was a bit of awkward silence but that would soon brake off since they were there to talk business.

Souji sighed a bit, he was getting a bit agitated by the silence. He was strangely hoping this mission would not take all that long and he could get back to headquarters. Echo was probably lonely without some type of familiar face. But...he couldn't really figure out why he felt so protective of him.

"Eh...So Jeffory, what do we have to do? We'd rather get this over with as soon as possible..." Souji said with a stern face.

Almost as if he were in a trance now, he froze. His eyes closing half wayas he began having flash backs of his childhood.

Flashback:

Echo was about 6.
Kid Echo: "Bro!!" He was running towards, what now seemed to be in his mind, a dark figure. The figure turned back to him and smiled, letting its arms out.

Kid Echo: "Bro! Look!" He held a Duel Monsters card up to the figure, tugging on what might have been a shirt.

The figure smiled and rubbed his head.

...."Thats great kid.."

He quickly snapped out of the trance as he was tripped over by a girl.

"Hey! Are you o-..." he stopped after the thought that he was caught came to him. This was bad.. What were they gonna do?..

He looked closely at the girl and recognized her face from the day before. She pointed him out just as easly, if not easyer.

"O..Oh... Yeah.. What are you doing here?.."

"What am I doing here? The same thing I should have been doing yesterday, before you and your boyfriend left me outside all day! I'm answering an ad for duelists."

Sighing a little, Jisha plonked herself down next to the girl.

"Well no point in getting all flamey about it, they say metal forms the strongest bonds in fire after all."

She turned to look at her new acquaintance,

"I'm Jisha by the way, now since you've been here a day longer than me, maybe you can tell me what the big secret is, the reason I got the door slammed in my face? I assume you had to duel someone to get in, probably Souji....Ooh, speaking of which, when you dueled did he do the gentlemanly thing?"

Jisha leaned forward eagerly, after (finally) getting into this place she was still no closer to knowing what was going on, and this could be the perfect opportunity to change that...

"B..Boyfriend!?" He blushed brightly, a sweatdrop running down the side of his face. The thought ran through his head like crazy, as if it was some sort of stimulated parasite.

"Oh! Um.. I'm Echo, it's nice to meet you." He looked at the girl as she questioned further.

"Secret?.." I pretended not to know anything. He didn't want to say anything that might get Souji.. and the resistance caught.

"Um.. I think you're mistaken. We did duel, but I was let in because I applied for a job." He had to think quickly.

"Gentlemanly thing?.." He thought to himself.

The last thing he remembered is losing.. and then... hearing a calming voice...

He shook his head to snap out of it. "Anyways, we should leave."

"You applied for a job? Great, that means we're here for the same reason, you can tell me what to do. Who do I duel to get in? I can't leave until I at least try my hand. Oh, but it looks like Souji's busy with that James guy, so I'll have to find somebody else."

Grinning in delight, Jisha grabbed the hand of the younger teen, she couldn't be called a friend yet, not when so little had passed between them.

"C'mon, Echo-chan, let's go find somebody for me to duel! Ooh, maybe we could find 2 people, and then we could tag team 'em! That'll really be fun."

He was yanked from sitting, almost panicing. She was talking really loud!

He would be caught for sure if this continued.

"Actually! They had to leave for a bit.. They should be back soon..."

He looked at the door of the room that the man with red hair was in.

"We should leave for now, then try again another time."

He smiled nervously.

Jisha fixed Echo with a pointed stare.

"Why are you so insistent that we leave? You got in didn't you? I'm the one who isn't allowed here not you. You don't have anything to be afraid of."

Seeing the worried look still on the girl's face, Jisha decided to try a different tactic.

"Alright, how about this? About 50 yards back there's a dueling arena. Since we both want different things, we'll decide it there. If I win, we stay and find somebody to get me into this club of yours, you win and I leave without another word..........for now. How's that sound?"

He looked down a bit. Hesitant to her offer.

'It isn't my place to decide that..' He thought to himself. His eyes closing half way as an image of Souji appeared in his head.

His face became a bit stronger.

'But.. I can't let her figure out whats going on.. I have to get her out of here as soon as possible...'

He looked down the hall at the room with the open door. 'That guy is still in there... I can't let him catch us..'

"Fine.. I accept. But if I win, you have to leave and you can't tell ANYONE about this place. Got it?"

He looked at her, determined.

Jeffory glanced up from his papers, packing most of them into a pile. "Ah, yes. James and Souji, I believe?" He adjusted himself in his seat a bit, his elbows resting on the table now as he looked over the two of them. "I suppose that will do. I would offer you a seat, but you have a task to get to, and I would rather not waste time."

He put his hand on a couple of sheets of paper and slipped it to the two of them. "Your job is simple enough. There are some rather irritating types coming around that are interested in dealing with me, but that I simply have no interest in dealing with. They are what you would expect from some rather unsavory types, and want me to turn into some supplier for them. I simply do not deal in the prices that they ask for. Their information and meeting place is here."

He moved down to his briefcase, silently grabbing something from it and sliding a small case towards both of them. "As a result, they are trying to get in on a wager in order to cover the rest of these costs. They request a reduced price for a single item of shipping in exchange for the wager of 3 cards of my choosing from deck of their leader. Naturally, it is to be in the form of a duel, with the details still unarranged."

He pushed a latch on the sides of the cases, both of the cases opening with enough space for a card. "Honestly, I could care less about the value of the cards. Nothing they have is worth my time. You two are to go and duel as representatives. Go in, figure out whatever rules you care to use. Arrange a tag, just have one of you stand in, do a small tournament, whatever. I could care less on how you do it. You can pick whatever from their deck as long as the cards even a bit uncommon. I just expect both of these to be holding their cards by the end of the day."

Jeoffry leaned back in his seat before picking up another paper. "Oh, and as a bit of incentive... I mean it when I say that I want cards in the cases. If you cannot pick a few cards from his deck and I end up having to deal with them, then I will be picking cards yours instead. Perhaps not as much of a risk as you may usually take, but I hope it will be enough to motivate you."

He was already glancing over papers again as he sat there. "Now, any questions? And I should warn you not to waste my time. Otherwise, I would be better off going myself."

Jisha followed Echo's gaze to the room with the sleeping guy sporting a cowboy hat.

Now isn't that interesting...


Turning back to Echo, she smiled and held up her hand in a vow:

"Okay, it's a promise, I won't tell anybody about this place. Now come on, let's go already!"


Making their way to the duel room, the two took up their positions.

"I'll go first," sang Jisha, thoroughly enjoying the situation as she drew her hand, "I'll start off by the book, a set monster and a backrow card, your move Echo-chan!"

2 cards appeared before her as she waited for her opponent's move...

Once at the arena, Echo slipped his duel disk onto his arm and loaded his deck.

'Ok.. So I just have to beat her and get her out of here..' He thought to himself. 'Easier said than thought...'

"Duel!"

Jisha made the first move, giving Echo a chance to look at his hand and plan out his next move. Once she ended her turn, he was ready.

"Draw!"

He drew a card from his deck and looked at it, quickly throwing it to his other hand.

"Ok! I'll start by summoning "Snow Girl" in defence mode!"



"Next I'll set 2 cards face down. Your move"

2 set cards appeared infront of him as he stared forward.

As the tiny archer rose up on Echo's field, Jisha pondered the situation.

She'd be such a little cutie, except for the blank expression. I doubt Echo-chan revealed her to me for no reason, especially with such low stats. There must be something more to this, and I've got the perfect way to find out.

"My move, draw!" Adding the new card to her hand for later, Jisha decided to probe Echo's face downs.

"I'll flip summon my monster, so she can have some fun with yours. Come out and play, Repulsion - Stoic Defender!"

A burst of light erupted from Jisha's card and eventually faded to reveal a woman in magician's robes, looking about Jisha's age, with a stern look on her face and her staff held protectively in front of her.

[1000/2000
4*/Spellcaster/Earth]

"Now whenever my Stoic Defender is flipped or summoned in any way, I can spread 3 'Mistrust' counters among my opponent's monsters, however since you've only got 1 they'll all be going to your little snowflake,"

Three orbs of malevolent purple emerged from Stoic Defender's outstretched staff and raced towards Snow Girl, while Jisha continued:

"...unless of course, you have something to stop it..."

Echo looked at the orbs.

'Counters..' He thought to himself.

"Nope, you can continue you're move"

Echo kept his cool. His eyes peering straight at Jisha, his eyes almost as cold as his monsters. Closing them as he started to have a flash back.

Kid Echo: "Gah!" He fell. The duel monster infront of him disappearing as his life points hit 0.

Brother: "You have to stay calm while in a duel. If you get worked up, you're gonna miss something and your head isn't going to be clear to plan your moves." He walked up to Echo and put his hand out, Echo taking it and being pulled to his feet.

He still couldn't see a clear image of his brother.. It was just a dark figure..

He finally snapped out of the flash back and looked at the field.

"Good stuff, good stuff. Right, as I was saying, your monster gets 3 Mistrust Counters, when a monster with Mistrust Counters battles any of my Repulsion monsters, neither monster can be destroyed during the battle, though damage is still applied. Also, every time a Mistrust Counter'd monster battles, a Mistrust counter is removed. I'll explain the purpose behind that later."

The 3 purple orbs began orbiting Snow Girl. Jisha addressed her opponent before continuing.

"I know you want to win and all, but there's no reason to give me that look. C'mon, it's just a game. Anywho, I'll activate my other face dow- what's wrong with you?" Jisha remarked as something seemed to sweep over Echo for a moment, before the girl opened her eyes again and all seemed normal.

This is getting wierd.

"......As I was saying, I activate my face down trap card, Help to See the Good!" As her trap flipped up, a silver scale emerged with coins in the lower side and 3 slots in the open side.

"Once per turn, I can move a Mistrust Counter from one of your monsters to my trap, and when it holds 3 Counters, I can tribute it and draw a card,"

One of the purple orbs moved from Echo's archer to the empty scale, causing it to dip and slightly raise the side holding the coins.

"...and finally, I'll have my Defender attack your Snow Girl! Due to my Counters there wouldn't be any destruction, but considering the attack and defense values involved that's largely irrelevant. Stoic Defender, attack Snow Girl with Warding Strike!"

The magician sent a ripple of dust towards the crouching monster...