There were a number of surprises in Rusty's new deck, cards that technically belonged to the archetype while being worse than the non-archetypal cards he'd been using in their place.

  Although acceptable for now, while he lacked those cards.

  At least there were no further illegitimate cards that Trebor could identify.

  On the other hand…

  “He took out Super Counterblow,” Rusty stated in disbelief.

  It was one of the best support cards for a Legionary deck, even if it wasn't part of any archetype.

  Any deck using Legionaries was all but assured of having its effect activate, unless you only drew the card towards the end of the game.

  And Crash had taken it out of the deck!

  And… even beyond its value in his deck, it was one of his most valued trades from Cross.

  A mark of the friendship between them.

  And Crash had just taken it out of the deck, holding onto it so he would no longer possess that symbol.

  “What did you say?”

  Rusty turned to see Cross coming over.

  “Crash, he… he took Super Counterblow from the deck. I don't have it any more… I'm sorry!”

  “Rusty, it's alright,” Cross assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You didn't take the card out, didn't get rid of it. It was Crash, and we're getting the other cards back from him, okay? It wasn't you, and we will make this right.”

  He paused, shifting how he stood.

  “Anything else about the deck you feel like sharing?”

  “There's only one card short, I can fill that from my collection,” Rusty shrugged.

  Cross only hesitated a moment.

  “Here,” he held out the Super Counterblow from his own deck. “Take it.”

  “No, I can't. Not after I lost the only other copy you found,” Rusty protested, pushing the card away.

  “As a loan then,” Cross insisted, pushing it back. “Just until you get your copy back. It's better in your deck, I've only managed to get it off once. Hell,” he laughed suddenly, “I got it off! Just what I'd been hoping for when I put it in my deck! I don't need it anymore, not really. Take it.”

  Rusty was certain that Cross wasn't being entirely honest, but he accepted the card anyway, slotting it into his deck.

  “What about you,” he belatedly asked. “You already had a finished deck, and now…”

  “I have to redesign my deck anyway,” Cross waved his concerns off. “I found an archetype after all, remember?”

  “One you used to beat Crash? I…” Rusty hesitated. “I wasn't paying attention,” he finally admitted.

  “That's alright, you were trying to make a new deck. I found a box, or I guess it more spawned under my hand, and it had the first four cards of an archetype! There was even a level X!”

  He hesitated a moment.

  “I'm not sure how, but they appeared in my deck without me putting them in, so I guess they'll be a permanent part of my deck now. But they're powerful and an archetype, so I'd be using them anyway.”

  “We should still find out how it happened, and why.”

  “I agree, but getting our decks ready for the guardian is a higher priority. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  []

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  Whether he had an archetype now or not, a good card was a good card, so Cross working on his deck mostly consisted of figuring out which cards had been removed due to his Harbingers adding themselves and, upon determining they were the cards he would have taken out himself if he'd had the choice, choosing which of them to put back to replace his Super Counterblow.

  And then it was time for them to find the guardian.

  For the end goal of their time in the Scrap Heap, they didn't actually know too much about the guardian.

  The guardian was at the edge of the zone, that much was certain, and it was said that even the largest zones (which the Scrap Heap most certainly wasn't, going by how Crash kept bragging about how much larger the city was) could be crossed within a day.

  But where on the zone border, what the guardian looked like or what deck they used?

  The only ones to know (who they could trust at least, Crash having given multiple contradictory answers to such questions before they realised they couldn't trust him) had never returned after seeking the guardian out.

  There were rumours that Auroras mother could still be found within the heap, having challenged the guardian and lost, but they had never seen her since she left Aurora behind and Aurora herself asserted that it couldn't be her whenever the subject was brought up.

  But regardless, if the guardian was at the edge of the zone they agreed it would be straightforward enough to trek around the edge of the zone after the guardian once they arrived at the edge, so together the four friends and bot companion set out for the nearest of the six edges of the zone.

  []

  Even though they had never seen the edge of the zone before, it was obvious when they arrived.

  At first it looked sort of like a wall of smoke in the distance, a slight greyish white shimmer over the horizon, but as they approached it became firmer, more solid until they stood before a wall of white.

  And a figure stepped out of the barrier.

  They were vaguely similar to Trebor, clearly robotic in nature, but with longer, inhuman, limbs and bearing a mask like a human face.

  They froze at the sight, the guardian tilting its head to review them.

  Then it spoke.

  “One pass detected,” it stated in a nearly, but not quite, monotone but unmistakably feminine voice. “Training Bot 4 permitted passage. Four additional entities presence. Passage denied.”

  Cross steeled himself and stepped forward.

  “We wish to challenge you for a pass.”

  Something glowed briefly behind the masks eyeholes.

  “Each pass permits passage only to the one to win it,” the guardian stated. “Four simultaneous challenges issued. Terms: each of you who win receive a pass. On failure, the usual consequences for losing to a guardian apply. Do you all accept?”

  There was a brief hesitation between each of them before they started to agree, the realities of being so close to escaping the Scrap Heap forever hitting.

  “Yes,” Aurora finally whispered, the last of the group to accept.

  “Then so be it,” the guardian intoned.

  The walls of a match formed around them, containing all four challengers and the guardian in the same space, before Aurora saw her friends start to fade.

  “Shunting challengers to separate match runtimes,” the guardian stated. “Splitting operations… Match commence.”

  Seven cards formed before both of them, the guardian quickly taking charge.

  “Draw. I pay 2 levels to activate Junk Disposal.”

  The card that entered play was not, despite requiring levels, a fighter.

  Instead a… hole… appeared on the guardians side of play.

  “Now I will receive a ‘Junk’ card at the start of each of my turns,” the guardian briefly explained the cards effect. “Turn end.”

  Aurora quickly considered her hand, if it was possible to declare a special draw, before starting.

  “Draw. I summon Dimensional Scout,” she declared, the fighter appearing before her.

  Dimensional Scout

  Atk: 4 Def: 4 Life: 8 Level: 2

  Condition: this card leaves the field without being destroyed or tributed

  Conditional effect: draw 2 cards

  The fighter was one of many who looked human, wearing some kind of camouflage and a helmet with a short aerial sticking out, a knife in his hand.

  “And attack,” Aurora ordered, her fighter dashing forward to slice the guardian with his knife, reducing their Life to 96. “Turn end.”

  “Reviewing ‘Dimensional’ archetype,” the guardian commented, eyeholes glowing once more as her first Junk formed before her, dropping out of the Junk Disposal hole.

  Junk

  Atk: 0 Def: 0 Life: 1 Level: 1

  “Review complete. Draw. Summon Recycler Analyst.”

  Recycler Analyst

  Atk: 8 Def: 0 Life: 10 Level: 2

  Condition: a card you control is destroyed, including this card

  Conditional effect: reveal the top card of your deck and either return it to the top or bottom of your deck

  The fighter looked like a human in overalls holding a clipboard.

  “Recycler Analyst, attack,” the guardian directed, her fighter marching up to the scout and hitting him with her clipboard, halving his Life. “Turn end.”

  “Draw.”

  Aurora considered her cards quickly.

  “Summon Dimensional Box and activate Dimension Lock.”

  Dimensional Box

  Atk: 0 Def: 9 Life: 13 Level: 2

  On destruction: draw 2 cards

  There wasn't anything immediately strange about the metal box that appeared before her, but anyone experienced with her archetype would know better than to think like that.

  “I target my Dimensional Box with Dimension Lock. Now, until the end of your next turn, you can't target any of my cards except Dimensional Box. Dimensional Scout, attack,” she hesitated briefly, “Junk.”

  The scout lunged forward, destroying the Junk with his knife.

  “The effect of Recycler Analyst activates,” the guardian declared, a card briefly appearing before both of them.

  Aurora could only make out its name before it vanished again, ‘Cardian - Spades 9’.

  “Top of the deck,” the guardian stated.

  “Turn end.”