S. Revolt Act I: The Darkness Within

James looked at Ryuho as he looked like his mind was somewhere else for a second.
"Alright my turn! Draw!!" James added the card to his hand. "I have 4 cards in my hand, not enough power to even scratch that Jurrac Monster even with Urstos' attack increase." thought James.


"First off, I'll flip Demon Roar God Urstos into Face-Up Attack Position." The Skeleton resurfaced as it's attack points were reset.

Level 4
Light/Fiend/Effect
1500/200

Next, since I have a face-up Demon Roar God Monster on my field I can Discard my Demon Roar God Grimro from my hand to the Graveyard to add 1 Demon Roar God Monster to my hand, except Demon Roar God Grimro."

James placed the Monster into the Graveyard, "I'll add to my hand Demon Roar God Galbath!!" the card James picked was added to his hand.

"Now I summon Demon Roar God Galbath to my field!!" An amphibian looking creature appeared from the ground carrying a huge Spiked Sphere and Chain.

Level 4
Light/Fiend/Effect
1500/800

"Now I activate Demon Roar God Galbath's special effect! By Discarding 1 card from my hand, I can destroy a Monster on your field with a Defense that is lower than my monster's attack." said James "and it looks like your Jurrac has 1200 Defense, so kiss it good-bye!" James discarded from his hand Hand Obliteration.

Demon Roar God Galbath swung it's Spiked Shere, aiming for Jurrac Velhipto.

"No, not my Velhipto! I activate my reverse trap Spiritual Fire Art - Kureni!."
Spiritual Fire Art - Kureni [Trap Card ]
Tribute 1 FIRE monster on your side of the field. Inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the original ATK of the Tributed monster.

"Now Take 2700 Direct Damage!" *Jurrac Vehlipto bursts into flames and the flames rush towards James!*

3500-2700=800 LP - Ryuho - 4000 James - 800

*Ryuho pants* "That was a close one hopefully i can survive this turn." Thought Ryuho.

"Those monsters of yours are strong and have a good ability i can learn a few things from you!."

"Hm. Going to be a close call. Still, charging in in this situation... The newbie's leaving himself defenseless." Tabor shook his head a bit as he turned his head down to the paper he had for a glance before looking back up. "Charging in... Hopefully, he learns that we can't afford to change in with the way things are. Learn by doing, I suppose."

He settled more in his seat as he turned his gaze back to James, watching for his next move. There were a fair number of ways that he could finish the duel off here and now. The key is if he had any of them, and if he saw any of them. But against a defenseless opponent...

A huge fireball ensnared James and caused him to fall back on his back. "Oomph!!" James took a great amount of Damage.

James 800 Life Points

James got up "Damn I didn't see that one coming." At that time the Resistance Members cheered for Ryuho as he was doing exceptionally well for his first duel against a Senior Resistance Member.

"I have got to end this duel now while his field is still open." thought James as he looked at his hand once again.

"Since I have 2 cards in my hand Urstos and every other Demon Roar God Monster on my field gain 400 attack points!" exclaimed James.

Urstos 1500+400 = 1900

Galbath 1500+400 = 1900

James immediately placed his last 2 cards into his Graveyard "In order to win this Duel, I need help from another Monster, arise Demon Roar God Solcius!!!"

A Huge Demon like Bat appeared with a giant Tail, and landed near Urstos and Galbath.

Level 6
Light/Fiend/Effect
2200/2100

"Let me explain, while Demon Roar God Solcius is in my Graveyard, I can send 2 cards in my hand in order to Special Summon him from my Graveyard, so I sent my Bark of the Dark Ruler and Lightning Vortex."

"Now Urstos' effect affects Solcius."

Solcius 2200+400 = 2600

"You did very well Ryuho, consider this your entry into the Resistance! Go my Demon Roar Monsters, attack Ryuho Directly!!!"

James' Monster lunged themselves at Ryuho to end the Duel...

LP Ryuho 4000 -> 0 James - 800

After the onslaught of the Demon Roar Gods Ryuho was on his back. The exhausted duelist slowly stood upon his feet After a wide look at the roaring crowd, heavily panting Ryuho thought "Nooo! I was so close, if only i had one more turn i could have won!.

*Crowd cheers* I wasn't expecting something that strong to come out i should have prepared for the worse.

Ryuho looking up at James who was taking his deck out of his duel disk and putting it away said "I'll gladly join you and I'll fight with everything i have! I will get stronger and beat you eventually! Ryuho's eyes now lit up with a fiery passion as he looked upon his new friend and rival.

After the intense duel Ryuho decided to catch a break in the HQ recruitment area

This place is immense, I can't believe that I'm a member here! The way the crowd cheered for me today was amazing. Next time i won't lose!

James shook Ryuho's hand and accompanied him to the recruiting area.
After the Duel, James' attitude changed back to his old self.

"Meh, that was so exhausting, I think I'm ready to sleep now." said James as Ryuho looked around the area.

"Alright Welcome to the Resistance, you should check in with our Leader, Reeve. He is a bit odd but you'll get used to him in time." James said.

"There are a few shady people here in the Resistance so make friends with people you get along with, and you should be fine, also we get Missions hourly but since you barely joined you wont be getting a Mission anytime soon so enjoy your day off and dont wander too far."

"With that said, just go see Reeve and have fun here. *yawn*" said James as he scratched his head and was about to fall asleep right then and there.

James left Ryuho, a now new Resistance Member, how far will Ryuho go to impress the people here? Only time would tell.

"Yo Tabor! How was that Mission you got off of me? You were right about having to double up on missions, bleh, I have to train another Newbie in a few hours too."

"Man and I thought one was bad enough, I just cant catch a break today." thought James as he sat down next to Tabor.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." Tabor smiled as he put away his paper, looking back to James. "Mission was a pretty slow thing. Follow, listen, leave. Wasn't much else to say about it. It looks like you had one thing that was more amusing, at least. I'd take a duel over observation almost any day. It means I actually get to do something."

He shook his head a bit before turning back to James. "Least I can say you didn't miss anything. Had to follow Mave, but he didn't do anything that we didn't already expect. Dunno why we keep following him, he's supposed to be one of the more quiet leaders."

He checked the time again before standing up. "How do you even plan on napping when you only have a couple of hours, anyways? Knowing you, I don't really see it working that well."

"Well i have to go see Commander Reeve now. I wonder what James meant by odd?"

Staring down a corridor of twisting and turning hallways Ryuho's eyes spun. "How is anyone supposed to get around in this kooky place?!

"Hmm which one of these doors will take me to the Central Command Center? Let's try this one Ryuho opened a large white door with blue electrical strips running down it "Hello I'm looking for the Central Command Center!" A man with a huge whit lab coat and crazy glasses popped out from behind a desk.

I'm terribly sorry lad wahahah but this is the lab the man said the man slightly tilting his head to the left and who might you be young one?

"I'm Ry..Ryuho sir he said staring at the odd man. I'm looking for Commander Reeve. I'm new here and don't know my way around much."

Well the old bat is probably in the Command Center taking a nap pushing his duties on Wilfred again. Just take the next left and go straight down the hall said the odd man who started walking towards his desk.

"Well i should be going thanks for all your help Mr...." Professor! Yelled the man sitting in his chair
"Professor what?!" That's it you see I've forgotten my name so everyone just calls me professor wahahah! Have a nice day said the man with a kooky smile.

"What other strange things are in this place." wondered Ryuho. "make a left here and straight down this hal..hall! whoa! exclaimed Ryuho staring upon the seemingly endless hall. "That damn professor said it was a short walk. At the end of the hall two doors with the sign "Central Command Center" above it spread apart and opened in front of Ryuho. Inside there was a man sitting at his desk.

"Hello it's Ryuho a new recruit! James said i had to come and see Commander Reeve?"

"Welcome Ryuho," Reeve said from his seat in the center of the room. "I am Commander Reeve, and welcome to the Resistance." He waved his arm at the high tech command center. He motioned the kid to come closer to him, until he was at the foot of the platform. "I am sure you have heard rumors about us, of how we fight a secret organization bent on ruling everything. That is our enemy, the Society. Ahead of you is a life of peril and danger, where every mission comes with a risk of being caught and captured, to undergo extreme pain and torture and-"

All of a sudden Reeve was interupted when Wilfred smacked Reeve with the back of a handheld projection board. "That's quite enough playing. We're trying to welcome him, not scare him off."

"Hey, I was just havin' a lil fun!" Reeve winced as he rubbed the growing bump on his head. " 'Sides Freddy, he needs tah know that this job carries some risk."

"Well you don't need to say it in such a frightening manner." Wilfred told him before turning towards Ryuho. "Although there is danger, we make the safety of our members our top priority. After you recieve training, you'll receive mostly easy, safe jobs for beginners and based on your performance you will gradually work your way up to more difficult ones."

" 'Course, not everyone kin reach that level. Hell, even amoung da senior members, there's a few who kin take an S ranked mission. Still, from that duel I watched I can see ya got bucket loads of potential, however you need to be careful about how you play sometimes. Leavin' yerself open for a direct attack was not the best thing to do."

"We can discuss dueling play by plays later." Wilfred pushed his glasses into place, then held out a small object to Ryuho. "This is your COM-Link. It serves as a GPS, communicator and has various other functions. Although we post missions on the boards, if you are in a far away position, we also send you the details through this in case you're away from HQ. It's important you don't lose this, however, so make sure you keep it in a safe place. Now, we've downloaded a map of the facilities into your COM-Link already, including the location of your private quarters where you can relax between missions if you do not have time to return home. Also, please note that you have training scheduled soon."

"Hmm, yea, about that." Reeve rubbed his stubbled chin. "Since ya already know him, why don't cha join James's trainin'? This way we kin spare Ian for another mission."

"Very well." Wilfred said as he entered the data into his projecion board. "Go meet up in the training halls. You'll most likely find James already there."

"Doubt that." Reeve chuckle. "That boy is almost as lazy as me."

"Lord help us if there were two of you." Wilfred muttered under his breath.

He watched in amusement. "Wow! They are really good.. A lot better than the people at school, thats for sure.." His eyes widened a bit at one of the boys fell.

"I hope he's ok.." He looked around, "it" finally hitting him. 'I thought this place was just a card shop.. whats with the whole arena thing?..'

He tried to listen into the hole and almost swore that he heard the words
"Join and fight"

'Join what?..' He wondered. He knew that spying wasn't good but for some reason, something was telling him to stay, though at the same time, missing school was annoying him. He had perfect attendance for quite some time.

He decided to just forget it, the work could be easly made up and its not like he would be behind anyone in class. He usually finishes all of his assignment, plus more on in a normal school day. The fact that he was the youngest kid in the class but everyone else acted so dumb annoyed him aswell. But he figured that anyone who followed the Society so willingly couldn't be that smart anyways.

He continued to watch into the hole.

They men seemed to be moving into another room and he tried to keep watching them but the small hole made it hard, though he could still hear bits and scraps of what they were saying and tried to put them together.

'R..e...v... Reeve...... Re...is..ts...........Resis....nts....... Resistance!?' He tried to listen harder but it was no use, they were saying too much for him to be able to put it all together, but he had heard almost everything that mattered. Although he wasn't sure if its purpose was for the cause he was thinking of.

That Commander Reeve was scary. Hmm i wonder what kind of training we do here? It must be intense.

"Oh yea! Ryuho pulled out the "COM-Link" lets mess with it a bit said Ryuho pressing all kinds of buttons with a devious look on his face. Loud beeps and bloops came from the COM-Link and it shut off on him. "ACK! Don't tell me I allready brang the damn thing! I just got it said Ryuho with a sad face. All of a sudden a blue light came from the COM and a huge holographic map formed infront of Ryuho's face.

"Woah, hmm i have to go to the training halls but i want to check out my private quarters first. Let's see where this is now." said Ryuho running his fingers up and down the holographic map.

"Down this hall and three doors down to the left. It would be simple if all these hallways weren't so damn huge!" Ahh, here it is Ryuho stepped through an open door leading into a small room with a bed a nightstand and a TV . Hmm looks cozy, I might take a small nap." He said jumping on his bed.

"No time for that now i have to meet james in the training hall. Hopefully i can win my next duel!" Ryuho took his deck of his deck belt and stared at it intently as if it had something to say. Yea i deffinatly will!"

Ryuho snapped back into reality and started down the hall constantly checking his com-link for direction
"Well, here I am the "training hall". Ryuho walked in the door and saw there was nobody in the training hall yet. "Grrr i could have relaxed in my quarters for a bit!" Ryuho decided to grab a seat and wait for James to come.

James headed toward the Training Hall not really enthused about training another person.
"Man, why couldn't I just have taken that Reconnaissance Mission?" thought James as he yawned and entered the Training Hall.

As James looked around, he saw Ryuho just sitting there fiddling with his COM-Link.

"Huh? You again? I thought I was training someone else?" said James as he was expecting someone else.

...

"Ah well guess it can't be helped, besides I don't feel like going to see Reeve about what happened, alright Ryuho, todays Training will be rather simple. Uhh actually, I don't really know what to do heh" said James giving a smirk as he tried to remember what a Training Mission actually was.

"Hmm well I already dueled with you, you don't have to do a hard Mission today...you know what? How about you go with Souji to interrogate a suspicious character we found spying into HQ, you'll learn all about Interrogation and how useful it is." said James, "Use your COM-Link to find Souji's location and go with him, if Reeve asks you why you're not with me just say I had other matters to attend to, he'll understand." James said giving a smirk.

As Ryuho headed off, James found a comfortable spot and decided to sleep...

"Freaking kids and their freaking curiosity..." Souji said as he trudged outside. He knew it wasn't the kids fault and he probably saw Ryuho enter the shop and wondered why everything went dark. But sometimes this particular job was such a pain. As he came around the building, he spotted to perp still looking inside the hole.

"Hey kid! Ya lost or something? Or did you wanna buy some cards?" Souji said trying to sound somewhat friendly and keep the cover of the card shop going.

Jumping in surprise, Echo slowly turned to see a man. He seemed older but his features made him look really young.

"O..Oh! Um..." He slowly stood up and stepped away from the hole.

"Y..Yeah, cards.." He thought he sounded like an idiot.. Stumbling over his own words. It was natural to be nervous, but the thought of him making himself look stupid aggrivated him. But still..

He hept hearing the word "Resistance" in his head and seeing the man now, his heart kept beating faster and faster until his bookbag dropped off of his shoulder, his duel disk falling out of it.

"Oh! Sorry!" he quickly picked it up and walked up to the man, hoping for 2 things.

1. That the man didn't know that he had heard everything
and 2. That the man wouldn't think that he was a girl like everyone else did at first.

"Heh, and i thought this training was gonna be tough. Sounds kinda boring though an interrogation mission. Well i better follow along and watch i don't wanna disobey any orders haha."

"Hmm it seems Souji has allready begun his interrogation i'll watch from inside the card shop with James."

"Who is this odd looking kid Souji is talking too James? Another resistance member?"
Ryuho remembered that this was an interogattion mission "Ack why would we interogate our own members?"

Ryuho idly played with his COM-Link as Souji was interogating the Kid infront of the shop

"So...kid..." Souji thought a little exactly how he was going to approach the subject without giving away too much, "No need to be so nervous...however, I was wondering what exactly you were doing looking through that hole?" he asked as if he wasn't sure why someone would.

Souji was still unsure whether this person was a spy or just some kid...or even if this person was a girl or a boy. Either way, he really didn't care, as long as they weren't a spy.

He looked at the man directly in the eyes, immidiatly figuring out what was going on. He decided to play it cool. There wasn't a need to lie.. about the whole case that is....

"I was just walking by and I was thinking about buying some new cards, but then everything turned dark so I came around to see if everything might be ok."

He closed his eyes and kept his cool. He could tell by the approach that the man was a professional at this type of stuff.. or maybe just close to it. But he wasn't born yesterday, and unlike the society zombies (people who follow the society), he knew how to handle things his own way. And he knew exactly what he would do to get the man off of his case.

"In the end, I saw this hole... By the way.. a man walked into the shop before everything closed down and he never came out." He opened his eyes and glared int the mans eyes, almost challenging him. "What ever happened to him?" He asked with almost an amusing tone in his voice.

He could tell that this person wasn't to be taken lightly and was a lot more intelligent than Souji had given him credit for, "Well, if you really want to find out...why not come on in and see for yourself?" Souji glared back into the kid's eyes. He knew this wasn't exactly the best action, however, this tactic would either scare the kid away...or possibly even gain them a new member.

Two newbies in less than an hour...that'd be a record..., Souji thought to himself smirking a little. He pointed his hands towards the front of the building showing which way that Echo should go.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, following the mans lead. He was set on finding out if what he heard was right.. This could be his only chance to make a change.. though he still wasn't 100% sure about what was going to happen, but he wasn't about to back down.

He walked along side the man, feeling sort of calmed by his presence, though he didn't know why. After all.. he was interrogating him.

He stopped when they got to the front door of the card shop. It had seemed so small from the outside.. but he already knew not to be fooled, though he was still giving thought to if he was gonna give his whole surprised act once inside or just push the man into the truth by force.

Either way, he knew it wouldn't be easy. Even so, he sort of enjoyed the challenge, maybe thats why being around the man calmed him.

"So what now?.." He looked up to the man.

"My mama was the queen of this place, now I am her legacy" Jisha sang softly as she strolled towards her destination. She'd been bored the past few days when she stumbled across a flier with a cryptic slogan:

Card shop volunteers wanted, looking for enthusiastic young duelists to work towards the greater good.


Sufficiently intrigued, Jisha decided to take up the offer as she had enough money to last her a while (those Society rent-a-cops really shouldn't carry their cash in such accessible pockets) and she was always looking for more opportunities to create some true love in the world, not that pathetic "at first site" garbage they always spouted on TV. She'd leave that to the other girls in class, Jisha wanted something deeper, and not just for her, she wanted everyone to experience the real thing.

"Even though I am a child, everyone holds out a hand to me"


Rounding the corner to her destination, Jisha spotted a young guy ahead, early twenties, talking to a pretty little thing, who looked a little younger than Jisha, though there was an air of uncomfortableness between the two.

Probably hitting on her, she thought, why bother? It won't last. People should try harder if they want something meaningful.

Chalking it up as yet another case of taking the present gain over the future potential, Jisha moved towards the card shop again. As she approached she saw the man indicate that the girl should enter the shop, so Jisha decided to wait until they'd finished their exchange before entering.

"Into the shop kid, the name's Souji, by the way." Souji said trying to seem nice. When, out of the corner of his eye he saw yet another person.

Dammit...I really don't need another eavesdropper... he thought. Today just was not his day for keeping his cover. Nothing seemed to be going right.

"Uh...Hey! You want to come in too? Hurry up!" he waved to the newcomer. He figured it would be best to get rid of them quickly and not to let anyone else in or see them.

He began walking into the shop, the guy seeming nice.. but he could tell that the man was still a bit off.
"My name is Echo.."

He then stopped as Souji called back to someone. It was then that Echo noticed a girl watching them.
'Ugh.. This is gonna slow me down..' He thought to himself.

"You're really welcoming.. aren't you?.." He looked directly into Souji's eyes as if he were trying to break him down mentally.

He enjoyed challenging Souji. It had been a while since he actually played mind games with someone who tried to back, everyone else just seemed to get lost in confusion.. which was pretty sad due to the fact that everyone else he knew was older than him.

He sighed and waited for the girl and Souji, not testifying because he didn't want to blow his cover.

The mail courier was in high spirits. It was such a beautiful day to be outdoors. The skies were blue, the sun was shining, there wasn't even a cloud in sight! Jumping out of his truck, he tucked the package under his arm as he entered the building. Inside was a very nice and clean lobby, very busy with workers constantly entering and exiting, leaving or returning. The mail carrier headed straight for the receptionist, a rather attractive lady his age and flashed his best smile. "Hello there." He greeted her.

The receptionist looked up from her work, noticed the man and blushed when she saw how handsome he was. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I have package for a Mr. Jenkins." The mail courier told him, turning on his charm. "Can you tell me where I can deliver it?"

"I'll sign it." She said almost too eagerly.

The courier smiled again and handed her his pad. The receptionist returned the smile as she signed for the package, then added her number onto it. When she handed it back to him, the courier took a glance at the pad, then back towards her.

"Well then Amy, I'll be hearing from you soon." He winked, then left, whistling and anticipating that night.

10 minutes later, an explosion blasts from the 5th floor, spraying the street down below with glass and ash.

Blaze laughed as he saw the chaos from the roof of the building across the street. People were screaming, sirens were screeching, fire burning everything it touches. Bombs were probably the greatest invention ever! And because he was an Archlord of The Society, he can do as much as he wanted! Sure, he had the entire military under his control and he could order them to blast random objects, but it was more fun when he blew up something in a public place and watch the citizens run about like chickens with their heads cut off, haha!

Behind him a Society member approached him. "Sir, I've got a-"

Suddenly the underling gave a cry as his clothes suddenly caught on fire.

"Don't you know better to not to interrupt me when I'm having fun!?" Blaze said as he shot more fire at him from the portable flamethrower attached to his arm. The underling yelped as he dropped to the ground and rolled, eventually putting out of the flames though he looked and smelled rather badly.

"S-sorry sir, forgive me sir!" The underling grovelled.

blaze shrugged. "It was kind've funny to see you jump around, so I guess I'll spare you. Now what ws it you were going to tell me?"

"J-just that we've confirmed that one of our agents has caught the attention of the Resistance." The man said in a weak voice.

"Excellent." Blaze broke out into a grin. "If we play our cards right, I'll have a rat to roast to ash, hehehehe!"

Then again... Souji thought, ...Maybe its best to work on one at a time.

"Um...Actually scratch that! We're closed!" Souji yelled to the newcomer, Souji then grabbed Echo by the arm and yanked him inside quite forcefully and quickly. Then the door slammed shut behind them, making a very loud WHAM.

"Okay...so here we are...this is what you wanted to see right?" Souji said as he let go of Echo and walked ahead of him a bit, "Its quite obvious you saw quite a bit through that hole and honestly I don't really like eavesdroppers. I'm tired of the mind games for now, so spill it. Who are you and should I consider you an enemy?" the kind and gentle tone that Souji had was now gone. He had turned around and his icy glare seemed like it would bore a hole through Echo's head if he stared long enough.

"Hey! Don't be so hard on the kid". Shouted Ryuho walking behind Souji. "Maybe it's someone else who came for the job interview like i did."

"Did you see my duel Mr. Seta? I was so close but James pulled off a gigantic move and killed me in one turn! You gotta admit my deck has some pretty sweet moves!" Said Ryuho flexing his right arm.

"I can't help but wonder who is this person with Souji? Hopefully a new ally. The situation Commander Reeve explained to me while i was in the Command Center is bad."

"Anyway you over there who are you?!" Shouted Ryuho with a warm and welcoming smile and his hand firmly extended at the new face as he walked into the card shop.