Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC]

[Yui]

---

Ah, lunchtime. A wonderful time of the day where one could take a short break from their labors to sit down, socialize, and enjoy some food. Who better to enjoy it with than the school's finest culinary arts teacher, right? As always, Bronislav had made three lunches worth of food today and carried them in a small grocery bag at his side; one for himself, and two for any students he may encounter that either needed a pick-me-up or simply forgot to eat. Proper nutrition was crucial to a healthy life! Today, as with any day of school, Bronislav put himself in the same cafeteria as the students. Sure, there was a staff room for this sort of thing, but it was much quieter in there. Besides, if he ate with the staff every day, there wouldn't be much point in making three lunches every day!

 

Today he spotted one student sitting by his lonesome in the far corner. He recognized this boy as he did with any student that had already been to this school before; Sai Kamezooka. He liked this guy's style; duel to make others smile. Very selfless, and for it quite admirable. With the trademarked Bronislav smile, the big guy made his merry way over to the table Sai was sitting at, and placed himself at a seat opposite the boy. "I see something is bothering you," Bronislav said. "Before you put smiles on the faces of everyone else, what say we put one back on yours first, eh?" Bronislav then reached into the bag at his side, procuring two tupperware containers before placing one in front of him, and the other in front of Sai. In Bronislav's box, a recently-reheated steak and broccoli, sided with a chocolate chip muffin and a red apple. In Sai's, a meatloaf and corn, sided with a muffin not at all unlike Bronislav's. "Eat, my boy, and speak to Mr. Retyunskikh. What ails you?"

---

"Ehhh!? He challenged you to a duel!?"

 

"Surely she can handle one boy."

 

"Of course I can," Kimiko boasted. Sitting on her right was Natsuko Tsuchida, and at her right, Akiko Takanashi. The three of them always sat as a group, and to put it bluntly, Kimiko had the other two in the palm of her hand. The other two admired Kimiko greatly, and if they weren't following her, rest assured they were most likely doing something Kimiko told them to do. Speaking of which...

 

"Natsuko."

 

"Yes!?"

 

Kimiko looked around the cafeteria for a bit, before finding...not quite her target. Close enough. Pointing at a freakishly large boy over in the corner, Kimiko said "See that guy? He should have a geeky little friend with him. I want you to keep an eye on the friend, and if he duels, report back afterwards and tell me what I should expect."

 

"Understood!" And with all the speed of a great tempest, Natsuko shoved the remainder of her lunch into her mouth and darted off, intent to sneakily and stealthily keep an eye on the tall guy's friend.

---

[BANZAI!!!!]

\

 

"Yuuuuuuuuu-shhhhhhhiiiiiiii-roooooooooooooo-kuuuuuuuunnnn!!!"

 

"Huh?" The rather uncommon occurence of someone other than Akira calling him by name snapped Yushiro out of his train of thought. He turned his head just in time to see the aftermath of Meiko's cartwheel. She kept talking as he felt her arm wrap around his neck.

 

"Man, Yushiro-kun, I heard that you challenged Kimiko-chan to a duel! That's so awesome! I mean, I of course wanted to challenge her because she's like super well known, you know? Apparently pretty good with those cards of hers, and obviously someone anyone trying to become the best they can at this game would want to beat from the get go."

 

At first Yushiro was pleasantly surprised. After all, Meiko was one of the few people, let alone girls who talked to him on a regular basis. And there was certainly a part of him that enjoyed the physical contact. But then he deflated a little as he listened to what she was rambling about. Taketo seemed to stay pleased though, spinning up its arms and legs and floating in circles around Meiko in a friendly manner.

 

"But here you are, already challenging her and going out of your way to make this big hubbub for everyone to go watch. But, taking initiative and going for what you want is what being a man is all about, so I obviously can't fault you for that. In fact, great job Yushiro-kun."

 

With that, she bounced to he feet and turned back around to Yushiro. It took her a moment, but she picked up on how he was feeling.

 

Oi, what's with that "oh it doesn't matter how hard I try, there's no way I can possibly beat her," look on your face?"

 

Before Yushiro could get a word in, though, Akira explained the situation, having noticed Meiko maling her way over. He, the man Yushiro, didn't challenge her, the tiny annoying one, of his own free will," Akira explained. "He lost a bet. Also. hello, Meiko,"

 

"...Yeah." Yushiro whined a little. "The last thing I wanted to do today was have the whole school watch me duel Kimiko Hatekeyama, of all people. Me and my big mouth." He sighed, picking up his stardust dragon card to examine it. "So, here I am, doing what I can to get my deck ready. Looks like this guy is still my best play, though."

[Alaina]

As her disapproving gaze was cast down on the green-eyed boy, the mountain of a man that was Akira had answered for him. Her slightly annoyed expression briefly gave way into a more of a joyful one as she waved back to the other boy."Hi to you too, Akira-man." She was then slightly in envy of the boy's situation once again, as no one ever bet with her to duel against someone else. Then again, since this was a punishment she'd have to lose the bet, which would not be good. 

 

Her attention refocused as Yushiro's defeatist attitude was speaking towards her again, and she couldn't help but shake her head as he solemnly looked at his ace card. "No, no, no. That won't do. If all you do is focus on how you're going to lose, then you're going to lose. You're not even treating that card as your ace monster. You know, the very heart and soul of your deck that will always guide it to victory. Just like some kind of good card that you're being forced to use." She continued shaking her head. "No, no, no. That won't do at all."

 

Stopping herself, she then looked at him with a more focused and determined expression. "If you're going to win and not look like a wimp to the school, you have to get loud! You have to get spirited!"  She pointed towards the sky, her speech continued. "You have to look to the heavens and shout, 'I am Midori Yushiro! And I can't lose!' Now come on and stand up!" Giving him a thumbs up, with an all too serious expression. "Once you can successfully do that, then I'm positive that you won't lose." 

[The Warden]

The Champion of Strangeness

 

"Oooowwwww" Salem groaned, pulling his underwear back down.

 

Was the wedgie really necessary? It's not as if he said anything wrong to that girl, just that her hair made her look like a lesbian, it was a compliment damn it! Groaning from the fabric burn, Salem prepared to have lunch, but some other people were being extra special loud. Watching them curiously, it appeared that this guy called Yushiro had challenged a girl called Kimiko to a duel. Apparently the latter was a competent duelist, and was going too thrash Yushiro. Pondering this conundrum, Salem grinned from ear to ear. "Oooo, I could TOTALLY livestream it to the school, and also record it and upload it to Dueltube as well. If it's SUPER embarrassing, I'd get so many hits" he thought gleefully.

 

With no regard for his meal, Salem ran off to grab his video camera.

 

 

 

 

Coach Hardass

 

"My, my. Today's salad is really too soppy, don't you think?"

 

"Hmm..."  Dirk grunted.

 

It's not that he wasn't listening to his co-worker... well, yeah he was, it was just that he had more important things to do. Namely trying to following Syndri's trail through any sort of news he could scrape together via his tablet. "What the hell is Syndri up too? I know he didn't always make much sense with his... dueling style, but this is odd even for him. Hrrrmmm, what to do? Well, I know what I'm doing with Leona at least. Idle threats won't get to her, but, since she's a girl, her reputation matters an awful lot to her."

[Draconus297]

Emma frowned. It wasn't too different from her typical facial expression anyway, so it was rare that someone would be able to identify when she was frowning, but it was still a distinct expression. Seeing someone go sarcastic and defensive meant she couldn't just charge in guns blazing if she wanted information. This meant hell, especially with someone crowding in. This "Balthy" might make information gathering even more difficult. Best not to acknowledge him, at least for now.

 

"All I am after is information," Emma said, slowly and cautiously. "Normally, I question my opponent during my Duels. However, if you would prefer it, it can be a condition of my victory." While Emma usually didn't make information gathering a condition of victory, rather an inherent factor of the Duel, it would be necessary to placate someone so obviously hostile.

 

Emma grudgingly led the way to the small courtyard outside the cafeteria. She had actually planned to Duel in the hallway- the ceiling was high enough to permit Crushing Despair Dragon, even tall as it was, and in an enclosed space she'd be more likely to get the answers she desired. "Ask of me what you will in the case of my defeat, but I do not intend to go down easily."

 

The short redheaded girl's temper flared, almost begging her to rend Shoraku limb from limb and say to hell with learning his secrets. However, her head remained level- Emma would not be denied the chance to look into a potentially intriguing mystery.

[King K. Azo]

Akira listened to Yushiro explain his reasoning for being nervous for the upcoming duel. Suddenly, Meiko broke out into a passionate speech, somewhat stealing Akira's thunder, but he'd deal with it.
 
Who the Hell do You think You are?!
 
"No, no, no. That won't do. If all you do is focus on how you're going to lose, then you're going to lose. You're not even treating that card as your ace monster. You know, the very heart and soul of your deck that will always guide it to victory. Just like some kind of good card that you're being forced to use." She continued shaking her head. Akira simply folded his arms and nodded at appropriate intervals. "No, no, no. That won't do at all. If you're going to win and not look like a wimp to the school, you have to get loud! You have to get spirited!"  She pointed towards the sky, passion flowing from her very being. "You have to look to the heavens and shout, 'I am Midori Yushiro! And I can't lose!' Now come on and stand up!" Giving him a thumbs up, with an all too serious expression, she finished up. "Once you can successfully do that, then I'm positive that you won't lose." 
 
"She, the woman Meiko, is right!" Akira added hot-bloodedly. "Stardust Dragon is the representation of your own soul! It has carried you through many duels, and it will not fail you here. If you can't believe in yourself, believe in the deck you have made and bonded with! Your deck will be the deck that pierces through this school!" Akira knew that Yushiro wasn't one of the people that wanted to be a professional duelist, instead wanting to be a game designer. As such, he kinda slipped up on that last line he spouted out. He hoped it didn't sound weird. "Also, it feels like we're being watched...,"  What an odd feeling. Maybe people were getting enraptured by his passion?

---

 

Saiku nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice of the culinary teacher ring out to him. "I see something is bothering you," Bronislav said. "Before you put smiles on the faces of everyone else, what say we put one back on yours first, eh?" Bronislav then reached into the bag at his side, procuring two tupperware containers before placing one in front of him, and the other in front of Sai. In Bronislav's box, a recently-reheated steak and broccoli, sided with a chocolate chip muffin and a red apple. In Sai's, a meatloaf and corn, sided with a muffin not at all unlike Bronislav's. "Eat, my boy, and speak to Mr. Retyunskikh. What ails you?"

"Well...," Sai began as he took a bite of the food. Dear Ra, that food was amazing. "Guess I'm just feeling a bit down. I wanna be an entertainment duelist, but I'm having a losing streak longer than the school's running track," He sighed before taking another bite. "I just dunno what I'm doing wrong. Then I had to spend all of the break at home. Got to hear how much better Limerick is than me, and how he's effortlessly achieving his goals," Sai shook his head as he took another bite. "Sorry... I know I really shouldn't be complaining...," 

 

 

[BANZAI!!!!]

"Hi to you too, Akira-man."

 

"Don't encourage him..." Yushiro let out a sort of half giggle, half sigh. He was about to say something more, but Meiko beat him to the punch.

 

"No, no, no. That won't do. If all you do is focus on how you're going to lose, then you're going to lose. You're not even treating that card as your ace monster. You know, the very heart and soul of your deck that will always guide it to victory. Just like some kind of good card that you're being forced to use."

 

Meiko shook her head at him and continued. Yushiro simply sat there, looking a little confused. Usually it was Akira giving him this sort of speech.  "No, no, no. That won't do at all. If you're going to win and not look like a wimp to the school, you have to get loud! You have to get spirited!"  She pointed towards the sky, passion flowing from her very being. "You have to look to the heavens and shout, 'I am Midori Yushiro! And I can't lose!' Now come on and stand up!" Giving Yushiro a thumbs up, with an all too serious expression, she finished up. "Once you can successfully do that, then I'm positive that you won't lose."

 

"I uhh... don't think that's really going to-"

 

"She, the woman Meiko, is right! Stardust Dragon is the representation of your own soul! It has carried you through many duels, and it will not fail you here. If you can't believe in yourself, believe in the deck you have made and bonded with! Your deck will be the deck that pierces through this school!"

 

"What... what does that even mean?" Yushiro sat there for a moment, simply trying to process whatever the hell it was Akira might have been trying to say, before giving up on that fruitless effort. He stood up, still holding Stardust in his hand. Taketo made its way back over to him, landing on the table just behind Yushiro and staring at something that caught its eye. "Look guys, its not that I don't think I can do it, its just... gonna be really tough to pull off." He took another look at Stardust Dragon. "This is my best play, and on its own, its not going to be enough. Not against that extra deck. I have a plan, I just need a little luck to be able to pull it off."

 

Behind them, Taketo took off again, buzzing more loudly than normal and flying in the direction of something or someone that had caught its attention.

 

"Also, it feels like we're being watched...,"

 

"Yeah... I've got the same feeling..." Yushiro started to look around them. "Something's up."

[Yui]

---

"Well...guess I'm just feeling a bit down. I wanna be an entertainment duelist, but I'm having a losing streak longer than the school's running track. I just dunno what I'm doing wrong. Then I had to spend all of the break at home. Got to hear how much better Limerick is than me, and how he's effortlessly achieving his goals. Sorry... I know I really shouldn't be complaining..."

 

"This is quite a situation to be in," Bronislav said once Saiku was done, afterwards opening up his own lunch and pulling forth a fork and knife with which to go at the steak. "The best way to fix a losing streak is...well, it is to win! We should duel later, so Mr. Retyunskikh can see just what is putting you in this slump. I will even give extra credit for a good duel; this is a good incentive, yes?" To finish his statement, Bronislav took a large bite from his steak befitting of a large man, and enjoyed the first bite of his meat. Having food go cold then just reheating it could take away some flavor, but even so, this was well-prepared (of course it was, given who prepared it).

---

The spying mission of Natusko Tsuchida was going...fairly well. On the one hand, she was avoiding detection. On the other, however...she wasn't learning much about this Yushiro boy's deck. All she was able to learn for sure was that his best play was Stardust Dragon. Based on the little robot around him, it was safe to guess he was using some kind of machine-based synchro deck, but blind guesses weren't what Natsuko made; the results could go poorly if she told Kimiko her guess and it turned out she was wrong. All she could gather for sure besides that was that Yushiro had made a bet and lost, which was why he'd challenged Kimiko in the first place, and that he really wasn't confident he could beat her.

 

Serves him right, trying to step up to Kimiko's level because of a stupid bet!

 

The freakishly tall friend was named Akira, the girl was Meiko, and-

 

BZZZZZZZZZ!

 

"Also, it feels like we're being watched..."

 

"Yeah... I've got the same feeling... Something's up."

 

Oh sheet. If she hung around much longer, Natsuko would be discovered! That was a ninja's cue to get out of there. With all the speed her small and strong legs could muster, she took a sharp 180 turn and dashed away from the small group. It wasn't much information, but she'd have to report back to Kimiko with what she could get. Hopefully it was enough...

"Stupid rules-man," Leona muttered. "He's been ignoring me all day." Was this some kind of new attempt to get her to stop talking to him? Hmph, as if Leona would be so easily deterred! She'd have to figure out a new course of action; something he couldn't possibly ignore. But what?

 

Today she'd taken her lunch up to the school's roof. Being at a high-up location like that and seeing stuff from a bird's eye view was a very hypnotic experience. Now that she'd eaten and taken her fill of a higher perspective, however, it was about time to come back down. If she stayed up there to long it might get addictive, and addictions were bad. Leona had figured she'd swing by the cafeteria; there was usually something going on there during lunchtime. However, not long before she would've reached her destination, a tiny girl ran past her at high speeds, nearly crashing into her. Some people were really reckless, weren't they?

 

Before she could just discard it from her thoughts, however, she heard a buzzing noise distinctly unlike anything she'd usually hear. Were the girl and the noise related? This was interesting. And if something was interesting, Leona simply had to look into it. Thus, she followed her ears to the sound, finding...a tiny robot! It was near a gathering of three students; one of them was probably its creator. The little thing didn't seem hostile...or, if it was, it didn't look like it could do any real damage. It was kinda cute actually.

 

"Come here," Leona smiled, holding her hands out like a platform for the little bot to land on. Much to her enjoyment, it took her up on the offer and landed itself on her hands. She liked this thing. Now then, the students. They were too busy looking around for someone or something to notice the robot? Some people were really reckless, weren't they?

 

"Hey hey," Leona called out, approaching the trio with the tiny bot on her hands. "You guys should be more careful with your robot; he almost ran away. This thing's really cool too, so that wouldn't be good."

[King K. Azo]

Akira watched as Taketo flew off, attracted to something like a moth to flame. Confused, Akira watched the tiny machine fly over to a white haired girl that was roughly 3 inches shorter than Yushiro. He thought he recognized her... he reached into his pocket, pulling out his duel disk and looking at the PSA function. He had a list of all the girls on campus, and their names. It's how he organized who was good to try to push at Yushiro or not.

 

"Hey hey," the girl called out, approaching the three with the tiny bot on her hands. "You guys should be more careful with your robot; he almost ran away. This thing's really cool too, so that wouldn't be good." Ah, so this was Leona. She was a decent girl, he supposed. She was pretty flat, which Akira wasn't sure if Yushiro was into that sort of thing. As he read, he noticed that she seemed to be very irresponsible. No, that was not good. He would not let Yushiro hook up with such a bad influence! 

"Thank you very much, Leona-san," Akira said as he put away the duel disk. She didn't bad enough to just avoid, so they should be fine.

---

 

"This is quite a situation to be in," The teacher opened his own lunch, summoning forth a fork and knife with which to go at the steak. "The best way to fix a losing streak is...well, it is to win! We should duel later, so Mr. Retyunskikh can see just what is putting you in this slump. I will even give extra credit for a good duel; this is a good incentive, yes?"  Sai nodded as he listened to the man.

"Um... sir... should I just come... ya know... normally, or... in full gimmick?" Sai asked, referring to the cape and top hat he wore when he was in full entertainment mode. "Um... also... is this... private... or... in front of a class?"

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

Before Yushiro, Meiko, and Akira could look into their observer further, someone spoke up from behind them. Yushiro turned around to see Taketo in the arms of an unfamiliar girl.

 

"Hey hey. You guys should be more careful with your robot; he almost ran away. This thing's really cool too, so that wouldn't be good."

 

The little robot buzzed happily as it leapt from her hands, spinning its appendages to remain airborne and flying in a circle around her head before making its way back over to Yushiro and landing on his shoulder. Yushiro blushed. People usually thought poorly of his little robot companion, so hearing that Taketo was cool (especially from a pretty girl) had him a little flustered. He spent a few moments fishing for something to say before Akira came to his rescue.

 

"Thank you very much, Leona-san,"

 

Oh, right. He should thank her. Stupid Yushiro. He bowed his head appreciatively. "Yeah... Thank you." His cheeks got a little rosier as he spoke, to the point that people could probably notice. "I was uhhh... distracted working on my deck. Something must have caught his eye. Taketo's a bit too curious for his own good sometimes." Yushiro pretended to look away at something else. He didn't want her to think he was staring.

[Alaina]

Meiko was a bit confused as both Yushiro and Akira seemed to be alerted to something. She wasn't entirely sure what kind of mystical presence the two were picking up that was watching them, but she decided to go and look around for whatever it could be as well. However, they didn't get too much into looking for it when someone else had appeared before them. Meiko's face lit up as she recognized it to be some other kindred spirit in the pursuit of fun, and gave a wave to her. As she returned the robot, she bowed alongside everyone else and said, "thanks Leona-chan."

 

She then turned to face Yushiro and Taketo. "She's right though, it's dangerous to leave your robot alone. And Take-kun, it's not safe to wander on your own like that. You don't know what dangers could be lurking around. There could be bears, or cars or biker gangs." After chiding the duo on the importance never leaving your robot unattended, she then got a curious look on her face. She tried to track where Yushiro's eyes were affixed to, wondering what was so interesting for him to stare at, but couldn't really find anything out of the ordinary.

 

Shrugging it off, her face then lit up when she thought of something. Turning around to face the white haired girl, she placed her hand on her shoulder. "Right Leona-chan, if you're not busy this afternoon you should definitely come to see Yushiro-kun's match against Kimiko-chan." Giving a thumbs up with an enthusiastic grin on her face she said, "it's going to super awesome and exciting." 

[Yui]

---

"Thank you very much, Leona-san."

 

"Yeah... Thank you. I was uhhh... distracted working on my deck. Something must have caught his eye. Taketo's a bit too curious for his own good sometimes."

 

"Thanks Leona-chan. She's right though, it's dangerous to leave your robot alone. And Take-kun, it's not safe to wander on your own like that. You don't know what dangers could be lurking around. There could be bears, or cars or biker gangs."

 

"Or rules-man," Leona added to the list of terrible things that could whisk Taketo away. "He wouldn't like students leaving their things unattended." That was an idea perhaps. Scatter her possessions all around the school and make it an easter egg hunt so that Osamu could find her and tell her off about leaving her stuff all over the school like it was her bedroom or something? There's no way he would just ignore that.

 

"Right Leona-chan, if you're not busy this afternoon you should definitely come to see Yushiro-kun's match against Kimiko-chan. It's going to super awesome and exciting."

 

"Sounds like fun. Maybe I'll show up..." Something was bugging her. The smaller boy kept looking away from her. That was weird. "Hey," she started, walking up to the boy and leaning over to put her face directly in his view. "Is there a bug on my face that I can't feel?"

"Um... sir... should I just come... ya know... normally, or... in full gimmick? Um... also... is this... private... or... in front of a class?"

 

"We shall duel to entertain," Bronislav enthusiastically answered. "You should come fully prepared to make your audience smile, my boy!" With a laugh and a pat on the boy's back, the mountain of a man smiled and said "You should eat; lunchtime is nearly over. I will see you later today!" Smiling and humming a strange tune, Bronislav picked up his lunch and left Saiku to his own devices...and the lunch the towering chef had gifted him with.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Sure enough, another young man by the name of Balthazar Gilliad had arrived to the scene and watched the duel begin to take place... much to Emma's dismay it seemed. Shoraku didn't like the idea of someone watching him risk failure either, but it seemed to trouble Emma more than it did him, so he shrugged it off. Balthazar had asked to take on the winner, though there was always the possibility that either one could stall the duel out, and then he turned to Shoraku.

"She looks determined, mate, might just do ya in real quick."

 

"Ya think?" Shoraku asked, in a tone that implied that he'd make sure it didn't happen.

 

...

 

The duel had proved to be quite stally, and had taken up all the time in the lunch period that everyone had left. A lot of the stallish nature of the duel was likely due to Shoraku not getting the cards he wanted at the right time, but Emma proved to be a competent duelist. That Shining Hope and Crushing Despair combo was especially annoying to try and get around, but he managed it. Both duelists were sitting at 3900 Life Points apiece, and Shoraku was just about to shoot for game when suddenly, before he could even relocated a card from his hand... the bell rang. Shoraku calculated that he had a minute or two before he'd be late for class, though thankfully the room he had to go to was close by. This gave him time to ensure Emma would try to follow her out of some 'necessity'.

 

"For the record, this is a draw," said Shoraku as he disabled his Duel Disk, shutting down all the holograms and collecting the cards that he had placed on it, before he looked Emma in the eyes, "But... only because I doubt you'll leave alone if I don't, I'll tell you something. My name is Shoraku Arakawa. You'll do well to remember that. Now it's your turn, shrimp; tell me something about you. And please make it quick. We've only got two minutes at the very most."

[~Faytl~]

Balthy's excitement at the duel would quickly wane as both duelists seemed to be very standoffish to him. He sat on the sidelines, chin in his hands as he watched their duel. It was a match that dragged from the get-go, and he was very quickly bored without something interesting to watch.

 

"Geez," he said to himself as the duel progressed, drumming his gloved hand on the ground next to him, leaning back to rest against the tree he was sitting under. "These guys could use a little livening up..." He held up his left arm, perusing the screen of the orange Duel Disk that was attached there. He pressed a few buttons, finally landing on a screen reading "Emma vs Shoraku." "Emma and Shoraku, eh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he held a finger over the words. "Well, I think they need a taste of excitement!" He lowered his finger to press the button... and an obnoxious error noise popped up, a red X painting itself across his screen.

 

"Eh?" he asked, looking with disbelief at the X. "She made it a closed duel, eh...?" He slumped against the tree, breathing out a disappointed sigh. "Ah man, really? Nobody these days has any sense of fun, do they?"

 

As the duel closed with the ringing bell, he rose, adjusting the goggles atop his head as he walked to the two. They looked to be having a very intense conversation. Geez, what was with these two? "You guys sure do take this dueling thing too seriously, don't ya?" he asked, putting his arms behind his head and yawning, perhaps a little obnoxiously and theatrically. "If either of ya wanna find out how to have fun in a duel for once, lemme know, why don't cha?" he asked, winking at the two with a thumb raised in the air.

 

"Till next time, Intense-kun, Silence-kun~" he called as he walked towards class, waving jovially at first Shoraku, then Emma as he departed.

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

"She's right though, it's dangerous to leave your robot alone. And Take-kun, it's not safe to wander on your own like that. You don't know what dangers could be lurking around. There could be bears, or cars or biker gangs."

 

"Or rules-man."

 

"Who?" Yushiro gave Leona a bit of a confused look. Before long though, his eyes were drawn to her legs. He caught himself and looked somewhere else for what must have been the fourth or fifth time. Stupid Yushiro, letting his eyes wander like that. The last thing he needed right now was to make things awkward. He'd just met this girl after all.

 

"He wouldn't like students leaving their things unattended."

 

He was about to muster up the courage to ask Leona who the heck she was talking about, but then...

 

"Right Leona-chan, if you're not busy this afternoon you should definitely come to see Yushiro-kun's match against Kimiko-chan. It's going to super awesome and exciting."

 

Oh, no. Please no. Not another person coming out to watch him play against-

 

"Sounds like fun. Maybe I'll show up..."

 

-Kimiko. Wonderful. It was embarrassing enough being forced to challenge her, but playing in front of an audience made Yushiro even more uncomfortable about it. What if he lost? What would people say about him then? What would he-

 

"Hey." Suddenly Leona was in his face. Right in his face. He could almost feel her breath as she talked. "Is there a bug on my face that I can't feel?" If Yushiro's cheeks had been rosy before, they were beet red now. She must have caught him staring. So much for not making things awkward.

 

"N-n-n-no, there isn't. I was just... I was... uhh...." Yushiro could barely control his stuttering. What was he supposed to say to her? He wracked his brain for viable options for what seemed to him like an eternity as Leona kept staring into his face. At last, he was provided with one by the ringing of the lunch bell. Yushiro wasted no time. "Oh Jeez! I've gotta get going. Don't wanna be late for class, after all!" There was almost a smoke trail behind him as he gathered his belongings and bolted. Safe, for the time being at least.

 

---

 

The day had only gotten hotter as it had progressed, and with the afternoon sun it was now a balmy 70 degrees. Yushiro wiped the sweat from his brow as he waited at one of Blue Yonder's circular practice duel fields, secretly hoping that Kimiko had forgotten and he would be spared. The flat, metallic sphere of an arena reflected the light of Ambrosia's artificial sun, only serving to make it even hotter. It was bad enough Yushiro briefly considered the idea of using his Duel Disk to activate an Umi field spell to cool off. That idea was quickly crushed though, both by the realization that swimming wouldn't exactly be fun, and the arrival of someone.

 

"Here we go..." He gulped audibly.

 

 

[The Warden]

The Champion of Strangeness

 

The duel was almost ready, and Salem was super excited. He had a pair of Jutte Fighters setting up a pair of mobile cameras on the edge of the arena, so they could record the duels from various angles. "Okay, are you two done yet?" he asked his monsters.

 

"Jutte!" they both confirmed.

 

"Gooood" Salem grinned as he checked the focus on another camera. He wanted all of the cameras to be spot on and as clear as day. And with all the tech stuff done, all that was left was the major players. That guy Yushiro was here, but Kimiko had yet to show up. Salem didn't know much about her, but apparently she was a pretty good duelist, which probably meant that Yushiro was going to get his ass kicked. Actually, now that he recalled, the guy wasn't playing with a complete Extra Deck, which was why he was receiving donations. Frowning, Salem eyed his own deckbox, and to his Jutte Fighter assistants. "Think I should help him out?" Salem inquired.

 

"Jutte?" one of the Fighters shrugged.

 

Taking that as a yes, Salem casually strolled across the duel field, grinning like a creep at the petrified Yushiro. "Hey there! I'm Salem from the AV Club, this is going to be an awesome duel right? Well, I want to help make it more awesome by helping you out. I heard you don't have a full Extra Deck, so I'm going to loan you some cards from mine" he said in a way that almost sounded completely creepy. Still grinning, Salem handed a Goyo Guardian, Goyo Predator, and Goyo King to Yushiro. "Be sure to use them in the duel, as they'll look awesome for the video recording. So, don't lose too quickly, and maybe try to win. Everyone will be amazed if you do; in fact, Ambrosia might be, since this will be going up on Dueltube" he smiled, walking off with a wave.

 

---

 

Coach Hardass

 

Done with lunch, Dirk was preparing for an afternoon class when a Blackhawk interrupted him. It squawked loudly as it saluted, and then handed a photo to him. Dirk looked it over carefully, before eying his monster. "This isn't edited. Her locker ACTUALLY looks like that?" he discriminatingly demanded.

 

The Blackhawk nodded, its beak twisted into a slight grin. "No one saw you or the others do it?"

 

The monster shook its head again, and Dirk grinned evilly. "Awesome. Good job."

[Draconus297]

Emma had left Shoraku with her name, as well as the fact that she was always out for information first- while she didn't outright say she was trying to psychologically profile people, she had heavily implied it.

 

Honestly, she hadn't expected Acid Golems, which had only made the Duel with Shoraku more intriguing. She had actually had to resort to Dark Hole of all things just to stay in the Duel at one point. Honestly, with how much raw power Shoraku had commanded, Emma had gained a slight respect for the heterochromic boy. That, and an even greater desire to peel his mind like an orange to reach the information she desired.

 

However, hearing that the socially awkward, generally spineless Midori Yushiro was going up against the arrogant alpha ace known as Kimiko Hatakeyama had called forth her attention. Honestly, it sounded as if someone had lost a bet there, as neither of the two would be likely to approach the other of their own free will. However, regardless of the motivation, Emma Pathos was one intrigued aspiring psychologist, so naturally she was waiting. She had engaged Solid Vision to ride Delta Flyer to an ideal watch point near the front, and was taking advantage of her small frame.

 

Her Duel Disk was in Recording Mode to capture anything she might miss, and she was manually taking notes. This was one redhead that would not miss a single moment, a single quirk, of this Duel or its participants.

[Yui]

---

The time had come. It was hotter than Kimiko would have liked, but this much she could tolerate. It was all worth it, for today was the day somebody had once again challenged her, and once again they'd be left in the dust in awe of Kimiko Hatakeyama's exquisite dueling prowess! To make matters even better, taking a look around, Kimiko saw cameras and more. Seemed that her duel was generating quite a bit of talk around the school, and now this boy would be more than just another win. He'd be an example! An example to anyone who could ever doubt Kimiko's greatness!

 

Kimiko stepped onto the duel field, not particularly pleased with the heat but putting up with it. Across from her was the boy brave or stupid (probably stupid) enough to challenge her: Yushiro, whose best play was Stardust Dragon, based on what Natsuko had told her. "It's not too late to back out," Kimiko taunted, equipping her Duel Disk and activating it. "Spare yourself some humiliation and all? Then again...then you'd have left a cute girl waiting for you all day only to cancel at the last second. Which one's more important to you, that, or your pride?"

The school day was over, and Leona definitely didn't want to take any textbooks home with her. Those weren't fun to read most of the time. So, where better to put one's books than in their locker? Leona turned the corner, approached her locker...and dropped her things in horror. Somebody had been here, and Leona knew exactly who it was. Written all over her locker were cheesy, untrue phrases, including, but not limited to...

 

RULES R COOL

RULES RULE

RULES OR FOOLS

 

This was an emergency of the utmost priority! Leona knew exactly who to turn to in this time of dire need. But first, preventative measures. Opening up her locker, Leona pulled forth a permanent marker black as could be. She then put her textbooks in the locker, closed it, opened up the marker, and left a note of her own over each of these cheesy lies on her locker. The message was pretty clear.

 

X

 

Nodding happily at her handiwork designed to deal with somebody's handiwork, Leona made a beeline to the one place she rather ironically turned to in her darkest times. The Student Council's office.

"Rules-man it's an emergency!" Leona shouted, out of breath, slamming the Student Council office door wide open. "My locker is...huh? You're not rules-man."

 

"He's not in," the student at the desk - the Student Council's Vice-President - replied. "What was this about your locker, Ms. Little?"

 

"...nevermind."

"...and now I'm here," Leona finished, handing the girl next to her an abridged version of the story behind this afternoon's events and looking rather distraught. "I could use watching a fun duel after all that."

[~Faytl~]

Balthy walked into the duel arena, grinning from ear to ear. He had heard over the day that Yushiro, of all people, would be dueling Kimiko Hatekeyama. He wouldn't have expected the rather meek Yushiro to agree to a challenge like that, but he was happy he had a duel to watch, one that sounded truly spectacular. Kimiko was no slouch, if the rumors were true. Even though she was a year below Balthy, he had heard of her ability.

 

"Heeey, Yushiro!" he called across the duel field as he stood next to one of the cameras pointed right at the dueling area. "Best of luck fighting Hatekeyama, Yushiro!" he yelled, flashing a thumbs-up sign. "You've got guts, I'll give ya that! Rootin' for ya!" 

 

"Oh, hey, Silence-kuuuun!" he called, recognizing Emma atop the dragon monster that was flying over the duel field. He didn't think she could hear him, but the nickname amused him. As Salem walked back to the camera, Balthy took an interest in it, poking at it curiously. "What's a camera doing here, eh?" he asked nobody in particular, moving around it to peer through the lens, seeing Yushiro and the newly arrived Kimiko through it. "Eh? Are they recording this? Heeeey, these babies are mobile!" He poked his head over the camera, yelling to Yushiro with encouragement: "Hey, Yushiro, give us a show, eh? The camera's waiting, and so are we! Do our year proud!" 

 

He plonked himself in the stands next to a boy who was sitting quietly by himself, clapping him on the back with a gloved hand and a jovial grin. "Hey, Sai-san, how are we today?" he asked, raising his hands to form a square frame with his fingers that, from where they were sitting, encompassed both Yushiro and Kimiko. "Everyone seems to think this'll be the duel of the century right here... What do you think? Personally, I'm still waiting on you to accept my challenge." He raised his hands, spreading them out in the air in front of them. "I never get to show my idea of a good duel to anyone around here..." he glumly complained, adjusting a hand to point at the Delta Flyer above the field, carrying Emma. "That's a dull one right up there, don't let her fancy dragon monster tell you any different." He leaned on his knees, looking dejected. "All I wanna do is have a bit of fun, show these goons my Pendulum Summon." 

 

He shrugged, smile renewing. "Still... Yushiro-san fighting Hatekayama... should be good, eh? Even if Yushiro loses, we'll see Hatekayama's dueling, at least."

[Alaina]

With the school day having ended, there was only one place that Meiko could possibly go. It was what she had been waiting for since the lunch break had ended, and most definitely a lot of others had been as well. The sun was shining, the weather was the perfect temperature for a good old fashioned summer duel, closing out their break and going into the school year. And so here she was, waiting around as the two duelists walked into the view. And next to her, was Leona. "Oh my, that definitely sounds like trouble Leona-chan," nodding in agreement  at the awful story that was being conveyed to her about what happened after lunch. As she finished her story, Meiko then put a microphone up to her mouth as she said, "but if it's a fun duel you want, then this is the place for you!" Her voice reverberated through the entire arena, as it was now quite clear to everyone that she was using the sound systems of the place. 

 

"Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us here today, whether it be in person in the heat or at home on the Dueltube. We here at Blue Yonder Academy are proud to present to you our annual End of Summer Student Duel!" There was no such thing. "I'm Ishihara Meiko, providing you exciting duel commentary and banter as your host for this event. And next to me we have my co-host and partner, Leona Little!" In no way were either of them commentating planned for this event. "Say hi to the crowd Leona-chan." After her co-host spoke her part she said, "well, folks, you might be wondering what is going on here at the End of Summer Student Duel and I will be glad to inform you on it."

 

Stretching out one of her arms she announced, "in this corner, we have our resident champion of the EoSSD! The princess of ghostly fires and heir to a major corporation that you might recognize, our synchro user Hatakeyama Kimiko!" She paused for a bit, as if expecting the crowd to cheer. Switching arms and direction they were stretched out towards she continued. "And in the other corner, we have our challenger and underdog against this princess. A tinkerer with a need for speed, our other synchro user, Midori Yushiro!" With introductions out of the way, what went next into commentating? Uh, predictions? Well it was obvious that Kimiko was way more favored to win. But she couldn't exactly demoralize Yushiro either. Difficult. "Records show that our own Hatekayama-san has a pretty good win rate here amongst the student body of Blue Yonder here, so if you were a betting man then your money would probably go towards her. But don't count our dark horse Midori-san out just yet. Who knows what kind of strengths this boy's been hiding? He may just throw all of you for a loop. After all, a duel's not over until the last card's been played." There we go, that should instill confidence into both duelists. Turning to her co-host she asked, "and what are your thoughts on the matchup, Leona-chan?"

[King K. Azo]

Akira looked around in slight awe at the practice duel field. They were packed full of people. I mean, sure, Yushiro challenged a rich girl, one that was considered one of the best duelists in the school, but did it warrant this many people? Oh well, more people would see what a good duelist Yushiro was!

 

"Here we go..." Yushiro gulped audibly. Akira place a hand on Yushiro's shoulder. 

 

"Yes, here we go. Now you can show them just once what you're made of!" He said confidently, hoping to raise Yushiro's spirit, even a little. Some strange guy came and gave Yushiro some cards and proclaimed this fight would be on Dueltube. Huh. Guess he would have to look it up later. Kimiko come on to the field next, looking extremely haughty, which honestly annoyed the steadfast duelist.

 

"It's not too late to back out," Kimiko taunted, equipping her Duel Disk and activating it. "Spare yourself some humiliation and all? Then again...then you'd have left a cute girl waiting for you all day only to cancel at the last second. Which one's more important to you, that, or your pride?" Oh, she was insulting Yushiro's manliness. That would not fly.

"It would be a shame if he left a cute girl waiting. Too bad there is none here, just a screeching harpy," Akira taunted before saluting to Yushiro. "Best of luck to you, the man Yushiro," With his final encouragement, Akira headed up to the stands, pushing his way through the crowd and steadfastly flopping down by Meiko. Time to see what would happen.

 

---

 

Sai was on the bleachers, looking over his deck. He made final adjustments to it, but he was still nervous. Could he win? Would he? On second thought, why where there so many people here today?! There seemed to be another duel going on. Perfect... maybe he didn't have to duel today after all. He checked his bag sitting next to him. He had his hat, mask, and cape in there, so he was making absolutely sure no one stole it. 

 

He was so focused that it was a legitimate shock when Balthy plonked himself in the stands and clapped him on the back with a gloved hand and a jovial grin. "Hey, Sai-san, how are we today?" he asked, raising his hands to form a square frame with his fingers. Ah, Balthy. He had seen him in class, but never actually really sat down to talk to him. Still, he seemed like a nice guy...  

 

"Everyone seems to think this'll be the duel of the century right here... What do you think?" He really didn't have any thoughts on this duel, seeing as he didn't know it was going to happen! "Personally, I'm still waiting on you to accept my challenge." Sai scratched his cheek at that. Oh yeah... he did get challenged a few times, didn't he? It just kinda slipped the orange haired boy's mind. Balthy raised his hands, spreading them out in the air in front of them. "I never get to show my idea of a good duel to anyone around here..." he glumly complained, adjusting a hand to point at the Delta Flyer above the field, carrying some sort of girl. Sai really couldn't tell from here. "That's a dull one right up there, don't let her fancy dragon monster tell you any different."

 

He leaned on his knees, looking dejected. "All I wanna do is have a bit of fun, show these goons my Pendulum Summon." He shrugged, smile renewing. "Still... Yushiro-san fighting Hatekayama... should be good, eh? Even if Yushiro loses, we'll see Hatekayama's dueling, at least." Saiku chuckled a bit nervously.

 

"W-well... I-I don't even know what's g-going on, to be honest," Sai muttered. "I'm just here because a teacher told me to be...," he shook his head. "As f-for your challenge... m-maybe when I get out of this slump I'm in... I rather give you a good duel then a curbstomp...," As for his final question... "I mean... I really hope she loses... the loli needs to b-be knocked down many pegs...," He muttered as he rubbed his arm. "Her attitude and her little gang really are starting to get to me...,"

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

"Hey there! I'm Salem from the AV Club, this is going to be an awesome duel right? Well, I want to help make it more awesome by helping you out. I heard you don't have a full Extra Deck, so I'm going to loan you some cards from mine" Before Yushiro could react, or even process what this unfamiliar student was saying, cards were being shoved into his hands. "Be sure to use them in the duel, as they'll look awesome for the video recording. So, don't lose too quickly, and maybe try to win. Everyone will be amazed if you do; in fact, Ambrosia might be, since this will be going up on Dueltube"

 

As quickly as he showed up, Salem was gone, leaving Yushiro with nothing but a dumbfounded look on his face and a few synchro monsters. Akira didn't say anything, either. He was probably just as confused as Yushiro was. Still, a monster as potent as Goyo Guardian might come in handy. He quickly slipped all three cards into his deck box. Akira put his hand on Yushiro's shoulder as he did so. "Yes, here we go. Now you can show them just once what you're made of!"

 

Too bad Yushiro wasn't made of all that much.At the very least, Kimiko hadn't shown-

 

"It's not too late to back out,"

 

-up. Scratch that.

 

"Spare yourself some humiliation and all? Then again...then you'd have left a cute girl waiting for you all day only to cancel at the last second. Which one's more important to you, that, or your pride?"

 

"It would be a shame if he left a cute girl waiting. Too bad there is none here, just a screeching harpy,"

 

"Jeez. You'd think he was the one dueling. At least let me speak for myself, Akira?" Yushiro sighed and inserted his deck into his duel disk. To his chagrin, a sizable crowd had gathered to watch them play. Some students were even riding atop their own monsters in order to get a bird's eye view. Like it or not, there was no backing out now... not that Yushiro would have. If nothing else, he was a man of his word. He put on his best game face. To an untrained observer, he might not even have seemed nervous.

 

"if you're trying to scare me out of this, its not going to work. I'm not the kind of guy who backs out of a challenge." In typical Yushiro Midori fashion, he produced a flipping coin from his pocket, flicking it high into the air with his thumb and an upward thrust of his arm as the action field took shape around them. "Call it, Kimiko!" he called out as the blade of his duel disk ignited.

[Yui]

---

"It would be a shame if he left a cute girl waiting. Too bad there is none here, just a screeching harpy."

 

"What was that!?" The giant had some nerve, calling her a screeching harpy! How dare he! As soon as Kimiko was done with this Yushiro boy, the giant was next in line for--

 

"If you're trying to scare me out of this, its not going to work. I'm not the kind of guy who backs out of a challenge."

 

Oh. Well, Yushiro continued proving to be either very brave or very stupid. Tough to tell which, though. Soon enough, he pulled out a coin from his pocket and tossed it into the air, calling out "Call it, Kimiko!"

 

"Tails!" Kimiko called, watching the coin as the solid vision machines started up. As for the Action Field...Kimiko reached into her pocket with one hand while the duel disk strapped around the other activated, igniting to life with a red display. The hand in her pocket came forth and pointed upward, revealing an Action Field card. "Activate Action Field: Lunar Shrine!" The Action Field began to take shape, creating a moon-like surface beneath the two duelists. Between the two, on Kimiko's right, was a large shinto-style shrine that appeared to be made up of countless pieces of recycled metal. Above them were countless stars that seemed to stretch on in the void of space forever.

 

And then the coin landed, and was revealed as tails. That meant Kimiko was going first.

 

"My turn!" Kimiko drew her starting hand and looked the cards over. This would more than suffice. "First, I activate the spell card Foolish Burial, to send one monster from my deck straight to the graveyard!" The image of a tombstone with an open grave in front of it appeared before Kimiko, as the girl looked through her deck, pulling out one card and revealing it. "I choose Shiranui Spiritmaster!" The image of a man in robes descended from above, landing in the open grave as the tombstone fell forward, sealing the exit and burying her Spiritmaster. "Next, I activate my field spell, Shiranui Style Synthesis!" Ghostly white flames appeared around Kimiko as her field spell met her duel disk, and it wasn't even a second before she took the liberty of explaining its effect. "Next, I'll activate the effect of my field spell by discarding Shiranui Spectralsword! This let's me Special Summon one Zombie-Type monster with zero defense from my graveyard, and I'll summon Shiranui Spectralsword!" A white ball of fire flared up on the ground in front of Kimiko, and from it stepped the image of a pale ghost of a samurai, with an indicator of 800 ATK above his head. "Next, I Normal Summon Shiranui Smith from my hand," she added, and next to the ghostly samurai appeared a gruff old man with a hammer and a lot of facial hair, a display indicating 1000 ATK appearing over his head.

 

"Now, by tuning my Level 2 Spectralsword with my Level 4 Smith, I synchro summon!" An anvil appeared before the Smith, equipped with a red-hot blade to be forged. The Smith raised his hammer up high, absorbing the essence of Spectralsword into his hammer before striking down on the blade, infusing the sword with ghostly flames as the sword itself  cooled, revealing a red blade shaped like fire. "Synchro Summon: Shiranui Samuraisaga!" The Smith tossed the blade up into the sky and faded away, but not long after, another figure descended from above, grabbing the red sword and landing just in front of Kimiko. What had taken the Smith's place was the figure of a samurai. There wasn't much of note about him, but the spirit of Spectralsword could be clearly seen hovering just behind Kimiko's new synchro monster, over whom an indicator of 2500 ATK appeared.

 

"And that's not all! When Shiranui Smith is used as a synchro material, I can add one Shiranui card from my deck to my hand! I choose Shiranui Sage!" Kimiko added the card to her hand, took one last look at the cards she had assembled, and nodded confidently. "I end my turn!"

---

The End of Summer Student Duel (there was no such thing) was underway! Meiko was doing a fine job introducing any and all spectators to the competitors of this duel, and then asked Leona a question that - as a fellow commentator - she should have seen coming.

 

"And what are your thoughts on the matchup, Leona-chan?"

 

"If I was putting money on this duel, I'd bet on the princess," Leona answered bluntly. "But robo-boy might surprise us too; I've never seen him duel so I don't know what to expect."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

It seemed like things were going pretty fast for Roy after the Art Class. He had gotten to meet, figuratively, Salem Noir in his class. A sibling to the P.E. teacher that seemed more like a drill sergeant along with a Pro-Duelist by the name of Syndri. Still, Roy did make quite a note on actually approaching this young man and dueling him one on one sometime.

 

Nevertheless, this was to be a later event for him. Right now, Roy sat down at a table. The lunch that was served, not one of the best that he ever had...but then again, it was school food. He did hear about how sometimes that these schools would have some lunches that weren't altogether great. But this was irrelevant to him now...

 

Hmm... Roy sat down, his deck before him as he took a sip from his drink. This was a normal thing he would do when he needed to think: look at the deck and find the many different combinations and new ideas to use in duels. Yeah, using Carbuncle with the Crystal Promise card to bring out an entire row of Crystal Beasts in order to fuse is one of the better ways to work. Then again...if I can make sure that I have at least two of my Pegasus in the Spell and Trap zone when this happens...easy access to restock back there! He grinned slightly, before glancing at his extra deck. That way, Heartlandraco can be effective on the not being targeted for attacks. Yeah, that'll work.

 

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There's a duel goin' down today! Gonna be that kid Yushiro versus that Hatakeyama heir, Kimiko!"

"Really? Dude we gotta watch!!"

 

Roy's ears caught wind of this conversation, hearing that there would be a duel going on...specifically against Kimiko Hatakeyama. A small sigh escaped Roy's lips, beginning to pick up his cards. Jeez...Kimiko is already causing problems? he stood up, putting his Crystal Beasts back in his deck box. I really hate to be the guy that Kimiko is going up against.

 

 

It seemed like the day dragged on forever, but now, as Roy made his way towards the sight of the duel between Yushiro and Kimiko, he had a bit of a pep in his step.

 

This would be the first duel, that he knew of, of this semester and against two people he didn't know (save Kimiko). Nevertheless, he wanted to see how things played out. And when he walked straight into the duel field's stands, he stood watching as they had only just begun. And Action Field...Lunar Shrine.

 

"First, I activate the field spell, Shiranui Style Synthesis! Next, I'll activate the effect of my field spell by discarding Shiranui Spectralsword! This let's me Special Summon one Zombie-Type monster with zero defense from my graveyard, and without any other choice, I summon Shiranui Spectralsword!"

 

It seemed that Kimiko went first between the two. He leaned against the railing, sighing as he shook his head slightly. "Jeez, just like that, Kimiko is already rushing turn one." he chuckled, continuing to watch how this turn played out.

 

"Now, by tuning my Level 2 Spectralsword with my Level 4 Smith, I synchro summon! Synchro Summon: Shiranui Samuraisaga!"

 

There it was. One of Kimiko's Shiranui Synchros: Samuraisaga. Roy shook his head a little as he watched the Hatakeyama girl finish her turn by adding Shiranui Sage to hand. Well...if she plays that right with Synthesis, she'll be able to banish Sage and get two banished Shiranui monsters. Roy thought, nodding. She's setting up for later...

 

Truth be told, there were a few duels where Roy and Kimiko faced off and a few times he did lose. Regardless, he devoted quite a bit of time to learning how the Shiranui worked...and from a strategy standpoint, it was amazing. Something worthy of Kimiko.

 

Roy turned to look over at Yushiro, smirking slightly. Yushiro...guess that's him. Let's see what he comes up with.

[a coffee]

 

"The start of another school year... my dormitory is still far too small." Elizabeth had been staring at her ceiling for what seemed like hours, laying belly-up on her stiff bed, a single pillow supporting her neck and displacing the waves of straight, platinum hair she had only taken a short time to brush today. She hadn't slept particularly well the night prior, so her blinds were cracked only slightly to let a sliver of light through, revealing the swirled outlines of smoke in the air from her cigarette. She was not to be smoking inside of the dormitories by strict instruction of the community leader last semester, but Elizabeth knew full well that no more than a slap on the wrist would occur for doing it again; the school didn't have the heart to bring down any real punishments on her since the incident, and she never did anything too awful anyhow.

 

Elizabeth had spaced out for a while now; mindlessly smoking until the embers brushed up against her skin and burned her slightly. She sharply took a breath in, as pain rushed to her fingers, and ash fell against her brilliant, white teeth. She stomped out the cigarette against the ground and sputtered a bit as she attempted to remove ashes from her mouth while making her way to a washroom to cool down the burn between her two fingers. Only after the cool droplets of water coagulated on her slight burns, bringing a rush of relief to her aching fingers, did she become aware of the thunderous noise coming from the campus. Elizabeth gently groaned as she examined the now tender skin at the tip of her forefinger and middle finger as she made her way towards the window. She pulled up on the strap of her camisole lightly, making sure everything was appropriate before pulling up her blinds and looking to the ground below. From the looks of things, it was a duel, and one everybody wanted to see. She couldn't quite make out who it was from her distance, but for people to have gathered around, even on their own monsters, it was clearly important. 

 

"I guess I had better check up on the duel; Father would be upset if he's to find out I'd been lazing about again." Elizabeth sighed; she hadn't done any cleaning yet; her clothes were still inside of the bins and things associated with moving back into a living space. She pulled a sun dress out of her bin, laying it against her bed and lightly brushing the wrinkles out of the soft, white fabric with her fingers. The dress was littered with small red streaks and swirls that gave the image of twirling wind pushing red petals through the air; it was her favorite dress, and probably the only part about summer she truly enjoyed. Elizabeth would make the necessary wardrobe adjustments, topping off her outfit with matching white sandals. Pulling her hair back into her classic ponytail, with bangs gently placed around the curve of her face, she made her way out of the dormitory, deckbox placed gently into her plain, black, backpack.

 

 

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By the time Elizabeth had made it down to the duel arena, she had only seen Kimiko play her Shiranui Samuraisaga. Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow as she made her way through the crowds of students; some were delighted to see her out and about, some were not so pleased to see the mopey senior, as is typically the case with popular people, whether it be formerly or otherwise. Elizabeth never stopped to talk though, she would make her way right up to the front of the action, making sure she got a good view of the duel, both studying them and to get a profile on these two students she had never seen before. To her, it was amazing how much she had missed over the course of the last 2 years of hiding and introversion; she had hardly recognized most of these kids. Maybe some of them were familiar from a class or in passing, but many new faces surprised her.

 

Elizabeth took a long gaze at both combatants individually; the girl, which she had derived from the cheering crowd was named Kimiko, took her by surprise especially; not only was she incredibly small, but her deck featured quite the vicious archetype, "A Shiranui deck? So aggressive for a girl so young." Elizabeth silently thought of the strategies she would employ against a deck of this particular type, soon looking over to the equally young boy with partially dyed hair. What reason could these two have for dueling so early in the year? It's been no time at all and already it would appear these two have taken some sort exception to each other. Still, even if Elizabeth found it to be needlessly dramatic, it did get her out of her dormitory, so perhaps she should be thankful for all of this. She looked on, waiting for either someone to approach her, or for Yushiro to make his move.