Yu-Gi-Oh! Gakuen D

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Now you're getting it." Rahl said, turning to walk next to David, "There's no one path for everyone. Things change, people change. Sometimes, we move forward to places unseen, other times we go back to where we've already been, that doesn't mean we're not progressing, does it? If you always move forward, never looking back, that's not true progress. True progress is not point A to point B, like a bullet from a gun. True progress means moving forward but always coming back to your roots eventually, like the waves in the ocean. Just because the water recedes slightly more than usual during low tide doesn't mean high tide won't come in. Doesn't mean a hurricane won't come." He held out his Deck, "They say Synchro Monsters are proof of human evolution. That's not true. Synchro Monsters are just proof of forward momentum. Never looking back. Never mixing old talents with new skills. That's not progress. That's not evolution."[/color]

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Bast landed back in Protheus' office. [color=#FF1493]"Sir, Eria has returned from HER clutch, and she seems a bit shaken. There is a highly likely chance that SHE has decided to awaken her. Should I continue monitoring her, or bring her back here?"[/color]

Itsu took off her school jacket and gave it to Ruby to keep her warm as they continued to walk.

Trixie was still upset when a strange man walked up to her. He had long blonde hair, a black three-piece suit with a black trenchcoat and a red tie, a slight beard, and a pair of strange orange sunglasses.
[color=#FF4500]"Good evening, Trixie."[/color] He announced.
Trixie turned at the mention of her name to see the stranger. [color=#0000CD]"How do you know my name?"[/color]
[color=#FF4500]"I need your help in capturing your friend Itsu."[/color]
Trixie started to back away. [color=#0000CD]"Forget it, you creep! I will never help you catch my best friend."[/color]
The man grinned evilly as the light stopped glaring off of her sunglasses, revealing blood-red eyes. [color=#FF4500]"I am afraid you misunderstood me."[/color] He explained, pulling some rope from his coat. [color=#FF4500]"I believe you misheard my statement as if you had a choice in the matter. I assure you, you do not."[/color]

[evilfusion]

"That's true," David agreed, but upon Rahl's mention of Synchro monsters, he raised an eyebrow. "People say Synchros symbolize evolution? I don't quite agree. For more or less the same reasons you just said. Synchros aren't an addition or improvement. They have overtaken the game itself, never looking back at how the concepts used to work." He paused. "That doesn't make them any less of an asset, of course."

He took his own deck out and withdrew some of his Synchro monsters, in particular, his Infernity Death Dragon. "But I think of Synchros differently. They are the trumps of the deck, but don't hold the deck together itself."

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]Rahl chuckled, "That's where our Dueling philosophies differ, my friend." He told David, pulling out his Fusions, "My Deck works on Fusion Summoning. My Fusion Monsters are more than just the trump cards of my Deck, the bond that holds my Heroes together. Two allies combining their powers to take down a stronger foe. As long as my Heroes have each other, they cannot lose. We cannot lose." He pulled out Malicious Fiend and Dark Gaia, "These two in particular have the ability to vastly superior to the sum of their parts." He snapped his two cards together, so that Dark Gaia was on top, "Infinite potential, my friend." He put his Fusions back in his deck box and nodded, "Let's see your Synchros beat that."[/color]

[encapturer]

Eria continued her trek to the card shop in high spirits, that is until she ran into some other students. She hit a a traffic light while she was waiting for the light to change, she spotted two students chatting across the street as they walked.

[i]David... and Rayos....[/i]

They were walking right towards her, and she could not help but stare at them as she tried to decide what to do. They were her 'allies' in a way, yes, but they were probably also still living in this dream world. And if she was feeling this confused from merely being awakened, it would not have been a good idea to talk with them about it.

She stood there for a few seconds staring while the light in front of her turned from green to red, paralyzed by her indecisiveness. Once the other streetlight turned green, she hurried down the other road. It's a long way to the shop, but she was unsure she would be able to face the others. At least not yet.

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

However, Eria bumped into a familiar face. He had long, unruly pale-blonde hair, a black three-piece suit underneath a black trenchcoat, and orange sunglasses. He was carrying Trixie over his shoulder, though she was tied up and unconscious. [color=#FF4500]"Hello, Eria. I see that you have awakened, and therefor remember who I am. Good. I need your help. I want you to find Itsu and lure her to Crossing Square. I have a little surprise for her."[/color]

Itsu and Ruby finally arrived at Itsu's house. It was a small two-story with a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a closet on the bottom floor, with two bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor. It wasn't exactly clean, but it wasn't truly dirty either. [color=#FF69B4]"Welcome to my humble abode! I know it's not much, but I think it's rather homey!"[/color]

[evilfusion]

David considered what Rahl said. "Fusions and Synchros aren't alike enough to use a similar metaphor, nor do they operate on the same principle, really. I feel Synchro monsters give supplements to a powerful deck, and Fusions are to be the pinnacle. Synchros do have great potential, but they are not a symbol of that potential. They more show how each monster is capable of becoming more when they find the "Tuner" to unlock that power." He chuckled. "I guess I didn't give the philosophy that much thought. I don't rely on Synchros, but they're helpful in a tight pinch."

[Barian Warlord]

Haseo had just walked in front of Itsu's house on his way home when he saw her and recognized her from times he had seen her before and in a ridiculous motion he pointed at her and after stuttering a bit began to speak, [color=blue]It's you the legendary Yurihime who believes that all the pretty girls in the world belong to her and is planning to turn the entire school into her own personal garden.[/color] Haseo hadn't planned to say that but as he was out he had heard quite a few rumors about her and they all seemed to work out and fit together, though he hadn't planned to say all that he couldn't take back his words now.

[encapturer]

In her haste Eria did not watch where she was going, crashing into another familiar face. Her awakening was doing a number on her mind, though she figured after awhile, once everything settled, she'll be back at her full potential. Before she could apologize for her rudeness, however, she was given a request.

"Lure Itsu... to Crossing Square," Eria repeated his plea, giving it a little time to settle in her mind. "I understand," she finally said. After all, this false Itsu seemed central to the conflict.

[i]Was she? Argh, having two sets of memories sucks...[/i]

"When do you want her there?" Eria asked. She asked because she needed to get as much information as needed to fulfill the request... and to have something to focus on.

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Ya, even I have to admit I was stretching that one quite a bit." Rahl said with a chuckle and a nod, "The common misconception is that Synchro Monsters are the highest evolution of Fusions. While, it is true that Synchro Monsters have evolved from Fusion Monsters, Neos and the Gladiator Beasts being the transitory phases of this process, neither one is done evolving. Fusions are going for more utility, bonds formed between any Monsters, not just a few Archetypes, while the Synchro Monsters are becoming more outwardly powerful, using themselves for Tuners, or becoming so powerful that a lone Tuner cannot handle its power. Their powers are not completely separate though, or have you forgot about the Synchro Fusion Monsters?"[/color]

[evilfusion]

"Synchro Fusion monsters," David repeated. He remembered a few duels involving those incredible cards, monsters that were Fusion Summoned but required a Synchro monster. "That almost means a Fusion surpasses a Synchro," he mused. "Fusions do have much more potential to surpass the former forms."

He smiled. "This is all very interesting in theory. I also notice that while Synchro monsters are gaining more importance, Fusions haven't lost their impact. And Synchros and Fusions can support one another, like Synchro Fusions, specifically in the form of Synchro Fusionist. They aren't mutually exclusive methods of summoning."

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Aha, but do you think that the idea of a Fusion Synchro is so unreasonable? Is it not likely that, one day, Synchro Monsters will appear that need to be tuned with Fusion Monsters?" Rahl chuckled, "And what of the Transformation Monsters? Neither Fusion nor Synchro, but representing another option." He nodded, "Synchro Monsters. Gaining their power from weaker Monsters. Fusion Monsters. Weaker Monsters joining together to achieve greater power. Transformation Monsters. One weaker Monster becoming a new, more powerful force through his own power." He chuckled, "Could it not be argued that these are the pinnacle of human evolution? They need not rely on others to increase their power, they become powerful on their own." He laughed and shrugged, "This whole debate is fruitless. We haven't stopped evolving, neither have our Monsters. Deciding who is superior now would be the same as deciding the winner halfway through a Duel. Just because Fusion Monsters are more evolved at this instant does not mean that the others will not catch up."[/color]

[evilfusion]

"Once again, you create a valid point. Philosophies are not concrete, and as you said before, paths and directions can change at any time," David agreed. "There are Fusions and Synchros. There are support for both. There are anti-strategies for both. Neither is the direct superior of the other, the same way Dragons and Spellcasters aren't directly superior to one another. It can be debated, but there's no point to doing so for long."

He chuckled. "Either way, duelists will find a way to utilize cards and styles, no matter what the odds."

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Except, of course, to kill time after school." Rahl noted, "After all, that is basically what we've been doing, is it not?" He chuckled, "But yes, there are counters to both on their own, and even Transformations will have their own anti-support before long, but I have yet to see a single counter for one that can't be remedied by Summoning the other. You're right in that they are different, but wrong in thinking that you cannot use the same metaphor for them. They are like two friends, each looking out for the other, making up for their individual shortcomings by bolstering their own talents. Synchros and Fusions are meant to work together, yin and yang." He smirked and an idea dawned on him, "You look like you have Synchros to spare, and I have multiple Fusion Monsters that I could part with. What do you say to a trade?" Rahl asked, "Introduce the Infernities to the idea of Fusion, and the Evil Heroes to Synchros."[/color]

[evilfusion]

Looking politely skeptical, David turned to study Rahl. "Interesting idea, I do have a few extra Synchros, but what kind of fusions do you have that could work with my Infernities?" he wondered. [i]It wouldn't be difficult at all to use some of the Fusion support, since I tend to set most of my Spells and Traps anyway, and I have been needing a deck change-up.[/i] "Most of my monsters aren't Fusion Materials for any Fusions I know of, and most of them are Fiends."

He flicked through his Synchros for a moment. "And you use Evil Heroes...hm, I don't know your deck well enough to know your monster lineup."

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]"Well, if you want me to show you my Deck, I guess there's only one thing to do." He said, walking into an open Duel area and shrugging out of his coat, revealing his shiny gunmetal arm, "What do you say, how about a quick Duel? It'll give us a chance to show each other what our Decks are missing, and, more importantly, we'll get to know each others' personalities better." His metal hand rotated 360 degrees and two blades deployed from his forearm and locked into place while his Deck Zone raised from his arm and he inserted his cards,, upside down, causing it to retract back inside while his Graveyard Zone deployed as a small flap, "Aren't you at all interested in seeing how my Dueling Prosthesis works?" He asked David, five cards deploying from his wrist.[/color]

[evilfusion]

David blinked, but nodded. "All right, that sounds good," he admitted, stepping back a little bit. He took his deck, pausing for only a moment to swiftly exchange one or two of the cards with some of his reserves. He had almost forgotten to make some crucial changes since his last duel. He then placed the cards smoothly into the Deck slot of his Disk, the automatic shuffler activating. "You decide who takes the first turn," he said, deciding that as the challenger, it was Rahl's choice. He flicked the top five cards of his deck into his hand without looking at them, glancing briefly at the glowing 4000 at the top of his disk.

LP: 4000
H: 5
M: 0
S/T: 0

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=navy]Rahl held his arm straight up and snapped his fingers on his flesh hand, causing a sixth card to be drawn, which was one card more than his Arm could draw in a single move so all six shot into the air, where Rahl caught them without even so much as an upwards glance, "I think I'll start." He told David, "I think I'll set this guy in Defense Position and leave him a little support from the back." He told David, placing the Monster on his outer card blade while the Spells or Traps went on his inner blade, "Not much more I can do on my opening, wouldn't you agree?"[/color]

Rahl LP: 4000
Hand: 2
Monsters: 1 f/d
S/T: 2 f/d

[Merci]

[color=gray]"It's Eria?"[/color] Protheus quickly put the four old pieces of paper away, before thinking about it. [color=gray]"Fine then, bring her back here, before some other person decides to do it."[/color]

Minerva looked at the impostor's hand which was offering a shake. And he decided to take it anyway, even impostors had emotion, after all. And then he walked away. He wondered where that Dusk was, it was late for coming back. Had something happened?

The Dusk still continued his watch, even though he was overdue. Nothing valuable has happened yet. Hopefully, the sir would forgive him if he only took an extra thirty minutes to watch.

[evilfusion]

David allowed a slight chuckle. "Not a bad start," he conceded. "My turn then, draw!" He took a sixth card from his deck and studied it. [i]I have to make my opening move count, because I don't get the freedom to use any cards or comboes without fear of retaliation. He has two facedown cards and one unknown monster. I have a hunch, but let's see...[/i]

He looked at the rest of his hand, and for a moment, his eyes widened. "I summon Infernity Archfiend!" The summoning circle appeared and the purple-robed fiend materialized, its four eyes focusing on Rahl. (Lvl 4, 1800/1200) "Go Archfiend, attack his facedown monster!"

LP: 4000
H: 5
M: Infernity Archfiend (ATK: 1800, attacking f/d monster)
S/T: 0

[Takashi125]

Having made a respectful handshake with Minerva, he turns and heads the opposite direction. He looks up at the night sky and saw as the last bit of sunlight fades into the horizon. This had been quite an eventful day. He still felt there was more to do in the city and decided to continue wondering around and take in more of the sights. He finds himself wondering into downtown Kugena city and happened to come across David dueling one of the two psycho twins they encountered before. [i]"Oh boy... I better make sure David doesn't get seriously hurt..."[/i] He walks up and silently observes. It appeared they had just started. He sees that the one twin had made his move already, and now it was David's turn. He summons Infirnity Archfiend and Launches an attack on the twin's face-down monster.

[Blackstone Dresden]

[color=red]"What... did he call you?" Ruby asked Itsu, looking right at Haseo and picking a decent sized rock up with her good arm, "You better take that last part back!" She shouted, bouncing the stone a few times to check its mass, "If you don't, well, this thing's probably gonna knock a couple teeth out, and it'll probably bruise too." She thought about that for a second, "Unless, of course, I happen to aim lower. You never wanted kids, did you?"[/color]

[color=navy]Infernity Archfiend's attack bounced off a shimmering ebony wall of stone and shot back at David's feet, sending up a cloud of dust and debris, "You OK there?" Rahl asked, worried, "I didn't realize that the ground was that brittle over here. I'll aim high next time, I swear."[/color]

[spoiler=Evil Hero Black Onyx]EARTH
Level 3
Fiend/Effect
This card is also treated as a Warrior-type. This card's name is also treated as Elemental Hero Clayman. This card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle except by a Fusion, Synchro, or Transformation Monster.
800/2000[/spoiler]

[Takashi125]

Shihiro's eyes widened as the attack from Infernity Archfiend caused real damage. [i]"I knew it... the attacks are real..."[/i] He thought. He continues to observe the duel now with added concern. [i]"This could get really bad if they bring out their ace monsters.... hopefully David can prevent that..."[/i] He began to notice other bystanders being drawn to the duel with equal interest. Fortunately they just think it's holographic damage. If things escalate however, they'll be singing a different tune...

[evilfusion]

David blinked at the monster. [i]Okay, I expected a Clayman, but that's...interesting.[/i] He took a moment to consider his hand and available options. Unfortunately, that wasn't much. For once, he didn't have that many great plays, but not every hand was going to be a winner.

LP: 3800

"No big deal," he assured Rahl. He took several cards from his hand. "I place three cards facedown and end my turn. You're up, then." He smiled briefly. [i]Show me what other things you have in that deck. Even if I have to summon a Synchro monster to destroy that card, I'll find a way past any trick.[/i]

LP: 3800
H: 2 (that's a change)
M: Infernity Archfiend (ATK: 1800)
S/T: 3 f/d

[Red Ryu]

Wendy continued on her way home until she was in front of her quite large house. She walked throw the gate only for a servant to open the door for her.

"Lady Wendy, I see you have returned from school. How was your day?"

"Well it was pretty nice, I met two new people, one of which I need to ask a favor for" she said.

The servant was surprised by this, ans asked, "And what may I help you with?"

"I need an address of someone, someone I want to get to know better" she said with a smile.

~

Ryu continued going though the city. At this moment he was just walking around aimlessly just looking for something, he wanted to do something fun, so maybe he could find something. "The park?" he thought. It was his favorite place to go, "Sure why not I'll give it a shot." With that he turned down the street and headed for the park that was close to the academy. There he wanted to look around and see what he could do.