Yu-Gi-Oh! Skies [IC]

[a coffee]

 

"It was a trap, for one, and for two, no s***; luck in general can't be reliably replicated."

 

Elizabeth, while surprised, would not be caught missing a beat. This younger boy certainly had some kind of attitude; not something that sat great with the senior.

 

"Hmm... is that not what I said? Ah well." Elizabeth gave a short gaze to the open lighter, plucking the cigarette from her own mouth and into the flame. She would take one strong puff from the cigarette, embers screaming a bright orange as the flame danced through the mixture of tobacco and various chemicals. Elizabeth slowly curled her bottom lip and blew the smoke towards her left ear, as to avoid blowing the smoke in anyone's face but her own. After she was satisfied with the sweet rush of temporary stress relief provided by her vice, Elizabeth continued on with the boy,

 

"A more careful deck building strategy would not require such ludicrous luck to pick up a win. Whether or not the girl was knowledgeable of card effects is irrelevant; anyone could see her deck was stronger... At least I hope it was plainly seen." Elizabeth nodded slightly, taking another drag from her cigarette, this time letting the smoke more freely dance in the late summer breeze. Her platinum hair flowing gently, still wrapped tight in her ponytail. Her soft gaze examined the young boy; wasn't he hot with that scarf on? She eventually decided staring would be rude; it probably wasn't all that long that she had examined him, but this one was sassy enough as it is.

 

"Well, thanks for the light, anyhow." Elizabeth slowly tucked her cigarettes back into the front pouch of her backpack, following the general direction of the slowly dissipating crowd. Seems as if she had come out from her dorm for nothing. At least it was a pleasant day; perhaps she would take a short walk, or go dancing.

 

[~Faytl~]

"Impossible!" 

 

Blythe had stood up as the events of the duel unfolded, eyes glued to the radiant Stardust Dragon that had come to Yushiro's field. That he had endured Kimiko's attack with a lucky Action Card, that wasn't too unusual, but being able to summon a Level 8 Synchro Monster in this situation... in addition to having Armory Arm and Tyrant Wing both in place to ensure a One Turn Kill?!

 

Her eyes narrowed as she kept an eye on the retreating Yushiro. "Midori Yushiro, you surprise me," she said contemplatively, quickly descending the steps as she stalked towards the exit to the arena. Her path would take her past Kimiko, and she scoffed as her gaze found the defeated girl, averting her gaze dismissively. 

 

"Not even a single point of damage. Great work, Hatekeyama," she said sarcastically. She saw Roxie suddenly jump on Midori, and her narrowed gaze narrowed even further.

 

"Back off, Fujiwara," she told her fellow senior sharply as she caught up with the pair. "If anyone talks to Midori, it's me. Unless you want to make the decision to get in my way..." she said threateningly, walking around the pair to stand cross-armed in front of Yushiro. She was shorter than Roxy, and only an inch or so taller than Yushiro, but she somehow seemed to loom much larger. 

 

"Interesting dueling you have there, Midori," she said, the civility of her words marred somewhat by the flinty timbre of her voice. "Especially that Stardust Dragon of yours..." She tapped the sleek duel disk that was attached at her belt, a curved silver model with dark purple trimming, smiling. She looked a bit like a shark. "You can expect a challenge from me in future... I would get ready," she assured him, turning on her heel and flashing Roxy another glare. "Don't waste your time with Fujiwara," she said, not bothering to hide her scathing tone. "She's only going to hold you back, opponent or otherwise." 

 

- - - - - - -

 

Balthy so far hadn't said anything about the outcome of the duel. Not that anyone could understand, at least. He had dissolved into excited shouting when Armory Arm had equipped itself to Stardust Dragon and made it the strongest monster on the field, and he had been unintelligible since. It took him a solid minute of running up and down the same six steps to finally calm down. Calm enough to make complete sentences, at least. 

 

"He wiped her out in a single turn! A SINGLE TURN!" he hooted at the top of his lungs. He smacked a handrail repeatedly. "Sai-san, he beat a whole field of- Oh, Sai-san?" He looked around, realizing Sai had left in the confusion. "Ey, where did ya go, Sai-san? Don't leave me here without talking about Yushiro-san's flawless victory!" He slumped into his seat over-dramatically, groaning.

 

"Just when I need to talk to the guy he vanishes, jeez," he muttered, before looking to the side to see Takara was still there. "Ah, Fujimoto-san, wasn't that AMAZING?" he asked, wide-eyed as he gushed about Yushiro's move. "Tyrant Nebula Double Knuckle... That's what I'll call that! It can be Yushiro-san's signature!" He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... I think I could counter that, though! I have to see if I can, where did Yushiro-san- Dammit! He's gone too!" He slammed his head into his hands, groan renewed. "I have to face that Tyrant Nebula Double Knuckle, or something like it! I can't prove myself as a duelist until I defeat a Grade-A combo like that!" 

 

"Do you have anything that powerful and awesome in your deck, Fujimoto-san?" he asked suddenly, grinning widely. "You look like you'd be a great Action Duelist... You're so tall! You can reach all the Action Cards easy!"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"Well... if you say so," Shoraku stated in a reluctant manner. He didn't agree with the inability/refusal to read other players' card effects not being a factor in one's lose of a duel; on the contrary, he always believed that to be a deciding factor on who exactly deserved the win, versus who exactly got it. But considering the girl was adamant that Kimiko had the tools to win, he was in no mood to debate over it. He'd already been drained between school-work and trying to get a decent appointment to see his little sister Mami in the hospital, so the less he'd have to hear from others right now, the better.
 
"Well, thanks for the light, anyhow," Shoraku was busy rolling his own cigarette, so didn't respond immediately. Just as he finished, however...
 
"Yeah, sure," he began to light the cigarette, figuring he had time for a drag or two before his alleged appointment.


Meanwhile, back where the duel... was by this point, Takara slowly began to inch towards Yushiro, but seeing two girls already fight over him discouraged her from committing to the advance. It would be better if Takara caught Yushiro alone before going about asking if he could suggest any improvements to her deck. But for now, she let him slip away... seemingly to the disappointment of Balthazar of all people. Despite that, though...

"Do you have anything that powerful and awesome in your deck, Fujimoto-san?" Balthazar asked suddenly, grinning widely as he did so, "You look like you'd be a great Action Duelist... You're so tall! You can reach all the Action Cards easy!"

 

"Weeeeellllllll... I maybe tall, but... I'm... not a good runner... at all," Takara responded hesitantly, not wanting to undermine herself but feeling obligated to be honest, "On top of that, my enhanced reach wouldn't mean much if I don't know where the Action Cards actually are, but that's... something I can look into? I guess? I mean... I'll have to schedule for some dueling practice and I don't have my own... Action... Card... dispersing thingy, for obvious reasons."

 

Now she felt as though she was waffling on about nothing in particular. This is why she was poor at holding an actual conversation. In any case, Takara found herself ejecting her deck and her Extra Deck from her Duel Disk and looking through it for the umpteenth time. She'd managed to cut the main deck down to 20 monsters, 10 spells and 10 traps, which was a good ratio to have for any deck, but beyond that it was a mess. The most notable cards in it were Chaos Necromancer, Relinquished, Thousand-Eyes Idol, a Skull Servant which was in there for no reason that Takara could work out, Black Illusion Ritual, Polymerization, Pre-Preparation of Rites, One for One, Raigeki of all things which she forgot she had, Graceful Revival and Drowning Mirror Force. The rest of the spells and traps were all stally in nature, something Balthazar would no doubt disapprove of if he managed to look into it. The Extra Deck, though, was infinitely more organized, with what Thousand-Eyes Restrict and a whole bunch of Rank 1 Number Cards, including Lion-Heart and Number Archive which was interesting enough. Though she was out of ideas as to how to improve the deck as a whole... except one.

 

"Do you think I could run Dystopia the Despondent in here?" Takara asked Balthazar, "I was just thinking, maybe... just maybe I might need a boss with more staying power..."

[Alaina]

After having finished their commentary, Meiko had turned the microphone of hers off and placed it down. She wasn't at all worried about returning it, and wasn't entirely sure where she even found the thing in the first place. But it was fine where it was now. "Good work on the commentating Leona-chan." After complimenting her fellow co-host, she then decided to go and do the only thing that a friend would do at this current time. Getting down from the stands and walking over to the winner, she gave a big wave to him as she shouted. "Good job on the win Yush-" she stopped her praise mid sentence though as she saw just what was going on around the boy. Or rather, was completely oblivious to what was going around him and instead just saw who was near him. 

 

However, she had completely forgotten any kind of animosity towards the girl she had talked with earlier during the duel, and completely neglected the expression on their face or what they were even saying to begin with. As such a sort of mischievous expression went across her face as she had a bit of a sly grin form as well. "Oh, I see you're a bit busy here, Yushiro-kun, you sly dog you. I'll just leave you to it then," and as if unintentionally leaving the boy to his doom, she gave a bit of a wave to the boy as she was about to leave. However, feeling it'd be rude to exclude the other, she also gave a wave to the other male next to him saying, "see ya later too, Akira-man."  And with that, left the two. 

 

Instead, she decided to go check out the other of the two duelists. The person in question hadn't really seemed to do much, yet, and no one else had really approached her, so Meiko just casually walked over to her. "Great duel out there Kimiko-chan." Her expression was one that only seemed to be happy as she continued to say, "it was super exciting, and that mass summoning had me stunned. It'd be really awesome if I could challenge you later to a duel too." Her expression was genuine, and her words were sincere, though too the loser of the match there was a chance it would not be seen as such. 

[Draconus297]

Emma locates Elizabeth before noting who she's standing next to with a kind of sly grin. Fortune had truly smiled on the little redhead today, as Shoraku and Elizabeth are smoking near one another as she makes her approach.

 

"I hadn't been aware that the two of you knew one another," Emma grins, "and I do hold you to that rematch, Shoraku. Not right now," she eases, "but eventually." Turning back to Elizabeth, Emma offers a slight, placating smile. "As for you, Elizabeth . . . it's good seeing you out and about. How go things? Have you made much progress in the past week, or do I need to intervene?"

 

Emma is definitely happy for her first, albeit unofficial patient to have opened up and begun leaving the dim confines room of her own accord, and to have her latest subject of analysis readily available to watch is a definite bonus.

[VCR_CAT]

--Katsu

Katsu breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the duel conclude. She was never a regular to hang out with Yushiro or Akira. At one point she was friends with either of them at different times; but, then the rivalry between Katsu and Akira's dojos became more apparent, and as Yushiro began to hang out with Akira more, Katsu started to distance herself from that group. Still, it was good to see that Yushiro managed to pull himself through with a win and avoid making an idiot of himself in front of friggin' Kimiko and the rest of the school. Of course, she wasn't about to tell Akira that.

 

Making her way through the crowd, she bumped Yushiro on the shoulder with her fist.

 

"Good job not making an idiot of yourself in front of the school," Katsu said with a fairly light tone. "Just make sure you're not making a big deal out of these 'bets' in the future."

 

 

--Hiraku

Hiraku watched the duel conclude disappointingly. So, a simple ladder summon coupled with some simple attack-boosting cards. Hiraku leaped off the railing and dusted off the rear of his pants before making towards the stairs down.

 

"Hey Hiraku, where ya goin'? What'd you think of the duel?" one of his friends called out from the crowd as Hiraku reached the door.

 

"The duel? It was alright!" Hiraku called back. No, it was amateur-hour. "I gotta head home now and finish up on some homework. I'll see you guys around!" With that, Hiraku opened the door and made his way down the stairwell. Well, if the future of the pro-circuit is anything like this, I'll be champion for a long time.

[Yui]

---

Kimiko stood there, dumbfounded. Even if it was just a lucky draw, she'd lost. Just like that. In one turn, from practically all her LP to zero. She hadn't even been able to damage Yushiro. This was beyond an insult. It was an outrage! Yushiro had obviously cheated! No man could conveniently draw the conveniently right card at the conveniently right time and conveniently be able to conveniently beat Kimiko so easy like he conveniently had. It was obvious that Yushiro had stacked his deck somehow! She was so thoroughly trapped within her own thoughts, she didn't even notice one of the commentators congratulating her. Once Kimiko had finally snapped out of her confused stupor, she glared daggers straight at Yushiro. And now people were congratulating him!?

 

Yeah yeah, good job cheating.

 

Pointing directly at him, Kimiko shouted "I don't know what you did, but you won't get away with it! Next time you won't get lucky, then everyone will see the big fraud you are!" With a derisive huff, Kimiko turned and began walking away at a brisk, clearly angered, pace. She had better things to do than stand around and watch cheaters get cheered on for cheating.

Leona watched people go up and congratulate Yushiro. He had problems looking at girls, didn't he? He couldn't even look at Leona properly earlier that day. Too many of them around him at once could be bad. He might get too nervous and spontaneously combust, then he'd explode and everyone near him would die screaming and in pain, and there would be a lot of fire that would have to get put out. That didn't sound like a good way to wrap up this duel at all, so Leona opted to keep her distance for the sake of keeping Yushiro from detonating. She settled for looking in his direction, smiling, and giving him a thumbs-up and a nod.

 

Good job, Underdog. Keep doing cool stuff; it's fun to watch.

 

There was, however, somebody she wanted to talk to. Her co-commentator, Meiko. It was fun to commentate on that duel, and she had a good feeling about that girl. As her whims demanded it, Leona walked up to where Meiko was, watching Kimiko run off as well. What was her problem?

 

"She's weird, huh?" Leona asked. "It was fun to commentate on that duel. We should hang out sometime. Do you like movies?" Leona could think of a few places to hang out with a friend, but the movies was one that really stood out to her right now. They'd just watched a duel together, so why not a movie, right?

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

"Good job, buddy. I knew you could do it,"

 

Yushiro and his dragon both turned around just as Akira put his hand on Yushiro's shoulder. Of course Akira would have made his way out here to congratulate him.

 

"Wellllllll that makes one of us, I guess." Yushiro let out a small laugh. "I think I just got lucky. Honestly, I wouldn't have won if it weren't for this guy." He gestured to Stardust Dragon, who let out an affirmative sort of snuffle before taking off and flying into the distance. Yushiro then removed all of the cards from his duel disk and shut the device down. Before he could continue his conversation with Akira though, someone else dropped in. Imeeadiately she wrapped her arm around Yushiro's neck. It was... uncomfortable...

 

"Hey, nerd. I see ya gave little princess b****face there a lesson. I like ya".

 

Yushiro could only stomach the physical contact for a brief period, and rapidly began trying to worm his way out of her grip, with very little success. He shot a quick distressed look over to Akira before he tried resolving the situation in a different manner.

 

"Uhm... wh-who are you?" He asked sheepishly. Someone other than the new girl answered his question though.

 

"Back off, Fujiwara. If anyone talks to Midori, it's me. Unless you want to make the decision to get in my way..."

 

Thankfully (or perhaps not), this was someone Yushiro actually knew of. Blythe Pendleton was a girl who, if you were smart, you stayed away from. Similar in a way to Kimiko, she was known as a good duelist, and was just as cocky, though her Gimmick puppets took a bit more skill to use, being focused on Rank 8 Xyz monsters. She was also (in)famous for forcing other students to partake in ante duels. Speaking of which.

 

"Interesting dueling you have there, Midori. Especially that Stardust Dragon of yours... You can expect a challenge from me in future... I would get ready," Wonderful. And just when he'd gotten himself out of this exact sort of situation. Blythe wasn't done yet, either, and Yushiro felt Fujiwara's grip tighten on him as she spoke. "Don't waste your time with Fujiwara. She's only going to hold you back, opponent or otherwise."

 

"The f*** d'ya think you are, sis? This guy's manager?" Fortunately, Fujiwara let Yushiro go as she spoke, and he took the opportunity to try and put as much distance between himself and the group as possible. He barely caught a glimpse of Meiko as he began to slink away, though he did manage to give her a quick smile of acknowledgement before he started to get away. Of course, he'd become a little too popular to get very far. Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he whirled around. This time though, it was a less formidable visage he found himself facing.

 

"Good job not making an idiot of yourself in front of the school," Katsu Tanaka said with a fairly light tone. "Just make sure you're not making a big deal out of these 'bets' in the future."

 

Well, slightly less formidable, anyway. Katsu was rough around the edges, but she meant well. She also tended to show up whenever Akira was around, though Yushiro was pretty sure he was the only one of the three of them who was aware of it. "I'll uhh... I'll try Katsu. I didn't really mean to-"

 

"I don't know what you did, but you won't get away with it! Next time you won't get lucky, then everyone will see the big fraud you are!"

 

Everyone seemed to quiet down after Kimiko's outburst. Arrogant and a sore loser, it seemed. Wonderful. Yushiro gave her a look of incredulity. He'd had just about enough of Kimiko for today, and the last thing he felt like was sticking around to dignify her outburst with a response. Instead, he expedited his retreat from the arena. Having to deal with so many people all at once was beginning to stress Yushiro out.

[a coffee]

Elizabeth's cocktail of nirvana, induced by both her cigarette and the warm late summer breeze sweeping the hem of her dress against the backs of her knees, felt all too brief, as her blissful ignorance of the people surrounding her was shattered by the sound of a familiar voice. This was not to say she was particularly upset by the sound of Emma's voice; the two were unique friends, but they were close. She just wished the moment had lasted longer. For the first time in a while, she felt lovely.

 

"I hadn't been aware that the two of you knew one another" 

 

Elizabeth took a look around her and just now realized that the boy who had loaned her his lighter, Shoraku, was apparently still next to her, and they knew each other.

 

"Oh... we've only just met, if you could even call it that. Just borrowing a light." Elizabeth pulled the cigarette out from the right side of her mouth and gestured with it, as if seeking to validate her claim to Emma, before continuing with an obviously upset sigh, "For goodness' sake, Emma, we've talked about the whole 'psychiatrist' talk. I took a walk outside, what's so bizarre about that?"

 

Elizabeth swept the bangs on the right side of her face back, taking a lungful of her vice, and releasing the smoke slowly, through a deep, relaxing breath, "Anyway, I'd love to talk, but I was thinking about stopping by the gym to dance for a while... I've spent far too much time in my room today. I'll talk to you later Emma." Elizabeth nodded goodbye to her friend, and looked over to Shoraku, gesturing to him with her cigarette, "Thanks again for the light." 

 

Finally, it had seemed as if the crowds had cleared up from the duel, and with that, Elizabeth picks up the pace ever so slightly to make her way up the main campus trail towards the gym. Progress? Do I really spend that much time trapped away in my room? I thought nobody had noticed me anyway... Elizabeth groans and tosses her cigarette to the stones in front of her, stomping it out as she went. So much for a lovely day. Elizabeth thought to herself.

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

It had taken him a bit, but Yushiro had finally managed to escape the crowd. No one seemed to have yet noticed his absence, either. Good news, that. The eventfulness of the day was beginning to get to him, and all he really wanted to do was get away from everyone.

 

Elizabeth’s heart felt heavier than normal; something about Emma’s comment had really ticked her off. The hell was her problem, anyway? Seems like every time she goes out to just get back to living life someone has to comment on the fact that she had missed so much of it being miserable for the past year and a half. It never helped. Elizabeth undid her ponytail out of nervous habit; the ponytail was fine, but fixing it would at least occupy her time for the few seconds it would take her to redo it, and that was fine. She could use all the distraction she could get as she was walking up the road. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in while reaching back to finish her hair, and it was about then that she felt the force of 140 lbs slamming into her like a wall of bricks, launching her canvas sneakers off of the pavement, and sending her to the ground rather harshly. Her lighter, cigarettes, and deckbox went flying out of the open pouch from her backpack, scattering cards all over the ground. Elizabeth looked up to find the source of the obstruction, just now beginning to feel the harsh pain in her rear from hitting the pavement. Of all the people it could have been, it was the boy from before, the one with the luck that surely seemed impossible.

Yushiro sucked his teeth and rubbed his head. He was on the ground too, having slammed head first into… something? No, someone. A girl from the looks of it. He’d been too lost in his thoughts to watch where he was going.

“Sorry about that… Uhh, you ok?” He asked sheepishly, still a bit frazzled from the fall but not wanting to ignore the person he’d just barreled into.

Elizabeth looked around her; her stuff was everywhere. Instantly she felt blood rush to her cheeks from embarrassment. Not what she wanted or needed right now.

“That’s a loaded question, isn’t it?” Elizabeth gingerly got to her feet, taking care to make sure her dress stayed where it should, especially in public. “I’ll be fine.” she looked over her deck, now shot along the ground, “Sorry for knocking you over. I guess I was out of it.” she walked over to Yushiro, offering her hand to the boy, “You’re the boy from before… not celebrating your victory? I know it was narrow, but even still…”

 

Yushiro took her hand and got back on his feet, quickly withdrawing it as soon as he was standing. His face was a bit red too, but chances were the rosy tint was going to remain on his cheeks a good deal longer than it did Elizabeth’s. “Hey, it was my fault for not looking where I was going… You uhhh… saw my game i guess? Nothing much to celebrate, really.” He looked down a moment and began to dust himself off, then noticed that he’d managed to knock both the girl and most of her belongings all over the ground. He bent over and wordlessly began to gather up some of the cards on the ground.

Elizabeth chuckled ever so slightly, she certainly wasn’t about to argue with him; with any other result he would have been painted on the pavement below him, but she didn’t have the heart to insult his play, especially since he was now… picking up her cards? Elizabeth squatted, picking up the cards next to hands,

“Oh, please, you don’t have to clean up after me. Might catch my poor luck if you stick around my cards for too long, anyway… and you can’t have that, now.” Okay, she lied. She had to at least say something. She looked up at him, noticing they were quite close while picking up her cards. “My name’s Elizabeth.” she said without any prompt. It was unlike her to really introduce herself, but it was nice of him to offer to pick up her cards. She extended one of her thin, soft hands towards Yushiro in greeting.

Yushiro hesitated a moment before shaking her hand. He tried his best to give her a smile that wasn’t awkward, but chances were he failed this particular attempt. “I’m Yushiro. Its… nice to meet you.” He handed her a few of her cards and leaned over in the opposite direction to pick up a few of the stragglers. “And what, would you rather me stand here and laugh at you instead? You’d help me pick up my deck, wouldn’t you?”

Elizabeth simply stood up and went to go collect the rest of her things while Yushiro gathered the rest of her deck, “I’m never quite sure what to expect from this place anymore.” she gently tucked the remainder of her things into her bag, now just waiting on her cards, “I suppose so…” she massaged her lower back gently and winced slightly, she was in a bit more pain than she was willing to let on, but the last thing she needed was to seem weak in front of what was, more or less, a complete and total stranger. There’s enough of that on a normal day.

Yushiro got back up and handed her the remainder of her deck. He took note of the blue border of Elizabeth’s Cyber Angel Benten as he did so. “Ritual Monsters? That’s an interesting choice…” Then he saw her wince and gave her a sympathetic look. “You sure you’re alright?”  

“Well, Ritual Monsters provide a much different dynamic to a standard duel, and not many decks are equipped to handle it. But… it’s still only in the works. I never really got around to finishing it.” after accepting her cards she dismissed him with a waving hand, “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I was just considering going dancing tonight, but I can always take the night off.” she began tying her hair back again, as she was doing before the encounter, “Sorry again for running into you, seems to run in the Hall family.” she gave a soft, but ever so small smile at her own incredibly morbid joke.

“Hey it should be me apologizing for knocking you over… so uhhh… yeah my bad.” He let out a nervous laugh. “You dance?” He asked sort of absentmindedly. Small talk wasn't his strong suit, but it felt wrong to end the conversation and leave. Better than being in that Fujiwara girl’s headlock, at any rate. On second thought, it’d be weird to just pry into her routine, wouldn’t it? Crap, had he made things worse? Maybe he should-

Elizabeth pretended to not notice as the gears in Yushiro’s head exploded into overdrive and began smoking from his ears, but truth be told, it was kind of adorable (and maybe a little refreshing?) to have someone get so nervous around her. Not often this happens anymore, at any rate. Still, she figured it best to just answer the poor boy’s question and let him out of this eternal silence.

“Oh yes, it’s pretty much the only thing I do these days, other than class and duel tutoring.” she’d talk about it more, but she already felt like she was pouring way too much of herself into this boy; he probably didn’t even care about what she had to say.  If anything, this was just him trying to get the attention off of the fact that they slammed into each other. She was just being silly at this point.

“Anyway, thanks for picking up my deck…” she slung her backpack back on, looking over Yushiro one last time. She wanted to offer to help him if the popularity became too much, but why would he seek her council? She was practically a nobody these days anyway without Todd. She instead opted for a “Enjoy your win.” and walked back to her dorm, albeit much more slowly this time around.

“Thanks… I’ll try.” Dumb. That was dumb. Super dumb. Too late now though, she was walking away. Yushiro leaned against a wall and sighed. He sure was on a roll today, wasn’t he. Today could have been worse, sure, but he was just about out of energy. Between class, and Kimiko, and the aftermath… His nerves were frayed. Might be for the best to just head home and- what was that on the ground?

He bent down and picked up another card. Cyber Angel Vishnu: another ritual monster, and a powerful one at that. The both of them must have missed it. He looked around, Elizabeth was already out of sight, and Yushiro had no idea which way she’d been headed. He sighed, and slipped the card into his deck box. He’d have to track her down eventually, it seemed.

[~Faytl~]

"Dystopia the Despondent?" asked Balthy, tilting his head. He couldn't say he was familiar with it. "Is it Level One like the rest?" he asked, a shade of disappointment in his voice at the thought. He held up his Duel Disk, pressing on the screen and typing out the letters for "Dystopia." He wasn't quite sure how to spell Despondent.

 

"Dystopia... D-Hero Dystopiaguy... LEVEL 12?!" he yelped, the card popping up on his disk. It only got crazier. "5000 attack power?!" he asked in disbelief. He grinned now, amazed. "If you think you can play it plenty," he assured her, giving a thumbs-up, "I say go for it, Fujimoto-san! You'll surprise everyone when you get out a monster that huge! It may even be able to trump my Pendulum Summon!"

 

He considered further, thinking. "Hmmm... If you need Action Duel practice... I can teach you!" he proclaimed excitedly, stretching his arms out as if to indicate his masterpiece of a mental picture. "Action Duels are the best! Having the whole field to storm through and everything... Hey! Maybe Sai-san can help as well!" he decided, smacking a fist into his hand decisively. "Sai-san knows all about Action Dueling... and maybe I can finally duel him myself. That's what we'll do!" he proclaimed, as if it had been decided already. "Fujimoto-san... Sai-san and I will introduce you to the world of Action Dueling!"

 

- - - - - - -

 

Blythe paused at Roxie's words, slowly turning her head to look at her with narrowed eyes. "I'm protecting something I very much intend to make mine, Fujiwara-me," she said, voice measured and calm despite the insulting choice of honorific. "Let's cut to the chase; Neither of us have ideas about this boy's dueling that he would like." She smiled with a triumphant glint in her eye. "I can steamroll you, Fujiwara, and I will to reach Stardust Dragon."

 

She tilted her head towards Yushiro. "But I'll truce with you for now. We've scared him off, anyway." Her predatory gaze rested on the space Yushiro had occupied, now empty. "You want to hunt him down, Fujiwara?" she asked scathingly. "I'm sure he'll appreciate your lovely sunshine personality."

[Alaina]

While Meiko had extended out both her praise for and excitement to go duel against Kimiko, said person didn't seem all that attentive to what she was saying. Meiko cocked her head to the size in confusion as the fire princess girl seemed to just be staring blankly at the floor, not really sure what the latter was thinking about at the moment, if anything. However, she hopped back on reflex in surprise of the girl's sudden outburst and rage towards the winner. Cheater? Yushiro may have been a man with a gambling addiction, but Meiko could tell that he was, without a doubt, no cheater. Crossing her arms and letting out a bit of a pout in annoyance and frustration, Meiko was a bit in disbelief at just how poorly Kimiko reacted to the loss. Sure it was fun to watch, but it wasn't like the girl did a perfect job in the duel either. 

 

While her mood was briefly soured by the reaction of Kimiko, her attention was suddenly drawn to her co-commentators appearance. Nodding at the girl's comment she remarked, "definitely a weirdo."  Her expression then brightened up as the girl seemed to mention things about the commentating and hanging out later and she said, "it definitely was. And sure, I'm free to go watch a movie. Movies are great, they're like books without the hassle of having to read." As she and the other girl started walking away from the scene, she started saying, "maybe we could watch a movie with explosions. Or romance. Or comedy." She then stopped dead in her tracks as she let out a gasp and a look of realization was in her eyes, as she turned towards her white haired friend. "Or an explosive romantic comedy! Come on Leona-chan, there's still daylight left to burn!" With that, she started picking up her pace and running towards...wherever.   

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"If you think you can play it plenty," Balthazar assured Takara, giving her a thumbs-up, "I say go for it, Fujimoto-san! You'll surprise everyone when you get out a monster that huge! It may even be able to trump my Pendulum Summon!"
 
Takara breathed a sigh of relief. She did have a few cards that she knew she needed anyway, so it was good to know that getting Dystopia the Despondent while she was there wouldn't be a complete waste of time. But there was still the issue that she needed the room, and having no idea what to get rid off didn't help.  But in any case, Takara still felt as though she should be more focused on getting herself more familiar with the game of Duel Monsters itself, specifically these Action Duels. Perhaps that way she'd know what which cards would be useless to her and which wouldn't for herself.

"Hmmm... If you need Action Duel practice... I can teach you! Action Duels are the best! Having the whole field to storm through and everything... Hey! Maybe Sai-san can help as well!" Balthazar said in a decisive manner, smacking a fist into his hand as though to seal the deal, "Sai-san knows all about Action Dueling... and maybe I can finally duel him myself. That's what we'll do! Fujimoto-san... Sai-san and I will introduce you to the world of Action Dueling!"

 

"R-really? You'd do that for me?" Takara asked, though at first she didn't know if she had the time to spare. So she immediately returned her attention to her smartphone, though this time she was out of the card index and into the calendar mode so she could double-check her schedule. She had lots of homework to do today, Takara knew that much. And she knew that the local card shop would close some time in the evening. As she spent a few seconds calculating how long it would take her to do everything though, she seemed to be more certain that perhaps she had plenty of time after all.

 

"Actually... I think we can still make this work," Takara smiled genuinely as she said this, "So let's get going! I think Sai went this way..."

 

With that, Takara began walking in the direction that she saw Sai go when he'd taken off.

[Alaina]

Whether they had been there or not to watch it, the duel between Yushiro had been one that most of the student body of Blue Yonder, and even those outside of it, had become aware of. Due to the sheer scale of it, both in audience at the event and videos seen across the internet, had made knowing of both the duelists and the outcome of their duel most likely impossible to avoid knowing. And whether they didn't care for it, were disappointing by it, excited by it, or fascinated by it, it did something undeniable to each and every student of the school. Lighting a fire, no matter how small it may have been, within them, the duel served its purpose to herald in a new year and give the students something to remind themselves what the true spirit of Blue Yonder was and drive them forth towards their coming education and activities. However, just as quickly as the new year came to its true start, so to did it hit its first halt. 

 

Only a few days after school had started were the kids already given a break from it with the weekend. As such, the students that had recently moved in were now bustling all about the campus doing whatever they saw fit. There were some who merely spent there day lazing about in their dorms and others who saw it fit to get a head start on their studies. Some who walked freely around the school grounds, not a care in the world and hanging out with friends while others, new to the school, were trying to get themselves acclimated with the campus and all it had to offer. And still there were those who had left the campus in search of something to do in town. As it was the weekend, the surrounding town was bustling with activity as well, with all manner of shops being frequented. Whether they be a humble card shop or a well known restaurant, the local convenience store or a chain clothing store, there was no shortage of things to be done in the town as well. And of course, with the students unburdened by their classes, there was plenty of challenges and duels to be had among the students of Blue Yonder. 

 

Opening

Episode 2: The Shining Spectrum! Keeper of the Crystal Beasts

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"Attack! Nebula Knuckle! Now once more! Attack Samuraisaga! Nebula Knuckle!"

 

The last moments of the duel a few days ago between Yushiro and Kimiko continued to lay in the mind of Roy as even continued to watch the video that was taken during it. He was surprised that it had been trending quite a bit during the last few days. But then again, Roy could understand why. With such a finisher that was given by Yushiro's Stardust Dragon...it was both beautiful and unpredicted. But now...

 

Alright...it's official...I need to duel someone. Roy thought, moving from his leaned position against the outside wall of the school. He began to walk, throwing his hands into his pockets. That Yushiro kid is awesome...and that duel got my blood pumping. So I gotta find an opponent...but a pretty skilled one at that.

 

Roy moved his hand to rub his chin. He knew of the perfect candidate for this...but blast it all...he couldn't remember the poor guy's name. He knew that there was a student that was actually brothers with not one...but two Pro Duelists. Roy could remember seeing this guy in the Art Class...but for the life of him, couldn't remember his name. Then it started to click with him...the one brother was actually the P.E. teacher, Dirk.

 

"Right...it was Dirk Noir...the P.E. teacher." he mumbled to himself, before snapping his fingers. "That's it. And the other brother was Syndri...Dirk, Syndri...SALEM!!" he finally said, nodding. "Hmm...and if his brothers are Pro Duelists...I guess what better way to find out if he's got Pro Duelist blood in his veins."

 

With that, he headed off back into the Academy building, smiling all the while.

 

...Now...to find the guy...

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

A start to a brand new day, and Kamie Matsuoka was already looking forward to preparing for her first day teaching her own class. Of course, in her case, there was no knowing that that day for that specific school year had well and truly passed, but Kamie was still excited nonetheless. Today, she decided that she'd put on her orange shorts so she could wear the blue dress that she wanted to wear. Of course, that meant putting on the matching detached sleeve, on which said she decided to slip on a violet thigh-high boot. To complete the look, she wore a lone red high heel and an indigo finger-less glove on the other side, before gathering her purse and keys and getting into her brand new sports car: a white Nissan 370Z, interestingly enough. The moment she started the car up, Kamie's favorite song began blasting from the speakers.

 

With that, she set off. Her ride to the school was casual enough, but as she finally got to the actual parking lot, she decided that she'd suddenly speed up without warning, only to make a handbrake turn and hold the resulting drift until the car was parked nicely within the lines. As a result of it just so happening to be weekend, the parking lot was empty and none of the other teachers had arrived. It was a good thing that was the case, or she might've gotten herself into a collision.
 
"Whoohoo! That was fun!" as she said this, Kamie undid her seatbelt and put her sports car in park, before turning the ignition off, gathering her things from the glove box and climbing out. She bit her lip playfully, looking as though she was sneaking out of the parking lot and pretending to ignore the giant skid mark that she'd left behind.

 

...

 

After all, it wasn't as though anyone else would notice, right?

[The Warden]

The Champion of Strangeness

 

Salem had already gotten up early, just so he could amuse himself in the AV Club's office. It was more or less one of the less-used computer rooms, but it served the club well regardless. Salem was keeping himself entertained by keeping  watchful eye on his most recent addition to Dueltube."Oh man, you saw it here first viewers, it seems that luck is a two-way street, and Kimiko got her ass ran down! Well, this was a surprising upset, just hear that booing. Man, just, that was amazing, it really was. A huge lucksack sure, but Yushiro put his faith in Luck's hands the moment he played Dangerous Machine Type-Six. Ah well, it was a short duel, but that turnaround makes it worth it" his voiceover declared gleefully.

 

This duel had gotten the most hits yet, and the comments were hysterical. Two flame wars had erupted over the past few days, with one war having people arguing about who really should have won that duel, while the others were flaming Kimiko for not understanding cards. Plus also that usual flamewar about religion, but that was par for the course. "Ha HA! This is awesome. This duel has gotten sooo many hits it's not even funny anymore" Salem sniggered to himself as he started the duel from the start.

 

 

Coach Hardass

 

Dirk, moonwhile, was keeping a watchful eye on his news feed from his room in one of the dormitories, as he had been assigned to it as it was much, much cheaper than actually renting an apartment. He sipped his coffee listlessly as he kept trying to find any new reports about Syndri. "Ex-Pro Duelist Syndri Noir seen during the unveiling of new cards" he mumbled, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Damn it Syndri, what are you up to?"

[a coffee]

 

For Elizabeth, more often than not the beginning of the school year meant little more than the occasional lecture to break up her constant state of melancholy. It would appear that, this year, however, things would be slightly different. Large events, such as the duel between Yushiro and Kimiko, always had their own individual set of ramifications. In Elizabeth's case, this meant the tutoring she did as some fun on the side had already been completely booked. It had been a few hours now, and a friend had stopped by for a session, which was really just an excuse to duel for fun. Elizabeth never took it easy on friends, because some things never truly change about a person, even in the face of tragedy. A coffee shop table, laden with treats and small, decorated drinks sheltered the packed dueling field set between two friends, sitting on two limited edition mats.

 

"Pat... When are you ever going to learn? Allowing me to cycle Dakini and Idaten with Manju will only lead to me summoning more devious things. Things like..." Elizabeth searched through her deck, waiting for her trump card, Cyber Angel Vishnu, to appear any second, so she could annihilate her friend's field and get back to enjoying her scone. Only problem waa, Vishnu hadn't appeared. Elizabeth searched through her deck once again, worry now slowly finding its way on to her face, accompanied by the cold wash of fear from the idea of potentially having lost her strongest, favorite, and most expensive card. No dice. The truth was now undeniable: the card was gone. Utter dread filled her expression, and she placed the deck down on to the table, palm over the top, the symbol of surrender.

 

"Ay Lizzy, what happened? You were kicking my pants! Everything okay?" the man leaned into the table, trying to see into Elizabeth's eyes, which had sunk underneath her bangs.

 

"My card is gone. Vishnu. Pat can you take over my tutoring for the day? I need to go. Maybe I left it back at Yonder. Let's meet again soon, okay?"

 

Pat only laughed in response, "They gonna want a refund when they find out it's only me! But sure, la manuia, good luck Lizzy!"

 

Elizabeth nodded, leaving money on the table to cover the cost of the table, quickly dipping out of the store to hunt down Vishnu. Where the hell could it be? She made a dash towards the administration office. Maybe she left it back where her shift started.

[Yui]

---

A few days had passed since the End of School Summer Duel (there was still no such thing). Leona had kept her eyes and ears open for more new and exciting duels, and even made a few challenges of her own. In fact, the end of her most recent duel was still fresh in her memories. As it should be; she'd had it only this morning.

"Oooh-ho-ho-ho! I knew it! I've still got the hang of this!"

 

"Well played," Leona responded, giving the small one in front of her a thumbs-up as a collection of men with katanas gathered around the opponent began to dissolve away. Meanwhile, Leona's field had no Solid Vision on it to dispose of; Kimiko had done a good job of making sure she didn't get any field presence, and that she wouldn't be able to bounce back. "I started strong, but I guess you were able to turn it around pretty easily."

 

"Of course I did!" Kimiko turned with a proud grin on her face, and took off, in search of her next opponent. She had a reputation to restore after all!

 

"Then again," Leona muttered to herself, looking at the two cards in her hand. "If I played these, Princess wouldn't win. Losing now and then is fine, too." Win/loss ratios were for tryhards anyway.

However, that was then. This was now. Now, Leona sat just outside above the school gates, donning her signature look as she looked down at the people near the campus's entrance from her perch atop the walls around the campus. She was meeting somebody out here, to catch a movie later today. Strapped over her right arm  was her Duel Disk, and in her left hand was a bar of white chocolate that was already roughly a third eaten. She seemed to be looking for somebody in particular, and not in the way that one should expect somebody looking for a friendly acquaintance would be.

 

As her teeth came down upon the chocolate bar again, snapping more of the chocolate off the bar and into her mouth, Leona scanned over the places she could see from up here. Stupid Rules-Man. He should've shown up by now if he heard there was somebody sitting on the school wall. The best I got was some other disciplinary kid asking how I even got up here. Although it looked like it would become a good day later, Leona's day wasn't starting off on a very good foot.

Kimiko seemed to be in high spirits. Back to the norm, some would say, if she wasn't still indiscriminately dueling anything that looked at her funny. After her humiliating defeat with the cheater Yushiro, Kimiko had become a laughingstock. She'd spent the entire duel hyping herself up only to go down without any chance to fight back. As such, she had to claw her way back up to the esteemed position she'd been in mere days before, one duel at a time. Once she'd re-established just who she was, Kimiko was going to give that boy the what for by humiliating him the same way he had to her.

 

Of course, there were a few people safe from her dueling rampage. Her little goon squad, for one, who had all opted to give her some space while she worked this problem out. Even Natsuko was keeping her distance lately. Then there was obviously herself and her family, since it would be easy for skeptics to just say they let her win. If there was one thing Kimiko didn't enjoy in winning, it was winning without earning it. And then there was one other person, reserved for after she'd hit a certain threshold, who Kimiko just so happened to catch sight of as she entered the school's main building. Sure it was the weekend, but that didn't mean this building would just be magically abandoned for a couple days.

 

"Roy!" Kimiko called out, picking up her pace to approach the one she'd called out for. Once she was next to Roy, Kimiko proudly proclaimed "That's twenty duels in a row I've won at without even breaking a sweat! Just earlier I dueled some weirdo and she didn't even stand a chance. You're going to be number twenty-one, okay? Duel me."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

"Roy!"

 

Roy stopped dead in his tracks, hearing the voice that called him. He let out a sigh as he turned to see Kimiko Hatakeyama walking up beside him. Damn...the ONE person I didn't want to deal with today... he thought, shaking his head slightly as he returned to walking. He knew that he and her were always rivals, only because their two companies: Spectrum Corp and Hatakeyama Corp were just the same. However, because there was more to this...he always seemed like she was a bit more...pushier than most people.

 

"Hey Kimiko..." Roy finally spoke, only out of politeness. "You seem to be a lot more busier since your duel against Yushiro." However, that only prompted her to continue her apparent business with him.

 

"That's twenty duels in a row I've won at without even breaking a sweat! Just earlier I dueled some weirdo and she didn't even stand a chance. You're going to be number twenty-one, okay? Duel me."

 

And there it was. Roy knew that Kimiko always wanted to duel against him. The last time they dueled, he lost against her...but this time. The offer was tempting, but...in his mind he had already made a plan to do what he was going to do.

 

"Kimiko, as much as I want to accept the offer, I'm going to have to pass." Roy said with a nervous smile. "There's a guy I met on campus. He happens to have two Pro Duelist brothers...one of which being the P.E. teacher here on campus." he paused, before taking out Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus from the deck box. "And to be honest...I'm really curious if he's got Pro Duelist in his blood too. Besides...this will be one spectacle you probably won't want to miss. After all...it would be a chance to study your 'rival'."

 

Roy started to walk off a bit, smirking as he put Pegasus back in the deck box. He left with that line, knowing that Kimiko wouldn't resist an opportunity like that.

[King K. Azo]

Akira had been up since the crack of dawn, going through his daily routine. Throw on clothes, grab a banana, begin to work out. Although, today, something seemed to be wrong. His arms felt weak and tired around push-up three hundred seventy-nine. That wasn't right... He could usually go for a couple hundred more. His stomach felt... Odd, although how, he couldn't place his finger on. He also felt really hot... Was he... Sick?

 

Unbelievable, he hadn't been sick in over 13 years, there was no reason to start now. How could he have even got sick anyways? He was so convinced he wasn't sick, he went on his morning job despite how weird his body felt.

 

It was quiet in the park, as it always was early this morning. This gave Akira time to reflect on the past few days... Yushiro had beaten Kimiko, something no one expected... That gave him a lot of sudden challengers. Akira knew that there was no way Yushiro would want to duel all of them, so he, the man Akira, decided to be the hurdle people had to overcome. If people could beat him, then they could duel Yushiro.

 

Yushiro didn't have to duel anyone for the past few days.

 

Still, something Akira noticed was that the challengers were getting harder and harder. He had several close calls recently, and it was starting to scare him. He wasn't really afraid of losing, as that was just part of the game. No, he was afraid of letting down his friend... Honestly, Yushiro really was his only friend. Most people were annoyed by his admittedly different speech pattern, or the fact that he worked hard... Between training his body, training his dueling, training to become the next head of the dojo, and school work, he found he had very little time in his life. Most people seemed to think he was showing off, or because he was an heir to a dojo meant everything was handed to him.

 

That couldn't be further from the truth. Really, he probably worked too hard... Yushiro was the only person he was able to relax around... But was he even doing that anymore? He sat on a bench, out of breath...

 

Maybe something was wrong with him.

 

---

 

Sai sighed to himself as he waited for Balthy and Takara on the highest bench in the practice duel field... The very same one where only a few days ago Yushiro managed an amazing upset and defeated Kimiko in a duel. The field was empty at the time, as he couldn't imagine anyone actually coming here on the weekends... That was why when Takara and Balthy asked him to teach Takara about Action Duels, he suggested they met here. He didn't want others seeing them...

 

Where they going to show though? It could have been an elaborate prank made to screw with him. If that was the case... Well, it wouldn't be the first time. He shuffled his deck for the hundredth time, waiting quietly, just hoping they showed up... And no one else did.

[Alaina]

The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. And the girl who had since been asleep in her bed was now standing, ready to take on the world. The past few days had been one that had already filled the young Meiko with excitement and fervor, looking forward to all the challenges that both card games and acadmeics would bring to the girl. Granted, there had been very few of either yet, but she would not be deterred by such preliminary things like that. Instead, with roller sneakers fastened, and scarf around her neck, ready to flow in the non-existent wind, and duel disk worn on her wrist, the black haired girl was ready to go and see just what this day of classes had to offer. As the girl was resolute in this, she opened the door to her dorm room and was ready to walk out when she suddenly felt something was off. 

 

Backpedaling a bit, the girl went to go look at her calendar nailed to the wall. Seeming to study it with some degree of intensity, she realized that today was not a class day. In fact, it was a weekend. The first weekend no less. A fact she very easily could have missed had she not payed the littlest of attention. In even more fact, she then remembered that she had a movie to go see with her good, slightly feline in apparel, friend, Leona. Realizing this, the previously jolly Meiko retained an incredibly similar level of excitement, and walked out her door. 

 

Rolling out of her dorm, the girl had been on the lookout for her friend. The two of them got along due to their similar natures, and one of those similarities were there tendencies to be anywhere and everywhere at any given moment. And while this made hanging out a good deal of fun, it made finding the person they were to hang out a general hassle. While not being able to find her on campus, the girl was standing at the school gates, wondering if her friend had already made her way to the movies. Leave it to Leona to be on top of things like that...wait. Meiko looked up, and sitting on top of the school gate, there was her white haired friend. Waving to her with a smile on her face, Meiko called up, "hey there Leona-chan." This smile was then replaced with a slight look of confusion as she then asked, "how'd you get up there?" 

[~Faytl~]

Balthy was slowly creeping on his hands and knees behind the benches that ran around the length of the stadium, eyes fixed on Sai, who hadn't yet seen him, it looked like. Balthy had entered the arena when Sai had been shuffling his deck, and he couldn't resist the urge to sneak up on him. It had taken him an age to crawl up the stairway silently, but now he was only a few feet away.

 

He drew ever closer, finally right behind him. He drew up quietly, shaking in anticipation of what he was about to do... And his foot slipped.

 

With a yelp, Balthy plummeted past Sai, falling down several rows of benches before he fell into the gap between two rows, letting out a groan of pain as he straightened up, pulling himself into a hunched-over standing position, gasping for breath.

 

"Not fair, Sai-san!" he complained, like his friend had done anything to influence that. "I'm supposed to be the cool one, don't use your smart guy stuff on me here! Low blow..." He snickered, clearly kidding. He looked around eagerly. "Where's Fujiwara-me?" he asked curiously. "Not here yet, eh?"

[BANZAI!!!!]

 

"BZZZZTTTTTTTT!!!"

 

Taketo's buzzing woke Yushiro with a start. "Morning to you, too." he groaned as he threw his covers off and rolled out of bed. Taketo was just doing what had been asked of it, of course, but the little robot hadn't quite yet figured out the technique for waking a person up gently. Besides, Yushiro couldn't really stay annoyed at his companion for long. After all it was the weekend, and Yushiro had asked Taketo to wake him up early specifically so he could make the most out of his free time. Taketo for its part was unaware of all of this, having instead become preoccupied with a small, travel-sized Rubik's cube that was laying on Yushiro's shelf, unsolved. It spent the next fifteen minutes or so fiddling with the toy while Yushiro stepped into the shower. Afterward he returned, now wearing a pair of shorts and a t shirt.

 

"Alright, remember Taketo, low profile today, got it? Akira's not around and I really, really don't wanna get chased around campus by people who wanna duel me today. We're just gonna go out, have a nice walk around campus, maybe see if we can't find out where I can find that Elizabeth girl."  He pulled Vishnu out from the middle of what seemed to be an ever-increasing stack of loaned cards. "I'm sure she's missing this." Taketo let out an affirmative buzz in reply. The little robot sometimes got itself into trouble, sure, but one thing it knew how to do well was listen and follow directions. "Alright then bud. Lets go." Yushiro stepped out the door of his dorm room, closing and locking it behind him after Taketo hovered through after him.

 

---

 

Iago Synthe rang the door buzzer for the third consecutive time in a row. Still no reply. Sure, Syndri Noir was a rather... eccentric man, and was usually absorbed in one activity or another (or several at once, as the case often was), but having to wait on him even longer was so.... aggravating. After all, who was it who'd been giving Syndri a hand with his little endeavor all these months? Surely he could at least be ready for him on time. Besides, Iago had other places to be today, things to do. The dark skinned man twirled one of his dreadlocks around his finger as he stood in the doorway, impatiently tapping his foot almost in rhythm with each curl of his finger. At last the door opened and the man himself appeared. Iago greeted him with a smile and spoke in his usual oily, drawn out baritone.

 

"Ahhh Syndri. Punctual as usual. Mind if I come in?"

 

----

 

 

So far so good. Yushiro had made it onto campus and, despite the decent amount of activity, had manged to keep a low profile. Taketo had taken the command quite literally, and was currently scrunched down inside Yushiro's backpack, taking a peak out of the flap every so often. It was a lovely day. Not too hot, but rather pleasantly warm, with a calm breeze and nary a cloud in Ambrosia's artificial sky.

 

Obviously something was going to go horribly wrong, and soon.

 

For the moment, however, things were calm, with Yushiro's only conundrum being what exactly he was going to do with himself in his free time today. Perhaps hit up a student lounge and see if he could get a dice game going, though chances were someone would recognize him and challenge him to the kind of game that he had no real intention of playing today. best to avoid that. Take a hike? Well the weather was nice, sure but he'd already spent the last 20 minutes or so enjoying the sunshine and really, where was there to walk to, other than into town. Oh wait, he could go into town! But what would he do there? Usually it was Akira who planed the weekend's activities, and frankly going off campus alone made Yushiro a little bit nervous. He sighed and sat on a bench, still trying to sort out his day.
 

[The Warden]

Celebrity Duelist

 

Syndri smirked at the annoyed look on Iago's face as he asked to come in. "But of course Iago, what are friends for?" he sarcastically responded as he allowed the large dreadlocked man in.

 

Syndri's domain was a large studio apartment that was most likely paid off by his old pro paychecks and whatever prize money he had earned. It was a lavish domain, and it reflected the man's own garish nature quite perfectly. Taking a seat on one of three long couches that almost made an entire scare, Syndri put his feet up on a coffee table as he addressed several packs of cards. "Got a few freebies from a recent sneak peek, but those special cards aren't in this set yet. I don't know what those makers are up to, but they're trying my patience now by withholding those damn Sigil cards" Syndri grumbled as he opened up a pack.

 

Sifting through the contents with disinterest, Syndri took on a very enraged and sour expression as he stared at an Ebon High Magician. "New Magician cards?" he spat lividly. "Where were THESE during my title match" he snarled, tossing the cards onto the table, scattering them about.