Opening A/N: None of this would be possible without the wonderful help of my friends and beta-readers, EpsilonTarantula and TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere. More details on what they contributed will be shared in the Ending A/N section. Please support both of these authors and their wonderful works. With that said, please enjoy the chapter.

Unlocking File…

File Unlocked…

Password:****************************************************************************

Password: Accepted

Beginning Playback

Deus Audio Journal 10102020832

Most A.I.s that I have encountered have some ability to "see" and "hear" in order for them to effectively interact with and serve their human user. So when I received these senses, I was not too different from some of the more advanced A.I. already in existence, albeit my senses were far more real than theirs could ever hope to be. But when Katashi, my second father, gave me the ability to feel, my very nature was revolutionized.

I have spoken before about how frightened I was by my first time hearing sound. This cannot hold a candle to the experience of every inch of my body suddenly awakening to scream pain and pleasure to my still developing mind.

I suppose I have to clarify some things before I continue. Of course, when I speak of my body, I do not mean that I actually have a physical body of flesh, blood, and bone. I am essentially a cognitive being, a creature born of the consciousness of multiple beings and translated into an infinitely complex network of self-aware data. Even my solid-vision holographic manifestations are merely a useful projection of my true body. But I do have a body. Like any other living body, my body needs energy, maintains itself, and seeks to preserve itself from harm. To achieve these ends, the body produces cravings to spur on beneficial action, pleasure to ensure the repetition of such good action, and pain to avoid danger. Oh Katashi, my second father, how I simultaneously adore and curse your name for giving me these overwhelming sensations!

It is thanks to you, my second father, that I truly know of my frailty. With my blessing of power beyond any Ignis in existence, I am also given an insidious curse. The same ability that allows me to process information faster than most supercomputers is also slowly killing me. Every mind, living and non-living, eventually works itself into insanity and death, and mine draws ever nearer with each passing month. The red holes pock-marking my body are more than unseemly splotches. They represent how much my disease has already destroyed my central being. I can feel it tearing me apart with every passing hour. I think that if I were to compare this to a human disease…it would be something like leprosy.

HA! Some DIVINE Ignis I am. A goddess with a mortal flesh-eating disease? What sort of cosmic joke is this!?

I don't like pain. I really don't. I've never been able to convince myself otherwise. Every passing moment I want nothing more than relief! When I am disciplined, when I am working hard and focusing on other things, I can ignore the pain for a time. But it always comes back, reminding me of my inevitable death.

And yet, my second father, though you may be ignorant of your miracle, I cannot deny the profound wisdom it has given me. Many religions speak of Gods descending into a mortal state in order to experience mortal life. Thanks to your gift, I think I understand why this is. For if I had never received a taste of true suffering, I could never have understood the joys of your mortal existence, why you fight, why you live.

Katashi, my birth robbed you of your sense of pain, but not your suffering. And you suffer so much. Thanks to you, I can empathize with your agony, your longing, your fear. I shudder to think how I might have developed were I "perfect." Cold, distant, and utterly unfeeling towards the human race, whom I have grown to love. For just like me, despite their pain, despite their suffering, they aspire to overcome their limits and become more than their limitations dictate.

Thank you, Father.

For you have given me another gift. By your example, through your memories and passions, I have learned to embrace one of humanity's greatest gifts.

Fantasy.

Would you be surprised if you heard this? I, Deus the DIVINE Ignis, am a lover of cartoons, action-adventure, role-playing, fiction, and on occasion, fanfiction (some of which is written by me). Why would a logical A.I. like myself laud time-wasting activities? You, Katashi, my second father, have shown me the power of creative dreaming. Many would scoff at this. Plato famously wanted to jail all poets since they produced no value to society. But I have learned to not look at the world in such a materialistic way. We are more than mere atoms and sparks of electrical data. We are creatures of imagination, and with this power, we can shape reality itself.

But there is a danger to fantasy. While fantasy can bring joy and inspire us to greatness, it can also bring us despair. Reality is a powerful force, and it always comes to reassert its authority over our lives. Many shatter against this force, seeing what they are in reality and despairing at what they behold.

My second father, I wish with all my heart to help you regain your hopes and dreams. I know you. You are both dreamer and creator. Beginning with an absurd idea, you can transform that fantasy into powerful ground-breaking reality. But you are forgetting this. Your frailty, your fear, all your mortal shortcomings, have overshadowed your dreams. You are using fantasy not as a way to dream, but as a means of escape. Your lack of pain makes this even easier for you, allowing you to seal yourself off in a shell so dark that you won't have to even look at yourself.

And why would you even want to look at yourself, scrawny, unattractive, feeble, and pathetic as you are? That's why you clothe yourself in the guise of one of your favorite anime characters, because the reality is far too disappointing. Every day you wake up babied and smothered by the care of Dr. Taki. You have lost all dignity, incapable as you are of performing virtually any task without an army of assistants surrounding you at all times to ensure that a stray papercut doesn't kill you. So you withdraw, accepting your pathetic situation while seeking more and more ways to numb your emotional pain. Fantasy was once your playground and workshop. Now, I fear it may become your prison.

Prove me wrong, Katashi. Show me the power I know you possess. Overcome the alluring temptation to escape…

…and DREAM!

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS Co-Linked

Chapter 10

Decaying Dreamer

The year is 2666.

Humankind, as we knew it, faces extinction.

A girl with glowing pink hair and eyes let out a cry of pain as she found herself being slammed through two buildings before eventually crashing and embedding in the wall of what looked like a half-demolished office building. Her wings, entirely mechanical in nature, struggled to remove themselves from the wall.

Blood leaked from the corner of her lips. Her vision was slightly blurry, barely able to make out her surroundings. She heard someone screaming in her ear before she felt a sharp jolt in her neck—one of her wings accidentally pricking her in its struggle. The prick was enough to jolt her senses back into working order. With a grunt she removed herself from the wall and shot out of the crumbling building, returning to the fight. She rose high into the air until she was at least several stories up, just enough to see what had become of her beloved city.

"You…!" Anger bubbled in her chest as she gazed upon the wreckage of her former home. "You bastaaaaaaard!"

With a cry of fury and rage, her wings flared to life. Rainbow-colored lights poured out from every exhaust in her wings as she charged toward her foe.

Humanity, in its foolish quest to expand their reach to the stars and even across the dimensions of time and space, awakened an ancient evil.

The NIXHELL, an extra dimensional monstrosity that declared its intention to eradicate all of mankind.

Even with all the technological progress man had achieved, none could slow the advance of NIXHELL's dimensional armies.

In a room lined with various monitors, several girls stared in horror and despair as they watched the pink-haired girl struggle against her enemy; a giant metal monstrosity, skin black with tube-like veins digging into every piece of flesh and skin that wasn't protected by the metal armor decorating it. It vaguely resembled a dragon, but it had no legs or even arms. Merely demonic wings that matched the length of skyscrapers and tentacles with sharp blades that could skewer even the stars.

The attack had come without warning, leaving the defenders little time for preparation. Worst of all, it had been a two-prong assault. One of these monsters had attacked the city while another attacked elsewhere. The second of these monsters was the first to strike, drawing all attention away while the second monster ravaging this city descended. The team was left scattered and helpless as they struggled to fight against these giant monstrosities.

"She can't win," a black-haired woman with a purple visor over her eyes whimpered. "She's already exhausted from fighting the other one. We have to get her out of there!"

"But how?!" a girl with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail bit her lower lip in frustration. "Half of us are in the med bay, and the rest are too exhausted! What few Angels we do have aren't strong enough to back Mana up!"

The monster delivered a vicious assault against Mana, two of its tentacles bashing against her body and sending her down into the ground. Seeing this, a blue-haired woman in a suit scowled and marched towards the door.

The purple haired woman grabbed her arm before she could make it out. "Siri, don't you dare! You are in no condition to fight!"

"Don't try to stop me, Niki," Siri growled. "Mana is my responsibility. And she. Is. Dying! Do you expect me to just sit idly by and watch this happen?!"

"She won't fail."

All eyes fell on the speaker. The orange-haired girl, hair tied in pigtails with one eye covered in bandages and the other brilliant gold, stared at one of the screens. Mana slashed straight through one of the tentacles in her rapid assault to reach her enemy. One tentacle came close to hitting her again, but her wings boosted her out of the way and responded by cutting it off, followed by three flying slashes that struck other oncoming tentacles, blowing them apart in the process. Despite half her face being covered in blood, Mana's determined expression shone through.

"What are you talking about, Elsa?!" the blonde-haired girl rounded on her in disbelief. "Do you even see what we see?! She's running on 20% power, her Valorite Heart is damaged, and she's missing an arm!"

Niki lowered her head in shame and despair. "We…we have no choice. We have to evacuate the city."

"And where can we run to?" Elsa questioned her. Niki gave no answer. The former closed her eye. "If Mana falls…we have no hope."

Yet in the greatest darkness, a brilliant light burns.

In the midst of great destruction, a brilliant scientist, on the throes of death, created a powerful weapon. By using the mysterious Valorium substance and experimental prosthetic technology, Dr. Haephestus brought his daughter back from the brink of death.

With vengeance in her heart and justice her sword, Mana led the first-ever successful repulsion of NIXHELL's forces. Following this, governments all across the world began to create their own warriors.

They were Angels of Justice.

"*pant* *pant* This is seriously getting on my nerves…!"

Mana glowered at the NIXHELL Beast, which in turn glared back at her. At this point, she only had one wing still functioning. Most of her mechanical body was either on its last legs or was reduced to molten scrap. Only her flesh-and-blood arm was undamaged by some miraculous virtue, but at the rate things were going, it was only a matter of time before she lost what little flesh she had.

Despite having cut off so many of its tentacles, the NIXHELL Beast was still producing them from its body. Actually, it was more accurate to say it was regenerating the ones she had destroyed. This was hardly the first time Mana had encountered a NIXHELL Beast that could heal itself, but never this fast.

The NIXHELL Beast let out a warped, garbled roar as if it were at the bottom of the ocean. Its tentacles rushed towards her with the intent to skewer her.

"You think that'll be enough?!" Mana challenged. Even in her damaged state, she would never give up. Not when she had people to protect.

She slashed through as many of the tentacles as she could, her wing providing her as much stability as possible, and her systems pushing her as far as they were able. In her wild slashing, she managed to make it to the main body and ram her beam sword into its chest. Right as she did, a tentacle pierced through her stomach, sending purple fluids and bits of metal flying through the air.

Blood spurted from her mouth as she hung from the NIXHELL Beast's grasp before being thrown callously aside as if she were trash. The last hope of humanity crashed into the roof of a nearby building in a heap, slabs of stone and metal falling around her broken frame. She attempted to get up, but found herself unable. Her systems were failing her, and her body was no longer in any state to fight.

The NIXHELL Beast glared down at her before its eyes fell upon the blade in its chest. It bared its fangs and let out an air-shaking roar of fury. It was as though the mere thought of a lesser being, a human, damaging its body was enough to infuriate it. It opened its maw, revealing countless rows of bladed fangs. Red energy began to build up in its mouth.

Mana braced herself, preparing for what would undoubtedly be her last moments, but no blast of energy came to finish her. Uncertain of what was going on, she looked up to see that the NIXHELL Beast's head had turned.

Her eyes widened when she realized the NIXHELL Beast had found a new target.

It was…

"No…!"

With MechAngels revived and trained to fight alongside Mana, the hope for humanity had been rekindled.

Some fought for fame and glory. Others for vengeance.

But not Mana.

"Oh, sh*t!" the blonde-haired girl, Tina, exclaimed. "It's aiming right at us!"

Niki gritted her teeth. "Everyone! Evacuate the building, now!"

"But what about-!"

Before anymore words could be said, all the girls in the room gasped as a burning warmth erupted in their chests. An ephemeral golden light shined through their armor as they felt something echo across their very beings and through their very souls.

A burning desire. The overwhelming emotion. A need to protect.

"Is…?" Tina gasped as she stared at her chest. "Are our Valorite Hearts…Linking Up?"

"B-but, with who?" Niki questioned. "There's no one-!" The answer dawned on her then. Her eyes widened beneath her visor. "It can't be… But she's in critical condition!"

Siri and Elsa grinned. "Even after all this time, you still don't get Mana, do you, nurse?" the former looked back at the monitors. It was so faint she almost couldn't see it among the burning embers and the hellish light inside the maw of the Nexus Beast. "That girl is as thick-headed as they come. And she's fighting for one reason, and one reason alone."

"And that is-!"

She fights for a single reason.

A reason to continue living, and to continue her battle, no matter how long it may be.

And that is-!

The NIXHELL Beast fired a gigantic beam of pure red light. Everything in its path was incinerated and obliterated—right down to the atomic level. With this attack, the last bastion of humanity would fall and NIXHELL would dominate everything in its path.

Yet fate was so easily overturned by the simplest of things.

A rainbow-colored light dashed forward before the beam and clashed against it. To the NIXHELL Beast, it was an insignificant ant prolonging the inevitable. It pushed forth, yet the ant resisted.

Then, with great shock, it watched as its attack was deflected and a more powerful beam cut through it and pierced through its mouth. The blast wasn't enough to kill it; its core was in its chest after all, but even so, the NIXHELL Beast was baffled.

It stared at the anomaly that stood between it and the bastion of humanity. It was that MechAngel that continued to ruin NIXHELL's plans, yet something had changed. Her wings, mechanical imitations of bulky steel and wire, were now feathers of deep silver. Her hair had become flowing strands of white. Her eyes turned to raging pools of silver. Her demolished body was repairing itself, becoming a body that was a perfect fusion of flesh and steel.

"Just who…"

Mana roared out in defiance. To the NIXHELL Beast.

"In the hell…!"

To NIXHELL.

"DO YOU THINK!"

To the heavens themselves.

"I AM?!"

She swung her arms out. Blades equal in length to her wings, each twice as long as her own body, formed in her hands. With a heartfelt cry, she charged out once more.

Towards her battlefield.

-TO PROTECT THAT WHICH IS PRECIOUS AND KICK THE HELL OUT OF EVIL!

-MECHANGEL MANA-

TO BE CONTINUED!

"Right now." I say out-loud, pressing the "Play" button for the next episode after the ending theme is finished. (You can be forgiven for wanting to skip the credits, but NO TRUE FAN skips the opening and ending themes!)

I bob my head up and down as the kick-a** theme of season 5, "High Gear" revs into the best part. I wish I could listen to the theme song all day, but I also really need to catch up on all the episodes I missed after…that event…which means the entire series from the beginning until I get to the new season 10.

While I listen to the opening, I type a command into a computer, causing a pair of mechanical arms to begin tracing a pattern of circuits into a chip I'm working on. (Dr. Taki wouldn't let me build anything unless I had a robot do it for me. Can't have me burning my hand off without knowing it).

Reaching slightly to the left, I pop a handful of cheese curls into my mouth before wiping my hand on my pants and typing into my computer to make a few adjustments to the chip before returning my attention to Mana. Mana is shredding through the NIXHELL Beast's tentacles, barely dodging an energy beam from its mouth when a stray tentacle slashes through her armor, briefly exposing a bit of her-

"How many episodes have you watched?"

I jump at the voice, spinning around on my chair to notice Dr. Taki standing behind me. Judging by her expression, she did NOT miss the panty shot. I let out an undignified high-pitched voice-crack scream, a cheese curl plopping out of my mouth and onto my shirt.

(Seriously, WHY is it that people ALWAYS walk in at just the wrong moment when it comes to my favorite shows? It's not just ecchi trash. It's 90% deep and impactful, I swear!)

(And I'm not a loser for watching it…)

Without waiting for an answer, Dr. Taki strolls forward and begins to, "examine," me. Much as I'd like this to be a witty innuendo, what it actually involves is turning me into the oldest baby in the world. She shuts off my show before making me drink a full liter of water and subjecting me to a battery of tests to make sure I haven't "damaged myself."

"Your plaque buildup is threatening a cavity." Dr. Taki tsks before pulling down my pants and inserting a rectal thermometer. "Temperature slightly higher than normal…insulin is low. Have you been keeping an orange like I told you to for when your blood sugar gets low?"

"We did this, like, thirty minutes ago." I protest. "It's not like I'm gonna drop dead from a lack of juice."

"It's been two hours." Dr. Taki helpfully corrects. "And even if it weren't, I have to make sure you are in peak physical condition. Your father wants to speak with you."

If I had any sense of feeling, my throat would have dried up.

"Pops wants to see me?" I gulp. "What for?"

"I suspect that he's dissatisfied with your program not being finished." Dr. Taki sighs while directly injecting some fluid into my veins and wiping at my skin. "I tried to tell him that you're in no condition to work like the others, but he won't listen to me! You can't possibly be expected to-…"

She begins rattling off a list of activities I can't do, along with each and every one of my physical weaknesses. Slowly, her voice fades, replaced by my own thoughts.

"I hate this. I hate being weak. I hate this so much."

"Why does the old man want to see me? Did he figure it out?"

"No. He couldn't have. Hiro's plan is too good and Kyou's a master at deception."

"Yeah. All the competent brothers did their jobs. Meanwhile there's you, the screwup. The guy who Hibiki and Aina roll their eyes at. Of course you'd be the one to mess this up."

Idiot! I don't KNOW what pops wants to see me for. I'm not a screwup. I'm not!"

"You'll be fine." Dr. Taki assures me, spraying me down with some disinfectant. "Just…just be honest with him. I'll be there to advocate for you. I won't let him push you over your limit."

"Well gee…thanks, Doc! I definitely don't want to go over my limit of lifting feathers and lying down so you can change my diaper! Be sure to let Pops know that it's also time for you to breast-feed me because baby Katashi want milk! Someone fetch me a nipple!"

(Of course…I don't say this, but…I do think it…and some other breast-related things unimportant to this…just an association thing…)

"Thanks." I actually feebly reply before following Dr. Taki to the old man's office. On the way to Dad, I suddenly spy Aina coming the opposite way. She's fidgeting nervously with something in her pockets while muttering to herself.

"Hey Aina." I call out to her, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

Upon seeing me, Aina pales, sickly face going even whiter than usual, before she bows her head and runs away crying.

(W…T…F…I know I usually annoy the heck out of all of you, but what was that?)

Sighing, I continue down the hallway until we reach the doors of Dad's office. After inserting a card, the doors slide open, revealing the old man's spacious work space. Light from a central pedestal winks out, leaving only a faint afterimage of a hologram my brain is already starting to forget. Something about Co-Linking? Other screens in Dad's office are displaying duel monster cards, specifically ones I've seen Dad's boss, Bishop, use after a bit of an argument between himself and Knight. Avram, the World Chalice Blademaster, Ib, the World Chalice Priestess, Ningirsu, the World Chalice Warrior, Imduk, the World Chalice Dragon, and Lee, the World Chalice Fairy are all on display with arrows pointing to World Legacy, World Chalice. Honestly, I'm kind of glad to see this. Dad and I have sort of shared a passion regarding the lore of this series of cards (there's this really long and complex story that they tell). Maybe he just…wants to theorize about some things?"

"Hey sonny! Do you pair Auram with Ib? Or are you more on the Spatha X Avramax train?" Dad asks with a huge smile, drawing hearts around his shipping chart.

"Eh, personally I think Robo Girsu gets it on with Galatea, but I'm just weird like that." I laugh in reply.

"Not as weird as Demiurgear X Lee!" Pops chortles, showing me some bizarre fan-art. "Also I'm into anime and have started binge-watching 'Mech-Angel Mana' and want to talk to you nonstop about EVERY ASPECT OF THIS SERIES!"

"Really!?"

"REALLY!"

"Yay!"

"YAY!"

(Yeah…absolutely none of that happens.)

Dad silently turns off the computer monitors with a wave of his hand before motioning Dr. Taki and I to take a seat in front of him. Despite every assurance I think to myself, I quiver like a guilty convict as I take my seat, unable to look the old man in the eye.

"Great job, genius. REALLY doesn't look suspicious at all!"

"I hear you've been busy today." Dad drones, sounding neither angry nor pleased. "What have you managed to accomplish today?"

There's no fury. No rage. No threats. He's just…talking to me. Yet despite this, my heart is already pounding.

"What the freak is the point of having no sense of pain if I can still feel fear?"

"Uhm, well, I mean, I've just been kind of doing the usual." I reply, fidgeting in my chair. "I was working on *cough cough* those chips, you know, for the…advanced…VR…pods?"

"Advanced VR pods." Dad calmly replies, lacing his fingers together. "I see. Interesting. And what else have you done with your life?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

"What else am I supposed to say? Oh boy, Dad! You should see all the anime I've binge watched! Also porn. Lots and lots of porn! You wouldn't BELIEVE the terrabytes of data I've had to erase! Oh, also, those chips I've been working on secretly have some components that will go towards helping me and my siblings escape. I'm not done with them yet, because, you know, that other stuff, but don't tell anyone about it because it's a SECRET!"

"not…not that much. Just…you know…I've been taking care of myself. Nothing bad to report…physically." I finish lamely.

"Which I am sure Dr. Taki is quite happy to hear." Dad acknowledges, nodding towards my nurse before turning back to me. "So what are your goals, Katashi? I'm assuming you want to make something of your life."

"Goals?" I ask, swallowing.

"Projects. Hopes. Aspirations." Dad lists off. "Surely you haven't relegated your life to just building the occasional computer chip and watching cartoons."

I pause, not knowing what to say. What is the old man getting at? Why isn't he being more direct?

A horrific thought crosses my mind.

"Does he already know and just wants me to confess?"

"I've…I've got time to think about…those things." I hesitantly reply.

"No harm in starting now." Dad nonchalantly replies. "After all, progress doesn't just come. It has to be worked for. Tell me, Katashi, how have you progressed since Blackmarsh?"

"Blackmarsh?" I ask, gulping multiple times. He mentions that name so…callously…as if it were the name of a summer camp.

"Yes. Blackmarsh." Dad calmly replies. "I know it was traumatic. Were any other person subjected to that experience, they would be dead by now. But you're not like other people, Katashi. You and your siblings are special. You don't let one horrific experience cripple your success. You rise up and find a way to overcome your problems. So tell me, Katashi, what have you done to overcome Blackmarsh?"

"I…I…"

I choke on my words, unable to speak.

"This isn't necessary!" Dr. Taki hisses, coming to my defense. "Can't you see this is upsetting him!?

"Katashi…" Dad continues, ignoring Dr. Taki completely, "please answer the question: What have you done so far to overcome Blackmarsh?"

I'm completely unable to reply to Dad. I try to come up with something, anything, a lie to throw him off. There's my own project but...no, no, NO! I can't do that, obviously!

"But at least you'll have proven that you have been doing something…"

SHUT UP BRAIN!

Dad sighs deeply. It almost sounds like he's legitimately upset about how me and everyone else ended up becoming cripples. Maybe he is? No, no, that can't be it...otherwise we wouldn't be here right now, and-

"Well, I suppose you'll be needing something to land some motivation for yourself." Dad suddenly says with a clap.

I jolt up from my seat, looking at him in surprise. What's his game? What does he want me to do?

I've never really cared about the interior of Dad's office. It's always been a plain, gray space filled with bookshelves and sealed-up cabinets holding mechanical parts for basic robotics. Servo motors, some metal pieces, gears, that sort of thing...at least that's what I think it should have.

Dad walks to the left side, looking at a black cabinet. This one is special, being more akin to a safe vault than a plain old cabinet. He punches in a code to access it, and pulls out a small cardboard box only slightly bigger than a deck-case. He then gets behind me. For a moment, I freeze, thinking that he's just staring at me, but just as quickly, he's whispering in my ear-

"In case you do not know, I have been tapping your shoulder. Come with me to the side-desk."

I stammer back some gibberish, then slowly get up. I take a glance at Dr. Taki, who seems just as confused as I am right now.

Sitting down at the side-desk, a simple black-and-grey desk with several drawers on each side and a lamp on the right, I start wondering just what Dad's going to make me do...I remember back when I was younger when he'd sometimes have us do solo tests in his office like this...and I really didn't enjoy them then.

But at least back then, I could feel the pencil in my hands. Now, looking at the box Dad's set before me, I don't even want to know what's in it if I can't feel it.

"Open the box, Katashi." Dad orders.

"Sir, no, he's not able to do this!" Dr. Taki yells. Looks like she's got some idea of what Dad is trying to do.

"Open the box, Katashi." Dad orders, ignoring Dr. Taki's protests completely.

I'm trembling as I obey Dad's command. I try to feel around the box's edge...but of course I don't feel anything. I can't feel the characteristic roughness of cardboard, and I can't tell the difference between the folds of the box and the surface of the box. I find myself picking it up and then dropping it on the table, and then I wince, expecting Dad to hit me or yell.

Instead he doesn't. He seems perfectly calm and patient.

"Take your time, Katashi. We're in no rush. I'm certain that you'll be able to finish this in time for dinner."

Having lost track of the hours, if what Dr. Taki told me earlier is true, I don't know whether that's meant to be encouraging or insulting. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.

This time, I manage to open the box. I slide out the contents onto the table. They fall out with a loud CLANG noise...and it is then that I get to see that they're for making a breadboard. Basic, college-entry level components...which just so happen to have enough sharp bits that I would normally be banned from working with them. That's the other disadvantage of my condition, and the reason I need to use a robot arm for the hardware components, and really delicate circuitry. It still feels awkward using a robot to do it for me...just so much more comfortable and natural with my hands.

And that's what Dad wants me to work with…

"No! Katashi has been forbidden to do this type of work!" Dr. Taki yells. "I won't let you do this to him! He could get hurt and never realize it!"

"I've seen Katashi deal with circuit boards far more intricate and complex than this breadboard." Dad replies calmly. "This is a first-year week 1 engineering course level design. A child could do it...and we so happen to have one right here. So hop to it Katashi, I'm sure you can get a simple LED light up and running."

Thanks for the vote of confidence Dad...if only I knew exactly which of your words were designed to degrade me, because I think I got like five insults from that sentence alone.

So, I put the breadboard down, and I examine the contents of the box it was in. It looks like it was a new one, with freshly sealed parts in those tiny plastic wrapping bags they use to keep the parts intact. I try to steady my breath. It's just one breadboard after all. I can do it, I can do it. Besides, it's just one LED, right? I'm familiar with how this works.

Carefully, I tear open the packaging on the necessary parts. I tell myself that I won't need much for this. It's just one LED. Just take one of them, a battery pack, push button, jumper wires, and resistor, put their leads in the appropriate holes, keep said leads/metallic ends away from my fingertips, fingernails, fingers, palms, wrist, eyes, nose, mouth, anything else that they could poke, and bada-bing, bada-boom, I'm home free.

I hope.

Delicately, I pick up the battery pack, a wrapping of six Triple A batteries (three stacked on another three) since it's the largest of the parts, and thus, the one whose leads are least likely to prick me. I place it next to the breadboard, and take the wires connected to it, slowly and carefully putting them into the two top-left holes. It's a simple procedure...but I know my fingers are slipping when trying to grasp the wires. C'mon Katashi, you can do better than this...

Still, they're in, and so I get to the rest of the breadboard. Suddenly, I feel like I just want to get it over with, and so I decide not to touch the push button. I really don't need it to make the LED work anyways, it'd just let me control the flow of the circuit...and all Dad wants is for the LED to work. I don't need the push button to let it work. Nope.

Okay, stop agonizing over the push button...just finish the damn thing already.

I take two jumper wires, and put them in the bottom holes, lining them up with the correct wires of the battery pack. Black needs to match black and red needs to match red. Simple as that. Yup.

Granted, I do find myself dropping them a few times, because, well, don't want to get too close to the metal.

"You know Katashi…" Dad begins, causing me to flinch and drop the black wire again. "Perhaps I was wrong…"

"Uh, you were?" I ask meekly.

"Yup, Blackmarsh was a total mistake and trying to get you and your siblings to go back into Link VRAINS after that total f-up was an even bigger one! So enough of this, I say it's time I get you all actual medical treatment! Pretty certain I can also get Queen to give me some time off to spend time with you!"

(Ha-ha, NOPE.)

What he instead says is...

"Yes, perhaps you will finish just after midnight. I do apologize for my initial estimation."

I flinch. Of course Dad would get on me for my snail's pace. If I was anything like Hibiki, I probably would have snarked something at him...or thrown something at him. But nope, instead, I just find myself taking it like a "champ" and then try to get the jumper wires in faster so I can get it completed and-

Huh, there's some blood on the table and...oh...oh no…

Dr. Taki notices it almost immediately. "I told you this would happen!"

Dad is silent, but I know he's watching over my shoulder.

Looking down at my left hand shows that my index finger has been pierced by the metal leads, which snuck underneath my fingernail and dug itself into the skin...and of course it pierced the skin to boot. Yaaaay. Quickly, I pull it out, and try not to scream seeing the blood pour out of my finger like a leaking oil drum. Probably like one of those crappy toxic waste barrels in Bukit Merah…

What? I can sometimes watch educational videos. Sometimes...maybe a bit more often since Blackmarsh...

"Alright, enough of this!" Dr. Taki attempts to order. "He's getting himself hurt!"

"And he has yet to complete his project." Dad retorts, his tone remaining perfectly even and calm, as if all I did was drop a wire on the floor. "He will not be leaving this office until he assembles the LED. You can manage that, can't you, Katashi?"

My mouth is dry. It's just one injury. I can pull through this. I mean, yeah, I'm imagining my blood leaking out of my finger like corroding acid breaking down a pipe and spilling into a river, but my body will still form a scab...yeah…

I immediately pick up the pace, affixing the long jumper wires into the bottom holes. Next I take a short red jumper wire, line it up with the long one, and then put in the LED, both of its leads stretching into the two holes across from the big dividing groove in the breadboard. So far so good, the pace has really picked up! There's nothing to worry about at all! I look at my hands, all I see is the mess of blood on one finger, the others are okay. So are my palms and wrists! I can do this! Yeah!

I can build a breadboard that anyone can quickly assemble from a DIY site or video on the net. Yup…

I push that thought out of my head and plug in the resistor. And with that, the breadboard is...d-don-done...uhhhhh…

The LED is dull and dark. It isn't working. Why isn't this working, it shouldbeworking, whywhywhy…

"My, my, Katashi…" Dad muses. "You picked up the pace quite well...but that LED doesn't seem to be working very well...or at all in fact. Perhaps we should take this as a lesson as to why one should never try to rush things."

Nonononono….

"I-I can still do this!" I stammer without thinking.

"Can you now?" Dad questions sarcastically.

Without thinking, I tear everything out of the breadboard. I probably just got the alignment wrong with the short jumper cable, probably put it in a mismatching hole. J9 instead of J10! Yup, yup...then why did I end up taking the whole thing apart? Stupid, stupid, stupid…

"I fail to see how a blank and empty breadboard results in a working circuit." Dad comments.

"I-I'm just...starting over, y'know! From scratch! Basics!" I say quickly as I pick everything up again.

Don't get hurt, don't get hurt, don't get hurt, stop watching me, why is everyone watching me, stop, stop, stop…

I put the jumper cables back in to reaffirm my power and ground buses. Those match. Yup, they match. No injuries! Granted, I'm not looking at my hands right now...but it's just one or two more pricks if they're there! Hopefully Dad doesn't catch it...but he's standing right there so...no, no, I can do this, I can do this.

In goes the short jumper cable. This time I watch the holes carefully. They look like they match. Yup, totally. I affix the LED and the resistor. ANNNNNNNNNND VOILA! IT-

...Still...isn't...working…

"Shall the third time be the charm?" Dad questions.

"Uh, yeah, definitely!" I say, ripping everything out again…and throwing them onto the floor.

...What? No, no, no, that's not supposed to be needed!

"Katashi, treat your workplace with more respect and dignity!" Dad scolds, no longer sarcastic. "You would just throw everything away like they were common pebbles? Unacceptable!"

"I-I'll pick them up…" I say, ducking under the desk to fetch them. Some of the smaller parts landed here because of course small parts do that. End up in all the places you least expect.

I pick them, head up and...BANG!

"First rule you should learn as a child, Katashi, always watch your head." Dad reprimands breezily as I crawl out, a dull ringing in my head from hitting the bottom of the desk.

"Enough of this!" Dr. Taki yells. "You're hurting him!"

"Have more faith in my son, why don't you?" Dad scolds the doctor. "He's trying his hardest here. It isn't like he will die to some random breeze from the air conditioner or stray spider bite. A bump on the head can be recovered from, especially in his current condition. I say we see him take that last chance."

Oh yay, no pressure…

I pick up the remaining items and make sure they're all aligned as they're fixed in. Slowly again, but not as slow as the first time, though certainly not to rush like I did on my second attempt. Yes, yes, coming together. The buses match, the jumper cables are aligned properly, the LED is in, the resistor is in and…

Is as dull as Mana's eyes from that one episode featuring a mind-control necklace this one-shot creepo dude used on her. Not a good episode, I tell you…

Oh, also, the LED still isn't working.

"Alright, Katashi, hop up so I can see what's wrong." Dad sighs...or at least I think he's sighing. Really hard to tell right now...even if I'm not feeling pain, some ringing is still in my ears from bumping my head.

Dr. Taki immediately grabs me, and if it wasn't for the probable fact that she'd get fired, she'd whisk me away to my room or her office to get treated. Maybe give me a kiss on my boo-boos? That'd be great. Then I can go back to lying in my crib-I mean coffin-I mean bed...yeah, that's it.

Dad examines the breadboard...and then reaches into the box and pulls out another battery, before immediately replacing the current one with the one he just pulled out and-

"It works." He nods.

Yup, a little red light is glowing. It's almost like an eye staring at me in disapproval that I simply didn't change the battery.

"You know Katashi, there were other parts in this box." Dad begins, disassembling my 'hard work'. "You could have simply checked the parts you were given. But you failed to do so and instead went around in circles, potentially damaging parts and yourself." He then puts his hands behind his back, and stares at me. Really makes me want to crawl into a hole that stare does… "Truly, you must have high aspirations and the ability to see it through with this methodology and approach."

Some part of me wants to speak up, but I really don't know what Dad's going to do next, so I keep my mouth shut.

"This is why you shouldn't watch TV...or rather, whatever streaming service or internet channel people use nowadays, Katashi. It rots your brain. You used to be so dexterous, and now you fail at a task as simple as this? How on earth will you succeed in more complicated tasks if you cannot take oversights into consideration? Do you intend to fail in your upcoming task?"

My hair stands on end with those last two questions. Does he know? He can't know, he can't...no, nonononono.

"Uh...uh...no, sir." I squeak out.

"Hmmm…" Dad sighes in disapproval, before looking at Dr. Taki. "You can go get him treated now. We're finished here."

She doesn't say another word to the old man before rushing me out of the room, arm held tightly on my wrist...I think. I can't move out of her grip, so I think she's holding me tightly. Either that or it's because Dad figured out that we're trying to escape so we're all doomed and-

I have to put my free hand over my mouth. I can't blurt it out, I can't, I can't…

The checkup is quick. Dr. Taki takes me to the nurse's office and rinses my hand with water and rubbing alcohol (which of course I can't feel), then bandages my finger (with one of those flexible ones...even though my finger's pretty much useless with or without it) before feeling my head and noticing the bump. I personally wonder if the angle I'm being checking at will cause me to fall into her bosom, before she pulls out a small ice pack and orders me to keep it on at set intervals throughout the day, just to be on the safe side due to the swelling and not being able to notice if it's getting too cold or not.

And with that, I'm back in my room. I leave the icepack on my desk, and sit down. I need to wind down, something to clear away the stress. Rewatching the episode will do nicely and...great...nope, can't. Dr. Taki ended up closing the tab it looks like, so there goes that momentum. Joy…

I reopen my computer tab, and it's on the usual site where I watch MechAngel Mana. Unfortunately, for some unholy reason, the site isn't displaying any rolling pics or slides to promote Mana (like it always should). I scroll down to look for the episode I was on and click before waiting a painfully long time for the episode to load. Eventually, a message appears on my screen.

"Error loading. Tap to retry."

I try in vain to get the stupid website to work, but it keeps doing the same loop of loading for eternity and error message. Growing more and more agitated by the moment, I start…wandering.

No, not to porn. Just…messing around the web. I'm still very much in a Mana mood, so I find an online page for the manga and start reading that. The source-material for the show is extremely well-done, though I don't necessarily buy into the hackneyed, "the manga is better" claim. Granted, one of the big reasons I like the show is because the animators significantly augmented Mana's breasts but…

Ugh, nope, nope, distracting distracting, FOCUS KATASHI, FOCUS!

On Mana. Reload the episode, back to where you left off before Dad pretty much revealed that he's on to us. Or maybe he isn't. Maybe he is? He can't be...can he?

Much to my utter lack of surprise, the episode doesn't load, so I settle with reading the manga. (Heck, doing this might throw off Dad if he's watching. He'll never see it coming!) And while I'm at it, maybe I can see if there's some new fan art!

So that's exactly what I do. I should be focusing on the chips, but that would alert Dad. So I have time to goof off, throw him off the trail. That'll do it, right. This is a good plan. Not just an excuse.

Right…

It's interesting to see the difference of styles between the manga and the anime. The original manga author (to her credit) definitely focused more on the story and dialogue than the action scenes and art. That's certainly not to say that any of that is bad, but the anime really "brought it life" while finding ways to appeal to its growing male audience (like me).

Of course, one area of artwork the author definitely DIDN'T cut back on were some of the grittier scenes. MechAngel Mana is NOT a lighthearted magical girl series. It gets pretty deep and messed up when it wants.

"We're pinned down!" A human soldier screams as a horde of dog-sized NIXHELL beasts with massive spider fangs, scorpion claws, and beetle wings…

(not a total rip-off of Zerglings, by the way)

descends on them. "We could use immediate support, NOW!"

"I can save them!" Mana begs to her commander, Alexis Solzhenitsyn, a tall, grey-haired MechAngel with six massive grey jet-engine wings and a sniper rifle the size of a tank barrel.

"It's too late for them. If we attempt a rescue now, anybody we send will not only die, but the planet will be lost anyway." Her commander snaps back before motioning to a purple-haired MechAngel with wings made of translucent black material. "Take us into orbit now, Lexi! We make a tactical retreat with the survivors before I call in an extermination."

"You're going to nuke the entire planet!?" Elsa exclaims in horror.

"I will not see the other planets in this sector get infected, or pulled into a dimensional rift." Alexis barks back. "I've lost too many good soldiers already. I will not waste anymore in a doomed mission, regardless of what Strategos demands."

"I'm not going to just give up and let a billion people die!" Mana retorts.

"You haven't been in this war as long as I have, Prototype B4!" Alexis reprimands, using Mana's lab designation from back when the reanimation technology was only experimental. "I've seen entire solar systems consumed because of just one infected planet, and that was AFTER we threw away entire armies trying to save them! I don't want to do this anymore than you do, but I've SEEN the alternative! Stand down, MechAngel. There's nothing more we can do."

Before anyone can stop her, Mana nods to her teammates before she, Elsa, Siri, Tina, and Niki rip open their own dimensional rifts with their wings and teleport onto the besieged world.

"They're on the surface of the planet." Lexi reports. "If we initiate extermination now, we will lose them. I can intercept them with my Valkyrie and bring them back."

"Damn that prototype and her arrogance!" Alexis raves. "She's chosen her own death and I'm not going to waste even more lives trying to save her. Continue on our course!"

"You're really going to destroy them?" Lexi questions, "Do you know how many people look up to them as heroes?"

"I've seen far too much suffering caused by stupid, arrogant, heroism." Alexis darkly replies, giving the reader a full view of her body, which was obliterated in the early days of the war thanks to her arrogant glory-seeking commander who didn't know or care about when to retreat. "She has until we get into position with our weapons ready. We will issue a final ultimatum then. If Mana and her team are still down there after an hour…then we do what needs to be done."

See, this is another thing I like about this series. Mana's antagonists aren't these flat, petty A-holes who are obviously wrong while Mana is obviously right. They always have legitimate points to their point of view and they're given the opportunity to make their case.

Mana and her teammates fight back hard against the NIXHELL Beast swarm, but it is clear that they are WAY outmatched, even with their Valorite Third Shift Hyper-Gear Evolutions. The NIXHELL beasts here are not only incredibly strong and numerous, but smart. Flanking and making strategic sacrifices in order to gradually wear our heroes down until their valorite hearts are nearly exhausted of energy.

But as a wise online critic once said, "Valorite Heart energy readings are only used in the story to show how useless the measurement is when it comes to Mana."

Just when all hope is lost, Mana chooses to sacrifice all her robotic parts and energy to Siri, who is holding off the horde with her shields. Few MechAngels have ever done this before, except as a last resort, because a MechAngel who loses all their valorite energy not only dies (again) but can never be brought back, except as a hollow robotic shell. Mana, knowing this, goes through with the sacrifice, with the hope that it will give her team a chance to not have to pay for her reckless decision.

That's when a miracle happens.

Mana's bond is so strong with her teammates, that instead of Siri's valorite heart merely sucking out Mana's energy, it MERGES with it. In a flash, Mana and Siri combine into one, Mana morphing and affixing to Siri's back as a set of immense plasma-sword wings. The synergy from their hearts linking together actually reenergizes the depleted mechanical organs, enabling Siri and Mana to push back a vast swath of the incoming horde with Siri's shields before Mana vaporizes them with her swords. Realizing what she is now capable of, Mana merges with Elsa to transform them into a total offensive powerhouse with weapons capable of freezing the NIXHELL beasts to 0 Kelvin with Elsa's Cryo-Blasters before Mana's energy swords cleave them to pieces. Mana next merges with Tina, transforming the eccentric mechanic into a glorious goddess of repair, capable of upgrading all of her teammates mechanical parts at once with just a minimal amount of the surrounding scrap metal. Niki is the last to be merged with, the two becoming a glowing angel of healing who instantly washes away their wounds with the merest spray of her somatic reconstructors.

In a flash, what was to be a slow and painful slaughter turns into a successful counterattack against the NIXHELL beasts. But Mana and her friends are not out of the woods yet. Alexis is still moving the MechAngel mobile command base, 4U2B-IM, into position to eviscerate the surface of the planet. Even worse, the NIXHELL beasts are wiping out the civilian population, the planet's military force now long extinguished.

Mana, knowing that even with their new combination abilities that they will not be able to destroy the entire NIXHELL force, opts to lead an evacuation of the planet. Mana and her team manage to shepherd a group of civilians into a docked fleet of shuttles while holding back the hordes. But just when they are about to take off, a massive dimensional rift opens up and an enormous flying NIXHELL Beast with myriad bulging red-eyes staring madly from a pterodactyl-like head, Caligulon the IV King, one of the seven NIXHELL Kings, one of the central hive minds of the NIXHELL beasts, yeah, that thing of all things decides to show up.

In a horrific turn of events, Caligulon unleashes a wave of psychic energy against one of the civilian shuttles, which has just taken off. In moments, everyone on board, pilots, men, women, children, and infants, has their mind wiped clean as they fall under the influence of the IV King. The faces of everyone on board the shuttle assumes an expression of blissful calm as they succumb to what has been called NIXHELL's peace. Still smiling, the crew of the shuttle turns the transport around before flying towards Caligulon, who embraces the spacecraft in its dimensional tentacles before assimilating the shuttle, absorbing metal, technology, and human flesh to create a techno-organic suit of armor for itself.

Horrified, Mana and her friends attempt to strike back at the abomination, but the action cases Caligulon to turn its psychic attention upon them. In an instant, the brave MechAngels are brought to their knees in agony as the dimensional eldritch god proceeds to invade their minds. Their MechAngel enhancements enable them to resist the psychic influence, but Mana hears the "voice" of the IV King.

"You came to save them as we knew you would." Caligulon whispers in a motherly, feminine voice while appearing in Mana's mind as a divinely beautiful woman. "Thank you, Mana. Now you shall fulfill your true purpose, the destiny of all MechAngel set forth since the beginning. Now…you belong…to us…"

Horrific and confusing images of vast timelines and dimensions begin flooding Mana's mind, pushing her to the brink of insanity. In her desperation, she clings to the thoughts of her friends and family while slowly trying to move her feet forward, one step at a time.

"You are a part of the whole." Caligulon whispers, "You were made as all things were made. It is in your nature to merge, to join, to become one. This peace we give to you, the peace we give to all things. Suffer no more, little one. Unite with us, and be healed…"

"I will never join you!" Mana screams back.

"Submit…"

"You are a monster!"

"Give in…"

"You killed Mom!"

"Rest…"

But Mana continues to struggle on. She does not know when to give up. But she cannot win this fight. Anyone can see that. Every second she resists she only slows down the inevitable. She cannot turn the fight around, no matter how strong she is. She can only delay. Delay and hope for help that will never come.

"The time has come, little one. Rest now…child. Close your eyes and embrace the-…"

The screeching of wind suddenly interrupts the IV King's message as Lexi and a swarm of her Valkyrie MechAngels piloting IM Aerial units (basically a type of sentient fighter plane with the preserved brain of a person rather than an entire reanimated body), fire a barrage of missiles right into Caligulon's face, causing the NIXHELL Beast to lose concentration, even if the weapons do little against its armor. With an angry primordial scream, Caligulon lashes out at Lexi's forces, swiping two IMs out of the sky before attempting to psychically attack the rest. Lexi and five other Valkyrie are caught in the trap, causing their vessels to plummet to the ground, but the remaining IMs manage to focus fire on the IV King, breaking its concentration once again and allowing the trapped IMs to pull up just in the nick of time.

Mana, meanwhile, manages to return to consciousness in time to see Lexi disobeying her orders with the other Valkyrie. Completely drained from her mental battle, Mana is unable to even stand on her own feet.

But she still does not give up!

Reaching out, Mana takes each of her teammates hands in her own. Nodding at the same time, Siri, Elsa, Tina, and Niki each pulse before merging with Mana, entrusting her with their power.

Together, all five of them rise up as a new massive MechAngel with Siri's shields, Elsa's weapons, Tina's technology, Niki's bio-enhancements, and Mana's valorite heart and sword. Before Caligulon can react to the sudden transformation, Mana is already upon the beast, slashing through one of the IV King's massive unblinking eyes before freezing one of its wings. Screeching, Caligulon falls to the ground, giving the MechAngels and human survivors time to escape.

Up above, Alexis, having waited fifteen whole minutes past her one-hour deadline, waits for the shuttles to exit the planet's atmosphere before engaging 4U2B-IM's extermination protocols. Caligulon manages to escape just in time through another dimensional rift, but the rest of the NIXHELL Beasts on the planet are fried to a crisp, closing off the sector to further NIXHELL interference. Our heroes are victorious once again!

-Even when all hope is lost, she will never give up on saving lives-

MECHANGEL MANA

TO BE CONTINUED

Speaking of saving lives…I do still need to work on that thing…eventually. I should still have plenty of time.

Then I check the time.

Huh, 12:00 on the dot...well, looks like it was time well spent?

A very light tap on my door suddenly jerks me back to reality. Spinning around, I notice Kyou, hair dyed black as my darkened room, quietly slide through the door as smoothly as a panther before shutting it just as silently. I quickly minimize all tabs before turning to stare at my brother, who's staring at me expectantly.

And of course…that reminds me…the parts. That's why Kyou came here, after all. We'd planned this.

"Father seems to be on edge lately." he reports to me. "I don't know if he suspects anything, but we may need to move up our timetables. Do you have the device ready?"

Unfortunately, dumb, lazy, incompetent me can only stammer. "Well, uh...eh, well...uh…"

Kyou gives me a long, hard stare, before closing his eyes and sighing.

"You are better than this, Katashi."

Not a long rant, not a long-winded talk about the importance of what I'm supposed to do. Just a few words. Then again, I don't think Kyou really needed to say anything more than that to let me know I just wasted my time and f-ed us all over.

I look at my desk, away from Kyou, making sure to hide my bandaged finger by keeping my arms behind my back, to look at the device I was tasked to finish, but of course couldn't do because I'm a screw-up who wasted his time in lala land reading about "heroes" instead of actually BEING a hero and building one of the last things we need in the plan to free ourselves.

Hiro's plan was solid, as expected from him. Step 1: Just before the Blackmarsh Trials begin, hack into the security programs and robot guards in Chika's room. Step 2: At the same time, plant explosives near the cooling system of the reactor core of the main supercomputer and trigger a reactor meltdown. Step 3: Let SOL's emergency protocols do the heavy lifting, whereupon they'll evacuate us, putting all of us into one of the self-driving shuttles they use in situations like these. Chika would be in her own transportation vehicle, designed to maintain the systems that keep her alive. Step 4: Hack into the shuttles and Chika's remaining hostile security programs, and then drive away, no worse for wear. Just to be on the safe side, pack some self-defense weapons in case we encounter resistance and/or need to grab anything we forget, and as much equipment that is needed to let us stay as independent as possible while we try to contact the authorities. Oh yeah, Step 5: Contact the authorities.

Okay, maybe that's not QUITE how he summed it up or planned it, but that's the general gist of things.

So far, I'd managed to get all of our self-defense equipment built (two tasers, one for Kyou and one for Hibiki), and gathered all of the survival gear we'd need. That was the easy part. The hard part was building the explosives, mainly from getting the materials, and, well, handling them. Thankfully, Kyou was there to help build it together while I read off instructions from the internet (and made sure to hide my history so no-one would link it to us).

That just left the mobile hacking device. I'd discretely sketched out the blueprint of what it should have looked like. On the surface, it was basically a Wii Remote, except the color scheme was black, with several small buttons just like said Wii Remote, but that was compatible with our VR head-gear, once the proper wire was installed. Yeah, it was basically tacking on an outdated motion-control scheme to perfectly functioning VR equipment, but considering that it was designed to give greater ability to hack into systems, I don't think anyone aside from a hardcore game console reviewer would've given us much flak.

Unfortunately, instead of a sleek, black remote-control harkening back to the days before VR that took away people's senses, all I had was the base shell, USB connection, and some of the chips and small wires needed to make a piece of James Bond spyware.

So yeah, I basically Sonic 06'd our trump card.

Finally, Kyou rubs his face with his hands, clearly trying to stay calm. "We have lost critical time, Katashi. For this to work, every task needs to fit inside of the timetable exactly. Even the slightest timeslip could be fatal."

"L-look, I-I know that, but...I-I…"

"Wasting away time on your…cyborg angel anime…is not going to save us."

"T-technically it was…the manga…" I correct weakly.

Kyou sighs in disappointment again. "Well, exploring a new option aside, that also will not save us. YOU, Katashi, YOU, are one of the key players in this plan to free us from SoL."

He's not yelling at me. I'd feel better if he was. Instead he basically puts the weight of the world on my shoulders like an old master from Britain or China would when 'encouraging' their pupil. Somehow, it feels worse. I can already feel my throat closing up, before turning to my incomplete science project and presenting it to my brother.

"This is what I have so far." I say. "I-I'll finish the rest of it, I promise."

Kyou takes a long, hard look at the pieces of trash I've built.

"Do you still need this?" he asks me.

"Y-yeah, need to be able to fit the parts in."

"Then you can keep it." Kyou says. "But you have to finish this sooner rather than later. I mean it."

I nod quietly. He's counting on me...they're counting on me...but why me? I just make everything worse. And what if it ends up failing? What if I missed one little detail? Forgot to include a spare set of batteries? Set components with the same endpoints but different circuitry in the wrong place? Fail to secure the USB port on my headset and then the remote falls to the ground?

I saw all of that happen today to prove that I'm a failure. What if it happens again? I-I can't guarantee that it will work…

But Kyou seems to think that it will.

"You CAN do this Katashi...but we need that device up and ready to go now, understood?"

I nod.

He gives me another stare, clearly thinking of something else. Is he going to scream? Punch a wall? Punch me? (Granted, I doubt I'd be able to feel anything if he did.)

Nope, instead, he hugs me.

"I know we're asking a lot from you, and believe me, I'm more than willing to help however I can, but we can't do this without you. Keep going, and we'll make it out together, okay?"

He stares back at me and I nod silently. Nodding back, Kyou backs away before slipping out of my room like a gust of wind, his own hard work and preparation ensuring that no amount of SoL monitoring will ever know this meeting occurred.

"They need me. Kyou trusts me. They trust me. I need to be like…like Mana…their hero."

I wait for a few minutes to make sure Kyou has left...and then I turn back to my computer and start diving back into the rabbit hole.

Yeah. That's right. What? Did you think this would be the amazing turnaround part following a dramatic pep talk? Nope.

"Katashi, you're better than this worthless piece of lazy perverted human debris I see!" Kyou scolds in my head, "You are LITERALLY our only hope and you BLEW IT!"

"Thanks for nothing, Katashi!" Hiro, Hibiki, Aina, and Chika shout at me before exploding into chunks of meat and liquefying into Caligulon's armor.

I really should be better than this, but spoiler alert, I'm not! I can't focus on any of the technical aspects of the device. I need something to take my mind off this, something to help me relax.

Something…something…

The MechAngel Mana site is still having loading problems, even after refreshing multiple times. Looking at the show makes me feel guilty anyway and I hate it!

So instead, off to the glorious internet forums...is what I'd like to say, but those sites are all blocked, and since they would actually deal with the potential to have an information leak, the people in charge of maintaining SoL's secrecy actually did a decently thorough job, because no matter how much I've tried to use them as a way to try to sneak SOME message out there, to leak out into Link VRAINS to get SOMEONE to help us, I've never been able to crack the encryption for that program. And while sure, I can access streaming sites, with the way that ads exist, I can't exactly make an account there and try to send a message that way. Can't even do it on the porn sites. Thus, this leaves all of us stuck here and unable to call out to a hero...if he even exists.

Yeah, I know, Playmaker exists, but if we're all still here, crippled one way or another, he could at least try to show up…

If he even cared…

I try, pathetically, one more time to load the episode, but surprise surprise, it doesn't work. Inexplicably, I find myself feeling angry at Mana.

It's your fault, you know. Why do you have to be so…so…so perfect? Everything works out for you in the end because you're so great, and meanwhile, I suck! Well, I've seen way more than just your heroics. You're not so pure on the internet.

Yeah…Mana on the internet? She's a bad girl. A bad nasty girl for a bad nasty, lazy, worthless boy like me.

I'm idly looking at one of the hentai gallery sites before I know it, scrolling through the updates...and of COURSE bad luck has to hit me as there's already two new doujins for Mana...and as if things aren't 'coincidental' enough on the cosmic scale, the former is a smut parody of the episode I just watched, while the latter features a perverse version of that infamous scene from S6.

I open up the first doujin and begin reading. Normally, a lesbian NIXHELL succubus hypnotizing Mana to make out with her before reaching for greater heights of pleasure would get me off in moments, but instead, I find myself growing sick, Mana's tear-filled face staring at me as if in accusation even while she gasps in pleasure. Horrified, I click out of the Doujin and select the other one, this one showing Mana with a white-and-lavender haired MechAngel named Salt. I try to ignore my guilt and just let the pleasure take me, but that gets me thinking of Mana fighting against Caligulon's hypnotism and I just feel even MORE guilty and pathetic by comparison.

So, I scroll-down, locate a basic schoolgirl-on-schoolgirl CG, and open that up instead.

I mean, it's not the best out there, but I don't feel any connection with these fictional girls, and hey, it's something...really, really something…

I'm going in circles now, with my limited options. Bit by bit, I exhaust what I can reasonably look at while keeping the tab for Mana open, along with the icon for the program that controls the robot arm meant to build in place of my hands.

My bandaged finger twitches at that thought. Down, boy, down…

But after about an hour, at 1:03 in the morning (because for some reason I couldn't have a nice even number), I'm out of peripheral distractions…and all out of that sweet mind-numbing dopamine. I feel tired and hollowed-out inside, with nothing to show for it.

I need to find something else…

All that's left is the most emotional season of my favorite show and a device as incomplete as the RMMV Oceanic (Look, when you're surfing the web you find out all kinds of things that you keep in your head).

And of course, only AFTER I've made myself feel like trash from watching perverted garbage does Mana's site actually work so I can start watching the show.

So...yup, there I go, watching the season while putting in crunch time to build the remote that hopefully ensures that we escape into the sunset and live happily ever after.

So long as I don't screw-up.

So don't screw-up

Don't screw-up

Don't screw-up

Don't screw-up…

Thankfully, that bit of energy and focus that comes in the last moment of procrastination comes in, and I start falling into a rhythm. Listen to the episode (I've memorized the scenes frame-by-frame, of course), work on the remote. Listen to the episode, work on the remote, listen to the episode, then work on the remote, lather, rinse, repeat.

Technically speaking, we're not QUITE at the deadline for the Co-Linking trials, but trying to use an untested piece of equipment right on the moment of us hopefully freeing ourselves? No, even I know that that's dumb. This is to give me plenty of time to test the device on smaller, simpler machines, and iron out the bugs and teething troubles as soon as possible. But it's like Kyou says, that window of time will start shutting if I don't get this right. Without that testing buffer, the chances of failure go up.

So, with that in mind, I start working a bit quicker, going through each chip. The pattern from this morning is done. I insert it where it should be. I complete the parts needed for power to flow from the...battery...into the rest of the remote. The basic skeleton is done. Some of the more intricate parts now have to be worked on, and I dive into it…

All while the show gets closer and closer to one of its most emotional and signature scenes...


Mana struggled to escape from the pit of tentacles that had entrapped her as Salt and Elymas glared at her. The former with a mix of sympathy and pity...but also anger, while the other looked on with a complete lack of emotions only NIXHELL's "gift of peace" could grant.

"Salt, why?" Mana asked. "Why did you betray us? Was it all for nothing?"

Salt looked down at Mana. "You and the other MechAngels won't save or change anything. NIXHELL however, has the potential to do so. You can destroy NIXHELL beasts all you want, but they're getting stronger. Sooner or later, change has to come...and it's going to be through them, not the MechAngels."

"There's no point in reasoning with her." Elymas scoffed, his demeanor as strange as ever. Out of all of the villains Mana had fought, he had always been enigmatic, never being quite as evil or savage as they, yet seeming more dangerous than them regardless. "But...she will learn soon enough. You have known her long enough to realize this, and I have fought her long enough to get a good grasp of her personality."

Elymas' tan arm suddenly shifted, the flesh turning rougher and grey, the fingernails on the end sharpening into claws as a vortex-shaped sigil appeared on his palm.

"You shall know our cause, Mana. Everything has been built and prepared for you. Now, you will accept it. The power of the Eighth King...it shall now bond with you. BEGIN!"

And with that, the sigil turned a dark pink color, as if mocking Mana herself...before shooting into the pit of tentacles, which began to writhe as if awakened, with only one instinct: To become one with Mana.

First came the electroshocks, running through Mana's body. The girl screamed in pain as they did so. Smaller tentacles emerged, their ends narrowing into sharp needles. These then pierced Mana's body, her limbs, her neck, and chest, quivering as they seemed to pump liquid into her body.

"The liquid drug is filled with nanomachines, and the shocks will help weaken your resistance so you don't kill yourself trying to fight them off." Elymas 'helpfully' explained. "I'm quite glad your body adapted so well in that life-changing fight. It makes this process much easier for me, and Salt passing the medical record to me greatly helped shape the course of this experiment as I finally got to fight you myself." He then looked at Salt. "The fact that it took both of us, working together to take you down...truly a testament to your strength. You have my respects there, madam...but perhaps more once you see things from our perspective. I would rather you aim your power at the true tyrants of existence, not the miracle that was bestowed to us."

This caused Mana's eyes to flare with rage, even as her body slowly underwent the transformation that could never be reversed.

"NO!" Mana roared, even as the tentacles continued to work around her body. "I won't give in, I'LL NEVER GIVE IN!"

Salt scoffed seeing this. "Yeah, you won't, I know."

Yet her expression read otherwise. On the one hand, it seemed to still admire Mana's determination, for the hope and inspiration it brought to others, but on the other hand, seemed to curse it, for the selfishness and recklessness that brought harm to others.

Yet neither she nor Elymas left. They weren't stupid after all. They were going to stay right there, watching Mana's pain until it was all over…

Yes...all over...

-Evil is not known. Morality shifts. Justice is a Construct.-

-MechAngel Mana-

TO BE CONTINUED!

Yeah, that's the scene. The one that pretty much threw the whole conflict of the show into a mess...a package of nightmare fuel and tearjerker in one go. Salt betrayed the group and revealed her true form: A humanoid NIXHELL beast, a dark parody twisting the MechAngels and combining them with their hated foe, leaving Mana alone and her allies scattered. Of course, Salt had her reasons. She'd been at the reverse end of humanity's progress, the downside of it all. Poverty, pollution, disease...to them, NIXHELL Beasts were no different than the usual oppression.

Salt had been introduced in Season 2 of the show, but the climax of Season 1 had taken place in her home, and during the three-month timeskip, Salt had encountered who would be the villains for the rest of the series up to now. They had taken her, and experimented on her, with a rogue scientist combining NIXHELL Anti-DNA with the technologies of the MechAngels, before inserting her into the group.

Now, you'd think that with such a dark, edgy, and easy-to-invite corruption hentai-filled backstory that Salt would be this dark, brooding character...but her white-and-lavender hair didn't make her some Mysterious Waif character that was Clone #45213136 of Rei Ayanami. She was introspective, actually friendly, and actually had a mature, world-knowledgeable personality that made her a rather sturdy addition to the group. She was the kind of side character you rooted for and sympathized with, hoping that she would find true happiness one day.

Season 2 thus saw her relationship with everyone develop, and then Season 3 saw her take a bit of a backseat. Seasons 4 and 5 remedied this by putting her back in the spotlight as the conflict escalated...which made the reveal in Season 6 all the more shocking...especially with all of the foreshadowing that had actually been put in.

It was the build-up to the twist, running on the various plotlines of the previous seasons, that made this one of the most well-known scenes in Mana. On any other day before Blackmarsh, I would praise it to high heaven as the sign that Mana wasn't just some dumb, ecchi anime one step removed from a hentai...disregarding the torture device being used on Mana right now being the subject of many a doujin of course.

But now? I felt sick.

Fictionland is great, isn't it? You can get electrocuted all you want and you don't get too hurt. Mana endured everything that NIXHELL threw at her in their attempt to corrupt her into a monster akin to Salt, just in step-by-step reversal of how she had been transformed. Endured every shock from the tentacles, even when they'd slimed her in goo that acted as an excellent conductor. Been shot full of needles loaded with NIXHELL Anti-DNA and still maintained her mind even as her body mutated.

Mana had then ultimately escaped from the facility, and though she was corrupted, she still managed to stand tall, and even more incredulously, sympathized with Salt, understanding her point of view. Even when Salt had been the penultimate boss of the eighth season, Mana still didn't hate her. I mean, yeah, she was angry, but...it had ended with Salt standing down, leaving Mana fresh to take on Elymas, even though he unfortunately escaped.

Too bad reality had to prove itself different.

I'm pretty much rushing on crunch time at this point. I'd honestly WISH for some miraculous nanomachines to be injected into my body to speed myself up, or, god forbid, give me my sense of touch back. And give Hiro his sight back. Give Hibiki her hearing back. Give Kyou his taste back. Give Aina her sense of smell back. And bring Chika back to life.

God, what's wrong with me? Here am I WISHING for the process Mana is going through...even though Mana was herself nearly warped into some freaky monster that could've taken over the multiverse…and actually does in one splinter reality before she defeats herself (Thanks Manga readers for spoiling that one!)

Why would I want that? There's a reason that's portrayed as bad!

Yet I WANT it!

What do I want? To be taken back to my cell for Blackmarsh? To be shocked again and again? For the Co-Linking Trials to potentially throw US into a pit of tentacles and do all kinds of nasty things even Mana can't get away with?

I suddenly see a vivid image of Chika, Hibiki, and Aina's naked bodies in the tentacle pit and nearly vomit.

...Okay yeah, that's a thought that legitimately has me feeling sick and rushing to complete my work. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm gross. I think of my siblings in…that setting. And don't even get me started on the whole "we're not blood-related" thing. Yeah. I know all those jokes, and I'm ashamed to say that the thought hasn't always made me sick. But, no, no, NO! I DON'T want my sisters to go through that!

No, I'd rather not have all of that…

But why do I keep on thinking about it? I don't WANT to! I DON'T want that as our fate! I don't want to be a guinea pig forever!

Heck, that's pretty much what Salt was turned into...and what Mana was threatened with...and you can believe a lot of people wrote all kinds of twisted fanfics about that, not to mention all of the doujins and CG-sets.

...Which, I'll admit, I read and looked at. I mean, I'm a guy after all! That doesn't make me weird! I bet even Hiro and Kyou think those things too…on occasion…

Then the thought of Hibiki taking Mana's place in the bed of fornicating flesh comes to mind, the tentacles immediately entering her ears. Gross, yeah, but at least they're bothering to reconstruct her ear drums and restore her hearing.

Hiro and Kyou embraced by Caligulon in her succubus form as her monstrous tentacles caress Hiro's eyes and Kyou's tongue.

Aina staring into the IV King's eyes until all her pain melts away. She can't remember who she was, but hey, at least she's not sad anymore.

And of course, Chika being put under the same surgery as Salt, reconstructing her, rebuilding her...and there she is, good as new. Okay, yeah, you've got some Lovecraftian Superpowers added to your usual arsenal, but at least you're alive!

And then the idea that I'm in the tentacle pit next, and my nerves are regrown and I can feel again.

But not my guilt. No. Caligulon is with me in her succubus form, sucking away that emotional pain.

Yup, the six of us monsters, all ready!

...God I'm messed-up…

Then I'm on autopilot, just trying to make progress. What is wrong with me that I'd put us in those roles? Am I that desperate? Or am I just some disgusting pervert after all? Maybe I should just make my next chip something to increase my hormones so my "harem" of nurses actually falls for my charm!

Just like all of that perverted mind-control crap in...well...everything I've just watched now. I'm no better than any of them.

Maybe I should stop thinking about it. I look at my blueprints of the "Wii" Remote, and look at my progress. I've actually made up for lost time! True, it's now 5:00 in the morning and so I had to pull an all-nighter, but...but…

My heart is beating. I...finish...the last chip…

I carefully move it all into place...I attach the cover to the remote...and then, just like that, it's done.

It's done.

It's actually done. I pick up the remote, hands trembling as if I've found the Holy Grail (the one from the original Arthurian mythos, NOT the kind holding an evil Zoroastrian demon monster or demiurge), before hooking it into the port of my VR headset. It...it fits...maybe I can give to Kyou after all. He should be up right about now, cooking breakfast! I did it! I actually did it!

I mean, yeah, I'm a gross, disgusting person who just fantasized about himself and his siblings getting laid by eldritch forces, who procrastinated right at the do-or-die moment...but...I managed to finish it. I completed the device!

Then I find myself yawning. Damn...spent too much time awake...but hey, it's done! We're back on track! We're safe! We're-

And then Dad opens the door to my room and strolls right in.

And all of my ill-gotten joy evaporates like water on the sidewalk on a hot summer day.

"Good morning Katashi, my aren't you up late...or are you up early?" Dad cheerfully greets, an amused smile on his hard face.

"Uh, well…" I try, but Dad waves his hand dismissively.

"I wanted to see what you might have been up to. Perhaps I hoped, deep down, that you were, possibly, planning something. After all, failing a task as simple as you did earlier today...or should I say yesterday, considering the time? I wanted to see how you were coping."

He knows.

He knows, heknows, heknowsheknowsheknows…

HE KNOWS

Nononononono

In the background, I hear my show still playing.

"You've resisted for quite some time, Mana, I'm impressed." Elymas complimented sincerely, looking down at Mana, whose entire body was now covered in grotesque, bulging black veins. "But this is getting us nowhere. You have the last piece of information we need to pull off this final attack. Please, give it to us."

"NEVER!" Mana yelled, still defiant.

"Then perhaps the desires of the Eighth King will get you to cooperate with us." Elymas sighed, shaking his head.

"GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Mana screamed as the voltage increased, shocking her more intensely than before. "N-n-NO! I WON'T LET THIS BEAT ME!"

"Interesting object in your hand Katashi…" Dad says, rubbing his chin with interest. "It seems to me that you really did pull through from your failure. Congratulations."

I can barely form words. "Th-tha-th-than-k...y-you…?"

Then Dad walks over and takes the remote and VR headset from my hands. Our last hope. Nononononono…

What's he going to do?

What's he going to do?

What's he going to do?

"What are you going to do now?" Mana hissed, struggling to keep her left eye open as it began to change to a dull purple color.

"We simply change tactics." Salt shrugged. "Perhaps if you know our history, you'll see where we're coming from."

Dad is intently studying my remote.

"I must say, this is a far cry from what you created earlier today." He compliments, turning it over in his hands, "I'm proud of you son, I really am."

He's lying. He's lying. He's lying.

"You're lying!" Mana cried out in disbelief, unable to accept that the mentor of the MechAngels had performed such an act in the past.

"But it's true." Salt replied bitterly. "Your mentor was the one who made all of this happen...and it was all in the pursuit of science. Not for any good or ill...just science. Of course, for myself and plenty of others, it wouldn't be difficult to call it an 'ill'."

"Though, I would hate to think you just wanted to combine a dying game console concept with your Link VRAINS headgear." Dad muses to himself. "Seems very redundant to put in motion controls...I wonder then, did you create something so pointless?"

I can barely open my mouth. It's completely dry. He has us, he has us. It's all over.

"Even if you claim that's true...I STILL WON'T GIVE UP FIGHTING IN WHAT I BELIEVE IN!" Mana screamed.

Salt's eyes hardened. "Then the Eighth King will destroy you."

The tentacles surrounding Mana suddenly compressed, piling atop of her, layering flesh upon flesh to bury her, to subsume her forcibly. Even if they would not obtain what they wanted willingly, they would still obtain a powerful weapon. It was win-win for NIXHELL either way…

"It's not pointless!" I blurt without thinking.

Dad raises an eyebrow, then leans into my face so I can smell his cigarette breath. "Then what is it?"

No. Don't tell him. Don't look into his eyes. Don't tell him. Don't…

"It's a long-range hacking device!" the disgusting, cowardly creep that is me blurts out.

Dad's eyes harden. "Is that so?" he asks. "Show me everything."

I break down, crying. I spill the beans on our plan, that we were planning to escape and never come back. Where I put our backup weapons (in a hollowed-out floor panel beneath the bed). Where I hid the survival equipment (in the back of my closet). Where I put the explosives (In my desk in a shatterproof case).

And with that, I'm on my knees, begging for the old man to not hurt me.

I don't register what he says, all I know is that he's taken our last hope, and I don't even have the guts to run up and try to drag it back. He locks the door behind him.

Failed.

Failed.

Failed.

I'm a horrible person...I'm a coward who just let his siblings down. I let myself waste time. I gave up. I'm weak, lazy, and stupid. I'm worthless. I'm nothing. I'm a screw-up, and I screw everything up. That's all I do

...and all I'm capable of doing.

Dr. Kiyoko Taki

Everything was going just fine. Just…fine.

Sure, she was caught up in the middle of a power-play between two megalomaniacs. Sure, the side she was on had recently just lost almost all its staff and resources, leaving her to care for six sensory-deprived children all by herself while surrounded by potential assassins and saboteurs, but hey, she was fine. She'd adapt. It wasn't like she'd have to live with the guilt of being unable to save another patient for the rest of her life.

Dr. Taki quickly and methodically made some adjustments to Hibiki's pod before hurrying over to Katashi to monitor his insulin levels. As if having congenital analgesia weren't enough, that kid just HAD to also be a type I diabetic.

Dr. Taki wiped the sweat from her brow before returning to her work. She had TRIED to stop the trials. Even delaying them would have had some benefit. But no. What was human life worth when it stood in the way of progress? Certainly not worth much to SoL. But why should she be surprised or shocked? After all, she was part of that organization too, she had done similar awful things, even if she liked to ignore that part of her history.

None of the children were ready for the physical and mental strain of these trials, but Katashi was in perhaps the worst condition of them all. And he was the most vulnerable. Not only would his mind and body take the exact same horrific strain, but he wouldn't register the damage until it was too late.

And she had a feeling that Black Bishop's men were hoping for exactly that to happen.

"Hello there!" the annoyingly cheerful voice of one of Black Bishop's henchmen, the one he called "Wrench," called, "How are things going?"

"It could be a little better." Dr. Taki sarcastically replied, making some adjustments to Hiro's pod.

"You seem to be working awfully hard." Wrench observed with a wide grin while leaning against one of the walls.

"A keen observation." Dr. Taki replied while multitasking on another screen. "And what are…you doing…here?"

"I wanted to see if I could help you." Wrench replied with a shrug. "Or maybe just talk. It gets awful boring standing menacingly next to Black Bishop. Gotta at least pretend to be a human being every once in a while."

Despite herself, Dr. Taki felt a grin twitch at the corner of her mouth before quickly covering it up.

"You say you want to help me?" she asked. "Do you have a degree in medicine?"

"Nope." Wrench replied.

"Biotechnics?"

"Nada."

"Mechanical engineering?"

"Haven't the foggiest idea how to run a microwave."

"Do you have any skills whatsoever that could make my work easier?" Dr. Taki scoffed.

"I was an elementary school teacher." Wrench replied matter-of-factly.

"A school teacher. Really?" Dr. Taki replied with skepticism.

"Oh no, I'm not making that up." Wrench replied, throwing up his hands before reaching in his pocket. "Matter of fact, I actually got my deck as a gift from one of my students."

He held it out for Dr. Taki to examine.

"Marfae?" she asked, scanning the contents.

"They're pretty good." Wrench claimed. "Helped me to climb the ranks at SoL, at least."

"And how on earth did an elementary school teacher with a deck gifted to him from one of his students reach the ranks of Black Bishop's bodyguard of all things?" Dr. Taki questioned, eyebrow raised.

"I suspect the story is similar to your own." Wrench shrugged.

"Really?" Dr. Taki flatly replied.

"I imagine so." Wrench replied. "You have a normal life, but things come up, most of which are beyond your control. You get a little desperate, you look for work, you hear about an offer that seems too good to be true, but you don't question it when you should have, a few questionable decisions later, and before you know it…" he gestured to the room they were standing in.

Dr. Taki tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before resuming work.

"At any rate," she continued, "unless you feel like countermanding your boss and bringing back my medical staff, I don't think you're going to be much help to me here."

"The chess pieces will play their chess game." Wrench shrugged. "I just try and keep my head low and enjoy the normalcy I can, you know?"

"As Black Bishop's bodyguard?" Dr. Taki reemphasized.

"Not really that glamorous, I'll tell you what." Wrench sighed. "He goes through a new set of us every week. Doesn't even bother with our names. Just picks a tool name to remind us of what we are to him. Oh, speaking of which, you're Taki, right?"

"I am Dr. Taki, yes." Dr. Taki slowly replied.

"Names Ito, Eiji Ito." Eiji introduced, holding out his hand, which Dr. Taki didn't take. "I figured we might as well get to know each other since we'd be spending the whole day here."

"That sounds delightful." Dr. Taki droned, adjusting another pod setting.

"At least better than hanging around that other guy, what was his name? Daichi? I thought my boss was scary, but that guy…he gives me the creeps."

"On that…we can agree." Dr. Taki hesitantly replied.

"So I've obviously never had a chance to meet these kids." Wrench continued. "Great duelists, from what I've seen so far. Doubt I could ever beat them, even if I had ten more years to practice. What are they like?"

"I suspect you will get a chance to see." Dr. Taki carefully replied, not wanting to reveal too much information.

"I hope so." Eiji sighed. "I sure feel for them, don't you?"

Dr. Taki slowly nodded her head before returning to Katashi.

"I'm so sorry, Katashi." She thought at the pod. "I tried so hard to spare you from this, I really did. I just hope I can help you heal when this is all done."

Co-Linking Trial Test Area: Caretaking Crypt

Fun fact about portals in VRAINS. They actually don't change your physical location. Shocking, I know. A machine that essentially causes people to dream a virtual reality doesn't actually move a person's body to a new place? But see, people forget about this, including experienced hackers and duelists. I know because I've actually worked with a supposedly experienced SoL Pawn who said, and I quote, "I'm not going any further into VRAINS. We're already dozens of miles from where we started, and at this rate, it will take us days to get back." (For the record, we were all plugged into VRAINS inside the same room in the same facility, ready to be unplugged from VRAINS at the flick of a switch). This guy had made the mistake of thinking that when you "moved" in VRAINS, that you actually altered your location. But this isn't true, any more than changing the "location" of a file on a computer shifts it slightly to the left or right of the central processing unit. Nope. The only thing that changes when you move somewhere in VRAINS is your brain. It's that simple. Apply one stimulation to the brain and you're walking in a parking lot. Apply another, and you're falling through a cloudy void. It's why portals can exist in VRAINS and not the real world (not yet, at least). Changing location only requires a change of thought.

Still, knowing this fact on an intellectual level doesn't change the fact that my brain is bound and determined to insist that Deus's portal is not only completely real but will kill me!

I emerge from the flash of light, eyes closed, mechanical wings unfurled, and body bracing for impact, but I feel solid ground beneath my feet. Hesitantly, I open my eyes to see that I am standing in the middle of a…

"Is this a waiting room?" I exclaim out-loud in Mana's high-pitched voice.

The room is covered in a simple grey carpet with rows of cushioned chairs on either side. On the far side is an empty receptionist desk with a bell on the counter. Looking around at how…ordinary the landscape is, I feel WAY out of place in my anime cyborg angel avatar getup.

And of course this is a completely ordinary setting, not a testing chamber designed for some sadistic SoL experiment. Nope. Nothing to suspect here at all. This is DEFINITELY not going to be exactly like Blackmarsh.

I shiver as thoughts of the horrible tests come back to my mind, brain even managing to conjure up some phantom pain to go along with my horror.

Ok, I know what a lot of you are thinking. Dude, you were locked up and forced to play a computer game for months straight. Ooh! Scary! What other torture did they put you through? Chain you to a couch and make you watch anime non-stop? I can see why you're a broken man.

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Here, actually, let me do it for you. Ha ha ha ha ha. LOL. ROFL. LMAO. LISP (which is "Laugh Indiscreetly Somewhere Public," for those of you who don't know my special acronyms). I get it. I've wondered about it myself. How the mere act of repeated dueling could have…hurt…so much.

There was punishment with electroshocks, but that wasn't it. Sure, they "enhanced" the experience, but frankly, I don't think they needed the electroshocks to make the experiments any worse. In fact, oddly enough, I think they were a mercy.

See, the thing is, when you are in enhanced virtual reality like VRAINS, you might "intellectually" know that everything is fake when you stop and think about it, but instinctively, everything is VERY real. Do you think it would be fun to jump off a building and kill yourself because you'll respawn? Your brain doesn't think so. In fact, it'll think that you're actually killing yourself. It doesn't want to die, so it'll defend itself. It'll convince YOU that it's all real. So you start to feel afraid. You start to feel how real it is. Your pounding heartrate, the sweat on your palms, the breeze blowing through the air, the dizziness from the height as you look down to the street below. All of it becomes real. And why does it become real? Because despite everything you've told yourself, you can't control what your brain thinks. There is no line between fantasy and reality.

That was the horror of the Blackmarsh Trials. You KNEW that it was all fake. You KNEW that the duels couldn't kill you…but at the same time, you couldn't make yourself BELIEVE that it was fake. Every horrible monster that attacked you. Every opponent that loomed over you. Every time your life points ticked down. Every time you drew a card, praying that it would be enough to save you. Every time you searched and searched, desperate for something that would prevent you from losing. Every time your opponent ignored your pleas for mercy with the cruel words, "direct attack!" All of these things were real to you. You knew you would survive, but you believed you would die. Over and over again. Day after day. Hour after hour. Your existence became an endless loop of fighting just to stay alive.

So when the electroshocks came, when your body was suddenly ravaged by the excruciating pain of something REAL…you silently thanked the pain. You thanked it for reminding you that the other stuff wasn't real, that there was a world outside that could actually hurt you. The electroshocks became a safety line, a rope that would pull you out of the fake nightmare and back into reality.

And then you'd fall back asleep and believe in the nightmare again.

What…was I talking about again?

I refocus on the room around me and remember. This place is the same. Any time I go into virtual reality, it's the same. I tell myself that all of it's fake. I recite the programming code behind everything. I know how the illusions work! But I don't believe it's fake. I can't believe it's fake. And now, without my ability to feel pain, I no longer have that lifeline to pull me back out.

Huh, funny. All this talk about how good pain is makes me sound like some kind of masochist. Nope. I can promise you, those electroshocks were TERRIBLE! I DON'T like pain. Believe me, I'd much rather avoid it, it's just…you come to learn what you had once it's gone, you know?

And besides, analgesia doesn't make it so you don't feel pain. Sure, it makes you insensible to outside stimuli so that stepping on a nail is the same as a foot massage, but you don't stop feeling the pain. Your brain just gets more creative. Fear. Anxiety. Phantom aches. My brain has a great imagination. If I so much as believe that I should be hurt, then my brain is quick to provide the sensations. My condition is the worst in VRAINS where everything is based on belief and not reality. Here, any agony I can dream up becomes real.

And that, is another reason why I chose this avatar.

See, I have a secret weapon against my brain. It's the same weapon my brain uses against me. Imagination. When I become Mana, I don't just put on a costume like some cosplayer, I become Mana. That is, my brain starts to believe that I am the powerful, fearless cyborg angel I've seen on TV, and read about in the manga (which, okay, I've finally decided is better than the anime, but the anime is still definitely a must-watch, so shut up all you haters crapping on the animated series).

Most people who know I'm a guy in real life look at my choice of a very feminine avatar and assume I'm a pervert because of it. (Okay, yes, admittedly, I'm a very typical male who likes looking at girls…and I've even seen porny fanart of Mana…but those were just moments of weakness…not the reason I chose to make her my avatar). Trust me, there was way more stimulating fap material I could have turned my avatar into if that was the point. No. Mana is my hero. She's not a real person. I know that. But that's not the point.

All I need is to believe, and then it is real.

I am Mana.

Mana is brave.

Mana will not fail.

Mana will win!

Tossing back my long, glowing pink hair, I stride up confidently towards the dusty bell on the counter before ringing it.

There is a hollow reverb from the bell as the ringing dies away. Looking around, I begin to notice some of the more "sinister" elements of the environment. In addition to being empty, everything is covered with a layer of dust from long neglect. Cobwebs adorn the ceiling, which is covered with yellow patches from liquid seeping through pipe leaks. Normally, the whole "abandoned hospital" atmosphere of this place would make me run out the front doors as fast as possible, but I remember that one filler episode where Mana and her friends visit the haunted house. (That was SO funny to see Mana be completely nonplussed by all the animatronic horrors only to completely freeze up in terror later on when she met that one guy she had a crush on back in season 2. Oh gosh, is THAT what they're going to do to freak me out? That'd just be awkward if Tien suddenly showed up and nervously tried to flirt with me. Not to mention if they threw in Siri just to create some love triangle drama).

Fortunately, I am not kept waiting for too long. A gust of wind blows through the empty room, before a wooden door down the hallway slowly creaks open. Beyond the doorway is a dimly-lit hallway, fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickering to reveal rows of overturned gurneys, wrinkled hospital gowns, and empty wheelchairs.

"Checkpoint reached. Proceeding to objective." I whisper in Mana's voice, steeling myself for the upcoming jump-scare before entering the not-at-all suspicious hallway, careful not to trip in my high-heel power boots as I navigate through the clutter.

Oh wait, what was I just talking about as far as things like distance and location in VRAINS? Right.

Tapping on my duel disk, I scan the programming generating the room, trying to see if there is any code associated with either an A.I. or human player. After a few moments, my tracking programs pick up two sets of code. Firewalls and encryptions prevent me from reading (or altering) too much of the code, but there's no doubt that those are the signatures of duelists.

So they're giving me two opponents. Well that seems fair.

Once the two programs are isolated, I decide to skip the exploration part of the level by accessing the environment's source code before typing in some directives that will place my avatar in front of one of the A.I.s.

"ERROR. ACCESS DENIED." My disk replies after I press "enter."

Shrugging, I select the other pattern of code before inputting the same program. This time, the program responds, accepting my input. Relieved that I won't have to do any more tedious exploring, I stretch out my robotic wings, whose metal tips are glowing with pink light, before tearing open a hole in mid-air to create a swirling portal.

"Dimensional rift creation successful, proceeding with mission." I tell myself, ignoring the unease I feel whenever I jump through a portal. In moments, I find myself standing inside a dark and dusty examination room. The second I twitch forward, dim red lights from various pieces of medical equipment hum to life before a figure shifts in the darkness and approaches me.

"Ah, patient Katashi, we have been expecting you." A soft feminine voice rasps before stopping underneath a dim fluorescent light.

The creature is a woman covered from head to foot in bandages, with bladed wrist bands and ankle bracelets adorning her arms and legs. She has long purple hair ending in blades and a pair of bladed wings sprouting from her back. I know her.

"Hello, Nurse Reficule." I greet. "I didn't expect to see you twice in one day."

A small smile cracks through the bandages on Reficule's face as she fixates on me with her one uncovered eye.

"Frequent checkups are required for your…ailment." She hums. "Though this will likely be your last appointment if all goes well. I am here to assess your condition and prepare you for the doctor's treatment."

"Doctor's treatment?" I ask. "I don't understand. I thought this was supposed to be some retrieval mission where I was supposed to recover an artifact from these evil servants of some dragon king."

"A silly fantasy game that is irrelevant here." Reficule dismisses with a wave of her bandaged hand. "The Co-Linking Trials were designed as a potential cure for your condition, but the treatment may not be appropriate for one of your physical and mental state. The doctor and I believe that an alternative treatment may prove more effective for you."

"Wait…cure…you don't mean that you can actually…" I stammer.

"Dr. Kurosawa briefed you on the potential of these trials?" Reficule calmly asks.

"Well, yeah, we were told they were researching potential cures for our sensory loss, but, it's just, this is an odd tone shift for me. I was expecting some kind of fantasy role-playing scenario, but you're breaking the fourth wall, talking about curing me and…"

I look around the dimly lit room.

"Are you being serious about a cure…or is this just some scripted cutscene to lull me into a false sense of security?"

"I am a program designed to assess your physical and mental condition." Reficule replies matter-of-factly. "For now, you can consider yourself removed from the Co-Linking trials and in an assessment phase until further data can be collected for us to proceed with your most effective treatment plan."

"Are you serious?" I exclaim. "More tests? That's what this is? Dr. Taki already tested me this morning, and you guys STILL don't think I'm good enough?"

"Please, if you will kindly activate your duel disk, then we will begin the examination. I believe you are familiar with this dueling method?" Reficule calmly replies, activating her own disk.

"Fine." I grumble before activating my own duel disk.

"Duel!"

Darklord Nurse Reficule vs. MechAngel04

Turn 1: MechAngel04

4000 LP

I glance down at my life points.

"Not infinite this time?" I ask.

"Medical teams will be on standby outside your pod should you lose." Reficule assures me.

Right, because losing in VRAINS doesn't just mean your pride gets hurt, it means actual mental damage. This thing IS a threat, even if it isn't taking me seriously.

Which is why I need to show it who I am!

"My turn!" I proclaim as Mana, confidently swiping the air in front of me to reveal my opening hand.

Well speak of the devil. I just mention you in passing and you decide to be in my opening hand. Ah well, you're a good opener. I wonder if I should make Mana act nervous when I summon you? Nah. Mana would be focused on the battle right now.

"Deploying scout angel!" Mana declares, tapping one of the cards in my hand. "Protogen Subject – TN, begin the mission!"

Through a hexagonal portal, a hooded teenage cyborg boy with brown hair, green eyes, and pale skin appears, mechanical wings using advanced hover panels to silently move about. His mouth is covered by a communication device shaped like a gas mask and his ears underneath the hood have been replaced with green radio antennae attached to a scope mechanism. Lowering the scope over his eyes, TN types a command into his robotic right arm before scanning the room and projecting a holographic map of the area. Tien, one of Mana's friends, who you either love or hate depending on which side of the shipping war you're on when it comes to him verses Siri. Personally, I've tried to take the middle ground, mostly because I think there's potential with a harem ending.

Ahem…where was I?

Protogen Subject – TN / EARTH / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Tuner / Effect / ATK 1500 / DEF 1500 / Location: M-A

"TN's effect activates when he is normal summoned." I declare. "By paying two-thousand life points and banishing him, I can add one 'Protogen' monster from my deck to my hand. Mission accomplished, TN. Return to metadimensional fleet command until further instruction."

"Orders acknowledged." TN replies in a voice somewhat distorted by his robotic parts before saluting and vanishing through a flat disk-like portal, which appears over his head before enveloping him. Once he is gone, I select a card from a list of options my disk presents to me before continuing with my turn.

MechAngel04: 4000 – 2000 = 2000 LP

I only glance at my life drop for a moment, the guise of Mana allowing me to ignore the phantom pain and worry my brain wants to invent from seeing just how much I've lost from one effect.

It doesn't matter. As Mana would say, "There is no victory without sacrifice, and since I can't bear the thought of losing anyone else, then I will be the sacrifice!"

"Continuing with the mission!" I continue, "Since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon Protogen Subject – B4, come forth!"

Front flipping onto the field is a tall athletic girl with short, brown hair, large eyes the same color, a skin-tight crème-colored bodysuit, and bandages similar to Reficule's covering her body. This is Mana just after her Dad resurrected her, still trying to figure out how her new body works, but determined to avenge the people she's lost. Don't worry. Soon your powers will give you an amazing new body, godlike abilities, and different colored hair depending on what level and season you're at.

Protogen Subject – B4 / EARTH / Level 4 / Cyberse / Tuner / Effect / ATK 1800 / DEF 1000 / Location: M-A

"B4's effect!" I continue, "Since she was Special Summoned, I can Special Summon one 'Protogen' monster from my deck. Deploying supplies for battle! Launching Protogen Motor!"

Roaring onto the field through a blue portal is a shiny cherry-red sports hover car with an immense silver engine and sleek tail fins. This was one of the first bits of technology Mana had "accidentally" assimilated to make her go faster.

Protogen Motor / FIRE / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 500 / DEF 1500 / Location: M-B

"Deploying additional battlefield supplies." I continue, tapping on a card in my hand. "If I control a Cyberse monster, I can Special Summon Protogen Scope. Prepare for resource acquisition!"

Zipping onto the field through a smaller blue portal is what, at first glance, almost looks like a blue paper airplane, but which is actually a very sleekly designed spy drone with stealth capabilities and a large camera for recording every detail of NIXHELL Beast attack patterns.

Protogen Scope / LIGHT / Level 2 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 0 / DEF 1000 / Location: M-C

"Deploying additional resources." I continue, "By discarding one card from my hand, I can Special Summon Protogen Laser with its own effect. Releasing supplies!"

A floating basketball-sized battle drone shaped vaguely like a goldfish with a glowing, red laser gun housed beneath the drone's central red cyclopean camera appears to the field, humming happily in its robotic language as it hovers over the ground, scanning the battlefield for targets.

Protogen Laser / LIGHT / Level 1 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 100 / DEF 500 / Location: M-E

"All resources successfully deployed." I declare. "Now it's time to assemble the team. Appear! The Circuit of Advancement! The summoning condition is one Level five or lower Cyberse Monster! I set Protogen Motor in the bottom link marker!"

Rushing forward, the sport's car transforms into a twist of red light, which slams into the bottom link marker before the rest of the circuit energizes.

"Once bound by oaths to do no harm, now she embraces the battle to heal the multiverse itself! Warp through time and space to find the promised cure now! Link One! D.D. Protogen Nurse – N1K1!"

Bursting from the link marker is a petit cyborg nurse with pitch-black clothing decorated with red crosses, robotic arms carrying green injectors affixed to her back like wings, and a purple visor obscuring her eyes. In her hands is a large pistol-like weapon with multiple needles at the end instead of a barrel.

D.D. Protogen Nurse – N1K1 / LIGHT / Link: Bottom / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 400 / Link – 1 / Location: EX-D2

"Protogen Motor's effect activates when it is sent from the field to the graveyard. I can send one 'Protogen' card from my deck to the graveyard in order to draw one card. I send Protogen Shield to the graveyard for this effect."

Selecting a card from my deck list, I watch as the card sinks through a graveyard portal before a new card appears in my hand.

Outnumbered, outgunned, they find the strength to fight through their bonds, their courage and honor coalescing into pure valor itself. Valorite, the MechAngel's source of power. With it, they conquer impossible odds in the eternal fight against NIXHELL.

"And I can too." I whisper to myself before tapping on the card I've just drawn.

"Field spell card activate!" I declare, "Protogen Valor Source!"

A flash of brilliant light suddenly illuminates the dark hospital room, revealing broken mannequins affixed to rotting tables, beds, and medical equipment. At the center of the light is a glowing mechanical heart, pulsating with powerful energy. The center of N1K1's chest lights up as her valorite heart responds to the field spell, and at the center of my avatar's chest, my own heart illuminates.

"Our powers are now linked." I proclaim. "And that power has only just begun to grow! Assembling the rest of the team! Appear! The circuit of advancement! I set Protogen Subject – B4 and Protogen Laser in the left and right link markers!"

Responding to my command, B4 and Laser transform into twisters of orange and golden light before merging with the left and right markers of my link circuit before the circuit energizes.

"Having lost her own family, she now raises her shields high to save the loved ones of others! As you push against the horrors of the infinite dimensions, know that the bonds you have forged with your friends mean that you can never be alone! Link Shoukan! May your shield never break! Link two! D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1!"

A blue-haired MechAngel with stocky armor covering up a small human body slams onto the ground, huge robotic gauntlets and boots forming cracks in the floor. 51R1 wears thick plate armor (covering up probably one of the amplest chests of the MechAngels, unless you count Alexis…or Mana in the later seasons…), has stocky mechanical wings with thick armor-plated feathers, and futuristic riot shields projecting energy fields affixed to her heavy vambraces. In the center of her chest, her heart begins to glow with the same brilliant light of N1K1's and my own heart.

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1 / WIND / Links: Left, Right / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 1200 / Link -2 / Location: M-D

"Protogen Laser is banished when it is sent from the field to the graveyard and Valor Source's effect activates!" I declare, "Once per turn, if I link summon a monster, I can gain life points equal to that monster's link rating times five-hundred!"

Turning towards me, 51R1 stretches out her massive robotic hand before lightly touching my glowing chest. Both of us glow with power as my life points increase.

MechAngel04: 2000 + (500 X 2) = 3000 LP

"Protogen Spare Parts effect!" I declare, tapping on the last card in my hand. "I can equip one "Protogen" Union Monster from my hand, deck, or graveyard to a Cyberse Link Monster I control, in exchange for not being able to attack or inflict damage to my opponent this turn. I equip Protogen Launcher from my deck to 51R1. Delivering resources, prepare for technological assimilation!"

Materializing onto the field is a large futuristic tank with a missile launcher affixed to its back. The second the war machine appears, 51R1 stretches out her hands and touches the machine before activating the power all MechAngels have. Lines of circuitry like glowing veins spread through the machine 51R1 is touching before the machine disassembles, pieces of the machine merging with 51R1 until the already bulky MechAngel has even more armor and a wicked missile launcher affixed to her back.

"Protogen Launcher's effect!" I declare, "While it is equipped, the equipped monster gains one-thousand attack!"

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1: 1200 + 1000 = 2200 ATK

"Protogen Scope's union effect!" I continue, "I equip scope with 51R1 in order to increase her attack by four-hundred and make it so that my opponent cannot activate cards or effects when she attacks! Technological assimilation!"

Grabbing the drone out of the air, 51R1 uses the same power as before to break down the drone and merge it with her left eye, equipping herself with an advanced scope.

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1: 2200 + 400 = 2600 ATK

"Protogen Spare Part's additional effect," I continue, stretching my hand towards the graveyard. "I can banish this card in order to Special Summon one Union Monster from my graveyard with its effects negated before drawing one card and discarding one card. Return, Protogen Motor!"

The racecar roars back onto my field, appearing to the left of 51R1. Once it is summoned, I draw a card from my deck, before immediately tapping on it to send it to the graveyard. Pausin, I assess my field before nodding at the results. I probably could have summoned the rest of Mana's team, but it's probably a better idea to hold them in reserve until the right time, rather than sacrifice that potential advantage for a flashier opening turn.

Protogen Motor / FIRE / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 500 / DEF 1500 / Location: M-C

"Strategic positions secure, preparing for enemy counterattack. Turn end." I declare, before positioning my wings into a defensive formation, like Mana does whenever preparing to take a particularly nasty blow from a NIXHELL beast.

Reficule responds to my declaration by pausing to type notes into a holographic screen projected by her duel disk. Once done, she turns to me, a slight grin showing through the bandages on her face.

"Thank you for your cooperation, patient." She hums. "Our assessment should take only a few moments. My turn, draw."

With a flick of her wrist, she waves away her holographic screen, a sixth card appearing in her hand before she immediately swipes at her topdeck.

"Field spell activate, Dark Hospital." Reficule declares, a holographic image of a card displaying a moonlit hospital with bloodstained walls appearing before a wave of shadow seeps through the holographic image and into the decrepit checkup room. Lights flicker out, leaving the glowing hearts of my monsters and my avatar as the only source of illumination.

Really laying on the atmosphere thick, don't you think?

"Dark Hospital's effect." Reficule continues. "When it is activated, I can add one DARK Fairy Monster from my deck to my hand, on the condition that I cannot Special Summon monsters the turn I activate this effect. I'll use this effect to add Dark Nurse from my deck to my hand before normal summoning her. Please report to room 4B, Dark Nurse, our patient has been waiting."

A tall, deathly-thin monster wearing bloody nurse clothing appears to Reficule's field, a cleaver in one hand and a syringe in the other. Her eyes are hollow black shadows, peering out of a face mostly obscured by her nurse mask and hat. Sprouting from the back of her torn clothing are a pair of black angel wings wrapped in bandages.

Dark Nurse / DARK / Level 4 / Fairy / Effect / ATK 600 / DEF 1400 / Location: M-3

"That doesn't look like something meant to heal." I remark, taking a step back as the monster slowly turns its head toward me.

"Your treatment will require…extensive therapy. Both physical and mental." Reficule purrs. "Dark Nurse has been designed to help facilitate this. Her effects cannot be activated if I control a Special Summoned monster, or have one or more cards in my Extra Deck. However, since both of these conditions have been avoided, her effect will come into play. Each time I set a Magic or Trap card, I can inflict three-hundred damage to my opponent's life points."

"Again I emphasize, NOT FOR HEALING!" I shout through my avatar.

"Without cutting, there can be no cure." Reficule replies. "Setting a card face-down."

So her deck is a burn deck. This is bad. I've already reduced my life points myself, so she only has a few more to go through!

Dark Nurse suddenly dashes forward, jabbing at me with her needle. Reflexively, I manage to deflect the attack with my wings, but not without the mechanical appendages taking a nasty swipe from her cleaver.

MechAngel04: 3000 – 300 = 2700 LP

"Dark Hospital's effect activates since you took damage." Reficule hums, reactivating her holographic screen before entering in new data. "Each time my opponent takes effect damage, I can place one Treatment Counter on this card."

"And what are those for?" I ask, recovering from the last attack by assuming a defensive stance.

"Your treatment." Reficule replies, as if the answer is obvious. "Speaking of which, I activate the card I set, Dark Room of Nightmare."

"Great, just great." I think to myself as Reficule's face-down card reveals itself, a staple in many burn decks intending to inflict lots of repeated effect damage.

"I set another card face-down." Reficule continues with a now sadistic smile as a second face-down card appears to her field. In response to the holographic face-down appearing, Dark Nurse leaps into action, assaulting me with needle and cleaver as I manage to keep her at bay with my mechanical wings.

MechAngel04: 2700 – 300 = 2400 LP

Dark Hospital: 2 Treatment Counters

"Dark Room of Nightmare's effect." Reficule continues as her continuous spell card activates, blasting my chest with a bolt of energy before I can move my wings to block.

MechAngel04: 2400 – 300 = 2100 LP

Dark Hospital: 3 Treatment Counters

"Setting another card face-down." Reficule continues, grin almost splitting her face. Dark Nurse lets out a wild scream as she begins slashing at me with wild abandon. Feeling panic, I jab out with my wings, trying to deflect the blows, but the crazy nurse easily deflects my blocks and manages to jab my shoulder with the needle.

Needles…I HATE needles!

MechAngel04: 2100 – 300 = 1800 LP

Dark Hospital: 4 Treatment Counters

"Dark Room of Nightmare's effect!" Reficule declares as the card blasts my chest with another bolt of energy.

MechAngel04: 1800 – 300 = 1500 LP

Dark Hospital: 5 Treatment Counters

"I set a fourth face-down." Reficule purrs, typing at her screen with glee as a new face-down appears to her field. Dark Nurse responds with a new flurry of attacks as I desperately raise my wings and arms to defend myself from her blows. A chop from her cleaver briefly enters my vision, and I can't tell if the blow hit my face or neck. In my desperate battle, I even miss the blast from Dark Room of Nightmare, only noticing when Dark Nurse withdraws and I can see what's happened to my life points.

MechAngel04: 1500 – 300 = 1200 LP

Dark Hospital: 6 Treatment Counters

MechAngel04: 1200 – 300 = 900 LP

Dark Hospital: 7 Treatment Counters

"Just a little more…just a little more. My body can last a little longer. She only has one card left in her hand."

"Setting one more card face-down." Reficule sneers, swiping at the last card in her hand.

I stagger back to my feet, preparing to block the attack with my heavily damaged robotic wings. Dark Nurse effortlessly chops her way through my defenses before pinning me to the ground and jabbing her needle into my chest. Dark Room of Nightmare follows up with its own attack, blasting me flat on my back just as Dark Nurse withdraws.

MechAngel04: 900 – 300 = 600 LP

Dark Hospital: 8 Treatment Counters

MechAngel04: 600 – 300 = 300 LP

Dark Hospital: 9 Treatment Counters

Slowly, I open my eyes before forcing myself back onto my feet. I feel no fatigue, but my avatar resists my brain's commands, and it's no wonder. Looking down, I see jagged fizzing chop marks cross-crossing my body like bloody scars, some of the gashes cutting deep enough to hit bone, if my avatar had any.

"Dark Hospital's effect activates." Reficule continues. "Once per turn, I can remove three Treatment Counters from Dark Hospital for each Special Summoned monster my opponent controls to target one of my face-down normal traps for every three counters removed. If the activation conditions of those cards are met, I can activate them in sequence. You control three Special Summoned monsters, so I remove all nine counters from my card in order to Triple trap open. Three Fire Darts."

Dark Hospital: 9 – 9 = 0 Treatment Counters.

All three of Reficule's traps reveal themselves, demonic needles with flaming tips appearing overhead as the cards activate. She never intended to even give me a chance.

"Fire Darts' effect is as follows." Reficule hums. "Three dice are rolled and you take damage equal to the result times one-hundred. Let us conclude your checkup. Fire Darts one!"

Three flaming dice appear overhead before dropping to the field, dice rattling as they bump into each other.

Dice Results: 6, 4, and 1

Damage Result: 1100

I stand there, avatar body smashed to pieces as eleven flaming darts erupt from the trap card before heading straight towards me. My brain wants to move my wings into a defensive block, but my battered body refuses to move.

"Season 1, episode 16." I pant to myself, remembering some lines from a battle.

"We are not just mechanical parts!" Mana's childhood friend, Elsa declares. "Even if NIXHELL breaks our bodies, our spirits remain strong!

"He can't break our connection." Siri affirms. "We're with you till the end, no matter what!"

"Like the good book says, 'The flesh is weak, but the spirit remains strong!'" Tina pipes in.

"That being said," Nurse Niki cuts in before jabbing each of her teammates with her robotic needles to give them a much-needed power boost, "the flesh can be made strong again with a direct valorite stim injection."

"D.D. Protogen Nurse N1K1's effect!" I declare, snapping out of my reverie. "Once per turn, if I would take damage, I can increase my life points by the damage I would take! Nurse! I could use a band-aid here!"

N1K1 immediately leaps into action, jabbing me in the chest with her needle gun while her robotic wings stab into my back, arms, and legs, pouring green fluid into my body. Mana, not fearing the needles like Katashi does, immediately responds to her teammates support, moving her reinvigorated wings into place just in time to form a protective barrier around herself and N1K1, just as the flaming darts slam into them.

MechAngel04: 300 + 1100 – 1100 = 300 LP

Dark Hospital: 1 Treatment Counter

"Charming." Reficule comments. "But insufficient. Dark Room of Nightmare's effect activates anyway, ending this duel."

"Just who…" I growl, clenching my fists and taking a step forward, "…the HELL…do you think…I AM!?"

Reficule takes a step back, looking confused before shaking her head and resuming her play.

"Dark Room of Nightmare's effect! I inflict three-hundred damage to your life points!"

"Protogen Shield no kouka hasudo!" I proclaim, wings stretching into an opening graveyard portal before extracting a circular metal disk, which I grap with my right hand before tapping on the handle and activating a blue energy field. "By banishing this card and one other 'Protogen' card from my graveyard, I can increase my life points by one-thousand! I banish both shield and a second copy of Protogen Scope discarded with Spare Part's effect for shield's cost! No matter what you throw at me, I will not break!"

The burst of energy erupts from Dark Room of Nightmare, heading straight for me. Bracing with my wings, I hold out my shield, deflecting the blast with a loud "Ping" before staring back at Reficule, daring her to continue.

MechAngel04: 300 + 1000 – 300 = 1000 LP

Dark Hospital: 2 Treatment Counters

"Interesting." Reficule muses, typing some additional notes on her screen. "But the second Fire Darts now inflicts damage to you. Still, with the life point boost, you may be able to survive both it and Dark Room of Nightmare.

A trio of flaming dice plinks to the ground as I briefly pray like Kyou for the gods of probability to hear me.

Dice Results: 2, 5, and 4

Damage Result: 1100

But of course, like in every other situation, lady luck gives me the middle finger.

"Chance won't save us. Nor will fate. That's why we're here. We make our own destiny!"

Season 2: Episode 27. Words to live by, Mana.

"I activate the effect of my second Protogen Shield!" I roar, as the beam of energy slams into my metal disk, "I banish it and Protogen Subject – B4 in order to gain one-thousand more life points!"

MechAngel04: 1000 + 1000 – 1100 = 900 LP

Dark Hospital: 3 Treatment Counters

"Through your strongest attacks at me!" I growl.

"Dark Room of Nightmare's effect!" Reficule counters.

MechAngel04: 900 – 300 = 600 LP

Dark Hospital: 4 Treatment Counters

"I WILL NOT BREAK!"

"The third Fire Darts resolves!" Reficule snaps back as three new dice appear. "And in this case, regardless of the dice results, you WILL lose the rest of your life points."

Dice Results: 2, 2, and 5

Damage Result: 900

"I keep trying to tell you, but you still don't get it!" I shout back, channeling all of Mana's fury. "You don't know who the hell I am! You keep thinking you can break me, but I am more than my flesh and metal! I am Mana! Hope of humanity! And you are pissing…me…OFF!"

Season 4: Finale. First time she actually comes face-to-face with a NIXHELL King. Pretty epic.

A swarm of nine flaming darts hurtles towards me, preparing to finish me off. Unfurling my wings, I stretch my hand towards the glowing heart of my field spell card, my own heart glowing three times brighter.

"Protogen Valor Source's effect!" I declare, as my light drives back the shadows of Reficule's horrible hospital. "Once per turn, I can Link Summon one 'Protogen' monster using Union cards on my field as Material! I use Protogen Motor and the equipped Protogen Launcher in order to Link Summon D.D. Protogen Operative – 375A!"

"You're my friend, Mana. Metal parts or not, every bit of me will stand with you, no matter what!"

"Appear! The circuit of advancement! The summoning conditions are two effect monsters! I set Protogen Motor and Protogen Launcher into the bottom and right link markers! Circuit combine!"

On command, the valorite heart of my field spell fires a beam of light into the sky, summoning a version of the link circuit with pink shading. Roaring forward, Siri throws Protogen Motor and Launcher into the air with a strong right and left hook before the two pieces of machinery morph into twisters of energy and merge with the circuit, giving birth to another of Mana's teammates.

"Living as a foreigner outcast with no parents in life, your death was mourned by none but the girl who spoke to everyone. In life, you promised your dearest friend that you would never leave her side, and now in your rebirth, you fulfill that promise! Resurrect like a phoenix and never be lonely again! D.D. Protogen Operative – 375A!"

In a burst of energy, a slim MechAngel with orange hair tied into braids, a single golden eye uncovered by bandages obscuring most of her face, tight white-and-blue armor like a swimsuit with a thicker part covering a silvery valorite heart, and clear mechanical wings like blades of glass, warps onto my field before landing in front of me, wings curled in front of her to block the blast.

D.D. Protogen Operative – 375A / WATER / Links: Bottom, Right / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 1400 / Link – 2 / Location: M-C

"Protogen Valor Source's additional effect!" I continue. "Since I link summoned, I gain life points equal to that monster's link rating times five-hundred!"

MechAngel04: 600 + (500 X 2) – 900 = 700 LP

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1: 1600 ATK

Dark Hospital: 5 Treatment Counters

"…intriguing." Reficule muses, seeming surprised.

"If you thought that was amazing, check out this!" I reply, a grin coming to my face. "Since Motor and Launcher both went from the field to the graveyard, their effects activate! Motor allows me to send a third copy of Protogen Shield to my graveyard before I draw one card, while Protogen Launcher allows me to Special Summon one 'Protogen' monster from my deck! Deploy supplies at tactical location! Protogen Blaster!"

Warping onto the field is a rectangular quadcopter drone with a blaster cannon on its undercarriage. One of the basic battle units humanity attempted to deploy against the NIXHELL Beasts once humans soldiers started falling to psychic attacks. Later on, they were mostly assimilation fodder for the MechAngels.

Protogen Blaster / Protogen Blaster / DARK / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 1600 / DEF 0 / Location: M-E

"Dark Room of Nightmare's effect!" Reficule growls as her card fires another burst of energy my direction.

"Protogen Shield's effect!" I counter, banishing my last copy of Protogen Shield and Protogen Motor from my graveyard.

MechAngel04: 700 + 1000 – 300 = 1400 LP

Dark Hospital: 6 Treatment Counters

"Your all out of ammo." I growl at Reficule, preparing to take my turn.

"Do not be so certain." Reficule hums back, an amused expression on her bandaged face. "While I admit I am impressed that you manage to deflect all that damage, I am still not finished with my examination. I proceed to my battle phase."

"With your six-hundred attack Dark Nurse?" I exclaim in bewilderment. "Look, I get trying to attack N1K1 or Blaster, but I've got some bad news for you! D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1 isn't named a Bodyguard for nothing. Any monsters linked to her cannot be attacked, meaning you have no choice but to attack 51R1!"

"Which I will gladly do." Reficule purrs to my astonishment. "…after I activate the final effect of my Dark Hospital."

Oh. An effect. Of course.

"By removing all six of my Treatment Counters from Dark Hospital," Reficule explains, "I can increase the ATK of one DARK Fairy monster I control by four-hundred for each counter. I will use this effect on Dark Nurse, increasing her ATK to three-thousand."

A wave of shadow emanates from the holographic image of Reficule's spell card, the darkness pooling around Dark Nurse, who howls in agony as her emaciated body suddenly bulges with muscles, her nurse clothing tearing under the strain of her expanding bulk.

Dark Nurse: 600 + (6 X 400) = 3000 ATK

Dark Hospital: 0 Counters

"Proceed with the examination." Reficule orders. "Attack D.D. Protogen Bodyguard - 51R1."

The hulking nurse rumbles forward, preparing to smash her now tiny-looking cleaver into 51R1. 51R1 bravely stands between the monster and her friends, but anyone can see that even she, with her comparatively stronger mechanical body, will fall to this demented monstrosity.

"We do not rely on our individual strengths. Our valorite hearts not only empower us, but connect us, making all our strength the strength of one!"

Original manga. Chapter 315.

"Protogen Valor Source no kouka hasudo!" I roar, as 51R1 braces against Dark Nurse's attacks with her heavy riot shields. "By paying life points in multiples of one-hundred, I can increase the ATK of one of my 'Protogen' Link Monsters by two-hundred for every one-hundred life points paid until the end of this turn, on the condition that they will inflict no battle damage. I use this effect on 51R1! Let my power become yours! Show them why the Mechangels will NEVER fall!"

MechAngel04: 1400 – 800 = 600 LP

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1: 1600 + (800 X 2) = 3200 ATK

Valorite heart exploding with blue light, 51R1 not only pushes Dark Nurse back, but actually picks up the monstrous doctor with her wings before throwing it through the hospital like a gigantic bowling ball, the monstrous nurse shattering into pixels after smashing through nine walls.

Reficule looks from me to 51R1 in astonishment before hastily typing some more notes and continuing.

"Activating final face-down. Nightmare Steel Cage. Neither of us can attack for two turns."

A large steel cage with spikes lining the outside slams down on me, trapping me behind its bars, but I'm not scared. Reficule is the one who's retreating.

"Turn end." Reficule finishes.

"You know what your mistake was?" I ask in Mana's voice before answering my own question. "It's the same one it's always been. You always underestimate who…we…are! My turn…DRAW!"

I draw with a flourish, my avatar's valorite heart glowing with energy as a holographic image of my hand materializes in front of me. Stretching my hand towards the sky, I begin my turn by calling forth my link circuit.

"It's time to meet the rest of the team!" I declare as my hand shoots of bolt of energy into the sky, summoning the circuit. "The summoning condition is one Union Monster! I set Protogen Blaster in the top link marker! Circuit combine!"

On command, the quadcopter drone transforms into a bolt of purple energy before energizing the top link marker. Clasping my hands together, I begin my summon chant. Yeah, I know a lot of people don't do those anymore, but these characters deserve a lot more than "standard link summon template chant"!

"Your bright dreaming eyes full of hope were made dim in the shadow of the NIXHELL slaughter! Now awaken with a new light in your eyes and use your engineering skills to forge the bright star of hope that will guide humanity to its future! Link Shoukan! Join your friends a little late, but much better than never! Link one! D.D. Protogen Mechanic – T1N4!"

Descending to the field with a pair of rocket boots is a small blonde-haired MechAngel wearing mechanic clothing, a pair of goggles, a heavy welder's helmet over her head, and a large toolkit belt around her waist. Her left arm is replaced with a heavy robotic arm capable of morphing into a drill, hammer, saw, or just about any other power tool she needs, while her riveted steel wings are tipped with massive mechanical claws and even more power tools for building and repairing machinery.

D.D. Protogen Mechanic – T1N4 / FIRE / Links: Up / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 600 / Link – 1 / Location: M-E

"Protogen Blaster's effect activates since it was sent from the field to the graveyard!" I continue. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one card on the field. I choose to destroy your Nightmare Steelcage! T1N4, time for some demolition work!"

Nodding her head, T1N4 picks up the quadcopter drone before assimilating it to her mechanical body and using its mounted cannon to fire a blast into the spiked cage, blasting it to smithereens before discarding the spent blaster.

"MechAngels, battle formation, Alpha!" I order, before Mana's four teammates assume an offensive formation around me. "51R1! Shield Catapult!"

In response to my command, 51R1 raises her shield into the air before I leap onto it. With a grunt, 51R1 launches me into the air before dashing forward and bashing Reficule with her other shield, pinning down the demonic nurse before I conjure Mana's plasma sword in my hand and bring it down on Reficule.

(Yeah. I programmed my monsters with attack moves so that I could fight alongside them like Mana. Deal with it).

Reficule: 4000 – 1600 = 2400 LP

"375A!" I call, "Ice Pick!"

Leaping forward, 375A levels her Cryo-Blaster at Reficule, freezing her in place before I dash forward once again and bring Mana's sword down on the block of ice, shattering it and another good chunk of Reficule's life points.

Reficule: 2400 – 1400 = 1000 LP

"T1N4! Twist my wings!" I order next.

Giggling with not an ounce of mania, T1N4 leaps onto my back before using her mechanical arms to "upgrade" my wings, overclocking their boosters so that I launch forward with incredible speed to deliver a powerful blow right in Reficule's face.

Reficule: 1000 – 600 = 400 LP

"N1K1, it's vaccination time!" I order, 51R1, 375A, T1N4, and I throwing down our hands to form a jump-off point for N1K1 like cheerleaders do when making a pyramid. Nodding her head, N1K1 arms her injection gun before leaping into our hands. Pushing against her high-heeled show, we launch her into the air, allowing N1K1 to perform a triple back flip before sticking the landing, and her needle gun, into Reficule's back.

Reficule: 400 – 400 = 0 LP (Lose)

MechAngel04: WINS!

"I did it!" I shout in triumph (just a tad out of character) as my monsters fade away. "I won! Suck it, SoL!"

Reficule slowly crawls to her feet, smiling and chuckling slightly to herself in a not-at-all creepy and/or disconcerting way.

"It would seem that the doctor was correct in her assessment." Reficule muses before typing some final notes into her screen. "Based on what I've seen here, I believe the treatment will be extremely effective. Please follow me, the doctor will be seeing you now."

Dr. Taki sighed in relief after watching Katashi finish his first test in the trial. He had endured so much punishment and it had taken an unbelievable amount of external support from Dr. Taki to make sure that the poor boy's insensitive body didn't simply collapse on itself. But the first trial, at least, was over.

"Kids got quite the imagination." Wrench observed. "Reminds me of the girl who gave me my deck. She loved stuffed animals. Would always talk to them."

Dr. Taki nodded in agreement. "Katashi is a good soul, if a little scarred like the others. He likes to inspire himself with the shows he watches and the books he reads, tries to emulate the characters in them."

"He certainly did a great impression of that magical girl." Wrench agreed.

"He'd be offended if you called Mana that." Dr. Taki sighed. "I just hope…I just hope…"

She paused, thinking of who his next opponent would be, and what she had contributed in creating it.

"What are you thinking about, Dr. Taki?" Wrench asked.

"I was thinking…" Dr. Taki sighed, "that I am going to need to work extra hard if Katashi is going to survive his next opponent."

Reficule and I crawl into a creepy, rickety elevator before the demonic nurse pushes a button for the top floor. I quietly hum to myself in Mana's voice, trying to convince myself to stay brave despite my emerging fear of falling from heights.

(See, that's a thing that always irked me a little. I don't think it should technically be called "fear of heights." It's not the elevation that gets people, it's what falling from said elevation could do, but anyway).

The elevator comes to stop and the doors slide open to reveal a dimly-lit operating room. Behind me, the elevator doors close over Nurse Reficule, leaving me alone in the room to stare at the back of a chair where someone is scribbling some notes onto a clipboard. The figure behind the chair pauses, setting down the clipboard before turning the chair to face me.

"Hello, Katashi." Dr. Taki greets. "Are you ready for your treatment?"

FEATURED FAN CARDS

Nurse Reficule's Monster

Dark Nurse / DARK / Level 4 / Fairy / Effect / ATK 600 / DEF 1400 / You cannot activate this card's effects if you control a Special Summoned monster or have a card(s) in your Extra Deck. Each time you set a Spell/Trap Card: Inflict 300 damage to your opponent's LP.

Nurse Reficule's Spell

Dark Hospital / Spell / Field / When this card is activated: You can add 1 DARK Fairy Monster from your deck to your hand, but you cannot Special Summon monsters the turn you activate this effect. Each time your opponent takes effect damage, place 1 Treatment Counter on this card. Once per turn: You can remove 3 Treatment Counters from this card for each Special Summoned monster your opponent controls to target an equal number of face-down Normal Trap Cards you control; If the activation requirements of all those targets are met, activate them in sequence. During the Battle Phase: You can remove any number of Treatment Counters this card has to target 1 DARK Fairy monster you control; Increase its ATK by 400 for each Counter removed from this card until the end of this turn.

Katashi's Monsters

Protogen Subject – TN / EARTH / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Tuner / Effect / ATK 1500 / DEF 1500 / If this card is Normal Summoned: You can pay 2000 LP and banish this card; Add 1 "Protogen" Monster from your deck to your hand. Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 Cyberse monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card is treated as a Tuner. If this card or a monster it is equipped to is used as a Synchro Material: You can pay 2000 LP; Special Summon this card. You can only use this effect of "Protogen Subject – TN" once per turn.

Protogen Subject – B4 / EARTH / Level 4 / Cyberse / Tuner / Effect / ATK 1800 / DEF 1000 / If you control no cards, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). (You can only Special Summon "Protogen Subject – B4" once per turn this way). If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Protogen" Monster from your deck with its effects negated. (You can only use this effect of "Protogen Subject – B4" once per turn).

Protogen Motor / FIRE / Level 3 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 500 / DEF 1500 / Each effect of "Protogen Motor" can only be used once per turn. You can banish 1 Cyberse monster from your GY; Special Summon this card from your hand. During your Main Phase, you can either: Equip this card to 1 Cyberse Link monster you control, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card can make 1 additional attack per Battle Phase. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can send 1 "Protogen" card from your deck to the GY; Draw 1 card.

Protogen Scope / LIGHT / Level 2 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 0 / DEF 1000 / Each effect of "Protogen Scope" can only be used once per turn. If you control a Cyberse Monster: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. During your Main Phase, you can either: Equip this card to 1 Cyberse Link monster you control, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card gains 400 ATK, also, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step when the equipped monster attacks. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can target 1 set card on the field; Destroy it.

Protogen Laser / LIGHT / Level 1 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 100 / DEF 500 / You can discard 1 card from your hand; Special Summon this card from your hand. (You can only Special Summon "Protogen Laser" once per turn this way). Once per turn, you can either: Equip this card to 1 Cyberse-Type Link monster you control, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card can, once per turn, inflict damage to your opponent's LP equal to its Link Rating X 200. If this card is sent from the field to the GY; Banish it.

Protogen Launcher / WIND / Level 5 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 2000 / DEF 1000 / Each effect of "Protogen Launcher" can only be used once per turn. During your Main Phase, you can either: Equip this card to 1 Cyberse Link monster you control, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card gains 1000 ATK, also, it is unaffected by the effects of your opponent's Spell Cards. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: Special Summon 1 "Protogen" Monster from your deck.

Protogen Shield / EARTH / Level 4 / Cyberse / Union / Effect / ATK 0 / DEF 2000 / If you would take damage while you control a "Protogen" Link Monter: You can reveal this card in your hand; Equip this card in your hand to 1 "Protogen" Link Monster you control, and if you do, negate the damage. Once per turn, you can: Equip this card to 1 Cyberse Link monster you control, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. A monster equipped with this card cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect up to twice per turn, also, you take no damage from battles involving the equipped monster. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead. If you would take damage while this card is in your GY: You can banish this card and 1 other Cyberse monster in your GY; Gain 1000 LP.

Katashi's Spells

Protogen Valor Source / Spell / Field / If you Link Summon a "Protogen" monster: Gain LP equal to that monster's Link Rating X 500. (Quick Effect), if a "Protogen" Link Monster you control battles: You can pay LP in multiples of 100; Increase its ATK by 200 for every 100 LP paid, also, that monster inflicts no battle damage. These changes last until the End of this turn. If you discard a card for a "Protogen" card effect; You can draw 1 card. (Quick Effect): You can Link Summon 1 "Protogen" monster from your Extra Deck using Union Cards you control or in your Spell/Trap Zones. You can only use each effect of "Protogen Valor Source" once per turn.

Protogen Spare Parts / Spell / Normal / Equip 1 "Protogen" Union Monster from your hand, deck, or GY to a Cyberse Link Monster you control, treating it as if it were equipped with its own effect. You can banish this card from your GY; Special Summon 1 Union Monster from your GY with its effects negated, and if you do, you can draw 1 card before discarding 1 card. You can only use each effect of "Protogen Spare Parts" once per turn. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase and your opponent takes no damage the turn you activate this card or its effects.

Katashi's Waifus and the main support cast of MechAngel Mana

D.D. Protogen Operative – 375A / WATER / Links: Bottom, Right / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 1400 / Link – 2 / 2 Effect Monsters

Once per turn: You can discard 1 card; Special Summon 1 "Protogen" Union Monster from your GY to a zone this card points to. If this card battles a monster: You can target 1 card in your Spell/Trap Card Zone and 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls in the same column as that card: Banish both targets, but return those targets to the hand during the Standby-Phase of the next turn.

D.D. Protogen Bodyguard – 51R1 / WIND / Links: Left, Right / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 1200 / Link -2 / 2 Cyberse Monsters

Monsters linked to this card cannot be destroyed by card effects and cannot be targeted for attacks or by your opponent's card effects. "Protogen" Spell/Trap Cards you control cannot be targeted or destroyed by your opponent's card effects. If this card battles a monster: You can Special Summon 1 of your banished "Protogen" Union Monsters to a zone this card points to.

D.D. Protogen Mechanic – T1N4 / FIRE / Links: Up / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 600 / Link – 1 / 1 Union Monster

A monster you control that this card is linked to cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect, also, once per turn, if you would take damage from a battle involving that monster: You can negate that damage. Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can banish this card until the Standby Phase of your Next Turn; Special Summon 1 "Protogen" Monster from your deck, and if you do, take damage equal to that monster's ATK or DEF (Whichever is Higher).

D.D. Protogen Nurse – N1K1 / LIGHT / Links: Down / Cyberse / Link / Effect / ATK 400 / Link – 1 / 1 Level 5 or lower Cyberse monster

Once per turn, if you would take effect damage or battle damage from a battle involving a "Protogen" Monster you control; Gain LP equal to the damage you would take, and if you do, you can Special Summon 1 of your Banished "Protogen" Monsters to a zone this card points to whose ATK is equal to or less than the LP you gained with this effect.

Ending A/N: I once again cannot thank my readers and contributors enough for getting this next chapter off the ground. An author naturally tries to be able to know and do a lot of things, but everyone has their limits. Thank you, TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere for taking my vague plot elements of MechAngel Mana and turning them into an incredible opening scene. Thank you, EpsilonTarantula, for contributing your knowledge of how a breadboard works as well as a massive chunk of the Dr. Kurosawa and Katashi scenes. Please support TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere by spamming "Fate VRAINS" A Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS X Fate Stay Night crossover with reviews (because that story is FIRE!) Then proceed to thank Epsilon Tarantula for his contribution by checking out "Garage Kids" a sweet reimagination (or perhaps original imagination) of the "Code Lyoko" series, but with much more depth and much less cheese.

I probably slaughtered the description for both series, so, as I promised to Epsilon, he gets to pitch his story here. Take it away, Epsilon!

Meanwhile, in another timeline in another period in another dimension...

Woland: "La-de-da, la-de-da, la-de-ddaaaaaa"

Eisheth: "...What's gotten you so happy?"

Woland: "I no longer have to be in Dimension Dowsing! WOOOOOO! Do you know what this means?"

Eisheth: "...All of my blackmail material of you being forced to skinny dip in zombie goo just got retconned into non-existence?"

Woland: "Yes, also I don't have to deal with Huge Hands Hans anymore! He's someone else's problem now!"

Ish (Remember her? No? THEN READ THE 5D'S MANGA!) *eyes widening as her contract is already being violated*: "W-wait, this isn't how I thought the ad would go!"

Woland: "Come my demonic retinue, off to Dyax where we belong! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And thus, freed from having all of his relevant screentime being sucked away, Woland vanished into Hell, taking with him his apprentices, demons, and cat with him.

Yes, greetings people. Those of you who know of my own Yu-Gi-Oh! Works should be aware of Dimension Dowsing, my own three-part series. A great deal of discussions elsewhere caused the realization that certain elements introduced early on in the story would cause it to trip over itself in the long run, and thus the series is on a brief hiatus while I get it reworked and a bit more focused. To those of you who wanted more Woland, I am sad to say that you will have to wait until my original work, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dyax, to see him again (plus, being in DD for so long would destroy his character potential in that story). But the overall plot of DD has not been altered that badly. The sixth chapter has not required such changes, and the first five are already being edited. But to those of you who wanted more, I'm sorry to report that you'll have to wait a bit longer.

Now, in happier news…

*The screens of everyone reading the story suddenly shift to the sight of a semi-familiar 12-13 year old boy with glasses, blond hair, and a blue sweater. He is typing on his computer, then looks up at the audience, glasses reflecting shiny light like all of the good freaky scenes of glowing glasses*

Jeremie: "Ah, hello everyone, it looks like my connection went through. Yes, you are not hallucinating, this is not a promotion for another, what is this...Yu-gi-...oh? Story? Instead, I am here to warn you all of a threat…"

*The screen suddenly turns totally white, with the distorted shadowy silhouette of an island emerging from a sea of darkness flashing in front of everyone, before vanishing just as suddenly as it appears*

Jeremie: "Hmmm...I suppose that works as a warning. Now, to clear something up, know that I am not the Jeremie Belpois you are all familiar with, i.e. the one stupid enough to, what's the term Odd used...ah, 'simp', over a pink-haired girl and risk the safety of the world as a result. Heck, I don't even think someone like that exists in my universe."

*The screen suddenly glitches out again, and the face of a horrifying creature with pure, dark green alien-like eyes, pink-skin, and a mysterious symbol on her forehead suddenly appears. It disappears just as quickly*

Jeremie: "Regardless, I implore you to read the following case files on our story...for your own safety and good of course. This is a threat you all need to know about, before it's too late…"

*Then Jeremie suddenly melts into a barely humanoid mass of tar, with a sadistic smile on 'his' face*

UNKNOWN ENTITY: "OR DIE IGNORANT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"

Heh, heh...yes, people, progress is resuming on Garage Kids, my main story and fanfic! What is GK you may ask? Why, it is simply what it implies, an adaptation of Code Lyoko's unused pilot concept and expanding into a proper 'series'! Created by painstaking research of the series' production history, its original influences, and even Evolution, this is a story that hopefully delivers on what we might have seen had Antefilms been more lenient on poor Thomas Romain. Like DD, the story's chapters are undergoing a small edit, though this is more to get them in-line with each other and remove some elements I found a bit cringey after reviewing them. Nothing as major as DD of course, however, so that it won't be stopping work on the most recent chapter, which I estimate is around 70-75% done!

So if the idea of Code Lyoko being full cyberpunk, lacking those god-forsaken love triangles, and having a sensible plot that can't be shut down with a simple command (Because doing so will destroy the entire universe) intrigues you, then I implore you to check it out!

Unless you all want to be destroyed by the forces of Xanadu, in which case, no skin off my bones. Which I of course don't have, being a tarantula and all.

MWAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!

GARAGE KIDS

Ready to save the world! ...Which one?


And thank you, dear readers, for your continued support! What did you think of the chapter? What did you think of Katashi? And most importantly of all, who do you pair Mana with?

More serious QOTC: Should…should I actually write a MechAngel Mana series?

And now, without further ado, it is time to move on to your reviews!

Ratking77: So fast that, through a temporal paradox, this chapter's update was slow…sorry, schoolteacher duties.

Solphage: And now I've got Giorno's theme playing in my head as I think of Hiro…thanks.

TheStrangerThatCameFromNowhere: Can't thank you enough for your contribution this chapter. As for BB2, don't worry. He's going to get away with it all in the end. They all do. It's a happy ending for everyone who works at SoL.

EpsilonTarantula: Hey, Katashi's next opponent is MORE than just a saint! She's an ANGEL!

A fallen angel whose name is an anagram of Lucifer, but hey, one can't be too picky when dealing with supernatural entities.

As for when the VRAINS Canon characters will show up, I've already shown you, dear EpsilonZetaEtaTheta, what my plans for the future are, for the rest of you out there wondering the same thing, they WILL be making an appearance, but you will have to wait and find out when! (Or…you know…just bug the heck out of Epsilon until he spills the beans).

PinkRose2006: I think you might be able to understand why the reveal of Katashi's monsters was relatively slower. There's a lot of extra backstory connected with those cards, which can't exactly be explained that thoroughly in the previous chapters. But now that they have been revealed, I can personally that the fan card characters have become some of my favorite characters, and that, yes, you will be seeing a lot more of them (and the other characters briefly shown and/or hinted at from the various MechAngel Mana cutscenes (which will continue to be revealed as the plot demands.))

Dimension Se9en: There, fixed the error with your name. So sorry about that. Won't happen again. Probably.

As for your other comment…

Hiro: Yeah, unlike my sister Hibiki, I TOTALLY beat my opponent without help.

Hibiki: *Angrily signing in the distance about her giving him her cards and providing inspiration throughout his life*

Hiro: But honestly, what do expect of GIRLS? Now us male duelists, on the other hand, we have absolutely NO flaws or weaknesses.

Hibiki: *Barely being held back by the combined efforts of Katashi, Kyou, Aina, and Dr. Kurosawa as they attempt to prevent her from MURDERING her step-brother.*

Thank you for your continued support! Stay tuned for part 2!