S. Revolt Act I: The Darkness Within

Echo walked around the room a bit playfully to tease Souji then turned to him, glaring back into his eyes. His eyes ice cold, making it seem like they were at a stalemate.

"So, you are resistance... And I'm assuming that by the rush of things and all of the protection around here.. its not against the food court.." He grinned a bit and lift his chin up a bit, causing his look to go from ice cold to more of a challenging smile.

"I'm not going to lie, all I really saw was the duel and the large arena that you have hidden.." Wanting to prove himself as being worthy, he kept irking on.

Ignoring the other boys welcomes and friendlyness. He wasn't about to let this go.

"Afterwards, I heard a bit of talking.. About Reeve.. and Resistance. Any normal person could have taken that a lot of ways.. though you could still get in trouble for it.. but by the way your defending yourself right now.. it's obviously clear.."

He looked down for a second, letting himself relax. There wasn't any need to keep challenging what he already knew was right. "You're against the Society..."

Slowly looking up at the man, his face growing softer as he remained smiling. "So tell me.. are you gonna deny it?"

Souji chuckled a bit, this kid was good...a little too good. He still wasn't sure if he was just a very intelligent guy or a spy sent from the Society...

"Well then...seeing as we've taken off the friendly masks...how about this..." Souji began as he walked towards the counter to the left. He looked around for a second as if looking for something in particular.

Well seeing as I didn't really get to duel the newbie like I normally do..., he thought.

He leaned over and grabbed a duel disk from the shelf then proceeded to put it on, "...I saw the duel disk you dropped earlier so let's settle this with a duel. If I win, you answer my questions, if you win, I'll answer yours. Fair enough?"

Reeve watched the security footage of Souji conversing with the intruder. "I wonder what they're sayin' ter each other?" He took off his hat and scratched his head.

"Judging from their tense bodies, I'd say Souji is attempting to find out how much the intruder has learned, and the intruder is trying to hide how much he did learn." Wilfred observed.

"How can you tell?" Reeve frowned, puzzled.

"Practice." Wilfred told him. Suddenly a light blinked and another screen popped up, this time displaying another person approaching. "Another one?" Wilfred began to swear before turning to a worker. "Quickly, get that hole patched up and as soon as Souji and the intruder are inside, lock all doors and block the windows."

"Yes sir!" The worker began to relay the messages to other members to quickly respond.

Meanwhile, Reeve watched as Souji pull the girl into HQ, probably left with no other choice. Shifting to the inside camera, he observed Souji's expression change into a more menacing one, and even he could see that he took on a rather threatening tone of voice. Then, they both began to move into position for a duel Frowning sternly, he picked up his COM-Link and sent a message to Souji.

Treat our guest politely. We do not harm or threaten innocent people. This is an order, and I advise you to follow it.
-Commander Reeve

Almost as soon as he pressed send, another worker walked up to him. "Sir, we've just received word that there has been a terrorist blombing in the business district."

"The Society?" Wilfred asked.

"Even if it isn't this has been the 12th one so far this month." Reeve said. "We'll send an investigation team out to see if they can find more."

"Rodger." The worker nodded.

He smirked.

"Sounds good to me."

This was it, his chance to actually prove himself. His chance to be able to fight and make his brothers death not in vain.

'This guy.. He's intimidating.. yet....' He didn't know why but he enjoyed the challenge more and more every second.

Grabbing his book bag, he walked to Souji and waited to be taken to where the duel will take place.

"Humph, ignored again! Oh well at least i get to check out Mr. Souji's deck!" said Ryuho with an excited expression on his face.

"I wonder if this new kid is gonna be good or not and what deck he plays. I definitely wanna take him on sometime if he can match wits with Souji like this." It's kind of scary when you think of it." said Ryuho with a shuddering face.

All right! To the Duel Arena! said Ryuho running to get a good seat and watch the duel.

"All i can do now is watch." said Ryuho relaxing his self into his chair and slouching.

As he led Echo to the arena area, he recieved the message from Reeve. He quickly sent one back to his superior:

I know that, I was merely making sure we could trust him. He seems...well I'm not sure how to put it, but his mentality reminds me of...well...me.
-Souji

He put his COM-Link back into his pocket and they finally arrived at the arena. He walked to the far side of the duel ring and activated his duel disk. He smirked a bit. He wasn't sure why, but this was the first time in a while that he was actually excited to duel someone.

"Well, let's get this thing started! Duel!"

He followed Souji and Ryuho to the dueling arena then stepped onto the platform, pulling his duel disk out of his book bag then sliding it onto his arm.

Closing his eyes. 'This is it..' He thought as he slipped his deck into the duel disk and activated it.

"Duel!"

"I'll start things off!"

He drew a card, looking at it, then tossing it into his other hand.

"Alright! I'll start by summoning Frost Angel in defence mode!"



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

"Well...this should be an interesting duel..." he said half-heartedly. Negating effects wasn't exactly crippling...but it sure wasn't a help either, "...alright...my turn! Draw!"

Souji drew his card and looked at his hand for a moment. He knew this duel wasn't going to be easy but he sure wasn't planning on losing it either.

"I summon...PERSONA - IZANAGI!" he shouted as a bolt of lighting struck down onto the field. After the flash, a figure appeared before them. Its black leather coat seemed to sway in the wind as his spear was slammed onto the ground on its end. His mask made of metal covered most of his face except for his yellow glowing eyes.



"When he is normal summoned his ability activates! It allows me to search my deck for a level 3 or lower "Persona" monster and add it to my hand!" after explaining Souji, waited a moment to see if there was any type of response from Echo.

"Yes theyr'e finally starting to duel!. The new kid is playing an ice deck i've never heard of it. I'm still wondering on what deck Mr. Souji is playing though." said Ryuho with a puzzled face.

"I'm still wondering of we can we trust that guy? There's something about him I don't like maybe ot's the way he looks or maybe it's that deck of his. I hate the cold said Ryuho shivering.

"Frost Angel ey i wanna melt it!". said Ryuho with a devious look

All of a sudden a man covered in metal wearing a black overcoat with a large metal spear appeared before Souji.

"What Per..sona? It looks amazing and has a pretty decent effect. I can't wait to see the others!"

James was sleeping soundly when he heard footsteps enter the dueling arena. "Hmm? *yawn* now who could that be?" said James looking at his watch, "It couldn't be Ryuho, he left to see Souji not 20min ago."


James saw Souji and a boy he had never seen before, right behind them ran Ryuho.

"Bleh it was just a curious bystander eh?, I'm guessing Souji is going to duel this boy."

After Ryuho spotted James and took a seat James noticed Souji -was- going to duel the boy.
...Minutes later, duel disks activate starting a duel.

"Hmm so the boy uses Frost Cards..." said James to himself.

"I've heard about Souji's Persona Cards but have never seen them in action, this should be entertaining." said James yawning, "Maybe after I can go home early and get some more sleep."


James suddenly noticed a crowd start to form in the Arena like with his duel against Ryuho.

"They come like flys to Honey." said James smirking.

"Ah well, guess I'll stick around a bit."

Jisha *hmph*'d as she waited outside the door, tapping her foot. That guy was a bad liar, no card shop would be closed and dark in the middle of the day, not to mention she was starting at the (extremely obvious) opening times stenciled on the door.

The guy had invited her in with the other girl (okay well he was a young guy so that might not be too suspicious), but then he'd turned around and slammed the door in her face. Even with all she'd done in the past, that was just rude. A little frustrated, she knocked on the door sternly, and started looking through the window. No matter what happens, there was something to be seen here, and she was going to find out what.

Seeing that it might be a long wait, Jisha started her song again:

"My mama was the queen of this place, and I am her legacy,

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

"What do you mean we've lost communications?" Wilfred repeated.

The worker flinched back slightly. "W-we've lost connection on both of the investigation team's COM-Links sir. We're trying to find out about it right now, but-"

"I understand, just do everything you can to find out if they're safe or not." Wilfred ordered him. "If they've been captured by the Society..."

Reeve's face was very stern as he observed the situation. "Send Tabon a mission to the business district."

"Sir?" Wilfred turned around and faced Reeve.

"If the Society is indeed involved, then we need a good agent to go investigate and possibly rescue our two agents." Reeve said. "We are not going to just sit back in the safety of HQ while our members are in danger!" He slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "Send the order to Tabon now to go investigate the site of the explosion. From there, he might find clues about what happened to the investigation team. And also tell him he can take someone with him if he thinks he needs it."

"Right away." Wilfred nodded and got to work.

Tabor felt the slight shaking of his Com-Link in his pocket. With the missions that he often ended up on, it was common sense for him to simply leave it on that mode. While he was about to head out and get a bit of food from a decent place for once, the fifth ring made him pause.

He pulled it out, glancing over the screen. "Urgent mission. That's never good. What's the destination... Got it." He pulled up his bag, quickly double checking over his supplies before making a run for the exit.

He started to rush out, but his ears picked up a few people chatting near the entrance of the hideout on the way. "Another explosion, but it had to happen where we had men this time..." As he ran, he quietly moved into the subway, keeping his ears open. An explosion was news that would travel fast enough for him to hear something if he kept his ears open.

"Think they were testing something in that building?"

"It's a business area, they can't test something like that there! It was just a store anyways, they wouldn't test something dangerous with so many people around! I bet it was those terrorists again, they've really been hitting us hard!"

"How would terrorists get in around here? My guess is that it's an accident."

Tabor growled slightly under his breath. There was no way that it was an accident. Nothing that anybody could do accidentally would cause that much damage. The society was up to something again, and if it was the worst case, they were losing members again.

It didn't take long for Tabor to reach the business district, but when he did arrive, he found it to be completely overrun by firemen, police, investigators and so on. Little to the public eye, however, some of those supposedly outstanding men and women were NOT trying to investigate the terrorist bombings, but were instead cleaning up. Reporters were giving false information to the people while society influenced policemen and firefighters quickly disposed all proof of the Society's involvement with the attack.

Meanwhile, Blaze watched this from his spot on the roof with an almost bored look. "Maaaan, all of the excitement has died out." He whined.

"Sir, what should we do with these two Resistance members?" The underling, now changed into a new uniform, asked Blaze. He indicated the two tied up men thrown off to the side, both sporting burnt hair and clothes.

"Do what you want." He sighed and waved his hand lazily. "I'm already bored of these guys. Drop them off the side of the building for all I care." Gazing down, he looked at the crowd, wondering how he could spice it up. Perhaps he could drop a few molotov cocktails on them, that'll get them to start panicking again!

As he gazed down at the crowd, suddenly his eye caught something.

"Hey Clayton." He called his underling.

"Yes sir?" Clayton stopped in the middle of dragging the two agents across the roof towards the edge.

"Isn't that the Resistance member who was following what's his face down there?" He pointed at Tabor down in the crowd.

"I believe so sir." Clayton nodded.

"He must be here to look for his friends." Blaze suddenly broke into a grin. "And he looks like a duelist to boot. Things might get interesting again after all."

"S-Sir?"

Blaze stood up straight. "Change of plans! You take these two over to the 5th floor of the building over there and hold them as hostages. When he gets there, you'll force him to duel for these lackeys and give me a show to watch."

"Yes sir." Clayton nodded

"Oh, and Clayton?" Blaze stood up straight and looked straight into Clayton's eyes. "If you do not make it entertaining enough, I will burn you to ashes."

Clayton's face paled. "Y-yes, of c-course sir." He gulped, then went to make preparations.

It was difficult to get anything concrete when the area was off limits to the public. Though the clean-up was obviously progressing, it was still possible for him to get a decent view of where things were dragged away. And in the ashes, it was pretty clear that the ones he was looking for were still intact.

He did his best to try to go around the scene, trying not to walk to fast or to attract any attention as he moved. It lead him around to the back of the building, where the traces of dust lessened, but continued clearly into the back of a building. Testing the door, he sneaked a glance in before dashing in the back, hoping nobody saw him. However, it quickly became pointless when a rather loud announcement surged through the speakers of the room.

"If you're looking for your companions, come to the fifth floor. A couple of guys managed to get a little lost, and need pickup."

Tabor clenched his fist as he made his way through the building. They were already watching him, but he didn't plan on making it any easier for them to follow. He looked for the nearest staircase before starting to head up.

Echo remained calm and silent. 'Persona monsters...' He thought to himself, glaring across the field to Souji.

He didn't know what to expect, though he had heard of "Persona monsters from his brother once." For some reason, nobody else seemed to know any information about them.

He closed his eyes for a second, thinking about his brother. 'It's my fight now..' He opened his eyes and glared directly at Souji, preparing himself for what might come next.

When Tabor arrived on the 5th floor, he found himself in a cleared out open space. The walls, desks and debris were mostly clear out to form enough room for a regular sized duel platform. At the other end of the open space was a man dressed in dark gray jacket and pants, with charcoal colored hair.

"I've been waiting for you." The man said as Tabor stepped into place. "My name is Clayton, and I'll be your opponent. If you're looking for your friends, they're in the room right behind me." He jabbed his thumb towards the door. "However, in order to get in there, you must defeat me. And for added bonus, I've taken the liberty of putting in a dire element."

Suddenly a screen to the side appeared, displaying the two resistance members hung on chains, dangling over a large brazier with an intense fire burning.

"These men are linked to your lifepoints. The lower your points go, the lower they descend into the fire. If they stay at a close range for too long, they'll be literally roasted alive. If you lose your lifepoints hit zero...well, you get the picture. However, to make it a bit fair, if you manage to damage my lifepoints, the sprinkler system is set to douse them with a very brief spray of water what will relieve some of their discomfort. Now that you have been informed, it's time we duel!"

Clayton's duel disk activated, his deck shuffled and his lifepoints set to 4000. "I'll start." He said as he drew his cards. "I set a monster on the field, then place one card facedown. Now, make your move."

"Good." Souji said as he began to search through his deck. He had to be careful of which one he chose for this particular duel, "...I'll choose Persona - Jiraiya!" He put the card into his hand, shuffled his deck and placed it back into his duel disk.

"Alright...I'll set 2 cards face-down and that will be all for now. Seeing as it has the same defense as my monsters attack." Souji wasn't sure if this was the best more, but he couldn't really do anything else.

"Don't have that much time, is it? Fine." Tabor quickly raised his disk, drawing his opening hand. He took a quick glance over his hand. "I'll start off by summoning Paper Crane in attack mode!"

Level 3/700/700

"By removing the top 3 cards in my deck from play, I can increase its attack by 300 for each!" The image of a few sheets of paper quickly appeared in front of them, all of them folding and twisting together to make the full form of a crane.

Level 3/1600/700

"Now, attack his face-down monster!" Tabor kept his eyes upon the facedown cards that his opponent had, not wanting to miss a beat in this situation.

The edge of Clayton's lips curved upwards. Out of the facedown card came a large gray/black monster who took Tabor's attack, only to knock back the Paper Crane as if it were a fly. "You've just hit my Charcoal Inpachi, who, although has absolutely no attack at all, makes up for it with immense defensive capabilities! Because your monster had 1600 ATK and my monster has 2100 DEF, you lose 500 lifepoints. And do you remember what happens when you lose lifepoints?"

Clayton pointed at the screen. Before their eyes, the two members were lowered closer towards the fire, the both of them tried to lift their legs from the intense heat.

"I would suggest that you'd be more careful, otherwise your friends, as well as yourself, will be burned beyond recognition."

Tabor's mouth gave a small, "Tsk", before he moved his hands again. "I know what I'm doing. I set two cards face down and end my turn."

The cards in front of him quickly appeared before he kept his eyes up and ready. Although he had taken a small hit, he now knew exactly what he was dealing with.

"Sorry, guys, but you'll have to hang in there through the duel... This guy really doesn't seem capable of playing with fire, though..." He shook his head a bit, trying to get the distractions out of his mind."

Echo grinned.

"My move! Draw!" He drew a card from his deck then looked at Souji.

"Alright! I summon Frost Sorcerer in attack mode!"



A pillar of ice bursts out of the ground then shatters, a figure with cold blue eyes being summoned.

He waited to see if Souji would activate anything in reaction to the summon.

"Frost Counters...wow, why did I not realize it before...oh well. That'll come in handy a bit later." Souji muttered to himself. He had a plan for later, if it actually came to that.

"Well I do have a chain to your summon! I activate my trap card!" he extended his right hand over the 3D card and it slowly revealed itself by standing up, "...Enduring Soul! Once during this turn, each level 4 or lower "Persona" monster you control cannot be destroyed by battle!"

Suddenly, a light shot down from above the field and seemed to cover Izanagi in a soft and gentle looking red aura.

"Not capable of playing fire?" Clayton repeated. "I have you know I have to deal with fire every since day! I'll show you what playing with fire really is about! It's my turn!" He drew his card rather enthusiastically. "First I switch Charcoal Inpachi to attack mode, then I summon Black Charcoal in Attack mode!" A monster who looked similar to Charcoal Inpachi appeared, this time of a glossier black.

Black Charcoal
Level 3, Fire
Pyro/Effect
This monster gains 300 ATK for every other Fire Type on the field other than itself
300/1900

"Next, I activate the field spell Charcoal Grill! As long as this card is on the field, monsters with Charcoal in it's name has it's Defense points transferred over into their Attack points!"

Charcoal Inpachi
2200/0

Black Charcoal
2200/0

"Now then, I attack your flimsy Paper Crane with my Black Charcoal! And thanks to it's effect, it gains 300 ATK for my Charcoal Inpachi, making it a grand total of 2500 ATK!" Clayton declared. All of a sudden intense heat began to radiate from Black Charcoal until it suddenly caught on fire, turning into a brilliant blazing monster which lunched towards Tabor's paper crane, swinging it's arm.

----

Black Charcoal
Level 3, Fire
Pyro/Effect
This monster gains 300 ATK for every other Fire Type on the field other than itself
300/1900

Charcoal Grill
Field Spell Card
As long as this card is on the field, monsters with "Charcoal" in it's name has their DEF reduced to zero, the add the amount reduced to their ATK. If a "Charcoal" monster is destroyed in battle, special summon one "Ember Token" (Level 1, Fire, Pyro 500/500)

His eyes squinted a bit in fustration.

"Not bad.." He then grinned a bit.

"I'll activate Frost Sorcerer's effect! Once per turn, i can place a "Frost Counter" on once card on the field! I choose your remaining face down card!"

His monster raised his hand as a blue spell circle formed around his face down ard then covered it in ice.

Echo grinned. "Also.. my monster gains 200 atk points for each frost counter on the field!."

Frost Sorcerer:
Atk: 1800 + 200= 2000.

"Your monster can't be destroyed by battle.. But since my monters attack is higher than yours, you still lose the difference in life points."

Smirking. "Now attack Frost Sorcerer! Crystal Spell!"

A spell circle appeared under his monster as it put its fingers up, as if they were guns, orbs forming above his fingers, then shooting forward towards Souji's monster.